THIRD RULE : LENGTHEN YOUR GARMENTS
The first regulation of DRESS CODE for Muslim women is in 7:26, the second is in 24:31 and the third is in 33:59
“O prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the wives of the believers that they shall LENGTHEN their garments. Thus, they will be recognized and avoid being insulted. God is Forgiver, Most Merciful.” 33:59
In 33:59, God sets the other regulation for the dress code for the Muslim women during the prophet’s life.
Although the verse is talking to the prophet which means this regulation
applies to the time of the prophet, just like the order in 49:2, the
description fits the spirit of Islam (Submission in English), and can teach
us a great deal.
If you reflect on this verse and how God ordered the prophet to tell his
wives, his daughters and the wives of the believers to lengthen their
garments, you would understand the great wisdom of the MOST WISE, the MOST MERCIFUL. In this verse, God, DELIBERATELY, (and all the TRUE believers know that everything GOD says, does, or did is DELIBERATE) said, tell them, to lengthen their garments, and never said how long is long. God could have said tell them to lengthen their garments to their ankles or to their mid-calf or to their knees, but HE DID NOT. He did not, OUT OF HIS MERCY, not because HE FORGOT as God does not forget. God knows that we will be living in different communities and have different cultures and insists that the minor details of this dress code will be left for the people of every community to hammer for themselves.
It is clear from the above verses that the DRESS CODE for the Muslim women (Submitters) according to the Quran is righteousness and modesty. God knows that this modesty will be understood differently in different communities and that is why He left it open to us to decide for ourselves. Decide, after righteousness what is modesty. Modesty for a woman who lives in New York may not be accepted by a woman who lives in Cairo Egypt. Modesty of a woman who lives in Cairo, Egypt may not be accepted by a woman who lives in Saudi Arabia.
Modesty of a woman who lives in Jidda in Saudi Arabia may not be accepted by a woman who lives in a desert oasis in the same country. This difference in the way we perceive modesty is well known to God, He created us, and He put NO hardship on us in this great religion. He left it to us to decide what modesty would be. For any person, knowledgeable or not to draw a line and make conclusion for God about the definition of modesty is to admit that he/she knows better than God.
God left it open for us and no-one has the authority to restrict it, it has
to stay open.
RELAXING THE DRESS CODE:
In the family setting, God put no hardship on the women, and permitted them to relax their dress code. If you reflect on the verses, 33:35 and 24:60, you will see that God did not give details of what this relaxation is, because every situation is different.
A woman may relax her dress code in front of the four-year-old son of her brother but not as much in front of the 16 year old son.
“The women may relax (their dress code) around their fathers, their sons, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, the other women, and their (female) servants. They shall reverence GOD. GOD witnesses all things.” 33:55
“The elderly women who do not expect to get married commit nothing wrong by relaxing their dress code, provided they do not reveal too much of their bodies. To maintain modesty is better for them. GOD is Hearer, Knower.” 24:60
DRESS CODE FOR THE MOSQUES (MASJIDS):
“O children of Adam, you shall be clean and dress nicely when you go to the masjid. And eat and drink moderately; Surely, He does not love the
gluttons.” 7:31
HARDSHIP IN THIS RELIGION:
God, the MOST GRACIOUS, MOST MERCIFUL decided that those who will reject His complete book and go look for other sources for guidance will suffer in this life and in the HEREAFTER by their choice. God never put any hardship on the believers, but the scholars did, they invented their own laws in defiance of God, to regulate everything from the side of bed you sleep on, to which foot should step in the house, to what to do with a fly in your soup, to what to say when having intercourse with your spouse.
Those who believe God and believe that His book is COMPLETE, PERFECT AND FULLY DETAILED, will have everything easy for them as God promised, See 10:62-64, 16:97 while those who could not believe God and have been seeking other sources than the Quran will have all the hardship of this life and the life to come. In the Hereafter they will complain to God, “we were not idol-worshipers,” but God knows best, He knows they were See 6:22-24
“On the day when we summon them all, we will ask the idol worshipers, “Where are the idols you set up?” Their disastrous response will be, “By GOD our Lord, we never were idol worshipers.” Note how they lied to themselves, and how the idols they had invented have abandoned them.” 6:22-24
CONCLUSION:
God, the Most Merciful, gave us three basic rules for the Dress Code for
Women in Islam (Submission),
(1) The BEST garment is the garment of righteousness.
(2) Whenever you dress , cover your chest (bosoms).
(3) Lengthen your garment.
While these three BASIC rules may not sound enough for those who do not trust God, the TRUE believers know that God is ENOUGH. God could have given us more details to the point of having graphs, designs and color rules, but He , the Most Merciful, wants to give us exactly these very basic rules and leave the rest for us. After these three basic rules every woman is more aware of her circumstances and can adjust her dress for her situation. Any addition to these basic Quranic rules is an attempt to correct God or improve on His merciful design.
We have no obligation to follow but God’s rules, just as His messenger did all the time. Innovations and fabrications that added thousands of rules to the women dress code are nothing but idol-worship and should be refused.
STAY WITH GOD, that is where the winners go.
May God bless us with His mercy and guidance.