injunction either in the Holy Qur’ān or Ḥadīth. In fact, no such injunction could be given when there existed an injunction that women shall remain unveiled in pilgrimage. This injunction rather shows that the veil was adopted simply as a mark of rank or greatness, and the unveiling was required in order to bring all on a level of equality. However that may be, the order to remain unveiled in the pilgrimage is a clear proof that wearing the veil is not an Islāmic injunction or practice. And the verses requiring both men and women to keep their looks cast down40 show clearly that, when the two sexes had to intermingle as a matter of necessity, the women were not veiled, for otherwise there would have been no need for the men to keep their looks cast down. And to make the matter clearer still, it is added that they should “not display their adornment, except what appears thereof.” The part that necessarily appears is the face and the hands, and this is also the view of the vast majority of commentators (IJ—C. XVIII, p. 84; RM. VI, p. 52).41 There is also a ḥadīth according to which the Holy Prophet is reported to have excepted the face and the hands from the parts which were required to be covered: “Asmā’, daughter of Abū Bakr, came to the Holy Prophet, and she was wearing very thin clothes (through which the body could be seen). The Holy Prophet turned away his face from her and said, O Asmā’! when the woman attains her majority, it is not proper that any part of her body should be seen except this and this, pointing to his face and his hands” (AD. 31:30).

Decent dress

All that the Holy Qur’ān requires is that women should be decently dressed when they go out and that they should not uncover their bosoms. This is made clear in 24:31: “And say to the believing women that they should not display their adornment except what appears thereof. And let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms.” The practice in Arabia, in pre-Islamic times, of displaying beauty, included the uncovering of the bosom, and hence the injunction relating to its covering. A difference was thus made between the dress of women within their houses and when they appeared in public; in the former case they were