why are only women required to cover in islam?

format_quote Originally Posted by londonfog

A friend recently sat me down and asked why only women are require to cover in Islam? Why not the men? Why is Islam singling women out? What about women rights? Women shouldn't be oppressed .... etc etc

Perhaps one of our sisters should answer this one.

format_quote Originally Posted by londonfog

As well, why are men supposed to grow out their beards? What does it signify?

Praise be to Allaah.

Shaving the beard is haraam because of the saheeh ahaadeeth that clearly state this, and because of the general application of texts that forbid resembling the kuffaar. One of these reports is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar who said that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Be different from the mushrikeen: let your beards grow and trim your moustaches.” According to another report: “Trim your moustaches and let your beards grow.” There are other hadeeth which convey the same meaning, which is to leave the beard as it is and let it grow long, without shaving, plucking or cutting any part of it. Ibn Hazm reported that there was scholarly consensus that it is an obligation (fard) to trim the moustache and let the beard grow. He quoted a number of ahaadeeth as evidence, including the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) quoted above, and the hadeeth of Zayd ibn Arqam in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever does not remove any of his moustache is not one of us.” (Classed as saheeh by al-Tirmidhi). Ibn Hazm said in al-Furoo’: “This is the way of our colleagues [i.e., the Hanbalis].”

Is it haraam (to shave it)? Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “The Qur’aan, Sunnah and ijmaa’ (scholarly consensus) all indicate that we must differ from the kuffaar in all aspects and not imitate them, because imitating them on the outside will make us imitate them in their bad deeds and habits, and even in beliefs, which will result in befriending them in our hearts, just as loving them in our hearts will lead to imitating them on the outside. Al-Tirmidhi reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “He is not one of us who imitates people other than us. Do not imitate the Jews and Christians.” According to another version: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad) ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab rejected the testimony of the person who plucked his beard. Imaam Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said in al-Tamheed: “It is forbidden to shave the beard, and no one does this except men who are effeminate” i.e., those who imitate women. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had a thick beard (reported by Muslim from Jaabir). It is not permitted to remove any part of the beard because of the general meaning of the texts which forbid doing so.

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 5/133

Source

Clarification about the ruling regarding imitation of the kuffaar: http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/21694

I get what you are saying but people don't seem to get it. Even fellow Muslims argue against the beard issue. Its always why why why....

There are many non-muslim men who also keep beards. They are not necessarily imitating anybody... and then many men could also argue that they shave because they don't like it or something, NOT becuz they wanna imitate women. The whole identity and 'I'm my own person' thing comes in. Kinda like I'm putting make-up on cuz I want to for MYSELF, not to show it off to men....

I never really know how to answer when someone asks me questions like these cuz telling then "because Allah said so" is never enough...they need absolute reasons...

:



Sister, I am sorry and I don't mean any offense but I don't understand a word you wrote up there.

I get the general idea though



Jazaka'allah anyway for your reply. May Allah bless you. Ameen

I think oftentimes we run into trouble when we try to rationalize everything in our religion for everybody that asks.

The first and foremost reasons for both commandments (hijab and beard) is because Allah and His Messenger commanded us to do so.

There are some very good reasons for hijab, which I'm sure the sisters will elaborate on (and have in many other threads).

There are also good reasons for the beard. At the time it was to avoid imitating the polytheists of Rome, and also to maintain a more masculine identity. Also, the Muslim beard is different than the traditional beard of the non-Muslims, in that we either trim or shave the mustache. And while the length of the beard is not agreed upon on unanimously by scholars, many times you will see brothers (especially the Shayookh) with masha'Allah big beards. This helps to add to the Islamic identity for the brothers (as most bearded non-Muslims keep the beard to a short length and do not trim the mustache).

That being said, in today's world, many people may not buy into that reasoning. That's too bad; if they can't accept it then what are you going to do? We must always stand firm by our religion.

Besides, beards are awesome!

Hijab protects a womens beauty, we must obey Allah and follow his rules. Usually some women who are the feminst type like to argue about this, but who are they to argue about what Allah has ordained! hes the creator he knows his creation better then we know ourselves! Hes all wise all knowing subhannallah!

May Allah make all of us steadfast upon the deen! Ameen

Both men & women r required to cover to some extent.

In addition to normal clothing, women r required to cover their trunks* to cover their "curvatures". This is because women r created beautiful for men's eyes & men tend to stare at them & can get "wrong" thoughts in their minds.

Now some woman might say men r also made attractive for women...!!! I would ask her to come into a male body for few days & then u would drop this reasoning. Because she would realize the intensity of "urge" in males towards females.

Male "urge" is more of visual/physical thing. While female urge is more of emotional thing. He wants visual stimulus & physical touch more while she wants emotional company more.

Sexual "urge" is proportional to testosterone/androgens** levels BOTH in males & in females. It's level in males is many folds higher than in females, so tendency to stare at opposite gender's BODY is much more in males than in females that's why females r required to cover up for their own good.


*[24:31] And tell the believing women to subdue their eyes, and maintain their chastity. They shall not reveal any parts of their bodies, except that which is necessary. They shall cover their chests, and shall not relax this code in the presence of other than their husbands, their fathers, the fathers of their husbands, their sons, the sons of their husbands, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, other women, the male servants or employees whose sexual drive has been nullified, or the children who have not reached puberty. They shall not strike their feet when they walk in order to shake and reveal certain details of their bodies. All of you shall repent to GOD, O you believers, that you may succeed.

**http://www.islamicboard.com/1168572-post65.html