Those parts of a responsible[1] persons body which are harām for him (or her) to
open and show others and for others to look at while during namāz, or any time,
are called Awrat parts. Men and women
were commanded to cover their awrat parts through the sūras of Ahzāb and Nūr, which were revealed in the third
year of the Hegira. In Hanafī and Shāfiī Madhhabs a mans awrat parts for
namāz are between his navel and lower parts of his knees. The knees are awrat
in Hanafī and the navel is awrat in Shāfiī. The namāz performed with these
parts open is not acceptable. When performing the namāz, it is sunnat for men
to cover their other parts [arms, head], [and to wear socks if a long robe or a
gown is not available]. It is mekrūh for them to perform the namāz with these
parts exposed.
All parts of free women, except their palms and faces, including their
wrists, outer parts of their hands, hanging parts of their hair and under their
feet are awrat for namāz, in Hanafī. There are also valuable books saying that
outer parts of hands are not awrat. According to them, it is permissible for
women to perform namāz while outer parts of their hands up to wrists are bare.
But, for having followed all the books, it is better for women to perform namāz
wearing a
---------------------------------
[1] When a girl reaches the age of 9 and when a boy is 12 years old, they become discreet and pubescent and are therefore called mukallaf (responsible) Muslims. Please see the twenty-third chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
gown with sleeves long enough, or a head cover
large enough, to cover their hands. There are (savants) who said that womens
feet were not awrat in namāz, but those same savants said that it was sunnat to
cover and mekrūh to open them when performing namāz and when going out. [It is
written in the book Qādihān[1] that hanging parts of hair are like feet]. If
one-fourth of a mans or womans awrat part remains bare as long as one rukn,
the namāz becomes annulled. If a smaller part remains exposed, the namāz does
not become nullified, but it becomes mekrūh. For instance, the namāz of a woman
one-fourth of whose foot has remained bare will not be sahīh. If she herself
uncovers it, her namāz becomes annulled immediately. [See second chapter!]. It
is written in Umdat-ul-islām[2]: A womans namāz which she performed with bare
heelbone, ankle, neck or hair is not acceptable. Thin tissue that lets the
shape or colour of the thing under it be seen is equal to none. [Please see
seventeenth chapter!] In Shāfiī, a womans whole body is awrat all the time
other than her two hands and her face.
Hadrat Ibni Ābidin rahmatullāhi alaih says in Radd-ul-mukhtār[3]:
---------------------------------
[1] Also known as Fatāwā-i-Khāniyya and Majmū'a-i-Khāniyya, Fatāwā-i-Qādikhān is a valuble book of fatwās written by Qādī Khān Hasan bin Mansūr Ferghānī "rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 592 [1196 A.D.],) and was printed on the page margins of the book Fatāwā-i-Hindiyya, by Shaikh Nizām Mu'īnuddīn Naqshibandī, and printed in Egypt in 1310 Hijrī.
[2] A highly valuable book written in
the Fārisī language by Abd-ul-'Azīz bin Hamīd-ad-dīn Dahlawī, (d. 741 [1341 A.D.],
[3] Ibni 'Ābidin Sayyid Muhammad bin Amīn bin 'Umar bin Abd-ul-'Azīz 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih', (1198 [1784J-1252 [1836 A.D.], Damascus,) was a profound scholar in the branch of Fiqh. Radd-ul-muhtār, of five volumes, is a commentary which he wrote for the purpose of explaining the book Durr-ul-mukhtār, by Muhammad bin Alī Ala'uddīn Haskafī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (1021, Haskaf, -1088 [1677 AD.]), Muftī of Damascus. Radd-ul-muhtār is the source of most of the teachings of Fiqh in the Turkish book Seādet-i ebediyye.
It is fard to cover ones awrat parts outside of
namāz as well as when performing namāz. It is tahrīmī mekrūh to perform namāz
by covering oneself with silk or with usurped or stolen clothes. However, since
a person has to cover himself, a man can use something made of silk, if he
cannot find something else. It is fard to cover oneself when one is alone, too.
A person who has clean clothes is not permitted to perform namāz naked in the
dark even when he is alone. When alone and not performing namāz, it is fard for
women to cover between their knees and navels, wājib to cover their backs and
bellies, and adab to cover their other parts. When alone in the home they can
busy themselves around with their heads bare. When there is one of the eighteen
men that a woman can show herself to, it is better for her to wear a thin
headdress. When alone, one can open ones awrat parts only when necessary, e.g.
in a toilet. It has been said (by savants) that it is mekrūh, or that it is
permissible or it is permissible when at a small place, to open ones awrat
parts when one is alone and making ghusl. When not performing namāz, it is
necessary to cover onself even with clothes smeared with najāsat.
