Linguistic dissection of the "Khimar" verse 24:31
-
Thank you for your kind words, Nour.
One thing I forgot to point out and it is very important and for many in thise forum quite conclusive is that the best attempt at understanding the Qur'an is to check it against the Qur'an itself. Checking what a word may mean against other appearances of the word in the Qur'an itself, either as a verb or as a noun pertaining to the verb. In the project-root list those appearances are given for each word. So if you ever want to check for yourself, even without knowing arabic, you can do it.In the present case, khumur, plural appears only once and none the verb, so we are left with just khumur and khamr, which is wine. So we are left with the text of 4.31 itself. I point out that if we give too much weight to that khumur and supposing it was something that was meant to cover the head, what we would have would not be an order to cover the head but an order to use that particular piece of garment, whatever it is. Anything that is not the shape and the texture of those khumur would not do. The purporters of hiyab do not intend for women to use that particular garment which is mentioned in the Qur'an, if it is such particular garment, but to use any garment just you cover your head. And THAT is quite a stretch from the Qur'an, which shows that the conclusion of covering the head comes way before the reading or knowing or understanding of the Qur'an itself.
I am afraid that trying to fence with arguments with hiyab believers is a lost battle, you may reach more open and less militant people concerning that, but as far as winning the argument, you will never convince because believers of the magic of the hiyab are not there because of arguments but because of passion, blind passion. It is useless. They have found the magic remedy for all ills, and they will not give it up. It is, pointedly speaking, like khamr, it gives such a feeling of comfort, one does not notice when onw is getting inebriated. One feels free of pressure, sure, powerful and able... Yes hiyab can become blinding, mentally and litterally. So arguments do not always win.
As to the second part of 14.31, for me, it is indeed enough, because the text, as it happens with the Qur'an many times, is so disposed that it sets the tone, the level and the depth and extent of what it says.
I understand what you say as to what causes your problem in this regard. I don't know where you live and I suppose you are still young and in that regard I really feel for you. Being young it is considered to be the greatest gift for a woman, but I know how lonely, how wronged, how aggressed young women may feel many times and how the environment can be trying when one does nto conform to conventions. I hope and trust that you will get over this question with much satisfaction. You are trying to know and and that is for sure the best way to go about anything. In sha' Allah God will give you much knowledge, not from men, but from Him. Look for that kind of knowledge, and you will in time feel more deeply reassured.
Best wishes for your quest, Nour.
Salaam
-
Fare thee well,
I am certain that the verse about women's dress code would be more detailed if this factor was that essential. If there was explicitly supposed to be a cover for the head the Quran would have mentioned the word for head and it does not as far as I know. And as we know God said that His book is very thorough on what is important for us to know.
As I said in a previous post, the verse about clothing is in conjunction with the verse which says that women should not strike their heels to attractively shake their bodies and with traditional muslim women clothing this is not possible since nothing will be revealed anyway. That is why I believe the whole "Islamic" clothing to be a hoax and more about ancient traditions.
A woman, as far as my understanding goes, should not provoke 'unnecessary' sexual arousal and cover private parts. This is what I think Quran wants to convey in terms of information.
The almost same command was issued for men too and there is not much difference really. Women seems to have been more directly targeted because of an innate desire to be attractive and this slight difference is present in Quran.
The whole hijab thing is an invention as much else in the man-made religion Islam. God only told people to have a decent appearance and no hocus pocus.
However, more clothes can undoubtedly cause a person to seem more modest and provoke less attraction, but God hardly meant for women to dress like ghosts to barely be recognized. Lengthen the garments was told in Quran and I suppose this is the whole purpose of the verses.
I get a feeling that where the Quran was written, the women used to dress in very revealing ways and act quite immodestly and it was to get the community's women to dress more decently that Quran pronounced that garments should be lengthened. This was later abused and became more and more absurd to include so called Burqa, Niqab and (Iranian) Chador.
So from to have been called to stop the women from being inappropriately immodest the clergymen made it into extremism with oppressive dress codes instead. So from have been uttered by God to tell women to stop being too loose it was over-interpreted to suppress women completely and say women's mere beauty is immoral and sinful.
Humans have a tendency to always exaggerate everything that they do and it is also true for religion. It is dangerous when humans start with conjecture. Reason is strangely not allowed in religion. When it comes to spirituality humans are very mentally unstable.
God bless you