{"_id":"6a4d7897617684623a96fd1e","title":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"How should I understand the obligation of hijab and claims that it is misogynistic?\\n\"}]}","question":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"I understand that hijab is obligatory, but I struggle to understand why the woman's awrah is more extensive than the man's. Some people argue that this is misogynistic or that it treats women as though they are simply a source of temptation (fitnah). How should I understand this from an Islamic perspective, and how can I cultivate a desire to wear the hijab?\\n\"}]}","answer":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"In Islam, Allah alone is the legislator and the original source of right and wrong. The Prophetic tradition exists to explain and demonstrate how the divine revelation transmitted through the Quran is applied in practice. Every belief we hold, every value we uphold, and every principle we live by traces back to this one Divine source: the Creator of all humankind, who is utterly unlike anything He has created. He is beyond space, time, and matter. He does not beget, nor is He begotten, and nothing resembles Him. He is neither male nor female, black nor white, young nor old.\\n\\nAs Muslims, we take our Creator as the source of guidance and submit to His command without demanding an explanation first. He is the Self-Sufficient; He has no needs of His own, and whatever He commands us is only ever for our benefit. We are encouraged to reflect on the wisdom behind His commands, but we are not permitted to withhold obedience simply because that wisdom has not yet revealed itself to us. This is what it means to believe—to be a Muslim: one who submits.\\n\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"ءَامَنَ ٱلرَّسُولُ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِۦ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَمَلَـٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَرُسُلِهِۦ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍۢ مِّن رُّسُلِهِۦ ۚ وَقَالُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true,\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"\\\"The Messenger firmly believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. They all believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, and His messengers. They proclaim: 'We make no distinction between any of His messengers.' And they say: 'We hear and obey. We seek Your forgiveness, our Lord! And to You alone is the final return.'\\\"\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\" \"},{\"attributes\":{\"link\":\"https://quran.com/2/285\",\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"(Quran 2:285)\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"إِنَّمَا كَانَ قَوْلَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذَا دُعُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ أَن يَقُولُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۚ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true,\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"\\\"The only response of the true believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger so he may judge between them, is to say: 'We hear and obey.' It is they who will truly succeed.\\\"\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\" \"},{\"attributes\":{\"link\":\"https://quran.com/24/51\",\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"(Quran 24:51)\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍۢ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥٓ أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ ٱلْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ ۗ وَمَن يَعْصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَـٰلًۭا مُّبِينًۭا\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true,\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"\\\"It is not for a believing man or woman—when Allah and His Messenger decree a matter—to have any other choice in that matter. Indeed, whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has clearly gone far astray.\\\"\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\" \"},{\"attributes\":{\"link\":\"https://quran.com/33/36\",\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"(Quran 33:36)\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\\nBoth the male and female awrah, like every other ruling in Islam, are established by the Quran and the Prophetic tradition. We are free—even encouraged—to reflect on the wisdom behind them. What we should not do is try to justify Allah's command as though it needed our approval to be valid. The command is already certain to serve our best interest because it comes from the One who loves His creation and reveals exactly what they need to live well. Trying to defend the sacred law is, in a sense, a misunderstanding of what the law is: a ruling from the All-Knowing and All-Merciful does not need our defense.\\n\\nAnyone who frames women alone as \"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true},\"insert\":\"the\"},{\"insert\":\" fitnah—as though all of creation revolves around men and women exist only to tempt or please them—has misrepresented Allah's guidance and ought to repent for appropriating His creation in that way. Men and women were both created to worship Allah, with the same capacity to rise or fall spiritually, and both carry weaknesses they are responsible for working through on the path of self-purification. Because men and women were created as mates, they are naturally drawn to one another, and a person who has not done the work of purifying their soul may act on that desire in ways that contradict the divine command. In that sense, women are a fitnah for men, and men are equally a fitnah for women. None of this makes either sex inherently evil. It simply means that natural attraction, left unchecked by guidance and self-discipline, can lead to sin, and the divine law on dress and interaction between the sexes exists to prevent that, or at least make it less likely.