Hijab: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=2|Content=2|Language=2|References=2}}[[File:Hijab propaganda billboard.jpg|thumb|Billboard in Tehran reading "hijab is security"]]All [[Madh'hab|schools]] of [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)|Islamic law]] require that Muslim [[Islam and Women|women]] wear observe the '''''hijab'''''. Conceptually, the hijab is a set of requirements according to which both women and men must cover certain parts of their body. While the requirements for men are similar to common expectations of public decency in the modern world, those for women extend to cover the entirety of the body except for their face and hands, with legal schools differing on the requirements for women to cover their feet, face, and wrists. Colloquially, the word "hijab" refers to the headgear employed by Muslim women to cover their hair and neck. There are many cultural variations on the hijab garment, many of which provide different degrees of coverage, including famously the ''burqa'', ''niqab'', and ''dupata''.  

While Islamic legal scholars are assiduous in pointing out that Islamic laws, being direct orders from God, need not provide practical benefit to merit fulfillment, most today hold that the practical reasoning behind the obligation of the hijab is that it protects women from sexual assault by suppressing their attractiveness and serves to help them guard their own chastity. The following hadith are often referenced in this vein of reasoning.

{{quote |{{Muslim|26|5416}}|'Abd bin Hamid reported from 'Abd Ar-Rizaaq reported from Ma'amar, reported from Az-Zuhri, from 'Urwa, from 'A'isha that a eunuch used to come to the wives of Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and they did not count him as a male with sexual desire. Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) one day came as he was sitting with some of his women and he was busy in describing the bodily characteristics of a lady and saying: when she approaches you it is with four (folds of fat) and if she goes away from is it with eight (folds of fat). Thereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: Do I not see that this one knows what, behold, is here, the women ought not to be exposed like this. She (" A'isha) said: Then they began to wear hijab around him (the eunuch)[<i>sic</i>]}}{{quote |{{Abudawud|32|4095}}|Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:

[[File:Hijabs.jpg|thumb]]There are other ahadith that talk of the 'verses of al-hijab' but these are concerning a [[Sex Segregation in Islam|different type of hijab]] with a different set of reported revelational circumstances.