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The Hijab .. Why ?
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The Hijab .. Why?
Dr: Muhammad Ismail
Translation & Comments
Dr: Saleh As-Saleh
&
"A View Through Hijab"
A Japanese Woman
INTRODUCTION
ALL praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, the Most
Merciful, the Beneficent, and the Master of the Day of
Judgment. O Allah! Have Your Salat(1) and Salam (peace) and
blessing upon Your slave and Messenger Muhammad and
upon all of his companions.
Extraordinary consideration has been given by the Islamic
Law to women's affairs. Such consideration is sufficient to
protect her chastity, to honor her and to secure her position in
life. The "restrictions" placed upon her regarding her dress and
the display of her beauty and ornament is only to guard
against all ways of corruption arising from such dazzling
displays. What Islam has established is not a restriction on
the freedom of women but is a firm protection for her from
falling down to the lowest levels of humility.
In this work, we mention the virtues of a critical aspect of this
protection: the HIJAB. The characteristics of the Hijab are
discussed, bringing the glad tidings promised (by Allah) to
those women adhering to it. We also point out the danger of
dazzling displays of ornaments and beauty as well as the
terrible repercussions in this life and in the hereafter for those
who practice Tabar'roj.
This is the second edition of this book. It comes at a time
when more women are throwing away their revealing clothes,
and wearing the Hijab. It goes to print when Muslim women
are being raped and tom in their Hijabs in "civilized" Europe(2)!
and when France(3) prevents Muslim women from wearing the
Hijab at school. These are times of trials for Muslims and
particularly for Muslim women. We all have to remember the
path of the Prophets: endurance, patience, holding on, and
aiming high by keeping the way of Allah above everything.
Allah knows our intentions and He is Sufficient to Us and He
is the Best Guardian.
Shayekh - Dr. Muhammad Bin Ismail
Translator and Commentator: Dr. Saleh As-Saleh
13/6/ 1414 Hj. Nov.26, 1993
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(1) The Salat of Allah upon prophet Muhammad is His Praise and
mentioning of the Prophet to the angels in the Most High place in
Heaven
(2) Bosnia is a testimony against the "civility" of Europe and the West.
Civility stops at the word: Muslim or Islam!
(3) The country that raises the banner of: equality, brotherhood, and
freedom.!!!
THE VIRTUES OF HIJAB
(1) AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE
The Hijab is an act of obedience to Allah SW(4) and to His
Messenger Muhammad (SAAW(5)). He (SW) says:
} وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ
وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا مُبِينًا{ [الأحزاب، 36]
"It is not for a believer, man or woman,
when Allah and His Messenger have
decreed a matter that they should have
an option in their decision. And
whoever disobeys Allah and His
Messenger, has indeed strayed in a
plain error." (Qur'an 33:36)
Allah (SW) also says:
} فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ
بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ
وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا{ [ النساء، 65 ]
"But no by your Lord, they can have no
Faith, until they make you
(Muhammad (SAAW)) a judge in all
disputes between them, and find in
themselves no resistance against your
decisions, and accept (them) with full
submission." (Qur'an 4:65)
Indeed,, Allah ordered that women must put on the Hijab(6).
He (SW) says:
} وَقُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ
فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ
بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ { [النور،31]
"And tell the believing women to lower
their gaze (from looking at forbidden
things) and protect their private parts
(from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not
to show off their adornment except
what must (ordinarily) appear thereof,
that they should draw their veils over
their Juyubihinna(7)." (Qur'an 24:31).
Allah considered the dazzling display of beauty an act of ignorance:
} وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجْنَ تَبَرُّجَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ الْأُولَى{ [الأحزاب،33]
"And stay in your houses and do not
display yourselves like that of the times
of Jahiliyeeyah(8) (ignorance). " (Qur'an 33:33)
He, Most Glorified, says:
} وَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُنَّ مَتَاعًا فَاسْأَلُوهُنَّ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ
ذَلِكُمْ أَطْهَرُ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنَّ{ [الأحزاب، 53 ]
"And when you ask the Prophet's wives
for anything you want, ask them from
behind a screen." (Qur'an 33:53)
The above Ayah (verse) does not apply only to the Prophet's
wives but to all of the believing women. Carefully read the
following saying of Allah (SW):
} يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَنْ يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ { [الأحزاب،59]
"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your
daughters and the women of the
believers to draw their cloaks (veils)
over their bodies (when outdoors). That
is most convenient that they should be
known and not molested."(9) (Qur'an 33:59)
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
" المَرأة عَوْرةَ "
"The woman (i.e. any woman) is A'wrah (10)", that is she must be covered.
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(4) SW: Subhanahu Wata'ala, Most Glorified and Most High is He.
(5) SAAW: Salla Allahu Aleihi Wassalam: May the Salat and Salaam
(Peace) of Allah be upon His Prophet Muhammad
(6)This is not something cultural. It is Allah's order. Its conditions are not
Arabian, Egyptian, Pakistani, Black or White American, etc. Its
conditions are specified in the Qur'an and Sunnah to provide a protection
and safeguarding of women. No one knows about what is good for men
and women more than their Creator, Allah. His laws are Wise as it is the
case with all of His actions.
(7) Juyubihinna: The respected scholars from As-Salaf As-Saleh (righteous
predecessors) differed whether the veil cover of the body must include
the hands and face or not. Today, respected scholars say that the hands
and face must be covered. Other respected scholars say it is preferable
for women to cover their whole bodies.
(8) Jahilyeeyah: The days of ignorance prior to the Revelation of the Qur'an.
(9) No one can ignore the molestation of women that exists in the so called
"open" societies. The question is: why it is happening? The answer
begins to shape up when people think about the purpose behind
creation. Allah created us for the single purpose of worshipping Him
alone. He detailed all the ways to fulfill this purpose in the Last
Revelation to all mankind, the Qur'an. In it we can find how women and
men can safeguard their dignity, honor, and morality. The worship of
Allah is manifested in the following of His orders. Allah orders that
men and women must avoid all the roads that lead to animalistic ways of
living. The Hijab is one of Allah's commands. It is an honor and
protection for women as well as a true freedom for her body from the
hands and eyes of aggressors and molesters.
(l0) This hadeeth is narrated by Abdullah bin Masoud and collected by
At-Tirmidhi who said it is Hassan-Ghareeb i.e. good and Ghareeb (The
Ghareeb is a narration by one narrator either in each level of the levels
of the chain of narrators or in some levels of the chain). Also As-Siyouti
hinted that it is authentic.
(2) THE HIJAB IS IFFAH (MODESTY):
Allah (SW) made the adherence to the Hijab a manifestation
for chastity and modesty:
} يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَنْ يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا
يُؤْذَيْنَ { [الأحزاب،59]
"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your
daughters and the women of the
believers to draw their cloaks (veils)
over their bodies (when outdoors). That
is most convenient that they should be
known and not molested." (Qur'an 33: 59)
In the above Ayah there is an evidence that the recognition of
the apparent beauty of the woman is harmful to her. When the
cause of attraction ends, the restriction is removed. This is
illustrated in the case of elderly women who may have lost
every aspect of attraction. Allah (SW) made it permissible for
them to lay aside their outer garments and expose their faces
and hands reminding, however, that it is still better for them to
keep their modesty:
} وَالْقَوَاعِدُ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ اللَّاتِي لَا يَرْجُونَ نِكَاحًا
فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْهِنَّ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ يَضَعْنَ ثِيَابَهُنَّ غَيْرَ مُتَبَرِّجَاتٍ
بِزِينَةٍ وَأَنْ يَسْتَعْفِفْنَ خَيْرٌ لَهُنَّ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ { [النور،60 ]
"And as for women past child-bearing
who do not expect wed-lock, it is no sin
for them if they discard their (outer) in
such a way as not to show their
adornment; but it is best to be modest
and Allah knows and sees all things
provided they do not make a display of
their beauty; but it is best to be modest
and Allah knows and sees all
things." (Qur'an 24:60)
So how about young women? Clearly they must stay modest
find not display their beauty.
(3) THE HIJAB IS TAHARA (PURITY)
Allah (SW) had shown us the Hikma (Wisdom) behind the
legislation of the Hijab:
} وَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُنَّ مَتَاعًا فَاسْأَلُوهُنَّ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ
ذَلِكُمْ أَطْهَرُ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنَّ{ [الأحزاب، 53]
"And when you ask them (the Prophet's
wives) for anything you want, ask them
from behind a screen, that is purer for
your hearts and their hearts." (Qur'an 33:53)
The Hijab makes for greater purity for the hearts of believing
men and women because it screens against the desire of the
heart. Without the Hijab, the heart may or may not desire.
That is why the heart is more pure when the sight is blocked
(by Hijab) and thus the prevention of fitna (evil actions) is
very much manifested. The Hijab cuts off the ill thoughts and
the greed of the sick hearts:
} فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ
وَقُلْنَ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا { [الأحزاب، 32]
"Be not soft in speech, lest he in whose
heart is a disease (of hypocrisy or evil
desire for adultery, etc.) should be
moved with desire, but speak in an
honorable manner." (Qur'an 33:32)
(4) THE HIJAB IS A SHIELD
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"إنَّ الله حَييٌ سِتَّير يُحِبُّ السِتْر"
"Allah, Most High, is Ha'yeii(11), Sit'teer)12(, He loves Haya'
(Bashfulness) and Sitr (Shielding; Covering)"(13).
