The Twenty-Fourth Gleam

 

Dress code for women

 

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters, as well as the women (wives and daughters) of the believers, to draw over themselves some part of their outer garments (when outside their homes and when before men whom they are not forbidden to marry because of blood relation). (33: 59)

 

This verse orders the veiling of women. However, modern, dissolute civilization opposes this order of the Qur’an; it does not consider the veiling of women to be natural for them, and regards it as a form of slavery.

 

The answer

I will explain only four of the instances of wisdom in this order of the Qur’an, which shows that veiling is entirely natural for women, and that any assertion contrary to it opposes the innate disposition of women.

 

The first instance of wisdom

Veiling is natural for women and their innate disposition demands it. For women are weak, gentle and delicate in nature, and feel in need of protection and help for both themselves and their children, whom they love more than their own lives. Therefore, they have an inborn tendency to make themselves loved and not to be rebuffed.

Also, six or seven out of every ten women are either advancing in age or unattractive. They do not want to show their age and be known to be unattractive. Many among them do not, out of jealousy, want to appear unattractive in relation to others who are more beautiful. In addition, they are afraid of being subjected to aggression or aspersion, and do not want to be accused of unfaithfulness by their husbands. All these and similar other factors naturally lead them to cover themselves. If noted carefully, it is the elderly among women who hide themselves most. Out of ten women, there are only two or three who are both young and beautiful and do not feel uneasy about displaying themselves.

It is a fact that people are made uncomfortable at and hurt by the gaze of those whom they do not like, often finding it unbearable. Indeed, if a beautiful, immodestly dressed woman takes pleasure at the gaze of two or three out of the ten men who can canonically marry her, she cannot bear the gaze of the remaining seven or eight. Also, since a beautiful woman who is not morally corrupt is sensitive and easily affected, she will certainly be distressed at indecent, dirty looks that experiences have proven to have a harmful effect, and which are, indeed, poisonous. We even hear that in Europe, where women do not cover themselves, many women are disturbed by gazes and complain to the police, saying, “These scoundrels keep staring at us and disturb us.” This means that the unveiling of women by modern civilization is contrary to their natures, while the order in the Qur’an for veiling is not only in conformity with women’s natures, but it also saves these mines of compassion who may be worthy companions for all eternity from degeneration, abasement, and from what is, in effect, slavery and wretchedness.

Furthermore, women are by nature fearful of men who are strangers. Fear naturally demands protection. For in addition to having to bear the heavy burden of carrying a child for eight or nine months, which will certainly embitter eight or nine minutes’ pleasure, there is also the possibility of suffering the calamity of bringing up the child for eight or nine years in return for the eight or nine minutes’ illicit pleasure. As it frequently happens, a woman has a natural fear of men who are strangers, and her disposition causes her to keep away from them. Her natural weakness forces her not to stir up the appetites of strange men and cause their assault, showing that her cloak is her shield and stronghold. I was told that a shoe-shiner had beset the bare-legged wife of a high-ranking man in the capital city, in the market-place, in broad daylight in front of people. This deals a slap in the shameless faces of those who oppose the veiling of women.

 

The second instance of wisdom

The substantial and strong relationship, and the love and interest between men and women do not arise only from the needs of the worldly life. Indeed, a woman is not a companion of her husband only in the world; she is his companion also in the eternal life and he is hers. As she is so, she certainly should not attract the looks of others besides her husband, her everlasting companion, to her beauty, and should not offend him and arouse his jealousy. As, from belief, her believing husband’s relationship with her is not restricted to this worldly life, he does not feel merely animal love towards her during her years while she has beauty, but rather he should both love and respect her sincerely not only when she is young and beautiful but also during her old age, as she will be his companion in also the other, eternal life; for sure, humanity requires that she should in return present her beauties to his view alone and restrict her love to him. Otherwise she would gain very little but lose much.

Islam demands that the husband and wife should be a good match each for the other. This should be so particularly in the matter of religion. How happy is the husband who sees his wife’s good religious life and follows her, becoming a pious one in order not to lose her companionship in the eternal life. How happy is the wife who sees her husband’s good religious life and becomes a pious, righteous one in order not to lose her eternal friend. Alas for the man who indulges in dissipation, which will lose him his righteous wife forever. How unfortunate is the woman who does not follow her God-revering, pious husband and loses her eternal, blessed friend. And thousands of woes on the unhappy husband and wife who imitate each other in transgression and dissipation, and help each other to enter Hellfire!

