&8203;Hijab represents a womans submission to her Creator and her connection with the faith. While referring to it, Allah Almighty says: That is more suitable that they will be known... But, while hijab is a symbol, in reality it is much more than that. The following purposes and functions of hijab will clarify this point.
Hijab is a test for the Muslim woman. It is clear from the Quran and the Hadiths that hijab is a religious obligation, which a woman has to undertake. There is no scholarly difference on this point and the Muslim Ummah has applied it for over 14 centuries. When a Muslim woman wears hijab she is obeying and submitting to Allah. The following verses of the holy Quran refer to the obligatory nature of hijab: 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)
Also Allah says: 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. (Quran, 33:59)
A woman who wears hijab liberates herself from the vain and selfish desire to show off her beauty and to compete with other women around her.
This is an innate desire that is exacerbated by wanton display and tamed by modesty and covering. With the hijab, a woman does not have to live up to societys expectations of what is desirable, and she no longer has to use her beauty to obtain recognition or acceptance from those around her.
In the chapter of Al-Ahzaab mentioned above, Allah Almighty Says what means That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. Thus, one of the functions of hijab is to protect women from abuse and harm. This particularly includes various forms of s*xual abuse and harassment, which are prevalent in societies in which few women cover. Men often get mixed signals and believe that women want their advances by the way they reveal their bodies. The hijab, on the contrary, sends a signal to men that the wearer is a modest and chaste woman who should not be annoyed.