Nazrana Darvesh
February 1 is celebrated as World Hijab Day. World Hijab Day is an annual event founded by Nazma Khan in 2013 to clarify the controversies and misunderstandings of Hijab and fight discrimination against Muslim women through awareness and education.
A Hijab is an Arabic word for ‘cover’, ‘screen’ or ‘partition’. While many of us consider it to be mere Muslim dress code for women, it has wider meaning which is associated with modesty. Following Quranic verses deliver the command for Hijab:
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty………….” (Surah An-Nur, 24:30);
“Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty……………….” (Surah An-Nur, 24:31).
“O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves (part) of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.” (Surah Al-Ahzab, 33:59)
The point to note in above verses of Surah An-Nur is that it commands the men to lower the gaze and guard their modesty first and then addresses the women to do the same, ie, restrain oneself from illicit sexual involvement which begins by staring at opposite genders and then leads to next move. From the above verses it can be concluded that hijab is actually meant to save both men and women from indecency.
In the verse of Surah Al-Ahzab, women however, are instructed to take extra precaution in covering their bodies so that they are recognised as noble and chaste women which serves as a preventive measure from molestation, abuse and harm which the women are subjected to more than men. Men often get mixed signals and believe that women want their advances by the way they reveal their bodies. Hijab on the contrary sends a signal to men that the wearer is a modest and a chaste woman who should not be meddled with.
All the verses combined together form one concise message that modesty is achieved by a properly covered body accompanied by piousness and right behaviour. And that is known as Hijab which the Quran ordains both for men and women.
If one examines historical books of various times and ages, one would find modest covering women in almost every society. Laws related to modesty and hijab were revealed in earlier scriptures too before Quran. The same message was confirmed and finalised in Quran through Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). Mary, Mother of Jesus (peace be upon her), is always depicted with a head covering. Hijab is thus one of the common bonds shared by many faiths and cultures in India and around the world.
But as the movement for women empowerment geared up, the Hijab became a symbol of oppression and segregation. But is it so? Many women in this developed age, educated, professionals, bureaucrats, sport personalities, media personnel, politicians, students and many more are taking up Hijab out of their own choice and freedom of expression just as some women choose to dye their hair or walk around in a bikini. They didn’t want to compete with other women or obtain recognition or acceptance from others in terms of beauty but wanted to live up with the teachings of their faith which they recognised as right in terms of modesty and did not fall prey to expectations of society of what is desirable.
Hijab-wearing Syeda Salva Fatima, who is one of the four Muslim women in India to become a pilot, said “I had it all the time on my head and wore it over the uniform. There was never a problem because of the Hijab.”
It is important to make it clear here that Nikab (veil on the face to cover it) is different from Hijab (which refers mainly to covering the whole body including head except face). As such there is no problem in identification of the face in Hijab and so issue of security risk does not arise. Still many girls and women, wearing only Hijab without Nikab (veil) on their faces, are harassed for identification purposes.
We have the recent case of Safina Khan from Goa who was denied to answer the NET Exam due to her Hijab. It may be noted here that Nikab is one of the virtues of Islam, it is not a compulsion.
Regarding the colour or kind of the hijab, there is simply recommendation that a woman should not make herself look desirable in the presence of male strangers. Therefore, possible that the Hijab could take different forms and shapes depending on the traditions of each Muslim society and the type of work a woman does.
Some people consider it to be a myth that Hijab is protection from crime against women, giving examples of women being attacked even in Hijab. This should be understood through a simple example that following traffic laws to avoid accidents should not be considered as a myth only because some drunken driver who isn’t following the traffic laws becomes the cause of accident for others. Similarly if a Hijabi woman too is attacked by a miscreant, it only means that the level of morals of such miscreants is dropped so low that they do not spare even a well-covered woman. Again the reason for decrease in these morals is the gift of almost nude display of women in all possible media available in this modern age.
Islam revolves around 3 basic principles: 1. Consciousness of Almighty God and result of deeds in Hereafter which prompts a person to save oneself from sins. 2. Precautionary measures against various aspects which might trigger human weakness and force him to commit a crime. 3. Just punishment for the sin/crime.
However, in our society only one aspect ie punishment is considered out of the above three which is not sufficient to get rid of any problem.
Hence when we talk about Hijab it is one of the first steps to avoid the crime against women and those who force women to remove their Hijab are in fact heading them towards danger and is as immoral as committing the crime against women themselves.
