Tarek Fatah's Obsession With The Hijab

Tarek Fatah is known for many things; and his obsession with the hijab is certainly no exception. On August 28, 2013 Tarek Fatah authored another pathetic diatribe in The Toronto Sun in which he alleges that the hijab is a concept foreign to Islam. In fact, he asserts that the only Quranic injunction pertaining to women's modesty is that of covering her breasts (see 10th paragraph of the published article in the image  below). Again, we must ask ourselves, is Tarek Fatah really a scholarly representative for Islam? After all, his award-winning books are chock full of mistakes; ranging everything from jaw-dropping translation errors to factual/historic blunders. Furthermore, Muslims, let alone non-Muslims, have a hard time determining whether Tarek Fatah is really a "secular Muslim" or an "ex-Muslim secularist" based on the hate he espouses on his Facebook and Twitter accounts  We can then be confident that we have already ascertained that Tarek Fatah's understanding of Islam is both absolutely unreliable and biased. Hence, the next argument requires no leap of faith: Tarek Fatah's claim that the Qur'an doesn't mention the head-cover can also be considered to be utter nonsense -- in fact, it is.

Nouman Ali Khan, CEO and founder of Bayinnah, an organization devoted to the sole instruction of Qur'anic Arabic & exegesis, explains in detail that the hijab is in fact a significant aspect of a Muslim woman's modesty.  Most importantly, the religion of Islam does make absolute reference to it as seen in the YouTube video below. As Nouman Ali Khan explains:

"Overwhelmingly there is actually no disagreement among our scholars about what the hijab means, what are its bear minimum requirements...hijab as itself, as an injunction, because it is in the Qu'ran, and its very direct and explicit, and the Prophet (PBUH) himself explained it in very explicit terms -- there is not really any debate whether or not it is an essential part of Islam and something required of women."

Furthermore, Nouman Ali Khan makes a very clear, succinct statement about the head-cover in which he states that it is explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an as khimar. Linguistically speaking the word khimar implies something that clouds or covers the mind:

"By the way the hijab, the Quranic term for that is khimar, and it comes from the word khamar, and the word khamar literally means to cover something. And khamar is also a word for alcohol - why? - cause it covers your intellect, you can't think straight....anything that overshadows your intellect is khamar....regardless khimar means something that covers and that's for the top garment."

Tarek Fatah, we ask that you drop your dishonest pandering to Islamophobic polities and contributing to the hype over the non-existent threat of "Islamism" (whatever that means). We understand that controversy earns you air-time on the Michael Coren Show, which translates into big bucks for you, but honesty is, as they say, always the best policy. If you wish to learn about Islam a great starting place would be the Deen Show. We invite you to Islam.

More on Tarek Fatah:

• Tarek Fatah's errors in his books "Chasing A Mirage" click here.

• Tarek Fatah: A "Secular Muslim" or an "Ex-Muslim Secularist"?, click here.