In the Qurʾān we often see parallels between the sending down of rain and the sending down of waḥī (Divine Revelation). This parallel between the concrete and the abstract is common in the Qurʾān. It helps us visualise the effect of what we cannot see directly. Imagine rain water. What happens when rain falls? It washes the surface of the ground; it removes the dirt; then it given life to a barren land. When the words and the meanings of…
[and do not display yourselves as was the display of the former times of ignorance.] al-Aḥzāb:33 This āyah specifically addresses our role models, the noble women we strive to emulate; the mothers of the believers (the wives of our Rasūl Allāh ﷺ). But in general, as scholars have stated, it addresses all believing women. The commands in it are for all Muʾmināt to follow. In the āyah, the pre-Islāmic era of ignorance, where display of women’s beauty was rampant, is…