They are alleged to be four hadiths—but that is not the case. The variety is due to the reporters’ inconsistencies, and the only wording that is actually sound is “the hand,” of course together with the face. This is established in a combined hadith-critical and juristic discussion you will not find elsewhere.
48- A refutation of Mawdudi for trying to harmonize those different wordings: the condition for harmonization is not fulfilled, and his attempt is invalid in itself because it contradicts what he writes in his Hijab.
49- A rebuttal of his distinction between the two phrases “it is not lawful” and “it is not sound,” clarifying the mischief that follows from it and showing—on two important grounds, with several examples—that the two phrases mean the same thing.
50- An examination of Ibn Jarir’s earlier preference, supported by a statement of Ibn ʿAtiyyah that al-Qurtubi approved; al-Qurtubi himself favored that view and cited the hadith, “except her face and her hands,” as evidence. Because the issue is so subtle, the author urges the reader to reflect carefully on it.
51- The author then concluded that the correct opinion is precisely the one chosen by Ibn Jarir and al-Qurtubi. He explains this in a valuable, rare study whose foundation he took from the work of the hadith master Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi, al-Nazar fi Aḥkam al-Nazar—consult it, for it is extremely precious. There he clarifies the sense of the term ʿādah (custom) found in al-Qurtubi’s wording; with that, the earlier difficulty and the reservation already mentioned are removed, and the soundness of the interpretation of Ibn ʿAbbas and the other early scholars—that the phrase “except what is outwardly apparent of it” refers to the face and the hands—becomes manifest.
53- A demonstration that the previously cited interpretation of the early generations must not be opposed with Ibn Masʿud’s solitary explanation of the verse, for two important reasons; review them.
54- Al-Jassas’s remarks weakening Ibn Masʿud’s interpretation, along with Ibn al-Qattan’s similar comments on the verse; in this the latter excelled, offering clarity and proof not found elsewhere.