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Head Covering Of Women
As ghamidi shb has discussed thoroughly his opinion about hijab & i have watched his series where he answered questions related to hijab & presented his narrative,but one thing which still comes in my mind that his total emphasize was on that quran didn’t say clearly to cover hair,but one can argue that quran also doesn’t says to just through the head covering & just cover the cleavage.One can argue that quran said to women that keep the head covering there & draw it on your chests.
Can’t be this the case?…please guide!
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11 Replies
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Head Covering Of Women
updated 2 years, 9 months ago
4 Members
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11
Replies
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Peace!
Hassan, please watch Response to 23 Questions Series for “Pardah” from the beginning. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxm5Jk_0wW4
Here is how Ghamidi Sahab explains the verse in his tafsir:
https://www.javedahmedghamidi.org/#!/quran?chapter=24¶graph=16&type=Ghamidi
The خمار over the جيب (the area between the neck and the chest) was not to hide cleavage. It was to hide any ornaments there (for example, a necklace). And no, the case cannot be made that Allah wanted women to cover their hair because that isn’t even the purpose of the verse. The verse simply says, “(to conceal your ornaments) put some of your خمر (plural of خمار) on your جيوب (plural of جيب).” Feel free to inquire further until you are satisfied. 😄
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Thanks for ur reply!
I have already said that i have watched this series but i am not convinced.His total emphasize is on point that quran doesn’t say to cover the head but one can interpret the verse 24:31 “draw ur khimar over ur bosoms” As it says to keep the khimar there & draw it over the cleavage.
If we take this approach that quran doesn’t say this & That,then one can say that quran doesn’t say to cover the belly specifically As it only says to cover the cleavage,how would u deal with that?😄
And ghamidi shb himself has used his ijtihad to determine the Hifz e farooj,which is totally subjective approach.
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Peace!
It’s great that you disagree, but please allow me to respond to your concerns.
First of all, one can interpret 24:31 like that, but only one who presumes that women ought to cover their heads. Anyone who approaches the Quran without presumptions will not interpret it like that. If someone says, “بال بنا کے رکھا کرو” he will never mean that you shouldn’t shave off your hair completely and I can guarantee that. When Allah wants to say something, He says it clearly. The whole problem is that we take our presumptions to the Quran.
I will again emphasize that one MUST NOT take one’s presumptions and say that the Quran says something when it does not. We will admit that the Quran doesn’t ask women (or men) to cover their bellies and that whether the belly is covered or not is not the point. The point is whether the private parts are guarded from lustful gazes and whether you have ensured that nothing you do invites people towards zina. It is quite simple to prove that the Quranic directive would include the belly for women. Quite simply, the Quran orders women (and men) to guard their private parts. The word is “guard,” and not “hide.” I, for one, will say that one of these private parts are a woman’s hips. Revealing the belly accentuates the hips and leads men’s eyes towards them, which is against the instruction. Remember! “Guarding” one’s private parts means also to guard them from potential lustful gazes.
Regarding the subjective approach of Ghamidi Sahab, many of the things in religion are subjective. Why should they be objective when we as human beings differ? Even if you don’t take his opinion as the correct one, scholars disagree with each other too. So every approach is subjective in reality, even if it says so and so is obligatory, because it is obligatory in that particular scholar’s view.
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I’m not presuming anything like u are saying.The point is ghamidi’s mostly opinions are not like our classical or present day scholars carry the tradition,one has to be very cautious,nobody will diff. From his or her traditional or previous regilious views so easily.
Secondly,when he talked about the opinion of the scholars who said that only head covering is compulsory,not face veil,he brought a hadees of a woman coming to prophet for some issues & a companions was staring at her,so the prophet has to turn his face around,but he couldn’t bring a single hadees About a sahabiya which shows that she was not wearing head covering.
I would be grateful if u chould quote anyone.
Thirdly,if u know any other scholars,not of al-mawrid,(classical or comtemporary)who have said that head covering is not obligatory.
Thanks for ur reply again!😊
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Peace!
Sir, with all due respect, I feel like you are saying that head covering is mandatory unless otherwise proven, which is an assumption with no support from the Quran, because the Quran doesn’t ask anyone to cover their hair anywhere. Additionally, we don’t look at Ahadith to check whether something is obligatory or not and even if we did, there is no Hadith which says that the head covering is obligatory. The burden of proof is on the one who thinks it is obligatory, not the one who thinks it is not. You can’t say that this woman companion in this Hadith is wearing a headcovering and, therefore, it is obligatory. You have to bring the explicit words of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that a headcovering is obligatory. Not that it is good and that it is better to do it, but that it is obligatory (واجب or فرض etc.) I have not come across these words, Bhai, if you can share a Hadith in which the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says that it is mandatory upon a woman to cover her hair, then please do share it with me. 😄
Yes, there are scholars who say that the head covering is not obligatory. Ibn Ashur mentions in his tafsir, التحرير والتنوير, a minority opinion:
وفَسَّرَ جَمْعٌ مِنَ المُفَسِّرِينَ الزِّينَةَ بِالجَسَدِ كُلِّهِ، وفَسَّرَ ما ظَهَرَ بِالوَجْهِ والكَفَّيْنِ قِيلَ والقَدَمَيْنِ والشَّعْرِ
“And a group of the Mufassiroon explained الزينة to mean the whole body and they explained الا ما ظهر منها to mean the face and the hands. The feet and the hair were also included by some of them. “
Muhammad Asad, in his tafsir, The Message of the Quran, did not hold the head covering as compulsory. Sheikh Khalid Abou El Fadl also does not think that the head covering is compulsory and he raises questions on it:
https://www.searchforbeauty.org/2016/01/02/fatwa-on-hijab-the-hair-covering-of-women/
There are, of course, others but I have not read their views as of now, so I will not mention them.
