Citing the hadith of Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her

The Shaykh : So we bring a hadith that resolves the disagreement and dispute on this topic; the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him) when he entered upon Asma bint Abi Bakr and saw her wearing sheer clothes; these clothes revealed something of the arm or otherwise, so he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . Meaning: It is forbidden for anything of her to be seen except her face and her two hands.
There are also practical hadiths from the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that indicate with absolute certainty that the face and hands are not 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered). For example, there was a black woman in the Prophet’s Mosque who was cleaning the garbage—meaning, picking up dirt from the mosque. The Messenger (peace be upon him) inquired about her one day and was told: She has died. He said to them: Why did you not notify me of it? Meaning, why did you not inform me of her death so that the Messenger (peace be upon him) would rise and pray over her, indicating her righteousness, since she was concerned with cleaning the mosque? They were told: O Messenger of Allah, it was hot, and you were napping—meaning, taking the midday nap—so we did not want to disturb you. He said: , so he went to her grave and prayed over her while she was in her grave.
Where is the point in this hadith?
How would strangers know that this woman was black, brown, or white, unless at least her hands, or her hands and face together, were seen from her? This is a reality in the life of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Likewise, when he delivered the sermon on the Day of 'Id al-Fitr or 'Id al-Adha to the men, then he went to the women, it was reported that a woman stood up and was described in the hadith as having reddish cheeks. “Reddish cheeks” is an expression for a redness mixed with brownness, and the one describing this was a man among the men who were with the Messenger (peace be upon him). So the meaning is that this woman’s face was visible, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) and some of those with him saw her face. And so we find many, and very many, hadiths that clarify that some women—I say some women—in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) enjoyed the dispensation (rukhsah) of revealing the face, and likewise the hands. It was also reported in another hadith that Ibn 'Abbas saw the hands of the women when the Messenger (peace be upon him) ordered them to give charity; they would extend their hands to their jewelry and throw it into the garment of Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), who was collecting charity from the women present in the prayer area of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
And the last thing I want to mention from the hadith—and in it is a lesson for whoever takes heed, and a refutation of the partisanship of those who are partisan to the hadith of the Khath'amian woman—that woman who stopped the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the road after he had stoned the pillars and said: O Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who cannot stay on the mount, and the obligatory duty of Hajj (the major pilgrimage) has come upon him. Shall I perform Hajj on his behalf? He said (peace be upon him): . And the one riding behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas, the brother of 'Abdullah ibn al-'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them all). He was handsome and had a bright, beautiful face, and the Khath'amian woman was also beautiful. So she would look at him, and al-Fadl would in turn look at her. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did nothing more than turn al-Fadl’s face to the opposite direction from the direction in which the woman was, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) would say to al-Fadl: or as he (peace be upon him) said.
The point is: If the woman had been covered with the covering required by the statements of those who say it is obligatory to cover the face and hands of a woman, such that nothing of her is seen, then what was al-Fadl looking at until the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) feared fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) for him, and urged him to restrain his gaze and turn it away from looking at the woman, and promised him that whoever guarded his gaze and his tongue on that day, Allah would forgive him?
So this woman was revealing her face; and therefore al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) was looking at her. If revealing the face had been forbidden, this would have been the best time, indeed the most obligatory time, for the Messenger (peace be upon him) to order this woman to cover her face. That is because Satan had almost caused a fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) between her and al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas, who had a beautiful face. Despite this, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) allowed the woman to keep her face uncovered, and he turned to al-Fadl to order him, indeed he turned al-Fadl’s face to the other direction with his noble hand (peace and blessings be upon him).
... If it is said to women: “Lower your gazes,” from what? From the major 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered) present in the man? Of course not, but rather from looking at the face, even if it is his face; lower your gaze. So the face is not 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered), but despite that, the woman is ordered to lower her gaze from the face of the man. Likewise, in the opposite case, men were ordered to lower their gazes from the faces of women; that is because the faces of women remain uncovered for whoever she wishes, and they are not 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered). So this verse, in fact, is alone sufficient to clarify that the face of a woman is not 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered). Otherwise, there would have been no motive or reason for men to be ordered to lower their gazes from women, as long as women go out as if they were in their homes, with nothing of them seen, neither the face nor the hands.
This is what can be mentioned now in this brief form as an answer to the previous question.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : We did not intend, my brother, we did not intend to delve into the topic in detail. The question was: Is the face of a woman 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered) or not? And it follows from that: Is it permissible for her to ride a mount and ride a car or not? So we said: What the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) indicates. As for researching this issue in detail.

The questioner : No, there is no detail, just...

The Shaykh : Be patient, my brother. Detail is a relative matter. I say: detail, you say: it is not detail. So what is the limit? I am saying now that I mentioned some clear evidence that the face of a woman is not 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered). And we know that there are people who argue with other things. If we wanted to mention them, it would mean we would write a clear book. And I have written a book for more than ten years titled: “The Hijab (the covering prescribed for women) of the Muslim Woman in the Book and the Sunnah.” So whatever comes to the mind of any of you to ask about, you will find the answer there. If there is a break and the organizer of this session allows me to answer, I am ready for that.

The questioner : But I have not asked yet, I have not asked...

Another questioner : Listen... everyone...

The questioner : I—for example—the first thing...

Another questioner : In any case, my brother, my brother... I am speaking to you now... in another place: meaning, in another place, if Allah wills.

The questioner : The second part was not answered by Abu 'Abdullah.