Name: 【TEDx】What does the Quran really say about a Muslim woman's hijab? | Samina Ali | TEDxUniversityofNevada
Uploaded: 2017-05-01T13:10:36.000Z
Duration: 17 min 48 s
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I'm going to take you back in time, 1400 years,

To a time when Prophet Mouhammed was given the task

of finding a solution to women in the city being attacked and molested.

When a woman awoke in the middle of the night

past the outskirts of the city, and into the wild by herself,

a group of men actually began to see an opportunity

and started to linger at the outskirts of the city -

their identities hidden in the dark, watching.

A jilbab of centuries ago was a status symbol,

like a Burberry trench or a Chanel jacket.

and a free woman was protected by her clan.

She would have no problems speaking out against the attacker

But if the woman walking out at night wasn't wearing a jilbab,

if she happened to be dressed a bit more freely,

Concerned members of the community brought the situation to the Prophet,

and like so many other social, political, and familial issues

that Muhammed faced during his Prophethood,

he turned this particular matter over to God,

"tell your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers

This is better, so that they not be known and molested."

Basically, the verse advises that all women dress similarly,

so that they can't be picked out from one another,

this may seem like a relatively easy solution to the problem,

The early Muslim community was tribal, and so deeply entrenched in social status,

and the idea that a slave would look like a free woman,

And then there was the matter of practicality.

How would she function, if her body was constricted by a coat?

In the end, the early Muslim scholars ruled

that a woman's way of dress should be based on two considerations:

her role, what we might consider her job -

Muslims like to take historical rulings and apply them to the modern era.

A woman's way of dress should be based on custom and function.

So, what does that mean for a Muslim woman living in America today,

First, it means that I have a function, a role in society, a contribution

and living in a society where veiling is not the custom,

and where, in fact, if I veil it might actually lead to harassment,

such as a dress, a pair of jeans or even yoga pants,

that veiling is a requirement of her faith?

that we've all come to associate with the Muslim woman's veil,

Maybe the requirement that a woman veil is in a different part of the Quran.

For those of you who don't know, the Quran consists of 114 chapters,

each chapter is written out in verses, like poetry.

There are more than 6,000 verses in the Quran.

The first is the verse I've already told you about.

The second is a verse that directly speaks to the Prophet's wives,

asking that they begin to dress a bit more modestly

because of their role, their function in society as his wives.

And the third verse is similar to the first,

in that it was revealed in direct response to a historical situation.

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【TEDx】What does the Quran really say about a Muslim woman's hijab? | Samina Ali | TEDxUniversityofNevada

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