Re: Niqaab: thoughts

From: Daniel Ramirez
Subject: Re: Niqaab: thoughts
To:
Date: Monday, September 19, 2011, 11:55 AM

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 8:49 AM, danyal wrote:

in this society wearing niqab is counter productive. Secondly is defeats the purpose of niqab which is to be less noticiable. In this society is makes you stand out and subject to different types of discrimination and pre concieved notion of what the person wearing the niqab is all about. If we were in saudi arabi then thats understandable. can you say URF?

From: Isidro Reyes
Subject: Re: Niqaab: thoughts
To:
Date: Monday, September 19, 2011, 6:11 AM

But even the scholarly interpretation is exegetical. Forbidden parts also vary from culture to culture. Can you please address this?

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 12:24 AM, Larry Levine wrote:

http://www.islamicity.com/qa/action.lasso.asp?-db=services&-lay=Ask&-op=eq&number=34587&-format=detailpop.shtml&-find

the following fatwa issued by Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid, the prominent Saudi Islamic lecturer and author:

"Muslim woman have to wear clothes that will conceal the body and her `awrah (parts of the body which should not exposed in front of others); she must not wear transparent or see-through clothes or tight clothes that show the shape of the body. Pants or trousers fall into the later category; so for this reason it is not permissible for women to wear pants/jeans, unless she wears over them a wide or loose shirt.

One of the aims of Islam is to protect people's `awrahs and avoid uncovering them, because taking this matter lightly is one of the means of falling into that which Allah has forbidden, namely zina (fornication or adultery) and the things that lead to it.

The Muslim woman has to adhere to the Islamic etiquette in the way she dresses, moves and speaks. Allah Almighty says: "O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies." (Al-Ahzab:59)"

II.

Hijab is meant to preserve Muslim woman's dignity. Like all other Shari`ah-based commands, Hijab should be given due care, for it brings about countless fruits and wards off evils.
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

"Hijab is the proper Islamic dress code, which is primarily intended to safeguard the modesty, dignity and honor of men and women.
Allah, the Creator of humans, knows our nature better than ourselves, and thus He has prescribed appropriate rules of behavior and appearance to be observed when men and women interact with one another in a social milieu. These rules of interaction also include a prescription for modest dressing, which, I should hasten to add, apply to males as well as females.

Hijab thus forms part of a holistic program of Islamic ethics and morals governing male and female interaction. Prescribing the rule of Hijab, Allah says,
"Say to the believing men to lower their gazes and guard their chastity," (An-Nur: 30)
"And say to the believing women to lower their gazes and guard their chastity, and let them not display of their charm - except what is apparent." (An-Nur: 31)

Commenting on the phrase, "what is apparent", Ibn `Abbas, the famous Companion and the Qur'an exegete, said, "It means face and hands." In other words, according to Ibn `Abbas, a woman must cover all her body except her face and hands while in the presence of men who are not related to her directly (and the list of those in whose presence she need not cover is clearly outlined in Surat An-Nur: 31).

Let us now turn to the specific verse on hijab in the Qur'an: "And tell the believing women to lower their eyes, and guard their modesty, and that they display not their ornaments except what appears of them. And that they draw their scarves (khumurihinna) over their bosoms…" (An-Nur: 31)

The word used in this context is khumur which has been variously translated as veils or scarves; the latter is more precise for it is the plural of khimar, which has been defined as "a woman's head covering; a piece of cloth with which a woman covers her head." (See Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-`Arab.) Imam Raghib al-Isfahani in his famous work, Mufradat alfadh al-Qur'an defines the terms by saying, "The root meaning of the word is to cover, and the khimar, therefore, is the cover or veil, but it has become synonymous with veil with which a woman covers her head (i.e., headscarf); the plural of the word is khumur (as used in the Qur'an: An-Nur: 31)." Because, according to the Arabic usage, covering the head is the most important function of khimar, no scholar in the past that we know of has ever disputed the fact that women are commanded by Allah to cover their heads; they only argued whether the face and hands are also included in the above order. The majority of scholars are of the opinion that they are allowed to uncover their faces and hands.

Furthermore, one of the basic principles of the Qur'anic exegesis is that we must seek to understand the Qur'anic verses as they were originally revealed to, received, understood, and applied by the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), both men and women. We have incontrovertible evidence in the sources to suggest that it is in the above sense, and in the above sense alone, that they related to, and applied the above verse. We read the report of `A'ishah, the beloved wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said: "By Allah, I never saw more excellent women than those of the Ansar in their zeal to believe and act according to the Revelation. When Allah revealed the verse, "and let them draw their veils over their bosoms", their men rushed to their homes in order to recite the same to their wives, daughters and sisters and relatives. No sooner they heard the verse, everyone of their women without exception rushed to cut a piece of their long gowns and covered themselves with it, and thus they stood behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with their heads covered as if they had crows sitting on them (because of the color of their head-scarves)!" (See Tafsir works such as those of Ibn Jarir, al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir, etc.)

In light of the above, it is easy to conclude that covering the head (and not the face and hands) is a stated requirement of the proper Islamic attire for Muslim women. It is clearly not one of those scholarly interpretations which one may choose to accept or ignore but a clear commandment of Allah stated in the Qur'an.

