Why Islam Protects Your Right to Privacy

Asking for permission to enter. Whether that be by way of knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell or what have you. Issue here is an issue of issue of customs. What is customary? The prophet he says to us that knocking on a person's door which is essentially it is then you're knocking because you're seeking permission to enter, seeking the attention of the People in the home, he said, this should be three times If you are granted permission of entrance, then enter and if not, you should leave after three times. and the prophet also said and.

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When when a person puts up a home with walls, right? The the point here is that these walls, they're not impenetrable. You could, you could break through the wall. The point isn't to keep you physically out. The point is to provide privacy for the people inside the home. And so, when you seek permission to enter someone's home, you're essentially asking permission to look inside of the home, right? So, let's say you're outside. Some people, you know, they have a window or glass on the side, you know, of the door or little pieces of glass in the door, what have you, right? You shouldn't be looking inside of those pieces of glass. What can I see? What can, you know, sometimes, sometimes the glass is frost, frosted. We call it frosted glass but on the sides, it's clear glass. There's a strip. You know, you shouldn't be looking inside of that strip to see what you can see inside a home that is haram because you haven't been given permission to look inside yet. And so when you knock on a person's door you're not just asking for permission to enter physically but you're also asking permission to look inside. To see. And so we understand from this that essentially it is haram to look around in a person's home without their permission. Okay? That goes for even if they let you in the into the home. You know, you go to the house, you knock on the door. As we mention in previous classes, the prophet would not stand straight in front of the door when he'd knock. He would stand off to the side of the entrance. So, as to not be able to see inside, okay? you shouldn't be standing in front of the door as soon as it opens. You're seeing inside. It should be that you would knock or ring the bell and stand off to the side. Even when you're granted permission to enter, you know, knock on the door. Guys, guy opens the door. Come on in, right? Maybe he's walking you through the hall. Maybe he's walking you to the kitchen or walking you to another part of the home. You shouldn't be looking all over the place when you're in there, right? You should only be looking in an appropriate place within the confines of that permission that you've been given. You're walking down a hall, maybe there's a little door cracked open. I wonder what's going on in there, you know? This is not correct. This is impolite, it's rude, and it's obnoxious. A person shouldn't be doing that. When a person enter a person's home, they're respectful not only to a person's furniture and the walls but to a person's privacy because a person has a right to privacy. When is in his home and elsewhere as well. Wasa Then A.

