The Female Spirit

I have recently realized that Sidi Hakim and Shaykh Abdullah Adhami have very similar messages with regards to certain issues, one of which is the nature of women. One of the interesting things that Sidi Hakim says is that the reason jamat is recommended for men is so that they can establish a connection with other people. The character of men is such that they need it to be set out for them. Women, on the other hand, by their intrinsic nature will seek out that connection and therefore, they do not need to be prescribed jamat.

The excerpt below is from http://www.sakeenah.org/. It is from a collaborative venture with Star Jones Reynolds in a book titled Shine: A Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love(New York: Harper Collins, January 6, 2006) where Shaykh Adhami writes about women and their spirituality. It is beautiful, eloquent and it reminded me of what Sidi Hakim says about women.

Women are endowed with a spiritual preeminence that stems from their devotion to genuineness and belonging. It is a yearning for what is viscerally authentic in all their connections and relationships especially with God. It is this very essence that makes woman profoundly soulful in her giving and at once so insatiable in her yearning. It is also what makes her so bewilderingly enigmatic, so disarmingly incomprehensible even to herself. Ironically, it is also this gift that makes her appear tentative, often uncertain when all that she wishes is for everything that she ever does to be meaningful, authentic and pure. Women usually need privacy when they pray to replenish their formidable repertoire of giving, though their very essence is a form of prayer; their speech is prayer; and (as distinct from their whims) their feelings are prayer too. Devotion is the secret behind a woman's eloquence and the essence of her virtue. This is epitomized by Mary in the Quran, and Fatimah in the prophetic tradition.