ENTERING INTO HOUSES

To enter suddenly or abruptly into any person’s home or apartment, is reckoned a great incivility in all eastern countries. With Muḥammadans it is a religious duty to give notice before you enter a house. The custom is founded upon an expre injunction in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xxiv. 57–61 :— “O ye who believe! let your slaves and those of you who have not come of age, ask leave of you, three times a day, ere they come into your presence;—before the morning prayer, and when ye lay aside your garments at mid-day, and after the evening prayer. These are your three times of privacy. No blame shall attach to you or to them, if after these times , when ye go your rounds of attendance on one another, they come in without permi ion . Thus doth God make clear to you His signs: and God is Knowing, Wise! “And when your children come of age, let them ask leave to come into your presence, as they who were before them asked it. Thus doth God make clear to you his signs: and God is Knowing, Wise. “As to women who are past childbearing, and have no hope of marriage, no blame shall attach to them if they lay aside their outer garments, but so as not to shew their ornaments. Yet if they abstain from this, it will be better for them: and God Heareth, Knoweth. “No crime shall it be in the blind, or in the lame, or in the sick, to eat at your tables : or in yourselves, if ye eat in your own houses, or in the houses of your fathers, or of your mothers, or of your brothers, or of your sisters, or of your uncles on the father’s side, or of your aunts on the father’s side, or of your uncles on the mother’s side, or of your aunts on the mother’s side, or in those of which ye po e the keys, or in the house of your friend. No blame shall attach to you whether ye eat together or apart. “And when ye enter houses, salute one another with a good and ble ed greeting as from God. Thus doth God make clear to you His signs, that haply ye may comprehend them.” The following are the traditions given in the Mishkāt on the subject (book xxii. c. ii.): Muḥammad is related to have said, “Do not permit anyone to enter your home unle he gives a sal am first.” ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Masʿūd says the Prophet said, “The signal for your permi ion to enter is that you lift up the curtain and enter until I prevent you.” ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Busr says, “Whenever the Prophet came to the door of a house, he would not stand in front of it, but on the side of the door, and say, ‘The peace of God be with you.’ ” ʿAt̤āʾ ibn Yasār says the Prophet told him to ask leave to enter even the room of his mother.