Is removing Hijab and Make-Up a Form of Apostasy?

Answered by Ustadha Raidah Shah Idil

Question: Assalam aleykum,

A Muslim girl commits sins because she was under a magical spell. Amongst the sins are no longer wear hijab, wearing tight clothes and make-up. Is this considered apostasy?

Answer: Assalamualaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I pray this finds you well. May Allah reward you for reaching out to us. Please forgive me for the delay.

Hijab

Dear sister, wearing tight clothing and make-up does not make you an apostate. These are sinful actions, but alhamdulilah, they do not take you out of the fold of Islam.

I encourage you to listen to this: Beyond Hijab: Modesty Amongst Women in Islam.

Allah

I urge you to nurture your relationship with Allah, who loves you and wants eternal good for you. Read and reflect on the meanings of the Qur’an. Please perform the Prayer of Need as often as you can, preferably in the last third of the night, even if it’s 5-10 minutes before the entry of Fajr. Please make a daily and sincere repentance.

Please aim to enrol in a SeekersHub course, and/or listen to lesson sets and podcasts. InshaAllah, these internal shifts will will make it easier for you to improve your external hijab.

Choice

Empower yourself through choosing action. Everyone sins and makes mistakes. It takes courage to get back on your feet, instead of being stuck in the past.

Black magic

Being affected by black magic is a test which can be overcome through reliance on Allah and seeking out the right help.

Please refer to this resource: Jinn, Black Magic and How to Protect Yourself, by Shaykh Amer Jamil.

Apostasy

Please refer to The Reliance of The Traveller for a very detailed description of some acts that entail leaving Islam, may Allah protect us all from that:

O8.7: Acts that Entail Leaving Islam
(O: Among the things that entail apostasy from Islam (may Allah protect us from them) are:
-1- to prostrate to an idol, whether sarcastically, out of mere contrariness, or in actual conviction, like that of someone who believes the Creator to be something that has originated in time. Like idols in this respect are the sun or moon, and like prostration is bowing to other than Allah, if one intends reverence towards it like the reverence due to Allah;
-2- to intend to commit unbelief, even if in the future. And like this intention is hesitating whether to do so or not: one thereby immediately commits unbelief;
-3- to speak words that imply unbelief such as “Allah is the third of three, ” or “I am Allah”-unless one’s tongue has run away with one, or one is quoting another, or is one of the friends of Allah Most High (wali, def: w33) in a spiritually intoxicated state of total oblivion (A: friend of Allah or not, someone totally oblivious is as if insane, and is not held legally responsible (dis: k13.1 (O:)) ), for these latter do not entail unbelief;
-4- to revile Allah or His messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace);
-5- to deny the existence of Allah, His beginingless eternality, His endless eternality, or to deny any of His attributes which the consensus of Muslims ascribes to Him (dis: v1);
-6- to be sarcastic about Allah’s name, His command, His interdiction, His promise, or His threat;
-7- to deny any verse of the Koran or anything which by scholarly consensus (def: b7) belongs to it, or to add a verse that does belong to it;
-8- to mockingly say, “I don’t know what faith is”;
-9- to reply to someone who says, “There is no power or strength save through Allah”; “Your saying `There’s no power or strength, etc, ‘ won’t save you from hunger”;
-10- for a tyrant, after an oppressed person says, “This is through the decree of Allah, ” to reply, “I act without the decree of Allah”;
-11- to say that a Muslim is an unbeliever (kafir) (dis: w47) in words that are uninterpretable as merely meaning he is an ingrate towards Allah for divinely given blessings (n: in Arabic, also “kafir”);
-12- when someone asks to be taught the Testification of Faith (Ar. Shahada, the words, “La ilaha ill Allahu Muhammadun rasulu Llah” (There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah)), and a Muslim refuses to teach him it;
-13- to describe a Muslim or someone who wants to become a Muslim in terms of unbelief (kufr);
-14- to deny the obligatory character of something which by the consensus of Muslims (ijma`, def: B7) is part of Islam, when it is well known as such, like the prayer (salat) or even one rak’a from one of the five obligatory prayers, if there is no excuse (def: u2.4);
-15- to hold that any of Allah’s messengers or prophets are liars, or to deny their being sent;
(n: `Ala’ al-din’ Abidin adds the following: -16- to revile the religion of Islam;
-17- to believe that things in themselves or by their own nature have any causal influence independent of the will of Allah;
-18- to deny the existence of angels or jinn (def: w22), or the heavens; -19- to be sarcastic about any ruling of the Sacred Law;
-20- or to deny that Allah intended the Prophet’s message (Allah bless him and give him peace) to be the religion followed by the entire world (dis: w4.3-4) (al-Hadiyya al- `Ala’iyya (y4), 423-24).)

Please see:

A Reader on Tawba (Repentance)

Wassalam,

[Ustadha] Raidah Shah Idil

Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Raidah Shah Idil has spent almost two years in Amman, Jordan, where she learned Shafi’i’ fiqh, Arabic, Seerah, Aqeedah, Tasawwuf, Tafsir and Tajweed. She continues to study with her Teachers in Malaysia and online through SeekersHub Global. She graduated with a Psychology and English degree from University of New South Wales, was a volunteer hospital chaplain for 5 years and has completed a Diploma of Counselling from the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. She lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with her husband, daughter, and mother-in-law.