Why Muslim Women Wear Hijab?

Hijab of Pardah is a seclusion of women from the sight of men or strangers and for this purpose a curtain, screen or veil is used. Pardah is a Persian word which is translated as veil or curtain which is worn by women to mark their social and physical segregation from the rest of society by covering their bodies and/or faces. It has different dimensions depending on the country, place of origin and has numerous variations.

Where it came from?

Islam began as a small faith community in the Arabian Peninsula. The community was established in Medina by the prophet Mohammed (c. 570–632 CE). Scarves and veils of different colors and shapes were customary in countless cultures long before Islam came into being in the seventh century in the Arabian Peninsula (which includes present-day Saudi Arabia). To this day, head coverings play a significant role in many religions,

Islam has grown to be one of the major world religions after the seventh century.  As it spread through the Middle East to Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa, to Central Asia, and too many different societies around the Arabian Sea, it incorporated some local veiling customs and influenced others. But it is only recently that some Islamic states, such as Iran, have begun to require all women to wear the veil (in Iran it is called the chador, which covers the entire body).

The struggle over women’s dress began long before their immigration to France in the 1970s. French and British colonizers encouraged Muslim women to remove the veil and compete with European women. Consequently, in Algeria and other North African and Middle Eastern countries, the veil became a symbol of national identity and opposition to the West during independence and movements.

Importance of Hijab:

Whenever there is a battle between truth and falsehood, hijab take it the center of stage. Hijab has always been a sensitive issue, but now it become a great deal of attention when several European countries (e.g., France and Germany) ban it’s used in government institutions and educational institutions in its proposed legislation. For women who wear hijab out of religious conviction, the truth is obvious and indisputable. For others with limited knowledge or understanding of Hijab, it can be confusing. Hijab represents a woman’s submission to her Creator and her connection with the faith. While referring to it, Allah Almighty says: “That is more suitable that they will be known.” But, while hijab is a symbol, in reality it is much more than that.

Purpose and Function of Hijab:

• Hijab is a test for the Muslim woman. It is clear from the Qur’an and the Hadiths that hijab is a religious obligation, which a woman has to undertake. There is no scholarly difference on this point and the Muslim Ummah has applied it for over 14 centuries. When a Muslim woman wears hijab she is obeying and submitting to Allah.
• Through hijab, a woman does not have to live up to society’s expectations of what is desirable, and she no longer has to use her beauty to obtain recognition or acceptance from those around her.
• When a women wear hijab she liberate herself from the vain and selfish desires that to compete with other women around her and to show her duty. This innate desire has been controlled by modesty and through covering herself.
• Thus, one of the functions of hijab is to protect women from abuse and harm. This particularly includes various forms of sexual abuse and harassment, which are prevalent in societies in which few women cover. Men often get mixed signals and believe that women want their advances by the way they reveal their bodies. The hijab, on the contrary, sends a signal to men that the wearer is a modest and chaste woman who should not be annoyed.

Quranic verses related to Hijab:

“O you Children of Adam! We have bestowed on you raiment to cover your shame as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness, that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition.” (Quran 7:26)

“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 except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, or their brothers’ sons or their sisters’ sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex, and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O you Believers, turn you all together towards Allah, that you may attain Bliss.” (Quran 24:31).

O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.” (Quran 33:59).

Hadees Sharif related to Hijab:

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 146; Muslim, 2170. 

It was narrated from Ibn Shihaab that Anas said: I am the most knowledgeable of people about hijab. Ubayy ibn Ka’b used to ask me about it. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) married Zaynab bint Jahsh, whom he married in Madeenah, he invited the people to a meal after the sun had risen. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sat down and some men sat around him after the people had left, until the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stood up and walked a while, and I walked with him, until he reached the door of ‘Ayesha’ apartment. Then he thought that they had left so he went back and I went back with him, and they were still sitting there. He went back again, and I went with him, until he reached the door of ‘Ayesha’ apartment, then he came back and I came back with him, and they had left. Then he drew a curtain between me and him, and the verse of hijab was revealed.

Al-Bukhaari, 5149; Muslim, 1428. 

It was narrated from ‘Urwah that ‘Ayesha’ said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to pray Fajr and the believing women would attend (the prayer) with him, wrapped in their aprons, then they would go back to their houses and no one would recognize them.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 365; Muslim, 645. 

It was narrated that ‘Ayesha’ (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The riders used to pass by us when we were with the Messenger of Allah in Ihram, and when they drew near to us we would lower our jilbabs from our heads over our faces, then when they had passed we would uncover them again.

Written by: Samia Israr Ahmed