Readers’ Voice

Hijab, a dress code
 
Hijab is an Islamic dress code. It aims at hiding the beauty of a woman from the eyes of all those with whom marriage is lawful.
The word is found in the Holy Quran, Sura Marium, Ayat No. 17, it is: So, she (Marium) took a veil (hijab) (to screen herself from the people). We sent Our Spirit and there he appeared to her (as a well made man].”
The dress code is binding because of protecting beauty and equality. The Arabian women customarily used the head covering before and after the advent of Islam. According to the most of the classical commentators,. The women even before Islam more or less as an ornament used it.
 The women should draw upon them some of the outer garments when in public as a moral guideline to be observed against the ever changing background of tunic and social environment. (Ref: The Message of the Holy Quran Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad at page No. 33, 38, 39).
 They let down loosely over the wearer’s back and simply in accordance with the fashion prevalent at that time, the upper part of a woman’s tunic had a wide opening in the front, her breasts were left bare.
As such, Allah revealed two verses-one in Sura Nur (25/31) and another in Sura Al Ahzab (33/59). The text of the Ayat No. 24/31 is: O Prophet! Say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and display not their ornaments except what appears thereof and let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms.
The text of the Ayat No. 33/59 is: Say (O Muhammad) to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments.
The question is whether the State can impose it upon the women’s free will. In a Muslim country, the government can declare Hijab as a dress code with provision of minor punishment sans corporeal torture. Save the Judiciary, none can do it.

Khurshida Haque
Dhaka