As for the other verse, the matter is exactly as I have just explained.

For that reason it occurred to me to entitle this work “The Woman’s Jilbab …,” for such a title is more fitting to its subject, as is plain to see. Allah is the One who grants success.

Third Discussion: Their inconsistency is evident in that—while obligating a woman to veil her face—they nevertheless allow her to leave her left eye uncovered, and some go further, permitting both eyes to remain visible. Their concession rests on a handful of feeble reports, among them the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbas that will be cited later in this book (p. 88). Yet another report from him flatly contradicts it, stating:

“Drawing the jilbab close means that she drapes it over her head and fastens it to her forehead.”

This wording supports our position that the jilbab does not cover the face. For that very reason all our opponents have suppressed it and never mention it. Although the chain of transmission is weak, it has supporting narrations, as will be shown.

How true is the saying: “The people of the Sunnah relate what is for them and what is against them, whereas the people of desire relate what is for them and omit what is against them.”

An example of this is Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Sindi, who in his treatise “Al-Hijab” concealed one of the two defects in Ibn ʿAbbas’s first report and played down the other (p. 19–20). The author of “Ya Fatat al-Islam” was misled by this and openly declared the report authentic (p. 252); the same ruling was given by the author of “Fiqh al-Nazar fi al-Islam” (p. 65).

Even more egregious is what a certain Darwish did in his so-called “Fasl al-Khitab,” where he altered the isnad, presenting it in two places (46 and 82) as the narration of Muhammad ibn Sirin from Ibn ʿAbbas. This is sheer fabrication with no basis whatsoever.⦗11⦘