at the beginning of the surah the fundamental blessings. Hence He says:

“Thus He perfects His favor upon you, so that you may submit to Him.”

The point here is that clothing serves much the same purpose as dwellings, and women are instructed in this regard to use what covers them and screens them from view. Thus, where men’s and women’s clothing differs, whatever better serves the purpose of covering and concealment is for women, while the opposite is for men.

The basis of this is to understand that the Lawgiver has two objectives: first, distinguishing men from women; and second, screening women from view. If His objective were merely to distinguish them, this could be achieved by any form of difference. The invalidity of that has already been explained.

An even stronger illustration is that clothing is intended to distinguish a Muslim from a protected non-Muslim, so that the outward legal rulings appropriate to each may be applied. Clearly, this can be achieved through any clothing that the two groups conventionally use to distinguish themselves. Nevertheless, something more specific than mere differentiation has been taken into account. For since wearing white is better than wearing other colors—as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Wear white: let your living wear it, and shroud your dead in it”—

it was not