Why do women cover their hair?

Praise be to Allaah.

Women cover their hair because Allaah has commanded them
to do so, and it is not permissible for them to go against what He says and disobey His
command. Allaah has only commanded them to do this because there is great wisdom in it.
Part of that wisdom is that it protects a woman’s honour from the “human
wolves” who are looking for easy prey to attack and devour, and a morsel cannot be
eaten unless it is prepared and ready – which is what we see in those woman who make
a display of themselves, who by their appearance are calling those wolves to come and take
whatever they want!

Confirmation of this is to be found in the words of Allaah
(interpretation of the meaning):

“… That will be better, that they should be known (as free
respectable women) so as not to be annoyed…” [al-Ahzaab 33:59]. If a woman
covers herself, then immoral and corrupt men will know that this is not part of their
prey, thus Allaah will protect them and take care of them.

Allaah and His Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
have issued a stern warning to women who make a display of themselves. An example of this
is:

Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not
seen: a people with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they beat the people, and
women who are clothed but naked, walking with an enticing gait and with their heads
looking like the humps of camels, leaning to one side. They will not enter Paradise and
will not even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance can be detected from such and
such a distance.”

(Narrated by Muslim, 2128).

A woman [or a man] should not try to comprehend Islamic
rulings with her reason – which is unable to encompass the wisdom of sharee’ah.
She should know that whatever Allaah has enjoined upon her contains nothing but goodness
and happiness for her, her family and society as a whole. It is known that a woman’s
uncovering her hair makes her more attractive to men, which could lead to them forming
hopes about her and committing immoral actions. Islam wants society to be clean, with no
provocation of desires, outrage or uncovering of women’s charms – which include
their hair – which can lead to others being tempted by her and which opens the door
to evil and its people.

We need to point out again that Islam means submitting to Allaah. The
believer follows the command of Allaah even if he does not know the wisdom behind it or he
does not find anything to convince his reason of it, because his obedience of his Lord and
his submission to His command take priority over all other things, and worship is based on
obedience and submission.

We ask Allaah to show us the truth and help us to follow it, and to
show us falsehood and help us to avoid it.

And Allaah knows best.