Surah Al-Ahzab 33:53-58 - Quran Translation Commentary

53. O you who believe ! Do not enter the dwellings of the Prophet without permission, and (on being permitted) do not wait ¹¹⁹ for meal to be served; but when you are invited (for a meal), then enter and after eating disperse¹²⁰----linger not for conversation.¹²¹ Verily that would cause annoyance to the Prophet, and he would be shy to ask you to go, and Allah is not shy of telling the truth.¹²² And when you ask them (his wives) for anything, ask them from behind a curtain. That is purer for your hearts and for their hearts. ¹²³ And it is not proper for you to hurt the messenger of Allah, nor ever to marry his wives after him.¹²⁴ Verily that would be a very grave offence in the sight of Allah.

54. Whether you reveal a thing or conceal it, Allah has knowledge of all things.

55. It is no sin for them the (Prophet’s wives to be seen unveiled) by their fathers, their sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their own women and their slave ¹²⁵. O Women ! Have fear of Allah. Verily Allah is witness to all things. ¹²⁶

56. Verily, Allah and His angels shower blessings on him. O you who believe! Send blessings on him and greet him with worthy salutation.¹²⁷

57. Those who annoy Allah and His messenger, Allah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter,¹²⁸ and has prepared for them a shameful punishment .

58. And those who annoy believing men and believing women for what they did not commit, they bear the guilt of slander and manifest sin.¹²⁹

Commentary

119. These directions are for the general people, guiding them how to behave in a respectable manner with the Prophet and his household. First they should not enter his house without permission. Secondly on getting permission, they should enter the house and remain there as long as it is necessary, they should not linger there till the meal time and wait for the meal to be served to them. it is obvious that not acting according to these instructions is absolute bad manners, and showing bad manners in the Prophet’s house is very objectionable.

120. This is the third direction. If some one is invited by the Prophet for a meal, one should definitely go, but after taking the meal leave the house without wasting any time. In the first part of the ayah instructions were given to enter the dwellings of the Prophet after getting permission, even if it was necessary to go for some work, and in this part direction is given to take care of certain things after one is invited for taking a meal by the Prophet.

121. After entering the Prophet’s house you should not busy yourself in conversation, whether you have entered after taking permission or you have been invited to take a meal. Any way the Prophet’s dwellings are not like the dwellings of the other people, therefore, necessary etiquette must be observed diligently.

122. The Prophet does not say anything out of politeness. He tolerates sitting of other people in his house without necessity or their waiting uninvited till the meal-time because of his politeness and good manners, but the question for Allah being polite with such people does not arise. He gives guidelines for observing etiquette in dealing with his Prophet so that your training may be set at right from this aspect also.

123. This is the fourth direction in connection with entering the Prophet’s house that there should be a curtain between the people and the wives of the Prophet. If it is necessary to ask for a thing from them, it should be done from behind a curtain. Do not appear before them face to face. And the good point behind this direction is this that in this way your heart will also be clean and pure and also their hearts, and there will be no room for any misgivings or doubts. In connection with purdah, this was the first ayah and the beginning of the command for Purdah was made with the house of the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam. Although purdah is desirable in the houses of the general Muslims also, yet it has not been made compulsory for them. Accordingly Surah Noor, which was revealed after Surah Ahzab, has this command for women that they should not manifest their ornamentation those who enter their houses with permission, that is they should not come before them in an attractive manner. (See Surah Noor ayah 31, Note 43)

If the command for having a curtain inside the house were for the general Muslims, then the question of the women’s coming in an attractive way before those who enter the house, would not have arisen. It is thus seen that to the general Muslim women such a severe command for purdah inside the house was not given as was given to the wives of the Prophet, and it was so because the position of the mothers of the faithful is much higher than the general Muslim women.

It is stated in a hadith that this ayah was revealed at the time of the “Walimah” of Zainab (R):

“Anas (R) reports that when the Messenger of Allah wedded Zainab Binte Jahash(R) he invited people for the walimah. When people finished eating, they sat conversing for a long time. He wanted to get up, but people continued to linger. Ultimately he got up. When he got up other people also got up, but three men went on sitting. When the Prophet (S.A. W.)wanted to enter again, he saw people were still sitting, (So he went out). When they went out, I told the Prophet that they have gone. Then he came and entered the house, And when I also tried to enter, then he put a curtain between me and him, and Allah revealed this ayah (No.53,Surah Ahzab)” -(Bukhari-kitabut Tafseer).

