In islam, a woman must cover her body, so she can protect eyes of onlooking men.

Men do not need to hide anything A man should wear from his Navel to below his knee. He is not required to wear anything else

Because Islam is a sexist religion of course : ) As for a more specific why? Because Muhammed, his companions, or the people who collected the pieces and created the Qur'an said so.

A woman's hair is considered her beauty, so that is why she has to cover it. A man does not have it like that... If you a muslim, try wearing a hijab as a guy and see... Now some people wear it when they are in Saudi because of the dust. That is different.

The status of women in Islam is often the target of attacks in the secular media. The ‘hijab’ or the Islamic dress is cited by many as an example of the ‘subjugation’ of women under Islamic law. Before we analyze the reasoning behind the religiously mandated ‘hijab’, let us first study the status of women in societies before the advent of Islam 1. In the past women were degraded and used as objects of lust The following examples from history amply illustrate the fact that the status of women in earlier civilizations was very low to the extent that they were denied basic human dignity: a. Babylonian Civilization: The women were degraded and were denied all rights under the Babylonian law. If a man murdered a woman, instead of him being punished, his wife was put to death. b. Greek Civilization: Greek Civilization is considered the most glorious of all ancient civilizations. Under this very ‘glorious’ system, women were deprived of all rights and were looked down upon. In Greek mythology, an ‘imaginary woman’ called ‘Pandora’ is the root cause of misfortune of human beings. The Greeks considered women to be subhuman and inferior to men. Though chastity of women was precious, and women were held in high esteem, the Greeks were later overwhelmed by ego and sexual perversions. Prostitution became a regular practice amongst all classes of Greek society. c. Roman Civilization: When Roman Civilization was at the zenith of its ‘glory’, a man even had the right to take the life of his wife. Prostitution and nudity were common amongst the Romans. d. Egyptian Civilization: The Egyptian considered women evil and as a sign of a devil. e. Pre-Islamic Arabia: Before Islam spread in Arabia, the Arabs looked down upon women and very often when a female child was born, she was buried alive. 2. Islam uplifted women and gave them equality and expects them to maintain their status. Islam uplifted the status of women and granted them their just rights 1400 years ago. Islam expects women to maintain their status. Hijab for men People usually only discuss ‘hijab’ in the context of women. However, in the Glorious Qur’an, Allah (swt) first mentions ‘hijab’ for men before ‘hijab’ for the women. The Qur’an mentions in Surah Noor: “Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.” [Al-Qur’an 24:30] The moment a man looks at a woman and if any brazen or unashamed thought comes to his mind, he should lower his gaze. Hijab for women. The next verse of Surah Noor, says: “ And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons...” [Al-Qur’an 24:31] 3. Six criteria for Hijab. According to Qur’an and Sunnah there are basically six criteria for observing hijab: 1. Extent: The first criterion is the extent of the body that should be covered. This is different for men and women. The extent of covering obligatory on the male is to cover the body at least from the navel to the knees. For women, the extent of covering obligatory is to cover the complete body except the face and the hands upto the wrist. If they wish to, they can cover even these parts of the body. Some scholars of Islam insist that the face and the hands are part of the obligatory extent of ‘hijab’. All the remaining five criteria are the same for men and women. 2. The clothes worn should be loose and should not reveal the figure. 3. The clothes worn should not be transparent such that one can see through them. 4. The clothes worn should not be so glamorous as to attract the opposite sex. 5. The clothes worn should not resemble that of the opposite sex. 6. The clothes worn should not resemble that of the unbelievers i.e. they should not wear clothes that are specifically identities or symbols of the unbelievers’ religions. 4. Hijab includes conduct and behaviour among other things Complete ‘hijab’, besides the six criteria of clothing, also includes the moral conduct, behaviour, attitude and intention of the individual. A person only fulfilling the criteria of ‘hijab’ of the clothes is observing ‘hijab’ in a limited sense. ‘Hijab’ of the clothes should be accompanied by ‘hijab’ of the eyes, ‘hijab’ of the heart, ‘hijab’ of thought and ‘hijab’ of intention. It also includes the way a person walks, the way a person talks, the way he behaves, etc. 5. Hijab prevents molestation The reason why Hijab is prescribed for women is mentioned in the Qur’an in the following verses of Surah Al-Ahzab: “O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad); that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Al-Qur’an 33:59] The Qur’an says that Hijab has been prescribed for the women so that they are recognized as modest women and this will also prevent them from being molested. 6. Example of twin sisters Suppose two sisters who are twins, and who are equally beautiful, walk down the street. One of them is attired in the Islamic hijab i.e. the complete body is covered, except for the face and the hands up to the wrists. The other sister is wearing western clothes, a mini skirt or shorts. Just around the corner there is a hooligan or ruffian who is waiting for a catch, to tease a girl. Whom will he tease? The girl wearing the Islamic Hijab or the girl wearing the skirt or the mini? Naturally he will tease the girl wearing the skirt or the mini. Such dresses are an indirect invitation to the opposite sex for teasing and molestation. The Qur’an rightly says that hijab prevents women from being molested. 7. Capital punishment for the rapists Under the Islamic shariah, a man convicted of having raped a woman, is given capital punishment. Many are astonished at this ‘harsh’ sentence. Some even say that Islam is a ruthless, barbaric religion! I have asked a simple question to hundreds of non-Muslim men. Suppose, God forbid, someone rapes your wife, your mother or your sister. You are made the judge and the rapist is brought in front of you. What punishment would you give him? All of them said they would put him to death. Some went to the extent of saying they would torture him to death. To them I ask, if someone rapes your wife or your mother you want to put him to death. But if the same crime is committed on somebody else’s wife or daughter you say capital punishment is barbaric. Why should there be double standards? 8. Western society falsely claims to have uplifted women Western talk of women’s liberalization is nothing but a disguised form of exploitation of her body, degradation of her soul, and deprivation of her honour. Western society claims to have ‘uplifted’ women. On the contrary it has actually degraded them to the status of concubines, mistresses and society butterflies who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers, hidden behind the colourful screen of ‘art’ and ‘culture’. 9. USA has one of the highest rates of rape United States of America is supposed to be one of the most advanced countries of the world. It also has one of the highest rates of rape in any country in the world. According to a FBI report, in the year 1990, every day on an average 1756 cases of rape were committed in U.S.A alone. Later another report said that on an average everyday 1900 cases of rapes are committed in USA. The year was not mentioned. May be it was 1992 or 1993. May be the Americans got ‘bolder’ in the following years. Consider a scenario where the Islamic hijab is followed in America. Whenever a man looks at a woman and any brazen or unashamed thought comes to his mind, he lowers his gaze. Every woman wears the Islamic hijab, that is the complete body is covered except the face and the hands upto the wrist. After this if any man commits rape he is given capital punishment. I ask you, in such a scenario, will the rate of rape in America increase, will it remain the same, or will it decrease? 10. Implementation of Islamic Shariah will reduce the rate of rapes Naturally as soon as Islamic Shariah is implemented positive results will be inevitable. If Islamic Shariah is implemented in any part of the world, whether it is America or Europe, society will breathe easier. Hijab does not degrade a woman but uplifts a woman and protects her modesty and chastity.

