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Quran 24:31 – Chest Covering For Women And Differences In The Translations
Surah nur and chest covering.
and for this they should draw their coverings over their chest and neckline. (24:31 Ghamidi sb)
and to draw their veils over their bosoms. (24:31 Molana Maududi)
and they should fold their shawls over their bosoms. (24:31 Molana Wahiduddin Khan)
In this part of verse 31, according to Ghamidi sb the purpose of the ruling to draw their(women’s) shawls over their chest is to hide any jewellery worn on the chest or neckline, and it can be done by any other purpose as well. (To put Shawl/covering on the chest is not mandatory if it’s fulfilled by any other means) If a woman is not wearing any jewellery on the chest then it is also not mandatory to draw the shawl over the chest, in this case, to cover the chest with a loose shirt is enough according to Hifz-e-Farooj.
My question is:
How can we decide that this part of verse 31 is limited to jewellery? Because every other scholar has translated it like this: and to draw or and should fold or and must wrap etc. But Ghamidi Sb has translated it in context with the previous part of the verse which is to hide Zeenat and the translation goes like this: and for this they should draw….
How can we decide that if a woman is fulfilling all the requirements of Hifz-e-Farooj and is not wearing any jewellery on her chest then there’s no need to put another cloth(shawl/veil/covering) over their chest?
I’m confused because all other scholars have not translated it in context to the previous part of the verse like Ghamidi Sb. It seems by reading their translation that it’s mandatory to put a shawl/covering on the chest even if a woman is not wearing any jewellery on the chest.
Please clarify this, is this part of the verse separate from the previous ruling or it is a part of the previous ruling.
Thanks.
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3 Replies
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Quran 24:31 – Chest Covering For Women And Differences In The Translations
updated 8 months, 4 weeks ago
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The context is clear that men and women were given the same instructions to cover their private parts (Furuj) in verses 30 and 31, no matter if it is adorned or not. A woman’s chest is a part of farj too, so it should be covered too. If it is covered with loose garments, even then it fulfills the purpose. Now the additional instructions regarding covering for women start with the adornment. Therefore it is adornment on the chest area that is to be covered with a veil in front of men.
If the second directive of covering the chest had belonged to the first directive of covering Furuj, it should have come with the first directive, but it came after the mention of covering adornment so it belongs to the covering of adornments.
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Thanks, Dr. Irfan Shahzad.
Yes, you’re right the context is clear.
But what is the accurate translation of this part of the verse?
Why only Ghamidi Sb has translated it starting with ‘and for this they should…’ and every other translation starts with ‘and to draw…, and should draw… etc’. Why not any other scholar translated it including the words: for this?
Is it that Ghamidi Sb added the context to the translation?
The contextual proof is indeed very clear that the purpose to draw a shawl/veil/covering is only to hide embellishments. It’s not part of Hifz-e-Furuj.
But is there also any translational proof other than Ghamidi Sb? If you share the translation of any other scholar similar to that of Ghamidi Sb, that would be really helpful for me.
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If Ghamidi saheb is right in his translation according to the argument presented here, it makes no difference if some other translation supports his understanding or not, and if he is wrong, no supportive opinion can make his understanding right. This is all about the validity of the argument. Most of the translators do not add annotative or explanatory phrases along with the translation. The way context is taken into consideration by Farahi school of thought is found nowhere else in the hermeneutics of other exegetes.
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