Forwarded from an email:
Assalamualaikum and a very good day,
I took the initiative to re forward this article in
case anybody who attended the recent "Leading Minds 2"
forum involving Zainah Anwar and the rest. In it
Zainah kept mentioning about wearing the hijab as not
part of the Islamic teachings and so on and so forth.
May the article below can serve as a second opinion
for all of us to come up with a better grasp on the
subject of hijab or veil.
(start)
There has been many debates lately about whether head
cover for women is prescribed by the Quran or not.
Zainah Anwar and Sisters In Islam argues that such
ruling does not concur with the Quran.
The liberals based their argument on verse 24:31.
Since the verse is lengthy, the part related to head
covering ( or not) is as follows:
< ...wal yadrib bi khumur ala juyubihinna...>
Translation: "..and lower your head cover over your
bossoms/cleavage.."
The liberal muslims argues that the verse above orders
women only to cover their bossoms( So a bikini clad
woman is considered as covering her aurah).
The main difference between the liberal's
interpretation and that of the so call traditionalists
lies in two terms as mentioned above: Al Khimar ( or
Al khumur) and Al Jayb ( or Juyubihhina).
Lets divulge ourselve in the arguments of the
'traditionalist" and see if their argument is actually
based upon chauvinist tendecies of islamic scholars or
actually based upon scholarly endeavour.
The meaning of Al Khimar and Al Jayb from a language
perspective are as follows( note most of these books
are in arabic and are not available in english or
malay translations):
1) In Lisanul Arab by Ibnu Manzur ( note: Lisanul Arab
is the most authoritive Arabic dictionary acknowledge
by both Eastern and Western Islamic Scholars):
Al Khimar is a piece of cloth used by women to cover
their head.
Al Jayb is the area above the bossom and just below
the neck.
This particular translation can be found in almost all
Arabic dictionary
2) To support the translation above I quote you an
arabic "syair" or poetry from the book " Al-Isabah
fii Tamyiiz al-Sahabah" by Ibn Hajar Asqalani, Juz 7,
pg 613 as follows
(Note: In the Arabic language, poetries are used to
clarify meanings of a certain word or phrase. The
dedicated discipline of knowledge related to this
field in Arabic is called Al Balaghah):
<Wallahi laa amnihuha syiraraha *
wa hiya allati arkhasu anni aaruhaa*
Wa lau halakat kharaqat KHIMARUHA *
wattakhadzat min syari SIDAARAHA *>
Which simply means in Malay( cause I have problems
translating Arabic poetry into english)
Demi Allah, tidaklah aku beri kepadanya kerana
kejahatannya(sebenarnya)
Dia lah yang terlebih ringan dariku keaibannya
(kerana) sekiranya binasa dia, dan koyaklah KHIMARnya
(masih ada baginya) rambutnya untuk dibuat penutup
dada
The poetry above clearly diffrentiate between a HEAD
COVER: which is KHIMAR and a cover of CHEST or BOSSOM:
which is SIDAR.
This particular poetry is also qouted by Ibnu Manzur
in Lisanul Arab.
The explanation from At Tafseer perspective is given
below:
1)Ref: Ibnu Jarir at-Tabari in Jamii al-Bayan ann
Takwil ay al-Quran (Publisher: Dar el-Fikr, Beirut),
vol 10, p 159 in which he states that Al KHumur is
plural to the
word Khimar over Juyubihinna that is for covering the
hair, neck, ear rings and juyub.
2)Ref:Fakh ar-Razi in Tafsir al-Kabir (Publisher: Dar
Ihya at-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut),vol 8, p 364 and he
says
" as for khumur, in which it's singular is khimar ia a
type of mask( in short: purdah). Accrording to
mufassir ( interpreters of the Quran): verily the
women in the time of Jahiliyyah ( time of the Prophet)
they would tie their head cover around their neck
without covering their "juyub" ( meaning cleavage)
Verily, Juyubihinna is the part in front, a part of
the chest which is above the bossoms and just below
the neck. And it is ordered ( by 24:31) for that part
to be covered by " Al Khimar"( purdah) or head cover
including the hair, ear rings( or ear) and the neck"
3)Al-Mawardi in an-Nukatu wal-Uyun Tafsir al-Mawardi
(Publiser: Dar al-Kutob al-Ilmiah, Beirut), vol 4, p
92 he says:
Al Khimar is a type of veil, ordered upon (by God) to
be lowered as to cover their bossoms entirely and that
includes the area above th chest. Verily before this(
before the order in 24:31 was given) the khimar was
lowered on the back of the women and thus exposing
the upper part of the chest.(In the footnote, the
"muhaqiq" by the name of Abdul Al Maqud Abdul Rahim
added that Ibnu Hajr Asqalani says that Al Khimar is a
purdah that covers her whole face and ordered upon to
be lowered to cover a women's bossom and cleavage.)
4)Al-Alusiin Ruh al-Maani (publiser

ar al-Kutob
al-Ilmiah), vol 9, pg 336-337 says:
" and it is a type of purdah that is being lowered by
women from their heads downwards like a drape. And Al
Juyb: It is the opening on the uppper most part of a
women's dress ( thus cleavage)thus exposing a part of
their chest"
In addition Al Alusi further explained that the common
practice of women during the Jahiliyyah period is that
they would lower their khimar to cover their back
rather then their front. Thus explaining the manner
in the wording in 24:31.
In conclusion, the argument given by liberalist are
mostly flimsy and half baked argument lacking in much
needed facts and supporting evidence.
As opposed to the tradionalist which preceeds their
interpretation of verse 24:31 with careful and
detailed study of the verse. They did not simply come
up with whimsical interpretation of the verse but with
careful and detail consideration.
Thank you.