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In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.[24:61]
It is no fault in the blind nor in one born lame, nor in one afflicted with
illness, nor in yourselves, that ye should eat in your own houses, or those of your
fathers, or your mothers, or your brothers, or your sisters, or your father’s brothers or
your father’s sisters, or your mohter’s brothers, or your mother’s sisters, or in houses
of which the keys are in your possession, or in the house of a sincere friend of yours:
there is no blame on you, whether ye eat in company or separately. But if ye enter
houses, salute each other - a greeting of blessing and purity as from God. Thus does
God make clear the signs to you: that ye may understand.
* v.61 : There were various Arab superstitions and fancies which are combated and rejected here. (1) The blind, or the halt, or those afflicted with serious disease were supposed to be objects of divine displeasure, and as such not fit to be associated with us in meals in our houses: we are not to entertain such a thought, as we are not judges of the causes of people’s misfortunes, which deserve OUT sympathy and kindness. (2) It was considered unbecoming to take meals in the houses of near relatives: this taboo is not approved. (3) A similar superstition about houses in our possession but not in our actual occupation is disapproved. (4) If people think they should not fall under obligation to casual friends, that does not apply to a sincere friend, in whose company a meal is not to be rejected, but welcomed. (5) If people make a superstition either that they should always cat separately, or that they must always eat in company, as some people weary of their own company think, either of them is wrong. Man is free and should regulate his life according to needs and circumstances.
* The shades of meaning in Salam are explained in n. 2512 to xix. 62. Here, we were first told that we might accept hospitality and good fellowship in each other’s houses. Now we are told what spirit should animate us in doing so. It should not be a spirit only of self-satisfaction in a worldly sense. It should rather be a spirit of good-will in the highest spiritual sense of the term-purity of motives and purity of life, as in the sight of Allah.
* See notes 3039 and 3041 above. The refrain comes again, in a different form, closing the argument from a different point of view.