Confused by the Hijab - Nouman Ali Khan on The Deen Show

Selam aleykum on the line with a cathode this is brother mnemonic on this week's episode we're going to be talking about a question a sister asked in regards to the hijab stay tuned [Music] bismillah alhamdulillah Salam alaikum peace be with you you're watching the disha I'm Eddie your host and we had Norman Ali Khan who's coming up got the question here somebody wrote in and they expressed their happiness that they've embraced Islam that submission that complete adherence peacefully lovingly submitting yourself to the one who created you not to a man or a woman but the creator of man and woman not to an animal to a idol or a statue or an icon to the one creator who created the Sun and a movement everything in this universe he's the crate tour where his creatures where his creation we worship the one who created creation and that's what this sister who wrote in she accepted Islam she was like many of the people who are out there today all about the gossip magazines music movies boys girls and all the other fun stuff people perceive as fun a lot of it just wasting time you're just wasting time because his life is a test and if we don't pass and we don't get the ultimate reward paradise so we got to work in this life to please our critter before we meet our Creator and that's what Islam is all about Islam that peaceful submission to the will of the one creator and this is how you achieve peace when you submit to the owner of peace and that's what she did but she's a little bit confused because there's some Muslims they're not acting in accordance with Islam so we're gonna be talking about that in her questions so you can't go nowhere we're gonna be reading it out and you'll get to benefit from her question and we'll give him the answer with no mentality can't hear a TV show don't go nowhere this is the thing this is the thing [Music] Salam alaikum Michael said I would please be with you no man Ali Khan my brother Eddie how are you doing alhamdulillah praise to the crater that happens in earth that you're back with us again here in Chicago I'm very elated I'm very excited that you're here with us really happy to be back it's been a long time thank you very much finding the time to be with us I introduced the show mm-hmm and I told our viewing audience that we're going to cover a topic we're gonna cover that this week's topic based on a question that was sent in okay so I hate to rush things but you know time is all we have mm-hmm so the questioner is asking let's get straight to the questions so we can open up this topic the the sister Janet or Jeanette I'm sorry she's asking brother no man that I came to Islam a few years ago after I had almost given up on life my life before Islam revolved around fashion gossip magazines music movies boys and all the other things that girls do at home did in law which means all praises to the Creator Allah guided me to Islam my question is regarding the hijab which I had grown to love I'm really starting to see the wisdom behind it as I feel it has uplifted me and has forced men to respect me respect me I'm confused she's saying she's saying brother she that I'm confused and my question is about many of my Muslim sisters who are born into Islam and who take this for granted by either arguing against the job saying it's outdated or sisters who wear the the tightest of clothes and then put on the hijab isn't this countering the effect of what is intended by the hijab she's asking okay we're almost done this is what I left behind so back in John Hadi obviously so I'm confused when I see Muslim sisters dressing in this provocative way please do a show about this Eddie as I feel many will benefit from this including myself that's why from the bunch we picked this one because obviously I think it's a relevant discussion it is definitely yeah you see the things I see too don't you absolutely so please what are your comments on this um I think this is a layered problem we can't give a straight answer for this kind of thing because at the end of the day the sister is confused about what she sees in other people's behavior that she expects more from so let's start at the top when it comes to the ruling of hijab and for that matter what it when it comes to passing a verdict on anything in Islam is it mandatory do you have to do it or is it absolutely impermissible you can't do it at all etc it's very easy for average Muslims to just quickly pass a verdict you can and you can't right and you just go halal and Haram there are very few things in Islam that are absolutely no disagreement there's no scholarly debate about them and there's I mean pretty much on the essentials of it there's unanimity when it comes to things like alcohol and interest and innocent you know killing an innocent person and these kinds of basic essential wrongs then there's no difference of opinion among scholars hey job happens to be one of those things overwhelmingly there is actually no disagreement among our scholars about what a job means what are its mere minimum requirements there may be some technical discussion about you know what's the bare minimum that constitutes a hijab and there may be some kind of scholarly debate about that but a job itself as an injunction because it's in the Quran and it's very direct and explicit and the Prophet I saw to Aslam himself explained it in very explicit terms there's not really any kind of debate about whether or not it's an essential part of Islam and something required of women in Islam or not that's not a dubious manner so it's not clear it's not an unclear matter it's it hasn't been until maybe the last 50 years or something but I mean for