Please can you explain something to me

hi ladies (and gentlemen if any on this forum) Please can someone explain something to me. I by no means intend to disrespect anybody by asking, so please if my question is inappropriate please just say so.

I am having a "debate" with a very uneducated dare I say anti Muslim man who truely believes that Muslim women wear coverings so they don't get raped. The things this man is writing and plastering all over fb is absolutely disgusting, and usually I don't get involved in this but this time I just couldn't help myself.

I have tried to educate him on the reason women choose to wear face coverings but I suppose I just want to make sure I have it right. I have told him its a modesty thing, a sign of respect to her husband...am I on the right wave length here? At the end of the day, I don't see that it's anyone's business but I also see uneducated people are dangerous especially when spreading lies on a public forum

Thankyou x

Hi mummame, I'm a Muslim. Thanks for the question :).

Face covering (or niqaab) isn't worn out of respect for the husband, or out of respect for any human for that matter, it's an extra step taken by Muslim women to please God. So for eg a woman wears hijaab (the head covering and loose fitted clothing to hide her figure, this is compulsory) she may feel one day that she wants to do an extra act of worship and hence choose niqaab. There are many extra acts of worship that can be done in addition to compulsory or recommended acts (for eg praying extra prayers, fasting extra days, paying more than the required anount of charity, etc) and niqaab is simply one of them.

Though having said that, there is a valid difference of opinion in Islam amongst both its modern and classical scholars about niqaab being an extra act, a recommended act, or a compulsory act. So some women may wear it because they believe it's either recommended or compulsory, not just "extra".

Unfortunately though, there are some men who do force the niqaab on women (I.e. cities of Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia for eg). On the other end of the scale there are Muslim men (and women) who oppose it completely.

I've asked my husband in the past if he'd mind if i wore niqaab and he said he'd rather I didn't because he fears for my safety in Australia. :(
In a Muslim country though he wouldn't mind either way.

Hope that helps :).

Thanks for that Dot Face. I learned a new thing today :)

Thankyou so much for your reply and explaining everything. I haven't had a chance to come back on here for the last couple of weeks but I really appreciate you taking the time to post. We were always brought up to ask questions if you don't understand something rather than pass judgement, as people tend to appreciate the opportunity to explain...so Thankyou.

As an update, shortly after I stood up to this gentleman I got blocked (no surprises really, but just goes to show how extremely childish and ignorant this man was) I fear even if he had someone that followed the Islam faith sitting in front of him he would still not listen.

It was my pleasure, thank you for asking and not assuming :).

And people in person behave very differently to online, I'm sure he'd lend an ear, even if begrudgingly, to a friendly Muslim who wanted to explain a few things. ;)