There is nothing in the Qur’an that dictates that women should cover their heads. The verses used to justify covering head hair refer to modesty, specifically to covering the breats as in the 6th century it was not uncommon for women to wear their breast exposed (as some African women do today). How and why covering breast stretched to to covering head hair is the question!
The hijab as you see it today was most definitely not worn by women in 6th century Arabia. The word ‘hijab’ appears in the Qu’ran seven times, five as the word ‘hijab’ and twice as the word ‘hijaban,’ - see verses 7:46, 33:53, 38:32, 41:5, 42:51, 17:45 & 19:17. None of these references to hijab are used in reference to what we know today as a hijab. The word hijab as it appears in the Qur'an has nothing to do with the Muslim women’s' dress code.
If you want to search through Qur’an, hadith etc for evidence of what should be covered by a woman you will find no distinct reference to covering the head only references to modesty and beauty and in searching through for what 6th century Arabs defined a woman’s beauty it is her eyes. Hence there is a more plausible argument for wearing the burka than the hijab. There is Islamic text commanding that Muslims appear differently than non-Muslims. There is plausible argument that leaders of Islam command that the hijab be worn for the same reasons that men are commanded to wear the first long beard – to identify them as Muslims.
Again we see incorrect information attributed to Islam from someone who knows not how to
"think" but gets all of his information from anti-Islamic websites. There is no place in this forum for such a person who even after given many warnings and in my last post gave a friendly warning yet he decided to continue his hate campaign against Islam and Muslims.
The obligation of hijab is evident when we examine the grammatical structure of this verse.
The verse reads:
وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ
وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ
وَلاَ يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلاَّ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا
وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ
The translation:
"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..." [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]
The style of the language employed in the verse is very important. Allah Most High begins with the imperative form of the verb
"qalla," which means to say or tell. Thus, Allah Most High is commanding the Prophet, peace be upon him, to tell the believing women to take a series of steps:
1. To guard their gaze, which is an important factor in modest interaction;
2. To guard their chastity or sexuality;
3. To conceal their adornment and natural beauty, which scholars have interpreted to mean the whole body, (there is a difference of opinion whether the face should be covered or not), hands, and (for Hanafis) the feet.
4. And, finally, to emphasize the above point, Allah Ta'ala uses the phrase,
"wa-lyadhribna bikhumurihinna ala juyubihinna." The verb
"yadhribna" which means
"to draw or pull over" appears as a feminine plural, thus going back to the original subject of the verse, the believing women. Most importantly, it starts off with the letter
"lam," which is called
"lam al-amr." Lam al-amr, when prefixed to a present tense verb, such as
"yadhribna," makes the verb an imperative, that is, a command. It is not understood as a recommendation, but a specific command directly from Allah Most High to His slaves among the believing women.
Lam al-amr is used in other imperative contexts in the Qur'an. For example, Allah Ta'ala says,
"Let the man of means spend according to his means: and the man whose resources are restricted, let him spend according to what God has given him..." [Al-Talaq, 65:7]
The Arabic reads:
لِيُنفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِّن سَعَتِهِ
وَمَن قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنفِقْ مِمَّآ ءَاتَاهُ اللَّهُ لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْساً إِلاَّ مَآ ءَاتَاهَا
Here, Allah Most High is commanding men to spend according to their means in the context of child support for divorced wives.
This is understood to be a command, not a recommendation, since men are required to support their children. The lam of command, or lam al-amr, once again appears prefixed to the present verb,
"yunfiq," meaning "to spend."
[Qatr al-Nada, Dar al-Asmaa, 96]
To return to the verse in question, the phrase
"wa-lyadhribna bikhumurihinna ala juyubihinna," is a command for women to draw their veils over their bosoms. Allah Most High did not say,
"And tell the believing women to put on their veils," because implicit in the verse is the understanding that women were already expected to veil. However, unlike the practice at the time of leaving the scarf hanging down the back with the neck and cleavage exposed, Muslim women were to take it one step further and draw the
"khimar" or veil over the neck and cleavage area. Those who argue that the Qur'an says nothing about veiling are completely misreading this verse. Not only does the Qur'anic text make it clear that women are expected to veil, it also dictates the extent of the veiling, i.e., covering the neck and cleavage.
This point is elucidated by reports from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, and other women of the Sahaba, who immediately implemented this verse by tearing up pieces of cloth and covering their hair and bodies. Al-Bukhari recorded that Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: "May Allah have mercy on the women of the early emigrants. When Allah revealed the verse:[وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ]
(and to draw their veils over their bosoms), they tore their aprons and veiled themselves [made khimars] with them.'' [Tafsir Ibn Kathir]
The actions of the Sahaba, may Allah be pleased with them all, did not indicate that hijab was optional. I find it interesting that hijab was not legislated in stages, as opposed to the ban on intoxicants. When the verses in Surat al-Nur were revealed, the female Sahaba immediately covered themselves. Would that we had a fraction of their iman!
And Allah knows best in all matters
Source: http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=5849&CATE=89
