Women

According to Qur'an and Sunnah, what is the standard for Hijaab? Some say it is what is being practiced in Iran . I only wear a scarf with long and modest clothing. Please be specific.

As for the standard and criteria for Hijaab according to the Teachings of Islam, the Hijaab for a Muslim is:

To cover her hair and body such that even the shape of her body is not apparent on the outside of the Hijaab to the onlooker.

This is provided that there is no kind of attraction associated with the Hijaab, for example the Hijaab clothing is not colourful such that it would attract the attention of others, the woman may not wear makeup or perfume, etc.

In the case of the covering of the hands and the face, there is a difference of opinion between the Maraje'. Some of the Maraje' consider it mandatory to cover the hands and the face. According to Imam Shirazi's Fatwa, a woman may her hands and face uncovered provided she is not wearing makeup, or that she would not be in a situation where a man would look at her with lustful glances or would fall for her . . .

Question: Hijaab and adornment (zeenah)

Q) Is it considered adornment (zeenah) for a girl, who has reached puberty, over the age of nine, to have her eyebrows plucked?

Q) Is it permissible for a young girl or woman to get rid of her facial hair and to straighten her eyebrows while she acknowledges that she will be seen by non-mahrams?

Answer to question1:

Yes, it is considered an adornment (zeenah) for a female to have her eyebrows plucked, and in that case it is obligatory for her (a girl over the age of nine) to have her eyebrows covered.

Answer to question2:

It is permissible for a young girl or a woman to get rid of her facial hair, and it is permissible for her to straighten her eyebrows, but in that case she would be obliged to cover her face, and it is NOT permissible for her to show her face to, or have her face seen by non-mahrams.

Question: Why do women have to wear it?

1. I do not wear Hijaab, but I understand that in Islam a woman must wear Hijaab. My question is why is it so important for women to wear Hijaab?

2. Why should a Muslim man and woman not hold hands in public even though they are married?

Answer

First I must thank Allah for guiding you to the message of the truth which is Islam, and I would like to congratulate you for your bravery and courage to have made such a momentous choice, which is very commendable. I pray Allah would always guide and support you in the path of the truth. This goes to show that Allah loves you to have guided you to His last revelation to mankind.

It takes a lot of resolve and determination for someone like you to make such major decision at a place where everyone else around you has a different idea about the truth of Islam. I appreciate the difficulty you face as a Muslim, but you should not worry about this, as Allah Almighty will support you all the way, InSha'Allah.

You had asked why must the hair of the Muslim woman be covered. It must be covered for the same reason as her body must be covered. Just as your body and skin is valuable and expensive, your hair is too. Hair gives a lot of beauty to woman, and therefore is for this reason that you must protect this aspect of your beauty. Allah has ordered us that a Muslim woman must cover her hair if she is to go out, and the reason for this order is nothing other than for her safeguard and for her dignity. Otherwise, if she does not wear Hijaab, she would gradually, and over the years, start wearing short clothes, and end up as a sex object as they are now in the west.

Hijaab is an honour and a dignity for woman, and therefore even when she is performing her prayers, which is the time when gets closest to Allah Almighty, she wears Hijaab. It is because of such reasons that Hijaab is considered as one of the most important requirement for woman. By wearing Hijaab in the west, a woman makes declaration of her resolve and determination to safeguard her honour and dignity, and that she is prepared to follow she is dictated to by the desires and lust men who wish to see women as nothing more than sex objects in order to satisfy sexual appetite.

As for your second question that why a man does not hold his wife's hand in public, the reason is that a Muslim man should not show his affections for his wife in public. Holding hand in public is considered to be a show of affection for one another and therefore one should not do it in public. So if a man does not hold the hand of his wife in public, then this does not mean that he does not love her.

You said that you did not scarf, InSha'Allah with the help of Allah you will start wearing Hijaab and stand firm on this decision. Seek help from Allah to give you the courage to continue in the path of the truth, which has come for the salvation of mankind throughout the world.

I hope this has been helpful to you. If you had any further questions, please ask, and InSha'Allah we will answer them.

