"I asked the Prophet what I should do if I happened to cast a look (at a woman) by
chance. The Prophet replied, 'Turn your eyes away.' " According to Buraidah, the
Prophet told the future fourth khalif, 'Ali, not to cast a second look, for the first look
was pardonable but the second was prohibited.
However, there are certain circumstances in which it is permissible for a man to look at another
woman. Such circumstances may arise when a woman is obliged to be treated by a male doctor, or
has to appear before a judge as a witness, or when a woman is trapped inside a burning house, or is
drowning, or when a woman's life or honour is in danger. In such cases, even the prohibited parts of
the body of the woman may be seen or touched, and it is not only lawful but obligatory on a man to
rescue her from danger, whatever physical contact it may entail. What is required by Islam in such a
situation is that as far as possible the man should keep his intentions pure. But if in spite of that his
emotions are a little excited naturally, it is not blameworthy for him to have looked at such a woman,
since having contact with her body was not intentional but was necessitated by circumstances, and it
is not possible for a man to suppress his natural urges completely.
The Shari'ah also allows a man to look at a woman with the object of reaching a decision about
whether he should marry her or not. The following traditions explain the matter further: Mughirah ibn
Shu'bah says,
"I sent a message to a woman asking for her hand. The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said to me, 'Have a look at her for that will enhance love and mutual regard between
you.' "
Abu Hurairah says that he was sitting with the Prophet when a man came and said that he intended
to marry a woman from among the Ansar (Helpers). The Prophet asked him if he had seen her. He
replied in the negative. The Prophet told him to go and have a look at her because the Ansar often
had a defect in their eyes. According to Jabir ibn 'Abdullah, the Prophet said that when a man sent a
request to a woman for her hand in marriage, he should have a look at her to see if there was
anything in her which made him inclined to marry her.
It is thus clear that no man is prohibited from having a look at a woman as such, but that the real idea
behind the prohibition is to prevent the evil of illicit intercourse. Therefore what the Prophet has
prohibited is only such casting of the eyes as is not essential, as does not serve any social purpose,
and as is loaded with sexual motives. This command applies to both Muslim men and Muslim
women and is not confined to only one sex.
Maulana Abu'l-A'la Maududi has made a fine psychological distinction, however, between women
looking at men and men looking at women. The man, he says,
"...is by nature aggressive. If a thing appeals to him, he is urged from within to acquire
it. On the other hand, the woman's nature is one of inhibition and escape. Unless her
nature is totally corrupted, she can never become so aggressive, bold, and fearless, as
to make the first advances towards the male who has attracted her. In view of this
distinction, the Legislator (the Prophet) does not regard a woman's looking at other
men to be as harmful as a man's looking at other women. In several traditions it has
been reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) let 'A'isha see a performance
given by negroes on the occasion of the 'Id. This shows that there is no absolute
prohibition on women looking at other men. What is prohibited is for women to sit in
the same gathering together with men and stare at them, or look at them in a manner
which may lead to evil results. "
The Prophet (peace be upon him) told Fatimah, daughter of Qais, to pass her 'iddah (waiting term),
in the house of Ibn Maktum, the same blind Companion from whom Umm Salamah had been
instructed to observe purdah. Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-'Arabi has related in his Ahkam al- Qur'an that
Fatimah, daughter of Qais, wanted to pass her waiting term in the house of Umm Sharik. The
Prophet did not approve of this for the reason that the house was visited by many people. Therefore
he told her to stay in the house of Ibn Maktum who was blind, where she could stay without
observing purdah.
This shows that the real object of the Prophet was to reduce the chances of any mischief occurring.
That is why the lady was not allowed to stay in a house where the chances of possible mischief were
greater but allowed to stay in a house where they were less. On the other hand, where there was no
such need, women were prohibited from sitting in the same place face to face with other men.
The real object of ghadd al-basar (lowering the eyes) is to stop people with evil intentions from
casting lewd looks at others. It is common knowlege that a person turns their eyes towards another
person innocently in the beginning. If the latter is attractive, the former may go on casting glances and
thus drift towards the precipice of sexual attraction and ultimately fornication or adultery. Islam
encourages regulated love in order to build up happy family lives since it is healthy families that
provide the blocks to construct a healthy society; but it abhors promiscuity which ruins people's
family lives and seriously damages people through the ultimate disaster of illicit sexual
relationships developing between its adherents. Islam blocks the path that finally leads to active
temptation by prohibiting the casting of looks by one person at another except when they do so by
chance.
Social Behaviour
The Shari'ah has placed restrictions on men meeting strange women privately. Similarly no man other
than her husband is allowed to touch any part of a woman's body. The following traditions of the
Prophet (peace be upon him) are worth noting in this connection:
"Beware that you do not call on women who are alone," said the Messenger of Allah.
