Women's Impermissible Exposure of Beauty - I

06/10/2011| IslamWeb

O Muslims, the issue of women is neither new nor easy. It is, in fact, a great issue that must be paid great attention to and things that could uproot evil and corruption in relation to them must be studied. It is an eternal issue, old and recent. It was an issue for the Children of Israel and they were cursed when their women openly strutted about with their adornment showing. It is also an issue for this Ummah (nation) about which the Messenger of Allah, , warned. In a Hadeeth, he said: "I have not left behind a more harmful temptation to men than women." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] This Hadeeth implies a warning against this great temptation as well as an attempt to eradicate the causes of evil from the very outset.

 

O Muslims, the problem of women has become serious and its evil has greatly and increasingly appeared in many forms: not adhering to Hijab, revealing their faces and loitering in markets. All this has been forbidden by Allah The Almighty and His Messenger, . Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {….And do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance.} [Quran 33: 33]

 

Women have gone to extremes in this even beyond the impermissible exposure of beauty in the time of Jaahiliyyah (ignorance). This saddens the hearts of the believers who fear the punishment of Allah, His revenge and painful torture. They are afraid of being afflicted with the same punishment which afflicted the Children of Israel when their women impermissibly exposed their beauty.

 

O Muslims, women have gone to extremes in the impermissible exposure of their adornment. A woman now wears the finest clothes when she goes out to the markets. She wears a gown, which is either short and does not cover the whole body, or light that reveals what is underneath or she lifts it to reveal the beauty of her clothing and adornment, or tight indicating the size of her body. All this, however, is forbidden by Allah The Almighty and His Messenger, . Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment.} [Quran 24: 31]

 

In this verse, Allah The Almighty forbids women from stamping their feet to make known the anklets which they wear and conceal. In olden times, women used to wear anklets on their feet but this no longer exists. If Allah The Almighty forbade stamping the feet for fear of making known the concealed anklet, then what could be said about the woman who wears the most beautiful clothes and then raises her gown so that people would see it and be tempted? There is no doubt that the temptation occurring due to seeing is greater than that occurring because of hearing.

 

Some women reveal their arms to show their jewelry, adornment and soft complexion. Worse than this is when the woman goes out perfumed. It was narrated that the Prophet, , said: "Any woman who applies perfume and passes by people to smell her fragrance is an adulteress."

 

O Muslims, the matter is great and dangerous. Intermixing between the two sexes is widespread in markets where women crowd with men, speak with loud voices and joke with men without either bashfulness or fear of the Ever Powerful.

 

O Muslims, where are the men? Where is chivalry? Where is nobility? Where is the manly zeal?

 

The ignorance of today is much severer than the ignorance of former times. Once the Prophet, , came out of the Masjid (Mosque) and observed that there was intermixing between the two sexes on the pathway. Thereupon, he said to the women: "Give way (walk to the sides) as it is not appropriate for you to walk in the middle of the road. Stick to the edges." Thereafter, the women would walk so close to the wall that their dresses would rub against it.

 

O Muslims, where are the women who respond to the command of Allah and His Messenger, ? Offer advice to the foolish among you and persistently push them to follow the truth. Men are required to prevent women from exposing their beauty and applying perfume when going out. This must take place before the advent of the curse of Allah upon us. Even, greater than this is that we must do so before the prevention of rain. Birds curse disobedient humans and the sea asks daily for permission to drown them. Where is protective jealousy about religion? Women have been left free to joke with men, buy and sell from them and go to markets without adherence to the commands and prohibitions of the Sharee‘ah. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we indeed shall return. There is no power and no strength save in Allah.

 

O Muslims, beware of imitating Western traditions. Beware of imitating the disbelievers in the manner they dress and walk. The person who imitates a certain people belongs to them. Do not be deceived by their falsification. They beautify Bid‘ah (religious innovation) and erroneous deviation for you.

 

O Muslims, if your enemies called you to disbelief or Shirk (polytheism), you would surely not respond to them. Hence, they are satisfied with destroying your morals and religion from other angles. One such way is through minor sins, which you belittle but which in fact are collecting for you and will finally lead you to Hell. In a Hadeeth, the Prophet, , said: "The devil has despaired of making idols worshipped (again) in the lands of the Arabs; so, he will be satisfied with making you commit what is lesser than this, which is minor sins. These minor sins will be destructive on the Day of Judgment."

 

O Muslims, fear Allah and do not be deceived by what your enemies offer you. You are now at the crossroads, for this worldly life is opened to you now and the enemies whom you brought to your countries have exalted after they had been humiliated by Islam and upgraded after they had been degraded by Islam, gather to attack you. Islam commands you to take the Jizyah (a type of tax) from them willingly while they are humbled. However, you raised their position and brought them to spread mischief in the Muslim countries.

 

Some brought their evil habits and deviant traditions. Some of you traveled to their countries and you saw them in the print, audio and visual media. Consequently, either you must have strong and firm faith on which the enemies' schemes are destroyed, or you have a strong Muslim personality and therefore you neither transgress nor are deceived by them and adhere to the same methodology of your righteous predecessors and enjoy the best of both worlds; or you adopt the contrary approach: weak faith, weak personality and collapse in the face of temptations. In such a case, your share will be the losing deal. This loss cannot be compensated and your break is incurable if you are included in the verse in which Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {"Indeed, the losers are the ones who will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Unquestionably, that is the manifest loss."}[Quran 39: 15]

 

Sister, I am telling you that the gap will keep widening as long as our girls are heedless of what the enemies are scheming against us. Unfortunately, the Muslim girl is trapped in the snares of those who seek corruption and they are confined to their ambushes, consciously or unconsciously. This is the bitter reality.

 

Wake up, O Muslim girl, granddaughter of Khadeejah and ‘Aa’ishah! Be aware that what is being planned against you is an evil plot with grave consequences. Despite its slow start, its end is abysmal. Evil does not emerge all of a sudden. The target is not to remove Hijab only, but when the Hijab is removed, bashfulness breaks away and its sources dry up. At this point, disaster will loom and the loss will be in this life and in the Hereafter. Look around and you will discover the truth.

 

(To be continued)