Hijaab: definition and conditions:

Hijaab is an Arabic word that describes the Muslim woman's entire
dress code, which includes a veil and whatever else is needed to cover
everything except the face and hands. It is adopted at puberty - an
age when, according to Islam, people become accountable for their
actions.
This essay will attempt to brieflyenumerate the basic requirements
regarding the Hijaab as stipulated by the Sharee'ah (Islamic Law). The
term Hijaab includes not only dress and the covering of the body, but
also the methods of behaviour that one has before members of the same
and/or opposite sex, promoting privacy for females and prohibiting
loose intermingling between males and females; it is, therefore, an
encouragement of modesty, decency, and chastity.
The following requirements represent the ones agreed uponby the
overwhelming majority ofIslamic scholars and are all solidly backed by
firm evidence taken from the Quran, the Sunnah (Prophetic traditions)
and the practice of the Companions of the Prophet .
1. The Extent of Covering
The dress worn in public must cover the entire body except what has
been specifically excluded, based upon the following verse:
Allaah Says (what means): "And tell the believing women to reduce
[some] of their vision andguard their private parts and not display
their adornment [Zeenah] except only that which [ordinarily] appears
thereof and to draw their headcovers [Khumur] over their chests and
not display their adornment [i.e.,beauty] except to their husbands,
their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands'
sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their
female slaves, their women [i.e., their sisters in Islam], or those
male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet
aware of the private aspectsof women. And let them not stamp their
feet to make knownwhat they conceal of their adornment. And turn to
Allaah inrepentance, all of you, O Believers, in order that you might
succeed." [Quran 24:31]
The word Zeenah in the above verse literally means adornment, and includes both:
(a) That which Allaah has adorned (i.e., the woman's natural and/or
physical beauty), and,
(b) That with which they adorn themselves (i.e., jewellery, eye
shadow, attractive clothing, hand dye, etc). The word 'Khumur' (pl. of
'Khimaar') refersto a cloth that covers the head (including the ears),
hair, neck and bosom.
2. Thickness
The garment should be thick andopaque so as not to display the skin
colour and form of the body beneath it. Delicate or transparent
clothing does not constitute a proper covering. Imaam Al-Qurtubi
reported anarration from 'Aa'ishah that some women from the tribe of
Banu Tameem came to see her wearing transparent clothing. 'Aa'ishah
said to them: "If you are believing women, these are not the clothes
of believing women." He also reported that on another occasion, a
bride came to see her wearing a sheer, transparent Khimaar, whereupon
'Aa'ishah remarked: "A woman who wears such clothing does not believe
in Soorah An-Noor (i.e., the chapter in the Quran that contains the
abovementioned verse regarding the Hijaab)." Moreover, the following
Hadeeth makes this point graphically clear. Prophet Muhammad said:
"There will be among the last of my Ummah(Nation), scantily dressed
women; they will wear their hairon top of their heads, like a camel's
hump. Curse them - for verily they are cursed."
3. Looseness
The clothing must hang loosely and not be so tight and fitting asto
show the shape and size of the woman's body. This obviously prohibits
such things as skin-tight body suits and the like. The following
Hadeeth proves this point clearly. Usaamah bin Zayd said: The Prophet
once gave me a gift of thick Coptic cloth that he had received as a
gift from Dahiyyah Al-Kalbee, so I gave it to my wife. Afterwards, he
asked me: "Why haven't you worn the Coptic cloth? I replied: 'I gave
it to my wife.' The Prophet then said: "Tell her to wear a thick gown
under it (i.e., the Coptic garment) for I fear that it may describe
the size of her limbs." [Narrated by Ahmad, Al Bayhaqi & Al-Haakim]
4. Colour, Appearance and Demeanour....

