[1] Al_Tabari, reports Anas Ibn Malik as saying:
The Prophet had wed Zaynab Bint Jahsh. I was charged with inviting people to the wedding supper. I carried out this charge. Many people came. They arrived in group, one after the other. They ate and then they departed. I said to the Prophet:
“Messenger of God, I invited so many people that I can’t find anyone else to invite.”
At a certain moment, the Prophet said: “End the meal.” Zaynab was seated in a corner of the room. She was a woman of great beauty. All the guests departed except for three who seemed oblivious of their surroundings. They were still there in the room, chatting away. Annoyed, the Prophet left the room. He went to Aisha’s apartment. Upon seeing her, he greeted her, saying:
“Peace be unto you, member of the household.”
“And peace be unto you, Prophet of Allah,” responded A’isha to him. “How do you like your new Companion?”
He thus made the round of the apartments of his wives, who greeted him in the same manner as A’isha. Finally, he retraced his steps and came again to Zaynab’s room. He saw that the three guests had still not departed. They were still there continuing to chat. The Prophet was an extremely polite and reserved man. He quickly left again and returned to A’isha’s apartment. I don’t remember any more whether it was I or someone else who went to tell him that the three individuals had finally decided to leave. In any case, he came back to the nuptial chamber. He put one foot in the room and kept the other outside. It was in this position that he let fall a sitr [curtain] between himself and me, and the verse of the hijaab descended at that moment.
It will help to summarise the most salient facts in this account by al-Tabari :
1 While drawing the curtain, Anas tells us, the Prophet pronounced what was to become in the Koran verse 53 of Sura 33, which for the experts is “the verse of the hijab.” They are the words that Anas heard murmured by the Prophet when he drew the sitr (curtain) between them _ words that were the message inspired by God in His Prophet in response to a situation in which Muhammad apparently did not know what to do nor how to act. We should remember that the Koran is a book rooted in the daily life of the Prophet and his community; it is often a response to a given situation.
2 The second fact to take note of is that the Prophet was celebrating his marriage to Zaynab Bint Jahsh.
3 He invited to this event nearly the whole Muslim community of Medina.
4 All partook of the wedding supper and departed, with the exception of three impolite men who continued to chat without concern for the Prophet’s impatience and his desire to be alone with his new wife.
5 The Prophet, irritated, went out into the Courtyard, walked up and down, returned to the room, and left again to wait for the visitors to leave.
6 Upon their departure, Allah revealed the verse on the hijab to the Prophet.
7 The Prophet drew a sitr between himself and Anas, while reciting verse 53 of Sura 33.
Fatima Mernissi: The Veil and the Male Elite:
[2] And as regards the veiling of women, I said ‘O Allah’s Apostle! I wish you ordered your wives to cover themselves from the men because good and bad ones talk to them. So the verse of the veiling of the women was revealed” (Bukhari, v1, bk 8, sunnah 395)…..
[3] Now whosoever has been blessed with understanding by Allah can himself see that the Book which forbids the men and women to talk to each other face to face and commands them to speak from behind a curtain because “this is a better way for the purity of your as well as their hearts,” could not possibly permit that the men and women should freely meet in mixed gatherings, educational and democratic institutions and offices, because it did not affect the purity of the hearts in any way. Tafheem ul Quran.
Surah 33/54
“Whether ye reveal anything or conceal it, verily Allah has full knowledge of all things”. Yusuf Ali
“O Consorts of the Prophet! Ye are not like any of the (other) women: if ye do fear (Allah), be not too complacent of speech, lest one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire: but speak ye a speech (that is) just”. Yusuf Ali
“And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display, like that of the former Times of Ignorance; and establish regular Prayer, and give regular Charity; and obey Allah and His Messenger. And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless”. Yusuf Ali
“O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”. Yusuf Ali
“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss”. Yusuf Ali
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do”. Yusuf Ali
[9] Ma’aariful Quran, Maulana Mufti Mohammed Shafi
[10] The practice of veiling has a long history in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Catholic nuns engage in the practice, of course, and there are several references to the practice in both the Old and New Testaments (King James Version). Ironically, the representation of veiling in the Bible is much more problematic than those in the Qur’anor the Hadith, because the Judeo-Christian sources imply that women should be covered because of their inherent inferiority. Historically, the veiling of the face was practised by many cultures before Islam and scholars say the adoption of its practice by Muslims was part of fitting into the society.
From the earliest records, veiling was a sign of status. An Assyrian legal text dating back to the thirteenth century B.C., forbade prostitutes from wearing the veil, restricting its use to “respectable” women.
Veiling took place in the Greco-Roman world and respectable Athenian women were known to be secluded. In pre-Islamic Iran and the Byzantine Empire veiling and seclusion also existed and appear to have been indicators for urban-upper-and middle-class women to show that their husbands could afford to “keep” them. Wealth aside, at the heart of the separation of the sexes is the notion of male honor. In Mediterranean societies, both Christian and Muslim, a man’s honor is directly connected with the purity of the women in his family. Therefore, female behavior is to be controlled in order to maintain male honor.
During Islam’s rise in the Middle Ages, the use of the veil and gender segregation was commonplace in the Christian Middle East and Mediterranean regions, but their influence on Islam was relatively minor in the lifetime of Muhammad. Muslims in their first century at first were relaxed about female dress. When the son of a prominent companion of the Prophet asked his wife Aisha bint Talha to veil her face, she answered, “Since the Almighty hath put on me the stamp of beauty, it is my wish that the public should view the beauty and thereby recognized His grace unto them. On no account, therefore, will I veil myself.” As Islam reached other lands, regional practices, including the covering of the faces of women, were adopted by the early Muslims. Yet it was only in the second Islamic century that the face veil became common, first used among the powerful and rich as a status symbol.
It was only well after Muhammad’s death that the veil became a commonplace item of clothing among Muslim upper-class women, who began to veil as a sign of status following the example of the Prophet’s wives. It is unknown how and exactly when these customs spread to the general Muslim population, but it would have been following the Muslim conquests of areas where veiling was prevalent, and when the Muslim State was attaining greater wealth.
Dr. Khlid Mitha