Those parts of a discreet and pubescent person’s body that are harâm (forbidden by Islam) for him (or her) to leave uncovered during the performance of a namâz and/or whenever in company, and which are equally harâm for others to look at, are called awrat parts. Men and women were commanded to cover their awrat parts through the Sûrat-ul-Ahzâb, which was revealed in the third year of the Hegira, and the Sûrat-un-Nûr, which was revealed in the fifth year. In Hanafî and Shâfi’î Madhhabs a man’s awrat parts during the performance of a namâz are between his navel and lower parts of his knees. The navel is awrat in Shâfi’î Madhhab whereas the knees are awrat in Hanafî Madhhab. Namâz performed with these parts exposed is not sahîh (in other words, it is null and void). When performing namâz, it is sunnat for men to cover their other parts [arms, head], [and to wear socks if a long robe or a gown is not available]. It is makrûh for them to perform namâz with these parts exposed.
All parts of free women, except their palms and faces, including their wrists, outer parts of their hands, hanging parts of their hair and under their feet are awrat (and therefore they must be covered) during a namâz, according to the Hanafî Madhhab. There are also quite a number of valuable books saying that outer parts of hands are not awrat. According to them, it is permissible for women to perform namâz while outer parts of their hands up to wrists are bare. However, it is better for women to perform namâz wearing a gown with sleeves long enough, or a head cover large enough, to cover their hands, and thereby to pursue a course of action compatible with all the written sources. There are savants who said that women’s feet were not awrat in namâz, but those same savants said that it was sunnat to cover and makrûh to open them when performing namâz. [It is written in the book Kâdihân that hanging parts of hair are like feet]. If one-fourth of a man’s or woman’s awrat part remains bare as long as one rukn, the namâz becomes annulled. If a smaller part remains exposed, the namâz does not become nullified, but it becomes makrûh. For instance, the namâz of a woman one-fourth of whose foot has remained bare will not be sahîh. If she herself uncovers it, her namâz becomes annulled immediately. It is written in Umdat-ul-Islâm, “A woman’s namâz which she performed with bare heelbone, ankle, neck, or hair is not sahîh. Thin tissue that lets the shape or color of the thing under it be seen is equal to none.” In the Shâfi’î Madhhab, a woman’s whole body, other than her two hands and her face, is always awrat.
Hadrat Ibni ’Âbidin rahmatullâhi ’alaih says in Radd-ul-mukhtâr:It is fard to cover one’s awrat parts outside of namâz as well as when performing namâz. It is makrûh tahrîmî to perform namâz by covering oneself with silk or with usurped or stolen clothes. However, since a person has to cover himself, a man can use something made of silk, if he cannot find something else. It is fard to cover oneself when one performs namâz alone, too. A person who has clean clothes is not permitted to perform namâz naked in the dark even when he or she is alone. When alone and not performing namâz, it is fard for women to cover between their knees and navels, wâjib to cover their backs and bellies, and adab to cover other parts of their body. When alone in the home they can busy themselves around with their heads bare. When there is one of the eighteen men that a woman can show herself to, it is better for her to wear a thin headdress. When alone, one can open one’s awrat parts only when necessary, e.g. in a toilet. It has been said (by savants) that it is makrûh, or that it is permissible or it is permissible when at a small place, to open one’s awrat parts when one is alone and making ghusl. When not performing namâz, it is necessary to cover oneself even if the only clothes readily available for the purpose have been smeared with najâsat.
All parts of free women, except their palms and faces, including their wrists, outer parts of their hands, hanging parts of their hair and under their feet are awrat (and therefore they must be covered) during a namâz, according to the Hanafî Madhhab. There are also quite a number of valuable books saying that outer parts of hands are not awrat. According to them, it is permissible for women to perform namâz while outer parts of their hands up to wrists are bare. However, it is better for women to perform namâz wearing a gown with sleeves long enough, or a head cover large enough, to cover their hands, and thereby to pursue a course of action compatible with all the written sources. There are savants who said that women’s feet were not awrat in namâz, but those same savants said that it was sunnat to cover and makrûh to open them when performing namâz. [It is written in the book Kâdihân that hanging parts of hair are like feet]. If one-fourth of a man’s or woman’s awrat part remains bare as long as one rukn, the namâz becomes annulled. If a smaller part remains exposed, the namâz does not become nullified, but it becomes makrûh. For instance, the namâz of a woman one-fourth of whose foot has remained bare will not be sahîh. If she herself uncovers it, her namâz becomes annulled immediately. It is written in Umdat-ul-Islâm, “A woman’s namâz which she performed with bare heelbone, ankle, neck, or hair is not sahîh. Thin tissue that lets the shape or color of the thing under it be seen is equal to none.” In the Shâfi’î Madhhab, a woman’s whole body, other than her two hands and her face, is always awrat.
Hadrat Ibni ’Âbidin rahmatullâhi ’alaih says in Radd-ul-mukhtâr:It is fard to cover one’s awrat parts outside of namâz as well as when performing namâz. It is makrûh tahrîmî to perform namâz by covering oneself with silk or with usurped or stolen clothes. However, since a person has to cover himself, a man can use something made of silk, if he cannot find something else. It is fard to cover oneself when one performs namâz alone, too. A person who has clean clothes is not permitted to perform namâz naked in the dark even when he or she is alone. When alone and not performing namâz, it is fard for women to cover between their knees and navels, wâjib to cover their backs and bellies, and adab to cover other parts of their body. When alone in the home they can busy themselves around with their heads bare. When there is one of the eighteen men that a woman can show herself to, it is better for her to wear a thin headdress. When alone, one can open one’s awrat parts only when necessary, e.g. in a toilet. It has been said (by savants) that it is makrûh, or that it is permissible or it is permissible when at a small place, to open one’s awrat parts when one is alone and making ghusl. When not performing namâz, it is necessary to cover oneself even if the only clothes readily available for the purpose have been smeared with najâsat.
