women.’ He also said, ‘Beware of women, for the first trial of the Children of Israel was through women.’

Today—within our own society—there are people who call to this depravity, Allah’s protection is sought, by devious means. They cloak their agenda with names wholly unrelated to what they are really advocating; those labels are only a tool for what they want: to rip away the woman’s covering, to drive her from her home so she may work alongside men, whereupon evil and calamity follow. We ask Allah to turn their scheming back upon their own necks and to empower our rulers against them by removing everything that could bring corruption and ruin to this land. We ask Allah, exalted is He, to grant our leaders righteous advisers who will guide them to what is good and urge them toward it.

The trial of the Children of Israel centered on women, and it is the gravest of trials. Even now there are those who weave every plot to squander the dignity of women, to make her no more than an image, a doll—an object of lust, a blossom to be enjoyed by the profligate and the base—so that they may gaze at her face at every moment, every hour. Allah’s refuge is sought. Yet, by Allah’s leave, the supplications of the Muslims will encircle such people, will stifle them, and will send them back thwarted and humiliated. The Saudi woman—indeed, the woman in every land of Islam—will remain honored and protected, firmly established in the station Allah has assigned her.