Hijab is an Arabic word which linguistically means a cover, a screen or a partition. Islamically, it refers to the dress code of the Muslim woman. As for the word khimar, it comes from the word khamara, the root meaning of which is to cover. For example, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Khammiru al-aniyyah (cover the vessels). (Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami` As-Sahih) Everything that covers something else is called its khimar. But in common usage khimar has come to be used as a name for the garment with which a woman covers her head; in some cases this does not go against the linguistic meaning of khimar. Some of the jurists have defined it as that which covers the head, the temples, and the neck of a woman. Then the difference between hijab and khimar is that the former signifies whole Muslim woman’s dress while the later commonly means the head-covering. Niqab, however, means what covers the woman’s face. (See The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Jurisprudence, vol. 17, pp. 5-6)
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 15:32:37 +0000
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