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After Critically Reviewing the Quran, Here is Why I Chose to Stop Wearing Hijab
The concept of Hijab is not as essential of a priority as you're being made to believe.
Mira Abou Elezz
February 8, 2019
I wore hijab halfway through junior year in high school, heavily influenced by family expectations and culture (I was living in Saudi at the time and had just completed hajj). In college, I found myself wearing it as a statement, trying to be a proudly visible Muslim woman. I had begun my academic studies in religion and by the summer found some of my strongest beliefs, challenged.
This was, essentially, the beginning of developing my own faith. Until you have come to question and explore for yourself the depth of Allah’s message, you are merely following what you have been told to believe. Which is good and necessary for the ages before we develop critical thinking, but skepticism and sincere seeking of truth become incumbent on us as adult Muslims if we are to truly call ourselves believers. This questioning put my hubris in check and I began to realize how arrogant it was of me to assume I had any answers beyond a doubt.
I looked into the Quran with these new insights. Nowhere is hair even mentioned in the Quran. The verses typically associated with hijab do not even contain the word hijab in them and are not as clear-cut as one would expect from a fard (religious obligation):
And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their khimar over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which her right hand possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed (24:31).
The other verse associated with women’s head-covering is ayah 59 in Surat Al-Ahzab:
O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw 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.
A jilbab, still today, is an outer garment worn like a loose dress or robe. The instructions here are to draw your jilbab close to you when in public. We see through context the reason for this recommendation is to avoid harassment. Surat Al-Ahzab is also a Medinan surah and is thus instructing on how Muslim women may be known as Muslim, thereby free, and not be abused when out alone – as women of lower stature often were. Women still today are under considerable threat of abuse making this ayah particularly pertinent. It is striking that in non-Muslim majority countries today, Muslim women who distinguish themselves with a headscarf are at a greater risk of Islamophobic harassment. Again, the differences in cultural realities are apparent, yet the wisdom of the Quran is eternal. Putting oneself in danger for the sake of one’s religion is not an Islamic ideal as our deen is a practical and pragmatic one. The ayah does not end without a gracious reminder, “And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful,” to put our hearts at ease. It serves as a reminder to seek forgiveness and treat others and ourselves with mercy, a teaching that indeed stands the test of time and place.
After reviewing the Quran critically, I came to understand that women’s head covering is just not as essential a priority as it had been made out to be. “Hijab” is actually defined as a barrier and I’ve found that the topic of hijab has indeed been a barrier in Muslim women’s unity and prosperity within the ummah, as it is so easily and often used to judge Muslim women. It saddens me that women’s dress code has taken up so much of our collective energy rather than the plethora of wisdoms and foundational teachings Allah revealed to us in the Quran and Prophet Mohammad exemplified for us in his sunnah.
Over the years, I have come to the understanding that hijab as we’ve conceptualized it is not fard. I respect women who choose to cover their hair and I do not have any tolerance for coercing women into anything. As Muslims, we know there is no compulsion in religion (Quran, 2:256), Alhamdulillah.
The concept of Hijab is not as essential of a priority as you're being made to believe.
Mira Abou Elezz
February 8, 2019
I wore hijab halfway through junior year in high school, heavily influenced by family expectations and culture (I was living in Saudi at the time and had just completed hajj). In college, I found myself wearing it as a statement, trying to be a proudly visible Muslim woman. I had begun my academic studies in religion and by the summer found some of my strongest beliefs, challenged.
This was, essentially, the beginning of developing my own faith. Until you have come to question and explore for yourself the depth of Allah’s message, you are merely following what you have been told to believe. Which is good and necessary for the ages before we develop critical thinking, but skepticism and sincere seeking of truth become incumbent on us as adult Muslims if we are to truly call ourselves believers. This questioning put my hubris in check and I began to realize how arrogant it was of me to assume I had any answers beyond a doubt.