It is written in Al-Fiqh-u-alal-madhāhibil-erbaa[1], The four Madhhabs do not exactly agree on the
parts of body men and women have to cover when they perform the namāz or on the
parts which are harām for men to show one another, for men to show women, and
for women to show their mahrams. However, it is harām in all the four Madhhabs
for women to show men and female non-Muslims their bodies other than their
faces and inside and outside their hands, and for these people to look at
them. In the Shāfiī Madhhab, on the other hand, their faces and hands are
awrat (and therefore must be covered) in the presence of men
---------------------------------
[1] The
following information is given about that valuable book in the eight hundred and seventh
(807) page of the tremendous work, Seādet-i
ebediyye, by Husayn Hilmi bin Sa'īd
Ishiq 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih',
an ageless wealth of knowledge, a beloved Walī, and a pearl of beautiful manners and behaviour:
"Prepared by an Egyptian scholarly council presided by Allāma Abd-ur-Rahmān
Jarīrī, one of the professors of Jāmi'ul-az-har, the book Kitāb-ul-fiqh-'alal-madhāhib-il-erba'ā, which consists of five volumes, was reproduced in Egypt in 1392 [1972 A.D.], and was translated
into Turkish by Hasan Ege and
published in seven volumes by Bahar Kitābevi in 1971-1979."
who are nāmahram to them. It is permissible for
women to open their faces and palms to men who are nāmahram to them, yet men
are not permitted to look lustfully at faces or palms of those women who are
nāmahram to them, no matter whether they are Muslims or disbelievers. When
there is no necessity, it is mekrūh to look without lust at those parts of
women that are permissible to look at, e.g. at faces of nāmahram women, at
pictures of their awrat parts, at awrat parts of children that have learned to
speak. Awrat parts of those children that have not started to talk yet are only
their sawatayn [private parts]. It is not permissible to look at the private
parts of boys until they are ten years old and of girls until they become
attractive, and later, to look at all their awrat parts. Animals do not have
awrat parts. Also, it is harām to look lustfully at boys faces, yet it is
permissible to look at them without lust even if they are beautiful.
It is written in Fatāwā-i Khayriyya,
When there is the danger of fitna, a father can keep his beautiful discreet
son who has reached the age of puberty in his own home and under his own
discipline. He may not let him go out on a travel or for education or on hajj
(pilgrimage) without a beard. He protects him like a woman. But he does not
veil him. In streets there are two devils near every woman. And there are
eighteen devils near a boy. They try to mislead those who look at these. It is
fard for a boy to obey his parents licit instructions. When there is no danger
of fitna, a father cannot force his discreet son who has reached puberty to
stay at home.
[It is written in the second volume of Majmaul-anhur[1] that our Prophet
sall-Allāhu taālā alaihi wa sallam stated, On
the day of Judgment melted hot lead will be poured into the eyes of those who
look lustfully at the faces of women who are nāmahram to them.
Stating the afflictions incurred by the eyes, Kādizāde[2], who explained the book Birgivī vasiyyetnāmesi, says
---------------------------------
[1] The book Majma'ul-anhur was written by Abdurrahmān bin Muhammad Shaikhīzāda 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih', (d. 1078 [1668 A.D.], Baghdād,) as a commentary to the book Multaqā.
[2] Kādī-Zāda Ahmad 'Amin bin Abdullah 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (1133-1197 [1783 A.D.],) wrote an explanation to the book Birgivī Vasiyyetnāmesi, which in turn had been written by Imām Birgivī Zayn-ud-dīn Muhammad bin Alī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (928 [1521 A.D.], Bahlżkesīr - 981 [1573 A.D.], Birgi.)
that Allahu taālā declares in the thirtieth āyat
of Sūrat-un-Nūr, O
My Messenger, sall-Allāhu alaihi
wa sallam! Tell the Believers not to look at harāms
and to protect their awrat parts against harāms! Tell those women who have īmān
not to look at harāms and to protect their awrat parts from committing harām!
It is written in Riyād-un-nāsihīn[1] that Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam
declared in his last wadā (farewell) hajj, The
eyes of a person who looks at a nāmahram woman lustfully will be filled with
fire and he will be flung down into Hell. The arms of a person who shakes hands
with a nāmahram woman will be tied around his neck and then he will be sent
down to Hell. Those who talk with a nāmahram woman lustfully without any
necessity will remain in Hell a thousand years for each word.
