بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدى يا رسول الله
In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ
O you Prophet, say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the Believers to draw their veils upon themselves
(Surah 33:59)
Veiling of women is a critical ordinance of Islam—one that has been passionately criticized by many non-Muslims but hypocrites too who are apparently within the Muslim milieu. The basic rationale of veiling of ladies is that it is necessary for modesty and having a holy and clean society that is centered on worshipping Allah and attaining nearness to Him. As we shall see, the concept of modesty is mirrored in the other so-called “Abrahamic” religions (for us Muslims only Islam is a true Abrahamic Faith) and at a deeper level the sense of shame is part of the uncorrupted human nature. Yet there are religions and philosophies out there—more appropriately described as cults and devil worship—in which nudity is celebrated and considered a sign of spiritual enlightenment. Christian heretics known as Adamites practiced nudity while rejecting the sacred institution of marriage. They lived communally, practicing “free love”, believing they were restoring the original innocence of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. It is noteworthy and quite embarrassing for today’s conservative Christians that their early coreligionists were baptized naked. Today there are small groups of Christian naturists who believe nudity is not shameful or sinful. They cite the alleged divine revelation to the Prophet Isaiah in which he was commanded to go about naked for three years to symbolize a prophecy that the Egyptians and Ethiopians shall be taken captive by Assyria in a state of nakedness (Isaiah 20:2-3). Among the Hindus are the Naga Sadhus who go about naked but with their bodies smeared in ashes, and the Digambara (meaning skyclad) Jain monks who likewise go about entirely naked. Some Wicca and Neopagan practitioners practice skyclad rituals. It is well-known that practitioners of witchcraft perform certain blasphemous rituals naked. Here I have not even addressed an entire world of non-religious nudism, which is currently gaining momentum in the West. All of this is satanic, for Allah سبحانه وتعالى says
يَا بَنِي آدَمَ لَا يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ كَمَا أَخْرَجَ أَبَوَيْكُم مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ يَنزِعُ عَنْهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا لِيُرِيَهُمَا سَوْآتِهِمَا
O children of Adam, do not let the Satan put you to trial as he had your parents expelled from the Garden, stripping them both of their raiment to make visible to them their shame
(Surah 7:27)
The Bible also teaches modesty and that women should cover their heads, “But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered” (1 Corinthians 11:5-6), “Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?” (1 Corinthians 11:13). But this instruction of their “Apostle” Paul goes unheeded by virtually all Christians today, with the exception of some obscure, Anabaptist denominations like the Mennonites and Amish, whose women wear bonnets. Catholic nuns are known to wear veils or headscarves, and Catholic iconography of the Virgin Mary always depicts her with her head covered by a veil. Very few women from some other conservative Christian churches may also cover their head, but only at the church while worshipping as per Paul’s teaching in his epistle to the Corinthians. The early and prolific Christian theologian Tertullian, incidentally the first to introduce the concept of the Trinity, wrote On the Veiling of Virgins in the early 3rd century in which he called for Christian women, both married and unmarried to regularly cover their heads out of modesty and submission to God. So disturbed was Tertullian with the moral laxity of the Church in his time that he ended up converting to the heresy known as Montanism, which attracted him due to its rigorism. It is claimed that Montanus, the eponymous founder of the sect, was originally a priest for the pagan cult of Cybele before he converted to Christianity and claimed to be a prophet. Now let us turn to Judaism. According to the Talmud, the hair of a woman, along with her voice, is ervah, meaning nakedness which ought to be covered (Berakhot 24a). Ervah is the Hebrew equivalent of what Islam terms awrah—that part of the body which is required to be concealed. But unlike in the Islamic Shariah, Jewish law apparently does not mandate that unmarried women cover their heads, only married women. In Haredi Jewish communities today married women shave or cut their hair extremely short then cover it with a wig. Often the hair for such wigs is collected from India, sometimes that hair has been shaved off a Hindu woman as part of a vow or offering to one of their idols at a temple. But in our Islamic Shariah wearing wigs and false hair is strictly forbidden. The wigs of these Haredi and Ashkenazi women, made from the lush hair of Indian women, can be so luxuriant and attractive that it basically defeats the whole purpose. Nevertheless, there are other communities of Orthodox Jews, though a small minority, whose ladies do properly cover themselves and dress modestly. This was especially true of those Jewish communities that lived in the Muslim world, in countries like Yemen. Yemeni Jewish ladies would even veil their faces with the niqab and wear clothing which is commonly called burqa. The women of a new and tiny Jewish sect called Lev Tahor, accused of being a cult and having courted much controversy, are indistinguishable from observant Muslim ladies in that they too observe the hijab in our manner and style.
Sadly, the observance of veiling by the ladies of our Muslim community is in steep decline. The poisonous influences of modernity, Western culture, fashion and feminism has corrupted the hearts and minds of too many of our women. Although the Hanafi school does not interpret the obligation of veiling to include the face, the traditional Hanafi Ulama of our time have issued fatawa requiring it nonetheless due to the prevalence of moral decay and fitnah. There can be no doubt that if face veiling is technically not obligatory it is at the very least highly encouraged and emphasized. Now it is observed that the ladies of the younger generations have taken to social media by storm, uploading images and videos of themselves dressed immodestly and performing shameful and vulgar acts of dancing, etc. The full embrace of modernity and liberalism by their parents’ generation has facilitated this evil. A generation that ridiculed the traditionalist Ulama, rudely calling them “Mullas”, and believed integration into Western society and cultural norms was absolutely necessary for progress. Those of our womenfolk who do wish to return to their Religion and observe the hijab end up doing so in a highly modified manner which is contrary to both the letter and spirit of this divine ordinance. Hijab is not merely modest dress but encompasses a mindset and lifestyle too. How does it make sense for a woman who is dressed modestly to still act flirtatiously or without a bashful demeanor, or to spend much of her time in public view? Do we not realize that much of the punishment that befell the Israelites in ancient history was due to the corruption and immodesty of their women?
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ انْهَوْا نِسَاءَكُمْ عَنْ لُبْسِ الزِّينَةِ وَالتَّبَخْتُرِ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ فَإِنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لَمْ يُلْعَنُوا حَتَّى لَبِسَ نِسَاؤُهُمُ الزِّينَةَ وَتَبَخْتَرْنَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ
O people, forbid your women from wearing adornment and from showing off in the Mosque, for the Children of Israel were not cursed until their women wore adornment and showed off in the places of worship
(Sunan Ibn Majah)
The Prophet Isaiah prophesied, “Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty (Isaiah 3:16-24)
It is the venom of feminism that has seduced many of our ladies to discard the veil and the practices of seclusion and gender segregation.
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