Assalam Allaikum to all muslims,
This is actually in reply to zaraatif about the veil being a commandment of Quran or not. Here is the ruling that I have discovered along with the website address.
"“O Nabi! Say to your wives, your daughters and to the women of
the Mumineen that they draw over them their jilbaabs (outer
cloaks or burqahs). That (i.e. covering themselves with jilbaabs)
is the least (minimum requirement which they should adopt)
so that they be recognized and not be molested (by shameless
people of loose morals)”. -(Surah Ahzaab. aayat 59)
"And (O women!) remain within your homes and do not make
an exhibition (of yourselves) like the displays (of the immoral women) of former times of
ignorance".
- (Surah Ahzaab, aayat 33) Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam said:
"Women have no share in emerging (from their homes) except in
cases of necessity". -(Tibrani)
The narrations of the Qur'aan Shareef and Hadith on the subjects of Hijaab (Purdah), Satr and Haya
are numerous. These narrations with their attendant masaa-il (rules) will, Insha’ Allah, be discussed in
this booklet. Two Qur’aanic verses and a hadith have been mentioned at the commencement of this
article. The purpose for this being:
(i) To indicate that the Law of Hijaab is a Command of Allah Ta'ala and not a concept foreign to
Islam as some people who have strayed from Seeratul Mustaqeem would like Muslims to believe.
Their obsession with Westernism induces them to argue away the Islamic law of Hijaab as a
practice unsubstantiated in Islam.
(ii) To derive barkat. A discussion commenced with the auspicious words of Allah Ta'ala and
Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam is blessed with the permeation of holiness.
Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam said:
“Hayaa (or shame and modesty) is a branch of Imaan”.
The importance and significance of shame are amply borne out by this statement of Rasulullah
Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Imaan is fundamental to the existence of Believers. Without Imaan man has
no true existence. Imaan is the basis of success and the pivot of najaat (salvation) in the Aakhirah. The
attributes of Imaan are many and among such attributes Hayaa (Shame) is a very important and
significant quality. The opposite of shame is audacity or shamelessness which according to the hadith of
Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam is a branch of kufr. The greater the degree of shame in a Mu’min,
the more beautiful will be his Imaan. Shamelessness is an indicator of kufr of which there are varying
categories and degrees. The greater the degree of kufr, the higher will be the degree of shamelessness
and immodesty.
Divine Wisdom has willed shame as a natural quality of women. Woman’s natural quality of modesty
becomes spiritually adorned and lofty with the accompaniment and development of Imaan. The modesty
of Muslim women - those women who have not fallen prey to the brutal onslaught of Western libertinism -
is, therefore, a quality of unparalleled excellence, nobility and beauty.
Elimination of shame introduces its opposite, viz., immodesty in the wake of which ensues
immorality. Immodesty is an essential requirement of immorality. Total elimination of shame results in
corresponding total immodesty while partial elimination of hayaa (shame) brings about partial
immodesty. It is a moral principle that immodesty in a human being will be in proportion to the degree of
the elimination of shame. It is a natural law that when an attribute in man is destroyed, its counterpart
asserts itself. Thus, when generosity is effaced, niggardliness sets in; when courage is destroyed,
cowardice enters; when truth is destroyed, falsehood asserts itself. In the same way, when Hayaa is
annihilated, immodesty with its accompaniment of vice and immorality overwhelms man.
It is also a natural law that the impact and intensity of an attribute will correspond to the impact and
intensity of its opposite attribute. We, therefore, observe that the degree of immodesty and
shamelessness in a lewd, shameless and immoral woman is unmatched. No one can become more
audacious in vice and immorality than a woman who has utterly annihilated her natural attribute of
Hayaa. The avalanche of immorality and exhibitionism of perversity centering around the female body, up
for public display, bear loud and clear testimony to this natural law. The dismal mutilation of morals of
the West being keenly imitated by present-day Muslims caught up in the full glare of the sexual cult of
libertinism offered by the Western kuffaar is the bitter fruit of the destruction of the Divine measure of
Hijaab which Allah Ta’ala has ordained for the preservation of man’s morality, from the very inception of
mankind. Muslims should halt a while and ponder! To what extent have they wounded their Imaan by this
vile pursuit of liberalism and libertinism ? Let them assess the defect which they have introduced into
their Imaan by the elimination of Shame which Nabi-e-Kareem. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam said is “a
branch of Imaan”.
Allah Ta'ala is the Khaaliq (Creator) of man and woman. He is Aleem (the One of Knowledge) and He
is Khabeer (the One fully aware). He has created in man and woman the capacity of the lowly nafs and
He is thus fully aware of the carnal, bestial and inordinate promptings and demands of the nafs. Among
the measures ordained by Allah Ta’ala to curb the desires of the nafs and to hold it imprisoned within the
confines of purity, morality and spirituality are the rules, regulations, etiquette’s, restrictions, prohibitions
and exhortations which pertain to the Islamic practice of Hijaab (Purdah). Islamic Hijaab or the moral
code of conduct to be observed by man and woman in their mutual conduct is a Divine institution
designed by the All-Pervading and Ever-Wise Intelligence of Allah Ta’ala to maintain the dignity,
spirituality and honour of human beings.
Islam demands of its adherents a moral life of the highest purity. Fundamental to this attainment is
the strict segregation of the sexes or the observance of Hijaab. Mingling of the sexes is permitted only
by two circumstances:
(1) MAHRAMIYYAT and (2) NECESSITY.
(1) Mahramiyyat in the context of Hijaab is the family relationship (of blood ties) which initially and
permanently prohibits marriage among people who are mahareem to one another, e.g. between
brother and sister; between father and daughter; between uncle and niece, etc.
(2) Necessity in this context means all cases and circumstances which are considered by the
Shariah as valid grounds for relaxation of, or concession in, the normal strict observance of
Hijaab, e.g. an emergency; medical treatment; appearance in a court of law, etc.
This factor of necessity which is cause for concessions in the Islamic law of Hijaab cannot be
interpreted loosely and subjected to the desires of the nafs. For example, a woman cannot leave the
confines of her home on the pretext that she wishes to engage in trade or in some other mundane or
spiritual activity. Concession to emerge will apply only if circumstances compel such emergence. A
woman may have absolutely no income and no one to provide for her; there may be no mahram male or
any other person from whom she is able to learn the necessary Shar’i masaa-il pertaining to her daily life
or she has to attend to her ailing parents, for example, then such circumstances will he considered as
necessity and grounds for relaxation of Hijaab partially.
Every case and outing which people regard as necessary will not fall under the Shar'i scope of
necessity, and concessions in Hijaab will not be granted by the Shariah. Insha’ Allah, these two
factors, viz., mahramiyyat and necessity, will be discussed in greater detail in this booklet."
The website is http://www.shariah.net/hijaab/contents.htm