the vast majority of our history nobody raised this issue there's not a new meth-head no you know has a different opinion on this it's just you know in order to come up with a new opinion on this you basically have to say for most of Islam's history people didn't know what they were talking about from the Companions first generation second generation all the way up until modern times nobody knew what they were talking about they were all a bunch of idiots nobody knew the laws we I'm not obviously saying about them like this but this is the opinion people have they were back backwards they were pre-modern they didn't understand our context our situation has changed therefore we have to look at these things in a new way etc etc the first thing I want to share at least in terms of my conviction and the conviction of essentially you know mainstream Muslims is that these these principles don't change they are constants but at the same time the second conversation that has to be had in order to address the sisters problem is that people are complicated and you have to know people's situations before you understand why they behave in a certain way and it's not just about a job you know the sisters confused they're born Muslims or Muslim as in this case and they should know better and they're not only not doing it but they're arguing against it but as a matter of fact I've met Muslims who argue in favor of alcohol consumption who argue very vehement ly about not praying because they're already connected to God spiritually etc etc I mean it's not the only thing this mentality among Muslims of you would be shocked how are you Muslim if you're saying these kinds of things how can these two things coexist this is not limited to this one problem so we have to understand it in the context of a larger problem so what one of the factors in that is in the Muslim world and especially in the West we have suffered from a lack of basic Muslim education Islamic education and essential grounding in the basic teachings of this religion the core teachings of this religion and at the heart of that is whatever Allah says is is the best for us whatever instructions he's given whether we understand the wisdom behind them or not the logic behind them or not because the sister for example appreciated the benefit of hijab that men are forced to respect her and she sees the the blessings of it in her practical life that's all great but at the end of the day that's not the reason for why she wears it the reason a Muslim does anything Allah tells them to do is because Allah told them to do it that's the number one reason once Allah tells you to do something and you trust him it's not because you saw benefits it is because you trust him you did the act whatever it may be maybe maybe it's prayer maybe it's leaving impermissible sources of making money whatever it may be once you came to obey Allah trusting him then no doubt about it you'll start seeing benefits the common mistake Muslims make is when they are you in favor of something Islamic they start talking about its benefits right those benefits are always gonna be there no doubt about it but that's not the reason the reason is that it's an instruction from Allah what most Muslims haven't been indoctrinated and haven't been you know our education has become so weak our basic education that we don't see it that way anymore we don't see that what Allah has taught us is absolutely the best for us and whatever I think in my head I can come up with is secondary to what Allah and His Messenger have already said that's it's it's my best interest they're not asking me to do something that it's not beneficial to me it's only in my favorite that's on the one side that's about confusion in the lack of education but there's another problem too there are sisters I've met across the country that used to wear hijab and took it off they used to understand the lease to attend classes they learned a lot they research the issue if you ask them do you know that her job is mandatory they'll tell you yes so now you can argue my god I'm numb right now I'm really confused because I understand somebody who took it off or doesn't wear it because they don't know any better here's a sister that knows it studied the issue and then took it off what's going on there and it's too easy to say these people are hypocrites or they're they're not true believers or they're it's it's not fair to them we have to understand what's going on you know we don't a lot of times appreciate how difficult it can be you know I can't appreciate as a man and you can as a man but a sisters perspective just like they have a hard time understanding our perspective right I have three daughters a wife mom three sisters they don't understand me like you know my father can or another man can and I don't understand them like they can understand each other for a woman to go into college her corporate workplace had to work at the hospital whatever else and for her to spend hours and hours working around men and they look at her funny and they say things and they pass comments and it hurts her feelings and she's constantly putting up with that it can really take a toll on a person and it's not easy for a girl to take her hijab off it's a very difficult decision there's something very personal that happened in in their life that made them do that or is keeping them from putting it on it's more than just they're not convinced it's the best or that it's outdated these are just things to say but what's going on behind the scenes is there's fear there's real concern there are people making all kinds of weird arguments like if you put it on you'll become this center of attention I thought