nor may one look at their forearms, calves, or any other part of the body. It is impermissible to keep returning one’s gaze or to stare fixedly at a young woman—whether she is a close relative within the prohibited degrees of marriage or not—except when a real need arises, such as giving sworn testimony and the like. Only with elderly women who no longer hope for marriage is looking allowed, and even then restraint is the safer course.

Every believing man and woman must lower their gaze and guard their private parts. A woman is to draw her khimar (any head-covering) over the opening of her garment so that her chest is concealed, and she must not display her adornment except to her husband, his father, her sons, her brothers, her brothers’ sons, her sisters’ sons, or those whom her right hand possesses. In our day it is wiser to exercise extra caution with such ownership, given the moral changes among people; the insolent among slaves and those who are not insolent, in my opinion, stand on nearly the same footing. Some have understood “those whom one’s right hand possesses” here to mean female slaves. The earlier concession that allowed a woman to eat with an impertinent slave or with a trusted servant has been withdrawn, and avoiding this is closer to safety.

It is disliked for a man to sleep between two of his slave girls, or between his wife and a slave girl, or to have intercourse with one of them while the other can hear. It is likewise reprehensible for a man to approach his lawful wife in a manner visible to anyone, whether young or old, or to talk openly about what he does in private with his family; a woman is equally censured for speaking about her private relations with her husband.

Among the innate practices of Islam are ten traits; at their head is circumcision. It is sunnah for men and an honor for women, and it has been reported from Mālik that he too regarded it as sunnah.