for women to display their hidden adornment before them, so the general wording of the address reflects customary circumstances. Whatever departs from those circumstances is therefore treated differently from otherwise comparable cases. Thus, if a slave woman’s appearing unveiled and being looked at gives rise to temptation, this must be prohibited, just as it must in other cases. The same applies to men among men and women among women.

If a woman were a source of temptation to other women, or a man to other men, the command to lower one’s gaze would apply to the person looking, just as the command to guard one’s chastity applies. Likewise, when slave women and boys are beautiful and looking at them is feared to cause temptation, the same ruling applies to them, as the scholars have stated.

Al-Marwadhī said: “I asked Abū ‘Abd Allāh—meaning Ahmad ibn Hanbal—‘What about a man looking at a male slave?’ He replied, ‘If he fears temptation, he must not look at him. How many a glance has brought affliction into the heart of the one who cast it!’”

Al-Marwadhī also said: “I said to Abū ‘Abd Allāh, ‘A man has repented and says, “Even if my back were lashed with whips, I would not commit a sin,” yet he does not stop looking.’ He replied, ‘What kind of repentance is this?’”

Jarīr said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about an inadvertent glance. He replied, ‘Turn your gaze away.’”

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā said: “My father and Suwayd both narrated to me, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Hurāsah narrated to me, from ‘Uthmān ibn Sālih, from al-Hasan ibn Dhakwān, who said, ‘Do not keep company with the sons of the wealthy, for their looks resemble those of women, and they are a greater source of temptation than maidens.’”

This is inference and analogical reasoning, pointing from the lesser case to the greater. It used to be said: