His statement, “It is sufficient for her to cover her awrah”: that is, it is sufficient for a woman to cover her awrah, even with a single garment. Thus, if she wraps herself in a garment that covers her head, hands, feet, and the rest of her body, leaving only her face uncovered, that suffices. And if she wraps herself in a garment that leaves her hands and feet uncovered along with her face, that also suffices according to the stronger view.

Here, the author did not distinguish between obligatory and voluntary prayers with respect to a woman’s covering; for there is no evidence for such a distinction. He did, however, distinguish regarding the covering of a man’s awrah, based on his inference from the hadith (1). This has already been explained (2): the apparent meaning of the hadith is that there is no distinction between obligatory and voluntary prayers.

Whoever has part of his awrah exposed, and it is substantial, …

His statement, “Whoever has part of his awrah exposed, and it is substantial”: man (whoever) is a conditional particle; inkashafa (is exposed) is the verb of the condition, and a‘āda (he must repeat) is its consequence. “Is exposed” means that the covering has been removed from it. “Part of the awrah” includes the private parts and anything else that we have said is awrah.

His statement, “and it is substantial,” means: it is grave and considerable. The author did not define it by any specific measure—that is, he did not say the size of a dirham, a fingernail, the eye of a needle, or the like. Rather, it is referred back to customary practice, because whatever has not been defined by the Sacred Law is referred back to customary practice. This is expressed in the poet’s words:

Everything that occurs without being defined
by the Sacred Law—such as a secure place of custody—define by custom. (3)

Accordingly, we say that “substantial” means substantial according to customary practice. Thus, if people say, “This