of the Muslims—namely, their veneration and elevation of women to the point that they mention a woman before a man when the two are named together. Consequently, these ignorant and foolish people, who follow every caller, began to imitate them. They believe that the others produced airplanes, ships, tanks, and devastating weapons only because they made women equal to men. Thus, they imagine that their moral degeneration is what raised them to this level, and that our own backwardness is due to our adherence to this religion—which some atheists, Allah protect us, allege to be “the opium of the peoples,” meaning that it intoxicates and stupefies them.

In reality, what has held us back is not Islam, but our falling short of Islam and our neglect of its directives. Otherwise, the Lord, exalted is He, says: “And prepare against them whatever forces you can muster” [al-Anfal: 60].

When the Muslim Ummah formerly held fast to Islam, it attained such prominence and greatness that those people imitated it. They even relate that when Harun al-Rashid presented Charlemagne, the king of France, with a clock, it was set in motion before him and he fled, saying, “This is magic from the Arabs!” Now the situation has reversed: when they bring us their machines, we say, “This is magic!” All of this is due to our falling short of Islam. Had we given the Quran its proper place in our hearts—as something beloved and sought after—and in our deeds—as the way by which we conduct ourselves—no power on earth would have overcome us. But through falling short, what has happened has happened.

The point is that we, the students of knowledge, are obliged to devote our efforts to opposing this sweeping tide that calls for making women equal to men, whereas its true reality is the destruction of women’s morals, the corruption of the family, and the liberation of women