The questioner says: I am a Muslim girl, and praise be to Allah, I am careful to maintain my religious education to the best of my ability, but sometimes I go to my maternal uncle’s house.
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The questioner : She says: I am a Muslim girl, and praise be to Allah, I am careful to maintain the teachings of my religion to the best of my ability, but sometimes I go to the house of my maternal uncle, who is my mother’s brother. I am wearing the hijab, but my uncle hates the hijab very much and tells me that I am a backward girl. My question is: Do I sin if I remove the hijab from my head in front of my uncle, knowing that he is not a non-mahram to me? Or should I remain wearing the hijab? I do not want to remove my hijab in front of him because he mocks the hijab and the Shari'ah. Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah. The maternal uncle is one of the mahram relatives, and it is not obligatory to cover oneself from him. There is no harm in revealing what is usually revealed to mahram relatives, whether it is a maternal uncle, a maternal aunt, a brother, a son, or a father. Whatever is usually revealed, such as the face, head, hands, forearms, legs, and feet, there is no harm in revealing it to mahram relatives.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What she should do is reveal it to her maternal uncle so that it becomes clear to him that this is the Shari'ah, so that he does not think that the Shari'ah contains a strictness that necessitates imposing hardship on Muslims.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for his saying that this is backwardness and the like, this is the language used by many of the enemies of Islam. They say that Islam is backward, that it strangles its followers, and that it is chains and shackles, and the like of what the enemies of Islam stir up against Islam.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : To make people averse to it. And this is not strange, for Allah the Exalted says in Surat al-Mutaffifin:[Al-Mutaffifin 83:29-32].
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So those about whom Allah reports say that they are indeed misguided.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And the moderns say that they are reactionaries.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The wording differs, but the meaning is the same. So what was said about the first applies to the second, and there is no strangeness in it. It is not strange for the enemies of Islam to say that Islam is backward, that it is chains, and that it is shackles, and the like of that. This is because they are distressed by it, and Allah has not expanded their hearts for Islam.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And whoever Allah does not expand the heart of for Islam is like the one about whom Allah the Exalted said:[Al-An'am 6:125]. So whoever Allah does not will to guide, he does not know the light of Islam or its guidance, nor does he know the good and the immediate and deferred benefits in its commands, nor the present and deferred evil in its prohibitions. He thinks that the good is freedom, or more accurately, that the good is distance from Islam. In reality, the good is freedom from the restraint of the self and entering the fold of Islam.
The questioner : Yes, it is understood from her question that she only covers herself from her maternal uncle because she sees him forbidding her from doing so. She wants to prove to him or to refute him. So...
The Shaykh : No, this is not appropriate.
The questioner : It is not appropriate...
The Shaykh : Because his prohibition of the hijab is in accordance with the Shari'ah. His prohibition of her from wearing the hijab, from wearing the hijab in front of him, is...
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is in accordance with the Shari'ah, because it is not the right of a woman to cover herself from her mahram relatives, because that is what the Shari'ah permits.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And attributing to Islam what is not part of it is an error.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah. The maternal uncle is one of the mahram relatives, and it is not obligatory to cover oneself from him. There is no harm in revealing what is usually revealed to mahram relatives, whether it is a maternal uncle, a maternal aunt, a brother, a son, or a father. Whatever is usually revealed, such as the face, head, hands, forearms, legs, and feet, there is no harm in revealing it to mahram relatives.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What she should do is reveal it to her maternal uncle so that it becomes clear to him that this is the Shari'ah, so that he does not think that the Shari'ah contains a strictness that necessitates imposing hardship on Muslims.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for his saying that this is backwardness and the like, this is the language used by many of the enemies of Islam. They say that Islam is backward, that it strangles its followers, and that it is chains and shackles, and the like of what the enemies of Islam stir up against Islam.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : To make people averse to it. And this is not strange, for Allah the Exalted says in Surat al-Mutaffifin:
(29) Indeed, those who committed crimes used to laugh at those who believed. (30) And when they passed by them, they would exchange derisive glances. (31) And when they returned to their people, they would return jesting. (32) And when they saw them, they would say, "Indeed, those are truly lost."
إن الذين أجرموا كانوا من الذين ءامنوا يضحكون وإذا مروا بهم يتغامزون وإذا انقلبوا إلى أهلهم انقلبوا فكهين وإذا رأوهم قالوا إن هؤلاء لضالونThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So those about whom Allah reports say that they are indeed misguided.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And the moderns say that they are reactionaries.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The wording differs, but the meaning is the same. So what was said about the first applies to the second, and there is no strangeness in it. It is not strange for the enemies of Islam to say that Islam is backward, that it is chains, and that it is shackles, and the like of that. This is because they are distressed by it, and Allah has not expanded their hearts for Islam.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And whoever Allah does not expand the heart of for Islam is like the one about whom Allah the Exalted said:
and whoever He wants to misguide - He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky
ومن يرد أن يضله يجعل صدره ضيقا حرجا كأنما يصعد في السماءThe questioner : Yes, it is understood from her question that she only covers herself from her maternal uncle because she sees him forbidding her from doing so. She wants to prove to him or to refute him. So...
The Shaykh : No, this is not appropriate.
The questioner : It is not appropriate...
The Shaykh : Because his prohibition of the hijab is in accordance with the Shari'ah. His prohibition of her from wearing the hijab, from wearing the hijab in front of him, is...
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is in accordance with the Shari'ah, because it is not the right of a woman to cover herself from her mahram relatives, because that is what the Shari'ah permits.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And attributing to Islam what is not part of it is an error.
The questioner : Yes.