“To get straight to the point,” he then quoted the verse. The Interpreter of the Quran, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas, explained it in an authentic report, saying: “She draws the jilbab up to her face without wrapping it tightly,” as will be documented later.

Here, too, is Shaykh al-Tuwajiri—may Allah guide him and us—who writes at the end of his aforementioned book (p. 249):

“Whoever allows women to unveil (meaning only the uncovering of the face) and supports that view with the same proofs cited by al-Albani has flung the doors of wanton display wide open and emboldened women to commit the reprehensible acts practiced today by those who go unveiled.”

Such are his words—may Allah reform and guide him. This assault and censure are aimed not at me alone; they also strike those who are my exemplars and predecessors among the Companions, the Followers, the exegetes, the jurists, and others—whom we have cited in the book and in the introduction mentioned above. One example will suffice for now. In al-Insaf fi Maʿrifat al-Rajih min al-Khilaf ʿala Madhhab al-Imam al-Mubajjal Ahmad ibn Hanbal by Shaykh ʿAlaʾ al-Din al-Mardawi (1/452) we read:

“The soundest view within the madhhab is that the face is not part of the ʿawrah.”

He gives the same ruling regarding the hands, a position also adopted by Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi in al-Mughni (1/637). Ibn Qudamah supports his choice with the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—prohibition for a woman in ihram to wear gloves and a face-veil, and he said:

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