the point of her job was to get a not get attention but once you put it on you become the full center of attention so there's there's a lot of psychological stuff going on that has to be solved at a person-to-person basis it can't be resolved in one speech and the behavior of others we can't pass judgment on that easily because we don't know what's going on behind the scenes just like somebody who's drinking of course it's Haram but what led the guy to drink what kind of trauma did he go through we have to kind of deal with people in a human sort of way and that's what our messenger did some of the hardest items and chelev are there's a third point but perhaps I'm going to take a break yeah I'll come back with more here answering your question on the Deen show love egg bomb love egg bomb subhanallah al hamdulillah I'm glad I let her in na na na egg bomb love egg bomb had a lot but hamdulillah but now he let her in na na na egg bomb I love egg bound subhanAllah when hamdulillah I'm gonna allow her in na na na egg bomb I love egg bomb had a lot but handily laughs I'm glad I let her in na na na backbone I love egg bound subhanAllah but hamdulillah I'm glad I let her in na na na egg bound I love [Music] this is the thing [Music] back here with no man Ali Khan on the Dean show and we are talking about the issue of hijab and you're gonna go in to point number three yeah just to recap very quickly the first point is that the ruling hasn't changed and it's not something that's opened a really discussion in the highest scholarly circles in our tradition seem like alcohol prayer all these things are the basics the essential fundamentals the second point I made was even though that's constant that doesn't give me license to judge somebody and say you're doing you know how could you do this you're a Muslim because I don't know what's going on in their life what what they're going through in their head and you know a lot of times what we see on the outside is behavior but maybe there's something really going on inside the heart that has to be addressed that's the root problem you know and the same goes for the third point the third point I wanted to make is our teachings in Islam they are you could put them under big chapters big headings you can organize our religion that way like you know famous books of Islamic studies like for example they have entire chapters under with which multiple areas are studied so you can have a large chapter called worship and in a hudge and pilgrimage and prayer and fasting etc it's tiny under that one large chapter well the hijab if you were to put it under a chapter you would probably put it under the chapter of modesty of shame of guarding yourself and this is one lesson of many lessons inside this chapter a lot of times what people do is they say this is all Islam has to say about modesty once I put this thing on my head now all of a sudden I have modesty of course not know I'm a modest person anyway the question arises then you know the word modesty or shame I can have my own definition of it and you can have your own I mean every two other two three other people have their own definition of decency of shame of appropriateness different parents allow their kids to watch different things don't they some kids some parents they'll have no problem their kids are watching MTV or they're going out to a movie or whatever others will censor every little thing and say there's no TV in our house people have different standards the question is when you accept Islam by definition you've submitted your standards to Allah standards so when it comes to modesty also you've submitted I don't maybe I some idea what shame is but Allah knows better than I do and this is part of his standards of modesty what I'm trying to say then is there's a hijab on a person's face there's a hijab on a person's head there's a jet Bob there's a large larger garment a looser garment that they're wearing or loose clothing in general but there's also modesty of one's personality right in how we how we walk how we talk our body language how we carry ourselves how we behave with people that aren't from our family with the opposite gender these are all things that are in the in essence extended lessons of hijab you're missing the point if you don't know what chapter this belongs to so you'll have sisters that are even wearing hijab but don't understand the larger concept of modesty and even brothers for that matter they don't understand a lot of larger concept of modesty and they're violating other lessons within that chapter so what if they observed a job the other tenants are still there they have to be observed but you know respected also so it is in fact an essential component of modesty whether you make common sense of it or not is irrelevant just like prayer is a lot teaching us how to be spiritual I can come up with my own spiritual exercises and same what we know I think my technique works a lot better I start with such that I start with prostration and then work my way back up to the standing in prayer I've come up with a different sequence it doesn't work because what Allah has taught is what defines our spirituality this is how you're supposed to exercise your spirituality you know that's the ideal the same thing goes with hijab the same thing goes with our dietary restrictions you know so it is part of that larger thing and there's one more thing that should be said about this pajama shoe a lot of times sisters get the feeling that this is a restriction on women and how come men don't have the same thing and you know it becomes like a equal rights type thing a ribbon zlib type issue and that's how it's framed that's not fair to the Deen also first