Al Azhar confirms HIJAB is not a part of the religion

HIJAB IS NOT A PART OF RELIGION
URL - http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/05/al-azhar-confirms-hijab-is-not-part-of.html
The following statement is in reference to the "Burqa ban movement" in United Kingdom, it sounds more like a political movement to appease someone. Burqa Ban is brutish and driven by men's primal instinct to control women. No one should have the right to impose what a woman wears or not wears. However, we should seek acknowledgements and endorsements from Muslims that Burqa in it is form is cultural and not Islamic. Over a generation or two, either the practice will continue or fade for a sizable population, but it should never be forced.
 
Our position on Hijab
Islam is about freedom and not compulsion, Q 2:256, "Let there be no compulsion in religion". We recognize that culture is deeply ingrained into each one of us, and a full Hijab wearing woman will not go cold turkey and quit wearing the Hijab the very next day.  She will not be comfortable with it and none of us have the right to tell her to wear or quit wearing it. The change should come out of her own volition as it is a part of her cultural life.  It is like forcing a vegetarian to eat meat or ordering a meat eating person to quit eating meat.

As Muslims we should be pro-choice based on Quran and Prophet's teaching, the prophet had said, if the husband compels her to believe (in matters of faith) other than what she believed, she does not have to obey him.  Meaning a woman should have the freedom to wear full Hijab, partial Hijab or just the head covering or not wear the covering at all,  but never forced.
That is the genuine freedom, a critical value of Islam.
Mike Ghouse,
World Muslim Congress.
A think tank committed to nurture the pluralistic values of Islam. 

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AA
This statement is in reference to the "Burqa ban movement" in United Kingdom, it sounds more like a political movement to appease the secular government.  Burqa Ban is an useless and losing battle. However, we should seek acknowledgements and endorsements from Muslims that Burqa in it is form is cultural and not Islamic. Over a generation or two, either the practice will continue or fade for a sizable population, but it should never be forced.

Go for the winning battles, small ones and gradually big ones. You will create enemies out of average Muslims and then it becomes a fight.... is it necessary? What is the need to employ so much energy on this issue?

Several articles are referenced below, and two versions of the stories, both from Egypt, one affirms that Hijab is not a part of the religion, and another Zealot Shaykh Tantawi compels a woman to take the Niqab off. He is wrong, however big he is to compel and take advantage of his position of a scholar. Islam is about freedom and not compulsion.

A good guideline for discussion would be resisting the temptation to reject a presentation by others as propaganda.

As far as your statement,  “A statement of a Ph D thesis cannot change the ruling of the scholars of all times”, kindly note, that only God’s word remains unchangeable, and Prophet’s words remain unchangeable, provided, they are his words. Everyone else’s word should be questionable. Muslims are to read (Iqra), question and believe.

A few Muslims have been threatened, frightened and reduced to meekness with no guts to question the veracity of the scholars. With the unprecedented availability of knowledge, two generations down the road, you will see that new breed of Muslims will have stronger faith in God to question everything. They will be Allah fearing and not Mullah fearing, and they will question the authenticity of Imam Bukhari, Hanbali, Shafii, Jaffari and others without batting an eye. That is when Islam will be re-realized to its fullest extent. Right now our fear to question has put layers of dust over Islam…

I hope Gehan can provide further research on this, however the responsibility falls on all of us, we are responsible to find the truth on our own.

  

Some 15 years ago, we had a Muslim woman scholar giving a talk about the same subject; the Muslims “In charge” of the event were scrambling to shut the woman down, because they did not have the stomach to hear that Hijab is cultural and not Islamic.

There is nothing wrong in wearing the Hijab, if one is used to, and no one should compel the woman not to wear or to wear. It should be her choice. However, to force on as religious duty is wrong, because it is not religious. Who am I to say this? An ordinary Muslim, whom Prophet told to read and understand the book , as I am responsible for my acts on the day of judgment .  

Mike Ghouse, World Muslim Congress.

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RE: MuslimsTogether :: al Azhar confirms HIJAB is not a part of the religion

This is sheer propaganda. Please give us the whole Ph D thesis for checking. A statement of a Ph D thesis can not change the ruling of the scholars of all times.

Who are these people of WMC? What is their interest?

