www.stand4islam.blogspot.com: Hijab: Allah's Command or Fashion Statement?

About this blog

In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.

This blog is dedicated:-

1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.

13 Jan 2011

Hijab: Allah's Command or Fashion Statement?

Unfortunately, we as Muslims live during a time when there is no Islamic State to stop the Munkar we see on a daily basis. It is an obligation on Muslims that we try to stop the different Munkars we see. It is one of the biggest challenges a Muslim has to endure to stop a Munkar when there is no support from the Islamic State.

We have been brought back to a time when the kuffar in Mecca used to order the Muslims to stop carrying the da'wah and not to worshipping publicly. As the ayah stated;

وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ

"Let their arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good (Islam), commanding al'Ma'ruf (good) and forbidding al'Munkar (evil)" [Al-Imran, 3:104]

One type of Munkar that we see is the new trend of hijab. Hijab is not a fashion statement and never was meant to be. It is an act of obedience that has been clearly defined in the Qur'an and Sunnah. There is no debate on what is allowed and what is prohibited. Allah سبحانه وتعالى has clearly defined the meaning and as time goes on it should not meet the new trends of society. Unfortunately, we now see the hair bangs showing from the veil, the earlobes showing their earrings, tight fitting clothes, sandals displaying their feet. The neck is shown because the veil is tied at the side or from the back, the huge barrettes to make a hump like style under the veil. These are all types of tabarruj (revealing the beauty), which Islam has prohibited. We see women in public wearing tight fitting clothes even though the awrah is covered, that is under the category of Tabarruj.

A hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stated that, "Two categories of people; have not seen them (yet): some people who hold whips like the tails of the cow by which they lash people. And women who wear (clothes) but (are) half -naked, bending (their bodies) and bending the sight of men to them. Their heads are like the tilted humps of the camels. These women will not enter the paradise nor will they experience its smell (odor), though its odor is felt at a distance of so and so."

It is disturbing to find hijab fashion magazines and websites to teach fashionable hijab styles. It gives Muslim women the Western style format of how to match the veil with the shirt, pants, and purse. One magazine steered clear of the idea of the jilbab and only introduced Western clothing to go out with. This is intentionally done to steer the Muslim sisters away from what Allah سبحانه وتعالى revealed. This has weaved doubt among Muslims with their religion. Hijab should not merit discussions on what is allowed or prohibited. Allah has defined his laws about hijab.

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ

"Oh Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (Jalabeeb) all over their bodies." [Al-Ahzab, 33:59]

Did the Muslims forget when Umm Atiyya (ra) asked the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, "Oh Messenger of Allah, what about one who does not have a jilbab?" The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم replied, "Let her use the Jilbab of her sister." This clearly states that if her excuse is that she does not own a jilbab, she is to borrow one from her neighbor.

The West is trying to redefine the meaning of hijab in order for Muslim women to break ties with Islam. Discussions about hijab were generated by the colonialists to corrupt the Islamic Aqeedah. The West realized that Muslim women all over the world implemented the standards of hijab. The West gradually started to place ideas of fashionable hijab. The West makes the women feel that the idea of hijab is an oppressive and constraining form of dress. They are using so-called scholars to give another meaning to the jilbab and distort what certain ayat mean. The West purposely is encouraging scholars to change the meanings of hijab to steer Muslims away from Islam. It is clearly stated in several ayat what happens when proofs from Allah سبحانه وتعالى have been revealed. One being,

وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُوا وَاخْتَلَفُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

"And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment." [Al-Imran, 3:105]

The West mocks the Muslim woman for wearing hijab and tries to disgrace her. The West has succeeded in passing laws banning the hijab. Tunis and Turkey restricts the wearing of the headscarves in government buildings and public schools, and discourages women from wearing the hijab on public grounds. France has banned the wearing of any religious symbols, including the hijab in public schools and government buildings. On June 22, 2009; the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that "burqas are not welcome in France,"commenting that, "In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity." Belgium passed a law that banned face-covering clothing in public as seen when a Moroccan immigrant was fined due to wearing of the burqa. Some states in Germany have also banned the hijab in public schools. This clearly shows that the West is threatened by the hijab and Muslims in general.

Why are some Muslims then trying to fit in with a regime that is trying to destroy Islam in all aspects? We need to stand together as one Ummah fighting this Munkar we see on a daily basis. We as Muslims should not try to fit into a regime that is man-made but a regime that was sent down by Allah سبحانه وتعالى. We need to forbid this Munkar we are seeing and be strong in fighting for the cause of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. We should not fear any laws that were man-made but only Allah سبحانه وتعالى. It is crucial that we as Muslims join together and call for the Islamic ideology to lift this oppression on all Muslims and decrease the Munkars we see. This cause needs perseverance, steadfastness, and patience. As many ayat show the importance of patience as such,

أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُمْ مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ ۖ مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ

"Or think you that you will enter Paradise without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty, ailments and were so shaken and that even the Messenger and those who believed with him said, ‘when will come the Help of Allah?' Yes certainly, the help of Allah is near!" [Al-Baqarah, 2:214]

Umm Sundus
Bayt Al-Maqdes
4-1-2011

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What they said...

“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”

[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]

"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world. It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"

[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]

"For the first three centuries of its existence (circ. A.D 650-1000) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Moslem world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages."

[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]

"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse."

[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]

"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition."

[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]

“The Muhammadan Law which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”

[Edmund Burke, British Statesman and Philosopher, 1789]

"The Exile here is not like in our homeland. The Turks hold respectable Jews in esteem. Here and in Alexandria, Egypt, Jews are the chief officers and administrators of the customs, and the king’s revenues. No injuries are perpetuated against them in all the empire. Only this year, in consequence of the extraordinary expenditure caused by the war against Shah Tahmsap al-Sufi, were the Jews required to make advances of loans to the princes."

[David dei Rossi, Jewish Traveller 17CE, quoted by Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands]

"The notable religious tolerance towards Christians and Jew under Muslim rule had given way to the uncompromising zealotry of Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims thus fled Spain with large numbers of Jews immigrating to the Ottoman Empire which was known for its tolerance to the Jews."

[Graham Fuller, Author and former CIA, 1995]

“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straightjacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and systems of beliefs, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history”

[Charles Philip Arthur George, HRH The Prince of Wales, 1993]

"...Not being subject to the Sharia, Jews and Christians were free to go to their own religious authorities for adjudication of disputes; but in many cases they went instead to the [Muslim] Qadi"

[Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History and Author, 2004]

"Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed by heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and each one of us lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow star as a badge of shame as is the case in Germany where even wealth and great fortune is a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your loins, collect up your forces and come to us."

[In his book 'Constantinople', Philip Mansel quotes a rabbi in Turkey writing to his brethren in Europe where they were facing increasing persecution after 1453]

"Praise be to the beneficent God for his mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [the Caliph’s] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favour by costly presents, such as the king of the Germans, the king of the Gebalim, the king of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. (Let my lips express praise to the God in heaven who so far extends his loving kindness towards me without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of his mercies.) I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs about our brethren the Jews, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have pined in bondage and had found no rest."

[Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-990 CE) Jewish physician, chief minister of Islamic Caliphate in Cordova, 'The Jewish Caravan']

"In Baghdad there are about forty thousand Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity, and honour under the great Caliph [al-Mustanjid, 1160-70 CE], and amongst them are great sages, the Heads of the Academies engaged in the study of the Law…’"

[Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi in Baghdad in the year 1168 CE, 'The Jew in the Medieval World']

"Those Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down, on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, in those very terms, comprehending the rights of individual liberty, and of inviolability of person and property; described the supreme power in Islam, or Califate, as based on a contract, implying conditions of capacity and performance, and subject to cancellation if the conditions under the contract were not fulfilled; elaborated a Law of War of which the humane, chivalrous prescriptions would have put to the blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Moslem creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.

[Leon Ostorog, French Jurist]

"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence"

[Robert Briffault, Novelist and Historian, 1928]

"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia"

[Oliver Joseph Lodge, Writer and Professor of Physics, 1893]

“Thus, when Muslims crossed the straits of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Jews welcomed them as liberators from Christian Persecution.”

[Zion Zohar, Jewish scholar at Florida International University, 2005]

“Throughout much of the period in question, Arabic served as the global language of scholarship, and learned men of all stripes could travel widely and hold serious and nuanced discussions in this lingua franca. Medieval Western scholars who wanted access to the latest findings also needed to master the Arabic Tongue or work from translations by those who had done so.”

[Jonathan Lyons, Author, Writer and Lecturer, 2009]