his ﷺ statement—attested by all three chains of transmission—so there is no need to quote it again.

Yes, al-ʿAnbarī raised an objection from one angle, saying, “In the first route we see the Messenger of Allah ﷺ pointing to the face and the hands, whereas in the second he exposed only his fingers.”

I reply: Indeed, but why did you conceal the fact that the third, sound route through Qatādah—by your own admission—agrees with the first? Does this not tip the balance in favour of the wording “the hands” rather than “the fingers”?

Moreover, what benefit is there in all this clamour over a weak variant when all three chains concur in mentioning the face, the more important element—the very point on which you have departed from the practice of the early generations and the leading imams?

The third objection:

They claim that, had the ḥadith been sound, Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr—the person to whom the Prophet ﷺ directed it—would not have acted contrary to it, yet she used to cover her face from unrelated men even while in the state of iḥrām.

We reply:

First: the chains do not all name Asmāʾ, even though they agree on the wording of the ḥadith itself. If it is nonetheless established that the Prophet ﷺ addressed her, then:

Second: we have stated repeatedly that a woman’s covering of her face is the superior course, contrary to what has been falsely alleged. ⦗109⦘