The Quran

Preface

لا جُناحَ عَلَيهِنَّ في آبائِهِنَّ وَلا أَبنائِهِنَّ وَلا إِخوانِهِنَّ وَلا أَبناءِ إِخوانِهِنَّ وَلا أَبناءِ أَخَواتِهِنَّ وَلا نِسائِهِنَّ وَلا ما مَلَكَت أَيمانُهُنَّ ۗ وَاتَّقينَ اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ شَهيدًا

Yusuf Ali

There is no blame (on these ladies if they appear) before their fathers¹ or their sons, their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or the (slaves) whom their right hands possess. And, (ladies), fear God; for God is Witness to all things.

This refers back to the Ḥijāb (screen) portion of verse 53 above. The list of those before whom the Prophet’s wives could appear informally without a screen is their fathers, sons, brothers, brothers’ or sisters’ sons, serving women, and household slaves or servants. Commentators include uncles (paternal and maternal) under the heading of “fathers”. “Their women” is held to mean all women who belonged to the Muslim community: other women were in the position of strangers, whom they received not so intimately, but with the formality of a screen as in the case of men. Compare with this list and the wording here the list and the wording in 24:31, which applies to all Muslim women. In the list here, husbands and husbands’ relatives are not necessary to be mentioned, as we are speaking of a single household, that of the central figure in Islam, nor men-servants nor children, as there were none. In the wording note that for Muslim women generally, no screen or Ḥijāb (Parda) is mentioned, but only a veil to cover the bosom, and modesty in dress. The screen was a special feature of honour for the Prophet’s household, introduced about five or six years before his death.