Housemaids observe hijab
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Assalamu
Alikum Wa Rahmatullah Bro
First
of all my appreciation for my previous querry and today i have a small question
with regards to keeping of Maid servants at our muslims houses.
I
don't have a maid so far but i want to clear some doubts with regards to
employing female maids at home. Some of the maids that words in muslims houses
i have seen that they do not oberve Hijab in front of the owner of the house.
Now i would like to know if that is really allowed in Islam. Some of my friends
tell me that they are member of our family so they can be without Hijab inside
the house. Please can you clarify me this before i can go and employ maid.
My
second question is with regards to the dressing code of women. Is it Fard for
women to wear stocking for the hands and feet as it is been practiced here in
Your
early response to this will be highly appreciated
Wa
Salam
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Answer:
Housemaids observe
hijab
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
Your
Question: Some of the maids that words in muslims houses i have seen that they
do not oberve Hijab in front of the owner of the house. Now i would like to
know if that is really allowed in Islam. Some of my friends tell me that they
are member of our family so they can be without Hijab inside the house. Please
can you clarify me this before i can go and employ maid.
Just because one is employed as a house-helper or
house-maid at one’s home does not make her a relative or a mehram of the people
of the household!
Unless and until the female house-help or house-maid is a
mehram relative, she would be required to adorn herself in a ‘hijaab’ when in
the presence of non-mehram male members of the opposite sex.
Your
Question: My second question is with regards to the dressing code of women. Is
it Fard for women to wear stocking for the hands and feet as it is been
practiced here in
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah
Ahzaab verse 59:
O Prophet, enjoin your wives and daughters, and
the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their
persons. It is expected that they will
thus be recognized, and not molested.
Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 24 Surah
Noor verse 31:
31 And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and
guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except
that which is displayed of itself; that they should draw their veils
over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their
fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their
brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or
the slaves, whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical
needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they
should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden
ornaments. And O ye Believers! Turn ye
all together towards Allah that ye may attain Bliss.
There are two opinions amongst the scholars in Islam as to
what does the phrase ‘except that which is displayed
of itself’ mean and include.
One opinion is that it means the face, the hands (upto the wrists) and
the feet (upto the ankles) may be left uncovered, and the other opinion is that
the face also has to be covered, and only the hands and the feet may be left
uncovered.
Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 4092 Narrated by Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin
Asma, daughter of AbuBakr, entered upon the
Messenger of Allah (saws) wearing thin clothes. The Messenger of Allah (saws)
turned his attention from her and said: ‘O Asma, when a woman reaches the age
of menstruation, it does not suit her that she displays her parts of body
except this and this’, and he (saws) pointed to her face and hands.
The most accepted opinion is that if the women covers
everything except her face, her hands, and her feet, she would be following the
Command of Allah; and if she chooses to
cover her face with a ‘naqaab’, then it
would be considered purest and closest to the Command of Allah Subhanah. And
Allah Alone Knows Best.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister