This conversation I posted has nothing to do with proving someone a good muslim or not.
I think the important take-home messages here are:
1. Don’t judge people purely by their attire
Hijab perse does not make you naek parveen or a nice person. I know some girls in the UK who wear hijab and date men openly / were at their doctor’s asking for morning-after-pill one day!!!
Our religion does not forbid us from wearing anything as long as we cover ourselves up decently and that applies to both men and women. It is not what you wear but how you wear it that is important
2. Don’t observe your religious duties just for the sake of it
If despite observing your religious duties, you don’t become a better human-being as in being honest, truthful and polite etc. then I am not sure what you are praying & fasting for. In theory it should make you a better person but in reality it does not always hold true. Praying & fasting etc. was never meant to be just a physical exercise.
I know some religious people (religious again as in praying and fasting) Hajis no less, who are some of the most impolite & uncultured (look at most Arabs for instance!!!), untruthful, untrustworthy, selfish, narrow-minded, dishonest and lazy people I have come across in life - always looking for short cuts in life, claiming illegal state benefits etc!!
Ofcourse that does not mean that you stop praying and fasting but I am just making a point based on my own experiences in life.
3. Don’t confuse religion with culture.
Decency and modesty of dress we all agree is a religious requirement, burqa though isn’t. These things are cultural (one could argue promoted by family background and pressure) and have little to do with religion. I personally can’t stand the shuttlecocks!!! When a decent shawl or dupatta can do the same job, why project yourselves in such an extreme manner?
I think people sometimes confuse cuture with religion and duties to God with duties to human beings. Allah clearly states that while he may forgive haqooq Allah he w’d never forgive haqooq al ibaad (your duties to mankind - Truthfulness, politeness, your manners, honesty, hard work, cleanliness, reliability, acquisition of education, having a sense of responsibility, being respectful of all mankind regardless of their religious beliefs etc.) and most of us pay very little attention to haqooq al ibaad in my humble opinion…sad but true
And to finish off:
Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas :razi: reported that the Prophet :saw2: said:
Do not be envious of one another; do not artificially inflate prices against one another; do not hate one another; do not shun one another; and do not undercut one another in business transactions; and be as fellow-brothers and servants of Allah. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor humiliates him nor looks down upon him. Piety is here - and he pointed to his chest three times. It is evil enough for a Muslim to hold his brother Muslim in contempt. All things of a Muslim are inviolable for another Muslim: his blood, his property and his honour.
[Muslim, Imam An-Nawawi’s 40 hadith]