Another hadīth declares, Looking at ones
neighbours wife or at ones friends wives is ten times as sinful as looking
at nāmahram women. Looking at married women is one thousand times as sinful as
looking at girls. So are the sins of fornication.
It is written in the book Berīqa[2] that the hadīths Three
things (when looked at) put varnish on the eyes: Looking at a verdure, at a
stream, at a beautiful face and Three
things strengthen the eyes: Tinging the eyes with kohl, looking at verdure and
at a beautiful face, state the use of looking at people who are
halāl to look at. In fact, looking at nāmahram women and girls weakens the eyes
and darkens the heart. As informed by Hākim, Bayhakī, and Abū Dāwūd, a hadīth-i
marfū conveyed by Abū Umāma radīallahu
anh declares, If a person, upon seeing a
nāmahram girl, fears Allahs torment and turns his face away from her, Allahu
taālā will make him enjoy the taste of worships. His first seeing
will be forgiven. A hadīth declares, Those eyes
that watch the enemy in a jihād made for Allahs sake or that weep for fear of
Allahu taālā or that do not look at harāms will not see Hell fire in the next
world.]
Seven or ten year old attractive girls as well as all girls who have
reached the age of fifteen or the age of puberty are equivalents to women. It
is harām for such girls to show
---------------------------------
[1] A valuable compilation
consisting of a sampler from four hundred and forty-four books prepared by
Muhammad Rebhāmī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā
'alaih', one of
[2] It was written by Muhammad bin Mustafā Hādimī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 1176 [1762 A.D.],
Hādim, Konya).
themselves with bare head, hair, arms and legs to
nāmahram men, or to sing to them or to talk to them softly and gracefully.
Women are permitted to talk to nāmahram men seriously in a manner that will not
cause fitna when there is necessity such as buying and selling. So is their
opening their faces when among men. It is gravely sinful for women to go out
with bare head, hair, arms and legs, to let their voice be heard by nāmahram
men without necessity, to sing to them, to let them hear their voices through
films or records or by reading Qurān-al kerīm or by reciting the mawlid or the
adhān. [It is harām for women and girls to go out with dresses that are thin or
tight or of fur, wearing their ornaments such as ear-rings and bracelets
without covering them, wearing like men, cutting their hair short like men. Therefore,
it is not permissible for them to wear trousers, not even ample ones. Trousers
are mens clothing. In hadīth-i sherīfs, which
exist in Terghīb-us-salāt:[1] Those women who dress themselves like
men and those men who ornament themselves like women are accursed. Tight trousers are not permissible even for men.
For in this case the shapes of private parts can be seen from the outside.
Furthermore, it has not been an Islamic custom, neither of old nor now, for
women to wear trousers. It has come from the irreligious, from those who do not
know the Islamic way of attirement. Harāms cannot be Islamic customs even if
they have spread and settled. It is declared in a hadīth that he who makes
himself resemble disbelievers will be on their side. Trousers can be worn under
the mantle, yet the mantle must cover the knees as if there werent trousers
under it. Baggy trousers, being very ample, can be good dressings for women,
too, at places where they are customary. If they will cause fitna at places
where they are not customary, it is not permissible to wear them. Great Islamic
scholar Qādī Sanāullah-i Pāniputī, in
explaining the seventh piece of advice at the end of the book Tafhīmāt by Shāh
Waliyyullah-i Dahlawī, says, Of old, it used to be an Islamic custom
to go out wearing a long shirt, wrapping oneself up with a large towel, wearing
clogs or things like that. But now it would be ostentation to go out with such
things on at places where they are not
---------------------------------
[1] It is written by Muhammad bin Ahmad Zāhid 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 632 [1234 A.D.], India.)
customary. Our Prophet
salla-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam prohibited ostentation and making fame. We
must dress ourselves with things that are customary among Believers. We must
not keep ourselves aloof. So is the case with a womans going out with a dress
with a veil at places where it is customary for women to wear ample mantles. In
addition, causing an Islamic attirement to be mocked at, she will be sinful.
See also the last five pages of the fourteenth chapter of the fifth fascicle of
Endless Bliss.]
Whether in namāz or outside namāz, it is fard to cover ones awrat
parts lest others will see from the sides, but it is not fard to cover them
from oneself. If one sees ones own awrat parts when one bows for rukū ones
namāz does not become annulled. But it is mekrūh for one to look at them.
Something transparent like glass or nylon that lets colour of the thing under
it be seen cannot be a covering. If the covering is tight or, though ample, if
it sticks to one of ones awrat parts so that it resembles its shape under the
covering, it does not harm namāz. But it does not cover one from others. It is
harām to look at someone elses qaba awrat that can be seen in this manner.
