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Is Covering The Legs And Feet Mandatory For Women?
I saw all parts of Ghamidi Saab’s “Response to 23 Questions” on veiling/purdah. In part 8, he said that the bare minimum requirement for a woman is to cover from naval to the knee for lower part of the body, and from neck to the naval for the upper part of the body including her upper arms. I agree with him that covering the head is not mandatory for women, but I have a question regarding the covering of the legs and feet. There is a hadith from Umm Salamah (RA), which shows that our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) told women to cover their legs and feet.
Narrated Ibn ‘Umar:
That the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Whoever arrogantly drags his garment, Allah will not look at him on the Day of Judgement.” So Umm Salamah said: “What should the women do with their hems?” He said: “Slacken them a handspan.” So she said: “Then their feet will be uncovered.” He said: “Then slacken them a forearm’s length and do not add to that.”
He said: This Hadith is Hasan Sahih. In the Hadith there is a concession for women to drag their Izar because it covers them better.•Reference : Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1731
https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1731The same hadith also appears in Sunan Abu Dawud & Sunan An-Nasa’i.
Now, this hadith seems to be completely contradicting with Javed Ahmed Ghamidi Saab’s statement. Because in this narration, Umm Salamah was concerned that women’s feet might show up, and so Our Prophet (SAW) told her that women should lengthen their clothes. But Ghamidi Saab said that covering the legs is not mandatory for women in his video.
Ghamdi Saab didn’t talk about this hadith in his Purdah videos. I searched the older videos of Ghamidi Saab as well, but I can’t find any video where he addressed this.
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12 Replies
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Is Covering The Legs And Feet Mandatory For Women?
updated 2 years, 9 months ago
3 Members
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12
Replies
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Peace!
I don’t know about the صحة of this Hadith, but it seems to me to be pointing in the opposite direction. It seems to be saying that women did not like revealing their shins and so, Umm e Salama asked the Prophet (to provide some compensation), and he made his statement a little lenient for women (because of their discomfort). Of course, no one can claim that the Prophet did not know that what he was saying meant that the women’s shins would be uncovered and he did not address it (he didn’t himself say: but remember, women are not supposed to unveil their shins). One can’t say معاذ الله that the Prophet needed Umm e Salama to remind him that women cannot unveil their shins. Rather, it was Umm e Salama who, being a woman, thought that this would make many women uncomfortable, so she questioned the Prophet regarding this.
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So you’re saying that it’s not an Islamic rule because the Prophet himself didn’t say this at first? But why didn’t he just tell her that she doesn’t need to worry if the shins get exposed as it is not part of the awrah? Why did he tell her to lengthen the garment?
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Peace!
But it was not about the directives of religion. Umm e Salama was not worried that uncovering of the shin is against God’s directives. She was just not comfortable with exposing them and she probably felt that other women will also not feel comfortable. It’s like this: if someone asked me to take off my shirt in public. I would not feel comfortable. Now, if that person says, “don’t worry, you are allowed to.” He may be correct, but that is not why I feel uncomfortable. It’s just that I am not comfortable. The Prophet was stopping people from wearing “pants” with excess cloth because it was a sign of arrogance. Umme Salama felt that that would be uncomfortable for women and, so, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم provided leniency for them.
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Thanks for explaining.
& which Sahih Mursal hadith are you talking about? The hadith of Asma where the Prophet tells her to cover everything except her face and hands?
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Yes! How did you know?
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That is the only Sahih Mursal hadith I’ve come across so far
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Forgot to say, this hadith (& all other versions of this same hadith) is classified as Sahih by Darussalam
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My experience has been that even Ahadith graded Sahih sometimes have serious problems. I mean, they are not just good enough for me to associate with the Prophet. I found a مرسل Hadith graded Sahih. That just doesn’t fit right with me.
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There is misunderstanding. Ghamidi sahib never described this Satar of women. He must have quoted it from Fuqaha.
Quran needs mot to tell what to cover. Decency already taught what to cover essentially. Quran instruct extra Satar problems.
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Salam
What Ghamidi Saab said in his purdah videos is that the minimum a woman should cover is from below her neck upto her knees, as well as her upper arms. He said that this is the minimum awrah which must be covered.
Now my question is that this hadith I mentioned here seems to be indicating that covering the legs & the feets is mandatory for women as well, as our Prophet (SAW) told Umm Salamah that women should extend their clothes after she was concerned with feet being uncovered. Doesn’t it contradict Ghamidi Saab’s views, because he says that the minimum a woman should cover is upto her knees (provided that she doesn’t have any embellishments/ornaments), but this hadith says that women must cover their feet? Please explain, I am so confused regarding this issue.
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The Hadith tells about the better way to cover. The prophet is suggesting and that is why he is making amendments while discussing with Umm e Salma. If she did not ask for it, the first statement would prevail.
And Thanks for the correction, i missed the description of Satar by Ghamidi Sahib.
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Thanks for the explanation. Salam
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