# Did Imam Malik allow a woman to show her face to her husband's friends?

*Imam Malik's fatwa on eating with a husband's friends and looking at the face*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/hcscudhd8bu/s/3/
- Date: 2014-05-09 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Mufti Abu Layth & Ustadh AbdusShakur Brooks: A discussion on Maliki Fiqh (11:31–19:50)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcscudhD8bU&t=691s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/hcscudhd8bu/

**Topics:** Hijab and niqab; The Maliki school; Interaction between men and women

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** One speaker reads Imam Malik's fatwa allowing a woman to eat with her husband's friends as proof that the face is uncovered; the other cites the later split between young and older women.

## Longer summary

One speaker quotes Imam Malik's fatwa, cited in Maliki works, that a woman may sit and eat with her husband's friends, with later Maliki authorities including al-Baji endorsing it, and argues this shows the face is uncovered and that looking at it is permissible, while a man who wishes may look away. The other asks whether Imam Malik meant only an older woman; the first says the text is clear that he did not. They debate whether the command of hijab given to the wives of the Prophet applies to all women, one saying that is the view of those who generalise it and not of the Malikis. The other says the later books split women into two kinds, requiring covering where there is fitnah; the first answers that these are interpretations of some, while all agree that covering the face is not ordained by the Quran and Sunnah.

## Sources and names cited

- Ustadh Abdus Shakur Brooks (guest)
- Imam Malik
- Abu al-Walid al-Baji
- hijab
- 'awrah
- fitnah

## Transcript (machine tier, 11:31–19:50)

[11:30] and it says then following on from that so IM Malik speaking about also says then he follows on also quoting who says that it remains this is

[12:05] is actually so this and this is also it follows on by saying you also see the same thing that it's for a man and a woman for what is it for a man to look at the face and the hands of a woman also quoting from that's the that's no but they're speaking about in a situation where you're eating with them and also from the F of IM Malik that she can sit with her husband's friends and eat then also he

[12:40] quotes and he says and that's also his his that he brings as well I mean there I'm not saying that some people okay but you remember that if you come across in uh if you also come across in uh he mentions uh he mentions this uh he mentions this and he says what what is that the that IM Malik is referring to is for a meaning the

[13:19] woman who is old no it isn't it isn't because the thing is that it's very clear the actual n of the is clear oh that she eats with the husband's friends oh who sits with her and then he goes on to mention yeah now the to say that you see if im Malik was referring to the a think about it now he's being asked a question as clear as this apart from the fact that this follows on with many of the major of the ma like baji andd actually

[13:58] endorsing it also so so it's not just a clear fwa taken out of context with nobody commenting actually goes on to say later on he will say that the fact that you see because this is another Masala that one is okay she doesn't have to cover the face one is looking at the face he then highlights later on in the text as well that the fact that Allah has told them that they don't need to cover their faces if you say looking at the face is forbidden it is suggest in that Allah is indirectly doing uh kind of supporting so he says so therefore

[14:38] we clearly understand that looking at the face is permissible now if a person felt himself that he should look away then that's obviously up to him and that's been transmitted from as well who ma transmits from him that uh it's up yeah ah okay now what you have to realize here is we know the protocol that applies to ma right no I mean regardless of the MA's type of transmission no no because I'm saying transmitted from that there's in regard to the of but when we

[15:19] read is talking about the when there's no F why because the which we all agree with the between us and some other is the whether or not the command of the that was put upon the wives of the Prophet sallam also applies to the in general that's the no because the have said you see like these that are just quoted to you now like who says that it is does not include thisd does include what the face it does

[15:57] not include the face that's saying the when you from theat of this is where the of the starts the of that comes down in the Quran we know that it applies to the we know that the does this does this go to apply to the in general and those that say it does will say because the is because the says in order in order to purify you so the a would include the wi of the Prophet not that's not our view that's the view of the people who hold that everything the thing is that yeah yeah exactly the malikia say that it

[16:34] doesn't apply to like women the face is not part of their yeah it's not that's right that's why Always mention when they talk about they say they add they always add that after that that says even if it's not F because the fact that it's not doesn't necessarily necessitate that it doesn't be covered because another they always add that at the end no but who does because these people haven't that I've said IM Malik's fat doesn't say that himself neither does baji neither does I mean neither

[17:12] does I mean these are some of the most major that have set foot in the maab I mean neither does uh what is it some of these other texts that we've been quoting okay but the M that we're discussing they're not this mesal that they're talking about isn't it application to F how do we know that if we look at so you're saying like generally if any young woman right looking at her face would I mean most women it would result in some type of male or like people would find it reasonably of some attraction now therefore that would be a generic rule then it wouldn't be an exception I'm

[17:52] saying for what I'm saying is the rule that they mention is and they refer to the M for for example ahed ahed in his mentions it and he says that you know he says that it's from the of the women go out uncovered when you and he and he distinctively split but hold on wait he distinctively split the into and that's what you find across the across the board whether it's any commentary of the we say there's two types meaning if if there's no fitner meaning she's older then no then you know we're not going to go to the extreme and say it's across

[18:31] the board we say no but in the case where it's no but who is making this distinction who's making this who's what making what distinction this this distinction of saying this was the position ofab and we found all the later Scholars for example when we go back it wasn't those that I've just quoted and they're from the yeah yeah but what I'm saying to you is what you're mentioning is what other have mentioned they're not talking about the m they're talking about the general rule for example we will agree for example after uh if you have if you have a copy of MIM look what look what

[19:11] after aftering and him ageing to what said about the of the not being yeah Bing because the this m talking you see but then this is now going to be the opinion of some versus the opinion of but the they all agree upon is by Quran and Sunnah it isn't ordained okay now the rest is going to be some interpretations saying that look guys I think you know what you should just do this anyway because there's going to be not not necessarily because the interpretation is obviously based on

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment hcscudhD8bU/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/hcscudhd8bu/s/3/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.