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مشاهدة النسخة كاملة : Niqab, or Not Niqab?



من هناك
01-10-2007, 03:37 PM
Covering the face: An obligation in Montreal, or not?
What about the issues of difference of opinion, what should we do in general when we are lost??
I hope that this short text will help clearing the confusion about this issue and others as well inchaAllah;


Essalamu alaykum wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuhu :)


I hope all of you are doing fine inchaAllah,


I know that the Niqab issue is one that many people have questions about and sometimes they are quiet confused about it, and I wanted to write something about the topic some time ago but I never did.


And something just reminded me about it this week, so I wanted to share a few points about the Niqab/Hijab issue with all of you;


I am not a scholar, except that – al hamduli-Allah – I easily have access to many references and inchaAllah I’ll try to pass on some information that might help,


So, the question is: Is covering the face an obligation, or not?


FIRST OF ALL, LET’S REMEMBER SOME VALUABLE PRINCIPLES
We must start with some very important rules on how to deal with the scholar’s opinions when they differ…


1/ Types of differences of opinion
Scholars of Usol-Fiqh mentioned that there are two main levels of differences of opinion that we usually find:
- A valid difference of a opinion (khilaf mu3tabar): occurs when each opinion is (1) either based on strong and clear proofs (2) or adopted by the majority of scholars
- A weak one (khilaf shaadh): when the proofs are weak and the majority of the scholars against the opinion


2/ Difference is easiness for the Ummah
When the difference of opinion is weak, it should not be considered and should never ever be followed even if it’s easier. (this text will not be talking about the weak differences);
However, when the difference of opinion is strong, scholars mentioned that it is from the blessing of Allah on this Ummah, because it gives us more possibilities and more flexibility.
Sometimes, it is a mercy because each opinion will serve a specific context, since this deen is for the whole humanity.
In the past, a scholar decided to call his book on comparative Fiqh the “Book of difference”, but Imam Ahmad told him to call it the “Book of wideness” instead because valid diversity gives us more space, more flexibility and it’s a mercy from Allah…


3/ Which opinion should we choose when scholars differ?
In a case of a valid difference of opinion (only!):
Let’s say you have two opinions (A) and (B) and you don’t know which one to follow, both of them make sens! You are one of the three following persons:
a) If the person is qualified to make Ijtihaad and study the issue in its smallest details (texts, proofs, chains of narrations if needed…), and that in the end they get to the conclusion that opinion A is definitely the right one, then:
- They must follow it themselves because they saw the proofs and they will be questioned about them on the Day of Judgment
- They cannot force others to follow them and they still have to respect their choice if they differ
- They must remain open to any discussion because it might happen that they change their opinion later on (it happens to most of the scholars in these types of issues, they change their opinion from one book to another; Fiqh is a very flexible science, unlike aqeeda for example)
b) If the person is qualified to make Ijtihaad but that they are making a Fetwa for others (a scholar answering a question): they don’t always have the right to push people to follow their conclusion; instead they have to make a Fatwa that takes into consideration:
- which opinion fulfills the best the objectives (Maqasid) of Sharia in their specific context: at this step the scholar would use the harms/benefits balance to predict the effect of each opinion on the society
- if both opinions are quite similar in their harms/benefits thing, the scholar should direct people to the easiest opinion, because Easiness is a major characteristic of Sharia and one cannot force others to follow the hardest opinion of the two, unless: (1) either it is proven to be certainly THE order of Allah (2) or, it leads to bigger benefits or takes away major harms
- sometimes the scholars of a country would agree that opinion Y is really needed because it bring great benefits for the Ummah, and in this case, the Muslim ruler (Khalifa…) would force their opinion and it becomes obligatory on everyone to follow it, because the ruler must be obeyed in issues of common benefit just like we have to obey them for traffic lights! (the rule states “Ijtihadu al Imami naafidh” meaning the Ijtihaad of the Muslim ruler brings end to the difference of opinion)
c) If the person is just a follower who asks the scholars and cannot really deeply study the issue:
- first of all one should consult the scholars to make sure it is an issue of strong difference and not just a weak opinion (for example one asks 6 scholars he trusts and he gets 2 different answers 3vs.3, which means it is a valid and strong difference)
- if it’s the case, then the person is definitely free to choose one of the two opinions, but ideally:
§ they would go with the hardest opinion if it doesn’t really cause them any hardship
(for example: there is a major difference on the Zakat of a woman’s personal jewels, but if the woman is very rich and that it doesn’t really affect her much to give the Zakat since she can buy more, then she is encouraged to adopt that opinion);
> but, they are still free to take the easiest one
> note that sometimes the scholars of the country would agree to adopt the hardest opinion, for example if there are too many poor people waiting for Zakat, then the scholars might ask people to follow the opinion stating the obligation of Zakat on personal jewels >> in this case we should obey them since (1) it’s an issue of common benefit and (2) we are asked to obey the scholars
§ otherwise, if there is a bit of hardship with the hardest opinion, then one should go with the easiest one since Allah Subhanahu wa Taala loves the easiness for us, and one should do things that Allah loves : “Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties.” 2:185
> this is a very important thing to keep in mind, because just like we have to be strict sometimes in Sharia (Sad-athara’ii), we must be easy in other times (Fath-athara’ii)
> and because some people insist always on not taking the easiest opinion, they refuse for example some permissions that some scholars mentioned for throwing the stones in Hajj which causes people to all gather at the same peak time and it results in accidents; Same for Ramadhan, because some community leaders insist on following one opinion they adopt which causes the split (they don’t know that when one is making a decision for the community, they can’t necessarily impose their own choice!)