It is written in Al-Fiqh-u-alal-madhâhibil-erba’a, “The four madhhabs do not exactly agree on the parts of body men and women have to cover when they perform the namâz or on the parts which are harâm for men to show one another, for men to show women, and for women to show their mahrams. However, it is harâm in all three madhhabs for women to show men and female non-Muslims their bodies other than their faces and inside and outside their hands, and for these people to look at them.” In the Shâfi’î Madhhab, on the other hand, their faces and hands are awrat (and therefore must be covered) in the presence of men who are nâmahram to them, at times when doing otherwise would cause fitna. Permissible as it is for women to expose their faces and palms to men who are nâmahram to them, men are not permitted to look lustfully at faces or palms of those women who are nâ-mahram to them, no matter whether they are Muslims or disbelievers. It is permissible for women to open their faces and palms to men who are nâmahram to them, yet men are not permitted to look lustfully at faces or palms of those women who are nâmahram to them, no matter whether they are Muslims or disbelievers. When there is no necessity, it is makrûh to look without lust at those parts of women that are permissible to look at, e.g. at faces of nâmahram women, at pictures of their awrat parts, at awrat parts of children that have learned to speak. Awrat parts of those children that have not started to talk yet are only their saw’atayn [private parts]. Animals do not have awrat parts. Also, it is harâm to look lustfully at boys’ faces, yet it is permissible to look at them without lust even if they are beautiful.
It is written in Fatâwâ-i Khayriyya, “When there is the danger of fitna, a father can keep his beautiful discreet son who has reached the age of puberty in his own home and under his own discipline. He may not let him go out on a travel or for education or on hajj (pilgrimage) without a beard. He protects him like a woman. But he does not veil him. In streets there are two devils near every woman. And there are eighteen devils near a boy. They try to mislead those who look at them. It is fard for a boy to obey his parents’ Islamically licit instructions. When there is no danger of fitna, a father cannot force his discreet son who has reached puberty to stay at home.”
[It is written in the second volume of Majma’ul-anhur that our Prophet sall-Allahu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam stated, “On the day of Judgment molten hot lead will be poured into the eyes of those who look lustfully at the faces of women who are nâmahram to them.” Kâdizâda, who explained the book Birgivî Vasiyyetnâmesi, says in his discourse about the kinds of ruination incurred by one’s eyes that Allahu ta’âlâ declares in the thirtieth âyat of Sûrat-un-Nûr, “O My Messenger, sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam! Tell the Believers not to look at harâms and to protect their awrat parts against harâms! Tell those women who have îmân not to look at harâms and to protect their awrat parts from committing harâm!”
It is written in Riyâd-un-nâsihîn that Rasûlullah sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam declared in his last wadâ’ (farewell) hajj, “The eyes of a person who looks at a nâmahram woman lustfully will be filled with fire, and he will be flung down into Hell. The arms of a person who shakes hands with a nâmahram woman will be tied around his neck, and then he will be sent down to Hell. Those who talk with a nâmahram woman lustfully without any necessity will remain in Hell a thousand years for each word.” Another hadîth declares, “Looking at one’s neighbor’s wife or at one’s friends’ wives is ten times as sinful as looking at nâmahram women. Looking at married women is one thousand times as sinful as looking at girls. So are the sins of fornication.”
It is written in the book Barîqa that the hadîths “Three things (when looked at) put varnish on the eyes: Looking at a verdure, at a stream, at a beautiful face” and “Three things strengthen the eyes: Tinging the eyes with kohl, looking at verdure, and at a beautiful face”, state the use of looking at people who are halâl to look at. In fact, looking at nâmahram women and girls weakens the eyes and darkens the heart. As informed by Hâkim, Bayhaqî, and Abû Dâwud, a hadîth-i marfû conveyed by Abû Umâma radîallahu ’anh declares, “If a person, upon seeing a nâmahram girl, fears Allah’s torment and turns his face away from her, Allahu ta’âlâ will make him enjoy the taste of acts of worship.” His first seeing will be forgiven. A hadîth declares, “Those eyes that watch the enemy in a jihâd made for Allah’s sake or that weep for fear of Allahu ta’âlâ or that do not look at harâms will not see Hell fire in the next world.”]
Seven or ten year old attractive girls as well as all girls who have reached the age of fifteen or the age of puberty are equivalents to women. It is harâm for such girls to show themselves with bare head, hair, arms and legs to nâmahram men, or to sing to them or to talk to them softly and gracefully. Women are permitted to talk to nâmahram men seriously in a manner that will not cause fitna when there is necessity such as buying and selling. So is their opening their faces when among men. It is gravely sinful for women to go out with bare head, hair, arms and legs, to let their voice be heard by nâmahram men without necessity, to sing to them, to let them hear their voices through films or records or by reading Qurân-al karîm or by reciting the mawlid or the adhân. [It is harâm for women and girls to go out with dresses that are thin or tight or of fur, wearing their ornaments such as ear-rings and bracelets without covering them, clad like men, cutting their hair short like men. Therefore, it is not permissible for them to wear trousers, not even ample ones. Trousers are men’s clothing. In hadîth-i sharîfs, which exist in Targhîb-us-salât, “Those women who dress themselves like men and those men who ornament themselves like women are accursed.” In fact, tight trousers are not permissible even for men. For in this case the shapes of private parts can be seen from the outside. Furthermore, it has not been an Islamic custom, neither of old nor now, for women to wear trousers. It has come from the irreligious, from those who do not know the Islamic way of attirement. Harâms cannot be Islamic customs even if they have spread and settled. It is declared in a hadîth that he who makes himself resemble disbelievers will be on their side. Trousers can be worn under a mantle, yet the mantle must cover the knees as if there weren’t trousers under it. Baggy trousers, being very ample, can be good dressings for women, too, at places where they are customary. If they will cause fitna at places where they are not customary, it is not permissible to wear them.
Great Islamic scholar Qâdî Sanâullah-i Pâniputî, in explaining the seventh piece of advice at the end of the book Tafhîmât by Shâh Waliyyullah-i Dahlawî, says, “Of old, it used to be an Islamic custom to go out wearing a long shirt, wrapping oneself up with a large towel, wearing clogs or things like that. But now it would be ostentation to go out with such things on at places where they are not customary. Our Prophet salla-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam prohibited ostentation and making fame. We must dress ourselves with things that are customary among Believers. We must not keep ourselves aloof.” So is the case with a woman’s going out with a dress with a veil (chador) at places where it is customary for women to wear ample mantles. In addition, causing an Islamic attirement to be mocked at, she will be sinful.]
