the trailing hem to be on a par with the shoe, which often comes into contact with impurity; it may therefore be cleansed with a dry solid substance just as the two private parts are cleansed with a dry solid, because both are repeatedly exposed to impurity.

Nor is that particular garment the only means of covering. Were a woman to put on trousers or a broad, firm boot—such as the muʿarriq—and let her jilbab fall over it so that the shape of the foot is not discernible, the objective would be achieved. This is unlike the soft khuff that shows the contours of the foot, for that belongs to men’s dress. Likewise, if a woman needs to wear a jubba and a fur-lined cloak to ward off the cold, she is not forbidden to do so. Should someone object, “But women in earlier times did not wear fur,” we reply that the matter depends on need: in cold regions thick, warming clothing is required, even though it is unnecessary in hot lands.

Accordingly, the distinction between men’s and women’s clothing turns on what is suitable for each, in harmony with the separate obligations laid upon them. Women are enjoined to cover and conceal themselves, not to display themselves and seek prominence. For that reason the Law does not prescribe for them to raise their voices in the adhan or the talbiyah, nor to ascend Safa and Marwah proclaiming aloud, nor to strip off their garments in ihram as a man does. A man, by contrast, is commanded to uncover his head and to avoid the usual tailored clothes that fit the limbs: he must not wear a shirt, trousers, a hooded cloak, or khuffs. Yet because he needs something to cover his private parts and something on which to walk, he was later granted a concession: if he cannot find an izar he may wear trousers, and if he cannot find sandals he may wear khuffs. That allowance was made to meet a general necessity, unlike concessions that address a specific need such as illness or cold.