Q677 :My wife and I have recently benete Muslims. On
visiting Madinah recently, my wife was told by a door attendant at the
Prophet’s Mosque that she must cover her face. He quoted the Qur’anic
verse which may be rendered in translation; “Prophet, tell your wives
and daughters and believing women to wear their outer garments over
themselves [Added: some ulema in the Indo-Pak have translated as ‘over
their faces’.] ” He told us that it was obligatory for a woman to cover
her face. However, we read in a translation of a book written by
M.N.Albani that for a woman to cover her face is preferable but not
obligatory. Please netment.
A677 : Sheikh Albani is one of the leading
authorities on Hadith in the Muslim world today. I know him personally
and I can assure you that he does not hesitate to say what he believes
to be the truth and to support it with evidence from the Qur’an and
Hadith. Like every human being, he may make mistakes. In this
particular instance, he is certainly right. He has written a book on
the type of dress a Muslim woman should wear in particular. The book is
well researched and the style is clear and easily understood. As for
what the door attendant told you, I am afraid he has given the Qur’anic
verse, he quoted to you, a meaning to fit his own view. I have no doubt
that he means well, and that he does not recognize his mistake. The
verse he quotes demands Muslim women to lengthen their dresses so that
they are distinguished from other women. The type of dress with which
it is concerned is the normal dress a woman wears. That dress cannot be
made to cover her head, her face and her body. What the Qur’anic verse
tells Muslim women is not to have their dresses short. They should
lengthen them so as to cover their legs right down to their ankles. I
have often quoted the Hadith which states that Asmaa’, the Prophet’s
sister-in-law, once entered his home wearing a dress made of
transparent material. The Prophet said to her: “Asmaa’ when a women
attains puberty, nothing should be seen of her body except this and
this ( pointing to his face and forearms).” The way this Hadith is
phrased means that the face and forearms of a woman may be seen by
others. This clearly means that it is not at all obligatory for Muslim
women to cover their faces. No one may force a Muslim, woman or man, to
do something Allah has not imposed.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )