“Banning My Hijab Is Like Banning Me From Praying”
A Gross Exaggeration leading to Distortion of Islamic Shari”ah
As per newspaper "The Guardian" of Tuesday March 14, the Court of Justice of European Union says garments can be banned as part of general policy covering religious and political symbols. No wonder the news immediately trickled into the social media. Imam Asad Zaman shared a link from Aljazeera reporting in full the verdict of of the EU court. As expected, several opinions
were expressed. One of them "What the Hijab means to me" quoted from Aljazeera of November 2016 is really interesting. It expresses the thoughts and feelings about the hijab of women from Nigeria to Uruguay. However, I am really concerned by an article "Banning MY Hijab is Like Banning Me From Prayer" in the Huffington Post of March 14, 2017 by Basma Elbaz, Contributor, Editor-in-Chief & Blogger because it sounds as an exaggeration and distortion of Islamic Shari’ah.
The writer starts with very balanced and mature statement: “It is absolutely fine to dislike hijab, to see it unnecessary or ugly. I will respect your opinion” followed by her objection: “But it is certainly a clear discrimination when you prevent me from wearing it”. More about it later.
As a PPK Muslim I am greatly disturbed by her next statement: “This ruling makes it obvious that the court does not understand what hijab is for a Muslim woman. Wearing a hijab is not an accessory, it is part of the religion, and so banning it is like asking me not to pray”. This is an extremely misleading and ignorant reading of Shari’ah on hijaab.
To start with, I would like to entreat all to keep our mandatory prayers completely out of this super-charged controversy over Hijaab. Prayers is our core and foremost duty since the days of Prophet Ibrahim, conveyed to us by a continuous chain. It is the most important of the Four Pillars of Islam; it is our cherished identity; it is the first item in our examination on the Day of Judgement. It serves as a unifying factor for the Ummah, allowing Muslims from the four corners to stand in one line, shoulder to shoulder on hearing the Azaan.
The importance of hijaab does not come even close to it. Granted, it is a crucial part of our Eemaan. But can the writer tell me what is Shari’ Hijaab and what are its requirements? We see all sorts, style and color of “Hijaab” on the streets: a woman in short skirts and skinny jeans, in a form fitting maxi, in an elegant, attractive and colorful dress with dark read lipstick, in an outfit with shining embroidery and even a barbi doll turns into a “hijaabi” if she has a designer head covering —a muddled thinking.
As I have pointed out earlier the popular use of word “hijaab” is erroneous and misleading. What does the word hijaab means?
The Quran uses this word in Ayah 53 of Surah Ahzab (no. 33), as meaning a “screen, curtain or shield”.
The lexicon has two suggestions:
First, “the religious law that controls the clothes that Muslim women can wear”. Indeed the Classical Jurisprudence (Fiqh) of Sunni Islam describes in detail the requirements of hijaab.
Second, “the head covering that some Muslim women wear when they are outside”.Unfortunately, this is the popular usage of the word. But this new meaning has no basis in our Shari’ah which has a list of essentials for hijaab. (see below)
Based on the Quranic ayahs 30-31 in Surah Noor (no. 24) and ayahs 32-33, 53 and 59 of Surah Ahzab (no.33), the Sunnah and Hadith all the four schools of thought of traditional Sunni Islam have unanimously agreed that “hijaab” prescribes the following dress and code of conduct for Muslim women:
1) Women to stay indoors; home is their workplace
2) Total segregation of genders at all levels
3) If a woman has to step out of her home out of necessity, she should be covered in loose cloak as a sort of outer garment from head to foot (burqua, abaya) covering the neck also. Our Somali sisters in Minnesota provide a good example of this dress.
4) A veil on the face; compulsory by three schools; optional by Hanafia but recommended.
This has been the standard practice of hijaab in the Muslim world for centuries.In recent times, it started going through a process of amendment and modification mainly under the demands and needs of the universal changing pattern of life. It has been eroded part by part and step by step. I am not aware if any source in the Shari’ah supports these alterations.The final metamorphosis was seen in mid nineteen seventies when the “headscarf” alone irrespective of anything else became the sole objective and manifestation of dress code for Muslim sisters and persistently referred to as “hijab”. This practice received a great momentum when the headscarf came to be regarded as “flying the flag of Faith”, a sort of Muslim identity in our confrontation with our previous colonizers and present “West”—“enemies and killers of Muslims”. This outlook was generously bank-rolled by petrodollars and ratcheted up by the Saudi-Wahabi propaganda machinery.
