In Islam, the issue of privacy is of paramount importance. Privacy is one of the factors that influence most the ways Muslims perceive, plan, build and use their houses. As a person’s shelter and private sanctuary, as his place of delight as well as a microcosm of human culture and civilization, the house phenomenon is a person’s fortress where he easily can retire from the hassle of the outside world and then unobstructed enjoy a world of his home that he freely crafted for himself. One’s home, which one’s house must stand for, Islam teaches, is thus one of the greatest blessings of Allah upon man. It is also one of the most essential means by which man can make his stay on earth a pleasant, comfortable, consequential and purposeful one, and on which man’s implementation of his earthly khilafah(vicegerency) mission largely depends. Painstakingly guarding one’s privacy both at one’s personal and family levels, with neighbors, friends, visitors and between the family members right inside the house, as well as in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual spheres of one’s total being, is vital in ensuring that the house as a comprehensive family education and development center functions properly and helps, rather than impedes, people in their discharging of their life assignments. A companion of the Prophet (pbuh), Abdullah b. Umar, reported that the Prophet (pbuh) prayed every morning and every night to Allah asking Him to cover his ‘awrah, that is to says, to help him conceal, apart from the private parts of his body, all his flaws and everything else in his life that he could possibly be ashamed of.[1]
Indeed, a house which supports and helps its occupants to successfully and peacefully do what they have been created to do, with its philosophy, purpose and mission mirroring and hence promoting the philosophy, purpose and mission of its occupants’ lives, is a house which functions properly. But a house which contradicts and hampers its occupants to successfully and peacefully do what they have been created to do, with its philosophy, purpose and mission not mirroring and hence not promoting the philosophy, purpose and mission of its occupants’ lives, is a house which functions incorrectly. The latter house is a liability, rather than an asset, to its people. Its negative aspects and their equally negative effects, in the long run, are more detrimental for the complete wellbeing of its people than what may appear to a casual and heedless observer. It is thus very natural and logical that a solid compatibility between the principles and values which Muslims exemplify in their daily dealings, and the principles and values which their houses exemplify, is fervently encouraged and advocated, and the opposite, that is, the incompatibility between the two, in equal measure, opposed and rescinded.
Having said this, a house that strongly promotes and facilitates the total enjoying and safeguarding of the privacy of the family is a house which, by and large, functions properly. However, a house which compromises this matter, with which more than a few foremost Islamic teachings and values are linked up, is a house which, by and large, does not function properly. There is something seriously wrong with such a house. Therefore, some corrective measures are advised to be taken, not only to correct the existing flaws, but also to prevent the same and other similar flaws from recurring in housing. Nonetheless, the lack of privacy protection in people’s houses must be firstly seen and understood as a serious problem, which will result from properly and continuously educating both the professionals and the ordinary people. Only then will a solution for the stated and disturbing problem be genuinely sought. No solution can ever be found for something which is not clearly identified as a problem in the first place.
Thus, Islam forbids such wrongdoings as invading one’s privacy, seeking people’s failings and faults, peeping into one’s house without his permission, entering one’s house without seeking permissions to enter, and the like. The ways houses are planned, designed and built must aim to prevent people from perpetrating such unethical acts. Conversely, houses must invite and encourage people to perform the virtues that stand at the diametrically opposite sides of those denounced acts.
Allah says: “O you who believe! Enter not houses other than your own, until you have asked permission and saluted those in them: that is best for you, in order that you may heed (what is seemly). If you find no one in the house, enter not until permission is given to you: if you are asked to go back, go back: that makes for greater purity for yourselves: and Allah knows well all that you do” (al-Nur 27-28).
