What is the Shari'ah hijab (with details)?

The questioner : The question that follows: We need details on the meaning of the jilbab; because you went to the extent of saying that the jilbab is what covers from the head to the feet, and we have found in some language books a wide disagreement on this, some of them saying it is the long tunic, some saying it is the khimar, and some saying as you mentioned, O Shaykh. We need the details, may Allah reward you with good, and what is the basis for preferring one opinion over the others?

The Shaykh : Excuse me, I am confused by your statement that some of them say that the jilbab is the khimar. What is the khimar that you mean in your statement that they said it is the jilbab? Because it is known that the jilbab is the head covering, not the long garment that covers the woman's body from her head to her feet. So who says that the jilbab is the khimar, as far as you know, according to what you mentioned? This is very strange. Who said that?

The questioner : In Lisan al-Arab, this is mentioned; it says it was said this way.

The Shaykh : It mentions that the jilbab is the khimar?

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : It cannot be said; because you know that in the Qur'an there are two verses: one verse commands women to put on the jilbab, and one verse commands putting on the khimar. It is not possible to say that there is a repetition of one meaning in the two verses, and that the jilbab is the khimar, and the khimar is the jilbab. Rather, each of the two terms, the jilbab and the khimar, has a meaning specific to it and not the other. You know, for example, a woman in her house when she stands up to pray the obligatory prayer upon her; usually, while she is in her house, her head is uncovered, so she throws the khimar over her head. And as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The intention here is absolutely not the jilbab, but rather the head covering. And among the proofs of this is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) commanded wiping over the turban or over the khimar and over the leather socks. And by the khimar, I mean in this hadith, that it indicates that it is a garment shared in its use by men and women, males and females. So it is not understood or implied by one who understands the Arabic language that a man throws the jilbab over himself, but he throws the khimar over his head. So the one who puts the khimar over his head is permitted to wipe over it, whether he is a man or a woman. What I intended by this statement is first to verify the transmission in the Arabic language; second, if you finally conclude that in Lisan al-Arab it says in the explanation of the jilbab, "and it was said that it is the khimar," then that is sufficient for you from what you transmitted to weaken this transmission, because it said: "and it was said." But if we study the texts of the Book and the Sunnah, and we have mentioned something of them just now, we are certain with certainty that the khimar is not the jilbab, and the jilbab is not the khimar. In brief, the khimar is shorter in covering than the jilbab, and the jilbab is wider in scope in achieving the covering. And the jilbab is specific to women, and they are the ones who were commanded with it, not men. As for the khimar, its command is shared, and although the man is not commanded with it, it is a command shared between men and women, like the shirt. Just as the man wears the shirt, but he covers his 'awrah, and his 'awrah is less than the woman's 'awrah. And the woman wears the shirt, but she covers her 'awrah with it, and her 'awrah is wider than the man's 'awrah. And for that reason, we said in the book "The Hijab of the Muslim Woman" that the Muslim woman, when she goes out of her house, must do two things: that she throw the khimar over her head, and then throw the jilbab over it. So she goes out wearing the khimar on her head and the jilbab over it. So for the woman who went out of the house, one of them does not suffice in place of the other. It is necessary to combine the khimar and the jilbab. And you know the Qur'anic text regarding the khimar, which says: Throwing over the bosoms cannot be done with the jilbab. Throwing over the bosoms is done with the khimar, because it can be wrapped. As for the jilbab, you know that it is not wrapped around the chest and the neck. So you see how the men here wrap themselves in the khimar and how they tie it around their necks. So for this reason, which the khimar has specifically and the jilbab does not, the woman, when she goes out of her house, is commanded to throw the khimar over her head and wrap it around her neck and her chest. Because the jilbab does not respond to her to achieve this covering. Because it is long and short, while the jilbab is long and short. So each of them has its effect in achieving what the woman was commanded of covering. This is my answer to what I was asked about. If there is something remaining that my speech did not cover, remind me of it.

The questioner : If you understand that the jilbab is not the long tunic that they wear today here, from the neck to the feet?

