Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:59

"O Prophet..."

Jilbab: A wide garment, wider than the khimar (head covering) and shorter than the rida’ (cloak). A woman wraps it over her head and lets the remainder hang down over her chest.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: It is the cloak that covers from top to bottom. Others say: It is the mulhafa (wrapper) and everything one uses to cover oneself, whether a garment or otherwise. Abu Zubayd said:

Wrapped in a jilbab of the blackness of night.

The meaning of {Let them draw their jilbabs close over themselves}: Let them let them down over themselves, covering their faces and their sides with them. It is said when a garment slips from a woman’s face: "Draw your garment over your face."

This is because women in the early days of Islam followed their pre-Islamic habits of being unrefined, appearing in only a dir’ (chemise) and khimar, with no distinction between a free woman and a slave girl. Young men and troublemakers would harass slave girls when they went out at night to attend to their needs in the palm groves and fields. Sometimes they would harass a free woman under the pretext of her being a slave, saying, "We thought she was a slave."

Thus, they were commanded to differentiate their attire from that of slave girls by wearing cloaks and wrappers and covering their heads and faces, so that they might be modest and respected, and no one would covet them. This is the meaning of {That is more likely that they will be known}, meaning: it is more appropriate and fitting that they be recognized [as free women] so they are not harassed and do not encounter what they dislike.

If you ask: What is the meaning of "min" (from) in {from their jilbabs}? I say: It denotes partiality (tab’id). This partiality can be understood in two ways:

1. That a free woman should not be unrefined in only a chemise and head covering like a slave girl or a servant, but should have two or more jilbabs in her house.
2. That a woman should let down a portion or the excess of her jilbab over her face to veil herself, so she is distinguished from a slave girl.

Ibn Sirin said: I asked Ubaydah al-Salmani about this, and he said: "It is to place her cloak over her eyebrow, then wrap it around until she places it upon her nose."

Al-Suddi said: "She covers one of her eyes and her forehead, and the other side, except for one eye."

Al-Kisa’i said: "They veil themselves with their wrappers, drawing them close to themselves." By "drawing close," he meant the act of "drawing down" (idna’).

{And Allah is Ever Forgiving} regarding the negligence that occurred on their part in the past, provided there is repentance; for this is a matter that can be known through reason.

{If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who spread false rumors in the city do not cease, We will surely incite you against them; then they will not remain your neighbors therein except for a little while. Accursed, wherever they are found, they shall be seized and slaughtered completely. [This is] the established way of Allah with those who passed on before; and you will not find in the way of Allah any change.}