surah an-nisa verse 23 states:
Prohibited to you (For marriage) are:- Your mothers, daughters, sisters; father’s sisters, Mother’s sisters; brother’s daughters, sister’s daughters; foster-mothers (Who gave you suck), foster-sisters; your wives’ mothers; your step-daughters under your guardianship, born of your wives to whom ye have gone in,- no prohibition if ye have not gone in;- (Those who have been) wives of your sons proceeding from your loins; and two sisters in wedlock at one and the same time, except for what is past; for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful;
surah an-nur verse 31 states:
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 what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband’s 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.
in my limited understanding, the verses of nisa lay down the rules regarding who is permissible for marriage, and the rules of mahram are governed by the verses of an-nur.
a scholar in the uk is stating that a woman must wear hijab in front of an uncle (paternal or maternal) i.e. mother’s or father’s brother – even though he is mahram to her. the reason he gives is because the maternal and paternal uncle is NOT mentioned in the verses of an-nur. it would appear, based on the outward meaning of the above verses that he is correct – because the uncle is not mentioned in surah an-nur verse 31. he also states that this was the opinion of Imam Abu Hanfiah. however, i am sure the four maddhahib permit a woman to remove her hijab in front of her uncle. how is it then, that the ulama deduced the latter opinion, and is the opinion given by this shaykh correct?
furthermore, the tafsir of ibn kathir, the same opinion is quoted in the commentary to the 31st verse of surah an-nur – that the woman must wear hijab in front of her uncle.
| Bismihi Ta’ala
In principle, a woman isn’t required to do the Hijaab in front of her own maternal and paternal uncles. However, if there is fear of fitnah, i.e. the uncle is not of a good nature or has a bad reputation in that aspect, then Hijaab would become necessary. Although what the Scholar said regarding the paternal and maternal uncles not being mentioned in the verse of Surah Nur is correct, the purpose of the verse isn’t to totally list all the individuals from whom Hijaab is Fardh. The son in law isn’t mentioned in the verse, whereas Hijaab isn’t necessary from him (unless there is fear of fitnah). The underlying principle is that Hijaab is not necessary from those individuals with whom Nikaah is prohibited on a permanent basis. This would cancel out the brother in law. Although he is not allowed to have two sisters in his nikaah at once, he may divorce one and marry the other any time in his life. For this reason Hijaab is necessary from him as he is only temporarily Haraam. Nikaah is Haraam with maternal and paternal uncles. These are the blood brothers of ones mother and father. This doesn’t include the cousin brothers of the mother and father. Hijaab is necessary from them as Nikaah is permissible with them. And Allah knows best. ————————————– |