The Niqab Is Obligatory

The Word 'Jilbab'I find it interesting that you bring up the verses that tell the believing women to cover themselves. But what the problem is, is that you actually misinterpret the verses, you mistranslate them, let me show you why.What did the first Muslims believe the word to mean? "O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful." (Qur'an 33:59)Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud said the the jilbab is what covers the entire body, including the head, face and hands. (Quoted in Ibn Taymiyyah's book of fatwas, Pg. 110, Vol. 2, and in Shaykh Uthaymeen's book, "Hijab," Pg. 15) Narrated Safiya bint Shaiba:Aisha used to say: "When (the Verse): "They should draw their veils over their necks and bosoms," was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces." (Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 282)Narrated Umm Salamah:When the verse "That they should cast their outer garments over their persons" was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments. (Abu Dawud, Book 33, Hadith 4090) Narrated Aisha: May Allah have mercy on the early immigrant women. When the verse "That they should draw their veils over their bosoms" was revealed, they tore their thick outer garments and made veils from them. (Abu Dawud, Book 33, Hadith 4091) Here you see the women testifying the meaning of the verse, also showing that the face too must be covered.Narrated Anas:"...and if one of the women of Paradise looked at the earth, she would fill the whole space between them (the earth and the heaven) with light, and would fill whatever is in between them, with perfume, and the veil of her face is better than the whole world and whatever is in it." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8, Book 76, Hadith 572)Even in heaven, women will be wearing veils on their faces.Narrated `Aisha:Allah's Messenger used to offer the Fajr prayer and some believing women covered with their veiling sheets used to attend the Fajr prayer with him and then they would return to their homes unrecognized. (Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 1, Book 8, Hadith 368)And here we have the example of Muslim women who went to pray with Muhammad for Fajr, they too veiled themselves and returned home unrecognized. And in case you want to play with words as some have, "some believing women" doesn't mean that only some of them did, it only means that the women who went to pray with him wore veils."And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed." (Qur'an 30:31) Aisha states that in verse 30 and 31 of Surah An Nur "What has been allowed to be shown is the hands, bangles and rings but the face must be covered." (Quoted by Shaikh Abdul A'la Maududi in the book Purdah P# 195 and in his Tafseer of Quran under the tafseer of Surah An Nur)Abu Ubaidah Salmani, a well known Sahabi is quoted as saying "Jilbaab should fully cover the women's body, so that nothing appears but one eye with which she can see." (Tafseer Al-Qurtubi) And In the time of Muhammad "The women used to don their cloaks (Jilbaabs) over their heads in such a manner that only the eyes were revealed in order to see the road." (The Book "Hijaab" page # 9) Imam Muhammad bin Sirin, one of the most knowledgeable of the Tabi'een said "When I asked Ubaida bin Sufyan bin al-Harith how the jilbabb was to be worn, he demonstrated it to me by pulling a sheet of cloth over his head to cover his entire body, leaving the left eye uncovered. This was also the explanation of the word 'Alaihinna in this verse" (Commentary by Ibn Jarir and Ahkam-ul-Quran, Vol.3, p.457 also in "hijaab wa Safur" quoted by Shaikh AbdulAziz Bin Bazz under the chapter of his fatwaa on hijab on page #54)Ibn Jarir quotes Ibn Abbas, "Allah has enjoined upon all Muslim Women that when they go out of their homes under necessity, they should cover their faces by drawing a part of their outer garments over their heads." (Tafseer Ibn Jarir, Vol. 22, pg.29) Imam al-Ghazaali, a famous Muslim philosopher, said "Women emerged (during the time of Muhammad) with niqabs on their faces." (Fiqh Ihyaal Uloom)."3-finally the interpretation of the second verse above was a subject of differing already from the time of the companions, and this shows that there were women not covering their face already then."As to this, I can't read Arabic. But I can also tell you that you are picking and choosing the whole reason as to why. Another reason is because of Umar, when he saw one of the wives of Muhammad as she went out to go pee, and he said, "I recognize you, O' (insert name)". Now why would it not have to do with the face at all if it were just about differentiating as you say? It has to do with the face as well. Recognizing the women.Narrated 'Aisha: The wives of the Prophet used to go to Al-Manasi, a vast open place (near Baqia at Medina) to answer the call of nature at night. 'Umar used to say to the Prophet "Let your wives be veiled," but Allah's Apostle did not do so. One night Sauda bint Zam'a the wife of the Prophet went out at 'Isha' time and she was a tall lady. 'Umar addressed her and said, "I have recognized you, O Sauda." He said so, as he desired eagerly that the verses of Al-Hijab (the observing of veils by the Muslim women) may be revealed. So Allah revealed the verses of "Al-Hijab" (A complete body cover excluding the eyes) (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1:4:148)Not to mention that the people of the book still exist today, and you still need to differentiate. As well as the fact that it was Ibn Abbas' that said to cover "the whole face but one eye." So using him doesn't help your case at all one bit.ConclusionAs you can see, both verses for the hijab/jilbab are translated by the first Muslims to mean covering the face. And I didn't even use anywhere near all of the evidence to show such. There is even Ibn Kathir who says about one of the verses that is along the lines of... "This means to cover all that is possible to cover." Which means the face.So you have examples of women showing their faces? I say "so what?". What we do know is that the one, just one, only one hadeeth for evidence, clear evidence, saying the hands and face can be shown, is weak. It is a da'if hadeeth. In order to take that hadeeth you would need to take the many, many other hadeeth that are equally as weak.Yet on the contrary, we have many, many hadeeth of the women and the Companions themselves translating the verses to mean that the face must be covered. This is not conjecture, unlike what your scholars do just because women showed their faces, this is clear explanations of the verses from the first Muslims, all of whom are well respected.