Hijab: Intentions & Perceptions

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

‘Why does it matter whether we wear the hijab? These are outward acts. Allah looks into our hearts.’ This is what some of our sisters say. They often mention the words of the Messenger of Allah – upon him be peace – :

Allah does not look at your outward appearances and not at the forms of your actions; but verily He looks into your hearts (Muslim 2564)

He – peace be upon him – said in another hadith:

Actions are judged by intentions. (Nawawi 1)

Therefore, what these sisters say is true. There is nothing more important than our intentions. If an action is not accompanied with pure intention, the action will not accompany us when we leave this world. Outward action, even though not sufficient, is necessary. We live in this world and we cannot do without action.

The prayer (Salât), the fasting of Ramadan (Sawm), the paying of the poor-due (Zakât), the pilgrimage to the Holy House (Hajj) and the recitation of the Book of Allah (talâwat-al-kitâb) are all forms of worship. They are all external acts that involve the body. However, their effect is the purification of the heart. As Al-Ghazzâli writes in his Ihyâ:

‘Intention (niyyah) is to action (‘amal) what the soul is to the body. A body that has no soul is a corpse. And a soul that has no body cannot manifest itself in this world.

Therefore, this is something we should think about: Why are we wearing the hijab or the niqab or any other form of Islamic modest dress? What is our intention? If I wear the hijab because other women in my family or society wear the hijab, – and for no other reason –, I will enjoy only the social and outward benefits of hijab. If I wear the hijab for Allah, I will receive my reward also from Allah.

Everything that a Muslim man or woman does: he or she should do it sincerely for Allah. The hijab is no exception. If we wear the hijab for Allah, the hijab itself becomes a form of worship: a devotional act which aims at the purification of our hearts.

Secondly, what do we consider the hijab to be? Do we look at it as a burden or as something imposed on us by men or by the patriarchal society? Or do we think of it as a way of spiritual development and as a blessing from Allah? The women of the earlier generations did not consider the hijab to be a burden. Let us consider Umm Salamah – May Allah be pleased with her -:

Umm Salamah asked her husband, the Messenger of Allah^pbuh: ‘How should we trail the hem of our garments?’  He said: Trail it by a hand span. She said: ‘But the feet may become uncovered!’ He said: ‘Then trail it a forearm’s length; and do not exceed that.’ (Abu Dawūd 4105)

Many of the jurisprudents infer from this hadith that a woman must also cover her feet. I am not going to delve into fiqhi issues here. There is a subtle point in this hadith: Umm Salamah convinced the Prophet – peace upon him – that a ‘hand span’ is not enough; and the Prophet – peace be upon him – had to change his opinion. Why did the Messenger of Allah – peace be upon him – feel it was necessary to say: ‘but do not exceed that’? Was this not because Umm Salamah and the other wives of the Prophet^pbuh were so eager to cover themselves?

Another example, this time from the female companions:

Thabit Bin Qays narrated: A woman called Umm Khallad came to the Prophet – peace be upon him – and she was veiled. She was searching for her martyred son.One of the companions of the Prophet – peace be upon him- said to her: ‘You have come here asking for your son while veiling your face?’

She said: “Now that I have lost my son, I will not lose my modesty.” (Abu Dawȗd, 2482)

Was Umm Khallad covering her face because she was forced by a man? No! Her husband, ‘Amr ibn Al-Jamuh, had been killed in the battle of Uhud. Now, her only son Khallâd was also killed by the People of the Book! Did the companions force her to wear the niqab? No, as the hadith also indicates. She was wearing it to preserve her modesty which was as dear to her as her own son.

