Submitters' dress, examined through the six Quranic uses of hijab and the three uses of awraat, refuting the claims that women must cover fully, stay home, or be treated as men's property. A second article, written around Eid ul Adha, argues from the Quran that God never ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son; Abraham believed a dream, and God ransomed Ismail with an animal.
O children of Adam, we have provided you with garments
to cover your bodies, as well as for luxury. But the best garment is the
garment of righteousness… 7:26
The majority of the so-called Muslim countries
use the Arabic word “Hijab” for “Muslim” dress,
and it has come to mean that women must cover everything except their
eyes. This is exemplified in Afghanistan now, or more moderately, in Iran
and some other “Muslim” countries where the women cover all
of their bodies except face and hands. But the word “Hijab”
has nothing to do with Muslim dress. As we will see, “Hijab”
in the Quran means a combination of physical and spiritual barriers. In
some “Muslim” countries, a woman’s space is also decreed
by using the word hijab. She is
asked to stay home and not leave the house.
All the above restrictions have come about because of the misunderstanding
of the verse 33:53 where the Almighty says to speak to the prophet’s
wives from behind a barrier (hijab). Let us go to the source.
What is Hijab?
The word hijab has been used in the Quran six times:
1. The dwellers of paradise will call
the dwellers of hell: “we have found our Lord’s promise to
be the truth, have you found your Lord’s
promise to be the truth?”
They will say, “yes.” An announcer between them will announce,
“God’s condemnation has befallen the transgressors;...who
repel from the path of God and strive to make it crooked, and with regard
to the hereafter, they are disbelievers.”...A barrier (hijab) separates
them, while the purgatory is occupied by people who recognize each side
by their looks, They will call the dwellers of paradise, “peace
be upon you.” They
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did not enter (paradise) through wishful thinking
7:44-46.
God barred the disbelievers from heaven. Therefore the barrier
(hijab) here is spiritual as well as physical.
2. When you read the Quran, we
place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter
an invisible barrier (hijab) 17:45.
3. Mention in the scripture Mary,
she isolated herself from her family, into an eastern location.
...While a barrier (hijab) separated her from them, we sent to her
our Spirit. He went to her in the form of a human being 19:16-17.
Mary isolated herself from her family and relocated while a “barrier”
(hijab) separated her, spiritually and physically, from them. At
that time God sent Gabriel to her.
4. A scripture whose verses provide
the complete details, in an Arabic Quran, for people who know....
A bearer of good news, as well as a warner. However, most of them
turn away; they do not hear....They said, “our minds are
made up, our ears are deaf to your message, and a barrier (hijab)
separates us from you. Do what you want and so will we” 41:3-5.
Because they put on themselves a physical barrier of refusing
God’s message, God placed a spiritual
barrier on them, making them deaf to the message.
5. No human being can communicate
with God except through inspiration, from behind a barrier (hijab),
or by sending a messenger through whom He reveals what He wills....
42:51.
6. O you who believe, do not enter
the prophet’s homes unless you are given permission to eat,
nor shall you force such an invitation in any manner. If you are
invited, you may enter. When you finish eating, you shall leave;
do not engage him in lengthy conversations. This used to hurt the
prophet, and he was too shy to tell you. But God does not shy away
from the truth. If you ask his wives for something, ask them from
behind a barrier (hijab). This is purer for your hearts and their
hearts.... 33:53.
The prophet’s wives, while at home and relaxing, were not
to be disturbed by men during their private times. God made their
lives easier by commanding the men to speak to them, if at home,
from behind a barrier (hijab). Some “Muslim” scholars
have interpreted this to mean that only from outside walls could
a man communicate with the prophet’s wives. They also understood
from the same verse that the prophet’s wives never left home.
They, therefore, wrongly concluded that their wives too must stay
at home.
The Arabic word for walls in the Quran is “al hujrat”
not hijab.
“As for those
who call on you (Muhammad) from outside the walls (al hujrat), most
of them do not understand” 49:4. If women were supposed
to stay home all the time, there would not have been a need for
commandments concerning the dress code for them.
Are Women Men’s Property?
Unfortunately, in some so-called Muslim countries, women are referred
to as the “private part,” and that is why they have
come to see themselves as man’s private property. The word
“private part” goes hand in hand with the word (hijab).