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Right? They were made out of very the walls were made out of very thick, draped wool, right? Or something of the sort. Oftentimes, the home is very small. You don't have to knock on the door very hard or you don't have to, you can just stand outside the door and speak and the person inside will hear you and so, a man came to the door and he asked, just he approached the door of the prophet and he And so the prophet had a man there. And he said, go outside to this brother and tell him how to properly seek permission to enter. Tell him to say, assalamu alaikum So, you begin with a salam and then you ask permission to enter. So, the man overheard this conversation and he did that. So, he learned what was appropriate The point here that Ibn ul Kaim Rahima Allah is making is that number one we learn that a person shouldn't exceed three times. Right? A person should not exceed three times. You knock on the door or you ring the bell, whatever it is, three times. You're pretty sure that they heard you. You shouldn't push it more to where they have to to where they're in a position where they have to come out and say, hey, you know, not now. That's an uncomfortable position for yourself and for the for the person put in that position. So, a person needs to understand that a lack of permission is a type of rejection. It's basically like, this is not a good time and there's nothing wrong with that, right? and so, the prophet mentions three times. Now, of course, this may vary wildly based on the relationship that you have with the person. based on the customs. So, for instance, if I go to a person's door and they have a camera a ring camera. and I ring the door and I'm sure that this person saw my face in the ring camera and they I'm there, right? That's enough. One time is enough at that point. I don't have to repeat it three times. One time is enough. The point here is that you have become mostly sure that they heard you and that they chose not to answer the door, that's enough, right? and the and the opposite is true as well. Let's say you speak to someone on the phone that you're very close with and he says, yeah, man. I'm I'm cutting wood down in the basement. Come over, right? Just ring the bell when you get there. and so you get there and you ring the bell and you hear the power saw going on downstairs and you ring the bell three times and he doesn't hear you. Can you ring the bell more? Yes. Because he told you to come over and obviously he can't hear you because he's got machinery going on, right? So, the point is is it's to be it's to make sure that yes, the person heard and communicated by lack of engagement that this is not a good time, not an appropriate time. That's all that's intended here with this. Another thing that we've learned is that when we ask permission to enter, we're not just asking for permission to enter, we're also asking permission for to look and so we are not to look and to invade another's privacy without their knowledge and that's in general, in general, it is not permit to invade a Muslim's privacy without his knowledge, right? This is what we refer to as a and a is not halal. It is haram. In all cases. Spy. Spy on someone or to invade their privacy without their knowledge. A Muslim has a right to privacy, people. In general, all all people have a right to privacy and to spy on them in any way. Whether that be hidden camera or hit a microphones or tapping into their phone or even picking up their phone and looking in it without their permission or even if a person, you know, gives you their phone to to make a phone call and you start flipping through the tabs to see what's going on in there. All of this is haram. All of this is impermissible, right? And if you look hard enough into anyone's life, you're going to find things. Isn't that the case? If you spy on anyone, most 99. 9% of the time, you're going to find skeletons because we're all human beings and we all make mistakes. For this reason, the prophet he mentioned in that if the leader starts to spy on his citizens or starts to spy on his subordinates he's going to, he's going to It's going to spoil them. He's going to basically harm them and make them worse. Why? Because number one, if they feel that they're being spied on, this is extremely stressful on a person and changes the way a person behaves normally. If you, if you, if you suspect you're being spied on, right? Isn't this going to change your, your behavior? Let's say you're a person that, you know, you, you You haven't done anything outwardly to to cause suspicion What constantly you're being accused of something and spying is a type of accusation, right? It goes back to because when you think ill of someone, that's when you start spying on them. By default, everyone is guilty. Therefore, I'm going to spy on them. This is what that means. And so this changes people's behavior and second of all, that were upstanding, you've now looked into some of the underbelly of their life and some of their mistakes that are between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You've exposed them And so now no noone in your in your mind is going to be truthful. No one in your mind is going to be upright. And so spying is a major sin in Islam. It harms people. It's very harmful. And if we look at ourselves honestly what right do I have to spy on someone else? I mean, am I free of sin? Am I free of mistake? Am I free of secrets to where I should be looking down at other people and spying on them? an ant under a microscope? I'm not free of sin. I have no more moral high ground to to be spying on one than they do to be spying on me, right? And for this reason, the prophet alluded to this this here that those who spy on others, you have no right to do that because you're just as guilty as others are. Right? He says, in a narration collected in a and Abdullah Omar.

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Do not follow up and look for their mistakes or indeed whoever looks to expose the mistakes of his brother, Allah will look to expose his mistakes. Whomever Allah looks to expose his mistakes, he will he will shame him and expose him even if he is in thee, safety of his home. So, it's important that we understand that when we look to expose our Muslim brother, Allah may look to expose us. And vice versa. If we look to conceal the mistakes of our Muslim brother, Allah looks to conceal our mistakes. The prophet says, in a narration that most of us know. Muslim and Muslim he said whoever conceals a Muslim's mistake his mistakes, the things he's ashamed of, his sins, his miss, his misdeeds, Allah will conceal his mistakes in this life and the hereafter. So, who of us doesn't need Allah conceal our mistakes. We're all guilty, all of us, right? None of us has the moral high ground to point down at anyone else. We're all guilty in our own way and we all have skeletons under in our closet and even Abbas he said, Ibn Abbas said, Essentially, if if.

