Question: What is the literal meaning of ‘Awrat’ [woman]?
Answer: The literal meaning of ‘Awrat’ is ‘something that should be concealed’. The Greatest and Holiest Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ تَعَالٰى عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم has said, ‘A woman is an ‘Awrat’ (i.e. something to be concealed). When she comes out, the devil stares at her’. (That is, looking at her is a satanic act.) (Sunan-ut-Tirmiżī, vol. 2, pp. 392, Ḥadīš 1176)
Question: Is it necessary to observe veil these days?
Answer: Yes. The following information will hopefully make it easy to understand the rulings about Islamic veil. Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ says in the 33rd verse of Sūraĥ Al-Aḥzāb in part 22:
وَ قَرۡنَ فِیۡ بُیُوۡ تِکُنَّ وَ لَا تَبَرَّ جۡنَ تَبَرُّجَ ا لۡجَاہِلِیَّۃِ ا لۡاُوۡلٰی
And remain in your houses and do not stay unveiled like the unveiling of the former days of ignorance.
[Kanz-ul-Īmān (Translation of Quran)] (Part 22, Sūraĥ Al-Aḥzāb, verse 33)
Commenting on this verse, Khalīfaĥ-e-A’lā Ḥaḍrat, Ṣadr-ul-Afāḍil, ‘Allāmaĥ Maulānā Sayyid Muhammad Na’īmuddīn Murādābādī عَـلَيْهِ رَحۡمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ الۡـهَادِی has stated: The former days of ignorance refer to the pre-Islamic era when women would strut proudly, display their beauty and attractive features (i.e. jewellery, attractive clothes, raised parts of the chest etc.) for strange men to see. They wore garments that only partially concealed their bodies.
(Khazāin-ul-‘Irfān, pp. 673)