treat her face as they do the hands—the sounder view—say: she has not been forbidden to veil the face itself; she has only been prohibited from wearing a face-veil, just as she has been prohibited from wearing gloves. This is like the man’s prohibition from wearing a shirt, trousers, and similar garments. Anything purpose-made to cover the face, such as a burqaʿ, therefore falls under the same ruling. As for drawing a cloth down from above the head so that it hangs loosely over the face, that is comparable to covering one’s face while sleeping with a sheet, or to the hands being covered by ordinary sleeves; none of this has been forbidden.
If men wished to wear face-veils and burqas, leaving the women with their faces exposed, they would be prevented from doing so. Likewise, a woman has been instructed, when she prays, to keep her limbs close together and to cover her head, for Allah accepts no prayer from a menstruating woman unless she wears a head-cover—even if she is deep inside her house where no unrelated man can see her. This shows that the Law charges her with a degree of covering that is not required of a man: a divine right upon her even when no human eye beholds her. Allah the Exalted has said,
“Stay in your homes, and do not display yourselves as in the former Age of Ignorance.”
The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Do not keep Allah’s female servants from the mosques of Allah, yet their homes are better for them.” He also said, “A woman’s prayer in her private alcove is better than her prayer in her room; her prayer in her room is better than her prayer in her courtyard; her prayer in her courtyard is better than her prayer in the mosque of her people; and her prayer in the mosque of her people is better than her prayer with me.”2
All of this aims at achieving greater concealment and seclusion.