The Prophet (SAAW) also said:
"إيما إمرأةٌ نَزَعَت ثِيابَها في غير بيتِ أهلِها، خَرَقَ الله عزَّ وجَلَّ عَنها سِتْرِها"
"Any woman who takes off her clothes in other than her
husband's home (to show off for unlawful purposes). has
broken Allah's shield upon her"(14)
The hadeeth demonstrates that depending upon the kind of
action committed there will be either reward (if good) or
punishment (if bad).
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(11) Ha'yeii: Allah is Bashful: He does not unravel the acts of disobedience
by His slaves. They openly disobey Allah while they are in need of Him,
yet He (being Ha'yeii) is ashamed of humiliating them leaving the door
of repentance opened for them. If, however, they become arrogant and
persist on the spread of evil, and disobedience, Allah certainly is All-Just
in His infliction of punishment.
(12) Sit'teer: Allah is Sit'teer: He provides means that shield against the
uncovering of disobedient acts. The slaves commit acts of disobedience
while Allah is providing them with many of His favors. He (SW) gives
the opportunity for each one of us to return to Him in repentance and to
seek His forgiveness. He loves those who do not like the spread of sin.
He dislikes the Muslim who publicizes his acts of sin and disobedience.
He loves the Muslim who does not unravel the sins of his brother in
Islam while at the same time calls him to repent. The Hijab is something
beloved by Allaah because it is a shield against the spread of evil
manifested in the display of beauty to strangers.
(l3) Collected by Abu Dawoud, An-Nissa'ee, AI-Baihaqee, Ahmed, and in
Saheeh An-Nissa'ee.
(14) Collected by Abu Dawoud and At-Tirmidhi who said: it is a good hadeeth" .
(5) THE HIJAB IS TAQWAH (RIGHTEOUSNESS)
Allah (SW) says:
} يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَارِي سَوْآتِكُمْ
وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ { [الأعراف، 26]
"O Children of Adam! We have
bestowed raiment upon you to cover
yourselves (screen your private parts,
etc.) and as an adornment. But the
raiment of righteousness, that is
better." (Qur'an 7:26)
The widespread forms of dresses in the world today are mostly
for show off and hardly taken as a cover and shield of the
woman's body. To the believing women, however, the purpose
is to safeguard their bodies and cover their private parts as a
manifestation of the order of Allah. It is an act of Taqwah
(righteousness ).
(6)THE HIJAB IS EEMAN(BELIEF OR FAITH)
Allah (SW) did not address His Words about the Hijab except
to the believing women, Al-Mo'minat:
} وَقُل للمُؤمِناتِ { [النور،31]
"And say (O Muhammad (SAAW) to
the believing women." (Qur'an 24: 31)
In another Ayah Allah (SW) also says:
} ونِسآءِ المُؤمِنين{ الآية [الأحزاب،59]
"And the believing
women" (Qur'an 33: 59).
A'isha (RAA(15)) the wife of the Prophet (SAAW), addressed
some women from the tribe of Banu Tameem who came
visiting her and had light clothes on them:
"If indeed you are believing women, then truly this is not the
dress of the believing women, and if you are not believing
women, then enjoy it."(16)
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(15) RAA: Radiya Allahu anhu (anha or anhum): May Allah be pleased
with him (her or them)
(16) Reported in "Ma'alim As-Sunnan" by Abu Suleiman Al-Khitabi in his
explanation of Sunnan An-Nissa'ee V 4, p.376
(7) THE HIJAB IS HAYA'(BASHFULNESS)
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"إنَّ لِكُلَّ دين خُلُقاً، وخُلُقُ الإسلام الحياء"
"Each religion has a morality and the morality of Islam is
haya' (bashfulness)."(17)
He (SAAW) also said:
"Bashfulness is from belief and belief is in Aj-Jannah
(Paradise)."(18)
Furthermore, he (SAAW) said:
"الحياءُ والإيمانُ قُرِنا جميعاً، فإذا رُفِعَ أحَدُهُما رُفِعَ الآخر"
"Bashfulness and belief are fully associated together if one is
lifted the other follows suit."(19)
The mother of the believers, A'isha said: "I used to enter the
room where the Messenger of Allah (SAAW) and my father
were later buried in without having my garment on me,
saying it is only my husband and my father". But when Umar
(RAA) was later buried in (the same place), I did not enter
the room except that I had my garment on being shy from
Umar (RAA)."(20) The Hijab fits the natural bashfulness which
is a part of the nature of women.
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(17) Related by Imam Malik in his "Mu'wata" (2: 905-Arabic). The hadeeth
chain is Mursal i.e. the chain of narrators is disconnected at one point or
another. For example to say: "On the authority of A, on the authority of
B, on the authority of C that the Prophet said "...." . The hadeeth is
Mursal if for example C did not hear directly from the Prophet. In the
case of the above hadeeth, Ibin Habban connected the chain by two ways
of narrators, both of them are weak.
(18) collected by At-Tirmidhi who said it is: "a good and authentic hadeeth".
(19) Narrated by Abdul'lah bin Umar as Related by Al-Hakim in his
"Mustadrak" (1/22-Arabic) who said: "it is a good and authentic
Hadeeth….." and Al-Thahabi confirmed Al-Hakim on this.
(20) As-Simt Ath'ameeen Fee Maniqib Ummahat Ul-Mu'mineen, p.91:A
Book by Ibin As-Sakir that represents a collection of the great attributes
of the Mothers of Believers (The wives of the Prophet-SAAW). Al-
Hakim reported a similar narration and said that it is "good according to
the conditions of Imam Bukhari and Imam Mulslim", noting that both
Imams did not discuss the chain of narration itself. Al- Thahabi had no
comment about Al-Hakim's narration.
(8) THE HIJAB IS GHEERAH
The Hijab fits the natural feeling of Gheerah which is intrinsic
in the straight man who does not like people to look at his
wife or daughters. Gheerah is a driving emotion that drives
the straight man to safeguard women who are related to him
from strangers. The straight Muslim man has Gheerah for all
Muslim women. Many in the world had lost this great moral
aspect. In response to lust and desire men look (with desire) at
other women while they do not mind that other men do the
same to their wives or daughters! In "free" societies you see
men sitting with strange women who are half-naked
"enjoying" the scene! They introduce their wives to other
strange men. Mutual looks here and there! Affairs develop and
phone calls are exchanged. "Love affairs" destroys many
families and children suffer most. What kind of "love" is this?
The mixing of sexes and absence of Hijab kills the Gheerah in
men. The eyes "eat up" other men and women! The inner
"justification" is: since I can look they can look. It's a " free
choice"!! Few are those who feel anything when they discover
their wives have "affairs". They become numb!! No dignity !
No honor! The bottom line is that in many societies of this
modern World the animalistic behaviors are becoming very
apparent.
Ali (RAA) said: "It was related to me that you women used to
crowd the Kuffar (disbelieving men) from the non-Arabs in
the markets; don't you have Cheerah? There is no good in the
one who does not have Gheerah."
Islam considers Gherrah an integral part of faith .The dignity
of the wife or daughter or any other Muslim woman must be
highly respected and defended.
THE DISGRACE OF TABAR'ROJ"21"
(DISPLAY OF WOMAN'S CHARM)
(1)TABAR'ROJ IS A DISOBEDIENCE TO ALLAH & HIS MESSENGER
The one who disobeys Allah and his Messenger (SAAW) can
only harm himself and cannot in any way harm Allah. The
Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:
"كُلُّ أُمّتي يَدخُلونَ الجنَّةَ إلاَّ من أبى" فقالوا: يا رسولَ الله من يأبى؟ قال: "من
أطاعني دخلَ الجنّة ومن عصاني فقد أبى"
"All of my followers will enter Aj-Jannah except those who
refuse." They said, "O Allah's Messenger! Who will refuse? "
He said, "Whoever obeys me will enter Aj-Jannah, and
whoever disobeys me is the one who refuses (to enter it)."(21)
It is reported that Mu'awiyah (RAA) gave a sermon in Humss
(Syria) and mentioned that the Prophet (SAAW) prohibited
seven things and that he (SAAW) named Tabar'roj as one of
them(22). Abdullah bin Mas'oud (RAA) reported that the
Prophet (SAAW) "used to dislike ten kinds of behavior and he
(Abdullah) mentioned amongst them: "Tabar'roj by means of
displaying beautification in an improper place."(23) Imam As-
Siyouti, may Allah's mercy be upon him said: "Tabar'roj by
displaying beautification is showing off to strangers and this is
disliked. This is the explanation of "an improper place." It is
not so if the beautification is done for the husband.
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(21) Saheeh Al-Bukhari (English-Arabic, Dar Al-Arabia, Publ. Beirut,
Lebanon), V.9, hadeeth # 384, p.284
(22) Related by Imam Ahmed in his Mussnad 4/101-Arabic.
(23) Related by An-Nissa'ee in his " Sunan "Arabic 8/141.
(2) TABAR'ROJ IS A GRAVE DESTRUCTIVE SIN
Umay'mah, the daughter of Ruqay'ah came to the Messenger
of Allah to acknowledge the message of Islam and that he
(SAAW) is the Messenger of Allah (SW). The Prophet
(SAAW) told her: "I give my acknowledgment that you must
not set partners to worship besides Allah and that you don't
steal or commit fornication and adultery, that you don't kill
your child, that you don't commit any falsehood before your
hands and between your legs, that you don't wail, and that
you don't make Tabar'roj like that of Jahilyeeyah(24). It is clear
that the Prophet (SAAW) associated Tabar'roj with grave
destructive sins.
