Those parts of a responsible person's body which are haram for him (or her) to open and show others and for others to look at while in namaz or everytime are called Awrat parts. Men and women were commanded to cover their awrat parts through the suras of Ahzab and Nur, which were revealed in the third year of the Hegira. In Hanafi and Shafi'i Madhhabs a man's awrat parts for namaz are between lower part of his navel and lower parts of his knees. The knees are awrat in Hanafi and the navel is awrat in Shafi'i. The namaz performed with these parts open is not acceptable. When performing the namaz, it is sunnat for men to cover their other parts [arms, head], [and to wear socks if a long robe or a gown is not available]. It is makruh for them to perform the namaz with these parts exposed.

    All parts of free women, except their palms and faces, including their wrists, outer parts of their hands, hanging parts of their hair and under their feet are awrat for namaz, in Hanafi. There are also valuable books saying that outer parts of hands are not awrat. According to them, it is permissible for women to perform namaz while outer parts of their hands up to wrists are bare. But, for having followed all the books, it is better for women to perform namaz wearing a gown with sleeves long enough, or a head cover large enough, to cover their hands. There are (savants) who said that women's feet were not awrat in namaz, but those same savants said that it was sunnat to cover and makruh to open them when performing namaz and when going out. [It is written in the book Kadihan that hanging parts of hair are like feet]. If one-fourth of a man's or woman's awrat part remains bare as long as one rukn, the namaz becomes annulled. If a smaller part remains ex posed, the namaz does not become nullified, but it becomes makruh. For instance, the namaz of a woman one-fourth of whose foot has remained bare will not be sahih. If she herself uncovers it, her namaz becomes annulled immediately. [See second chapter!]. It is written in Umdat-ul-Islam, "A woman's namaz which she performed with bare heelbone, ankle, neck or hair is not accept able. Thin tissue that lets the shape or color of the thing under it be seen is equal to none." [Please see seventeenth chapter!] In Shafi'i, a woman's whole body is awrat all the time other than her two hands and her face.

 Hadrat Ibni 'Abidin 'rahmatullahi 'alaih' says in Radd-ul-mukhtar:

 It is fard to cover one's awrat parts outside of namaz as well as when performing namaz. It is tahrimi makruh to perform namaz by covering oneself with silk or with usurped or stolen clothes. However, since a person has to cover himself, a man can use something made of silk, if he cannot find something else. It is fard to cover oneself when one is alone, too. A person who has clean clothes is not permitted to perform namaz naked in the dark even when he is alone. When alone and not performing namaz, it is fard for women to cover between their knees and navels, wajib to cover their back and bellies, and adab to cover their other parts. When alone in the home they can busy themselves around with their heads bare. When there is one of the eighteen men that a woman can show herself to, it is better for her to wear a thin headdress. When alone, one can open one's awrat parts only when necessary, e.g. in a toilet. It has been said (by savants) that it is makruh, or that it is permissible or it is permissible when at a small place, to open one's awrat parts when one is alone and making ghusl. When not performing namaz, it is necessary to cover oneself even with clothes smeared with najasat.

 It is written in Al-Fiqh-u-alal-Madhahibil-Arba'a, "The four Madhhabs do not exactly agree on the parts of body men and women have to cover when they perform the namaz or on the parts which are haram for men to show one another, for men to show women, and for women to show their mahrams. However, it is haram in all the four Madhhabs for women to show men and female non-Muslims their bodies other than their faces and inside and outside their hands, and for these people to look at them". In the Shafi'i Madhhab, on the other hand, their faces and hands are awrat (and therefore must be covered) in the presence of men who are namahram to them. It is permissible for women to open their faces and palms to men who are namahram to them, yet men are not permitted to look lustfully at faces or palms of those women who are namahram to them, no matter whether they are Muslims or disbelievers. When there is no necessity, it is makruh to look without lust at those parts of women that are permissible to look at, e.g. at faces of namahram women, at pictures of their awrat parts, at awrat parts of children that have learned to speak. Awrat parts of those children that have not started to talk yet are only their saw'atayn [private parts]. It is not permissible to look at the private parts of boys until they are ten years old and of girls until they become attractive, and later, to look at all their awrat parts. Animals do not have awrat parts. Also, it is haram to look lustfully at boys' faces, yet it is permissible to look at them without lust even if they are beautiful.

 It is written in Fatawa-i Khayriyya, "When there is the danger of fitna, a father can keep his beautiful discreet son who has reached the age of puberty in his own home and under his own discipline. He may not let him go out on a travel or for education or on hajj (pilgrimage) without a beard. He protects him like a woman. But he does not veil him. In streets there are two devils near every woman. And there are eighteen devils near a boy. They try to mislead those who look at these. It is fard for a boy to obey his parents' licit instructions. When there is no danger of fitna, a father cannot force his discreet son who has reached puberty to stay at home. In the Shafi'i Madhhab, on the other hand, their faces and hands are awrat (and therefore must by covered) in the presence of men who are namahram to them."

 [It is written in the second volume of Majma'ul-anhur that our Holy Nabi stated, "On the day of Judgment melted hot lead will be poured into the eyes of those who look lustfully at the faces of women who are namahram to them." Stating the afflictions incurred by the eyes, Qadizada, who explained the book Birghiwi Vasiyetnamesi, says that Allahu ta'ala declares in the thirtieth ayat of Surat-un-Nur, "O My Messenger, tell the believers not to look at harams and to protect their awrat parts against harams! Tell those women who have iman not to look at harams and to protect their awrat parts from committing haram!"

 It is written in Riyad-un-nasihin that Rasulullah declared in his last wada' (farewell) hajj, "The eyes of a person who looks at a namahram woman lustfully will be filled with fire and he will be flung down into Hell. The arms of a person who shakes hands with a namahram woman will be tied around his neck and then he will be sent down to Hell. Those who talk with a namahram woman lustfully without any necessity will remain in Hell a thousand years for each word." Another hadith declares, "looking at one's neighbor's wife or at one's friends' wives is ten times as sinful as looking at namahram women. looking at married women is one thousand times as sinful as looking at girls. So are the sins of fornication."

 It is written in the book Bariqa that the hadiths "Three things (when looked at) put varnish on the eyes: looking at a verdure, at a stream, at a beautiful face" and "Three things strengthen the eyes: Tingeing the eyes with kohl, looking at verdure and at a beautiful face" state the use of looking at people who are halal to look at. In fact, looking at namahram women and girls weakens the eyes and darkens the heart. As informed by Hakim, Baihaki, and Abu Dawud, a hadith-i marfu conveyed by Abu Umama 'radiallahu 'anh' declares, "If a person, upon seeing a namahram girl, fears Allah's torment and turns his face away from her, Allahu ta'ala will make him enjoy the taste of worships." His first seeing will be forgiven. A hadith declares, "Those eyes that watch the enemy in a jihad made for Allah's sake or that weep for fear of Allahu ta'ala or that do not look at harams will not see Hell fire in the next world"].

 Seven or ten year old attractive girls as well as all girls who have reached the age of fifteen or the age of puberty are equivalents to women. It is haram for such girls to show themselves with bare head, hair, arms and legs to namahram men, or to sing to them or to talk to them softly and grace fully. Women are permitted to talk to namahram men seriously in a manner that will not cause fitna when there is necessity such as buying and selling. So is their opening their faces when among men. It is gravely sinful for women to go out with bare head, hair, arms and legs, to let their voice be heard by namahram men without necessity, to sing to them, to let them hear their voices through films or records or by reading Qur'an-al karim or by reciting the mawlid or the adhan, [It is haram for women and girls to go out with dresses that are thin or tight or of fur, wearing their ornaments such as ear-rings and bracelets without covering them, wearing like men, cutting their hair short like men. Therefore, it is not permissible for them to wear trousers, not even ample ones. Trousers are men's clothing. In hadith ash-Sharifs, which exist in Targhib-us-salat, our Holy Nabi has "accursed those women who dress themselves like men and those men who ornament them selves like women." Tight trousers are not permissible even for men. For in this case the shapes of private parts can be seen from the outside. Furthermore, it has not been an Islamic custom, neither of old nor now, for women to wear trousers. It has come from the irreligious, from those who do not know the Islamic way of attirement. Harams cannot be Islamic customs even if they have spread and settled. It is declared in a hadith that he who makes himself resemble disbelievers will be on their side. Trousers can be worn under the mantle, yet the mantle must cover the knees as if there weren't trousers under it. Baggy trousers, being very ample, can be good dressings for women, too, at places where they are customary. If they will cause fitna at places where they are not customary, it is not permissible to wear them. Great Islamic scholar Qadi Sanaullah-i PaniPuti, in explaining the seventh advice at the end of the book Tafhimat by Shah Waliyyullah-i Dahlawi, says, "Of old, it used to be an Islamic custom to go out wearing a long shirt, wrapping oneself up with a large towel, wearing clogs or things like that. But now it would be ostentation to go out with such things on at places where they are not customary. Our Holy Nabi has prohibited ostentation and making fame. We must dress ourselves with things that are customary among believers. We must not keep ourselves aloof." So is the case with a woman's going out with a dress with a veil at places where it is customary for women to wear ample mantles. In addition, causing an Islamic attirement to be mocked at, she will be sinful. See also the last two pages of the fifty-sixth chapter of the third part of the Turkish original].

