one among them is known to have walked about or sat exposing his thighs, as many unbelievers do today—and as do some Muslims who imitate them by wearing what they call “shorts,” which in Arabic is the tibbān.

Therefore, one should not hesitate to regard the thigh as part of the ʿawrah, giving precedence to the verbal, prohibitive evidences. This is in fact the opinion of the majority of jurists, and al-Shawkānī affirms it decisively in Nayl al-Aṭār 2/52–53 and al-Sayl al-Jarrār 1/160–161.

Still, it may be said that the ʿawrah of the thighs is lighter than that of the genitals proper—a view toward which Ibn al-Qayyim leaned in Tahdhīb al-Sunan, as I quoted in Irwāʾ 1/301. Accordingly, the touching of the thigh mentioned in the hadith of Abū Dharr—apparently through the cloth—is not on a par with touching the genitals, contrary to the commotion stirred up by Ibn Ḥazm, which the author reproduces and endorses!

Another point: the author linked the knee and the navel with the thigh yet provided no proof for including them, and in reality nothing authentic exists on that score, as al-Shawkānī showed (2/55). Indeed, it is refuted by the Prophet’s statement, “What lies between the navel and the knee is ʿawrah,” a hasan hadith, as I clarified in Irwāʾ 247 and 271 along with other reports of similar purport. Consult al-Shawkānī if you wish.

The author then said, in his commentary on the verse, “And they should not display their adornment except that which is apparent of it” (Q 24:31): “Meaning: they are not to reveal the places of adornment except the face and the hands, as this is authentically reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar, and ʿĀʾishah.”

I say: See Hijāb al-Marʾah al-Muslimah, pp. 23–25. Let me add here that Ibn Abī Shaybah relates in al-Muṣannaf 4/283 that Ibn ʿAbbās, in explaining the cited verse, said, “The hand and the patch of the face.” Its chain is sound. A similar report is transmitted from Ibn ʿUmar