The Promised: To Cover or not to Cover?

The Promised: To Cover or not to Cover?

Who was Mariam (peace be upon her)? 

A lot of the times when we speak of the sahaba and the prophets, may peace and blessings be upon all of them, we see such tremendous examples and such tremendous lessons but as women, we still feel that missing link, right? Have you guys ever felt like that, where you feel like they’re such awesome people, mashaa’Allah but they didn’t have to wear hijab or go through some of the problems that we as women go through?

But subhanAllah Allah blesses us with lessons from not just their stories but lessons for us women, through the beautiful lives of our mothers, the wives of Rasulullah, salla Allahu alayhi wasalam, and through the great women that lived in his time and some of the biggest of lessons through the four women that were guaranteed Jannah, whose status were elevated and they were raised to this rank and these four women is what our series will inshaa’Allah we about.

The first part of the series, we will inshaa’Allah talk about Maryam, (as). Now, this women subhanAllah is such a source of inspiration, she’s such a source of lesson, the only women who a chapter is named after, the mother of one the main prophets as most of us know Isa, (as), Prophet Jesus (as). Just her character, her personality is so amazing, the person that Allah chose to sent down one of the biggest miracles to mankind through- what is that? The birth of Jesus, (as).

And Allah himself tells us in Qur’an in Surah Ali-Imran that Ya Maryam

“Indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds.” Allah has chosen you, chosen you for you purity, and then purified you again and its like her status was promoted and now he chose you as the highest position. The word used here, ‘Alameen means all the worlds, anyone that existed and will ever existed. So Allah tells her that Maryam, out of all women that ever existed and will ever existed, that you are the best. That Maryam, you are the best of the best. SubhanAllah look at her status, look at her elevation and her rank with Allah.

And Allah tells us himself that she is a role model, she is empowerment to us, Allah tells us that she is a role model for everyone.  In Surah Tahrim, Allah tells us kind of the reason of such a rank of Maryam, Allah tells us that

“And [the example of] Mary, the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We blew into [her garment] through Our angel, and she believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures and was of the devoutly obedient.”

Notice how right after Allah introduces one of our role models- Maryam (as) , he says that she was “one who guarded her chastity”. Today, when we speak of women empowerment, what do we usually talk about? What are feminists all about? It’s all about doing whatever you want whenever you want, whether it modest or immodest, usually there’s a lack of modesty.

But with Maryam (as) , Allah gives us this example to show that she was so empowering but she had such hayaa’ she was so modest, in speech, in character, in appearance subhanAllah. She was not just modest but she the word that Allah uses here is “Ahsanat”- whose root word means fort so she was always so modest and so conscious Allah it was if she kept a fort around herself protecting herself.

SubhanAllah when you compare her to our society today, its as if less is more right? Less clothes, the cooler you are. The shorter your skirt is, the more you fit in. If you got it, you flaunt it, there is absolutely no self respect. Fatima will inshaa’Allah discuss modesty further. But for now, modesty was such a defining characteristic of Maryam, (as).

Inshaa’Allah that’s just a brief introduction about Maryam, (as). Now, we’ll begin the actual story. The story of Maryam, (as), in the Qur’an actually starts in Surah Ali-Imran with Maryam (as)’s mother.  We’re start at ayah 35 inshaa’Allah and just quickly go through. You can go back and read in detail. [Surah 3, Ayah 35]

The story is broken down into three scenes:

1)      Before Maryam’s birth

2)      Maryam’s growth

3)      The test 

“[Mention, O Muhammad], when the wife of 'Imran said, "My Lord, indeed I have pledged to You what is in my womb, consecrated [for Your service], so accept this from me. Indeed, You are the Hearing, the Knowing." [3:35]

Before Maryam, (as), is even born, her mother is making a dua’ to Allah saying that Allah, I dedicate whatever is in my womb to your service, dedicated to your worship. No expectations, nothing, just such a sincere dua’ for the worship of Allah. Simple. She wasn’t exactly expecting a daughter, she was expecting a son who would you know grow up in the masjid and worship.

“But when she delivered her, she said, "My Lord, I have delivered a female." And Allah was most knowing of what she delivered, "And the male is not like the female. And I have named her Mary, and I seek refuge for her in You and [for] her descendants from Satan, the expelled [from the mercy of Allah ]." [3:36]

Maryam’s mother was expecting a son right? But the child that arrives is a daughter. Her mother is you know surprised. And what does Allah say later in the ayah…”The male is not like the female”. Anyone know what this could mean? What was Maryam, (as) going to do later? What was the miraculous thing that was about to happened to her? And Allah said: “The male is not like the female”. SubhanAllah How seeing Allah is and How knowing Allah is.

“So her Lord accepted her with good acceptance and caused her to grow in a good manner and put her in the care of Zachariah (as) (as). Every time Zachariah (as) (as) entered upon her in the prayer chamber, he found with her provision. He said, "O Mary, from where is this [coming] to you?" She said, "It is from Allah . Indeed, Allah provides for whom He wills without account." [3:37]

And in the next ayah, we see that Maryam’s mother’s dua is accepted. Maryam (as) grows up in the care of Zachariah (as), who was not simply a normal man or a normal teacher, he was a Prophet. So we see her character blossoming, we see as she grows and gets older, as she worships. And in this ayah, You see the beauty of her Iman- so amazing that she teaches her own teacher, Prophet Zachariah (as), a lesson and inspires him.

Zachariah (as) used to find her with sustenance when he would come to the mihrab. She would have fruits and not just any kind of fruits but summer fruits in the winter and Zachariah (as)’s asks her, He asks Maryam (as), from where is this coming from? And subhanAllah its amazing what her reply is. She tells him, that this provision is from Allah and he is the one who provides with out account. The beauty of her Iman leads her to inspire Prophet Zachariyah to make his own dua which was such an impossible dua yet Allah answers it. Our topic today in relation to Maryam (as) and her unbelievable modesty that raised her to such a profound rank but her upbringing and her worship and just the way her Iman blossomed all leads to the formation of her beautiful character.

“At that, Zachariah (as) called upon his Lord, saying, "My Lord, grant me from Yourself a good offspring. Indeed, You are the Hearer of supplication." [3:38]

And this is where the first two scenes of her life end in this surah- her birth and her upbringing. And the last part of her story is in the beginning in Surah Maryam, inshaa’Allah.

Now I want you guys to think of something. This women, Maryam (as), was promised Jannah She was promised Jannah, why do you think she was promised Jannah? What her defining characteristic again? And what was her test? What was she faced with? Her defining Her unbelievable modesty. And her test- A miraculous virgin birth.

Mariam (as) and her mark on Modesty in Surah Mariam

 

“And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward the east.” 19:16

How does the surah open up? It talks of Maryam (as) going into itkaf, which is seclusion from this life, this is a sunnah of the prophets, because it would give them time to connect with Allah. In dealing with Modesty, we have to worry about our inner modesty, we have to make sure that we have spiritual modesty and that we are doing this for the sake of Allah.  We need to make sure that we are not trying to model for the America’s Next Top Hijabi, but to simply display hayaa and servitude towards our lord insha’Allah. If we don’t have the love for Allah, we are not going to understand the commandments from Allah.

“She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then we sent Her Our angel, and He appeared before Her As a man In all respects.” 19:17

she said: "I am asking  from Thee to ((Allah)) Most gracious: (come not near) if Thou dost fear Allah." 19:18

He said: "Nay, I am only a Messenger from Thy Lord, (to announce) to Thee the gift of a holy son. 19:19

She said: "How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?" 19:20

He said: "So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, 'that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint Him As a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us':It is a matter (so) decreed." 19:21

So she conceived him, and she retired with Him to a remote place. 19:22

When Jibril tells her that she is going to have a child, she doesn’t go into major depression or begin to question Allah and her faith does not get shaky, because from the beginning she has an understanding of who Allah is and that if Allah decrees something than be and it is. This is how we have to be when it comes to what Allah has told us to do, when it comes to any little thing especially now with proper hijab, you find people asking questions that they know the answer to, such as why can’t I wear a tube dress and stockings? Come on, we have to be stronger than this, insha’Allah, a tube dress? A tube dress that shows every contour of your body and a scarf on top, does that make any sense? And these questions, usually arise from weak iman, and I am speaking to myself before any of you, because if we have a connection with God and know that he is there to protect us, than these questions would not arise, we would go with the flow, like Maryam (as) and goodness, she was the most chaste woman at her time, and she was not tripping like we do over not being able to wear mini skirts  

so she conceived him, and she retired with Him to a remote place.19: 22

Focus on this verse, Maryam (as) retired to a remote place when she had Prophet Isa, in order to protect her family because if we read later on in the verses when she goes back to her town the people like she has thought, begin to mock her family.

at length she brought the (babe) to Her people, carrying Him (in Her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast Thou brought! 19:27

"O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor Thy mother a woman unchaste!" 19:28

They are questioning her morals and beliefs and purposely trying to make her feel bad. That say that her parents were not bad people, so why is she? They are complementing her parent but sarcastically mocking her, so if she is like this than her parents must be like this. They describe her as “kaanat” which is someone who is completely obedient. She remains quiet while they say things about her baby and parents.

Normally when we think of modesty, we think of it as something personal but Maryam (as) not only safe guarded her modesty but the modesty of her family. Today we see all of these people committing very distasteful acts, and back in my day (sad that I have to say things being that I am only 20 years old) when someone did something that was a little questionable or immodest, they would hide it, but today you can find all of these things plastered on the internet, it is crazy. The other day I was scrolling through Facebook, and bam, I see a Muslim girl snuggled up with some shirtless guy. It’s okay if you do not care, but what about your family? When we do these things, it does not only affect us, but it affects our family too. Look at the mother’s faces when they find out that their daughters or sons have been doing things inappropriately, look at the fathers, they are hurt. If look at surah kahf, when Khidr kills the boy, he killed the boy because the boy was going to be a kafir and disobedient and his parents were religious. Allah knows that raising a disobedient child is worse than the child living at all.  And look at what Maryam (as) did, she left her family in order to protect them although she hadn’t done anything, but was simply accused. We get accused of something that we did, want to act like we did nothing and go on our merry way, like nothing happened; when in fact you have fogged the character of you and your family. And it might seem like I am being extreme but when you go to be married, insha’Allah, and anyone who is married can tell you. As we are trying to figure out every bit and piece about the guy, he is doing the same, everyone wants to marry a pious individual. Do you want your future husband to know that you kissed this and that guy or done this and that? Insha’Allah, he will still accept you but what if he doesn’t? There are people who want to marry someone equivalent to them relationship wise and take the verse “pious with pious and impious with impious” very literally. And this is not un-islamic but if these are his reasons, he can do so. And also, when your sibling goes to get married, if the parents search like most do, they will know that he/she is the sibling of that girl who did that or that. Or she comes from the family with the sibling that does this or that. This in itself can affect your family as a whole. So when we do these things, it does not only affect us, but impacts our entire family. And to non-muslims, when you become Muslim, you start brand new the day you take shahada. And I do not mean to scare anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings, but this is the truth, and this is why as Muslims, we need to cherish our modesty.

Modesty is self-driven, she with she were dead rather than her modesty be defamed

and the pains of childbirth drove Her to the trunk of a palm-tree: she cried (in Her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!" 19:23

The movement of the child inside of her (contractions she is starting to feel) force her to the trunk of a date palm to lean against it. In pain, she says “What’s going to happen to me, I wish I would have died before this! The word “nasiun” meaning things that are easily left behind or forgotten; She wish she would have forgotten all things and have things completely wiped from her record. What does this mean? We must read the ayat. She is a strong human being and the blemish on her decency really afflicted her, she was able to get away for a while but now she will have to live amongst people again, she now has a human being. She will not know how the blemish will affect her and her family members including the people close to her. She would rather not exist than have her standard of modesty blemished.

Having modesty is self-driven. I can talk for hours and you can listen to hundreds of amazing lectures online about modesty, but it will not come until you decide. You have to be the one who wants to be modest, it is like anything else in Islam, everything is a self-decision.

Sometimes we are not going to understand every intricate detail of the deen but we have to work towards it for the sake of Allah, and it will proved to be fruitful, Allah has our back

Sometimes we are not going to understand certain things in the deen and we are never going to be able to but we have to work. And all Allah is asking for is sincerity in our actions. So maybe you do not understand why we have to cover or why we can’t have boyfriends, know that Allah is Al-Basir and Al-Alim, he sees and knows everything. He is the one who created you and knows what best for you, so this is not just a random commandment to suppress your freedom, but something that will help you. One out of six women in America have been victims of attempted or completed rape and every two minutes someone is sexually assaulted.  Allah wants to protect us from all harms of society, modesty is a security not a burden.

Modesty and its Importance today

The Prophet peace be upon him said everyone religion has a characteristic that sticks out and the one that sticks out in Islam is modesty.

What is the first image that comes to your mind when you all  hink of modesty?

Hijab, jilbab, lowering the gaze, humble, actions, talking. Some are physical some are intellectual and some are spiritual.

The three components of modesty are the spiritual, intellectual and the physical.

Spiritual Modesty

The prophet peace be upon him taught us in many ahadith that the heart is the center of the body. The heart is the spiritual center the command center. One way to know the cure to spiritual diseases is to know the symptoms of the disease itself. For example if we know that one of the diseases of a hypocrite is to lie then to fix this disease is to stop lying. In Surat Kaf Allah breaks it down and talks about who will be thrown in hell fire, number one that they were rebellious and they were ungrateful. These are the people that covered up the truth they were rebellious over Allah. Allah gave them blessings he blessed them with so many things. He gave those eyes sight, beautiful bodies, the abilities to hear and talk. And they used all these things against Allah. Take for example your parents they do so much for all of us. They have spent money on us, gave up there living for us. They feed us and love us and are there for us. And then it’s time for us to leave them and all of a sudden we take for granted what our parents have done for us and we tell our parents they have done NOTHING for us. Is that not ungrateful?? But no, Allah loves us MORE than our parents so when we disobey Allah that is immodest spiritually. We need to crush that disease!!  Saying I all the time is not RIGHT! I got an A on that test, I bought that house, I graduated from college. Saying “I, I, I” is an act of immodest spiritually. All of this is from Allah. Allah made us this way. If Allah were to take one breath from us we would die! Everything is from Allah. The eyes that Allah gave people are looking at things that they are not supposed to look at. The mouth that Allah gave us is used it to talk back to our parents, to back bite. When you are ungrateful to Allah that is a lack of spiritual immodesty and to be a spiritual modest person you need to be thankful for the things Allah has given you.

Intellectual Modesty

Take for example Iblees. In Surat Al-Bakarah its says “ watqallah rabukal walmaleektah osjudu la adam fasajadu illah iliblees.” Iblees was not an angel but because he was a good worshipper  he hung out with the angels. Allah told the angels bow down to Adam. All of them prostrated except Iblees. Is Iblees an angel? So why did Allah say Iblees didn’t bow when he told the angels to bow? When Allah said why did you not prostrate when I told them to prostrate. Iblees said u created me from fire and him from clay but Iblees was not an angel. And because of that answer that was the beginning of Iblees curse! Iblees was going to live in jahanum.  Use your intellect of modesty. What could of Iblees had said to Allah? He could of said “ ya Allah but I’m not an angel, you asked the angels to bow” Allah told the angels to bow but his arrogance made him forget the truth. He forgot his knowledge. He forgot the most basic truth. He didn’t use his intellect.  Does Allah not know us?? Does Allah not know what’s good for us? But we don’t use our intellect. Being immodest intellectually well make you think you know better than Allah. 

Physical modesty

Take for example Maryam (as), she was raised in a religious community. There was no comparison to her. She was the purest women. Then one day an angel came to her and told her she was going to have a baby. Her baby was no other than the Prophet Jesus (as). The Muslim community has a problem with judging others. So Maryam is pregnant. Allah commands Maryam to shake the palm tree so the pain can go away. She shakes the palm tree and her pain lessens. In the ayah she says “oh Allah I wish I would of died before this happened.” Maryam came from a family of prophet hood. Maryam said I wish I would have rather died before this happened to me before people called out and said I committed zina. She said I would have rather died than have a community think of me as immodest! This is why modesty is a BIG DEAL!!!

The outside important but it is also nothing without the inside

Allah made the adherence of hijab a manifestation of chastity and modesty. Allah says:

“Oh prophet tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw there cloaks over their bodies ( when outdoors) That is most convenient  that they should be known and not molested” (33:59) 


Because this ayah was sent down this is a commandment from Allah for each and every Muslim woman to cover! Allah commanded it and when Allah commands something we must do it for the sake of Allah because Allah knows what is best for us. When this ayah was sent down to the Prophet peace be upon him, he told all the woman of his time to cover and they did not argue they went and covered. Subhanallah this is what a believing woman is all about.

The Prophet peace be upon him said Allah loves bashfulness, the hijab is a shield to protect us. The Prophet peace be upon him said any women that has taken of her clothes in other than her husband house has broken Allah shield upon her.

I heard of a true story.

There was two ladies one that wore hijab and another lady that did not wear hijab. They were both neighbors. One day the lady that does not wear hijab asked her friend can you come with me to the market I want to buy new jeans. Her friend replied yes I will come with you but before we go buy your jeans I want to go to the masjids and listen to today’s lecture come with me. The lady that does not wear hijab replied okay that’s fine I will go. The lecture that they attended was about hijab and modesty. During the lecture the lady that did not wear hijab was crying and yelling out “ tawbt ya rabeey tawbt ya rabeey” “ Ya Allah I have repented”. “Ya Allah I have repented”. After the lecture the lady told her we can go get your jeans now and she refused saying, “I will not leave the masjids until I cover myself with hijab and abaya”. Everyone in the masjids told her you can go right now and by a hijab and abayah. She refused saying no! I will not leave the masjids until I wear hijab and abaya. So the ladies there bought her a hijab and abaya and she left the masjids wearing one. On her way to the market a car slammed her and she died right there. That was her last time on this earth. Allah hu Akbar! Allah gave her a chance to repent. There was a reason why her friend told her let’s go to the lecture. Allah is Al-Wadud the most loving! He gave her a chance to wear hijab before she died. She returned back to Allah swt covered. Now think of how many chances we are given yet there are some girls that still don’t wear hijab? Some of us have chance after chance to repent yet we don’t. 

Now a days, Hijab is styled as a fashion. Hijab is not being worn for the sake of Allah but instead for the sake of attention and others to please others, to see whom looks better, prettier. Society has lost the concept of hijab. Hijab comes in a package not this kind of package of looking prettier and pleasing others. The hijab package is the modest clothing one wears. Allah gives us the free will on how we choose to dress. Allah wants us to dress modestly. And Hijab also comes with watching our tongues, not back biting, lying or talking back to our parents but having the dhkir of Allah mentioned on our tongues. Hijab comes with lowering our gazes and knowing how to interact with the opposite sex. Hijab is meant to increase our imam to get closer to Allah. Hijab is a protection from the Hell fire inshallah.  If you don’t wear hijab and you have trouble wearing then ask Allah to help you in order to give you the strength in your heart. At the end of the day, as Muslims we are here to please ONLY Allah and no one else.

May Allah guide all of us and forgive our sins.