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Fatwa CenterCovering ears part of woman's hijab
Question
A sister asked me this question: how big an area of the face can women expose; are the ears included in that? She said that this verse does not prohibit a woman from showing her ears: {And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what [must ordinarily] appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband´s fathers, their sons, their husbands´ sons, their brothers or their brothers´ sons, or their sisters´ sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allaah, that ye may attain Bliss.} [Quran 24: 31] This sister wears hijab, but she shows her ears, and I can see some of her hair showing as well on her front head. Please provide me with evidence to convince her. I tried to give her some narations from hadiths, but she is still not convinced. Please help me
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The Muslim woman is obliged to cover the inner and outer parts of her ears. The ears are not considered part of the face as far as the obligation of covering the ʻawrah (body parts that must be covered as per the sharee'ah) is concerned. The woman is obliged to cover the ears as part of the head. Az-Zaylaʻi 
wrote, “The woman's ears are part of her ʻawrah...” [Tabyeen Al-Haqaa'iq] Ibn Abi Shaybah wrote, “Muʻtamir narrated that Hishaam reported on the authority of Al-Hasan that, 'If a woman reaches the age of puberty and starts to menstruate and does not cover her ears and head (during the prayer), her prayer is not accepted.'” [Al-Musannaf]
At-Tahaawi wrote in relation to the ears in ablution and whether they are part of the face or the head, “According to the juristic discretion, the scholars unanimously agreed that the woman during the state of ihraam (in Hajj or 'Umrah) does not cover her face, but that she covers her head and ears, the interior and exterior part of them. This indicates that the ruling on the ears is the same as the head, that they should be wiped in ablution (not washed like the face, because they are part of the head, not the face).” [Mushkil Al-Aathaar]
For more information, please refer to fataawa 81554 and 83033.
Allaah knows best.
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