In the late 1990's
the Muslim Magazine Q News tried to persuade us that the headscarf was obligatory
or at least that the wearing of the headscarf was a part of the original ideal
prescribed for Muslim women.
What follows is the itemisation of the detailed debate that took place from 1997 to 1998 in the letters section of Q News, interspersed with articles on the headscarf.
The particular hadith (i.e reported saying of the Prophet Mohammad), Al - Bayhaqi, quoted by Ayesha bint Mahmood is definitely not of proven authenticity (as confirmed by Dr. Zaki Badawi and the late Dr. S. M. Darsh and Islamic scholars in general) and should not therefore be relied upon.
Mr Bleher is a German convert to Islam and founded the Islamic Party of Britain. The Prophet Mohammad was reputed to have worn a beard. So in order to be 'closer' to the Prophet Mohammad Mr Bleher sports a beard: a kind of badge of honour as Muslims are told to follow the example of the Prophet.
We consulted Dr. Zaki Badawi on the subject of the beard. He told us that there are many hadith on the topic but they have to be read in their totality and seen in context. That the Prophet's command was for Muslim men to make themselves look different from the Jews and the Christians. And that this instruction from the Prophet came at a time when society was illiterate and was meant for a specific purpose: to make Muslim men distinctive so they would be identified in their new religion. And recognised by their fellow Muslims to enable a community of the faithful to establish themselves and spread the faith. So the Muslim men grew beards. But the purpose behind the instruction - to be distinctive so as to foster the establishment of Islam - no longer applies as Islam is now well established and has millions of adherents world wide.
But many Muslim men still believe that this now ostentatious identification with Islam - the beard in its various forms - has to be practised as an obligatory element of their faith. They get lost in arguments over how long the beard should be: whether it should ever be trimmed; whether a moustache should be grown; whether it is effeminate not to have a beard etc. etc.
The wearing of a beard
by so many Muslim men has additionally almost become a form of idolatory of
the Prophet. Some Muslim men would not be seen without it. The Prophet Mohammad
was also reputed to have had long hair but today those Muslims who insist
it is their religious duty to wear a beard do not grow long hair. They have
short haircuts, because long hair is associated with Western decadance. Logically
however, if the Prophet Mohammad wore long hair then his bearded followers
of today should also grow long hair.
Branson
firm 'sacked Muslim in row over beard'
The Independent, Wednesday 11th August
2004
Sacked
bearded Muslim loses case
Industrial Tribunal 7th January, 2005
Mr Bleher you can see is very keen to condemn Mr El Diwany but if Mr Bleher had bothered to read previous issues of Q News he would have seen that Mr El Diwany did make reference to Aya 31 of Surah An - Nur (Issue no. 274). Q News themselves should have pointed this out but their objective was to humiliate Mr El Diwany. But more of this later.
Below are the relevant pages of the Quran obtained from Muhammad Asad's 'The Message of the Quran' detailing verse 31 of the 24th Surah (the Light) in English and Arabic:
The hypocrites in our midst ; this first class article by Mr Anwari makes compulsive reading:
Mr El Diwany is reprimanded by Ms Yaqub for equating the hijab with sexual repression. However all of the weddings where the hijabi women get married are marked by the strict separation of the men and women guests at the celebrations. The men are in one room and the women in another. They can't even say hello to each other, thus preventing say prospective partners from meeting one another with a view to eventual marriage. How cruel and repressive a practice, so in keeping with the fanatical Asian element imported in to this country. Many of the hijabi women adamantly refuse even to shake the hand of a man that is not within their immediate family on the grounds that it is immoral.
The letter written by Hull schoolteacher Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood is more in touch with reality. See however the vitriol that is poured upon her in the next issue of Q News.
Shagufta Yaqub went on to become the editor of Q News.
Issue no. 279-280 of November 1997 sees Q News go out of their way to further humiliate Mr El Diwany by printing a letter from a 14 year old, Sonia Malik from Manchester. Perhaps Dr. Zaki Badawi should also be told by the 14 year old to read the Quran and Sunnah again 'with his glasses on'.
Pity the fanatic:
Muslim
girls face scarf ban at French schools
The Times Friday December
12th 2003
Belgium
next in line as Europe's veil ban spreads
The Times, Monday January 19th 2004.
