Umm Jamaal ud-Din – Debunking Doubts About Hijaab
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the history and importance of the obligation of men to cover their bodies for a period of time. It touches on the misconceptions of "will" and the need for guidance from the artist. The segment also touches on the importance of sharia and the use of "has" in the past to describe women as act of submission. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by women in society and the need for guidance. The segment ends with a brief advertisement for a book.
AI: Summary ©
As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuhu, my
dear people.
Welcome to another episode of whatever we are
trying to do here.
We have today with us Shaykh-e-Umm
Jamaluddin Mona Parkin.
She is an Australian Reward to Islam and
she is a well-known Islamic scholar and
she has spent more than 25 years in
her pursuit of seeking knowledge.
She has a Bachelor's in Fiqh and Usul
-ul-Fiqh from the University of Al-Madinah
or Al-Madinah International University and she is
currently in her final semester of Masters.
She is doing Masters in Fiqh.
Welcome sister.
I am so honoured that you joined us
because what's going on in here we really
needed a scholar to come and enlighten us
on this topic that will be and before
before moving on this another part of the
introduction which is very important to mention that
Shaykhah Umm Jamaluddin is from amongst the first
three qualified female members of Australian National Imam
Council and she is a Sharia Sciences and
Qur'an teacher to thousands of women around
Australia for almost 20 years.
I didn't know I'm going to fumble while
I'm reading that.
I just made sure that I read that
so I don't fumble but anyway so such
a strong credential sister.
May Allah reward you for that.
How is there in Australia?
How is everything over there?
By Allah, alhamdulillah, nahmanallah.
It's all right.
Alhamdulillah.
We're just I mean so many different things
going on.
May Allah make it easy for all of
us inshallah and give us tawfeeq and all
of our affairs.
Ameen.
Ameen.
And I'm especially grateful that I know how
busy you are and you have taken out
time from your busy schedule so I'm genuinely
very very grateful.
So let's get started.
I really really want to thank you and
ask Allah to reward you for encouraging me
to come on and speak about this topic
that you know it's a repetitive question that
keeps coming up with a lot of sisters
especially and I think we it's about time
we deal with it hopefully in a very
comprehensive manner inshallah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Inshallah.
So at least my audience would have guessed
by now that we are going to be
talking about hijab.
This is not something the challenges and on
the modern interpretation that we are hearing today
is from Jamaluddin.
You and I know that this is not
something new but of course this is pretty
new when it is unfolding in the parts
of the world that it has not been
heard of ever before right.
So I'm going to be asking you some
straightforward questions to clarify the doubts about hijab
for us.
So first up I will be starting with
you know there are some sort of modern
interpretation that says that hijab has not been
mentioned in Quran or hijab has not been
mentioned as a part of women clothing.
It is sort of a patriarchal tafsir.
It is in parenthesis.
It is interpretive clutter and whatnot.
So what do you have to say about
it like how how will you guide us
on that?
Yeah inshallah.
Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa ala
rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man
wala.
We ask Allah to purify our intentions inshallah
and coming here bi idhni Allah ta'ala
and I ask Allah that anything we say
here will be of immense benefit for anyone
who listens to it inshallah.
So my dear sister Bella and to all
of our listeners inshallah out there one of
the misconceptions surrounding the hijab is you know
you have some people who say I can't
find the word hijab written in the Quran.
So therefore it mustn't be fault like it
mustn't be obligatory if I can't find the
word hijab written in the Quran right.
So first of all it's important for us
to understand what does hijab mean?
When we go to the Arabic language what
does hijab mean?
It means a sitr right which means to
conceal right.
Now in Arabic you actually say hajab al
shay if something is covered or concealed right.
So any barrier that conceals or shields something
is what can be referred to as hijab.
So we could call a curtain hijab we
could call a door hijab right.
So this is the linguistic meaning of hijab
and so this is how the covering that
a Muslim woman adorns and covers herself with
became known as hijab.
So the hijab of a Muslim woman is
what she covers her entire body and head
with so that it acts like a barrier
to prevent the eyes of non-mahram men
from looking at her right.
So one of the things I want the
dear listeners to understand is that the word
hijab isn't only just referring to the covering
of a woman's hair right.
Rather the word that refers to the covering
for a Muslim woman's hair and head is
actually khimar and the meaning of khimar is
very specific and if you go back to
the classical Arabic dictionaries which contain the definitions
for the original Arabic language as it was
used by the Arabs, you see when you
look up the word khimar it says ثوب
تغطي به المرأة رأسها Right so it's a
garment with which a woman covers her hair
with right.