Whether in namâz or outside namâz, it is fard to cover one’s awrat parts lest others will see from the sides, but it is not fard to cover them from oneself. If one sees one’s own awrat parts when one bows for ruku’, one’s namâz does not become annulled. But it is makrûh for one to look at them. Something transparent like glass or nylon that lets color of the thing under it be seen cannot be a covering. If the covering is tight or, though ample, if it sticks to one of one’s awrat parts so that it resembles its shape under the covering, it does not harm namâz. But it does not cover one from others. It is harâm to look at someone else’s qaba awrat that can be seen in this manner. Men’s private parts on their front and in their back, termed saw’atayn, and their buttocks are their qaba awrat. When a sick person who lies naked under a blanket performs namâz by signs with his head inside the blanket, he has performed it naked. If he performs it keeping his head outside the blanket, he will have performed it by covering himself, which is acceptable. For it is compulsory not to cover oneself but to cover one’s awrat parts. For this reason, it is not permissible to perform namâz naked in the dark, in a lonely room, or in a closed tent.
A person who is not able to cover his awrat parts sits like sitting in namâz, or stretches his feet side by side towards the qibla, which is better, covers his front private part with his hands, and performs namâz by signs. For, covering one’s awrat parts is more important than the other precepts of namâz. [As it is seen, even a person who is naked has to perform namâz in its proper time and must not omit it. Hence, it must be understood that those who do not perform their namâz because of laziness and who do not pay their debts of omitted namâz are under a great sinful responsibility]. A person who is naked asks for something to cover himself from others who are with him. If they promise him, he waits until nearly the end of namâz time. Also, when there is no water, a person who expects water has to wait for water until nearly the end of namaz time, and can make a tayammum only after waiting that long. He who has the money must buy water and something to cover himself. A person who cannot find anything besides a covering less than one-fourth of which is clean is permitted to perform namâz with the covering or by signs sitting; but with a covering one-fourth of which is clean he has to perform it standing, in which case he will not perform the namâz again later.
If a Muslim on a long-distance journey can find water only for drinking within one mile, (if there are no clean clothes available) he performs namâz with the covering that has najâsat on it, in which case he will not have to perform it again later. It is not permissible for a settled person, that is, a person who is not a musâfir, to perform namâz in a najs covering. It is possible and necessary for him to clean it. For it is strongly probable to find water in a city. If it is known for certain that there is no water in the city, the settled person also can perform the namâz with a covering with najâsat on it and can make a tayammum. It is written as follows in the fifth volume of Radd-ul-mukhtâr:
It is written in Fatâwâ-i Khayriyya, “When there is the danger of fitna, a father can keep his beautiful discreet son who has reached the age of puberty in his own home and under his own discipline. He may not let him go out on a travel or for education or on hajj (pilgrimage) without a beard. He protects him like a woman. But he does not veil him. In streets there are two devils near every woman. And there are eighteen devils near a boy. They try to mislead those who look at them. It is fard for a boy to obey his parents’ Islamically licit instructions. When there is no danger of fitna, a father cannot force his discreet son who has reached puberty to stay at home.”
[It is written in the second volume of Majma’ul-anhur that our Prophet sall-Allahu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam stated, “On the day of Judgment molten hot lead will be poured into the eyes of those who look lustfully at the faces of women who are nâmahram to them.” Kâdizâda, who explained the book Birgivî Vasiyyetnâmesi, says in his discourse about the kinds of ruination incurred by one’s eyes that Allahu ta’âlâ declares in the thirtieth âyat of Sûrat-un-Nûr, “O My Messenger, sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam! Tell the Believers not to look at harâms and to protect their awrat parts against harâms! Tell those women who have îmân not to look at harâms and to protect their awrat parts from committing harâm!”
It is written in Riyâd-un-nâsihîn that Rasûlullah sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam declared in his last wadâ’ (farewell) hajj, “The eyes of a person who looks at a nâmahram woman lustfully will be filled with fire, and he will be flung down into Hell. The arms of a person who shakes hands with a nâmahram woman will be tied around his neck, and then he will be sent down to Hell. Those who talk with a nâmahram woman lustfully without any necessity will remain in Hell a thousand years for each word.” Another hadîth declares, “Looking at one’s neighbor’s wife or at one’s friends’ wives is ten times as sinful as looking at nâmahram women. Looking at married women is one thousand times as sinful as looking at girls. So are the sins of fornication.”
It is written in the book Barîqa that the hadîths “Three things (when looked at) put varnish on the eyes: Looking at a verdure, at a stream, at a beautiful face” and “Three things strengthen the eyes: Tinging the eyes with kohl, looking at verdure, and at a beautiful face”, state the use of looking at people who are halâl to look at. In fact, looking at nâmahram women and girls weakens the eyes and darkens the heart. As informed by Hâkim, Bayhaqî, and Abû Dâwud, a hadîth-i marfû conveyed by Abû Umâma radîallahu ’anh declares, “If a person, upon seeing a nâmahram girl, fears Allah’s torment and turns his face away from her, Allahu ta’âlâ will make him enjoy the taste of acts of worship.” His first seeing will be forgiven. A hadîth declares, “Those eyes that watch the enemy in a jihâd made for Allah’s sake or that weep for fear of Allahu ta’âlâ or that do not look at harâms will not see Hell fire in the next world.”]
Seven or ten year old attractive girls as well as all girls who have reached the age of fifteen or the age of puberty are equivalents to women. It is harâm for such girls to show themselves with bare head, hair, arms and legs to nâmahram men, or to sing to them or to talk to them softly and gracefully. Women are permitted to talk to nâmahram men seriously in a manner that will not cause fitna when there is necessity such as buying and selling. So is their opening their faces when among men. It is gravely sinful for women to go out with bare head, hair, arms and legs, to let their voice be heard by nâmahram men without necessity, to sing to them, to let them hear their voices through films or records or by reading Qurân-al karîm or by reciting the mawlid or the adhân. [It is harâm for women and girls to go out with dresses that are thin or tight or of fur, wearing their ornaments such as ear-rings and bracelets without covering them, clad like men, cutting their hair short like men. Therefore, it is not permissible for them to wear trousers, not even ample ones. Trousers are men’s clothing. In hadîth-i sharîfs, which exist in Targhîb-us-salât, “Those women who dress themselves like men and those men who ornament themselves like women are accursed.” In fact, tight trousers are not permissible even for men. For in this case the shapes of private parts can be seen from the outside. Furthermore, it has not been an Islamic custom, neither of old nor now, for women to wear trousers. It has come from the irreligious, from those who do not know the Islamic way of attirement. Harâms cannot be Islamic customs even if they have spread and settled. It is declared in a hadîth that he who makes himself resemble disbelievers will be on their side. Trousers can be worn under a mantle, yet the mantle must cover the knees as if there weren’t trousers under it. Baggy trousers, being very ample, can be good dressings for women, too, at places where they are customary. If they will cause fitna at places where they are not customary, it is not permissible to wear them.