of all if we believe this is the religion of truth then we believe that Allah created man and woman and he knows man better than man knows himself and he knows woman better than woman knows herself and he knows exactly what man needs and he knows exactly what woman needs let me give you a small example so parents they see their kids having an argument they take both kids and they give them a solution you do this and you do that and one of them says oh it's not fear you always side with that one the matter of fact is maybe the parent does fear one over the other and you know prefer one over the other because that's a human being in the end it's a parent or maybe the parent knows better in the case of Allah solving our disputes there's a woman saying Allah has more restrictions on women that he has on men this debate becomes a debate between men and women and who's gonna resolve that debate Elias when we accept Quran as guidance that we've said Allah is going to be more fair to me than anybody else can be and as an extension I want to share with you a beautiful ayah surah nisa this is the surah of women Allah says what am enumerable allahabad oakum Allah Allah we bout to come on about I'll translate in English don't give don't wish for what Allah Himself gave preference in terms of some over the other Allah give someone some blessings some powers some rights some restrictions and he gave you different rights different different responsibilities different restrictions don't vie for the other and say how come I can't have what he has and he shouldn't say how come I have what she has Allah says literally jolly now see boom America Sabu same ayah he says for men they will only have what they get to earn and good deeds that's in the end what they've earned for themselves well they decide you know single men worked as a plan for women all they get is what they've earned in terms of good deeds well good lenoir you know what Solomon for me and ask Allah for his favor don't vie for one another's things it is not a competition between men and women this is a competition and who does more good deeds Allah changes our mentality about the subject you know so this is really a thinking an intellectual transformation that a person has to go through and until they go through that they're not going to see the point in any of Allah's instructions whichever they don't want to follow they can easily say it's outdated it's not for our times it's not fair they can come up with a list of complaints and that's not something restricted to non-muslims it'll happen to Muslims too just like that sister it went through a transformation and came to Islam we're at a time now where a lot of Muslims have to go through a transformation and also come back to Islam I like what you said earlier ok you made a clear lucid definition you said ok now I'm sorry you said that the prayer just like the prayer alcohol there fix things and since the creator revealed to the last and final mention apart my man peace be upon him and then how his companions and then the scholars after that and then you can safely say the format hubs this thing is clear the issue is not really debatable right now people had then you went on to to talk about the things that us not judging the the person but can we say that now for the sister who life she made a life-changing move she went from living a life of following her desires to Islam submitting to the Creator uh-huh now that she doesn't look at she shouldn't get discouraged looking at what Muslims are doing stomp Islam is pristine it's clear so don't get shaken up by what they're doing that's one point the other point is please define for our sister who don't know they don't know they think okay I can wear the tight jeans and all the junk is coming out and all this I'm sorry you know it just the the the the the tawdry dress and they just throw on a piece of cloth over their head you know and say you know this is I'm fulfilling the my responsible they don't know so the two things a dress please and we're really almost out of time so okay hit both of them her not to get discouraged and the other part of what is hijab what constitutes hijab is it is it just the the cloth over the head two things yeah number one she should not only should she not be discouraged she should understand what she's come into she's come into a religion that calls people to the light in other words her job is not to see misbehavior of others and be discouraged by it but be encouraged that she has work to do she's part of it oh ma now that is an Ouma of loving reminder to others right so when she sees others falling into a behavior she doesn't say this is wrong but she says let me remind them of who lives let me remind them from what Allah does for them let me bring them let me soften their hearts a little bit and then you know when the disease is addressed the symptoms will change not wearing a hijab is not the disease it's a symptom the diseases inside and we can't be discouraged by these symptoms we have to attack the disease what that person might just need is a good friend with some soft encouragement with patience was over time and they'll transform completely right so that's that's one major point what was your second point again then the second point we're gonna take a break and then we're gonna address the second point okay we come back here in the Dean show don't go anywhere we'll be right back Oh [Music] it's a way of life bar 2 was bad the messenger best of Lincoln show us the way to Ellis Chris this is the Dean do you know this man this is the D do you know these back on the Dean show an omen Alikhan and we're answering a sister's question who we congratulate her she came