Hijab question

Hi Lissa,

I don't mean to offend ANYONE!... so please do not be offended by my answers in any way.

This is a long subject so I will try to summarize it in a few points.

1. You are asking this question from the western point of view of 'Equality of the Genders'... which is wrong and unfair. in fact, the fact that western women have in recent years/decades/centuries asked for 'Total Equality' is the worst thing that they have ever done to themselves... equality benefits men and gets them off the hook of responsibility, it does not do any favours to women... this has forced the 'modern woman' to stand on her own feet, depend solely on herself and be 'falsely independent'... couples have become more like 'flat-mates' and relationships more like 'business contract arrangements'... as a result her femininity (i.e. her biggest asset) is now lost to superficiality. Islam is about 'Fairness and Justice', based on respect for both genders rather than the misleading myth of 'Total Equality'. 

2. What's more: Western women (and Feminist Movements) are selective when they ask for 'Equality'... for example: when the Titanic was sinking and someone shouted (quite rightly of course) "women first onto the lifeboats", no woman said "oh no, it's equality, it should be equal numbers of men and women onto the lifeboats"... In other words: They only use the 'Equality' card when it suits them to do so.

3. Men and women are different... physically... as well as everything else... therefore you don't expect all of the instructions (given to both of them by their Creator Allah SWT Who knows them both very well) to be exactly the same... it would not be Just nor Fair.

4. Because all aspects of beauty are generally more pronounced and visible in women than men (and I am not talking about apparent physical beauty only here)... and also because modern women have become more 'out there' in all walks of Work and Industry... it has become more necessary for a woman to cover herself up... so that foreign men (e.g. colleagues, employers, customers...etc) deal with her according to her competence, intellect and abilities rather than according to her assets in terms of physical beauty... otherwise it would not be Fair and Just to herself nor to other people (men... or other women especially).

5. You are asking this question because you do not know Allah SWT like we do (from Qur'an and Sunnah).

Those of us who know the Power and Might of the Only God Allah SWT (as He taught us in Qur'an and Sunnah)... know to obey Him without questioning 'why'... Allah SWT says in our Qur'an:

6. Unfortunately, those who don't know Allah SWT think that every Decree or Instruction from Him has to meet their 'seal of Approval' and align with their 'logical' thinking... what they fail to appreciate is that every Decree or Instruction that comes from Allah SWT is in our benefit (even if it doesn't look fair or just at first glance)... because He knows what's good for us better than we do. 

7. Allah SWT gave us instructions in the Qur'an to dress modestly and cover up (albeit in different ways... because of the obvious differences between us explained above)... and he also gave us instructions to lower our gaze (both men and women)... the two sets of instructions are independent of each other; i.e. we are still required to lower our gaze regardless whether the other person is covered up or not.

8. The fact that a man’s ‘awrah (Private parts) is from the navel to the knee does not mean that it is permissible for a man to show his chest in front of other men, let alone in front of women. Although the chest is not part of the ‘awrah, uncovering it is still an action that is not appropriate for a man and is one of the actions of the immoral. 

Like I said above, it's a long subject, and I have more to say... but I'll stop here for now. 

Please note: Points 8 and 9 above were taken from: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/49836/why-is-a-mans-chest-not-included-in-his-awrah-because-it-may-be-attractive-to-women