Hijab is not the only gender specific obligation. Other gender-specific obligations include: men (as a group) are required to uphold the five daily congregational prayers, carry out funeral rites, defend Islam, settle disputes; males (as individuals) are required to abstain from shaving their beard1, attend Friday Prayer, pay Zakat al-Fitr for their dependents, the dowry, provide support in case of divorce, support wives.
The claim that hijab cannot be obligatory on the grounds that gender-specific obligations do not exist in Islam is false.
The claim that the classical fiqh is sexist in that it requires of women things not required of men must be countered by observing that Islam requires things of men which are not required of women.
- According to the majority of scholars; the strongest disagreement comes from the report that Imam al-Shafi‘i held two opinions concerning the beard. ↩