Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—also said:

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Allah Most High said:

“O you who believe, do not forbid the good things Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not love transgressors.”

“And eat of what Allah has provided for you, lawful and good”—to the end of the verse.

A well-known explanation in Quranic commentary is that this was revealed concerning a group of Companions who had resolved to adopt a monastic way of life. The two Sahīh collections report from Anas:

“Some men asked the Prophet’s wives about his worship in private, and they considered it little.”

He then related the rest of the hadith.

The two Sahīh collections also report that Sa‘d said:

“The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—refused ‘Uthmān ibn Maz‘ūn permission to remain celibate. Had he permitted him, we would have had ourselves castrated.”

It is also reported from ‘Ikrima that ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, Ibn Mas‘ūd, ‘Uthmān ibn Maz‘ūn, al-Miqdād and Sālim