The Shaykh’s mention of a discussion that took place between him and one of the imams of the mosques in Saudi Arabia regarding the ruling on a woman uncovering her face

The Shaykh: And among the discussions that took place between me and one of the Saudi imams of the mosques during the last journey that was decreed for me to make, in which I reached Riyadh in my circumambulation, a gathering brought us together. One of them—most of them, meaning the imams of the mosques, whose dress is generally Shari'ah-compliant, wearing the thobe and without the 'iqal—stood up in front of me, about two or three meters away, in a large room roughly the size of this one. He said to me, "You, O Shaykh, say that a woman's face is not 'awrah (nakedness)." I said, "Yes." He said, "How can you say this when Allah—Mighty and Majestic—says: He says: I said, "Yes, Allah has spoken the truth, and I agree with the word of Allah, but it seems you understand the verse differently than I do. So what is the meaning of His saying—Exalted is He—: He said, "They lower them." This is the first error. I said to him, "Give me an example now. Suppose this head covering, which they call here a ghutrah, what do they call it? A ghutrah, right?"
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: Suppose this ghutrah is long, reaching the ground, and suppose that... Come closer so I can see. Come closer to your face. He covered his face. I said to him, "Do you offer it to me?" He said, "I cannot." I said to him, "How do you suppose a woman covers her face in the street and walks, while you cannot walk one or two meters?" He said, "We open a hole the size of the eyes; a hole is opened." I said, "Was the hijab like that? And the hijab is what the Lord of Lords meant in the noble verse: 'Let them lower over their faces their jilbab.' This, in that case, refers to the niqab." He said, "She wears the niqab." I said, "Yes, she wears the niqab, but the niqab is one thing and the hijab is another, or the jilbab in its correct sense. So we... now, the meaning of 'let them lower over their faces their jilbab'—let us set aside the niqab, for the niqab is not the jilbab. So the lowering here, may Allah reward you, is, as is the original meaning of the word, lowering. They lower their jilbabs, and I gave him an example. As you know, all the women of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) had the custom of wearing the abaya, and to this day the Arabs in some countries have... So one woman would do what many Iraqi women do today: she would cover her head, but everything else was visible. Then Allah—Exalted is He—said: ... they cover... especially what appears of the neck and the ears... and they lower the disk of the face. Where does this come from? We take it from the Sunnah, this Sunnah which our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—indicated in the noble Qur'an as an explanation, . First, the jilbab in its Arabic meaning does not mean covering the face, for they wore jilbabs in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance and never covered their faces. The Arabs did not know covering the whole face, but they knew the niqab. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) practically covered the faces of his wives, the wives who are the Mothers of the Believers.
The student: with the niqab.

The Shaykh: with the niqab, because... it is not well known, and the noble women of the Companions followed their example, but a great many of them had their faces uncovered. So my point is that I clarified to this imam of the mosque, who stood up to oppose me with the verse, as if he had not read the research I wrote in my book *The Hijab of the Muslim Woman* at that time, which I later changed to *The Jilbab of the Muslim Woman*. So, glory to Allah, ignorance and excess and deficiency are the nature of most people today. The people in Egypt now are two completely opposing groups: one group says covering the face is obligatory, and another group says it is a religious innovation (bid'ah) and that covering the face is forbidden. And we have concluded, if Allah wills, on the middle path. We said: covering the face is a virtue, but it is not obligatory. So if any of the women wish to take the virtues, they may cover, either with the niqab known from old, or with the transparent scarf that allows her to see her way but from which her face is not seen. What has brought us to this discussion?
The student : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes, so we said that regarding the khimar, it is also among the many common errors today, especially in this country, because the disagreement among scholars is widespread and broadcast: is the face's covering obligatory or not? Is uncovering permissible or not permissible? I have not heard a question but it was wrong. What is your opinion on the khimar for a woman? Is it truly obligatory or not? I immediately understand that the questioner or the questioner : ess means by the khimar the face covering. So before I answer, I say to the questioner or the questioner : ess, "What do you mean by the khimar? The face covering?" I say, "Do you say yes?" I correct the concept... that the khimar does not mean the face covering. Yes, in some cases the khimar, and even the jilbab, can become a face covering, but this is not natural; it is not an attribute inherent to the khimar or the jilbab. For example, I gave an example earlier of what the women in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance did, or what some Iraqi women do today: they uncover the face but cover the back of the head. So a righteous woman, if men pass by her, might do this. This is possible, but it is not a natural thing. And likewise, the khimar can also cover the face in some circumstances. Therefore, it came in the authentic Sunnah: , "We lowered them over our faces, and they were in a state of ihram." And from here came a legal ruling: It is not permissible for the Muslim woman to tie the cloth tightly over her nose and the rest of her face, but she lowers it in a way that is like a tent or a parasol for the general people. And the niqab for the woman is like the turban or the qalansuwa (cap) for the man. It is not permissible for the one in a state of ihram to enter ihram while wearing a qalansuwa or a turban on his head, but it is permissible to enlarge the qalansuwa and make it a shade from the heat of the sun, as long as there is no contact. On this basis, the jurists and scholars, may Allah reward them with good, distinguished between the niqab that is tied tightly, which is not permissible, and the cloth that is lowered to cover the woman's face in front of non-mahram men. This precise distinction differs in the opinion of some people, even some contemporary scholars today. And we ask Allah to make us among the middle nation. The student: Amen.