The hadith shows that a person who is praying may not treat the covering of the ʿawrah (the parts of the body that must be concealed) lightly; rather, he must take every precaution so that neither he himself nor anyone else can see it.
The jurists disagreed about someone who prays in a shirt with a wide neckline through which his ʿawrah can be seen. Al-Shāfiʿī and his followers hold that such a prayer is invalid and does not absolve the obligation; this is the Imam’s explicit ruling in al-Umm. Abū Ḥanīfah and Mālik, however, maintain that the prayer is valid, just as it would be if others glimpsed his ʿawrah from beneath the hem of his garment. This is noted in al-Majmūʿ.
- As for the woman, her entire body is ʿawrah except for her face and hands.
The proof that she is ʿawrah is the Almighty’s words: “and they should not display their adornment except what is apparent thereof, and let them draw their head-covers over their bosoms, and let them not display their adornment except to their husbands … and let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they conceal of their adornment” (Qur’an 24:31).
Ibn Ḥazm said in al-Muḥallā: “Allah, exalted be He, commanded them to draw the khimār over the bosom; this is an explicit text requiring the covering of the ʿawrah, the neck, and the chest, and it is likewise an explicit text permitting the exposure of the face—no other interpretation is possible. His statement, ‘and let them not stamp their feet …,’ is an explicit proof that the feet and shins are to be hidden and may not be shown.”
As for his remark that the verse is “an explicit text permitting the exposure of the face,” this is open to scrutiny, for the scholars have differed about the meaning of the Almighty’s words “except what is apparent thereof.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr said: “That is, they should not reveal any of their adornment to unrelated men except what cannot be concealed. Ibn…"