Shah Abdul Hannan

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From: WorldMuslimCongress@yahoogroups.com [mailto:WorldMuslimCongress@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of ISLAM
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 9:44 PM
Subject: MuslimsTogether :: al Azhar confirms HIJAB is not a part of the religion

here is my humble interpretation:

Finally al Azhar clarifies its position and announces that hijab has nothing to do with religion

al Azhar's endorsed Sheikh Mustafa Mohamed Rashid's PhD thesis on Sharia and Law for which he obtained a grade of excellent, where he stated that hijab is not an Islamic requirement (fard), and that the interpretation (tafseer) of the verses (ayat) and the circumstances during which they appeared has led to the widespread misunderstanding about the so-called 'Islamic Hijab' denoting covering the head, of which there is absolutely no mention in the Quran.

Yet some have misconstrued the intent and correct interpretation of the Sharia, refusing the logic and sequence of its appearance, abandoning the proper methods of citing and interpreting of the verses (ayat), their historical background and reason for them.  They have done so either intentionally, or with good intention but with lack of the essential analytical savvy.

This hijab issue imposed itself on the Islamic and non-Islamic psyche, and thus becoming the defining factor, meaning, and nature of the Islamic faith to non-Muslims, which led some non-Islamic nations to consider it a divisive political statement.  In consequence to the resulting friction, some female students have been expelled from universities and jobs, only due to their adherence to this false belief, thereby attaching to Islam a non existent requirement.

So inconsistent and misguided have the proofs of the supporters of the hijab theory been, that it would sometimes take the form of khimar or jalabeeb, which distanced them from what they meant by head cover, which is indicative of their restrictive set of mind.

'Hijab' was mentioned in verse (ayah) 53 of al AHzab, where it signifies 'wall' or 'what prevents view' and it was in regards to pure "ummuhat al mo'mineen" where a "hajib" is to be placed between them and any men.

As for verse (ayah) 31 of Al Khimar - Sourrat al Noor, that is also a redundant claim, as the intent here is the cover of the breast and neck - the background here is the covering of the breast whose exposure is un-Islamic, and not what is now understood by hijab for the head.

And in regards to the historical background of verse (ayah) 59 of Sourrat al AHzab was to distinguish between the pure and the promiscuous whores and slaves.

Finally, in the mis-use of the Hadith about Asma'a, daughter of Abu Bakr, when she walked in on the prophet (pbuh)s gathering, and he ordered her to not expose her face or palms - this Hadith is not a binding Hadith, as it is one of al AHaad and not one of the consistent, or the connected confirmed.


TRANSLATION BY GEHAN A F D SABRY

from the Arabic text at http://www.elbashayer.com/news-192556.html

1. BBC - Egypt's highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women's veils, known as the niqab.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8290606.stm

2. Shaykh Tantawi eventually tells even a teacher to remove her niqab!!

When the Grand Shaykh was invited to address a group of young female high-school students, he noticed one of them wearing a face-veil (niqab). This seemed to irritate his Excellency rather mightily, and, his conscience so roused, he proceeded to ask the supercilious girl to remove her veil (he is preceded by the likes of Jack Straw and Tony Blair, amongst other honorable mentions) – he charged on, blasting, “I have already told you that the niqab has absolutely nothing to do with the religion, and it is something that is from custom!”

http://muslimmatters.org/2009/10/07/with-scholars-like-these/

3. Burqa Ban Debate (1/4)

Burqa Ban Debate (1/4)

View on www.youtube.com

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 Atif al-Awami, vice-chancellor of Ain Shams University, added that he "personally believes that the niqab was nothing but a social habit that spread in response to motives unrelated to religion."

http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/features/main/2010/02/03/feature-02?format=mobile&mobile=true

A FEW ARTICLES ON BURQA ON THIS SITE

1. World Muslim Congress: Me without my Hijab
2. World Muslim Congress: Burqa to no Burqa
3. World Muslim Congress: Burqa - Panipat to Paris
4. World Muslim Congress: Nazia wins womens rights
5. World Muslim Congress: Canada should not ban Burqa.
6. World Muslim Congress: Burn the Burqa
7. World Muslim Congress: Veil and British women
8. World Muslim Congress: To Veil or Not to Veil
9. World Muslim Congress: Fifteen Tips for Muslim Men talking about ...
10. World Muslim Congress: Lifting the Veil on the Niqab
11. World Muslim Congress: Muslim Dad Kills Daughter

Lifting the Veil on the Niqab

Lifting the Veil on the Niqab

The following article on the subject is fairly well written.

Agree with most of what Tarek has said, but if a woman wants to wear the Hijab or Niqab (face mask), let her, it is her life and her body; she should have complete freedom to choose. Its time to think in terms of freedom, and not fall into the trap that wearing Niqab is oppression or regression. Why does one have to conform? It is about what she wants to cover or uncover, let the issue be a pro-choice.

