Ibn Taymiyyah's view on trimming beard and covering woman's face and hands

11-10-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Can you please provide us with the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah (excusively) on the following issues:
1)Trimming of the beard that is more than a fistful.
2)Covering of face and hands by women (whether it is obligatory or recommended)?
May Allaah reward you.

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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 ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Regarding the beard and trimming what exceeds the length of a fist from it, Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, "As for the beard, he lets it grow, and if he cuts what exceeds one's fist, then that is not disliked, as mentioned in the report of Ibn ‘Umar." [Sharh Al-‘Umdah]

As for covering the woman's face and hands, he held that it is obligatory to cover them. He said, "...the face, the hands, and the feet, she is not allowed to show them to non-Mahram (marriageable) men according to the most likely correct view of the two scholarly views in this regard. This is contrary to the case before the abrogation; rather, she only reveals the outer garment." [Majmoo‘ Al-Fataawa]

He addressed this topic in more details in a different place, but we did not cite it here in order to avoid a lengthy answer.

Allaah knows best.