The Manners: The Veil (Hijab)
by Amr Khaled
Translated by the
www.daralislamlive.com team.
There is an aim after striving for Allah's (swt) sake. I want to focus on the first implementation of modesty. It is not for the men, but for the women. The most important thing in a woman's life is the Hijab. I'll start with the women for a reason.
If all the brothers and sisters in Islam had modesty, I swear that society will be guided on the right path. I am not here to criticise or judge the sisters. May Allah reward you for taking time to listen to these words. Hence I want to begin the first colour of the colours of modesty; and that is the modesty of the woman.
Why am I going to start with the modesty of the woman? Am I attempting to criticise or judge her? Maybe I don't want to upset the men? No, I would never do that! However, I must stress that if the woman was guided on the right path and protected her modesty, then society would also be on the right path.
When the enemy of Islam wants to destroy something, the first thing they look to destroy is the woman. This is since when the woman loses her modesty, it is easy for the youth to become misguided. In turn, it is easy for the whole soceity to lose their modesty. Hence, the first thing I will talk about is the modesty of the woman. If we say that modesty for the man is obligatory, then modesty for the woman are obligations; for her it is a crucial duty. This is since the nature of the woman is easy for modesty- she is closest to modesty.
Surely the greatest thing that belongs to the woman is her Hijab. Please listen to these words and kindly tell your sisters and tell your relatives. If you wear the hijab, please spread this message to your sisters in faith, and if you do not wear the hijab, please try to benefit from what will be said today.
Indeed, the most honoured thing a woman possesses is her modesty. Moreover, the most precious symbolism of modesty is the Hijab. What is the most precious thing you have? If you have something precious, a pearl, a jewel, or a briefcase of money, will you protect it? Will you hide it? You will put it in a safe surely! The more valuable it becomes, the more you want to protect it. So will you hide it from people or show it off? Will you leave it in front of everyone to watch and take from it whatever they want?
Of course you are going to protect it! So what is the most important, precious thing that deserves to be protected? The woman's modesty. And the most important thing in the woman's life is her Hijab.
Did you know that the pearl is protected by its shell? And the shell is not attractive, yet you cannot substitute it with anything else to protect the pearl. Therefore, you cannot do without the Hijab as it protects you.
So why is the Hijab an obligation for women and not an obligation for men? Is it just to pressurise the woman? No. It is because 100 men will never be able to seduce or make one woman fall for them. No matter what they did, if the woman is not interested, those 100 men cannot do anything to attract her. However, one woman can succeed to attract 100 men in a few minutes. Therefore it is obligatory for the woman, since she is the source of attraction. So the Hijab in her right is a must for her.
Before Islam was sent to the world, the Arabs and Romans believed that the most valuable beauty was found in the body. So the Romans, Arabs and other nations recognised the beauty of the body. So Islam came to change that perception of the body. Islam came to raise the human's spiritual level. Islam came to say: purify your tastes and manners. As humankind progresses, their manners and tastes have to progress too. It was never a written law that the woman has to show her body. Islam stresses that a woman is not judged by her body but her intellect and manners. These are the most important things in our values. So the man will not judge the woman by her beauty. Islam taught the man and transferred his thoughts to judge the woman by her manners and her intellect.
Nobody should see or enjoy her physical body except for her husband. I wonder will any intellectual person accept these words? Who are those who respect and value the woman and who are those who don't? Some people argue that the Hijab is not obligatory and that it was not mentioned in the Qur'an. Let's refer to the Qur'an's verses that make the Hijab obligatory to Muslim women.
"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies. That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (33:59).
Pay attention that when Allah talks about the Hijab as an obligation He (swt) also includes the women of the believers, meaning all of the Muslim women. So no one can argue that this verse was only referring to the family of the Prophet. The meaning of this verse is that all of the female believers must wear the Hijab so that they will be recognised as pious women, therefore respected and valued by their modesty. No one will harm her because she is respecting herself by what she is wearing.
The Hijab is obligatory! It is not a Sunnah (practise of the Prophet). Allah also says:
"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 (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms display their beauty......And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss." (Quأ¢â‚¬â„¢ran 24:31)
According to most scholars, women must cover everything except for her hands and face.
Allah (swt) went into very fine details to describe the way they have to cover the ears, the neck and the chest. Have you ever seen something described so clearly for us in the way that we should be dressed? When Allah says: to wear the khimar [basically to cover the whole body with loose clothing] it doesn't mean the woman has to wear a very long scarf, it means you have to cover the most important things with the scarf; the hair, the neck and the chest. Therefore, tucking in the small scarf into your neck is an invalid Hijab because it will reveal what you have, i.e. your chest, etc.
