In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Sister, first of all, we’d like to say that we are impressed by your question, which emanates from a thoughtful heart. May Allah Almighty help us all adhere to the principles of this true religion, Islam, and enable us to be among the dwellers of Paradise in the hereafter. Ameen.

The majority of imams — including those of the four schools of fiqh as well as others — hold the opinion that a woman is not obliged to cover her face and hands. So niqab is not considered an essential part of Islamic attire for women. Therefore, in your earnest desire to dress modestly to comply with the teachings of Islam, you need not go as far as wearing niqab.

In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states the following:

I commend you for your desire to follow Islam as you understand it. I pray that Allah guide your steps and grant you rectitude in thoughts, words, and actions.

Coming to the question of niqab, I must say that it is absolutely not considered an essential part of Islamic attire for women. The vast majority of scholars and imams do not consider it as an integral part of the same. It is only a tiny minority who does so.

[Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and God is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their zeenah (charms, or beauty and ornaments) except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimar (veils) over their bosoms and not display their zeenah except to their husbands, their fathers ... and that they should not strike their feet so as to draw attention to their hidden zeenah (ornaments)] (An-Nur 24:31-32).

Commenting on this verse, Ibn `Abbas, the inspired commentator of the Qur'an and the eminent Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), said, "What is to be covered is all of the body except face and hands." The above divine order to lower one's gaze makes sense only where women do not veil their faces.

Furthermore, there is no mention of face veil in the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); if it had been an absolute requirement for women to cover their faces, then the Prophet would have said so clearly. It is no wonder then that the vast majority of scholars and jurists have never included the face veil as part of women's attire.

Therefore, in your earnest desire to dress modestly to comply with the teachings of Islam, you need not go as far as wearing a niqab. Once Islam has permitted women to expose their face and hands, you need not court hardship by going that route. Rigidity, I must add, is not an Islamic virtue; in fact, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) condemned it as being extreme.

Your question implies that by wearing a niqab you may create more problems than you can possibly handle. So why cause hardship by clinging to a custom that is not essential to Islam?

My own advice, therefore, to you is that you should wear modest Islamic attire: Wear a scarf and loose-fitting clothes that manifest modesty and do not bother about wearing a niqab.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also said, "This religion of ours is easy and simple; whoever makes it hard will only be defeating themselves."

In conclusion, while you should be truly proud of your Islamic attire, you need not wear niqab (face veil), for it cannot be considered as an integral pat of women's attire in Islam.

Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam.ca.