 Whether in namaz or outside namaz, it is fard to cover one's awrat parts lest others will see from the sides, but it is not fard to cover them from oneself. If one sees one's own awrat parts when one bows for ruku' one's namaz does not become annulled. But it is makruh for one to look at them. Something transparent like glass or nylon that lets color of the thing under it be seen cannot be a covering. If the covering is tight or, though ample, if it sticks to one of one's awrat parts so that it resembles its shape under the covering, it does not harm namaz. But it does not cover one from others. It is haram to look at someone else's qaba awrat that can be seen in this manner. Men's private parts on their front and in their back and their buttocks are their Qaba awrat. When a sick person who lies naked under a blanket performs namaz by signs with his head inside the blanket, he has performed it naked. If he performs it keeping his head outside the blanket, he will have performed it by covering himself, which is acceptable. For it is compulsory not to cover oneself but to cover one's awrat parts. For this reason, it is not permissible to perform namaz naked in the dark, in a lonely room or in a closed tent.

 A person who is not able to cover his awrat parts sits like sitting in namaz, or stretches his feet side by side towards the qibla, which is better, covers his front private part with his hands, and performs namaz by signs. For, covering one's awrat parts is more important than the other precepts of namaz. [As it is seen, even a person who is naked has to perform namaz in its proper time and must not omit it. Hence it must be understood that those who do not perform their namaz because of laziness and who do not pay their debts of omitted namaz are under a great sinful responsibility]. A person who is naked asks for something to cover himself from others who are with him. If they promise him, he waits until nearly the end of prayer time. Also, when there is no water, a person who expects water has to wait for water until nearly the end of prayer time, and can make a tayammum only after waiting that long. He who has the money must buy water and something to cover himself. A person who cannot find anything besides a covering less than one-fourth of which is clean is permitted to perform namaz with the covering or by signs sitting; but with a covering one- fourth of which is clean he has to perform it standing, in which case he will not perform the namaz again later.

 If a traveler can find water only for drinking within one mile, he performs namaz with the covering that has najasat on it, and does not perform it again later. It is not permissible for a settled person, that is, a person who is not a musafir, to perform namaz in a najs covering. It is possible and necessary for him to clean it. For it is strongly probable to find water in a city. If it is known for certain that there is no water in the city, the settled person also can perform the namaz with a covering with najasat on it and can make a tayammum. It is written in the fifth volume of Radd-ul-mukhtar:

 People's looking at one another and seeing one another can be in (one of) four types.

 A man's looking at a woman, a woman's looking at a man, a man's looking at a man, and a woman's looking at a woman. And there are four kinds of a man's looking at a woman:

 A man's looking at a namahram free woman, at his own wife and jariyas, at his eighteen relatives who are permissible for him to look at, and at others' jariyas.

 It is haram in all the four Madhhabs for men to see women's bodies other than their faces, inside and outside their hands. This prohibition pertaining to seeing applies to castrated, sterilized men, too. It is haram to castrate a man. Castrating an animal is permissible only when it is intended to fatten it.

