Mukhalafat Taqa fiha Bad al-Nisa
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- Mukhalafat Taqa fiha Bad al-Nisa
Mukhalafat Taqa fiha Bad al-Nisa (Violations Committed by Some Women) is an Islamic legal and advisory work by Muhammad Hasan Abd al-Ghaffar, examining common religious and behavioral transgressions concerning women in Islamic law.
Overview and Structure
The work is organized as a series of thematic lessons addressing specific religious prohibitions, societal practices, and juristic disagreements regarding women's conduct in daily and family life. Across its chapters, the author reviews textual evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah, outlines differences among classical juristic schools, and weighs differing scholarly positions (tarjih).
The book treats the following main subjects:
- The status and Islamic guidelines for women, including dress and improper display (tabarruj).
- Bodily alterations, such as tattooing (washm), eyebrow plucking (namas), teeth filing (taflij), and hair extensions (wasl).
- Social companionship with non-compliant women, neglecting the duty to forbid wrongdoing, and marital disobedience.
- The ruling on women visiting graveyards (ziyarat al-qubur) and following funeral processions (ittiba al-janaiz).
- Prohibitions surrounding free mixing (ikhtilat) and women traveling without a male guardian (mahram).
- The invalidity of contracting marriage without a legal guardian (wali).
- Marital duties, marital discord (nushuz), denial of marital intimacy, and ingratitude toward the spouse (kufran al-ashir).
Dress, Adornment, and Physical Alterations
The author details transgressions relating to modest dress and physical alterations. He warns against modern forms of tabarruj, such as wearing form-fitting garments, placing an abaya on the shoulders so that it defines body contours, wearing face veils (niqab) improperly so as to reveal parts of the cheeks, or applying perfume and scented soaps when exiting to mosques or markets.
Regarding cosmetic alterations, he analyzes the prophetic prohibition of permanent tattooing, plucking eyebrow hairs, adding hair extensions, and filing teeth for beauty. He adopts the majority position that namas specifically denotes removing hair from the eyebrows, rejecting the broader view that forbids removing any facial or body hair. He also clarifies that temporary decorative drawings, such as henna-like surface designs that wash off, are permissible, whereas permanent modifications and alterations made under the pretext of pleasing one's husband remain impermissible unless required for medical treatment or removing an obstruction to vision.
Social Conduct, Mixing, and Travel
The text addresses social interactions, warning observant women against maintaining close companionship with women who openly display tabarruj, arguing that condoning sin undermines the principle of disavowing wrongdoing. He also cautions against free mixing with non-mahram men in universities and informal settings, sitting socially with the husband's male relatives (al-hamw), and riding alone in taxis with an unrelated driver.
In examining travel without a mahram, the author reviews four scholarly positions: the majority prohibition covering any shortening distance (masafat al-qasr); the Maliki and Shafi'i allowance for Hajj with a trustworthy company; the view permitting journeys completed in less than a day and night; and the view conditioning travel solely upon safety. He supports the majority stance, maintaining that travel over the prayer-shortening distance without a mahram is strictly unlawful regardless of modern modes of transport.
Marriage and Marital Relations
The work addresses marriage contracted without the consent of a legal guardian (wali), such as secret customary (urfi) marriages. Refuting the Hanafi allowance for an adult woman to contract her own marriage, he affirms the majority position that a guardian is an indispensable condition for the validity of the marriage contract. In cases where such an invalid contract has already taken place, the couple must be separated; the woman is entitled to an equivalent dowry (mahr al-mithl) due to intimacy, and she must observe a waiting period (iddah) before any valid remarriage can be contracted with a proper guardian and witnesses.
In marital ethics, the author emphasizes the husband's rights and highlights forms of recalcitrance (nushuz), notably a wife's unjustified refusal of her husband's call to intimacy and ungratefulness for his benevolence (kufran al-ashir), citing the textual warnings directed against these acts.
Visiting Graves and Funerals
The book surveys five scholarly perspectives on women visiting cemeteries and following funeral processions: prohibition, dislike (karahah), permissibility, and recommendation (istihbab). Evaluating the relevant hadiths, the author favors the position of prohibition, arguing that explicit verbal prohibitions take precedence over tacit approvals, and points to the emotional distress, lamentation, and social violations that frequently occur at grave sites.
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