What is the ruling on a woman covering her face? And what is the Shari'ah-prescribed khimar?

The questioner : Is the khimar obligatory only on the beautiful woman?

The Shaykh : The khimar: clarify for me what you mean, because the concept of the khimar today has come to have several meanings.

The questioner : The khimar that is on the face.

The Shaykh : What do you mean? That is not a khimar. The khimar is what you are wearing now, that niqab, that burqu', that scarf. As for the khimar, it is the head covering.

The questioner : Covering the face for a woman.

The Shaykh : Now, leave the word khimar aside. When our Lord said: He did not say "over their faces," but rather "over this chest." Do you see? Do you see my flesh? When I wrap the khimar, it is not on my face; I let it hang down, I wrap it like this, so that this flesh does not show. The khimar is like a shirt, a garment for both men and women; it is a head garment, not a face garment. So if you wish to ask about the face covering, ask about the face covering, and leave the khimar alone. Yes.

The questioner : Regarding the face covering, it is said to be obligatory on the beautiful woman, not on the non-beautiful woman. Is this correct?

The Shaykh : It is not correct. We have explained this clearly in the book *The Muslim Woman's Hijab in the Book and the Sunnah*. Have you not heard the story of the Khath'amian woman?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : How is that, if you have not read the book *The Hijab: The Muslim Woman's Hijab*?

The questioner : I read the book without careful attention.

The Shaykh : Ah, the Khath'amian woman, as in *Sahih al-Bukhari* and *Sahih Muslim*, stood before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) during the Farewell Pilgrimage, while he was on his camel and al-Fadl ibn 'Abbas was riding behind him. A Khath'amian woman stood before him and said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who can no longer hold on to the saddle, and the obligation of Allah, Hajj, has come upon him. Should I perform Hajj on his behalf?" He said: "Perform Hajj on his behalf." Al-Fadl was looking at her, and she was looking at him. She was beautiful and radiant, and so was al-Fadl. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned al-Fadl's face to the other side. This hadith is explicit on the matter you are asking about. But unfortunately, unfortunately, the prevalence of taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) among some people on one hand, and the prevalence of customs and emotions on the other, lead them to interpret this hadith with an interpretation that no one would think of. Some of them say, in response to our question of why the Messenger of Allah did not order this woman to cover her face, and here Satan has entered between her and al-Fadl ibn 'Abbas—what do you want? A fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) clearer and more obvious than this incident? We say that a woman must cover her face when she leaves her home, lest she be beautiful and a man see her. But this fear was realized and occurred here, so why did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) not order her to cover her face? And they know this. I say this with regret, because this answer is given by those in whom we believe there is knowledge and piety. They say that he did not order her to cover her face because she was in a state of ihram (the consecrated state of pilgrimage), and a woman in ihram is not permitted to cover her face. This statement is scientifically incorrect. A woman in ihram is not permitted to wear the niqab, not that she is not permitted to cover her face. Because here, as the jurists say regarding the general and the specific, it is permissible for a woman to cover her face with anything except the niqab, for example. And this occurred in the hadith of 'A'ishah and Asma' bint Abi Bakr, in a narration from her: "They were on their camels, and they were in a state of ihram for Hajj. When a group of riders passed by them, they said: 'We let our garments hang over our faces.'" "We let our garments hang over our faces" means, suppose this jilbab (the outer garment) is pulled a little over your face; this is letting it hang. This is permissible for a woman in ihram. But if she did this, wrapping the khimar, this is haram (forbidden); it is not permissible for her, just as it is not permissible for a man to place a qalansuwa (cap) on his head; this is not permissible. But it is permissible for him to place an umbrella or a tent on his head. Do you understand? So when they are asked, after this clarification, why did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) not order this woman to cover her face, they say it is not permissible for a woman to cover her face. People, fear Allah. You know that it is permissible for her to cover her face with anything other than the niqab. Some of them say al-Fadl was looking at her clothing, and you know that Arab women at that time were something to be wary of. As it is said, if I forget, I will never forget my first trip to the Hijaz and to the Saudi lands. You would see the Najdi women; you could not get close to one of them, despite your nose, even if you had a desire for one of them. Why? Because the roads were not paved; they were all dusty and sandy, and their train dragged on the ground, stirring up dust and dirt behind them, and their demeanor said: "Stay away from me, stay away from me." So what was al-Fadl looking at? What would lead him to direct those glances at this woman if she was covering her face and her head down to the soles of her feet? This is an extraordinary stretch. Then why does the Messenger of Allah not say to the woman, "Turn your face away," instead of saying to al-Fadl? Ah, because first, the woman is a questioner asking the Messenger of Allah, wanting to understand the religion. Al-Fadl is not like that; he is directing his gaze, so he is the one transgressing, and he is in violation of His saying, the Exalted: And therefore he turned his gaze away from her. This incident occurred at the end of the life of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And therefore, we have established in that book that a woman covering her face with any covering is one of the virtues. But those who make it obligatory on women, even the beautiful ones, have no evidence except things that do not stand to prove it. Some of them, when they lack evidence, resort to what they flee from in their responses to their opponents: logical philosophy and reason. They say to you, "My brother, it is not reasonable that a woman's face is permissible for her to show, because the most beautiful thing about a woman is her face." This is said by scholars whom we honor and respect. I say, "O Glory be to Allah! Are matters made haram in the Islamic Shari'ah simply because it is said that reason dictates that the most beautiful thing about a woman is her face?" And I opposed them and said to them, "The man is the same." Because when they say the most beautiful thing about a woman is her face, for whom? For the man, meaning her face is what attracts him to her. Well, and also by way of opposition to invalidate the evidence, the most beautiful thing about a man is his face. So if they also ordered men, as they did with the boy, to order the handsome men, at least, to cover their faces. Then, then, this logic branches out: what is the most beautiful thing about a woman? Excuse me, what is the most beautiful thing about a woman's face? Her eyes. So they would cover her eyes too, and let her not know the path she is walking in, because she needs to show her eyes, at least in the niqab. O Glory be to Allah! Perhaps you have received the answer to the question.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Abu Layla : Our professor, there is...

The Shaykh : It is not your time now; it is their time.
Abu Layla : About the hijab.

The Shaykh : No problem.