A questioner says: I want to wear the Shari'ah hijab, but my family refuses. What is your guidance in this matter?
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The questioner : I am a sister to you in Allah in the university stage, and I had been wearing the khimar since the middle school stage, and praise be to Allah. I learned years ago that it is obligatory for a woman to cover her entire body. I was very happy to see the sisters wearing the niqab, and I hope that Allah will grant me the Shari'ah hijab, that I will cover my entire body, and that He will make it easy for me. However, I did not insist on the request until I went to the university and saw the religious awakening there. Here I began a struggle with myself and with my family. I want to wear the hijab, but my family refuses. So I ask for guidance in this matter, may you be rewarded.
The Shaykh : The guidance in this matter returns to two parties:
The first party: those people who refuse that you cover yourself with the Shari'ah hijab. I say to them: Fear Allah the Exalted in yourselves, and fear Allah the Exalted in those over whom Allah has made you guardians. It is obligatory for the guardians, if they see their daughters taking the correct direction toward the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, that they should praise Allah the Exalted for this, and that they should encourage their daughters to do so, and that they should see this as one of the greatest blessings upon them.
As for them standing against that, then by Allah they are sinful and traitors to the trust, and they will be asked about what they did. Indeed, Allah the Exalted says:[At-Tahrim 66:6] So Allah made the protection of our family upon us, just as the protection of ourselves is upon us. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: So I say to these guardians: You are sinful for what you are doing regarding your daughters who want to adhere to the religion.
As for the second guidance: I say to this woman and those like her who are committed: You must be patient. Be patient with the Shari'ah of Allah Mighty and Majestic, and be patient with the harm in that. Indeed, Allah the Exalted may test a servant by harming him in the cause of Allah Mighty and Majestic, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-'Ankabut 29:10] And He said: [Al-Hajj 22:11].
So I say to them: Be patient and wear the hijab and the niqab, because the niqab is better than exposing the entire face, without doubt. In any case, I say to them: Be patient, be patient, be patient, and the outcome is for the righteous.
We have issued a response to a question regarding the niqab. The question came to us from a questioner, and we said: We do not issue a fatwa permitting it. This is because we saw that some women, may Allah guide them, when they used the niqab, they expanded it. A woman would cover her eye, her eyelid, her eyebrow, and her cheek, and the tear grew wider than the patch.
So we said: We do not issue a fatwa permitting it, and we did not say that we issue a fatwa prohibiting it, because it is not our right to issue a fatwa prohibiting it, even though that was from the customs of the women of the Companions. But we do not issue a fatwa permitting it, meaning that we refrain in the fatwa out of fear of expansion. There is no blame on a person to refrain from something out of fear of expansion in it for the sake of a forbidden act, just as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) prohibited returning to a woman divorced three times when he saw that people had become lax in that and the triple divorce became common among them. So he prohibited returning them, as in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): "The triple divorce in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the time of Abu Bakr and two years of the caliphate of 'Umar was one divorce. When 'Umar saw that people had become lax in it, he said: "I see that people have become lax in a matter in which they used to be cautious. If we were to allow it for them, we would allow it." So he allowed it for them."
The result is that we advise the guardians of these women who are veiled, pure, and believing to fear Allah the Exalted in them.
And I say: Fear Allah the Exalted in them. Do not forbid them this good. Do not prevent them from the Shari'ah hijab with which the woman covers herself entirely from foreign men.
And I say to the pure, veiled young women: Be patient with that, and Allah the Exalted will reward you and make the outcome for you[Hud 11:49].
The Shaykh : The guidance in this matter returns to two parties:
The first party: those people who refuse that you cover yourself with the Shari'ah hijab. I say to them: Fear Allah the Exalted in yourselves, and fear Allah the Exalted in those over whom Allah has made you guardians. It is obligatory for the guardians, if they see their daughters taking the correct direction toward the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, that they should praise Allah the Exalted for this, and that they should encourage their daughters to do so, and that they should see this as one of the greatest blessings upon them.
As for them standing against that, then by Allah they are sinful and traitors to the trust, and they will be asked about what they did. Indeed, Allah the Exalted says:
O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُA man is a shepherd over his family and is responsible for his flock.
الرجل راع في أهله ومسؤول عن رعيتهAs for the second guidance: I say to this woman and those like her who are committed: You must be patient. Be patient with the Shari'ah of Allah Mighty and Majestic, and be patient with the harm in that. Indeed, Allah the Exalted may test a servant by harming him in the cause of Allah Mighty and Majestic, as Allah the Exalted said:
And of the people are some who say, "We believe in Allah," but when one [of them] is harmed for [the cause of] Allah, they consider the trial of the people as [if it were] the punishment of Allah.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِAnd of the people is he who worships Allah on an edge. If he is touched by good, he is reassured by it; but if he is struck by trial, he turns on his face [to the other direction]. He has lost [this] world and the Hereafter. That is what is the manifest loss.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ خَيْرٌ اطْمَأَنَّ بِهِ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ انقَلَبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ خَسِرَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةَ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْخُسْرَانُ الْمُبِينُSo I say to them: Be patient and wear the hijab and the niqab, because the niqab is better than exposing the entire face, without doubt. In any case, I say to them: Be patient, be patient, be patient, and the outcome is for the righteous.
We have issued a response to a question regarding the niqab. The question came to us from a questioner, and we said: We do not issue a fatwa permitting it. This is because we saw that some women, may Allah guide them, when they used the niqab, they expanded it. A woman would cover her eye, her eyelid, her eyebrow, and her cheek, and the tear grew wider than the patch.
So we said: We do not issue a fatwa permitting it, and we did not say that we issue a fatwa prohibiting it, because it is not our right to issue a fatwa prohibiting it, even though that was from the customs of the women of the Companions. But we do not issue a fatwa permitting it, meaning that we refrain in the fatwa out of fear of expansion. There is no blame on a person to refrain from something out of fear of expansion in it for the sake of a forbidden act, just as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) prohibited returning to a woman divorced three times when he saw that people had become lax in that and the triple divorce became common among them. So he prohibited returning them, as in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): "The triple divorce in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the time of Abu Bakr and two years of the caliphate of 'Umar was one divorce. When 'Umar saw that people had become lax in it, he said: "I see that people have become lax in a matter in which they used to be cautious. If we were to allow it for them, we would allow it." So he allowed it for them."
The result is that we advise the guardians of these women who are veiled, pure, and believing to fear Allah the Exalted in them.
And I say: Fear Allah the Exalted in them. Do not forbid them this good. Do not prevent them from the Shari'ah hijab with which the woman covers herself entirely from foreign men.
And I say to the pure, veiled young women: Be patient with that, and Allah the Exalted will reward you and make the outcome for you