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Background: Some think that Muslim women must cover their whole body, including face when in public. Women's dress code in Islam is one of the most focussed upon subjects not only in the Western media but also in Muslim countries, yet it remains one of the most distorted and misunderstood.
Firstly, according to The Quran, the most important rule of the dress code for both men and women is as follows:
O children of Adam, we have provided you with garments to cover your bodies, as well as to adorn you. But the best garment is the garment of piety/righteousness. These are some of God's signs, so that they may be mindful. [7:26]
The garment of righteousness/piety could either refer to choosing a garment that reflects this quality or enveloping oneself in righteous/pious conduct is best, or both.
The following verses tells women to guard their private parts (i.e. genitalia) and cover their chests:
Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and
guard
their private parts, for that is purer for them. God is fully aware of
what you do.
And tell the believing women to lower
their gaze and guard their private parts, and that they should not
reveal their beauty except what is apparent of it, and let them draw
with their covers over their chests. And let them not reveal their
beauty except to their husbands, or their fathers, or fathers of their
husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their
brothers, or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters,
or their women, or those committed to them by oath, or the male
servants who are without need, or the child who has not yet understood
the composition of women. And let them not strike with their feet that
reveals what they are keeping hidden of their beauty. And repent to
God, all of you believers, that you may succeed. [24:30-31]
From the above verse it can be deduced that for the purposes of women's dress code two types of beauty are described:
1)
What is apparent
(this can be revealed in public)
2) What is hidden (this type must be covered in public, but could be
revealed by a striking of feet or walk/stride which is revealing)
Such a striking of feet
or walk could only reveal a limited number of parts of the body, e.g.
the private parts, buttocks, thighs, breasts, hips, thus any part not
revealed by such an action should not be considered part of hidden
beauty and therefore part of apparent beauty. Of course, this means
such things as face, hair, hands, feet etc would not clearly fall into
the category of beauty that is meant to be hidden. Furthermore, the
verse clearly brackets what beauty it is referring to by saying "...the
child who has not yet understood the composition of women" implying it
is relating to what is specific to a woman (i.e. what is different
between man and woman) nothing else.
This understanding would also fit with The Quran's instruction on the
body parts that are to be cleansed during daily ablution (hands, arms,
face, head and feet), see 5:6, 4:43.
A headscarf (commonly called "hijab")
is often worn by Muslim women, however this word is not used like this
in The Quran. In fact, the word "hijab" is not even used to mean an
item of clothing and simply means something which intervenes between
two things, e.g. barrier, screen, seclusion. All verses where this word
occurs are as follows: 7:46, 33:53, 38:32, 41:5, 42:51, 17:45, 19:17, 83:15. It
should also be noted that believing men and women are free to eat in
each other's company, whether family or friends [24:61], thus a veil
covering the face (commonly called "niqab", or the full veil "burqa")
would obviously be impractical. Again, such an item of clothing is
nowhere to be found in The Quran.
Another common mistake regarding dress code is when the following situation-specific verse is applied to all situations:
And those who harm the believing men and the believing
women, with no just reason, they have brought upon themselves a slander
and a gross sin.
O prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the wives of the
believers that they shall lengthen (or draw near) their outer-garments.
Thus, they will be recognized and avoid being harmed. God is Forgiver,
Merciful.
If the hypocrites and those
with disease in their hearts and those who spread lies in the city do
not refrain*, then We will let you
overpower them, then they will not be able to remain as your neighbours
except for a short while. [33:58-60]
*proving
harm is already occurring, and refers back to 33:58, which is before
the modification in dress is mentioned.
The mistake is exposed when the practicalities of applying the above verses are considered. The verses deal with open enmity with significant repercussions for the perpetrators if this behaviour does not stop. The open enmity is direct to the person, hence the need for the women to modify their outer-garment in order to be recognised in public and not harmed. For the suggested solution in these verses to succeed three things must be in place:
1) The open
enmity or harm must be present in the community first and direct to the
women
2) The modification in outer-garment and the consequence for the
perpetrator of not abiding by this identification code must either be
made known to the community or this would have to be common knowledge
amongst the community
3) The authority is in place to fight/expel those persisting in this
behaviour
Clearly, this specific criteria has to be fulfilled for these verses to work, thus is not a universal rule. It is situation-specific, e.g. if a section of the community become hostile to believing women or women in general and the believers have some power in the land, then they can utilise this solution, effectively giving an ultimatum with no room for excuse for the perpetrators.
These verses are
commonly interpreted to mean that Muslim women must lengthen (or draw
near) their outer-garment whenever in public even in times of peace.
However, this is easily refuted by considering that if this was the
case and open enmity then appeared, the modification suggested in these
verses would already exist, thus implementing the modification in these
verses could not be done, thus rendering the solution described in
these verses as void.
However, from these verses it can be deduced that wearing of an
outer-garment by women when in public was the norm.
The following verse shows being clothed is the norm but makes it clear that flexibility is allowed in certain situations, as long as we are mindful of modesty. The context is etiquette within the household:
And the women who are past child bearing and who do
not seek to get married have no sin upon them if they discard their
garments*, provided they do not show off
with their beauty. If they abstain, then it is better for them. God is
Hearer, Knower. [24:60]
*Arabic word is "thiyab" and refers to ordinary clothes/gowns.
It should be noted that all examples of dress in The Quran of the righteous or believing men and women involve wearing garments, e.g. 18:31, 22:23, 24:58, 24:60, 35:33, 74:4, 76:21. Also, to provide clothing for others is considered a charitable or righteous act [4:5, 2:233, 5:89].
As can be seen, The Quran gives us a set of simple basic rules with flexible guidance for the rest, which can be applied to different situations/society/function. This flexibility is a mercy but has unfortunately been abused by various schools of thought and religious leaders who have issued their own additional rulings and consequently there is disagreement amongst them on other than the basic rules.
Additional notes
for Arabic readers:
The word "khumur" is used in 24:31 and can be the plural of "khimaar" or "khimirr",
and can mean any cover made of cloth or headcover, according to
Classical Arabic dictionaries and Traditional Ahadith/Narrations (see
Ibn Kathir
tafsir). Please note the Arabic preposition "bi" meaning
"with" in "bikhumurihinna", which means they are to cover their chests
with their "khumur/covers/headcovers". The usage of preposition "bi" is
different to the preposition "min" as used in 33:59 "min
jalabeebihinna" which means to use a part of their
"jilbab/outer-garment" in the modification suggested, i.e. not all of
it has to be lowered or drawn near, just part of it. In 24:31 if
God intended that part of it (e.g. headcover) stays on the head and
part of it be used to cover the bosom, it would have been more
appropriate to use "min khumurhinna". Furthermore, the word "yadribna"
as used in 24:31 has no connotation of lengthening or lowering in any
other occurrence, unlike "yudneena" in 33:59 which does, thus would
have been more appropriate to use.
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