124. That is: After his death also, it is unlawful to marry the widows of the Prophet.

125. These people are exempted form the restrictions of the purdah inside the house, as stated in the foregoing ayah. In these are included along with the mahram’ slaves, males and females, who are in their possession.

126. That is Allah is present every where and sees everything.

127. The phrase ‘Sallu Alaihi’ in Arabic means to send or shower blessings and to pray for blessings being showered. The ayah does therefore mean that Allah showers blessings on the Prophet and the angels pray for blessings being showered on him. O People of faith, you also pray for blessings being showered on him, and send salutations in plenty. Salat also means special kind of blessings and mercy, that is blessings which is showered with honour and grace. There is specific word for this, Darood, and sending greetings or salam, means to pray for safety from every kind of trouble.

This command of sending gifts of Darood and Salam has been given to every Muslim, and as is stated in the hadith it is desirable that this should be acted upon as often as possible because with Darood and Salam the relationship of devotedness and regard with the Prophet is strengthened.

The words of Darood and Salam used in the ‘Tashahhud’ In the prayer are in the obedience of this command. The method of sending salutation to the Prophet as taught in this is as under: “ peace be upon you, O Prophet, and Allah’s mercy and blessings by upon you.”— (Bukhari- Abwab-e- Suffatus Salat).

The phrase O Prophet here does not mean that the prophet is present here and every where and sees everything, because that distinction is reserved for Allah only. This address is on account of his being the prophet of the time, that is to give the idea that for guiding us he is with us (through his teachings), and we are submitting our greetings in the court of the prophet. This is a style of impressive speech. Its other example is that prayer which is made at the time of the visit to the graveyard, when the dead people are addressed and they are greeted by salutation. It does not mean that the dead people are present and alive and can see, etc., but that the person who greets them has gone in their midst, and is greeting them. Those who do not understand this style of impressive speech give it a wrong meaning to prepare ground for polytheism and innovation. But for its refutation this explanation of Abdullah Ibn Masood (R) is sufficient. We used to say the words, O Prophet, when he used to be with us, alive, and when he passed away, we began saying: Salam on the Prophet.-(Bukhari ‘Kitabul-Isti’zan), that is instead of using the words in second person, words in third person were being used. It is also worth consideration that for sending salam on the Prophet it is not necessary to stand up, as in the salat the salam is recited while sitting, but the bidati (innovators) have started a new method of standing up for sending salam on the Prophet. And if some one does not stand up on this occasion he is reproached, so much so that his creed is also considered wrong. Such innovations have sowed the seeds of disruption among the Ummah. As for Darood, its method is also stated in the hadith. Ka’b bin Ujrah says that they told the Prophet that they knew the method of sending salam on him, but should they send Darood on him? He said say:

“O Allah : Shower salam on Muhammad and the followers of Muhammad as you have showered salam on the followers of Ibrahim. Verily You. are worthy of praises and Most Honoured.”O Allah: Shower blessings on Muhammad and the followers of Muhammad as you have showered blessings on the followers of Ibrahim. Verily, You are worthy of praises and Most Honoured.” - (Bukhari-Kitabud Dawat).

In another narrative there are additional words ‘of Ibrahim’. In Darood the word ‘Aal’ is used, which in Arabic means race and family also, as well as for followers too. Therefore, in the Lisanul Arab it is stated: Aal means the followers (Lisan-ul- Arab Vol. 11, page 38). And in the Quran Aal-e-Firaun was spoken for the group of the followers of Firaun. Among the followers of Ibrahim the overwhelming number was that of these who were of his race. That is why they were called Aal-e-Ibrahim. But the followers of Prophet Muhammad belong to a universal Ummah, therefore, all his followers from his time till the end of the world will be recipients of this blessing. Such a sense is supported by the ayah No. 43 in which a mention is made of Allah’s and His angels’ showering blessings on the people of faith.

