49:4 Al-Hujuraat (The Inner Apartments)

نزلت هذه الآيات الكريمة، في أناس من الأعراب، الذين وصفهم الله تعالى بالجفاء، وأنهم أجدر أن لا يعلموا حدود ما أنزل الله على رسوله، قدموا وافدين على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، فوجدوه في بيته وحجرات نسائه، فلم يصبروا ويتأدبوا حتى يخرج، بل نادوه: يا محمد يا محمد، [أي: اخرج إلينا]، فذمهم الله بعدم العقل، حيث لم يعقلوا عن الله الأدب مع رسوله واحترامه، كما أن من العقل وعلامته استعمال الأدب.

أنه تبارك وتعالى ذم الذين ينادونه من وراء الحجرات وهي بيوت نسائه كما يصنع أجلاف الأعراب فقال "أكثرهم لا يعقلون" وقد ذكر أنها نزلت في الأقرع بن حابس التميمي رضي الله عنه فيما أورده غير واحد قال الإمام أحمد حدثنا عفان حدثنا وهيب حدثنا موسى بن عقبة عن أبي سلمة بن عبدالرجمن عن الأقرع بن حابس رضي الله عنه أنه نادى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال يا محمد يا محمد وفي رواية يا رسول الله فلم يجبه فقال يا رسول الله إن حمدي لزين وإن ذمي لشين فقال "ذاك الله عز وجل" ثم أرشد تعالى إلى الأدب في ذلك وقال ابن جرير حدثنا أبو عمار الحسين بن حريث المروزي حدثنا الفضل بن موسى عن الحسين بن واقد عن أبي إسحاق عن البراء في قوله تبارك وتعالى "إن الذين ينادونك من وراء الحجرات" قال جاء رجل إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال يا محمد إن حمدي زين وذمي شين فقال صلى الله عليه وسلم "ذاك الله عز وجل" وهكذا ذكره الحسن البصري وقتادة مرسلا وقال سفيان الثوري عن حبيب بن أبي عمرة قال كان بشر بن غالب ولبيد بن عطارد أو بشر بن عطارد ولبيد بن غالب وهما عند الحجاج جالسان فقال بشر بن غالب للبيد بن عطارد نزلت في قومك بني تميم "إن الذين ينادونك من وراء الحجرات" قال فذكرت ذلك لسعيد ابن جبير فقال أما إنه لو علم بآخر الآية أجابه "يمنون عليك أن أسلموا" قالوا أسلمنا ولم يقاتلك بنو أسد وقال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا أبى حدثنا عمرو بن علي الباهلي حدثنا المعتمر بن سليمان قال سمعت داود الطائي يحدث عن أبي مسلم البجلي عن زيد بن أرقم رضي الله عنه قال: اجتمع أناس من العرب فقالوا انطلقوا بنا إلى هذا الرجل فإن يك نبيا فنحن أسعد الناس به وإن يك ملكا نعش بجناحه قال فأتيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فأخبرته بما قالوا فجاءوا إلى حجرة النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فجعلوا ينادونه وهو في حجرته يا محمد يا محمد فأنزل الله تعالى "إن الذين ينادونك من وراء الحجرات أكثرهم لا يعقلون" قال فأخذ رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم بأذني فمدها فجعل يقول "لقد صدق الله تعالى قولك يا زيد لقد صدق الله قولك يا زيد" ورواه ابن جرير عن الحسن بن عرفة عن المعتمر بن سليمان به.

Admonishing Those Who call the Prophet from behind Dwellings

Allah the Exalted and Most Blessed admonished those, such as the uncivilized bedouins, who used to call to the Prophet from behind the dwellings which belong to his wives,

أَكْثَرُهُمْ لاَ يَعْقِلُونَ

(most of them have no sense.) Allah the Exalted and Most Honored then ordains the better behavior in this regard,

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ صَبَرُواْ حَتَّى تَخْرُجَ إِلَيْهِمْ لَكَانَ خَيْراً لَّهُمْ

(And if they had patience till you could come out to them, it would have been better for them.) it would have earned them the better benefit of this life and the Hereafter. Allah, Worthy of all praise, then encourages them to turn to Him in repentance.

وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

(And Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful.) It was reported that this Ayah was revealed about Al-Aqra` bin Habis At-Tamimi, may Allah be pleased with him, according to more than one source. Imam Ahmad recorded that Al-Aqra` bin Habis said that he called the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from behind his dwellings, saying, "O Muhammad! O Muhammad!" "O Allah's Messenger!" according to another narration, but the Messenger did not answer him, Al-Aqra` said, "O Allah's Messenger.

Investigating the Reliability of the News conveyed by Wicked People

Allah the Exalted ordered investigating the news that sinners and the wicked bring, to make sure of its authenticity. Otherwise, if the sinner's word is taken for granted and a decision is based on it, regardless of whether the information is true or not, the authorities will be taking the lead of the sinners. Allah the Exalted and Most Honored forbade taking the path of the corrupted and sinners. This is why groups of the scholars of Hadith refuse to accept narrations from narrators whose reliability is unknown, for they might be from among the wicked people, in reality.

