Evidence of the Hijab between Individualism and Sociality: A Critical Study

The hijab is a legal matter whose obligation is based on many jurisprudential sources and evidence. Some believe that the hijab is an individual issue, not a social one. In principle, the hijab does not fall within the scope of interference by the government or other people. Accordingly, the present article deals with this important and pivotal debate in the field of the Islamic government’s responsibility towards the hijab and attempts to prove that hijab is a social issue, through criticizing the evidence of those who believe that it is an individual issue. As for the aforementioned evidence, it is divided into two main categories: jurisprudential-legal evidence, and the Qur’anic evidence. In this article, in addition to objectively responding to the evidence, the jurisprudential aspect of the issue is also analyzed.
Of course, the social nature of the hijab and chastity, and the responsibility of the Islamic government to intervene in social affairs does not always mean violent and judicial confrontations such as determining or implementing punishment for this purpose. Rather, based on jurisprudential evidence, the government must adopt the best ways to call for the implementation of this famous practice.