NOW, BACK TO THE NIQAB ISSUE
InchaAllah it will be continued in an upcoming email…
(I have not got the second email yet :))

من هناك
01-11-2007, 01:16 AM
4/ Back to covering the face
The Niqab issue is definitely an issue of major and strong difference of opinion, and stating that it’s not the case is definitely not right.
There are two major opinions on the issue:
Opinion One: that covering the face is an obligation: adopted by many scholars in the past as well as many scholars today (mostly in Saudi)
Opinion Two: that covering the face is a Muss’tahab (encouraged but not obligatory) and it is the opinion of Imams A-Hanifa, Malik, Shafii and one narration from Ahmad (also adopted by some late Hanbalis like Ibn-Qudama) and is adopted by most of the nowadays scholars (Albani, Qaradawi…) and Muslims;

So the difference is strong and it’s there, and one can definitely not pretend that the “truth is this opinion and nothing else”!

Also, each of the two opinions is backed with some quite strong proofs. For example, for the ones saying it’s not an obligation :(1) there is the Hadith of Jabir in Sahih Muslim in which he describes the face of a woman he saw in the massjid, and it is a very important Hadith since Jaber entered Islam after Hijaab was prescribed; so no one can pretend that it was in the early period (2) the Hadith of Ibn Abbas taking Zakat from women and it mentions in the Hadith that he saw their hands which means they were not covered (3) it is an opinion stated by both Ibn Abbas and Ibn Omar (both authentic narrations and reported by Ibn-Abi-Shaybah) and many others…
So as you see:
1) the second opinion (not an obligation) is the opinion of the majority
2) it also has strong proofs as well

So this definitely fulfills the profile of “strong difference” that we mentioned in the very beginning, and those who say that “Niqab is an obligation and no discussion after” are definitely not behaving the right way;

5/ Fetwa changes with the context
Now, believe me: this is really not the type of issues that people at our level can study in details to be able to judge which one is the strongest in the end, because the main cause of difference is the fact that scholars differ on the authenticity of the actual proofs: some will say the proofs used by the majority (not obligatory) are weak while others will do the same (sh Albany has a book in which he proves that – according to him – all the narrations obligating Niqab are weak!)

So in the end, this is an issue that Muslims will never agree on, and I think – and Allah knows best – that this because Allah Subhanahu wa Taala knows that covering the face will serve the Muslims in one context and not another so it remains flexible;

6/ Niqab is Saudi
Most of those who push Niqab on others (in the west) were influenced by Saudi Fetwas. But these people don’t know that many Saudi scholars declared Niqab as being obligatory for their context, and they were not talking about others. It is because in Saudi Niqab is respected since decades and it’d be a real Fitna in the streets for their youth if suddenly women uncover their faces.

For instance, in Makkah and Madina (exceptionally) Niqab is not obligatory but it was reported to me that some white western sisters were kidnapped in the past (because there are animals everywhere, and they see white uncovered women only on Tv so they go to Makkah to find their victims!).
When I went for Umrah, many non-Niqabi sisters did put a Niqab while we were in Madina just by precaution.

