Deen Talk! Women and Islam - Part 2 - Hijab and Supporting our Sisters

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

Assalaamu alaikum w rahmatullah w barakatu.

Today's topic is quite long, so you've been warned! (And I'm sorry this is late - family emergencies.) The topic we are covering is Hijab and Supporting our Sisters.

First off, let's answer the question of what is hijab?

Nowadays people argue that hijab (as in the headscarf) is not required in Islam, and that the Quran never mentions hijab. This is a huge misunderstanding of the text. Hijab itself means veil, covering, or screen; it refers to ones dress, actions, and thoughts, and is a synonym of hayyah, or modesty. Allah ta'ala commands hijab in Surah an-Nur, ayyah 31:

And tell believing women that they should lower their glances, guard their private parts, and not display their charms beyond what [it is acceptable] to reveal; they should let their headscarves fall to cover their necklines and not reveal their charms except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their womenfolk, their slaves, such men as attend them who have no sexual desire, or children who are not yet aware of women’s nakedness; they should not stamp their feet so as to draw attention to any hidden charms. Believers, all of you, turn to God so that you may prosper.

Here, where M.A.S. Abdul Haleem uses the word "headscarfs," he is translating the word "khimur," which in pre-Islamic times referred to a headscarf or veil worn by women, Pagan, Jewish, Christian, or otherwise. Women at the time, especially prostitutes, would wear their khimur behind their backs in order to be enticing or seductive. So this ayyah is a command to take what is already present, the head covering, and change how it was worn in order to mark the women who did so as Muslim.

Here are a couple examples of how the khimar might have been worn in jahiliyyah society. Notice how the khimur fall behind the backs of the women, leaving the chest uncovered and even exposed.

Another command for hijab comes in Surah al-Ahzab, ayyah 59: 

Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and women believers to make their outer garments hang low over them so as to be recognized and not insulted: God is most forgiving, most merciful.

Here, Haleem chose to translate "adna al-jilbab" as making garments hang low, rather than as wrapping around, as others had translated. From this we can interpret either that women should wear long clothing/dresses or khimur, or we can understand it to mean that women should have a separate outer garment over the clothing, which should cover the woman and hang low, either from the shoulders or the head (such as what is now called abaya or jilbab). Again, we see that the reasoning behind the command is to keep the women from being harassed or insulted by being propositioned as prostitutes.

The Quran, also in Surah al-Ahzab, commands special hijab for the wives of the Prophet, radhiAllahu 'anhum, saying that they should speak from behind a screen for even further modesty due to their connection with Rasulullah, salla Allahu alaihi w salaam.

So, we can see that it is clear in the Quran that women should dress modestly and wear a headscarf in a particular manner. The question then is what all is to be covered. Allah subhana w ta'ala specifies in the Quran how to wear the khimar, that it should be brought forward to cover the chest and some translate to also say neckline or even chin. It is clear from the second ayyah that clothing should hang low to cover the body and, possibly, that women should have special outer garments for outside the home. But we don't have any specifics from within the Quran as to what, exactly, should be covered by clothing or jilbab. For these, we turn to the Ahadith. One main Hadith that comes to mind, though it's not classed as Sahih, is the following:

Asma’ bint Abi Bakr entered upon the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) wearing a thin dress. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) turned away from her and said, “O Asma’, when a woman reaches the age of puberty, nothing should be seen of her except this and this”

It is narrated that the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi w salaam, pointed to the hands and the face, going back to the original ayyah and marking "what is readily apparent" for a woman to be able to do business, pray, etc. (as face and hands should be uncovered while performing salah). However, when we look at how women in Muslim countries dressed pre-contact (and contamination) by the Western World, we can get a better idea of how early Muslims interpreted hijab, jilbab, and even niqab from both the Quran and the Sunnah. Here are some examples:

Egypt

Egypt

Egypt

Egypt

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Palestine

Eritrea 

Here we see different understandings of the command of hijab (please note the color photos are modern pictures of women in traditional dress; others are photos from the late 19th century when social anthropology work started up). All wear clothing which goes low to the ground and is loose. All cover the hair with khimur, and while some wear a specific jilbab or outer garment, others appear to just be wearing their normal, loose clothing accompanied with a long khimar (rather than wearing yet another garment over their normal clothing). We can see that in most of these photos, the forearm is visible due to sleeves being loose instead of form fitting, which is easier to make by hand and cooler in the heat of the desert. We can see that sometimes some hair can be seen, or a collarbone shows when the jilbab loosens while carrying something, and that niqabs did not always completely hide the face and clothing was decorated.

Because of this, and because of the grey area in the Quran and the weakness of the hadith which shows specifically what may or may not be shown, we tend to have conflicting understandings as to what is and is not hijab, what is and is not "adornment," and what is and is not tabarruj. Which brings us to the actual topic: 

Supporting our Sisters!

Too often we see new sisters harassed for not "correctly" following hijab. What we need to remember is that right now, we face so much more resistance to dressing in an Islamic manner. In Western society, a t-shirt with jeans or a midi/maxi skirt is seen as modest. When sisters, both reverts and born Muslims, start to try to wear hijab, they first put on the headscarf, as that is what society teaches is "hijab". But we shouldn't be rude to these sisters, saying to them "Jahanam is hotter" for wearing their scarf in a turban style in the heat, or wearing hijab with a short-sleeved/three-quarter-sleeved shirt (as I have seen many South Asian sisters and some new reverts do), or wearing belts at the waist or not wearing abaya. Unfortunately, though, this is what many face, especially on Instagram. Then, even as a sister evolves in her modesty, she gets harassed for even posting pictures of herself online. We need to remember that modesty is a PROCESS, especially in today's society! If we don't grow up with our moms and our friends' moms' and so on and so forth wearing khimar and abaya or jilbab, how can it be easy for us to do so? If we grow up seeing women on television in short skirts and crop tops, what else do we know of fashion? And if we live our lives wearing shorts and tank tops but then become Muslim and want to abide by hijab, which is obligatory, how much more difficult is that change? 

We need to remember that how we show our devotion to Allah 'azza w jal is between us and Him. Instead of harassing or attacking our sisters, we should focus on their efforts and commend them for starting the Jihad which is hijab (because, yes, it absolutely is a Jihad in today's society)! We should say, "Sister, I'm so proud of you for trying to start to wear hijab! Here is how I understand it, and here is why." We should realize most people cannot make an instantaneous switch from shorts to jilbab. Encourage sisters to continue learning about hijab and what it is and what it means. Invite her to try abaya or jilbab with you one day, so she doesn't feel so anxious in a society that views Muslim women not in Western clothing as terrorists. Answer her questions. And make duaa for her. But don't shame her for not yet meeting what you understand to be the standards of Islamic modesty, since the bar for this changes depending on the madhab and aqeedah a person follows. Do you want to be part of the reason someone chooses not to become Muslim, or even - astaghfirullah - decides to leave the Deen all together? The kinder we are, the more our sisters will listen, in shaa Allah.

Jazakum Allahu kheiran for sticking with me through the long video and text-heavy post! 

Sajida. 

Because fall means it's time for boots!