Tafseer of The Clans · Al-Ahzaab · 33:59
O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَنْ يُعْرَفْنَ فَلا يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا (33:59) (O Prophet, say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down over themselves some of their outer garments. That is most suitable so that they may be recognized and not be molested. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.)
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: O Prophet, say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers: let them not make themselves resemble the slave-women (imāʾ) in their dress when they go out of their houses for some need, such that they uncover their hair and faces. But let them let down over themselves some of their outer garments (jalābīb), so that no immoral person (fāsiq) may molest them with a hurtful word when he knows that they are free women.
Then the exegetes differed concerning the manner of the letting-down (idnāʾ) that Allah commanded them. Some of them said: it is that they cover their faces and heads, so that nothing of them is visible except one eye.
* The mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ: Allah commanded the women of the believers that, when they go out of their houses for some need, they cover their faces from above their heads with the outer garments and show one eye.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿAbīda, concerning His saying يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ: and he showed it to us. Ibn ʿAwn said: and Muḥammad showed it to us. Muḥammad said: and ʿAbīda showed it to me. Ibn ʿAwn said: with his upper garment, and he wrapped himself in it, so that he covered his nose and his left eye and brought out his right eye, and he let his upper garment hang down from above until he brought it close to his eyebrow or onto the eyebrow.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Hishām informed us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, who said: I asked ʿAbīda about His saying قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ. He said: He did it with his robe, and covered his head and his face, and let his robe show one of his two eyes.
And others said: rather, they were commanded to bind their outer garments upon their foreheads.
* The mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ ... up to His saying وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا, he said: The free woman used to wear the dress of the slave-woman (ama), so Allah commanded the women of the believers that they let down over themselves some of their outer garments. And the letting-down of the outer garment (jalbāb) is that she wraps herself in it and binds it upon her forehead.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ: Allah obliged them that, when they go out, they wrap themselves up to the eyebrows. ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَنْ يُعْرَفْنَ فَلا يُؤْذَينَ (That is most suitable so that they may be recognized and not be molested). And when the slave-woman passed by, they would molest her with harassment, so Allah forbade the free women from making themselves resemble the slave-women (imāʾ).
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying يُدْنِينَ عَلَيهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ: they wrap themselves in the outer garments, so that it may be recognized that they are free women, and no immoral person (fāsiq) may molest them with a hurtful word or with suspicion.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, from someone who related it to him, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, who said: The Prophet ﷺ arrived in Medina without a dwelling place, and the wives of the Prophet ﷺ and others would go out, when it was night, to relieve their needs. And there were men who sat along the road to flirt. Then Allah revealed يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلابِيبِهِنَّ: they wrap themselves with the outer garment, so that the slave-woman (ama) may be distinguished from the free woman.
And His saying ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَنْ يُعْرَفْنَ فَلا يُؤْذَيْنَ (That is most suitable so that they may be recognized and not be molested) — the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: their letting down of their outer garments, when they let them hang down over themselves, is more suitable and more fitting so that they may be recognized by whoever passes them by, and so that these may know that they are not slave-women (imāʾ), so that they refrain from molesting them with a reprehensible word or from uttering suspicion. وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا (And Allah is Forgiving) regarding what has preceded from them of negligence in letting down the outer garments over themselves, رَحِيمًا (Merciful) toward them, in that He does not punish them after their repentance by letting down the outer garments over themselves.