 

The third instance of wisdom

Happiness in family life is possible and continuous through mutual confidence, sincere respect, and love between the husband and wife. Immodest dress and indecency destroy this mutual confidence, respect, and love. For many out of the women who prefer immodest dress wish to be found beautiful and attractive by others. (Most husbands think that their wives who prefer immodest dress want to make themselves loved by other men whom they find more handsome than them.) There can always be men who are more handsome than the husband of any wife. Nine out of ten of them will find men who are more handsome than their husbands. And only one out of twenty men does not find women who are more beautiful than his wife. Then, in addition to the evaporation of the mutual love and respect between the couples, extremely ugly and base feelings may arise, as follows:

By nature, men do not feel any lust towards the women who are within the forbidden degrees of relationship for marriage, like for example, their sisters, because the faces of such relatives suggest affection and licit love due to their close kinship, and thus do not arouse any sexual inclinations. But leaving uncovered the parts of the body which the Shari‘a has forbidden to be exposed to close relatives, like the legs, might arouse extremely nasty feelings in some base souls. For the face of a close relative suggests close kinship and does not resemble the faces of others outside the degrees of kinship. However, a bare leg is the same as that of a canonical stranger in the feelings it may arouse. Since it does not have any distinguishing mark to recall the close kinship of its owner, it may attract lusty looks from some men of close kinship who have a low character. Such looks mean a degeneration that makes one’s hair stand on end.

 

The fourth instance of wisdom

Everyone wants to have children. There is no nation or government which does not support an increase in the population. In fact, the noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, declared, “Marry and increase, for on the Resurrection Day I will take pride in your large numbers in comparison to other communities.”26 However, immodest dress causes the number of marriages to decrease. For even the most dissolute and modern young man wants his wife to be chaste. Since he does not want her to be immodest like himself, he prefers remaining single, and even falls into illicit relationships.

Women cannot restrict their husbands’ behavior to the extent that men can restrict theirs. For being the director of the internal affairs in the home, and therefore charged with all her husband’s property, possessions, and children, the most essential characteristic of women is loyalty and confidence. Immodest dress may cause the husband to lose his confidence in her and suffer pangs of suspicion. In fact, courage and generosity, two praiseworthy qualities when found in men, are not regarded (in traditional communities) to be so in women as they are in men, as they may suggest a lack of trust and loyalty. The primary duties of men are to protect, provide maintenance, be kind, and respect, but the loyalty expected from women is greater. It is more difficult for women to restrict their husbands’ behavior. While a woman cannot be shared and be married to more than one man at the same time, a man can have more than one woman in wedlock.

Our country cannot be compared with Europe because honor can be preserved there to a certain extent by violent means such as the duel, despite immodest dress. One who makes eyes at the wife of an honorable, self-respecting man does so only after he has taken his life in his own hand.27

Furthermore, the people of Europe with the exception of those of the Mediterranean countries are mostly cold and frigid, like its climate. However, compared to Europe, the Muslim lands are torrid. It is a well-known fact that the environment has an effect on people’s morality. In those cold countries, immodest dress excites the carnal appetites and desires of those cold people only relatively, and does not lead to much abuse. But immodest dress continually incites the carnal desires of the easily influenced and sensitive people of hot countries, and causes much abuse, waste, the weakening of young generations, and a loss of strength. Instead of satisfying natural needs once a month or every twenty days, people feel forced to do so every few days. Since they are obliged to avoid their wives for one to two weeks in every month because of contingencies like their monthly period, they are defeated by their carnal appetites, and will become inclined to illicit relationships.

Urban people cannot attempt to unveil women on the pretext of how rural women dress. For rural women have to work outside and do heavy work for the livelihood of themselves and their families, which usually makes them worn-out and somewhat coarse. Therefore, their being partially unveiled neither attracts as much attention like urban women nor incites carnal desires. Furthermore, since there are also only a few dissolute, idle men in villages, even one tenth of the vice witnessed in cities is not found there. So such a comparison cannot be made.

 

Said Nursi

26 Abdur-Razzaq, al-Musannaf, 6:173; al-Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, 1:380

27 This was so historically. (Tr.)