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Laws of Religion

Laws of Islam Concerning Women and Men

 

16.  Modesty

from the Qur’an,

major hadith collections

and Islamic jurisprudence

 

 

Modesty

        From the Qur’an

 

(Editor’s note: This page discusses the general topic of modesty. The specific topic of modesty while praying is covered in the section of this website on Ritual Purity.)

 

The Qur’an says that Allah has bestowed clothing to humans to cover their private parts and as adornment.[1] Muslims should keep their clothing clean and pure[2] and, when praying, to wear beautiful clothing.[3]

 

Men[4] and women[5] should lower their gaze and guard their private parts. Believing women should draw their outer garments close so that they will be recognized and not harassed.[6]

 

The Qur’an says that women should not display their charms beyond what is apparent. They should cover their breasts. They should not reveal what is hidden except to their husbands, their fathers, their fathers-in-law, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their nephews (that is, to close male relatives whom they are forbidden to marry (mahram)), their women, their slaves, men who serve them who lack sexual vigor and children who do not understand about the private parts of women. Women should not stamp their feet so as to reveal their hidden shapeliness.[7]

 

According to the Qur’an, it is no sin for women who are past child-bearing age with no expectation of marriage to remove their clothing as long as they are not intentionally flaunting that which younger women must keep hidden. It is better, however, for them to stay clothed.[8]

 

The Qur’an explains that there are three times of day when a person needs privacy due to nakedness. These are before the dawn prayer, in the noonday heat and after the prayer at nighttime. During these three times a person’s slaves and children under the age of puberty should ask permission to enter into a person’s presence.[9] Children over the age of puberty should also request such permission.[10]

 

The Qur’an says that Muhammad’s wives were to remain in their houses and refrain from making ostentatious displays of their finery as the polytheists of earlier times did.[11] Visitors to Muhammad’s home were to speak to his wives from behind a curtain in order to ensure purity of heart both of the visitor and Muhammad’s wives and also so that Muhammad would not get annoyed.[12] Muhammad’s wives could, however, reveal themselves to their fathers, their sons, their brothers, their nephews and their slaves or women.[13]

 

Modesty

From the hadith compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim

 

(Editor’s note: This page discusses the general topic of modesty. The specific topic of modesty while praying is covered in the section of this website on Ritual Purity.)

 

Contents

 

Uncovering the body (hadith)

 

Revelations concerning screening and covering women (hadith)

 

Men should refrain from looking at women (hadith)

 

Seclusion of females (hadith)

 

Mahram – close relatives forbidden for marriage (hadith)

 

Mahram by suckling (hadith)

 

 

Uncovering the body (hadith). Hadiths explain that in the days before Muhammad brought Islam, men[14] and women[15] used to perform the ritual walking around the Ka’ba (circumambulation) while completely naked.[16] The verse of the Qur’an (7:31) admonishing people to wear beautiful clothing when praying (cited above)[17] was revealed in connection with this pre-Islamic practice.[18]

 

Muhammad told the story of how the ancient Israelites would bathe naked and look at each other’s genitals. But Moses would bathe in privacy, so no one could see his private parts.[19]

 

Muhammad was reported to bathe while being shielded by a curtain held by his daughter, Fatima[20] or his wife, Maimuna,[21]or others.[22]

 

A hadith reports that Muhammad said that the private parts of a man should not be seen by another man, and similarly for two women.[23]

 

Muhammad forbade lifting one’s single garment up to cover the shoulders.[24]

 

The hadiths tell of a time when Muhammad was lifting stones and he raised his waist wrapper (izar) to cover and protect his shoulders. He fell down unconscious.[25] When he revived he called out: "My izar! My izar!"[26] This was the last time Muhammad was seen naked.[27]

 

When the izar of a man carrying stones slipped off, Muhammad called out to him to replace his izar and not to walk around naked.[28]

 

A hadith reports that Muhammad preferred to conceal himself in a high location or among a cluster of dates when relieving himself.[29]

 

Muhammad said that women who wear clothing that makes them appear naked and have their hair piled up seductively will go to Hell and never enter Paradise.[30]

 

Al-Ithiba’ was forbidden by Muhammad. This meant sitting with one’s knees up close to the chest wearing a garment that allows the genitals to be exposed.[31] Similarly lifting one foot and putting it on the other while lying on one’s back was prohibited by Muhammad.[32] (This could expose one’s genitals to the view of others.) There is, however, a hadith report that Muhammad was seen lying in the mosque with one foot upon the other.[33]

 

Hadiths tell of when a woman told Muhammad that she suffered from epilepsy and would become naked when she fell down. He told her that if she endured this then she would enter Paradise. He offered to ask Allah to cure her and she asked him to do that so that she would not again become naked as a result of her disease.[34]

 

Muhammad forbade covering one side or shoulder while the other side is not covered.[35]

