So, I ran across a particular post written by anonymous on Amaliah.com. The Questions were actually very generic ones that women have asked themselves over and over again. It was responded to by someone who had more…strict religious beliefs but I think responded in a wonderful way. I, however, wanted to answer the questions in MY way. I believe most people when asking particular questions aren’t looking for the generic religious answers that pretty much verify their already presumed thoughts. The woman who asked these questions obviously knew some problematic answers and was confused because no one answered them for her. Women’s issues are often ignored in Mosques and most places in Islam. There are, however, hundreds of books written by Muslim women on these topics that can really help individuals. When I answer these questions, I am using Islamic books written by women and my own personal opinions when applicable.
Rabbi Jill Hammer mentions in her book The Hebrew Priestess, “I was deeply unsettled to see brilliant women and men spending amounts of time trying to prove legally and ethically that women were entitled to basic spiritual and communal rights. The onus seemed to be on women an their evolved almost entirely without women’s participation. Many teachers were sympathetic, but at other times, when students raised arguments about the way texts understood gender, we were regarded as overly modern, ungrounded in tradition, or worse, as pests who were putting our feelings ahead of our Torah study.” What Hammer says plays into exactly how many Muslim women feel when trying to take Islamic text and interrupt them through the eyes of women. While Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have had female voices throughout the ages, men dominated the law and theology. Shaping the religion with their image, with a few sprinklings of women’s thoughts. This doesn’t mean the great theologians or scholars of Islam are “wrong” or “bad”, because they aren’t. Many Muslim women look at the numerous works already in place and interrupt the text. I am tired of people doing “clever” arguments by saying, “well it says specifically” and I will say to you…yes it does say exactly that. Yet how some interrupt the text varies, and according to most scholars both female and male, the Quran (even hadith) has multiple meanings. Religion or Spirituality isn’t meant to be easy if it was…well, we would be all enlightened beings. (I don’t answer all questions because I was reaching 10 pages already)
I apologize now, this post is super long.
1. Why can I marry a non-Muslim, or rather why can’t women too?
Out of all of these questions, this is one of the hardest ones to come to terms with. Why is it then? Let’s put religion aside and discuss this in a more practical way, you will see why I say “practical” in a second. When a new religion is starting out, it is necessary for members to keep their practices within the family or it will eventually fade away. The Arabs of Muhammad’s time and region were tribal people with the male leading each particular group. Women were able to freely, or somewhat freely, move between homes with relative ease. Islam gave women the right to divorce, it set down a set foundation for people to follow. If a woman could divorce perhaps, she would marry a Christian man and convert to that religion. Arab men also had custody rights of the children, if their mother took them and converted to a new religion, she most likely would convert the kids. This is of course speculation but ultimately it comes down to whom Muslims view were the ones responsible for passing down the religion. Men were seen as the head honchos because if the wife leaves, he still was stuck with the kids. So, if a Christian man was left with his Muslim wife and his kids, because she idk divorces and lives in the 700s, then the kids would be under their Christian father’s supervision and probably end up being Christian.
Asma Lamrabet states in the Quranic verse 2:221, “Do not marry idolatresses (al mushrikāt) till they believe; and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress even though she would please you, and do not marry idolaters (al Mushrikīn) till they believe (hata yūminū), and certainly a believing slave is better than an idolater, even though he would please you. These invite to the Fire, and Allah invites to the Garden and to forgiveness by His grace, and makes clear His revelations to mankind so that they may remember.” This verse mentions marrying idolaters or polytheist, who were in the region where Islam began. Ibn Kathir interpreted polytheists as people who worshiped idols, which is still very broad. People who have “idols” don’t necessarily worship them as their physical Gods or God (just saying). Another verse people allude to is Quran 5:5, “As to marriage, you are allowed to marry the chaste from among the believing women and the chaste from among those who have been given the Book before you (are lawful for you); provided that you have given them their dowries, and live with them in honor, not in fornication, nor taking them as secret concubines.” Scholars interpreted that women couldn’t marry non-Muslims basses on analogy (al quiyass) and consensus (Ijma), but admitted there was no Quranic passage or Hadith stating a woman couldn’t marry someone of another faith.
