The Ruling on a Woman Uncovering Her Face

The Shaykh : This was the black woman; she was indeed black. This hadith is among the narrations we use as evidence against some scholars in the present day who are strict with women and rule that a woman’s face and its features are part of her awrah (the part of the body that must be covered). We have cited many texts and athar (reports from a Companion or successor) that were known in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and in the eras that followed, including the story of this black woman. How did the narrator know that she was black and not white or brown, or so on? Because she appeared, at the very least, with her hands, if not with her face. Ata, whether Ibn Abi Rabah or Ata ibn Yasar, who was a distinguished Tabi'i (the generation after the Companions) and one of the students of Ibn Abbas, used to see this black woman coming to the curtains of the Ka'bah and hiding behind them, fearing that she would be exposed and her awrah seen, as mentioned in the previous hadith. The point is: the hadiths indicating this are numerous, and very numerous. They are mentioned in my previous book titled "The Hijab of the Muslim Woman," and later in the new edition that will be published soon, if Allah wills, under the title "The Jilbab of the Muslim Woman," replacing the previous title "The Hijab of the Muslim Woman." It contains a very substantial introduction that addresses some of the doubts raised by some shaykhs (scholars or teachers) regarding my previous book titled "The Hijab of the Muslim Woman."