How the Males Complicated the Rules of Modesty in Islam
The Qur'an sets simple, clear rules for what parts of the body should be covered. Modesty in the Qur'an is an ethical guardrail designed to protect marriage, preserve dignity, and prevent sexual misconduct.
The Qur'an does not promote modesty as an obsession with hiding human skin for its own sake. As already stated, the target is always to prevent the spread of immorality.
Allah orders both men and women to "...lower the gaze and maintain their chastity..." (24:30 & 24:31). The onus is on each of us individually to protect our vision. This is a practical shield against adultery and illicit sexual encounters.
However, scholars lost sight of this practical goal. Instead of focusing on preventing sexual misconduct and promoting mutual respect, they turned modesty into a technical obsession with making women invisible so the men do not have to "...lower the gaze..." (24:30).
One of the biggest logical leaps scholars made was redefining the word zinah, which literally means decorations, jewellery, and extra adornments, to mean ordinary human body parts. We have covered the meaning of zinah in detail our article Meaning of Zinah (adornments) and what body parts should be covered according to the Qur'an.
Their argument was that forbidding someone from showing an ornament like an earring, necklace, or bracelet, secretly meant forbidding the body part it sat on like the ear, neck, or arm. But this creates an obvious absurdity. What if nothing is being worn in the first place? If a woman wears a gold necklace, she is wearing an adornment that can be hidden. But if she takes the necklace off, then should her neck still be required to be covered?
Yet traditional scholars claimed that the bare skin itself counts as an adornment even when completely plain. According to this logic, a woman who steps outside with zero makeup, no jewellery, messy hair, and plain rags is still somehow guilty of trying to be beautiful and entice men.
The natural question which arises is who judges beauty. Is a woman supposed to look in the mirror and decide how beautiful she is. If she rates herself an 8 out of 10, then she must wear a face veil, but her friend who has rated herself a 3 out of 10 can decide she can leave her face uncovered. And what would happen to these women as they became older. Is the beautiful clause dropped for them or does it still apply because some randy teenager has the hots for older ladies.
As we know, beauty is completely in the eye of the beholder which meant scholars couldn't enforce this ruling fairly. In the end, many simply decided that by default every woman is lustfully dangerous to men.
One bizarre loophole can be found from their own hadith. According to the reports, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had said women must not cover their faces with a veil during hajj. Yet scholars could not accept this instruction on face value. Some famous classical scholars like al-Shafi'i wrote that if a woman is beautiful, she must cover her face during hajj regardless of what Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had reportedly said. To get around it, they invented a strange technical trick.
Yet over the centuries, men have decided the modesty rules of the Qur'an are not enough and have decided to create numerous strict dress rules that go far beyond what Allah has mandated. Allah tells us that He has "...dispatched in this Qur’an for the people from
every example..." (18:54) and yet "...the human being has always been most
argumentative" (18:54). Humans by nature always like to argue no matter how clear the evidence presented in front of them. When discussing such matters we must always remember when Allah warns believers to "... not say, as to what your tongues falsely describe: 'this is permissible, and that is forbidden'..." (16:116) because those who do, only "...seek to invent lies about Allah. Those who invent lies about Allah will not succeed" (16:116).
When you look closely at these human rulings, they don't just feel irrational, they lead to contradictions that make very little common sense.
Real goal of modesty
The Qur'an does not promote modesty as an obsession with hiding human skin for its own sake. As already stated, the target is always to prevent the spread of immorality.
Allah orders both men and women to "...lower the gaze and maintain their chastity..." (24:30 & 24:31). The onus is on each of us individually to protect our vision. This is a practical shield against adultery and illicit sexual encounters.
However, scholars lost sight of this practical goal. Instead of focusing on preventing sexual misconduct and promoting mutual respect, they turned modesty into a technical obsession with making women invisible so the men do not have to "...lower the gaze..." (24:30).
Woman covered in black
Misunderstanding of zinah
One of the biggest logical leaps scholars made was redefining the word zinah, which literally means decorations, jewellery, and extra adornments, to mean ordinary human body parts. We have covered the meaning of zinah in detail our article Meaning of Zinah (adornments) and what body parts should be covered according to the Qur'an.
Their argument was that forbidding someone from showing an ornament like an earring, necklace, or bracelet, secretly meant forbidding the body part it sat on like the ear, neck, or arm. But this creates an obvious absurdity. What if nothing is being worn in the first place? If a woman wears a gold necklace, she is wearing an adornment that can be hidden. But if she takes the necklace off, then should her neck still be required to be covered?
Yet traditional scholars claimed that the bare skin itself counts as an adornment even when completely plain. According to this logic, a woman who steps outside with zero makeup, no jewellery, messy hair, and plain rags is still somehow guilty of trying to be beautiful and entice men.
They took a rule meant to stop women from enticing by showing off fancy clothing, makeup, jewellery and flashy accessories, and twisted it into a permanent ban on normal human skin.
A major rule in standard law is that a woman must cover up if her appearance causes temptation in men. Instead of advising the men to ...lower the gaze..." (24:30) and control their own urges, they say it is the woman who needs to cover herself from head to toe.
Who decides who is attractive
A major rule in standard law is that a woman must cover up if her appearance causes temptation in men. Instead of advising the men to ...lower the gaze..." (24:30) and control their own urges, they say it is the woman who needs to cover herself from head to toe.
The natural question which arises is who judges beauty. Is a woman supposed to look in the mirror and decide how beautiful she is. If she rates herself an 8 out of 10, then she must wear a face veil, but her friend who has rated herself a 3 out of 10 can decide she can leave her face uncovered. And what would happen to these women as they became older. Is the beautiful clause dropped for them or does it still apply because some randy teenager has the hots for older ladies.
As we know, beauty is completely in the eye of the beholder which meant scholars couldn't enforce this ruling fairly. In the end, many simply decided that by default every woman is lustfully dangerous to men.
Finding loopholes
One bizarre loophole can be found from their own hadith. According to the reports, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had said women must not cover their faces with a veil during hajj. Yet scholars could not accept this instruction on face value. Some famous classical scholars like al-Shafi'i wrote that if a woman is beautiful, she must cover her face during hajj regardless of what Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had reportedly said. To get around it, they invented a strange technical trick.
They ruled that a woman could attach a stiff brim, a stick, or a cap to her head so a piece of cloth hung down in front of her face without directly touching her skin. This is pure gymnastics. Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) clearly said not to veil the face, but the anxiety of men looking at women led scholars to invent a floating curtain just to suppress their sexual urges.
All of this is despite Allah commanding the pilgrims that there should be no "...baseless argument in the Pilgrimage..." (2:197).
The Qur'an puts the job of self-control squarely on the man. A man is responsible for his own eyes, his own thoughts and his own actions. Allah has already made clear which body parts should be concealed. But due to the nature of men, they could not accept this and had to completely flip this on its head.
Conclusion
The Qur'an puts the job of self-control squarely on the man. A man is responsible for his own eyes, his own thoughts and his own actions. Allah has already made clear which body parts should be concealed. But due to the nature of men, they could not accept this and had to completely flip this on its head.
Instead of teaching men to grow up and control their own eyes, they treated men like uncontrollable children. They put the entire burden onto women, expecting them to bury themselves under fabrics so men wouldn't have to do the basic work of looking away.