272. Not to prohibit matters permitted by God.

(Verse 66:1) of the Quran says Prophet Muhammad in order to satisfy his wives, subjected himself to self restrictions in matters allowed by God. The historical background on the revelation of this verse is as follows:

Ayisha (RA) said:

Whenever Prophet Muhammad visited his wife Zainab bint Jahsh he consumed honey at her residence and take rest there. To tease him we (Aisha and Hafsa) charted a plan to ask him questions such as “did you eat acacia gum at her residence” ? We are getting a bad odour from you ! When he returned and did the same. To this the prophet replied “ No I didn’t eat any acacia gum, but had honey at Zainab bint Jahsh, henceforth I promise to stay away from drinking honey. Do not disclose this matter to anyone.” Verse 66:1 of the Quran was revealed at this occasion.

Hadith Book Bukhari: 4912, 6691

Allah has permitted honey to be consumed by humans. But Prophet Muhammad has restricted himself from consuming it to satisfy his wives. This verse was revealed in a way to reprimand the prophet. 

People might question how self restriction by Prophet Muhammad be termed as against God’s permission, while he did not restrict the public at large from consuming honey.

If a person dislikes a particular type of food there is absolutely no harm in keeping away from it, but liking a food and still keeping away from it amounts to crime, because the aspect of refusing something God permits lies there.

Allah’s reprimand of Prophet Muhammad in these verses is based these fundamentals. 

Allowing or prohibiting something is within the rights of God Almighty. Even Prophet Muhammad cannot prohibit something allowed by God, in self restriction, though not for the entire mankind. When this being the case with the prophet of God, others do not stand a chance.

Some Muslim scholars prohibit many things permitted by Allah, and the people accept all these acts by them. For instance, consuming crab, shark, lobstars, whale etc are prohibited by these scholars without any substantiation. The restrictions on these seafood are accepted by people without a whimper. This verse is a stark reminder and warning for such. 

Similarly, wearing of half sleeved shirts, trousers, hair dressing, learning English language was banned in the name of Islam, and the same was accepted by the community. 

This verse remains a warning to this kind of people. Anyone who declares or prohibits in the name of Islam should confirm the same whether Allah and his messenger allowed or disallowed the same. 

Please refer to explanation point 186, to know more about this topic.