April 1999: Page 1, 2, 3, 4

Submitters Perspective

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Dress

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did not enter (paradise) through wishful thinking [7:44-46].

God barred the disbelievers from heaven. Therefore the barrier (hijab) here is spiritual as well as physical.

2. When you read the Quran, we place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter an invisible barrier (hijab) [17:45].

3. Mention in the scripture Mary, she isolated herself from her family, into an eastern location. ...While a barrier (hijab) separated her from them, we sent to her our Spirit. He went to her in the form of a human being [19:16-17].

Mary isolated herself from her family and relocated while a “barrier” (hijab) separated her, spiritually and physically, from them. At that time God sent Gabriel to her.

4. A scripture whose verses provide the complete details, in an Arabic Quran, for people who know. ... A bearer of good news, as well as a warner. However, most of them turn away; they do not hear. ...They said, “our minds are made up, our ears are deaf to your message, and a barrier (hijab) separates us from you. Do what you want and so will we” [41:3-5].

Because they put on themselves a physical barrier of refusing

God’s message, God placed a spiritual barrier on them, making them deaf to the message.

5. No human being can communicate with God except through inspiration, from behind a barrier (hijab), or by sending a messenger through whom He reveals what He wills.... [42:51].

6. O you who believe, do not enter the prophet’s homes unless you are given permission to eat, nor shall you force such an invitation in any manner. If you are invited, you may enter. When you finish eating, you shall leave; do not engage him in lengthy conversations. This used to hurt the prophet, and he was too shy to tell you. But God does not shy away from the truth. If you ask his wives for something, ask them from behind a barrier (hijab). This is purer for your hearts and their hearts.... [33:53].

The prophet’s wives, while at home and relaxing, were not to be disturbed by men during their private times. God made their lives easier by commanding the men to speak to them, if at home, from behind a barrier (hijab). Some “Muslim” scholars have interpreted this to mean that only from outside walls could a man communicate with the prophet’s wives. They also understood from the same verse that the prophet’s wives never left home. They, therefore, wrongly concluded that their wives too must stay at home.

The Arabic word for walls in the Quran is “al hujrat” not hijab.

As for those who call on you (Muhammad) from outside the walls (al hujrat), most of them do not understand” [49:4]. If women were supposed to stay home all the time, there would not have been a need for commandments concerning the dress code for them.

Are Women Men’s Property?

Unfortunately, in some so-called Muslim countries, women are referred to as the “private part,” and that is why they have come to see themselves as man’s private property. The word “private part” goes hand in hand with the word (hijab). When scholars are asked what is the “private part” of the woman, the answer is the whole woman is a private part. In Arabic the private part is “awraat” and this word has been used in the Quran in three places.

1. In [24:31], “awraat” means puberty, the state in which you become aware of the other’s sex physically.

2. O you who believe permission must be requested by your servants and the children who have not attained puberty (awraat) (before entering your room). This is to be done in three instances before the dawn prayer, at noon when you change your clothes to rest, and after the night prayer. These are three private times for you. At other times it is not wrong for you or them to mingle with one another [24:58].

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