Hijab with non-Muslim sister-in-law

 

I was recently told that I don't have to wear hijab around my sister-in-law (she's a Christian). I was wondering if this is true. What if I had a sister-in-law that wasn't even ahl-al kitab (say she was Sikh/Hindu/atheist)?

Assalamu alaykum

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious Most Merciful.

You do have to wear a hijab (i.e. cover your hair) in front of your sister in-law since she is not Muslim. This is the ruling regardless of which type of disbelief she may hold.

'Allama Ibn 'Abidin, one of the greatest of the later Hanafi scholars, writes,

"It is not lawful for a Muslim women to reveal herself (i.e. those portions she needs to conceal in front of non-mahram men) in front of a Jewish, Christian or Polytheist women, unless it is her slave girl (Radd al-Muhtar5:238).

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam
Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf

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