Is it true that you issued a ruling permitting women to uncover their faces and hands?

The questioner : It has spread among people that you issued a ruling permitting women to uncover their faces and hands. This is widespread in many Arab countries and is a major rumor against you. What is the clarification of this?

The Shaykh : I bear witness that I have not issued such a ruling. I have a treatise on prohibiting this, in which I cited evidence from the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and correct reasoning. It is forbidden for a woman to uncover her face to anyone other than her mahram (close relatives). This applies in Arab countries and elsewhere. However, many strange things are attributed to us. It appears that whoever desires something and wants to spread it among people attributes it to a scholar so that it will be accepted by the people. Thus, the one who attributed this statement to us is lying about us. In fact, we say that it is not permissible for a woman to uncover her face to anyone other than her mahram or her husband. We have a well-known treatise on this, and praise be to Allah, there is no issue with it. However, a ruling of mine regarding the niqab (face veil) has become widespread in these Arab countries.
The niqab was known in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and women used it in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The evidence for this is the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the woman in ihram: His statement: indicates that it was their custom to do what? To wear the niqab. I said that I do not issue a ruling permitting it, in order to block the means to harm. The means to harm, in our view in our country, is that if we issue a ruling permitting the niqab, will the woman restrict herself to the niqab she needs, or will she not? In reality, she will not. She will open her eyes to the extent of her need for a week, a month, or so, and then the slit or opening will increase until it covers—no, not the whole face immediately, wait a moment—the eyelids, then the eyebrows, then the edge of the forehead, the edge of the cheek, and so on, gradually. And we said we do not issue a ruling permitting it, but we did not say we issue a ruling prohibiting it. There is a difference between the two expressions. If I say I do not issue a ruling permitting it, the meaning is that I refrained from issuing such a ruling. If I say I issue a ruling prohibiting it, the meaning is that I have forbidden it. And I do not have the right to forbid something that existed in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
So if someone asks: How do you prevent people, or how do you refrain from issuing a ruling permitting it, given that it was permissible in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?
We said: Blocking the means to harm is a matter established by the Shari'ah. Allah the Exalted said:
He prohibited cursing the gods of the polytheists so that it would not become a means to what? To cursing Allah. And 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) prohibited the sale of mothers of children. By "mothers of children" is meant the slave woman who bore a child for her master. Her sale was permissible in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the time of Abu Bakr, and the beginning of 'Umar's caliphate. However, they did not distinguish between the woman and her children due to the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibition of that. When concubines became numerous in the time of 'Umar, and a man would take a woman as a concubine, she would bear children, and he would sell her without caring about separating her from her children, he prohibited that. He prohibited the sale of mothers of children, but he did not prohibit it by legislation, because 'Umar was among the most severe people in standing by the limits of Allah. But he prohibited it out of fear of something forbidden, which is separating what? The mother from her child. Similarly, regarding the triple divorce, in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), if a man divorced three times, there was no taking back, and the woman did not become free from him, but it was forbidden, so it was not common in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor in the time of Abu Bakr, nor in the beginning of 'Umar's caliphate. Then the people continued and perished in this divorce, and one of them would divorce three times without caring. So he (may Allah be pleased with him) said: . He implemented it for them and made the triple divorce a final divorce, so it is not permissible for the man to take back his wife in it. So he prohibited something that was known in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to block the means to harm, which is falling into the forbidden, which is the triple divorce. So what we adopted regarding not issuing a ruling on its permissibility has a basis in the Qur'an and a basis in the practice of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). And we do not say that the niqab is not permissible, but we say we do not issue a ruling permitting it, out of fear of falling into what? The forbidden, in the laxity of women in that, until they open half of the face. Some people in one of the Arab states exploited this and said the niqab is forbidden, that so-and-so forbade it, and they began to spread the ruling. But it is a word of truth intended to be used for falsehood.
They say the niqab is forbidden, but uncovering the face is permissible, and they fight the woman wearing the niqab with it, saying "Uncover your face, this is Ibn Uthaymeen's ruling." This is a reversal of the facts. Do we say we do not issue a ruling permitting it, or do we say uncover the face? No, we do not issue a ruling permitting it. And cover the face, the second or the first? The second. Without doubt, we say that a woman must cover her face from every man except her mahram and her husband. Take this from me. But the people of falsehood want to strengthen their falsehood with a spider's thread.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : No, they took, as we hear, that this ruling means the permissibility of uncovering the face.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : No.