So that's why when Allah Ta'ala commands
the believing women to cover their heads and
hair He uses the specific word khimar and
not hijab.
So if you could look at the verse
in Surat An-Nur verse 31 where Allah
Ta'ala says وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُدْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ
وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبَدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ
مِنْهَا And say to the believing women to
lower their gaze and guard their private parts
and to not reveal their adornments except for
that which is apparent and then he says
وَلْيَضْرِدْنَا بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ Right let them draw
their khumurihinna their khimar or the khumar is
plural of khimar عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ Okay completely over
جُيُوبِهِنَّ right this word So in other words
the believing women here were commanded to draw
their khimar which they used to wear draped
over their heads towards their back So Allah
is commanding them where they used to you
know wear it like that to the back
To bring it around their heads and over
their جُيُوبِهِنَّ Which means this chest area So
that now the khimar will completely cover all
of their hair and ears and neck Right
and all of their chest area And al
-iman al-qurtubi رحم الله Who is one
of the greatest and well-known scholars of
tafsir of the Quran He explains this very
clearly in his tafsir And he says that
this is because the women at that time
used to cover their heads with a khimar
A head covering but they used to wear
it to the back So that their neck
and ears were showing And so that's why
allahu ta'ala ordered them to bring the
khimar over the necks and chests In order
to cover all of those parts And we
even have a narration from Aisha the wife
of the Prophet ﷺ Who explains that the
meaning of this verse Is to bring a
thick khimar that conceals themselves with it So
just to make it crystal clear you know
to all of our dear listeners The difference
between the hijab and a khimar Is that
the word hijab is actually what refers to
The covering of the whole of the body
on the head of a woman Right while
the khimar is the covering she wears for
her head and hair only So you know
please understand everybody that the meaning of hijab
Is more comprehensive than the khimar And part
of the hikmah or wisdom why allahu ta
'ala Has chosen to use this specific reference
of khimar in this verse Is so that
there can be no doubt in anyone's mind
Concerning what is being spoken about exactly One
of the things that you have very meticulously
explained And that has always been the classical
understanding That there is a khimar over your
head And allah is asking you to draw
them To cover your front part But it's
very interesting that modern and progressive interpretation Is
more towards as if allah is asking you
to take off your khimar And put it
on your jiyu This makes this hardly makes
any sense Allah is already using a very
comprehensive word To say that something that is
already covering your head Draw it over you
know your chest to cover that as well
And he's not saying that you know take
it off your head And use it to
cover your chest So this is one of
the you know argument that has been presented
by All those who you know follow the
progressive or modern interpretation of quran That quran
is not asking you to cover the head
Because it doesn't explicitly say It just asks
you to cover your front part right So
but if you do go into the depth
and understanding Of what the word is actually
saying And this is not like a male
tafsir or you know Men doing the tafsir
of quran It is the word that is
being translated using all the classical sources So
thank you very much this So sister let
me know that Does that establish the fact
that hijab is for the upon women And
or is there any other proof that we
need Yeah for sure We'll just just want
to quickly add as well Something to what
you just said right now And that is
have a look at all the pictures of
mariam alaihissalam Even the christians put her with
with a type of you know head covering
It was just very traditional for women in
those times to wear Like this head covering
they didn't So anyway It's a very recent
phenomenon Whatever we are experiencing in terms of
you know Modernity and post-modernity is all
about women wearing lesser and lesser clothes In
the past it has the classical or the
you know all those era Women were like
even even men They had like a lot
of clothes which they would wear If not
a lot of clothes in terms of you
know Amassing like having a full fledged wardrobe
Then at least they had the cloth that
would cover the body in its entirety It's
my apologies if i interrupted you please go
ahead No that's okay no problem at all
Yeah so you know it is important for
us to talk about you know What are
the proofs for the obligation of a muslim
woman Who has reached the age of puberty
To cover her hair and her body with
the hijab right And so we have to
realize that the proofs for that obligation Is
based on the quran the authentic sunnah And
what is known as the ijma' Which is
the consensus of the islamic scholars right And
there's actually no difference of opinion amongst the
scholars Regarding its obligation And we're talking about
throughout the entire history of al-islam Okay
the only difference of opinion the scholars had
Is whether the obligation of hijab includes covering
the face and hands also And some also
considered it not to be including the covering
of the feet As you would know like
from the Hanafi school right But all scholars
are in agreement that an adult muslim woman
Must cover her hair and head and there's
no difference of opinion on that I completely
agree i was just a couple of days
back I was listening to a sheikh and
he was an arab And he was like
subhanallah where did this come from These are
amongst the matters of ijma' Complete consensus throughout
the history right And subhanallah the fitn and
the challenges that post-modernity is throwing at
us May Allah protect us all Yeah so
in fact you know just on your point
you were just making About how you know
that imam was surprised where this is coming
from Just to further reiterate that point you
know The obligation of hijab is actually so
certain and so clear That it's from what
the scholars refer to as being Right which
means that it is so well known right
Due to you know the proofs for it
are so clear and so well known And
agreed upon by the entire muslim ummah That
no one has an excuse not to know
about it That's to the level of how
sure it is and how definite right And
that's why what I really like the listeners
to understand Is that for anyone who comes
now in the year 2024 And claims or
tries to claim that you know the hijab
And the covering of the hair for an
adult muslim woman is not fad And not
a bigotry They need to be completely ignored
right Because by saying such a thing they
have totally deviated And left the ijma' or
what the consensus of the scholars And ummah
have agreed throughout history And in fact it's
actually forbidden and not allowed for anyone To
have a difference of opinion on a matter
Once there's been an established ijma' And especially
when that ijma' has been agreed upon By
the entire body of scholars of islam You
know what I mean so But I want
to go through these proofs Because I want
this session inshallah with you know To be
one in which we debunk all of these
doubts that people are having So I want
to first talk to you I've spoken about
the proof from ijma' But I want to
now just give some proofs from the quran
And also inshallah from the authentic hadith right
So as for the proof for the hijab
from the quran We have we already spoke
a moment ago about the ayah in surat
an-nur Right that was the ayah in
surat an-nur But there's also the other
verse Most people would know these verses But
the other verse about hijab is in surat
al-ahzab verse 59 And in that one
allahu ta'ala says Ya ayyuhan nabiyu kulli
azwajika wabanaatika wanisa'il mu'mineena yudneena alayhinna min
jalabibihin Right so he in this verse allahu
ta'ala says Oh prophet say to your
wives your daughters and the believing women To
draw closely around themselves the jalabib Right so
this ayah allahu ta'ala is telling the
prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam To order his
wives his daughters and also the believing women
in general Okay to draw closely around themselves
their jalabib or their outer garments Why because
previously the way that they used to wear
their jalabib in the days of ignorance Was
as i said before loosely hanging them over
themselves towards the back And so that way
you could see like their hair their earrings
their neck their chests You know other adornments
And so that's why in this verse allahu
ta'ala is telling the believing women To
draw your jalabib you know around yourselves So
that your hair and neck and chests and
you know jewelry and adornments Will now be
completely covered with those jalabib those outer cloaks
So that's the proof but they're the proofs
from the quran Surah al ahzab And then
also you've got from the proofs from the
sunnah And from them there's there's many proofs
for that too But i'm going to mention
a couple quickly One of them is the
hadith from reported by Aisha radiallahu anha About
Asma the daughter of Abu Bakr Siddiq radiallahu
anhuma She entered upon the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam wearing a thin garment And so
the hadith mentions that he turned away from
her And he told her that when a
woman reaches the age of puberty That nothing
should be shown from her except her He
said except this and this And he it's
mentioned that he pointed towards his face and
his hands And this hadith was reported by
a number of scholars Like a number of
scholars recorded that in their hadith books Right
the hadith scholars In another hadith also reported
by Aisha Who would know best about the
women right Then Aisha she's the wife of
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam The greatest
scholar in islam right Female scholar right Greatest
female scholar subhanallah She said may Allah be
merciful to the muhajirat women When Allah sent
down the verses Those verses that we have
spoken about before You know that they washed
and tore up their aprons And covered themselves
with it This is what she says and
look at the verse Look at the word
she uses Right that they actually again she's
using the word khimar Okay in this hadith
it mentions She uses the word that relates
to al khimar The same words we've been
talking about Okay to do with hijab Right
so this is the proofs That are very
clear from the quran From the sunnah and
as we said the ijma of the Like
the entire history of islam Very true So
very grateful I think it's a very very
comprehensive answer One of the things that you
have mentioned And I would just probably like
to reiterate That Aisha being a female scholar
Right so a lot of attention towards classical
sources is that Oh this is you know
all men's interpretation Men's interpretation Men have been
the scholar So who is Aisha?
