Hijab is Not a Personal Freedom

The Hijab is Not a Personal Freedom

Peace be upon you. Some of us, when defending the hijab of a woman, say: "The hijab is a personal freedom." My brothers, there is a big difference between addressing disbelievers who do not believe in Islam as a true, absolute, and governing religion that dominates people's lives, and saying to them: "Your highest value is freedom. According to your principle, which I do not agree with, the hijab is a personal freedom, so why do you allow everything except the hijab? Therefore, you are liars and contradictory in your claim."

There is a big difference between this speech, and on the other hand, raising this slogan among Muslims who are supposed to have submitted to Allah in all their affairs, and acknowledged that the judgment is His, to raise the slogan "the hijab is a personal freedom" in their social media and gatherings as if it is a right we believe in.

The First Problem: The Fallacy of the Slogan

This slogan contains two major problems. And what this obedience leads to in achieving the right and justice, and everything that contradicts the obedience to Allah is a condemned disobedience that the Muslim society must work to remove, not leave it as it is considered a personal freedom. How many freedoms were not rights but falsehoods, and were not justice but oppression.

The Second Problem: The Hijab is a Divine Command

The second problem is that this slogan means that we are demanding the hijab of a woman as a personal freedom, and this is false. The hijab is a divine command that is obligatory for the Muslim society, not a personal freedom. And the Muslim is not a utilitarian person like the hypocrites who demand something if it serves their interest, then renounce it afterward.

The Consequences of Raising the "Personal Freedom" Slogan

Therefore, if we raise this slogan, then we see the debauchery in clothing and sins in all its forms openly, even the phrase "the right of a woman to wear the hijab" makes it feel that it is her right to wear it if she wants, and her right not to wear it if she wants. All of these are statements that stem from forgetting that the centrality in the Muslim society is the obedience to Allah the Almighty.

You might say: "So if it were up to you, you would impose the hijab?" I will not go into this side battle, for our topic here is to remind Muslims of what their Islam means to achieve the servitude to Allah by acknowledging that the command is His and the judgment is His, glorified and exalted be He, even if the rulings applied in their countries contradict His command, may He be glorified.

But I say here: Even the woman who is immodest in our societies these days, if she says: "Muslims must obey their Lord and act upon His command, and therefore, it is necessary to allow those who want to wear the hijab to wear it," then we say to her: You have raised a pre-Islamic slogan, and you have supported the hijabi in a way that is not praised except as the defense of Mut'im bin Adi for the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, in Mecca out of chivalry, even though he was not upon his religion, peace be upon him.

A Warning to the Muslim Woman

Beware, O Muslim woman, of demolishing the foundation and the great cause while you do not feel it. The hijab is not a personal freedom but a divine obligation.

The Conclusion

And Allah the Almighty is truthful when He said: {The only statement of the [true] believers when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is that they say, "We hear and we obey." And those are the successful. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger and fears Allah and is conscious of Him - those are the successful.}