—from him in your book (3/327), accepting it and even citing it at length, whether out of ignorance or feigned ignorance—I cannot tell, by Allah—of the fact that, both linguistically and in the Law, the khimār is a covering for the head, not the face, as has been the practice of Muslims throughout the ages—and you are one of them. Whatever I may think of you and others who disagree, I cannot imagine that you would instruct your womenfolk to veil their faces when they rise for prayer inside the home on the basis of the Prophet’s statement, “Allah does not accept the prayer of a menstruating woman unless she is wearing a khimār,” while claiming that the khimār also covers the face.

The point, then, is that the command to lower the gaze is not absolute, as you have alleged. For that reason Ibn Kathīr, completing the words quoted earlier, said:
(Sound) “If someone’s eyes happen to fall on something forbidden unintentionally, he must turn his gaze away at once, as Muslim narrated from Jarīr, who said: ‘I asked the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) about the sudden glance, and he ordered me to avert my eyes.’” (1)

I therefore say: the verse, like the ḥadith, commands lowering the gaze only from what is forbidden. Fairness dictates the following: if it is unlawful for a woman to expose her face before unrelated men, it is likewise unlawful for them to look at it; and if her revealing it is permissible, their looking is likewise permissible. Have our opponents shown such fairness? Regrettably, no. The proof is that they do not even allow a woman to look at a man’s face or anything below it.