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(24) Related by Imam Ahmed in his "Mussnad" 2/196. The scholar Ahmed
Shaker, may Allah's Mercy be upon him, said : " Its chain of narration is
good". He also said that Ibin Khatheer in his "Tafseer :Explanation of the
Qur'an 8: 327-328" mentioned this hadeeth saying, "its chain of narration
is good" and he related it to At-Tirmidhi, An-Nissa'ee and Ibin Majah.
(3)TABAR'ROJ BRINGS THE CURSE AND EXPULSION
FROM THE MERCY OF ALLAH.
The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:
"سيَكُونُ في آخِر أُمَّتي نساءٌ كاسِياتٌ عارياتٌ، على رُؤوسِهِنَّ كأسنِمَةِ البُختِ،
إلعَنوهُنّ فإنَّهُنَّ ملعونات"
"There shall be, in the latter part of my nation, women who
are dressed but (in fact) naked, on their heads are humps like
those of Bukht (one kind of camels), curse them for they are
surely cursed."(25)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(25) At-Tabarani related this hadeeth in "Al-Mu'jam As-Sagheer" p.232 and
Al-Albani said it Saheeh as in his book "The Hijab" p.56. As-Siyouti
related on behalf of Ibin Abdul'barr that: "The Prophet (SAAW) intended
women who put on light clothes that shows off and shapes the body
descriptions. In reality they are naked although they have clothes on them! ".
(4)TABAR'ROJ IS AN ATTRIBUTE OF THE PEOPLE OF
HELL
The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:
"صِنفان من أهلِ النَّار لم أرَهُما: قومٌ معَهُم سِياطٌ كأذناب البَقر يضرِبونَ بها
النَّاس، ونِساءٌ كاسِياتٌ عارِياتٌ، مُميلاتٌ، رُؤوسَهُنَّ كأسنِمَةِ البُختِ المائِلة، لا
يَدْخُلنِ الجنَّةَ، ولا يَجِدْنَ ريحَها، وإنَّ ريحَها لَيوجَدُ من مَسيرةِ كذا وكذا"
Of the people of Hell there are two types whom I have never
seen, the one possessing whips like the tail of an ox and they
flog people with them. The second one, women who would be
naked in spite of their being dressed, who are seduced (to
wrong paths) and seduce others with their hair high like
humps. These women would not get into Aj-Jannah and they
would not perceive its odor, although its fragrance can be
perceived from such and such distance.(26)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(26) Saheeh Muslim (English-Arabic, Published by Dar Al-Arabia, Beirut.
Lebanon) V. 4 hadeeth # 6840 p. 1486.
(5)TABAR'ROJ IS DARKNESS ON THE DAY OF RESURRECTION
It is related that the Prophet (SAAW) said:
"مَثَلُ الرَّافِلَةِ في الزَّينَةِ في غيرِ أهلِها، كَمَثَلِ ظُلْمَةٍ يوم القيامة، لا نور لها"
The parable of a woman who moves with slow sweeping
motion, trailing her beautified clothes, performing not for her
husband, is like darkness on the Day of Judgment; she has (or
comes with) no light,"(27)
"خَيْرُ نِسائِكُم الوَدود، الوَلُود، المُواتِية، المُواسية، إذا اتَّقيْنَ الله، وشَرّ نِسائِكُم
المُتَبَرَّجات المًتَخَيَّلات، وهُنَّ المُنافِقات، لا يَدخُلِ الجنَّةَ مِنْهُنَّ إلاَّ مِثلُ الغُرابِ
الأعصَم"
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(27) Related by Imam At-Tirmidhi in his "Sunan" # 1167. Al-Albani said it
is a weak hadeeth (See Al-Albani's collection "Ad-Da'eefah" (Collection
of Weak Hadeeths) # 1800. Abu Bakr Bin Arabi, may Allah's Mercy be
upon him, said: "At-Tirmidhi related this hadeeth and said it is weak but
its meaning is correct because the "enjoyment" in disobedience is in fact
torture and suffering……". The meaning indicates that this type of
women will come on the Day of Judgment Blackened in darkness as if
she physically originated from darkness. In contrast, what appears to be
difficult and painful in performance of obedient acts, is a true enjoyment
because of the reward awaiting those who obey Allah and His Messenger
e.g. the odor of the mouth of a fasting Muslim may not be pleasant in
this world. To Allah, however, it is better than the odor of Musk because
the Muslim had obeyed Allah and performed what is due upon him from
fasting. Similarly the woman wearing her Hijab may be looked upon as
"reactionary, old fashioned, a walking tent! etc." She is the winner on the
Day of Judgment and those who mock her put themselves on a dangerous
road. They may be subjected to the wrath of Allah.
(6)TABAR'ROJ IS NIFAQ (HYPOCRISY)
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"The best of your women is the affectionate , the fertile (in
productivity), the propitious (favorable), the consultative if
they fear Allah. the Most evil of your women are the
Mutabar'rijat (those who do Tabar'roj), the Mutakhayelat
(who strut/swagger), and they are the hypocrite ones. Those
who enter Aj-Jannah are like the Cough Crow."(28) The Cough
Crow has a red beak and red legs. This is an expression of
metonymy indicating that few women enter Heaven because
this kind of crow is rare.
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(28) Reported by Al-Baihaqi in "As-Sunan" V.7 p.82. Also reported by
Abu Na'eem in "Al-Hiliyah" V. 8, p. 376 with a reference to Abdullah
bin Masoud (RAA) as the narrator. See also Al-Albani's "Chain of
Authentic Hadeeths - Arabic" # 1849 and 632.
(7) TABAR'ROJ IS DISGRACEFUL
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"أَيُّمَا امرأةٍ وَضَعَت ثِيابَها في غيرِ بيتِ زَوجِها، فقد هتَكَت سِترَ ما بينها وبين الله عزَّ وجَلَّ"
"Any woman who takes off her clothes in other than her
husbands home (to show off for an unlawful purpose), has
broken the shield between her and Allah."(29) Imam Al-
Man'nawi, may Allah have Mercy upon him, said: "the saying
of the Prophet (SAAW) ' any woman who takes off her clothes
in other than her husbands home' means showing off her
beauty to strangers by taking off her shield of clothes. She
"has broken the shield between her and Allah" because Allah
had said:
} يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَارِي
سَوْآتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ {
الآية [الأعراف،26]
"O children of Adam! We have
bestowed raiment upon 'you to cover
yourselves (screen your private parts
etc.) and as an adornment. But the
raiment of righteousness, that is
better."(Qur'an 7:26)
So if a woman does not fear Allah and uncover her private
parts then she is breaking the shield between her and Allah,
Most High. And because she uncovered and dishonored
herself and committed a treason with her husband, Allah will
uncover her shield, she will be in a scandal... "
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(29) Related by Imam Ahmed and Al-Hakim in his "Mustadrek" (Arabic)
V.4, p.288 who said it is Saheeh (authentic) according to the conditions
of Muslim and Al-Bukhari, and Ad-Dahabi agreed as well as Ibin Majah.
(8) TABAR'ROJ IS AN UNCHASTE AND DISGRACEFUL SIN
The woman is A'wrah, All of her body is not to be shown(30)
To wear the clothes that show off and shapes her body
features is disgraceful and Allah (SW) orders His slaves to
stay away from disgraceful sins:
} وَإِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً قَالُوا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهَا آبَاءَنَا وَاللَّهُ
أَمَرَنَا بِهَا قُلْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَأْمُرُ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ أَتَقُولُونَ عَلَى
اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ { [الأعراف،28]
"When they commit a Fahisha (evil
deed, going round the Ka'ba in naked
state as in the times of Jahilyeeyah,
every kind of unlawful sexual
intercourse etc.), they say: 'We found
our fathers doing it and Allah has
commanded us of it.' Say: "Nay, Allah
never commands of Fahisha. Do you
say of Allah what you know not?"
(Qur'an 7:28)
It is Shaytan (Satan) who orders such disgraceful sins. Allah
(SW) says:
} الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ {
الآية [البقرة، 268]
"Shaytan threatens you with poverty
and orders you to commit sins. "(Qur'an 2: 268)
The Mutabar'rigah is a sinful virus that spreads disgraceful
sins amongst the Muslim society. Allah, the Most High, says:
} إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَن تَشِيعَ الفَاحِشَةُ فِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ
لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ { [النور،19]
"Verily, those who like, that (the crime
of) illegal sexual intercourse should be
propagated among those who believe,
they will have a painful torment in this
world and in the Hereafter. And Allah
knows and you know not." (Qur'an 24:19)
Tabar'roj is a leading cause for the spread of Zina (illegal
sexual intercourse).
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(30) See footnote # 7.
(9) TABAR'ROJ IS A SATANIC WAY
The story of Adam and his wife demonstrates how the enemy
of Allah, Satan, was so covetous to incite them to show their
private parts in order to spread evil and disgraceful sins. It
also shows that the Tabar'roj of women is a primary goal for
Shaytan to achieve. Allah (SW) says:
} يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَارِي
سَوْآتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ { الآية [الأعراف،26]
"O children of Adam! We have
bestowed raiment upon you to cover
yourselves (screen your private parts
etc.) and as an adornment. But the
raiment of righteousness, that is
better." (Qur'an 7:26)
It is clear that Satan is the one who established the call for
Tabar'roj and show off and that he is the leader of those "
leaders " who call for the "liberation of women". Satan is the
"Imam" of everyone who obeys and follows him in
disobedience to Allah (The Most Merciful), especially those
Mutabar'rijat who harm the Muslims and deceive their youth.
