وَإِذَا بَلَغَ الْأَطْفَالُ مِنكُمُ الْحُلُمَ فَلْيَسْتَأْذِنُوا كَمَا اسْتَأْذَنَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

When your children reach puberty, let them ask permission [at all times] just as those who asked permission before them. Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

EXEGESIS

Aṭfāl (children) is the plural of ṭifl (child/children). Although ṭifl is used for singular and plural, male and female, as in, or children (ṭifl) uninitiated to women’s parts (verse 31), it is permissible for the plural to appear as aṭfāl.

Ḥulum (puberty) was discussed under verse 58.

EXPOSITION

When your children reach puberty, let them ask permission: a further clarification that the exemption given in the previous verse is nullified once they reach puberty, as they will be as adults in this regard,[1] and they will now have to seek permission at all times.[2]

Just as those who asked permission before them: this refers to the previous, older generation,[3] although it has been claimed that it means those who were previously mentioned (O you who have faith! Do not enter houses other than your own until you have announced [your arrival] and greeted their occupants (verse 27)),[4] but this is unlikely.

Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise: the emphasis on God being all-knowing, all-wise in this and the previous verse that discusses the same matter, is to remind that there is a wisdom in these rulings and one should follow them. As many exegetes have pointed out, unfortunately the practice of these verses has been abandoned by many. It is good to remember that, as we mentioned in verse 27, seeking permission may be done as simply as knocking. Some think that there is no need to knock in their own house, but it is part of the Islamic etiquette relating to modesty and respecting each other’s private spaces.

The ending of this and the previous verse is the same, with the exception that the previous one had the signs (al-āyāt), whereas this one has His signs (āyātihi). Perhaps this intends to convey that the signs are His signs; all the signs, and all the commands in all the verses of the Quran are His, even if they are being conveyed by the Prophet. Furthermore, as verses 47-54 discussed, obedience to the Prophet is obedience to God.

[1] Tibyan, 7/461; Tabari, 18/126.
[2] Tabrisi, 7/243.
[3] Tabrisi, 7/243; Thalabi, 7/117; Zamakhshari, 3/254; Mizan, 15/163; Munyah, 19/137.
[4] Alusi, 9/406.