 It is haram for men to look at between a man's navel and knees. It is permissible for them to look at his other parts without lust. It is permissible for a man to look at his wife and jariyas from head to foot even with lust, and also for them to look at him.

 [A man's awrat parts are between his navel and his knees in three Madhhabs. In Hanafi Madhhab the knees are awrat. The navel is not awrat. In Shafi'i Madhhab the navel is awrat and the knees are not. In Maliki Madhhab none of them is awrat. It is stated in Mizan-ul- kubra that according to one explanation in Maliki and Hanbali Madhhabs a man's saw'atayn are his awrat only. Because there is no ijma' (unanimity of savants), he who does not cover his thighs and pays no attention will be secure against being a disbeliever. Also, the Shiites' awrat is their saw'atayn only].

 A man, if he feels secure of lust, can look at the heads, faces, necks, arms, legs below the knees of the eighteen women who are haram for him to marry by nikah and of others' jariyas. He cannot look at their breasts, at spaces under their arms, at their flanks, thighs, knees or upper parts of their back. These parts of women are also called (ghaliz), that is, Qaba awrat. Every woman must cover these parts with thick cloth so that their color and shapes will not be seen when performing namaz, and the cloth must be ample so that their shapes will not resemble their origin when she is among men. Jariyas can perform namaz without covering their parts that are permissible to be seen.

 As it is seen, there are two kinds of women's dressing in Islam. Firstly, free Muslim women cover all their bodies completely except their faces and hands. It is not compulsory for them to cover themselves with charshaf (black outdoor overgarment). An ample and long mantle, a thick headcover, long stockings cover better than today's charshaf. It is written on the fourth page of Durar-ul-Multaqita, "The Shariat has not commanded a certain type of covering for women." The second one is the dressing of a jariya (the woman servant captured in war), who does not have to cover her head, hair, neck, arms or legs (below knees) when among men. It has been observed with regret that some women who bear Muslim names have abandoned the Islamic lady's dressing and fallen for the habiliment for jariyas or servants.

 In order to mislead Muslim women, disbelievers and zindiqs say, "In the beginning of Islam women did not use to cover themselves. In the Holy Nabi's time Muslim women used to go out with bare heads and arms. Later, the jealous men of din ordered women to cover themselves. So women began to cover themselves afterwards, and became like ogres." Yes, women used to go out without covering themselves. Yet, later the suras of Ahzab and Nur sura were revealed in the third year of Hegira, whereby Allahu ta'ala commanded them to cover themselves. It is written in Mawahib-i ladunniyya, "On the way back from the Ghaza (Holy War) of Khaibar, one night Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) admitted Safiyya 'radiallahu ta'ala anha', one of the captives, into his tent. The Sahaba did not understand if Safiyya was honored as a wife or served as a jariya. But they felt ashamed to find it out by asking Rasulullah so that they could do the reverence and service due to (the Holy Nabi's) wives. 'We'll understand that she has become a wife if she goes out of the tent in a covered manner and is escorted behind a curtain tomorrow morning,' they said. So, seeing that she was escorted out behind a curtain, they realized that she had been honored as a wife." As it is seen, in Rasulullah's time free women used to cover all their bodies. It would be known that a woman was not a slave but a free lady by her covering her self all over.

 It is permissible for a person who is secure of lust to touch someone's part which he is permitted to look at. A hadith ash-Sharif declares, "Kissing one's mother's foot is like kissing the threshold of the doorway to Paradise." On the other hand, whereas it is permissible to look at a namahram young woman's hand and face, it is not permissible to touch her or to shake hands with her even if one is secure of lust. Committing fornication with a woman or touching any part of her with lust, even if by forgetting or by mistake, according to the Hanafi and the Hanbali Madhhabs causes Hurmat-i musahara. That is, it becomes eternally haram for the man to marry this woman's daughters or her mother by blood or in virtue of nursing and also, for the woman to marry the man's son or father. [If hurmat-i musahara takes place between a man and his daughter the nikah between the girl's mother, that is, the man's wife, and the man does not become annulled. The woman cannot marry someone else. The man has to divorce the wife. It becomes an eternal haram for him to remain married with the woman. If hurmat-i musahara happens between a man and his mother-in-law, the son-in-law will have to divorce his wife. The son-in-law cannot marry this woman again eternally (Bazaziyya)]. It is not permissible for girls to touch namahram men even if they trust themselves. If they touch with lust hurmat-i musahara takes place. Girls' and old people's lust is their hearts' inclination. It is permissible for a person who trusts himself to shake hands with an old woman or to kiss her hand if she is old enough not to arouse lust, but it is better not to do so.

