hijab means burqa?

 

Burqa’ and ‘hijab’ – Muslims often confuse these two. They think that hijab means burqa. In fact, it is not. Burqa is a garment that covers the head and face for special reasons. Islam has nothing to do with burqa. Burqas have existed in the world long before Islam came. Arab pagans wore burqas. Byzantine women also wore burqas. From that point of view, burqas are basically the clothing of non-Muslims.

Burqas were mainly worn – (a) to protect themselves from the intense sun and harsh weather; (b) as a means of protection against espionage, theft, and smuggling; (c) as a protective shield for women engaged in unrespectable professions; (d) as a means of concealing the identity of women and sex slaves who did not receive the status of wives in the harem; and (e) to highlight the beauty of the eyes with the niqab, because Arab women had beautiful eyes.

Burqa is not just for the head or face. It is also for the feet. For example, Chinese women do not want to show their feet. For them, shoes are a kind of burqa.

In the early days of Islam, ‘hijab’ or ‘curtain’ meant a covering sheet and wall. At that time, there were no multi-room houses in Arabia. Just as separate rooms are created by hanging sheets during Itikaf in the mosque, temporary rooms were created by hanging hijabs inside the house. When the Prophet lived together with his wife and daughters in his house, his companions would often come to chat. Guests would come from far away to visit. The female members of the Prophet’s family felt embarrassed when strangers suddenly came into a small room. For this reason, the female members were given privacy by hanging the hijab, that is, by hanging a sheet-like cloth in the middle of the room.

But after the death of the Prophet, its meaning and scope were expanded by mixing it with various verses of the Quran. The original form was distorted. Khimar, jilbab, etc. have been linked to hijab. The verses that apply only to the wives and daughters of the Prophet have also been imposed on ordinary women. This is the achievement of the religious merchants who are interested in the purpose.

None of the wives and daughters of the Prophet wore burqa. His wife Khadija used to walk around with her mouth open. She also did business and commerce freely. She used to regularly go to markets. Exaggerating something in the name of Islam is not in accordance with Islam. Nowhere in the Quran has women been instructed to wear burqa. Rather, after reading some verses, it seems that burqa is an anti-Islamic garment.

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—Mohiuddin Mohammad

Page 29, Book: Murtibhanga Project