THE NATURAL ORDER
The Quran states that God has created everything in this world in pairs:
“We created pairs of all things so that you might reflect.” (51:49)
According to this natural principle, human beings too have been created in two parts: one part is man and the other is woman. This is a creative design of the Creator Himself. Every man and woman must accept this design. It is not possible for anyone to reject it and construct an alternative life plan. Accepting this natural plan is success; rejecting it is failure.
This division into pairs demands that each side understands its position and role. A man must know what his rights and responsibilities are. Similarly, a woman must understand her scope of responsibilities and the status she has been granted in the framework of life as ordained by the Creator.
In simple terms, the man is responsible for managing external affairs, and the woman is the leader of the household. According to this principled division, the man’s duty is to handle matters outside the home, and the woman’s duty is to organize and manage affairs within the home.
However, to ensure this division of roles works harmoniously, it is necessary that both recognize each other’s sensitivities and cooperate fully with one another.
For example, if the man earns a fixed monthly income, and the woman plans household expenses beyond that limit, the smooth running of the household becomes impossible. Similarly, if the woman develops rivalry with the man’s close relatives, or considers those as enemies whom the man wishes to treat well, or seeks to sever ties that the man wishes to maintain for social reasons, then these actions amount to disrupting the natural order.
Whenever a woman behaves in this manner, she is not just opposing a man—she is, in effect, opposing the very system of nature.
It is necessary for a woman to be guided not merely by her emotions, but to keep the Creator’s design in view. She must acknowledge that she is one half of humanity—not its entirety. She must assess her personal feelings against the order of nature and, where there is conflict, must willingly suppress her emotions and embrace the natural order with acceptance.
The universe itself runs on the principle of mutual harmony. Every element in creation performs its function in coordination with others, fully obedient to this order. The same is expected within the family system. Here too, the woman is required to shape her life in harmony with the household’s overall framework. Within this harmony lies the secret to all success and well-being.
To maintain the smooth functioning of the home, a woman must also consider the feelings of others along with her own. She must be aware not only of her rights but also her responsibilities. She must honour not just her blood relations but also her in-laws and extended family. And she must do all this with the understanding that she is not bowing to any man or woman, but rather, to the will of the Creator of nature—because this is what the Creator wants.
The principle of pairs initially implies that the man is paired with the woman, and the woman with the man. But in broader terms, it encompasses all of life. In its wider application, it means that every man and woman in this world is connected with one another. Life is a system of collective human cooperation. Each man or woman is merely one link in this universal chain. If even one link breaks, the entire chain collapses.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of every individual link to maintain its integrity to the highest degree—so that the life system established by nature may not fall into disorder.