Others have used the verse 60:10 to create fatwahs against women marrying outside of the faith, “O you who believe! When believing women come to you as fugitives (Muhājirāt), examine them (famtahinūhuna). Allah is best aware of their faith. Then, if you find them to be believing women, do not send them back to the disbelievers (kuffār). They are not lawful for them (the disbelievers), nor are they (the disbelievers) lawful for them.” Yet, the context of the verse is not about Muslim women marrying outside of the faith. Check out the rest of Asma Lamrabet’s article to learn more about this topic!
2. Why can’t I divorce my husband?
You can divorce your husband. If you live in the United States or any Western country, you can file for a divorce if you signed a legal marriage contract. So let’s get that out of the way, you are well within your rights as an American, Canadian, or whatever citizen to divorce. When it comes Islamically speaking you are well within your rights to divorce as well. It used to be that women could divorce their husbands if he didn’t do foreplay or didn’t pleasure her enough. Christians also had similar clauses too, though they were rarer. The person asking the questions, mentions a hadith that is recounted to women seeking a divorce,” women who seek divorce are hit with this hadith: ‘a woman who seeks divorce for no reason will never smell the scent of paradise’.” If God didn’t want divorce the Quran wouldn’t allow for women to seek a divorce, a woman’s place as a believer is first a believer, not a wife first.
The Quran first advises a couple wanting to divorce to reach an agreement. In modern concepts the couple should seek couples counseling, however, people do come from abusive relationships and sometimes an agreement can’t be made. “If a woman fearth ill-treatment from her husband, or desertion, it is no sin for them twain if they make terms of peace between themselves. Peace is better. But greed hath been made present in the minds (of men). If ye do good and keep from evil, lo! Allah is ever informed of what ye do.” (4:128) The Quran tells men to treat women justly and not harass or harm them or throw them out of the house, even during the period of divorce. A ayah links doing these things to an estranged wife is transgressing against God and one’s own soul. Women have to wait three months going through their divorce to remarry, so if she is pregnant the people could tell who’s kid it was.
There is no verse that supports “the license of divorce presently awarded to males” which is present in most Muslim societies. The Quran outlawed a type of divorce called Zihar that basically compares the wife with the mother, the woman complaining which led to this verse was the fact her husband thought she was too old and wanted somebody younger. According to a few hadiths reported by Abu Dawood women who were forced into marriage had their marriages voided right away, so if we applying to the legal framework if your marriage is “forced upon you” then you do have rights to divorce. There is one hadith that reports that the Prophet said a women’s silence is her consent but there are more than two different hadiths that counter this statement. So someone has to be wrong, and probably the one that mentions silence. Yet the silence one is probably not wrong, depending on its context. Hadiths usually have context, a back story as to why the Prophet said a particular thing. To make it more confusing, some hadiths are just fake or weak, even though the hadiths are being stated all the time.
A Muslim woman can seek a divorce, it is taboo however in many Muslims cultures for women to seek divorce. While it is best to remain married, in many cases it is better for people to divorce and verse 4:128 clearly mentions that. There is a clear difference in being in an abusive relationship and wanting to divorce for something you might be able to fix with help. It is, however, highly important as a Muslim woman to put into your marriage contract reasons that you can divorce your husband if you want to. Most women don’t include this into their contracts because either they don’t help write up their contracts or unaware that they can write what’s not acceptable to them. The Prophet’s great-granddaughter literally put it in her contract that her husband couldn’t tell her to do anything or yell at her for not doing chores. Of course, the husband broke the contract and she divorced him fast. Women are challenging sheiks, muftis, and imams on their advice for women in abusive relationships. I am fully against any person who wants a person to remain in an abusive relationship. I don’t care if you heard a story from someone else that an abusive partner “cured” himself. If you are in an abusive relationship or your advising someone, let them leave their abusive spouse. There can not be peace if the partner truly does change, then yes remarriage is permissible, but someone shouldn’t be stuck in the house of their abuser. That’s how people die, Susan.
Divorce is tricky because it is often linked with the culture it belongs to. Since many Muslims marry cousins, a divorce could, in fact, disrupt the harmony of the family. Women have to take into account their family members’ problems with marriage. Other women come from areas where marriage is equated to honor of the family and divorce would bring dishonor upon the family. Some women are just not financially able to leave their husbands and fear what might happen if they divorce. White women also face these issues when it comes to marriage, not the same extreme as a poor village woman in Egypt. Western women can divorce husbands a lot easier than let’s say a woman in Pakistan, but Western Muslim women who don’t want to move from a community might face backlash from the community. In some cases, women in these regions only get one option in marriage and don’t want to be alone for the rest of their lives, even though the wives of the Prophet weren’t virgins (not counting Aisha). This way we can’t just conclude things as solely religious or solely cultural because oftentimes, why women don’t seek divorce, is either a.) they are told the wrong religious information, b.) the people around the women don’t know any better, i.e. the male confidant like an Imam is not trained or lacks knowledge of abuse and abuse behavior, c.) she may not choose divorce because she has no other choice but to remain married for her own lively hood or some other reason.
