Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

Yes, it is permissible for a woman to show her eyes. That is

so that she will be able to see. But it is not permissible for men to look

at the eyes of a woman.

Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Humayd (may Allaah have mercy on him)

said:

If the burqa’ [a kind of face veil] covers the entire face,

leaving only the eyes uncovered, there is nothing wrong with that. But if it

does not cover the entire face, rather it covers the mouth and leaves the

rest of the face uncovered, that is not permissible, especially in the

presence of non-mahram men.

So the entire face must

be covered, but the eyes may be left uncovered so that the woman can see

where she is going, as was said by Ibn Mas’ood, ‘Ubaydah al-Salmaani and

others. And Allaah knows best.

Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah,

1/393, 394.

And Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (may Allaah preserve him) said:

There is nothing wrong

with covering the face with the niqaab or burqa’ [kinds of face veil] which

has two openings for the eyes only, because this was known at the time of

the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), because there

is a need for that. If nothing shows but the eyes, that is acceptable,

especially if that is what women customarily wear in that society.

Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah,

1/399

But we should note that the majority of women, nowadays, do

not stop at uncovering the eyes only, rather they go beyond that and uncover

part of the forehead and nose, so they go beyond the area that it is

permitted for them to show. Hence some of the scholars – such as Shaykh Ibn

‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) – forbade wearing the burqa’ and

niqaab, because of the careless attitude on the part of some women.