 

Hadiths report that Muhammad said that on the day of Resurrection, the people will appear together before Allah barefoot, naked and uncircumcised.[36] Even one who dresses well in life may be naked in the Hereafter.[37]  The first person to become clothed will be Abraham.[38] Upon hearing Muhammad say that the people will be barefoot, naked and uncircumcised, Aisha asked if the men and women will be looking at one another. Muhammad explained that the situation will be too serious at that time for such behavior.[39]

 

 

Revelations concerning screening and covering women (hadith). (The hadiths summarized here describe the circumstances under which the revelations of the Qur’an concerning the screening of Muhammad’s wives from view and the covering of women’s bodies were revealed. There are also examples given of times when Muhammad’s wives were shielded from the view of unrelated men.)

 

Hadiths say that at a wedding banquet following the marriage of Muhammad to one of his wives, some of the guests stayed on in Muhammad’s house talking after the meal long after Muhammad had left the house. When Muhammad returned, the guests were still there though Muhammad expected them to have left by then.[40] This occasioned the revelation of the passage of Qur’an (33:53-55, cited above)[41] concerning the shielding of Muhammad’s wives.[42] In this passage, the Qur’an says not to visit Muhammad’s home uninvited or overstay if one is invited. Visitors to Muhammad’s home are to speak to his wives from behind a curtain in order to ensure purity of heart both of the visitor and Muhammad’s wives and also so that Muhammad does not get annoyed.[43] The Qur’an specifies that Muhammad’s wives could, however, reveal themselves to their fathers, their sons, their brothers, their nephews and their slaves or women.[44] Hadiths say that when this passage was revealed by Muhammad, a screen was set up and Muhammad’s wives were then shielded from the view of any guests in the house.[45]

 

 

Additional hadiths on the revelations concerning the screening and covering of women

 

 

Men should refrain from looking at women (hadith). Muhammad told his companions who would sit on a path to meet and discuss things that they should keep their eyes downward (meaning that they should be sure not to stare at passing women).[46] Muhammad used his hand to turn the face of another man to the side so he would stop staring at a beautiful woman.[47]

 

Muhammad told one of his companions that he will eventually achieve high office and that he should avoid the allurement of women. Muhammad said that the first trial of the people of Israel was caused by women.[48]

 

When Muhammad finished leading prayers, the women would leave quickly but Muhammad would remain in place. The suggestion is made by a sub-narrator of this hadith that the reason Muhammad did this was to permit the women to depart without having the men talking with them.[49]

 

Muhammad said that a woman should not look at or touch another woman in order to describe her to her husband in a way such that he would imagine that he was looking at the other woman.[50]

 

A hadith says that there was only one woman other than his wives whose house Muhammad would enter.  The brother of this woman had been killed while with Muhammad and he had great compassion for her.[51]

 

When Muhammad and one of his wives fell off a camel, he told another man to help his wife. The man covered his face with his garment as he walked toward the fallen women in order to avoid seeing her uncovered.  Then he covered her by throwing his garment over her.[52]

 

Hadiths explain that when women emigrated to the community of Muslims, Muhammad would take and accept the oath of allegiance from them by words only; he would never touch even the hand of any of these women[53] except if she was one of his slaves.[54]

 

 

Seclusion of females (hadith). Muhammad said women should not stay at home all the time. They should go out to participate in the ’Id prayers and other religious activities[55] and also to perform good deeds[56] like treating the wounded.[57] This admonition to go out included young unmarried females, menstruating women and those who observed purdah (concealment).[58] Hadith reports say that the narrator was uncertain whether the order to come out for the ’Id prayers referred to unmarried mature virgins who stay often screened, or to the unmarried young virgins who often stay screened, or to unmarried young virgins and mature girls who often stay screened.[59] Other hadiths also refer to virgins kept in seclusion.[60]

 

Muhammad said that a young woman who does not own the proper clothing should not stay at home but should share the veil or outer garment of another woman.[61]

 

Muhammad said that men must give permission for their wives to leave the house to go to the mosque,[62] specifically, at night.[63] A wife of Umar would go to the mosque to pray even though she knew that Umar did not want her to. She said that Umar let her go, nonetheless, because Muhammad had said that women are not to be prevented from going to the mosque at night.[64] Muhammad’s wife, Aisha, said that if Muhammad had known what the women were doing, he would not have given them permission to leave their houses to go to the mosque.[65]

 

Women would come out to participate with Muhammad in the first prayer of the day (fajr) covered with sheets to hide themselves. They would go home with no one having recognized them[66] because it was still dark outside.[67]

 

 

Mahram – close relatives forbidden for marriage (hadith). Muhammad said that it is not permissible for a woman to be with a man unless her husband or a mahram is present.[68] (A mahram is a male who she is not permitted to marry because he is a close relative and who is therefore permitted to see her uncovered.)

