بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلَى آلِهِ وَ صَحْبِهِ اَجْمَعِينَ
TASATTUR – HIJÂB – COVERING – 1
What is tasattur? - The hikmah of tasattur
1. What is Tasattur: The word tasattur is derived from the root word satr ستر . One of the names of Allah, As-Sattar الستار , which means the One Who veils and forgives man's faults, is also derived from the same root. Tasattur literally means being or becoming veiled, curtained, hidden, concealment, to cover, to veil, to drape, to conceal one's self, veiling.
As a term of the Sharî’ah, it refers to men and women, particularly women, covering themselves as it is stated in the Sharî’ah.
Allah created man in need of artificial clothing, even though He was able to dress him with the most exquisite natural clothing, just as He dressed the animals, particularly the birds, with their exquisite feathers. It indicates that the purpose of tasattur, which is covering and wearing clothes, is not limited to hikmahs, like covering the awrah, protection from cold and heat and adornment. It is as follows:
It is the requirement of the name Hakîm that, at the arena of rising from the dead and assembling for judgment, Janâb-i Haqq will clothe man, who will be stripped of artificial clothing, with a fitrî garment, just as He clothes His creatures having rûh other than man with a fitrî garment. In the world, the hikmah of the manufactured garment is not restricted to protection from the heat and cold, and adornment and covering the awrah. Rather, a significant hikmah of it is being an index and a list that indicate man's disposal over the other species, his relationship with them and his commandership over them. Janâb-i Haqq could, otherwise, clothe man with an easy and cheap fitrî clothing. For if it is not for this hikmah, man who wraps and wears various rags on his body becomes a laughingstock in the view of conscious animals and in comparison with them; he makes them laugh in a ma’nawî manner. In the arena of rising from the dead and assembling for judgment, that hikmah and relation will not exist, so the list should not exist either.
The Twenty-Eighth Letter/The Eighth Matter which is the Eighth Risale/4th Subtle Point/Fourthly
Allah created man with a comprehensive fitrah that is in need of everything; He made man the khalîfah of the earth by subjugating everything to his needs, and He raised man to the rank of Ahsan Taqwîm as the perfect of His creatures. It is as follows:
اَلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اْلاَرْضَ فِرَاشًا وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً1 Know that, with this phrase, by declaring the grandeur of As-Sâni’s Qoudrah and the favours He bestowed on mankind, the Qur’an urges and encourages man to ‘ibâdah. As if the âyah says, "O man! The One Who subjugated the earth and samâ to you deserves your ‘ibâdah."
It also alludes to man's fadhîlah and his high value and his honour for Allah.
Signs of Miraculousness-318
And since the universe's Owner has chosen the earth from the universe, and mankind from the earth, He has given him an extremely high rank and importance.
The Tenth Word-The First Part of the Addendum
Furthermore, since we see with our eyes and understand with our minds that man is
And most certainly and without any doubt, as a requirement of the above twenty haqiqahs, there will be a rising from the dead and assembling for judgment for mankind, who through the above twenty universal haqiqahs are bound to Janâb-i Haqq's Name Haqq, and whose actions are continuously recorded by Al-Hafîdh Zuljalâl’s name Hafîdh, Who sees the most insignificant need of the tiniest living being, hears its du’â and responds to it through His action, and whose actions that will concern the whole universe are written by the noble scribes of that Name and who are honoured with that Name’s attention more than anything else; they will receive a reward for their above duties and suffer punishment for their faults as a requirement of the name Haqq.
The 11th Ray-7th Topic
2. The hikmah of tasattur:
بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
يَا اَيُّهَا النَّبِىُّ قُلْ ِلاَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلاَبِيبِهِنَّ2
to the end thereof... This âyah commands tasattur. However, the depraved civilisation opposes this decree of the Qur'an and does not consider tasattur suitable for fitrah; it says that tasattur is slavery. {Part of the defence that is written to the Court of Appeal, which opposed the Court and silenced it: "I say to this court of law that if there is any justice on the face of the earth, it will surely reject this unjust decision and nullify this judgement that convicts a man who has made the tafsir of the most sacred, true and right principle of Allah applied in the social life of three hundred and fifty million people, in every age, for one thousand three hundred and fifty years through relying on the confirmation and consensus of three hundred and fifty thousand tafsirs and following our ancestors’ beliefs they had for one thousand three hundred and fifty years!..."}
The Answer: We shall declare only four of the many hikmahs that indicate that this decree of Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm is perfectly suitable for fitrah, and the opposite of it is contrary to fitrah.