Right and we know that after Abu Huraira
And who will be the most hadith that
are That we that we have learned is
through Aisha So subhanallah a lot of myths
are being debunked here Although these are some
of the myths That probably we are not
directly aiming to debunk But subhanallah So is
it hijab and naqab and jilbab all of
that Is it for a certain but certain
class of women For a certain period of
time Or you know the modernity that we
live in We don't need it anymore And
that leads to quite some challenges That inshallah
we'll be talking about But is it for
a certain period of time For a particular
kind of women Yeah look that's a that's
such a good question Like you know we've
already spoken about Like the unanimous agreement of
the scholars And ummah of islam upon the
obligation of hijab For a woman who's reached
puberty right And we have to realize this
ruling is for all times and places And
you know this is as clear and sure
As the obligation for a muslim to pray
five times a day Or to fast the
month of Ramadan That's how clear that obligation
is right So the hijab is not a
ruling that you know Changes according to changes
in time or place Because allah did not
send islam To only one specific group of
people Rather he sent it as the final
revelation For all mankind and for every age
And when allah revealed the quran He already
knew about any changes That's going to take
place in the future And that's why the
deen of islam Is suitable for every time
and place Now one of the misconceptions about
the hijab That we've been seeing some people
Trying to spread in modern times Is that
the hijab was only an obligation That was
given you know to a certain class of
women for example And so they say that
you know Now that those different classes are
no longer existing It means that there's no
longer any need For the obligation of hijab
And so this is where it's important for
us To speak about what the scholars refer
to as the illah Or the cause for
the obligation of hijab right Which is as
the scholars have referred to Or what they
have said it's due to Tahrim and nazar
right Preventing a non-mahram male from looking
at a woman Why from due to the
fear of fitna that can come from that
Right so in other words it's preventing men
What is the cause for the ruling Is
out of preventing men from looking at a
believing woman With a lustful gaze Due to
the natural attraction Which occurs between males and
females And can easily lead to fitna Now
I think most of the listeners would know
That it's not even allowed in Islam For
a believer to look at the opposite gender
With a lustful gaze And Islam doesn't just
forbid the haram It also blocks the paths
which lead to haram as well Right that's
something you have to realize And so this
is you know The hijab is one of
the mechanisms That that Allah has ordered for
That blocks the paths to haram as well
So now going back to this other misconception
That the reason Allah ordered for the hijab
Was only to distinguish between free and noble
women From the slave women Right this is
one misconception that people are coming with If
we go back to the ayah in al
-ahzab verse 59 Which we had just spoken
about Where Allah commands the believing women To
draw their jalabib around themselves In the same
ayah he says Right so he says the
meaning of this is So that why did
Allah order them To draw their jalabib around
themselves He said so that they will be
known And identified as free believing women Who
are to be honored and respected And for
their vein that not to be harmed And
messed around with By those who have corruption
in their hearts Now one of the things
we have to be One of the things
that we need to be clear about Is
that this ayah in no way means That
men are freely allowed to mess around Or
flirt with slave women It's not implying that
at all But what the scholars have mentioned
Is that because the slave women at that
time Were predominantly outdoors And required to do
laborious forms of work Like you know fetching
water from well And stuff like that Quite
laborious types of work There was a level
of relaxation for them In relation to what
they were required to cover And due to
that those who had a corrupt heart Might
see them as like an easier target To
try to mess around with them Even though
doing such a thing is haram But for
the free believing women Because the hijab And
you'd know this as a psychologist That the
hijab even is known to have Like a
psychological effect Of placing a type of boundary
Between a woman and a non-mahram man
It sends a message in particular To those
who have corrupt hearts That she's not an
easily to be accessed woman Whom that you
can mess around with Rather you know the
hijab is putting that message out That this
is a woman with high values and morals
And she has her boundaries that need to
be respected And sister Bella I just want
to also mention here That there is actually
a difference of opinion Amongst the scholars On
what exactly was allowed for slave women to
show And this is based upon Like there
is one report in which during You know
during the Khilafah of Umar That he used
to forbid the slave women From covering their
heads With either a khimar or a jilbab
So that they did not falsely present themselves
As being non-slaves However many scholars were
of the view That a believing slave woman
Should cover herself exactly like a free woman
Especially if she was young and beautiful And
if there was a fear of fitna So
we have to realize there's actually a difference
of opinion Amongst the scholars And don't think
that all slaves Were just going around uncovered
Okay there's a lot of there's a lot
of context to this And you have for
example statements by for example Imam Ahmed rahimallah
As is recorded in al-mughni That if
the slave woman is beautiful She must even
cover her face with a niqab And it's
not allowed for a man to look at
