Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿwra (عورة) in Islamic vocabulary.
Contents :
Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readThe shameful part (su'a) of women and what one feels shame about. The 'awra of the man is what is under his navel down to his knee; it is also narrated: what is below the navel to beyond the two knees. And by this it becomes clear that the navel is not part of the man's 'awra, while the knee is part of it; the word "ila" (until) has as its purpose excluding what lies behind the knee, for the beginning of the statement, that is, "what is beneath his two knees", as well as what lies between the navel and it, and what is below the navel, includes the knee and what is below it; were it not for the knee, the ruling would have covered everything.
Know, therefore, that this limit serves to exclude what lies beyond it. According to ash-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, the navel belongs to the 'awra, below the knee; and the entire body of the free woman is 'awra, except her face and her two palms; but the one looking must not look with desire. And this statement, according to its apparent meaning, indicates that the back of the hand is 'awra.
And ash-Shams said (text truncated in the source).
Al-Jawhari said: the shameful part of a person, and everything about which one feels shame. The plural: 'awrat, with sukun on the ra. Some read: (Quran 24:31: "...
on the private parts of the women").
The shameful part of a human being; it is an allusion (kinaya), and its origin is from al-'ar (disgrace), because of the disgrace, that is, the blame, that comes with its exposure; that is why women were called 'awra.
The shameful part of men and women, that is, what they feel shame about; for the man, it is what is under his navel down to his two knees; for the woman, the rest of the body, except her face, her two palms and her two feet.