—one that Allah Most High enabled me to obtain while I was preparing the introduction to this new edition—namely, al-Nazar fī Aḥkām al-Naẓar (A Study of the Rulings on Looking). In that book he treats every single question with expansive knowledge and penetrating insight, including the very issue now before us. What drew my attention to the point I have just alluded to is his statement therein, ق 14/2:

“What we mean by custom here is the custom of those among whom the Quran was revealed, who conveyed the Law from the Prophet ﷺ, and who were present at the direct address, as well as all who thereafter adhered to that custom, and so on—not the custom of women and others who expose their bodies and private parts.”

I say: When Ibn ʿAbbās and the Companions, Successors, and exegetes who sided with him interpret the verse “except what ordinarily appears [of it],” they are referring precisely to this custom that was well known at the time of revelation and was approved. Therefore, it is impermissible to set their interpretation against that of Ibn Masʿūd—an interpretation in which none of the Companions followed him—for two reasons:

First, he spoke without qualification of “garments,” and no one accepts that unqualified wording, for it would include the inner clothes that are themselves an adornment, as some Saudi women do, as mentioned earlier. Thus, he intended only the jilbāb (outer cloak) that a woman shows of her clothing when she leaves her house.

Second, although some zealously strict individuals may champion this interpretation, it is out of harmony with the remainder of the verse: “and let them not reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers…” The initial mention of “adornment” is identical to the second, for it is well known in Arabic style that when a definite noun is repeated it refers to the same thing. If that is so, would it then be said that fathers and the others named with them in the verse are not permitted to