We can also see this attitude towards hijab in the women of the Tabi’een. Hafsah bint Sireen, for example, covered her face with her jilbâb even when she was an elderly woman and the hijab was not obligatory upon her.[1]

Furthermore, the hijab does not symbolise a woman’s subservience to men. It symbolises a woman’s subservience to her Creator. The proof is that a woman must wear the hijab regardless of what her husband says. If a husband tells his wife to remove her hijab, she has every right to disobey her husband. In Islam, it is unlawful to obey a created being in what opposes Allah’s laws and the laws of feminine honour and decency. In the Bible, we also read that Queen Vashti disobeyed her husband to preserve her dignity and self-respect. If Vashti were a virtuous Muslim woman, she would do the same:  she would prefer her modesty to her royal crown.

Again, some Westerns have written that the hijab is a reflection of the idea that women are the property of men. Firstly, the idea that a woman is the property of her husband is a Western idea. We can find this in Shakespeare’s plays. Petruchio says, referring to his wife:

She is my goods, my chattels;
she is my house, my household stuff.

The Shari’ah makes it clear: men should not treat women as their property. Marriage is a contract between two people. The husband has certain rights and responsibilities. The wife has certain rights and responsibilities. A woman does not belong to her husband in the way that a house belongs to a man. Man and woman belong to one another, in the same way that body and soul belong to each other. The body veils the soul and the soul animates the body. This is how the Qurán describes the relationship between husband and wife:

They (your wives) are your garments and ye are their garments. (2:187)

The commentators mention that our garment is the closest thing to us, after our body. Likewise, our spouse must be the one closest to us after Allah and ourselves. And Allah knows best!

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[1] Narrated ‘Aasim al-Ahwal: We went to Hafsah bint Sirīn and she had put on her jilbāb and covered her face with it. We said to her: May Allah have mercy on you! Does not Allah say: “And as for women past childbearing who do not expect wedlock, it is no sin on them if they discard their outer clothing in such a way as not to show their adornment” [24:60] She said: Yes. And what comes after that? We replied: “But to modestly refrain from that is better for them.” She said: “It means to keep the jilbâb.’ (Bayhaqi 7/93)

Why don’t men wear the hijab?

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

‘Why don’t men wear the hijab? Why is it that men are not required to cover themselves as extensively as women have to in Islam? Women have to cover from head to foot; men have to cover only from the navel to the knee. Why does this disparity exist? What is the difference between a man’s hair and a woman’s hair? Why do only women have to cover their hair? Why don’t men cover their hair and their faces?’ These are some of the questions that modern Westerners ask and sometimes Muslims do not know how to answer.

Interestingly, Christians never asked Muslims such questions a few hundred years ago. In the Middle Ages, Christian authors such as John Damascene wrote extensively against Islam. They criticized every aspect of Islam that they could think of; but they never criticized Muslim women for covering their hair. How could they criticize Muslim women for covering their hair, when the Virgin Mary – peace be upon her – was always depicted with her hair covered? How could they criticize Muslim women for covering their hair when Saint Paul had also said: ‘A woman who prays with her hair unveiled disgraces her head’? At that time, Christianity also valued modesty in dress and behaviour. The same is true of Judaism. The Mishnah makes it clear: “Jewish women, married or unmarried, should not walk in the marketplace with uncovered hair.” So, how could they reproach Muslim women for following the Shari’ah when their own Halakhah said the same thing? Therefore, in the past, modest dress was the norm. At the time of Imam Al-Ghazzali or other scholars, there were not so many books about the hijab, because everyone understood what the hijab was and there was no need to defend the traditional Islamic modest dress.

Anyway, we do not live in the Middle Ages anymore and there are people – both Muslims and non-Muslims – who ask: ‘Why do only women have to wear the hijab? Why do women have to cover their hair and not men?’ How do we answer this question?

First of all, for a Muslim, it is enough to know that the Qur’an commands women to wear the hijab. Men are told to ‘cast down their glance and guard their private parts.’ (24:30) whereas women are also told to: ‘cast their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers…’(24:31) or to their other mahārim. For a Muslim, no other reason or explanation is needed. We have to obey Allah, even if we do not comprehend the reasons behind His commandments. This answer satisfies many Muslims; but it is not likely to convince non-Muslims who do not accept the authority of the Qur’an in the first place.

