long shirts, and not every woman had two garments. (1) Therefore, if menstrual blood got on a garment, she would wash it and pray in it. (2) Thus, the feet and hands are not part of the private parts in prayer, though they are so with regard to being looked at. …

Since there is no evidence in this matter in which one’s heart can find reassurance, I follow Shaykh al-Islam on this issue and say that this is the apparent view, if we cannot state it definitively. For even if a woman has a garment that trails upon the ground, when she prostrates the soles of her feet will appear. According to the author’s view, the garment must necessarily cover both the soles and the tops of her feet, as well as her hands, leaving only her face uncovered. The boundaries of the face are exactly the same as its boundaries in ablution: from the curve of the forehead above to the bottom of the beard below, and across from ear to ear. Accordingly, she must take care that none of her hair comes out, based on the view that, so long as it remains attached, it takes the ruling of that which is attached. Ibn Rajab said in the second principle that there is a difference of opinion within the madhhab regarding this: some hold that hair takes the ruling of that which is attached, while others hold that it takes the ruling of that which is separate. (3)

As for the matter of looking, its purpose is to block the means leading to temptation. Therefore, she must cover her face before men who are not her unmarriageable kin. Shaykh al-Islam was among those who held that covering the face is obligatory; he likewise held that it is obligatory for a woman to cover her hands and feet, on the basis that the effective cause is the possibility of temptation. This differs from prayer, (298) whose purpose is to cover the adornment.