May Allah guide us all to the straight path!
Wassalam and Allah Almighty knows best.
Reference:
IslamiCity

On Sep 18, 2011, at 1:21 PM, Fawad Shaiq wrote:

Salam Brother Hector,

We need to be careful when we read hadith and Qur'an. The vast majority of scholars have said that the niqaab is not mandatory. It's fine for a sister who chooses to wear it, but for others to say that it is mandatory flies against the consensus of scholars for hundreds of years.

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 10:45 PM, Hector Crespo wrote:

Bismillah irahman iraheem

Asalaam aleykum sister Brahima and brother Bilal and thank you both for replying.

Sister, I see your reasoning for saying that this is a woman's issue and that men have no say in it and in fact I believe, and this is just my humble opinion sister, that no man or woman for that matter has a say on the subject, as our beloved Prophet s.a.w. said "The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried." What has already been ordered for us to follow has already been made clear in the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet s.a.w. and whether we choose to act on that order or not is up to us and is why I said in my first email that he who wishes to believe let him do so and he who wishes to disbelieve let him disbelieve, we will all be judged by what we did ourselves, not what someone else did.

As for why I say that the order has been given brothers and sisters, Allah s.w.t says in His glorious Quran what means:

Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah that ye may attain Bliss.
Surah 24 Ayat 30-31

O prophet! tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested: and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Surah 33 Ayat 59

In regards to the above verse Aisha r.a. said:

'Aisha used to say: "When (the Verse): 'They should draw their veils over their necks and bosoms,' was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces."
Bukhari 6:282

When the verse "That they should cast their outer garments over their persons" was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments.
Hadith - Abu Dawud, Narrated Umm Salamah, Ummul Mu'minin

Will not following these orders merit you a one way ticket to the fires of jahan'um? Allahu'alim, Allah s.w.t. knows best and I am not here to scream at any sister that she will go to hellfire because she did not follow the above verses though I would advise her and the rest of us to follow them. But Allah s.w.t. is the best to forgive and the best to know who deserves his mercy, we all know that in 3 Abrahamic religions which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam fornication has been forbidden but Allah s.w.t. chose to forgive a prostitute from the Children of Israel for no other reason than giving a thirsty dog some water. So who am I to say that a sister will go to hellfire for not wearing hijab/niqab?

Brother Bilal you said that much of this is culturally alien to you but I must say that hijab and/or niqab are not culture for the above quoted verses and ahadith, they are part of the deen. I would advise that you read up on the subject and speak with any local scholars if you can as well regarding the subject and advise your daughters and wife if you have one to wear the hijab and inshalla the niqaab but advise them in the best of manners as we are told to in the Quran.

As for things being alien, think of how it must have been for the Prophet s.a.w. and the believers of his time...Islam was alien to them, women used to walk around bare chested, men used to bury alive their young girls for being just that, women would choose their husband from a lineup they just had fornicated with....this was the norm back then and we should be grateful and happy with what has been revealed to us as our deen, or way of life and not ashamed of it and I say this to all of us but first and formost to myself.

The Prophet s.a.w. is said to have said:

“Islam began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers.”
Sahîh Muslim (1/130)

“The religion will shrink back to the Hijâz like the snake shrinks back into its hole. It will cling to the Hijâz like the mountain goat clings to the mountaintop. The religion began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers who restore what the people corrupt of my Sunnah."
Sunan al-Tirmidhî (#2630)

Brothers and sisters, I thank you for having taken the time to read what I have written, if I have written something incorrectly, please correct me brothers or sisters. Whatever I have written that is true and correct is from Allah s.w.t. and whatever I have written that is untrue and incorrect is from myself and shaytan and beg that Allah s.w.t. forgive me.

Asalaam aleykum,
Hector Crespo

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Isidro Reyes wrote:

Salaam brother,

I have a pluralistic view to the issue. I think the choice to wear one is individual preference and what one feels comfortable with. My daughters do not wear any of the aforementioned because it is culturally alien to us and as you mentioned neither hijab nor niqaab are mentioned in the Quran. As long as cultural modesty is observed it really comes down to a matter of subjectivity; right? Of course, intent is important.

I am not intransigent to different opinions and views and welcome your comments and/or concerns.

Salaam Alaykum brothers and sisters.

Bilal Isidro Reyes

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 5:55 PM, Hector Crespo wrote:

Mashallah, I think sister Heba did a great job defending her reasoning behind why it is she wears the niqaab. Sister Mouna put up the argument that it is not even mentioned in the Quran but I feel it is a bit of a wrong of her to use that argument considering how she is dressed. I believe that both sisters have a right to dress as they wish though as it does say in the Quran that they who wish to believe let them believe and they who don't, let them disbelieve. In the end we will all be brought to our Creator and He will be the best to judge.

I am curious though as to everyone else's opinions on this given the subject line...sorry for the late reply though.

Asalaam aleykum,
Hector Crespo

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 8:14 AM, Ruben Morales wrote:

debate over the niqaab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPpAskcDOcw
--
Ruben E. Morales
sontse07@gmail.com

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله
lā ʾilāha ʾillallāh, Muḥammad rasūlu-llāh (Transliteration)
There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God. (English)
--
Isidro Reyes
--
Isidro Reyes