Estimated reading time: 19 minute(s)
by Fudia Muhammad
The Book of Proverbs (NKJV) reads, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so, he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life” (31: 10-12). The next 19 verses go on to describe in great detail the divine characteristics and noble qualities of a virtuous wife. There are many Biblical versions and translations of this same verse asking: “Who can find a virtuous woman” (KJV); “A wife of noble character who can find” (NIV); “A worthy woman who can find” (ASV)? However, the New King James Version gets right to the heart of the inquiry – a man is looking for a wife. He’s not just looking for any woman; not a girlfriend, a boo, a lover, or a one-night stand – for she’s easy to find. But this particular translation implies that the wife the man seeks is very difficult to find because he also requires that she be virtuous.
When a man is seeking a wife, the one woman whom he will commit to for the rest of his life; the one he will adore, maintain and protect, and whom he desires to bear his children, his standards are justifiably raised. Now, virtuous means many things indeed. It means,righteous, moral, decent, noble, respectable, etc. But virtuous also means pure, innocent, untouched, chaste, celibate – a virgin. Hmm. This scripture makes a lot more sense today than it did centuries ago because in the 21st century, a virtuous or virgin wife is far more difficult for a man to find.
Now before my modern feminist Sisters get all bent out of shape, let’s reason. If we are being completely honest with ourselves and listen to the nature in which God created us and not the noise of the world; every mature woman with a less than virtuous past has regrets and wishes she had done things differently. The fact is new brides still dress in white symbolizing virginity and purity; every groom desires a wife that no other man has ever been with; and every parent desires for their children to remain virgins until marriage (just ask them). Why is that?
In his lecture, How to Give Birth to a God: Part 5, The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “Once in your life, Sister, you have your virtue. And after it is gone, you can’t get it back again – that virginity, that’s what I’m speaking of. And really, you can only love once; really perfectly. Only God can bring it back the second time and make it as sweet as the first love, or sweeter. But without God, when you get a woman that has already been used and abused, she never gives the man the second time what she gave the man the first time…”
According to the Law of God, premarital sex is forbidden. Is Allah’s (God’s) way antiquated; or are we just guilty of using deceptive intelligence to justify our disobedience and rebellion against a divine command? We could be charged with perpetrating a fraud when we elevate and extol the blessed “virgin” Mary while very few strive to emulate her example. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad did not tip-toe around his mission concerning the sacredness of our women and girls. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “Most of the little girls in the University of Islam were virgins – and that’s just a fact. You could find more virgins in the University of Islam than you find among the nuns. And it was the virtue of the women and girls that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad felt was more valuable than increased knowledge at the expense of your chastity. Because virtue and chastity builds character in a woman; but education doesn’t necessarily build your character.”
Therefore, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan along with other Believers were asked by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad to sacrifice sending their daughters away to college until he could finish building the university-level of MUI, which would allow them to be educated “in an environment that would protect the righteousness that he had inculcated in them since they were little girls.” The Minister obeyed the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s instructions, but there was a Brother who sent his daughter away to college anyway. The Minister said, “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told me to tell that man that if anything happened to his daughter while she was in the ‘devil’s institution,’ he would hold him thoroughly responsible. And if she violated the law of God while she was there; not only would she be punished, but the double punishment would come to him.”
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad was not anti-education; in fact, he wanted the Sisters highly educated and taught us that an ignorant woman is a sin. But he had a much broader far-seeing mission. Therefore, he understood that the type of education that was being offered at most colleges and universities was not worth corrupting our girls; they are priceless – far above rubies. Proper education will not only build-up the mind; but it will also build virtue, character and righteousness. Being highly degreed, yet immoral makes us fit for the devil’s world; but of little value to God. Allah (God) wants the woman to assist Him in the creation of human life; a new man and a new woman who will establish His kingdom on earth.
For a woman, sex is not simply a physical act. The woman is a receiver. When she gives herself to a man, she receives him in return. She receives him emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically. And if what she receives is not of God; she does not benefit, but instead suffers a tremendous loss. And what she loses is no longer available. Unless Allah (God) intervenes, the next man will have a difficult time navigating through all of her baggage, which is stuffed with the burdens of all her past experiences. So, Mother Tynnetta Muhammad said that it takes about three years for a woman who has been intimate with a man to be completely free of him on every level before she can begin a new relationship burden-free.
This is not a world that encourages young girls to value their virginity and to remain chaste until marriage. So, who can find a virtuous wife? She is indeed difficult to find, but not impossible. In the midst of a rebellious nation there is a man who, like his father before him, is fighting to produce a Nation of women and girls who understand their sacredness and delight in pleasing God. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches women and girls that not only should we strive mightily to maintain our virtue; but we should also be ready and willing to fight, kill and die to protect that virtue if any man tries to take what we are not willing to give. That’s the value of a virtuous woman in the eyes of God and in the eyes of righteous men.
Let’s take every opportunity we have to encourage our young girls to be proud of their virginity; giving them the assist they all need to walk the uphill road,so they will continue to be pure reflections of God.
(Sister Fudia Muhammad is a member of Muhammad Mosque No. 64 in Austin, Texas. She is married to Student Minister Robert L. Muhammad and they have been blessed with four children. Sister Fudia holds a Master’s degree in Education – she is a writer, an educator and an advocate for God-centered child-rearing.)