 It is permissible for men to stay together at a lonely place (halwat) and to go on a travel [e.g. on hajj] with their eternal mahrams. According to the tarafayn, halwat [staying together at a lonely place] with a woman who is not one's eternal mahram is haram. If one stays with her along with another muttaqi man or one of his eternal mahrams or one's wife, it is not haram. Hurmat-i musahara does not happen by staying in halwat or by looking at any part of hers with lust except at the front. While telling about being an imam, Ibni Abidin writes, "Halwat happens also when there are more than one namahram women. A very old woman and an old man can go on a travel and can stay alone [Ashbah]. Halwat with one of the eighteen women who are one's eternal mahram is permissible, yet it is makruh with one's foster (milk) sister [who and one have been suckled by the same woman], with one's young mother-in-law or daughter-in-law when fitna is likely. It is not permissible to talk with a young namahram woman without necessity." It will not be halwat staying alone in a transportation wagon, shops, and places that are open to public like mosques, since the insides of such places can be seen from the outside. Two different rooms of one house are not counted as one place. Who the women that are eternally mahram are is written in the thirty-fourth chapter of the second part of the Turkish original.

 According to imam-i Abu Yusuf 'rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih', those needy, enslaved, lonely women [employees and civil servants] who have to work for a living at such jobs as baking bread, laundering [and others that require uncovering their parts that are not their qaba awrat] can bare their arms and feet as much as their work requires. It is permissible for men to see them or to look at them without lust when work requires. At it is written in Nimat-i Islam (in chapter on hajj), Bahr al-fatawa and Ali Effendi's fatwa, wife's sister and uncle's or brother's wife are namahram women, too. It is haram also to look at their hair, head, arms and legs. One must not live in the same home together with one's close relatives such as these, who are not one's mahram. When one visits their house or when they visit one's house, it is not permissible for the men and women to sit in the same room, to behave cordially towards one another, to joke with one another or to make merry. At places where men's and women's sitting in the same room is customary and where this haram is slighted, in order to prevent offense and hostility among relatives, women can sit in the same room or eat with their male relatives for a short time, but they must be covered. The talks must be serious. Utter care must be taken that the talk should last short and be rare and especially that they should not be alone in the same place. True and well learned Muslims who know and obey their din should never sit together like that. We should not dispute with ignorant people or insist that our din commands so, but we should try to abstain from harams by giving such excuses as worldly affairs, by talking softly not to offend our relatives. A male slave also is a namahram man to his female possessor.

 Seeing once is permissible for a judge when deciding a case in the court of justice, for witnesses when giving evidence, for a person who is to marry a girl, even if lust is likely to happen, and for a doctor, for a nurse, for a circumciser, for a person who does enema (clyster) as long as necessary. It is permissible for a sick person to have himself clystered. It is written on the four hundred and seventy-eighth page of the fifth volume of Durr-ul- mukhtar, "It is important sunnat to have one's son circumcised. It is Islam's symbol. If the people of a city do not have their sons circumcised, the Khalifa fights them. There is not a certain age of circumcision for a child. The best time is between seven and twelve years of age." When performing circumcision, it is customary to repeat the Takbir-i 'Iyd together loudly. Those who are not circumcised catch various diseases. French books describe them under the name "Affections du propuce." On the five hundred and fifty-eighth page of Hadiqa and in its chapter about afflictions incurred by the eyes, it is written that it is permissible for girls to learn and teach science and medicine on condition that they will observe the Shariat. Girls must be educated and trained as obstetricians and gynecologists. Women must be shown to women doctors. If a woman doctor cannot be found one must take one's wife to a male gynecologist, if her illness is dangerous or very painful.

 The awrat parts of Muslim women to one another are like the awrat parts of a man to another man.

