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Her sister’s resistance towards Islam

01-10-1999

Question 5424

 

Al-HAmdu Lillah, Allah has guided me to Islam nine years ago. Now, my sister is also interested in Islam, but she also seems so resistent. She asks questions that are not relevant (like, she asked me why does the women inherit half of what the man does? I said because the man is
supposed to support her financially. She said what if she were the one who is working? I said in any circumstance it is the male who is supposed to support her, and when he inherits wealth, then he supports her even if she has an independent income.) she would also ask what happens to souls when you sleep? I said Allah takes them.according to what I have read, she said so sometimes we wake up during the night, doesn't this contradict? I said NO!, and I told her that I am not knowledgeable about those things, and that there are more important things to know, such as matters of Aqeedah, worship, fiqh and so on.
She said so how are you supposed to know that you are on the right path?
All these discussions make me feel she is drifting away from Islam. I try to give her books, but she does not read.
Yet she always wants me to tell her things. Also, my mother is trying to break up between us because she does not want me to talk to her about ISlam. Today she told me if I continue to talk to my sister about Islam,
she will cut all ties between us. My mother also insults ISlam and the Prophet (sallahu alayhe wa salam)infront of me and she is trying to make me remove my niqab. I don't know what to do? Now my mother is leaving the country and taking my sister with her.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

You have to keep calling your sister to Islam, because Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

Invite (mankind, O Muhammad) to the way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Revelation and the Quran) and fair preaching [al-Nahl 16:125].

You have to bear your mothers insults with patience, as Allah commanded His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to do, when He said (interpretation of the meaning):

So bear patiently (O Muhammad) what they say, and glorify the praises of your Lord before the rising of the sun, and before its setting [Ta-Ha 20:130]

Do not feel sad because your sister has turned away, or regret the time you have spent in calling her to Islam if she does not respond. As Allah said to His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) (interpretation of the meaning):

So destroy not yourself (O Muhammad) in sorrow for them) [Fatir 35:8]

Perhaps you would kill yourself (o Muhammad) in grief, over their footsteps (for their turning away from you), because they believe not in this narrated (the Quran). [al-Kahf 18:6].

As for your answers to her questions, they are correct. With regard to waking up at night, although Allah takes peoples souls when they sleep, there is no contradiction between the two, for the One Who is able to take the soul is able to put it back. This is why it is mustahabb for the person who wakes up from sleep to say: Al-hamdu Lillaah illadhi radda alayya roohi wa afaani fi jasadi wa adhina li bi dhikrihi (Praise be to Allah Who has returned my soul to me, kept my body healthy, and given me permission to remember Him).

(Classed as Hasan by al-Albaani, Saheeh al-Jaami, 1/329)

With regard to the inheritance of women as you say, women are not responsible for spending on others; that is the duty of men, who have to pay the mahr and provide accommodation for their womenfolk, etc. Women wait for someone else to take the initiative, unlike men. So it is not fair for them to receive the same share in the case of inheritance. Allah is the most just of those who are just and the most wise of those who pass judgement.

I ask Allah to make you steadfast (in Islam) and to reward you for your dawah. You have to be gentle with them and not do anything to provoke them. Do not insult their religion, for that could provoke them to insult the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). And Allah is the source of strength.

Calling non-Muslims to Islam
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