101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 2: Women in Islam – Reason 14
Note here the reason for leaving Islam is not the requirement to wear the Hijab but rather the story that resulted in making the Hijab a requirement for women to wear it.
The history of the Hijab and the sequence of events leading to the obligation of the Hijab are laid out from a series of Hadith and matched by three Quranic verses. The Hadith verses on this subject are found here:
https://sunnah.com/search?q=sauda+umar+veiled
For simplicity, here is the outline:
Umar, one of the main companions of the Prophet, repeatedly asks the Prophet that Allah should reveal a verse for the Qur’an pertaining to the veiling of women. No such revelation is sent down. But Umar was not the type to give up. He kept making regular remarks about the Prophet’s wives not being well covered.
One late evening, Umar spotted one of the Prophet’s wives, Sauda, going out in the dark to use the toilet. Sauda is not hard to identify because the Hadith describes her as a heavy-set lady. Umar starts shouting her name: Sauda, Sauda, I know this is you! Sauda stops whatever she is doing and runs back into the tent in a state of embarrassment, relating to the Prophet what has happened.
Shortly after this incident, Allah reveals the hijab verse that Umar had wanted all along.
The sequence of the three verses on this subject is listed below:
Quran 33:53
O believers! Do not enter the homes of the Prophet without permission ˹and if invited˺ for a meal, do not ˹come too early and˺ linger until the meal is ready. But if you are invited, then enter ˹on time˺. Once you have eaten, then go on your way, and do not stay for casual talk. Such behaviour is truly annoying to the Prophet, yet he is too shy to ask you to leave. But Allah is never shy of the truth. And when you ˹believers˺ ask his wives for something, ask them from behind a barrier. This is purer for your hearts and theirs.
>> The part that says, ‘And when you ask his wives for something, ask them from behind a barrier’ – the suggested initially to talk to visitors behind a curtain for privacy reasons.
Quran 33:59
O Prophet! Ask your wives, daughters, and believing women to draw their cloaks over their bodies. In this way it is more likely that they will be recognized ˹as virtuous˺ and not be harassed. And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
>> This suggested not to wear tight clothes.
Quran 24:31
“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears. Let them draw their veils over their chests, and not reveal their ˹hidden˺ adornments except to their husbands, their fathers, their fathers-in-law, their sons, their stepsons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, their fellow women, those ˹bondwomen˺ in their possession, male attendants with no desire, or children who are still unaware of women’s nakedness. Let them not stomp their feet, drawing attention to their hidden adornments…”
>> This suggested a modest cover and, again, not very tight. The term veils in the verse does not match the Arabic word, which sounds more like swaying drapes.
Note that no single verse in the Quran requires women to wear any specific form of Hijab, Burqa, Niqab, or any covering. The majority of Islamic scholars interpret these verses as meaning women need not wear tight clothes and should be modest in the way they dress. And if you missed it, there was a node to slave women and men in their possession, whereby Muslim women did not have to cover around them – well provided the male slave ‘with no desire’. We shall come back to this verse when talking about slavery in Islam.
Going back to the Hijab, it is this vagueness of these three verses that means on one side of the spectrum liberal Muslim women wear light white cover that only covers part of their hair and can wear casual western clothes that are not too tight. At the other extreme, you get women covered completely from head to toe with a cloak whereby you cannot even see their eyes. They are, in effect, wearing a moving curtain and drapes, as verses 33:53 and 24:31 hint.
Umar later bragged that at least three times, Allah said exactly what he wanted to be written in Islam’s holy book. This means Umar, a person who is neither a prophet, messenger, angel or anything, had a saying in what an all-knowing God had predetermined from the start of time:
Narrated `Umar (bin Al-Khattab):
My Lord agreed with me in three things:
-1. I said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), I wish we took the station of Abraham as our praying place (for some of our prayers). So came the Divine Inspiration: And take you (people) the station of Abraham as a place of prayer (for some of your prayers e.g. two rak`at of Tawaf of Ka`ba)”. (2.125)
-2. And as regards the (verse of) the veiling of the women, I said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! I wish you ordered your wives to cover themselves from the men because good and bad ones talk to them.’ So the verse of the veiling of the women was revealed. (33:53)
-3. Once the wives of the Prophet (ﷺ) made a united front against the Prophet (ﷺ) and I said to them, ‘It may be if he (the Prophet) divorced you, (all) that his Lord (Allah) will give him instead of you wives better than you.’ So this verse (the same as I had said) was revealed.” (66.5).
