The Issue of the veil.

On Saturday evening I received a phone call from a friend. ‘We need a niqaabi to go on the radio and discuss the niqaab!’

Apart from my daughter being unwell – hence very cranky, I wasn’t too keen. For a start I thought to myself, what would I say? And is there any point? I declined the invitation.

Its obvious that people will always ask us about issue’s that they find extremely hard to comprehend. And of course they would, as even many Muslims find issues such as polygamy and niqaab very hard to comprehend.

If someone asked us why do some women cover their faces or why are men allowed to marry four women? How many of us would be able to answer them in the correct way? How many of us actually are aware of the beautiful wisdoms behind these issues?

If we don’t then now is the time to find out. Not only for ourselves, to increase our faith with knowledge of Gods perfect wisdom, but also so we can teach these pearls of wisdom to others.

I remember reading ‘Polygamy In Islam’, By Dr Bilal Philips and Jameelah Jones.

After reading that book I actually WANTED to be a co wife! I’m sure you won’t hear that from many women, especially women who have been brought in the west.

Then after learning about it from, ‘A principle of Shariah’ point of view it only served to strengthen my conviction in Gods supreme Laws.

Likewise with the Niqaab. People always assume I'm wearing it because my husband told me to and are often very surprised to hear that I was wearing it for a very long time before I married my husband.

Even my In - Laws who are not Muslim still seem to blame it – amongst other things - on my husband – poor thing.

If I say ‘no thank you to a cup of tea or cake, he even gets scolded by his mum, ‘aww let her have a slice of cake’.

‘I couldn’t stop her eating if I tried’ he laughs. But she seems not to hear.

Recently one of the questions that was asked to a sister on a radio discussion was, ‘I bet you can’t wait to take it off when you get home?’

I found myself thinking, Yes, in the same way many women can’t wait to take off their high heals after work or an evening out. Or a man loosens his tie when he is in a more relaxed atmosphere, or when a lady pulls her hair back into a pony or a bun so she can Chillaax! And yes, so that I can greet my husband and daughter or my loved ones with a warm smile.


Four years ago, soon after I graduated I attended a training course where I had to spend 2 weeks working with a mixed group of about 15 men and women.

Throughout the first session their was A LOT of flirting going on. Then during a break when the women left the room for a drink the men started backbiting and making lewd comments about the ‘appearance’ of the women. I thanked God so much for my Niqaab that day!

These women had no idea because the men were so ‘nice’ to them. It kind of got too much for me though, as they were using very foul language, (maybe they thought my veil meant I couldn’t hear or something). I told them ‘very’ politely to mind there language and they all started apologizing profusely


The next day on the way to training I saw one of the men on the bus and he recognized me. Again he apologized to me and said he’s sorry if he offended me. He said, ‘I’m really sorry, I don’t normally swear’. I asked him, ‘Is it just coz you’re with the guys?’ He just looked down embarrassed. He then started to talk about career prospects, it came up in conversation that I had just graduated from the school of Law Needless to say, he looked absolutely shocked.

I felt he had treated me with a lot of respect because of my full Hijaab and Niqaab, respected me for my speech and thoughts rather than treated nicely for the way I looked.

But although he respected me, he still didn’t understand my way of life or why I chose to dress the way I do.

I think the fact of the matter is, no matter how much dawa we give, talk or answer questions about Niqaab, or other things in Islam. One cannot fully comprehend this matter or understand it unless they understand our relationship with God.

If someone cannot count, how will they understand algebra? Likewise full comprehension and understanding of Niqaab and other such issues will only come with going back to understand the basics.

That is full comprehension of God’s Oneness, His Unity, and His divine Laws – the Shari'ah and its Principles. Only then can one understand our full Obedience to Him as our creator and sustainer and Law Giver.

I would advise All Muslims and Non- Muslims alike to look at it from this angle first.