Three Words

Three words.  In Islam, these three words have, May Allah subhanna wata Allah have Mercy on all of us, been a source of great debate and disagreement.  In my humble opinion, I would like to remind myself and others that scholarly disagreement was never met with ill regard, or disrespect.  On the contrary, the early schools of thought admired one another’s work in understanding this great faith, and if they were contemporaries often studied each other’s treatises and were a true source of guidance for the Ummah.

In the last twenty years, it seems we have lost this basic concept, and so have become polarized on issues that in early Islam our predecessors spent little time on.   So what three words am I referring to?   Jilbab, Khimar, Hijab.  These three words, as mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, and especially in more recent history, have been used to divide us, dear sisters into differing camps, those who do, those who do more, and those who don’t.  It has given a part of our deen an enormous amount of attention, while ignoring more important, even basic subjects.  Our new sisters who have been guided to this great faith, take their Shahada, and are politely handed a set of “covers” and asked to don the “uniform” of Islam. Do not misunderstand me,Islamic modesty is a core part of the social aspects of Islam, but these fresh minds become distracted by well meaning sisters each with their own individual opinion on the subject.  True Iman, or Islamic Piety and Righteousness, grows from the inside out, not from the outside in.  Our character develops first and is expressed through outward manners and actions.  As the old axiom goes,” you can’t judge a book by its cover”, you must read what’s inside to know its value.

Allah, SWT in the Glorious Quran, invites us to believe, and asked us to ponder and contemplate the many proofs, of the truth of revelation.  It is not a “blind faith”.  Allah asks us to seek knowledge and connect with it in our hearts.  This is a basic human proof, we cannot love something until we know it and we cannot know something until we spend the time understanding it.    Just as a child learns to walk before he runs, so too does the new Muslimah need to know Allah before her heart truly connects with Him in such a way that she desires to please Him, by worshipping Him not just in the obligatory acts, (prayer, fasting, charity etc.) but coming to an understand that Islam is a way of life and as such requires us to express it in our outward actions and appearance.

Three words.   Jilbab, Khimar, Hijab



Sahih International

O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garmentsجلبيبهنjalabeebihina. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.  Surat Azhab  59