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:402
Makes you wonder, right? Who is really writing the Quran?
Issue 14.1. It is evident from the sequence of events that the need for the Hijab was not put forward until much later in the Islamic calendar. All three verses are Madina verses, meaning for a period of 15 years of Islam, including the whole life of Khadijah, women were never asked to cover. This cover became fundamental for every woman (half of Muslims) and the obsession of men (the other half of Muslims), yet it did not seem to be that much concerning for an all-knowing god or his Prophet. A god that did not even lend effort to set the actual parameters of how much cover, style, or colour. Instead, Allah left it to men to decide everything including what is the punishment for not complying. There are women who have been ostracised, beaten, and even killed over a piece of cover. You have states such as Iran and Afghanistan, which use the Hijab to go further in their oppression of women.
Issue 14:2. The story of the Hijab and how it came about many years into Islam, mostly because of Umar’s insistence, adds to the many issues that contradict the concept that the Quran was already written from the start of time. And, like many other verses, it proves that the Prophet was being influenced into what to write in the Quran based on events and people around him. It further proves that much of the Islamic teachings around women are made by men – be that the Prophet or, in this case, his companion.
Apologist Response:
Issue 14.1. Regardless of where the hijab is applied and its context, it symbolises modesty and respect. Because of this ethos, Islamic authorities and family members take it seriously. This appeared later in the Islamic calendar because of Allah’s decision, as it may have been when Islam settled, and it was the right time to introduce it. Disrespect of the Hijab should have consequences, but the Quran and Hadith do not prescribe it. Allah left the decision of how to be ‘modest’ to be influenced by individual cultures and periods of time. This is the correct way to set it up, allowing some diversity due to cultural norms.
>> Our response: While some of the counterarguments could be justified, specifically why the prescription of the style of hijab could be dictated by time and culture, it does not excuse the fact that it is men who decide the style and punishment – which could be death for something as showing a bit of hair! This over-obsession with the Hijab has not only affected the productivity and progression in our societies but has also rendered women second-class citizens. The Hijab has turned many women prisoners in their own homes and restricted their abilities to go out unless it is essential.
Issue 14.2. The Hadith in which Umar claims credit for three verses could be explained in a number of ways. First, Umar making the claim is not necessary evidence that he is the actual initiator of these verses. This is just his opinion. This would have been different if the Prophet had made this claim by suggesting Allah was listening to what Umar said. Second, there is always a background to stories and events in the Quran. The Quran could not have come down as one block of commands in a single day. For one, people would not have had time to adapt to the change. The slow process in which commandments came down was to allow people to learn and adjust.
>> Our response: Many commands come down without the need for a background story or someone to initiate them. What we outlined here is something that affects every Muslim person and is not to be trivialised any less than how prayer or fasting affects every Muslim person. For an all-knowing god that has set out everything from the start of time- this timeline was left with holes that make any reasonable person ask: Did Umar need to be peeping on Sauda going to the toilet to push the Prophet (Allah) to bring down a Hijab verse?
Final Thoughts:
The negative impact of the Hijab has had on women is hard to quantify. When ‘forced’ upon women, it is no longer a symbol of modesty but rather a symbol of oppression. Where women in liberal countries wear it out of choice, this is very different. They take that leap of faith and choice. They wear it with pride and belief, and that is their choice. They do so with full control over their bodies. But in Islamic countries, communities, and cultures, the Hijab turns into a conformity symbol that is enforced with pressure, threats, violence, and even death. That is on top of knowing that Hijab never stopped violence against women, it just replaces it others forms of cruelty.