What is Hijab and Why Muslim Women wear it? Types of Hijab

Hijab is referred with many names most commonly known as veil or headscarf that Muslim women wear to cover. Muslim women wear to covering called Hijab which is an Arabic word means to “cover” or to conceal or hide from view. There’s much more to the Islamic dress code for women than the hijab.  Muslim women dress code deals with clothing, behavior, and attitude or presence. For some hijab means pairing a headscarf with Western-style clothes, for others it means wearing loose robes as well. Still, others add a niqab, or face veil, to their chorus.

Hijab has come to signify the headscarf, which is the covering many Muslim women use to hide their hair, neck, and often chest. Muslim women choose to wear hijab for many reasons. Some women wear the hijab because they believe that Allah Almighty has instructed women to wear it as a means of fulfilling His commandment for modesty. For these women, wearing hijab is a personal choice that is made after puberty and is intended to reflect one’s personal devotion to Allah (SWT). In many cases, the wearing of a headscarf is often lead by the wearing of loose-fitting, non-revealing clothing, also referred to as hijab.

In religion Islam, there are two basic requirements for women to get dressed firstly a woman’s body should be covered such that only her face, hands, and feet are revealed. Secondly, the clothing must be loose enough so that the shape of a woman’s body is not visible. It is hijab that marks a Muslim woman. Allah Almighty mentioned in Holy Quran about Muslim women dress code in these words: “And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers that you might succeed.” (Quran, 24:31)

Types of Hijab

There are different types of Hijab that Muslim women used to wear are mentioned below:

• The first type of hijab that is most commonly worn by women in the West is a square scarf that covers the head and neck but leaves the face clear. This form of hijab is most commonly referred to as hijab.
• The second type of hijab is a long, rectangular scarf that is wrapped loosely around the head and wrapped or pinned at the shoulders. Like the hijab, this form of hijab covers the head but often leaves the neck and face clear. This form of hijab is known as Shayla.
• Khimar is the third type of hijab which is a long, cape-like scarf that is wrapped around the head and hangs to the middle of the back. This type of hijab covers the head, neck, and shoulders, but leaves the face clear.
• The fourth type of hijab is the Chador. The chador is a long cloak that covers a woman’s entire body just like the khimar, the chador wraps around the head, but instead of hanging just to the middle of the back, the chador drapes to a woman’s feet.
• The Niqab is the fifth type of hijab. The niqab is a face-covering that covers the mouth and nose but leaves the eyes clear. It is worn with khimar or another form of headscarf.
• The last type of hijab is the Burqa that covers the entire face and body, leaving a small mesh screen through which the woman can see through.