Maryam Sundara. Hijabi Fakhri.

Hijab of Ihsn


In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Merciful When Ibrahim, the two-year old son of the Blessed Prophet peace be upon him - died of illness and was buried in Medina, the earth had been humped over the grave. The Blessed Prophet ordered his companions to sprinkle some water over the grave and to make the ground even. After a while, when the Prophet looked back, he noticed that some unevenness had been left in the earth. So, he said to his companions: When a Muslim does anything, let him do it to perfection. [Ibn Ishaq 1:88] In another hadith, the Blessed Prophet said: Allah has prescribed perfection (ihsn) in all things.

[Nawawi 17] The word ihsn has a cluster of meanings: perfection, excellence, sincerity and correctness. Thus, whatever we do in life, Allah wants us to do it with ihsn: to do it perfectly, excellently, beautifully, sincerely and correctly. If we pray, we must pray sincerely. If we study, we must do so to perfection. If we cook, we must cook tastefully. There is an Arabic proverb that goes: If steal you must, steal the precious jewel. This means that even when a thief wants to commit a vile and unlawful (harm) action such as stealing, he does it to perfection to make it worth the crime. Now, if we are doing something lawful (such as studying or working) is it not even more appropriate to do it perfectly? If we are performing a religious duty (like prayer, fasting, reading the Quran, wearing the hijab) how much more is it necessary to do it to perfection? Since the subject of this writing is the hijb, I think every sister must ask herself the following question: Am I wearing my hijab with ihsn? As I mentioned earlier, the concept of ihsn has at least three dimensions: Sincerity
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 Correctness Perfection If we are doing something sincerely, perfectly and correctly, we are doing it with ihsn. So let us break the question above into three:

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Am I Wearing The Hijab Sincerely?

Before we ask ourselves How am I wearing the hijab? we should ask ourselves Why am I wearing the hijab? Am I wearing the hijab because I believe in the Quran and my Lord has commanded me to conceal my beauty? Or am I wearing the hijb to impress my parents and my relatives? Am I wearing the hijab to look pious and religious? Am I wearing the hijab because every other woman in the society wears the hijab and I do not want to stand out? In Islam, intention (niyyah) is so important that the Blessed Prophet said: Actions are [judged by] intentions (Nawawi 1)

Two people may do the exact same thing with different intentions. Ultimately, only Allah can judge the intentions of people; what humans can see is that inconsistency is a sign of hypocrisy. If a sisters hijab in Yemen or Jordan is much different from the way she dresses in a Western country, this indicates that something is wrong with her intention. Of course, if a sister is wearing the hijab simply because her parents, her spouse or her society want her to, she will still benefit from the outward advantages of hijb; but on the Day of Judgement, Allah will not count her hijab as an act of worship. On that day, her hijab will be of no avail. I hope sisters will not misunderstand or misquote my words. I am saying we should raise our intentions to the level of our outward acts; not that we must lower the level of our outward hijab to make it match with our intentions. I think none of us can claim to have a completely pure intention: but if the intention is unwell, why ruin the outward act? Let us cure the intention.

2- Am I Wearing The Hijab Correctly?

Before we ask this question, we need to know that there is such a thing as correct hijab. Islam is a religion that does possess a divine law (shariah). Christianity either does not have a shariah or its shariah is forgotten and deliberately neglected. That is why almost all Christians praise modesty as a virtue; yet if you ask them What are the Christian standards for modesty in dress? they usually leave it either to the conscience of the individual or to the transient norms of the society. When people deny that there is an objective norm of morality and modesty, it is very easy to fall into the pitfalls of immorality and immodesty: The way modest Christian ladies dress today is very different compared to the way modest Christian ladies dressed a hundred years ago. God knows, maybe in a few years, Christians will consider the bikini to be modest enough for ladies to wear! In Islam, the standards of modesty are dependent neither on the whims of the individual nor on the transient norms of a particular society at a particular time. There is a revealed law (shariah) which distinguishes moral from immoral and modest from immodest. Of course, even within the shariah, there is room for individual or cultural differences: a
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modest Malay Muslimah does not dress exactly the same as a modest Jordanian Muslim woman. A modest city-dweller does not dress like a modest villager or a modest nomad. The injunctions of the Sharih, however, apply to all people: regardless of where and when we live. If our hijab conforms to the standards of the sharih, then our hijab is correct. If our hijab is not in accordance with the standards of the shariah, then our hijab is not correct.

Khimr and Jilbb First of all, the Islamic modest dress for women has two necessary components: one is called the khimr (which is discussed in Verse 31 Surah 24 of the Holy Quran) and the other is called jilbb (which is discussed in Verse 55, Surah 55). The khimr is a headcovering that covers the hair, ears, neck and the chest of a Muslim woman. Jilbb is a loose outer-garment that is worn over normal clothes. The ideal Quranic jilbb is a one-piece cloak-like
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garment that starts from over the head (where the khimr is already worn) and comes down to the feet. In Islam, a woman must wear both the khimr and the jilbb in order for her hijb to be correct: thus, wearing a headscarf is necessary but not sufficient. When we say that the jilbb is required, it does not mean that all Muslim women must dress alike. Many Islamic cultures have their own versions of the jilbb or outer-garments that are nevertheless very close to the jilbb: such as the abya in many Arabic countries, the chador which is worn in Persia, the haik which is worn in Algeria, the djellaba which is worn in Morocco, or even the Baju Kurung which is worn in Malaya. However: T-shirts, tops, jeans, pants and the like are not considered to be jilbb at all. If you are wearing these clothes, you must wear a jilbb over them to conceal the shape of the body. So what are the Islamic standards for modesty in dress? Note that the following standards apply to both the khimr and the jilbb.

