Protect your Hijab

Yes you wear the hijab to protect yourself but how can you protect the hijab! The Hijab is worn as a sign of obedience to Allah. It protects you by giving you dignity and grace, it protects you by helping you maintain your modesty, it covers you and shields you, it hides your beauty from unwanted and undesirable glances. It also protects your hair, skin, body shape and clothes from unwanted exposure and harm.

Hijab does its job well if it is practised in the correct manner. It does protect us but do we protect our hijab as it should be protected? How can we protect our hijab?

The hijab is not a piece of cloth. It is your demeanour. It is your garment. It is your attitude. Even if you are taking hijab for ages you still need to review and revise the basic commandments on hijab that are mentioned in the Quran. If you are in doubt over the translations then try your best to find the literal meaning that those Arabic lines carry. Once you understand and feel the essence of the commandments on hijab you will get more serious on practising hijab the right way. Some of us think that hijab is just a small piece of cloth that is wrapped around our head and that’s it! No. Hijab is your overall garment and it is basically meant to cover you up. You have to cover yourself up from head to toe (some scholars exclude the hands up to the wrists and face) and the women who are convinced that a woman’s face is the most beautiful part of her personality they cover their faces very nicely and that is commendable.

There may be levels of taqwa and understanding of those commandments that lead to a woman’s doing the hijab the way she does. But there are some very basic things that cannot be excluded from hijab if you are really practising it. They are as follows:

·       to reduce [some] of their vision

·       guard their private parts

·       not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof

·       to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment

·       not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment

·       bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments.

Basically hijab entails that a Muslim woman should not display her beauty in public. She should cover and conceal it and display it only in the privacy of her home in front of the Mahram members of her family.

People have very courageously taken this topic of hijab to debates and arguments but a believing woman, who knows that Allah commands His servants what is best for them in this world and the Hereafter, has no qualms in accepting it as her way of life.

Nobody can deny the fact that today’s so called advanced world has become more and more unsafe for not just women but children and babies as well as young boys. This is due to the shamelessness that is prevalent in the society today.

Before commanding the Muslim women to observe hijab Allah commands the Muslim men to lower their gaze and to protect themselves from falling into immoral acts. This present day insecurity is due to the fact that neither the men nor the women are practising hijab the way it should be practised. Everybody is out there displaying their beauty, advertising their desires and inviting trouble.

Abu Mas’ud Uqbah reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, among the words people obtained from the prophets are this: If you feel no shame, then do as you wish.”

Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3296

Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Bukhari

Ibn Rajab said, “The scholars interpret this saying in two ways. First, that it is a command of caution and warning, meaning if there is no shame then do as you wish, for Allah will repay you accordingly. Second, that it is a command of description, meaning that whoever does not have shame will do as he wishes, for it is shame that prevents evil deeds.”

Source: Jāmi’ al-Ulūm wal-Ḥikam 20

Lastly, do not consider someone who presents the Truth as your enemy as he or she is your most considerate friend. Warning and giving glad tidings was the duty of our Messengers in Islam and we as Muslims must carry out this duty for our brothers and sisters in Islam as well as for all the Children of Adam alayhissalaam.