Covering of The Eyes

Covering of the Eyes(Arabic:غطاء العین) is a veil which covers the eyes, as well as the rest of the face. This kind of veil was traditionally worn by married Muslim women in the middle ages. Some Salafi women in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and UAE and parts of Iran may still continue to wear eye-veils, but even in those countries this practice is no longer widespread.

In the modern world, Salafiyyah is the only Islamic school of thought and jurisprudence that believes that a woman’s awrah in front of unrelated men is her entire body including her face and hands.

Other groups exclude the face and the hands from the awrah parts. However, the eye-veil issue is regarded differently by the various Salafi scholars and has continued to arouse debate between Salafi scholars particularly in Saudi Arabia. Most Saudi scholars hold the opinion that it is permissible for a woman to show her eyes.

However, recently, the religious authority in Mecca, Mohammad Habadan called on women to wear veils that reveal only one eye, so that women would not be encouraged to use eye make-up. The cleric has insisted that the one-eye niqab was prescribed in the following Hadiths:

• Ibn Sireen has said: “I asked ‘Abīdah as Salmaani about the statement of Allah: “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their Jalābīb all over their bodies…” So he took his garment and covered his head and his face but he covered his left eye, leaving the right eye esposed. Then he drew his garment from above making it close to his eyebrow, or upon his eyebrow.Sahih al-Bukhari, 1:4:148
• Ibn Abbas has said: “Allah commanded the believing women, when going out of their homes for some need, to cover their faces from above their heads with their Jilbābs, leaving one eye to see the path.” Tafsir Tabari 1:4:148

Some other Saudi scholars have argued that the reason women permitted to show one of their eyes was that, if they did not, they could not see the way- and that there is no need to expose the eyes in the modern world as women can cover their eyes with nets or sheer layers so as not to be a cause of attraction without having their vision restricted. Another Saudi Shaikh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen has remarked: “If you say that it is allowed for women to wear Niqab and uncover their eyes and look out from behind the Niqab, within a short time the hole in this niqab would widen to include the eyebrows, forehead and cheeks, then the cover would decrease until the whole face is exposed. This is well known to be the way of women, so shutting the door to that is the best way.”

Saudi Niqabs consists of an upper band that is tied around the forehead, together with a long wide piece which covers the face, leaving an opening for the eyes. Many also have two or more sheer layers attached to the upper band, which can be worn flipped down to cover the eyes or left over the top of the head.

Contrary to common belief, eye veils do not generally restrict vision any more than a dark pair of sunglasses would. Although a person looking at a woman wearing a niqab with an eyeveil would not be able to see her eyes, she is able to see out through the thin fabric.