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Islam / Popular religion / Muslim dress codes /
Khimar
Arabic: khimār
Conservative dress worn by many Muslim women covering the entire upper body except the face. The khimar reaches the waist, where it is combined with another piece of clothing to hide the legs.
Khimar is sometimes used to designate a clothing also hiding the face. This appears not to be in accordance with the one passage in the Koran where the khimar is explicitly mentioned: Sura 24 (here the term is used in its plural form, khumur):
Koran sura 24: Light
31 ... and let them pull their kerchiefs [khumur] over their bosoms and not display their ornaments save to their husbands and fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or what their right hands possess, or their male attendants who are incapable, or to children who do not note women’s nakedness ...
From this it comes clear that the Koranic khimar may be in full correspondence with the modern khimar, but judged from positive information there is absolutely no mentioning of the khimar covering head and hair. Considering another aya, 33:59, it is stated that it is an obligation that a woman shall be recognized.
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