… Skepticism and sincere seeking of truth become incumbent on us as adult Muslims if we are to truly call ourselves believers.
One of the assumptions that began to collapse was the obligation of hijab on Muslim women. It first began with a feeling, an intuitive doubt that Allah would prescribe something on only half the believers. Then my logic sparked red flags when shuyookh (scholars) would claim hijab was mandatory on women so that they do not tempt men. As we know, Allah does not place one’s burden on another’s shoulders (Quran 17:15). It did not make sense to me or match up with Islamic theology that I would have to hide myself to protect men from sinning. And we all know this doesn’t work. Men will never change their predatory ways until they accept accountability for their actions. It is their burden to bear, not ours. In a way, all these teachings male shuyookh were reiterating about women’s modesty seemed to prop up and perpetuate an oppressive patriarchy.I looked into the Quran with these new insights. Nowhere is hair even mentioned in the Quran. The verses typically associated with hijab do not even contain the word hijab in them and are not as clear-cut as one would expect from a fard (religious obligation):
And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their khimar over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which her right hand possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed (24:31).
It did not make sense to me or match up with Islamic theology that I would have to hide myself to protect men from sinning.
Surat al-Nur, is just as it describes itself in its first verse, “A miraculous sign sent to you so that you may remember.” In it, comes a set of boundaries distinguishing Muslims. One of which is the lowering of the khimar ([a covering] root word:Khamara; meaning “to cover”). It can be assumed that the lowering of the khimar serves to distinguish Muslim women at a time when Muslims were expanding as a community. Surat al-Nur is a Madinan surah, revealed at a time when Muslims were developing an identity separate from their past ones. A definite thing we can assert from this verse is that women had been wearing clothing called khimar and that the believing women were now recommended to bring this khimar over their chests. There is also discussion on a believing woman’s “adornments” and a list of whom she may expose her adornments to, including those whom their right hands possess. This in itself depicts a vast shift in cultural realities since many of us do not “possess” people anymore. The exact meaning of “adornments” as used in this ayah is ambiguous but generally it is understood to entail that which one decorates oneself with, the context suggests noisy intimates.The other verse associated with women’s head-covering is ayah 59 in Surat Al-Ahzab:
O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw 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.
A jilbab, still today, is an outer garment worn like a loose dress or robe. The instructions here are to draw your jilbab close to you when in public. We see through context the reason for this recommendation is to avoid harassment. Surat Al-Ahzab is also a Medinan surah and is thus instructing on how Muslim women may be known as Muslim, thereby free, and not be abused when out alone – as women of lower stature often were. Women still today are under considerable threat of abuse making this ayah particularly pertinent. It is striking that in non-Muslim majority countries today, Muslim women who distinguish themselves with a headscarf are at a greater risk of Islamophobic harassment. Again, the differences in cultural realities are apparent, yet the wisdom of the Quran is eternal. Putting oneself in danger for the sake of one’s religion is not an Islamic ideal as our deen is a practical and pragmatic one. The ayah does not end without a gracious reminder, “And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful,” to put our hearts at ease. It serves as a reminder to seek forgiveness and treat others and ourselves with mercy, a teaching that indeed stands the test of time and place.
After reviewing the Quran critically, I came to understand that women’s head covering is just not as essential a priority as it had been made out to be. “Hijab” is actually defined as a barrier and I’ve found that the topic of hijab has indeed been a barrier in Muslim women’s unity and prosperity within the ummah, as it is so easily and often used to judge Muslim women. It saddens me that women’s dress code has taken up so much of our collective energy rather than the plethora of wisdoms and foundational teachings Allah revealed to us in the Quran and Prophet Mohammad exemplified for us in his sunnah.
Over the years, I have come to the understanding that hijab as we’ve conceptualized it is not fard. I respect women who choose to cover their hair and I do not have any tolerance for coercing women into anything. As Muslims, we know there is no compulsion in religion (Quran, 2:256), Alhamdulillah.
