Explanation of Riyad al-Salihin-86b

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted, in the context of the hadiths, in "the chapter on the prohibition of looking at a non-mahram woman or a handsome young boy without a legitimate religious need.
From Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said

"Avoid sitting on roadsides." His Companions said: "O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), there is no other alternative but to sit there to talk." Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "If you have to sit at all, then fulfill the rights of the road." They asked: "What are their rights?" Thereupon he said, "Lowering the gaze (so that you may not stare at unlawful things); refraining from doing some harm to others, responding to greeting (i.e., saying 'Wa'alaikumus- salam' to one another) and commanding the good and forbidding the evil."

إياكم والجلوس في الطرقات قالوا يا رسول الله ما لنا من مجالسنا بُدّ، نتحدثُ فيها. فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : فإذا أبيتم إلا المجلس، فأعطوا الطريق حقهُ قالوا وما حق الطريق يا رسول الله قال غض البصر، وكف الأذى، ورد السلام، والأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر

Riyad as-Salihin 1623

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim
And from Zayd ibn Sahl (may Allah be pleased with him), who said

We were sitting and talking on a platform in front of our house when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stopped by us and said, "Why do you sit on roads? Avoid sitting in them." We replied: "We sit there intending no harm. We only sit and discuss (religious) knowledge and talk." He said, "If you have to sit, you should fulfill the rights of the road: Lower your gaze, respond to greetings and talk in a good manner."

كنا قعوداً بالأفنية نتحدثُ فيها فجاء رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقام علينا فقال: ما لكم ولمجالس الصُّعُدات فقلنا إنما قعدنا لغير ما بأس، قعدنا نتذاكرُ، ونتحدثُ. قال إما لا فأدوا حقها: غض البصر، ورد السلام، وحُسنُ الكلام

Riyad as-Salihin 1624

Narrated by Muslim. "

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
When the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book *Riyad al-Salihin* the verses indicating the obligation of lowering the gaze, he mentioned hadiths, among them:
The hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri and the hadith of Zayd ibn Sahl
As for the first, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said This is a warning, meaning: beware of sitting in the roads They used to sit in the courtyards of houses, as many people do today, sitting in the courtyard of their house, with their neighbors gathering to them to talk about what has happened between them and their interests in religion or worldly affairs.
Meaning: if you refuse to do anything but sit, and sitting was necessary , he mentioned its right, may the prayers and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Meaning: that you lower your gaze from passersby, do not stare at them, and do not look at them, because some people sit in the roads, and whenever a person passes by, they watch him from when he approaches until he departs. This is contrary to what the Prophet (may the prayers and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded. So one should lower the gaze, especially when a woman passes by, for it is obligatory to lower the gaze from two aspects: because she is a woman, and because focusing on the passerby causes him to feel shy and be harmed by it.
And the second is that you do not harm any of the passersby, neither by word nor by deed. Not by a word you hear that harms him, nor by a deed such as narrowing the road by extending your legs, or lying down in the road, or the like of that.
And the third is meaning: if someone greets you, you return the greeting to him. If someone greets you, you return the greeting to him in the obligatory manner. If he says "As-salamu alaykum," you say "Wa alaykum as-salam." It is not sufficient to say "Ahlan wa sahlan" (welcome) or "Marhaban" (greetings) or the like of that. Rather, the obligatory response is necessary
And the fourth is: Enjoining good. If you see someone who has fallen short in a matter required of him, you command him to do it.
And "good" is everything that the Shari'ah has commanded, and everything that people have recognized and agreed upon that is not forbidden. For example, if you were sitting in the road and you saw a woman uncovering her face, here you forbid her from this evil; you forbid her from this evil. If you saw a person neglecting the prayer, and the time for prayer has arrived and he is not praying, while you have prayed and he has not, you command him to pray with the congregation, for example, and so on. You enjoin good and forbid evil. These are five rights upon those who sit in the roads. And the hadith that follows indicates what this hadith indicated. The intended point and the evidence from this is his saying "lowering the gaze." And success is from Allah.