Aisya al-Humaira
الحمدلله على كل حال
She actually has a point.
That was a question I needed the answer to as well.
I've had Muslim women who don't cover their hair come up to me and ask me why I wear hijab when it is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran. They use the exact same excuse that the ayah in Surah Nisa claims that women cover their "bosoms". Naturally, these are people who believe hadith are independent of the Quran but just be aware that these are some arguments that people use against hijab. This also goes hand in hand with the argument that the scholars are not above the Quran and that their words should not be taken as set in stone.
These women actually really got to me with their constant doubts and their claim that covering the head wasn't in the Quran actually upset me because they made me feel as if I donning a cultural practice instead of a religious one.
So I hope someone does answer this question because I'm getting sick and tired of self-hating Muslim women accusing me of carrying out a cultural practice because hijab isn't explicitly mentioned in the Quran and they use it to justify simply dressing modestly and not having to cover one's head.
Assalamu'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,
I remember a post by Sister Samiha some time ago that covers pretty much of you [and Sister Sakeena] concerns/question. So I'll just quote it here, for eveyrone's benefits. Jazaaha Allaahu khaayraa.
Special Focus on Hijab
One of the favorite tricks of the hadith rejectors is to announce that it is not obligatory for the Muslim woman to cover her hair. Surah an-Nur ayah 31 says in part, "Tell the faithful women...to extend their KHUMUR to cover their bosoms". The word "khumur" is the plural of "khimar". According to the hadith rejectors the meaning of "khimar" is simply "a covering" because the root KHAMARA means "to cover". Thus, they say, the Quran here only tells the women to extend a covering over their bosoms. They say that the Quran does not mention the covering of the head.
Is this true? Because of the importance of hijab, it is worth exploring this issue in depth.
The hijab of the Muslim woman has been set out in two verses of the Quran, Surah an-Nur ayah 31 and Surah al-Ahzab ayah 59. The list of commands contained in these verses is as follows:
1) Lower the gaze (24:31)
2) Guard the private parts (24:31)
3) Not display their beauty "except what is apparent of it" (24:31)
4) Extend the khimar to cover the bosom (24:31)
5) Not display their beauty beyond "what is apparent of it" except to the people listed in 24:31
6) Not stamp their feet so as to reveal hidden beauty (24:31)
7) Draw the jilbab close around them when abroad (33:59)
What does "except what is apparent" mean? This is one of the passages in the Quran that is not clear in meaning (see Surah Ali Imran ayah 7). This is one of the passages in the Quran that the Prophet () needs to explain. And Surah an-Nahl ayah 44 (see above) tells us that the Prophet will explain the Quran. The Prophet's explanation of "what is apparent" is the face and the hands. Therefore, following what the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) has explained of the Quran, we can re-write the list this way:
1) Lower the gaze (24:31)
2) Guard the private parts (24:31)
3) Not display their beauty except their faces and hands (24:31)
4) Extend the khimar to cover the bosom (24:31)
5) Not display their beauty beyond the face and hands except to the people listed in 24:31
6) Not stamp their feet so as to reveal hidden beauty (24:31)
7) Draw the jilbab close around them when abroad (33:59)
Now, it is very clear. If a woman must conceal all of her beauty except her face and hands, she must necessarily be concealing her hair. Even if "not to display their beauty except what is apparent" were the only text in the verse, yet as the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) has explained the meaning of the Quran, a woman would still have to cover everything but her face and hands.
We can also look at the meaning of the word "khimar". The word "khimar" comes from the root KHAMARA meaning "to cover". However, the particular form "khimar" may have a more specific meaning. Let's look at what it is:
1) In the Arabic of the Prophet (), the word "khimar" referred to a HEADCOVERING. This can be seen in the hadiths in which the Prophet (sAas) wiped his wet hands over his khimar and his socks, from which the scholars have derived that it is halal to wipe wet hands over the HEADCOVERING and the socks.
2) The authorities on classical Arabic have defined the word "khimar" as a HEADCOVERING. For instance the dictionary Aqrab al-Mawarid defines the word "khimar" as, "All such pieces of cloth which are used to cover the head. It is a piece of cloth which is used by a woman to cover her head". The great scholar Imam Abu'l-Fida ibn Kathir defines the word "khimar" in the following words, "Khumur is the plural of khimar which means something that covers, and is what is used to cover the head. This is what is known among the people as a khimar". A modern scholar, Shaykh Muhammad al-Munajjid says, "Khimar comes from the word khamr, the root meaning of which is to cover. For example, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'Khammiru aaniyatakum (cover your vessels).' Everything that covers something else is called its khimar. But in common usage khimar has come to be used as a name for the garment with which a woman covers her head; in some cases this does not go against the linguistic meaning of khimar. Some of the fuqaha have defined it as that which covers the head, the temples and the neck. The difference between the hijab and the khimar is that the hijab is something which covers all of a woman’s body, whilst the khimar in general is something with which a woman covers her head".
