What are the limits of adornment that a woman may display before her Muslim sisters?

The questioner : What is the adornment, or the limits of adornment, that a woman may display before her Muslim sisters? And if a woman is sitting with her sisters and her infant cries, is it permissible for her to expose her breast before them for breastfeeding?

The Shaykh : The truth is that we Muslims today live a life far removed from the early Islamic life that was based on the Book and the Sunnah. Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) mentioned in the Noble Qur'an that a woman has two types of adornment: apparent adornment and hidden adornment. He clarified that as for the apparent adornment, it is permissible for her to display it before non-mahram men, and according to the most correct of the scholars' opinions, this is her face and her hands. It is permissible for a woman to cover herself with the full Shari'ah covering, except for the face and hands; it is permissible for her to uncover them, although it is better for her to cover her face and hands. This adornment—the face and hands—which it is better for a woman to cover, is permissible for her to display before non-mahram men. This is the apparent adornment. As for the hidden adornment, she is not permitted to display any of it except before mahram men and those included with mahram men in the well-known verse, which is the saying of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic): to the end of the verse, until our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) says: . His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He) in this verse: means that the hidden adornment is permissible for the Muslim woman to display before the Muslim woman. As for anything other than the hidden adornment, it is 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered), as came in the authentic hadith: . The woman is entirely 'awrah except for the face and hands, and everything else is 'awrah. But Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in the context of making things easy for women, permitted them to display from their bodies the locations of their hidden adornment. Therefore, every Muslim man and woman, when they read this Noble verse: to the end of the verse, must understand the intended meaning of this adornment. There is no doubt or ambiguity that the intention of this verse is not that a woman may display whatever she wishes of her body before her father and her other mahram men. Rather, the verse is explicit that she is not permitted to display any part of her body except the locations of her adornment. So what are the locations of adornment? We must understand this adornment clearly so that we know how relatives should behave toward one another: women with their mahram men, mahram men with women, the Muslim woman with the Muslim woman, and the Muslim woman with the disbelieving woman. The locations of adornment that were known at that time, when this verse was revealed, are: the head and what it contains. This includes the earrings placed on the ears and the necklace placed on the neck. These are among the locations of adornment. Also, the bracelets usually placed on the hands, and something that was known called the *damriji* (armlet) placed on the upper arms, and then the anklets placed on the legs. These are the locations of adornment that were in use during the time of Prophethood and Messengership. And Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: , meaning the locations of this adornment. And this is according to the most correct of the opinions of the scholars of tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis). means: the locations of their adornment. Thus, we understand from the verse that it is permissible for a woman to display her head and neck before her father, for example, and her brothers and other mahram men, without a khimar (the head covering). It is also permissible for her to display her arms up to above the elbows, and this is necessary for her so that she can perform wudu' (the ablution for prayer) easily among her mahram men. It is also permissible for her to uncover her feet up to the location of the heels, above which is the anklet that she must cover from non-mahram men. As for mahram men, it is permissible for her to uncover her feet and the location of the anklet, meaning any part of her legs. If we know what the locations of adornment are, it becomes clear that many women, even those who wear hijab and cover themselves with the Shari'ah covering, have been too lenient in this matter with their mahram men, especially a daughter with her mother, and especially a daughter with her father. The matter may even extend to her brother. For example, you find a woman living in the house with her arms bare, on the pretext that there is no stranger, only her father or her brother. But where did this exposure come from? It is impossible for a Muslim researcher to find a woman in the time of Prophethood and Messengership wearing clothes in the house with this degree of exposure, or wearing this shirt that exposes the arms entirely. Rather, she would uncover them only in the case of wudu' as we mentioned. However, if a woman is lenient and uncovers her arms, this is among the locations of adornment as we mentioned, but as a matter of proper conduct, it is better for the Muslim woman to wear covering clothing in her house. Even the khimar is better and more noble for her not to be bare. But if she is bare, she has not committed a sin nor violated a Shari'ah command, as evidenced by this Noble verse. As for what we mentioned earlier, wearing a shirt with no sleeves, this contradicts the verse because she has uncovered something other than the locations of adornment. This upper arm here, which is connected to the shoulders and where the flesh gathers, is not a location of adornment at that time, let alone wearing a short dress that exposes part of the legs, let alone a shorter dress that exposes part of the thighs, let alone the chest such that the breasts are visible, let alone the back, where there is no location of adornment at all. All of this is exposure that contradicts what our righteous Salaf (the earliest generations) of women were upon with their men, and contradicts what this Noble verse implies. Based on this, what is permissible for the Muslim woman to display before the Muslim woman is what is permissible for her to display before her father and her mother, meaning she displays herself having uncovered the locations of adornment from her body. As we said: the head, part of the neck, the arms, and the feet with part of the legs. This is all that is permissible for a woman to display before her Muslim sister. As for the disbelieving woman, it is not permissible for her; it is not permissible for the Muslim woman to display herself before her except as she displays herself before a man. So the disbelieving woman sees from the Muslim woman only the face and the hands.

The questioner : ... breastfeeding.

The Shaykh : Yes, the answer to the rest of our question remains: the breasts are undoubtedly not among the locations of adornment. Therefore, the custom among us in some countries that still adhere to the Shari'ah covering is that a woman covers her breasts with part of her khimar (the head covering) when she is compelled to breastfeed her infant before some of her mahram men.