The question ‘Why don’t men wear the hijab?’ is based on the false assumption that men and women are equal. Men and women are not equal. No two things are equal in every respect. If two things were equal in every way, there would be one thing and not two things. If man and woman were equal in every way, they would be identical; there would be one sex and not two sexes. Men and women are equal in that they are both humans. They are equal in many things, unequal in many other things.

A woman’s hair is not like a man’s hair.  Even in a country such as the United States or Australia, a woman’s haircut costs four of five times more than a man’s haircut. Why this inequality? Why this discrimination based on gender? It’s not because women have longer hair or cutting women’s hair takes longer or anything like that. These are excuses. It’s because women, as a rule, are willing to pay more for their haircuts. Women are more concerned with their appearances than men.

Women spend much more time in front of the mirror. Whether we like it or not, this is the case. Women all over the world are more interested in jewellery, ornaments, cosmetics and beautiful clothes than men. Naturally, we pay more attention to our bodies. Men also pay more attention to women’s bodies. An Arab poet describes this difference very beautifully:

Woman is a hunter, and man too is a hunter

Woman is prey, and man too is a prey

She uses her body to captivate his heart;

He uses his heart to captivate her body

To an Arab man, feminine beauty is like wine

He who drinks but once will never be satiated;

Whereas the beauty of men, in the eyes of women

Is sweet and pleasant like milk and dates.

I think what this poem is trying to say is that there is a difference between the way men look at women and the way women look at men. Woman seeks to rule over man’s heart, whereas man wants to dominate woman’s body. Man seeks woman actively whereas woman wants to be loved and sought after. Woman wants the protection of man, whereas man wants the company of woman. Also, women are stronger than men in controlling their desires. A woman can control her desires more easily than a man. Generally, women are more bashful than men; as the hadith also indicates:

‘Allah divided bashfulness (hayā) into ten portions: he gave nine portions to women and one portion to men.’

Islam teaches that a woman should share her external beauty only with her husband (and to a lesser extent, with her mahārim) and not with every man on the street. Islam does not teach that we should share our knowledge or our thoughts only with our husbands. Let us consider our role models: A’isha – May Allah be pleased with her – was so modest that she was eager to cover her face even in the state of ihram, as the hadith indicates. But the very same woman is the narrator of many of our ahâdith. She passed on her knowledge to the future generations and inspired Muslim women and men for fourteen centuries.

Having said all these, it goes without saying that modest dress is also important for men. The reason we wear modest dress is not only because our bodies might be attractive to the opposite gender; but also because modest dress is a sign of human dignity. Allah created human being to be His slave (‘abd) and vicegerent (khalifah); men and women should dress in a way that reflects this status. Our dress should remind us of our servitude; remind us of the fact that we are not free on this earth to do what we want, but to do what Allah wants us to do.

Unfortunately, there are some brothers who expect their wives to wear the abâya and the niqāb; while they themselves wear short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts. If you expect your wife to dress like the wives of the Prophet, you should also try to dress like the Prophet – peace be upon him-. If you expect your wife to dress like the female companions of the Messenger of Allah, try to wear clothes that resemble those of the male companions – May Allah be pleased with them all-. Even though men were not told to wear the hijab or to veil their faces, they were told to dress modestly and to behave modestly.  The Prophet – peace be upon him – said:

‘Every religion has a character, and the character of Islam is modesty.’

May Allah – Glory be to Him – help us to acquire modesty and humility, which are the characteristics of this religion. In sha’ Allah

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 Useful Sources:

* Ideal Muslimah: Why Men Don’t wear Hijab?

Niqabis: married nuns?

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

The Western media often uses – or in fact, misuses – Islamic concepts for its own political agenda. One example is the word jihad which is being deliberately distorted and misused by the Western media.

