Nahda Online

Sisters: Modesty – our mode

Ansar Gathering Summary

Sunday 12 April 2009.

The Characteristics of Haya/Modesty

• To have haya as muslim is to have modesty. Modesty encompasses many attributes such as having shame, shyness, politeness and bashfulness.

• If we look into the linguistics of the word ‘haya’, we find that it is derived from the word ‘al-hayah’ to mean ‘life’. Therefore, through the meaning of haya as life, we can make the comparison that a person who has no haya is like a dead person.

• Modesty in relation to physical appearances are in the manner of how we dress and how we cover. But we must understand that Haya is more than just in our physical appearances, it is also in our manners, actions, in the things we say or not say and the interactions with others. As muslimahs we must and should adopt these characteristics as part of our overall Islamic character and identity.

• The acts of haya we should remember that it is most obvious in the public sphere: this includes our interaction with others and how we behave outside in society. From this you can see that it is an act of da’wah, as we hold the Islamic identity and show people what Islam is through our actions and how we dress.

• We much remember that ‘fitna’ is around us. Fitna means ‘when sin starts to become prominent to the point that it affects all of society’. And this is what we can see that by not having our khilafah that our whole soicety is infected with sin, and the lack of haya is one of them.

• In one of many examples of hadith on Haya, the Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “Every religion has a distinct call. For Islam it is Haya.” [Ibn Majah]. Another famous hadith says: “There are more than 70 branches of Iman (Faith). The foremost is the declaration that there is no god except Allah and the least of it is removing harmful things from the path. And haya is a branch of Iman.” [Bukhari, Muslim]. What the hadith tells us is that the declaration of faith is the most important part of Iman but that is not all. Haya is a centerpiece of most of the actions that Iman calls for. Haya is part of our iman and iman leads to a display of morals, therefore haya is a building block to morals. When it is lost everything is lost.

• Once a Muslim realizes that haya is part of our iman and we all know iman is the faith you have in Allah SWT then surely that characteristic of modesty is an act or worship. As it says in Sura al Baqarah, Ayah 2: “O mankind! Worship your lord (Allah, Who created you and those who were before you so that you may become Al Muttaqun (the pious ones).”

• It is vital for a muslim and muslimah to maintain their modesty, and when you put yourself into today’s context, obvious that we don’t live in an Islamic environment, the ability to maintain our haya is VERY CRUCIAL especially given the fact that the society in which we live places obstacles and temptations to do away with the virtue of modesty.

• The Western society promotes the idea of individualism. This means that we then determine on an individual level what is modest and what is not. For example, one feminist view is that if you have a beautiful body, then you should display it for all to see and be proud of it. This is to have no shame. NO shame means no haya, no haya is to lack iman, and to have no taqwa and fear of Allah.

• Abu Mas’ud ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amr al-Ansari al-Badri, radiyallahu ‘anhu, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said: “Among the things that people have found from the words of the previous prophets was: ‘If you feel no shame, then do as you wish.’” As we can see in this hadith haya is described as shame, if a person does not have any modesty, then there is nothing to prevent him/her from doing anything. You can see many examples from the kuffar, who have no shame in their actions because they have no guidance in live and no sense of taqwa. Through the popular culture in televisions, movies, music videos – we only have to look no further to realize the reality they live in which is all based on desires – playing on their personal senses and drives and doing things that give them immediate happiness with no regards of consequences.

• So as you can see that if you have no haya, which is also to have no sense of taqwa, then you will just carry about doing as you wish. Life’s purpose has lost its true meaning or worthiness because of the absence of haya and lack of consciousness of the Creator.

• Being modest can sometimes be abused as a justification for not doing something or giving up an obligatory act. For example, being silent or passive in the presence of falsehood or oppression for no reason except claiming haya’.

• Another example of abusing haya’ is to use it as an excuse for not seeking knowledge. As we all know that seeking the knowledge is an obligatory act. In many Muslim cultures this matter is confused and misunderstood where there is a cliché that says: “There is no modesty in asking questions in religious matters”. But this cliché is only practiced in a few certain sensitive issues. Some view that asking questions is immodest, but that is not the case, as can be seen in the hadith about a sahabiyyah, who questioned the Prophet SAW on what can be seen as a sensitive and private matter. Umm Sulaym radiyallahu ‘anha to the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam in the presence of Aisha radiyallahu ‘anha and said to him: Messenger of Allah, in case a woman sees what a man sees in dream and she experiences in dream what a man experiences (i.e.experiences orgasm)? Upon this Aisha radiyallahu ‘anha remarked: O Umm Sulaym, you brought humiliation to women; may your right hand be covered with dust. He (the Prophet) said to Aisha: Let your hand be covered with dust. and (addressing Umm Sulaym) said: Well, O Umm Sulaym, she should take a bath if she sees that (i.e. she experience orgasm in dream). As we can see in this hadith asking a question that involves matters of the deen is permissible, as it is an issue within the deen, this would be a form of seeking the knowledge, by seeking the knowledge you need to research and ask others who are more knowledgeable.

• The pre-Islamic Jahilya society of Arabia knew the word haya but did not understand its meaning. Nudity, the antithesis of haya, was not only common in every day life; it was even part of the most important religious ritual of tawaf of the Ka’bah. So were all the other evils that flow from it. So when the Islamic state was created in Madina it exterminated all of those evils and changed the society in such a way that haya became one of its most cherished values.

• There is a moving story from the earlier Islamic period about a woman who learnt that her young son had been lost in a battle. She ran in a panic to confirm the news, but before that she took time to make sure that she covered herself fully in accordance with the newly revealed laws of hijab. She was asked how she managed to do that in a time of great personal tragedy. She replied: “I have lost my son, but I did not lose my haya.”

• Therefore we must realize that we should encourage ourselves and those around us to see that Islam demands this level of modesty on the individual as a reflection of our iman and if every muslim was able to attain and maintain their modesty think of how strong it looks in comparison to other beliefs whereby this emphasis on haya is not as strong. So while we are encouraging others and working on ourselves we should also work for our beloved Khilafah, so that we may have a Khalif like Uthman and the other examples of Khalifs to lead us not only to implement our haya but all aspects of islam. Just think that our children, and/or our children’s children will be living under the state, with an Islamic environment. What better time to develop and start modesty than when we are young.