is head cover for women mandatory in islam?

by ibrahim b. syed, ph.d

hijab (head cover) for muslim women is not mandated in the qur�an. if it is, it
is only the subjective interpretation of an ayah (verse) on the part of the
reader. hence, many islamic scholars say that according to hadith, a woman
should cover her whole body, except her face and hands. the majority of muslims
do not know in which hadith this is mentioned. a very limited number of muslims
know that this is in sunan abu dawud. the english translation of sunan abu dawud
is in three volumes. again, nobody ever mentions that it is in volume three.
actually, it is in volume 3, book xxvii, chapter 1535, and hadith number 4092,
titled: "how much beauty can a woman display?" for the benefit of the readers,
the exact hadith is reproduced below:

(4092) 'aisha said: asthma', daughter of abu bakr, entered upon the apostle of
allah (may peace be upon him) wearing thin clothes. the apostle of allah (peace
be upon him) turned his attention from her. he said: o asthma', when a woman
reaches the age of menstruation, it does not suit her that she displays her
parts of the body except this and this, and he pointed to her face and hands.
(note
3523)

abu dawud said: this is a mursal tradition (i.e. the narrator who transmitted it
from 'aisha is missing) khalid b. duraik did not see 'aisha.

[3523. when a woman reaches the age of puberty, she must observe purdah and have
a thick veil which conceals her beauty. she may unveil her face and hands up to
the wrists. in modern times, some scholars have prohibited unveiling the face
out of precaution.]

it is very interesting to note that no one - neither the muslim scholars nor the
muslim ummah, ever pointed out that this is a mursal (weak) hadith. it is
imperative that when one uses a weak hadith for any reason, then one should
explain to the people that it is such. what is a mursal hadith? but first of all,
what is hadith?

hadith is an arabic word which in its real sense means a tale, speech, chat,
conversation, or communication. in a technical sense, hadith or tradition means
all the sayings, deeds, decisions of the prophet muhammad (s.a.a.w), his silent
approval of the behavior of his companions, and descriptions of his personality.
each hadith is prefaced by a chain of narrators called al-'isnad. al-'isnad was
the chain of people through whom the hadith was transmitted. the second part of
the hadith is al-matn, the content, which reports the teaching or the incident.
every hadith or tradition must have a chain ('isnad), as well as the text (matn).

there are three main categories of the hadith called (1) as-sahih or the
authentic hadith, (2) al-hasan or the good, as some of its narrators have been
found to have a weaker memory in comparison to the narrators of sahih hadith,
and (3) ad-da'if or the weak. this refers to traditions in which there is some
problem in the chain of transmission, in the proper understanding of the
transmitter, or in its contents, which may be in disagreement with islamic
belief and practice.

ad-da'if traditions are further divided according to the degree of problems with
their reporter (ruwaat), or in the text (al-matn) of the reports. a few of these
divisions are as follows:
al-mursal: a hadith in which a tab'i (those who succeeded the sahabah or
companions of the prophet) transmits from rasulullah (s.a.a.w), directly
dropping the sahabi from the 'isnad.

al-munqati: a hadith going back to the tab'i only.

al-mu'dal: a hadith in which two continuous narrators are missing in one or more
places in the 'isnad.

al-mu'allaq: a hadith in which one or two transmitters are omitted in the

beginning of the 'isnad.

in shari'ah or islamic law, only the authentic (sahih) and good (hasan) ahadith
(plural of hadith) are used in deriving rules. the weak (da'if) ahadith have no
value for the purpose of shari'ah.

as stated above, imam abu dawud himself said that this is a mursal tradition (i.e.

the narrator who transmitted it from 'aisha is missing). what i interpret is

that the narrator of this hadith is khalid b. duraik, who did not see 'aisha
(radhi
allahu anha, may allah be pleased with her). since this is a weak hadith, it has
no value for the purpose of shari'ah. that means that no muslim, islamic
republic, or government can pass laws punishing a muslim woman who does not
observe hijab, particularly covering the hair on her head. this is not being
practiced in the so-called islamic countries, where religious police with their
canes are threatening and punishing muslim women who do not observe hijab.

all along, i have maintained in my arguments that islam emphasizes modesty in

the dress of a muslim woman, but nowhere does it mandate the wearing of the
hijab (head cover). as a matter of fact, modesty in dress is also required on
the part of muslim men.

readers are invited to subscribe to the aalim (scholar), which is published

quarterly by the islamic research foundation (irf). phone: 502-423-1988 or email
islamicresearch@yahoo.com

posted november 6, 1998. this article was printed in the april 1998 issue,
volume 19, no. 3 of "the new trend" publication.