His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿O you who have believed, do not enter houses other than your own until you seek permission and greet their inhabitants. That is best for you, perhaps you will remember﴾ ﴿And if you do not find anyone therein, do not enter them until permission is granted to you. And if you are told, 'Return,' then return; it is purer for you. And Allah is Knowing of what you do﴾.

The reason for this verse, as mentioned by al-Tabari from 'Uday ibn Thabit, is that a woman from the Ansar said: 'O Messenger of Allah, I may be in my house in a state that I do not wish anyone to see me in, neither my father nor my son. A man from my family continues to enter upon me while I am in that state.' So this verse was revealed. Then it is general for the Ummah throughout time, as this incident applies to everyone regarding themselves. The house of a person is the house where no one is with him in it, or the house where his wife and maid are present. Anything other than this is not his house. Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, and others said: It is appropriate for a person not to enter the house where his mother is except after seeking permission. It has been narrated in this regard from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that a man said: 'O Messenger of Allah, should I seek permission to enter upon my mother?' He said: 'Yes.' The man said: 'She is my mother and there is no servant for her other than me.' He said: 'Do you like to see her naked?' The man said: 'No.' He said: 'Then seek permission to enter upon her.' Likewise, every [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: dhat] of [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: mahram] from him, for it is not appropriate for him to see them naked. Zaynab, the wife of Ibn Mas'ud, said: Ibn Mas'ud, when he would come to his house, would clear his throat out of fear of intruding upon what he dislikes.

And "you seek permission" means: you inquire, that is, you ask who is in the house and you gain insight. You say: 'I have sought permission' if you have learned through perception, and if you have seen. From this is His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿Did you perceive from them any guidance? Then send them away﴾ [An-Nisa: 6], and His saying: 'I perceived a fire,' and from this is the saying of Hassan ibn Thabit:

Look, my friends, at the door of Jalliq, do you perceive anyone before Balqaa?

And the saying of al-Harith:

I perceived a sound... the house...

And the form of 'I perceived' is [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: af'al], and 'you seek permission' is in the form of [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: istif'al]. So the meaning in "you seek permission" is: you seek what will make you comfortable and will make the inhabitants of the house comfortable from you. If a person wishes to know the state of the house he intends to enter, then that is done by seeking permission from those in it, or by clearing his throat and feeling himself in any way possible, and he should take his time as much as he can, and then enter thereafter.

And al-Tabari went in "you seek permission" to mean: until you make the inhabitants of the house comfortable from yourselves by clearing your throat and seeking permission and the like, and you make yourselves comfortable by knowing that you have been recognized. The conjugation of the verb rejects that it be from 'to perceive.'

And al-Tabari mentioned from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that he used to read: "until you seek permission and greet," and this is the reading of Ubayy ibn Ka'b. Abu Hatim reported it as "until you greet and seek permission." Ibn Abbas said: "You seek permission" is an error or a mistake from the writers.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

The Mushafs of Islam all have "tast'ansū" established in them. The consensus on this has been confirmed since the time of Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him. It is the one that cannot be contradicted. The reading "yast'adhinū" is weak. To attribute error and misconception to the writers regarding a wording that the Companions unanimously agreed upon is a statement that cannot be correctly attributed to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them. It is more likely that "tast'ansū" applies to the interpretation. The apparent narration reported by Al-Tabari indicates that it is a reading. However, it has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: "tast'ansū" means: "tast'adhinū." What negates this saying from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, is that "tast'ansū" is firmly established in meaning and clear in the speech of the Arabs. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Should I seek permission, O Messenger of Allah?" while Umar was standing at the door of the room... the famous hadith. This implies that he sought companionship with him, so how could Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, contradict the companions of the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, in such a matter?

Al-Tabari also narrated with a chain from Ibn Jurayj, from Ibn Abbas, and Ikrimah, and Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan that they said: The first verse was abrogated and excluded from it is His saying, the Exalted: "There is no blame upon you for entering houses not inhabited" [An-Nur: 29]. This also does not entail abrogation or exclusion; because the first verse pertains to inhabited and confined houses, while the second verse pertains to what is permissible. It seems that those who went for the exclusion viewed the first as general.

The form of seeking permission is for a man to say: 'Peace be upon you, may I enter?' If he is given permission, he enters. If he is ordered to return, he turns back. If he is silent about it, he should seek permission three times, then he should leave after the three. As for the proof of what I have mentioned regarding the form of seeking permission, Al-Tabari narrated that a man came to the house of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and said: 'May I enter?' The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to a maid of his named Rawdah: 'Tell him to say: Peace be upon you, may I enter?' The man heard her and said it. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: 'Enter.' It was narrated that Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, was troubled by the heat one day, so he went to the tent of a woman from Quraysh and said: 'Peace be upon you, may I enter?' The woman said: 'Enter in peace.' He repeated it, and she repeated it. He said to her: 'Say: Enter.' She said that, and he entered. It seems that he hesitated when she said: 'in peace,' due to the possibility of the wording meaning: 'Enter with your peace, not with your person.' Then for every people, there is their custom in seeking permission. As for the proof of returning after seeking permission three times, it is from the hadith of Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari, which he used with Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, and Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri witnessed it for Abu Musa. Then Ubayy ibn Ka'b... the famous hadith. And 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: Seeking permission is obligatory for every adult. This will be mentioned later. Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'The messenger of a man is his permission,' meaning: if he sends someone, then he has given him permission to enter. And His saying: 'That is better for you' indicates that the speech has concluded there. And His saying: 'Perhaps you will remember' means: We did that for you and alerted you so that you might remember.

The pronoun in His saying: 'If you do not find therein' refers to the houses that are the houses of others. Al-Tabari reported from Mujahid that he said: The meaning of His saying: 'If you do not find therein anyone' is: If you do not have any belongings in it. Al-Tabari deemed this interpretation weak, and indeed it is very weak. It seems that Mujahid thought that uninhabited houses can be entered without permission if there are belongings for the one entering. He understood the term 'belongings' to mean the belongings of the house, which are the carpets and clothes. All of this is weak.

Al-Tabari also reported from Qatadah that he said: A man from the emigrants said: 'I have sought this verse my entire life, but I have not grasped it, that I seek permission from some of my brothers and he says to me: 'Return,' so I return while I am pleased with His saying: 'And if you are told to return, it is purer for you.'

And His saying, the Exalted: 'And Allah is All-Knowing of what you do' is a warning to the people who spy on the houses and seek to enter them unexpectedly for sins and to look at what is not permissible, and for others that fall into prohibition.