One of the Companions asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what about the younger or the
elder brother of the husband?" The Prophet replied, "He is death." (Tirmidhi, Bukhari
and Muslim)
"Do not call on women in the absence of their husbands, because Satan might be
circulating in any of you like blood." (Tirmidhi).
According to 'Amr ibn al-'As, the Prophet forbade men to call on women without the permission of
their husbands. (Tirmidhi)
"From this day no man is allowed to call on a woman in the absence of her husband
unless he is accompanied by one or two other men." (Tirmidhi)
The Prophet said,
"The one who touches the hand of a woman without having a lawful relationship with
her, will have an ember placed on his palm on the Day of Judgment." (Takmalah, Fath
alQadir)
'A'ishah says that the Prophet accepted the oath of allegiance from women only verbally, without
taking their hands into his own hand. He never touched the hand of a woman who was not married
to him (Bukhari). Umaimah, daughter of Ruqaiqah, said that she went to the Prophet in the company
of some other women to take the oath of allegiance. He made them promise that they would abstain
from idolatry, stealing, adultery, slander, and disobedience to the Prophet. When they had taken the
oath, they requested that he take their hands as a mark of allegiance. The Prophet said, "I do not
take the hands of women. Verbal affirmation is enough." (Nasa'i and Ibn Majah).
According to Maulana Maududi these commandments apply in respect of young women. He says,
"It is lawful to sit with women of advanced age in privacy and touching them is also not prohibited. It
has been reported that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr used to visit the clan where he had been suckled and
shook hands with the old women. It has been reported that Sayyidina 'Abdullah ibn Zubair used to
have his feet and head pressed gently for relief by an old woman. This distinction between old and
young women itself shows that the real object is to prevent such mixing of the sexes as may lead to
evil results.''
It is most unfortunate, however, that in spite of this guidance from the Prophet (peace be upon him)
many Muslims have adopted the Western system of shaking hands with women, using these
traditions in respect of old women as a justification. This is clearly an unreasonable extension of the
permission. It is, therefore, submitted that the Muslims the world over, and 'ulama in particular, must
pause to reflect and stop this un-Islamic practice which has crept into our society. There cannot be a
better form of greeting than uttering 'as-salamu 'alaikum ' (peace be upon you) and greeting back
with 'wa alaikum as-salam '(and peace be upon you too).
The Shari'ah wants people to live in their houses in peace and privacy. It therefore commands a
Muslim, when visiting friends, relatives or strangers not to enter their houses without seeking their
permission. The Qur'an particularly forbids him to enter their houses without alerting the women of
the house so that he does not surprise them in a condition in which he would not normally see them.
However, children do not have to seek such permission until they reach the age of puberty and
sexual awareness stirs in them:
When your children attain puberty, they should ask for leave before entering the house,
just as their elders asked it before them... (24:58)
The Holy Qur'an also gives categories of people who should not enter anybody else's house without
permission:
O believers! Do not enter houses other than your own until you have taken permission;
and when you enter a house, greet the people therein with salutation. (33:33)
At the beginning of Islam, the Arabs could not grasp the real significance of these commands.
Therefore they used to peep into houses from the outside. Once when the Prophet (peace be upon
him) was in his room, a person peeped through the lattice. The Prophet said:
"If I had known that you were peeping, I would have poked something into your eye.
The command to ask permission has been given to safeguard people against the evil
look." (Bukhari) Then the Prophet publicly announced: "If a person peeps into
somebody else's house without permission the people of the house will be justified if
they injure his eye." (Muslim)
No matter how urgent the need is, no-one is allowed to enter anyone else's house without
permission. The Qur'an says:
...and when you ask women for an article, ask for it from behind a curtain; this is a
purer way for your hearts and theirs. (33:53)
These restrictions also apply to household servants. Once Bilal or Anas asked Fatimah, the daughter
of the Prophet, to hand him her child. She handed it to him by stretching her hand from behind a
curtain. It is noteworthy that both these men were the personal attendants of the Prophet (peace be
upon him) and he used to affectionately address them as "Ya Bunayya" (O my son). The real
purpose behind those restrictions is to safeguard men and women against evil inclinations. By
keeping a safe distance between them, the Shari'ah ensures that they do not grow too familiar and
free with one another which may make them drift towards sexual intimacy.
Beautification and Adornment
The Qur'an lays down the code of conduct for women in the following words:
And play your role by being in your houses and do not keep exhibiting your beauty and
decorations like what used to happen in the Jahiliyyah period (before Islam). (33:33)
Abu Bakr al-Jassas says in explaining this verse,
"This verse points out the fact that women are ordered to play their role in the house
and are forbidden from loitering outside of their houses."
