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yā-ʾayyuhā n-nabiyyu qul li-ʾazwājika wa-banātika wa-nisāʾi l-muʾminīna yudnīna ʿalayhinna min jalābībihinna dhālika ʾadnā ʾan yuʿrafna fa-lā yuʾdhayna wa-kāna llāhu ghafūran raḥīman
O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the faithful to draw closely over themselves their chadors [when going out]. That makes it likely for them to be recognized and not be troubled, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-’Ahzab – Verse 59
59. “O’ Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they draw their veils close to them, that is most convenient that they should be known (as such) and not be annoyed, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”
The Arabic word /jalabib/ is the plural form of /julbab/ in the sense of a veil which covers the head and the neck, or a long cloth which can cover the whole body as well as the head and the neck.1 Upon the occasion of revelation of this verse it is recorded in the commentary book of Ali-ibn-’Ibrahim that at that time Muslim women used to go to the mosque and establish prayer behind the Prophet (S). At night, when they went to perform their evening and night prayers, some young abusive men sometimes waited in their way and hurt them with their jokes and evil words and by this means they bothered them.
The above verse was revealed and ordered the women to observe their veil perfectly so that they would become recognized clearly and nobody could find any pretext for brothering them. So, in this verse, the Qur’an orders the believing women not to give any pretext to mischief-mongers. Then with the most intensive threat, which is very rare in the verses of the Qur’an, attacks the hypocrites, troublesome persons, and gossipers. By the first part, the holy verse says:
The commentators have delivered two views upon the sentence “…that they should be known (as such)…” which are not contrary with each other. The first is that in those days it had been customary that the maid servants would come out of home without covering their head and neck, and since from the point of manner they were not so well, sometimes some impolite young persons made trouble for them. Here the free Muslim women were ordered to observe wearing a complete Islamic veil in order to be recognized from the maid servants and do not give the wicked persons a pretext to cause trouble.
It is evident that the concept of this statement is not this that the wicked persons had the right of causing trouble for the maid servants, but the purpose is that the Muslim women should take the pretext from the mischievous persons. Another aim of it is that the Muslim women might not be careless or heedless in wearing their veil. There are some women who are so careless that, in the meantime that they have veils, they are so disrespectful and ill-mannered that some parts of their bodies are often visible, and this state attracts the attention of the mischievous persons to them.
The philologists and commentators have introduced some meanings for the Arabic word /jilbab/: 1- The first is /milhafah/ (chadur). It is a long cloth which is longer than scarf and covers the head, neck, and the chest. 2- The second is /maqna‘ah/ and /xamar/ (scarf). 3- The third meaning is ‘a wide shirt’.2 Apparently these meanings are different but their average concept is that: it covers the body. By the way this Arabic word is pronounced in two ways: /jilbab/ and /jalbab/.
But it mostly seems that the objective meaning of it is a cover which is longer than a scarf and shorter than a chadur, (a mantle), as the writer of Lisan-ul-‘Arab has said. And the purpose of the Arabic term /yudnin/ (draw close) is that women make the veil close to their own body so that it justly protect them, not in a manner that now and then it goes aside and their body becomes manifest. In other words, it simply means that they must arrange their clothes properly.
Some have tried to use this sentence in the sense of covering the face, too, but there is no indication to this meaning in it, and few commentators believe that covering the face is inside the concept of the verse. However, it is understood from this verse that the ordinance of Hijab (veil) for free women had been sent down before that time, but some women simply were not careful of it, the above verse emphasizes that they must observe it carefully.
Since when this ordinance was revealed it caused some faithful women to become worried about their past, at the end of the verse it says:
This statement indicates that if you have had shortcoming in this subject since before (until now), because it has been done as the result of ignorance, Allah will forgive it. You must repent and return toward Him and fulfil the duty of chastity and cover yourself well.
Some Corruptions of Unveiling
1- The growth of the act of looking gloatingly. 2- The increase of corruption and lewdness. 3- To intend malice, and transgression by violence. 4- Unlawful pregnancies and abortion. 5- The appearance of psychic and venereal diseases. 6- Suicide and desertion from house because of disgrace.
Footnotes