“O you who believe! Let those whom your right hands possess and those of you who have not attained to puberty ask permission of you three times; before the morning prayer, and when you put off your clothes at midday in summer, and after the prayer of the nightfall; these are three times of privacy for you; neither is it a sin for you nor for them besides these, some of you must go round about (waiting) upon others; thus does Allah make clear to you the communications, and Allah is Knowing, Wise. And when the children among you have attained to puberty, let them seek permission as those before them sought permission; thus does Allah make clear to you His communications, and Allah is knowing, Wise.” (al-Nur, 58-59)
The Prophet (pbuh) also said: “…Do not trouble or gibe your Muslim brothers; do not pursue their faults, for he who pursues his brother’s faults, his faults will be pursued by Allah …”[2]
“He who encroaches on a dwelling without the permission of its occupants, he allows them to puncture his eye.”[3]
“If someone is peeping (looking secretly) into your house without your permission, and you throw a stone at him and destroy his eyes, there will be no blame on you.”[4]
It has been reported that a man peeped into a house of the Prophet (pbuh) through a hole while the Prophet (pbuh) was scratching his head with a Midrai (a certain kind of comb). On that the Prophet (pbuh) said (to him), “If I had known you had been looking, then I would have pierced your eye with that instrument, because the asking of permission has been ordained so that one would not see things unlawfully.”[5]
Covering and safeguarding the ‘awrah, or private and secret parts and dimensions, of the human body as well as the whole of the human life, the Prophet (pbuh) regarded as a serious religious, safety and security matter. Thus, in several of his traditions, the Prophet (pbuh) referred to the concealing and guarding of the human ‘awrahalongside a number of other safety and security issues which are central to a happy living.[6] The ‘awrah protection in the life of a believer, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, is thus on a par with all the other requirements needed for ensuring the wellbeing of people and society. It even supersedes in importance many of them.
A companion of the Prophet (pbuh), Abdullah b. ‘Abbas, said that Allah screens, i.e., hides away people’s failings and forgives them (satir), and He loves screen(ing) (sitr).[7] It is only appropriate that people strive to do the same while living together and interacting with each other.
The Prophet (pbuh) said that whoever sees or comes across an ‘awrah (a fault, shortcoming, or a shameful deed, aspect or a feature of another man and his life) and then covers or conceals it, such an act is tantamount to bringing a killed female child, which was killed by means of being buried alive in the sand, back to life.[8] In other words, such is one of the noblest acts that are abundantly rewarded by Allah.
The house and all that is happening inside it is so private that even those who exercise the chore of enjoining good and forbidding evil (al-amr bi al-ma’ruf wa al-nahy ‘an al-munkar) cannot trespass on its domain by means of spying and without seeking permission. Both Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyah are of the view that prying into the secrets of a sinner is prohibited. One should not enquire what is occurring in a house. Only when a sinner’s unlawful acts that he commits in his house become known, should an action based on wisdom and beautiful counsel be taken.[9] This approach is regarded as one of the major principles of the task of enjoining good and forbidding evil (al-amr bi al-ma’ruf wa al-nahy ‘an al-munkar).
The Prophet (pbuh) warned the people not toback-bite one another, and that they do not search for the faults of one another, for if anyone searches for the faults of his fellow Muslims, “Allah will search for his fault, and if Allah searches for the fault of anyone, He disgraces him in his house.”[10]
Once caliph Umar b. al-Khattab, while going at night in the city, heard sounds of songs in a house. He got over the wall and found that there was a woman singing and a pot of wine near a man. Umar said: “O enemy of Allah, have you thought that Allah will keep your sin concealed? The man said: “O Commander of the faithful, you have come yourself. Don’t be hasty in judgment. I committed one sin this time, but you have committed three sins. Allah said: ‘Don’t spy.’ You have committed spying and therefore committed one sin. Allah says: ‘It is not righteousness that you should come to the houses by their back-doors.’ You have come overstepping the wall and so you have committed another sin. Allah says: ‘Don’t enter a house other than your own houses till you seek permission and greet their inmates’. You have entered my house without permission and greeting”. Umar said: “If I pardon you, will it do any good to you”? The man said: “By Allah, o Commander of the faithful, it will do me good. If you pardon me, I will never do it again.” Then Umar pardoned him and went away.[11]
On another occasion, while secretly traversing the city of Madinah in the grim midnight, the caliph Umar b. al-Khattab saw a light in a house. He then proceeded towards it. When he came near, he found that a man was intoxicated with drinking wine. Umar then was reminded by one of his companions that he was about to commit spying, so Umar withdrew and went away.[12]
https://medinanet.org/2011/10/housing-lessons-from-the-life-of-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-the-subject-of-privacy/