I’m afraid the question has a false assumption in it that men don’t wear hijab, they do. The basic requirement for hijab for both men and women are identical the only difference being the extent of covering. What one wears must 1a for the woman, cover the whole body and head except the face, the hands and the feet, while 1b for the man, cover everything from just above the navel to just below the knees. 2 be so opaque as to conceal the colour of what it is covering 3 be loose enough not to show contours of the body 4 not be gaudy/flashy or in any other way attract undue attention 5 neither be wasteful of wealth nor overstate your poverty 7 not be what is typically associated with the opposite sex 8 not be what is typically associated with another religion

1) There are some texts in the Qur'an and in the Hadith which talk about this: "The term hijab or veil is not used in the Qur'an to refer to an article of clothing for women or men, rather it refers to a spatial curtain that divides or provides privacy. The Qur'an instructs the male believers (Muslims) to talk to wives of Muhammad behind a hijab. This hijab was the responsibility of the men and not the wives of Muhammad. However, in later Muslim societies this instruction specific to the wives of Muhammad was generalized, leading to the segregation of the Muslim men and women. The modesty in Qur'an concerns both men's and women's gaze, gait, garments, and genitalia. The clothing for women involves khumūr over the necklines and jilbab (cloaks) in public so that they may be identified and not harmed. Guidelines for covering of the entire body except for the hands, the feet, and the face, are found in texts of fiqh and hadith that are developed later. Despite the same Qur'anic obligations being issued for men and women, rules regarding dress developed so that men were to cover from their navels to their knees, whereas a women were to cover all their bodies except what was essential, that is, the hands and face." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijab 2) Here are the views of the scholars: "Traditionally, Muslims have recognized many different forms of clothing as satisfying the demands of hijab. Debate focussed on how much of the male or female body should be covered. Different scholars adopted different interpretations of the original texts. Sunnis recommend that women wear loose clothing that is not form fitting to the body either modest forms of western clothing (long shirts and skirts), or the more traditional jilbab, a high-necked loose robe that covers the arms and legs. A khumūr or shayla, a scarf or cowl that covers all but the face is also worn in many different styles. Most salafi (sunni) scholars encourage covering the face. Many of them say it is mandatory to cover the face. Other scholars oppose face covering, particularly in the west for personal safety where the woman may be a victim of islamophobia. These garments are very different in cut than most of the traditional forms of hijab, and they are worn worldwide by Muslimas." "Some contemporary Muslims believe that the commandment to modesty must be interpreted with regard to the surrounding society. What is considered modest, or daring, in one society may not be considered so in another. It is important, they say, for believers to wear clothing that communicates modesty and reserve in the situations in which they find themselves." 3) Here some rules for men: "the opinion that Muslim men must cover themselves between the navel and the knees is predominant, and most Muslims believe that a man who fails to observe this requirement during salah must perform the prayer again, properly covered, in order for it to be valid." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijab#Scholars.27_views_on_clothing_that_satisfies_the_demands_of_hijab

