As for the third issue—the limits of a woman’s ʿawrah—the majority of scholars hold that her entire body is ʿawrah except for the face and the hands. Abū Ḥanīfah adds the feet to what may remain uncovered, whereas Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Aḥmad maintain that the whole woman is ʿawrah.
The root of the disagreement lies in the possible meanings of the Almighty’s words:
“And let them not display their adornment except what ordinarily appears thereof.” (al-Nūr 24:31)
Does this exception single out specific body parts, or does it refer only to whatever inevitably becomes visible?
Those who take it to mean what cannot be helped when a woman moves say: her entire body, even the face, is ʿawrah. They cite the generality of His words:
“O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers…” (al-Aḥzāb 33:59).
Conversely, those who understand the verse to refer to what customarily remains uncovered—the face and the hands—hold that these two are not ʿawrah, arguing further that a woman does not cover her face during the Ḥajj.
Section Two of Chapter Four: What Clothing Suffices in Prayer
With regard to clothing, the basic rule is the Almighty’s statement:
“Take your adornment at every place of worship.” (al-Aʿrāf 7:31)
As for the reports forbidding certain postures of dress in prayer, the scholars, as far as I can tell, agree that the styles of clothing proscribed—such as ishtimāl al-ṣammāʾ (when a man wraps himself in a single garment leaving his shoulders bare, or sits huddled in a single cloth that does not cover his private parts)—and similar instances were all prohibited as a precaution lest the ʿawrah be exposed. I know of no one who has ruled the prayer invalid in any of these postures so long as the ʿawrah remains covered—though, on the principles of the literalists, such an invalidation would have followed.
They also concur that one garment suffices for a man in prayer, for the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—was asked, “May a man pray in a single garment?” He replied, “Do all of you own two garments?”
They differed, however, about a man who prays with his back and abdomen uncovered. The majority regard his prayer as valid, since a man’s back and stomach are not ʿawrah, whereas a few held an anomalous opinion, saying that his prayer is invalid “because the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—prohibited…”