3. Traveling by myself as a Muslim woman
You can travel by yourself as a Muslim woman. As far as know there are no Quranic passages that say you can’t travel alone. I travel alone all the damn time and don’t ask permission, and sometimes when I do tell my husband, “Hey I’m going to my dads”. I am not asking permission but instead letting him know where I am going just in case something bad happens on my way there. So just let someone know where you are going, even if it’s a friend so people know you are safe…..
4. Why can I not beautify myself….for myself?
You can beautify yourself for yourself. It depends on what school of thought you follow but the problem is if you beautify to attract attention. We have to remember any “legal rulings” are by men who don’t understand that women sometimes like to dress up and feel like a BOSS. Men don’t understand that sometimes we dress up for other women, not necessarily to show off. There is a complex anthropological study here that researchers have done. We can’t expect every female or male scholar to be knowledgeable about every Anthropological or Sociological study on what makes humans tick. The Quran says to cover your adornments as a woman and not be flashy (men also can’t be flashy), men have turned this to mean women are trying to attract men. As a woman, I recognize this verse to remind women that we shouldn’t dress to show off or to be vain. The Bible is also chalked full against women’s vanity in showing off to one another.
We live in a different time, place, and culture than that of the Prophet Muhammad. We also as Muslims can’t agree with what are adornments. In the West wearing jeans with a cute tunic isn’t considered vanity or showing adornments. Yet if you shift wearing a crop top with booty shorts too a remote American town, then yeah they would consider you “showing off”, including the women. Western society “requires” women to wear makeup, and not wearing makeup could actually cause more attention than without it. Wearing something opposite of the culture that you are living in could have opposite effects. If you want to wear whatever and heavy makeup up for yourself, do it. The language that male scholars use traditionally was assuming that everything about women was for male egos. Islamic scholars aren’t the only ones with sexist interpretations and lacking insight from women. In fact, women’s dress code or makeup is often linked by men for men, when it isn’t. Your duty in Islam as a woman is for God, you are equal to any man.
So, to sum it up, you can look good for yourself as long as your not doing it to attract attention. It is about your intentions, not other’s intentions. If you are wearing those earrings because you know Karen will be jealous, you know what you are doing.
5. Why can’t I pray and fast during my period?
Ugh, this question. This question because no one ever explains it properly to Muslim women at all, because God forbid that you mention the word period. I’m being serious just saying period to anybody, is like telling them you murdered 50 people on the way over. Imams don’t explain why you can’t pray, and fast, and male scholars aren’t going to give you a satisfying answer. Let’s be honest here. Do you know what Islam lacks? Imma white people say it…. “spirituality” and imagine me saying this like SpongeBob says imagination with the rainbow. Why can’t you pray while on your period….the Quran and hadiths call it a “hurt”. Which I can imagine a lot of feminist and women spitting and hissing at the word “hurt”. Can you calm down? People of 600s didn’t know what the hell a period was but the women knew it hurt like hell and it had something to do with babies. So, I think calling it a “hurt” is okay, but in modern conversations, people need to man up and call it either a menstrual cycle or period.
A woman can’t pray because she is not ritually pure. When I say not ritually pure, I don’t mean women are gross subhuman things, let’s not include White Feminismtm into the chat nor add sexism into it. We are ritually impure and don’t have to make up prayers, unless its Ramadan, because we can’t help bleeding. In Islam, a believer to make Salat, the formal prayer, needs to be ritually pure by performing wudu. If we fart or roll in the dirt, we have to make it up. There are numerous scholars discussing what is considered period blood and what is just considered something else. If you ejaculate as a woman, you need to make a ritual bath, which is the same ruling for men. In fact, unless you have a medical problem, men who miss prayers while being impure have to make up the prayers. Women, on the other hand, do not have to make up prayers, unless its Ramadan. It doesn’t take away from a woman’s religious stance, as the Quran states…… Both believers are equal, so a period doesn’t place you on a rung below men.
