Writings on the topic of the veiling and unveiling of women have proliferated in our time. The best that I have seen on this subject is a treatise by my late father Shaykh Mufti Muhammad Shafi' (Allah have mercy on him) which he called Tafsil al-Khitab fi Tafsir Ayat al-Hijab, which is a section from his Ahkam al-Qur'an (3:393-483), in which he examined the verses and hadiths cited on the subject and exhausted the positions of the fuqaha (jurists) and the statements of the...
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In regards to wearing trousers below the ankles (isbal) it is mentioned in a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said that Allah Most High will not look with mercy towards the person who lowers his izar (lower garment) with pride. The limit of this lowering is mentioned in a second hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (Allah...
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It is with great sadness that we note confusion in the minds of many students and even some scholars concerning the obligation of the niqab (veil) in the Hanafi madhhab, which expressly classifies covering the face as binding on women and forbids the exposure of the face in the presence of ghayr mahrams (strangers). While there have been dozens of works penned on this issue, we wish to focus on the Hanafi stance due to the abuse it is being subjected to. We ask...
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In regards to folding one's clothes while praying and the issue of isbal (wearing one's garment below the ankles), Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi (may Allah have mercy on him) writes in Lami' al-Darari (vol. 1, pg. 327-28): "Qadi 'Iyad considers the tying back of the hair and folding of the clothes undesirable for the person performing salah, this is regardless of whether he does it outside or inside salah, and he mentions that the scholars are unanimous that this does not invalidate...
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