Wearing the niqab
I wear a veil covering the face – niqab – in England, although it is disapproved of by the general public. I started wearing it with the intention of following in the footsteps of great ladies in Islam such as Sayyida Fatimah x and Sayyida Zaynab x. I was doubly pleased to do so when I realised that this gave me the opportunity to spread Islam. People approach me to ask why I wear such a strange thing. Ten years of wearing a headscarf of the type more commonly seen here, yielded no opportunity for me to explain the beauty of hijab. I was pleased to demonstrate to the West that it is possible for an educated, well-versed British muslimah, to go about her daily life in full hijab.
On the other hand, jurists prohibit dressing in peculiar and exceedingly unusual clothes – Libas al-Shauhra. I wonder if wearing niqab in the West constitutes that?
Islam requires modesty in every aspect of life especially regarding dress. Although hijab is based on the Qur’anic concept of jilbab, which means women are covered from top to toe in loose garments, jurists differ in their opinions regarding women covering their faces completely. If you follow a jurist who requires that you do this, it is part of your duty to wear it. This has no bearing on and does not apply to Libas al-Shauhra. Libas al-Shauhra implies a bizarre and unusual manner of dress designed to engage attention and make people stare, as they would if they all of a sudden saw a clown performing in the street. Wearing niqab in England hardly falls into that category, particularly in those areas in which people have become accustomed to seeing women in jilbab.