the dawn prayer with the Prophet ﷺ wrapped in their cloaks; once the prayer was finished, they would head back to their homes and no one could recognize them because of the darkness.

This tradition is recorded by the two Shaykhs and others; it has already appeared in the section on prayer times, number (5) under al-Fajr. Its implicit meaning is that, had the darkness not concealed them, the women would have been recognized—and ordinarily one recognizes a person by her face. Hence the report is evidence that a woman’s face is not ʿawrah (a part of the body that must be covered) during the prayer. This is the consensus, as indicated by Ibn Jarīr’s earlier comments on the verse. If that is so, her face is all the more not ʿawrah outside the prayer, for the scholars agree that the prayer imposes stricter requirements than ordinary life: whenever the law permits something within the prayer, that permission applies a fortiori outside it—as is self-evident. In fact, an explicit proof has come showing that the face is not ʿawrah outside the prayer as well, namely our next citation:

(2) Jabir b. ʿAbd Allah reported: I attended the ʿĪd prayer with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He began with the prayer before the sermon, without any adhān or iqāmah. Then he stood, leaning on Bilal, and enjoined the fear of Allah, urged obedience to Him, exhorted and reminded the people. After that he moved on until he reached the women, admonished and reminded them, and said, “Give in charity, for the majority of you are the fuel of Hell.”

A woman of average status, with dark cheeks, stood up and asked, “Why, O Messenger of Allah?”

He replied, “Because you complain too much and show ingratitude to your husbands.”

Jabir continued: So the women started giving charity from their jewelry, throwing their earrings and rings into Bilal’s cloak.