Great Islamic scholar Qâdî Sanâullah-i Pâniputî, in explaining the seventh piece of advice at the end of the book Tafhîmât by Shâh Waliyyullah-i Dahlawî, says, “Of old, it used to be an Islamic custom to go out wearing a long shirt, wrapping oneself up with a large towel, wearing clogs or things like that. But now it would be ostentation to go out with such things on at places where they are not customary. Our Prophet salla-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam prohibited ostentation and making fame. We must dress ourselves with things that are customary among Believers. We must not keep ourselves aloof.” So is the case with a woman’s going out with a dress with a veil (chador) at places where it is customary for women to wear ample mantles. In addition, causing an Islamic attirement to be mocked at, she will be sinful.]
Whether in namâz or outside namâz, it is fard to cover one’s awrat parts lest others will see from the sides, but it is not fard to cover them from oneself. If one sees one’s own awrat parts when one bows for ruku’, one’s namâz does not become annulled. But it is makrûh for one to look at them. Something transparent like glass or nylon that lets color of the thing under it be seen cannot be a covering. If the covering is tight or, though ample, if it sticks to one of one’s awrat parts so that it resembles its shape under the covering, it does not harm namâz. But it does not cover one from others. It is harâm to look at someone else’s qaba awrat that can be seen in this manner. Men’s private parts on their front and in their back, termed saw’atayn, and their buttocks are their qaba awrat. When a sick person who lies naked under a blanket performs namâz by signs with his head inside the blanket, he has performed it naked. If he performs it keeping his head outside the blanket, he will have performed it by covering himself, which is acceptable. For it is compulsory not to cover oneself but to cover one’s awrat parts. For this reason, it is not permissible to perform namâz naked in the dark, in a lonely room, or in a closed tent.
A person who is not able to cover his awrat parts sits like sitting in namâz, or stretches his feet side by side towards the qibla, which is better, covers his front private part with his hands, and performs namâz by signs. For, covering one’s awrat parts is more important than the other precepts of namâz. [As it is seen, even a person who is naked has to perform namâz in its proper time and must not omit it. Hence, it must be understood that those who do not perform their namâz because of laziness and who do not pay their debts of omitted namâz are under a great sinful responsibility]. A person who is naked asks for something to cover himself from others who are with him. If they promise him, he waits until nearly the end of namâz time. Also, when there is no water, a person who expects water has to wait for water until nearly the end of namaz time, and can make a tayammum only after waiting that long. He who has the money must buy water and something to cover himself. A person who cannot find anything besides a covering less than one-fourth of which is clean is permitted to perform namâz with the covering or by signs sitting; but with a covering one-fourth of which is clean he has to perform it standing, in which case he will not perform the namâz again later.
If a Muslim on a long-distance journey can find water only for drinking within one mile, (if there are no clean clothes available) he performs namâz with the covering that has najâsat on it, in which case he will not have to perform it again later. It is not permissible for a settled person, that is, a person who is not a musâfir, to perform namâz in a najs covering. It is possible and necessary for him to clean it. For it is strongly probable to find water in a city. If it is known for certain that there is no water in the city, the settled person also can perform the namâz with a covering with najâsat on it and can make a tayammum. It is written as follows in the fifth volume of Radd-ul-mukhtâr:
There are four cases concerning people’s looking at one another and seeing one another:
A man’s looking at a woman; a woman’s looking at a man; a man’s looking at a man; and a woman’s looking at a woman. And there are four kinds of a man’s looking at a woman:
A man’s looking at a nâmahram free woman, at his own wife and jâriyas, at his eighteen relatives who are permissible for him to look at, and at others’ jâriyas.
It is harâm in all the four madhhabs for men to see nâ-mahram women’s bodies other than their faces, inside and outside their hands. It is harâm also for men to look lustfully at the faces of girls (nâ-mahram to them). This prohibition pertaining to seeing applies to castrated, sterilized men, too. It is harâm to castrate a man. Castrating an animal is permissible only when it is intended to fatten it.
It is harâm for men to look at the part of a man’s body between his navel and knees. It is permissible for them to look at his other parts without lust. It is permissible for a man to look at his wife and at his own jâriyas from head to foot even with lust, and also for them to look at him likewise.
[A man’s awrat parts are between his navel and his knees in three madhhabs. In Hanafî Madhhab the knees are awrat. The navel is not awrat. In Shâfi’î Madhhab the navel is awrat and the knees are not. In Mâlikî Madhhab none of them is awrat. It is stated in Mizân-ul-kubrâ that according to an authentic report in Mâlikî and Hanbalî Madhhabs a man’s awrat parts are only his saw’atayn. This nonexistence of ijmâ’ (consensus among the four madhhabs) delivers male Muslims who expose their thighs nonchalantly from the danger of disbelief. Also, the Shiites’ awrat is their saw’atayn only].
A man, if he feels secure of lust, can look at the heads, faces, necks, arms, legs below the knees of the eighteen women who are harâm for him to marry by nikâh and of others’ jâriyas. He cannot look at their breasts, at spaces under their arms, at their flanks, thighs, knees, or upper parts of their back. These parts of women are also called ghalîz, that is, qaba awrat. Women should wear garments ample enough to cover these parts of their body in such a way as their shapes will not be discernible during namâz and in mixed company. Jâriyas can perform namâz without covering their parts that are permissible to be seen.