The Torah states, “Anyone who touches [a menstruating women’s] bed or sits on her seat must wash his clothes and bathe in water and is tamae until evening.” Women also were unable to enter temples during prayer (some Orthodox Jews still practice this), and unable to study the Torah and Talmund because the woman was seen as impure. This is why Mary’s mother is upset she has given birth to a daughter and not a son but is later confirmed that the daughter is just as good as a male. Mary is considered very pious and learned and gives birth to Jesus. Not all Jewish women interpret these verses as sexist and some women actually consider it something similar to sacred “spirituality”. I’ll let you guys google Jewish women’s accounts.
Whether or not if fasting counts on your period has been debated by scholars….and I still haven’t figured out good enough information on this topic to make a good judgment. Neither have scholars, so I would advice talk to someone you trust about this issue sharing the scholars I quoted above. It does seem a few women did fast while on the periods. The ruling typically comes from the idea that women need energy while on their periods. Some women generally do need food and drink during the period, and some women don’t. This is a perfect case in Islamic theology that we can adapt modern science to issue fatwas. I for one have no problem breaking fast while on my period because I enjoy the break. The issues is that women don’t want to make up the fast later in the year. During Ramadan women who miss prayers or fasts, have to make them up. So the big issue comes when people don’t want to make up fasts and don’t want to actually stop fasting. The same issue comes when asking if a woman can touch the Quran while on her period. Again, no one has a set answer and I touch the Quran before doing wudu. It all about your own interpretation and what you feel comfortable with since there isn’t a set saying on this, I don’t consider it a big deal. I do however respect the book and don’t throw it, or I don’t harm it or sneeze on the book or spit on it or leave on the floor or step on it.
6. Why I can’t attend a burial?
Women can attend burials. A hadith I took from Amaliah recounts, “ narrations cite that Aisha (may Allāh be pleased with her) visited the grave of her brother (17). It is only impermissible (for both men and women) if they mourn in an undignified manner akin to that of the times of jāhiliyyah (ignorance).” The undignified manner would be something similar to keening practices. Keening is a Gaelic word and practice of women who appear disheveled and wailing at gravesides. Churches have banned the practice, and this type of practice goes by other names around the world with a few variations. Keening was understood as deep beauty tied into Gaelic tradition and had an unearthly emotion. In other traditions in the world, women ripped their clothes for the dead and tore out hair. It is a practice that women were paid for and sometimes not, but it was criticized by both men and females as being unnecessary and condescending for the dead.
Islam’s connection to the dead was different. To start ridding the new religion from the old practices, it needed to ban keening practices that associated more importance on death. Islam is all about death but the relationship between the dead and the living is far different. Muslims also still keen, depending on the culture a woman belongs to. We don’t know exactly what mourning in an undignified manner means, but since this hadith targets both genders, we can assume men also did something also for deaths. So, I suppose as long as you don’t become “undignified” than go right ahead to funerals and throw up middle fingers when people stop trying to stop you.
8. Why are the only Prophets mentioned, men? (I am assuming she is asking, why are men are only mentioned as prophets)
Why only men, indeed? Hmm….let’s look towards the Bible for help on this one. The Bible mentions female prophets, but only in short sentences or in a paragraph or two. In fact, most biblical women aren’t really given the same amount of agency as the major male prophets. We do know Deborah was a prophetess and led a battle, so whoop. Yet Muslims don’t talk about her. I didn’t know about her either really until I started reading books by Jewish women and read the Bible. Did you know the Gospel of John talks about a Prophetess Anne? Only in one sentence though. Women are there, you just have dig for them. The major prophets are important because they were major, and they were men. Major can be objective honestly, but Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and etc. are extremely important figures in the Bible and in Quran. There is no way of ignoring that, and this line of Prophets was important for Mary mother of Jesus and Jesus himself. Yet to further it, the same line is important for Prophet as well. The Quran also vaguely mentions prophets, besides Moses or Jesus or John the Baptist, so not even the men get the same agency as they did in the Bible.
I agree that Muslims don’t discuss women in religion enough or even at all. It’s annoying that there aren’t any good lectures on the various women out there. I would love to read the Muslim take on Deborah! There is a great book called Believing Women in the Quran, that I would recommend anyone interested in women mentioned in the Quran. What we can do is create lectures for the community on women in the Quran or on women Prophets.
