This entry belongs to the Shahrur glossary. In Shahrur’s usage, the veil is not the general Qur’anic term for women’s clothing; rather, in the loci where he draws on it, it denotes a spatial barrier or screen.
The meaning in Shahrur
The veil is a spatial barrier to sight. For this reason, Shahrur cites, for example, Maryam 17 to show that the veil in the text is not a bodily garment, but a separation or screen between two sides.
Distinctions
- It differs from garment; garment is the domain of covering, adornment, custom, and boundaries, whereas the veil is a spatial barrier or screen of vision.
- It is not equivalent to khimār; khimār is a covering that is drawn over the bosoms in the reading of Qur’an 31.
- It rejects turning the common usage of veil into a comprehensive term for all rulings of dress.
Foundational links
- Garment is more precise than veil
- The veil, understood as garment, does not match common traditions
- Maryam 17
- Al-Ahzab 53
- Garment
- Khimār
- Semantic distinctions
Its place in the atlas
This entry distinguishes the term veil in the text from the common juridical and social title, and reconnects the discussion to the terms garment, adornment, khimār, and bosoms.