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For Afghanistan's women, Islam is the answer

After 20 years of ceaseless war and famine, the women of Afghanistan
must heal themselves, and ultimately their nation, by rediscovering
their identityas empowered, dignified Muslim women.
To many, such an assertion seems like an exact reversal of the truth.
After so much suffering, some think, the last thing these women need
is more of what apparently caused it. However, a brief look at history
and women's rightsthrough a correct understanding of Islam paints
quite a different picture.
It was Islam, in the 7th century, that established women's spiritual
and intellectual equality with men. Muslim women were granted the
right to vote, own property, inherit, receive a higher education and
even run a business in which men were subordinates.
These teachings were immediately put into practice, where 1,400
yearsago women played an active political role, not only voting for
their leader,but also advising him. The Prophet Mohammed's
wife,Khadijah, was one of the most successful businesswomen in Mecca,
employing many men, including at one point the Prophet himself. Aisha,
whom the Prophet marriedsome years after the death of Khadijah, became
a scholar of Islam. A man of the time described her by saying, "I have
not seen a greater scholar than Aisha in the learning of the Koran,
shares of inheritance, lawful and unlawful matters, poetry,
literature, Arab history and genealogy." It was not surprising, then,
when the world's first institution of higher education -- Al-Azhar
Islamic University, founded in Cairo in 969 A.D.-- was named after a
woman, Fatima al-Zahraa.
In fact, Islam gave women rights centuries ago not enjoyed by them in
our country today. For example, a Muslim woman is a totally separate
entity from her husband, not onlykeeping her family name as well as
all property she owned before marriage, but also maintaining total
ownership of any money or property she acquires after marriage. In
contrast, the general law in most states considers any wealtha woman
obtains during marriage as jointly owned by her and her husband.
Since Afghanis are predominantly Muslim, onewould expect their customs
to already reflect Islam's reverence of women. However, 20 yearsof war
has created a culture of force, where the physically weaker sex is
abused and seen as inferior, and where Islamic teachings are
superseded by tribal traditions.
The suppression of women's rights in Muslim countries is, of course,
not unique to Afghanistan, and neither are the reasons for it. Women's
oppression in many parts of the Muslim world is actually just one
symptom of a widespread decay of Islamic ideals and the subsequent
regression to pre-Islamic tribal culture.
This spiritual cancer has also resulted in the rise of corrupt
tyrannical rulers, the proliferation of usury inMuslim economies, the
growing gap between rich and poor and the emergence of nationalism.
Due to this misrepresentation of Islam,some have dismissed it as a
solution to the problems of women in Afghanistan. Instead, they argue
that this country is a hundred years overdue for a healthyhelping of
Western feminism. Many are under the impression that women's
liberation was a 20th-century Western development, and that gains in
women's status in other parts of the world are primarily as a result
of Western influence.
Certainly no one can deny the progress Western women have made since
the days of the English Common Law, which regarded a woman as the
legal property of her husband, barring her from owning property,
entering into contracts or even keeping her name. After centuries of
struggle, American women gained the right to vote in 1920 and British
married womengained the right to own property in 1935. Laws for equal
access to education and the workplace followed.
This relatively recent change in laws makes it quite clear that far
from being the pioneer of women's liberation, the West was actually a
thousand-years-late newcomer to this Islamic movement. What's more,
when laws in the West were finally corrected to give women their
equality, society was late to follow. It took generations to
alterpeople's beliefs about the status of women and affecttrue social
change.

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Do Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have different Origins?

No. The original, unchanged revelations given to Abrahamic and other
prophets reaching back to Adam all came from the One True God. This
common origin explains their similarities inmany beliefs and values.
Abraham is mentioned in the Qur'an as one of the great Prophets and
was honored with the title,"Friend of God." Abraham and his eldest
son, Ishmael,were commanded by God to build a place of worship,the
Ka'bah, in what is today the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
The Ka'bah is a simple stone construction erected as a sanctuary for
the worship of the One God. The Qur'an states that God commanded
Abraham to summon all humankind to visit this place, and when pilgrims
go there today they say "At your service, OLord," in response to
Abraham's call. The Ka'bah is the central place of worship toward
which all Muslims face in prayer to God, Almighty.