It was revealed when the Muslim ummah was being formed in Madina as an example for the coming
generations of Muslims. It sought to put an end to the Jahiliyyah practices of the pagan Arabs. The
khalif 'Umar remarked:
"By Allah, we did not give any position to women in the Jahiliyyah period until such
time that Allah sent His command in respect of them and apportioned for them the role
that was to be theirs." (Muslim)
Under this apportionment women were given the role of making their own homes the centers of their
attention rather than going about exhibiting their physical charms and worldly possessions. The
Prophet (peace be upon him) said that the following type of women constitute one of the categories
of the dwellers of Hell:
"Those women who seem naked even when dressed and those who walk flirtingly and
those who plait their heads like the humps of camels, thus inviting people's attention,
will not enter Paradise nor will they smell its fragrance even though its fragrance can be
smelt from a very long distance." (Muslim).
Islam, however, does not prohibit beautification (zinat) on the part of women as long as it is not done
in a way that injuriously interferes with the limbs or the body. In ancient times there were many kinds
of defacement practiced on the bodies of men and animals, partly on account of superstition or
pagan custom and partly on account of the craze for fashion and display. Examples of this were
tattooing, sharpening or spacing the teeth, shaving or plucking the hair, wearing hair pieces, etc.
Many of these practices still survive and are, in fact, getting more and more refined.
Since all these practices change or seriously interfere with the natural creation of Allah, the Prophet
(peace be upon him) cursed those who indulged in them for the purpose of mere beautification. One
report says,
"The Messenger of Allah cursed women who tattooed, and those who got themselves
tattooed, those who engaged in sharpening the teeth (as a mark of beauty) and those
who had their teeth sharpened." (Bukhari and Muslim)
The Messenger of Allah cursed women who had spaces made between their teeth in order to
increase their beauty, thus changing the creation of Allah. A third report says,
"The Messenger of Allah cursed the women who plucked hair and those who were
employed to pluck the eyebrows." (Abu Dawud)
This method of beautification would include the modern practice of shaving the eyebrows and then
painting on new ones, or shaving certain hair and leaving the eyebrows to look like two inverted
crescents.
However, if a woman has some obtrusive hairs on her face which are a problem and embarrassment
for her, she may remove them. When 'A'ishah was approached by the young wife of Abu Is'haq who
wished to remove her facial hairs in order to look beautiful for her husband, she advised her to do
so. (Reported by atTabarani) On this basis some Hanafi jurists are of the opinion that there is no
harm in removing the hairs from a woman's face and applying cosmetics if it is done with the
permission of the husband, in order to please him and with a good intention. But Imam alNawawi
opposes even removing the hairs on a woman's face because he considers the practice similar to
plucking hair.
A fourth report says:
''A'ishah reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) cursed women
who wore hair pieces and the women who aided in this practice." (Bukhari)
This method of beautification would include the modern practice of wearing wigs. It consists of using
a plait of one woman's hair or artificial hair and joining it to another woman's hair with the object of
making the woman's hair appear very long and beautiful. Mu'awiyah, while holding a plait of such
hair in his hands during his address to the Muslims, castigated the 'ulama:
"Where are your learned men gone? (meaning why did they not stop women from using
such hair) I heard the Messenger of Allah stop them from using this." He also said,
"Undoubtedly the Israelites destroyed themselves when their women adopted such
things." (Bukhari)
The Shari'ah also requires women to abstain from displaying their "decorations" except to a
restricted circle of people. The Qur'an says:
And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their
modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what
(must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms
and not display their beauty save to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands'
fathers, or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers or their brothers' sons,
or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or
male servants free of physical desire, or small children who have no sense of sex; and
that they should not stamp their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden
ornaments. And O believers! Turn all together towards Allah, that you may attain bliss.
(24:31)
Thus, the following people fall in the exceptional category to whom decorations can be displayed by
a woman:
Her husband.
Her father, including maternal and paternal grandfathers.
Her husband's father. He is also like her own father.
Her son, including grandsons from her son's side or her daughter's side.
Her husband's son by another woman, provided that he is staying with her, and she is looking
after him as her son.
Her brother, whether full, consanguine, or uterine (that is to say, real or step).
Her brother's son.
Her sister's son.
Muslim women and other women of good character.
Her female slaves or servants. However, some 'ulama even include male slaves or servants in
the excepted category.
Men who have no sexual desire (e.g. eunuchs).
Children who have not yet developed sexual feelings.
Her uncle, whether paternal or maternal.
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