Abdullah Al-Dany

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

Religious scholars in Saudi Arabia are once again facing off over the controversial issue of the face-covering niqab. The former head of the Makkah branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, stirred the new uproar when he openly stated that women are allowed to reveal their faces in public.



“I am truly convinced about the fact that women do not have to cover their faces, and my wife, who is a cousin, is equally convinced about it,” Al-Ghamdi said while appearing on a television talk show alongside his wife, who was not veiled.



Al-Ghamdi appeared on the TV to prove he stood behind his view after a heated debate ensued after a reply he gave to a woman went viral on the Internet with thousands of people offering their comments.



“I received a question on my Twitter account from a woman who asked me if Islam allowed her to post a picture of her face on a social network,” Al Ghamdi said. “I told her that it was allowed. My opinion was based on scholarly books and on the stance of well-known and highly respectable religious figures,” he said.



Many religious scholars found Al-Ghamdi’s actions to be pompous and controversial and said women should not reveal their faces in front of male strangers.



Kingdom’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Alsheikh has said Muslim women had a duty to wear full hijabs, which cover their faces.



“There are those who said that it was okay for women to show their faces to strangers and that the veil is a social tradition, and not a religious order. This is wrong because covering the face is a religious obligation,” he said in remarks published by local news site Sabq.



Member of the Board of Senior Scholars and the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan said when there is not a clear edict on a particular issue in the Qur’an and Sunnah (Traditions of the Prophet), one may refer back to the opinion of the great scholars of Islam.



“A woman’s veil is a protection for her against men with vile intentions. According to the Maliki school of thought, women are prohibited from revealing their faces to strange men. There is no clear evidence for this prohibition in the Qur’an or the Sunnah, but it is widely accepted that a woman’s face may invite unwanted attraction and therefore she must cover it to protect herself,” he said.



The imam of Quba Mosque in Madinah, Sheikh Saleh Al-Maghamsi, said it is always better to be modest though he admitted that not all scholars agree that women should not reveal their faces.



“One must see the social conditions in a country and listen to what the scholars of that country say on the matter. If a woman finds no hardship in covering her face, then she should wear the veil. But if she lives in a country where unveiling is the norm, then we have no right to force her to put on her veil. The best judgment is to leave the decision to the women themselves. They are aware of the men of their culture and what exposes them to danger and what doesn’t,” said Al-Maghamsi.



Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan, a scholar at the High Institute for Jurisprudence at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University and supervisor of Islam Message Network, agreed.



“If she is used to covering her face and if she is comfortable in doing so, she may continue the practice; but if she is not, it should be left to her own judgment. I personally find that it is important for a woman to cover her face, especially if she is young and beautiful. However, if she is old or unattractive then she may be lenient,” he said.



Sheikh Yousef Al-Shabily, another scholar at the same institute, said differences are normal among scholars and it is every Muslim’s responsibility to find out what is right for him or her.



“I personally do not believe that covering the face is mandatory. However, I do not excuse women who put on makeup and reveal their faces. That is inarguably prohibited. Even scholars who have allowed women to unveil their faces set a condition that they should not be beautified in any manner,” said Al-Shabily.



Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani, a former imam of the Grand Mosque, said Saudi society is not used to conflicting opinions on religious matters. “We believe in one opinion and view everything else is wrong. I tweeted once that you would know a real Saudi hijabi when she travels abroad. Many Saudi women take their hijab off when they travel because they are not covering their faces as a religious duty. All in all, no scholar should force his followers to listen to him. It is hard to say anything definite about an issue that has been a matter of dispute for a long time,” said Al-Kalbani. In his reply to what Sheikh Al-Ghamdi publicly announced, Al-Kalbani said it is important to remember that a religious issue is being discussed and all views should be respected.



“There are more pressing matters than figuring out whether women are obliged to cover their faces or not. We need a law against sexual harassment, for example. Sexual harassment exists in our society and it has nothing to do with women revealing or covering their faces and we need to address it,” said Al-Kalbani.