2868 — “There is no harm upon you; he is only your father and your male slave.”

Al-Ḍiyāʾ narrated it in al-Mukhtārah (41/1), through Abū Dāwūd, the compiler of al-Sunan. It is found in its Book of Dress (4106), from Abū Jamīʿ Sālim ibn Dīnār, from Thābit, from Anas: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, brought Fāṭimah, may Allah be pleased with her, a slave whom he had given her. Fāṭimah had a garment which, when she drew it over her head, did not reach her feet, and when she covered her feet with it, did not reach her head. When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw the difficulty she was experiencing, he said the above.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy. There are some mild adverse comments concerning Sālim ibn Dīnār, but they are not detrimental. Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn Ḥibbān (6/411), and others deemed him trustworthy.

This hadith is clear evidence that a daughter may uncover her head and feet before her father, and indeed before her male slave as well. It is an explicit refutation of Professor Abū al-Aʿlā Mawdūdī, may Allah have mercy on him, who stated plainly in his book al-Ḥijāb (pp. 289–290, Muʾassasat al-Risālah) that it is not lawful for a woman to uncover her awrah (the parts of her body that must be covered)—apart from her face and hands—even before her father, paternal uncle, brother, or son. He said: “Not even before another woman like herself!” He further emphasized this elsewhere (pp. 272–273).

I had responded to him on this issue in a rejoinder published at the end of the first edition of his book, at the request—indeed, the insistence—of those responsible for it. This was because I considered it unlikely that the author would approve of that without first seeing the rejoinder. Their intermediary said: “Do not worry; we have an agreement with Professor Mawdūdī that he approves whatever comments may seem appropriate to us.” Yet no sooner had the book reached the author than he hastened to write to them, instructing them not to publish the book until his reply to the “rejoinder” had reached them. They printed his reply in a small booklet. It contains errors—