They even set up a heading that reads: “Linguistically, ikhtimār entails covering the face.” Yet they produced no evidence for this claim other than the two lines of poetry that I myself had quoted in my book (p. 73) to support my statement there that, while the khimār is a head-covering, it may sometimes be used to cover the face. I further corroborated that with several hadiths, which they sadly ignored and to which they offered no response.

I will now add another proof. In the report describing the Prophet’s hunger, Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated from Umm Sulaym:

(Authentic) “She brought out some barley loaves, then she produced a khimār of hers and wrapped the bread in part of it …” — the ḥadith.

It is recorded by al-Bukhārī (3578), Muslim (6/118), and others.

The point is obvious: the khimār with which a woman covers her head was here used to wrap and cover bread. Would anyone therefore claim that one of the primary meanings of khimār, when mentioned without qualification, is “something that covers bread” as well? I would not be surprised if those who have dared to oppose the previously cited texts of the Quran, the Sunnah, and the statements of the imams—which all show that the khimār is a head-covering and has nothing to do with the face—were to insist, “and the face too,” simply because the garment has occasionally been used, like the jilbāb, to cover the face.

With this in mind, one of al-Tuwijrī’s errors—and of all who follow his lead—is his statement, after interpreting the khimār in the flawed manner already exposed (p. 221): ⦗23⦘