her All right even a niqab Not just
not just hijab you know Not just the
head covering of khimar right Because as we
said previously The cause for the obligation of
hijab Is actually due to preventing fitna Right
while the specific relaxation of hijab for slaves
Was only due to it being difficult for
them To perform that laborious work That they
were required to do while covered up But
one thing I just want to also note
here too Is that when the types of
slaves changed Because the type of slaves that
were there And you know that were present
during When when Islam was first revealed The
type of slaves that they had in those
days Changed a lot with the expansion of
the islamic empire And this is why you
see many scholars Like you've got quotes from
for example Imam al-Nawbi You've got like
from the Shafi'i madhhab right You've got
Ibn Hazm from the Zahiri madhhab Ibn Taymiyyah,
Shafi'i Ibn Taymiyyah later on Warning about
how young attractive slave women Are not to
be looked at And that they must cover
themselves up Just like a free believing woman
So I want the listeners to understand That
the function of the hijab Of distinguishing the
free believing women From the slave women Is
only one of the wisdoms for the ruling
of hijab It's not the fundamental cause or
illa For the legislation of hijab Okay that's
a very important point to understand And there
are many other wisdoms for the hijab as
well Right such as the hijab being a
mechanism That leads to greater chastity and modesty
In the muslim society Also that the hijab
is something Which is pure for the hearts
For both the believing men and women In
their interactions with each other Like if you
read in Surah Al-Ahzab verse 53 Allah
says وَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُهُنَّ مَتَاعًا فَاسْأَلُوهُنَّ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ هِجَابٍ
When you ask them for something Ask them
from behind a hijab And Allah says ذَٰلِكُمْ
أَطُحَوْ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنْ That is more pure for
your hearts And for their hearts And you
know who that verse was to?
That was to like the likes of Omar
When he wants to request something from Aisha
Or that's the likes of you know Do
you know what I'm trying to say?
Like this is Best of men and best
of women And Allah's saying that this is
أَطُحَوْ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنْ So you can't No one
can claim that the corruption at that time
Was worse than the corruption of today There's
no way in the world, right?
But look Finally I just want to add
another important point Which is that This is
very important people This is a bit technical
But I want people to understand this Because
there's been a lot of misinformation put out
there, right?
Look the rulings in the sharia Are not
tied to their wisdoms, okay?
So there are wisdoms for these legislations But
the rulings in sharia are not tied To
the wisdoms for them to be legislated So
if the wisdoms Or if the wisdom of
distinguishing Between the free believing women From slaves
no longer exists That has no effect whatsoever
On the original ruling And as I said
before The original ruling is actually based upon
preventing fitna Right?
Which is most likely to occur as a
result Of a man being able to see
those parts of a woman Which she has
been commanded by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to cover Right?
Why?
Like we said before about Maryam Why do
they always put Maryam in such a conservative
way?
Because it makes a difference Wearing a head
covering makes a difference But I just want
to finish off by saying too That even
if women The other claim is that Even
if women no longer face harm of being
harassed Due to uncovering themselves Which I don't
think we can even argue this does not
occur Right?
Absolutely That has absolutely no effect Nor does
it remove the obligation from women Being required
to cover themselves with the hijab Yeah, completely
Yeah, I just wanted to put those points
forward I think they're very important Because this
is the type of argument that's been put
out there We just really need to debunk
all of this from its root Absolutely And
a few of the very profound things that
you said And the illah it remains The
hukum remains But even if there was no
illah The hukum of Allah if it has
not been abrogated Then you and I have
no authority whatsoever to abrogate it It's still
there in Quran And we are believing free
women And we are bound to follow that
And there is a point where a Muslim
is supposed to say Sama'na wa ta
'na Yeah, actually there's something different between There's
a difference between a hikmah and an illah
So what I was saying to you is
That other distinguishing between free-believing women and
slaves Is actually considered as a hikmah It's
considered as a wisdom Not the illah It's
not the main illah For why, you know,
the hijab was legislated Like, you know, men
are going to be attracted to women Until
the end of time That's not going to
change Exactly, exactly This was this particularly what
I was alluding to When I said illah
That men are or, you know, the possibility
of this shirk I mean, who can say
that this is not there It is still
there Or perhaps it's worse than ever before
Because we have access to, you know, all
these websites And stuff that, you know, media
is going crazy So it's worse than ever
before I mean, it takes a lot of
courage to say that we live in an
age That perhaps the illah doesn't remain Or
the cause doesn't remain But may Allah guide
us all I'll take the conversation ahead, sister
And a few of the statements that apparently
look very intellectual Very, you know, open-minded
So when they say that, you know, isn't
modesty enough Women should be dressed modestly And
men should be lowering their gaze And it's
okay for the women to dress modestly So
my question to you is That I usually
ask other knowledgeable people as well What is
modesty?