Mens private parts on their front and in their back and their buttocks are
their Qaba awrat. When a sick person who
lies naked under a blanket performs namāz by signs with his head inside the
blanket, he has performed it naked. If he performs it keeping his head outside
the blanket, he will have performed it by covering himself, which is
acceptable. For it is compulsory not to cover oneself but to cover ones awrat
parts. For this reason, it is not permissible to perform namāz naked in the
dark, in a lonely room or in a closed tent.
A person who is not able to cover his awrat parts sits like sitting in
namāz, or stretches his feet side by side towards the qibla, which is better,
covers his front private part with his hands, and performs namāz by signs. For,
covering ones awrat parts is more important than the other precepts of namāz.
[As it is seen, even a person who is naked has to perform namāz in its proper
time and must not omit it. Hence it must be understood that those who do not
perform their namāz because of laziness and who do not pay their debts of
omitted namāz are under a great sinful responsibility]. A person who is naked asks
for something to cover himself from others who are with him. If they promise
him, he waits until nearly the end of prayer time. Also, when there is no
water, a person who expects water has to wait for water until nearly the end of
prayer time, and can make a tayammum only
after waiting that long. He who has the money must
buy water and something to cover himself. A person who cannot find anything
besides a covering less than one-fourth of which is clean is permitted to
perform namāz with the covering or by signs sitting; but with a covering
one-fourth of which is clean he has to perform it standing, in which case he
will not perform the namāz again later.
If a traveller[1] can find water only for drinking within one mile,
he performs namāz with the covering that has najāsat on it, and does not
perform it again later. It is not permissible for a settled person, that is, a
person who is not a musāfir, to perform namāz in a najs covering. It is
possible and necessary for him to clean it. For it is strongly probable to find
water in a city. If it is known for certain that there is no water in the city,
the settled person also can perform the namāz with a covering with najāsat on
it and can make a tayammum. It is written as follows in the fifth volume of Radd-ul-mukhtār:
There are four cases of peoples looking at one another and seeing one
another.
A mans looking at a woman, a womans looking at a man, a mans looking
at a man, and a womans looking at a woman. And there are four kinds of a mans
looking at a woman:
A mans looking at a nāmahram free woman, at his own wife and jāriyas,
at his eighteen relatives who are permissible for him to look at, and at
others jāriyas.
It is harām in all the four Madhhabs for men to see womens bodies
other than their faces, inside and outside their hands. This prohibition
pertaining to seeing applies to castrated, sterilized men, too. It is harām to
castrate a man. Castrating an animal is permissible only when it is intended to
fatten it.
It is harām for men to look at between a mans navel and knees. It is
permissible for them to look at his other parts without lust. It is permissible
for a man to look at his wife and at his own jāriyas from head to foot even
with lust, and also for them to look at him likewise.
---------------------------------
[1] What a long-distance journey is, is explained in the fifteenth chapter.
[A mans awrat parts are between his navel and his knees in three
Madhhabs. In Hanafī Madhhab the knees are awrat. The navel is not awrat. In
Shāfiī Madhhab the navel is awrat and the knees are not. In Mālikī Madhhab
none of them is awrat. It is stated in Mizān-ul-kubrā[1] that according to one explanation in Mālikī and
Hanbalī Madhhabs a mans sawatayn are his awrat only. Because there is no
ijmā (unanimity of savants), he who does not cover his thighs and pays no
attention will be secure against being a disbeliever.[2] Also, the Shiites awrat is their sawatayn
only].
A man, if he feels secure of lust, can look at the heads, faces, necks,
arms, legs below the knees of the eighteen women who are harām for him to marry
by nikāh and of others jāriyas. He cannot look at their breasts, at spaces
under their arms, at their flanks, thighs, knees or upper parts of their back.
These parts of women are also called (ghalīz), that is, Qaba awrat. Every woman must cover these parts
with thick cloth so that their colour and shapes will not be seen when
performing namāz, and the cloth must be ample so that their shapes will not
resemble their origin when she is among men. Jāriyas can perform namāz without
covering their parts that are permissible to be seen.
As it is seen, there are two kinds of womens dressing in Islam.
Firstly, free Muslim women cover all their bodies completely except their faces
and hands. It is not compulsory for them to cover themselves with charshaf
(black outdoor overgarment). An ample and long mantle, a thick headcover, long
stockings cover better than todays charshaf. It is written on the fourth page
of Durar-ul-Multaqita, by Abd-ul- Azīz Dīrī (d.
