from his grandfather, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "If one of you marries off his slave to his slave-woman or his employee, he must not look at any part of his 'awrah, for what is below the navel [to the knee is 'awrah] (23)." In another wording: "What is between his navel and his knee (24) is part of his 'awrah." [Narrated by Abu Bakr. In another wording: "If one of you marries off his servant, his slave, or his employee, he must not look at what is below the navel and above the knee." Narrated by Abu Dawud. These are definitive texts (nusus) that take precedence, and the previous hadiths are interpreted as meaning that parts other than the two private parts are an 'awrah that is not considered 'mughallazah' (strictly enforced/major), whereas the 'mughallazah' is the two private parts] (25). [The free man and the slave are equal in this regard, due to the generality of the reports covering both] (26).
Section: His navel and his knees are not part of his 'awrah. Imam Ahmad stated this explicitly in several places. This was also held by Malik and al-Shafi'i. Abu Hanifah said: The knee is part of the 'awrah, because the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "The knee is part of the 'awrah" (27). Our argument is [what has preceded from the hadith of] (28) Abu Ayyub and Amr ibn Shu'ayb, and because the knee is the boundary of [the 'awrah, so it is not part of it, like the navel] (29). As for their hadith, it is narrated by Abu al-Janub (30), and the scholars of transmission (ahl al-naql) do not authenticate it. Abu Hurayrah once kissed the navel of al-Hasan, and had it been 'awrah, they would not have done that (31).
Section: The obligation is to cover it with that which conceals the color of the skin. If it is thin, revealing the color of the skin
(23) In the original: "to his knee is part of the 'awrah." (24) In the original: "and his two knees." (25) Omitted from M. (26) In M: "This is a definitive text, and the free man and the slave are equal in this, because the text applies to both of them." (27) Extracted by al-Daraqutni, in: Chapter on the command to teach prayers, to discipline for neglecting them, and the limit of the 'awrah which must be covered, from the Book of Prayer. Sunan al-Daraqutni 1/231. (28) In the original: "what we have narrated from the report." (29) In M: "a boundary, so it was not part of the 'awrah, like the navel." (30) He is Uqbah ibn Alqamah al-Yashkuri al-Kufi; he narrated from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and witnessed the Battle of the Camel with him. He is weak in hadith, and his weakness is evident. Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 7/247. (31) Omitted from the original.
