Short answer
No. For a Muslim woman the hijab, her head covering, is an act of worship, not a sign that she is owned. The Qur'an gives the command to believing women themselves. Just before it, the Qur'an tells believing men to lower their gaze. Islam rewards a deed by the intention behind it, so the hijab is worship when a woman wears it for God (﷾). Women who wear it often describe it as their own choice and a source of dignity. Catholic nuns have veiled their heads for centuries, and their veil is respected as devotion. The hijab asks others to judge a woman by her mind and character, not her body. The Prophet (ﷺ) taught that God (﷾) looks at hearts and deeds, not at faces. So Islam's answer is that the hijab honours a woman, and its worth lies in being worn for God (﷾).
Full explanation
What the Qur'an asks, and of whom
The Qur'an speaks first to men. Believing men are to lower their gaze and guard their modesty. Then it speaks to believing women. They too lower their gaze, and they draw their head coverings over their chests. It also tells the Prophet (ﷺ) to ask the believing women to wear an outer garment when they go out. It gives the reason: so that they are known and not harmed. The duty of modesty falls on both sexes. The covering is given as protection and honour, not as a mark of ownership.
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.”
“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 bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.”
“O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Worn for God (﷾)
The Prophet (ﷺ) taught that deeds are judged by their intentions, and each person receives what he intended. So the hijab has its worth as worship when a woman wears it for God (﷾). Muslim scholars hold that covering is a command of God (﷾) for adult Muslim women. A woman who obeys it is obeying God (﷾), not a husband or a father.
Umar ibn al-Khattab heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say that deeds are judged by their intentions, and each person receives what he intended. A man who emigrated for worldly gain or to marry a woman has only what he emigrated for.
What women who wear it say
The scholar Katherine Bullock interviewed Muslim women in Toronto who wear the hijab. She found that they described it as their own decision, made as an act of faith. Many say it frees them from being judged by their looks. The media picture of the veiled woman as either oppressed or fanatical does not match what these women say about themselves.
Challenges the Western view that the hijab is a symbol of oppression. Drawing on interviews with Muslim women in Toronto who wear it, argues that for them it was a chosen practice of faith that gave them dignity and freedom from being judged by their bodies.
Covered heads in the West
Not long ago a covered head was an ordinary sight in the West. Around 1905 most of the women at the fish market in Galway, in Ireland, wore their shawls drawn over their heads. Queen Elizabeth II often wore a headscarf, at horse races, around her estates and out riding, into the last year of her life. Nobody took the Queen's scarf as a sign that she was oppressed. A covered head is not, in itself, a mark of being owned.
A photograph of the fish market in Galway, Ireland, about 1905. Most of the women in the crowd wear the Galway shawl drawn over their heads.
A White House photograph of Queen Elizabeth II riding with President Ronald Reagan at Windsor Castle on 8 June 1982. The Queen wears a headscarf tied under her chin.
A royal-news feature of May 2022, four months before the Queen's death. It says she very often chose a headscarf for more casual events, such as horse races, driving around her estates or heading for a train, and sometimes wore one for official duties. Years earlier she had worn one when riding with President Reagan.
The nun's veil
Catholic nuns have covered their heads for centuries. Church law still requires members of religious orders to wear their habit, the dress of their order. So in an order whose habit has a veil, a sister does not put it aside as she pleases: the rule of her order requires it. It is a sign that her life is given to God (﷾). Until 1983 the Church also required every woman to cover her head in church. It followed the command of Paul, a Christian missionary of the first century. The nun's veil is required by a rule, yet it is respected as devotion, not called oppression. The Muslim woman's scarf deserves the same respect.
Canon 669 of the Catholic Church's 1983 Code of Canon Law directs that members of religious orders wear the habit of their institute, made according to its own law, as a sign of their consecration and a witness of poverty.
Canon 1262, section 2, of the Catholic Church's 1917 Code of Canon Law directs that in church men attend with heads uncovered and women with heads covered and modestly dressed, above all when they come to receive communion. The 1983 Code, which replaced the 1917 Code entirely, does not repeat the rule.
“But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.”
A photograph of three nuns at Providence Hospital in Seattle in 1913, each in the habit of her order, with a veil over her head.
- Nuns at Providence Hospital, Seattle, 1913 · Asahel Curtis
- The fish market, Galway, Ireland, about 1905 · National Library of Ireland
- Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, 1982 · White House photograph
Judged by character
The Qur'an states that the most honoured person in the sight of God (﷾) is the most righteous, man or woman. It promises the same reward to believing men and believing women. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that God (﷾) does not look at faces or wealth, but at hearts and deeds. The hijab applies that teaching in public. A woman asks to be known for who she is, not for her body.
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).”
“For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward.”
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah does not look at your faces or your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds.
Perspectives
The modern objection: a rule men impose
Many critics without a religion say the hijab is a rule men impose on women. They say it marks women as lesser or as men's property.
Critics say the hijab is imposed on women by men and marks them as lesser.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an commands modesty from men first: believing men must lower their gaze. It gives the purpose of the outer garment: that believing women be known and not harmed. Its worth as worship lies in being worn for God (﷾). Muslim women interviewed in Toronto described it as their own choice, made in faith, and a source of dignity. A nun's veil is required by the rule of her order. Yet it is respected as devotion, not called oppression. Not long ago a covered head was ordinary in the West too. Queen Elizabeth II often wore a headscarf into the last year of her life, and no one called her oppressed. The same respect is owed to the Muslim woman.
- Nuns at Providence Hospital, Seattle, 1913 · Asahel Curtis
- The fish market, Galway, Ireland, about 1905 · National Library of Ireland
- Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, 1982 · White House photograph
The Islamic perspective
The hijab is a command of God (﷾) that believing women take up as worship. It honours a woman and protects her. It does not mark her as a man's property. Its value as worship lies in being worn for God (﷾).
The Qur'an commands believing women to draw their head coverings over their chests. It tells them to wear an outer garment in public.
The Qur'an commands modesty from men first: believing men must lower their gaze.
The Qur'an gives the purpose of the outer garment: that believing women be known and not harmed.
The Prophet (ﷺ) taught that deeds count by their intention.
Catholic nuns wear the habit of their order under the Church's own law. In many orders it includes a veil. It is respected as devotion.
Muslim women in Toronto who wear the hijab were interviewed. They described it as their own choice, made in faith, and a source of dignity.
God (﷾) judges people by righteousness, hearts and deeds, not by looks.