The same is true about the niqab, the burqa and other issues pertaining to Muslim women. Publishers say that if want your book to sell well, include the word ‘burqa’ in the title and thousands of people will buy it! But how many of these books look at the issue from an authentic Islamic point of view? Most of them are really written from a Western materialistic perspective.

As Muslims, when we think of a woman covering her face, we do not think of an oppressed woman. We think of our lady A’isha, the Mother of the Believers, who inspired generations of women after her: who was according to the Islamic tradition, the most knowledgeable person of her time in religion, medicine and poetry. When we think of a woman covering her face, we think of Lady Fatimah – the daughter of the Prophet – who is one of the four greatest women in Islam and one of the leaders of women in Paradise.

For us, the niqab is not a symbol of oppression but a symbol of devotion. It is one possible way to emulate the wives and the daughters of the Prophet – peace be upon him – and the great saintly women of the first generation of Islam.

This was one of the other arguments that was given in favour of the burqa ban in France:

Wearing the niqab or the burqa renders women invisible isolating them from the world around them and preventing them from participating in society.’

Well, It is true that the niqab makes you invisible to a certain extent. If my sister and I are both wearing the niqab and walking down the street, it can be hard for you to tell which is which. But, first of all, being less visible does not mean that one is less important or that one is worthless. On the contrary, things that are invisible are often the most valuable things. Our bodies are visible, whereas our souls are invisible. Does that make the body more important than the soul? Words can be seen. Meanings are veiled. Does that make the expression more precious than the underlying meaning? The heart is an inner organ. The hand is external. Is our hand any more crucial to our body than our heart?

This is a mistake that many people make: they do not understand why Muslim women observe the veil. In Islam, women are veiled because women are the hearts of the society. Woman symbolises the inner meaning of life. Woman is the kernel protected by the shell. Woman is the soul that inspires and enlivens the community as a whole. In fact, the Arabic word for ‘soul’ (nafs) is grammatically feminine, and also the word for ‘life’ (hayât) is feminine.

It is only the modern world that considers the outward to be more important than the inward, the marketplace to be more important than the home, the shell to be important than the kernel – and therefore a woman who devotes herself to her home is seen as oppressed or as backwards.

In a traditional Islamic society, it was understood that the ‘inner aspect of life’ does have a priority over the outer aspect. This is why women did not feel a need to emulate men in the same way that feminists needed to emulate men. Quite the contrary, men were told to emulate women in certain feminine virtues. Men were told to learn from women how to be compassionate and merciful. Men were told to learn from women how to weep. The Messenger of Allah said to his companions: ‘Weep! If you cannot weep, at least pretend to weep.’ It is enough to compare this hadith with all of the feminist books that teach women how to be men and to forget their own identity and their own feminine virtues.

If veiling is properly understood, it empowers women. When something is not easily available, it becomes more and more precious. When something is available and free, it is taken for granted. It loses its worth, its value, its enchantment. For those living in a desert, rain is the greatest of all blessings and a sign-post to God’s grace and mercy. This is not the case in Malaysia where it rains everyday. For men living in a society where women are not easily accessible (either because women veil themselves or because there is a separation between the sexes) woman is considered to be the greatest of all blessings.
It is sufficient to look at the traditional poetry of Muslim people: There are countless poems written by men in devotion to women and women are often praised as manifestations of Allah’s infinite Beauty. Why do we not have such poems in modern English poetry? How can we ever have romantic love in a sexually permissive society? How can we have genuine ever-lasting love in a society where everything is governed by lust? Why is that in certain countries we have much more divorces than marriages? Why is that in the West the family unit is not stable anymore?

Now, let me get back to the argument given in favour of the burqa ban. It was said that the niqab or the burqa isolates women from the world around them. I ask you this question: which of the two do you think lives a more isolated life?

