From the foregoing it is clear to our esteemed readers that the four Imams unanimously allow the woman in ihram to choose whether or not to let a cloth hang over her face (sidl); they do not oblige her to do so, contrary to the stance of the hard-liners and blind imitators.

Moreover, the words of Mālik in the Muwaṭṭaʾ and of Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr—“and outside her prayer”—invalidate al-Tuwajirī’s interpretation mentioned above. The very fact that the Imams give women in ihram the option of sidl shows that the ruling applies outside the prayer as well.

I now wish to place before our honorable readers a piece of knowledge that those writers either concealed or ignored—both alternatives are lamentable: the precedent for the Imams’ position, in both word and deed, is the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her.

Her statement is as follows:

(Saḥīḥ) “A woman in ihram may wear whatever clothing she wishes, except a garment that has been touched by safflower dye or saffron. She must not wear a niqab or cover her mouth and nose, but if she wishes she may let her garment hang down over her face.” (1)

Al-Bayhaqī recorded it in his Sunan (5 / 47) with an authentic chain of transmission, and the ḥāfiẓ attributed it to him.