With the revelation of the Qur’ān to His Last Messenger ﷺ, God perfected His Religion: “This day I have perfected for you your religion….” (The Qur’ān – 5:3) The perfection of religion means now it is comprehensive and all-inclusive as it covers all the requirements of human beings in all situations and circumstances, times and climes. It also means that those who want to live a really successful life on earth need to follow the commandments of God and the teachings of His Last Messenger ﷺ. For, God has “bestowed upon you My bounty in full measure, and have been pleased to assign for you Islam as your religion.” (The Qur’ān, op cit.)
One of the distinctions of Islam is that it enjoins people to establish a clean society where desire is not aroused at the drop of a hat, and erotic scenes are not displayed everywhere. Thereby Islam aims to prevent desire from running loose, to avert looking at what is bound to excite desire and prohibit action that encourages sin. And this it does with one single stroke: the injunction of purdah.
Purdah is generally taken as the headscarves that Muslim women don. But in the Qur’ānic context, purdah is very much akin to taqwa (piety or God-consciousness) equally applicable to both men and women; for, the Qur’ān (24:30) first commands believing men to adopt purdah: “Tell believing men to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity. This is most conducive to their purity. God is certainly aware of all that they do.” And thereafter (24:31) it commands believing women to practise purdah: “And tell believing women to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity, and not to display their charms except what may ordinarily appear thereof.”
While asking the Messenger ﷺ to tell believing women to observe purdah, the Qur’ān gives the injunction in detail: “Let them draw their headcoverings over their bosoms and not display their charms to any but their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers, or their sons, or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their womenfolk, or those whom they rightfully possess, or such male attendants as are free of physical desire, or children that are as yet unaware of women’s nakedness. Let them not swing their legs in walking so as to draw attention to their hidden charms.” (The Qur’ān – 24:31)
Thus purdah is not a piece of cloth; it is the intent or the inner urge, out of piety or God-consciousness, that the believing women stick to donning purdah as and when they need to go out of their homes. Then the same ayah addresses the believers in general (men and women both): “Believers, turn to God in repentance, so that you may achieve success.”
Let’s imagine how the society will look like if only the injunction of purdah is implemented in letter and spirit.