Nazira Zayn al-Din's approach to the issue of hijab in al-Sufur and al-Hijab: a descriptive-analytic review

The book Al-Sufour wa Al-Hijab was published in 1928 by Nazira Zeineddine, a modernist Arab woman and a Druze of Shia in Lebanon. This book's emphasis on religious and Qur'anic discussions has distinguished it from some similar works of that period and has made this work an independent research. Zeineddine's main concern in this book is to improve the social status of Muslim women and to change the status of the veil. She considers covering the face to be a hindrance to women and an obstacle to the advancement of Islamic societies, and by examining verses and hadiths related to the veil as well as by rational reasoning, it is not Shari'a law to cover the face in the conventional way. In this study, her intellectual and religious rationales about the extent of women's coverage are described and analyzed. Through the analysis of this book, one can clearly understand the importance of the requirements of time and place for achieving different results, and a deeper understanding of the scientific disputes of recent years in Iran and other Islamic societies over the issue of hijab.