Question:

Could you please give me some Qur'anic verses and or hadith concerning Hijab? Bismillah al-Rahmaan al-Raheem Here are some Qur'anic verses and a hadith, although there are much more hadith around. In the short time I have I can present to you the following:

Answer

Qur'an:

{And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils (which cover their head, ears and neck) over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, . . . . . and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments . . .} Al-Noor 24:31

{O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.} Al-Ahzaab 33:59

Hadith:

Imam Ali (AS) said: Fatimah and I found Rasulollah (S) crying and we asked him for the reason. Rasulollah (S) replied, "When I was ascended to the heavens I saw some of the women of my Ummah in severe torment . . . He (S) said:

As for the woman who was hanging by her hair, this was because she did not use to cover her hair from men.

Question: Why ‘Eddah Ghusl?

I am a new Muslim. I would like to ask a question about hygiene. I know that I should take shower after my period has finished. I do this, but can you explain to me why I should take shower, and what do I have to say when doing so. I would like to ask if I can go to the mosque if I have period. Thank you for your answer.

Answer

Purity (TAHARAH) is a fundamental principle in all issues. So if anything happens which violates purity, then it needs to be re-established, and one needs to be in the purity status as a precondition in order to perform his/her duties such as praying and fasting. Without being in a pure status one may not perform those duties. For such reason the taking of shower, or Ghusl as it is known in Islamic terminology, is compulsory upon a woman in order for her to gain purity status after her period, and it is then that she can perform her duties.

It is not compulsory for you to say anything when going the Ghusl, and it is sufficient that you make the intention to do the Ghusl to gain the status of purity. There are a number of the supplications which may be said during the Ghusl but these are optional desirable acts and not compulsory.

Question: public meeting of a man and a woman

Is it Islamically right if a man and a woman are out together IN PUBLIC.... for the purpose of getting to know each other?

If intention of the meeting is to get to know each other for the purpose of marriage, then provided some criteria are met, then such a meeting may be deemed to be acceptable.

* They are not in a state of KHALWAH (the two being alone without anyone having access to them) at any time. (This include when a man a woman are alone in a lift),

* This meeting does not constitute or lead to any haram such as dirty jokes, lustrous glance, etc. let alone touching or holding of hands.

* This kind of meeting must be limited. It may not be ongoing, but should be limited as and when necessary to reach and establish an understanding for this purpose of the meeting. Needless to say, in the ideal, Islam encourages the role played by the intermediaries from both sides in such cases to bring about a greater degree of acquaintance and understanding between the two parties. Therefore it is advisable and encouraged to have such meetings arranged with the presence of a third party to ensure that no haram is fallen into. There is a hadith which states that "No two (i.e. a man and a woman) come together unless the Shaytan is the third member of that meeting." Hence the presence of the third party in such meetings would, InSha'Allah, drive the evil away from the meeting.

Question: women, men and the internet

1) The internet is now more and more a tool for communication. It is not permissible to talk unnecessarily to a non-Mahram when the person is physically present and also on the telephone (please correct me if I am wrong).

However, what has caused much difference of opinion amongst the youth is how they should act when they are communicating by email or chat by text or voice, when the other non-Mahram is not present in the same room.

For the purpose of clarification can you also cover the sending of pictures of one non-Mahram to another via the internet, whether it is permissible under any circumstance.

The sending of photographs of one non-Mahram to another, whether electronically or by traditional means (printed on paper) must be refrained from. There may be cases when, for the purpose of marriage photographs need to be sent; in that case this should be done with the permission of the father of the girl or her guardian.

There are internet chat rooms such as #Shi'a (an Islamic IRC channel on Irc.dal.net, see www.shiachat.com) where religious topics are discussed, often between non-Mahrams. However in the midst of these discussions the members of the chat room often engage in joking. What kind of joking (if any at all) is permissible in such a situation?

If the joking is only, and only, just humorous then this may be permissible. Anything more than that which exceeds the limits of modesty is not permissible.

Relationships where they would like to get married speak of it but are in no immediate plan of doing so. Using the excuse that their intention is eventual marriage they voice chat and email and privately text chat together. Often these individuals use terms of endearment or what can be classified as flirting. Is this permissible?

