So something fascinating I was doing research on and I have not come across in the few years researching Islam and issues Muslim women face. Never imagined there would be such a thing, because I figure hey whatever, hijab, niqab it's just clothing right? It doesn't really do harm except for maybe social perceptions. Then I cam across some articles talking about Rickett's disease which is becoming an epidemic for women because covering of the skin prevents sunlight from providing vitamin D and often they are not concious of getting vitamin D elsewhere. Here is a medical excerpt talking about this.
"The face, head and arm covering Burqa/hijab religious clothing, which many Muslim women are forced to wear, has been shown by numerous medical and university studies WORLDWIDE to cause severe and long term vitamin D deficiency in the women who wear it. (Many of these studies were conducted in MUSLIM countries). This vitamin D deficiency is caused by the lack of sunlight to these women's skin because of the religious/body covering clothing which they are often forced to wear. (human skin cannot produce vitamin D without significant exposure to sunlight). This chronic vitamin D deficiency accumulates and worsens as these women age, causing many severe diseases and afflictions, which include:...
-Rickett's in Muslim women's unborn children caused by vitamin D deficiency in the womb. (Rickett's is a severe and lifelong deformity of the leg bones)."
On the other side. Here is a pro-Islam site that says that such medical claims should be ignore and that the will of Allah must be followed regardless.
"
Hijab is a definite obligation for every Muslim woman. Deficiency in calcium and vitamin D is something that can be treated medically and by eating food that contains those nutrients, and by exposure to the sun in a place where there are no non-mahram men, such as exposure to the sun through windows, on the roof of the house, in remote parks, and so on.
Allah, may He be exalted, has prescribed and enjoined hijab, and He knows best about His creation and what is best for them. Sharee‘ah does not enjoin anything that causes obvious harm or considerable problems.
Following a medical study in which a number of doctors took part, Dr. Muhammad al-Shaakir (consultant in bone disease at the specialist King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh) rejected what has been said about women’s Islamic clothing playing a part in vitamin D deficiency and said: This theory has no connection to truth.
Specialists think that one of the means of protection against bone disease is exposure to the sun so as to enable the skin to produce vitamin D. The Muslim woman’s hijab does not prevent her being exposed to the rays of the sun, because minimal daily exposure is enough to produce sufficient amounts of this vitamin.
End quote from the [Saudi] Ministry of Health website.
http://www.moh.gov.sa/des/sections.php?CatParent=13&CatID=42It should be said to women who do not wear hijab for this reason: Fear Allah, may He be exalted, and beware of His Punishment; adhere to that which He has enjoined upon you, and stop making false excuses, for nothing is hidden from Allah; Allaah knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the hearts conceal (cf. Ghaafir 40:19). Seek remedies and treatments in that which Allah has not forbidden, and you will find it, in sha Allah.
May Allah help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him.
And Allah knows best. Is this something that is not discussed very often? I find surprisiung that whenever something that is Islamic and potentially harmful or unhealthy, the common response is well Allah knows best??? Does Allah not know how to keep his own creations healthy? Oh right, too busy writing his name in eggs and leaves.
Topic: Vitamin D deficiency in women who fully cover.