ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ
There is no blame upon women concerning their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or their women or those their right hands possess. And fear Allah. Indeed Allah is ever, over all things, Witness.
Tafsir
Verse range: 33:55
Then, when Allah Almighty revealed the ruling of the veil (Hijab), He made an exception for the unmarriageable kin (Maharim) by saying: {There is no blame upon them regarding their fathers, nor their sons, nor their brothers, nor the sons of their brothers, nor the sons of their sisters, nor their women, nor what...}
In this verse, there are several issues:
When the ruling of the veil was established, it mandated that men should ask questions from behind a screen. Why then were men not exempted from blame (i.e., why was it not said, "There is no blame upon their fathers")?
Answer: The Almighty's saying, {O you who have believed, do not enter the houses of the Prophet except when given permission...} (Al-Ahzab: 53), commanded the drawing of a screen over them (the Prophet's wives). This necessitates that they be veiled and screened. The veil was thus obligatory upon them. Then, men were commanded to leave them in that state and were forbidden from tearing down their screens.
The exception was made for the fathers and sons. There is a subtle point here: When the veil was commanded, Allah commanded the man to ask questions from behind a screen. This implies, by primary understanding, that the woman is veiled from the man. When the exception was made, the Almighty said, {There is no blame upon them} at the time of lifting the veil from them. Therefore, men (the exempted kin) are more deserving of this allowance.
The fathers were mentioned first because their access to their daughters is more frequent. Moreover, they have already seen the entire body of their daughters during their childhood. Then come the sons, and then the brothers. This is clear.
The discussion concerns the sons of brothers (nephews) versus the sons of sisters (maternal nephews). Allah Almighty preferred the sons of brothers over the sons of sisters because the fathers of the sons of sisters are not unmarriageable kin to their nieces; rather, they are the husbands of their nieces' maternal aunts. However, the fathers of the sons of brothers are unmarriageable kin to their nieces.
Thus, in the case of the sons of sisters, there is a potential impropriety: the son might relate details about his maternal aunt to his father, who is not her unmarriageable kin. This is not the case with the sons of brothers.
Allah did not mention the paternal uncles (A'mam) or the maternal uncles (Akhwal). He did not say, "nor their paternal uncles, nor their maternal uncles," for two reasons:
This phrase is attributed to the believing women (al-Mu'minat). This means that it is not permissible to uncover oneself before the non-believing women (Kafirāt).
This is mentioned last. The impropriety of uncovering before them (the female slaves) is apparent. Some Imams have stated that this refers to those who have not yet reached puberty.
Then, the Almighty's saying, {And fear Allah} near the mention of the slaves, indicates that uncovering before them is conditional upon safety and knowledge that no impropriety will occur. His saying, {Indeed, Allah is ever, over all things, a Witness} is extremely beautiful in this context. This is because what preceded indicated the permissibility of seclusion and uncovering before them. So He said: Allah is a witness when some of you are in seclusion with others; your seclusion is like your gathering in the presence of Allah's testimony, so fear Him.