It is not permissible. It may be permissible talk and communicate with one another if it is relevant to the issue of marriage and its immediate arrangement. They may not continue talking/emailing etc. unnecessarily under the pretext of their intention of eventual marriage some time in the future. This is certainly not allowed according to the teaching of Islam.

What are the consequences of continuing such behaviour if it is not permissible?

"Can you have a friend that is a girl (no sex, no kissing jus talk normally like you would do as if she was a boy) ... and are u allowed to talk on the internet... normally?"

Islam insists on avoiding mixing between the sexes, since mixing between a boy and a girl is the first stepping-stone to involvement in Haraam in the long run. For a practicing Muslim, falling into Haraam could very much be a gradual process, starting from very minor issue or behaviour and eventually leading to some major practices. Therefore Islam proactively encouragers the separation between the sexes, and prescribes all the necessary measures, as much as possible, so that one is not in a position to be tempted to engage in such a process.

Therefore if, say, you are at university and you need to talk to your female classmates regarding university course work or assignment, if you were doing a group assignment, then this may acceptable. But to take a girl as a friend and to talk to her 'normally' is questionable, as this is a starting point the last of which could well end up in Haraam. There are many things you could do with a male friend that would be Haraam if done with a female 'friend'. For example talking unnecessarily, or walking to and from university or place of work and talking with a female 'friend' is Haraam.

Question: Women in Jum'a Salaat

It is mentioned in all Tauzihul Masail that for a women it best to pray in her home, and prefer to pray in the room, and more prefer to pray in under ground (such as basement, sirdab). What The Sawab the women gets if she instead goes to mosque for congressional prayer of Juma? Did the women in Prophet (S.A.W.A.S), and Imam Ali (A.S.) period prayed Juma.
Please Answer as soon as possible.

During the times of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH and Imam Ali (a.s.) women used to participate in the Jum'a (Friday) and Jama'a (congregational) prayers.

Jum'a and Jama'a prayers have great Sawab in general, but since they are not mandatory for women under all circumstances, therefore there is no particular Sawab for her to perform them in the mosque. It should be noted that the Mu'mins in general have the choice of either performing the Friday prayers or the Dhuhr (Noon) prayers, and performing one of them would discharge the duty of performing the other. Although the preferred choice is to perform the Dhuhr prayers since it is obligatory in itself (specified Waajib) whereas the Friday prayers is Mustahab and it is not obligatory in the time of occultation of the Imam Mahdi A.S.

Question: Men and Women praying in the same room.

My question is it Halal for women to pray with men in the same room with out curtain. Thank you.

It is allowed to pray in the same room when men are praying without curtain, provided the ladies pray behind the lines of the men, such the ladies are not praying in front of or beside the men under any circumstances.

wife beating

Is the beating of one's wife halal or haram in Islam?

If halal, under what conditions and in what fashion?

Thanks for your help.

The 'beating' that is referred to in the holy Qur'an is a 'pretend' beating, that is to say when they are being ‘disobedient' one should implement the various stages of sanctions as outlined in the holy Qur'an {4:34} such as advising them, 'boycotting' them and as a last resort one may resort to pretend to beat them. This means that this should not hurt her physically, and should not leave any mark on her body. The effect should be sentimental rather than physical. The whole point of this is to show her that her husband is not pleased with her conduct. Some of the tafseer say that this may be done with for example Sewak - the three inch long natural brush used for cleaning teeth with.

It should be noted that according to the Islamic Shari'ah it is obligatory upon the wife to obey the husband in two situations: to seek husband's permission when leaving the house, and meet to husband's sexual needs when there is no valid reason to refuse.

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Question: What are the limits of Hijaab?

Question: Hijaab and adornment (zeenah)

Question: Why do women have to wear it?

Answer

Question:

Answer

Qur'an:

Hadith:

Question: Why ‘Eddah Ghusl?

Answer

Question: public meeting of a man and a woman

Question: women, men and the internet

Question: Women in Jum'a Salaat

Question: Men and Women praying in the same room.

wife beating