1. A Christian nun who lives her entire life in a monastery
2. A Muslim woman who wears the niqab (and who nevertheless goes shopping, studies at a university, works as a teacher, etc.)

My opinion is that the Christian nun lives a more isolated life.

If a Catholic woman does have the right to become a nun in order to concentrate on that which is essential for her – i.e. God and Christ – , why does a Muslim woman not have the right to become a niqabi in order to concentrate on that which is essential for her – namely: God, her husband, her children, her family?

Of course, the two cases are not exactly identical. Nuns are considered to be brides of Christ and are not allowed to marry. Niqabis may be married or unmarried women. But the main question is: If we respect the choice of the nun who devotes her life to God and Christ, why not respect the choice of the Muslim woman who makes this sacrifice for the sake of her religion? Why not also respect the Muslim woman who wishes to devote her life to God and to her family? Why do we consider the nun to be devoted, whereas we consider the niqabi to be oppressed?

You may say that not every Christian woman becomes a nun. Well, not every Muslim woman becomes a niqabi. One can wear a hijab which covers the body but not the face; and this is lawful, according to a number of scholars. In the past, when religion was stronger in Europe, there were more women who chose to become nuns. Throughout European history, hundreds of women were even forced to become nuns; either because their families could not support them or for some other reason. Even today, in certain countries, there are instances of young Christian women being forced to become nuns. This is certainly regrettable and something one must condemn. But does this make a good excuse for us to stop all Christian women from becoming nuns, even those who really want to become nuns?!

Would it be wise to go and free all of those nuns from the monastery – without paying attention to what those nuns really want, without listening to their definition of liberty? Would it be good for us to impose our choices and our priorities on them, as if they did not have their own choices and priorities? Would it be good to liberate the nuns from the monastery, or to liberate the fish from the water? In short : If it is wrong to force a woman to become a nun, it is equally wrong to force a woman not to become a nun; the same is true about the niqab or any other religious practice.

Unfortunately, the Western media is trying its best to distort the teachings of Islam and to politicize everything as much as possible. Life is not only about politics and power struggle. Life is also about love. The relationship between man and woman must not be based on competition but on love and on making sacrifices. During much of human history, men have ruled over kingdoms, but women have also ruled over those kings’ hearts – so women were the real queens.

The kingdom of love is greater than any kingdom. The power of love greater than any power. If only we believe in it, insha’ Allah.

Hijab, Restriction & the Value of Women

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Many Westerners ask: ‘If women are valued and respected in Islam, why are there rules such as the hijab that seem to restrict the freedom of women?’ This is a very important question. In answer to that, I will have to clarify a few points:

Firstly: Modest dress and separation between the sexes are not exclusively Islamic practices. These are ancient institutions that have existed in most traditional societies. Since Islam is the last religion – which was especially ordained for the time in which we are living -, there is more emphasis in Islam on modest dress than in any other religion; and its rulings regarding this issue are much more strict. However, modest dress itself is not a modern invention: immodesty is. It is the extreme indecency and obscenity of the modern world which is a departure from the norm and has to be explained.

Secondly: The hijab and the niqab are not only restrictions for women; they restrict what a woman can show and they also restrict what a man can see. By her choosing to wear the hijab or the niqab, a woman is using her own freedom to restrict men’s freedom!

Thirdly, Is restriction always reprehensible? One does not need to be a believer to realise that restriction can have positive effects. Even atheists may restrict themselves to a certain diet in order to lose weight. Nevertheless, ‘restriction’ has a more profound meaning in Islam.

Prohibition and Sanctity
In Arabic, the word ‘harâm’ has two meanings: It means ‘unlawful, forbidden’ and it also means ‘sacred’. The two meanings may appear unrelated or even contradictory. In reality, they are closely related to one another. When something is sacred, there are rules and regulations that protect it from desecration. The Qur’an is sacred; therefore, we are not allowed to touch it with unclean hands. Human life is sacred; therefore, we are not allowed to kill people. Ramadan is a holy month; thus, eating at daytime is forbidden in this month. There are countless examples that show how there is a profound relationship between ‘prohibition’ and ‘sacredness’. If nothing is forbidden, nothing is sacred.

