Hijab

The Command and Its Reason

The command for hijab comes directly from the Quran. In Surah al-Nur (24:31), God addresses believing women and instructs them to guard their modesty and not display their adornment except what is apparent. Surah al-Ahzab (33:59) instructs the Prophet ﷺ to tell his wives, daughters, and believing women to draw their outer garments over themselves, adding: "That is more suitable that they will be known and not be harassed."

God himself gives the reason: recognition and protection. Hijab is not presented as a symbol of male ownership. It is presented as a boundary that communicates a woman's dignity to the world around her.

The command applies to men as well. The verse before the command to women (24:30) instructs believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. Modesty in Islam is not a female burden; it is a shared principle, beginning with men.

On Finding the Command Difficult

For a Muslim woman who accepts the command but finds it heavy, the question is not whether God commanded it (that is settled by the Quran) but how to carry it. The Prophet’s wives and the early female companions were not free of difficulty either. They lived in a society where modesty was already culturally familiar, and even so the Quran addresses them with patience and reassurance. The discomfort a contemporary Muslim woman feels in a society shaped by an opposite expectation is not a sign that she is failing the command. It is a sign that she is observing it under conditions the early generations did not face. That is recognised in Islamic ethics as a reason for greater reward, not lesser obligation.

For Those With Doubts

Some Muslim women feel the hijab was imposed on them by family or community rather than chosen. Coercion in religious practice from family or community is itself contrary to the Prophetic method; he taught, encouraged, and persuaded; he did not force adult women into observance. A hijab worn under family pressure is a family or cultural problem, not a religious one. The verse ‘there is no compulsion in religion’ (2:256) addresses entering the faith, not the obligations within it, but the Prophetic example of how women were taught to observe hijab is one of explanation and conviction, not coercion.

The question worth sitting with is: does the discomfort come from the command itself, or from the way it has been enforced around you? They are different questions with different answers.