I do pray the five prayers and I read Qur’an, and guess what, I never did when I was forced to in the past, it was my decision all alone and not my family’s, no matter how hard they tried. But still this only applies to me, it’s my story and not all people have the same outcome. Anyhow, I think of myself as a good muslim girl. But covering the hair is irrelevant with my faith! We people made this issue by making the cloths identify our beliefs! I strongly don’t agree with a piece of fabric identifying what I am, and what my beliefs are, that’s why it’s called Eman, it’s something inside you.

We muslims are focusing on small issues and leaving what’s important, the muslim world is shuttering around us and all we do is talk about what a girl should or should not wear! I know what some would say, that we start with ourselves first but isn’t that what we think we’re doing for the paet 100 years!

One other thing, I’m not disagreeing with girls who wear the head scarf, after all I don’t know what exactly it is told for us to do. It is completely their choice and no one should interfere.

Although we have been instructed to cover and observe hijab to cover our modesty and be known as believing women, the benefits and reasons for doing so do not stop there.
For women who begin to wear hijab, the inclination and need to wear it arises for various reasons. But ultimately it comes from Allah SWT.
The fact that a women has felt the need to cover is beautiful, that her inclinations are in line with that which Allah swt has ordainded for veher.ser
It is a blessing for us as women, not just muslim women, believing women through out the ages have worn hijab, it is not a new thing. Pre

I’ve said before, but I’ll keep saying it until enough people listen — non-Muslims should start right here at this website to LEARN something about Islam before demonizing it. I tell everyone I speak with about your site, and hope they follow through and come here.

Keep up the great work!

In Islam, hijaab isn’t just about covering the hair (although it does tend to be the most obvious part of it!)… it’s about the whole body and concealing it’s attractiveness. And really, when you think about it, hair IS a major factor of a woman’s attractiveness – just think about how much time we spend doing it up and fretting about it and spraying it with chemicals and all that stuff!
BTW, scarves don’t have to be hot and uncomfy – you can get them in really light soft fabrics and in winter it’s nice to have something warm around your hair that doesn’t look as unflattering as earmuffs ;)

However, in the case of medical conditions, then I’m not entirely sure about the exact Islamic ruling, but I’m sure there’d be some way to accomodate it without doing away with hijaab.

From reading the article, and readers’ comments, I now see that the hijab is a symbol of deeper commitment to Islam, for many Muslims. I respect that. Believe it or not, when I was small, it was a custom for the Christian denomination I was raised in for women to wear lace caps as a sign of devotion to Jesus Christ.

I fully approve of modesty in dress. I mourn the widespread lack of morality in the culture driven, in large part, by too-scant clothing. But I just don’t get the hair thing. Clothing revealing bodies is one thing; women should not throw temptation into men’s path. But hair? Personally, I would find a scarf hot and uncomfortable. Plus, I suffer from a scalp condition that, if my head were encased, would aggravate it.

I know that the Qu’ran is meant to be as much a practical guide to everyday life as a spiritual one. So, on a practical level, why is it necessary to cover up hair?

The second is that expert opinion is not always better than the opinion of a novice in part because their bias leads them to ignoring facts that contradict their position (and there is research supporting this). Of course, novices are biased, too, but the focus here is on experts’ opinions.

Here are some scattered and somewhat related readings on expertise:
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/001558.html
http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/060124_political_decisions.html
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/05/051205crbo_books1
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-expert-mind

Who determines who are the Ummah’s “mainstream” scholars? I imagine that the folks on this blog don’t pay much attention to Shi’a mainstream scholars. Aren’t we just saying that the group of scholars that I follow say something is required?

I think it is quite a statement to assume that all the scholars of the “mainstream” Ummah were right. I imagine every Muslim assumes that all the scholars of mainstream Christianity were wrong. Whether 100% of a “mainstream” group of scholars agree on something or not is irrelevant . What is relevant is to give and discuss the evidence and reasons with the goal of determining the truth (as close as we can figure it out) on a particular matter.

I asked this before without getting a response, but who gave scholars the right to proclaim what is fard and obligatory? Of course, as those who have spent their lives studying issues of Islam, they should give us their informed opinions about these issues. And of course, we should listen to and respect others who have studied issues more than we. In fact, if there’s a doubt in my mind about something, I would naturally follow their lead. But who gave them the authority to require others to abide by their opinions?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Mz8nTTS27g

and then

http://www.wasatstudios.com/works/islamic-lectures/intelligent-faith

btw I really dont concern myself with the fact that “all” scholars before me claimed the hijab was fard…the great thing about Islam is that Im not required to follow their beliefs in order to be a good Muslim girl…Islam is an individual relationship between me and God…scholars are learned and give their opinions…we as Muslims can either accept their opinions and practice them…or not…there is nothing in the Quran that says everything that comes out of the mouths of scholars is sacred and unchangable. Even scholars of old realized that their opinions were not set in stone and could change with the times…its a pity Muslims these days tend to worship scholarly opinion rather than use their own brains and discover their truth for themselves. Having “all” scholars agree doesnt mean a thing…all scholars use to agree the world was flat…and when one man came along and claimed it was round…they demanded he recant that claim or face death….so sometimes the group can be wrong…truth is not necessarily in numbers. have a nice day.