First Hikmah: Tasattur is appropriate for women’s fitrah, and their fitrah requires it because women have a fitrî inclination not to be subjected to abhorrence, to make themselves loved and not to be hated since, by creation, they are weak and delicate and are in need of a man's protection and assistance for themselves and for their children whom they love more than their own lives.
Furthermore, six or seven out of ten women are either old or ugly, and they do not want to show their old age and ugliness to everyone. Or they are jealous; they do not want to appear ugly compared to those who are more beautiful than themselves, or they fear aggression or being accused; by fitrah, they want tasattur so as not to be subjected to attacks nor to be accused of betrayal by their husbands. As evidence, it can be mentioned that, if observed carefully, the old women are the ones who hide themselves the most. And out of ten women, only two or three can be found who are both young and beautiful and not ashamed to display themselves. It is well known that women are embarrassed and affected by the looks of men who they abhor or do not like. Even if a beautiful woman dressed immodestly enjoys the looks of two or three out of ten men, surely, she abhors seven or eight of them. Furthermore, since a beautiful woman, who is not tainted and whose morality is not corrupted, is sensitive and quickly affected, she will certainly be embarrassed by the poisonous and dirty looks, the effects of which have been experienced physically. We even hear that in Europe, the land of immodest dressing, many women, by being annoyed with this intense stare, report to the police, stating that "These vile men are harassing us with their stares."
It means that the abrogation of tasattur by civilisation is contrary to fitrah, and the Qur'an's command of tasattur is suitable for fitrah. The Qur'an's command of tasattur saves women, who can be the mines of compassion and worthy eternal companions, from degradation, abasement, ma’nawî slavery and misery through tasattur.
Furthermore, by fitrah, women are timid and afraid of strange men. As for the fear, by fitrah, it requires tasattur. Because there is the possibility of suffering the calamity — which will extremely make the eight or nine minutes of pleasure bitter — of eight or nine minutes of illicit pleasure for eight or nine years due to carrying with difficulty the heavy load of a child, as well as the tarbiyyah of a child without a protector. And since this happens frequently, their fitrah truly fears non-mahrams intensely, and their innate disposition wants to avoid them. And their weak creation commands and severely warns not to excite the appetites of non-mahrams and not to give any opportunity for their aggression and shows that their shield and fortress is their charshaf (jilbâb).
As I heard: The bare-legged wife of a world high-ranking man being molested in the centre and capital city of government, in a bazaar, in the daytime, in front of everyone, by a very ordinary shoepainter, gives a slap to the shameless faces of those who are against tasattur!
Second Hikmah: The extremely essential and intense relationship, love and connection between man and woman are not only based on the needs of worldly life. Yes, a woman is a life companion of her husband not only in worldly life but also in eternal life. Since she is her husband's life companion in eternal life too, surely, she should not attract the eyes of other men to her beauty aside from her husband, her eternal friend and companion, and should not offend and make him jealous. Since, in consequence of the mystery of îmân, her mu’min husband's connection to her is not confined to worldly life, and his love is not only animal-like, temporary and restricted to the time of her beauty, but rather he is attached to her with true and sincere love and respect in terms of her being his life companion in eternal life, and he carries that sincere love and respect for her not only during her youth and at the time of beauty but also at the time of old age and ugliness. Indeed, in return for this, devoting her beauty to his eyes alone and restricting her love only to him is the requirement of humanity. Otherwise, she would gain very little but lose a lot.
According to Sharî’ah, the husband should be equivalent to the wife; that is, they should be suitable for each other. The most important aspect of this equivalence is the point of being religious. Happy is the husband who sees the piety of his woman and emulates her, and he becomes pious in order not to lose his companion in eternal life.
