Lowering The Gaze

[SlaveOfAllah14]

(salam)

 

I came upon this interesting article, which I wanted to share here. 

 

"Many so-called practising Muslims are un-cooperative and unhelpful to members of the opposite gender. They keep away from each other as much a possible. In some cases, if two such people are put in a situation where they have to communicate, one looks into the sky, while the other looks into the ground in order to avoid eye contact. A person of this breed can even appear impolite and rude to a person who does not carry this mentality. They back their behaviour using what they have been told about verse 24:29-30 of the Qur'an. This is a misconception that arises purely out of a lack of wisdom and understanding...

 

http://www.quranicpath.com/misconceptions/lowering_gaze.html

 

What's your thoughts? Opinions?

Edited March 2, 2015 by SlaveOfAllah14

[Ghulam e Ale Mohammad]

Thank you for sharing this article, very useful. 

 

"Lowering their gaze and guard their private parts" means to lower our gaze out of modesty, from immorality and disloyalty. Not to gaze the opposite gender with bad intentions [lust or other filthy imaginations] and having sincerity in our interactions. According to Imam Ali (as), modesty prevents ugly actions. 

 

When opposite genders are interacting, there should be a clear line of separation or boundary in our behaviour.

 

The prophet (S) said, ' There are two types of modesty, modesty springing from the intellect, and a sense of shame arising from foolishness. As for the modesty of the intellect, it is knowledge and as for shame from foolishness, it is ignorance.' [bihar al-Anwar V. 77 P. 149 No. 75]

 

Modesty that springs from intellect, is knowing our limitations and boundaries.    

 

 

:yaali: YA ALI!

Edited March 2, 2015 by Ghulam e Ale Mohammad

[mahdi servant.01]

In contrary to what the website's name conveys, its content does not seem truly Islamic both in appearance and concepts.

First of all the founders of the web sit mischievously disregard all traditions and Ahadith, both Shia and Sunni which have to be considered as a interpretative part of Qur'an as though Qur'an needs no explanation even by the Prophet, the one who brought up Qur'an for the Muslims.

We have sent down the reminder to you so that you may clarify for the people that which has been sent down to them, so that they may reflect.(16: 44)

We have merely sent the Book down to you so you may explain to them what they are differing over, and as a guidance and mercy for folk who believe.( 16:64 )

second of all, regardless the Ahadith as an explanatory part fo the Qur'an, his arguments are full of falasy and contradict the other verses of Quran that I, inshAllah, would shed light on it. 

 

Very staring that this poor guy has predicted that his reasoning might arouse criticism by muslim community, there fore he wanted to defend him self in advance through the Qura'nic verses, as if this is how Qur'an has inspired to him.

 

There are some ignorant 'followers of Islam' who, upon learning such lessons from the Qur'an, claim that the incidents used in this article from the Qur'an are which took place before the time of the Prophet Muhammad, therefore they are under a different "shariah" and are not applicable for such lessons to be drawn from them. Allah has addressed this ignorance in the Qur'an:

"When they are asked, 'What has your Lord sent down?' they say, 'ancient fables of previous generations'." (Qur'an 16:24)

funny...

[openmind 2020]

misleading website

[mahdi servant.01]

first misleading point:

24:30:

"Tell the believing men that they should reduce/lower (يغضوا) their gaze/vision and guard their private parts..."

24:31:

"Tell the believing women that they should reduce/lower (يغضضن) their gaze/vision and guard their private parts..."

None of the translators of Qur'an, except Piktal, has translated this word like this:

Keep in mind that translation is not infallible.

To arrive at what Qur'an exactly meant we have to refer to the Arabic word and understand the words , using Arabic dictionaries.

before we get to the Arabic derivation of the word and where word (یغضوا) come from, I want to ask a simple question considering this so-called translating of the word:

what does is imply that believers have to lower gaze?

To lower gaze means that, small amount of it does not matter. Yes, and Does it what Qur'an mean? or gazing is totally Haram whether a short one or a deep gazing.

Since Allah knows there is a natural tendency placed in men that their sight pulled toward the beautiful women and it might lead to Haram in some cases, Allah requires Muslim to "cast down their look" of which the writer of the article make fun.

Yes one might say it is not a mandatory command and I never being involved in Satanic situation by looking at women as I take care of my intention, OK, that is fine and we are not to disagree him but it does not meant to ridicul of the high level of piety that some believers wants to observe by means of funny arguments that this way we lose the love among our community...

"" In such a way of life, there is total isolation from humanistic love and consideration for others as human beings or as creations of Allah, who deserve the utmost love at a human and at a universal level, let alone the deep bond between believers described in the Qur'an.""

this is where the writer goes wrong and let say uncounsiously benefit from falasy in his argument

let's ask him what kind of love you are talking of:

Am I allowed to love your daughter, wife, sisters.... ?

Edited March 2, 2015 by mahdi servant.01

[narcotic_ice]

To the OP, it means to lower your gaze if you're 'married' as a guidance for a stronger iman. Plus it's quite impossible to not look at anyone without any level of lust. Also, I'm sure Allah wants you to help them if needed even if it includes looking at them in the eyes. Remember that. And remember the Prophet Muhammad received the Quranic Verses in random order and it was compiled by Imam Ali and Uthman. But we have Uthman's Quran, so you can guess the next part....

[Gaius I. Caesar]

Salaam alaikun,

This is a useful article but I have concerns about the bias of the author, he seems to going by Qur'anist perspective and anti-Ulama. As I got misled by the Qur'anists before, I would urge everyone is careful with the site. I would hate to see someone else get mislead by their shaky interpretations, just my two cents so far about the site posted. Besides brother Mahdi Servant has a point.

