Perhaps customs have changed today and even more areas of...

Perhaps customs have changed today and even more areas of their body are uncovered. There is another point to mention following this. There is an edict, based on a tradition which some 'ulama find diffucult to accept. It is concerned with a tradition where the Imam said that 1. There is clearly a difference between laws made by people or a low making body and Allah's Laws. If a person wants to follow the laws of a country, one can play a bit with them.

"The Law such and such and I did not do that" But when it comes to Allah's Law there is a difference and one's intention is known. there is no problem to look at the hair of a bedouin woman, a woman from suburb of Kufah or Ilj (non-Arab bedouin women). Why>? Because it is their custom to dress in their particular style and they refer to cover their heads. So it is not forbidden to look at them, but, of course, not with lust.

Some of the ulama have issued edicts just as the tradition states but the late Ayatullah Mohammad Kazim does not issue one because he says what is perhaps meant is that in places where these kinds of women are it is not obligatory for men to curtail their comings and goings. There is no problem if their eyes fall on these women's hair. There is no problem if the women are told to cover themselves but they do not listen.

Therefore he felt it was an exceptional situation, not one that needed religious edict. Another faqih (religious jurisprudent) says the same thing holds for urban women. If they are told they should cover themselves and they do not, there is no problem if men look at their hair. HEARING THE VOICE OF A NON-MAHRAM WOMAN Another issue is that of hearing the voice of a non mahram woman. Is this forbidden or not?

This is clear from the edicts that it is not forbidden as long as it is not for lust or in fear of deviating. There is no problem between a blind person who is hearing another. However, there is, caution, where it does not concern one, he should avoid it.

But it is forbidden for a woman to make her voice very pleasant and attractive so as to cause confusion in a man whereby a man who has a sickness in his heart hears her voice, and gets attracted to it through lust.1 Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabatabai Yazdi, "Urwatul Wusqa" Section on Marriage, Chapter One Issue 39. This is among the things which are very clear.

it is permissible to hear the voice of a non-mahram woman as long as her voice is normal and not one to cause lust or arouse the fear of deviating.