Can a person peep into someone’s key hole or window before obtaining permission to enter?
Answer:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
It is not permissible to peep into someone’s keyhole or window before obtaining permission not least because it contradicts the rationale for seeking permission. A person who does so invades the privacy of the house owner as his eyes may fall on something unlawful or a something the owner would prefer him not to see.
Once, a man peeped into the room of the house of the Prophet ﷺ, whilst the Prophet ﷺ was scratching his head with an iron comb. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Had I known you were looking [through the hole], I would have pierced your eye with it. Verily, [the order of obtaining] permission to enter has been enjoined because of the sight” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 5924, 6241, 6901).
In this ḥadīth, the Prophet ﷺ is explaining the severity of this sin, because to pierce the eye is not permissible in this circumstance according to the Ḥanafīs and Mālikīs (Sharḥ Ibn Baṭṭāl, 8: 547; Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ, 6: 2298; Radd al-Muḥtār, 6: 550), although the Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanbalīs suggest it is permissible (al-Umm, 6: 34; Sharḥ Muslim, 14: 138; Fatḥ al-Bārī, 12: 243; al-Mughnī, 9: 186; Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, 15: 380; Zād al-Maʿād, 5: 363), a view that is shared by Ḥāfiẓ Badr al-Dīn al-ʿAynī (d. 855/1451) in ʿUmdah al-Qārī (22: 239).
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
24 Jumādā al-Thāniyah 1427 / 20 July 2006