694),
---------------------------------
[1] Explaining the teachings of Fiqh in all four Madhhabs, the book is an epitome of compact erudition written by Abd-ul-Wahhāb-i-Sha'rānī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 973 [1565 A.D.],) a profound scholar well-versed both in the knowledge of Hadīth and in the teachings of Fiqh in the Shāfi'ī Madhhab.
[2] Otherwise, i.e. if all four Madhhabs agreed on that it was harām for a male Muslims to expose their thighs when in company, those who violated and slighted this injunction would outright become disbelievers.
The Sharīat has not commanded a certain type of
covering for women. The second one is the dressing of a jāriya (the woman
servant captured in war), who does not have to cover her head, hair, neck, arms
or legs (below knees) when among men. It has been observed with regret that
some women who bear Muslim names have abandoned the Islamic ladys dressing and
fallen for the habiliment for jāriyas or servants.
In order to mislead Muslim women, disbelievers and zindīqs say, In the
beginning of Islam women did not use to cover themselves. In the Prophets time Muslim women used to go out with bare
heads and arms. Later, jealous men of religion ordered women to cover
themselves. So women began to cover themselves afterwards, and became like
ogres. Yes, women used to go out without covering themselves. Yet, later the
sūras of Ahzab and Nūr were revealed in the third year of Hegira,
whereby Allāhu taālā commanded them to cover themselves. It is written in Mawāhib-i ladunniyya[1], On the way back from the Ghazā (Holy War) of
Khaiber, one night Rasūlullah (sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam) admitted Safiyya
radīallahu taālā anhā, one of the captives, into his tent. The Sahāba did
not understand if Safiyya was honoured as a wife or served as a jāriya. But
they felt ashamed to find it out by asking Rasūlullah so that they could do the
reverence and service due to (the Prophets)
wives. Well understand that she has become a wife if she goes out of the tent
in a covered manner and is escorted behind a curtain tomorrow morning, they
said. So, seeing that she was escorted out behind a curtain, they realized that
she had been honoured as a wife. As it is seen, in Rasūlullahs time free
women used to cover all their bodies. It would be known that a woman was not a
slave but a free lady by her covering herself all over.
It is permissible for a person who is secure of lust to touch someones
part which he is permitted to look at. A hadīth sherīf
declares, Kissing ones mothers foot is like
kissing the threshold of the doorway to Paradise. On the other
hand, whereas it is permissible to look at a nāmahram young womans hand and
face, it is not permissible to touch her or to shake hands with her even if one
is secure of lust. Committing fornication with a woman or touching any part of
her with lust, even if by forgetting or by mistake, according to the Hanafī and
the Hanbalī Madhhabs
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Imām-i-Ahmad bin Muhammad Shihāb-ud-dīn Qastalānī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (821 [1418 A.D.] - 923 [1517], Egypt).
causes Hurmat-i
musāhara. That is, it becomes eternally harām for the man to marry
this womans daughters or her mother by blood or in virtue of nursing and also,
for the woman to marry the mans son or father. [If hurmat-i musāhara takes
place between a man and his daughter the nikāh between the girls mother, that
is, the mans wife, and the man does not become annulled. The woman cannot
marry someone else. The man has to divorce the wife. It becomes an eternal harām
for him to remain married with the woman. If hurmat-i musāhara happens between
a man and his mother-in-law, the son-in-law will have to divorce his wife. The
son-in-law cannot marry this woman again eternally (Bezzāziyya)[1]]. It is not permissible for girls to touch
nāmahram men even if they trust themselves. If they touch with lust hurmat-i
musāhara takes place. Girls and old peoples lust is their hearts
inclination. It is permissible for a person who trusts himself to shake hands
with an old woman or to kiss her hand if she is old enough not to arouse lust,
but it is better not to do so.
It is permissible for men to stay together at a lonely place (halwat)
and to go on a travel [e.g. on hajj] with their eternal
mahrams.[2] According to the tarafayn[3] , halwat [staying
together at a lonely place] with a woman who is not ones eternal mahram is harām. If one stays with her
along with another mutteqī man or one of his eternal mahrams or ones wife, it
is not harām. Hurmat-i musāhara does not happen by staying in halwat or by
looking at any part of hers with lust except at the front. While telling about
being an imām, Ibni Ābidīn writes,
Halwat happens also when there are more than one nāmahram women. A very old
woman and an old man can go on a travel and can stay alone [Eshbāh][4]. Halwat with one of the eighteen women who are
ones eternal mahram is permissible, yet it is mekrūh with ones foster (milk)
sister [who and one have been suckled by the same
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Ibn-ul-Bezzāz Muhammad bin Muhammad Kerderī
'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 827 [1424
A.D.],) this book of fatwās was
combined with Fatāwā-i-Hindiyya, another book of fatwās, and the two books were printed in
[2] Eternal mahrams are close relatives by blood, in virtue of nursing or through nikāh (marriage) with whom one cannot marry at all.