The Prophet ( SAAW) said:
ما تَرَكْتً بَعدي فتنةً هيَ أضَرُ على الرجالِ من النِساء""
"I have not left after me any (chance) of turmoil more harmful
to men than the harm done to the men because of women.(31)
Adam forgot, made a mistake, repented and asked forgiveness
from Allah and Allah the Oft-Forgiving accepted Adam's
repentance. The struggle between Adam's off-springs and
Shaytan continues. The devil still whispers to drive us , men
and women, to disobey Allah and follow sin. There is no
safeguard except in the return to Allah in good faith and
repentance, remembering Allah, asking His help to overcome
lust and desire.
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(31) Saheeh Muslim (English translation; published by Dar Al-Arabia) V. 4, hadeeth # 6603, p. 1431
(10) TABAR'ROJ IS THE WAY OF JEWS
Jews have an important role in the destruction of nations
through the Fitna. (seduction/temptation) of women. The
spread of Tabar'roj is an effective weapon of their widespread
establishments. They have an extensive experience in this
field. One should look around only to see who runs Hollywood
and famous Houses of "Fashions" and "Magazines" as well as
the world of advertisement!. R-rated, X-rated movies and
clothes are widespread. In fact the Prophet ( SAAW) said:
"فاتَّقُوا الُدنيا، واتَّقوا النساء، فإنَّ أولَ فتنةِ بني إسرائيل كانت في النساء"
"Watch out for this worldly life (safeguard yourselves from
its temptations); avoid the allurement of women: verily, the
first trial for the people of Israel was caused by women.(32)
Their Books also testify to this fact. In the Third Chapter of
Isaiah ( 16, 17):
"The Lord said: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with necks outstretched ogling and mincing as they
go, their anklets tinkling with every step. The Lord shall cover
the scalps of Zion's daughters with scabs, and the Lord shall
bare their heads." Furthermore, "On that day the Lord will do
away with the finery of the anklets, sunbursts, and crescents;
the pendants, bracelets, and veils; the headdresses, bangles,
cinctures, perfume boxes, and amulets; the signet rings, and
the rose rings; the court dresses, wraps, cloaks, and purses; the
mirrors,.." (Isaiah, 3, 18-23; The New American Bible).
Although the Prophet (SAAW) warned against mimicking the
Kuffar (non-believers) and their ways, especially the ways of
women. Many Muslims do not abide by this warning(33). This
is a testimony for the prophecy of the Prophet (SAAW) who said:
"لتَتَّبِعَنَّ سَنَنَ من كانَ قبلَكُم شبراً بِشبر وذراعاً بذراع، حتَّى لو دَخَلُوا جُحرَ ضَبٍ
لتَبعتُموهُم، قيل: اليهود والنصارى؟ قال: فمن؟"
"You would tread the same path as was trodden by those
before you inch by inch and step by step so that if they had
entered into the hole of a Dhab (a desert lizard), you would
follow them in this also. We said: Allah's Messenger, do you
mean Jews and Christians (by your words)" those before
you"? he said: Who else (than those two religious groups).(34)
The similarity of those women who disobey Allah and his
Messenger to the Jews is very evident because their response
to Allah's commands was similar to that of the Jews:
} قالوا سَمِعنا وَعَصَينا { الآية [البقرة،93]
"We have heard and disobeyed"
(Qur'an 2: 93)
This is unlike the response of the believing women:
} وقالوا سَمِعنا وَأطَعنا { الآية [البقرة، 285]
"We hear and we obey." (Qur'an 2: 285)
They remember the saying of Allah:
} وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى
وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ
وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا { [النساء، 115]
"And whoever contradicts and opposes
the Messenger (Muhammad-SAAW)
after the right path has been shown
clearly to him, and follows other than
the believers' way, We shall keep him
in the path he has chosen and burn
him in Hell; what an evil destination!"
(Qur'an 4: 115)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(32) Ibid, footnote # 31; Hadeeth # 6606, p.1432
(33) It is sad to see many who dislike the Kuffar in certain ways imitate
them in their ways of living thinking that their materialistic progress
could not be achieved except in acting, dressing, eating, jogging,
sleeping ..like them. The true Muslim, however, remembers that any
progress must meet the purpose for our presence on earth: all action must
be related to the worship of Allah. The Kuffar have taken some of the
means which Allah had created and used it for worldly gains. We are
ordered to make the means adhere to the purpose of our creation: the
worship of Allah Alone and thus uses the means to defend Islam and
Muslims and secure the needs of life as well. Why should some of us
dress the way Allah ordered and some does not? Should we choose
Allah's way or the Kuffar way? All the success is measured by one
criterion: does it meet the pleasure of Allah or not?
(34) A famous and Saheeh hadeeth reported by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and
others. The text here is as reported in Saheeh Muslim V. 4, hadeeth #
6448, p.1403
(11)TABAR'ROJ IS A FILTHY
JAHILYEEYAH (IGNORANCE)
Allah (SW) says:
} وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجْنَ تَبَرُّجَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ
الْأُولَى{ [الأحزاب،33]
"And stay in your houses and do not
display yourselves like that of the times
of ignorance" (Qur'an 33:33)
The Prophet (SAAW) described the times of ignorance as
filthy and wicked and ordered us to reject it. Allah (SW)
described the Prophet (SAAW) as :
} وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الخَبَائِثَ {
الآية [الأعراف،157]
"He allows them as lawful At-Tayyibat
(all i.e. good and lawful as regards
things, deeds, beliefs, persons, foods,
etc.), and prohibits them as unlawful
Al-Khaba'ith (all i.e. evil and unlawful
as regard things, deeds, beliefs,
persons, foods, etc.)" (Qur'an 7: 157)
The call to bring about the times of Jahilyeeyah is similar to
the call for Tabar'roj, both of which are wicked ways that the
Messenger (SAAW) made unlawful. He (SAAW) said:
"كُلٌّ شيءٍ من أمر الجاهلِيَّةِ موضُوعٌ تحتَ قَدَمَيَّ"
"Verily! every matter of Jahilyeeyah is under my feet!"(35)
Tabar'roj and all forms of Jahilyeeyah such as false pride and
haughtiness, ill thoughts about Allah, call for falsehood,
setting up rivals with Allah, ruling by other than the laws of
Islam, usury, etc., are all included.
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(35) Related by Abu Dawoud, At-Tirmidhi, Ibin Majah, and Ad-Darime'i
and Imam Ahmed.
(12)TABAR'ROJ IS AN ANIMAL ACT, RETARDATION
(DECADENCE) AND DECLINE
To reveal and expose are natural behaviors of animals.
Whenever man inclines towards such behaviors he starts his
decline to a level lower than the level of manhood which Allah
had bestowed upon him. Allah bestowed a natural inclination
(Fitrah) towards covering, preservation, and safeguarding
modesty. To consider the acts of display, exposition, and
uncovering as acts of beauty reflects a corruption to the Fitrah
and a degeneration in taste and a sign of decadence and
decline.
The progress of man's civility is linked to his/her covering of
the body. The Hijab cover is fitting to the instinct of Gheerah
which draws its strength from the soul. The so called
"liberation from the chains of covering" is an instinct that
draws its strength from lust which incites Tabar'roj and
mixing of the sexes. The one who is satisfied with this latter
instinct must sacrifice the first one in order to silence the
voice of the innate Gheerah in his heart in return for the
"enjoyment" of Tabar'roj and mixing. From this we
understand that the Tabar'roj is a sign of corruption of Fitrah,
lack of bashfulness, Gheerah, and insensitivity.
(13) TABAR'ROG IS A DOOR TO WIDESPREAD EVIL
Anyone who carefully examines the Islamic Texts (Qur'an and
Sunnah) and the lessons of history, becomes convinced about
the evils of Tabar'roj and its harm, both on religious and
worldly matters especially when it is associated with the
mixing of sexes. Some of its underlying consequences are:
ﷺ The Competition Amongst the Displaying Women in
Showing Off Their Beauty{tc \l 3 "A \:) The Competition
Amongst the Displaying Women in Showing Off Their
Beauty"}. This is seduction, and it leads to the spoiling of
morality and leaves women as merchandise articles exhibited
for anyone to look at.
ﷺ The Corruption of the Morality of Men, Especially
the Youth and Those in Adolescence. It pushes them to
commit various kinds of sins(36).
ﷺ The Destruction of Family Ties and Causing a Lack
of Trust Between Family Members and the Spread of
Divorce.
ﷺ The Commercial Abuse of Women In The World of
Advertisement, Entertainment And Other Areas As Well.
ﷺ Doing Harm to Women by Declaring Their Ill
Intentions and Evil Conscience Thus Rendering Her
Venerable To Harm By The Wicked And The Insolent.
ﷺ The Spread of Diseases.
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"لم تظهَرِ الفاحِشَةُ في قومٍ قط حتى يُعلنوا بها إلاَّ فشا فيهُم الطاعُون والأوجاع التي
لم تَكُن في أسلافِهِم الذين مَضَوْا"
"Sins didn't spread in any particular nation until they openly
conduct it and as a result, plague and other illnesses that
were not present among their predecessors became
widespread amongst them."(37)
ﷺ Facilitates The Sin of Zina (Fornication) By The Eye.
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"العَيْنانِ زِناهُما النَّظَر"
"The adultery of the eyes is the lustful look. ."(38)
ﷺ Tabar'roj Makes it Difficult to Lower The Gaze.