Allah says we have to cover everything. Who can say after that that the Hijab is not obligatory? And the verse with, 'turn all together to Allah, in other words, Repent you believers.'
It is a duty of a husband to encourage (not force) and persuade her to wear the Hijab in order for her to be respected and be valued as a pious woman. In another verse, Allah addresses the Muslim women not to show off and dress in such a way that the pre-Islamic women used to. How did the Pre-Islamic women dress? Did they wear short skirts? No they didn't. Can you guess how they used to show off their beauty? They used to wear better than short skirts that's for sure. The pre-Islamic women used to cover everything, so they would wear long dresses, but they would show their chest, necks, forehead and the top of their hair.
What will you do when you stand in front of Allah and He asks you, where is your Hijab? Do not be upset by my words sister, I am only stressing this out of concern. When the verses of the Hijab were revealed, all of the women covered immediately. However, never force your daughters and sisters to wear the Hijab. Advise them in the best of ways so that they can see the true wisdom behind the Hijab.
When the verses of the Hijab were revealed, the men told the women about the meaning of the verses. The women were so eager to obey Allah's command exactly the way it was described in the Qur'an. Since they couldn't afford to buy new materials for a Hijab, they took a dress and tore it into two and used it as a Hijab and went out like that.
Allah says we have to cover everything. Who can say after that that the Hijab is not obligatory? And the verse with, 'turn all together to Allah, in other words, Repent you believers.'
It is a duty of a husband to encourage (not force) and persuade her to wear the Hijab in order for her to be respected and be valued as a pious woman.
When the verses of the Hijab were revealed, the men told the women about the meaning of the verses. The women were so eager to obey Allah's command exactly the way it was described in the Qur'an. Since they couldn't afford to buy new materials for a Hijab, they took a dress and tore it into two and used it as a Hijab and went out like that.
This is contrary to the way women of today are like; they make excuses for not wearing the proper Hijab. The Prophet (saw) said: " "A group of women will never enter Paradise. They are those who wear tight, revealing clothes and do not listen to Allah's command of wearing the Hijab. Not only will they not enter Paradise, but they will not even smell Paradise, although you can smell Paradise from a 500 year distance". This Hadeeth is from Saheeh Muslim.
To stress how important it is to cover yourself, there is another example. The Prophet (saw) had to go into battle against a tribe of Jews who ridiculed a Muslim woman in the market. They tricked her by tying up her dress, so when she moved, she tripped over and her dress tore so she became uncovered. So a Muslim man who saw this stood up and killed the Jewish man who had done so. So the Prophet (saw) took the army and threw out the Jewish tribe out of Madinah.
I wonder what the Prophet would have done if he saw the way women dress now. Another example is of the famous scholar Ibn Hanbal. He was walking in the market and a breeze of air lifted a woman's dress and he saw her ankle accidentally. His reaction was shocked and angry saying: these are the days of the corruption! He reacted like this over a uncovered ankle! I wonder what he would have done if he saw today's women. I could not have spoken about modesty without talking about the Hijab because modesty is a branch of faith.
What is your excuse for not wearing the Hijab? Let's go through a list of excuses.
1) I'm not convinced of the Hijab.
So I'd ask you, what are you? You would reply, I'm a Muslim. What is the meaning of Muslim? The meaning of a Muslim is to submit yourself totally to Allah. The sister who does not want to put the Hijab on is not submitted to Allah. She doesn't want to submit to the will of Allah. How can we argue against, or disobey what Allah and His Messenger have given to us? Prophet Ibrahim had to sacrifice his son and he didn't understand why he had to do such a thing. So that teaches us how to submit to Allah's word. I would rather hear you say that you are not strong enough to put the Hijab on, than you to say that you are not convinced with Allah's own words.
2nd Excuse:
The women who say that the most important thing is what is in the inside, that her intentions are always good, and she is a good person, and the Hijab is the Hijab of the heart. And these women say that they pray 5 times a day, better than 60 men, and she prays the night prayers, and she prays the voluntary prayers, and she gives charity. However, she feels that this is enough worship for her. Allah (SWT) and His Messenger said: You cannot take parts of Islam and reject other parts. You have to take the religion as a whole.
