In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

Section of Introductions
Preface to the New Edition

All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils within ourselves and from the consequences of our deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomever He lets stray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

To proceed: This is the new edition of my book, “The Muslim Woman’s Hijab in the Qur’an and Sunnah.” It differs from the earlier editions through several important additions, foremost among them the extra hadiths and reports from the early generations that show a woman’s face and hands are not ʿawrah. For instance, five additional hadiths have been included (pages 70–72), bringing the total proofs to thirteen instead of the eight cited in previous printings. We have also added in this edition a number of the most significant reports from the salaf that attest to the same point; the reader will find them on pages 96–103.

More important than all of this are the pages we have appended to pages 51–53, in which we demonstrate the precision of Ibn ʿAbbās, followed by other Companions and exegetes, in interpreting His statement