Since some of you are much more aware of the Islamic matters i would like to know regarding the women purdah according to Islam.
Can someone here please enlighten me about the ruling on women covering their hair from na mehrams. Is it a direct ruling that is mentioned in Quran that the women must cover their hair or is it the interpretation by the Islamic scholars?
Re: Covering of women hair
Hmm, a very good question. I hope someone can provide some insight in this because I would like to know as well.
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Re: Covering of women hair
Qur’an chapter 24 verses 30-31
“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That is purer for them. Lo! Allah is Aware of what they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands’ fathers, or their sons or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers or their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants who lack vigor, or children who know naught of women’s nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that ye may succeed.”
Also when these verses were revealed the Muslim women at that time obeyed the ruling by covering their hair and bodies.
There is also hadith which states that the prophet pbuh commanded women to cover everything except face, hands and feet. That is what hijab encompasses. And Allah knows best.
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Some people have already given the relevant Quranic verse. it is worth noting that while the English translation given states “and to draw their veils over their bosoms”, the arabic word translated as “Veil” is “Khimar”, which specifically refers to a head covering worn by women.
The explicit instruction about covering hair that clarifies this further comes from neither the Quran nor interpretation of scholars - instead it comes from Hadith where the Prophet (pbuh) is directly quoted to have instructed this.
“O Asma’! Once a girl reaches puberty, nothing of her body may be seen (by non-mahrams) except this and these, (he pointed to his face and hands while saying so).” (Abu Dawud)
Re: Covering of women hair
The argument is regarding the word “khimar” and how the term “khimar” is used to specifically relate to covering of the Bosoms. The anatomical area is bosoms, not hair. So one party states that hair was never specified as an item to be covered and what “ornaments/adornments” are is up to the culture of the time. There was a time when a woman’s ankle was considered “sexy”, now it’s just a bony part of the leg. “Khimar” means a garment, but at the time, supposedly, some scholars argue that the term was used for an actual garment that was worn on the head, but that it fell towards the back, rather than in the front. We see this in Biblical movies all the time - they wear a head covering, and it falls like a waterfall behind them, but the Quranic commandment asked that we take that cloth and move it around our front to cover the bosoms. So the argument is that the Khimar of that time was already covering the hair, therefore, hair should be covered.
I am not sure about the authenticity of that hadith, so can’t comment what level of “sahih” that hadith really is.
My take on it, if Allah is that big on covering the hair, the term “hair” would have been mentioned clearly. Instead a more broad metaphorical term “adornment” or “ornament” is used and I think Allah realizes that different times, different cultures, so “ornaments” mean different things today than in 600 AD.
As much as we style our hair and make ourselves attractive, I don’t see how pulling your hair back and not wearing it sexy is any different than the hijab. The key is - downplay the sexiness and reserve that for your husband. Don’t walk around attracting too much sexual attention to yourself in general. And I think by American standards, you put your hair in a pony tail or a bun or something and you’re not heavily styling it (looks cheap anyway to do that to work or school), then that’s fine as well.
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Yes i am also wondering that why thee is no specific mention of covering the hair in Quran, or if i am missing something. or is there anything mentioned in the Quran about women who do not cover their hair or about women who do cover their hair?
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Wear it if you can wear it according to Quranic guidelines otherwise no point in becoming one of those hijabistas.
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All scholars agree that the hair/head is a part to be covered. The only disagreement comes in over whether face and hands should also be covered. All four imams (Hanafi, Shafi, Malik, Hanbal) all agreed that the hair is to be covered. As for the quoted hadith it is authentic and has been agreed to be by majority of scholars.
Also when we read Qur’an we have to take into account how the sahaba and Muslims during the prophets time reacted. All Muslim women (wives of the prophet and the women followers) obeyed this Qur’anic ayah by covering their bodies INCLUDING the hair. Hijab is obligatory. The prophet pbuh ordered hijab and gave instructions on how to follow it. Whatever opinions we may have on the word “khimar” and what it means and if its metaphorical or not is meaningless in the face of 1400 years of scholarly wisdom. We are not scholars of Islam. We are not qualified to make judgements or derive opinions from Allah’s words. It has already been decreed and decided. Hijab includes covering the hair. It is up to us to obey or disobey. And in the end Allah knows best.
And here’s a YouTube clip from someone qualified.
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What’s a hijabista?
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Okay, i am only looking for the supporting Quranic verses that requires hair covering specifically.
the quranic statement quoted above,“and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms”, now brings another question to my mind:
what does it mean to draw veils over bosoms, now does it mean that it is obligatory to cover your bosoms with a Duppata, scarf etc or wearing one piece of garment like a shirt that covers your entire body and bosoms too is sufficient?
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Qur’anic verses are supported by the actions (sunnah) of the prophet pbuh. If you want to see how you should act upon the hijab ayah then you look at the prophet pbuh, his wives, the sahaba and tabieen. You look up any scholar/teacher and you will find them all agreeing on the covering of hair. The bosom should be covered sufficiently that its shape is not seen. So that can be with a scarf, a dupatta or you can wear just a shirt as long as it is loose enough over the chest area. And Allah knows best.
The Qur’an cannot be taken on its own. You need the sunnah to know how the orders of the Qur’an should be acted upon. For instance the Qur’an commands salah. But how you read salah we only know through hadith. The same with how to do Hajj. Etc etc. So in the same way the prophet pbuh showed women how to wear hijab through instruction. This is well documented and all the scholars who came after agree on the hair being covered.
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Ah okay lol. Well each to their own. Allah knows best 
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its not about making judgement or derive from ALLAH’S words. it just about pondering and reflecting over. There are things that are clearly mentioned in Quran and then there are things that are left open to interpretations like this Purdah thing and i think there is no harm discussing that.
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Hijab is not open to interpretation. It is backed by sunnah and It is a farz. That’s not my opinion. That is the opinion of the Prophet pbuh, the sahaba, the tabieen, the imams Hanafi, Malik, Shafi, Hanbal and every other scholar and teacher of Islam out there for the last 1400 years.
Discuss hijab as much as you want, its not forbidden to discuss it. But the discussion ends at the fact that hijab is obligatory.
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I think the debate is not about hijab being compulsory or not, but what constitutes hijab … And the fixation on dress code has led to people saying that it is just an item of clothing … It is both a condition of being and item of clothing … It is better for people to acknowledge what hijab is and say that they are too weak to observe it - and seek forgiveness rather than changing the meaning of it and claiming to be compliant with it.
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It was mentioned whether hijab includes the covering of hair. It does include that and covering the hair is farz. It was the covering of hair part which was considered open to interpretation and I was replying to that. But yes I agree with what you said in your post.
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i agree that Hijab is obligatory, what i am trying to understand is that how come the head and hair covering has become part of Hijaab, while it is not specifically mentioned. Women are commanded specifically to lower their gaze, to guard their private parts, to be modest, to cover their chest but nowhere it is specifically mentioned about the hair.
The word “khimar” used means “Cover”, it does not even specifically mean “Head Cover”, but even if for argument sake we take it as “Head Cover”, the saying is to draw their khimar over their bosoms, which i take the meaning as covering your chest with the head cover(which women in that era might be wearing), but it does not imply that both chest and head should be covered with that head cover.
Draw your khimar, can also mean to bring the khimar downward that it should cover the chest, so how is it concluded that the head should remained covered as well with the chest ?.
another observation, some scholars say that indeed it is not clearly specified in the Quaranic ayaats that hair should be covered, but it is evident from the hadith that one poster also shared here. That says prophet SAW pointed towards hands and face and told except for these all parts should be covered.
But it was established that this hadith was weak. Besides this, pay attention to the another school of thought that says that even hands and face needs to be covered since its mandatory and they give the same reason i.e. this hadith is a weak one. Yet, i dont know from where they have derived that it is mandatory for women to cover all parts of the body.
so logically speaking, if we look at all these things, the pieces doesn’t really fit together and that is why i am wondering that on what basis the mainstream ulema have concluded that Hijaab constitutes Covering of Hair.
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Even if you take that hadith to be weak it still isn’t evidence enough to conclude that hair is not to be covered and isn’t mentioned. If you look at the sunnah as it was followed by the wives of the prophet pbuh, the believing women of his time, the sahaba, the tabieen then you’d see that they all agreed on the covering of hair. And the four imams all agreed on the covering of hair. The only difference (as I mentioned in my previous post) is whether face and hands should also be covered. That’s 1400 years of scholarly wisdom, all by people who were better Muslims than us and better educated in deen than us. I’m not an Arabic teacher or an Islamic one so I can’t tell you about the word “khimar” and all its meanings. However if you watch any lectures by Omar Suleiman, hamza Yusuf, nouman Ali khan, Yusuf Estes, anyone they all agree on the covering of hair in hijab. If you need further clarification on why they came to that conclusion 1400 years ago and have not changed their minds on it to this day then you’d have to have an actual discussion with one of these people. Allah knows best.