 

Muhammad said that a wife’s male in-laws (her husband’s brother and other male members of her husband’s family) are “death itself.”[69] (As close family members, but non-mahram, they may easily find themselves in the presence of the wife and unlawful acts may result from this. So special caution must be taken to avoid this.)

 

Muhammad felt compelled to explain to someone walking by that the woman he was with was one of his wives so that the passerby would not suspect that he was with a woman he should not have been with.[70]

 

Muhammad warned men not to enter a house to meet a woman.[71] He forbade entering someone else’s house when that person was away unless one or more other people were present.[72]

 

The only men permitted to spend the night with a married woman are her husband or a mahram.[73]

 

Muhammad said that a woman should not let a man, even a mahram, into the house without her husband’s permission if he is present.[74]

 

Also, he said that a woman may not travel[75] for more than three days,[76] or for two days,[77] or for one day and night[78] unless her husband or a mahram is with her.

 

When a man told Muhammad that he wanted to join the army and his wife intended to go on hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Muhammad told him to accompany his wife on hajj.[79]

 

 

Mahram by suckling (hadith). Relationships established by breastfeeding can make a man mahram to a woman – ineligible to marry her[80] (as discussed on the page concerning Finding a Spouse).

 

Muhammad said that a man was permitted to be in his house when one of his wives was unveiled because that man was her uncle by suckling, and thus mahram to her.[81] The man was her uncle by suckling because his brother’s wife had breastfed her.[82]

 

When Muhammad’s wife Aisha was with a man in her house, she told Muhammad that the man was her brother by suckling. (i.e., that they had both been breastfed by the same woman.) Muhammad cautioned her that this relationship is only valid if the suckling was done during the proper suckling period (below two years of age)[83] or when milk is the only food the child receives.[84]

 

A freed slave lived in the home of a couple as if he were their son.[85] When he passed puberty and became a grown man with a beard[86] who understood about sex, the husband became disturbed about having him in the house with his wife. Muhammad told the woman to breastfeed the young man. In this way he became her suckling son and thus was mahram to her. This allayed the concerns of the husband.[87] One of the narrators of this hadith about Muhammad ordering a woman to breastfeed a grown man said that he was afraid to tell the story so he refrained from doing so for about a year. Then the man he had heard the story from told him to narrate it under his authority so that he would take responsibility for the narration. This man said that he had heard it directly from Muhammad’s wife Aisha. So the man who had been afraid to tell the story did, then, narrate it.[88]

 

Umm Salama, a wife of Muhammad, told Aisha, another of his wives, that she did not like to be seen by a certain young man. Aisha advised Umm Salama to follow the advice that Muhammad had given concerning the young man who was present in the household of an unrelated woman – that she suckle the young man to make him mahram for her.[89] Umm Salama and Muhammad’s other wives told Aisha that the suckling that Muhammad prescribed for the freed slave was just for that case only and was not meant to be a general practice or rule. So they did not accept the idea that a male close to or past puberty could be breastfed by a woman and then be permitted to be alone with her.[90]

 

Modesty

From Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh/sharia^§):  The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer of Ibn Rushd, the Risala of al-Shafi‛i and Reliance of the Traveller

 

(Editor’s note: This page discusses the general topic of modesty. The specific topic of modesty while praying is covered in the section of this website on Ritual Purity.)

 

Contents

 

Looking at another person’s body (jurisprudence/fiqh/sharia)

 

Protecting the modesty of the dead (jurisprudence/fiqh/sharia)

 

Seclusion of women (jurisprudence/fiqh/sharia)

 

 

Looking at another person’s body (jurisprudence/fiqh/sharia). Most scholars^* say that a woman’s private area is her whole body except for her face and hands.[91] Abu Hanifa adds her feet as non-private areas.[92]

 

Reliance of the Traveller (Shafiʽi school) says that it is forbidden for a man to look at any part of a woman’s body, even her face and hands, unless she is his wife or a relation who he is forbidden from marrying (mahram). He may, however, listen to the voice of such a woman. A woman is not permitted to leave her house with her face uncovered.[93] Similarly, a woman is forbidden to look at a man other than her husband or a relation she is forbidden from marrying.[94]

 

While looking at any part of a spouse’s body is permitted, it is offensive to look at the spouse’s genitals, according to Reliance of the Traveller.[95] A man or woman may look at any part of the bodies of unmarriageable relatives of the opposite sex (mahram) except what is between the navel and the knees.[96] This applies to those who have become unmarriageable as a result of breast-feeding as well as those who are unmarriageable as biological relatives.[97] It is forbidden to touch any part of another person’s body that one is not permitted to see.[98] No part of a woman’s body may be shown to a non-Muslim woman or an adolescent male.[99]

 

