The chairman of Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization clarified the Islamic dress code at a national meeting of its women's wing, Aisyiyah.
uhammadiyah chairman Haedar Nashir reiterated on Saturday that according to Islamic teachings, the face and palms of Muslim women were not aurat – parts of the body that may not be exposed in public.
Quoting the organization’s edicts council, Haedar said that adult female Muslims must cover all parts of their bodies except their faces and palms.
“This is shar’i [in accordance with sharia],” he said during the opening ceremony for the national executive meeting (Tanwir) of Aisyiyah.
The Muhammadiyah women’s wing held the national meeting, themed “Movement and Dynamics of Spreading Progressive Islamism”, on Nov. 16 to 18 at the Aisyiyah University (Unisa) of Yogyakarta in Sleman regency.
Haedar said that the council based its edict on the Quran and hadiths – also called sunnah – and had concluded that doing otherwise was contrary to the two texts.
He added that the extraordinary piety and observance Muslim communities displayed in their religious practice deserved to be welcomed warmly as part of the current dynamics in Islam.
At the same time, he also noted the recent development of the "hijrah movement" of Islamic revival amid life changes, especially among the upper middle society.
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