Restriction can be good and beneficial. As long as a plant grows horizontally, it cannot grow vertically. But once the plant’s freedom is limited on the horizontal plane, it can grow vertically. Sometimes outward restrictions prepare us for an inward journey and give a spiritual dimension to our lives. Let me give you a tangible example:

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. At the time of sunset, – after so many hours of hunger and thirst -, drinking a glass of water and a few dates is one of the most joyful experiences one can ever have in life. What would happen if we did not fast? We would take eating and drinking for granted. We would not feel this overwhelming joy by drinking a simple glass of water.

The same is true about the relation between men and women in the society. In traditional Islamic societies, – where there is a separation between the sexes in many aspects of public life – the greatest wish of every young man or woman is to get married. They wait for marriage in the same manner that a fasting person waits for the time of iftâr. For Muslims, marriage is the end of deprivation and the beginning of a joyful new life.

In the West, the opposite is the case: Marriage has lost its meaning – just as iftâr does not have any significance for people who do not fast. The modern West is probably the first civilisation in the history of mankind that is moving towards creating ‘a society of bastards’: a society that always talks about human rights but practically neglects the rights of children who need two parents rather than one and who need to be brought up in a proper and stable family.

Clearly, it is only when the satisfaction of sexual desires is forbidden outside marriage – when men close their eyes to other women, and women conceal their beauty from other men – that marriage becomes the centre of happiness and the union between man and woman will last for a long time.

Another tragedy is the demystification and desacralisation of women. We are so much proud of what we think we have achieved that we forget what we have lost. We have gained the world but we have lost ourselves. We are taught that if we want to be successful, we have to go against our nature and become ‘like men’; as if there was nothing good and beautiful about being a woman. In the West, women do not veil themselves. Men and women mix freely in the society. This may have certain advantages. But at what cost? When something becomes commonplace, it becomes cheaper and cheaper. Once women become easily available and accessible, they lose their sacral dimension, their value, their mystery and their enchantment.

It is the East, and Juliet is the sun…
Heaven is there, where Juliet is

Why is that in the West, we do not have Romeos and Juliets anymore; who were ready to die for their beloved? What happened to all of the selfless love and devotion that men in the past had for women? What happened to all that infinite and unbound love that women had for their husbands? Why is genuine, unselfish and everlasting love rarer today than red sulphur? I am not trying to make a generalisation, but based on what I have observed: romantic love is dying in Western societies. There are more people who believe in sex than in love. It is by lust and not by love that the Western society is governed.
Bertrand Russel writes in his ‘Marriage and Morals’:

Romantic love does not flourish in sexually permissive societies…The essential of romantic love is that it regards the beloved object as very difficult to possess and as very precious. It is certainly regrettable when women are too accessible. When people no longer feel any moral barrier against sexual intercourse, they get into the habit of dissociating sex from serious emotion. They may even come to associate it with feelings of hatred.

Islam is not the enemy of love. Islam is the religion of love. In fact, there is more solidarity between young husbands and wives in the Islamic world than in the West; because Islam has always emphasized – above all else – the principle of love and mercy. As Allah says in the Qur’an:

And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.(30:21).

And Allah knows best.

Metaphysics of Hijab

Muslims have looked at the hijab from various perspectives. Some look at the hijab from a fiqhi point of view: that the hijab is a religious obligation mandated by the Qurán and Sunnah. Many Muslims have put forward utilitarian arguments for hijab. They have explained hijab as a method of preventing social evils. All these are certainly true. However, the veil has also a very profound symbolic and metaphysical meaning: a meaning that is unfortunately forgotten in the modern world.

