The Veil in the Qu'ran
Righteousness
A general spiritual metaphor of clothing is used, signifying that outer or physical clothing only has any value as an indicator, sustainer or promoter of inner spiritual beauty.
Best Garment is Righteousness
7:26 O children of Adam, we have provided you with garments to cover your bodies, as well as for luxury. But the best garment is the garment of righteousness. These are some of God's signs, that they may take heed.
Modesty of Dress and Bearing
33:32-33 Wives of the Prophet, you are not like other women. So, if you fear God, do not be too complaisant in your speech, lest the lecherous-hearted should lust after you. Talk with such people in plain and simple words. Abide still in your homes and do not display your finery as women used to do in the days of ignorance. Attend to your prayers, give alms and obey God and His Messenger. O woman of this house, the Almighty wants to cleanse you from the filth and to fully purify you. Communicate what is taught to you of the verses of God and the wisdom revealed by Him. The Almighty is very discerning and all-knowing.
Hijab
The word "Hijab" appears in the Quran 7 times, five of them as "Hijab" and twice as "Hijaban". None of these words are used in the Quran to refer to a dress code, such as Muslims today call Hijab.
Speak through a Partition
33:53 O Ye who believe! Enter not the dwellings of the Prophet for a meal without waiting for the proper time, unless permission be granted you. But if ye are invited, enter, and, when your meal is ended, then disperse. Linger not for conversation. Lo! that would cause annoyance to the Prophet, and he would be shy toward you [too polite to tell you to disperse]; but Allah is not shy of the truth. And when ye ask of them [the wives of the Prophet] anything, ask it of them from behind a hijab [curtain]. That is purer for your hearts and for their hearts.
As Muhammad's home was both a private residence and also a public meeting place, it required a partition to keep the two distinct, and those coming for a public purpose should not venture into the private area but speak through the partition. Here the men and other believers speak from behind a hijab (partition).
Other Symbolic Uses
7.44 And the dwellers of the garden will call out to the inmates of the fire: Surely we have found what our Lord promised us to be true; have you too found what your Lord promised to be true? They will say: Yes. Then a crier will cry out among them that the curse of Allah is on the unjust.
7.45 Who hinder (people) from Allah's way and seek to make it crooked, and they are disbelievers in the hereafter.
7.46 And between the two there shall be a veil, and on the most elevated places there shall be men who know all by their marks, and they shall call out to the dwellers of the garden: Peace be on you; they shall not have yet entered it, though they hope.
7.47 And when their eyes shall be turned towards the inmates of the fire, they shall say: Our Lord! place us not with the unjust
7.48 And the dwellers of the most elevated places shall ca!l out to men whom they will recognize by their marks saying: Of no avail were to you your amassings and your behaving haughtily:
17.45 And when you recite the Quran, We place between you and those who do not believe in the hereafter a hidden barrier;
17.46 And We have placed coverings on their hearts and a heaviness in their ears lest they understand it, and when you mention your Lord alone in the Quran they turn their backs in aversion.
19.16 And mention Marium in the Book when she drew aside from her family to an eastern place;
19.17 So she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man.
19.18 She said: Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent God, if you are one guarding (against evil).
19.19 He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give you a pure boy.
38.32 Then he said: Surely I preferred the good things to the remembrance of my Lord-- until the sun set and time for Asr prayer was over, (he said):
41.2 A revelation from the Beneficent, the Merciful God:
41.3 A Book of which the verses are made plain, an Arabic Quran for a people who know:
41.4 A herald of good news and a warner, but most of them turn aside so they hear not.
41.5 And they say: Our hearts are under coverings from that to which you call us, and there is a heaviness in our ears, and a veil hangs between us and you, so work, we too are working.
42.51 And it is not for any mortal that Allah should speak to them, they could not bear to hear and they did not see.
Khimar
Khimar - cover. A curtain is a Khimar, a dress is a Khimar, a table cloth that covers the top of a table is a Khimar, a blanket can be used as a Khimar. The word Khamra used for intoxicant has the same root, because it covers the mind.
Covering of Bosoms
24:31 And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and do not display their ornaments except what appears thereof [or, is necessary (undefined)], and let them wear their khimars over their bosoms (jaybs), and not display their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or the male servants not having need (of women), or the children who have not attained knowledge of what is hidden of women; and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may be known; and turn to Allah all of you, O believers! so that you may be successful.
Presumeably the ornaments or jewels referred to, are a woman's breasts or nipples, although it could be taken in a variety of ways.
Khimar is a general word meaning covering, and even if a person takes it to mean a headscarf, the emphasis is not to wear a khimar, but to cover the bosom, just as if a person says not to have your pockets hanging out, it is not to be taken as an instruction that you must have pockets. The Jews and Christians of the region will have worn head coverings but presumeably draped it behind their backs whilst leaving their bosoms immodestly exposed.
Jilbab
Outer Garments
33:58-61 O Prophet! Enjoin your wives, your daughters, and the wives of true believers to draw their jalabib [garments, pl.] over them [or "lengthen their garments"]. That is more proper, so that they may be distinguished [stand out for modesty] and not be harassed. God is ever forgiving and merciful. If the hypocrites and those who have the ailment [resentment] in their hearts and the scandal mongers of Madinah do not desist, We will rouse you against them, and their days in that city will be numbered.
This looks like a simple modesty rule of drawing your clothing round or down properly so that it does not offer a women to the eye in an inviting way.
Relaxation of Dress Code
Dress code rules are more flexible with family members, children and the elderly.
24:60 Women advanced in years, who no longer feel any sexual desire, incur no sin if they discard their [outer] garments [relax their dresscode], provided they do not aim at a showy display of [their] charms. But [even so,] it is better for them to abstain [from this]: and God is all-hearing, all-knowing.
33:55 The women may relax (their dress code) around their fathers, their sons, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, the other women, and their (female) servants. They shall reverence God. God witnesses all things.
Modified : 2008-03-04