So let us calculate it, you are saying that you are doing a lot of good deeds and that your intentions are good, and your heart is pure. Alright, I agree with you, but I want to ask you one question. Let us calculate this together. Everyday you go out, every man that looks at your hair and your body, do you take sins or not? Of course you take sins because you didn't obey Allah's command. And you'll find that the lady will argue: 'It's not my fault, my intentions are good, it's the man that will take sins for looking at me.' No sister. He will take sins if he stares at you because you were attracting attention.
Let's calculate it. Everyday, how many sins does a woman who doesn't wear the Hijab take? Would it go over a thousand sins a day? And remember, the man has two eyes, not one! And the man has a heart that loves and desires. Can you imagine the sins the woman is getting? I wonder if your good deeds will be enough? Will they outweigh the thousands of sins you are getting everyday? I want you to do a little experiment. Everyday you go out, count how many sins you are getting. How many sins do you get for every man that looks at your hair and body?
Didn't Allah order you to wear the Hijab? I am afraid that your good deeds are falling from a torn bag. The good deeds enter the top and escape from the hole at the bottom.
The Third Excuse:
The Hijab and hot weather.
The woman can complain that she looses her hair when she puts on the Hijab, because of the heat. So come on, do you want me to loose my hair and get bald? I won't put it on because my hair falls off. Sister, Allah says: Say that the Hell fire is stronger than the heat of the world.
The Prophet (saw) said: Hell is surrounded by our desires, and Jannah is surrounded by the good things. Is it still difficult for you to put on the Hijab? But you'll take GREAT deeds for following Allah's command!
The Forth Excuse:
The women say that they knew ladies that wore the Hijab and they had the worst of manners, and did the worst of things. So I don't want to put the Hijab on because I don't want to be like them. Okay, I argue to the sister that I know people who pray, but do bad things, does that mean we shouldn't pray? Some people go to Hajj so that they can hide under the title of Hajj and that they can do bad things. Does that mean we shouldn't go to hajj? So sister, the wrong is not in the religion, but in the people themselves. So is the hijab bad or the person who wears the hijab?
5th Excuse:
Allah has not guided me yet. I will put on the Hijab, but Allah hasn't guided me to do so now. So when I am 50 years old and I have enjoyed my life, I'll put on the Hijab. No sister, this excuse is totally wrong. Allah says: Allah does not change a people's situation unless they change what is within themseleves. You will not put the Hijab on until you change what is within yourself and work towards putting on the Hijab. It's not acceptable for you to say that Allah has not guided you- no, he has guided you and the proof is that you are listening to these words. The reason you are listening to these words is Allah opening the journey of guidance to you. Allah will never leave a person unless He gives him guidance, so it is up to that person to obey or not.
6th Excuse:
When I get married I'll put on the Hijab.
So I'll tell you, alot of men look for the pious, religious woman who respects herself with her Hijab, more than those men who look for the other women. And Allah has written who you will marry anyway! So you won't marry anyone else except for that person that Allah has chosen for you. Don't be afraid, put your trust in Allah. Allah will give you the pious husband. So when you marry, marry somoene who will love you for your faith and respect you.
A man came to a scholar and asked him: If I'm going to marry my sister to someone, who should it be? The Scholar replied, marry her to a man who is a friend of Islam, so if he loved her, he will respect her, and if he hated her, he will not treat her badly. Marry the man that will protect you, respect you, and be happy that you are a wearing the veil.
7th Excuse:
I'm still young.
Do you know when you'll die sister? The death rate for youths is increasing! I will give you an example of a girl. A True story that really happened. This happened in Egypt, Alexandria last year in Ramadan. The man was telling me that his wife wears a veil. Living in front of them was a young girl who was not wearing the veil. And the girl has good things inside her heart, like all of our sisters in Islam. However, she doesn't understand the meaning of the veil and the meaning it has in Islam. So he said that his wife (and this is obligatory for all the women who wear Hijab) had good relations with this girl. She didn't ignore her just because she doesn't wear the Hijab, no, she was friends with her. So one day the young girl had come to ask the wife if she'd come shopping with her to buy some jeans. So the intelligent wife who knows that she has to call the girl towards Allah agreed to go shopping with her, but under one condition: the girl comes with the wife to an islamic circle that was going to start. The girl agreed.
So they went to the circle which was about repentence to Allah. The girl was so inspired by what was being said, and started to cry until she kept repeating one sentence over and over again: I've repented Allah, please someone cover me. The people told her okay let us take you home and you can put the Hijab on. But she refused, wanting to be covered right at that moment with the Hijab, she couldn't go out without it. So they got her a scarf and a dress, and she left the building with it on. And as soon as she left to cross the road, a car hit her and she died.