\\n\\nIt is also worth being precise about what the word \"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true},\"insert\":\"misogynistic\"},{\"insert\":\" actually means. Misogyny is contempt or prejudice against women, and by definition it is a disposition that originates in a created being's heart, not in divine command. Allah is not a man, and He is not human at all; He is entirely free of the resentment and small-mindedness that gives rise to misogyny in people. A command that comes from a Being who loves all of His creation, who stands beyond gender altogether, and who has placed parallel obligations on both men and women cannot honestly be called misogynistic. The most that can be said is that a person or a culture sometimes misapplies the law in a way that reflects their own bias. That is a failure of practice, not a flaw in the law itself.\\n\\nThe idea that women are inferior to men (Thomas Aquinas, for instance, called them \\\"defective and misbegotten males\\\") or that they are a primary source of evil has no place in Islam. Muslims should not tolerate this thinking or let it shape how they talk about women. There is no Lilith figure in the Islamic tradition, and Eve is not blamed as the one responsible for the fall of man.\\n\\nIn Islam, men and women stand equal before Allah and under the divine law. Their bodies differ, and so do their primary roles, but both are created for the same purpose and given the same potential. The following verse makes this equality unmistakable, showing that Allah does not discriminate between men and women and that both have access to the same forgiveness and reward:\\n\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"إِنَّ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ وَٱلْمُسْلِمَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ وَٱلْقَـٰنِتِينَ وَٱلْقَـٰنِتَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰدِقَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرَٰتِ وَٱلْخَـٰشِعِينَ وَٱلْخَـٰشِعَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰٓئِمِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰٓئِمَـٰتِ وَٱلْحَـٰفِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَٱلْحَـٰفِظَـٰتِ وَٱلذَّٰكِرِينَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًۭا وَٱلذَّٰكِرَٰتِ أَعَدَّ ٱللَّهُ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةًۭ وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًۭا\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true,\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"\\\"Surely for Muslim men and women, believing men and women, devout men and women, truthful men and women, patient men and women, humble men and women, charitable men and women, fasting men and women, men and women who guard their chastity, and men and women who remember Allah often—for all of them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.\\\"\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\" \"},{\"attributes\":{\"link\":\"https://quran.com/33/35\",\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"(Quran 33:35)\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\\nBoth men and women were commanded to lower their gaze, and both were commanded to cover their awrah. If women alone were the fitnah, there would be no reason for women to also be told to lower their gaze, or for men to be commanded to cover anything at all.\\n\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا۟ مِنْ أَبْصَـٰرِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا۟ فُرُوجَهُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَزْكَىٰ لَهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true,\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"\\\"Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them. Surely Allah is All-Aware of what they do.\\\"\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\" \"},{\"attributes\":{\"link\":\"https://quran.com/24/30\",\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"(Quran 24:30)\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَـٰرِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا ۖ وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ ... وَتُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\"},{\"attributes\":{\"italic\":true,\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"\\\"And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears. Let them draw their veils over their chests... Turn to Allah in repentance all together, O believers, so that you may be successful.\\\"\"},{\"attributes\":{\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\" \"},{\"attributes\":{\"link\":\"https://quran.com/24/31\",\"bold\":true},\"insert\":\"(Quran 24:31)\"},{\"insert\":\"\\n\\nAllah is All-Knowing, All-Wise, All-Benevolent, and Merciful, and what He has revealed to us, men and women alike, is a book of guidance meant to teach us what is good for us and what harms us. The law He gave us exists for our own benefit, helping us order our lives in the way most likely to fulfill the purpose of our existence: worshipping our Creator through our actions and staying connected to Him through our hearts.\\n\\nYou also asked how to grow into wanting to wear the hijab. That is not something you should expect to happen all at once. Understanding the reasoning behind it intellectually is usually the first step; the heart often follows more slowly. Ask Allah in your du'a to soften your heart toward this command and try to spend time around women who wear the hijab with contentment and love for Allah, rather than merely out of habit or resentment.\\n\\nYou do not have to wait until you feel fully convinced before you act. Obedience can come first, and sincerely striving to please Allah—even while your feelings are still catching up—is itself a means by which Allah guides a person further. He does not abandon someone who is genuinely striving toward Him.\\n\"}]}","tags":[{"_id":"668d9ff10b76658b4c2329d2","tag":"Relationships: Opposite Gender","count":85},{"_id":"668d9fde0b76658b4c23277f","tag":"Women: Hijab","count":33}],"createdOn":"2026-07-07T22:07:19.254Z"}