Question:
May this finds you in the best of everything by Allah’s Grace.
Would like to know what all of you, brothers and sisters, and Maulana Shaykh Hisham think of this following cogent analysis of Dr. Ibrahim Syed and his assertion that Hijab is not mandated by Qur’an. This is a very serious issue that often comes up in discussions and, therefore, needs to be addressed. Many modern women—both Muslim or otherwise– consider such restrictive dress as confining women to a lower status than men, since such an effort appears only to serve men from their impious distraction.
Answer:
See the answer here: The Veil in Islam.
Among the proof-texts cited:
The Arabic word for “veiling” is hijab. Lexically it means cover, and in
Islam it means two things:
– Woman’s clothing such as the head-to-toe garment specifically called
jilbab and khimar.
– Separation of the places where men and women respectively congregate.
Among the proofs for the veil in the Qur’an are the verses:
“O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters and the women of the believers
to draw their cloaks (jalabib) close round them (when they go abroad)...”
(33:59). Ibn Rushd in Bidaya al-Mujtahid (1:83) said that this verse has
been adduced as proof that all of woman’s body constitutes nakedness.
Al-Qurtubi in his commentary on the verse said that the jilbab is the
cloak that conceals of the body including the head.
“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to
display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their
veils over their bosoms...” (24:31), “only that which is apparent”
meaning: their face and hands.
Staff
