Hiding with clothes?
اَلَاۤ اِنَّهُمۡ يَثۡنُوۡنَ صُدُوۡرَهُمۡ لِيَسۡتَخۡفُوۡا مِنۡهُؕ اَلَا حِيۡنَ يَسۡتَغۡشُوۡنَ ثِيَابَهُمۡۙ يَعۡلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّوۡنَ وَمَا يُعۡلِنُوۡنَۚ اِنَّهٗ عَلِيۡمٌۢ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُوۡرِ ٥
Unquestionably, they [i.e., the disbelievers] turn away their breasts to hide themselves from him. Unquestionably, [even] when they cover themselves in their clothing, He [i.e., Allāh] knows what they conceal and what they declare. Indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts.
[Al-Quran 11:5, Translation: Saheeh International]
وَاِنِّىۡ كُلَّمَا دَعَوۡتُهُمۡ لِتَغۡفِرَ لَهُمۡ جَعَلُوۡۤا اَصَابِعَهُمۡ فِىۡۤ اٰذَانِهِمۡ وَاسۡتَغۡشَوۡا ثِيَابَهُمۡ وَاَصَرُّوۡا وَاسۡتَكۡبَرُوا اسۡتِكۡبَارًا ۚ ٧
And indeed, every time I invited them that You may forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their garments, persisted, and were arrogant with [great] arrogance.
[Al-Quran 71:7, Translation: Saheeh International]
Outer garments are known as 'ثِيَابَ', as is clear from Q24:60.
Q11:5 makes a general observation about disbelieving people, while Q71:7 quotes Messenger of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى , Noah (Nuh عليه السلام) as to the response he was getting from the disbelieving people.
What were they hiding with their outer garments? Something on their skin? Tattoos? There exists evidence of ancient polytheistic people whose mummies are marked with tattoos.
Abrahamic religions have generally been averse to tattoos, while permitting henna markings.
Tattoos are permanent marks made in the skin through puncturing it, while henna is a plant-based dye which colours the skin temporarily, and fades naturally in a few days or weeks.
These days many people are getting tattooed, as a fashion statement. Some eventually try to get it removed after a while. Tattoos have been, and are still being used for a variety of reasons, including rituals, war ink, maturity, rite of passage, decorative, dragons and representation of other mythical characters and animals, Chinese characters, fad and popular culture, with many young people (millennials) getting body art.
As fashion and fad go, many Believers are questioning if it is permissible or sinful to get tattooed?
Scholars are unanimous in their consensus that tattooing is sinful and forbidden, to the extent that there exists a Hadith which curses the woman who gets a tattoo, and the one who tattoos:
حَدَّثَنَا زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ عُمَارَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي زُرْعَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ أُتِيَ عُمَرُ بِامْرَأَةٍ تَشِمُ فَقَامَ فَقَالَ أَنْشُدُكُمْ بِاللَّهِ مَنْ سَمِعَ مِنَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي الْوَشْمِ فَقَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ فَقُمْتُ فَقُلْتُ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنَا سَمِعْتُ. قَالَ مَا سَمِعْتَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ " لاَ تَشِمْنَ وَلاَ تَسْتَوْشِمْنَ ".
Narrated Abu Huraira: A woman who used to practise tattooing was brought to `Umar. `Umar got up and said, "I beseech you by Allah, which of you heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying something about tattooing?" l got up and said, "0 chief of the Believers! l heard something." He said, "What did you hear?" I said, "I heard the Prophet (addressing the ladies), saying, 'Do not practise tattooing and do not get yourselves tattooed.'"
Sahih al-Bukhari 5946
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5946
Another Hadith links it to Q4:117-123, changing (chemically damaging?) the creation of Allah:
حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مَنِيعٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبِيدَةُ بْنُ حُمَيْدٍ، عَنْ مَنْصُورٍ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ عَلْقَمَةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَعَنَ الْوَاشِمَاتِ وَالْمُسْتَوْشِمَاتِ وَالْمُتَنَمِّصَاتِ مُبْتَغِيَاتٍ لِلْحُسْنِ مُغَيِّرَاتٍ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ . قَالَ هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ . وَقَدْ رَوَاهُ شُعْبَةُ وَغَيْرُ وَاحِدٍ مِنَ الأَئِمَّةِ عَنْ مَنْصُورٍ .
Narrated 'Abdullah: that the Prophet (ﷺ) cursed the women who practice tattooing and those who seek to be tattooed, the women who remove hair from their faces seeking beautification by changing the creation of Allah.
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2782
https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2782
حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُقَاتِلٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، أَخْبَرَنَا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْوَاصِلَةَ وَالْمُسْتَوْصِلَةَ، وَالْوَاشِمَةَ وَالْمُسْتَوْشِمَةَ ". قَالَ نَافِعٌ الْوَشْمُ فِي اللِّثَةِ.
Narrated Ibn `Umar: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Allah has cursed such a lady as lengthens (her or someone else's) hair artificially or gets it lengthened, and also a lady who tattoos (herself or someone else) or gets herself tattooed.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5937
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5937
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Tatoos:
A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes and techniques, including hand-tapped traditional tattoos and modern tattoo machines. The history of tattooing goes back to Neolithic times, practiced across the globe by many cultures, and the symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures.
Tattoos may be decorative (with no specific meaning), symbolic (with a specific meaning to the wearer), pictorial (a depiction of a specific person or item), or textual (words or pictographs from written languages). Many tattoos serve as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, marks of fertility, pledges of love, amulets and talismans, protection, and as punishment, like the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. Extensive decorative tattooing has also been part of the work of performance artists such as tattooed ladies.
Although tattoo art has existed at least since the first known tattooed person, Ötzi, lived around the year 3330 BC, the way society perceives tattoos has varied immensely throughout history.
[copied from Wikipedia, Tattoo, as on April 21, 2024]
Some specific reasons:
From 1712 to 1717, Joseph François Lafitau, another Jesuit missionary, recorded how Indigenous people were applying tattoos to their skin and developed healing strategies in tattooing the jawline to treat toothaches.[29]: 33–36 Indigenous people had determined that certain nerves that were along the jawline connected to certain teeth, thus by tattooing those nerves, it would stop them from firing signals that led to toothaches.[29]: 35 Some of these early ethnographic accounts questioned the actual practice of tattooing and hypothesized that it could make people sick due to unsanitary approaches.[27]: 145
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Osage Nation[edit]
The Osage people used tattooing for a variety of different reasons. The tattoo designs were based on the belief that people were part of the larger cycle of life and integrated elements of the land, sky, water, and the space in between to symbolize these beliefs.[35]: 222–228 In addition, the Osage People believed in the smaller cycle of life, recognizing the importance of women giving life through childbirth and men removing life through warfare.[35]: 216 Osage men were often tattooed after accomplishing major feats in battle, as a visual and physical reminder of their elevated status in their community.[35]: 223 Some Osage women were tattooed in public as a form of a prayer, demonstrating strength and dedication to their nation.[35]: 223
[copied from Wikipedia, History of tattooing, as on April 21, 2024]
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Videos with transcript:
https://www.britannica.com/video/187012/permanency-pigments-tattoos-composition-some
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Henna Art:
Henna is a reddish dye prepared from the dried and powdered leaves of the henna tree.[1] It has been used since at least the ancient Egyptian period as a hair and body dye, notably in the temporary body art of mehndi (or "henna tattoo") resulting from the staining of the skin using dyes from the henna plant. After henna stains reach their peak colour, they hold for a few days, then gradually wear off by way of exfoliation, typically within one to three weeks.
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The acceptance and use of henna for beautification in different parts of the world for centuries created an impact on the countries of the Anglosphere that started using it to design tattoos.[further explanation needed]
[copied from Wikipedia, Henna, as on April 21, 2024]
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For Q4:117-123, changing (chemically damaging?) the creation of Allah, read Natural Biology of Procreation.
