Seeking His Pleasure Through Patience

An excerpt from Niqaab: A seal on the debate by Kamillah Khan

THE HADITH OF THE MUHRIMAH AND NIQAAB

Abdullah bin ‘Umar narrated that the Prophet said, ‘… and the Muhrimah should not wear a Niqaab nor should she wear gloves.

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

‘Aishah said a Muhrimah should neither wear a Litham nor wear a Burqa

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Our Prophet s.a.w. prohibited the wearing of Niqaab during the state of Ihram, with ‘Aishah explaining that the Litham and Burqa were included in this prohibition. The Litham exposes the eyes and covers the lower face whereas the Burqa completely covers the face.

These texts also prove that other woman than the wives of the Prophet s.a.w. covered their faces. However these texts do not prove that every believing woman covered her face. Rather, the Prophet s.a.w. was making a statement, meaning those of you who wear the Niqaab should not wear it when in the state of Ihram.

This style of address is well documented in the Hadith. Yet some people use the above texts to promote the view that all women wore Niqaab outside of Ihram.

Narrated Abdullah bin ‘Umar, ” The Prophet said (regarding Ihram),’Do not wear a shirt or trousers or turbans or a hooded cloak.’

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Would those who use the previous texts to promote the view that all women covered their faces, also promote the view that all men wore turbans? They cannot have one without the other.

Either they believe that the statement of the Prophet s.a.w. indicates that every believing woman was obligated to wear the Niqaab and every believing man was obligated to wear the Turban outside the Ihram. If this is their conclusion, then it is rejected, for believing men were not obligated to cover their heads outside of Ihram.

This leaves us with the correct view that the address by the Prophet s.a.w. was to stipulate what could not be worn in Ihram, so that those amongst the people who usually wore it will not wear it during Ihram.

THE EXAMPLE OF ASMA’ BINT ABU BAKR AND OTHERS

Asma’ bint Abu Bakr said,’We used to cover our faces in front of men.’

(Mustadrak of Hakim)

The above Hadith shows how Asma’ bint Abu Bakr and other women used to cover their faces. Two aspects of this Hadtih need to be discussed. Firstly, who was Asma’ bint Abu Bakr, and secondly, who is implied by the word ‘we’?

Asma’ was the daughter of Abu Bakr, the wife of Zubair bin Awwam, and the mother of Abdullah and Urwah bin Zubair. Her father was the best of the companions of the Prophet s.a.w. Her husband was amongst the early Muslims and amongst the ten who were promised Jannah.

Her sons Abdullah bin Zubair and Urwah bin Zubair were amongst the leaders of the Muttaqun. She herself had great Taqwa, excelling in the recommended deeds of worship. She was also known for her immense modesty even before the verse of Hijaab was revealed. She was the same woman who refused to sit with the Prophet s.a.w. on his riding beast out of modesty and respect for her husband.

So it would come to no surprise that Asma’ would be a leader amongst the believing women, excelling in the recommended acts of worship and more closely imitating the actions of the mothers of the believers. Yet instead of recognising her character and position, the above Hadith has been used to promote the view that all believing women covered their faces – as if all believing women were like Asma’ who excelled in the recommended acts of worship.

After clarifying who Asma’ was, we now come to the question of what the word ‘we’ indicates in the above text. Does it imply all believing women or only some of them?

Narrated Abu Mas’ud, ‘When the verse of Sadaqah was revealed, we worked as porters.’

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Within some texts we find a companion using the word ‘we’ to specify all the companions. Within other texts we find a companion using the word ‘we’ to specify only some companions. For example, in the above Hadith Abu Mas’ud was not referring to all the companions when he said, “we used to work as porters.” Rather, he was referring to some of the companions. This becomes clear when we review the collective texts on the occupations of the companions.

Narrated Shaqiq,”We were commanded to cleanse our mouths with Siwak when we got up during the night.”

(Sunnah of Nasa’i)

Similarly in the above text, Shaqiq was not referring to all of the companions when he said, “we got up during the night” for not all the companions performed the Tahajjud prayer. This becomes clear when we review the collective texts on Tahajjud prayer.

Returning to the Hadith of Asma’, what did she mean when she said, “We used to cover our faces”? In order to answer this question we again need to look at other texts.

Asma’ bint Abu Bakr said: We used to cover our faces in front of men.

(Mustadrak of Hakim)

Fatimah bint Al-Mundhir said, ‘We used to cover our faces when we were in Ihram in the company of Asma’ Bint Abu Bakr As Siddiq.’

(Muwatta of Malik)

Covering the faces temporarily in Ihram as men passed by, was the practice of the wives of the Prophet s.a.w. and Asma’ was amongst those who copied this action of theirs. There were many women with Asma’ who also covered their faces including Fatimah bint Al-Mundhir.

However this does not imply all women covered their faces. If that had been the case Fatimah would not have said, ‘in the company of Asma’ bin Abu Bakr.’ There would have been no need to say this if all women were performing this action for it would have been practiced in every group and company.

Again the name of Asma’ is mentioned, describing how she was a leader amongst the Muttaqun, leading the women in excelling in recommended deeds of worship.

Similarly all other texts which show how some women covered their faces and observed strict seclusion, feed into the group of women who followed its recommendation. This is the proper place to gather such texts. In contrast, the texts in general segregate the Khimaar and Jilbaab of the believing women from the Hijaab of the wives of the Prophet s.a.w. This pattern is widespread and quite profound when reviewing the various narrations.

Instead of uniting all the texts, building the picture by placing everything in its proper place, certain texts have been isolated and presented in a manner which would lead readers into thinking that the face covering was obligatory for all believing women.

Yet the collective evidences do not allow this. You cannot bring forth a few texts at the expense of the Fiqh derived from numerous other texts. Rather the whole picture is understood by reviewing all the texts as one whole.

Hence, it becomes clear that some believing women covered their faces supporting the Fiqh ruling that covering the face is recommended for the believing women. But there is absolutely no ground for making the Hijaab of the wives of the Prophet s.a.w. or the covering of the face obligatory upon all believing women, for this ruling would greatly conflict with the Fiqh derived from the collective evidences.

CONCLUSION (extract only, not full)

Reviewing the Jilbaab of the believing women comes with a call to understand that both the Khimaar and the Jilbaab have to be worn together, when leaving the homes, unless the woman uses a legislated alternative style.

But this behaviour of wearing a Khimaar with tight clothing has to stop, for such criteria does not meet the criteria for the Jilbaab. Instead the believing women have to properly cover, satisfying the requirements of both the Khimaar and Jilbaab.

Together with this clothing Allah swt has instructed us to clothe our eyes as we protect and guard our gaze. If only the women lowered their gaze they would feel a sense of separation as they leave their homes without leaving their modesty, dignity and shyness.

The lowering of the gaze is a powerful statement and an important companion which keeps the woman from looking at the prohibited and mixing with non mahram men. When the believing woman puts on her Khimaar and Jilbaab and steps out of her home whilst lowering her gaze, she takes with her all of her essential coverings, with these coverings reminding her of who she is. The lowering of the gaze also has an effect upon the people for it is an action which speaks a thousand words.

These are some of the considerations which are greatly needed in our time as we strive to be students of knowledge and the best Muslim women we can. Allah swt has not overburdened us nor has He sent the Qur’an to cause us distress.

We can be righteous and law abiding Muslim women by properly observing that which He made obligatory and staying away from that which He forbade. This is part of the compulsory knowledge we seek so that we can correctly worship our Creator with Iman, Taqwa and Birr.

It is He Who Sent Muhammad s.a.w. with pure knowledge and this is what we seek as we filter through the differences of opinion on our journey back to the narrations. Truth will always be one, with the truth found in the collective texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Do click on the links below for the other parts:

Khimaar

Jilbaab

Hijaab

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Okaay, Alhamdulillah, I’ve reached the end of this book. Thank you thank you thank you for all the comments on the other parts of this series of posts, I truly appreciate them.

I went to a wedding today (actually two, but ok, never mind about that ) and I observed something quite disturbing.

Then again, is there anything in most weddings, in whichever culture, that isn’t disturbing? Particularly if it’s a fellow Muslim’s wedding.

Like in most weddings, there’s bound to be music. I can’t do anything can I, so I just tolerate it while I’m there.

What I can’t tolerate would be 2 things:

1) When they start to karaoke

2) When Muslimah wearing the Khimaar start dancing

Astaghfirullahaladzhim…

If the men dance… uhm… well, I won’t say anything about that, but Muslimahs dancing in public is a huge NO-NO.

I worry for them. They may not be aware of the ideal behaviour of a Muslimah, so perhaps that’s why they behave that way… and they may have worn the Khimaar not for the sake of Allah swt, but because culture says so and that they have been tricked into thinking that just because one wears a Khimaar one doesn’t have restrictions.

I don’t wish to criticise fellow Muslims, which is why I’m trying to figure out the possible reasons why they behave that way. It won’t do any good to criticise, it will only cause a divide within our Ummah.

On a sidenote, I like the last part of the conclusion. It’s something I’ve tried doing, the lowering of the gaze. It’s hard to do so in this secularised world where eye contact is regarded as something that you need to have when speaking to anyone.

But I’ve tried not looking at non mahram men for too long. And I’vetried tearing my gaze away from indecent advertisements and couples and people doing weird things.

Believe me, that itself is an incredible jihad. Especially for someone who loves looking around. I have this fascination with trees, I find it hard to lower my gaze whenever I’m outside surrounded by trees. I find trees extremely beautiful and perfect, SubhanAllah. Insya’Allah I’ll explain what I mean by that.

Anyway, I’ve discovered that Alhamdulillah, by lowering my gaze, I’ve learnt not to comment, complain or criticise on everything I see. But it’s a really really hard personal jihad, believe me.

I try not to go “Oooh that guy is so HOT.” I try my darnest to tear my gaze away, breathe in and out and praise Him for creating someone so beautiful physically.

I try not to go “Urgh that dress is so old-fashioned. What is she thinking?” I just tear my gaze away and smile to myself, reminding myself not to judge someone by what they wear.

I’ve also restrained myself from commenting on food.  Why?

Narrated Abu Huraira, The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never expressed disapproval of food; if he desired it he ate it and if he disliked it he left it alone.
(Bukhari, Muslim).
(Sayings of Muhammad. by Prof. Ghazi Ahmad)

So no matter how sweet or sour or bitter or bland the food or drink is, I won’t comment on it. And if I can’t really tolerate it, I’ll just put it aside. It’s quite rude to criticise it anyway, cuz the host is serving you what he or she thinks is nice. And it’s just food. No need to kick up a fuss about it

Ok, I think that’s enough for tonight

Fi Amanillah!