- “There is no blame upon the blind, no blame upon the lame, and no blame upon the sick; nor is there any blame upon you if you eat from your own homes, or the homes of your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your paternal uncles, your paternal aunts, your maternal uncles, your maternal aunts, or homes whose keys you possess, or the home of your friend. There is no blame upon you whether you eat together or separately. When you enter homes, greet one another with a greeting from Allah, blessed and good. Thus does Allah make the revelations clear to you, so that you may understand.”
Allah Most High informs us of His favor to His servants: He has placed no hardship upon them in religion, but has made it supremely easy. He therefore said, “There is no blame upon the blind, no blame upon the lame, and no blame upon the sick.” That is, these people incur no sin for omitting obligatory duties whose performance depends upon the faculties they lack. This includes jihad and similar duties that require the blind person to have sight, the lame person to be physically sound, or the sick person to be healthy. Given the general meaning we have mentioned, He stated this without qualification. By contrast, He qualified the words “nor upon yourselves”—that is, there is no blame—by saying, “if you eat from your own homes,” meaning the homes of your children. This accords with the established hadith, “You and your wealth belong to your father,” and the other hadith, “Among the finest things you consume are your own earnings, and your children are part of your earnings.”
The words “from your own homes” do not mean a person’s own home, for that would merely state what is already self-evident, from which Allah’s speech is exalted. Moreover, Allah is removing blame in cases where one might think or imagine that sin applies, whereas not the slightest such thought could arise regarding a person’s own home.
“Or the homes of your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your paternal uncles, your paternal aunts, your maternal uncles, or your maternal aunts.” The relatives referred to here require no explanation. “Or homes whose keys you possess” means homes whose affairs you are authorized to manage as an agent, guardian, or the like. Interpreting this as referring to an enslaved person is unsound for two reasons. First, an enslaved person would not be described as “one whose keys you possess.” Rather, one would say, “what you own,” or “those whom your right hands possess,” because one owns him in his entirety, not merely his keys.
Second, an enslaved person’s dwelling is already included within his master’s own home, because the enslaved person and whatever he owns belong to his master. There would therefore be no reason to state specifically that no blame attaches to eating there.
“Or the home of your friend.” This exemption from blame for eating (1) from all these homes concerns eating without permission. Its rationale is evident from the context: custom and established practice permit food to be eaten freely in the homes of those named (2), owing to close kinship, complete authority over the premises, or friendship. If, however, any of these people were known not to allow this and to be miserly concerning such food, it would not be permissible to eat, and the blame would not be removed, in view of the rationale and intended meaning.
As for His words, “There is no blame upon you whether you eat together or separately,” both are permissible: the members of a household may eat together, or each may eat alone. This negates blame, not differences in merit, for eating together remains preferable.
“When you enter homes”: the word “homes” is indefinite in a conditional construction, so it includes both a person’s own home and that of another, whether or not anyone is inside. When a person enters, he must “greet one another,” meaning that each of you should greet the others, because Muslims are as though one person in their mutual affection, mercy, and compassion. The greeting of peace is therefore prescribed upon entering every kind of home, with no distinction between one home and another. As explained earlier, however, asking permission to enter is subject to detailed rulings.
He then praised this greeting, saying, “a greeting from Allah, blessed and good.” ⦗576⦘ That is, when entering homes, you say, “Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings,” or, “Peace be upon us and upon Allah’s righteous servants.” It is “a greeting from Allah,” meaning that He has prescribed it for you and appointed it as your greeting; “blessed,” because it encompasses freedom from deficiency and the attainment of mercy, blessing, growth, and increase; and “good,” because it is among the good words beloved by Allah, gladdens the person greeted, expresses love, and engenders affection.
After making these sublime rulings clear to us, He said:
“Thus does Allah make the revelations clear to you”—revelations that indicate His rulings under the Sacred Law and the wisdom underlying them—“so that you may understand.” That is, so that you may understand what He communicates, comprehend these revelations, and grasp them with your hearts, thereby becoming people of reason and sound, mature understanding. Proper knowledge of His rulings under the Sacred Law increases reason and causes sound understanding to grow, for their meanings are the loftiest of meanings and the manners they inculcate are the noblest of manners. Moreover, recompense accords with the nature of the deed: just as a person employs his mind to understand his Lord’s message and reflect upon the revelations to which He has called him, Allah grants him an increase in those very qualities.
These verses also establish a general, comprehensive principle: “Custom and established practice may restrict the general scope of words, just as one verbal expression may restrict another.” As a basic rule, a person is prohibited from consuming another person’s food, yet Allah permitted eating from these homes on the basis of custom and established practice. Accordingly, in every matter dependent upon the owner’s permission, one may proceed whenever his permission is known, whether through his words or through custom.
They also show that a father may take and assume ownership of his child’s wealth, provided this does not harm the child, because Allah described the child’s home as the father’s own.
They further show that those entrusted with managing a person’s home, such as his wife, sister, and others like them, may eat from it according to custom and feed those who customarily ask for food.
They also show that sharing food is permissible, whether people eat together or separately, even if this results in some eating more than others.