Tafseer of The Inner Apartments · Al-Hujuraat · 49:4
Indeed, those who call you, [O Muhammad], from behind the chambers - most of them do not use reason.
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 explanation of the saying of the Exalted: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers, most of them do not understand) (49:4).
The Exalted, whose praise is lofty, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: verily, those who call out to you, O Muḥammad, from behind your chambers (ḥujurāt). The word al-ḥujurāt is the plural of ḥujra (chamber, room); three of them are ḥujar, and then ḥujar is again made plural, so that one says: ḥujurāt and ḥujrāt. Some of the Arabs make the plural of ḥujar into ḥujarāt with a fatḥa on the jīm. In this way, every plural that counts from three to ten and has the form fuʿal is made plural in the form fuʿalāt with a fatḥa on the second letter; but the pronunciation with ḍamma (rafʿ) is more eloquent and better. To this belongs the saying of the poet:
"Was ʿAbbād perhaps not an equal to Dārim? Indeed he was, and to the houses where the chambers (al-ḥujurāt) are."
He means: indeed, and to the Banū Hāshim.
It has been related that this verse and the one following it were revealed concerning a group of bedouins who came and called out to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from behind his chambers: "O Muḥammad, come out to us."
* Mention of the report concerning that:
Abū ʿAmmār al-Marwazī and al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥārith related to us; they both said: al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barrāʾ, concerning His saying إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers): he said: a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "O Muḥammad, verily, my praise is an adornment and my reproach is a disgrace." He ﷺ said: "That is Allah, the Blessed and Exalted."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barrāʾ, with the like of it, except that he said: "That is Allah, the Almighty and Majestic."
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us; he said: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān al-Taymī related to us; he said: I heard Dāwūd al-Ṭufāwī say: I heard Abū Muslim al-Bajalī relate on the authority of Zayd ibn Arqam; he said: some people of the Arabs came to the Prophet ﷺ, and some of them said to others: "Go with us to this man; if he is a prophet, then we are the most fortunate of people through him, and if he is a king, then we shall live under his wing." He said: so I came to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him of that. He said: then they came to the chamber of the Prophet ﷺ and began to call out to him: "O Muḥammad." Then Allah revealed to His prophet ﷺ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers, most of them do not understand). He said: then the prophet of Allah seized my ear and pulled it, and he kept saying: "Allah has confirmed your word as true, O Zayd, Allah has confirmed your word as true, O Zayd."
Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Yaḥyā al-Muqaddamī related to us; he said: ʿAffān related to us; he said: Wuhayb related to us; he said: Mūsā ibn ʿUqba related to us, on the authority of Abū Salama; he said: al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis al-Tamīmī related to me that he came to the Prophet ﷺ and called out to him, and said: "O Muḥammad, verily, my praise is an adornment and my abuse is a disgrace." Then the Prophet ﷺ came out to him and said: "Woe to you, that is Allah." Then Allah revealed إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers)... to the end of the verse.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — all of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers): they were bedouins of the Banū Tamīm.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "that a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and called out to him from behind the chambers, and said: 'O Muḥammad, verily, my praise is an adornment and my abuse is a disgrace.' Then the Prophet ﷺ came out to him and said: 'Woe to you, that is Allah.' Then Allah revealed إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers, most of them do not understand)."
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers)... to the end of the verse: it has been related to us that a man began to call out "O prophet of Allah, O Muḥammad", and the Prophet ﷺ came out to him and said: "What is the matter with you?" He said: "By Allah, verily, his praise is an adornment and his reproach is a disgrace." Then the prophet of Allah ﷺ said: "That is Allah." Thereupon the man turned away. And it has been related to us that the man was a poet.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī ʿAmra; he said: Bishr ibn Ghālib and Labīd ibn ʿUṭārid — or Bishr ibn ʿUṭārid and Labīd ibn Ghālib — both were sitting with al-Ḥajjāj, and Bishr ibn Ghālib said to Labīd ibn ʿUṭārid: "Concerning your people, the Banū Tamīm, was revealed إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ (Verily, those who call out to you from behind the chambers)." I mentioned that to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, and he said: "Verily, had he known the end of the verse, he would have answered him يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ أَسْلَمُوا (They count it as a favour to you that they have accepted Islam), in which they said: 'We have accepted Islam', while the Banū Asad did not fight against you."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of al-Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan; he said: "a bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ from behind his chambers, and he said: 'O Muḥammad, O Muḥammad.' Then the Prophet ﷺ came out to him and said: 'What is the matter with you? What is the matter with you?' He said: 'Know that, verily, my praise is an adornment and my reproach is a disgrace.' Then the Prophet ﷺ said: 'That is Allah.' Thereupon there was revealed يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَرْفَعُوا أَصْوَاتَكُمْ فَوْقَ صَوْتِ النَّبِيِّ (O you who believe, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet)."
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the reading of His saying مِنْ وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ (from behind the chambers). The reciters of the cities read it with a ḍamma on the ḥāʾ and the jīm — al-ḥujurāt — with the exception of Abū Jaʿfar the reciter, who read it with a ḍamma on the ḥāʾ and a fatḥa on the jīm, in accordance with what I described concerning making the plural of ḥujra into ḥujar, and then the plural of ḥujr into ḥujurāt.
The correct reading according to us is the ḍamma on both letters, for what I have described earlier.
And His saying أَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ (most of them do not understand) means: most of them are ignorant of the religion of Allah and of what is obligatory upon them concerning your right and your honoring.
