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Is there any evidence, or action by a female Companion, that permits a woman who wears the niqab to uncover one of her eyes while covering the other?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman must cover her face, and there are two ways for her to do so: either by lowering a cover that completely conceals the face, or by wearing a niqab that covers the face while revealing the eyes.

Jurists have permitted wearing the niqab on condition that there is no exaggeration in revealing the eye sockets.

There is no evidence in Islamic law indicating the obligation for a woman to cover one of her eyes. Rather, what has been reported from Ibn Abbas and Ubaydah Al-Salmani can be used as an indication, but it is not a definitive proof of obligation.

The hadiths that refer to the obligation of covering one eye are weak.

What has been reported indicates the permissibility of showing both eyes in the niqab, and this is the well-known opinion.

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

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