And What About The Brothers?

Many have forgotten that Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa) is not going to decide our punishment based on our gender.

"These are Allah's limits, and whoever obeys Allah and His Apostle, He will cause him to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them; and this is the great achievement.  And whoever disobeys Allah and His Apostle and goes beyond His limits, He will cause him to enter fire to abide in it, and he shall have an abasing chastisement" (4:13-14).

The word "'awrah" denotes those parts of the body which Islam requires to be covered in front of others whether of the same or the opposite gender.  The Prophet [s] said, "A man should not look at the awrah of another man, nor a woman of a woman, nor should a man go under one cloth with another man, nor a woman with another woman." (Muslim, Abu Dawud, and At-Tirmidhi). 

The 'awrah of a man referred to in this hadeeth is from his naval to his knee.  In comparison, with respect to a man who is not her mahrem, a woman's awrah is her entire body except her face and hands.  Many brothers forget that they even have an awrah, especially during the summer months.  What is somewhat amusing is that there are mothers who wear hijaab but let their grown sons walk around with their 'awrah showing in front of non-mahrem women. 

Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa) has commanded the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their sexual parts. 

"Tell the believing men that they should lower their gazes and guard their sexual organs; that is purer for them.  Indeed Allah is well-acquainted with what they do" (24:30).

Here "lowering of the gazes" means to avert the eyes from the faces of the passersby and not to caress the attractive features of women with the eyes.  The Prophet [s] told Ali ibn Abu Talib [ra], "Ali do not let a second look follow the first.  The first look is allowed to you but not the second." (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and At-Tirmidhi). 

It is the reasonableness of the Shari'ah that a glance which accidentally falls on something which it is not permissible to see is forgiven. 

Jabir ibn Abdullah [ra] narrated, "I asked the Messenger of Allah [s] about the unexpected glance.  He replied, "Avert your eyes,' meaning, do not look back deliberately." (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Muslim, and At-Tirmidhi).

The Prophet [s] considered hungry and lustful looks at a person of the opposite gender as "the zina of the eye," according to his saying, "The eyes also commit zina, and their zina is the lustful look."( Al-Bukhari). 

He termed the lustful look zina because it gives sexual pleasure and gratification in an unlawful way.  

I have been informed by numerous brothers that it is much harder for them to avert their eyes because there are a multitude uncovered women walking around and they do not want the women to perceive them as being rude. 

Do I need to remind these brothers that Islam is submission to Allah and not to the world or to the feelings of others? 

Looking the other way is not nearly as hard as having to wear at least two layers of big clothing with a hijaab on your head, and don't forget socks on your feet, while waiting underground for the subway to show up as there are record high temperatures being set up above on the sidewalk! 

I do not know about the other sisters, but what keeps me going is the thought that no matter how hot this world gets, Hell will always be hotter!

Similarly, no matter how hot some girl is, Hell will always be hotter!

What is haram to look at is also of course haram to touch with the hands or any other parts of the body. 

Ma'qal ibn Yasar [ra] narrated that the Prophet [s] said, "It is better for one of you to be pricked in the head with an iron pick than to touch a woman whom it is unlawful to touch." (Al-Bayhaqi). 

Some brothers feel embarrassed to refuse a woman's hand when she offers it to them.  Funny how the brother feels ashamed of not being able to sin in front of his peers but has no embarrassment of sinning in front of Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa).

In covering the 'awrah men should remember that not all types of cloth are permitted for them to wear. 

The Prophet [s] said, "Gold and silk are lawful to the women of my Ummah and forbidden to the men." (At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa'i). 

Men must also be aware that they cannot wear women's attire.  "Allah's messenger cursed men who put on women'sclothes and the women who put on men's clothes." (Abu Dawud).  

It is imperative that Muslims identify themselves as Muslim and do not conform to the traditions and styles of the disbelievers. 

On the authority of Ibn Umar [ra] who said that the Prophet [s] said " Whoso resembles a people in appearance, he is one of them" (Abu Dawud). 

Brothers fear that dressing differently will cause them to lose friends.  " Believers, do not make friends with those who are enemies of Mine and yours. Would you show them kindness, when they have denied the truth that has been revealed to you and driven out the Apostle and yourselves, because you believe in Allah, your Lord?" (60:1)  

There are many people out there who would go to great lengths to poison the minds of the Ummah.  They will taunt, stare, laugh, or even yell that the "rag on your head isn't going to save you from Hell you ---" on a train full of people (personal experience) in an attempt to make you fear them more than Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa).

Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri [ra] reported that he heard the Prophet [s] say, " The way for a believer to wear the lower garment is to have it halfway down his shins, and he is not guilty of sin if it comes halfway between that and the ankles, but whatever comes lower than that is in hell (and he repeated this three times). On the day of resurrection, Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa) will not look at him who trails his lower garment conceitedly" (Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah reported this hadeeth to be fully authentic).

Umm Salamah [ra] reported that the dress most liked by the Prophet [s] was the long gown (thowb). (At-Tirmidhi has related this to be Hasan with a reliable and authentic chain of narrators).

Clearly the Prophet [s] has set the guidelines for how a believer should dress; the lower garment can be of any length between the shins and the ankle but not lower, yet there are brothers who insist that following the current fashion trends is much more important than following the Prophet [s]. 

Many brothers need to examine their way of talking.  In order to feel more masculine, brothers will resort to using foul language.  Cursing does not disillusion the listener into thinking that the curser is macho. 

The Prophet [s] was not one who would abuse (others) or say obscene words, or curse (others), and if he wanted to admonish any one of us, he used to say: "What is wrong with him, his forehead be dusted!" (Sahih Al-Bukhari) 

Also, in order to blow up their already oversized egos in front of friends some brothers will accuse girls of "liking" them.  Are these brothers unaware that falsely accusing a chaste girl of anything, whether she is Muslim or not, is haraam?  "Why then, did not the believers, men and women, when you heard it (the slander) think good of their own people and say: "This (charge) is an obvious lie?" Why did they not produce four witnesses? Since they (the slanderers) have not produced witnesses then with Allah they are the liars" (Surah Nur, 12-13). 

Often these allegations are rumors based on ridiculous reasoning and in many cases just a figment of the brother's imagination. 

Islam has been here for over 1400 years and it has been unchanged.  It is up to each of us to realize that Islam does not have to conform to our "modern" time or our personal beliefs, but rather we have to conform to it.  Islam means complete submission to Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa).

Either accept all of it or reject all of it.  As a new convert said, "You call yourself a Muslim, but you don't follow all of Islam?  Just drop the title."

My apologies to all who I may have offended; that was not the intent of the article. Anything good in this article came from Allah's (subhaanahu wa ta'aalaa) generosity on me for guiding me on the right path and anything bad came from my own ignorance.

Farheen Hasan (Posted by rukaiah on Jan 16, 2001)

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