Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib, who said: “If you see a man persistently gazing at a beardless youth, regard him with suspicion.”

Several weak reports with chains traced back to the Prophet have been transmitted concerning this, along with a report narrated directly from the Prophet by a Successor that is better than them. This is what Abū Muhammad al-Khallāl related: ‘Umar ibn Shāhīn narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Abī Sa‘īd al-Muqrī narrated to us; Ahmad ibn Hammād al-Missīsī narrated to us; ‘Abbās ibn Mujawwiz narrated to us; Abū Usāmah narrated to us, from Mujālid, from Sa‘īd, from al-Sha‘bī, who said:

“The delegation of ‘Abd al-Qays came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Among them was a strikingly handsome beardless youth. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, seated him behind his back and said: ‘David’s sin lay in his gaze.’”

This is a rejected report. As for the reports with chains traced back to the Prophet, they include one related by Ibn al-Jawzī through his chain from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“Whoever looks at a beardless youth with improper intent, Allah will confine him in the Fire for forty years.”

Al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī also related through his chain from Anas that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Do not sit in the company of the sons of kings, for souls yearn for them as they do not yearn for young maidens.”

There are other weak hadiths of this kind.

The same applies to a woman with another woman, and likewise to a woman’s mahrams (men she may not marry), such as her husband’s son and his son, her brother’s son, her sister’s son, and her male slave—according to those who consider him a mahram. Whenever temptation is feared for him or for her, she should screen herself from view; indeed, she must. These situations in which Allah Most High has commanded screening from view are ones in which temptation is likely. For this reason, He, Most High, said: