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[quote]Of course, the quest for truth should define our life while being imbued with humility and unassuming nature. Every end is indicative of a new beginning; this is at least what human history has shown so far. The Doomsday is the end of the earthly life yet it heralds a grand new beginning, the journey of the pure souls in the blissful world.

You write:

[i] To me, this is something like this: I ask you to lets eat at McDonalds. [/i]
 [i] When asked to drive to McDonalds, you argue that the sentence doesn't say anything about going to McDonalds. All it says is to eat there. You insist that i should have said: Lets drive to McDonalds and lets eat at McDonalds. [/i]

[i] I don't know if that made any sense. [/i]

This is the question that you yourself have answered in your post. You have noted: [i] Omitting "husbands" from this list, which portends to be exhaustive, could have been problematic. [/i] This is exactly how the word Khimar should be understood. The Holy Qur'an while delineating the directives of Hijab have recorded each and every directive in explicit words. It is quite unlikely that it should leave one word amibiguos in the whole array of unequivocal words. It gives clear commands.

[blue] Ask the believers to guard their gaze [/blue] [b] Explicit [/b]

[green](ask them) to cover their private parts [/green] [b] Explicit [/b]

[blue]Ask the believing ladies to guard their gaze[/blue] [b] Explicit [/b]

[green](ask them) to cover their private parts[/green] [b] Explicit [/b]

[blue]They should not display their ornaments save those which are ordinarily displayed [/blue] [b] Explicit [/b]
[green]They should draw their head covering over their bosoms.[/green] [b] Implicit supposedly + Explicit [/b]

Following the trail of explicit directives, it is quite unitelligible that the Holy Qur'an should move on to take an impicit wording for head covering. In other other words, it should say: use head covering when it is implying cover your heads...

There is another thing to consider. The Holy Qur'an has exempted old ladies from this last directive later on. But it has not used the word Khimar there. Instead, it has independantly used [i]Thuab[/i] (24:60). Had the original concern of Shari'ah been 'Khimar', something with which Arab women cover their heads, it should have used this word instead of [i]Thaub[/i]. This means that the concern of the Shari'ah was to cover the bosoms with whatever means it is attained.

Yes, I do not deny that you cannot find anything in the Hadith literature about head covering. We do not find donkeys as forbidden species in the Holy Qur'an but the Holy Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have thrown over the pots of some people who would cook them. Similarly, it is only appropriate for ladies to cover their heads. What I have been saying is that the Shari'ah does not give an exhausitive list of all those deeds which should be done. Head covering is important, no doubt. But I cannot make it part of Shari'ah unless of course, we find it in the fundamental sources of Islam.

There are complete articles written by Christians on the importance of head covering. One can easliy find these on the Internet with references to the Bible. I was just saying that the Holy Qur'an has dealt with this issue of male and female interaction quite deeply like it was never touched before. In the sermon of the mount, Jesus (pbuh) has exhorted to guard the gaze like eyes first commit adultery and then goes the real crime.

What you have said about the verses on polygamy is quite right. The point was that the Qur'an does make references to the prevalent practices without any intention of promulgating them. The decisive factor, no doubt, is the context and the arrangment of the directives. Once we agree, the Holy Qur'an does refer to the current practices without such intention of legislating them, the only thing to see is whether this is the case with Khimar as well, something which I have been trying to show. I'd like this discussion to continue to the point I get convinced because, if I do, I would find it quite easy to explain the importance of head covering with reference in the Holy Qur'an.

Edited by - jhangeer hanif on March 13 2004  16:48:26[/quote]

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