Tafsir of An-Nur 24:30

This is the beginning of a statement clarifying universal rulings that encompass all believers, within which the ruling for those seeking permission to enter houses is primarily included. The shift in discourse and its direction toward the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), along with delegating the commands and prohibitions contained therein to him (peace be upon him), is said to be because these are obligations related to numerous particular matters frequently occurring. Thus, it is appropriate that the one commanding them—who is tasked with managing them—should be their guardian and overseer.

It is also said that this occurred because some believers came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as if requesting that he say what is contained in the command. Ibn Mardawayh recorded from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "A man passed by during the time of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) on one of the paths of Medina. He looked at a woman, and she looked at him. Satan whispered to them that neither of them had looked at the other except out of admiration. While the man was walking alongside a wall, looking at her, he met the wall head-on, and his nose was split. He said: 'By Allah, I will not wash this blood until I come to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and inform him of my affair.' He came to him and narrated his story, and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: 'This is the punishment for your sin.' Then Allah the Exalted revealed: (Say to the believing men, that they should lower their gaze...)"

The object of "Say" is implied. The verb yaghuddu (that they should lower) is a response to qul (say) because it contains the meaning of a condition, as if it were said: "If you tell them to lower, they will lower." This indicates that, due to their extreme obedience, their action is inseparable from his command (peace be upon him), and that his command is like the causative agent for their act. This is the well-known position.

It was suggested that yaghuddu could be the response to an implied imperative intended by the command "Say," but this was challenged on the grounds that the response must differ from the thing being responded to—either in action and agent (e.g., "Come to me, [and] I will honor you"), in action ("...you will enter Paradise"), or in agent ("Stand up, [and] I will stand"). It is not permissible for them to be identical. Furthermore, the imperative is addressed to someone present, while yaghuddu is for the absent, and such is not permissible. This was countered by the argument: Why is it not permissible to be in the category of "Whoever's migration was for..."? Nor do we accept that an imperative cannot be answered with the third person if it is recounted via speech, as shifting the address ( tlawwun) is permissible in such cases. There is scrutiny regarding this, and those who are fair do not see this as a sound approach; furthermore, it is clearly contrary to the apparent meaning.

Al-Tabarsi and others permitted that yaghuddu be in the jussive mood due to an implied "lam" of command—meaning "Tell them to lower their gaze"—and the phrase functions as the object of the saying. "Lowering the gaze" (ghadd al-basar) is the closing of the eyelid upon the eyelid. Regarding the word min (from/part of), it is said to be a connecting particle, though Sibawayh rejects this in such a context, while it is the school of Al-Akhfash. Ibn Atiyyah said: It is valid for min to be for clarifying the genus (lil-bayan al-jins) or for the beginning of a limit (li-ibtida’ al-ghayah). This was challenged on the grounds that no indefinite noun preceded it for it to be for genus-clarification, and additionally, the correct view is that clarifying the genus is not among its functions. In short, the majority hold that here it is tab’idiyyah (partitive), meaning to lower the gaze from what is forbidden and to restrict it only to what is permissible. Making the lowering of the gaze apply to some of what is seen constitutes "lowering some of the gaze," which—as stated in al-Kashf—is a refined metonymy.

Lowering the gaze from what is forbidden to look at is mandatory. An accidental glance for which there is no intent is pardoned. Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi, and others recorded from Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Do not follow a glance with another glance; for you is the first, but not the second."

Allah the Exalted began with the guidance to lower the gaze because doing so closes the door to evil, for the gaze is a gateway to many evils; it is the messenger of adultery and the pioneer of lewdness. Some have said: "All events have their origin in a glance, and most fires arise from small sparks." As long as a person possesses an eye that they turn upon the eyes of others, they are exposed to danger. How many glances have acted upon the heart of the one who cast them like arrows without a bow or string? The looker is pleased by what harms their conscience; no welcome to a pleasure that returns with harm. The apparent meaning is that the guidance is for every individual believer; the plural form does not prevent this. It is also apparent that "believers" is more general than just the "devout" (al-ibad) and others. Some claimed it is permissible that it refers to the devout and the sincere believers, meaning: "Say to the perfect believers that they should lower their gaze."

(...and guard their private parts): meaning from that which is not permissible for them, such as adultery and sodomy. The partitive min was not used here as it was earlier, because it lacks the refinement of metonymy found in the former. In al-Kashshaf, it is noted that min entered into "lowering the gaze" but not into "guarding the private parts" to indicate that the matter of the gaze is more expansive. Do you not see that regarding non-marriageable kin (mahram), there is no harm in looking at their hair, chests, breasts, arms, legs, and feet? Likewise, with slave girls presented for sale, or a foreign woman whose face, hands, and feet may be looked at according to one of the two narrations. As for the private parts, the matter is restricted. It is enough for you to see the distinction that looking is permitted except for what is excluded from it, while intercourse is forbidden except for what is excluded from it.

The author of al-Fara’id said: It is possible to say that the intention is to lower the gaze from a foreign woman, and it is permissible to look at some of a foreign woman, whereas for the private parts, there is no path to permissibility at all regarding a foreign woman; thus, there is no justification for the entry of min there. This requires reflection.

It is also said: Min was not brought here because the intention behind guarding the private parts is to cover them. Ibn al-Mundhir and a group recorded from Abu al-Aliyah that he said: "Every verse in which guarding the private parts is mentioned refers to adultery, except for this verse in Surat al-Nur: (and guard their private parts and [tell the believing women to] guard their private parts)—it means that no one should see them." Similar was narrated from Abu Zayd, and covering is commanded absolutely. This was challenged on the grounds that uncovering is permissible in certain places, so if min had been brought, it would have been an indication of that. Interpreting "guarding the private parts" here specifically as "covering them" is said not to be free from remoteness, as it contradicts what occurred elsewhere in the Holy Quran, as admitted by those who interpreted it as such.

Some meticulous scholars chose the view that the intention is to guard the private parts from leading to what is unlawful, and to guard them from being exposed, because "guarding"—in the absence of its object—encompasses both parts. It was mentioned that guarding them from exposure necessitates the other for two reasons: that it is not customarily free from exposure, and that guarding from exposure—indeed, the command to cover absolutely—is for the sake of guarding from leading to the unlawful. From this, you know that whoever weakened what was narrated from Abu al-Aliyah and Ibn Zayd—on the grounds that the verse did not address guarding the private parts from adultery—did not hit the target.

(That is purer for them): meaning what was mentioned regarding lowering [the gaze] and guarding [the private parts] is cleaner from the filth of suspicion, or more beneficial regarding religion and the world, for the gaze is the messenger of adultery, and it contains religious and worldly harms that are not hidden. The superlative form (af'al) is for intensity, not for comparison. It was also permitted that it be for comparison, meaning "purer than everything beneficial" or "more distancing from suspicion." It is also said it means "more beneficial than adultery and the forbidden gaze," for they imagine the pleasure of that to be a benefit.

(Indeed, Allah is All-Aware of what they do.) Nothing is hidden from Him of the deeds that proceed from them, among which is the casting of glances, the use of all senses, the movement of limbs, and what they intend by that. So let them be wary of Him (the Exalted and Majestic) in all that they do and all that they abandon.