Faith: Women & Aurat

Salam lovelies..

Today my topic for Faith talks is about Aurat dari segi Islam.

Eversince i decided to berhijrah (its a lil term for those who shift to covering their hair) i found many people were wondering how did i managed to change 360 degrees from my former lifestyle to covering my head modestly and did it with flair. Truth is ; it aint easy and it takes a whole new level of courage and yes.. a definitely new change of wardrobe!

Being brought up from a middle class family, i was raised as a simple child with a typical girl needs. Like any other girls, i only wore hijabs for agama classes, during mengaji tutorials and school religious activities like Qiamullai etc. 

Back then, it would be unfair if i were to say i wasn't educated about aurat (the truth about covering up in islam) and the whole topic of covering in solat. In religious classes, we will be told off  if we dont wear our tudungs or did not wear appropriate clothing for those sessions.

In fact our religious syllabus talks alot about aurat (especially in form 4/5 chapters) fardhu ain kifayah or simply agama classes which was compulsory to take for our school learnings & exams (SPM).

So basically i was in the know about aurat in theory but not in practical.. 
I was well aware about the hukum hakam but somehow it just didnt registered in my mind how significant and huge really is. it took me many many years later to actually come to grasp upon the truth about reality...

and i am grateful i came to realize now and had asked for forgiveness from Allah for my years of  bliss ignorance  before too late. And i sincerely hope it works for you too..

For those who recently berhijrah; always remember that a women in hijab is beautiful in Allah's eyes. Just because we were a different person before doesn't mean we cant change who we are. Past stays in the past and we don't live there anymore. Sebenarnya banyak lagi sacred hikmah berhijab and only those who joins us will find out more..

For those who want to; dont wait a day longer or hesitant. Benda yang baik tak elok di lengah lengah kan.. just like mendirikan masjid ;) 

Anyways, here's a lil info on aurat which i have compiled:
Based on some info from http://zaharuddin.net/senarai-lengkap-artikel/38/510-womens-aurat--what-has-happened.html

Aurat dari segi bahasa; ialah keaiban, manakala dari segi istilah syarak; ialah bahagian-bahagian tertentu pada tubuh manusia yang wajib ditutup.

Nak translate tak?? So in other terms; our body is one sacred temple we should treasure..

beautiful and precious.. and in syara' .. it is too scared that we should cover them ..

Let's look at aurat from a different point of view...

Im sure all of us are well aware of treasures of earth.. diamonds, gold.. and oil...

Let me ask you one thing.. where can you find them ? Out in the open or deep in blue sea or deep in earth /  mountains??

Like diamonds... can you find them just anywhere or you gotta search the mines for it?

They are what they are; precious and sacred cos you gotta seek for it right? 

People dig it or search deep them in the mountains, middle earth.. or perhaps rock bottom to find em..Some found the rarest stone, the best quality and the uniqueness...

So is gold.. and so it applies to oil.. whether its deep in the middle of ocean or deep in the middle of earth..

Let's apply this again to your body beautiful parts.. ...

• are they sacred and a treasure to you? Yes!

• Are they precious that you can just can't find them any where? Yes!

So then again why arent we covering them?

If diamonds, gold or oil are found everywhere.. lying on the floor; wouldn't it be a valuable as we see it is?

Just like your body.. if your body is found seen or shown everywhere;; do you think there is a value to it?

A lot of professional Muslim women today and those with insufficient Islamic knowledge do not like to discuss about this topic and they don't even believe that covering aurat could prevent harm from inflicting them. Some is even of the opinion that covering the aurat is a form of oppression that the males have enforced on woman. 

In reality, as a servant of Allah SWT and the follower of Rasulullah SAW, we are taught to always come back to Al-Quran and Al-Hadith to obtain assurance about the permissibility of a matter. Regarding this, Allah SWT said:-


يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاء الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies. That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be molested. "(Al-Ahzab: 59)

And dear ladies, if only you know covering ourselves.. wearing hijab is not for anyone else but for our very own benefits. If only everyone knows the sacred mukjizat of wearing scarves, i suppose all the women in the world will start wearing em!