France
votes for hijab ban
The
Times, Wednesday February 11th 2004.
Daud Johnson, a convert to Islam, mentions the Prophet's wives who it is true were asked by the Prophet himself to be accorded special reverence, due to their elevated status. Below are the Quranic extracts from Surah 33 - The Confederates (Al - Ahzab) - from Muhammad Asad's 'The Message of The Quran', dealing with the veil.
Verse 53 of the Confederates
has been used to support the belief that the Prophet's wives covered their
hair and even their faces. Verse 59 of the Confederates has been used to support
the belief that all Muslim women should cover their hair and faces in public.
Verse 53 is specific to the Prophet's wives. But just as the Prophet wore
a beard which many Muslim men copy, then many Muslim women think that by wearing
the "seperating curtain" of the face veil/hijab/jalbab in public
they will emulate the Prophet's wives and thus be 'better' Muslims. Given
that Muslims accept that the Prophet's wives were addressed from behind a
screen in the home by the Prophet's companions, there is no evidence however
to suggest that any of the Prophet's wives when outside the home wore the
"seperating curtain" of a veil covering their faces. Karen Armstrong
in her acclaimed biography of the Prophet,
- 'Muhammad' - published by Phoenix Press details the fact that it was only
Muhammad's wives that were to be secluded. We reproduce Karen Armstrong's
text from pages 197 to 199:
Shortly after Zaynab's wedding celebrations
and possibly connected with it, came the revelation known as the Verses of
the Curtain, which decreed that Muhammad's wives must be secluded from the
rest of the umma. Muslim traditions explain the introduction of the hijab,
which is usually translated as 'the Veil', in various ways. Some say that
it was Umar, who had aggressively chauvinist views, who urged Muhammad to
seclude his wives from view by means of a curtain. There had recently been
unpleasant incidents when the Hypocrites had insulted Muhammad's wives as
they went out at night to relieve themselves. Others say that as Muhammad
became more important and more aware of life in the civilised countries, he
wanted to adopt the Persian and Byzantine custom of secluding women of the
upper classes as a mark of his wives' new dignity. All, however, point out
that sexual morality was lax in Arabia during the pre-Islamic period. There
tended to be a great deal of indecent talk and innuendo and a great deal of
flirting and propositioning. In traditional society, a sexual scandal can
be extremely serious and arouse strong emotions in a community. Muhammad was
probably well aware that Ibn Ubbay and his supporters would be delighted to
damage the Muslim cause by pointing to a disgrace in his own family.
It is said that at Zaynab's wedding feast, some of the guests stayed too long
and made a nuisance of themselves. This prompted a revelation which put some
distance between Muhammad's family and the rest of the umma:
Believers, do not enter the houses of the Prophet for a meal without waiting for the proper time, unless you are given leave. But if you are invited, enter; and when you have eaten, disperse. Do not engage in familiar talk, for this would annoy the Prophet and he would be ashamed to bid you go; but of the truth, al-Llah is not ashamed. If you ask his wives for anything, Speak to them from behind a curtain. This is more chaste for your hearts and their hearts.
Muhammad, it will be remembered, had no room
of his own at the mosque; he simply slept in the apartments of his wives.
But as he became more important in Medina his home inevitably became a public
place, as more and more people came to consult him about their personal or
religious problems or asked him to arbitrate in a dispute. Some Muslims liked
to approach him through his wives, in the hope of getting his ear. Aisha,
for example, was known to have had several friendly chats with a particular
young man, which people remembered later when a scandal broke out that threatened
to split the umma down the middle. The hijab or curtain was not intended to
be an oppressive measure. It was designed to prevent a scandalous situation
developing which Muhammad's enemies could use to discredit him.
We should pause to consider the question of the hijab, and the Muslim institution
of the veil. It is often seen in the West as a symbol of male oppression,
but in the Quran it was simply a piece of protocol that applied only to the
Prophet's wives. Muslim women are required, like men, to dress modestly, but
women are not told to veil themselves from view, nor to seclude themselves
from men in a separate part of the house. These were later developments and
did not become widespread in the Islamic empire until three or four generations
after the death of Muhammad. It appears that the custom of veiling and secluding
women came into the Muslim world from Persia and Byzantium, where women had
long been treated in this way.