[Journey of Truth]

Salam

 

In my work I deal with females every day, I live in Australia so most females are not Muslims and therefore there dress is not covered. I personally do not have an issue looking straight at them face to face without having the urge to have bad thoughts towards them.

 

If I went to the beach for example and seen many females in bikinis , I will lower my gaze when walking past them as to avoid contact. However It is always been a habit to try my best to remember Allah swt whenever I speak directly to a female.

 

Adding on to the above, I was at a shopping center the other day. I parked my car and as I was walking into the center a female appeared in front of me wearing almost nothing. So it was in order to lower my gaze for my sake.

[Khalilallah]

Also in order to lower your gaze, your gaze must be up in the first place in order to lower the gaze. Otherwise how can you lower a gaze when it is low? and how does "lower" mean avoid eye contact and any form of talking. 

[narcotic_ice]

I'll just become a turtle. Pop my head in and out.

[anzurna]

Assalam oAlaikum dear fellows,

Sorry for replying on this old thread. My 2 cents,

Every verse of Holy Quran contains multiple messages. As per the narrations of Holy Imams s.a., there are 72 meanings behind every verse. Following are some of the messages of the verse came to my mind.

1. It should not mean to always lower your gaze, e.g. if we are alone or with same gender only... not general order, but specific order. The previous ayahs is about entering homes, is this ayah related to not peeking into homes? As the women might not be in proper hijab inside homes. As someone in islamic-history was very tall and someone was used to jump over the walls to enter people homes.

2. As per the circumstances of revelation of this Ayah, it is related to lower your gaze while walking and not to look at girls/women, not even looking her with the sight of prospect wife - that's impossible, as shown in movies, also love at first sight is a human nature, humans like beautiful things, but we don't know the beautiful person we are looking at, whether that person is evil in heart! as well as we don't know that women is already married or not!

Sometimes people get the meaning of this ayah wrong, that be arrogant to females. According to narrations, Mola Ali s.a. used to greet young girls with salaam, so have good manners along with lowering the gaze, and not behave arrogantly. Salaam is actually the message of peace and protection. It also renders the message to females that they are safe from us, and we don't want to cause any harm to them, especially young girls who are feared more easily than aged women.

3. does this ayah apply to the females we work with? isn't it against the rules of conversation, which requires eye contact. Almost in all cultures the person talking without eye contact is considered arrogant, autistic, unreliable, liar or hiding something in his heart. So, this order might not be applicable there, as the later part of the Ayah tells that this style is purer (better purity, there are other lesser purity styles as well) as well as God knows what you do, which might mean that this rule applies to some situation and not to all situations.

4. don't look too high as per beauty standards?! it is observed that, if there are 10 single ladies, everyone will dream of the most beautiful lady out of 10, while 9 others might be above average. the most beautiful would be married to only 1 person, causing heart break of most guys, and even the chance is very slim of any of the guy to win that girl's heart. Aa well as she would be most probably be stubborn, arrogant and high maintenance girl, to cause headaches later on. As per expert's opinion, its best to try to win the heart of next to most beautiful lady or other ladies and not to be destined to be dishearted. and Don't do any indecency.

5. don't look at forbidden things or the things harmful to you. Looking at others' properties like cars, banglows, wealth, so on, causes depression, anxiety, disheart, burnout, jealousyand ignite the desire to have these worldly possessions instead of struggling for hereafter. So, lower your gaze from all such things and curb your worldly desires so that you can focus more on hereafter.

6. lastly, does this rule applies to Muslim society (Muslim females) only? as AyatuAllah Sistani allows to look at non muslim woman without the sight of lust.

Kindly share your thoughts.

Edited March 26 by anzurna

[Anonymous-Male]

On 3/26/2023 at 5:14 AM, anzurna said:

Mola Ali s.a. used to greet young girls with salaam

Actually, I have read that although he used to greet women with salaam, if he noticed that there were young women, he would not greet them at all. 

He himself explained the reason for this that when young women would greet him back, he would be hearing their voices and that could entice wrong emotions in him as he might get attracted to their voices. He could thus end up angering Allah more for feeling attracted to their voices than pleasing Him for saying salaam to them (Not his exact words but this is the jist). That's why not only did he lower his gaze, he even avoided talking/speaking to young girls. Shows the height of modesty and decency. Following his footsteps, if a man today wishes to avoid looking at women or even listening to their voices, he should be appreciated. 

 

[JourneyOfmySoul]

If only men today followed his (عليه السلام) example and quit making excuses...

41 minutes ago, Anonymous-Male said:

Actually, I have read that although he used to greet women with salaam, if he noticed that there were young women, he would not greet them at all. 

He himself explained the reason for this that when young women would greet him back, he would be hearing their voices and that could entice wrong emotions in him as he might get attracted to their voices. He could thus end up angering Allah more for feeling attracted to their voices than pleasing Him for saying salaam to them (Not his exact words but this is the jist). That's why not only did he lower his gaze, he even avoided talking/speaking to young girls. Shows the height of modesty and decency. Following his footsteps, if a man today wishes to avoid looking at women or even listening to their voices, he should be appreciated. 

 

 

[JourneyOfmySoul]

Also, I always think that the answer to most of our confusions/disagreements lies in sincerity to Allah. This issue at hand is one of the most carelessly though about by people nowadays and in my opinion, only the sincere are guided. I have seen families/couples fall apart because of this curse/negligence. May Allah grant us true sincerity to Him alone.

[anzurna]

I have written to Ayatuallah Sistani (رضي الله عنه). and asked to have eye contact or monitor body language while talking to girls, to have effective conversation. I got the reply from his office that there is no problem in it.