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One of the finest of blessings is 'giving thanks to Allah'

People spend their entire lives in need of Allah. Fromthe air they
breathe to thefood they eat, from being able to use their hands and
feet to being able to speak, from finding shelterto laughter and
happiness,they need Allah's creationsand the things He bestowson them.
However, some people fail to realize their weakness and need of Allah.
They think that everything happens spontaneously, or that they acquire
the things they possess through theirown efforts and endeavors. This
is both a grave error and also terrible ingratitude toward Allah.
These people, who are ignorant even of how to thank someone who gives
them a small gift, spend their whole lives blind to the countless
blessings that Allah bestows on them. But the fact is that the
blessings bestowed by Allah are more numerous than can ever be
counted. Allah reveals this in a verse in the Qur'an:
If you tried to number Allah's blessings, you could never count them.
Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nahl, 18)
Being Numbered amongThose Who Give Thanks to Allah Is a Characteristic
of Believers
Various blessings that people must give thanks to Allah for are
revealed inthe Qur'an, and they are reminded to give thanks time and
time again. These blessings include the way human beings arecreated
with a regular form, their being endowedwith the senses of sight and
hearing, Allah's teaching the True Religion to them, His revelation of
verses, His purification andcleansing of believers, His forgiving
their sins when they repent, His making worship easy, His
grantingvictory over unbelievers, believers being rescued from the
oppression of theunbelievers, His settling human beings on Earth and
giving them the means by which to live, the creation of water to
drink, the products of the soil, animals being placed at human beings'
service and disposal, the fruits of the sea, adornments, the ships on
the seas and the creation of night an
d day. As revealed in verse 18 of Surat al-Nahl, " If you tried to
number Allah's blessings, you could never count them. Allah is
Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful," it is impossible to count even the
different classes of Allah's blessings, let alone those blessings one
by one.
Giving thanks for a blessing means expressingone's happiness and
gratitude and appreciatingthe value of the blessing bestowed.
Giving thanks to Allah, on the other hand, is the expression of that
gratitude in one's heart and words, knowing that all blessings belong
to Himand that all things come from Him alone. The opposite of giving
thanks, however, is expressed in the Qur'an by the term "kufr,"
meaning ingratitude. This definitionalone is enough to show what an
important observance giving thanks is in the Sight of Allah and the
terrible situation that ignoring that obligation puts a person in.
Giving thanks to Allah is revealed as an important religious
obligation in many verses of the Qur'an.The importance of giving
thanks to Allah is mentioned in some 70 verses, and examples of people
who do and do notgive thanks are cited, and their respective ends are
described. Giving thanks toAllah is a proof that indicates one's faith
in Allah and the Oneness Of Allah. In one verse, "gratitude to Allah"
is described as one of the preconditions for "worshiping Him alone":
You who believe! Eat of the good things We have provided for you and
give thanks to Allah if you worship Him alone. (Surat al-Baqara, 172)
In other verses of the Qur'an, giving thanks to Allah is mentioned
alongside serving Allah, as the opposite of ascribing equals to Him:
It has been revealed to you and those before you: 'If you associate
others with Allah, your actions will come to nothing and you will be
among the losers.'
No! Worship Allah and be among the thankful. (Surat az-Zumar, 65-66)
Believers give thanks to Allah by reflecting on theirweakness and need
for all their blessings. Wealth and property are not the only
blessings believers give thanks to Allah for. Believers, who know that
Allah is the Lord and Ruler of all things, also give thanks for their
health, beauty, knowledge, intelligence, love of faith, the way they
regard idolatry as unpleasing, their being on the true path, their
living with other immaculate believers, and for their understanding,
comprehension and foresight. They immediately give thanks to Allah for
an attractive view or when their work comes easy, when something they
desire happens, when they hear a kind word, when they see love and
respect and for many other innumerable blessings, and they reflect on
His mercy and compassion, and on how He is the Rahman and Rahim (the
All-Merciful and Most Merciful).

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