The Shaykh’s remarks on the hadith of the woman who uncovered her face before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) during Hajj and asked him whether she could perform Hajj on behalf of her father who was unable to do so

The questioner : What is the hadith?

The Shaykh : It is the hadith of the Khath'ami woman mentioned in the two Sahihs, that the Messenger (peace be upon him), after stoning the pillars, had a beautiful woman standing in front of him, and al-Fadl ibn 'Abbas was behind him on his mount (peace be upon him). She said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, my father is an old man who cannot stay on a mount; can I perform Hajj on his behalf?" He said: Al-Fadl was looking at her, and she was looking at him. Al-Fadl was handsome, and she was beautiful, so the Messenger (peace be upon him) turned al-Fadl’s face to the other side. We take this hadith as a decisive argument against the opponents; because it occurred at the end of the life of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Also, this argument is a refutation of those who say: "It is true that the woman’s face is not 'awrah, but if she is beautiful, and the time is corrupt, and so on, then she should cover her face." We say: What is the fitnah greater than this? Satan entered between the Khath'ami woman and al-Fadl to the extent that al-Fadl was riding behind the Messenger (peace be upon him) and he was fixing his gaze on her, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) did nothing more than turn his face to the other side. I say: If the Messenger (peace be upon him) had held the view of these scholars, I would have said to one of them: "Suppose this story happened to you exactly, meaning you are in the position of the Messenger, and your companion or friend or cousin is your rider, and a beautiful woman is in front of you asking you, what would you do? Would you say 'cover your face' or would you be gentle as the Messenger (peace be upon him) was gentle?" He could not answer, because in truth his position is embarrassing; because if he says "I say cover it," he contradicts the Messenger (peace be upon him), and if he says "No, I do not order her," then why do you order her when you say it is obligatory for her to cover her face if you fear fitnah? And the fitnah exists. In one narration of this story, the woman’s father or uncle—I am far from it now—pushed her so that the Messenger would see her, perhaps the Messenger would marry her.

The questioner : This clip is not correct.

The Shaykh : Yes, this clip is not correct; because they bring this narration to get rid of my objection, like the one who was under the rain and then moved under the gutter. If the Messenger (peace be upon him) had only seen her, this statement might be possible, but the narrator is the one who is narrating that she was handsome and beautiful, and so on.

The questioner : They also say she was in a state of ihram, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : This also has an answer; because the Messenger (peace be upon him) said explicitly in the hadith: So niqab is pulling the garment like this, but this is permissible in the Shari'ah, and it is called sadl. Therefore, it came in some hadiths from 'A'ishah or Asma' that they were uncovering their faces while on their mounts, and if a rider passed by them, they would lower their veils over their faces. So sadl is permissible, whereas niqab is prohibited. So if we suppose that this Khath'ami woman was in a state of ihram, the Messenger (peace be upon him) would have said to her: "Lower your veil over your face as the women of the Messenger (peace be upon him) did." But even so, they have no evidence that she was in a state of ihram, and we say there is no evidence that she was in a state of ihram. Suppose she was in a state of ihram, there is nothing preventing the sadl which entails covering. And we do not say it is obligatory for her to wear a niqab while in a state of ihram, but it is prescribed for her to lower her veil over her face while in a state of ihram, and they agree with us on this. But the difference is: we say the sadl is recommended, they say it is obligatory. So why did the Messenger (peace be upon him) not order her to do the sadl? They say she was in a state of ihram. The answer is that the woman in a state of ihram is prevented from wearing a niqab, not from doing the sadl. Also, I am not finished; the most amazing thing I have heard from some scholars in the present age, he said: "He was looking at her clothing." This is the most amazing thing to come out. What is the reason? The reason is that we are not really discussing matters with a logical, Shari'ah-based discussion, we are discussing them with an emotional discussion. We see the corruption, we see the dominance of young men over young women, and so on. How do we treat the issue by being strict in the matter, and it is forbidden for the woman to uncover her face? But here we collide with the reality of the first era, the brightest era, these hadiths come, and we try to twist them and turn them and interpret them as the scholars of kalam do with the verses and hadiths of the attributes. Well, other than that.

The questioner : The evidence stands on both sides, whether she was in a state of ihram or not, the evidence stands.

The Shaykh : It stands, yes indeed.