Second Discussion: Many of the strict opponents assert that the jilbab (outer cloak) commanded in the verse of al-Ahzab is the same as the hijab (screen) mentioned in the other verse, “…and ask them from behind a screen” (al-Ahzab 53). This is a remarkable confusion, caused by their awareness that the first verse contains no proof that the face and the hands are part of the ʿawrah, unlike the second verse, which speaks of a woman inside her home—where she normally wears neither jilbab nor khimar (headscarf) and therefore does not present herself to the inquirer, contrary to what some ill-mannered women do today. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah highlighted this distinction, saying in al-Fatawa (15/448):
“The verse of jilbabs concerns outer garments when women emerge from their dwellings, whereas the verse of hijab pertains to speech within the dwellings.”

I say: Neither of the two verses obligates covering the face and the hands.

As for the first verse, the jilbab is the mantle with which a woman wraps herself over her clothes—not over her face—as will be shown later in this book (p. 83). All the lexicons agree on this point; none of them make any mention of the face whatsoever.

An authentic report from Ibn ʿAbbas states in explanation of the verse:
“She draws the jilbab close to her face but does not cover it completely.”

Abu Dawud recorded it in his Masāʾil (p. 110); anything that contradicts it is either anomalous or weak—details are given in that introduction.

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