8. Lowering the gaze:
As diligent as the Salaf were with regards to marriage, they were as much careful, if not more, with regards to staying away from non-Mahram women. They recognised that as rewarding and blissful as marriage was, pursuing something similar outside of it was equally horrendous and devastating in consequence. Hence, they gave in their utmost care in staying away from non-mahram women and avoiding all potential doors that lead to fitnah, the first of it being lowering their gaze.
It is reported that Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
If a woman passes in front of you, lower your eyes until she has passed by.
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab Al-Mufrad. See Shaykh Al-Albānī's Sahīh Al-Adab Al-Mufrad Vol.1 article 72.
It is reported that Al-'Alā b. Ziyād – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Let not your sight follow the nice looking back of a woman [as she passed], for indeed the look causes the desire in the heart.
Ibid. article 77.
Once ʿAbdullāh b. Mas'ūd – Allah be pleased with him – went to visit someone who was ill, and a group of people went with him. In the house (where they were visiting) was a woman. One of the visitors, a man, started to look at the woman. ʿAbdullāh [Ibn Mas'ūd] said to him, "If your eye had been gouged out (or popped out] it would have been better for you."
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab Al-Mufrad. See Shaykh Al-Albānī's Sahīh Al-Adab Al-Mufrad Vol.1 p212.
It is reported on the authority of Al-Wakī' b. Al-Jarrāḥ:
We went out one Eid with Sufyān Al-Thawrī and he said, "The first thing we will do on this day of ours is to lower our gaze."
Ibid. article 66.
It is reported that Ḥassān b. Abī Sinān – Allāh have mercy on him – went out one Eid and when he returned home his wife said, "How many beautiful women have you looked at today?"
After she kept asking him, he said, "Woe to you! I have looked at nothing but my toe from when I went out to when I returned to you."
Ibid. article 68.
May Allah make us of those who preserve their chastity sincerely for His sake alone. Aameen.
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