Protect Your Gaze

of lust. There is also a necessity in that (in modern times) many women come and go in public, making it difficult to avoid this. Some scholars have also permitted looking at the feet.

He further states:

Although looking at the face of a non-maḥram woman is permissible when there is no fear of lust, this is an age of tribulation (fitnah), and people are not like those of the past. Therefore, in this age, looking at it (i.e., the face) will be prohibited, except for a witness or a judge, for whom it is permissible to look due to necessity.^{^[1]}

Remember that it is essential for a Muslim to acquire knowledge about which women Islam requires him to veil from, and from whom it permits not veiling from. Let us learn which women a man must observe SharꜤī veiling from.

From Whom Must a Man Observe Pardah?

The leader of Ahl al-Sunnah دَامَـتْ بَـرَكَـاتُـهُـمُ الْـعَـالِـيَـهْ states: A man must observe SharꜤī veiling from certain relatives such as his maternal aunt by marriage (mumānī), paternal uncle’s wife (chachī), father’s elder brother’s wife (tāʾī), sister-in-law (bhābhī), and his wife’s sister, among other such relations. Purdah is also required with non-biological relations such as so-called “adopted” or “fictive” kin: a man-made (munh-bolā) brother and sister, a man-made mother and son, and a man-made father and daughter. Even with an adopted child — once he reaches the stage of understanding interactions between men and women — purdah is necessary. However, there is no veiling in fosterage (raḍāꜤah, milk-relations). For example, between a foster

[1] Parday ke bare me suwal jawab, p. 30

Important

Mobile Apps

Contact Us