Waching daily Jan 2 2019

Is Hijab important or is it a choice?

I have told many times that our religion has two types of teachings.

It means that if you see the content of the religion, it consists of two types of things.

One type is the things which have been made obligatory for us. We call them farz or wajib.

It means that there are things which Allah has made mandatory for us.

If we perform them, He will reward us and if we do not perform them, He will hold us accountable.

Take the example of fasting in Ramadan. It is an obligation of every believer.

Another type is the things which are not obligatory but Allah shows that He likes them because they are good and practicable.

These good things fall in the second category. It will be beneficial if you practice these things.

For example, four rakahs of Zuhr or two rakahs of Fajr prayer are obligatory. We have to offer them at all costs.

Then you add a couple of rakahs to it voluntarily. It is your choice to decide if you want to offer these rakahs or not.

In worships, such voluntary acts are called nufl while in other issues, they are called mustahab.

It is the positive aspect of the religion.

The negative aspect is that some things are totally forbidden and prohibited. Other things are dislikable.

Here too, we have two categories.

Thus, two categories in each i.e. positive and negative aspect of the religion. The similar rule is applicable for hijab.

One thing is the situations in which Allah has made it obligatory.

When women go to market, job, their home or anywhere else,

they have been told to dress in a civilized manner, lower their gazes, and cover their genitals.

These instructions are for men as well as women. Both men and women have directly been addressed while giving these commands.

There is no other restriction in this regard. However, you know that women love beautification and show off.

They like wearing jewelry and beautify themselves to look gorgeous.

If they are in a proper makeup and not in normal dress, only then Allah has told them

to cover all parts of their body except their hand, feet and face.

This is applicable only when they are in makeup. What if they are not in makeup?

Will they have to keep wearing a shawl all the time?

The answer to this is that if they do so, it is a praiseworthy act but it is not obligatory. This is the demand of the religion.