Conditions of the Islamic Modest Dress 2-1) Covering the awrah:

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Awrah means the parts of the body that must be concealed. Covering the awrah is obligatory. Exposing the awrah is sinful. According to three of the four schools of law in Sunni Islam1, a womans awrah in front of non-mahram men is her entire body except the face and the palms of her hands. This opinion is based on a hadith from the Blessed Prophet, upon him be peace. To Asm, the daughter of Abu Bakr, he said: O Asm! When a maiden reaches the menstrual age, nothing must be visible of her except this and this. And he pointed to the face and hands. [Abu Dawud] So, if anything shows other than the face and hands, it is certainly unlawful; even according to the most lenient scholarly position. 2-2) L yasef L yashef The purpose of wearing clothes is to cover the body: If our clothes are tight-fitting and cling to the body, they describe the body rather than concealing it. Likewise, clothes that made of thin and transparent material do not cover the body. In Arabic, it is said that an Islamic modest dress l yasef l yashef; meaning that an Islamic modest dress is neither descriptive of what is underneath (on account of its tightness),
According to the second scholarly opinion, which is the dominant opinion in the Hanbali School, sisters must also cover the face and the hands in addition to the rest of the body.
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nor is it transparent: a very concise sentence in Arabic but not so concise in English! 2-3) It should not be worn with the intention of attention-seeking In the culture of the modern West, the main purpose of wearing clothes is to express ones individuality, to inflate ones ego and to show to the world that I am different from the others. In Islam, we wear clothes not to expose ourselves but to cover ourselves. We must dress as slaves and handmaids of Allah; our dignity is beyond acting as an advertising billboard for various companies and brands. Likewise, we must not be wearing something that attracts mens gazes. Even though the principle is static, its applications can change depending on the environment we are living in: for example, in the Sharih, there is nothing wrong with wearing a yellow abya per se. But if I wear a yellow abya in Saudi Arabia, where the majority if not all of the women wear black, I will stand out and everyone will start gazing at me. So, I must not wear a yellow abya in Saudi Arabia. Generally, it is said that black is the best colour for a woman to wear outside of her home. It is the colour of the night: the colour of concealment. That is why when the verse on jilbb was revealed, the female companions went out of
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their houses, as if they had crows on their heads. Crows are not usually yellow, are they? 2-4) It should not resemble mens clothing In the modern West, we observe that men are gradually becoming more feminine and women are becoming more masculine: the result is that the West is moving towards a neuter society in which the differences between the sexes are blunted. Islam is not based on the equality and homogeneity of the sexes. Islam is based on the complementarity of the sexes. Men are men. Women are women. Men must be proud of being men. Women must be proud of being women. Men must not wear what belongs to women. Women must not wear what belongs to men. 2-5) It should not resemble the clothing of non-Muslims Even as we are proud of our gender, we also take joy in our religion. So, we are told to dress in a way which makes us distinct as Muslims. As a matter of fact, this principle pertains equally to women and men. Unfortunately, in our age, many Muslims, especially men, have adopted Western clothes that are neither Islamic in origin nor have they been designed for Islamic rituals. When someone sees us in the street, he or
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she must able to know that we are Muslims: there must be a difference between how we dress and how non-Muslims dress. The Islamic modest dress must also meet a few other requirements, but these are the most important ones. I could have explained each requirement with the related ahdith, but that would make this article too long. In brief, a correct hijab is that which conforms to the aforementioned conditions and principles: this is correctness, the second dimension of ihsn.

3- Am I Wearing The Hijab Perfectly?

From the three dimensions of ihsn, we have so far covered the first two: sincerity and correctness. Perfection, as the third dimension of ihsn, must be distinguished from correctness. Correctness is to pass the exams. Perfectness is to pass the exams with high distinction grades. In order for our hijab to be perfect, it must be correct first. Every perfect hijab is correct but not every correct hijab is perfect. Once we are able to exert ourselves beyond the minimum shari requirement, we can start wearing our hijab perfectly. So what does a perfect hijab look like?
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3-1) A perfect hijab covers the entire body A perfect hijab includes a true Quranic jilbb which starts from over the head and comes down to the feet. A perfect hijab also covers the entire body including the face and the hands. Even if a sister does not consider the face to be awrah, she has good reasons for covering the face: (*) It is an undisputed fact that the wives of the Prophet - peace be upon him-, many of the female companions, and a majority of virtuous Muslim women throughout centuries covered their faces in public. There is no greater aspiration for a woman than to emulate the Mothers of the Believers and the saintly women of the first generations of Islam. (*) Covering the face is either obligatory (wjib) or highly recommended (mustahabb); in either case, it is a way for sisters to draw closer to Allah. (*) A womans face is one of the most attractive parts of her body. It is the focal point of beauty. When a sister goes out with her face uncovered, men may look at her and she has no way to know whether or not the gazes directed at her are lustful. The only way to make sure is to cover also her face and leave nothing visible for men to look at. A sister who covers her hair but not the face is like a person who locks the door
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of the house but leaves the windows open. The more secure a house is, the less likely thieves will intrude; the more concealed a woman, the less likely lustful men will approach her.

3-2) A perfect hijab is accompanied with modest behaviour Hijab does not only mean modest dress: it means modesty in thoughts, words and deeds. The true hijab is not only a barrier between men and women: it is also a barrier between our eyes and lust, between our ears and falsehood, between our tongues and slander, between our hearts and envy. We should all put a barrier between ourselves and our carnal desires, so that Allah removes the barrier between Himself and Us. Insh Allah. [Hijabi Fakhri, 9.11.2013]

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