Letter to a Hijaabi

Bismillahirahmaniraeem
Alhamdulillah, Wasalaatuwasalaam Alaa Rasulillah,

It is always good to see a sister wearing hijaab, and I know it takes effort and gradual steps at times. May Allah (Swt) reward you for this achievement that He has allowed you to accomplish.

to proceed,

Please understand, I am not saying that the information below is necessarily about you sister, as I know you have more love for Allah and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) than me, I am simply reminding you of something’s that the Beloved (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and that the scholars said, so that we can benefit. Indeed reminders like this are beneficial to the believer, even if they sometimes indicate mistakes.

“And remind , for verily, the reminding profits the believers.” 51.55

I only hope that you will benefit from this reminder and that it will end up increasing your love for Allah (swt) and his Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

And if you already know of these things, then Alhamdulillah, the least you can do is encourage other sisters to put this into practice.

(don’t scan this without reading the full interpretation of the Hadith, as it is very beneficial, and quick scanning may lead to a misunderstanding.)

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It was reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are two types of the people of Hell that I have not seen yet: men with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they strike the people, and women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing gait, with something on their heads that looks like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will never enter Paradise or even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance can be detected from such and such a distance.” (Narrated by Ahmad and by Muslim in al-Saheeh).

This is a saheeh hadeeth which was narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who said: “There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen: men in whose hands are whips like the tails of cattle, with which they beat the people, and women who are clothed yet naked, maa’ilaat mumeelaat, with their heads like the humps of camels, tilted to one side. They will not enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance.” This is a stern warning to beware of the things referred to.

The men in whose hands are whips like the tails of cattle are those who beat the people unjustly, like police and others, whether that is done by order of the state or otherwise. The state is only to be obeyed with regard to matters that are right and proper. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Obedience is only with regard to what is right and proper.” And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no obedience to any created being if it involves disobedience towards the Creator.”

With regard to the phrase “women who are clothed yet naked, maa’ilaat mumeelaat”, the scholars interpreted this as follows:

“kaasiyat ‘aariyaat (translated above as “clothed yet naked” may have another meaning, which is that they are enjoying the blessings of Allaah, but they do not give thanks for them and they do not obey the commands of Allaah or heed His prohibitions, even though Allaah has bestowed upon them wealth and other blessings.

The hadeeth is also explained in a different manner, which is that they wear clothes that do not cover them, because they are too thin or too short, so they do not serve the purpose of clothes, hence they are described as naked, and because the clothes they wear do not cover their ‘awrah.

Maa’ilaat (literally “deviant”) means they turn away from chastity and righteousness, i.e., they commit sins and evil deeds like those who do immoral actions, or they fall short in doing the obligatory duties, prayer etc.

Mumeelaat means they turn others away, i.e., they call people to evil and corruption, so by their words and actions they lead others into immorality and sin, and they commit immoral actions because of their lack of faith or the weakness of their faith. The point of this saheeh hadeeth is to warn against oppression and all kinds of corruption from men and women.

With regard to the phrase, “their heads are like the heads of camels, tilted to one side,” some of the scholars said that this means they make their heads look big because of the hairstyles they adopt and so on, so that it looks like the hump of a bakht camel. The bakht is a type of camel that has two humps between which there is a dip, so that one hump leans one way and the other leans the other way. When these woman make their heads look big in this way, they look like these humps.

With regard to the phrase, “They will not enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance,” this is a stern warning; it does not necessarily mean that they are kaafirs or that they will abide in Hell forever, like other sinners who die as Muslims; rather what is meant is that they and other sinners are threatened with Hell for their sins, but they are subject to the will of Allaah. If He wills He will forgive them and if He will He will punish them. This is like the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, Allaah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him (in worship), but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He wills”

[al-Nisa’ 4:48]

If a sinner (who is Muslim) enters Hell, he will not abide therein forever like the kuffaar, and those who will abide therein like murderers, adulterers and suicides will not abide therein forever like the kuffaar; rather it is an eternity which will have an end according to Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa’ah – in contrast to the Khawaarij and Mu’tazilah and the innovators who follow their path, because the saheeh mutawaatir ahaadeeth narrated from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) indicate that he will intercede for the sinners among his ummah and that Allaah will accept that intercession from him (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) a number of times; each time He will specify a number who are to be brought forth from Hell. Similarly the rest of the Messengers, the believers and the angels will all intercede by Allaah’s leave, and He will accept their intercession for whomsoever He will among the believers in Tawheed who have entered Hell because of their sins but are Muslims. Then there will remain in Hell those sinners who are not included in the intercession of the intercessors, but Allaah will bring them forth by His Mercy and Kindness, and there will be none left in Hell but the kuffaar who will abide therein forever and ever.

