Ḥijāb al-Marʾah wa-Libāsuhā fī al-Ṣalāh - Ibn Taimiya - (20)

1 – Some have maintained that the verse refers to female slaves, including female slaves from among the People of the Book, as stated by Ibn al-Musayyab—a view preferred by Aḥmad and others.

2 – Others have said that what is meant is the male slave, as Ibn ʿAbbās and others affirmed; this is also the position of al-Shāfiʿī and, according to another report, of Aḥmad. According to this view, the slave is allowed to look at his mistress.

Several hadiths attest to this 1, and the reason is one of need: she must speak with her slave far more often than she needs to be seen by a witness, a laborer, or a suitor.

If those men are permitted to look at her, then the slave’s looking is even more fitting. Still, this does not make him a mahram with whom she may travel, like the men “who have no desire”; such men may look, yet they are not maḥrams who can accompany her on a journey.

Hence, not everyone who is allowed to look at a woman may travel with her or be alone with her. The slave may look at her when necessity requires, but he may not be alone with her nor travel with her, for he is not included in the Prophet’s words:

“Let no woman travel except with her husband or a maḥram.” 2

If he is later set free, however, he may marry her, just as the husband of her sister may marry her once he has divorced the sister.

(1) I mentioned some of these points in my commentary on the eminent scholar al-Mawdudi’s book *Al-Hijab*, which is printed at the end of the aforementioned work. (2) Recorded by both al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Ibn Abbas and others. It is cited in *Irwa al-Ghalil*, no. 995, and *Al-Sahihah*, no. 2421.

١ - قيل المراد الإماء والإماء الكتابيات كما قاله ابن المسيب ورجحه أحمد وغيره. ٢ - وقيل: هو المملوك الرجل: كما قاله ابن عباس وغيره وهذا مذهب الشافعي وغيره وهو الرواية الأخرى عن أحمد فهذا يقتضي جواز نظر العبد إلى مولاته. وقد جاءت بذلك أحاديث١ وهذا لأجل الحاجة لأنها محتاجة إلى مخاطبة عبدها أكثر من حاجتها إلى رؤية الشاهد والعامل والخاطب. فإذا جاز نظر أولئك فنظر العبد أولى وليس في هذا ما يوجب أن يكون محرما يسافر بها كغير أولي الإربة فإنهم يجوز لهم النظر وليسوا محارم يسافرون بها. فليس كل من جاز له النظر جاز له السفر بها ولا الخلوة بها بل عبدها ينظر إليها للحاجة وإن كان لا يخلو بها ولا يسافر بها فإنه لم يدخل في قوله صلى الله عليه وسلم: "لا تسافر المرأة إلا مع زوج أو ذي محرم" ٢ فإنه يجوز له أن يتزوجها إذا عتق كما يجوز لزوج أختها أن يتزوجها إذا طلق أختها

١ قلت: ذكرت بعضها في التعقيب على كتاب الحجاب للعلامة المودودي وهو مطبوع في آخر كتابه المذكور. ٢ متفق عليه من حديث ابن عباس وغيره. وهو مخرج في "إرواء الغليل" "٩٩٥ " و "الصحيحة" "٢٤٢١"