I swear this is a true story. She died after she had repented. She is lucky that she repented before she died. So never give the excuse that you are still young, because you never know when you will die.
8th Excuse:
I want to follow fashion and if I wear the Hijab I'll be out of fashion.
Isn't Allah more dearer to you than fashion? I swear when you put the Hijab on you'll have light shinning from within you, and you'll be more beautiful with your Hijab.
9th Excuse: I want to follow the westerners.
Who respects the woman more? Islam or the ones who cannot even sell matches without painting a half naked woman on it? Are they the ones who have respected the woman or exploited the woman? Or Islam, who has respected the woman and covered her and liberated her from exploitation?
10th Exuse:
I don't want to because I'm afraid of taking it off. Sister why don't you put it on with firm faith and ask Allah to always protect you with it so you never take it off. Of course I'm not saying that taking off the Hijab isn't a sin. Taking off the Hijab is the biggest sin, the biggest sin, the biggest sin, the biggest sin. It's the biggest sin because you would be encouraging other women to do the same. Never ever do this please. Allah (swt) would hate that. Wear the Hijab and do these three things to make sure you will never take it off:
1- Have good religious friends
2- Attend and listen to Islamic lectures
3- Make duaa (suplications) to ask God to keep your Hijab on and strengthen your faith.
Ok, the last excuse: I'm shy and embarrassed from what my friends and relatives will say if I put the Hijab on. Sister, won't you be ashamed of yourself from Allah on the Day of Judgement? Won't you be embarrased when you see the Prophet (saw) on the Day of Judgement?
On the Day of Judgement you will be thirsty and the Prophet will be giving water to everyone. And you will run to him, but two angels will stop you going further. The Prophet will say, leave her! She is from my nation. The angels will say, we cannot Prophet Muhammad, for she did not obey Allah's command. So the Prophet would say, go away, far away, I do not want to have anything to do with you because you didn't listen to Allah's command.
And who would be embarrased? The one who is showing her body to everyone, or the one who is respecting and covering it? The Prophet (saw) said: grab Islam with your hands and teeth! Sisters and brothers in Islam, this was a lecture for the sisters on the issue of the Hijab.
I advise you to be up to the standards of the Hijab. If you want to put on the Hijab, do it now, but don't put it on if you don't pray or fast and your rude with no manners and you are not close to Allah, that way you will be weak and take it off. If you can put the Hijab on now, pray on time, and be with religious friends, read the Quran everyday, and thank Allah everyday even if it's for a few minutes.
If you did these five things, your Hijab will go with your worship, your manners, and you'll be an example to all the muslim and non-muslim women. Never think that you can put the Hijab on and not worship Allah or have any sort of Islamic personality. And if you are wearing the Hijab and you do not pray hold those five things in your heart and practise them everyday, for you are representing Islam sister. Strengthen your faith so you can keep it on.
If you cannot do these things after you put on your hijab, (And youأ¢â‚¬â„¢re not wearing the hijab) do them and renew your intentions. But do not do these things for 6 years and then put on the Hijab. No, make it more like after one month starting from today or two or three months; build yourself from within and then put it on. Work towards putting on the Hijab.
Another point. You have become a Muslim who wears the veil. Never think that the Hijab means you have completed your worship and will enter heaven. On the contrary, it is only the beginning of your journey towards Allah (swt).
A futher point: remember that you are an example to all the Muslim and non-Muslim women. With your manners, worship, smile, even when you are walking down the street, you are an example to everyone and you will indeed inspire many people, without even saying a word. You will purify your society! Your good deeds are extremely of value to Allah. You will guide your sisters in Islam. You are our example, our ambassador of Islam. Please, please do not let us down.
Here are a few points of how to wear the Hijab. If you do not follow these points that means you are not wearing a proper hijab. So please make sure that you follow each point carefully.
1- Your clothes must be loose, covering your body and not revealing the shape of your body. If you show the shape of your legs, waist, shoulders, if the scarf is too tight around your head and you are showing the shape of your hair if you have tied it in a bun, etc.
2- Not wearing see through clothes.
3- Covering the whole body except for the hands and face.
4- Not wearing clothes that resemble a man's clothes.
5- Not wearing perfume.
Keep to these points at all times and you have the Hijab and are a Mohajaba.