Head Coverings

Years ago, I recall seeing that the number one question people asked about Islam on Google was, “what is the dress code for women?” This is really telling that in the grand scheme of all possible questions people could have about the religion that such an inconsequential topic has such a disproportionate amount of attention from the masses. Not to mention that the answer to the question, for all intents and purposes, has no bearing for 50% of the population of men who seem to be the most fixated on determining a ruling on this subject.

This doesn’t mean that the Quran doesn’t have guidelines on dress code for believers, but compared to the central tenants of the religion, dress code is relatively low on the list of priorities. Why not be more interested in the bigger questions, e.g. who is God, why are we here, what is idol worship, how do we know if we are devoted to God alone, how do we worship God alone, how do we know the Quran is from God, what happens after death, what is the Hereafter, what are the requirements to make it to Paradise in the Hereafter, how do we protect ourselves from the Hellfire, how does one lead a righteous life…are just a few of the questions that I think are exponentially more important for someone’s salvation that a serious person would have concerns about rather than the dress code of women.

Out of the 6,346 verses of the Quran, the topic of dress code is only mentioned a few times compared to the thousands of verses that deal with the other more pressing issues that have exponentially more bearing on salvation. Ironically, the Hadith literature, on the other hand, focuses an exorbitant amount of narrations on such silly details e.g. how one should put on shoes, how one should clip their nails, what foot to use when stepping into a bathroom, how many rocks to clean one’s privates after going to the bathroom, what side one should sleep on, let alone what attire and grooming practices are lawful and unlawful for believers.