Is the thigh an awrah (part of the body that must be covered)?

The questioner : Regarding the exposure of the awrah (part of the body that must be covered) at the knee, some people cite the fact that when 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) entered upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he covered his izar (lower garment). Is the thigh an awrah (part of the body that must be covered) or not?

The Shaykh : The thigh is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered); there is no doubt about that.

The questioner : And who cited this hadith as evidence?

The Shaykh : Yes, the thigh is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered) because many hadiths explicitly state that the thigh is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered). As for the hadith of the well where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) lowered his legs and was exposing his thighs when Abu Bakr entered, then 'Umar entered, and when 'Uthman entered he covered them, it is not permissible to cite this as evidence that it is permissible for every Muslim to expose his thighs. The reality of the matter requires a precise scholarly investigation. First, as some scholars say, this incident is a specific occurrence with no general application. It is not permissible to use such specific occurrences to contradict the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) which is directed to the Ummah (the Muslim community) and becomes a general legislation. It is not permissible to contradict this verbal Prophetic legislation with what occurred from him (peace and blessings be upon him) in that incident. This is for several reasons: First, it is possible that this was before the prohibition of exposing the thigh, meaning before the revelation that the thigh is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered). It is also possible that this was a specific privilege of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). It is then said: If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did that, he did it out of the need for cooling off. How does this compare to some Muslims making it a habit to wear short clothing that exposes the thighs on the pretext that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exposed his thighs in that incident? This incident happened once in his life and its matter ended. Does that make it a continuous Sunnah (recommended practice) such that it is said to be permissible to wear tubban? In the Arabic language, tubban is the short pant or short shorts that have no sleeves; it is called tubban. Wearing tubban is not derived from this incident because this incident was a partial event that occurred in the long, blessed life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). If we did not have the hadith that the thigh is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered), it would not be permissible to take this incident as a general, consistent evidence that it is permissible for a Muslim to always expose his thigh. Then why do we take this incident and generalize it, while we do not take the entire life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who used to wear the izar (lower garment) which reached to the middle of the calves and did not expose his thighs? In conclusion: This incident does not yield a ruling that contradicts the ruling of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): .