When I was a little girl I asked my father "Abu why do Muslims cover?"He said, when you go into a fancy jewelry store you see many jewels displayed in the glass cases. Any customer can see how precious they are. Anyone can see their beauty. But, when you ask the jeweler for his most beautiful diamonds, for something rare, unique, best quality he must go into the safe and uncover them. They are in the back safety covered and only shown to a privileged few. This is you Khadija,this is the Muslim woman. This story always stuck with me. I began wearing my hijab very young in life and this has always helped me remember the beauty in covering.
The Muslim woman who has been truly guided by her faith and has received a sound Islamic
education does not wear hijab just because it is a custom or tradition inherited from her mother or grandmother, as some foolish men and women try to describe it with no evidence or logic
whatsoever. The Muslim woman wears hijab on the basis of her belief that it is a command from
Allah (SWT), revealed to protect the Muslim woman, to make her character distinct, and to keep
her away from the slippery slope of immorality and error. So she accepts it willingly and with
strong conviction, as the women of the Muhajirin and Ansar accepted it on the day when Allah
(SWT) revealed His clear and wise command. (excerpt from Ideal Muslimah by Dr. Muhammad Ali al-Hashimi )
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
bosoms84 and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their
husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers'
sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women. (Quran 24:31
