As a revert I want to cover my face and eyes when unrelated men are around. How small should any eye slit (before eye screening veils are dropped) be? Is it correct that both upper and lower eye lashes are not visible in the slit? Is it ok to deliberately restrict my field and clarity of vision (as long as I "can still see the way" - but with difficulty)? I ask this as I suffer from agoraphobia at times! When out and about with her husband, can he ask his wife to veil so as her veils render her 90% or more blinded?; as one brother who asked for my hand in marriage did!

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.

It is permissible for a Muslim woman to wear the face veil and uncover the eyes to the extent that enables her to see and not to uncover them more than what the need entails. Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, “During the lifetime of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, women used to wear veils that covered the faces, leaving a small opening for the eyes only to enable the woman to see where she was going. However, the face veil nowadays has become totally different as some women widen the slit in this face veil to reveal their eyes, eyebrows, parts of the forehead, parts of the checks and perhaps more! Therefore, such an improper face veil [i.e. that involves uncovering the eyes] should be banned and women should not uncover what should be covered of their faces. We do not suggest banning such [present-day face veils] based on religious evidence because the evidence actually indicates that it is permissible. However, if an permissible act leads to committing prohibitions that could be uncontrollable, it is wiser to ban it so as to eliminate the evils incurred by the permissibility."

Thus, Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen suggested banning the uncovering of women's eyes in order to eliminate the means leading to unfavorable results. However, it is permissible in principle for a woman to uncover her eyes, as he underlined.

Hence, it is clear that it is impermissible for the woman to uncover her eyebrows and the like. As for covering the eyelashes, it is difficult for a woman to uncover her eyes without uncovering the eyelashes! So, to say that the woman has to cover her eyelashes is overly extreme.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 83033 and 81554.

It should be noted that it is impermissible for a husband to oblige his wife to wear the face veil in a way that causes harm to her; as all harm should be prevented.

Finally, it is worth highlighting that the suitor or finance is considered a non-Mahram man for a woman until the marriage contract is conducted. Accordingly, she is not obliged to obey him before conducting the marriage contract and consummating the marriage. Prior to the marriage consummation, the woman is obliged to obey her father, not her husband.

Allaah Knows best.