ﷺ Justifiably Brings Down Allah's Punishment
The punishment of Allah is more severe than atomic bombs
and earthquakes. Allah (SW) says:
} وَإِذَا أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نُهْلِكَ قَرْيَةً أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيهَا فَفَسَقُوا
فِيهَا فَحَقَّ عَلَيْهَا الْقَوْلُ فَدَمَّرْنَاهَا تَدْمِيرًا { [الإسراء،16]
"And when We(39) decide to destroy a
town (population), We (first) send a
definite order (to obey Allah and be
righteous) to those among them [or We
(first) increase in number those of its
Population] who are given the good
things in this life. Then, they transgress
therein, and thus the word (of torment)
is justified against it (them). Then We
destroy it with complete destruction."
(Qur'an 17: 16)
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"إنَّ النَّاسَ إذا رأوا المًنكَرَ فَلَم يُغيَّروهً أوشك أن يَعُمَّهُم الله بِعَذاب"
"When people see wrong (or evil) and they don't change it,
then it is imminent that the punishment of Allah will fall upon
them.(40)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(36) You may have seen teen-age kids on the corners of many streets in
Europe and in North America rooming around, smoking to get high, half
naked, and on drugs looking to engage in sex. Why? What happened?
Many try to hide from the hard facts! The drive for lust and materialistic
life became the "god" of the new generations: the Pepsi-Michael-MTV-
Jackson generations. The result: AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases.
(37) Part of a lengthy hadeeth related by Ibin Majah, Abu Na'eem, and Al-
Hakim who said: "it has a good chain of narrators". Ad-Dahabi agreed to
Al-Hakim's report.
(38) Saheeh Muslim V.4, hadeeth # 6421 p. 1397
(39) Plural Pronoun: Is used to stress the Greatness and Power of Allah
Who is One. It is common with Semitic languages for any Monarch to
use Plural Pronoun. It is also used by members of the Royal Family in
England. To Allah, however, belong the Highest and most Perfect
Example.
(40) Related by Abu Dawoud, At-Tirmidhi, Ibin Majah and lmam Ahmed.
THE OBLIGATORY CONDITIONS FOR AN ISLAMIC HIJAB
(1) COVERING ALL OF THE BODY
This respected author is in agreement with the position that
the face and hands of the woman must be covered as he has
detailed this in discussions of the Hijab issues in his book:
"The Return of the Hijab, Part 3". Some scholars say it is
permissible to uncover the face and the hands of the woman as
long as there is no fitna (infatuation) caused by her or inflicted
upon her. They see that if: a) she is beautiful and beautifies
her face and hands with external substances, and b) the
society around her is corrupt where men do not lower their
gaze, then it is prohibited for her to uncover her face and hands.
(2) THE HIJAB MUST NOT BE A DISPLAY
The Hijab itself must not be a display. Allah ordained it so as
to cover the beauty of women and not for show off. He (SW)
says:
} وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا { الآية [النور،31]
"And not to show of their adornment
except only that which is apparent."
(Qur'an 24: 31)
} وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجْنَ تَبَرُّجَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ الْأُولَى { [الأحزاب،33]
"And stay in your houses and do not
display yourselves like that of the times
of ignorance." (Qur'an 33:33)
It is not logical that the Hijab itself be a source of display.(41)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(41) Some women put on attractive covers on their heads. This is against
the purity of the Hijab and its essence.
(3) THE HIJAB MUST NOT BE TRANSPARENT
The purpose must be achieved. In order for the Hijab to be a
cover, it must not be made of transparent material making the
woman covered only by name(!)while in reality she is naked.
The Prophet (SAAW) said:
"سيَكُونُ في آخِر أُمَّتي نساءٌ كاسِياتٌ عارياتٌ، على رُؤوسِهِنَّ كأسنِمَةِ البُختِ،
إلعَنوهُنّ فإنَّهُنَّ ملعُونات"
"In the latest part of my Omaha (nation of Muslims) there
shall be women who would be naked in spite of being dressed,
they have hair high like the humps of the Bukht camel, curse
them, for they are cursed"(42). He (SAAW ) added in another
hadeeth:
" لا يَدْخُلْنَ الجنَّةَ، ولا يَجِدْنَ ريحَها، وإنَّ ريحَها لَيُوجَدُ من مَسيرةِ كَذا وكَذا"
"They will not enter Aj-Jannah and would not perceive its
odor, although its fragrance can be perceived from such and
such distance.(43)
This indicates that a woman could cause herself a grave and
destructive sin if she puts on a garment that is thin and
transparent and which clearly shapes her body's features.
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(42) At-Tabarani reported it and Al-Albani in his book "Al-Hijab" said it is
authentic.
(42) see footnote # 25
(4)HIJAB MUST BE ROOMY, FLOWING AND NOT TIGHT
The Hijab is a safeguard against Fitna. If tight, it will be
descriptive of the woman's body and this violates the purpose
of Hijab. Usamma Bin Zaid (RAA) said:
"كَساني رسولً الله- صلى الله عليه وسلَّم- قُبطِيَّة كَثيفة مما أهداهَا له دِحية
الكَلبي، فكَسَوتُها امرأتي، فقال "مالكَ لم تَلبِس القُبطيَّة؟" قلت: كَسَوتُها امرأتي،
فقال: "مُرها فلَتجعَل تَحتَها غُلالة وهي شِعارٌ يُلبِس تحتَ الثوب فإني أخاف أن
تَصِفَ حجمَ عِظامها"
"The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) dressed me with a thick
Qubtyeeyah (cotton dress from Egypt) which was a gift that
he received from Duhia Al-Kalbi. So I gave it to my wife to
wear. He (SAAW) said : "What made you not to wear the
فقال: "مُرها فلَتجعَل تَحتَها غُلالة وهي شِعارٌ يُلبِس تحتَ الثوب فإني أخاف أن
تَصِفَ حجمَ عِظامها"
"The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) dressed me with a thick
Qubtyeeyah (cotton dress from Egypt) which was a gift that
he received from Duhia Al-Kalbi. So I gave it to my wife to
wear. He (SAAW) said : "What made you not to wear the
Qubtyeeyah?" I said: "I dressed my wife with it. " He (SAAW)
said: " Order her to put an undergarment (or gown) under it,
because I am afraid it may describe the size of her bones.(44)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(44) Reported by Ad'Diya' Al-Maqdissi, Imam Ahmed, At-Tabarani, Al-
Baihaqi, and Ibin Sa'd. It is also reported that Al-Haithami said:
"amongst the chain of narrators is Abdullah Ibin Aqeel whose narrations
are good; yet according to some scholars there is Da'ff (weakness)
associated with him, and that the rest of narrators are Thuqat (men of
confidence regarding reporting). Ad-Dahabi said: " the level of Abdullah
Ibin Aqeel's narration is not below the rating of "good" (In Meezan Al-
I'tidal: Measure of Balanced (verifications); Arabic).
(5)THE HIJAB MUST NOT BE PERFUMED WITH INCENSE
The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:
"إيما امرأةٌ استَعطَرَت، فَمرَّت على قَومٍ لِيَجِدوا ريحها، فهي زانية"
"Any woman who perfumes herself and passes by some people
that they smell her scent, then she is a Zaniyah
(prostitute).(45)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(45) Related by Imam Ahmed, An-Nissa'ee, and Al-Hakim who said: "it has
an authentic chain of narration" and Ad-Dahabi agreed.
(6)THE HIJAB SHOULD NOT RESEMBLE MEN'S
DRESS
The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:
"ليسَ مِنَّا من تَشَبَّهَ بالرَّجالِ منَ النَّساءِ، ولا مَن تَشَبَّهَ بالنَّساءِ من الرَّجالِ"
"Women who assume the manners of men are not from us and
also those of men who assume the manners of women.(46)
Abu-Huraira (RAA) narrated that:
"لَعَنَ رسولً الله-صلى الله عليهِ وسلَّم-الرجل يلبس لبسة المرأة والمرأة تَلبَسُ لبسَة
الرجل..."
"The prophet (SAAW) cursed the man who wears the dress of
a woman and the woman who wears the dress of a man."(47)
knowingly condones and facilitates the Zina for his wife."(48)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(46) Reported by Imam Ahmed and Abu Na'eem. Al-Albani authenticated
it in his book "Al-Hijab" (PP 66-67).
(47) Related by Abu Dawoud, Ibin Majah, Al-Hakim, and Imam Ahmed.
Al-Hakim said:" it is an authentic hadeeth in accordance with the
conditions of (Imam) Muslim," and Ad-Dahabi agreed. It was also
authenticated by Imam Al-Nawawee.
(48) Related by An-Nissa'ee, Imam Ahmed, Ibin Khuzayemah, Ibin
Hab'ban and authenticated by the scholar Ahmed Shakir.
(7) THE HIJAB MUST NOT RESEMBLE
THE GARMENTS OF THE KUFFAR
The Messenger of Allah (SAAW) said:
"من تَشَبَّه بِقَومٍ فَهُوَ مِنهُم"
"The one who takes the similitude (manner) of a certain
people becomes one of them.(49)
Abdullah bin Ummar (RAA) said:
"وعن عبد الله بن عمرو- رضي الله عنهما قال: "رأى رسول الله- صلى الله عليه
وسلم- عَليَّ ثوبيَّنِ مُعَصفَرَيْن، فقال: "إنَّ هذه من ثياب الكُفار، فلا تلبسها"
"The Prophet (SAAW) saw me wearing two clothes dyed in
saffron, whereupon he said: these are the clothes (usually
worn) by the Kuffar, so do not wear them."(50)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(49) Related by Abu Dawoud, Ahmed (as part of a another hadeeth), Ibin
Taymeeyah said that the hadeeth has a good chain of narration (i.e. that
reported by Abu Dawoud) and that it is a "good hadeeth"; As-Siyouti
said :"it is "Hassan: Good" and Ibin Hag'er reported it in "Fath Al-Bari"
and supported it with another evidence (a Murssal) with a good chain of
narration.
