BODY OF THE SPEECH
In the name of God, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful, we open this exclusive session for women, in Medani City, at the home of my son Sayed ElTayeb Shaib, on Monday, the 17th of June, 1974, at 6:40 in the evening. The intention of having this session confined and private, attended only by three or four fathers from the community, is to allow women an opportunity to ask questions. Perhaps, in a mixed meeting, some of the women will ask questions, or comment, but not all of them. At this time, the first opportunity to speak will be for the guests, and then the Republican`\(New Islamic Mission) Sisters may participate in enlivening the course of the session. In our sessions, we usually touch on broad subject areas to encourage discussion.
GENDER INTEGRATION IS AN ORIGINAL PRECEPT IN RELIGION
In the recent past, we used to hold exclusive sessions for women. The themes of these sessions were also exclusive. We discussed matters of personal status, and Personal Statute Code―that is to say, marriage, divorce, alimony, custody, and other issues of particular concern to women. We believe that this stage of separation will not last long, because the more natural way is for the community of women and men to be mixed. Within this mixing, people are expected to be virtuous, chaste, and pure. This, of course, is the aim of religion. However, people cannot pursue the aim of religion in a hurry. It is pursued through refinement. It is not merely a haphazard pursuit. When religion enjoined women to be veiled behind a closed door, and to draw their cloaks close round them when outside, and not to be out unless there was a necessity, this was not the primary aim of religion. Its aim was to move the woman gradually (forward), until she is chaste at heart, morally mature, and personally trustworthy, not entrusted to her father, her brother, or her husband. Before a woman succeeds in attaining this level, there had to be guardianship over her.
