عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ بُسْرٍ، قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا أَتَى بَابَ قَوْمٍ لَمْ يَسْتَقْبِلِ الْبَابَ مِنْ تِلْقَاءِ وَجْهِهِ وَلَكِنْ مِنْ رُكْنِهِ الأَيْمَنِ أَوِ الأَيْسَرِ وَيَقُولُ ‏ “‏ السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمُ السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ الدُّورَ لَمْ يَكُنْ عَلَيْهَا يَوْمَئِذٍ سُتُورٌ

Narrated Abdullah ibn Busr:
When Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to some people’s door, he did not face it squarely, but faced the right or left corner, and said, ‘Peace be upon you! peace be upon you!’ That was because there were no curtains on the doors of the house at that time.

[Saheeh Sunan Abi Dawood no. 5186]

Mulla Ali al-Qaari rahimahullah said:

“The meaning is that if there is a door or a curtain that makes a veil, then there is no harm in facing the door. However, inclining [towards the right or left] is more deserving due to observing the origin of the Sunnah. This is because sometimes some exposure [of the inside of the house] will occur when the door is open or when the veil is lifted…”

[Mirqaah al-Mafateeh (13/464)]

Shaikh Abdul-Muhsin al-‘Abbad hafidhuhallah commented on this Hadith saying:

“This is from the beautiful manners and honorable characteristics. That is, a person not facing the door [when desiring to enter another’s house] because facing the door will make a person see inside the house. However, if he is faces to the right or left, then he will be far from his eye seeing what the owner of the house does not want that he sees or be shown”.

[Sharh Sunan Abi Dawood no. 588]

So it is upon us to return to this Sunnah.

Translated by

Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan