Heat Advisory

According to the Wikipedia entry for Severe weather terminology, a heat advisory is:

Extreme heat index making it feel hot, typically between 105 °F to 110 °F (40 °C to 43 °C) for 3 hours or more during the day and at or above 75 °F (24 °C) at night. Specific criteria varies over different county warning areas.

After several months of light spring weather here in Raleigh, temperatures comfortably below 80F through much of May, the first few days of June have shockingly jolted into 90's, prompting weathermen to issue a heat advisory.

But yesterday a sister posted a reminder about the warm weather. A reminder that with rising temperatures, people shed their clothes and tend to act more shamelessly, presenting Muslims with a greater fitnah around them. It was a reminder that Allah is All-Aware, that He knows our struggle, and a reminder that the fire of Hell is hotter than what we might be suffering here on earth.

Sisters in hijab around here often get remarks like, "Aren't you hot in that?" and of course we're all hot. But there are some benefits of covering up in the summer. Loose clothes (and our clothes should be loose anyway) are cool and breezy. If they are loose, they allow sweat to be effective in cooling the body and trap cooler air. Not to mention getting good air circulation from loose-fitting pants, skirts, and loose long sleeves--they also protect the skin from the harsh light of the sun, even better than sunblock!

For someone like me, with very fair skin, that's important to protect against sunburn in the short term, and skin cancer in the long term. Alhamdulillah, I haven't had to suffer sunburn, except on my face, since I started wearing hijab.

So anyway, covering in light, loose clothes might even be cooler than uncovering. But since most people do take the heat as an opportunity to go about half-naked, we as Muslims should all try to lower our gaze.