[3] Imām-i a'zam Abu Hanīfa and Imām-i Muhammad.
[4] It was written by Zeynel'ābidīn bin Ibrāhīm ibni Nujaym-i-Misrī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (926-970
[1562 A.D.], Egypt).
woman], with ones
young mother-in-law or daughter-in-law when fitna is likely. It is not
permissible to talk with a young nāmahram woman without necessity. It will not
be halwat staying alone in a transportation wagon, shops, and places that are
open to public like mosques, since the insides of such places can be seen from
the outside. Two different rooms of one house are not counted as one place. Who
the women that are eternally mahram are is written in the twelfth chapter of
the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
According to imām-i Abū Yūsuf rahmatullahi taālā alaih, those
needy, enslaved, lonely women [employees and civil servants] who have to work
for a living at such jobs as baking bread, laundering [and others that require
uncovering their parts that are not their qaba awrat] can bare their arms and
feet as much as their work requires. It is permissible for men to see them or
to look at them without lust when work requires. And it is written in Nimet-i Islām[1] (in chapter on hajj), Bahr
al-fatāwā[2] and Ali Efendis
fatwā, wifes sister and uncles or brothers wife are nāmahram
women, too. It is harām also to look at their hair, head, arms and legs. One
must not live in the same home together with ones close relatives such as
these, who are not ones mahram. When one visits their house or when they visit
ones house, it is not permissible for the men and women to sit in the same
room, to behave cordially towards one another, to joke with one another or to
make merry. At places where mens and womens sitting in the same room is
customary and where this harām is slighted, in order to prevent offence and
hostility among relatives, women can sit in the same room or eat with their
male relatives for a short time, but they must be covered. The talks must be
serious. Utter care must be taken that the talk should last short and be rare
and especially that they should not be alone in the same place. True and well
learned Muslims who know and obey their dīn should never sit together like
that. We should not dispute with ignorant people or insist that our dīn
commands so, but we should try to abstain from harāms by giving such excuses as
worldly affairs, by talking softly not to offend our relatives. A male slave
also is a nāmahram man to his female possessor.
Seeing once is permissible for a judge when deciding a case in the
court of justice, for witnesses when giving evidence, for a
---------------------------------
[1] It was written by Muhammad Zihnī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā
'alaih', (1262-1332 [1914 A.D.].)
[2] It
was written by Qādī-Zāda Muhammad 'Ārif 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 1173 [1759
A.D.].)
person who is to marry a girl, even if lust is
likely to happen, and for a doctor, for a nurse, for a circumciser, for a
person who does enema (clyster) as long as necessary. It is permissible for a
sick person to have himself clystered. It is written on the four hundred and
seventy-eighth page of the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtār,
It is important sunnat to have ones son circumcised. It is Islams symbol. If
the people of a city do not have their sons circumcised, the Khalīfa fights
them. There is not a certain age of circumcision for a child. The best time is
between seven and twelve years of age. When performing circumcision, it is
customary to repeat the Takbīr-i Iyd
together loudly. Those who are not circumcised catch various diseases. French
books describe them under the name Affections du prépuce. On the five hundred
and fifty-eighth page of Hadīqa[1] and in its chapter about afflictions incurred by
the eyes, it is written that it is permissible for girls to learn and teach
science and medicine on condition that they will observe the Sharīat. Girls
must be educated and trained as obstetricians and gynaecologists. Women must be
shown to women doctors. If a woman doctor cannot be found one must take ones
wife to a male gynaecologist, if her illness is dangerous or very painful.
The awrat parts of Muslim women to one another are like the awrat parts
of a man to another man.
If a woman is secure of lust, her looking at a nāmahram man is like a
mans looking at another. The book Jawhara[2] says that it is like a mans looking at those
women who are his mahram. But it is harām for her to look at him lustfully.
Non-Muslim and renegade womens looking at Muslim women, (as well as their
paternal and maternal uncles, if they are renegades), that is, muslim womens
showing themselves to them, is, like their showing themselves to nāmahram men,
harām in three Madhhabs. They cannot look at Muslim womens bodies. It is permissible
in Hanbalī Madhhab.
