A jurisprudential and Legal Study of Islamic Dress Code (Hijab) With Special Reference to Imam Khomeini's Viewpoints

Hijab is one of the established principles of religion and obligations of Islamic sharia. In our society hijab, besides its religious aspects has become a law for women from different walks of life to observe. However, the issue of hijab has been challenged because of different incentives. One of these challenges is that, although hijab has been mentioned in the Iranian law and is mandatory for women to observe and failure to observe hijab is an offense, there is not a clear definition about hijab and its limits. Moreover, the Islamic system has not yet defined the limits of hijab it recommends in a legal framework. Since the legal solution to clarification of ambiguity of legal articles according to the Article 167 of the Constitution is reference to authentic jurisprudential sources, attempts have been made in the present study to offer a definition of hijab by referring to the Quranic verses, traditions and Imam Khomeini’s works. Some suggestions have been offered for the improvement of current hijab conditions in our society in the concluding part of the present study.