their lower legs will be exposed.” He replied, “A cubit, but no more.” Al-Tirmidhī said, “An authentic hadith.”

Indeed, on this account, it is reported that he granted a concession whereby, if a woman dragged her hem over an unclean place and then passed with it over a clean place, it would thereby become purified. This is the position of a group of scholars within Ahmad’s school and elsewhere. The trailing hem is treated like a sandal, which frequently comes into contact with impurity and can therefore be purified with solid material, just as the two bodily outlets can be purified with solid material because of their repeated contact with impurity.

This, however, is not the only way to achieve covering. If a woman wore trousers or roomy, stiff leather boots, such as mūqs, with her outer cloak hanging over them so that the shape of her feet was not visible, this would fulfill the intended purpose. This differs from soft leather boots that reveal the shape of the foot, for these belong to men’s attire. Likewise, if a woman wore a long coat and a fur garment because she needed them to ward off the cold, she would not be forbidden to do so.

If someone were to say, “Women did not use to wear fur garments,” we would reply: “That depends on need. In cold countries, clothing needs to be thick and warm, even though this is not needed in hot countries.”

The distinction between men’s and women’s clothing thus comes down to what is suitable for men and what is suitable for women: clothing appropriate to what men are commanded to do and what women are commanded to do. Thus women are commanded