When those parts of the body leave the body that are not
---------------------------------
[1] It was written by Abd-ul-Ghanī Nablusī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (1050 [1640 A.D.] - 1143 [1731 A.D.],
Damascus.)
[2] Jawhara-t-un-nayyira. by Abū Bakr bin 'Alī Haddād-i-Yemenī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 800 [1397 A.D.].) The book is an abridged version of of Sirāj-ul-wahhāj, which he wrote as a commentary to the book Mukhtasar-i-Qudūrī, by Ahmad bin Muhammad Baghdādī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih'.
permissible to look at, it is still not
permissible to look at them even if the body is dead. After a womans hair and
other hairs, toe-nails [not finger-nails] and bones leave her body, they cannot
be looked at.
It is not harām to look without lust at the reflections on mirrors or
on water of those parts of women that are harām to look at. For in this case
not they themselves but their visions are being seen. [Their reflexions or
pictures are not they themselves. Seeing them (their reflexions or pictures)
does not mean seeing them. Likewise, an imāms or hāfizs or muazzins voice
heard through a loudspeaker or on the radio is not the voice of the person
himself, yet it is its replica. Therefore, namāz performed by following a voice
heard likewise is not sahīh. Looking at their pictures or at their visions in
movies or on television is like looking at their images in mirrors. They are
all permissible to look at without lust, but harām to watch lustfully or to
look at those visions of theirs that will arouse lust. Also, it is harām to
listen to their voices. Surely, there are people who look at them lustfully. It
is harām to draw, to publish, to take pictures that arouse lust and are harām].
It is not permissible but harām to look at the awrat parts of women, even
without lust, behind glass, with any kind of spectacles, through water or at a
woman in water.
The voice of an imām or a hāfiz or a muazzin heard through a loudspeaker
or on the radio is not his own voice, but it is its likeness. A namāz performed
by following it is not sahīh. It is bidat to read or recite the Qurān al-kerīm or to call the azān through a
loudspeaker. For, lifeless objects that are use to produce sound are called mizmār, i.e. musical instrument. Thunder,
cannons, rifles, owls, parrots are not musical instruments. Instruments that
produce sounds for pleasure, such as drums, tambourines, cymbals, reeds,
flutes, loudspeakers are all musical instruments. A musical instrument will not
produce sound by itself. They have to be used so as to produce sound, i.e. with
the drum you have to strike the tightly stretched skin with a stick, with the
reed you have to blow, and with the loudspeaker you have to articulate sounds.
The sound that comes out from them is their own production. It is not the voice
of the person blowing them or talking to them. Voices reading or reciting the Qurān al-kerīm or calling the azān through
loudspeakers are sounds produced by the loudspeakers. They are not the voices
of the imāms or muazzins producing the original sounds. The muazzins own voice
is the azān. From both scientific and religious points of view, the sound
coming out of the instrument is not the muazzins own voice, which, in turn,
means that it is not the azān. Because it is like the azān, it is supposed to
be the azān.
What is termed the azān is the muazzins own
voice; in fact, it should be the voice of a pious (sālih) male Muslim, not the
voice of a woman or a child or a sound produced by a loudspeaker, regardless of
the similarity. Voices and sounds of this sort belong to others. Various
musical instruments produce different sounds. The sound produced by a
loudspeaker is not a human voice despite the quite close resemblance.
Watermelon seed sown in soil turns into big watermelons. The watermelons are
not the seed any longer. The seed is rotten, gone. Likewise, the words uttered
to the microphone are gone, and other sounds come out of the loudspeaker. Some hadīth-i-sherīfs read as follows: As the end of the world approaches, the Qurān al-kerīm will be read
(or recited) through mizmār. A time will come, wherein the Qurān al-kerīm will be read
(or recited) through mizmārs. It will be done not for the sake of Allah, but
for pleasure. Many a reader (or reciter) of the Qurān al-kerīm is accursed
by the Qurān al-kerīm he reads (or recites). There will be a time when the most
wretched Muslims will be the muazzins. There will be a time when the Qurān al-kerīm will be read
(or recited) through mizmārs. Allāhu taālā will accurse them. Mizmār
means any kind of musical instruments, i.e. reeds. A loudspeaker also is a
mizmār. Muazzins should fear the admonitions conveyed in these hadīth-i-sherīfs and should not call the azān through
loudspeakers. Some people, who are ignorant in religious matters, say that
loudspeakers are useful because they carry sound to distant places. Our Prophet sall-Allāhu alaihi wasallam stated: Perform your acts of worship in the manners that you have
seen me and my Sahāba do them! A person who makes changes in (the
prescribed manner of) an act of worship is called a
man of bidat. Men of bidat shall definitely go to Hell. None of their acts
shall be accepted. It is not right to say, We are making useful
amendments to religious practices. These fibs are invented by enemies of
religion. It is the Islamic scholars business to know whether certain changes
are useful. These profound scholars are called Mujtahids.