The Shaykh : Absolutely not, this is not a jilbab. But this leads us to expand the statement now regarding the jilbab in another way. So we say that the jilbab in the language is, as we said, not this which is called here the balto. But the thing that should be clarified now is that the command directed specifically to women to wear the jilbab is not a devotional command whose meaning is not understood, but rather, on the contrary, its meaning is understood. And the reasonableness we refer to is achieving the covering that the woman must perform. So if she wears, for example, two garments, or makes the jilbab two pieces, an upper piece and a lower piece, and each of the pieces achieves what the jilbab mentioned in the Qur'an usually achieves, then in that case, we, although we do not call these two pieces a jilbab in terms of linguistic usage, it achieves the intended purpose of the command of the jilbab from the Shari'ah perspective. There used to be in the Levant until recently, and it still exists in some women who hold fast and are committed to the Shari'ah, a garment called the mal'at al-zam. Did you hear of this in your time?

The questioner : We have the mal'ah.

The Shaykh : No. I say mal'at al-zam.

The questioner : Not this name, but we say the mal'ah.

The Shaykh : The mal'ah, they say yes, because this is an Arabic term. And the point is that this mal'ah of ours in the Levant is two pieces. The first piece, what do they call it? The khilatah or the tinnurah. Do you know this term?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Tinnurah means it is tied here at the waist with an elastic band, and this is, of course, tight and wide. Okay. So the woman wears this up to here, covering the entire lower part of the body. Then comes from above this tinnurah, or they call it in the Levant the khilatah, the upper part. It is thrown over the head, and the woman gives with it her head, her shoulders, her sides, her waist, and even this band tied around her waist with this tinnurah or this khilatah, nothing of it appears; because it is below that. Did I make the picture clear?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Ah, this is called by us the mal'at al-zam. Why? Because this khilatah is tied like this with plastic elastic. So if you have grasped the meaning of this picture, what I want to say is that this mal'ah is not a jilbab, but it fulfills the duty of the jilbab, which is covering in the most complete way. Did I make this clear to you?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : If the matter is this clear, then we should not hold fast to the literal word of the jilbab, but to its meaning and its aim and its fruit. Now I return to this balto that I referred to, which Muslim women wear today, and it has sleeves just as men do. The only thing is that it may be long for some women, the modest ones, to the ankles. This is not a jilbab, but it is not like the mal'at al-zam, because this does not cover, for example, the head and what it contains. But what does the woman do today? She ties on her head what is called what?
Abu Layla : The ishara.

The Shaykh : The ish'ar, is this term known to you?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : The small khimar that is tied on the head, and something of the head may appear from the front of the head, and something of the neck may appear because it is small. What is the size? Of course, this does not achieve the jilbab as the meaning of "the ultimate jilbab," as we spoke about the mal'at al-zam. Is it clear?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So if we assume that this woman wearing this balto, what do we call it, or what do you call it?

The questioner : We call it the hijab.

The Shaykh : This one that does not cover the head?

The questioner : Yes, we call it hijab.

The Shaykh : No, this is a mistake. The important thing is if she wears this type of hijab and then throws the khimar over her head, then this khimar must have a hijab thrown over it, and we said that there are two verses.

The questioner : Meaning a jilbab.

The Shaykh : Ah, this jilbab is sufficient if it is half-length, as we mentioned earlier regarding the women's cloak. So, if a woman wears what you call a jilbab with sleeves, yes, and puts on her head the prescribed khimar, not the one called the ishar, and then puts over this khimar a half-length garment that covers half of her body such that it covers her shoulders and also her hands, then in that case the matter is in accordance with the Shari'ah and acceptable.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Clear.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.
Abu Layla : It is called, Shaykh, the yanas or the baranis, right? It is the other half, now by the name among people.

The Shaykh : The baranis.
Abu Layla : Or the yanas.

The Shaykh : The baranis is known among them, is it not?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : But the baranis is usually long, meaning the baranis is like the abaya with us.
Abu Layla : But it is to the middle?

The Shaykh : No, among them it is not to the middle; it is long.

The questioner : Yes, it is long with us.