while their owners were away. So Allah revealed this verse as a concession for them. (1)
Al-Hasan said: This verse was revealed as a concession permitting these people to remain behind from jihad. He said: The statement ends with His words, “nor upon the sick is there any blame”; then His saying, “nor upon yourselves,” is a separate statement, unrelated to what precedes it. (2)
It was also said: When His words were revealed, “Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly” (Quran 4:29), they said, “It is not lawful for any of us to eat at another’s home.” So Allah revealed: “Nor is there any blame upon yourselves if you eat from your own homes.” (3) That is, there is no blame upon you if you eat from your own homes.
It was said that this refers to the property of your dependants and your wives; a wife’s home is like her husband’s home. Ibn Qutaybah said: It refers to the homes of your children. The homes of children are ascribed to their fathers, (4) as stated in the hadith: “You and your wealth belong to your father.” (5)
“Or the homes of your fathers, or the homes of your mothers, or the homes of your brothers, or the homes of your sisters, or the homes of your paternal uncles, or the homes of your paternal aunts, or the homes of your maternal uncles, or the homes of your maternal aunts, or those whose keys you possess.” Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: This refers to a man’s agent and caretaker over his estate and livestock. There is no blame upon him if he eats from the fruit of the estate and drinks from the milk of its livestock, provided that he does not carry anything away or store it.
Al-Dahhak said: It means the homes of your servants and slaves, for the master owns his slave’s dwelling. The word “keys” means storehouses, as in His saying, “With Him are the keys of the unseen” (Quran 6:59); and it may also mean that by which something is opened. Ikrimah said: When a man owns
(1) Reported by al-Wahidi in Asbab al-Nuzul, pp. 381-382, and attributed by al-Suyuti to Abd ibn Humayd. It was also reported from Aishah by al-Bazzar, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Mardawayh, and Ibn al-Najjar. Al-Haythami said: “The narrators of al-Bazzar are the narrators of the Sahih.” See al-Durr al-Manthur, 6:224; Majma al-Zawaid, 7:83.
(2) See al-Tabari, 18:169. He did not attribute it to al-Hasan, but rather to Ibn Zayd. Ibn al-Jawzi cited it in Zad al-Masir, 6:64, on the authority of al-Hasan and Ibn Zayd.
(3) Al-Suyuti attributed it to Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, and al-Bayhaqi, on the authority of Ibn Abbas. See al-Durr al-Manthur, 6:224.
(4) Ibn Qutaybah said in Mushkil al-Quran, pp. 333-334, concerning the noble verse: “What is meant is: There is no blame upon yourselves for eating from the wealth of your dependents and wives.” Some have said that it means eating from the houses of your children; the children’s houses were ascribed to their fathers because children are their fathers’ earnings, and their wealth is like their fathers’ wealth. This is indicated by the fact that people do not refrain from eating in their own homes, and that Allah, glorified is He, mentioned relatives whose kinship is more distant than that of one’s child, yet did not mention the child.
(5) Reported by Ibn Majah from Jabir, in Kitab al-Tijarat, chapter: “What a man may take from his son’s property,” no. 2291, 2:769. Al-Zawaid states: “Its chain of transmission is sound, and its narrators are trustworthy according to the conditions of al-Bukhari.” It was also reported by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat, 1:141, and al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar, 2:230. A longer version, narrated by Amr ibn Shuayb from his father, from his grandfather, was reported by Imam Ahmad, 2:204; Abu Dawud in Kitab al-Buyu; Ibn Majah in Kitab al-Tijarat; and Ibn al-Jarud in al-Muntaqa. See also al-Manawi, al-Fath al-Samawi, 2:875-876, with the editor’s annotation; Irwa al-Ghalil, 3:323, 325; Kashf al-Khafa, 1:239-240.