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women and islamic law 321human. If deviations from the above rules have occurred, Allah inHis mercy calls for repentance. He does not issue threats aboutfuture punishments.Given what we said about women’s obligatory dress norms( al-far§"i·), stated in 24:31, we are now in a position to conclude thatit is obligatory for a woman to cover her lower private parts ( juyåb,the ‘thick’ #awra) from the eyes of all men, including the ba#l husband,except from the zawj husband who is entitled to see her, and thatshe must cover her lower private parts ( farj) but not her upper privateparts (breasts and armpits) in front of those men mentioned in 24:31.Her upper private parts (upper juyåb or hidden zÊna) must be coveredin front of the other maȧrim relatives and any other stranger. Thisconstitutes the lower limit of dress norms. Allah has imposed as aduty ( far·) on the believing women that they comply with this lowerlimit; it is the minimum degree of dress regulations on the basis ofwhich a woman knows what is permitted (masmåÈ) and what is prohibited(mamnå#). Women know that no concrete form of punishmentis stipulated if they transgress this lower limit. It is, however, expectedthat they will repent.But what if a woman wants to go a step above the lower limit bycovering more of her body? In this case verse 59 of Sårat al-AÈz§bhelps her to apply the norms that were addressed to MuÈammad’s(ß) wives and that are not compulsory for all believing women. Theywere revealed to him (only) as a prophet, which means that they arenot legally binding:O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women,that they should cast their outer garments [min jal§bÊbihinna] over theirpersons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should beknown (as such [sic]) [ yu#arafn a ] and [thus] not molested [ yu"dhain a ]. AndGod is oft-forgiving, most merciful. ( Al-AÈz§b 33:59)The verse begins by addressing MuÈammad (ß) as a prophet. Theinvocation ‘O Prophet!’ is always used as a textual marker to indicatethe realm of prophethood, which does not contain legislation. It ispurely historical as it reflects the atmosphere of MuÈammad’s (ß)time, alluding to the fact that women were not safe from harassmentwhen they carried out their daily tasks in the streets of Medina.Inevitably, when societies change and public safety for women onthe streets is improved, such precautionary measures no longerapply.