Tell the Believing Woman to Lower Their Gaze

"Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do." Quran 24:30

"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

Salaam alaykom respected readers,

I am sure we have all heard these ayats before. Today I am wanting to emphasize on both men and woman lowering their gaze and guarding themselves against indecent actions. It is easy for us to read Quran but to really read it is to reflect. When we are out in this society where looking is seen as normal behaviour even if some dislikes it no one stops it and not many try to prevent it. Actually it is seen as the lookers fault completly even if one is not dressing right and has prevoked such indecent looks. Many of my readers may even say that they don't have bad intentions when looking at non mahram however it is so emphasized in Islam to lower the gaze and guard our private parts. So the question arises why? Well in a world where desires are handed out for all to lust over we need to really reflect on our own actions. First how to prevent indecent looks at ourselves. We should first see what we are wearing, are we covered properly or has bad thoughts entered our minds on dressing to impress! If we are not doing our part to help others not fall into sin then we should certainly take the first step in covering properly. Hijab has been discussed a lot so you can look into your marjas answers to hijab requirements. Secondly we should see if we are lowering our eyes from non mahram. Even if we don't have bad intentions we should still reduce our eyes as the look can penetrate and cause harm for either side spiritually. 

Imam Ali AS said "the eye is the Spy of the heart and the messenger of the intellect."

Thirdly we should not be in mixed gatherings and should segregate ourselves from non mahram. 

The Holy Prophet sawa said "segregate men from women, provider confronting each other, frequenting with one another, the society will be afflicted with a cureless pain."

We can not be friends with the opposite gender. We use terms in Islam like "my sister" and "my brother" to show a unity in a religious community that we are all one in belief and are to stay united with eachother. It is not a phrase to make you feel like your brother and sister are like real ones... this is a bad culture that started this by having non mahrams call eachother brother and sister and act as though they are your real ones by hugging and mingling. This is a trick from Shaytan and we need to be on guard for such thoughts. 

The Holy Prophet sawa said "a needle striking with full force on your head is better than touching a woman who is not mahram to you."

We should always be on guard for shaytan can whisper to us and this faculty is strong in us to be with opposite gender for obvious reasons (having children and giving marital rights properly) but we need to be careful we dont fall into sins with this desire being so strong. Many people have been destroyed because they did not regulate this power of the soul correctly. May Allah swt protect us all from falling into the traps of shaytan. May He help us to gain a firm virtue in chasity and be strong in our faith in obedience to Him. Ameen!