One day the Prophet (SAWA) was sitting in the house of his daughter Fatima
(SA) when there is heard a knock on the door. The housemaid comes to the
Prophet (SAWA) and says :

“Oh! Prophet of Allah (SAWA) you companion Abdullah Ibn Umme Maqdoom
(who was blind) has come to visit you”

The Prophet (SAWA) immediately told the housemaid to let him in. In the
mean time Lady Fatima, Chief of the women in Paradise, (SA) gets up to go
to her room.

Her father questions her “Oh! My daughter (SA) where are you going?”

She replies that since “your companion is coming to see you I am going to my
room to observe my hijab from him”

The Prophet (SAWA) replies : “But my daughter (SA) the companion of mine
is blind and cannot see you”and the Purist of all ladies replies: “My father, he
cannot see me but I can see him thus I must go”

This is not to say that the Prophet of Allah (SAWA) was not aware of the
matter but this question was posed to inform the women, whose chief is Lady
Fatima (SA), of the importance of Hijab. And that it is not sufficient to think
that we are capable of controlling our desires and will not think or look badly
at someone. Who can say that (na’uz o billah) Lady Fatima (SA) could not
have had such a control on herself and yet she followed the Shari’a very
strictly.
 
 

Source : Translated from an urdu speech by Maulana Sadiq Hasan