As for Abū Mūsā’s report, he relates the incident as an eyewitness, meaning that the Prophet ﷺ did not cover his knee from Abū Mūsā the way he covered it in front of ʿUthmān. That is the conclusion that emerges from our remarks on al-Shawkānī’s words.

Even if we were to concede his claim, the second line of evidence showing that the knee is not ʿawrah (a part that must be covered) is Abū Bakr’s uncovering of his own knees—and the same was done by ʿAmr ibn Zurārah—in the Prophet’s presence ﷺ, and he voiced no objection. Had the knee been ʿawrah he would certainly have objected, just as he reproved Jurhud al-Aslamī when the latter passed by him with his thigh exposed and he said, “Cover your thigh, for the thigh is ʿawrah,”—if, that is, the ḥadith were sound; but it is not, as has been explained in detail. His ﷺ silence therefore indicates that the knee is not ʿawrah, and for that reason al-Ḥāfiẓ, commenting on the ḥadith of Abū al-Dardāʾ, wrote: “It shows that the knee is not ʿawrah.”

A third proof is that Ḥamzah (may Allah be pleased with him) raised his gaze to the Prophet’s knee. Besides the fact that the Prophet ﷺ had uncovered it, someone else looked directly at it; had it been ʿawrah, neither Ḥamzah nor anyone else would have felt free to gaze at it—just as Ibn Ḥazm says concerning the navel, as will be mentioned later.

In truth, these evidences establish that the knee is not ʿawrah. Imām al-Shāfiʿī held this view. Al-Nawawī said: “This is the well-known position in our school; Mālik, a group of scholars, and one narration from Aḥmad concur with it, whereas Abū Ḥanīfah and ʿAṭāʾ considered the knee to be ʿawrah.”