In fact the veil or curtain was not designed to degrade Muhammad's wives but
was a symbol of their superior status. After Muhammad's death, his wives became
very powerful people: they were respected authorities on religious matters
and were frequently consulted about Muhammad's practice (sunnah) or opinions.
Aisha became extremely important politically and in 656 led a revolution against
Ali, the Fourth Caliph. It seems that later other women became jealous of
the status of Muhammad's wives and demanded that they should be allowed to
wear the veil too. Islamic culture was strongly egalitarian and it seemed
incongruous that the Prophet's wives should be distinguished and honoured
in this way. Thus many of the Muslim women who first took the veil saw it
as a symbol of power and influence, not as a badge of male oppression. Certainly
when the wives of the Crusaders saw the respect in which Muslim women were
held, they took to wearing the veil in the hope of teaching their own menfolk
to treat them better. It is always difficult to understand the symbols and
practices of another culture. In Europe we are beginning to realise that we
have often misinterpreted and undermined other traditional cultures in our
former colonies and protectorates, and many Muslim women today, even those
who have been brought up in the West, find it extremely offensive when Western
feminists condemn their culture as misogynist. Most religions have been male
affairs and have a patriarchal bias, but it is a mistake to see Islam as more
at fault in this respect than any other tradition. In the Middle Ages the
position was reversed: then the Muslims were horrified to see the way Western
Christians treated their women in the Crusader states, and Christian scholars
denounced Islam for giving too much power to menials like slaves and women.
Today when some Muslim women resume traditional dress, it is not always because
they have been brainwashed by a chauvinist religion, but because they find
that a return to their own cultural roots is profoundly satisfing. It is often
a rejection of the Western imperialist attitude which claims to understand
their traditions better than they do themselves.
Regarding Karen Armstrong's work - 'Muhammad' - the magazine Muslim News gives the following accolade: 'Not just a sympathetic book that would dispell the misconceptions and misgivings of its western readers, but also a book that is of considerable importance to Muslims.'
Just what constitutes a woman's 'charms' that may be legitimately displayed in public, from an Islamic perspective? Whilst well conditioned hair or indeed hair that is in any way presentable may be attractive is it not also the case that the face of (many) a woman is also attractive and very much part of her beauty? This is the reason that in some quarters Muslim women cover their faces altogether or at least the whole of the face save for the eyes. After all, men are attracted by a pretty face. And those sleek, elegant hands are also very attractive. That is why similarly some Muslim women put on gloves when they go out. The Hanafi and Maliki schools of thought believe that the face and hands are not to be covered, while Shafii and Hanbali schools of thought believe that a women has to be completely covered (as ordered by the Taliban). Nothing but nothing must be shown in public to induce the slightest temptation in a man.
As Muhammad Asad has stressed in his above commentary on verse 31 of Surah 24 and verses 53 and 59 of Surah 33 the Prophet Mohammad's words were left deliberately vague, the result of which excluded any injunction that a Muslim woman must cover her hair. The Quran, in verse 31 of Surah The Light does however specifically command women to cover their bosoms.
CYRIL GLASSÉ, a Muslim, in his Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam comments on the Veil as follows -
Christianity
(as defined in The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, Revised
Edition, 2001 by Cyril Glassé)
Jesus (as
defined in The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, Revised Edition, 2001 by Cyril
Glassé)
Issue no. 348 of Q News for October 2002 to Febuary 2003, with Shagufta Yaqub as editor sees a three page tribute to Dr. Zaki Badawi who you will recall declared that the headscarf is not obligatory in Islam. A statement that in the mid 1990's caused fanatic Muslims to brand Dr. Badawi 'a criminal', and 'a forger' after he had gone on television in Holland to tell Muslim women that it is not necessary to wear the hijab as it is not required in Islam.
The Issue of the Veil in Islam has been subject to much interpretation by the classical scholars of long ago and also by modern day scholars. Some scholars in their enthusiasm to try and prove that the Veil is compulsory in Islam have used a weak hadith - one that is not of proven authenticity.
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