Dr. Farhad Shafti also does not think that a headcovering is mandatory, but he was a member of al-Mawrid at one point, so I guess he doesn’t count. 😅
Please do read that article and let me know what further reservations you have.
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Muhammad Hassan Brother,
This was exactly my thought as well. Quran says draw the خمار over the جيب . Now some people might understand this as “remove the خمار from head and draw it over جيب”. While some people might understand that as “keep the خمار on head but extend it over جيب as well”.
I think Amin Ahsan Islahi Sb takes the second meaning. He considered the دوپٹہ اور اوڑھن mandatory for muslim women’s dress. This question bothered me a lot as well and I wanted to ask Ghamidi Sb exactly that. If you say draw the خمار over جيب. And if you draw it but remove it from head would you still call it خمار? For me Ghamidi Sb opinion is weak in this matter compared to Amin Ahsan Islahi Sb.
Comparison link:
https://www.javedahmedghamidi.org/#!/quran?chapter=24¶graph=16&type=Both
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Peace!
Ma’am, actually the point of both Ghamidi and other scholars (like Muhammad Asad, for example) is that the Quran’s directive is for the جيب to be covered, be it with a خمار or otherwise. Their point is not that one should take off the خمار from the head and put it on the جيب. No one is saying that. Some of the cloth of the خمار used to remain after the customary head covering which is said to remain on the shoulders. The Quran wanted the جيب to be covered and, therefore, asked for that cloth to be kept on the جيب instead of the shoulders. The خمار is mentioned because Arab women wore it and this was a solution which everyone could adopt to cover the جيب. No where does the Quran say to put on a خمار. If I said to you, ” ہاتھوں سے آگے جو قمیص کا کپڑا آیا ہوا ہے اسے اندر کی طرف لپیٹ لو,” no one would take that to mean that you have to wear a قمیص, just that the cloth should not extend beyond the hand .
I already clarified that if one take assumptions with him to the Quran, he will insert his own opinions in it. This is what happened in the case of many eminent scholars, with all due respect, including Imam Ameen Ahsan Islahi and from him Mawlana Ishaq, and Ghamidi Sahab has addressed the cultural influence on the Islahi Sahab’s opinion in the 23 questions series, I believe. We are all so bound by our culture to believe that a head covering is mandatory that even if it is mentioned as a tool to cover something else, we take that to mean it is being mandated. If this assumption was not present, no one would ever take this verse to mean that a خمار is obligatory. The lack of these assumptions is, I believe, what lead Muhammad Asad to rightfully conclude that the directive is the covering of the جيب and not the use of a خمار (because he was an Austrian convert).
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I am a he. Sorry my name is confusing. I need to set up a profile pic. 🙂
After reading your last reply it actually makes sense now. When I read your statement below I understood the point. It made it clear for me. Jazakallah
“The Quran wanted the جيب to be covered and, therefore, asked for that cloth to be kept on the جيب instead of the shoulders. The خمار is mentioned because Arab women wore it and this was a solution which everyone could adopt to cover the جيب. No where does the Quran say to put on a خمار”
I do have one other question though. In this aayat the one extra hidayat for women is to cover when they have done zeenat. now in light of these instructions what a woman can uncover in front of other people and what would be the minimum to cover in front of people like brother, uncle, father etc. I would really appreciate if you can explain the following?
1. to cover when done zeenat in front of brother, father, uncle etc
2. to cover when no zeenat in front of brother, father, uncle etc
3. to cover when done zeenat in front of other people
4. to cover when no zeenat in front of other people
Thanks
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Khimar is not meant to cover cleavage but bosom when it is decorated with ornaments. if we take the former meaning, to cover cleavage, the verse further says that women need not to cover it before their mehram like father and brother, and of course one cannot take it.
The verse is talking to the women who already cover their bodies. Quran needs not to start from the beginning. it was not some primitive society but a civilized one. The verse talks about the manners of covering when women have done Zeenat, makeup and wearing ornaments. In this perspective it says to cover your bosom with your pieces of cloth which is called Khimar. Khimar is the name of the piece of cloth which is not necessarily means it must always be on the heads. just like handkerchief. we call it Rumaal in urdu. which means piece of cloth for face. but we do not use it only for face. names are adopted for different reasons. So Khimar is name of the cloth which is asked to be put on bosom. This is the scope of the verse. Covering of head is our culture and it is a good one. We cannot extract meaning which is not in the verse.
The rest is covered with guarding of your private parts. if a woman feels that she should cover her head too to stop unwanted gaze, she can cover her head too. but in fact, head is not as attractive a thing to cover. Covering of head is a gesture of respect and nobility set by our culture.
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Salam sir!
1)Is ur understanding is exact same as in ghamidi’s translation,in which he has connected the phrase” draw ur khimar over bosoms” not to show ZINA? I haven’t read anyone who translates it that way.
2)As far as i know about the historical context of this phrase ” draw ur khimar over the chest(bosoms)”,it is said that it was revealed because women of the time of Prophet used to wear vest showing most of the cleavage that why quran said to cover it.
Please guide & pardon me if i said something wrong!
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Brother Irfan,
Thanks for the detailed answer. I thought khimar specifically meant head cover. I had watched this Nouman Ali Khan video where he explains what it means. khimar, khamr etc
I am so confused.
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