I just wanted to respond to you personally, as a Christian (Catholic) woman who covers her hair and dresses modestly. Your biblical stance could not be more misguided
If you will go back and read 1 Corinthians, it says that a woman’s hair is the glory of man, but a man’s is the glory of God (Just as Adam was God’s first creation and Eve was made FOR Adam.) Thus, Paul says to cover our heads when we pray and prophesy in submission to God and “because of the angels” (as these lovely muslim women have been saying…the angels hear our prayers and bring them to God because we are covered, as a sign like the blood on the doorposts that God commanded at the Passover.)
In other words, a Christian woman who observes the Bible (and tradition– as a Catholic I am not bound to the Bible alone but to Holy and Sacred Tradition) will pray with a headcovering on. A mature Christian woman will then realize that the verse in 2 Timothy that says to “Pray without ceasing” then applies– if we are to pray without ceasing, and we must cover when we pray, then we are to cover without ceasing.
So, you will find that Christian women , although they rarely do so any longer due to a disrespect for Holy Tradition, cover their hair and their bodies. Mary, the mother of Jesus, whom we would do well to imitate, certainly did so.

*Sorry to interrupt the conversation, ladies, I just wanted to respond to the person who claimed that the Bible says not to Cover.*

I appreciate all the information that you sisters have provided.

When giving information, let’s always have the proof so that we all can go to the appropriate surah or hadith to look up things for ourselves. Anyone can make up their own information, so it’s always good to have the proof.

Shukran.

I’m just going to tell you what my mother have told me and my sister’s, my mother being a Muslim for 18 years she have told me that you should always cover when praying, its you being modest around Allah.

Yes, I see what you mean. But, as in my case, my grandmother is non-Muslim. She is my mahram, and I trust her totally. It made me think; if my father was non-Muslim, would I cover in front of him? He is clearly said to be my mahram. So in the end it does come down to trust. I was shocked recently to find that some close Muslim friends of mine were about to describe my hair to some boys before I stopped them because they didn’t know that it was wrong.

Wa’alaaiki’al-khair.
Muslima

As a native Arabic speaker, I can tell you that ‘zeena’ literally means adornment, and is referring to your body parts. I don’t know why your scholar interpreted it as ‘where you wear jewelry’. If hijab was just covering your jewelry, why do we need to cover up the rest of our bodies? The exceptions to the rule says ‘their women’, and different people interpret this differently. You should wear hijab in front of non-Muslim women if you fear that they will describe your body to others, but this is just the same for a Muslim woman who would describe your body. Why would you wear hijab in front of a non-Muslim woman?

The opinion on below-belly button is mainly logic, that a woman can see of other women what a man can see of other men. Also, if you think about it a little bit, it does make sense. A breastfeeding sister HAS to uncover her bosom to her child, who is her mahram. If a woman had to cover this area even in front of mahram, how would this be possible? But it is more modest and sensible to normally cover from above the breasts to the knees.

Please look up al-Muhajaba’s Islamic Pages, Tips for Beginning to Wear Hijab. This has a pretty good list of what hijab to wear in front of who.

As I mentioned, as was taught to me in a class by a scholar, in the Quraan Allah swt used the specific word to describe the awrah that needs to be covered (I think it was “zeena”) which literally meant parts of body where you wear jewelry. And then Allah swt mentions the exceptions to the rule, i.e. the mahram and “their women” which we interpret as muslim women only (does not include non-Muslim women). So indirectly, it is interpreted that we are allowed to expose the “zeena” (i.e. face, hands, wrists/arms, feet/ankles, neck) around mahram men and muslim women. Hence, we are not to expose any more than that. So the scholar was explaining that wearing a tube top style, tight tanks and tight jeans around the house around your brothers or uncles is not appropriate. From your definition, it looks shoulders are ok to be exposed?
The opinion on below belly button is totally unfathomable! I think it’s rediculous that someone would come up with an opinion that you can walk around topless around your mahram, particularly fathers, brothers, etc… ew

On your reply to Jamila, you were mostly correct, but you said that a woman can only uncover her hair, neck, feet and hands at home/in front of mahram. Actually, a woman’s ‘home awra’ is, at the very minimum, what is between her belly button and knees, but another opinion, and this is the most widely accepted and used one, is that a woman’s home awra is from above her breasts down to her knees.

And may Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala keep us on the Straight Path.