Muhammad Ali Amazing Interview Defends Muslim Women
Channel: jordanvoices
Date: 2011-06-15

www.JordanVoice.com ,
Hijab (حجاب) is the Arabic term for "cover" (noun), based on the root حجب
meaning "to veil, to cover (verb), to screen, to shelter".

In some Arabic-speaking countries & Western countries, the word hijab primarily refers to women's head and body covering, but in Islamic scholarship, hijab is given the wider meaning of modesty, privacy, and morality. The word used in the Qur'an for a HEADSCARF or VEIL is khimār (خمار).

QUR'AN
The Qur'an instructs Muslims to dress in a modest fashion.

Surah an-Nur ayah 31 states:
"And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks & GUARD their PRIVATE PARTS & do NOT DISPLAY their ORNAMENTS except what appears thereof, & let them WEAR their HEAD-COVERINGS (khimars) OVER their BOSOMS (jaybs), & NOT DISPLAY their ornaments EXCEPT to their husbands or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or the male servants not having need (of women), or the children who have not attained knowledge of what is hidden of women; & let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may be known; & turn to Allah all of you, O believers! so that you may be successful.(Qur'an 24:31)

In the following verse, Muslim women are asked to DRAW their jalābib (when they go out), as a measure to DISTINGUISH themselves FROM OTHER, so that they are NOT HARASSED.

"Those who harass believing men & believing women unjustifiably shall bear the guilt of slander & a grievous sin. O Prophet! Enjoin your wives, your daughters, & the wives of true believers to DRAW their JILBAB OVER them [when they go out]. That is MORE PROPER, so that they may be DISTINGUISHED & NOT be HARASSED. God is ever forgiving & merciful. If the hypocrites & those who have the ailment [of jealousy] in their hearts & the scandal mongers of Madinah do not desist, We will rouse you against them, & their days in that city will be numbered. Cursed be they; wherever found, they would be seized & put to death. (Qur'an 33:58-61)

This video is to challenge the myth that hijab is a tool for oppressing women. All major religions in the world are proponents of the hijab in different ways and words. How is it then that only Islam is singled out to be oppressive?
Thanks to Halal Dawa records