Who defines modesty?
Is it enough for women to be modest
according to her own definition?
So any conversation around all those points?
Any thoughts around all those points?
Yeah, sure I mean, let's be honest Modesty
means different things to different people You know,
as we've seen, especially in the West You
know, what was viewed as modest in the
past Has significantly changed to what it is
today Look at the...
What's happened to bikinis?
I mean, look at how it started Like
if you go back to the early...
You know, earlier this century You might see
a woman in Australia wearing Like, you know,
maybe a...
Like, I don't know, a short sleeved top
and long pants And that was considered outrageous,
you know Now, like what's considered modest on
the beach Is completely changed, right?
So look, the bottom line is Allah is
the one who created us And he knows
what's best for us ultimately, right?
You know, he's the one who's more aware
of our nature As males and females So,
you know, and subhanAllah Allah Ta'ala has
shown us that the boundaries for a male
For what a male may see Of a
female that he's not related to Stops at
her face and hands at the bare minimum
That's the boundary, right?
That Allah Ta'ala has given us And
some of the scholars such as the Hanafi
school They include the feet in that also
But, you know, that's the boundaries that Allah
Ta'ala has given us And of course,
Allah Ta'ala is...
He has created us, he knows the best
And he knows the boundaries the best as
well So when we do wear hijab and
niqab and all of that Some people have
this understanding That it is more of a
display of piety And we think that, you
know The self-righteousness that emanates from us
is very toxic So is it a symbol
of piety?
Is it a symbol of practicing women?
Non-practicing women?
What is that?
Yeah, it's such a good question So look,
you know, we've got to understand That wearing
hijab is not a statement of saying I
am more pious than you, right?
Wearing hijab is an act of submission and
obedience To what Allah Ta'ala has commanded
Every believing woman to adhere to In the
same way that, you know Just like a
believer needs to adhere to Allah Ta'ala's
command For them to pray and fast And,
you know, I just want to point out
something here Which a lot of people don't
realize That the meaning of Islam is to
have what's known as submission Which is al
-istislam Like you might have this word, I'm
not sure Like in Urdu Because I know
that Urdu is very, very close to Arabic
language But, you know, the meaning of Islam
It relates to al-istislam So it means
to have submission And so the true meaning
of being a Muslim Is the one who,
you know, submits and surrenders Himself or herself
to what Allah Ta'ala has commanded And
so you can say that hijab is like
an open act of submission to Allah Ta
'ala And this is why you look at
the reaction of the female companions As soon
as they heard the verses commanding them to
wear the hijab What did they go do?
They rushed home, tore up their aprons And
covered themselves completely As Aisha r.a reported
to us, right?
So what was this from?
This was due to the sincerity of their
iman That was in their hearts And how
much they used to, you know, seek to
surrender To whatever Allah Ta'ala has commanded
This is so beautifully put, sister It's an
open act of submission to Allah, right?
So it's not a display of piety But
it is definitely an open act of display
of submission to Allah Ta'ala And then
there is another extreme that goes to say
that, you know If you are clad in
an abaya or, you know And I think
who can be a better person to answer
this Since you're living in the West That,
you know, it makes you more vulnerable Or
it puts you to the risk of these
Islamophobic crimes and all of that So what
it is like there?
Yeah, right Again, that's a really, SubhanAllah, very
good question So like, look, some people might
use the false premise that, you know Because
the ayah in Surah Al-Ahzab mentioned the
command for the hijab In order to prevent
the believing women from being harmed And so
they say that, you know, well, you know
Now if a woman wears hijab in a
climate of Islamophobia That, you know, she could
be harmed And so therefore she doesn't have
to wear hijab Like something might say that,
okay So firstly, we need to realize that,
you know Islamophobia is a form of racism
And in fact, it's through us as Muslim
women Standing steadfast together upon our hijab And
not compromising it That we actually will help
to break this down And we normalize hijab
in society, right?
