Shaykh Muhammad Nasiruddin Al-Albani was asked,

Question:

“What is the ruling on [women] wearing the scarf oh our teacher?”

Answer:

“The scarf does not suffice. It is obligatory that it is a Khimar that covers all of the head and the upper chest. The scarf is not concealing and is not completely covering… [unclear words].”

Questioner:

“The shoulders likewise, oh our teacher?”

Shaikh:
“Yes, this is the Khimar [unclear words]. The Khimar is spacious and wide, concealing the head and concealing the shoulders. When we say it covers the neck, it covers the shoulders because it is wide. As for the scarf, then many of the women we see expose something of their neck due to the scarf,  while the Khimar covers the neck and shoulders together. And Allah ordered that [in His Statement],

وليضرِبن بِخُمُرِهِنَّ على جيوبهن

‘And to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.)’ [24:31]

As for the scarf, then it is from, as it is said, half the solution and in Islam there is no half-solutions.”

Questioner:

Oh our teacher, now many of the practicing men and women belief the Khimar is covering the face?

Shaikh: This is ignorance of the language. The Khimar is the covering of the head. So like that, a man wearing the Khimar is one covering the head and the woman likewise. So like that He said,

وليضرِبن بِخُمُرِهِنَّ على جيوبهن

And to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.)

[24:31]

So if the Khimar was covering the face, He would not say: [ يضرِبن ]

That is, tighten it [when it supposedly involves] letting something down/hang. So this is ignorance of the language“. End translation. [Reference]

Translated by

Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan