We are in an effort to figure out exactly what God is ordering the lady believers for their modest dress style. Our intention is to act according to the guidelines given by God so that we can attain happiness in this world and enter His paradise in the afterlife. Or is it? Are we really intending to submit ourselves to our Creator's orders or are we dragging our feet and actually trying to find a pretext to modify things as we see fit to our comfort?
The answer to the above question must be answered by each and every individual for themselves. This is their private relationship with their Lord. Nevertheless, there is an issue at hand, and we need to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. The issue is what God orders explicitly for the dress of the ladies, specifically the headcover.
Interesting enough, the people who are most mentioned in the Quran, the Israelites, had an incident reminiscent of ours. This is the incident that is highlighted by the name of the longest chapter of the Quran: Baqarah. If you are willing to learn the details of this matter, you can read the relevant verses from the Quran or look at the literature. Another alternative is to read this blog that presents the Quranic verses related to the story of Moses and the Israelites in the chronological order of events. Here, only the aspects that are linked to our investigation of the headcover case are going to be mentioned.
As the Israelites were on their journey in the desert led by Moses and Aaron (pbut), God ordered them to sacrifice a cow (2/67-71). At that point, the people were not that willing to slaughter a cow. Possible reasons are, one, they were a crowded people and killing one cow is like losing a precious source of food and drink for many, and two, they had just committed the cow worshiping in the absence of Moses and they were not willing to attack a god (!). So, the Israelites repeatedly told Moses to ask his God the properties of the cow to be slaughtered, thereby postponing the execution of the order. They did this question-answer iteration three times until a complete description of the cow was obtained. Even then, they had a hard time in executing the order, but eventually they did.
Let's make a thought experiment. What if the Israelites went ahead and executed the order to slaughter a cow right after told by Moses for the first time? They would have done it without any detailed explanation as to which cow God wants them to slaughter. In fact, had it been so important in the eyes of God, He could have given those details along with the order itself. So, the fact that the order came without descriptions of a cow means that they were free to choose any cow. However, as they asked further questions, they actually made the situation more difficult for themselves, because when something is revealed in more clear terms, it becomes a more powerful and non-revocable order. That is, not doing something that is clearly told is a heavier violation than something that is ambiguous. Therefore, since at the first instance, the order was just about slaughtering a cow, the Israelites had the freedom to choose. Working on the details in fact resulted in the loss of their freedom in the way to execute the order. Keeping these lessons in mind, let's go back to our discussion about the headcover.
Remember the criteria mentioned in the previous episode to recognize the orders of God in the Quran? In fact, if you carefully look again at these criteria and then check back with the verses related to the headcover, you may have a hard time in weighing towards an answer. That is, you can not comfortably claim the headcover to be an explicit order of God, but you can not claim it to not be one, either! What to do? God knows best, perhaps we need to look at the general direction we are shown and do our best to act accordingly.
With this intention, if we look at the verse in the chapter Nur, which is the verse that contains the word headcover, we see that the constant emphasis throughout this long verse is about hiding the adornments. More specifically, the expression that is taken as the reference to the headcover sits right between two explicit instructions on the covering of the adornments. So, a logical conclusion from here is that the part that is referenced to the headcover must be related to the adornments, too. This is why some scholars claim that this verse does not dictate the headcover.
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands' fathers, or their sons or their husbands' sons, or their brothers or their brothers' sons or sisters' sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants who lack vigour, or children who know naught of women's nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that you may succeed. (24/31)
If you zoom out from this verse, you see that the verses from 26 through 33 focus on avoidance of adultery. So, if we put this 31st verse into a context, it must be about a precaution about avoiding adultery, in particular, and about curtailing the prevalence of explicit sexual expression, in general. In this regard, hiding the adornments except from a list of people is explicitly told by God. So, before hastily jumping to the classical conclusion that "headcover hides the hair of a woman, which counts as part of her adornment; and so, headcover is an order of God", it is imperative to see other locations where God uses the word "adornment" so that we can have a clearer image of what is meant here. In the below verses, the words that are translated from the verb or noun form of the "adornment" are underlined.
And Moses said, "Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendor and wealth in the worldly life, our Lord, that they may lead [men] astray from Your way... (10/88)
And We have placed within the heaven great stars and have beautified it for the observers. (15/16)
He said: My Lord! Because You have sent me astray, I verily shall adorn the path of error for them in the earth, and shall mislead them every one (15/39)
Wealth and children are [but] adornment of the worldly life. But the enduring good deeds are better to your Lord for reward and better for [one's] hope. (18/46)
So is he who is on clear evidence from his Lord like him to whom the evil of his work has been made attractive and they follow their [own] desires? (47/14)
First of all, it is clear that God does not want us to become paranoid on the matter and to fanatically try to cover all kinds of beauty. How do we know this? Because, right at the beginning, He tells us that natural look, unaltered form that is normally visible is acceptable. By the same token, we can also deduce that this is certainly not an invitation to look ugly, either. Furthermore, what is hidden by the use of a cover must be okey to be shown to that list of people. Furthermore, what is hidden by that cover must be sensitive to the stamping of the feet, as a result of which the adornment is still able to function and draw attention to its bearer. Let's be reasonable and count the "stamping of the feet" as the representative element for all gestures that are going to function similar to an adornment.
Blending the functions of the adornment with the specifications above derived from the Quranic verse, it is safe to say that women are told to cover their adornments, be them material or behavioral, that have the potential to draw attention to themselves and cause a fixation of the gazes. It is obvious that what may induce such an effect on different people may change from person to person, and what may look good on someone may not look as good on another. And what is considered as beauty also changes from culture to culture and from time to time. This is why, perhaps, our Creator gave us a relatively abstract criteria and invited us to do our best in this regard.
In fact, if you look at the other verse related to the covering of women through these paradigms, the notion of functionality becomes even more obvious:
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. (33/59)
Accordingly, for example, a lady may choose not to put a headcover when in her natural looks, but may choose to use headcover when she is coming from the hairdresser. Put more clearly, headcover may be something to be used as needed, rather than a permanent change of shape. Having said that, it is perfectly fine for some women to choose headcover as a permanent way of dressing as part of their religious life; but this would be their choice, not necessarily a dictation by God.
As a confirmation to these conclusions based on the notion of functionality, we see that God allows the older women or those who have no more natural instinct to find a spouse to not wear a cover for their adornment, unless they go to extremes in this regard:
And (as for) women advanced in years who do not hope for a marriage, it is no sin for them if they put off their clothes without showing off their ornaments; and if they restrain themselves it is better for them; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing. (24/60)
Before concluding this episode, let's remember the question in the beginning and let's take it one step further. By looking into the meaning of the word "adornment" and making use of the notion of functionality, are we doing the same thing as the Israelites facing the order of slaughtering a cow? Or are we really intending to figure out and submit to what Allah wants from us given our conditions today? Why don't we simply go with the practice that has been present among the companions of the Messenger of God and all along the Islamic history? Would the Messenger of God do the same critical thinking as us, had he lived today, or would he do exactly the same way as he did 14 centuries ago in the Arabian peninsula?
Allah knows best what is in the hearts, and we ask for His guidance and forgiveness in our quests and endeavors.
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