Hijaab, - War on Hijaab

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Islam came to perfect noble morals and call for avoiding everything that stirs human urges and desires for the sake of reforming humanity and raising it above bestiality and disorder to attain higher levels of chastity and purity. The Prophet,sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said:“Indeed, I was sent to perfect noble morals.”
Sexual desires and natural urges are a basic part of the human make-up. Hence, Islam is keen on controlling and directing such desires and urges in the right way. It has ordained marriage as the only channel for satisfying one's urges and sexual desires and making a family, which is the basic nucleus of the Muslim society.
The soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil. Hence, Islam prohibits everything that leads to arousing man's urges or stirring his sexual desires. Moreover, Allaah The Almighty commands Muslims to lower their gaze and commands Muslim women to wearHijaabwhereby they guard themselves. He also prohibited them from impermissible exposure of their beauty and from intermixing with non-Mahram)i.e., marriageable( men. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}And tell the believing women to reduce ]some of[ their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which ]necessarily[ appears thereof and to wrap ]a portion of[ their head-covers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allaah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.{]Quran 24:31[
The order to wearHijaabhas great significance in Islam, hence, Allaah The Almighty commanded the Prophet,sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, to order his wives and daughters to adhere toHijaabbefore ordering the women of the believers. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves ]part[ of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allaah Forgiving and Merciful.{]Quran 33:59[ If the command to wearHijaabbegan with the wives of the Prophet,sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, who are chaste, honorable and pure, then what about the rest of the believing women, particularly in this age where temptations are widespread and Islam has become alienated?
Hence, Allaah The Almighty threatens to punish the women who do not adhere toHijaaband who expose their beauty to non-Mahrammen with a painful punishment on the Day of Resurrection. Describing the dwellers of Hell, the Prophet,sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said:“There are two types of people who will be punished in Hell and whom I have not seen: men having whips like the tails of cows and they will be beating people with them, and women who will be dressed but appear to be naked, swaying in their walk and attracting hearts of men. Their heads will appear like the humps of the camels that are inclined to one side. They will not enter Paradise, nor will they smell its fragrance which can be smelt from such-and-such a distance ]indicating that it is a very large distance[.”
Non-adherence toHijaabsignifies the woman's exposure of her adornment to non-Mahrammen.It is impermissible in Islam for women to display their beauty to non-Mahrammen so as to spare those men and the entire society the unfavorable temptations that are caused by such exposure. Muslim women are required to adhere to the Islamic dress code known in Arabic asHijaab; an Arabic word whose roots mean concealment and hiding.
Man's innate disposition implies chastity and purity. Hence, when the accursed Satan tempted Aadam )Adam(, may Allaah exalt his mention, and Hawwaa' )Eve(, may Allaah be pleased with her, to eat from the prohibited tree and achieved what he wanted, their clothes fell down revealing their private parts. They started picking the leaves from the tree to conceal themselves. This spontaneous and natural reaction that they showed without being commanded by anyone shows that chastity, purity and concealing ‘Awrah)private parts of the body( are part of man’s innate disposition. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}So he made them fall, through deception. And when they tasted of the tree, their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten together over themselves from the leaves ofParadise. And their Lord called to them: ‘Did I not forbid you from that tree and tell you that Satan is to you a clear enemy?’{]Quran 7:22[
Before Islam, women in the pre-Islamic era would expose their beauty to men, wear see-through clothes, walk in the markets and offer themselves to men. Thus, the command of Allaah The Almighty came for Muslim women to wearHijaab. Allaah The Almighty Says )what means(:}And abide in your houses and do not display yourselves as ]was[ the display of the former times of ignorance. And establish prayer and give Zakaah ]obligatory charity[ and obey Allaah and His Messenger. Allaah intends only to remove from you the impurity ]of sin[, O people of the ]Prophet's[ household, and to purify you with ]extensive[ purification.{]Quran 33:33[
In the modern age, women have mastered the art of innovating new styles of impermissible exposure of their beauty and western factories have started supplying Muslim countries with transparent and tight clothes that reveal the body more than they cover it and thereby increase the women's charms. These factories have invaded the Muslim markets with wide varieties of powders, make-up and perfumes that arouse sexual desires and many types of shoes that make women sway while they walk and behave in a flirtatious manner.
When signs of the Islamic awakening began to appear in several countries andHijaabbecame widespread in Muslim lands and even among Muslim women in Western countries, the West flew into a rage and some of those who support and advocate immorality in Muslim lands adopted the same attitude. They waged a fierce war onHijaaband accused it of covering the woman’s mind and of being part of Islam's oppression of women. They used indecent words to describe the women who wearHijaaband accused them of backwardness and surrendering to the authority of man, along with other accusations.
This campaign has taken various forms. Some say thatHijaabisolates the woman from other categories of society and deprives her of her role. Others call for emancipation of woman along with other unfounded and refutable claims. Those whose main concern is to liberate the woman from her values and self-respect have forgotten that Islam ordainedHijaabonly to protect the Muslim woman, honor her, exalt her status and appreciate her role in society.
