Pilgrimage: Women in
ihraam
Q446 :I understand that a woman must not cover her
face while she is in the state of consecration. On several occasions,
while I was performing tawaf, I have been told by religious attendants
around the Kaaba to cover my face. Please clarify.
A446 : You are right. A woman who is in the state of
consecration or ihraam must not cover her face or her forearms. If she
does, she violates the rules of ihraam. There is no disagreement among
scholars on this point. What happened to you, does happen quite often.
I was visiting a famous scholar the other day, when he mentioned that
he was doing the tawaf with his wife and other women relatives. One of
the attendants around the Kaaba told the women to cover their faces.
The next round, he did the same. So our scholar told him; "Brother, a
woman in ihraam does not cover her face." The attendant said: "Indeed,
and she must not do this or that," counting the restrictions of ihraam.
Our scholar smiled and said; "Should you, then, not allow people to
proceed with their worship as they are, rather than do what you did".
The man apologized that it was the force of sheer habit. It is not more
than that. Those men have been in the habit of telling women to cover
their faces, oblivious of the fact which they do know, that women must
not cover their faces during ihraam. What can one say?
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News - Jeddah )