Did Medina’s Homes Have Doors?!

Someone quotes a history professor at Damascus University^[1] saying that during the time of the Messenger of Allah (A.S.) and thereafter, Medina’s homes did not have wooden doors. Rather, only curtains used to be placed on entrances. Then he said that he discussed it with the professor and that the latter had a proof. Then he follows his statement by saying, “So, how was al-Zahra’ (A.S.) squeezed between the door and the wall? And how did the fire burn the door’s wood?!”
 

The same transmitter produces two proofs to support his statement. They are:

FIRST: The Prophet (A.S.) returned from some of his trips and went to Fatima’s house. He found on its entrance a blanket which Ali (A.S.) had given to her as a gift, so the Prophet (A.S.) returned. Fatima (A.S.) knew why he returned, so she gave the blanket to al-Hasan and al-Husain (A.S.) to get it to her father (A.S.) to do with it whatever he pleased. He (A.S.) said, “May her father be her sacrifice!” This proves that the entrances had only curtains.

SECOND: Narrating the incident when al-Mugharah ibn Shu`bah committed adultery saying that the witnesses saw him in action when the wind blew away the entrance’s curtain, not that they entered the house and saw him in such an abominable and uncompromising condition. This, too, proves that the entrances had curtains, not wooden doors.

 
The answer to the above is:

FIRST: The same individual raises a case against the history professor at Damascus University that Medina’s homes during the time of the Messenger of Allah (A.S.) did not have (wooden) doors, saying that he discussed it with the man who had a proof.

We say to the same individual: “Did you rebut his proof or where you convinced by it? If you rebutted it, how did you do that and by what means? And if you accepted it, as seems to be the case, why didn’t you publicly declare it rather than refer people to someone else?!”

SECOND: Perhaps the claim that Medina’s homes did not have doors was a joke intended to tease Ikhwan al-Safa and to break the ice after a period of shunning and avoiding!

This joke is the one that prompted us to collect scores, even hundreds, of texts proving that Medina’s homes did have wooden doors with knobs to open and to shut, to break or to burn, to lock or to knock, during the time of the Prophet (A.S.) and thereafter. They also had keys and locks as well as latches and a knob ring whereby they are knocked. Their wood may have been either juniper or teak, as was the case with `a’isha’s house door. Or they may have been made of palm leaves, or from wood. Curtains may have been placed on them or any countless things which we need not mention.

So, there is no harm if we take the dear reader back to the following research titled “Medina’s Homes During the Time of the Messenger of Allah (A.S.)” where the reader will find his quest in numerous texts which we have cited from many books and references especially from Bihar al-Anwar and a host of references and also from the Sihah books, from Ahmed’s Musnad and from Sunni collections of hadith.

THIRD: To seek evidence from the story that the Prophet (A.S.) returned from some of his trips and went to Fatima’s house and found on its entrance a blanket which he did not like^[2] is insufficient to come to such a conclusion, for the doors, generally speaking, had both wooden knobs as well as curtains, and the door could be opened while the curtain remained. The following points out to this fact;

1. Abu Tharr quotes the Messenger of Allah (A.S.) saying, “If a man passes by a door which has no curtain and is not shut, and if he looked (inside), the sin is not his but belongs to those who inhabit that house.”^[3]

2. In a tradition by Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.), it is stated that “... the Prophet (A.S.) ordered to get all those inside the house out except Ali (A.S.) and Fatima (A.S.) between the curtain and the door..., etc.”^[4]

3. Ali (A.S.) is quoted as having said, “It is abominable for a man to spend the night at a house with neither a door nor a curtain.”^[5]

4. The Prophet (A.S.) has said, “Whenever any of you approaches his wife, he should close his door, put up its curtain and seek Allah’s covering...”^[6]

5. The Prophet (A.S.) was asked once about a man who divorced his wife thrice, then a man married her, so he closed his door and let the curtain down then divorced her without having touched her, will she be lawful for her first husband?” He (A.S.) said, “Not till she tastes her dower.” And there are other variations of this tradition.^[7]

6. `a’isha has said, “The Messenger of Allah (A.S.) opened a door between himself and the public” or “unveiled a curtain.”^[8]

FOURTH: Regarding the incident involving al-Mugharah ibn Shu`bah, using it as evidence is not right because of the following:

1. Al-Tabari and other historians state that the house of Abu Bakrah used to face that of al-Mugharah ibn Shu`bah, and they are at watering places facing each other. A group of men assembled at the watering place of Abu Bakrah to chat. Wind blew, opening the door, so Abu Bakrah stood up in order to close it. He then saw al-Mugharah, and the wind had opened the door at his watering place. He was positioning himself between a woman’s legs. Abu Bakrah said to the men, “Stand up and take a look!” They stood up and looked. Then he said, “Bear witness to it..., etc.”^[9]