Hijab

If you ask a Muslim why Muslim females wear the Hijab (veil) the reason given is usually one of two (or a mixture of both):

• They are obeying a command from Allah as given in the Qur'an; it is a matter of piety.
• They are protecting their modesty by dressing this way instead of showing their body off for everyone to see.

The crux of the issue is how this mandate made its way into the Qur'an in the first place? We can find this information in the ahadith by examining the revelational circumstances of these verses.

The first verse above states that the purpose is to hide women's beauty from men. The second verse makes it clear that it is to prevent molestation/harassment whilst traveling. We also do not find any such requirement for Muslim men. Why is this? What are the possible explanations for this?

• Women's beauty is so enticing that men are unable to control themselves if they see an uncovered female - This cannot be right because women do not have to cover themselves in front of those males to whom they are related.
• Women are not attracted to men - Even the casual observer knows this is untrue - the vast majority of women are not asexual.
• Women have more self control than men - This may very well be the case, but only with the caveat that 'men' refers to Muslim men.

The current perception in Islamic society is that an unveiled woman is asking to be sexually harassed or assaulted. Although not a guarantee, they believe that the wearing of a veil is added protection against the chance of assault. However as we look at the ahadith, we find that none of the above reasons are correct as we see when studying the revelational circumstances of these verses. The Hijab verses were sent down in response to a specific situation occurring at the time.

Umar bin Al-Khattab's involvement

In short, the sequence of events as laid out in the ahadith are as follows:

1. Umar repeatedly asks Muhammad that Allah should reveal verses for the Qur'an pertaining to the veiling of women.
2. No such revelation is sent down.
3. Umar follows Muhammad's wives one night when they go out to relieve themselves (go to the toilet) and calls out to Muhammad's wife Sauda.
4. Sauda goes home in a state of embarrassment and relates to Muhammad what has happened.
5. Allah then reveals the hijab verse as Umar had wanted all along.

Of course this brings up some obvious questions:

• If Muhammad is just a messenger, relating Allah's word, why did Umar ask Muhammad for the hijab revelation? Why didn't he just pray to Allah and ask directly?
• No revelation was sent down until Umar spied on Muhammad's own wives. Why did Umar do this? How did he know (or at least suspect) it would be successful? Why does Allah care about toilet privacy so much that he revealed a verse pertaining to all Muslim women that will ever live?

A common apologetics tactic for this is that Allah was waiting for Umar to do this so that the situational revelation could come down. However this is not mentioned anywhere, thus there is no evidence for it. Moreover, Umar confirms that he came up with the idea first and then Allah "agreed with him".

Allah agrees with Umar

How can the Qur'an be the text that was in existence since before the world began, if Allah is taking suggestions for its content from Muhammad's contemporaries? It appears however, that Umar was a serial toilet-place loiterer, because after the revelation of the verses he had so wanted, he was at it again.

Umar spies again

Apparently, Umar wasn't satisfied once he had gotten the Hijab verses he eagerly bothered Muhammad about. He wanted women to be completely unrecognizable.

Reasoning on the hijab

A common claim by Muslims and apologists is that the Hijab protects women against unwanted sexual attention from men. Well known apologist Dr. Zakir Naik takes this line of reasoning in his defense of the hijab mandate. Before evaluating this claim we must examine a few more ahadith:

Given the fact that the verses were first revealed after Umar verbally harassed Muhammad's wives while they were going to the toilet, and that Muhammad told women to wear the veil even in the presence of a eunuch, we must conclude that the veil is intended to prevent men from evaluating the physical attributes of females. Since eunuchs have no sexual desire, the claim that it is to prevent sexual molestation and not just gossip/verbal harassment is invalid. Another interesting thing to note is that all of the verses and ahadith examined so far are to do with Muslim men harassing Muslim females. Thus Allah has revealed this verse to protect the believing women from the believing men.

In non-Islamic societies, women are free to walk around unveiled and not be harassed/assaulted every few blocks by men, but in an Islamic society this would not be the case. If not arrested under indecency laws, women would be constantly harassed and/or assaulted by Muslim men - thus we can conclude that hypothetical situations like that presented by Naik, in favor of the Hijab, may be technically valid; again with the caveat of specifying we are talking about Islamic societies only.

Different types of veiling

There are other ahadith that talk of the 'verses of al-hijab' but these are concerning a different type of hijab (veil) with, of course, a different set of revelational circumstances.

We see that in addition to the personal hijab a 'house hijab' is also required to separate the women of the house from visitors; in the form of a separating, opaque screen. Again as we see above this is was a situational revelation. Muhammad was annoyed that people stayed and chatted with his wives after having dinner at the house, so Allah jumped in and revealed a verse requiring a separation to put a damper on communication, thereby meaning guests do not stay as long before and after dinner. The above verses are not pertinent to the type of hijab being covered in this article, but have been presented to further highlight the silly circumstances of many of these situational revelations; also to acknowledge that 'hijab' as mentioned in the Qur'an and ahadith do not always refer to the same thing.

The reason that Muslim women wear the hijab today is not a spiritual one, nor is it a matter of piety. Covering the hair/face cannot be considered an act of modesty because Muslim men are not required to cover theirs. The sole reason they do it is because Umar bin Al-Khattab, a companion of Muhammad, wished that Muhammad would reveal verses from Allah requiring women to wear it. When Muhammad did not oblige, Umar did not pray to Allah for assistance. Umar knew he had to make it personal for Muhammad himself in order to bring the revelation down. He followed Muhammad's wives out when they went to go to the toilet and made his presence known. When Muhammad heard of this, the revelation that Umar had so wanted was sent down from Allah. Umar knew where these revelations were really coming from, which is why he pestered Muhammad and harassed his wives instead of asking Allah.

Although the revelational circumstances for the hijab were ridiculous, the consequences that we can see to this day, are not. The requirement for the hijab has had the effect of placing full responsibility for Muslim-male self control onto the females - freeing the men of responsibility for their actions if they see an unveiled woman. Lack of self control is not an inherent attribute to men, because men in non-Islamic societies do not have such self control issues; when it is rare to see a woman covered so in these societies. The hijab's purpose, as revealed and to this day, is designed to protect Muslim females from the now acceptable behavior of Muslim males; behavior which has been deemed socially acceptable precisely because of the requirement of Muslim females to wear the hijab.

• Hijab - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Hijab

• Niqab According to Quran and Sunnah - Muslim site
• Egypt's sexual harassment 'cancer' - Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC News, July 18, 2008
• Islamic Hijabs, Nun's Habits and the Hijab Paradox - IslamoCriticism