A female questioner says: Your lesson after the tarawih prayer is very beneficial, and it is heard by hundreds of men and women. This is a request from us women, given what we see of its importance, which is that you previously spoke about the niqab, its harms, and its ruling. We hope you will repeat the discussion, the fatwa, and the text so that the benefit may be widespread.
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The questioner : A female questioner says: Your lesson after the tarawih prayer is very beneficial, and it is heard by hundreds of men and hundreds of women. This is a request from us women, given what we see of its importance, which is that you previously spoke about the niqab, its harms, and its ruling from your perspective. We hope you will repeat the discussion, the fatwa, and the text, considering that the previous talk was after the Fajr prayer and it yielded benefit, but the gathering after the tarawih prayer for standing in night prayer is larger, and this issue is more prevalent there?
The Shaykh : All right, if Allah wills, the answer to this will be in the next lesson, if Allah wills, because the time is running short. How much time is left?
The student: A quarter of an hour.
The Shaykh : All right, a quarter of an hour is not enough for us. All right, I say that women must fear Allah Mighty and Majestic, and the fear of Allah is not achieved except by obeying His command, avoiding His prohibition, and staying away from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said while admonishing the women:Sunan Ibn Majah 4003Sahih (Darussalam) and he commanded them to give charity. In reality, the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) of women is great. If women are upright, then society will be sound from the causes of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). It is obligatory to avert fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) as much as possible, and among that is for the woman to cover her face, because the face is in fact the place of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). No one doubts that Satan whispers to those he misguides to look at anything? To look at the face. No one’s desire for a woman is attached to anything but her face, and this is a known matter. For example, a man who proposes to a woman and sends someone to look at her, if he is unable to see her, what does he ask about? About her face. He does not say, go and look at her leg? Yes, the face. And if the face is what pleases him, then the rest is light. But if it does not please him, then he does not care about the rest of her body. So the focus of women’s desire and the place of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) is the woman’s face. It may also be that the most scrutinized part of her face is the eye, because the eye has a great effect on a woman’s beauty. Suppose a woman’s face is among the most beautiful of women, but she is blind; would desire be attached to her? No. For this reason, we also find that people who have a desire for beauty ask about the eyes. The eye is a fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). And if we permit the niqab for a woman at a time when fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) is widespread, the woman will not limit herself to exposing only the eye. She will expose the eye for a month, and then she will expose the eye and the eyebrow, then the eye and the cheek, then the eye and the nose, then the eye and the mouth, then the eye and the mouth and the forehead, and at that point it will be exposed. This is a matter that, even if it may not happen among believing women, may happen among women in general. For this reason, we do not issue a fatwa that a woman should use the niqab, because it is a very close means to tabarruj (a woman's display of her adornment) and complete exposure. My advice to my believing sisters is to fear Allah Mighty and Majestic, and to avoid everything that contains fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), and to be patient, because religion is patience and accounting. So let them be patient and let them account for the reward from Allah, and they are on good, awaiting the reward from Allah, the Exalted and Majestic. Yes.
The questioner : The niqab, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The niqab means that the woman covers her face and opens an opening for her eyes in what she covers her face with. It is not the burqu' (face veil), which is more severe than the niqab. The burqu' is a greater fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) than the niqab.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not issue a fatwa for an opening, neither small nor large.
The questioner : The ruling on the niqab, O Shaykh, can it be small or...
The Shaykh : The niqab is to the extent of necessity, but I do not issue a fatwa for it. Do not take it from me, because it is a means. In my knowledge or in my opinion, the most correct is that if we issued a fatwa for women permitting the niqab to the extent of necessity, and to the extent of the darkness of the eye, for example, it would not pass a short time before this niqab is raised to the full exposure of the face. Even in Hajj (the major pilgrimage), she must cover her face.
The Shaykh : All right, if Allah wills, the answer to this will be in the next lesson, if Allah wills, because the time is running short. How much time is left?
The student: A quarter of an hour.
The Shaykh : All right, a quarter of an hour is not enough for us. All right, I say that women must fear Allah Mighty and Majestic, and the fear of Allah is not achieved except by obeying His command, avoiding His prohibition, and staying away from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said while admonishing the women:
I have seen that you form the majority of the people of Hell
إني رأيتكن أكثر أهل النارThe questioner : The niqab, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The niqab means that the woman covers her face and opens an opening for her eyes in what she covers her face with. It is not the burqu' (face veil), which is more severe than the niqab. The burqu' is a greater fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) than the niqab.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not issue a fatwa for an opening, neither small nor large.
The questioner : The ruling on the niqab, O Shaykh, can it be small or...
The Shaykh : The niqab is to the extent of necessity, but I do not issue a fatwa for it. Do not take it from me, because it is a means. In my knowledge or in my opinion, the most correct is that if we issued a fatwa for women permitting the niqab to the extent of necessity, and to the extent of the darkness of the eye, for example, it would not pass a short time before this niqab is raised to the full exposure of the face. Even in Hajj (the major pilgrimage), she must cover her face.