The Prophet's Decision is Better

Allah said,

The following was revealed regarding a group of people who came to see the Prophet s during the midday resting period while he was in his house and called out to him Truly those who call you from behind the apartments the private chambers of his womenfolk hujurāt is the plural of hujra which is an area of ground on which stones are laid yuhjaru ‘alayhi to form a wall or the like and it happened that each one of them called out in that rough and crude Bedouin manner from behind one of the apartments as they did not know in which apartment he was most of them do not understand given the way in which they acted your exalted status and the reverence that befits it.

الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِن وَرَ‌اءِ الْحُجُرَ‌اتِ أَكْثَرُ‌هُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ (As for those who call you from behind the apartments, most of them lack understanding. - 49:4) In this verse, Allah Ta’ ala has mentioned a third etiquette about dealing with the Holy Prophet ﷺ . It is directed that when he is at home, one should not call him from outside. Particularly calling him by his name is an unmannered attitude. Reasonable persons would not do it. The term hujurat (translated above as 'apartments' ) is the plural of hujrah. Lexically, it refers to a four-walled apartment or dwelling, comprising a courtyard and a roofed building. In Madinah, the Holy Prophet ﷺ had nine wives. Each one of them had a separate apartment, where on different days, he used to stay in succession.

The Apartments of the Mothers of the Faithful

Ibn Sa'd on the authority of ` Ata' Al-Khurasani gives a description of these dwellings. He writes that these apartments were built of palm branches and their doors were covered with thick black woolen curtains. Imam Bukhari ؓ in Al-'Adab-ul- Mufrad and Baihaqi in his collection record that Dawud Ibn Qais reports that he had visited these "apartments" and estimated that from the door of the "apartment" to the roofed part of the building, it must be about seven cubits, the room about ten cubits and the height of the roof about eight cubits1. These apartments of the Mothers of the faithful were included in the Holy Prophet’ s ﷺ mosque during the reign of Walid Ibn ` Abd-ul-Malik at his own command. On that day in Madinah, people were lamenting and bewailing.

(1) One Cubit= about 18 inches

Occasion of Revelation

Imam Baghawi, on the authority of Qatadah (رح) reports that the delegation of Banu Tamim arrived in Madinah in the afternoon and came up to the Holy Prophet ﷺ when he was resting in one of his apartments. These bedouins were not acquainted with the social manners and etiquette of a civil society. They stood outside the apartment and called out: 0 Muhammad, come out to us! On this occasion, verse [ 4] was revealed (Musnad of Ahmad, Tirmidhi, and others record similar reports in differential wordings as quoted by Mazhari).

Additional Notes

The noble Companions ؓ and their followers showed the same respect and courtesy to their scholars and spiritual masters as enjoined by the Qur'an for the Holy Prophet ﷺ . It is recorded in Bukhari and other collections that when Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ wanted to inquire about any Prophetic Tradition from any knowledgeable Companion, he would go to his house and sit at the threshold without calling him or knocking at the door. He would wait there until the Companion himself comes out. When he came out on his own, he would ask him about the Tradition. However, the scholar himself would say to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas: "0 cousin of Allah's Messenger, why did you not knock at the door and inform me about your arrival?" Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ would reply: "A scholar in his community is like a prophet, and Allah has directed us that we should wait until he comes out on his own. Sayyidna Abu ` Ubaidah says, "I never knock on the door of any scholar at any time, but I wait until he himself has emerged and then meet him (Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani).

Ruling

In the clause of verse حَتَّىٰ تَخْرُ‌جَ إِلَيْهِمْ "...until you come out to them...49:5", the prepositional phrase ilaihim "to them" is a restrictive phrase, and it implies that people must wait until the Holy Prophet ﷺ emerges to talk to them, but if he has emerged for some other reason or purpose, even in this case it is not appropriate to talk to him. The speakers should wait until a suitable situation or occasion arises for them to speak: that is, they should speak about their particular issue when the Holy Prophet ﷺ turns his attention to them for that purpose.

(Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense) [49:4]. Ahmad ibn 'Ubayd Allah al-Makhladi informed us> Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad al-Daqqaq> Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaymah> Muhammad ibn Yahya al-'Ataki> al-Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman> Dawud al-Tafawi> Abu Muslim al-Bajali> Zayd ibn Arqam who said: �Some people went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and found him in his private apartment, so they started calling him: 'O Muhammad! O Muhammad!' Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense)�. Muhammad ibn Ishaq and others said: �This verse was revealed about some uncouth people from Banu Tamim. A delegation of the Banu Tamim went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They entered the mosque and called the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, who was in his private apartment: 'O Muhammad, come out to meet us, for our praise is nice while our censure is nasty'. Their shouting annoyed the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and so he came out to see them. They said: 'O Muhammad, we have come to brag to you'. Allah, exalted is He, revealed about them (Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense). Among these people were al-Aqra' ibn Habis, 'Uyaynah ibn Hisn, al-Zibriqan ibn Badr and Qays ibn 'Asim�. This incident of bragging was related to us by Abu Ishaq Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muqri'> al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Sadusi> al-Hasan ibn Salih ibn Hani'> al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab> al-Qasim ibn Abi Shaybah> Mu'alla ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> 'Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja'far> 'Umar ibn al-Hakam> Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah who said: �A delegation from Banu Tamim came to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They called him from outside his doorstep: 'O Muhammad, come out to meet us, for our praise is nice while our censure is nasty'. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, heard them and came out, saying: 'Indeed, it is only Allah whose praise is nice and censure nasty'. They said: 'We are people from Banu Tamim; we have brought our poet and our orator to show you our excellence over you in poetry and brag about our merits'.