Tafseer of The Light · An-Noor · 24:27
O you who have believed, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you ascertain welcome and greet their inhabitants. That is best for you; perhaps you will be reminded.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The exegetes differed about this. Some of them said: Its interpretation is: O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have asked permission.
Mention of who said that: Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to recite: "Do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have asked permission and greeted their inhabitants." He said: The word "tastaʾnisū" ("until you become familiar / make announcement") is merely from the scribes (a scribal error).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning this verse Do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have made announcement and greeted their inhabitants, and he said: It is merely an error of the scribe; it is "until you have asked permission and greeted."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, with something similar, except that he said: It is merely "until you have asked permission", but it was dropped by the scribe.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Iyās, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās until you have made announcement and greeted their inhabitants, he said: The scribe erred. Ibn ʿAbbās used to recite: "Until you have asked permission and greeted", and he recited it according to the recitation of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀmir related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, that he used to recite it: "Until you have asked permission and greeted." Sufyān said: And it reached me that Ibn ʿAbbās used to recite it: "Until you have asked permission and greeted", and he said: It is an error of the scribe.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: My father related to me, saying: My uncle related to me, saying: My father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have made announcement and greeted their inhabitants, he said: The "making announcement" (al-istiʾnās) is the asking of permission (al-istiʾdhān).
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to me, saying: Mughīra informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: In the codex (muṣḥaf) of Ibn Masʿūd it reads: "Until you have greeted their inhabitants and asked permission."
He said: Hushaym related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Iyās informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to recite it: "O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have greeted their inhabitants and asked permission." He said: The word "tastaʾnisū" is merely from the scribes (an error).
He said: Hushaym related to us, saying: Mughīra said, Mujāhid said: Ibn ʿUmar returned from relieving himself and the scorching ground had hurt him, so he came to the tent of a woman of the Quraysh, and he said: Peace be upon you, may I enter? She said: Enter in peace. He repeated it, and she repeated it, while he shifted from one foot to the other. He said: Say: enter. She said: Enter. And he entered.
He said: Hushaym related to us, saying: Manṣūr informed us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn; and Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd al-Thaqafī, that a man asked permission to enter upon the Prophet ﷺ, and he said: "May I come in, or shall I come in?" Thereupon the Prophet ﷺ said to a slave-girl of his named Rawḍa: "Get up and go to this man and speak with him, for he does not know well how to ask permission; tell him to say: Peace be upon you, may I enter?" The man heard her, and he said it, whereupon he [the Prophet ﷺ] said: "Enter."
Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His word until you have made announcement: He said: The asking of permission. Then it was abrogated and an exception was made: There is no blame upon you for entering uninhabited houses.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Abū Ḥamza related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His word Do not enter houses other than your own houses, he said: Until you have greeted their inhabitants and asked permission.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda until you have made announcement, he said: Until you have asked permission and greeted.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ashʿath ibn Sawwār informed us, on the authority of Kardūs, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, he said: You are obliged to ask permission with your mothers and sisters. Ashʿath said, on the authority of ʿAdī ibn Thābit: That a woman of the Anṣār said: O Messenger of Allah, I am in my house sometimes in a state in which I do not want anyone to see me thus, neither a parent nor a child, and yet a man of my family keeps coming in upon me while I am in that state. He said: Then it was revealed: O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have made announcement and greeted their inhabitants... the verse.
And others said: Its meaning is: until you notify the inhabitants of the house by coughing, clearing the throat, and the like, so that they know that you wish to enter upon them.
Mention of who said that: Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word Do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have made announcement and greeted their inhabitants, he said: Until you cough and clear the throat.
Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah until you have made announcement, he said: Until you make a sound (clear the throat) and greet.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word until you have made announcement, he said: Cough and clear the throat.
He said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: I heard ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ relate, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: There are three verses which the people have rejected. Allah said: Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing, he said: And they say: The most noble of them in the sight of Allah is the one of greatest standing. He said: And the asking of permission in its entirety the people have rejected. I said to him: Must I ask permission with my sisters, orphans under my charge, who are with me in one house? He said: Yes. Then I raised it with him again, but he refused [to relent]. He said: Would you like to see her naked? I said: No. He said: Then ask permission. I raised it with him again. He said: Would you like to obey Allah? I said: Yes. He said: Then ask permission. Then Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said to me: You keep raising it with him. I said: I wanted him to allow me an exception.
Ibn Jurayj said: And Ibn Ṭāwūs informed me, on the authority of his father, he said: There is no woman whom I am more averse to seeing — as if he meant: undressed or naked — than a woman who is for me an inviolable relative (dhāt maḥram). He said: And he was strict in this.
Ibn Jurayj said: And ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ said: And when the children among you reach puberty, let them ask permission, so it is obligatory upon all people, when they become sexually mature, that they ask permission with whoever of the people it may be. I said to ʿAṭāʾ: Is it obligatory for the man to ask permission with his mother and the remaining relatives beyond her? He said: Yes. I said: Is that made obligatory? He said: His word And when the children among you reach puberty, let them ask permission.
Ibn Jurayj said: And Ibn Ziyād informed me: that Ṣafwān, a freedman of the Banū Zuhra, informed him on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār: that a man said to the Prophet ﷺ: Must I ask permission with my mother? He said: "Yes." He said: She has no servant other than me; must I then ask permission with her every time I come in? He said: "Would you like to see her naked?" The man said: No. He said: "Then ask permission with her."
Ibn Jurayj said, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: He said: I heard Huzayl ibn Shuraḥbīl al-Awdī, the blind man, that he heard Ibn Masʿūd say: You are obliged to ask permission with your mothers.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: Must the man ask permission with his wife? He said: No.
Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn al-Jazzār, on the authority of the son of the brother of Zaynab, the wife of Ibn Masʿūd, on the authority of Zaynab, she said: When ʿAbd Allāh returned from relieving himself and reached the door, he would cough and spit, out of dislike of taking us by surprise with something that would be unpleasant to him.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have made announcement, he said: The "making announcement" (al-istiʾnās) is the coughing and making a sound, until they know that someone has come to them. He said: And the "making a sound" (al-tajarrus) is his speaking and his coughing.
The correct view of the statement about this, in my opinion, is to say: The "making announcement" (al-istiʾnās) is the istifʿāl form of al-uns (familiarity), and that is that one asks the inhabitants of the house permission to enter upon them, while notifying them of that by his mouth — and is there anyone inside? — and so that he informs them that he is entering upon them, so that he becomes familiar with their permission to him to do so, and they become familiar with his asking them permission.
It has been transmitted from the Arabs, heard: "Go and become familiar (istaʾnis), do you see anyone in the house?" in the sense of: Look, do you see anyone in it?
The interpretation of the word, then, when that is the meaning, is: O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses until you have greeted and asked permission. And that is that one of you says: Peace be upon you, may I enter? And this belongs to the fronted [expression] whose meaning is the postponed; for it is: until you have greeted and asked permission, as we have mentioned from the narration on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās.
And His word That is better for you says: Your making announcement and your greeting of the inhabitants of the house that you wish to enter — that entering is better for you, for you do not know, when you enter it without permission, upon what you will come: upon something that harms you or something that delights you? But when you enter with permission, you do not enter upon something you abhor, and you have thereby also fulfilled the right of Allah upon you in asking permission and greeting. And His word so that you may be admonished says: so that you may, through this conduct of yours, remember the commandments of Allah upon you, and the obedience to Him that is incumbent upon you, and so obey Him.