 If a woman is secure of lust, her looking at a namahram man is like a man's looking at another. The book Jawhara says that it is like a man's looking at those women who are his mahram. But it is haram for her to look at him lustfully. Non-Muslim and renegade women's looking at Muslim women, (as well as their paternal and maternal uncles, if they are renegades), that is, Muslim women's showing themselves to them, is, like their showing themselves to namahram men, haram in three Madhhabs. They cannot look at Muslim women's bodies. It is permissible in Hanbali Madhhab.

 When those parts of the body leave the body that are not permissible to look at, it is still not permissible to look at them even if the body is dead. After a woman's hair and other hairs, toe-nails [not finger-nails] and bones leave her body, they cannot be looked at.

 It is not haram to look without lust at the reflections on mirrors or on water of those parts of women that are haram to look at. For in this case not they themselves but their visions are being seen. [Their reflections or pictures are not they themselves. Seeing them (their reflections or pictures) does not mean seeing them. Likewise, an imam's or hafiz's or muazzin's voice heard through a loudspeaker or on the radio is not the voice of the person himself, yet it is its replica. Therefore, namaz performed by following a voice heard likewise is not sahih. looking at their pictures or at their visions in movies or on television is like looking at their images in mirrors. They are all permissible to look at without lust, but haram to watch lustfully or to look at those visions of theirs that will arouse lust. Also, it is haram to listen to their voices. Surely, there are people who look at them lustfully. It is haram to draw, to publish, to take pictures that arouse lust and are haram]. It is not permissible but haram to look at the awrat parts of women, even without lust, behind glass, with any kind of spectacles, through water or at a woman in water.

 It is permissible to look without lust at a woman dressed in clothes not so scanty as to stick on her body. It is haram to look at a woman even without lust who is clad in a dress the qaba awrat parts of which are scanty. It is haram to look lustfully at a namahram woman's underwears. It is haram to look lustfully at those parts of hers that are not her qaba awrat and which are covered tightly, scantily.

 As it is haram for women to go out without covering themselves and by ornamenting themselves, so it is haram for them to enter likewise any place where there are men not mahram to them. And it is more sinful to enter a mosque with uncovered awrat parts. A place where there are people with open awrat parts or where haram is committed is called Majlis al-fisq (sinning party). It is written in Bazaziyya that it is not permissible for Muslims to attend or to allow their wives to a majlis al-fisq, that is, a place where sinners gather together, without necessity. Women who have iman must cover those parts of theirs that are not qaba awrat, such as head, hair, arms, legs, for one must dread harams lest one will lose one's iman.

 [Some people, whose sole interest is pleasure and entertainment, do not hesitate to mislead others into mischiefs and disasters in order to attain their pleasures by saying, "It annoys one to see a woman covering herself like an ogre. On the other hand, it gives relief and pleasure to look at an ornamented, beautiful girl or woman in free attire. It is sweet, like watching or smelling a beautiful flower." looking at a flower or smelling a flower is sweet to the soul. It causes the soul to recognize the existence and the greatness of Allahu ta'ala and to obey His commandments. looking at a nice-smelling, ornamented and freely- dressed girl, on the other hand, is sweet to the nafs. The ear does not take any pleasure from colors, nor does the eye from sounds. For they do not sense these things. The nafs is the enemy of Allahu ta'ala. It will not hesitate to do any sort of evil whereby to attain its pleasures. It will violate human rights and laws. Its pleasures do not have an end. looking at a girl will not satisfy it. It will desire to meet her and to practice all its pleasures. It is for this reason that all civil codes curb the eccentricities of nafses. Excessive desires of the nafs drift people into misery, diseases, family disasters and afflictions. In order to prevent these disastrous situations, Allahu ta'ala has prohibited girls' dressing freely and being close to men not related to them, alcohol and gambling. People who have been enslaved by their nafs loathe these prohibitions. So they censure the books of 'ilm-i-hal written by scholars of Ahl as-sunnat and prevent young people from reading these books and attaining salvation].

Return
 

Send mail to hunafaa@hotmail.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1996 Al Adaab: Living Islam According to the Minhaj of the True Salaf as Salihoon
Last modified: 08/29/06