Ḥayāʾ carries the meanings of conscientiousness, shame, modesty, bashfulness, and all related feelings that deter a person from behaving indecently. Ḥayāʾ is of the most superior qualities, of the greatest in status, and of the most beneficial. Indeed, it is quintessential to humanness, for whoever carries no Hayaʾ has no share of humanness other than flesh, blood, and outward appearance. Likewise, there is no potential for good in a person [without it]. Were it not for this quality, he would never be hospitable to a guest, keep a promise, fulfill a trust, take care of anyone’s needs, prefer what is pleasant, avoid the obscene, cover his private parts, or abstain from fornication. Were it not for Hayaʾ, many people would not have fulfilled any of their obligations, nor acknowledged the rights of any being, nor kept the ties of kin, nor even shown kindness to parents. The driving element in these acts is either religious, namely hoping for its good outcome [ultimately], or it is worldly, which is the Hayaʾ of its doer from the [eyes of] creation. Therefore, were it not for Hayaʾ from either the Creator or the creation, one would not have engaged in these acts. In Madārij al-Sālikīn, Ibn al-Qayyim subdivided Hayaʾ into ten categories:The Hayaʾ of guilt; this is like the Hayaʾ of Ādam (AS) when he fled in Paradise after committing a sin. It is reported that Allah said to him, “Are you fleeing from Me, O Ādam?” He said, “No, my Lord! Rather, out of Hayaʾ from You.”The Hayaʾ of inaptitude; this is like the Hayaʾ of the angels who tirelessly glorify Allah by night and day. Then, once the Day of Resurrection begins, they say, “Glorified You are! We have not worshipped You as You deserve to be worshipped.”The Hayaʾ of awe; this is the Hayaʾ of being deeply acquainted with the greatness of Allah. This Hayaʾ intensifies in proportion to the slave’s knowledge of their Lord. The Hayaʾ of generosity; this is like the Hayaʾ of the Prophet (SAW) from those he invited to Zaynab’s wedding dinner. They overstayed their welcome, but he (PBUH) was too shy to tell them, so he simply stood and left. The Hayaʾ of chastity; this is like the Hayaʾ of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (RA)which prevented him from asking the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) about washing away pre-seminal fluid, as he was married to his daughter. The Hayaʾ of humility; this is like the Hayaʾ of the slave from his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, when he asks Him for his needs. This may stem from the asker belittling himself and realizing the enormity of his sins, or from grasping the greatness of the One being asked. The Hayaʾ of love; this is the Hayaʾ of the lover of his beloved. It is so powerful that whenever his beloved, who is absent, simply comes to mind, an unexplainable Hayaʾ may flare in his heart and heat his face. Most people do not realize why they tremble and become bashful upon suddenly seeing their beloved. This is caused by the heart sensing the beloved’s authority over it, and hence that thrill and fear overtakes it. The Hayaʾ of servitude; this Hayaʾ is necessitated by a blend of love, fear, and recognizing that a person must serve Allah, but can never do so adequately due to His incomprehensible grandeur. The Hayaʾ of dignity; this is the Hayaʾ of a noble soul when it feels that it acted towards others in a way that is beneath its standards of dignity, be it in sacrifice, generosity, or kindness. The Hayaʾ from oneself; this is the Hayaʾ of a noble soul when it detects its own deficiency, or that it has settled for less. It is almost as if one has two souls, one ashamed of the other. This is the most complete Hayaʾ, for if people were to be ashamed of themselves, then by greater virtue, they would become ashamed in front of others. Islam calls us to revive our internal compass and protect our sense of self-respect, by accentuating our Hayaʾ and amplifying it with taqwá (God consciousness). It validates the fear of feeling inadequate as an incentive that can begin us on the journey to piety. From there, one’s veneration and love for God are cultivated to immunize a person from all that could jeopardize their standing with Him. Ḥayāʾ therefore constitutes the first layer of moral insulation, that which garbs us against the elements of indecency around us. Taqwá is the second layer, an earned upgrade in Hayaʾ which further reinforces it for the believer. With regards to Allah’s words, “The garment of taqwá—that is best,” Sufyān b. ʿUyaynah said, “Ḥayāʾ is the most elementary form of taqwá, and the servant does not fear [Allah] until he first experiences shame. How else did the pious reach piety except through Hayaʾ?” The Qur’an esteems Hayaʾ and those who possess it. For instance, Allah captures for us in the Qur’an how Mūsá (AS) assisted the disadvantaged women at the well of Madyan, and then immediately “walked away to the shade” (al-Qaṣaṣ 28: 24) without socializing with them or requesting payment for his service. Such behaviors were prevented by his Hayaʾ, for the first is contrary to propriety and the second to chivalry. A few verses later, Allah says, “One of the two women then came to him walking with Hayaʾ. She said, ‘My father invites you to reward you for having watered [our animals] for us.’” (al-Qaṣaṣ 28: 25) Many scholars of tafsīr explain that this verse was clearly structured to celebrate this woman’s multifaceted Hayaʾ. To explain, based on a reciter’s choice of where to pause in this verse and from where to resume, the term Hayaʾ could be describing her stride (walking with Hayaʾ) or her voice (with Hayaʾ, she said). Furthermore, she made sure to establish that she was not inviting him herself but rather only as an envoy of her father, whose old age prevented him from extending the invitation himself. Ḥayāʾ is so valued in the Sunnah that exceptions were made in some of its firmest laws out of consideration for it. Marital officiation, for instance, is treated with the utmost sensitivity in Islam. Due to there being no room for ambiguity in such a consequential agreement, jurists agree that only an immediate, explicit, verbal declaration of mutual approval is acceptable for a valid marriage to take effect. Yet, a concession was afforded to women whose Hayaʾ overwhelms them due to not having expressed interest in a man before this. ʿĀʾishah (RA), narrates that when the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) instructed families to consult women before marrying them off, she said to him, “She (the virgin) would be too shy to speak.” He (PBUH) said, “Then, her consent is her silence.” Elsewhere, the Prophet’s Sunnah authorized Hayaʾ as a legitimate gauge by which a believer with a sound heart can discern between vice and virtue. He (PBUH) told al-Nuwās b. Samʿān (RA), “Righteousness is good manners, and sin is that which discomfits your chest, and that which you would hate for people to discover.” Muslim jurists have also devoted entire chapters to legal regulations designed to ensure that people are not taken advantage of because of their Hayaʾ. They coined maxims such as “Whatever is taken by the sword of Hayaʾ is unlawful,” which meant that guilting others into forgoing their rights is akin to usurping them by force. Imām Aḥmad applied this to a debtor harassing a creditor to reduce the amount owed, and many applied this to eating people’s food and staying at their homes. If a person knows that they only invited him out of being too timid or embarrassed to do otherwise, it would be prohibited to accept what they offered, and a person would be obligated to return it or repay its value if they had already consumed it. This was not just a rationally deduced safeguard to protect the office of Hayaʾ, but taken directly from the Prophet’s (PBUH) words, “A Muslim’s property is unlawful [for consumption] unless he open-heartedly allows that.”
“Scholars advise people seeking redemption from a sinful life to begin with honesty, as that will reinstate in them a sense of self-worth, and thereby erect the fence of Hayaʾ between them and their dark past.”
The following “Hayaʾ generators” are primary means to unearth the Hayaʾ that may be buried within us, restore its sheen when it rusts, and increase its strength through authentic faith.
1. Hāyā’ Offers The Love Of God:All people seek to connect with their Creator, and long from their depths for reassurance that He is pleased with them. This is what Islam came to offer humanity: an opportunity to discover God and enjoy the bliss of being a reflection of His light as best as a created being can.
2. Practice Hayaʾ To Experience It:The inborn Hayaʾ that dwells dormant in some people must first be revived through practice before it can be felt by our psycho-spiritual sensors. Acting contrary to Hayaʾ, along with recurrent exposure to those devoid of it, is what desensitized us to it in the first place. Therefore, awaiting the feeling of healthy shame to return on its own accord, as opposed to reconditioning ourselves upon it, is fallacious thinking. Lowering our gaze in a world saturated with shameless images, and donning the hijab as defined by Islam, not fashion trends, are two of many pathways to resuscitate our sensitivity to Hayaʾ. Therefore, we must normalize the dictates of Hayaʾ in our conduct, before we can expect to experience Hayaʾ in our hearts.
3. Reverential Fear Through Sacred Knowledge: The pinnacle of Hayaʾ is to be more watchful of Allah’s gaze than that of people, just as Islam’s pinnacle (i.e., iḥsān) is to “worship Allah as though you see Him, and if you cannot see Him, then know that He sees you.” Once a person realizes that his Lord is looking at him, this certainty yields Hayaʾ before Allah, which drives him to bear the burdens of obedience. It is similar to the one who joyfully serves his beloved; you find him energetic in his work and enduring its encumbrances, especially if his beloved is kind and benevolent towards him. In that vein, the gaze of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is never absent from His slaves. But when the slaves become heedless of their Master looking at them, this spawns insolence and a lack of Hayaʾ within them.
4. Recalling Allah’s Immense Favors: Ḥayāʾ also arises from noticing the gracious treatment one endlessly enjoys from Allah, because dignified people cannot bear to be inconsiderate with those who are kind and courteous with them, so how can this not generate healthy shame before one’s Lord whose blessings are innumerable. Ibn al-Sammāk said, “He (the Glorified) has tolerated you until it was almost as if He overlooked you. Will you not have Hayaʾ from Allah in light of how long you have not had Hayaʾ?”
5. Spiritual Refinement Through Devotion: Feeling near to Allah and feeling protective of that honored rank are cultivated by pure ritual devotion and sincere acts of service. When done diligently and regularly, they feed a person’s faith and become powerful deterrents against indecent behavior, as Allah says about the prayer, “Indeed, the prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing.” (al-ʿAnkabūt: 29: 45). It was once said to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), “So-and-so prays the entire night, then when the morning arrives, he steals!” He (PBUH) said, “His prayer will [eventually] restrain him.”
6. Hover Around Hayāʾ: Socialization is the most influential force in most people’s lives, and this can be a huge resource in inculcating Hayaʾ in our personalities. In addition to rehearsing the virtues of Hayaʾ and the dangers of disregarding it, immersing oneself in the biographies of the earliest generations of Islam is of paramount importance towards imbibing this quality. This should also be supplemented with good company, to visually absorb how restrained the pious are in their glances, how selective they are in their words, and how their self-respect makes them incapable of settling for the standards of others.
7. Treasure Honesty: Many people are unfazed when lying to a child, due to considering the child (and the “fib”) to be trivial, but may find it difficult to lie to an elder, due to the reverence their seniority brings. Similarly, it is only people who hold themselves in high regard that shy away from dishonesty, be it with Allah, or with the people, or with themselves. For this reason, scholars advise people seeking redemption from a sinful life to begin with honesty, as that will reinstate in them a sense of self-worth, and thereby erect the fence of Hayaʾ between them and their dark past. Perhaps this is among the reasons why the Prophet (PBUH) said, “Adhere to truthfulness, for truthfulness certainly leads to righteousness, and righteousness certainly leads to Paradise. And a person will be truthful, and insist on remaining truthful, until he is written with Allah as a ṣiddīq (strong confirmer of the truth).”
In Conclusion we ask Allah to forgive us for whatever misplaced statements or intentions this paper may contain, for any statements that don’t match our actions, and for all we have showcased of knowledge regarding Hayaʾ while being negligent in practicing it. May He make us act on our knowledge, seeking His Face, and not hold our shortcomings against us. Indeed, He is Most Gracious, Most Generous.
(The author write regularly on Islamic Topics for the opinion pages of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
Dr. Bilal Ahmad
Intizar Ahmad
