That you be permitted in the meaning of the circumstance, its estimation being the time when you are permitted. And 'not looking' is a state of those who do not enter. The exception applies to both time and state together. It is as if it were said: Do not enter the houses of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, except at the time of permission, and do not enter them except while not looking. These were people who would wait for the food of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, so they would enter and sit waiting to receive it. Its meaning is: Do not enter, O you who are waiting for food, except that you are permitted to food without looking at it. Otherwise, if it were not specific to these people, it would not be permissible for anyone to enter the houses of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, except that he is given a specific permission, which is the permission for food alone. And from Ibn Abi Abla, it is reported that he read: 'not looking' as an adjective for food, and this is not correct, because it does not conform to what it is meant for. The pronoun of what it is meant for should be expressed in the wording, so it would be said: 'not looking at it, you are.' Like saying: 'Hind is Zayd's who struck her.' And 'to it' in food means its reception. It is said: 'to it' in food, as in saying: 'he fried it.' And from it is His saying: 'between hot water and a boiling drink.' And it is said: 'its time,' meaning: not looking at the time of food and the hour of eating. It is narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, once invited Zaynab with dates, flour, and a sheep, and he commanded Anas to call the people. They gathered in groups, one group would eat and then leave, then another group would enter until he said: 'O Messenger of Allah, I have called until I find no one to call.' He said: 'Lift your food and disperse the people.' And three men remained talking and prolonged their stay. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, stood up to make them leave, and he went to the chamber of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, and said: 'Peace be upon you, O people of the house.' They said: 'And peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah, how did you find your family?' And he went around the chambers and greeted them, and they prayed for him. He returned and found the three still sitting and talking. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was very shy, so he turned away. When they saw him turning away, they left. He returned. [This is agreed upon from the hadith of Anas, and it has routes with both of them and wording.] And it was revealed: 'And not seeking to be entertained by conversation.' They were prohibited from prolonging their sitting, seeking to be entertained by one another due to a conversation that one of them would speak to them. Or from seeking to be entertained by the conversation of the people of the house. And 'entertaining' means to hear it and to be concerned about it, and it is in the genitive case, conjoined with 'looking.' And it is said: it is in the accusative case on: 'and do not enter it seeking to be entertained.' There must be a consideration in His saying: 'So He is shy of you' of the implied addition, meaning: from your expulsion, as indicated by His saying: 'And Allah does not shy away from the truth,' meaning that your expulsion is something that should not be shied away from. And since shyness is something that prevents the shy person from certain actions, it was said: 'He does not shy away from the truth' meaning he does not refrain from it nor abandon it as the shy person does from you. And this is a manner that Allah has taught the heavy ones. And from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her: 'It is enough for you regarding the heavy ones that Allah, the Exalted, did not tolerate them and said: 'So when you have eaten, disperse.' [This was narrated by Al-Thalabi through the route of Al-Ala, I heard Aisha say this. I said: Thus is written by the narrator. This is a very clear mistake. For Al-Ala only narrates from Ibn Aisha, the companion of the anecdotes, and he did not meet the companions of Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her, let alone her. And perhaps it was originally Ibn Aisha and the word 'Ibn' was omitted.] And it was read:

He does not feel shy, with one 'ya'. The pronoun in 'you asked them' refers to the wives of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and they were not mentioned because the situation speaks of mentioning them as a necessity, so ask them about the necessity. It is said that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, loved to impose the veil on them very much. He often mentioned it and wished that it would be revealed. He would say: If obedience were to be given regarding you, no eye would see you. He said: O Messenger of Allah, the righteous and the wicked enter upon you, so if you commanded the mothers of the believers to wear the veil, [this is agreed upon from two hadiths, this is one of them. It was narrated by Al-Nasa'i and Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad and Al-Tabarani in Al-Saghir through the route of Mujahid from Aisha who said: 'I was eating with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, some dates in a bowl when Umar passed by and called him, so he ate, and his finger touched my finger. Umar said: O, if obedience were to be given regarding you, no eye would see you, and the veil was revealed.' It was narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah and Al-Tabari through the route of Mujahid as a mursal and was approved by Al-Daraqutni in Al-‘Ilal, and the second was narrated by Al-Nasa'i also through the route of Anas from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: 'I said: O Messenger of Allah, the righteous and the wicked enter upon you, so if the mothers of the believers were veiled, then Allah revealed the verse of the veil, and its origin is in the authentic narrations.'] So it was revealed. It was narrated that he passed by them while they were with the women in the mosque [narrated by Al-Thalabi from the narration of Mujahid from Al-Sha'bi who said: 'Umar passed by the wives of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him.'] He said: If you were to veil yourselves, then you have a preference over the women, just as your husbands have a preference over the men. Zainab, may Allah be pleased with her, said: O son of Al-Khattab, you are jealous of us while revelation descends in our houses. They did not remain long until it was revealed. It is said that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was eating with some of his companions when a man's hand among them touched Aisha's hand. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, disliked that, [and it is in the hadith of Al-Nasa'i that we mentioned earlier.] So the verse of the veil was revealed.

It was mentioned that some of them said: Should we refrain from speaking to our cousins except from behind a veil? If Muhammad dies, I will marry Aisha. So Allah informed that this is forbidden [narrated by Ibn Sa'd from Al-Waqidi from Abdullah ibn Ja'far from Ibn Abi Awn from Ibn Bakr ibn Hazm in this verse, it was revealed regarding Talha who said: 'If the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, dies, I will marry Aisha.' And Abdul Razzaq reported to us from Ma'mar from Qatadah that a man said: 'If Muhammad dies, I will marry Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her.' So Allah, the Exalted, revealed: 'And it is not for you to harm the Messenger of Allah.' And it was narrated by Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Mardawayh from the narration of Dawood from Ikrimah from Ibn Abbas in this verse who said: 'It was revealed regarding a man who intended to marry some of the wives of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him - the hadith.' From the route of Al-Suddi, it is said that the one who intended that was Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her.] And it is not for you to harm the Messenger of Allah, nor to marry his wives after him. And marrying them after him is a great matter in His sight, and it is one of the signs of Allah's glorification of His Messenger and the obligation of his sanctity, both in life and after death. And informing him of that is what pleased his soul and delighted his heart and increased his gratitude. For such matters are what a man thinks to himself and cannot be free from his thoughts. Among the people are those who excessively guard their sanctity to the extent that they wish for her death so that she does not marry after him. And it is reported about some young men that he had a maid whom he did not see the world with passion and carelessness, [the saying 'he did not see the world with passion and carelessness' in the dictionaries: so-and-so is careless about drinking, meaning: he is fond of it, and does not care what is said about it. (A)] One day he looked at her and sighed deeply and wept loudly due to the thoughts that occupied him regarding her remaining after him and being under the control of another. And it was reported by some jurists that the second husband in the destruction of the three is like a punishment, so the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was protected from that.