Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness -- that is best. That is from the signs of Allah that perhaps they will remember. O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from Paradise, stripping them of their clothing to show them their private parts. Indeed, he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you do not see them. Indeed, We have made the devils allies to those who do not believe.} [Quran 7:26-27]
O Muslim brothers! It is a great favor conferred by Allah The Almighty upon His servants that He bestowed upon them clothing to screen their private parts, in order to safeguard their honor and protect them from being played with or violated. Allah The Almighty prescribed and commanded that the ‘Awrah (private parts) should be concealed, and nothing thereof should appear except what He made permissible, so that modesty is maintained among people. He legislated for both men and women the ‘Awrah that suits the nature of each of them, and made it impermissible for either of the sexes to go beyond the limits of His command.
It is of utmost importance to discuss the ‘Awrah and how to screen it particularly in the context of women, because of the influence and temptation they exert upon men, and by extension, on societies. To maintain the woman is to maintain the whole society, and to waste her is to waste the entire society. The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa salam, warned of the temptation caused by women, saying: "Safeguard yourselves (from the temptation of) women, for the first temptation from which the Children of Israel suffered was in women."
Ruling on Hijab
When the Noble Verse of Hijab (Islamic covering) was revealed, i.e. (the statement of Allah The Almighty, what means): {…and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests} [Quran 24:31] ‘Aa'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said,
I have never seen better [women], more trusting in the Book of Allah, and more believing in the Divine revelation than the women of the Ansaar (Helpers). When that Noble Verse of Hijab was revealed, there was no woman among them except that she got up and took hold of her sheet, and in the morning, they came to offer Morning Prayer wrapped in them.
They hastened to comply with the command of Allah The Almighty. As they had no clothes fit to implement what they were ordered to do, they got up and cut their garments and made from them headcovers to screen themselves with.
Compare this behavior with the conduct of such women who claim to be "civilized", who consider that the Hijab is [a manifestation of] extremism, or that she has not yet been convinced of the need to wear it, or many such excuses which will not avail her any benefit from Allah The Almighty on the Day she will stand before Him.
Allah The Almighty Says after forbidding a display of beauty: {…and do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance.} [Quran 33:33] He further Says (what means): {It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly strayed into clear error.} [Quran 33:36]
Hijab is no less obligatory than prayer, Zakah (obligatory purifying alms) and fasting; and this is an indisputably established ruling of Islam. Who could dare to deny that it is obligatory in the following statement of Allah The Almighty (what means): {O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments.} [Quran 33:59]
Islam Wants the Woman to Be a Well-Guarded Jewel
When Allah The Almighty prescribed Hijab for the woman, and commanded her to adhere to it, He wanted her to be a well-guarded jewel and a concealed pearl, kept far from playful hands, and screened from the poisonous arrows (of strangers' eyes). She achieves this when she abides by the Command of her Lord, and observes her Hijab: {That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused.} [Quran 33:59]
When our women from among the righteous predecessors understood that Hijab is an obligation from Allah The Almighty on them, and consequently, they adhered to it, goodness emerged in the form of illumination on the foreheads of the generation brought up at their hands. How excellent were those women as righteous daughters, sincere sisters, honorable wives guarding (their chastity), and nursing mothers! Consequently, at that time, there was not much deviation in society. But today, when the women abstain from following the commands of Allah The Almighty in all the affairs of life, the result is the outbreak in our societies of adultery, sexual perversion, rape, violation of honor even against children, increasing number of spinsters and divorce cases. On the other hand, the great effect of Hijab on communities is not hidden, as regards the maintenance of honor, self-reassurance, chastity and the elevation of man to higher purposes.
The woman's Hijab is her honor, dignity and freedom, and with these she is liberated from servitude to anyone (or anything) other than Allah The Almighty; it means freedom from the servitude to the body, the self, the restrictions of fashion, the (futile) traditions of the community and the pressure applied by the West.
How Satan Misleads Servants by Stripping Them of Their Clothing
Consider the Statement of Allah The Almighty (what means): {O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from Paradise, stripping them of their clothing to show them their private parts} [Quran 7:27] It shows that Satan started his mischief on earth by misleading servants and stripping them of their clothing, and disclosing their private parts. Indeed, he did not ask them to do so from the beginning, for he knows with certainty that such a request would be rejected. But, he made his speech alluring to them, and paved the way for it, as told by Allah The Almighty (what means): {But Satan whispered to them to make apparent to them that which was concealed from them of their private parts. He said, "Your Lord did not forbid you this tree except that you become angels or become of the immortal." And he swore [by Allah] to them, "Indeed, I am to you from among the sincere advisors."} [Quran 7:20-21] He claimed to have pity and sympathy for them, and pretended that he was just an adviser to them as he intended nothing but their benefit, and took an oath regarding that. Thus, they opposed the Command of Allah The Almighty which led to their being driven out of Paradise, and sent down to this earth.
The enemies of this religion realize the danger of Hijab, as it obstructs their plans of neutralizing the effect of Islam upon the Muslim world. Therefore, they do their best to remove it and replace it with unlawful exposure. In order to achieve this goal, they make their speech about it alluring (to women). They do not call directly for women to remove it, but they do so indirectly in the name of progress and civilization, personal freedom, and equality between men and women.
Hijab: Concepts and Morals
According to ‘Abdullaah Al-Huthayl,
Anyone who ponders on the history of the shocks that the West directed against the Muslims, will find that removing the Hijab has been one of their top priorities for which they exerted all possible efforts, making it the basis for destroying every Islamic community. This has been done to the extent that one of them stated that by no means would the East be set aright unless Hijab is removed from the woman's face and instead, placed over the Quran. In this way, they succeeded in many of their schemes after long years of planning.
The more one looks at the state of communities, the more one realizes that the Hijab is confronting a war from poisonous hands in the name of progress and civilization, under the pretext that it restrains the woman and subjects her to humiliation. One of them dared to address the Muslim woman saying: "Tear that veil, and throw it away. Tear it! What evil you are doing? What darkness you are in? What humiliation are you in? What grave you are in? Destroy it! Destroy the terror violently without hesitation! Destroy the silence and say and express your wishes as you like! Destroy the prison…!"
Thus, the woman has been driven by the allurement of speech behind such claims, and has removed her honor with her own hands, and become a plaything. However, the Muslim woman who sticks to the command of her Lord, repulses all the hands that stretch to remove her Hijab from her and unlawfully expose her face,proves competently that her Hijab never impedes her from being active in society, taking and giving. She, all perfect praise be to Allah The Almighty, is present in all fields, areas and places: as a physician, an engineer, a university professor, a lawyer...
According to the Islamic concept, the woman has a pioneering role in the formation and advancement of society. Her Hijab is not merely a set of clothes, rather, it is a set of concepts and morals. It is an act of worship, of higher thought, culture and civilization; and these are the real standards of evaluating women.