The woman who wearsHijaabis protected from the assaults of human predators and from those who only want her to be a source of enjoyment and a means of sexual fulfillment.
When such people feel that their argument is groundless and cannot stand by itself because of its weakness and lack of objectivity, we find them resorting to the opinions of Muslims who have been totally influenced by Western culture and who pretend to be principled like Marxists and those who are self-interested and behave as if they are Muslim scholars. Such people twist the facts, draw evidence in irrelevant places and explain Islamic rulings according to their whims, thinking that the MuslimUmmah)nation( will be deceived. They do not know that the honest scholars of thisUmmahare lying in wait for them so they can refute their false evidence and claims.
When they are certain thatHijaabhas become a public demand and is spreading among Muslim women, they find no way but to wage war against it. During the past years, several Western countries have launched a harsh campaign againstHijaabin schools and governmental offices. This campaign became especially severe inFrancewhere educational authorities expelled several Muslim girls because they insisted on wearing theHijaab. The French government's desire to ban theHijaabbecame clear when the French prime minister declared that it is time to exterminateHijaabfrom the French community and that there is no room for any girl who wearsHijaabin French schools. The president of France, Jacques Chirac, confirmed this, adding thatHijaabconstitutes a cultural problem that threatens the secularist French community and must be, therefore, harshly and seriously resisted.
This vicious campaign extends to include theUnited Stateswhere courts passed a judgment that supports expelling several female students who wearHijaab. In theUS, women who wearHijaabare subjected to attacks because ofHijaab, which seems to stir sensitivities among some of the fanatics in theUScommunity.
In theNetherlands, this campaign against ‘terrorism’ is far more feverish. The papers affiliated to the extreme right-wing have launched a non-stop fierce campaign againstHijaab. These papers praised the attitude of a school headmaster who refused to allow a female student wearingHijaabto enter the school under the pretext that he believes in full equality between men and women and that theHijaabof the Muslim woman is simply a symbol of the oppression from which she is suffering.
On the other hand, we find bright examples in some European countries that recognizedHijaabas part of the personal privacy and freedom of Muslim women. The German Supreme Court ruled that it is the right of the Muslim women to wearHijaaband prevented the relevant authorities from infringing upon that right and guaranteed that Muslim women would fully enjoy it.
Also,Denmarkhas acknowledged this right for Muslim women. A Danish court ruled that a male and female teacher should be dismissed because they expelled a Somali girl from school because she insisted on wearingHijaab. The court stated that wearingHijaabdoes not contradict the applied rules.
Unfortunately, some officials in Arab and Muslim countries followed that unfair campaign blindly and joined the vicious attack onHijaab. They even raised its standard and openly declared its ban on girls in schools and expelled those who insisted on wearingHijaabas a fundamental part of their religious identity and public personality.
InEgypt, for instance, women who wearHijaabface several forms of harassment. A female television presenter was prevented from appearing on a satellite channel because she wearsHijaab, on the pretext of stirring up sensitivities. Also, another woman who wearsHijaaband works as an assistant pilot in an aviation company was dismissed because she refused to stop wearingHijaab, which did not affect her efficiency at work.
SchoolinAlexandria, which is affiliated with the French Embassy, expelled a Muslim girl because she wearsHijaab. This provoked Egyptian public opinion against theschool administration. The Grand Imaam of Al-'Azhar, Muhammad Sayyid Tantaawi, intervened and attacked the school administration. He called it to adhere to the prevalent Islamic traditions inEgypt. A private school also expelled a female teacher who wearsHijaaband threatened to dismiss her unless she removed it. There are many more examples in this regard.
InTunisia, the administration of Al-Qanaal secondary institute prevented 38 girls from attending exams because they wearHijaab. Also, the administration of Al-Munthir ibn ‘Ammaar institute refused to allow Muslim girls to attend the exams because of theirHijaab. Even though some of them were forced to remove theirHijaabin order to take the exams, the director of the institute insisted that they should first go to the police office and sign a commitment that they would not wear it again in the future.
Tunisian educational authorities issued a statement on 1981 which deemedHijaaba sectarian symbol that they must resist and prevent in secondary schools and universities. This increased the amount of discrimination against women who wearHijaabin universities; even after graduation, they face great difficulties in obtaining government jobs.
The question is: Why did all these people unite to combatHijaab? What is the reason behind this vicious campaign that was launched at this particular time? Is the reason behind this the phobia ofHijaabor fear of anything that represents Islam? Is it a disease and psychological remains that were formed within ill-natured people and found no chance to come out in this way except after the attacks of September 11, and the international developments and the so-called war on terrorism that followed?
However, people who have assured hearts that are filled with faith are certain that the storm will blow over and that the clouds of doubts will soon clear up. They are sure that Allaah The Almighty will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.

- PUBLISHERNajimudeeN M