in a single garment with nothing of it over his shoulders.” (1) Thus, the rulings of prayer are not based, either directly or inversely, on the issue of looking. Hence, a man may be alone with his wife and look at her entire body, and she may look at his entire body; yet if she prays merely in his presence, she must cover herself. Likewise, if he prays in her presence, he too must cover himself.

Accordingly, we say: the thighs must be covered in prayer, for this is the least that can be described as adornment. Allah says: “O children of Adam, take your adornment at every place of prayer.” [al-A‘raf 7:31] ...

As for looking, its purpose is to block the means leading to temptation. Whatever is adjacent to the two private organs takes their ruling; that is, the upper thigh takes the ruling of the two private organs. As for the rest of the thigh, the apparent meaning of the texts is that it is not private with respect to looking, for it is established that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, uncovered his thigh (2), and he was the most modest of people. Yet with regard to young men, I hold that a young man must cover his entire thigh and all that lies below the navel, for fear of temptation. Do not say that there can be no temptation, since one male is not tempted by another like himself. This claim is incorrect and contrary to reality. Some people are tempted by a young man, even though he is male; while others are unconcerned by him, as though they were looking at one of their own sons, and thus cannot take pleasure in looking at him. And among people are those of whom Allah has related that they come to men with desire, and so they go