(50) Saheeh Muslim, V. 3, hadeeth # 5173
(8) THE HIJAB IS NOT FOR FAME!
The Messenger (SAAW) said:
"من لَبِسَ ثَوبَ شُهرةٍ في الدُّنيا ألبَسَهُ اللهُ ثوبَ مَذَلَّةٍ يَومَ القيامة، ثُمَّ ألهَبَ فيهِ ناراً"
"The one who wears a garment designed for a worldly fame,
Allah will make him wear a garment of humility on the Day of
Resurrection then he will be set ablaze."(51)
The garment of fame is any garment a person wears to make
him/her look famous. This applies whether the garment is
highly precious and shows admiration to the life of this world
or if it is chosen of a low quality to show lack of interest to
this worldly life. The person may put on clothes with distinct
colors so as to draw attention, act proudly and/or arrogantly.
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(51) Related by Abu Dawoud, Ibin Majah, and Al-Munthari said that it is
hassan (good) as well as Ibin Muflih. Imam As-Shawkani said: "The
narrators of the chain are Thuqat" and Al-Alabni reported in his book
"Al-Hijab" p. 110 that it is hassan .
(9) WATCH FOR "CONCEALED" WAYS OF DISPLAY
Examining the various conditions about the Hijab one can
clearly recognize that many of the young Muslim women are
not fulfilling these conditions. They consider what they put on
now. wrongly as "Hijab"
The enemies of the Islamic revival wanted to destroy it in its
infancy by oppression and cruelty. Allah (SW) defeated their
plots and held the believing men and women steadfast in their
obedience of Him (SW). The enemies of Islam realized that
they should deal with the Islamic revival in a wicked way in
order to sway this revival away from its course towards Allah.
They started to spread innovated forms of "Hijab" as a "mid-
way" solution by which the Muslim woman can "please"
Allah (they claim so!) and at the same time "accommodate"
her society and preserve her "beauty" and "glamour".
The modern "boutique" stores were declining in their trade
due to the widespread use of the true Islamic Hijab. Suddenly,
the markets were flooded with altered forms of Tabar'roj
under the name 'modern/contemporary Hijab'. In the
beginning this was protested and women were cautious. A
group of "displaying women" who were embarrassed with the
Islamic Hijab rushed towards the "contemporary Hijab" to
"relief' themselves from the pressing social realities caused
by the spread of Hijab. With time the phenomenon of
"concealed display" became widespread and known as
"contemporary Hijab". Women friendly to this course think
they are the best of girls and best of wives while in fact they
are as one poet said:
If they relate to the Hijab-
It is the relation of an intruder
So! O women of this kind be mindful to Allah (SW) and His
Messenger (SAAW) and do not be deceived by those who
may "bless" this action of yours and conceal their true
intentions. Do not be deceived and let your response be: " I
am better than those who are in a complete state of
display!" There is no excuse to follow the evil. Know that the
fire of Hell has different lower levels while Paradise has
different higher levels. So it is proper to follow your sisters
who truly adhere to the Islamic Hijab and its conditions. Aim
high towards the highest levels of Aj-Jannah. It has been
related that the Prophet (SAAW) said:
"انظُرُوا إلى من هُو أسفلَ مِنْكُم في الدُّنيا، وفَوْقَكُم في الدَّين، فذلكَ أجدر أن لا
تَزدَروا- أي تَحتَقِروا- نعمةَ اللهِ عَلَيكُم"
"Look at those who stand at lower levels than you (regarding
worldly wealth) and those who stand at higher levels than you
in religion (adherence to faith). for this would not make the
favors (conferred upon you by Allah) insignificant (in your
eyes)."(52) Az-Zohri reported(53) that Ummar Ibin Al-Khatab
(RAA) recited the saying of Allah (SW):
وتَلا عمر بن الخطاب- رضي الله عنه- قوله عزَّ وجَلَّ:
} إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ
الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي
كُنْتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ { [فُصَّلَت،30]
"Verily those who say: "Our Lord is
Allah (Alone), and then they stood
straight (i.e. they believed in the
Oneness of Allah and worshipped none
but Him (Alone) and obeyed Him for
all that He ordered them) on them the
angels will descend (at the time of their
death) (saying ); "Fear you not, nor
grieve! But receive the glad tidings of
Aj-Jannah which you have been
Promised!) (Qur'an 41:30).
He then said: فقال:
"استقاموا واللهِ للهِ بطاعَتِهِ، ولَم يُرَوغوا رَوَغانَ الثَّعالِب"
" They, by Allah. followed the straight path of Allah by
obeying Him and did not dodge like wolves."
Al-Hassan Al Basri, may Allah's Mercy be upon him, said: " If
Shaytan (Devil) looks and finds you continuously adhering to
the obedience of Allah he will seek you (i.e. check you) one
time after the other. If he finds that you are still holding, he
becomes weary of you and rejects you. But if you adhere one
time and you do not another, then he becomes covetous:
he wants to have you for himself."(54)
So come on to a straight path that has no crookedness and a
guidance that has no misleading ways in it, and to an honest
repentance that has no disobedience in it:
} وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ
تُفْلِحُونَ { الآية [النور،31]
"And turn you all together to Allah
(and beg Him) to forgive you all, O
believers, that you may be successful."
(Qur'an 24:31)
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ__________
(52) The origin of this hadeeth was reported in Saheeh Al-Bukhari in the
Book of Riqaq and Muslim in the Book of Az-Zuhd V.4, hadeeth #
7070, P 1530, and At-Tirmidhi in the Book of Qiyamah.
(53) Reported by Imam Ahmed and Ibin Al-Mubarak. Imam Ahmed
reported it in the Book of Az-Zuhd p. 115 and 110, respectively.
(54) Reported by Ibin Al-Mubarak in his book "Az-Zuhd" p. 7 # 20
O! WE HEAR AND WE OBEY
THE HONEST MUSLIM receives the order of Allah (SW)
and hastens to manifest his love to Islam into action and
listens to and obeys the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAAW). He
does not give attention to the lost and misleading ways of the
masses of human beings who do not realize their awaiting
destiny. Allah (SW) negated the existence of belief in those
who turn away from Him and from His Messenger (SAAW)
saying:
} ويَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالرَّسُولِ وَأَطَعْنَا ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّى
فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَمَا أُولَئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَإِذَا
دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ
مُعْرِضُونَ { [النور،47- 48]
"They (hypocrites) say: "We have
believed in Allah and in the Messenger
(Muhammad-SAAW), and we obey",
then a party of them turn away
thereafter, such are not believers. And
when they are called to Allah (i.e. His
Words-the Qur'an) and His Messenger
to judge between them, lo! a party of
them refuse to come and turn away."
(Qur'an 24: 47-48 )
On the other hand:
} إِنَّمَا كَانَ قَوْلَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ
لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ أَنْ يَقُولُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا { [النور،51]
"The saying of the faithful believers
when they are called to Allah (His
Words-the Qur'an) and His Messenger
(SAAW) to judge between them is only
that they say: 'We hear and we obey.'
And such are the successful (who will
live for ever in Aj-Jannah)." (Qur'an 24: 51-52)
Safyeeyah, the daughter of Shayebah, said:
عن صفية بنت شيبة قالت:
بينما نَحْنُ عِندَ عائِشة رضي الله عنها قالت: فّذكَرتْ نِساءَ قُريش وفَضلِهِنَّ،
فقالت عائشة رضي الله عنها: "إنَّ لِنساءِ قُريش لَفضلاً، وإنَّي والله ما رأيتُ
أفضل من نساء الأنصار أشدَّ تصديقاً لِكتابِ اللهِ، ولا إيماناً بالتنزيل، لقد أنزِلَت
سورة النور:} ولِيَضْرِبنَ بِخُمرِهِنَّ... { الآية، فانقلب رجالُهُنَّ إليهِنَّ يتلونَ عليهِنَّ
ما أُنزل الله إليهِم فيها، ويتلو الرجل على إمرأته، وابنته، واخته، وعلى كل ذي
قرابته، فما منهُنَّ إمرأة إلاَّ قامت إلى مِرْطِها المُرَحَّلِ فاعتَجَرَت به- تصديقا وإيماناً بما
أنزل الله من كتابه، فأصبَحْنَ وراء رسول الله- صلى الله عليه وسلم- معتجرات
كأنَّ على رُؤوسِهِنَّ الغُربان."
"While we were at A'isha's (RAA) we mentioned the women of
Qureish and their good favors, then A'isha said: "indeed the
women of Qureish have a good favor and by Allah I have not
seen better than the women of Al-Ansar in their strength of
acceptance of the Book of Allah and in the belief in the
Revelation: At the time when Surat An-Nur was sent down
(and in it Allah says): الآية { ولِيَضْرِبنَ بِخُمرِهِنَّ على جُيوبِهِنَّ }
"Let them (believing women) draw their veils over Juyubihinna."
soon their husbands turned to them reciting what Allah had
sent down to them (i.e. the above Ayah), the man recites to his
wife, his daughter, his sister and to every female relative. Not
a single woman of them except that she took up her engraved
Mirt(55) (wrapper) and covered her head and face in
acceptance and belief in what Allah had sent down from His
Book. The next morning they were behind the Prophet
(SAAW), covered as if black crows were on top of their heads.(56)
Therefore, there is no choice but to submit the order of Allah
and no hesitation should exist in following the ruling of Allah.
