Basra, lest he tempt women (1).
It is also reported that Umar learned of a man around whom boys would gather, so he forbade people from keeping that man’s company.
This was because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) banished the effeminate man who used to enter upon his wives (2), ordered that effeminate men be expelled from Medina (3), and permitted them to enter on Fridays to ask people for the means to make purchases (4). Jurists such as al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad expressly endorsed following this Sunnah (5). They said: “It is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) banished the fornicator and the effeminate man, even though he (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed effeminate men, women who adopted masculine ways, and men who imitate
(1) The account of Nasr ibn Hajjāj was related by Ibn Saʿd in *al-Tabaqāt* (3:285) and by al-Kharāʾitī in *Iʿtilāl al-Qulūb* (pp. 337, 339). Its chain of transmission is sound, as al-Hāfiz stated in *al-Isābah* (3:579). The remaining manuscripts read: “women would become infatuated with him / women would be tempted by him.”
(2) His account appears in al-Bukhārī (4324) and Muslim (2180), both of which prohibit his entering upon women. As for the report of his banishment, al-Mustaghfirī related it as a *mursal* report from Ibn al-Munkadir; al-Hāfiz cited it in *Fath al-Bārī* (9:246).
(3) They are said to have been three, though some say there were more. See *al-Fatāwā* (15:308–309) and *Fath al-Bārī* (9:246).
(4) The original reads, “they follow”; perhaps the reading adopted here, “they purchase,” is correct.
(5) Al-Shāfiʿī stated in *al-Umm* (7:369–370): “It is related in a *mursal* report from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he banished two effeminate men who lived in Medina. One was called Hīt and the other Mātiʿ. It is recorded of one of them that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) banished him to al-Himā, where he remained throughout the lifetimes of the Prophet, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar. When he complained of hardship, one of the authorities permitted him to enter Medina one day each week to buy provisions and then depart. I have seen our companions acknowledge and uphold this practice, and I know of none among them who disagreed with it.”