Haya

AUDHUBILLAHI MINASH SHAITAANNIR RAJEEM

BISMILLAHIR RAHAMAANIR RAHEEM

     


What is Haya?

Haya is an Arabic word derived from the word hayat, which means life. In English, it may be translated as modesty, shyness, self-respect, bashfulness, shame, honor, humility, etc.

 The original meaning of Haya according to a believer's nature refers to a bad and uneasy feeling accompanied by embarrassment, caused by one's fear of being exposed or censured for some unworthy or indecent conduct.  Haya refers to an extremely desirable quality that protects us from all evil. It is a natural feeling that brings us pain at the very idea of committing a wrong.

Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "Every religion has a distinct call. For Islam it is haya." [Ibn Majah]. Our Prophet indicated: "Every way of life has an innate character. The character of Islam is Haya."

Or "Every Deen has an innate character. The character of Islam is modesty (haya)." (Abu Dawood).  

IMPORTANCE:

·         It is the basic building block of Islamic morality. When it is lost, everything is lost. Islam's laws about hijab, its ban against free mixing of men and women, its teachings about gender-relations, all of these reflect a deep concern for Haya.

·         Haya leads us to PARADISE. As the Prophet saws) told us: "Haya comes from Iman; Iman leads to Paradise. Obscenity comes from antipathy; and antipathy leads to the fire." (Bukhari)

·         There is no Islamic life without Islamic morality. There is no Islamic morality without haya. Abdullah ibn Umar (ra) narrated that the Prophet (saw) said: "Indeed haya (modesty) and Iman are Companions. When one of them is lifted, the other leaves as well." (Baihaqi).

·         Modesty (haya) and maintaining one's honour and dignity are of primary importance in preserving the moral fiber of any society. This is why modesty has been called the ornament of a woman, which protects her from many sins and which prevents ill-intentioned men from having bad thoughts about her. This Haya has been made a part of her nature to safeguard her from being abused by immoral men.

·         We must understand that Haya is important for both men and women. Allah (swt) has told men how to guide their modesty and has told women how to guide their modesty.

·          Allah says: "Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty……." (Qur'an Nur, 30-31)

There is a moving story from the earlier Islamic period about a woman who learnt that her young son had been lost in a battle. She ran in a panic to confirm the news, but before that she took time to make sure that she covered herself fully in accordance with the newly revealed laws of hijab. She was asked how she managed to do that in a time of great personal tragedy. She replied: "I have lost my son, but I did not lose my haya." SubhanAllah.
Narrated on the authority of Anas bin Malik, the Prophet (saws) said: When lewdness is a part of anything, it becomes defective; and when Haya is a part of anything it becomes beautiful. (Tirmidhi).

WHY HIJAB: So it is only obvious that Hijab plays an extremely important role in regards to Haya.  Hijab prevents lewdness, and Haya backs this up and then a person's Iman becomes even stronger. So both things work together in a partnership.
How can we practice Haya in our day to day lives?
Ask students to answer this.
Here are a few points…

The code of modesty for both men and women includes:

·                     Lowering the gaze and avoiding flirtatious speech and conduct.

 Ask students how they are supposed to talk and what they should avoid during conversation? Let them enact it out. This would be very helpful.

It’s very important to have Haya in the eyes. This is where all the trouble starts from. Shamelessness starts with the loss of Haya in the eyes, next the heart and tongue are affected and finally the limbs, eventually it leads to shamelessness and immorality.

·                     Avoiding close physical contact with non-mahrams. 

       Ask them who their Mahrams and Non-Mahrams are? How are we to greet  them when we meet them?

Some may say that it would seem rude not to hug them as they’ve been doing so before. Remind them as to who they should be afraid of, not the Non-Mahrams but of Allah’s wrath. For our beloved Prophet saws said: You’d rather have a hot iron rod go through your forehead than touch a Ghair-mahram. How many of us are ok with having a rod go through our foreheads? Learn to obey Allah, save your souls, be selfish. None of these people will come to your aid on the Day.

·                     Observing modest dress according to the Qur’an and Sunnah

Again ask students to describe this. Who are we going to please? Society, the self, friends or Allah? What will pleasing society or friends give us in the Hereafter?

What does pleasing Allah get us in the Hereafter?

Not drawing unnecessary attention to oneself

How can one do this?

Ask them what they wear when they go to school? When visiting friends? Going to the mall? Going to formal dinners? When going to wedding dinners? Are all these appropriate?

How do they dress for school? Let’s rethink this….. The outside world is full of Fitna and schools are no exception, its worse at school esp. with all the peer pressure and fashion consciousness around.

How can they protect themselves from this? How can they maintain their identities and also be content with that decision?

Listen to what Allah says in the Qur’an –the ultimate guide to our lives…

But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (o Muhammed) judge in all disputes between them and find in themselves no resistance against your decision and accept them with full  submission (4:65)

This ayah clearly tells us what our decisions should be based on and also the fact that we should be pleased with those decisions, for they are from The Most Wise. We should have enough faith that these laws have been placed for our BENEFIT and benefit alone, there can be no shred of doubt about their being anything less than that.

What can they change?

What do they wear when saying their salat at home and salat at the Masjid?

Who deserves the most respect and honor from us?

 Are we dressed appropriately before HIM? Is the shirt long enough to cover the thighs, long enough to cover the back when in sujood?

If we can dress appropriately for everyone and ourselves, inc. dressing appropriately for bed, what stops us from wearing proper clothes for THE ONE who created us and who loves us the most?

Are the clothes loose? Do they cover the body’s shape? All this conciousness is Haya. Let’s not fall for shaitaan’s excuse of: I dress for myself’ If that is the case, then why aren’t you dressed at home? Why the dressing up and make up and jewelry when going out?

Women should not wear perfume or makeup in front of Non-Mahram men, these attract Non-Mahram men’s attention!

Avoid drawing attention to jewelry and other hidden adornments.

Ask them what these can be? Shoes, Anklets, Jewelry that makes noise example Bangles.

.  Haya in speech is very important too.

Watching your words and expressions is vital. Not using inappropriate language is Haya, not cursing is Haya. Not back answering your parents is also Haya. Being respectful of them, using a soft tone of speech, not arguing with them, being kind and respectful of them is also part of Haya. This part of Haya is not watched by anyone, except Allah azzawajal and HE deserves the best of our speech and actions and next it’s our parents who do so.

ACTIVITY: Let the students enact a small skit, detailing behavior toward parents. Let them see both aspects of speech so they themselves can figure out which is heart breaking and rude and which is gentle and Islamic.

So Haya would include,

Ø  Haya of the eyes

Ø  No physical contact with Non-Mahrams

Ø  Proper Dress code

Ø  Avoiding display of makeup and adornments in front of Non-Mahrams

Ø  Appropriate speech and tone.

NOTE: If Teachers have some more ideas to add in they are more than welcome kindly share those with MCNA Committee too by emailing mcna4us@gmail.com  jzk khair.