When scholars are asked what is the “private part” of
the woman, the answer is the whole woman is a private part. In Arabic
the private part is “awraat” and this word has been
used in the Quran in three places.
1. In 24:31, “awraat” means puberty,
the state in which you become aware of the other’s sex physically.
2. O you who believe permission
must be requested by your servants and the children who have not
attained puberty (awraat) (before entering your room). This is
to be done in three instances before the dawn prayer, at noon when
you change your clothes to rest, and after the night prayer. These
are three private times for you. At other times it is not wrong
for you or them to mingle with one another 24:58.
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In this verse, “awraat” means puberty also.
3. A group of them said, “O
people of Yathrib, you cannot attain victory; go back.” Others
made up excuses to the prophet, “Our homes are exposed (awraat).”
They just wanted to flee 33:13.
In this verse awraat means vulnerable to attack.
It is obvious from the above verses
that the word “awraat” has nothing to do with women.
In the Quran women are called “nisa.” Although women
are vulnerable to attack by unrighteous men, God protects believing
women who follow His commandments.
Whether we are created in the form of a man or woman, we are responsible
individually in following God’s commandments. We learn from
the Quran that we all are equal in the sight
of God. Therefore, what will distinguish
us in the Hereafter will not be our gender, race or color, but our
righteousness:
O people, we created you from the same male and
female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may
recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of God is
the most righteous. God is Omniscient, Cognizant. 49:13
Senobar Tafozali & Naima Turner
Abraham and the Sacrifice:
God never ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son
This year over one billion Muslims around the world have celebrated
the Islamic holiday Eid-ul-Adha, The Festival of Sacrifice. The
festival follows the completion of the Hajj, the Holy Pilgrimage
to Mecca.
Most of us grow up in the Muslim world learning that the reason
for celebrating the Hajj (pilgrimage) season has to do with Abraham
building the Kaaba and also his attempt to sacrifice his son Ismail.
Muslim scholars have been teaching that God inspired Abraham to
sacrifice his son Ismail by slaughtering him with a knife. While
this gross crime of a father slaughtering his own son is mentioned
in the Bible, the Quran does not support it. These teachings of
the Muslim scholars are reflections of the Jewish influence on the
early Muslim scholars.
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Abraham and the Sacrifice
This influence could not affect the word of God in the Quran but found
its way into the Hadith books that were written 200 years after the death
of the prophet. The prophet was not around to defend all the false teachings
in them.
Instead of teaching the Quran, these scholars tried to explain the Quran
by using the Bible, despite the information given to them by God in the
Quran. The Quran teaches us that the Bible should be viewed only in light
of the Quran and not vice verse. The Bible teaches that God ordered Abraham
to sacrifice his son by slaughtering him with a knife.
Why is this teaching against the Quran and Islam?
(1) Quran teaches us that God never advocates evil. (See 7:28 and 16:90)
It is Satan who advocates evil and vice (24:21). For a father to slaughter
his son is an evil that cannot be coming from God. It can only come from
Satan.
(2) The Quran never said that God told Abraham
to kill (sacrifice) his son. Instead, it teaches us that Abraham had a
dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son. Abraham believed the
dream and THOUGHT that the dream was from God (The Quran never said that
the dream was from God). The choice of the wording in the Quran is crucial.
No word was chosen by accident or out of control.
(3) Because Abraham thought the dream was from God and he proceeded to
sacrifice his son Ismail, God sent him the lamb to be sacrificed instead,
and to save the son, and the father-son sacred relationship.
(4) No where in the Quran does God say He gave Abraham that dream. God
does not forget and does not choose His words except for a specific reason.
The Bible account
22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God tempted Abraham,
and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here] I [am].
22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thy only
[son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer
him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will
name to thee. (Genesis).
The Quran account
When he grew enough to work with him, he said, “My son, I see in
a dream that I am sacrificing you. What do you think?” He said,
“O my father, do what you are commanded to do. You will find me,
God willing, patient.”
They both submitted, and he put his forehead down (to
sacrifice him).
We called him: “O Abraham.
“You have believed the dream.” We thus reward the righteous.
That was an exacting test indeed.
We ransomed (Ismail) by substituting an animal sacrifice.
And we preserved his history for subsequent generations.