The Ruling on Hijab for Women
Question: What is the legal ruling on hijab for a Muslim woman? In our society a woman who wears hijab is often mocked and criticized. Is it obligatory according to all four Sunni schools? How should we understand the noble verse,
“Tell the believing women to lower their gazes, guard their private parts, and not display their adornment except what ordinarily appears thereof; and let them draw their head-coverings over their bosoms, and let them not display their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, or their sons …” (al-Nūr 24:31), up to the end of the verse?
Does Allah’s words, “and let them draw their khimars over their bosoms,” mean that they must cover the head, chest, and neck? Does the face fall under this command as well? If it does, how then are we to understand His statement, “except what ordinarily appears thereof”?
Answer: Hijab is obligatory by the consensus of the Muslims. Allah, Exalted is He, says:
“When you ask them for something, then ask them from behind a screen; that is purer for your hearts and their hearts” (al-Aḥzāb 33:53).
Even if the pronoun here is originally directed to the Prophet’s wives, the ruling is general for the whole community, for Allah’s reasoning—“that is purer for your hearts and their hearts”—applies to every believer; purity of heart is required of the entire Ummah.
Straight afterwards Allah says:
“O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers to draw their jilbabs over themselves; that is more likely that they will be recognised and therefore not harassed” (al-Aḥzāb 33:59).
This verse is universal, encompassing all women—the Mothers of the Believers, the Prophet’s daughters, and every other believing woman. Hijab is therefore an unequivocal obligation, while open display (sufūr) is forbidden.
As for His words, “except what ordinarily appears thereof,” the sounder of the two explanations transmitted from the exegetes is that what may appear is the adornment of the clothes and jewellery, not any adornment of the body itself.