Asma Barla’s Book “Believing Women” in Islam mentions in her book, “Misrepresentations of God as male, and of male sovereignty as being coextensive with that of God, derive not from the Quran, then, but from the tendency to anthropomorphize God on the one hand and to misconstrue the theme of vice-regency on the other. Such misrepresentations are common not only among “orthodoxies”, but also among many Muslim feminists who routinely assail Islam’s “paternalistic” and “uncompromising monotheism.” The Quran challenges the concept of sacralizing prophets as a father like figures for all mankind; “…we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than God.” (3:64) Abraham is called an imam and not “by anointing him as a symbolic patriarch/ruler”, “and remember that Abraham was tried by his [Rabb]. With certain Commands, which he fulfilled: [God] said: “I will make thee an Imam to the Nations….” (2:124) The word imam is related to ummah which means community and ummah comes from umm the word for mother. The term imam is gender neutral and it can apply to non-human beings.
The Quran also mentions in both 5:107 and 43:23-25, the wrongness in following someone’s “fathers” footsteps. “They say: “Enough for us are the way we found Our fathers following.”What! even though their fathers were void of knowledge and guidance?” (5:107) Following patriarchal traditions kept people from joining or accepting Islam. Quran then further mentions how the priestly classes of Christianity and Judaism being corrupt and warning people. “The very persons entrusted with interpreting sacred knowledge have misled people, both because of perversity in their hearts” (Barlas, 2:7) Which ironically Muslims have entrusted their religion in the hands of men who corrupt the religion. Even the prophet is not a father, “Muhammad is not The father of any Of your men, but (he is) The Apostle of God, And the seal of the Prophets” (33:40).
Islam isn’t the only religion that focuses on male founders. Growing up a Christian I wasn’t aware of women like Deborah or Hajar. I didn’t know about the Christian mystics or early leaders of the Church. When I became Muslim I started to embrace all the women in Islam and enjoy finding women who in religion, all religions.
9. Why can’t I lead prayer?
There are women who lead prayer. Amina Wadud led prayer, women in China have led prayers in women-only mosques, and in Europe. Even when women lead prayer just for women, there seems to be an issue with men. I think mostly it comes down to some Mullahs thinking that women’s place is at home, but we know through hadiths that women-led prayers at home. We also know women went to the mosque and openly spoke.
This is a complex issue where some have stated that women’s voice is “forbidden” for other men. Women have to pray behind men and etc. Though those issues don’t really make sense when it comes to women praying in front of women. So we can just assume men don’t want to lose control and want their mosques to be male-dominated. Women in China, around the 1500s, solved this problem by founding their own mosques where they can openly attend prayer, lead prayers, and teach girls. In fact, these religious places were really successful at maintaining Islam in the community. Modern women have created women-only mosques, as safe spaces for women. There is a major debate if women should only give prayer to women or for a mixed congregation. How women prayer during the mixed congregation varies widely, but most women are just wanting to be able to lead prayers in front of women. Why not? If men are just going to force women into a room unequal to theirs and make it near impossible to hear the ketubah and the prayer, then why can’t women lead other women?
Check out Amina Wadud’s books and Sherin Khankan’s book to learn more about women leading prayers. Also here is a documentary on National graphic about a female Imam.
10. Why do I have to cover my hair while men are not obliged?
“And tell the believing women to lower their eyes and to guard their private parts and to not display thereof their adornments except that which is visible thereof. And let them draw their kerchiefs over their breasts, and not display their adornments except to ….” surah 24:3111 Kerchief is khumar and breasts is juyub in Arabic, a khimar (singular) can mean a cloth that covers the head or neck; a scarf, flowing garment, a garment without stitching or a man’s turban. 1 Some believe that the khimar was worn draped behind their backs, exposing their breast. While some scholars like to imagen a pre-Islam world that had women with breasts out, it was more likely women just wore low cut dresses or dresses like an abaya. The use of jayb was probably meant to point out specific areas to cover, not referring to an uncovered breast society. Otherwise, people who interacted with Arabs pre-Islam would have mentioned a land where women were breast out. We also know that parts of what is now Saudi Arabia had Jewish and Christian tribes alongside pagan ones. These people lived in Mecca and Medina as traders did not expose breasts as it would contradict Bible modesty code. Women such as Aisha mention when the veiling verse was revealed women cut their outer garments and covered their faces or heads. There are other commentaries similar to this, so perhaps private clothing did not cover the breast, but it seems women covered their breasts in public.