Let me address you the benefits of covering ourselves/wearing hijab:

1. When we cover ourselves for Allah, we looked beautiful in Allah's eyes. We are blessed by him in many ways you can never explain it.
Just like diamonds...isnt it precious in our eyes? 
Eg: If you wana impress a guy; you find out what he likes and try to make him like you..(by cooking for him, going to his fave movies, liking a sport activity for him etc..)
and this example applies the same to Allah and hijab..
So why arent we impressing Allah by covering up? dont we all wanna please him and get his blessings?

2. Wearing hijab / covering is NOT a trend. its a MUST. Its compulsory not an option and already stated in Quran. 
Doesnt matter how you do it (turban, lilit, bawal or whatever.. tutup aurat is still compulsory..)
Eg: if you were driving on the right lane, wouldn't you be going against the law?
wouldn't you be given a ticket by police for that misbehavior?
Same goes to this.. not covering is against the law of islam. sadly we dont see our punishments one earth...(refer n0.9)

3. Sanity & peace of mind.
Yes.. one of the secrets benefits of covering up is we get peace of mind once we start.
Its no joke. i myself is a whole mess pre-covering up.. but Allah al Mighty eased my heart once i surrendered and started wearing hijab... and i wasnt alone feeling like this..
try ask those who recently covered up.. and be amazed to hear their replies...

4. A sense of belonging and Muslims women back you up. (from anywhere in the world)
They say muslim women covering up is a secret society that we dont speak off. Its true. 
the day i covered i felt a sense of belonging and i felt they got my back...
Even when im outside country; i have other muslim women (arabic, whites) talking to me. its like a sacred bond you will never guess if you dont join us.

5. Blessings in disguise
Literally Allah blesses us in whatever we do. 
Example; i was quite worried about attending an interview at the US embassy (post 9/11 and i was wearing hijab - fear they would decline my visa). But with Allah's will, it worked out beautifully...
also my arrival access to US was alhamdulillah easy. Everyone was friendly and nobody we met was racist during our trip there.

6. You are one step towards a better muslim
Obviously in the end we want to be a better muslim in Allah's eyes.
To do so we have to leave what his dislikes and follow what he likes. and although we dont often realize this, he is our Creator afterall 
Example: you are movie director and you hired actors. Im pretty sure you want the actors to 
follow your script and be the role you asked them to act right? 
So this works the same for us and Allah.. he is our director... and we are his actors...

7. Drawn to good things in life (good love, good rezeki.. insya Allah)
and kept us away from Harm
Like i have mentioned earlier, if we wanna have good things in life, we must do what the creator likes. How can he give us such things, if we dont follow his rulings?
If you are in his position, how would you like to give good things to someone who disobeys your rules?
and when we are in Allah's good grades.. insya Allah nothing comes to us in harmsway.. 
Example: If we looking for love, by covering ourselves, we will be given good jodoh.. eg..
(after all who doesnt want to go to heaven?)

8. Cleaning souls, clearing the old for new.
Covering ourselves is like cleaning the old closet. out with old; in with the new.
Same goes for our souls. Sometimes we need a lil reminder and faith to clean our old bad habits, our broken hearts and mend it with the new. 
When i first start covering, i could feel i was given a 2nd chance.. in life..

9. Random men are NOT WORTH your 1000 days in HELL
Fact: Do you know each thread of hair keeps you 1000 days on earth longer in HELL? 
do you know the saying you burnt in hell literally applies to those not covering up? and do you know you drag along you male members with you to hell too? (husbands, fathers, brothers & wali-s)
So before we show our skin and hair to men we don't know out there; think if they are worth the thousands days you gonna be when living in HELL. (I hear grunts) Think you're not living there? Then how do we know we gona make it to heaven? How confident are you?

10. Booking a ticket to heaven, bringing the male members with us.
Sadly its true, during our Prophet Nabi Muhammad SAW Israk Mikraj he saw many women living in hell and he told us; we are the easy targets to go there and the high possibility to drag our men with us there too.
So look at em' long enough to realize if we truly love our men, lets go together to Heaven instead collecting sins to Hell.
A good men who truly loves us will want to bring his women (wife & children) together to Heaven. And vice versa to us.

