lead to temptation. When she lets her garment fall and then walks, her foot is naturally concealed.

From this ḥadith we infer the obligation to veil the face as well, for if the foot—which provokes far less temptation than the face—must be covered, then covering the face is even more imperative. It is inconceivable that the sharia, revealed by the All-Wise, All-Knowing, would instruct women to conceal their feet yet allow them to bare their faces; that would be a contradiction, conferring a legal ruling on a lesser matter while withholding it from one more deserving of it—something unthinkable in the just law that is the ultimate standard of balance.

Accordingly, those scholars who maintained that a woman must cover her feet but is not required to cover her face and eyes have missed the mark; such a position is untenable. What is certain, in our considered view, is that it is unlawful for a woman to uncover her face except before her husband or her maḥrams (male relatives permanently forbidden to marry her).