A Comparative Study of a Slave-Girl's Covering in Shia and Sunni Jurisprudence and Exegesis

Islam commands all women, free or slave-girl, to observe sexual chastity. Sunni and Shia commentators, however, have provided different interpretations for the verse 59 of the Surah Al-Ahzab (The Allies) which is about the slave-girl's covering. One of these interpretations prohibits slave-girls from covering their bodies and commands free women to cover their bodies in order to be differentiated from slave-girls. Although most Sunni people accept such an interpretation, it faces some criticisms due to its contradiction with Quranic teachings about the prohibition of obliging to commit adultery, generality of the commands mentioned in verses related to hijab and badness of adultery, inconsistency in the texts of occasions of revelations and their contradiction with the philosophy of hijab. Furthermore, the application of such interpretation in the society caused social corruptions during the caliphate of the Second Caliph, undermining the obligation of hijab by some critics in modern times. Moreover, Shia scholars hold that Quranic and narrative evidence indicate the prohibition, permission and even obligation of slave-girl's covering. After all, Quranic, narrative, and intellectual analyses negate the view that slave-girl's covering should be differentiated from that of a free woman, and Shia hadiths are related to the praying of the slave-girl and the conditions of concealment.