Do women with hijab have the same sense of freedom like others in this modern age? [closed]

Question

Allah,the exalted,says in the noble Quran as such:

"Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do.And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed."(Surat An-Nūr,verse30-31)

I understand in the past,men may not treat women appropriately,so hijab was a necessary order to protect women.

And since past,Muslim women have hijab.And now we are in the modern age which communication gets widespread and women take part in the society...

So now in these days do women who have hijab have the same freedom as others in this modern age?what is incompatible between hijab and freedom?

Answer 1

It's a good question and most of the people today including Muslims find themselves pondering over this.

Firstly I am not a scholar and IMHO there cannot be any good or satisfying answer to this question. In my attempt in answering this, I'll give a little background first.

Sometimes you have to reverse engineer somethings and see if we can make sense out of things. Would dressing lesser and lesser make a woman more and more liberal?

Islam is obeying and submitting to the commandments of Allah. Muslims believe that Allah is the creator of heavens and the earth and everything that lies in between. So permissible and non permissible things in Islam are through the words of Allah and his prophet.

For example, a man and a woman like/love each other and want to mate, Islam prohibits sexual activity until marriage and marriage in itself is just a word, a covenant and nothing more. A man swears to be loyal and protect and give due rights to his wife and vice-versa. This does not spread corruption among people.

If there are no laws governing acts between men and women then rights of either sex could be transgressed.

Now coming to the answer:

In most of the countries we witness today the crimes against men and women. Crimes related to sexual abuse across the world are mostly against women. Rapes and other sexually abusive crimes are mostly because of the attraction towards the other person. That attraction with lack of education and self control causes such crimes.

How many people are headed for a divorce and why prostitution is a booming industry? No modest family would want their daughter or sister or wife or mother to be a part of such industry. This is mostly due to the gaze of men and immodest clothing of women. Notice the verse commands men to lower their gaze first and then asks women to dress modestly.

Merely covering dress is not the idea, but more importantly, it is behavior, manners, speech and appearance in public. The idea for men and women is an outer manifestation of an inner commitment to worshipping Allah , it symbolizes a commitment to piety. Self or inner morality is what gives meaning to the modest clothing. -- http://www.whyislam.org/social-values-in-islam/gender-relations-in-islam/hijab/

All the three abrahamic faiths command men to lower their gaze and command both men and women to dress modestly. All women are equal, be it a nun or a believing jewish woman or a believing muslim woman, all are the same in the eyes of god and each one of them deserves respect and are expected to be modest.

Answer 2

I would like to introduce my Quran Teacher. Sir Imtiaz Ahmed Usmani has been a student of Quran for more than 20 years. Following is what he says about this ayah.

It is said to men to reduce their vision which means that women's faces are visible. Therefore interpreting it in a way that hijab was a necessary order is wrong. If by hijab you mean covering of the face as well.

The necessary order literally is to cover chests and not show adornment so we interpret it as following. Women should not wearing tight cloths and make up. They should wear full clothes and cover their chests

So IF you think a women's sense of freedom means tight clothes, make up and showing skin than you need to ask your self that what good can it bring to modern society.