The last two post of Haya, gives us an insight that its more than just what we wear, and also the greatest deception of an old eternal enemy is through Haya. today lets look at few more aspects of it.
The keystone quality of a believer - Haya, its not an abstract thing, rather it is seen in one's actions.
Haya is an attribute which pushes the believer to avoid anything that brings displeasure of his Rabb, and it also keeps a person from being neglectful in giving rights to everyone that is due upon them. And one cannot develop Haya unless they have recognition of the greatness of Allah ʿazza wa-jalla, when a person has this recognition Haya manifests in many forms.
- The Haya of guilt, when we feel bad over our sins and actions.
- The Haya of inability, when we want to do good yet we can’t, when decree overtakes desires
- The Haya of awe, when endless favours of Allah surrounds us and we feel shy that, “I didn't do anything to deserve it”
- The Haya of generosity, when we feel ‘I own everything yet nothing’
- The Haya of chastity, when we see our thoughts and intentions don't sync
- The Haya of humility, when we see our own shortcomings in the midst of peoples praise
- The Haya of love, when we prefer world over our Rabb
- The Haya of servitude, when we know what you are doing isn't good enough qualitatively.
- The Haya of Dignity, when we feel we didn't do our best in dealing with Allah's slaves
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And most importantly the Haya from oneself, when we are ashamed of ourselves for being in mediocre, seeing our own shortcomings and deficiencies.
(Ref: Madārij al-Sālikīn by Ibn al-Qayyim)
Just like Iman increases and decreases, our closeness to Allah increases and decreases, our Haya also increases and decreases. This is the reason we find ourselves more righteous in Ramadan than outside Ramadan, our Haya is affected by our surroundings and we may have begun at a certain point in finding closeness to Allah Subḥānahu wa-taʿālā but slowly with time and the effect of the world around us our level of Haya depreciates.
We find millions of Muslim women wearing the hijab, the niqab and the abaya or the jilbaab at different points of their journey to complete obedience of Allah. So we don our external layer of clothing, as an act of faith that is deeply intertwined with our internal relationship with Allah Subḥānahu Wa Ta'Ala.
The key is that we have to develop Haya within our relationship with Allah first and foremost whilst ensuring that our journey of modesty in dress is a continuous one, A journey that never stagnates.
If we had begun our journey in a scarf and we slowly lengthen our dress and then change our dresses to abayas. We should never stop there. We need to continuously work on improving our external and internal Haya. There are times when we can be completely covered yet we find that our connection to Allah is missing, or vice versa, but the crux of the matter is the journey of Haya it can never be completed. Just as Iman is often tested, our Haya can be affected by the world around us and we will be tested with it.
Know that Allah is Al-Hayy (the Ever-Living) and we need al-Hayy to give us Haya.
Let this motivate us to increase in Haya!
Prophet sallā-llāhu 'alayhi wa-sallam said, "Every Deen has a distinctive quality, and the distinctive quality of Islam is Haya (Modesty)." ( Ibn Majah)
Have modesty with Allah in mind, body, soul because Haya is a sign of life, sign of Iman and a sign of the recognition of Allah which gives a sense of responsibility and accountability and brings a seriousness in life which makes a person reflect and ponder and completely adopt a different lifestyle. Haya makes one beautiful inside-out which results in one being loved by Allah Subḥānahu wa-taʿālā and His creation.
