Righteousness Is Not That You Come to Houses from Their Backs — A Precise Legal Occasion
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Level: intermediate
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وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلۡبِرَّ مَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰ
— البقرة 189
Verse: "And righteousness is not that you come to houses from their backs, but righteousness is who fears Allah." (2:189)
Occasion (Sahih — Abu Dawud): The Ansar in pre-Islamic times, when in ihram, would not enter their houses from the door but climb over the back as an act of worship. When Islam came, some continued this. The verse abolished this outward form and redirected attention to inner taqwa.
Comprehensive lesson: A Quranic parable for all worship that has become a shell without substance. External form without inner taqwa is not birr (righteousness).
Source: Abu Dawud (1835); Al-Qurtubi (2/339); Ibn Kathir (1/520)
Question: What is the legislative value of "righteousness is not coming to houses from their backs"?
Answer: Abolishing all formal worship empty of taqwa — transferring concern from outward form to inner substance. A Quranic foundation for correcting worship.