As it is seen, there are two kinds of women’s dressing in Islam. Firstly, free Muslim women cover all their bodies completely except their faces and hands. It is written in Halabî-i-kabîr in the section dealing with the shrouding of the dead: “Men cover themselves with an outergarment termed a qâmis and women with a dir. Both these garments cover the body from the shoulders to the feet. The qâmis has a collar with a slit from the shoulder to the foot and the dir is open between the breast and the foot.” As is seen, Muslim women wore coats as they do today. Wearing (black outdoor overgarments) called charshaf became the vague afterwards. An ample and long mantle, a thick headcover, long stockings cover better than today’s charshaf. It is written on the fourth page of Durar-ul-Multaqita, “The Sharî’at has not commanded a certain type of covering for women.” The second one is the dressing of a jâriya (the woman servant captured in war), who does not have to cover her head, hair, neck, arms or legs (below knees) when among men. It has been observed with regret that some women who bear Muslim names have abandoned the Islamic lady’s dressing and fallen for the habiliment for jâriyas or servants.
In order to mislead Muslim women, disbelievers and zindîqs say, “In the beginning of Islam women did not use to cover themselves. In the Prophet’s time Muslim women used to go out with bare heads and arms. Later, jealous men of religion ordered women to cover themselves. So women began to cover themselves afterwards, and became like ogres.” Yes, women used to go out without covering themselves. Yet, later the sûras of Ahzab and Nûr were revealed in the third and fifth year of Hegira respectively, whereby Allahu ta’âlâ commanded them to cover themselves. It is written in Mawâhib-i ladunniyya, “On the way back from the Ghazâ (Holy War) of Khaiber, one night Rasûlullah sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam admitted Safiyya radîallahu ta’âlâ anhâ, one of the captives, into his tent. The Sahâba did not understand if Safiyya was honored as a wife or served as a jâriya. But they felt ashamed to find it out by asking Rasûlullah so that they could do the reverence and service due to (the Prophet’s) blessed wives. ‘We’ll understand that she has become a wife if she goes out of the tent in a covered manner and is escorted behind a curtain tomorrow morning,’ they said. So, seeing that she was escorted out behind a curtain, they realized that she had been honored as a wife.” As it is seen, in Rasûlullah’s time free women used to cover all their bodies. It would be known that a woman was not a slave but a free lady by her covering herself all over.
It is permissible for a person who is secure of lust to touch someone’s part which he is permitted to look at. A hadîth-i sharîf declares, “Kissing one’s mother’s foot is like kissing the threshold of the doorway to Paradise.” On the other hand, whereas it is permissible to look at a nâmahram young woman’s hand and face, it is not permissible to touch her or to shake hands with her even if one is secure of lust. Committing fornication with a woman or touching any part of her with lust, even if by forgetting or by mistake, according to the Hanafî and the Hanbalî Madhhabs causes hurmat-i musâhara. In this case, it becomes eternally harâm for the man to marry this woman’s daughters or her mother by blood or in virtue of nursing and also, for the woman to marry the man’s son or father. [If hurmat-i musâhara takes place between a man and his daughter, the nikâh between the girl’s mother, that is, the man’s wife, and the man does not become annulled. The woman cannot marry someone else. The man has to divorce the wife. It becomes an eternal harâm for him to remain married with the woman. If hurmat-i musâhara happens between a man and his mother-in-law, the son-in-law will have to divorce his wife. The son-in-law cannot marry this woman again eternally (Bezzâziyya)].
It is not permissible for girls to touch nâmahram men even if they confidently rely on themselves. If they touch with lust, hurmat-i musâhara takes place. Girls’ and old people’s lust is their hearts’ inclination. It is permissible for a person who trusts himself to shake hands with an old woman or to kiss her hand if she is old enough not to arouse lust, but it is better not to do so.
It is permissible for men to stay together at a lonely place (halwat) and to go on a travel [e.g. on hajj] with their eternal mahrams. According to the Tarafayn, halwat [staying together at a lonely place] with a woman who is not one’s eternal mahram is harâm. If one stays with her along with another muttaqî man or one of his eternal mahrams or one’s wife, it is not harâm. Hurmat-i musâhara does not happen by staying in halwat or by looking at any part of hers with lust except when it is at the front. While telling about being an imâm, Ibni Âbidîn writes, “Halwat happens also when there are more than one nâmahram women. A very old woman and an old man can go on a journey and can stay alone [Ashbâh]. Halwat with one of the eighteen women who are one’s eternal mahram is permissible, yet it is makrûh with one’s foster (milk) sister [who and one have been suckled by the same woman], with one’s young mother-in-law or daughter-in-law when fitna is likely. It is not permissible to talk with a young nâmahram woman without necessity.” It will not be halwat staying alone in a transportation wagon, shops, and places that are open to public like mosques, since the insides of such places can be seen from the outside. Two different rooms of one house are not counted as one place.
According to Imâm-i Abû Yûsuf rahmatullahi ta’âlâ ’alaih, those needy, enslaved, lonely women [employees and civil servants] who have to work for a living at such jobs as baking bread, laundering [and others that require uncovering their parts that are not their qaba awrat] can bare their arms and feet as much as their work requires. It is permissible for men to see them or to look at them without lust when work requires. And it is written in Ni’met-i Islâm (in chapter on hajj), Bahr al-fatâwâ and Ali Efendi’s fatwâ, wife’s sister and uncle’s or brother’s wife are nâmahram women, too. It is harâm also to look at their hair, head, arms, and legs.
During mutual family visits, it is not permissible for the men and women to sit in the same room, to behave cordially towards one another, to joke with one another, or to make merry. At places where men’s and women’s sitting in the same room is customary and where this harâm is slighted, in order to prevent offence and hostility among relatives, women can sit in the same room or eat with their male relatives for a short time, but they must be covered. The talks must be serious. Utter care must be taken that the talk should last short and be rare and especially that they should not be alone in the same place. True and well learned Muslims who know and obey their dîn should never sit together like that. We should not dispute with ignorant people or insist that our dîn commands so, but we should try to abstain from harâms by making excuses pertaining to worldly affairs, by talking softly not to offend our relatives. A male slave also is a nâmahram man to his female possessor.
