Is it forbidden for a woman to cover her face while she is in the state of ihram?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : And what about?
The Shaykh : His statement that it is forbidden for her to cover it is questionable. The correct view is that what is forbidden for her is wearing gloves, whereas covering it is not forbidden. However, there is no doubt that the better course is to uncover it, meaning to uncover the face, unless men pass by her closely, in which case she must cover it. Yes.
The questioner : How about the niqab?
The Shaykh : No, it is forbidden for us to wear the niqab on the face, but the better course is to cover it.
The questioner : And what else?
The Shaykh : The better course is to uncover it, unless men pass by her closely, in which case she must cover it. Yes.
The Shaykh : His statement that it is forbidden for her to cover it is questionable. The correct view is that what is forbidden for her is wearing gloves, whereas covering it is not forbidden. However, there is no doubt that the better course is to uncover it, meaning to uncover the face, unless men pass by her closely, in which case she must cover it. Yes.
The questioner : How about the niqab?
The Shaykh : No, it is forbidden for us to wear the niqab on the face, but the better course is to cover it.
The questioner : And what else?
The Shaykh : The better course is to uncover it, unless men pass by her closely, in which case she must cover it. Yes.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 3022 - هل يحرم على المرأة تغطية وجهها وهي محرمة؟ الكافي في فقه الإمام أحمد بن حنبل - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.