Jilbab al-Marah al-Muslimah fi al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (65)

Jilbab al-Marah al-Muslimah fi al-Kitab wa al-SunnahNasir al-Din al-Albani

A woman came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—while he was in the mosque—and said, “Messenger of Allah, I have come to offer myself to you in marriage.” He remained silent, and I saw her standing for a long while—or he said: for a short while. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then looked her up and down and lowered his head; when the woman realized that he had no inclination toward her, she sat down. The ḥadīth continues.

4 – On the authority of Aʿishah, may Allah be pleased with her:

“The believing women used to attend the dawn prayer with the Prophet ﷺ wrapped in their mantles. When the prayer was finished, they would return to their homes and no one could recognize them because of the darkness.”

The point of evidence is her statement, “no one could recognize them because of the darkness.” Its implication is that, were it not for the darkness, they would have been recognized—and people are ordinarily recognized by their faces, which in this case were uncovered. Thus the intended ruling is confirmed. Al-Shawkānī, 2/15, recorded this same inference from al-Bājī.

I later found an explicit narration that states:

(4) [Ibn Hajar continues:] “The report shows that it is permissible to scrutinise a woman’s beauty with the aim of marrying her, even if one had previously felt no desire to marry her and no proposal had been made. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, raised and lowered his gaze over her, and the wording conveys emphasis; yet no prior wish or proposal came from him. He then said, ‘I have no need of women,’ as one version relates. Had he not meant that, were he to find her pleasing, he would accept her, such intense observation would have had no purpose. One may attempt to avoid this ruling by claiming it was peculiar to him because of his infallibility, but what we have established is that the Prophet was not forbidden to look at unrelated believing women, unlike others. Ibn al-Arabi—note: this is not the obscure Sufi Ibn Arabi who died in Damascus in 638 AH—took another route, suggesting that the event occurred either before the revelation of the hijab ordinances or afterwards while she was fully wrapped in her cloak. Yet the flow of the hadith makes his view unlikely.” 4 – Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim, as well as others; the various chains are cited in Sahih Abi Dawud, no. 449.

"أن امرأة جاءت إلى رسول الله ﷺ[وهو في المسجد] فقالت: يا رسول الله جئت لأهب لك نفسي [فصمت فلقد رأيتها قائمة مليًّا أو قال: هوينًا] فنظر إليها رسول الله ﷺ فصعد النظر إليها وصوبه ثم طأطأ رأسه فلما رأت المرأة أنه لم يقصد فيها شيئًا جلست"، الحديث. ٤ - عن عائشة ﵂ قالت: "كن نساء المؤمنات يشهدن مع النبي ﷺ صلاة الفجر متلفعات بمروطهن ثم ينقلبن إلى بيوتهن حين يقضين الصلاة لا يعرفن من الغلس". ووجه الاستدلال بها هو قولها: "لا يعرفن من الغلس" فإن مفهومه أنه لولا الغلس لعرفن وإنما يعرفن عادة من وجوههن وهي مكشوفة فثبت المطلوب. وقد ذكر معنى هذا الشوكاني "٢/ ١٥" عن الباجي. ثم وجدت رواية صريحة في ذلك بلفظ:

= "وفيه جواز تأمل محاسن المرأة لإرادة تزويجها، وإن لم تتقدم الرغبة في تزويجها ولا وقعت خطبتها؛ لأنه ﷺ صعد فيها النظر وصوبه، وفي الصيغة ما يدل على المبالغة في ذلك، ولم يتقدم منه رغبة فيها ولا خطبة، ثم قال: "لا حاجة لي في النساء" "يعني: كما في بعض طرق القصة"، ولو لم يقصد أنه إذا رأى منها ما يعجبه أنه يقبلها ما كان للمبالغة في تأملها فائدة. ويمكن الانفصال عن ذلك بدعوى الخصوصية له لمحل العصمة، والذي تحرر عندنا أنه ﷺ كان لا يحرم عليه النظر إلى المؤمنات الأجنبيات بخلاف غيره. وسلك ابن العربي "قلت: وهو غير ابن عربي الصوفي النكرة المتوفى بدمشق سنة ٦٣٨هـ" في الجواب مسلكًا آخر، فقال: يحتمل أن ذلك قبل الحجاب، أو بعده، لكنها كانت متلفعة. وسياق الحديث يبعد ما قال". ٤- أخرجه الشيخان وغيرهما من طرق خرجتها في "صحيح أبي داود" "٤٤٩".