From: mughal@iago.caltech.edu (ASIM M MUGHAL)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Hijab and dress code in Islam
Date: 7 Oct 1992 05:00 PDT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Distribution: world
Reply-To: rached@taylor.eng.ohio-state.edu (rached)
NNTP-Posting-Host: iago.caltech.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    


[Fwd from soc.religion.islam]

in Article: 6798 of soc.culture.arabic ys3359@thor.albany.edu (Yazmasterj)
writes:

-------Begin Quote--------
No I do not think that if women let their breasts show, the whole country
will fall into a frenzy of illicit sexual liasons.  That law reflects the
Puritan ethic on which this country was based.  However the existence of that
law in the United States does not justify the law in Iran.  If there is
an unjust law in the US, this unjustness does not have to be emulated.
Personally, since I always wear clothing above the US minimum, I have not 
had any problems with the US law.  However, with the 113,000 arrests in
Iran in one year, one has to wonder if the minimum dress requirement in Iran
is as widely accepted.
-------End Quote----------

   Yasmin, the initial post to which I replied, considered the current
dress code in IRAN as a violation of human rights. It was a UN
commission that wrote that report. Giving an example of US dress code
was just to expose the double standard those people work with. On one
hand when it comes to Islamic dress code it is a violation of human
rights. On the other hand when it comes to western dress code
(fabricated by men to be imposed on men and women) it is not a violation
of human rights.

No, an unjustice does not justify another. Still I don't think that the
concept of dress code is unjust. On the contrary there should be a dress
code for people in the society to put a standard and limit beyond which
nobody should transgress. Otherwise we will have chaos.


-------Begin Quote--------
Our Creator did no such thing.  The words of our Creator are in the Quran
and if you look and read, there is no mention of any specifics in the
Quran concerning minimum dress save that the dress be modest and women
cover their breasts.  No veil, no head covering, none of that.  It amazes
me that men can actually justify the fact that while the covering for women
is so extensive that it engulfs, the covering for men is thought "Islamically"
to be only from navel to knee, as if the arms, shoulders, legs, chest, hair,
face, etc. of men will in no way evoke an attraction in women and thus that
minimal covering for men is completely modest!
-------End Quote----------

Allah (SWT) told us in the Quran to take the prophet (PBUH) as an
example. Also, He ordered us to take whatever the prophet (PBUH) has
given us and leave whatever he (SAW) has forbidden. In any matter of our
lives, we are also ordered to see what the Quran AND THE SUNNAH of the
prophet say about it. If we don't find the answer then we should seek
the IJTIHAD of knowlegeable people, this IJTEHAD should be based on
Quran AND SUNNAH.
It is very well known that at the time of the prophet (PBUH) when the
Ayah of Hijab was revealed, all the womwn covered their body and head.
The difference between (Ulema) knowlegeable people is that whether the
face and hands can be shown and when. Thus there is no question about
what Islamic dress code means. 
Taking only one Ayah of the Quran and building a law on it is hardly the
islamic way of identifying what Allah wants us to do.


-------Begin Quote--------
The laws this are not Islamic laws.  In addition, how is the requirement
to wear black justified Islamically?
-------End Quote----------

There is no Islamic injunction that says to wear black and I don't think
that women in IRAN have to wear black.

-------Begin Quote--------
The laws concerning hijab are nothing if not man made.  They are wrong,
restrictive and unjust.
-------End Quote----------

Yasmin, beware. Before passing a judgement on a law, check and do
research. You just insulted a law that was set by Allah (SWT).

The Sahabah had an excellent and very modest way of dealing with what
Allah gave us. In the battle of Badr, when the Muslims were to erect
their camp, a Muslim came to the prophet (PBUH) and asked him whether
the choosing of the place of the camp a divine injunction or just the
prophet's choice. The prophet (PBUH) answered that it was only his
choice. Then the man suggested camping after the river for a better
strategy. 

The moral of this story is that before insulting any law or saying that
itis unjust we have to research it and see the proof of the opposite
opinion. If it is proven to be from Allah then we should accept it and
refrain from insulting it, otherwise we would be in big trouble with the
One who owns the heavens, the earth and everything in them.

rached