Saving Our Souls Series | Part 6: 12 Sins of the Eyes – Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Our eyes and our ability to see are from Allah’s greatest blessings upon us. With them, we’re able to see His marvelous creation and reflect over his might, but all blessings need to be used correctly. If Allah blesses you with wealth it is from gratitude that you use that wealth in permissible ways. Likewise, the great blessing of sight must be used in halal ways and the sins of the eyes must be avoided.

The following are the sins the eyes commit:

1. The looking of a man at marriageable women
   • Looking at a marriageable woman is of two types:
     • With desire – this is impermissible in every case unless for necessity.
     • Without desire – this is impermissible if one looks at a part of her body which is not permissible to see (i.e. everything except her face and hands).
       • Note: that in the Hanafi school the feet are also included in the above exceptions.
2. It is also impermissible for women to look at marriageable men
   • Looking at a marriageable man is of two types:
     • With desire – this is impermissible in all cases unless for necessity.
     • Without desire – it is impermissible to look at that which is between his navel and knees.
3. It is impermissible to look at the nakedness of anyone without a religiously sanctioned excuse.
4. It is impermissible for the woman to expose any part of her body, besides the face and hands, in the presence of those who are not permitted to see
5. It is impermissible for both a man and woman to expose that which is between their navel and knees in the presence of anyone who can see and understand what they are seeing, even if the onlooker is of the same gender or unmarriageable kinship. The exclusion to this is the spouse.
   • This also applies if the onlooker is a small child if they can discern what they have seen and could possibly describe what they have seen to others. Thus this doesn’t apply to the very small child who is too young to understand what they have seen.
6. It is impermissible for the man to expose his genitalia and for the woman to expose that which is between her navel and knees, even if done in private without necessity.
   • The exception is in the presence of their spouse.
7. It is permissible – in the case of unmarriageable kinship, between those of the same gender, or in the case of an undesired small child (even if the child is not from one’s unmarriageable kinship or of the same gender) – to look at the entire body besides that which is between the navel and knees on condition that no desire is present.
8. The exception to this is the infant, whether boy or girl, who is not at the age of discernment, as it is permissible to look at them to every part except for the private part of a girl unless the onlooker is the mother.
   • All of the above is also permissible between spouses,
9. It is impermissible to look at any Muslim with the eye of belittlement
10. It is impermissible to look into the home of another without their permission.
11. It is impermissible to look at anything which one has hidden (i.e without permission).
12. It is impermissible to be witness to an evil done in one’s presence without trying to redress it with one’s hand or tongue.
    • That is unless one has a religiously sanctioned excuse or leaves the gathering.

May Allah forgive us for all that which we’ve looked at intentionally.