So come for repentance, O My Muslim Sister, and watch for
words like "I will repent, I will pray, I will cover with Hijab",
because delaying the repentance is a sin that you must repent
from! Say as Allah (SW) said on the tongue of Mussa (May
All's peace be upon him) :
الآية [طه، 84] { وعَجِلتُ إليكَ ربَّ لِتَرضى }
"I HASTENED TO YOU, O MY LORD,
TO PLEASE YOU"
(Qur'an 20:84)
And say as the believing men and women said:
الآية [البقرة،258] { سَمِعنا وأطَعنا غُفرانك ربَّنا وإليكَ المَصير }
"WE HEAR AND WE OBEY. (WE SEEK) YOUR
FORGIVENESS, OUR LORD, AND TO YOU IS THE
RETURN" (Qur'an 2: 285)
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(55) With pictures of houses and dwellings.
(56) Reported in The Tafseer of Al-Qur'an Al-Ath'eem by Ibin Katheer
(Arabic)5:90
A VIEW THROUGH HIJAB
By Sister Khaula(57) From Japan
10/25/1993
My Story To Islam
As most of the Japanese, I'd followed no religion before I
embraced Islam in France. I was majoring in French Literature
at the university. My favorite thinkers were Sartre, Nietchze
and Camas, whose thinking is atheistic. At the same time,
however, I was very interested in religion, not because of my
inner necessity but of my love for the truth. What was waiting
for me after death did not interest me at all; how to live was
my concern(58). For a long time I had a sort of impression that I
was not doing what I should do and I was wasting my time.
Whether God existed or not was the same to me; I just wanted
to know the truth and choose my way of life-to live with God
or without God.
I started to read books on different religions except Islam. I
had never thought that Islam was a religion worth studying. It
was for me, at that time, a sort of primitive idolatry of the
simple mind (how ignorant I was!). I made friends with
Christians, with whom I studied the Bible, to come to realize a
few years later the existence of God. But then I had to face a
dilemma because I could not "feel" God at all, in spite of my
conviction that he should exist. I tried to pray in church, but in
vain. I felt nothing but the absence of God.
I then studied Buddhism, hoping I would be able to feel God
through Zen or Yoga. I found as many things in Buddhism
that seemed to be true as I had in Christianity, yet there were
many things I could not understand or accept. In my opinion,
If God exists, He should be for everyone(59) and the truth
should simple and clear to everyone. I could not understand
why people should abandon ordinary life to devote themselves
to God.
I was really at a loss for what to do to reach the end of my
desperate quest for God. It was then that I met an Algerian
Muslim. Born and raised in France, he didn't even know how
to pray and his life was quite far from the ideal of a Muslim;
nevertheless, he had very strong faith in God. However, his
belief without knowledge irritated me and made me decide to
study Islam. To start with, I bought a French translation of the
Qur'an, but I could not read more than two pages. It seemed so
strange and boring. I gave up my effort to understand it alone
and went to the mosque in Paris to ask someone to help me. It
was a Sunday and there was a lecture for women. The sisters
welcomed me warmly. It was my first encounter with
practicing Muslim women. To my surprise, I felt myself very
much at ease with them, although I'd always felt myself a
stranger in the company of Christians. I started to attend the
lecture every weekend and to read a book given to me by one
of the Muslim women. Every minute of the lecture and every
page of the book were, for me, a revelation, giving me great
spiritual satisfaction I've never known before. I had an excited
feeling that I was being initiated into the truth. What was
wonderful, Subhaanallah (Praise be to Allaah), was my
feeling the presence of God very close to me while in the
posture of Sajdah (prostration).
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(57) Sister Khaula visited the Women's Office of The Islamic Guidance
Center in Buraidah, Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia on 10/25/1993. She shared
this information with other Muslim Sisters in the Office. 1 found it
important to share with our Muslim brothers and sisters the Story of
Khaula's coming to Islam followed by her experience and advice
concerning the Hijab.
(58) This is the concern of so many people in the World and especially in
the West or in countries dominated by Western culture. People become
"workaholic" to keep up with more and more of what they want to have.
The secondary things of today are the necessities of tomorrow! The
Medium way described by the Creator, Allah, is ignored except by the
few.(Dr.S. As-Saleh)
(59) Allah is the God of everyone. This thought translates that God must
be one. There is no nationalistic belonging to God! Being the God of
everyone, He does not command some people to worship Him alone
while at the same time makes it permissible for others to set up rivals
with Him in worship. This means that His worship must be one and that
it is not up to us to define this type of worship. The way of worship
belongs to the One and Only One True God, Allah. This constitutes His
religion and He had named this way: Islam.
Khula's Story with the Hijab
"Two years ago when I embraced Islam in France, the polemic
around the wearing of the hijab at school was very hot. The
majority of people thought it was against the principle of the
public school which should keep its neutrality towards the
religion. I, who was not yet Muslim then, could hardly
understand why they were worried over such a tiny thing as a
small scarf put on the head of Muslim students...but,
apparently, French people who had faced the serious problem
of the increasing non-employment rate and the insecurity in
big cities became nervous over the immigration of workers
from Arab countries. They felt aggrieved by the sight of the
hijab in their town and in their school.
In Arab countries, on the other hand, a great wave of coming
back of the hijab was being observed especially among the
young generation, against the expectation, shared by some
Arab people and the most of Western people, of its passing
away from the scene as Westenerization took root.
The Islamic revival symbolized by the current resurgence of
the hijab is often considered as an attempt of Arab Muslims to
restore their pride and identity which have been repeatedly
undermined by colonization and economic retardation. For
Japanese people, the actual adherence of Arab people to Islam
may seem a kind of conservative traditionalism or anti-
westernism, which (the) Japanese knew themselves in the
Meiji era at the first contact with the Western culture, and
because of which they reacted against the Western life-style
and the Western way of dressing. Man has always had a
conservative tendency and reacts against which is new and
unfamiliar without realizing whether it is good or bad for him.
Some people still think the Muslim women insist on wearing
hijab which is the "very symbol of the oppressed situation
because they are enslaved by the tradition and are not
sufficiently aware of their lamentable situation. If only, they
probably think, the movement of the women's liberation and
independence awakes those women's mind, they will take
away the hijab."
Such a naive point of view is shared by the people who have
little knowledge of Islam. They, who are so accustomed to the
secularism and the religious eclecticism, are simply unable to
understand that the teaching of Islam is universal and eternal.
Anyway, there are more and more women, beyond the Arab
Nationality, all over the world embracing Islam as the true
religion and covering the hair. I am but an example of these women.
The hijab is surely a strange object for non-Muslim people.
For them, the Hijab does not cover the woman's hair but also
hides something to which they have no access, and it's why
they feel uneasy. From the outside, effectively, they can never
see what is behind the Hijab. I have kept the hijab since I
became Muslim in Paris two years ago...In France, soon after
my conversion, I put a scarf, matched in color to the dress,
lightly on the head, which people might think a sort of
fashion(60). Now in Saudi Arabia, I cover in black all my body
from the top of my head till the tip of my toes including my
eyes...At the time I decided to embrace Islam, I did not think
seriously about whether I would be able to make the five
prayers a day or put the hijab. May be I was afraid that I might
find the negative answer, and that would affect my decisions
to be Muslim. I had lived in a world which had nothing to do
with Islam until I visited, for the first time, the Mosque of
Paris. Neither the prayer nor the hijab were yet very familiar
to me. I could hardly imagine myself making the prayer and
wearing the hijab. But my desire to be a Muslim was too
strong to worry about what was waiting for me after my
conversion. Indeed, it was a miracle that I embraced Islam,
Allah Akbar.
In hijab I felt myself different. I felt myself purified and
protected. I felt the company of Allah. As a foreigner, I felt
sometimes uneasy in a public place, stared by men. With
hijab, I was not seen. I found that the hijab sheltered me from
such impolite stares. I was also very happy and proud in hijab
which is not only the sign of my obedience to Allah but also
the manifestation of my faith...besides, the hijab helps us to
recognize each other and to share the feeling of sisterhoods.
The hijab has also the advantage of reminding the people
around me that God exists and reminding me of being with
God(61). It tells me: "be careful. You should conduct yourself as
a Muslim" As a policeman becomes more conscious of his
profession in his uniform, I had a stronger feeling of being
Muslim with hijab.
Soon, I started to put the hijab before my going out from the
house whenever I went to the Mosque. It was a spontaneous
and voluntary act and no body forced me to do so.
Two weeks after my conversion, I went back to Japan to
attend the wedding ceremony of one of my sisters, and
decided not to go back to France, Now that I became a
Muslim and found that I'd been looking for, the French
literature did not interest me any more. I had rather an
increasing passion for learning the Arabic(62).
For me...it was a trial to live in a small town in Japan, isolated
completely from Muslims, But such isolation helped me to
intensify my consciousness of being a Muslim. As Islam
prohibits the women to disclose the body and to wear clothes
which accentuate the body line, I had to abandon many of my
clothes such as mini-skirts and half-sleeve blouses. Besides,
the Western style fashion does not match with the hijab. I
decided, therefore, to make a dress by myself. I asked a friend
of mine who knew dress-making to help me, and in two weeks
I made a dress with a "pantaloon" after the model of a
"Pakistani dress". I did not mind people looking at my strange
"fashion".
Six months had past since I went back to Japan, when my
desire to study the Arabic and Islam in a Muslim country grew
so intense that I decided to realize it. I went to Cairo where I
knew only one person.