The importance of Darood has been stated in an authentic hadith in these words:

“Whoever will send greetings of one Darood on me, Allah will send ten times blessings on him .” -(Muslim Kitabus Salat)

But in weak and invented hadith importance of Darood has been stated in great exaggeration. The commentator of Bukhari, Hafiz Ibn Hijr writes:

“In this chapter (importance of Darood) there are plenty of weak and baseless hadith, and the narratives which the storytellers have invented are countless. But the strong hadith are sufficient to let us do without them.” -(Fathul Bari, Vol.11, page 141).

For example in an unreliable narrative it is stated that on a Friday reciting Darood eighty times would enable a person to get his sins of eighty years be forgiven. -(Silsilatul Ahadithul dhaeefah Lil Albani.Vol.1,page 251). Such narratives are quoted by careless scholars without any precautions, which resulted in the people taking special care to arrange for reciting Darood most devotedly while neglecting a number of other religious responsibilities. Formally they became pious, but the sense of sincerely and perfectly following the faith could not develop in them.

It may be noted that Darood is an important prayer and it has significant place in religion, but about remembering and reciting frequently the command is exclusively for Allah’s name only, and recitation of praises and tasbeeh should be of His name only.There was no practice of arranging gatherings for completing recitation of one lakh Darood, as it is being followed these days, and that such a practice is not supported by Quran and Sunnah, Darood-e-Taj and other such types of Darood and their lengthy lists of importance are things that have been added by the subsequent people. For the straight going Muslims the method shown by the Prophet of reciting Darood is sufficient.

The Prophet’s personality deserves extraordinary respect, and, therefore, it is necessary to have Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam with his name always. His respected companions, while reporting hadith from him, always used to say: So said the Messenger of Allah, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam (blessings and peace be upon him).

And the teachers of hadith have also adopted this very method. It is not correct to write only S. or S.A.W. because it is miserliness. The writer does not recite the whole phrase, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam nor does the reader. There will be as much reward for repeating Darood and Salam, then what is the reason for miserliness.

O Prophet! Tell your wives, and your daughters and the women of the believers that they should cast upon them their cloaks. That is more proper, so that they may be recognised and not molested. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.(AL-Quran)

128. In the above ayah the people of faith were commanded to send blessing upon the Prophet. In this ayah those who malign the Prophet and annoy him and cause mental tension are warned of a shameful punishment. It has become clear that those who send blessings upon the Prophet they themselves also become deserving of receiving blessings. As against this those who malign the Prophet, they become liable to be cursed, and this is a hint at particularly those hypocrites, who were making a target of their objections the number of Prophet’s marriages and his family life, and were ridiculing the commands of Allah.

The meaning of maligning Allah is saying such things which invite his wrath against them, for example to say He has children, to ascribe shortcoming and defect to Him, to consider Him like any other creature, to associate partners with Him, to impute things below His dignity to Him, to ridicule His messengers, His Books and Him, and to utter derogatory words about Him, etc. etc. And the meaning of maligning, annoying or hurting the messenger is to utter derogatory remarks against him, to insult him, to ridicule his tradition, to raise objections about his private life, to disrespect his decisions, to impute false reports to him, to consider his decisions to be based on injustice and to quarrel with him, etc.

For those who insult Allah and His messenger, there is curse for them not only in the Hereafter, but in this world too they are subjected to curse. They are thrown away from the mercy of Allah in such away that their lot is only shame and disgrace. Real honour will never befor them.

129. Refers to those mischievous activities of the hypocrites in which they indulged to bring into disrepute Muslim men and Muslim women, so that the excellent group of persons that had come up by the training of the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, might become unpopular and be disgraced, and this might cause obstruction in the way of spreading Islam. In the ayah severe warning is given for maligning believing man and believing woman and hurting their feelings and leveling false accusations against them. To accuse an innocent person is falsely implicating him or her and it is not our ordinary sin but a major sin, especially implicating them in matters which are blemishes on chastity.

In the present Muslim society it appears that there is no realization of the enormity of this sin. To cast aspersions on pious Muslim persons has become a common custom of the people. Various groups of Muslims go on accusing one another of various misdeeds falsely, and journalism provides every facility for this nefarious work. Any way a person who wants to adopt fear of Allah and piety as a way of life, he should be very careful, he should not utter anything against his Muslim brother which would implicate him in an act which he had not committed. In a hadith it is stated:

“A Muslim is he from whose tongus and hands other Muslims are safe.” -(Riyazus Saliheen.P.599, with reference to Bukhari and Muslim).