And to be honest, telling women to discard
the hijab In the face of Islamophobia Is
like giving in to the bully And also,
we have to acknowledge that brothers Also face
significant Islamophobia due to their beards And even
just their cultural identity, all right Another thing
we have to also acknowledge Is the significant
racism that people of color face And they,
you know, they're not able to just simply
discard The color of their skin to escape
that racism, okay So Islamophobia and racism needs
to be stood against and fought And telling
women to simply discard their hijab As a
reaction is really just a cop-out And
besides that, we need to realize that Allah
does not give us the excuse To give
up on our fundamental practices of Islam Even
if we face hardship, right What he actually
tells us in the Quran Is that if
you're not able to practice your Islam where
you live Then Allah, you know, you'll actually
be asked about that On the day of
resurrection by the angels About why you didn't
make hijrah Why didn't you migrate to another
place Where you were able to practice your
deen completely And so it's only those who
genuinely could not do that Who would be
excused from the sin of not doing it,
right So this is the option open to
us If we're not able to, you know,
wear our hijab In the country that we
are living And be free from the fear
of people attacking us Then we have to
look for another place to live Of course,
if we're not able If we're genuinely not
able to make that move Then we would
be excused before Allah subhanAllah Absolutely, there are
so many nuances to that And of course,
subhanAllah, I had a student And very recently
we know that There were all sorts of
Islamophobic activities going on in the UK And
they were very averse to hijab And they
were doing all sorts of stuff So I
asked my student, is everything okay at your
end And how are you coping and how
are you doing And she said to me
something so profound And she said, sister Bela,
I'd rather die in my hijab Than to
take it off So I am going out
and I'm going like this And I'm not
taking it off SubhanAllah, I think that may
Allah subhanAllah Granted this kind of iman to
all of us And so just if that's
not too intrusive, sister Jamal Please let me
know, how is it like for you To
wear hijab in Australia I mean, subhanAllah, we
live in Pakistan And it is fairly easy
here And Pakistan, despite of all its inadequacies
and challenges I think one of the best
countries to practice Islam Nobody comes to me
and asks me to take it off I
go with my hijab, niqab, this is not
a threat Right, yes, people have their personal
biases, individual biases But it's not a threat,
right I don't go out and I have
any fear of Islamophobia Or anything like that
But how is it like in Australia or
your part of the world Where you wear,
mashallah, full niqab, not even hijab, you know
I'll be honest with you, mashallah Things have
improved so much over the years Like when
I first put the niqab on Which, alhamdulillah,
it's been around about 31 years Alhamdulillah, since
I've been wearing the niqab, alhamdulillah When I
first put it on, you would hardly find
anyone wearing it So it was quite difficult,
you know But now it's just very normal
And the hijab is even easier Hijab is
just so normal now, you know And alhamdulillah,
Australia is one of the better countries to
live in at the moment You know, inshallah,
it stays like that But it's actually pretty
good And it's quite, you know, compared to
a lot of other countries For example, Europe,
it's a lot more tolerant in Australia, alhamdulillah
We have to give credit where it's due
But you still have to, it still takes,
we still need to stand up against Islamophobia
Islamophobia is something that we do have to
face There are people in, and especially with
everything going on overseas Like what's happening in,
for example, with, you know, Gaza and Palestine
That's brought up, that's bring up a lot
of racism now And a lot of Islamophobia,
yeah May Allah protect you And it is
so inspirational 31 years, subhanAllah Like some of
us are born Muslims, sister And we don't
even know the basics, the fundamentals of our
religion And subhanAllah, you reverted And you have
studied so much in depth And that, subhanAllah,
you are teaching us So it's truly inspirational
that the way you're carrying your deen And
I hope that, inshAllah, Allah allow us to
learn things from you One last question, dear
sister And I won't take more of your
time What advice are you going to be
giving to young girls Or perhaps women who
are contemplating to take hijab, niqab But there
are, you know, perhaps family challenges Or perhaps
intellectual challenges Or peer pressure, whatever is there
What's your advice?