Headscarf alone as hijaab has NO basis in Shari’ah. If there is one, I would like to know. As a matter of fact, the way it is combined with a Western or Pakistani dress, or combined with an elegant style, adornment and decoration makes it look like a patchwork or a parody. Albeit, head-covering plus a plain black loose abaya blends smoothly and meets important requirements of the classical Islamic jurisprudence; and therefore is commendable. I admire the Somali sisters in Minnesota who have the courage of their conviction to wear it in a Western Society drawing a negative reaction. May Allah Ta'aala Subhaanahoo reward them for their efforts.
This is the version of the classical Sunni Islam about hijaab formed by consensus of the four Schools of Thought in the ninth century. However, the Islamic scholarly opinion has grown and developed in the meantime, despite the verdict of Taqleed clamped in the thirteen century to stifle Muslim intellectual growth. There are number of eminent scholars with huge following, notably the distinguished intellectual, researcher and academician Javed Ahmed Ghamdi who do not consider the above quoted ayahs in Surahs Noor and Ahzab as prescribing any particular dress code for Muslim women or men. A particular form or style of dress is not the business of Islam according to them. The prevalent suggestions about dress as Islamic are partly due to controversial interpretation of the relevant ayahs and traditions and partly based on historical, social and cultural background. This group of Ulemaa, maintains that the Shari’ah has focused on a strict code of conduct and has ordained clear do’s and don’ts for inter-gender social interaction. This is the Islamic prescription to prevent any indecency and promiscuity in Society and safe guard the institution of Family which is the back bone of an Islamic Society.
While the “hijaabis” have full right —and are admired for that — to don their attire and cover their head due to their religious beliefs, they are not justified to call it “Islamic”; this amounts to labelling as sinners those who do not agree with them and do not insist on covering the head. These are two different views and attitudes among Muslims on this issue due to varying interpretation of the relevant religious literature. Lets agree to disagree and keep up mutual discussions and deliberations to find the correct solution.
One final point. The opposition to the headscarf itself is not all religious; it is not a good example of Islamophobia; it cannot be labelled as racism. It is more a play of culture and value system. The wearer of headscarf feels elated and proud that she is upholding the honor of her religion. She has the satisfaction of sacrificing for her religion; of flying the flag of Faith. But it is very and naturally provocative to the opposing group, those who do not believe in it, Muslims and non-Muslims; as if she is pointing a figure at them; publicly displaying her modesty. To them, it looks odd and out of place; rather prudish. Let me quote the opposite example to illustrate my point of view: there will be commotion and strong reaction if teenagers come out in their ultrashort shorts in the streets of Karachi, Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur or bikinis are displayed on the beaches of these cities. This is certainly not a sign of Christo-phobia. We, Muslims have very strong sentiments against exposing the female torso.The liberal West is exactly the opposite; they take pride in exhibiting the woman’s body; France takes the cake in this. “Marianne” is a national symbol of the French Republic and often considered as a symbol of a certain idea of Frenchness. The American historian Joan Wallach Scott wrote in 2016 that it is no accident that Marianne is often depicted as bare-breasted regardless of where she is or what she is doing, as this reflects the French ideal of a woman, which has been used as an argument for why Islamic dress for women is not French. He added that the topless Marianne has become "...the embodiment of emancipated French women in contrast to the veiled woman said to be subordinated by Islam”. In the same year the French Premier Manual Valls said In a speech: “Marianne has a naked breast because she is feeding the people! She is not veiled, because she is free! That is the republic!”. Hence making a big deal of covering the hair in their own country is very irritating to the West. Wrong, yes but Islamophobia, No.
There are many advantages touted for the headscarf, as the sole manifestation of hijaab. They all may be true. But this does not make it a requirement of the Shari’ah.