I was at a loss to find none of my host family spoke English.
To my great surprise, furthermore, the lady who took my hand
to lead me into the house covered herself all in black from top
to toe including the face. Such a "fashion" is now familiar to
me and I adopt it for myself in Riyadh, but at that time, I was
quite surprised at the sight.
I attended once in France a big conference for Muslims, and in
that occasion I saw for the first time a woman in black dress
with a face-cover. Her presence among the women in colorful
dress and scarf was very strange and I said myself: " there she
is, a woman enslaved by the Arabic tradition without knowing
the real teaching of Islam", because I knew few things of Islam
at that time and thought the covering of the face was but an
ethnical tradition not founded in Islam.
The thought which came to me at the sight of a face-covered
woman in Cairo was not very far from that. She's
exaggerating. Its un-natura1...Her attempts to try to avoid any
contact with men seemed also abnormal.
The sister in black dress told me that my self-made dress was
not suitable to go out with. I was not content with her because
I thought my dress satisfied the conditions of a Muslima's
dress...I bought a black cloth and made a long dress and a long
veil called "Khimar" which covers the loins and the whole of
the arms. I was even ready to cover the face because it seemed
good "to avoid the dust", but the sister said there was no need.
I should not put the cover-face for such a reason while these
sisters put it because they believed it a religious duty.
Although most of sisters whom I got acquainted with covered
the face, they constituted but a small minority in the whole
city of Cairo, and some people apparently got shocked and
embarrassed at the sight of black Khimar. Indeed the ordinary
more or less westernized young Egyptians tried to keep a
distance from those women in Khimar, calling them "the
sisters". The men also treated them with a certain respect and
a special politeness on the street or in a bus. Those women
shared a sisterhood and exchanged the salaam (the Islamic
greeting) on the street even without knowing each other…
Before my conversion I preferred an active pants-style to a
feminine skirt, but the long dress I started to wear in Cairo got
to please me very soon. It makes me feel very elegant as if I
had become a princess. I feel more relaxed in long dress than
in a pantaloon …
My sisters were really beautiful and bright in their Khimar,
and a kind of saintliness appeared on their faces...Every
Muslim devotes his life to God. I wonder why people who say
nothing about the "veil" of the "Catholic Sisters" criticize the
veil of the Muslima, considering it as a symbol of "terrorism"
or "oppression".
I gave a negative answer when the Egyptian sister told me to
wear like this even after my return to Japan….If I show myself
in such a long black dress on the street in Japan, people might
think me crazy(63). Shocked by my dress, they would not like to
listen to me, whatever I say. they would reject Islam because
of my appearance, without trying to know its teaching(64). Thus
I argued with her.
Sixth months later, however, I got accustomed to my long
dress and started to think I may wear it even in Japan. So, just
before my return to Japan, I made some dresses with light
colors and white Khimars, thinking they would be less
shocking than the black one.
The reaction of the Japanese to my white Khimar was rather
good and I met no rejection or mockery at all. They seemed to
be able to guess my belonging to a religion without knowing
which it is. I heard a young girl behind me whispering to her
friend that I was a "Buddhist nun"...
Once on a train I sat beside an elderly man who asked me why
I was in such a "strange fashion". I explained him that I was a
Muslim and in Islam women are commanded to cover the
body and their charm so as not to trouble men who are weak
to resist this kind of temptation. He seemed very impressed by
my explanation, may be because he did not welcome today's
young girls' provocative fashion. He left the train thanking me
and saying he would have liked to have more time to talk with
me on Islam.
My father was sorry that I went out even on the hottest day in
summer with a long sleeve and a head-cover, but I found the
hijab convenient for avoiding the direct sunlight on the head
and the neck... I felt rather uneasy in looking at the white
thigh of my younger sister who wore short pants. I've often
been embarrassed even before my conversion by the sight of a
woman's busts and hips traced by the shape of her tight thin
clothes. I felt as if I had seen something not to be seen. If such
a sight embraces me who is of the same sex, it is not difficult
to imagine what effect it would give to men.
Why hide the body in its natural state?, you may ask. But
think it was considered vulgar fifty years ago in Japan to swim
in a swimming suit. Now we swim in a bikini without shame.
If you swim, however, with a topless, people would say you
are shameless, but go to a South-France's beach, where many
women, young and old, take a sun-bath in a topless. If you go
to a certain beach on the west coast in America, the nudists
take a sun-bath as naked as when they are born. On the other
side, at the medieval times, a knight trembled at a brief sight
of a shoe of his adoring lady. It shows the definition of
women's "secret part" can be changed. How you can answer to
a nudist if she asks you why you hide yours busts and hips
although they are as natural as your hands and face? It is the
same for the hijab of a Muslima. We consider all our body
except hands and face as private parts because Allah defined it
like this(65). Its why we hide them from male strangers. If you
keep something secret, it increases in value. Keeping woman's
body secret increases its charm. Even for the eye of the same
sex, the nape of a sister's neck is surprisingly beautiful
because it is normally covered. If a man loses the feeling of
shame and starts to walk naked and excrete and "make love"
in the presence of other people, he would then become no
different than an animal. I think the culture of men started
when men knew the sense of shame.
Some Japanese wives (put their) make up only when they go
out, never minding at home how they look. But in Islam a wife
tries to be beautiful especially for her husband and a husband
also tries to have a nice look to please his wife. They have
shame even between themselves and towards each other. You
may say why we are "over-sensitive" to hide the body except
the face and the hands so as not to excite men's desire, as if a
man looks always at a woman with a sexual appetite.
But the problem of sexual harassment so much talked about
recently shows how men are weak to resist to this kind of
attraction. We could not expect prevention of sex harassment
only by appealing men's high morality and self-control...As a
short skirt might be interpreted by men to say: " if you want
me, you may take me", a hijab means clearly, "I am forbidden
for you. "
Three months after coming back from Cairo, I left Japan to
Saudi Arabia, and this time with my husband. I had prepared a
small black cloth to cover the face with...Arriving at Riyadh, I
found out that not all the women covered the face. The non-
Muslim foreigners of course put only a black gown
nonchalantly without covering the head, but the Muslim
foreigners also uncovered the face(66). As for the Saudi women,
all of them seemed to cover perfectly from top to toe.
On my first going out, I put the niqab and found out (that) it
(was) quite nice. Once accustomed to it, there is no
inconvenience. Rather, I felt quite fine as if I became a noble
and special person. I felt like the owner of a stolen
masterpiece who enjoyed the secret pleasure: I have a treasure
that you don't know and which you are not allowed to see. A
foreigner might see a couple of a fat man and a woman all
covered in black who follows him in the street in Riyadh as a
caricature of the oppressing-oppressed relationship or the
possessing-possessed relationship, but the fact is that the
women feel as if they were queens guarded and lead by
servants.
During the first several months in Riyadh, I covered only the
part beneath the eyes. But when I made a winter cloth, I made
on the same occasion a thin eye-cover. My armament then
became perfect and my comfort also. Even in a crowd of men,
I felt no more uneasiness. I felt as if I had become transparent
before the eyes of men. When I displayed the eyes, I felt
sometines uneasy when my eyes met a man's eye accidentally,
especially because the Arab people have very keen eyes. The
eye-cover prevents, like black sun-glasses, the visual intrusion
of strangers.
Khaula further says that the Muslim woman "covers herself
for her own dignity. She refuses to be possessed by the eyes of
a stranger and to be his object. She feels pity for western
women who display their private parts as objects f or male
strangers. If one observes the hijab from outside, one will
never see what is hidden in it. Observing the hijab from the
outside and living it from inside are two completely different
things. We see different things. This gap explains the gap of
understanding Islam. From the outside, Islam looks like a
'prison' without any liberty. But living inside of it, we feel at
peace and freedom and joy that we've never known
before...We chose Islam against the so-called freedom and
pleasure. If it is true that Islam is a religion that oppresses the
women, why are there so many young women in Europe, in
America, and in Japan who abandon their liberty and
independence to embrace Islam? I want people to reflect on it.
A person blinded because of his prejudice may not see it, but
a woman with the hijab is so brightly beautiful as an angel or
a saint with self-confidence, calmness, and dignity. Not a
slight touch of shade nor trace of oppression is on her face.
'They are blind and cannot see', says the Qur'an about those
who deny the sign of Allah, but by what else can we explain
this gap on the understanding of Islam between us and those
people." (3/1993)
Note: Khula's article was sent (late 1993) to the Women's
Office of the Islamic Guidance Center, Buraidah, Al-
Qassim, KSA.
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(60) She is giving a reflection of her early degree of religious awareness
and consciousness.
(61) i.e. God conscious.
(62) It is strongly urged that all non-Arabic speaking Muslims to learn
Arabic. It helps them to know better about Islam.
(63) Many women feel this kind of feeling. These are temptations of the
Shyatan trying to sway the Muslima from obedience to Allah.
(64) Shaytan wants the Muslim to feel "inferior". The believer, however,
remembers that Islam is from Allah and the person he is dealing with is
only a created being, who will die and will return to answer for his
rejection of Allah's religion. The hijab for women and the beard for men
are to be respected, first, by the Muslim in order to feel strong about
their appearence. This can be achieved by remembering that these
outwardly appearances are the command of Allah and His Messenger.
(65) This matter had been discussed in the text. Khaula further says in her
article that: "No need to say that the woman's face is one of the biggest
charm points. It is possible that a man "falls in love" with a woman at a
glance of her face. It is better for a woman to hide the face"
(66) Not all. In fact in Saudi Arabia, many Muslimat from many countries
cover their faces.
