and others besides him, and the author of al-Mughnī explains the point by saying: “Necessity calls for uncovering the face for buying and selling, and the two hands for taking and giving.”

Among those who hold this view is the distinguished Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn Mufliḥ, about whom Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah said, “Under the dome of heaven there is no one more knowledgeable of Imām Aḥmad’s school than Ibn Mufliḥ,” while his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah remarked, “You are not merely Ibn Mufliḥ; you are mufliḥ (truly successful).”

I therefore feel obliged to present Ibn Mufliḥ’s own words to the readers, for they are rich in knowledge and benefits: they further nullify Shaykh al-Tuwayjiri’s claim and show that his statements—and those of the eminent scholars cited alongside him—support the position I adopted earlier and continue to uphold.

In his valuable work al-Ādāb al-Sharʿiyyah—which, incidentally, is one of Shaykh al-Tuwayjiri’s own sources, proving that he is aware of it yet conceals its scholarly facts from his readers and then asserts the opposite—may Allah have mercy on him, Ibn Mufliḥ writes:

“Is it permissible to censure unrelated women when they uncover their faces while walking along the road? The answer turns on whether the woman is obliged to cover her face, or whether the man is obliged to lower his gaze. On this issue there are two opinions:”