Hijaab is the symbol of faith and whoever has no modesty (Hijab), has no religion Until the Imperialists invaded Muslim Countries and the Muslims started mixing with non-believers, all our Muslim women walked in this world with great respect and dignity. However, in the Glorious Qur’an, Allah (swt) first mentions ‘hijaab’ for men before ‘hijaab’ for the women. The Qur’an mentions in Surah Noor:
“
Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.”
[Al-Qur’an 24:30]
According to Qur’an and Sunnah there are basically six criteria for observing hijaab:
Extent:
The first criterion is the extent of the body that should be covered. The extent of covering obligatory on the male is to cover the body at least from the navel to the knees. For women, the extent of covering obligatory is to cover the complete body except the face and the hands upto the wrist. Some scholars of Islam insist that the face and the hands are part of the obligatory extent of ‘hijaab’. All the remaining five criteria are the same for men and women. The clothes worn should be loose and should not reveal the figure. The clothes worn should not be transparent such that one can see through them. The clothes worn should not be so glamorous as to attract the opposite sex. The clothes worn should not resemble that of the opposite sex. The clothes worn should not resemble that of the unbelievers i.e. they should not wear clothes that are specifically identities or symbols of the unbelievers’ religions. Complete ‘hijaab’, besides the six criteria of clothing, also includes the moral conduct, behaviour, attitude and intention of the individual. A person only fulfilling the criteria of ‘hijaab’ of the clothes is observing ‘hijaab’ in a limited sense. ‘Hijaab’ of the clothes should be accompanied by ‘hijaab’ of the eyes, ‘hijaab’ of the heart, ‘hijaab’ of thought and ‘hijaab’ of intention. It also includes the way a person walks, the way a person talks, the way he behaves, etc.