3) Imam Abu Abdullah Qurtubi describes the historical circumstances relating to the wearing of the khimar in pre-Islamic Arabia as follows, "Women in those days used to cover their heads with the khimar, throwing its ends upon their backs. This left the neck and the upper part of the chest bare, along with the ears, in the manner of the Christians. Then Allah commanded them to cover those parts with the khimar". Similarly, Imam Abu'l-Fida ibn Kathir reports, "'Draw their khumur to cover their bosoms' means that they should wear the khimar in such a way that they cover their chests so that they will be different from the women of the jahiliyyah who did not do that but would pass in front of men with their chests uncovered and with their necks, forelocks, hair and earrings uncovered". Both of these descriptions provide clear, explicit, specific explanations of what "extend their khimars to cover their bosoms" means.
4) The scholars have agreed unanimously that the khimar is a HEADCOVERING.
Please do not try to interpret the Quran by just looking up in some dictionary what the meaning of the root KHAMARA means. Each of the forms derived from this root may have a specific meaning. In order to interpret the Quran properly you need to know what the specific meaning of the particular form "khimar" was in the Arabic of the Prophet (). According to the common usage recorded from that time (in the hadiths), to dictionaries that have preserved the classical Arabic, and to the reports of the actual practice of the women of that time, the khimar is a HEADCOVERING. Can you present any hadiths or other Arabic writing of the time of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) that use the word "khimar" to mean a shirt or any type of covering other than a HEADCOVERING? Can you present entries from dictionaries of classical Arabic that fail to give HEADCOVERING as a defintion of "khimar"? Can you present reports of the dress of the pre-Islamic Arab women that apply the word "khimar" to other than a HEADCOVERING? Can you present opinions of the ulama that the khimar is other than a HEADCOVERING? If not, you have not refuted any of the evidence presented here. The examples I have given above are the accepted ways of determining what the meaning of the Quran is.
Now, if I told you "extend your hat to cover your ears" you would know automatically that the hat is a heacovering because that is what the word "hat" means in English, and you would understand automatically that the hat is to remain on the head while being extended down to cover the ears. Likewise the Arabs, when they were told "extend your khimar to cover your bosom", knew automatically that the khimar was a HEADCOVERING because that is what the word "khimar" means in Arabic, and they understood automatically that the khimar was to remain on the head while being extended to cover the bosom.
There can be no doubt about it, the meaning of the Arabic word "khimar" is HEADCOVERING. The Quran doesn't mention the word "head" separately because there is no need to, any more than English-speakers need to be told that a hat is worn on the head.
So let's have a third go at that list of commands for hijab:
1) Lower the gaze (24:31)
2) Guard the private parts (24:31)
3) Not display their beauty except their faces and hands (24:31)
4) Extend the HEADCOVERING to cover the bosom (24:31)
5) Not display the beauty beyond the face and hands except to the people listed in 24:31
6) Not stamp the feet so as to reveal hidden beauty (24:31)
7) Draw the jilbab close around them when abroad (33:59)
From this we can see that the Muslim woman has been given two directives in regard to covering the hair. The first directive is that the hair, along with the rest of the body except the face and the hands, must be concealed except before the people listed in 24:31. The second directive is that the hair should specifically be covered by the khimar, which must also extend to cover the neck and upper chest.
The directives of the Quran and Sunnah are quite clear and they quite clearly direct women to wear HEADSCARVES and to cover all of their bodies except the face and hands. Along with the jilbab (outergarment) and the modest conduct of lowering the gaze, guarding the private parts, and not stamping the feet, THIS IS HIJAB.
This is what Allah SWT and His Messenger have decided in this matter. It is not for a believing man or a believing woman to say anything further or to disobey (Quran 33:36).
Source
http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showpost.php?p=444053&postcount=13
With regards to scholarly opinions, the best way is to make her understand first where scholarly opinions lie in Islaam. Quran and Sunnah are our main sources but scholarly opinions are also needed as they are people of knowledge [who have dedicated their *whole* life learning the deen] and we have even been commanded in the Quran to ask people of knowledge when we do not know. But not to the extent that we become ta'asub with certain scholars nor do we take from everyone who claim to be as "scholars". It is only the true knowledge that we take from the learned people for the sake that we will understand the deen better, inshaAllaah.
Hope this thread gives some points you can share to her, inshaAllaah.
The Obligation of Following the Worthy Scholars and a Timely Warning