I visited sh Abdullah-Dumayji (deen of the Usol-Deen faculty at Umm-al-QuraUniversity) at his house and during the discussion he told me that yes, there are two strong opinions about the issue, but there is no need for them in Saudi to tell people about the second opinion because the first one is working very well.
That’s it! There goal was never to make Fatwa for others!

Remember what we mentioned in the very beginning: scholars of a specific country would sometimes force one opinion because it brings more benefit in their context and if they agree on that they should be obeyed (so no need to blame Saudi scholars);

* Plz note that in many Muslim countries (like Egypt), scholars are encouraging Niqab as well for the same reasons because of the high Fitna that is happening there because it is very hard for people to get married, etc…

7/ Niqab in Montreal
As for our context (I’m speaking only about Montreal!! I don’t know about the rest of the west!), the balance is totally different and one cannot say that Niqab becomes necessarily an obligation, but:
§ the sisters who wear Niqab should be totally respected since they chose a respectable opinion and they are free to do so (or at least they are doing something that is Muss’tahab)

(Whatever comes below is my own dedication because obviously I never heard any scholar making a Fatwa specifically for Montreal, so I am only applying the scholars’ statements to our context;
However, al-hamduli-Allah before sending you this email, I called this morning sh. Ghafiss - who is a member of “hay’at kibaar al ulamaa” (council of the high scholars, Saudi) and I validated my arguments with him after explaining to him our situation, before I sent you this)

Argument #1: First of all, not covering the face is the easiest opinion and I’d say sisters should follow it if they have to live as everybody else (if they need a job, need to study…) because it might cause them many difficulties if they wear Niqab;
(Remember what we mentioned before about following the easiest opinion in case the difference is strong);

Argument #2: To my knowledge (that’s what I heard; sisters please correct me if I’m wrong…) : Niqabi sisters are more often attacked in the street (insults…) and they feel less secure, which goes against the actual objective of Hijab which is “and thus they will not be given trouble ” 33:59
So if a sister really needs a job and has to work late at night to live and pay her bills, is might be very dangerous for her to travel with a Niqab in some areas, while Hijab is more accepted in the streets;

One can say that uncovering the face remains a source of Fitna that has some harm, and the answer is that (1) Fitna is something relative and this is not enough to force people to adopt a specific opinion unless all the scholars in our city really agree to say that sisters are in a context where they should definitely cover their face; (2) I don’t think that the harm of uncovering the face in Montreal is very big: because there is much more Fitna with the halef-naked women and people who have bad intentions have “better targets” in the end (3) Islam doesn’t forbid anything that has harm in it, otherwise almost everything will be forbidden! Even a face-covered person can be a source of Fitna for some people! Islam forbids only things that cause more harm than benefits

8/ What’s the purpose behind this email?!

I wanted to say that my intention is not to discourage Niqab, not at all!
Niqab remains something Muss’tahab and encouraged if the person is able to wear it easily, just like praying a Nafila after Duhr is encouraged;
And I won’t tell someone “don’t pray Nafila after Duhr because it’s not an obligation” of course! Except if there is a fire alarm asking everybody to leave the building!

My only purpose was to clear the confusion because I know some sisters might push Niqab too much on others and scare them saying that it’s definitely an obligation and those sisters would feel guilty because and confused;
Yes, if someone wears Niqab, then inchaAllah they will get more rewarded, but if they don’t, then inchaAllah they will not be asked about it;

There are sisters who live in areas where the Muslim presence is very high + they don’t have to travel around the city (have people to drive them, have big families, don’t need to work, don’t need to look for money, are usually home…), and they can cover their face if they think it doesn’t cause them any harm;
But there not everybody is in that situation…

*The sisters who don’t wear Niqab should wear it if they travel overseas to a mostly Niqabi place, it’s safer and more proper

9/ Sisters have a responsibility!
Talking about Hijab, I noticed that since a few months now, Montreal (esp. downtown) is full of sisters who wear Hijab with none of its conditions!
Very tight pants, excessive makeup, rainbow colors… Looks more like a fashion-show;
And SubhanaAllah (1) they cause more Fitna to the brothers sometimes than the Non-Muslims do (because they come to the mosques, halaqas…) (2) it is going to introduce something new in the deen: long-term, people will believe that this is the right way to wear Hijab!
However, the brothers can’t do anything on this, and sisters should talk to these people and explain to them – softly and wisely – that this is not right;

if anyone needs references for anything mentioned in this message , plz feel free to ask

and Allah knows best…