Seeing once is permissible for a judge when deciding a case in the court of justice, for witnesses when giving evidence, for a person who is to marry a girl, even if lust is likely to happen, and for a doctor, for a nurse, for a circumciser, for a person who does enema (clyster) as long as necessary. It is permissible for a sick person to have himself clystered. It is written on the four hundred and seventy-eighth page of the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtâr, “It is important sunnat to have one’s son circumcised. It is Islam’s symbol. If the people of a city do not have their sons circumcised, the Khalîfa fights them. There is not a certain age of circumcision for a child. The best time is between seven and twelve years of age.” When performing circumcision, it is customary to repeat the Takbîr-i ’Iyd together loudly. Those who are not circumcised catch various diseases. French books describe them under the name “Affections du prépuce.”
On the five hundred and fifty-eighth page of Hadîqa and in its chapter about afflictions incurred by the eyes, it is written that it is permissible for girls to learn and teach science and medicine on condition that they will observe the Sharî’at. Girls must be educated and trained as obstetricians and gynecologists. Women must be shown to women doctors. If a woman doctor cannot be found one must take one’s wife to a male gynecologist, if her illness is dangerous or very painful.
The awrat parts of Muslim women to one another are like the awrat parts of a man to another man.
If a woman is secure of lust, her looking at a nâmahram man is like a man’s looking at another. The book Jawhara says that it is like a man’s looking at those women who are his mahram. But it is harâm for her to look at him lustfully. Non-Muslim and renegade women’s looking at Muslim women, (as well as their paternal and maternal uncles, if they are renegades), that is, Muslim women’s showing themselves to them, is, like their showing themselves to nâmahram men, harâm in three madhhabs. They cannot look at Muslim women’s bodies. It is permissible in the Hanbalî Madhhab.
When those parts of the body leave the body that are not permissible to look at, it is still not permissible to look at them even if the body is dead. After a woman’s hair and other hairs, toe-nails [not finger-nails] and bones leave her body, they cannot be looked at.
It is not harâm to look without lust at the reflections on mirrors or on water of those parts of women that are harâm to look at. For in this case not they themselves but their visions are being seen. [Their reflexions or pictures are not they themselves. Seeing them (their reflexions or pictures) does not mean seeing them. Looking at their pictures or at their visions in movies or on television is like looking at their images in mirrors. They are all permissible to look at without lust, but harâm to watch lustfully or to look at those visions of theirs that will arouse lust. Also, it is harâm to listen to their voices. Surely, there are people who look at them lustfully. It is harâm to draw, to publish, to take pictures that arouse lust and are harâm]. It is not permissible but harâm to look at the awrat parts of women, even without lust, behind glass, with any kind of spectacles, through water, or at a woman in water.
It is permissible to look without lust at a woman dressed in clothes not so scanty as to stick on her body. It is harâm to look at a woman even without lust who is clad in a dress the qaba awrat parts of which are scanty. It is harâm to look lustfully at a nâmahram woman’s underwears. It is harâm to look lustfully at those parts of hers that are not her qaba awrat and which are covered tightly, scantily.
As it is harâm for women to go out without covering themselves and by decking themselves out, so it is harâm for them to enter likewise any place where there are men not mahram to them. And it is even more sinful to enter a mosque with uncovered awrat parts. A place where there are people with open awrat parts or where harâm is committed is called majlis al-fisq (sinning party). It is written in Bazzâziyya that it is not permissible for Muslims to attend or to allow their wives to a majlis al-fisq, that is, a place where sinners gather together, without necessity. Women who have îmân must cover those parts of theirs that are not qaba awrat, such as head, hair, arms, legs, for Muslims must dread harâms lest they will lose their îmân.
[Some people, whose sole interest is pleasure and entertainment, do not hesitate to mislead others into mischief and disasters in order to attain their pleasures by saying, “It is something annoying one to see a woman covering herself like an ogre. On the other hand, it gives relief and pleasure to look at an ornamented, beautiful girl or woman in free attire. It is sweet, like watching or smelling a beautiful flower.” Looking at a flower or smelling a flower is sweet to the soul. It causes the soul to recognize the existence and the greatness of Allahu ta’âlâ and to obey His commandments. Looking at a nice-smelling, ornamented, and freely-dressed girl, on the other hand, is sweet to the nafs. The ear does not take any pleasure from colors, nor does the eye from sounds. For they do not sense these things. The nafs is the enemy of Allahu ta’âlâ. It will not hesitate to do any sort of evil whereby to attain its pleasures. It will violate human rights and laws. Its pleasures do not have an end. Looking at a girl will not satisfy it. It will desire to meet her and to practice all its pleasures. It is for this reason that all civil codes curb the eccentricities of nafses. Excessive desires of the nafs drift people into misery, diseases, family disasters, and afflictions. In order to prevent these disastrous situations, Allahu ta’âlâ has prohibited girls’ dressing freely and being close to men not related to them, alcohol, and gambling. People who have been enslaved by their nafs flout these prohibitions. So they censure the books of ’ilm-i-hâl written by scholars of Ahl as-Sunna and prevent young people from reading these books and attaining salvation. As is understood from all the aforesaid facts, it is sinful for women and girls to go shopping at market-places and stores. Muslims have to protect their daughters against these sins. Otherwise, they will lose their îmân and become disbelievers. Enemies of Islam misrepresent whatsoever is destructive to îmân as national customs in order to spread disbelief.]
A man’s looking at a woman; a woman’s looking at a man; a man’s looking at a man; and a woman’s looking at a woman. And there are four kinds of a man’s looking at a woman:
A man’s looking at a nâmahram free woman, at his own wife and jâriyas, at his eighteen relatives who are permissible for him to look at, and at others’ jâriyas.
It is harâm in all the four madhhabs for men to see nâ-mahram women’s bodies other than their faces, inside and outside their hands. It is harâm also for men to look lustfully at the faces of girls (nâ-mahram to them). This prohibition pertaining to seeing applies to castrated, sterilized men, too. It is harâm to castrate a man. Castrating an animal is permissible only when it is intended to fatten it.
It is harâm for men to look at the part of a man’s body between his navel and knees. It is permissible for them to look at his other parts without lust. It is permissible for a man to look at his wife and at his own jâriyas from head to foot even with lust, and also for them to look at him likewise.
