- “O you who believe, let those whom your right hands possess and those among you who have not yet reached puberty ask your permission at three times: before the dawn prayer, when you lay aside your garments at noon, and after the night prayer. These are three times of privacy for you. Beyond these times, there is no blame upon you or them, as you are continually moving about among one another. Thus does Allah make the verses clear to you. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”
Allah commands the believers to require their bondservants and those among them who have not reached puberty to ask permission before entering. He has stated the wisdom behind this: for those whose permission is sought, these are three times of privacy—their time of sleep at night after the night prayer, and when they awaken before the dawn prayer. This is because, in most cases, a person sleeping at night wears something other than their usual clothing. As for sleeping during the day, since it is generally brief and a person may sleep in their usual clothing, Allah qualified it by saying, “when you lay aside your garments at noon,” meaning for the midday nap.
In these three circumstances, bondservants and young children are treated like everyone else and are not permitted to enter without permission. As for ⦗574⦘ times other than these three, He says: “Beyond these times, there is no blame upon you or them.” That is, they are not like others, for their services are constantly needed, and requiring them to seek permission at every moment would cause hardship. He therefore says: “You are continually moving about among one another,” meaning that they regularly come and go among you while attending to your tasks and needs.
“Thus does Allah make the verses clear to you”—an explanation coupled with His wisdom, so that it may become firmly established and reinforced, and so that the mercy and wisdom of the Lawgiver may thereby be recognized. He therefore says: “And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” His knowledge encompasses all that is necessary, impossible, and possible, and His wisdom places everything in its proper place. He has given every creature the form suited to it and framed every religious ordinance in the manner appropriate to it. Among these are the rulings explained here, together with their underlying bases and excellence.