First: The Quran interprets itself. The verse from Sūrat al-Nūr cited earlier makes it clear that covering the face is not obligatory; accordingly, the command here to “draw down” must be limited to everything except the face so as to reconcile the two verses.

Second: The Sunnah clarifies the Quran, specifying what is general and restricting what is absolute, and many texts from it1 show that covering the face is not obligatory. This verse, therefore, has to be understood in their light and restricted accordingly.

It is thus established that the face is not part of the ʿawrah that must be covered. This is the opinion of most scholars, as Ibn Rushd states in al-Bidāyah 1/89. It is the view of Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and—according to one report—Aḥmad, as in al-Majmūʿ 3/169. Al-Ṭaḥāwī also attributed it in Sharḥ al-Maʿānī 2/9 to Abū Ḥanīfah’s two principal companions. The Shāfiʿī work al-Muhimāt affirms that this is the correct position, as quoted by Shaykh al-Shirbīnī in al-Iqnaʿ 2/110.

This, however, is conditioned on the face—and likewise the hands—bearing no adornment, for the general words of the Exalted, “and let them not display their adornment” (al-Nūr 31), would then apply and covering would be obligatory. This is especially true in our own time, when women have devised innumerable ways of decorating their faces and hands with cosmetics and dyes—something no Muslim, indeed no rational and protective person, can doubt is forbidden. Exempt from this are kohl for the eyes and henna for the hands, since the verse explicitly excepts them, as mentioned earlier.

This is further supported by the report transmitted by Ibn Saʿd 8/238–239 through the chain: Sufyān → Manṣūr → Rubayʿī b. Khirāsh → a woman → Hudhayfah’s sister—he had several sisters—