Six Criteria for Hijab

Six Criteria for Hijab

According to the Quran and Sunnah, there are basically six criteria for observing hijab:

1. It is obligatory for males to cover at least from the navel to the knees. For women, it is obligatory to cover the complete body except the face and the hands up to the wrist. If they wish to, they can cover even these parts of the body. Some scholars insist that the face and the hands are part of the obligatory extent of hijab, especially if temptation (fitna) is feared in times and places where Islamic rules are not prevalent or if security is scarce.

All the remaining five criteria are the same for men and women:
2. The clothes should be loose and should not reveal the figure.
3. The clothes should not be transparent or see-through.
4. The clothes should not be so glamorous as to attract attention.
5. The clothes should not resemble those of the opposite sex.
6. The clothes should not resemble those of the unbelievers, that is, clothes that identify or are symbols of the unbelievers’ religions.