The Concept of Lowering the Gaze in Islamic Sharia

Abstract

This study aims to shed light on the concept of lowering the gaze, trace the legal ruling on women's modesty, and clarify the statements of the four schools of thought related to it, through the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet. I have adopted an inductive and analytical approach to achieve my goal, tracing and analyzing issues and opinions to reach the intended conclusion. I divided this study into an introduction, three sections, and a conclusion, as follows: In the first section, I explained the concept of the word “looking,” its meaning and connotations in the Holy Quran, its permissibility, and its types. Then, in the second section, I discussed the concept of a woman's awrah in front of Muslim women and in front of non-Muslim women. The third section addressed the opinions of the four schools of thought on the ruling on looking at the face of a non-mahram woman and presented the remedy and consequences of unlawful looking. The conclusion stated that looking at what is unlawful leads the individual to commit moral crimes, which is why the Holy Quran presented the remedy of averting the gaze in building a strong Muslim personality and educating believers in piety and good qualities.