Cover or not? (Hijab or not?)

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

This is a very controversial topic, not just among the Muslims but also the non-Muslims. I never intend to make this into an issue to anyone or for myself, but something that happened yesterday triggers me to think about it and I decided to share it. Your comments are most welcome. I was in the prayer room and a fresher sister came to prayer Asr. She is not a hijabi but she never missed her prayer. When we were talking about different Asr timing for Hanafi and non-Hanafi, I asked her, "Your family must have a prayer timetable at home, right? Just follow it if you are not sure". She then said that none of her family actually prays. So, she only gets the prayer timetable from her friends. It's actually her friends who encourage her to become more practising. Before I came to UK, I thought that many of the non-hijabis are not really practising Muslims, although not all together but majority. My view changes a little when I'm in UK after a debate with friends and self-argument, but still I believe that it is always best to put hijab on, for many reasons which I'll explain later. Yesterday I was thinking, OMG it is awfully bad to judge a non-hijabi sister like that. She is like a baby, who only starts to learn how to crawl and already someone thinks that she should be running now! She just learns the 5 pillars and tries to practise them as much as she can (while there's no family support), there is no way that we can do more than that at this stage. Astaghfirullah. Of course, I didn't say anything further after realised that her family are not practising.

In Islam, as far as the evidence from the Qur'an, there are 2 verses that many Muslim scholars from the past until now, quote and judge that the wearing of hijab is compulsory for a Muslim woman who reaches puberty and if she is in front of her non-mahram (male, none close relatives, of course not your father, brother, uncle, grandfather, son, husband etc.).

"And say to the faithful women to lower their gazes, and to guard their private parts, and not to display their beauty except what is apparent of it, and to extend their headcoverings (khimars) to cover their bosoms (jaybs), and not to display their beauty except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their womenfolk, or what their right hands rule (slaves), or the followers from the men who do not feel sexual desire, or the small children to whom the nakedness of women is not apparent, and not to strike their feet (on the ground) so as to make known what they hide of their adornments. And turn in repentance to Allah together, O you the faithful, in order that you are successful"

~ The Holy Qur'an, Surah An-Nur (Chapter 24, The Light) verse 31

O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the faithful to draw their outergarments (jilbabs) close around themselves; that is better that they will be recognized and not annoyed. And ALLAH is ever Forgiving, Gentle.

~ Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Ahzab (Chapter 33, The Confederates) verse 59

Many people tend to try and interpret the verses above according to their own shallow understanding thus making the obligation to wear hijab as commanded by ALLAH into something being taken easily. The thing is, if you have not studied the Qur'an, not memorising the Qur'an, not memorising the hadith, not learning Tafsir Qur'an, 'Ulum al-Quran (The Science of the Qur'an), Asbab un-Nuzul (The Reasons behind the revelation of each verse of the Qur'an), the Sirah (The Islamic History) in depth, not practising, not pious (God fearing) and close to ALLAH to understand HIS will, who are you to tell what do these 2 verses really mean? Or are you just want to be like the Bani Israil explained in the Qur'an, who only guessed the meanings of the Scriptures sent to them, and then made their own laws wrongly thus earned ALLAH's anger? Made the lawful into unlawful and made the unlawful into lawful.

Below are the interpretations of the first verse presented above by two major Muslim scholars in the Interpretation of the Qur'an (Tafsir):

"Women in those days used to cover their heads with the khimar, throwing its ends upon their backs. This left the neck and the upper part of the chest bare, along with the ears, in the manner of the Christians. Then ALLAH commanded them to cover those parts with the khimar."

~ Interpreted by Imam Abu Abdullah Qurtubi (Maliki School of Thought)

"'Extend their khimars to cover their bosoms' means that they should wear the khimar in such a way that they cover their chests so that they will be different from the women of the jahiliyyah who did not do that but would pass in front of men with their chests uncovered and with their necks, forelocks, and earrings uncovered."

