To Veil or Not To Veil

I was SO blessed recently when I listened to a wonderful lecture on Channel Islam International (CII) Radio one night. On most weekday nights, I enjoy listening to CII from 9 pm onwards, as there are good lectures on at those times. On this particular night, the 1^st May, I listened to one and was just going to hear what the next one was at 10pm, so I could have an early night  - when to my immense interest and joy, the lecturer introduced the topic: “To Veil or Not To Veil”. Boy, did my ears perk up! I forgot I was tired and turned up the volume. Unfortunately, I did not know what the lecturer’s name was, or even if he was a mufti/sheikh/maulana etc. But he certainly knew what he was talking about! It was so good, I couldn’t not share about it on here; I even wrote down some notes in my journal…

The subject matter of the lecture speaks for itself – it was about hijab and its importance. The lecturer aimed his words at all Muslim sisters, challenging them to think for themselves about wearing hijab and how necessary it is for witnessing as a believer in this world. He related some amazing stories and spoke about the conditions of hijab, of which I would love to share with you what I remembered…

One story went something like this…There was this young Muslim man who studied at a Western university (I don’t know where). He was exceptionally pious, always lowering his gaze when there were young women about, and especially if they did not wear hijab.

One day he had to work on an assignment with a girl, and sat at the same table with her. He constantly lowered his eyes and never looked straight at her in the eye. After a while this young woman became annoyed. She had these common Western ideas in her head about Muslim men – that they treated women as servants. She thought that this young man was lowering his eyes and not looking at her, because he saw her as inferior to him and not worth looking at. One day she snapped and yelled at him, challenging him to look up at her. She said something like the following:

“Why do you never look at me? It’s because you Muslim men don’t think we women are worth it! You oppress your women and hide them with veils! You think we women are your slaves! I cannot work with someone who doesn’t think I am equal to him and doesn’t bother acknowledging me!”

She was not prepared for his response. He looked at her straight in the eye and replied something like as follows:

“What are you talking about? You don’t know anything about us.  We Muslim men will die for our women! To protect her honour from being broken is very important to us, and so she is veiled because she is a precious treasure. You women in the West… you are the ones truly oppressed! Do you know what Western women are like? A drug. A drug which is passed around from one person to another, each taking a little bit for his satisfaction before passing it to the next. Then when it is finished, it is discarded along the wayside and forgotten.”

The girl stormed out, sobbing, and didn’t come back. For a whole week she was absent and the young man (and her other classmates) got worried.

Then one day, a woman came into the lecture room. She was covered from head to toe in hijab. She slipped in quietly and went to sit at the back, unnoticed. It was only afterwards when she went up to the young man. He was amazed to see that it was the same young woman he worked with, but only this time she was in hijab! Then she spoke:

“What you said to me last week shook me down to the very depths of my heart. I stayed away as I needed to think about it very carefully. Now I hav made my decision. I bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad (SAW) is His prophet and messenger.”

AWESOME! She became a Muslim! As I heard this story’s end, I wept with joy as if I was there with them… she had discovered the Truth!

Another story was just as amazing…There were two Muslim girls who were friends; one who wore hijab and one who didn’t. One day they decided to go to the mall together. The non-hijabed friend went to pick the hijabed one up at the mosque where she had attended a class. So she went in and happened to hear some of the final words of the lecture, which went something like this: “Among those who cannot enter Paradise, are women who are clothed, but are naked.”

These words struck her profoundly, and she repented there and then. She was so profoundly sorry for not wearing hijab, that she insisted that her friend go out alone and buy her hijab to put on before they go to the mall. Her friend said that it was only a block or so away; then she could choose any colour scarf she wanted. But she refused and again insisted that her friend get her a hijab before she goes out of the mosque. So her friend goes out and returns with the hijab, which she puts on.

Then they went out together to the mall.

She never made it there – she was hit by a car and went to meet Allah Ta’ala that very day.

Such power in repentance – and she made it just in time! Just imagine if she had delayed that act of taubah… where would she be now if she hadn’t repented?

The conditions of Hijab as mentioned by the lecturer were familiar to me as I had read about it before. But it was nice to be reminded of it, and especially when it was elaborated upon. These following conditions make hijab valid, and if one was not followed, it would not be proper hijab:

1)      It has to be long – it must cover the entire body except the face and hands

2)      It has to be opaque – that is, it must not be transparent and see-through

3)      It has to be loose – it must drape so that no shape of the woman’s body can be seen

4)      It has to be unscented – no perfume worn outside the house.

5)      It has to be simple and plain – that is, it must not be a decoration of itself.

What I found very interesting, was when the lecturer said that “there is  no such thing as fashionable hijab” and that “if it wraps on the body it is not hijab” I found this a little confusing, as many hijab styles are wrapped – like the rectangular scarves. But I think he meant the dress, not necessarily the scarf only; that it was not supposed to be clingy. He said hijab should be of few colours, and not gaudy; that the West criticises black hijab, but forget that they themselves love black, for example the “little black number”. Yet, it doesn’t mean that we Muslimahs have to wear black hijab of course, unless we want to! (Personally I love wearing black, but often mix it with one or two other colours when wanting a more casual look.) I was also interested to learn about the issue of perfume – that this should be reserved for husband and home, just as make-up and being unveiled is. He said that it is a characteristic of an adulteress to go out of the house with strong perfume on. Of course, this doesn’t mean we have to discard our underarm deoderant! It just means that we should not deliberately wear strong scent to get men’s attention. In some sense, it means we must be modest in smell.

This lesson reminded me that hijab is not only a modesty of dress in the visual sense (plain and covering all of the body), but also in the olfactory sense (no perfume). Then there is also the auditory sense of hijab (to have a soft-spoken voice and gait in the company of men) and the tactile sense (no contact between those of the opposite sex who are not related – mahrams).

Wow, that we women are so special and valuable that we must keep hidden our treasure… Awesome! What a gift hijab is; a cause for us Muslims to rejoice and proclaim the greatness of God!

Allahu Akbar!

P.S. If any of my readers know what lecture I am talking about and have also listened to it somewhere, then let me know! I will be very glad if I could download the text of it.