Majmoo’ Fataawa wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi’ah li’l-Shaykh Ibn Baaz, 6/355

The purpose of clothing is to prevent fitnah (temptation), and this can only be achieved if clothes are wide and loose. Tight clothes, even if they conceal the colour of the skin, still describe the size and shape of the body or part of it, and create a vivid image in the minds of men. The corruption or invitation to corruption that is inherent in that is quite obvious. So the clothes must be wide. Usaamah ibn Zayd said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) gave me a thick Egyptian garment that was one of the gifts given to him by Duhyat al-Kalbi, and I gave it to my wife to wear. He said, ‘Why do I not see you wearing that Egyptian garment?’ I said, ‘I gave it to my wife to wear.’ He said, ‘Tell her to wear a gown underneath it, for I am afraid that it may describe the size of her bones.’” (Narrated by al-Diyaa’ al-Maqdisi in al-Ahaadeeth al-Mukhtaarah, 1/442, and by Ahmad and al-Bayhaqi, with a hasan isnaad).

for more information of Hijaab, here is the stipulations by a great recent scholar:

http://islamqa.com/en/ref/6991/camel%20hijaab

As Muslims we should make sure that we follow the Scholars and we should be careful with our own individual interpretations.

Even so we might be doing things wrong, and I am speaking of myself first, we need to believe what the companions believed, and we need to hold how they lived as our standard. It might take time to put everything into practice, but the important thing is for us to realize that we have a lot of work to do on ourselves and we have to improve slowly. The issue should not be a confusing one, we should try not to delve too much into picking and choosing and “fatwa shopping”. What is the most correct opinion is usually clear, and albeit we are sinners, we should still be consistent in trying to reach the high standard of the companions without going to extremes by burdening ourselves with more than our capability.

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Religion is easy, and no one overburdens himself in his religion but he will be unable to continue in that way. So do not be extremists, but try to be near perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded. Gain strength by worshipping in the mornings and afternoons and during the last hours of the night.”

there should be no harm in me sharing with you this opinion:

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: I think that the Muslims should not follow this fashion and wear the clothes that come to us from here and there. Many of them are not compatible with the Islamic dress code which completely covers the woman, such as clothes that are short, very tight or see-through. That includes pants, which show the size of the woman’s legs, stomach and waist. Wearing them is included in the saheeh hadeeth “There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen: people with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they strike the people, and women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing gait, with something on their heads that looks like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will never enter Paradise or even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance can be detected from such and such a distance.”  End quote. The hadeeth was narrated by Muslim (2128).

He also said: What I think is that it is haraam for women to wear pants because this is an imitation of men, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed women who imitate men. It also makes women less modest, because it opens the door to the garments of the people of Hell, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen” and he described them as “women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing gait, with something on their heads that looks like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will never enter Paradise or even smell its fragrance”. End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen.

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (17/102):

As I said in the beginning, I am in no way judging you, I do not even know how hard it is to wear Hijaab in these times, I am also not a scholar, but here is the opinion of a great scholar, the important thing is that he is using authentic evidence, which gives weight to his opinion.

I know that you love Allah the Most High and His Messenger more than me and that you will hasten to obey them.

Do not be discouraged, even if you feel that this is very difficult then take your time, and put things into practice at your capability, don’t overburden yourself.

again I will tell you the Hadith

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Religion is easy, and no one overburdens himself in his religion but he will be unable to continue in that way. So do not be extremists, but try to be near perfection and  receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded. Gain strength by worshipping in the mornings and afternoons and during the last hours of the night.”

and Allah says,

“So keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you can”

[al-Taghaabun 64:16]

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When I tell you to do something, do as much of it as you can.”

My dear respected sister I hope that you found this beneficial and I ask Allah to guide me to that which is most pleasing to Him.

I ask Allah to give you strength in worshipping Him and to make you a leader in obedience for the Muslim Sisters at ---(name of location removed)------ and in the ----(name of location removed)--. I ask Allah to guide me if anything I have said in this was in anyway displeasing to Him.

Ameen.

Allah says in Surah an Nisaa:

These are the limits (set by) Allah, and whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) will be admitted to Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise), to abide therein, and that will be the great success.

4.13

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination.

4.59

Have you not seen those (hypocrites) who claim that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that which was sent down before you, and they wish to go for judgment (in their disputes) to the Taghut (false judges, people who judge according to other then the Quran and the authentic Sunnah) while they have been ordered to reject them. But Shaitan (Satan) wishes to lead them far astray.

4.60

I sure hope that I have not offended you sister, as I know you are a better Muslim than me.

May Allah the Most High guide the believers here at --(name of location removed--- to that which is most pleasing to Him, and may He make Them of those who follow the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) both in word and deed.

Ameen

And All praise and thanks are to Allah, and Allah knows best.