from living a life of chasing her desires she recognized with the crater that heavens and earth is that Islam is the way and she's living this way and she's confused because some Muslims she's thinking they should be living this to was there's a contradiction here so we're answering the contradiction and we left off with defining hijab because some sisters they might wear tight clothes that's current thing just put the veil on and this is a job very good I think this is a good opportunity to share some very important basics for all new Muslims Muslims that are trying to learn their religion and then address the topic of her job directly you know when it comes to legal issues in Islam how do you define legal things restrictions it's very important that we get our answers from scholarly sources that we don't get our answer from to be very blunt people like me I'll tell you what that means I'm a Quran teacher and I'm an Arabic teacher those are the two things I study in my research Islamic law Sharia fit is an area of expertise and no matter how much I think I may have studied and I've taught when it comes to a matter of pic and Sharia I go to an expert in that area and say can you define it for me even though I can do the research myself I would rather somebody who's poured their life studying this stuff and asked them hard questions and get the answer so what I'm going to share with you is a basic definition this is what the scholars are obviously saying right she's gonna tell us right there's but my word means nothing even if I'm quoting the scholars in the end my word on this issue means nothing some people would rather to you because you speak the vernacular language of the you yeah and they look up to say hey I can relate to him better so they might take it from you rather than taking it from someone that's true but now more and more we have contemporary well-spoken articulate young you know American scholars that are up and coming and I think they should be put on the spot on these kinds of issues too but nonetheless all defined some very basic essentials you know a job all the differences you know additional opinions inside the minimum is the hair to be covered and of a loose cloth that covers the front no the chest of the woman in a loose way the gel bob is the second item of clothing and by the way the hijab the Quranic term for that is FEMA came out okay malcomson work Hummer and the world common literally needs to cover something from it also comes the word humble is also the word for alcohol why cuz it covers your intellect you can't think straight which is a beautiful word because then people ask is beer okay because I'm not drinking wine some but it means white anything that overshadows your intellect in the in the least bit is common automatically so it takes care of that issue but regardless Hammad means something that covers and that's for the top garment then it comes for the the garment of the rest of the body it's supposed to be an outer garment Jetta Bob something that covers over the way that's been interpreted essentially is something that's some basic conditions one it's not form-fitting its loose and it goes down in some debate whether it goes down to half the shin or all the way down to the ankle but regardless it's pretty long it's a long over garment that is not form-fitting then there's also debate about whether is it one piece or two pieces is it one long piece and one shorter piece can it be it does it have to be one long piece and these are academic discussions but the main point is it has to be loose and not form-fitting at all sit again loose loose not form-fitting and an outer garment form-fitting shape at a body right so it's not be it can't be tight clothing and can't be the shape of these precious things that should be maybe for your for your husband not every you know Tom John can see that yeah and you know that makes absolutely complete sense because the Prophet Ayatollah said I'm in a very famous hadith actually cursed a category of women kasi Atari at he called them dressed but naked he called him dressed but naked and what that meant was form-fitting see-through kinds of clothes etc these are the women see through see through no no no see through right hygiene I mean we some people like if you want to say genes you know if you want to wear this put it put an overcoat on top or something or put something longer on top or whatever nothing nothing nothing showing the shape yeah and that's you know that's a the the basic definition to a modest muslimah to a modest most EMA is something that she doesn't even have to do research for she just has to ask herself if I was standing in front of my father in front of my brother would I be the least bit embarrassed would I be the least bit uncomfortable now there for some people they've lived around them in a life of shamelessness for so long that their sense of shame has died so to say yeah I have no problem saying like this but for people that you know have a sense of modesty they know they know they're about to go to a party they dressed a certain way and if their mothers are them their father saw them their older brother saw them their uncle saw them they'd be embarrassed they'd be taken back well you know what if your personal conscience is sounding off the alarm you're probably on the wrong track I mean there's a fatwa being passed as the legal really being passed by your own conscience so these legal discussions aside it's just a matter of what you just dressing respectfully and not exposing yourself in a way that's not becoming a you know a decent woman and a believer and attitude the good the good persona that comes with it because some people argue