We want you to clarify the ruling on the woman's jilbab, and whether it is permissible for her to uncover her face and hands before non-mahram men.

The questioner : This is a genuine question from yesterday regarding the hijab. We have heard a lot about it. In Sudan, for example, some people ... uncover the face, and some add the eyes, and some, for instance, say the covering is mandatory. So we did not understand the issue. We have many people here, and each one has his own view ... so we did not know exactly what it is ... .

The Shaykh : Are you reading?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Have you read my book "The Hijab of the Woman"?

The questioner : No, by Allah ... .

The Shaykh : And why did you not read my book to get the answer? The answer ... is more detailed than the topic, and no matter how much I try to bring it closer to you now, it may not have the same strength as what you see written in my book "The Hijab of the Muslim Woman". So I advise you to refer to it after you hear the simplified answer from me now. I say: The basis of this issue is two verses. One of them is the saying of the Exalted: ... This verse says and the other verse is . Neither of the two verses gives or indicates that it is obligatory for the woman to cover her face. The first verse commands the women with its saying . "Idna" linguistically does not mean covering, but rather bringing close. This is because the woman, as is the reality in many Islamic countries today, throws her jilbab over her head and then is commanded to bring it close to her face. If we interpret "idna" as many scholars of the present age do, if we interpret "idna" as covering, it means that the woman cannot take a single step. This example is before you. Consider this covering on your head as a long jilbab. If you wanted to cover your face with it, you would not be able to walk at all. And therefore—and peace be upon you—you cannot walk.

The questioner : The khimar is not like this, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : The khimar must also be thick, but we are discussing the jilbab now. So this is the jilbab. If you cover the head like this, you cannot walk. But "idna" is possible like this, like this. One eye, maybe two, without smelling the fresh air. It might come down a bit like this and so on. The point is that "idna" in the verse is absolute. Then the practical Sunnah clarified that the women in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were of two types. One type used only the jilbab and then covered with this jilbab what they could of their bodies, except for the face and hands. The other type added to the jilbab what is called the niqab. From this is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So the niqab is something other than the jilbab; it is the face veil, and it is the khimar. The woman can wrap it around her head and then over the lower half of her face. This is the meaning of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So this niqab was known in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and practiced by many women. There are reports that the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was seen wearing the niqab. This means covering the entire face, and from the face, the eyes. And as they philosophize today, those who forbid the woman to uncover her face, they disapprove of it most strongly by saying, "The most beautiful thing in a woman is her face. How can it be reasonable or prescribed that she uncover the most beautiful part of her body?" They turned the issue around with opinion and turned away from understanding the Shari'ah texts with the correct understanding, free from desires and traditions. And so they philosophized the matter and said, "How can it be permitted for a woman to uncover the most beautiful part of her body?" We said, "With this philosophy, the woman cannot walk, because you are imposing on her to cover her face." So some of their sensible ones said, "No, we allow her to uncover one eye so she can see her way." And some others, wiser than the first, said, "No, we allow her to uncover her two eyes, not just one, because Allah the Mighty and Majestic did not create man with one eye but with two eyes for a wisdom. So we do not forbid her to enjoy the blessing of both eyes together." So they permitted the woman to uncover her two eyes from her face by using either the niqab or the jilbab, placing it like this, wrapping it with her hand. We said, "If you returned to something of what you disapproved of, and you permitted the woman to uncover the most beautiful part of her face, which is her face, then their philosophy is: How can it be permitted for a woman to uncover the most beautiful part of her body, which is her face? And then they permit her to uncover the most beautiful part of her face, which are her two eyes. They would not have needed such a philosophy except for some weak reports or narrations that are not accepted as proof in the matter. There is a narration from Ibn Abbas that he interpreted the first verse in its saying both eyes . Imagine covering her head and face and uncovering her two eyes. This is a weak narration from Ibn Abbas, as is clear in the treatise.

The questioner : One eye or two eyes.

The Shaykh : Two eyes, from Ibn Abbas. And in this chain there are two defects: the defect of disconnection between Ali ibn Abi Talhah and Ibn Abbas, and the defect of the weakness of Abu Salih Abdullah ibn Salih, the scribe of al-Layth. Although it is authentic from Ibn Abbas that the woman's face is not 'awrah and it is permissible for her to show it. Another narration from Ubaydah al-Salmani, a Tabi'i, when he mentioned the verse and described one eye, uncovering one eye. This narration is disconnected because Ubaydah is not a Companion. If he had raised the hadith, the interpretation of the verse, to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it would have been a mursal hadith. How much more so when he stopped it there? And finally, the research, as I told you, is written and detailed in the book. The hadith that some of the opponents rush to weaken—may Allah have mercy on you—is explicit in the matter and does not accept debate. And there are authentic reports from the Salaf that corroborate it: . They weaken the hadith by looking at its famous path in Sunan Abu Dawud. And indeed, this path has weakness in it; it has disconnection and weakness in it. But we have found for them another path, and above this other path, we have found reports from Ibn Umar and Ibn Abbas that the woman's face is not 'awrah, and incidents and events that occurred in the sight of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) are explicit that many of the female Companions used to uncover their faces and their hands. It is impossible for a woman to ever go out to the mosque or go down to buy some of her needs from the market without showing something of her hands and something of her face to know how to deal with people. This is the summary of what came in this issue. Nevertheless, we say that it is better for the woman to cover her face with either a handkerchief that is tied on the head and then let down over the face, or with the niqab, the face veil, as you heard in the previous hadith: . And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.