[A man’s awrat parts are between his navel and his knees in three madhhabs. In Hanafî Madhhab the knees are awrat. The navel is not awrat. In Shâfi’î Madhhab the navel is awrat and the knees are not. In Mâlikî Madhhab none of them is awrat. It is stated in Mizân-ul-kubrâ that according to an authentic report in Mâlikî and Hanbalî Madhhabs a man’s awrat parts are only his saw’atayn. This nonexistence of ijmâ’ (consensus among the four madhhabs) delivers male Muslims who expose their thighs nonchalantly from the danger of disbelief. Also, the Shiites’ awrat is their saw’atayn only].
A man, if he feels secure of lust, can look at the heads, faces, necks, arms, legs below the knees of the eighteen women who are harâm for him to marry by nikâh and of others’ jâriyas. He cannot look at their breasts, at spaces under their arms, at their flanks, thighs, knees, or upper parts of their back. These parts of women are also called ghalîz, that is, qaba awrat. Women should wear garments ample enough to cover these parts of their body in such a way as their shapes will not be discernible during namâz and in mixed company. Jâriyas can perform namâz without covering their parts that are permissible to be seen.
As it is seen, there are two kinds of women’s dressing in Islam. Firstly, free Muslim women cover all their bodies completely except their faces and hands. It is written in Halabî-i-kabîr in the section dealing with the shrouding of the dead: “Men cover themselves with an outergarment termed a qâmis and women with a dir. Both these garments cover the body from the shoulders to the feet. The qâmis has a collar with a slit from the shoulder to the foot and the dir is open between the breast and the foot.” As is seen, Muslim women wore coats as they do today. Wearing (black outdoor overgarments) called charshaf became the vague afterwards. An ample and long mantle, a thick headcover, long stockings cover better than today’s charshaf. It is written on the fourth page of Durar-ul-Multaqita, “The Sharî’at has not commanded a certain type of covering for women.” The second one is the dressing of a jâriya (the woman servant captured in war), who does not have to cover her head, hair, neck, arms or legs (below knees) when among men. It has been observed with regret that some women who bear Muslim names have abandoned the Islamic lady’s dressing and fallen for the habiliment for jâriyas or servants.
In order to mislead Muslim women, disbelievers and zindîqs say, “In the beginning of Islam women did not use to cover themselves. In the Prophet’s time Muslim women used to go out with bare heads and arms. Later, jealous men of religion ordered women to cover themselves. So women began to cover themselves afterwards, and became like ogres.” Yes, women used to go out without covering themselves. Yet, later the sûras of Ahzab and Nûr were revealed in the third and fifth year of Hegira respectively, whereby Allahu ta’âlâ commanded them to cover themselves. It is written in Mawâhib-i ladunniyya, “On the way back from the Ghazâ (Holy War) of Khaiber, one night Rasûlullah sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam admitted Safiyya radîallahu ta’âlâ anhâ, one of the captives, into his tent. The Sahâba did not understand if Safiyya was honored as a wife or served as a jâriya. But they felt ashamed to find it out by asking Rasûlullah so that they could do the reverence and service due to (the Prophet’s) blessed wives. ‘We’ll understand that she has become a wife if she goes out of the tent in a covered manner and is escorted behind a curtain tomorrow morning,’ they said. So, seeing that she was escorted out behind a curtain, they realized that she had been honored as a wife.” As it is seen, in Rasûlullah’s time free women used to cover all their bodies. It would be known that a woman was not a slave but a free lady by her covering herself all over.
It is permissible for a person who is secure of lust to touch someone’s part which he is permitted to look at. A hadîth-i sharîf declares, “Kissing one’s mother’s foot is like kissing the threshold of the doorway to Paradise.” On the other hand, whereas it is permissible to look at a nâmahram young woman’s hand and face, it is not permissible to touch her or to shake hands with her even if one is secure of lust. Committing fornication with a woman or touching any part of her with lust, even if by forgetting or by mistake, according to the Hanafî and the Hanbalî Madhhabs causes hurmat-i musâhara. In this case, it becomes eternally harâm for the man to marry this woman’s daughters or her mother by blood or in virtue of nursing and also, for the woman to marry the man’s son or father. [If hurmat-i musâhara takes place between a man and his daughter, the nikâh between the girl’s mother, that is, the man’s wife, and the man does not become annulled. The woman cannot marry someone else. The man has to divorce the wife. It becomes an eternal harâm for him to remain married with the woman. If hurmat-i musâhara happens between a man and his mother-in-law, the son-in-law will have to divorce his wife. The son-in-law cannot marry this woman again eternally (Bezzâziyya)].
It is not permissible for girls to touch nâmahram men even if they confidently rely on themselves. If they touch with lust, hurmat-i musâhara takes place. Girls’ and old people’s lust is their hearts’ inclination. It is permissible for a person who trusts himself to shake hands with an old woman or to kiss her hand if she is old enough not to arouse lust, but it is better not to do so.
It is permissible for men to stay together at a lonely place (halwat) and to go on a travel [e.g. on hajj] with their eternal mahrams. According to the Tarafayn, halwat [staying together at a lonely place] with a woman who is not one’s eternal mahram is harâm. If one stays with her along with another muttaqî man or one of his eternal mahrams or one’s wife, it is not harâm. Hurmat-i musâhara does not happen by staying in halwat or by looking at any part of hers with lust except when it is at the front. While telling about being an imâm, Ibni Âbidîn writes, “Halwat happens also when there are more than one nâmahram women. A very old woman and an old man can go on a journey and can stay alone [Ashbâh]. Halwat with one of the eighteen women who are one’s eternal mahram is permissible, yet it is makrûh with one’s foster (milk) sister [who and one have been suckled by the same woman], with one’s young mother-in-law or daughter-in-law when fitna is likely. It is not permissible to talk with a young nâmahram woman without necessity.” It will not be halwat staying alone in a transportation wagon, shops, and places that are open to public like mosques, since the insides of such places can be seen from the outside. Two different rooms of one house are not counted as one place.
According to Imâm-i Abû Yûsuf rahmatullahi ta’âlâ ’alaih, those needy, enslaved, lonely women [employees and civil servants] who have to work for a living at such jobs as baking bread, laundering [and others that require uncovering their parts that are not their qaba awrat] can bare their arms and feet as much as their work requires. It is permissible for men to see them or to look at them without lust when work requires. And it is written in Ni’met-i Islâm (in chapter on hajj), Bahr al-fatâwâ and Ali Efendi’s fatwâ, wife’s sister and uncle’s or brother’s wife are nâmahram women, too. It is harâm also to look at their hair, head, arms, and legs.
