If a woman in ihram covers her face, does she have to keep the cloth away from her face?
Question

                I heard that the piece of cloth with which a woman covers her face in ihram should not touch the nose; how correct is that?
Praise be to Allah.
	The Muslim woman 
	is required to cover her face in front of men who are non-mahrams to her. If 
	she is in ihram for Hajj or ‘Umrah, she should cover her face with something 
	other than the niqab, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be 
	upon him) forbade the woman in ihram to wear niqab.

	This has been 
	explained, with evidence, in fatwa no. 172289

	If the woman in 
	ihram covers her face with her head cover, jilbaab and the like, then she 
	does not have to create a distance between the cover and her face, because 
	there is no report from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him) to indicate that this is required. Rather the actions of women at the 
	time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) indicate that 
	this is not required.

	‘Aa’ishah (may 
	Allah be pleased with her) said: The riders used to pass us when we were 
	with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in 
	ihram. When they drew close to us, one of us would let down her jilbaab from 
	her head over her face, and when they had passed us we would uncover it 
	again.

	It is well-known 
	that the jilbaab that is let down from the head over the face will 
	inevitably touch the face.

	Shaykh al-Islam 
	Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa 
	(26/112-113):

	If a woman 
	covers her face with something that does not touch the face, that is 
	permissible according to consensus.

	If it does touch 
	the face, then the correct view is that it is also permissible, and a woman 
	is not required to go to the trouble of creating a distance between her 
	cover and her face, whether that is with a stick or her hand or anything 
	else. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) treated the 
	woman’s face and hands equally (in terms of covering) and both of them are 
	like the body of a man, not like his head. The wives of the Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to let down (their head 
	covers or jilbaabs) over their faces without paying attention to creating a 
	distance. End quote.

	The difference 
	between a man’s body and his head in the case of ihram is that a man is 
	prohibited from covering his head with anything that clings to the head, 
	whether that thing is something ordinary or otherwise. As for his body, he 
	is not forbidden to cover it; rather he is only forbidden to wear clothing 
	that is tailored to fit the body. 

	Ibn al-Qayyim 
	(may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	The Mother of 
	the Believers ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: When the 
	riders passed by us, one of us would let down her jilbaab from her head over 
	her face. And she did not use a stick to create some distance between her 
	face and the jilbaab, as some of the fuqaha’ suggest. This is not known from 
	any of the women of the Sahaabah or from the Mothers of the Believers at 
	all, either as an action that they did or something that was enjoined in a 
	fatwa. It is impossible that this could have been one of the practices of 
	ihram and was not well known among them and known to everyone, elite and 
	common folk alike.

	End quote from
	Badaa’i‘ al-Fawaa’id (2/664-665)

	Shaykh ‘Abd 
	al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	It is 
	permissible for the woman in ihram to let her head cover down over her face 
	if she needs to do so, without using anything to lift it off her face. If 
	the head cover touches her face, there is no blame on her, because of the 
	hadith of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: The riders 
	used to pass us … and he quoted the hadith mentioned above.

	End quote from
	Majmoo‘ Fataawa ash-Shaykh Ibn Baaz (16/54-55)

	He also said 
	(16/56):

	With regard to 
	what many women do, of using a stick under the head cover to lift it off the 
	face, there is no basis for that in sharee‘ah as far as we know. If that 
	were prescribed, the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) 
	would have explained it to his ummah, and he could not have remained silent 
	about it. End quote.

	Shaykh Muhammad 
	ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	There is no 
	blame on the woman if her hijab touches her face, contrary to the view of 
	some scholars who say that the hijab must not touch her face, because there 
	is no evidence for this condition in the Qur’an or Sunnah.

	End quote from
	Majmoo‘ Fataawa ash-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (22/184)

	And Allah knows 
	best.