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And smelly, right? But we shouldn't be spying on each other as Muslims Be concealing each other's faults. and we should be trying to avoid seeing each other in our most vulnerable state. Some of the when they would go sit with their teachers before they would go every time they would give charity. They would give something in charity and make dua, oh Allah, conceal our teachers, faults from us. If you have a teacher, a leader, somebody that inspires you, everybody has faults and mistakes. You want to make sure that you see the best that that person has to offer. And so they would make dua that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keep that person as a person of esteem in their in their hearts and in their minds. So that they continue to learn. And continue to better themselves. and this all roots back to the issue of can people change or not? Yes, people can change People can even change their nature. The nature of a human being is to be oppressive, to be ignorant, to be arrogant, to be greedy, to be and all of these things can be changed. With thee, with the light of the Quran, The light of faith. And Allah.

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His name or what he's most known by. Whether it's his name or his or his nickname. Whatever people know him by, right? And a person shouldn't say me, who's at the door, me, right? One of the companions did this and the prophet corrected him for it. And even if you know the person, you should say your name, who you are. and it's been collected by in a also that the prophet said a man's messenger to another, is his permission. Right? So, if I'm in the house, I'm upstairs or wherever and I send my son or my daughter to the door and the person opens the door. You don't have to wait for me to come. As long as a person has sent someone else to answer the door on his behalf, then that is enough. Then he goes in to mention the issue of implied permission implied permission. For instance, if I say, okay, come come over to the house right now. You know, and have lunch or something. When you come, do you have to still ring the bell and ask permission to enter or no? It depends on what is implied and this all roots back to one issue and that is implied permission. Implied mission. You have permission which is explicit. Someone says, this or that, you stay within the confines of that permission and then you have permission which is implied, right? Let's say you have a friend, he doesn't have a wife or anything. He stays in an apartment. You go over there, you stay there sometime, you're close. He gives you a key. right? You have implied permission. You can go in there without him knowing, right? You in your mind what is appropriate and what isn't and so there is such a thing as implied permission and there is such a thing as specific permission. If you're given specific permission, you stay within the confines of that specificity and if you are given implied permission or general permission, you stay within the confines of what you know to be appropriate.

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The.

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The scholars mention of them Allah. that a sneeze is a sign of activeness. It's an indicator of an activeness. Does a person sneeze while he's sleeping? No. Person only sneezes when he's awake. And not only that but it kind of accelerates the body to sneeze. Contrary to yawning, yawning and articulate laziness, tiredness, disinterest. It's viewed often as being, as being rude, and many situations, whereas sneezing is not considered rude. Yawning is. For this reason, the prophet tells us, that Allah loves sneeze, sneezing, and he dislikes yawning He says, hence, if any of you were to sneeze, he's to say and if he says it is a binding obligation upon every Muslim who hears him say to reply to him Allah. And in another narration, prophet says, and if others say to him, Allah, then he should say to them, Allah, He continues to say, and yawning is something from a Shaitan and so if a person, if one of you were to yawn then he is to try his hardest not to allow his body to yawn, right? Lock his jaw, whatever it is. And if he is unable to completely suppress this yawn, then he should, then he should cover his mouth when he yawns. this is not part of the narration but this is in another narration especially in salah. A person yawns. There's a couple of things having to do with yawning. the.

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That we all know Then a Shaitan laughs at this. This is amusing to him. Because it's humiliating to a person. It's obnoxious and likewise, if a person yawns, they are to try to suppress this yawn as much as possible. If they are unable, then they are to cover their mouth when they yawn. The scholars mention different ways to cover the mouth. Some mention it should be with the left hand, some mention it should be the palm outwards. The point is, is that a person should cover his mouth? Likewise, when it comes to sneezing, the prophet is and what he taught his companions was to sneeze into the sleeve or to sneeze into your clothing. To a napkin or a tissue. The point is to not openly sneeze and the worst is to sneeze into your hands. Because you sneeze into your hands and now you know, grab things and handle things and.

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