During mutual family visits, it is not permissible for the men and women to sit in the same room, to behave cordially towards one another, to joke with one another, or to make merry. At places where men’s and women’s sitting in the same room is customary and where this harâm is slighted, in order to prevent offence and hostility among relatives, women can sit in the same room or eat with their male relatives for a short time, but they must be covered. The talks must be serious. Utter care must be taken that the talk should last short and be rare and especially that they should not be alone in the same place. True and well learned Muslims who know and obey their dîn should never sit together like that. We should not dispute with ignorant people or insist that our dîn commands so, but we should try to abstain from harâms by making excuses pertaining to worldly affairs, by talking softly not to offend our relatives. A male slave also is a nâmahram man to his female possessor.
Seeing once is permissible for a judge when deciding a case in the court of justice, for witnesses when giving evidence, for a person who is to marry a girl, even if lust is likely to happen, and for a doctor, for a nurse, for a circumciser, for a person who does enema (clyster) as long as necessary. It is permissible for a sick person to have himself clystered. It is written on the four hundred and seventy-eighth page of the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtâr, “It is important sunnat to have one’s son circumcised. It is Islam’s symbol. If the people of a city do not have their sons circumcised, the Khalîfa fights them. There is not a certain age of circumcision for a child. The best time is between seven and twelve years of age.” When performing circumcision, it is customary to repeat the Takbîr-i ’Iyd together loudly. Those who are not circumcised catch various diseases. French books describe them under the name “Affections du prépuce.”
On the five hundred and fifty-eighth page of Hadîqa and in its chapter about afflictions incurred by the eyes, it is written that it is permissible for girls to learn and teach science and medicine on condition that they will observe the Sharî’at. Girls must be educated and trained as obstetricians and gynecologists. Women must be shown to women doctors. If a woman doctor cannot be found one must take one’s wife to a male gynecologist, if her illness is dangerous or very painful.
The awrat parts of Muslim women to one another are like the awrat parts of a man to another man.
If a woman is secure of lust, her looking at a nâmahram man is like a man’s looking at another. The book Jawhara says that it is like a man’s looking at those women who are his mahram. But it is harâm for her to look at him lustfully. Non-Muslim and renegade women’s looking at Muslim women, (as well as their paternal and maternal uncles, if they are renegades), that is, Muslim women’s showing themselves to them, is, like their showing themselves to nâmahram men, harâm in three madhhabs. They cannot look at Muslim women’s bodies. It is permissible in the Hanbalî Madhhab.
When those parts of the body leave the body that are not permissible to look at, it is still not permissible to look at them even if the body is dead. After a woman’s hair and other hairs, toe-nails [not finger-nails] and bones leave her body, they cannot be looked at.
It is not harâm to look without lust at the reflections on mirrors or on water of those parts of women that are harâm to look at. For in this case not they themselves but their visions are being seen. [Their reflexions or pictures are not they themselves. Seeing them (their reflexions or pictures) does not mean seeing them. Looking at their pictures or at their visions in movies or on television is like looking at their images in mirrors. They are all permissible to look at without lust, but harâm to watch lustfully or to look at those visions of theirs that will arouse lust. Also, it is harâm to listen to their voices. Surely, there are people who look at them lustfully. It is harâm to draw, to publish, to take pictures that arouse lust and are harâm]. It is not permissible but harâm to look at the awrat parts of women, even without lust, behind glass, with any kind of spectacles, through water, or at a woman in water.
It is permissible to look without lust at a woman dressed in clothes not so scanty as to stick on her body. It is harâm to look at a woman even without lust who is clad in a dress the qaba awrat parts of which are scanty. It is harâm to look lustfully at a nâmahram woman’s underwears. It is harâm to look lustfully at those parts of hers that are not her qaba awrat and which are covered tightly, scantily.
As it is harâm for women to go out without covering themselves and by decking themselves out, so it is harâm for them to enter likewise any place where there are men not mahram to them. And it is even more sinful to enter a mosque with uncovered awrat parts. A place where there are people with open awrat parts or where harâm is committed is called majlis al-fisq (sinning party). It is written in Bazzâziyya that it is not permissible for Muslims to attend or to allow their wives to a majlis al-fisq, that is, a place where sinners gather together, without necessity. Women who have îmân must cover those parts of theirs that are not qaba awrat, such as head, hair, arms, legs, for Muslims must dread harâms lest they will lose their îmân.
[Some people, whose sole interest is pleasure and entertainment, do not hesitate to mislead others into mischief and disasters in order to attain their pleasures by saying, “It is something annoying one to see a woman covering herself like an ogre. On the other hand, it gives relief and pleasure to look at an ornamented, beautiful girl or woman in free attire. It is sweet, like watching or smelling a beautiful flower.” Looking at a flower or smelling a flower is sweet to the soul. It causes the soul to recognize the existence and the greatness of Allahu ta’âlâ and to obey His commandments. Looking at a nice-smelling, ornamented, and freely-dressed girl, on the other hand, is sweet to the nafs. The ear does not take any pleasure from colors, nor does the eye from sounds. For they do not sense these things. The nafs is the enemy of Allahu ta’âlâ. It will not hesitate to do any sort of evil whereby to attain its pleasures. It will violate human rights and laws. Its pleasures do not have an end. Looking at a girl will not satisfy it. It will desire to meet her and to practice all its pleasures. It is for this reason that all civil codes curb the eccentricities of nafses. Excessive desires of the nafs drift people into misery, diseases, family disasters, and afflictions. In order to prevent these disastrous situations, Allahu ta’âlâ has prohibited girls’ dressing freely and being close to men not related to them, alcohol, and gambling. People who have been enslaved by their nafs flout these prohibitions. So they censure the books of ’ilm-i-hâl written by scholars of Ahl as-Sunna and prevent young people from reading these books and attaining salvation. As is understood from all the aforesaid facts, it is sinful for women and girls to go shopping at market-places and stores. Muslims have to protect their daughters against these sins. Otherwise, they will lose their îmân and become disbelievers. Enemies of Islam misrepresent whatsoever is destructive to îmân as national customs in order to spread disbelief.]
