“What, then, are we to do?” He replied, ...” and he cited the rest of it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators of the two Ṣaḥīḥs, apart from Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥajjāj, who is trustworthy.

He then narrated it (329/1), as did Aḥmad (6/295, 309), by way of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Nāfiʿ, with the wording: “A cubit, and they should not exceed that.”

ʿAbd Allāh likewise narrated it from Nāfiʿ, from Sulaymān ibn Yasār, from her. Aḥmad recorded it (6/293). He then narrated it (6/315) from ʿUbayd Allāh, from Nāfiʿ, with the same wording.

I say: The hadith proves that a woman’s feet are part of her awrah (that which must be covered), and that this was well known among women during the time of Prophethood. For when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Let it trail a span,” Umm Salamah said, “Then the feet will be uncovered.” This indicates that she knew the feet were awrah and that it was not permissible to uncover them. Therefore, he instructed her to let it trail a cubit.

There is an indication of this fact in the Noble Quran, in the saying of the Exalted: “And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they conceal of their adornment.”

For further discussion, see our book, The Muslim Woman’s Hijab (pp. 36–37, Islamic Office edition).

461 — “May Allah reward the Ansar well on our behalf, especially ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām and Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.”

Abū Yaʿlā narrated it in his Musnad (folio 116/1): Ibn Abī Sumaynah narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd narrated to us. He said: My father narrated from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: