Women's dress in Quran
Syed Moslehuddin
Started-2010 November
the proponents of veil for women argues in their favor with the following selective verse of Quran-
| SuraID | Verse_no | Verse |
|---|
| 24An-Nur | 31 | 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, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands fathers, or their sons or their husbands sons, or their brothers or their brothers sons or sisters sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants who lack vigor, or children who know naught of women's nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that ye may succeed. |
| 33Al- 'Ahzab |
59 | O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful. |
The later is so called The verse of Hijab.
We need to realize that selective reading and use of any book is harmful and can be used as a detrimental tool against a targeted audience. I have discussed some selected verse of Quran that is used by the extremists to pursue so called JIHAD in my other section. In this section I will try to examine the verse of Hijab.
Sura Al Ahzab Verse#59 : WE need to know the context of revelation of this verse. Because ,
Von Denffer writes
The Qur'an has been revealed for guidance, for all times and situations to come. However, various ayat were revealed at a particular time in history and in particular circumstances. The Arabic word sabab (pl. asbab) means reason, cause and 'marifa asbab al-nuzul' is the knowledge about the reasons of the revelations, i.e. the knowledge about the particular events and circumstances in history that are related to the revelation of particular passages from the Qur'an. (Ulum Al Quran)
Wahidi (d. 468/1075), one of the best classical scholars in this field wrote:
'The knowledge about Tafsir of the ayat is not possible without occupying oneself with their stories and explanation of (the reasons) for their revelation.' (Asbab al-nuzul, by al-Wahidi al-Nisaburi. Cairo, 1968, p 4)
According to Von Denffer, There are three kinds of 'reasons' which are connected with revelation of particular passages from the Qur'an:
- Revelation in response to an event or a general situation.
- Revelation in response to a particular question that has been asked by someone
- Revelation for other reasons, known or not known to us.
Therefore, lets look at the context of revelation:
We read from Sahih Bukhari
Narrated 'Aisha: The wives of the Prophet used to go to Al-Manasi, a vast open place (near
Baqia at
We also read Al-Dahhak and al-Suddi said: “This verse was revealed about those adulterers
who used to roam the streets of
Sa'id ibn Muhammad al-Mu'adhdhin informed us> Abu 'Ali al-Faqih> Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Junayd> Ziyad ibn Ayyub> Hushaym> Husayn> Abu Malik who said: “The believing women were in the habit of going out at night to relieve themselves, but the hypocrites used to approach and malign them. This verse was revealed about this”.
Said al-Suddi: “The houses of
From the above sources of information we can see that the ayat of veil falls into the category of "Revelation in response to an event situation".
If the social situation of a country is as bad as described in the situations above, may be veil would be necessary. But improving social justice can not be a sole duty of women. Men and women both have to contribute equally. Quran can not be so inequitable in dealing with men and women. Quran can not impose some veil only on women to save a society from indecencies. Because in a society where only women are forced to veil and men are free to do whatever they want- the result have to be a disaster.
| The Muslim girl is covered fully and the Muslim boy is enjoying the fashion of the day(blue jeans and T shirts) ! |
 |
Women is covered fully, but what about men???????? IF you believe Quran is mum about men's responsibility then you are wrong.
We will discuss this below:
Sura AN NUR Verse# 30:
| SuraID | VerseID | AyahText |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | 30 | Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That is purer for them. Lo! Allah is aware of what they do. |
Furthermore, the following tradition also suggests modesty to be practiced by men-
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: The Prophet said, "Beware! Avoid sitting on he roads (ways)." The people said, "There is no way out of it as these are our sitting places where we have talks." The Prophet said, "If you must sit there, then observe the rights of the way." They asked, "What are the rights of the way?" He said, "They are the lowering of your gazes (on seeing what is illegal to look at), refraining from harming people, returning greetings, advocating good and forbidding evil." (Volume 3, Book 43, Number 645: )
And also they never quote the tradition above which is collected from sahih Bukhari.
This is the problem today. This is why everyone should learn Quran and understand it. In this verse men are suggested to be modest and always lower their gaze.
Now lets examine a hypothesis of a city.
Lets assume we have 25 men and 25 women almost same aged and unmarried. Also assume the following scenarios:
Scenario-A: all women are very short dressed and men also love to watch women body and enjoying women.
Scenario-B: all women are very short dressed but men practice Quranic verse 24-30.
Scenario-C:All women are covered and all men are hungry for women
In situation A there will be disaster and HIV is obvious.
In Situation B still the society will be in very good shape because men are modest and practicing Quranic teachings in 24-30.
So what is wrong with women wearing short dress? nothing if you keep practicing your suggested modesty.
In the situation C, Still there are high risk although women are forced to cover in full. Hungry men will hunt them and uncover them every now and then as they are stronger physically.
It is more important that men be modest as prescribed in verse 24-30. Covering women top to bottom will not work as we have discussed above.
Also, we need not to force to cover women as compulsion is not permitted in QURAN-
| SuraID | VerseID | AyahText |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 256 | There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. |
If a man tries to force a woman to cover in full, the women
should reply " You full fill
Finally, we need to realize--Religion for life, life not for religion.
The following two tradition also suggests this-
Narrated 'Aisha:
Once the Prophet came while a woman was sitting with me. He
said, "Who is she?" I replied, "She is so and so," and told him about her
(excessive) praying. He said disapprovingly, "Do (good) deeds which is within
your capacity (without being overtaxed) as Allah does not get tired (of giving
rewards) but (surely) you will get tired and the best deed (act of Worship) in
the sight of Allah is that which is done regularly." (Volume
1, Book 2, Number 41: Bukhari)
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "Religion is very easy and whoever
overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So
you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the
good tidings that you will be rewarded; and gain strength by worshipping in the
mornings, the nights." (See Fath-ul-Bari, Page 102, Vol 1 Bukhari).