Happy is the woman who sees the piety of her husband and embraces taqwâ in order not to lose her eternal friend.
Alas for the man who enters dissipation, which will cause him to lose his sâliha woman eternally. How unfortunate is the woman who does not follow her muttaqî husband and loses her blessed eternal friend.
A thousand alas for the unfortunate husband and wife who imitate the fisq and dissipation of each other! They help one another get thrown into the fire!
Third Hikmah: A family’s happiness in life continues through mutual trust, sincere respect and love between husband and wife. Lack of tasattur and modesty in dressing destroys trust and undermines mutual respect and love because out of ten immodestly dressed women, only one does not try to make herself admired by strangers, as she does not see any better than her husband. As for nine of them, they see other men better than their husbands. And only one out of twenty men does not see a more beautiful one other than his wife. Then, it can awaken a terribly ugly and exceedingly despicable feeling along with loss of sincere love and mutual respect. It is as follows:
By fitrah, man cannot carry a lustful feeling towards his mahrams, such as his sisters, because the faces of his mahrams break the lustful inclinations of nafs since their faces evoke in him compassion and licit love arising from kinship and being mahram. But to leave the parts of the body naked, like the legs, which are not permissible (jâiz) to show even to mahrams according to Sharî’ah, can awaken a terribly ugly feeling in the people who have an inferior nafs. Because the face of a mahram is a reminder of being forbidden in terms of close kinship, and it does not look like that of a non-mahram, but, for example, a bare leg is the same as that of non-mahrams. Since it does not carry any distinguishing mark, which is a reminder of being a mahram, it may awaken a bestial, lustful look in mahrams with an inferior nafs. Such a look is a hair-raising decline of humanity.
Fourth Hikmah: It is well-known that everyone desires the abundance of generations. There is no nation or government that does not support multiple successive generations. Ar-Rasûl Al-Akram ‘Alayhissalâtu Wassalâm decreed: تَنَاكَحُوا تَكَاثَرُوا فَاِنِّى اُبَاهِى بِكُمُ اْلاُمَمَ (As he said) That is, "Marry and increase, for in the qiyâmah, I will take pride in your great numbers." However, the abrogation of tasattur does not increase marriage but highly decreases it. Because even the most depraved and modern young man wants a chaste and righteous life companion. Since he does not want her to be modern like himself, that is, he does not want her to dress immodestly, he remains unmarried and even enters fornication, but a woman is not like that; she cannot restrict her husband to that extent. Because her most essential moral quality should be loyalty and trustworthiness since, on account of being the domestic administrator in the family life, a woman is an official in protecting all of her husband's possessions, his children and everything that belongs to him, and immodest dressing destroys this loyalty; in her husband’s eyes, she loses trustworthiness, and she makes him suffer the torment of conscience. Even courage and generosity, two admirable moral qualities in men, are negative traits in women, as they undermine loyalty and trustworthiness. However, a husband's duty does not include loyalty and being a treasurer to the wife, but rather protection, mercy and respect. Therefore, he cannot be restricted. He can also marry other women.
The continent of the Islamic world is not comparable to the European continent. Because, there, amid the immodest dressing, honour is preserved to a degree through violent means, such as the duel. One who looks at the wife of an honourable man with impure eyes wraps his shroud around his neck and then looks. Also, in Europe, the continent of cold countries, temperaments are cold and stiff, like that continent. Asia, the continent of the Islamic world, is the place of warmer countries compared to Europe. It is well known that the environment affects the morality of man. In those cold countries and those cold people, immodest dressing that will sharpen appetites and stimulate animal desires might not result in waste and misuse; however, in warm countries, immodest dressing that will continually excite the desires of nafs of quickly affected and sensitive people is certainly the cause of much waste, misuse, weakness of generation and a loss of strength. Instead of once a month or twenty days, the need of fitrah, he supposes himself to be obliged to waste every few days. Then, since he is obliged to avoid his wife for fifteen days every month due to occurrences, like her menstrual cycle, he will even incline to promiscuity if his nafs defeats him.
The urban people cannot abrogate tasattur by comparing themselves with the rural people or nomads because, in the villages and amongst nomads, due to the occupation of livelihood, working physically and being tired, innocent working women, who are coarse to an extent and comparingly less attractive than urban women, being partially open does not excite the desires of the nafs. And since dissolute and vagrant men are few, one-tenth of the corruption of the city cannot be found among them. Therefore, they cannot be compared with rural people.
Twenty-Fourth Flash
Just as, in terms of compassion, women do not resemble men in heroism and ikhlas, and men cannot reach them in such heroism, so too innocent women can in no way reach men in dissipation (safahat). Therefore, due to their fitrah and weak creation, they deeply fear non-mahrams and know they are obliged to shelter themselves beneath charshaf (jilbâb).
Twenty-Fourth Flash - A conversation with women
While defending tasattur in the Eskişehir High Criminal Court, where a death sentence for him was planned, Hazrat Bediüzzaman said the following:
Veiled chaste women of Islam who were beneath charshaf for a thousand years preserve their charshaf today too.
27th Flash/Defence given to the Eskişehir High Criminal Court
Thus, I say to the Court of Appeal:
“I exclaim that if there is any justice on the face of the earth, it will indeed reject and abolish this wrong judgment that convicts a man who — by relying on the consensus and affirmation of three hundred and fifty thousand tafsirs and by following our ancestors’ beliefs they had for one thousand three hundred and fifty years — made the tafsir of a sacred and haqq principle of Allah, which, in each century, for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, was applied in the social life of three hundred and fifty million Muslims. The deaf ears of this century, too, should hear!”
I wonder, wouldn't it be a denial of Islam and a betrayal of our one billion devout and heroic ancestors, and wouldn't it lead to the accusation of millions of tafsirs to convict a man — because of the tafsir of those âyahs — who intellectually and scientifically rejects some European laws that are accepted temporarily due to the requirement of certain compulsions of this time and who has abandoned politics and withdrawn from social life?
The Fourteenth Ray-To the Directorate of the Court of Appeal
Moreover, to preserve the respect shown to women, the Qur'an compassionately commands them to wear the veil of hayâ so that those mines of compassion will not suffer humiliation under the feet of the vile desires of nafs nor be a worthless commodity that is an instrument to satisfy lust. {Note-2: The Twenty-Fourth Flash of the Thirty-First Letter on the Tasattur of the women has decisively proved that tasattur is appropriate for women’s fitrah and the abrogation of tasattur is contrary to fitrah.} Civilisation, however, has brought women out of their homes, torn down their veils and corrupted mankind. However, family life continues with mutual respect and love between man and woman. But immodest dressing has destroyed sincere respect and love and poisoned family life. Specifically, from the following, the extent to which ‘ibâdah to images seriously undermines morality and leads to the decline of rûh can be understood: Just as looking lustfully and with desire at the corpse of a beautiful deceased woman who is in need of pity and compassion destroys morality, so too does looking at the images of dead women or the images of living women, which are their little corpses, in a way that nurtures the desires of nafs, deeply shake and destroy the elevated human feelings.
Thus, like these three examples, each of the thousands of matters of the Qur'an serves not only to ensure human happiness in this world but also to serve their eternal life. You can compare other matters to the ones mentioned above.
Twenty-Fifth Word-1st Light-3rd Ray-2nd Radiance
The tyrants, who acted in such an oppressive and deceptive way against tasattur, opened a door to decline and corruption in the Islamic nation because tasattur has a great role in protecting the family institution and establishing material and ma’nawî bounds between the family members, as well as establishing feelings and moral values such as respect, kindness and compassion. In the families that did not establish tasattur as a principle in their lives and lost their moral values, these bounds and ma’nawî values cannot grow. If tasattur is abandoned due to imitating the modern lifestyle, the ma’nawî life of that family will be harmed; such people’s perspective on life gradually narrows down to worldly interests and pleasures and becomes materialistic; the high values and traits of humanity turn upside down and decline.
Dictionary / Arabic - Turkish Terminology