An 11^th century Hanafi text is cited in Reliance of the Traveller as saying that a man may look at any woman’s face and hands but if lust is a possibility he may not look at her face except in cases of necessity.[100] This Hanafi text also says that parts of any man’s body that are not between the naval and the knees may be lawfully looked at by any man or woman.[101] Similarly, this Hanafi source says that a woman may look at another woman except between the navel and the knees.[102]

 

Reliance of the Traveller says that testimony in court and commercial transactions are examples of necessity that may require a man to look at a woman.[103] Also, a male physician may look at and touch a woman’s body in the presence of her husband or other male relative she is not permitted to marry (mahram) when it is medically necessary and no female physician is available.[104]

 

 

Protecting the modesty of the dead (jurisprudence/fiqh/sharia). The scholars^* agree that men should bathe the bodies of men and women those of women.[105] Malik and Abu Hanifa agree that the clothing, except for what is covering private parts, is to be removed when bathing a dead person.[106] Al-Shafiʽi and the Shafiʽi school say that the nakedness of a dead person must not be exposed when the body is being washed; it is not lawful to look at the nakedness of the deceased person’s body and it can only be touched with a cloth.[107]

 

Reliance of the Traveller (Shafiʽi school) specifies that when a man dies, his body is to be washed by a male relative. If that is not possible then it is to be done by an unrelated male. If that is not possible, his wife is to do it. If she cannot do it, then it is to be done by a female who would not be eligible to marry the deceased because they are close relatives (mahram).[108] Similarly, when a woman dies, the order of preference for a person to wash her body is first a female relative, then an unrelated female, then her husband, then an unmarriageable male relative.[109] In fact, the scholars agree that washing the body of one’s spouse is permitted except that Abu Hanifa says that a man may not wash his wife’s body.[110]

 

Malik says that when washing the body of a person of the opposite sex, it is only permitted to rub soil on the face and hands (up to the elbow for a deceased man). Al-Shafiʽi and Abu Hanifa says that soil should be rubbed on all the limbs of a person of the opposite sex.[111]

 

 

Seclusion of women (jurisprudence/fiqh/sharia). Reliance of the Traveller (Shafiʽi school) says a man may forbid his wife from going out of the house, but it is better to let her go out to visit her relatives when one of them dies. A 20^th century commentator cited in Reliance of the Traveller says that a man may permit his wife to go out of the house to study Sacred Law, to perform certain devotional acts, to visit her female friends. She may, with her husband’s permission, go any place in the town but she may not leave the city unless accompanied by her husband or another male relative she is not permitted to marry (mahram) – except when going on a required journey, such as hajj.

The translator of Reliance of the Traveller notes that in the Hanafi school, a woman may be given permission by her husband to travel without him or any male relative up to 48 miles from their home.[112]

 

________________

 

^*Islamic scholars disagree on certain points of law based on different methodologies used in deriving the law from the Qur’an and the traditions (sunna) concerning the life of Muhammad and his closest companions, particularly as expressed in the compiled hadiths. There are four major schools of jurisprudence in Sunni Islam: the Maliki, the Hanafi, the Shafi‛i and the Hanbali. These names are derived from the individual scholars considered to have been the founders of each school: Malik, Abu Hanifa, al-Shafi‛i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, respectively. The source texts we have used to prepare our summaries of Islamic jurisprudence contain the legal views of these different founders and schools, as described at Source Texts Used for Laws of Islam.

 

^§The specific derived laws of fiqh summarized here are often referred to by the more general term sharia law.

________________

 

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Abbreviations used in footnotes:

QR:   Qur’an, with surahs (chapters) and ayahs (verses) numbered as in most modern translations, including those found here, here and here.

BK:    Hadith collection of al-Bukhari as found here (USC/CMJE website) and here (ebook download). In a few instances, the hadiths on the USC website differ from those in the ebook download, either by having slightly different numbering of the hadiths or because the hadith appears only on the USC site and not in the ebook download. Such cases are noted in the footnotes by putting either “(USC)” or “(ebook)” after the relevant hadith number when it applies to only one of these two sources. Part or all of the hadith collections of al-Bukhari, with somewhat different numbering systems, can also be found here, here and here.

ML:    Hadith collection of Muslim as found here and here. Part or all of the hadith collection of Muslim, with somewhat different numbering systems, can also be found here and here.

DJP:  The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, by Ibn Rushd, translated by Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, published by Garnet Publishing Ltd, Reading, UK. Volume 1, 1994. Volume 2, 1996. Full text online and download for Volume 1 are here and here and for Volume 2 are here and here.

RT:    Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, revised edition 1994, published by Amana Publications, Beltsville, Maryland, USA.  Reliance of the Traveller can be found here and here.

SR:    al-Shafi‛i’s Risala: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, translated by Majid Khadduri, Second Edition, published by The Islamic Texts Society.

●  The sources cited are described on the page Source Texts Used for Laws of Islam.