Guard Your Dignity Brothers and Sisters

Assalamualaikum,

In this entry, I'll be touching on an issue, which is quite sensitive in today's modern world, and quite controversial. It's sad really that this issue is considered as such, because it's one of the most basic and important issues in Islam, and should neither be considered controversial nor sensitive at all. Brothers and sisters, I want to talk about the hijjab. Like I said, it's one of the most basic and important issues in Islam, and the fact that Muslims today consider it to be a sensitive and controversial issue just shows how far away we are from the true teachings of Islam.

But before I start talking about it from the sisters' point of view, I'll start with the brothers. What? Did you think that this post is meant for the sisters alone? Na'ah. Men have an integral role to play in the issue of the hijjab, so integral in fact, that we too face punishment in the hereafter should women fail to obey the dress code set by Islam.

I'm sure many of you already know, or have heard of the hadith which I am about to mention. I was listening to a talk by Yusuf Estes on the issue of the hijjab, and he mentioned a hadith which states that should a believing woman fail to adhere to the dress code set by Islam, four men will be held responsible; the father, the husband, the brother, and the son. That's not all. In the Quran it's also mentioned that men are the protectors of women.

"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women......"
Quran 4:34

So you see my brothers, women are not solely responsible for the wearing of the hijjab, it is us who need to educate them, and teach them the importance, and reasoning behind the wearing of the hijjab. As opposed to leaving them to decide for themselves, or forcing them to wear it. Should we fail to do so, we too will have to answer on the Day of Judgement.

Now on to the main part of this post, the responsibilities of the women in wearing the hijjab.

You know, I sometimes find it hard to believe that women can actually consider the hijjab not to be an important part of their life. Some choose not to wear it at all, some wear a tudung, yet they don't truly cover their aurah. Some are slightly hypocritical, wearing it only in certain situations, such as religious functions, weddings, school or classes etc, but not every other time of the day.

It cannot be any clearer in the Quran the ruling on wearing the hijjab. In the Quran there are two verses mentioning the obligation of women to wear the hijjab.

"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 and not display their beauty......."
Quran 24:31

"O Prophet! Tell Thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that They should cast their outer garments over their persons (When abroad):....."
Quran 33:59

So there, the ruling is clear. The believing women are to cover themselves when they leave the privacy of their homes and enter the public eye.

As for the reasoning, I need not tell you the personal reasons for doing so, guarding your modesty and dignity and all that. You should be able to figure that out on your own. But what I will remind you about is the cumulative reasoning behind wearing the hijjab. There is a continuation to the verse previously mentioned.

"O Prophet! Tell Thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that They should cast their outer garments over their persons (When abroad): that is Most convenient, that They should be known (as such) and not molested. and Allah is Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful. "
Quran 33:59

Wearing the hijjab is a way of differentiating the believing women from the non-believing. It is a way of letting people know, you are a believing woman. So by not wearing it, would you want people to see you as a non-believer? Would you want people to think of you as a non-believer? Or if they knew you to be a believer, what message would you be portraying by not wearing the hijjab? What image do you want people to have of Islam? What do you want people to think of Islam, by not wearing the hijjab? Would you want to be the reason people think lowly of Islam? Every religion is represented by each follower. How do you want to represent Islam? By clearly disobeying a direct obligation? How can we expect people to be attracted to Islam, when we ourselves don't obey it's regulations? Or do we just don't care?

Living in Malaysia, it's easy to practice Islam. But just because it's easy, doesn't make it the norm. In the West, Muslim women are struggling to gain acceptance for who they are. They want to wear the hijjab, they want to be seen as Muslim women. But the mindset in the West prevents them from being who they are. In some sad cases, their own family members don't let them be who they are. But in Malaysia, practising Islam is easy. Nobody looks down on a woman in a hijjab. Wearing a hijjab is not like walking with a bull's eye on over your head. And yet, it's so difficult to see women appreciate the freedom they have. Instead of seeing Muslim women upholding the religion by properly covering their aurah, what we tend to see are believing women dressed like non-believers, some with no hijjab, some with a tudung, but with short sleeved shirts, tight jeans or pants, tudung thrown onto the shoulder, exposing the breasts, I mean, here the women have the freedom to be the believing women they are. They have the freedom to dress as the Quran has declared, and yet, they choose not to. Just think of the Muslim women in America who wish so badly to be able to walk around in a hijjab without having to look over their shoulder every few steps.

Brothers, we need to play our part as well. Perhaps one of the reasons why the sisters prefer to wear clothes outside the Islamic dress code is because we encourage it. We enjoy it. If we were to frown upon the sisters who enjoy showing off their beauty to the world, perhaps they would stop. Wishful thinking perhaps, but we gotta start somewhere.

The hijjab is not an issue to be taken lightly. Here is the continuation to one of the previously mentioned verses.

".....that They should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small Children who have no sense of the Shame of sex......"
Quran 24:31

Allah went through great detail explaining who the women are allowed to show their beauty to, in other words, people who can see you without a hijjab, He listed down every single person. After going through all that trouble, do you still think the hijjab isn't a serious issue? Would Allah spend so much time creating that list, if the hijjab wasn't important? The fact that it is stated in the Quran speaks volumes of it's importance in itself, so why are we not obeying this ruling?

As our Creator, it's obvious that Allah knows what is best for us humans. Whatever He tells us to do, you gotta believe there's a very good reason for it. So by not wearing the hijjab, you implying you know better than your Creator?

As a final word, brothers, do what you can. If you can't encourage a loved one to cover up, the least you can do is to not encourage her to do the opposite. And the sisters, if you don't care about yourself enough to wear the hijjab, remember the hadith I mentioned earlier, and the men who will be punished for your decision. Do you care about them enough to wear the hijjab?

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