Question: It was stated in The Social System, p. 41:
إِذَا زَوَّجَ أَحَدُكُمْ خَادِمَهُ عَبْدَهُ أَوْ أَجِيرَهُ فَلَا يَنْظُرُ إِلَى مَا دُونَ السُّرَّةِ وَفَوْقَ الرُّكْبَةِ فَإِنَّهُ عَوْرَةٌ
"If one of you marries off his servant to his slave or his employee, he should not look at what is below the navel and above the knee, for it is 'awrah."
This Hadith was mentioned in the context of inferring the permissibility of a man looking at what is not 'awrah of a woman and a woman looking at what is not 'awrah of a man. So, what is the difference between looking at what is below the navel and above the knee of his servant before her marriage and after her marriage?
Answer: It appears there is a confusion in understanding the question. The meaning of the Hadith is: If one of you marries off his servant, meaning his amah (female slave); for the term khadim (servant) applies equally to both male and female. Before the master marries off his amah to another, she is lawful to him as milk al-yamin (right-hand possession), and it is permissible for him to see her 'awrah. Once she is married, it becomes forbidden for her master (who married her off) to look at her 'awrah. It remains permissible for him to look at what is not 'awrah of the amah—meaning what is below the knee and above the navel—as long as she remains his amah and he has not manumitted her. He has only married her to his slave or his employee, and she remains an amah and has not become a free woman; otherwise, it would be forbidden for him to look at her entire body except for the face and hands.
Therefore, the text:
«إِذَا زَوَّجَ أَحَدُكُمْ خَادَمَهُ عَبْدَهُ أَوْ أَجِيرَهُ...»
So أحدُكم is the subject, خادَمَه is the first object of the verb زوّج, and عبدَه أو أجيره is the second object of زوّج, and it is not an explanatory apposition for خادَمَه. Thus, the Hadith is evidence that the master’s permission to look at his entire amah (because she is milk al-yamin) is revoked regarding what constitutes her 'awrah after her marriage. This is because she is no longer lawful to him, so it becomes forbidden for him to look at her 'awrah—meaning what is below the navel and above the knee—because she is an amah whom he married off but did not manumit.
Thus, the explicit meaning (mantuq) of the Hadith is valid to indicate the prohibition of a man looking at a woman's 'awrah. The implication (mafhum) of this mantuq is that it is permissible for a man to look at what is not 'awrah of a woman, whether she is a free woman or an amah. Men and women are the same in this regard: a man looks at what is not 'awrah of a woman, and a woman looks at what is not 'awrah of a man.
19 Jumada al-Ula 1425 AH 06/07/2004 CE