Muslim Women Who Don’t Wear Hijab Will Face Allah’s Wrath On Judgement Day, Lawyer Tells Karnataka High Court

A lawyer told the Karnataka high court on Thursday that Muslim women who do not wear the hijab as ordained by Quran are considered as “sinners” in the religion and would face the wrath [of Allah] on Judgement day.

Senior Advocate AM Dar, appearing for some Muslim girl students from Udupi district, said, “Non-covering by a woman will mean the lady will be sent to the place where there will be wrath on Judgement Day to give ‘hisaab’. We have to be ready to face Judgement. To cover head is essential religious practice for us.”

The ongoing hearings in the Karnataka high court on petitions challenging a state government order prohibiting veil inside classrooms in state educational institutes, began on 8 February.

To explain why hijab is an essential practice in Islam, Advocate Dar narrated a story from Islam’s founder, Mohammad’s life:

“My lordships, in 621, our prophet was taken during the night to the Allah in the heaven. That is called Isra. He was spiritually and physically taken by Gabriel. My Lord, there was a horse specially designed for him by Allah. It had two wings so that...Prophet will aboard, he will ride and the two wings, My Lord, will have the balance in the air (sic),” Dar said.

Dar continued, “During the journey – it was a one-night journey – he stopped at one place. He [Mohammad] asked Gabriel – ‘Mr Gabriel, tell me, which is this place? I have seen women crying. Who are these women’?”

“Gabriel told him – and this is narrated in the Quran and covered in the Hadith also – ‘These are women of your Ummah, who were seen not wearing cover on their head and chest’. Prophet saw that they [women] were crying, there were serpents around their neck, around their hair. The Prophet said - ‘I will pray to God to forgive them’. Gabriel said - ’Unless Allah forgives them, your prayers will not matter because they have committed a sin’ (sic).”

“So this is in our mind, My Lord, that we have to face the day of Judgement…Your Lordships have seen women in Burqa. It is not because of some compulsion. It’s a religious entity. It’s sacred for us…When Prophet came back during the night, he narrated it to his colleagues. To one of his friends who worked in the city, he said I am weeping. [Friend] Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said - ’Why are you weeping’. He [Mohammad] said - ‘I have seen women from my Ummah. They had not covered their private parts in the way Gabriel had narrated to me. They [women] were really in trouble in hell’,” Advocate Dar said, before concluding, “We believe in that. We have to face the day of the Judgement.”

Dar said that hijab is mandatory in Islam and has come from Quran. He said it is the last commandment from Allah after Shahada (profession of faith), Salat (namaz), Zakat (alms), Sawn (fasting) and Hajj (pilgrimage), and was revealed during fourth Hijri by the time Quran was nearly complete.

“Whatever Prophet has said is binding. How can we ignore? Then we are not Muslims,” Dar said.

The court then asked the lawyer to tell them which verses of the Quran he had referred to, to which Dar said they were from Surah Al-Ghashiyah, Surah Al-Ma'ari and Surah Al-Isra.

Dar pleaded that the petitioners only want a headscarf and not a full burqa.

“We are only covering the head, face and chest. These are vulnerable parts for us so there is no attack by unrighteous people and their eyes stay away,” Dar said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Muslims believe that on Yawm-ad-Din (translated as the Day of Judgement when the entire world would be destroyed as per Islamic belief), Allah will take a decision about people’s afterlife.

All the dead bodies will rise from the graves and gather on the plain of Arafat for the final Judgement. Those who are handed their own ‘book of deeds’ in the right hand will go to heaven, whereas those who are given their ‘book of deeds’ in the left hand will go to hell, to burn in eternal fire.