To those who will argue that Allah looks at your heart and deeds.. 

"Verily Allah does not look at your physical being, your outer appearance nor your wealth, but He looks at your heart and your deeds" (Narrated by Muslim).

Yes he does.. but first he will always look at his rules over judgment...
Say you were caught on video breaking the law... Will you be pardon by the judge when evidence shown you doing the misconduct? How are you gonna explain that your heart is pure to the jury?
Same goes to covering up. If its not a big matter, why is Allah's punishment in hereafter burning you to death for 1000days per thread?

Indeed, something is only regarded as pure and good by measuring it with the scale of Allah and His Rasul, and not merely with the scale of our minds. If we refer to the scale of Islam, the Prophet SAW had said which means:

"Beware, in the body there is a piece of flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound and if it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt, and hearken it is the heart" (Narrated by Muslim)

Based on this hadith, Islamic scale necessitates that the purity of one's heart is apparent in its first stage, which is one's actions. It means that when one's actions always transgress against the commandments prescribed in Islam, it signifies the filth of one's heart. On the other hand, if the external actions submit to the commandment of Islam, thus it should be considered as good in the first stage, which is the external scale of lay people. Nevertheless, the second stage, which is whether one's intention is for seeking Allah's pleasure or for things such as showing off, we should leave the judgment only to Allah.

Therefore, we can judge a book by its cover in certain cases, such as in the case when the fundamentals of Islam are being transgressed; the cover is consequently reflecting what is inside the heart of a person.

Judging based on that which is apparent, does go along with the hadith:

إنما أنا بشر , وإنكم تختصمون إلىّ , ولعلّ بعضكم أن يكون ألحن بحجته من بعض , فأقضي بنحو ما أسمع , فمن قضيت له من حق أخيه شيئاَ فلا يأخذه , فإنما أقطع له قطعة من النار

Which means: "Verily I am only a human being, and you always presented arguments for me to solve. It may be that some of you are better in presenting argument than others. Therefore, I give out rulings based on what I have heard only. He, for whom I have made a ruling that violates the rights of the other party (due to the lack of skill of the person in presenting argument), does not take it. For verily, it will be for him a slice from the slices of hellfire" (Narrated by Abu Dawood, At-Tirmidzi and others; Refer Naylul Awtar, 8/632, no 3920).

This hadith clearly shows that a judge in Islam will give a ruling based on the information and the evident proofs presented to him. Similarly, in the case of covering aurat, if one reveals the aurat, it is a sign of transgression against Allah's commands. Thus, how would it be possible for this kind of heart to be perceived as a sound heart in Islam?

Women should realize that when the aurat is not covered properly, every single man who looks at it will be held accountable for every single gaze. The woman, on the other hand, is not going to be held accountable for that one sin merely; rather she will be held accountable for all the gazes from men that fell on her aurat. Just imagine how sinful she is for revealing the aurat only in one day. This is based on the Prophet's word:

من سن في الإسلام سنة سيئة فعليه وزرها ووزر من عمل بها من غير أن ينقص شيئاً

Which means: "Whosoever initiates a wrongdoing, upon him are a sin and the sin of every single person who does it without his sin being reduced even a little..." (Narrated by Ahmad and others-Authentic)

Included in the meaning of intiating is that someone intiates the revealing of her aurat in that day causing the man who looks at her to be held accountable. In fact, the woman herself is sinful for every single eye that sets on her aurat. Would this type of heart be considered as pure? After mountains of sins had rusted it?

Verily Allah is All Just and the Most Merciful. Rush towards Allah's love and mercy by obeying Him. For those who are hardhearted, no words can be shared except; be certain that Allah is true, His Rasul is true, and Paradise and Hellfire are true. If believe in them, why are the actions speak otherwise?

So ladies, before you object on wearing hijab or covering yourselves. think again
the benefits above you will receive from wearing em. 

True covering up will prevent misrepresentation, misbehavior and further us away from mishaps.. but the real reason of wearing it- its actually for ourselves, our future & Allah...

Love,

ms Dreamyz