Niqab Terminology Glossary
The technical terms that recur in this subject — including hijab, niqab, khimār and jilbāb — defined once. Several are argued over rather than simply looked up, and where that is the case it is noted rather than resolved.
Garments
Niqab (niqāb, pl. nuqub): a covering made for the face and worn against it. In its original form it exposes the eyes and the maḥjir.
Burquʿ: a face covering constructed the same way. It carries the same ruling as the niqab, for that reason.
Lithām: a covering of the lower face. What is sold as a "half niqab" is in substance this, which is argued not to be sufficient.
Khimār — a head covering: hair, head and neck. Malay tudung.
Jilbāb: a loose outer garment. But see the terms page: the early record has both khimār and jilbāb worn over the face.
Waṣwaṣah (also waṣwāṣ, pl. waṣāwiṣ): a word common in earlier centuries and rare now, and its meaning is not settled. Abū ʿUbayd treats it as a separate garment alongside the niqab and burquʿ. Elsewhere it means a way of wearing the niqab — drawn close to the eyes — or a niqab narrowed at the maḥjir.
Cadar: Indonesian for niqab; Malay for a bedsheet. From Persian chādor, which itself means jilbāb.
Purdah — Malay for niqab, but also the practice of keeping women from the sight of unrelated men, or the screen used for it. From Arabic burdah or Persian, Hindi and Urdu pardah. (Outside this book, standard etymology traces the word to the Persian pardah alone.)
Parts and boundaries
Maḥjir (also miḥjar, maḥjar; pl. maḥājir): the part of the face left exposed by the niqab. Lexicographers give it several senses: the eye; around the eye; the lower eyelid; the eyelid; the eye socket.
Two points about it are settled here. In the context of niqab, "the eye" is the wrong sense. Maḥjir here means something other than the eye itself. And its lower boundary reaches only as far as the cheek, so the cheek is not part of the maḥjir.
That boundary is why the forehead question arises at all.
Acts and states
Sufūr: uncovering. In its original and best-attested sense among Arabic lexicographers, uncovering the face specifically. A woman who does so is called sāfir — not sāfirah — in correct usage, because the act is particular to women.
Ḥusūr — the more precise term for uncovering the head. A woman who does so is ḥāsirah.
In practice the two are used interchangeably for uncovering generally, which is why sufūr is sometimes found describing the head and hair. Modern usage has loosened further: sufūr now works as the opposite of whatever hijab is taken to mean in a given sentence.
Usage notes
"Niqab" as an act. Niqab names a thing, not an action. So strictly, saying "niqab is obligatory" is a category error. Arabic accommodates this: the noun is used for wearing it, as ʿaqīqah names the animal sacrificed at a birth and is also used for the act of sacrificing.
Niqabi or niqabis? Both are current, and they mean the same thing. Niqabi is singular, niqabis plural — as with hijabi and hijabis. In Malaysia niqabis is commonly used for one woman.
In Arabic, a woman who wears niqab is munaqqabah, muntaqibah, or mutanaqqibah.