One comment I have heard that makes a lot of sense is “if she had told the court that she is not comfortable with the open face in presence of media or such..." it would have been more acceptable as opposed to referencing to religion. Then we have two choices - some Muslims think it is religious, most others don't... should it not be a woman's choice?

My late wife never wore any Hijab, except the covering at the Mosque... one day she said she is going to wear the Burqa... that stopped me in my tracts and resisted my own resistance to it. Who am I to "tell" her what to wear or not?

Mike Ghouse
WorldMuslimCongress.com

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February 5, 2009

Lifting the Veil on the Niqab

There is no requirement in Islam to cover one's face -- the niqab is the epitome of male control over Muslim women

By Tarek Fatah,

The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Life/Lifting+veil+niqab/1254516/story.html

Barely a week goes by when my religion, Islam, does not face a fresh round of scrutiny. If it is not a suicide bomber blowing himself up in an Iraqi mosque screaming "Allah O Akbar," it is news that an imam in Malaysia has declared the practice of Yoga sinful. If it is not a Toronto imam defending suicide bombing on TVO, a Muslim woman writes a column in a Canadian daily, advocating the introduction of Shariah law in Canada.

But the one topic that rears its head in almost predictable cycles is the subject of a Muslim woman's supposed Islamic attire. Whether it is swimming pools or polling booths there is no escape from the repeated controversies surrounding the face mask, better known as the niqab, or the burqa.

The latest incarnation of the niqab controversy surfaced this week when a Toronto judge ordered a Muslim woman to take off her niqab when she testified in a case of sexual assault.

The woman invoked Islam as the reason why she wanted to give testimony while wearing a face mask. She told the judge, "It's a respect issue, one of modesty," adding Islam considers her niqab as her "honour." Her explanations were rejected by the judge who determined that the woman's "religious belief" was not that strong and that in his opinion the woman was asking to wear the niqab as "a matter of comfort."

But all of these arguments are premised on the acceptance of the myth that a face mask for women is Islamic religious attire.

Humbug.

There is no requirement in Islam for Muslim women to cover their faces. The niqab is the epitome of male control over women. It is a product of Saudi Arabia and its distortion of Islam to suit its Wahabbi agenda, which is creeping into Canada .

If there is any doubt that the niqab is not required by Islam, take at look at the holiest place for Muslims -- the grand mosque in Mecca , the Ka'aba. For over 1,400 years Muslim men and women have prayed in what we believe is the House of God and for all these centuries women have been explicitly forbidden from covering their faces.

For the better part of the 20th century, Muslim reformists, from Egypt to India , campaigned against this terrible tribal custom imposed by Wahabbi Islam. My mother's generation threw off their burqas when Muslim countries gained their independence after the Second World War. Millions of women encouraged by their husbands, fathers and sons, shed this oppressive attire as the first step in embracing gender equality.

But while the rest of the world moves toward the goal of gender equality, right here, under our very noses, Islamists are pushing back the clock, convincing educated Muslim women they are sexual objects and a source of sin.

It will be difficult to pinpoint what went wrong, but most of Canada 's growth in niqabi women can be traced to one development in 2004, when a radical Pakistani female scholar by the name of Farhat Hashmi came to Canada on a visitor's visa, to establish the Al-Huda Islamic Institute for women.

Maclean's magazine reported in July 2006 that she had "established a school where she lectures to mostly young, middle-class women from mainstream Muslim families, not only from across the country but also from the U.S. and as far away as Australia ."

In October 2005, the Globe and Mail ran a story on Dr. Hashmi quoting a 20-year-old Muslim woman as saying, "I agree with Dr. Hashmi that women should stay at home and look after their families." This student was so impressed with Dr. Hashmi's sermons that she convinced 10 of her friends to enrol in the course that involved wearing the niqab, leaving the work force and embracing polygamy.

In the Globe piece, 18-year-old Sadaf Mahmood defended polygamy and the burqa saying: "There are more women than men in this world. Who will take care of these women? It is better for a man to do things legally by taking a second wife, rather than having an affair."

While the rest of Canada sleeps, the Islamist agenda, funded by the Saudis and inspired by the Iranians, continues to make its presence felt. The vast majority of Muslims look on in shock, unable to understand why this country would tolerate the oppression of women in the name of religion and multiculturalism.

The woman who was denied her burqa in court is a victim. She is merely a puppet in the hands of those who wish to keep women in their place. First she suffered the trauma of the alleged sexual assault, which was then compounded by the controversy about her niqab. She could have asked the judge to not let her face her alleged attackers, and that would have been a fair request.
But when she invoked Islam and said hiding her face would be an act of religiosity, she became a voice not for justice, but for those who wish to sneak Shariah law into our judicial system. This should be stopped.