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VEILING IN
ISLAM - By Jazuli A. Lawal
Veiling is no doubt an important issue in the life of
muslim women. Due to the fact that
morality is declining in our society, however, the methodological
implications of veiling are more important as its substantive ones. Although the veiling is a central issue
in respect to the status and role of the muslim woman, it does not tend to
indicate the different outlooks adopted by various schools of thought
in this respect. Thus, those
who adopt a tough stance concerning the issue declaring it to be obligatory are most likely to favour
a reduced social role of women and opt or a generally segregated
society. According to Yusuf Al-Qudarawi, (a renowned scholar)
asserted that, it is interesting from the point of view of exegesis of the
Islamic texts concerned. Afterall,
the dispute over veiling is not a verbal dispute. It centres around a hard corpus of
Qur�an and Sunnah texts. Islam as a
value system, a complete way of
life and a code of conduct lays a high premium on the question of chastity and
purity of the mind, body and soul.
The emphasis on purity and chastity somehow centres on women. However, moral issues which have a wider
context than that of the woman are here at stake. In as much as the moral question is of
great concern in Islam and a central point of its conduct, then the role of
women in society becomes an issue. In fact if we accept the Islamic emphasis on the issue of private, sexual morality, then we must be prepared to accept the Islamic restrictions which it places upon the public role of the muslim women. If we accept that the very physical presence of women could be an object of infatuation and even seduction, and if we accept the Islamic position on extra-marital relations, then we must necessarily accept the special restrictions and the special role which Islam carefully tailors and cultivates for the muslim woman. The muslim veil symbolizes these restrictions in Islam. Aisha (Radiyallahu Anha) narrated the following � My half brother from my mother
(Abdullahi son of al-Tufaf) came to visit me. He brought with him his young daughter,
who was in her full ornament. The
prophet then entered and seeing her, he turned away from her. I said, �O messenger of Allah she is
only the daughter of my brother, mere maiden� He said: �O Aisha, when a woman reaches her puberty then it is not
permitted that any part of her body should be seen (by aliens) except her face
and what is below this� And he
clasped his arm just above the joint of the hand leaving a space in between for
another clench of his fist)�. Al-Tabari narrated the
Hadith. We shall therefore all be held responsible if we reject
totally the muslim veil and what it stands for and at the same time insist on maintaining the
muslim code of conduct and the model of our social
interaction. *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
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