Hijab

Raiment of righteousness

The HIJAAB word comes from the Arabic word “hajaba” meaning to hide from view or to conceal. Women, who conceal their beauty in this society and do not give into its oppressive system, are looked upon as invisible, without sexuality and backward. Muslim woman is often mistaken for a nun or for an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist. Who may be hiding God-knows what under all that stuff, or the poster-child for oppressed womanhood everywhere. I feel the HIJAAB for many women is the hardest and truest test of being a Muslim. In instructing us to wear the HIJAAB, Allaah has given Muslim women what they can bear of restrictions and obligations. For Allaah says: “And We tax not any person except according to his capacity, and with Us is a Record which speaks the truth, and they will not be wronged.”. (Qur’aan 23:62)

Unfortunately, Satan and his cohorts are calling the Muslim woman to enslave herself to the creation and to forget about her servitude to her Creator. Chastity, modesty, and piety are deceptively marketed as shackles on personal freedom. Allaah warns the believers that they should not let Satan deceive them as he deceived their parents, Adam and Eve. However, under the guise of fashion, culture, and modernism; Satan has and is succeeding in leading the Muslim woman into immodesty.

From the dawn of civilization, flowing dresses and headscarves have always been associated with “godliness” or “god consciousness”. Even the Christian pictorial representation of the earlier prophets and their woman folks bear a familiar likeness to the dress ordained for Muslim men and women. This tradition of modesty is reflected in the Qur’an, wherein Allaah says: “O Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover yourselves (screen your private parts, etc.) and as an adornment, and the raiment of righteousness, that is better. Such are among the Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allâh, that they may remember (i.e. leave falsehood and follow truth).” (Qur’aan 7:26)

Since the heydays of the feminist movement, there has been an increasing amount of scrutiny placed on the dress and status of Muslim women. According to these “liberated” women, the HIJAAB not only covers the head, but also covers the mind, the will, and intellect. They say that our dress code is outdated and oppressive. They assert it stops us from being productive human beings. They speak out of ignorance when they say that our HIJAAB does not belong in these modern times. Due to the constant decrease in today’s world morality generally, circumstances make the HIJAAB even more necessary.

Sex crimes are rampant and “liberated” women in the larger society now face increasingly higher chances of being raped or sexually harassed. The Federal Government conducted a survey in which they found that in America, a rape-crime is committed every six minutes on the women who uncover their beauty and show off their bodies and made-up faces for all to enjoy. They expose themselves to be harmed by wolves in human clothing. Allaah Almighty enjoined the HIJAAB on the Muslim woman to protect her from harm. He knows His creation, and knows that when women make dazzling displays of themselves, with immodest clothes, perfumed bodies and made-up faces, that it serves to increase the sexual deviance of the overall society. Many of those who are misguided would have us think though, that the HIJAAB is a portable prison that restricts our minds, lives and hearts. It is none of these things, and in order not to fall victim to their plots, we must begin to understand what the HIJAAB truly is…

Hijab is not merely a covering dress, but more importantly, it is behavior, manners, speech and appearance in public. The headscarf is an outer manifestation of an inner commitment to worshipping Allah , it symbolizes a commitment to piety. Self or inner morality is what gives meaning to the external scarf. This can be perceived from the overall demeanor of any Muslim woman, how she acts, dresses, speaks, and so on. Read more