Jayb can refer to the heart or chest, the beginning of a woman’s cleavage, the place where the chest meets the neck, opening of a shirt through which one places one’s head, a pocket, or a shirt itself. Some have taken this to mean a free woman’s hair, ears, throat, and chest of free women. The idea of only free women having dress code over slave or servant women doesn’t make sense. As this verse says “believing” women not “free” or “slave”, which would mean all women who follow Islam regardless of their social standing. Some have suggested that Muslim women should take their headcovers to cover their breasts.4 A Hadith by Aisha suggests this: “Allah have mercy on the early immigrant women. When the verse “That they should draw their veils over their bosoms” was revealed, they tore their thick outer garments and made veils from them.” (Abu-Dawud 32:4091) Even this verse still implies that women kept their khimars on their heads. As they cut the outer garments to make veils out of them, perhaps women who did not wear hair veils simply covered their chests as well. This hadith is still too ambiguous for it to imply women took their hair veils and turned them into a shawl form. They had “outer-garments”, which implies that there is an inner garment in which they exposed to form a veil. Another version states that the women cut cloth from their skirts and used this to cover. An example of hadith that is dismissed by most scholars, but still used by other schools of Islam is: “Narrated Aisha: “When (the Verse): “They should draw their veils over their necks and bosoms,” was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces.” (Sahih Bukhari 6:60:282) The reason this hadith is dismissed is that it isn’t consistent with the verse it claims to support.
Early Muslim women of Medina began to complain of sexual harassment at night by men who catcalled and followed them. Ad-Dahhak bin Muzahim (723 CE) described the situation: “Adulterers used to roam the streets of Medina and follow the women who come out at night to relieve themselves. When they saw a woman, they approached her and winked at her. If the woman did not say anything, they followed her; but if she rebuked them, they left her alone. These adulterers were only after slave girls. But at that time, free women were not distinguishable from slave-girls. All the women used to go out wearing a chemise and a headscarf. The women complained to their husbands who mentioned the matter to the Messenger of Allah. al Wahidi’s Asbab al-Nuzul 33:59” The response was the Surah 33:59-62: Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and women believers to make their outer garments hang low over them so as to be recognized and not insulted: God is most forgiving, most merciful. If the hypocrites, the sick at heart, and those who spread lies in the city do not desist, We shall rouse you [Prophet] against them, and then they will only be your neighbors in this city for a short while. They will be rejected. Wherever they are found, they will be arrested and put to death. This has been God’s practice with those who went before. You will find no change in God’s practices.” Umm Salamah narrated the hadith: When the verse “That they should cast their outer garments over their persons” was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments. Abu-Dawud, 32:4090” This, of course, was not meant for “modesty” as in surah 24:31 but used so Muslim women are recognized and not harassed. It was meant to protect women from sexual harassment, while men can be punished if caught. Many hadiths discuss the capture of the offending man and his punishment for sexual harassment: Sahih Muslim 16:4205, Sahih Bukhari 8:82:806, 810, 812-14 and Abu Dawud 33/38:4407,4412,4413,4420.
Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah is silent on women’s dress and hair coverings but does mention hair. The final conquest of Mecca has Ali catching a Muslim woman from Medina who was sneaking a message to the Meccans. It describes her not covering her hair. “She placed the letter on her head, plaited her hair over it, and departed. But Allah told His apostle of the letter and he sent Ali after her. Ali overtook the woman in al-Khulayqa and made her dismount; he examined her baggage but found nothing…When she saw that he was in earnest she unfastens the plaited hair, took out the letter and gave it to Ali. Sirat Rasul Allah”
Awrah is a private area, for women (mostly free) was almost always everything but the hands, face, feet, and sometimes calf and forearm. Said ibn Jubayr (714) disapproved of uncovering the hair while noting that the hair was never mentioned in hadith or Quran. Some considered the entire body to be awrah. Parts of the body could be considered adornment or zinah, which means decoration, embellishment, finery or beautifications. Zinah that is visible can refer to hands, face, eye makeup, clothes, rings, and bracelets. Al-Razi notes that for some jurists this mean’s whatever usually appears in customary practice. He goes on to state that women could not reasonably cover her face or hands and ornaments without hardship, so her face and hands are not awrah. AL-Zama Khahori mentions feet are not awrah especially for poorer women, who cannot afford to cover their feet with shoes or socks. The jilbab referred to an outer garment that both women and men loosely wrapped around their bodies. In pre-Islamic times the jilbab covered a women’s face and showed but one eye or it was worn above the eyebrows covering the head. Al-Tabari says the zinah to be concealed included “anklets, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces”. Al-Zamakshari (1144) guesses it as jewelry, kohl, and henna. While Ibn Taymiyya (1328) and al- Baydawi (1282) believed that women’s face and hands could be uncovered only during prayer, while others advocated face veils, gloves, and socks.
