“Is it permissible to censure unrelated women if they uncover their faces while walking in the street?

The answer hinges on whether a woman is obliged to veil her face or whether, instead, the duty is upon the man to lower his gaze. On the issue there are two opinions. Qadi ʿIyad, discussing the ḥadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) who said, ‘I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the sudden glance, and he commanded me to avert my eyes,’ narrated by Muslim, said: The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, take this as proof that a woman is not required to cover her face while in public; rather, it is a sunnah, recommended for her (1). What is obligatory is for the man to avert his gaze from her in every situation except for a legitimate need. Shaykh Muḥyi al-Din al-Nawawi reported this and added nothing further.”

That is, he recorded it in his Sharh Muslim just before the “Book of Greetings,” and he approved it.

Mufliḥ then cited the view of Ibn Taymiyyah on which al-Tuwijri relies in his book (p. 170), while ignoring the statements of the majority of jurists and the opinion of Qadi ʿIyad that Mufliḥ himself had transmitted and endorsed in accordance with al-Nawawi. Mufliḥ went on to say:

“On this basis, is condemnation legislated? The ruling on denouncing matters over which scholars differ has already been discussed. According to our view—and that of a group of Shafiʿis and others—that looking at a non-maḥram woman is permissible when there is neither desire nor seclusion, then censure is not warranted.”