Hijab al-Mar'a wa Libasuha fi al-Salah
- Author died
- 728 AH
- Editions
- al-Maktab al-Islāmī
Hijab al-Mar'a wa Libasuha fi al-Salah (The Veil of the Woman and Her Dress in Prayer) is a legal treatise by Ibn Taymiyya (661–728 AH / 1263–1328 CE) examining the regulations governing dress and covering during prayer and delineating them from the rules of veiling and looking outside of prayer.
Background and Core Thesis
The central argument of the treatise revolves around correcting a misconception among jurists who equated the clothing required in prayer with the covering of nakedness (satr al-'awra) from the gaze of onlookers. Ibn Taymiyya asserts that dress in prayer constitutes taking one's adornment (akhdh al-zina) as mandated in the Quran ( خُذُوا زِينَتَكُمْ عِنْدَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ , "Take your adornment at every place of worship" [al-A'raf: 31]), which is a duty owed directly to God and the sanctity of prayer (haqq Allah and haqq al-salah), rather than merely a means of concealment from people.
Consequently, Ibn Taymiyya establishes that the covering required in prayer does not correspond to the covering required against the gaze of non-mahram men ('awrat al-nazar), neither directly nor inversely (la tardan wa-la 'aksan):
- A worshiper may be obligated to cover in prayer body parts that are permissible to expose outside of prayer; for example, a man must cover his shoulders during prayer in accordance with the prophetic prohibition لَا يُصَلِّيَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ فِي الثَّوْبِ الْوَاحِدِ لَيْسَ عَلَى عَاتِقَيْهِ مِنْهُ شَيْءٌ ("None of you should pray in a single garment without having anything of it over his shoulders"), and a free woman must wear a headscarf (khimar) in prayer even if she is praying alone in her house.
- Conversely, a woman may expose in prayer what she is forbidden from showing to unrelated men outside of prayer, such as her face, hands, and feet, because prayer in the home does not mandate the outer cloak (jilbab) prescribed for going outside.
Topics and Legal Analysis
The treatise addresses several interrelated juristic and interpretive questions:
- Interpretation of Adornment in Surah al-Nur: Analyzing verse 31 of Surah al-Nur ( وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا , "And let them not expose their adornment except that which is apparent thereof"), Ibn Taymiyya details the disagreement among early authorities (al-salaf). Ibn Mas'ud held that "apparent adornment" refers to external clothing (al-thiyab), whereas Ibn Abbas interpreted it as that which is on the face and hands, such as kohl and rings.
- Rules on Gazing and Veiling: Ibn Taymiyya explains that prior to the revelation of the verse of the veil (ayat al-hijab), women went out without an outer cloak (jilbab), allowing their faces and hands to be seen. Following the command to draw their cloaks over themselves ( يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ [al-Ahzab: 59]), women were instructed to conceal these areas from non-mahram men. He also examines the juristic differences among the schools of Abu Hanifa, Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal regarding looking at unrelated women without desire, upholding the prohibition of gazing and seclusion (khalwa) to block the means to temptation (sadd al-dharia).
- Dress of Women in Prayer: The work discusses the minimum required attire for a woman in prayer, noting that she prays in a chemise/shift (dir') and head covering (khimar) that cover the body and the tops of her feet, while her face and hands are not considered 'awra within the prayer itself.
Reception and Publication
The treatise is incorporated within Ibn Taymiyya's collected fatwas (Majmu' al-Fatawa, volume 22) as a dedicated chapter on dress in prayer (Fasl fi al-Libas fi al-Salah). It has also been printed as an independent short book and in compendiums of treatises on modesty and veiling. The hadith scholar Nasir al-Din al-Albani prepared an annotated edition of the text, commending its legal precision and its clarification of rules of dress in prayer that are frequently omitted in standard legal compendia.
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