Hijab is a protective cover that applies to men and women and the rules for covering in muslim culture are very similar to that in western Cultural origins. Look at the USA at its origin and consider the dress codes of men and women and the rights of women and you would be surprised to know that muslim women had rights to vote long before American Women. To be as an American in the Beach for example or in most western Nations a man should wear some kind of swim wear covering (hijab) his private parts (unless a nude beach) while the women has to wear either a one peice or two piece swim wear covering the private parts or else long time laws in effect USA for indescent exposure can result in the person being arrested by police. In islam the man has to cover (hijab) more than his private parts- he has to cover from his navel to the bottom of his knees at all times (no showing off the six pack abs) and many muslim men do not do this in daily life and also at the beach. In Islam the women have to cover from head and from most of the body except face, hands and feet. There are some who also cover their face and there were historically those who did not cover most of their body even in Arabia during the ealy days of Islam. Now if you stop thinking about Islam as an Arab religion, take a trip and travel the world and expand your horizons you will see that traditional muslim communities around the world differ in their application of hijab for women/men based upon the pre existing cultural standards of those countries. Buddhist women from Tibet have about the same hijab requirements as muslim women and this list goes on. The only reason why the dress codes in USA and Europe were stricter in the old days than now is because in the old days there used to be Christians and Jews that respected the Holy Bible and despite separation of Church and State they felt compelled in their heart to have an awe of GOD and a degree of modesty and descency! No coincidence that the first country in the world to recognize the USA and an Free and independent nation was Morocco a muslim country. Now that the west is known for less modesty we find this argument and conflict over peoples rights to dress as they choose to. Lets be concerned with our own selves and let others be concerned with themselves and lets hold up the constitutional laws of our Nations in sincerity not racism and ethnocentrism. Out of fairness I must admit that there are many Jewish communities that I have seen in which men and women adhere to strict dress codes and many Christian Churches as well but there is far less accord among their sects and denominations about the dress issue as with muslims. Whether you like the Hijab of women or men in Islam you cannot call it excessive in the context of the time and place that it was introduced especially since it did not make much of a difference compare to other major religions at the time. In modern times we should not even be concerned about it since it is clearly a matter of choice for some who want to obey their religous book and others who do not. If you want to examine the issue of Hijab in an accademic and objective sense start with Orthodox Jews, Orthodox Christians, Buddhist as well as most other major world traditions that did not originate In Europe and then compare their actual relgious texts and teachings to Muslims religous texts. There are just as many muslim women without hijab around the world as there are with hijab but no one made an issue about it.

As most people know, most men are distracted by a women's looks when talking to her. The hair of a woman is (most times) a beautiful feature of the woman (this is generally not the case for hair on the man). The woman is advised to cover her hair to protect her and reduce the risk(s) of rape etc... On the other hand: if a good looking man walks down the street, he is a-lot less likely to be raped by a woman (and if the scenario occurs), the man is more likely to be able to defend himself from a woman than the woman is able to defend herself from a man. Regarding men wearing the hijab: if the man is very good looking, the man is advised to cover himself up with something similar to a hijab, so that women do not look. This is well known to have happened to a prophet in the past (I think Yousif (PBUH)). The prophet had to walk with his face covered most of the time. Dont say islam is sexist just because you dont know why a rule exists (or the rule looks unfair).

Because in our nature God created men to think with their other head if you know what I mean..It is a protection for women to cover her head and also to wear nonrevealing clothing...It is a part of a woman's beauty..Not only Islam requires the women to cover..christiant does too. Just like asking why doesn't the priest cover his head and nuns do?

Hijab is modest dress. It was required of both men and women during the early part of the twentieth century, just look at this photo below. Wahabbism changed that, though.

singwell-bagicide, I am hoping that you agree that alot more rape occurs in western countries than in islamic countries, and so women displaying them selves does create a risk for the woman. Rape still continues in muslim countries, these are not by muslims (since sex outside marriage is a major sin in Islam) but (Ill repeat again) significantly less rape occurs in islamic countries than in western countries. Regarding men raping a woman to show male dominance, this will occur everywhere in the world and the only way you will be able to stop this would be either to give men complete dominance (which I assume you disagree to - and I disagree to-) or to seperate men and women completely. Islam does the next best thing in the chain (i.e. kill the man that performs the action). The reason rape still occurs in islamic countries is because very few countries execute a man for raping a woman (even in islamic countries I think there are only 2 countries that still do). If the Islamic countries started executing men for raping women, there would be a very sharp decline in all rape that would occur in those countries.

Changed to a comment, sorry.

muslimm men prefer dresses, modest yet tasteful

exactly^^^ A man was perving on the prophets{pbuh} wives while they were peeing in the fields,then he complained to the prophet ,then he said[pbuh}that they should cover up when leaving the house.

Men aren't modest.