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Should I order my female relatives to cover their feet during prayer and at other times, given the jurisprudential disagreement regarding whether a woman's foot is considered 'awrah or not, and the consensus of the Hanbalis, Shafi'is, and Malikis that it is 'awrah, while the Hanafis hold a differing view?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Some scholars hold the view that there is no denunciation in matters of disagreement. However, some scholars have made exceptions to this, such as when a particular school of thought has a far-fetched basis, or when the denouncer has a right over the denounced. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim believe that the rule "there is no denunciation in matters of disagreement" is not absolutely correct. Rather, it is valid for issues that have no evidence from the Qur'an, Sunnah, or consensus, and where there is room for ijtihad (independent reasoning). But if a statement or action contradicts the Sunnah or consensus, then it must be denounced. Therefore, there is no harm for the questioner in instructing his female relatives to cover their feet during prayer, by way of teaching and guidance, not compulsion.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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