Qur'an 33:59
 | |
| Verse's Information | |
|---|---|
| Sura | Al-Ahzab (Qur'an 33) |
| Verse | 59 |
| Content Information | |
| Place of Revelation | Medina |
| Topic | Jurisprudential |
| Related Verses | Verse of Hijab |
Qur'an 33:59 known as the Verse of Jilbāb (Arabic: آية الجِلباب) instructs women to draw their jilbabs closely around themselves so that they may be recognized and not be harassed. In this verse, the word jalābīb (plural of jilbāb) is used. Jilbab is interpreted as a garment larger than a headscarf.
Al-Tabrisi, a Shi'a exegete, holds that this verse was addressed specifically to free women so that they could be distinguished from slave women by wearing the hijab and thus not be harassed. Other exegetes, however, do not consider the verse to be specific to free women and maintain that it requires women to conduct themselves with dignity, so that they are not suspected of immorality and are not subjected to harassment.
Sayyid Husayn Burujirdi, a Shi'a Marja', and Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, a Shi'a exegete, believe that based on the Verse of Jilbab, women must cover their faces. In contrast, Ja'far Subhani and Morteza Motahhari reject this interpretation and maintain that covering the hair is sufficient.
Introduction, Text, and Translation
Verse 59 of Qur'an 33, in which a type of Hijab is mentioned, is called the "Verse of Jilbab":[1]
﴾يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰ أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا ﴿
O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the faithful to draw closely over themselves their chadors [jalābīb]. That makes it likely that they are recognized and not be troubled. And God is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
Occasion of Revelation
According to Tafsir al-Qummi, the reason for the revelation of this verse was that during the time of the Prophet (s), when women went to the mosque for congregational prayer, some youths would sit along the road and harass them.[2]
Meaning of Jilbab
The word jalabib is the plural of jilbāb. Al-Raghib al-Isfahani wrote that jilbab refers to a shirt and a headscarf;[3] however, in Majma' al-bahrayn, it is stated that jilbab is a garment larger than a headscarf (khimār) and smaller than a cloak (ridā) that is worn on the head and extends down to the chest.[4] Hasan Mustafawi, a Quranic lexicologist, maintains that what is meant by jilbab is an outer garment that covers both the body and one's clothing; a chador, sheet, or cloak that covers the woman's entire body and is worn over clothes.[5]
Meaning of Being "Recognized"
Al-Tabrisi, a Shi'a exegete of the sixth/twelfth century, in the exegesis Majma' al-bayan, offers two interpretations for the phrase "That makes it likely that they are recognized and not be troubled", and others who have interpreted the verse have chosen one of these two interpretations:
- According to the first interpretation, which is al-Tabrisi's own view, the meaning of being "recognized" in the above phrase is that it becomes known that they are free women and not slave women, and therefore they would not be harassed; because at that time, some people would harass enslaved women. Also, some hypocrites would harass free women and when questioned, they would say, "We thought they were slave women." This deprived the hypocrites of such an excuse.[6] Tafsir-i nimuna mentions the distinction between free women and slave women but regards it as an ethical rather than a class-based distinction, arguing that slave women were generally not expected to observe the same standards of modesty and conduct as free women.[7]
- The second interpretation, which al-Tabrisi has attributed to Abu 'Ali al-Jubba'i (a Mu'tazili theologian, d. 303/915-16), states that the meaning of being "recognized" is that it should be known that these women observe the hijab and are chaste, so that profligate men (fāsiq) do not approach them; because when profligates see that a woman has proper covering and is chaste, they are less likely to harass her.[8] Allama Tabataba'i and Morteza Motahhari have adopted this interpretation.[9]
Jurisprudential Application
The Verse of Jilbab has also been cited in jurisprudential discussions.[10] According to Morteza Motahhari, exegetes such as al-Zamakhshari and Fakhr al-Razi have inferred from this verse that it is obligatory for a woman to cover her face.[11] Allama Tabataba'i also held this view.[12] According to Ja'far Subhani, Ayatollah Burujirdi held the same view and argued that by drawing the jilbab near, which is commanded in the verse, the face must necessarily be covered.[13]
Morteza Motahhari and Ja'far Subhani have not accepted this argument. In Motahhari's view, this verse does not intend to state the limits of covering, but rather states that Muslim women should behave with chastity and dignity and that their covering should not merely have a formal aspect. He wrote that the phrase "so that they are not troubled" (Arabic: فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ) in the verse confirms this view.[14] Citing the same phrase, Subhani wrote that the purpose of drawing the jilbab near was for free women to be distinguished from slave women and not be harassed, and this objective can be achieved by covering the hair. Therefore, covering the face is not necessary.[15]
See Also
Notes
- ↑ Jamʿī az muḥaqqiqān, Farhang-nāmay-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾānī, p. 126.
- ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 2, p. 196.
- ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, vol. 1, p. 199.
- ↑ Ṭurayḥī, Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn, vol. 2, p. 24.
- ↑ Muṣṭafawī, al-Taḥqīq fī kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-karīm, vol. 2, p. 95.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 8, p. 581.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 17, pp. 427-429.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 8, p. 581.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 16, pp. 339-340; Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 19, pp. 504-505.
- ↑ See: Shubayrī Zanjānī, Kitāb al-nikāḥ, vol. 2, pp. 462-470; Subḥānī, Niẓām al-nikāḥ, vol. 1, p. 52; Makārim Shīrāzī, Kitāb al-nikāḥ, vol. 1, p. 32.
- ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 19, p. 505.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 16, p. 339.
- ↑ Subḥānī, Niẓām al-nikāḥ, vol. 1, p. 52.
- ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 19, pp. 503-504.
- ↑ Subḥānī, Niẓām al-nikāḥ, vol. 1, p. 52.
References
- Jamʿī az muḥaqqiqān. Farhang-nāmay-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾānī. Qom, Pazhūhishgāh-i ʿUlūm wa Farhang-i Islāmī, 1st ed, 1394 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Kitāb al-nikāḥ. Edited by Muḥammad Riḍā Ḥāmidī & Masʿūd Makārim. Qom, Madrasa-yi Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, 1st ed, 1424 AH.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 10th ed, 1371 Sh.
- Muṣṭafawī, Ḥasan. Al-Taḥqīq fī kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Tehran, Wizārat-i Farhang wa Irshād-i Islāmī, 1st ed, 1368 Sh.
- Muṭahharī, Murtaḍā. Majmūʿa-yi āthār. Tehran, Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā, 1390 Sh.
- Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. Tafsīr al-Qummī. Edited by Ṭayyib Mūsawī Jazāyirī. Qom, Dār al-Kitāb, 3rd ed, 1404 AH.
- Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Mufradāt fī gharīb al-Qurʾān. Edited by Ṣafwān ʿAdnān Dāwūdī. Damascus/Beirut, 1st ed, 1412 AH.
- Shubayrī Zanjānī, Sayyid Mūsā. Kitāb al-nikāḥ. Qom, Muʾassisat-i Pazhūhishī-yi Rāy-pardāz, 1st ed, 1419 AH.
- Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. Niẓām al-nikāḥ fī l-sharīʿat al-Islāmiyya al-gharrāʾ. Qom, Muʾassisat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1375 Sh.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom, Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 5th ed, 1417 AH.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran, Nāṣir Khusraw, 3rd ed, 1372 Sh.
- Ṭarīḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-. Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn. Edited by Sayyid Aḥmad Ḥusaynī. Tehran, Kitābfurūshī-yi Murtaḍawī, 3rd ed, 1375 Sh.