Mujtahids do not make any changes on their own. They know whether an amendment
or a change is an act of bidat. There is a consensus (of Islamic scholars) on
that it is an act of bidat to call the azān through mizmārs. The path that
will lead human beings to the approval and love of Allāhu taālā is (the one
that goes through) the human heart. The heart is like a mirror by creation.
Acts of worship add to the hearts cleanness and lustre. Sins blacken the
heart, so that it will no longer receive the
fayds[1] and nūrs (haloes,
lights) coming to it through love (of Allah or of those people loved by Allah).
Sālih (pious) Muslims recognize this state and become sorry. They do not want
to commit sins. They wish to do more and more acts of worship. In addition to
doing the five daily prayers of namāz, for instance, they wish to perform other
prayers of namāz. Committing sins tastes sweet and sounds useful to the nafs.
All sorts of bidats and sins feed and strengthen the nafs, who is an enemy of
Allāhu taālā. An example of this is calling the azān through a loudspeaker. It
is like a picture of an imām in a book or an image on a television screen,
which is not the imām himself although it is very much like him. Even if one
sees all the actions of an imām (performing a namāz) on television and hears
his voice, one cannot perform a namāz by following him.
It is permissible to look without lust at a woman dressed in clothes
not so scanty as to stick on her body. It is harām to look at a woman even
without lust who is clad in a dress the qaba awrat parts of which are scanty.
It is harām to look lustfully at a nāmahram womans underwears. It is harām to
look lustfully at those parts of hers that are not her qaba awrat and which are
covered tightly, scantily.
As it is harām for women to go out without covering themselves and by
ornamenting themselves, so it is harām for them to enter likewise any place
where there are men not mahram to them. And it is more sinful to enter a mosque
with uncovered awrat parts. A place where there are people with open awrat
parts or where harām is committed is called Majlis
al-fisq (sinning party). It is written in Bezzāziyya that it is not permissible for Muslims to attend or
to allow their wives to a majlis al-fisq, that is, a place where sinners gather
together, without necessity. Women who have īmān must cover those parts of
theirs that are not qaba awrat, such as head, hair, arms, legs, for one must
dread harāms lest one will lose ones īmān.
---------------------------------
[1] If a Muslim performs the acts of worship commanded by Islam properly, avoids those acts prohibited by Islam, subdues his nafs to full obedience to Islam, and attaches his heart to an Islamic scholar or Walī, he will attain a spiritual state wherein inexplicable pieces of subtle Islamic knowledge will begin to flow into his heart. This knowledge is called fayd. Naturally, it goes without saying that the first and the basic condition is that he should learn Islam from true, dependable sources. Otherwise, his heart may be lured away from Islam by some fatal delusions in the name of fayds.
[Some people, whose sole interest is pleasure and entertainment, do not hesitate to mislead others into mischiefs and disasters in order to attain their pleasures by saying, It annoys one to see a woman covering herself like an ogre. On the other hand, it gives relief and pleasure to look at an ornamented, beautiful girl or woman in free attire. It is sweet, like watching or smelling a beautiful flower. Looking at a flower or smelling a flower is sweet to the soul. It causes the soul to recognize the existence and the greatness of Allāhu taālā and to obey His commandments. Looking at a nice-smelling, ornamented and freely-dressed girl, on the other hand, is sweet to the nafs. The ear does not take any pleasure from colours, nor does the eye from sounds. For they do not sense these things. The nafs is the enemy of Allāhu taālā. It will not hesitate to do any sort of evil whereby to attain its pleasures. It will violate human rights and laws. Its pleasures do not have an end. Looking at a girl will not satisfy it. It will desire to meet her and to practice all its pleasures. It is for this reason that all civil codes curb the eccentricities of nafses. Excessive desires of the nafs drift people into misery, diseases, family disasters and afflictions. In order to prevent these disastrous situations, Allāhu taālā has prohibited girls dressing freely and being close to men not related to them, alcohol and gambling. People who have been enslaved by their nafs loathe these prohibitions. So they censure the books of ilm-i-hāl written by scholars of Ahl as-sunna and prevent young people from reading these books and attaining salvation].