بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله وحده و الصلاة و السلام على من لا نبي بعده و على آله و أصحابه أجمعين
Sometimes back I found a fellow referring to an alleged statement of Imam Abu Hanifa. Although he did not derive any conclusions from it, it really alarmed me because there is a potential of gross misuse of the statement as recorded in the work usually cited.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله وحده و الصلاة و السلام على من لا نبي بعده و على آله و أصحابه أجمعين
As one can see many sites refer to the case of Aisha bint Talha from amongst early Muslims to question the originality of the idea of veil in Islam.
This is how they put the contention against veil alluding to some words attributed to the pious lady.
When the son of a prominent companion of the Prophet asked his wife Aisha bint Talha to veil her face, she answered, "Since the Almighty hath put on me the stamp of beauty, it is my wish that the public should view the beauty and thereby recognized His grace unto them. On no account, therefore, will I veil myself."