about hey she's wearing the right hijab but she don't have the right attitude you know I've seen this girl who is wearing hijab as she's doing worse than the one who's naturally you bring up a really good point I'm almost out of time yeah I need you just let me let me make this point a concise on the other end of the aisle or people that aren't observing these things any aspect of religion let's take a job in this case as a discussion and the point of people that are wearing hijab would have a bad attitude or they're messed up in some other way in the backbite or they're dating or whatever else they're doing that's that stuff even though they have the hijab on and they got the outer garment on and everything right just like people misbehaving are not a source of discouragement for me that is trying to behave just like that people that are misbehaving can't quote bad examples and say therefore I don't have to answer to God you're not responsible because you saw a good example or a bad example the examples already been revealed the sample has already been revealed the role models have already come and gone last point I'm trying to make we don't look for role models that are around us the very first sort of the Quran tells us to look for role models that have already left and latina and anti lai-him the path of those who you already showered past tense not those who shower right now because I don't know if they're gonna be on the right path tomorrow we look for righteous guidance and those in the past the entire Quran is full of stories of those who already passed that's that's what we're supposed to look for four pillars of guidance not anybody else on the anchor our hopes and them we're constantly disappointed and then we lose our end up losing our faith a couple more points we're almost out of time sure tell us now tell us now please you said you mentioned some sisters who know about hijab they know the verdict they know this is something that is compulsory on every Muslim woman and they take it off let's say but now you see them take it off should we encourage the sisters who are wearing it but they see educated let's say a sister she just took it off can this be a test from Allah because this life is a test and let's save everyone and their mother took it off you be the one that keeps it on because it's a test and can Allah be testing you through those people that's created them just for that specific person to test you and now you because 50 people took it off you take it off to your tailor on chest and the other thing that happens is a girl takes it off whatever she's going through and the other girls in her circle that are still going hijab they start looking at her funny and she goes all they look at me fine I don't want to you want to hang out with them so she finds different company now she doesn't even have someone to remind her and those it's the fault of those other girls that do wear hijab that became judgemental all of a sudden they should have been supportive at that time that's what community is a cult judges people that become different a community takes in people that are fallen and says let me get you back up you know we have to be communities we can't turn into cults we can't turn into cliques that people avoid us because they don't want to be judged that by definition means we've turned into a cult so if you have a sister in your group that has become like that you have to reach out and befriend her and not discuss a job just be a friend all she needs is a friend right now she doesn't need a lecture about whether she should why she should buy a job when she already knows that what she needs right now is just some comfort and somebody to be able to relate to and eventually if when her saw heart softened and that's up to allah may allah azza wajal bring her back to committing herself to all aspects of the deen including their job thank you so much for fun gonna be with us while cologne vehicle and show to have you back again to be bestial how time flies yes thank you she's up low - vehicle and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Deen show we like to congratulate our sister who took that choice that she has of either worshiping the creation of worshiping the crater sister Jeanette who accepted his way of life of all the messengers of God the worship of the one create tour and she submitted in Islam Samantha's Islam simply meaning to acquire peace by submitting to the owner peace the create toward the one God the same God that Jesus Moses Abraham and the last and final messenger the problem Hamid peace be upon him and all of them they all submitted to the one God and you've done that never get discouraged always rely on the one who created you the one who gives you the air that you breathe the eyes that you see with a notice life is a test and if you pass the test by obeying your Creator loving your Creator doing what your Creator wants you to do paradise that's the ultimate prize so never get discouraged and everybody keep tuning in here to the Deen show we'll see you next time until then peace be unto you this is this is the D did have is Oh

Channel: Digital Mimbar

Views: 459,110

Rating: 4.8612194 out of 5

Keywords: Hijab, confused on Hijab, The Deen Show, Deen Show, Islam (Religion), Allah, Quran, Sunnah, Muhammad, niqab, muslim womens dress, womens dress, Muslim (Adherents), muslims, revert, convert, islamic dress, cover, Nouman Ali Khan

Id: 9EfY5b8WSXU

Length: 31min 46sec (1906 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/Alienm00se]

He actually gave the Khutba at my mosque a couple weeks ago. He's a really cool guy.

[u/Asad3ainJalout]

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