~ Interpreted by Imam Abu'l-Fida ibn Kathir (Shafi'i School of Thought)

Those are the interpretation by well-learned, well-known and knowledgeable Muslim scholars in the field of Qur'an Translation and Interpretation. They studied the Qur'an in their whole life, so are we better than them in this field to make our own interpretation (simply to fulfill our own desire)? It's as though a secondary school student who has just learnt about the First Newton Law and wanted to challenge a Professor in Physics! Hilarious! You don't play about with Science but you make fun of religious knowledge!

In the Prophetic tradition, it is clear that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) did the below action:

"Aishah (ra) reported that Asma’, the daughter of Abu Bakr (ra) came to the Messenger of ALLAH (saw) while wearing thin clothing. He (saw) approached her and said: 'O Asma’! When a girl reaches the menstrual age, it is not proper that anything should remain exposed except this and this. He (saw) pointed to the face and hands."

~ Narrated by Imam Abu Dawud>

So, do we want to say NO to the commands by ALLAH & HIS Messenger (saw)? Even all the Imams of all the 4 Sunni Schools of Thought say that it is obligatory to observe this religious duty. Now, I don't like to use the word 'hijab' as it only indicates the need to cover your head. I would like to use the word 'covering nakedness', this would be more appropriate than the word hijab. You can wear hijab but still exposing your arms or other part of the nakedness (awrah). And also, the word hijab has been abused by the media into a negative picture. Hey, by the way, virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, also wore a hijab. Don't believe me? Click this. What about the nuns? Also, in Jainism (a type of religion in India), look at how their women dress. What about orthodox Jewish women? Don't they cover their head too after marriage? And so many more examples of women from the past (I mean before Islam) until now observe this duty. Well, obviously cause Islam is not a new religion! Books and Scriptures have been sent down to mankind from the One and Only GOD.

Anyway, go back to the main point of this post. Yes, covering nakedness for a Muslim woman over the age of puberty in front of non-mahram men is an obligation. There might be certain cases that you can opt not to, especially if it will (or potentially) endanger your life, from other people or from health problem. This is understood and many Muslim scholars accepted that as a valid reason. But, nowadays, how many of the non-hijabis are really in this kind of situation? This is an endless debate which I do not wish to get involved in my blog. I respect whatever your reason is as long as you are truthful to ALLAH. The difference in opinions is a form of mercy from ALLAH. So, you do whatever you think is correct after praying hard to HIM to show you the right way. If not, please do not impose your opinion to others, you won't know if you are spreading the right thing or the wrong thing as whatever the consequence is, you will get the share even after your death. This sentence apply to myself too, and especially to myself as you are now reading my opinion, which of course by no means that I want to 'force' you to accept it, just think about it.

Having said so that wearing hijab is an obligation, in length, now go back to my fresher sister, for her, it is already hard to observe the daily prayers, to put on one more duty, probably will scare her off and put her off the religion if she is not strong enough. We should not judge her as a 'bad' Muslim, simply because she is a non-hijabi, because we don't know her intention and the story behind. Judge ourselves first before we look at others! I pray that, the more she goes near to ALLAH by observing the 5 pillars, she will finally come to other obligations too. Please make du'a for her and other sisters too.

Now, think about this. If Islam can be seen like a GCSE or A-Level or SPM or STPM examination, then think of each obligation is like a paper, you have English, Maths, Science, etc. and you may get A, B, C, D, E and so on for different paper. So I can't judge your performance based on 1 paper. It has to be taken as a whole. Same to Islam, simply because a person fail the Awrah paper, it doesn't mean that she mush have failed in Islam. She might get A* in Salah paper, Wudhu paper, Ihsan paper, etc. Talking about Ihsan, when we wear hijab or cover our nakedness properly, are we doing it for the sake of ALLAH?

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.

p/s: Later this evening, I met another fresher sister and she used to be a non-hijabi, but then, after she be friended with a sister who doesn't judge her like other do, she became closer to Islam and now she is a hijabi, with good manner, smiley and doing her PhD in Oriental Studies (good in Arabic too, she is not an Arab). Alhamdulillah. So, we should stop being judgemental on others so to bring others closer to the religion.