𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (26)

The ‘awrah of a woman in front of other women and her mahrams (such as father, brother and nephew) Her ’Awrah in this case is her entire body except that which usually appears such as the face, hair, neck, forearms and feet. Allāh says (interpretation of the meaning): “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islam), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.” [An-Nur 24,31] Shaikh Albāni explained: “Therefore , there in this Āyah, Our Lord The Most Glorious The Most Majestic has allowed her to reveal in front of her mahram and the women; the parts of their bodies which take adornments. NOTHING ELSE. So we have the hands where there is the bracelets and bangles, then we have the head where there is adornments on the ears [earrings] , and the neck as we mentioned, then the feet and some parts of her shins where the anklet is worn. These are the parts which Allaah has permitted the women to expose in front of her mahram and her Muslim sister.” [Silsilah muhadharah: 13] Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen said: “She is allowed to show to her Mahrams: her face, head, neck, hands, arms, feet, shanks (the part of the lower limb between the knee and the ankle), and she should cover everything else other than that.” [Hijab Mar’a wa zinatuqa, page 43] IMPORTANT NOTE: Shaykh ‘Uthaymeen explains: “We must understand that there is a difference between saying “What is ‘awrah?” and “What is the clothing that it is prescribed for a woman to wear?” so that there will be no confusion between the two matters. The clothing that is prescribed for a woman to wear in front of mahrams is that which covers ALL of her body EXCEPT the head, hands and feet. This is what is prescribed. With regard to the issue of ‘awrah, the ‘awrah for a woman in front of other women is like the ‘awrah for a man in front of other men, i.e., the area between the navel and the knee. But saying that does not mean that it is permissible for a woman to appear in front of other women wearing nothing but pants that cover from the navel to the knee. No one would say that. Whoever says such a thing is misguided. Rather what is meant is that if a woman is wearing covering clothes, and she needs to uncover her forearms to do some work or because of some disease in the forearms and like, or she wants to breastfeed her child in front of other women, so she uncovers her breast in front of the women, there is nothing wrong with that. So there is a difference between the concept of “‘awrah” and the “manner of dress” that is prescribed. What is prescribed for women is that their clothing should cover them properly, and it is permissible for a woman to uncover her head, face, neck and hands, and even her forearms, feet and lower legs in front of her mahrams. But that does not mean that we say she can wear short dresses in front of her mahrams; not at all. This is another matter. But if we assume, for example, that she lifts up her dress for some reason, and her mahrams are present and her lower leg shows, then there is nothing wrong with that.” [Al-Liqa’ al-Maftooh. 126/23 and 31/17)] ➡️@womensbenefits