A very general advice to all of them
So look, number one What I always say
to sisters is, you know Purify your intention
for Allah, subhanAllah, number one Because if you
really have that sincere intention Allah will make
it easy for you, inshAllah And then secondly,
I just want to also add here Very
important and pertinent to our conversation today And
that is be really careful where and who
you take your information from Especially concerning the
ruling on hijab Definitely do not take your
information from social media And don't take your
information from like academics Who are not able
to even go back to the original books
and statements of the scholars Due to them
not having the level of Arabic required to
be able to do so, right And I
advise anyone with confusions about the hijab To
do what Allah told us in the Qur
'an When he says فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن
كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ If you don't know something,
go and ask the firmly ground scholars That's
the people you should be consulting on any
doubts Or misunderstandings to do with hijab, right
The third thing I wanted to say is
You know, I wanted to share one of
the main things That helped me personally to
gain the motivation To take that final step
of wearing the hijab Which was thinking about
the day of resurrection You know, the day
when we're going to meet with Allah, subhanAllah
And we're going to be called to account
for everything we did in this life And
the scary thing is No one gets the
chance to come back and rectify anything you
did wrong, right Once you die and leave
this life, there's no second chance So just
imagine that feeling of regret That you would
feel meeting Allah, subhanAllah And you haven't acted
upon something like hijab That he ordered you
to do, right That thought is one of
the major things that really motivated me To
take that final step of wearing hijab Even
though, alhamdulillah, when I first put the hijab
on I was actually still living at home
with my non-Muslim parents My non-Muslim
Christian parents And I was working full-time
in a company where there was no Muslims
They were all like just Australians And I
was studying at university, right And in the
area I was living in, there was actually
no Muslims in my area Where I was
living So I looked very strange wearing hijab
when I put it on But Allah gave
me the strength to be able to put
on the hijab And that was before I
was married, by the way I wasn't married
then, I was just living at home with
my parents Because I actually converted to Islam
before I met my husband, alhamdulillah Right I
just want to mention before we move on
too If anyone's interested, I actually do have
quite a few talks on my YouTube channel
If anyone is interested to learn more about
hijab Or just listen to some talks about
motivation to wear hijab I actually have some
other talks about, you know, motivation to wear
hijab Can you post a link to those
talks on your channel?
Look, the last thing I want to remind
everybody as well is Just remember this The
greater the struggle for doing something for Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala The greater the reward
And the Prophet ﷺ told us that there
will come a time Where it's going to
become even more difficult to practice your religion
Right But the good news is that the
reward you get for doing that Is going
to be even greater than it You know,
the reward you're going to get at that
time is far greater than it used to
be Right So there's a particular hadith in
which the message of Allah ﷺ says That
very ahead of you are days of sabr
Right, days of patience When staying steadfast on
one's deen Will be like holding on to
Right Like holding on to a hot coal
And he says that the one who acts
upon his religion And stays steadfast upon his
deen in those days Will receive the reward
of 50 And so the companions asked the
Rasul ﷺ Will it, you know, is it
the reward of 50 like them Or 50
like us And imagine the Rasul ﷺ said
50 of you So imagine the reward will
become so great Due to how difficult things
will get As it's getting difficult, more difficult
As we reach the end of times Things
become more and more difficult to practice our
deen Right So imagine that subhanAllah The reward
a person can get for practicing their deen
In times of difficulty Can reach up to
the level of like 50 of the companions
For doing that deen And I definitely believe
that For many of us living in the
west Who do struggle with our hijab We
ask Allah that he gives us the like
of reward Of like 50 of the sahabiyat
For the reward that they would have got
for wearing the hijab Because hijab at their
time Like especially after Medina was established Was
a lot easier to wear than for example
What like we have to go through living
in the west Absolutely, absolutely Thank you very
much It was very very comprehensive All that
perhaps I wanted to hear from someone You
have said that Actually wearing the hijab Just
the hijab Just the head covering Before I
got married And then later on after I
got married After I had my first son
I heard about the niqab Like I heard
the proofs and those things about the niqab
That's when I put the niqab on So
no I wasn't wearing the niqab first I
put it on later It was a progress
Like I progressed you know as I went
along It has to be a progressive I
mean progression towards what is closer to sunnah
Rather progression towards what's away from the sunnah
So I think that I've taken a lot
of your time But I'm genuinely grateful that
you came You enlightened us You clarified all
the doubts I wouldn't have asked for a
better guest to do that But sister I
would definitely request you to come again To
help us guide us over many other fitnahs
That we are dealing with And I'll wind
it up here inshallah You have any last
words or shall we call it a day?
No jazakallah so much I ask Allah to
make this heavy in your scale sister Bella
Thank you so much for encouraging me To
come and speak on this topic I've been
actually been wanting to To kind of debunk
this topic for a very very long time
So may Allah make it heavy in your
scale And I ask Allah to make us
all steadfast upon our deen And to help
us to meet with Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala In a way that he is pleased
with us And that we feel we are
in a state In which we don't have
any regrets when we meet with him inshallah
And keep us steadfast upon his path And
not be misguided by those who place doubts
in our hearts Around the most basic elements
of our deen Allahumma ameen Ameen yarab Thank
you very much It is very well concluded
sister And I hope that we will meet
again inshallah And thank you very much to
all of you who are listening I hope
this was beneficial for you as well And
we'll come again with another episode And with
perhaps debunking other myths About other fundamentals of
Islam Fakhirul da'wana And alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi ta'ala wa barakatuh