Male theologians who have defined women’s adornments and proper clothing throughout time; in all religions perhaps a few women scholars as well, but they are lost to us. Some authentic (see Islam section) Hadiths are by al-Bukar (d.870), Muslim (875), Abu Dawud (d.888), al-Tirmidhi (892), ibn Majah (889) and Musnad by ibn Hanbal (855). They mostly focus on modesty for men, not women’s attire or adornments as we see later. Nearly all awrah in hadiths refer to the shameful parts of men not women. Along this line, most references refer to both genders’ hair; as well as the appropriate length, color, washing, binding, and braiding styles. There isn’t any mention in either the Quran or Hadiths for any follower, male or female, to be punished for not wearing or maintaining “proper” clothing. One hadith tells of Asma (daughter of Bakr) who came to the prophet wearing see-through clothes. He is said to have turned away, stating: “Asma, if a woman reaches the age of menstruation, it is not fit that anything be seen of her except this and this….”. The prophet pointed to his face and hands. This hadith is reported by Abu Dawud, it is interesting that the body parts are gestured too by the prophet and only spoken by hadith, this is of weak authenticity.
There are four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (there are more but let’s keep it simple): Malki, Shafi, Hanafi, and Hanabali. Most jurisprudence considered veiling an etiquette not a required behavior of Islam it is not a mandatory practice. The Hanabali and Shafi schools say the hands and face need to be covered. Stating the verse 33:35, should be followed by all Muslim women. That the wives of the prophet should be copied to the T. However, if this were the case then many Muslim women would be leading prayers, do the call for prayer, lead battles, give advice to kings, have their own business, propose marriage to men, etc. Some women today argue that, in Muslim minority societies (France, U.S.A, etc), that veiling while living in disperse only serves to draw more attention to them and thus contradicts the principle set forth in surah 33:59.
“And remember Mary in the book, when she withdrew from her family to an eastern place. And she veiled herself from them. Then we sent unto her our spirit, and it assumed for her likeness of a perfect man…” (Surah 19:16-17) Here the word veil is hijab. This verse may indicate that a curtain or wall shielded her from view. Perhaps she was purifying herself, in her veiled state is when Gabriel visited her with message of Jesus. It is well known many Jewish people practiced separating women from menstrual cycle from the rest of the society. Usually leaving her in a hut and being left to be taken care of by other females who would bring food to her. Maybe this was what she was doing, or maybe it is discussing the time she left to see John the Baptist mother. The Quran is usually vague on biblical stories. However, it is clear the word hijab does not refer to a head covering.
Men throughout Islamic time did wear head coverings and some Desi Muslims will cover their heads while praying. The Prophet, in fact, covered his head, meaning it is sunnah for men to veil as well. Why men don’t “veil” comes down to modernization, colonization, wanting to fit it in, fashion, Islamophobia, sexism, and etc. The traditional headcover isn’t in the Quran, as the women verses are so modern Muslims simply conclude men shouldn’t cover their heads. Orthodox men will wear ankle-length garments and grow beards, but won’t cover their heads as the prophet did….now to be fair men do wear turbans and other gear still. Why men target women comes down to control. If you can control the women of the community then its easier to spread the information to the children. In fact, it’s similar to how colonizers purposely forced women to uncover and how laws typically target women’s reproductive rights. Women aren’t seen as human. The body of the woman is used as the battleground for the dominant male (and women) to gain control in society. Women’s bodies are over-sexualized because men are too scared about their own sexuality and feel guilty looking at porn, going to clubs, and etc…so to feel control enforcing women to cover (or uncover) is a way to reflect their own insecurities.
I answer many of these questions in better detail in my book Niqab**ch: A history of the face veil, the laws against it, and why it’s important. The book is still being edited but if you want to support me getting it out faster, please share this blog and check out my podcast chaiandboi on Spotify and Apple.