Let me start with relating this anecdote. The anecdote is about a young Arab man, Majnun, who was in love with a lady called Layla. Nezami, the Persian poet, has related the following story:

“Once Majnun was passing by the house of his beloved. He saw two names engraved on a wall. The two names were ‘Majnun’ and ‘Layla’, his name and his beloved’s name.
Upon seeing this, Majnun erased Layla’s name while keeping his own name unchanged.
The bystanders were greatly astonished. They would have expected anything but this. Sorrounding the lover, they questioned him excitedly : ‘O Majnun, do you not love Layla?

Majnun said: ‘By God, I love her.’

‘Then what does it mean, O Majnun? Tell us, why have you done this? Here, your names were written together, and now you have erased her name. You have separated yourself from her. Why?!’

Majnun replied:

A single name is sufficient on this wall;

For love is beyond all duality

If one delves within the lover’s heart

He’ll find the Beloved in its deepest part

But the people were not satisfied with this quatrain. They objected: ‘Well, one name is enough for both. But why did you throw away Layla’s name and keep your own name? Why did you erase her name and not yours? Why is that among the two names, it is Layla who has been cut away? Is this the way of lovers?’

Majnun answered:

‘Layla is the meaning; I am but a word

I am but a sheath, Layla is the sword

As meaning beneath the form is hidden and concealed

So her name is hidden, while mine is revealed

Layla is the kernel and Majnun is the shell. Majnun is the veil. The face underneath is hers.

The anecdote ends here. In my opinion, the story does tell us something about the metaphysical origins of hijab. Woman is the kernel of human society. Even as the fruit needs to be protected by the shell, so does woman need to be protected by her hijab. The world is made of so many precious things that are covered. Woman represents the inner aspect of life, whereas man represents the outer aspect. But who has said that the outward is more important than the inward? Who has said that the street is more important than the home? And that the world of men is superior to that of women?

The Turkish poet, Fuzuli, writes:

A sweet fruit is hidden beneath the shell

Musk is hidden in the deer’s gland

Sugar is hidden in straw

Wine is sealed and concealed

Souls are hidden beneath bodies

Gold is hidden beneath the ground

Then is veiling not a great honour

When the precious things are all veiled?

The marketplace is the shell;

The house is the kernel

A woman reveals the beauty of her face

Not in the street, but only in her house;

Do not, therefore, reveal divine secrets to people who are unworthy

Cast not your pearls before the swine

But reveal your beauty to those who are mahrams

Show your countenance only to the friend.

The poet reminds us that precious things are always hidden and concealed. We keep pearls and jewels in a beautiful jewellery box. We do not do the same with worthless rocks. We protect things that we love, not things that we hate. We conceal things that we value, not things that we despise. For a Muslim woman, veiling is an honour; for she shows that she is valued: like pearls, like gemstones, like gold, like the soul, and like all precious things that are veiled.

In every religion, sacred things are veiled and protected. Some Muslims keep their Quráns in wooden boxes to protect their Holy Book from being touched by unclean hands. The Ka’ba, the most sacred place in Islam, is always veiled. The Holy of Holies, in the temple of Solomon, is veiled. Sacred things are always surrounded by barriers; and so is feminine beauty.

The hijab is not there because women are unworthy or impure. The hijab is not there because women are devilish creatures that always tempt men. The hijab is not there to deny women. The hijab is there to affirm women. The hijab is there because women are manifestations of the Divine Beauty. The hijab is there because women are sacred and the sacred must be protected against profanity. The hijab is an expression of the presence of holiness in women.

In the modern world, the beauty of women is least understood and most commercialised. In Islam, feminine beauty is a sign-post to something higher. By wearing the hijab, a woman shows that she is not of part of this obscene world. She is not part of the world in which everything is commercialised. She is part of another world in which women are valued and sanctified. As the Prophet – upon whom be peace – said:

I was made to love three things from your world: women, prayer, and perfume.