Boo Su-Lyn wrote an article titled “10 things about: Siti Kasim, lawyer and activist”, dated 25th September 2016. I Am not interested in talking about Siti this time around. I am particularly interested in her remark about the headscarf. According to her there is no word as “head” in Surah An-Nisa’ in the Qur’an and God mentioned breasts explicitly.
Well okay, we are not so much interested in discussing Surah An-Nisa’ anyways. Let’s head to the verse in the Qur’an that mentions, or rather instructs women to cover their heads,
And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.
Qur’an 24:31
I am not sure if Siti intentionally mentioned Surah An-Nisa’ or it was out of her ignorance. Giving her the benefit of the doubt let’s assume she made a mistake with the name of the chapter. It is okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. Firstly the instruction to cover the heads is in Surah An-Nur, the 24th chapter of the Qur’an.
That said, the word used to denote a headscarf is “khumur” which is a plural of “khimar”. And no one could have guessed the meaning of the word “khumur” since “headscarf” is not mentioned in the Qur’an. Actually “khumur” means headscarves in Arabic and the singular is “khimar”.
As we said, we shall assume Siti made a mistake. The article is to clarify the issue pertaining headscarves. The instructions, or the commandments to cover the head or wear headscarves for women is actually in the Qur’an. It has been made mandatory by God Himself. The verse could not have been any clearer than it already is.
The verse commands to extend the headscarf to cover the chest, and not merely to cover the chest without covering the head. Some conjectures are nice to hear but as the name suggests don’t represent reality. Rhetorics do not necessitate veracity and neither do popularity. Donald Trump is popular, but that does not mean he is correct, same goes for Tony Blair.
As for Siti and the rest of us, seeking knowledge from the knowledgeable is imperative. Islamic Jurisprudence and the Syariah are complex fields of knowledge that can take decades to master. We can’t make grand claims after reading the translation of the Qur’an or hadith.
In today’s world we have extremists from all sides of the spectrum. He have those who do kill and torture others in the name of Islam, and we have those who claim that the Qur’an needs to be reinterpreted to be relevant with the modern society. Both of these extremists have one thing in common, they both deny the authority of scholarship.
Both prefer their own version of assumed truth rather than following the absolute truth. They assume a position and then fight for it, as though that is the correct understanding. We call this petitio principii. They make up their minds before acquiring knowledge on an issue.
We have the infamous Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and on the other side of the spectrum we have liberals. Both implement the same methods to understand the Qur’an but end up with opposite opinions, one says Qur’an must be followed literally the other says it needs to be reinterpreted.
If someone is to understand the Qur’an and take heed, he or she has to actually read the Qur’an. Since the Qur’an is in Arabic, it would be better for us to refer commentaries rather than mere translations. Taking literal translations of the Qur’an has led to many problems far and wide.
Those who are interested in understanding the Qur’an and want to give opinions should seek knowledge. We all have weaknesses of our own, it is best that we try to mend our shortcomings. We should try our best to seek the truth for our own good. There is no benefit in winning arguments based on rhetorics if truth is lost in the process. May God protect us from deviating and the deviants. Allah knows best.
Rehan Ahmad Bin Jamaluddin Ahmad, Research Fellow, Institut Kajian Strategik Islam Malaysia (IKSIM)
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, and should not be attributed to, Isma or Ismaweb.
