Two eyes, one eye, or none?

Recently, the Saudi Arabian news website Bikya Masr reported that Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover them up. A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, explained that the the committee had the right to stop women revealing "tempting" eyes in public. This, one must suppose, is based upon Muhammad's enlightened teachings. Three or so years ago, there was a little controversy caused by a similar view by Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan who announced that said that showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive, and so one eye ought to be covered.

Though there is some debate among the Muslims, the requirement for women to veil themselves, including their eyes, is unquestionably Qur'anic in origin. The precise requirement--e.g., whether the eyes need to be covered (as in the burqa), or whether one eye may show (e.g., a one-eyed niqab) or whether two eyes may show is the result of conflict in the ahadith and the preferences of commentators trying to ascertain their validity or authenticity and their role in defining the Shari'a.

The Qur'anic sources are the following verses:

Surah Al-Ahzaab, ayat 59 (33:59) (Pickthall trans.)
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.

Surah An-Nur, aya 30-31 (24:30-31) (Pickthall trans.)
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands' fathers, or their sons or their husbands' sons, or their brothers or their brothers' sons or sisters' sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants who lack vigour, or children who know naught of women's nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that ye may succeed.

How are these vague Qur'anic injunctions to be interpreted?

For this, we must turn to the Sunnah and the ahadith or reports which compose it. Unfortunately, there is no unanimity in the ahadith. These conflicting authorities are the source of the various views of how strictly to construe the requirement of veiling.

A little background. The ahadith or reports relate to Muhammad's statements and those of his companions and followers (in the aggregate known as the as-Salaf as-Salih (السّــلف الصّــالح), or "pious predecessors,"and composed of three groups: the "companions" or as-Sahabah (الصحابة‎), the "followers" or at-Tabi'un (التابعون‎), and the "followers of the followers" the Tabi' at-Tabi'un (تابع التابعين‎)). There is a conflict among these on this issue of the veil and how much of the face it ought to cover. The ahadith, of course, are the source documents that compose the Sunnah and are part of what is revealed, along with the Qur'an itself. The Qur'an and the Sunnah are the source of the laws that govern the entirety of the Muslim's world, i.e., the Shari'a.

Good?

Better? (wrong eye, by the way)

Best?

The matter is quite intricate. There are debates on which ahadith or reports are authentic, and much of this depends upon the testimonial chain or isnad (he said to him, and he told him, that he said . . .) that relates to those. There are also distinctions made between the reports of the so-called Sahabah or companions of Muhammad (those who saw him, believed in him, and never left Islam), that so-called Tabi'un or followers of Muhammad who followed Muhammad after he had died but who lived while the Sahabah were alive. Finally, there is the testimony of the so-called Tabi' at-Tabi'un, which is the generation after the Tabi'un and are defined as Muslims who had seen at least one of the Tabi'un, was rightly-guided, and died in that state. There are also distinctions that are made in the quality of the individual speaker and the quality of the witnesses in the hearsay chain.

On the issue of two eyes, one eye, or none, there seems to be conflict between the witness of the as-Salaf as-Salihin. The whole thing is hopelessly confused, and rather tedious to explore in its entirety. One ends up straining at gnats. One would have thought Allah or his alleged prophet would have been a little more precise about this sort of thing if he's going to go through the trouble of forcing women to wear the veil.

In any event, to give you the flavor we might turn to the witness of Muhammad bin Sirin, a member of the Tabi'un or follower of Muhammad, and generally considered to be one of the more reliable witnesses of the early Muslim practice and Muhammad's will. He reported that he spoke with Ubaida bin Sufyan bin al-Harith, one of the Sahabah or companions of Muhammad.*

Muhammad bin Sirin states:

"When I asked Ubaida bin Sufyan bin al-Harith the meaning of this verse about "Alaihinna" and how the jalbaab 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"

But there are other ahadith that suggest that the entire face ought to be covered, and there are some that seem to allow for either one eye or two eyes to be covered.

I suppose that we shall never know with any certainty whether Allah's will is that a woman veil in public in such a manner that two eyes, one eye, or none may be seen.

With hell in the balance, doesn't this present a problem?

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Islamic source for these, see The Niqaab in light of the Holy Quran and Sahih Hadith and in the Opinions of the great scholars.