Verses 1–7
Introduction
This chapter provides an overall explanation of the rulings of divorce, followed by an admonition and warning and a promise of glad tidings. The context indicates that it is Medinan.
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاء فَطَلِّقُوهُنَّ لِعِدَّتِهِنَّ وَأَحْصُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ رَبَّكُمْ لا تُخْرِجُوهُنَّ مِن بُيُوتِهِنَّ وَلا يَخْرُجْنَ إِلاَّ أَن يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ وَمَن يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ لا تَدْرِي لَعَلَّ اللَّهَ يُحْدِثُ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ أَمْرًا ١
(65:1) O Prophet! When you divorce women, divorce them for their prescribed time, and calculate the number of the days prescribed, and be careful of (your duty to) God, your Lord. Do not drive them out of their houses, nor should they themselves go forth, unless they commit an open indecency; and these are the limits of God, and whoever goes beyond the limits of God, he indeed does injustice to his own soul. You do not know; perhaps God will bring something new to pass thereafter.
It first addresses the Prophet since he is the messenger to the community and their leader. Therefore, it is acceptable for it to address him but include both him and his followers in his nation. It is common usage for the leader of a group to be addressed when speaking of of matters aimed in general at his people. Therefore, there is no reason to say—as some exegetes have—that the verse means, “O prophet! Tell your community, ‘When you have divorced women….’”
When you divorce women, divorce them for their prescribed time: Meaning that if you want to divorce women and are about to do that, since it would be meaningless to say divorce them after they had actually been divorced. This is similar to the verse when you have stood for prayer, then wash ().
The prescribed time (ʿiddah) of a woman is the time when she refrains from remarriage until the waiting time has elapsed, as ordained by Islamic law. “Divorcing them for their prescribed time” means that the divorce occurs over the duration of their ʿiddah, beginning with the day that the divorce is reckoned. The divorce must begin at a time of her cycle when she is not menstruating and while they have not had intercourse during that cycle, and ends when her cycles have elapsed (for the ʿiddah).
And calculate the number of the days prescribed: Meaning, count the cycles for the ʿiddah since, during the time, the woman has the right to financial maintenance and shelter from her husband, and the husband has the right to return to her.
And be careful of (your duty to) God, your Lord. Do not drive them out of their houses: According to the apparent meaning of the context, do not drive them out is an appositive (badal) for be careful of (your duty to) God, your Lord. This is signified by the repetition of do not in do not drive them out. Their houses refers to the houses they were living in before the divorce; these houses are referred to as “their” (in the feminine plural) because it is where they live.
Nor should they themselves go forth: This forbids them from leaving, just as the previous clause forbade them from being expelled.
Unless they commit an open indecency: Meaning, an obvious indecency, like adultery or obscenity, or if she is harassing the other members of the household, as has been mentioned in narrations related from the Imams of the family of the Prophet.
And these are the limits of God, and whoever goes beyond the limits of God, he indeed does injustice to his own soul: The limits of God are the aforementioned ordinances for divorce. Through them, God has constrained your actions. A person who transgresses the limits of God, either by neglecting to observe them or by violating them, has wronged his own soul—meaning that he has disobeyed his Lord.
You do not know; perhaps God will bring something new (amran) to pass thereafter: Meaning, God might change the husband’s mind or heart about the divorce by turning his heart towards reconciliation, love, and a desire to return to the previous situation (i.e. the marriage).
فَإِذَا بَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ فَارِقُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ وَأَشْهِدُوا ذَوَيْ عَدْلٍ مِّنكُمْ وَأَقِيمُوا الشَّهَادَةَ لِلَّهِ ذَلِكُمْ يُوعَظُ بِهِ مَن كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَن يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُ مَخْرَجًا ٢
(65:2) So when they have reached their prescribed time, then retain them with kindness or separate from them with kindness, and call to witness two men of justice from among you, and give upright testimony for God. With that is admonished he who believes in God and the latter day; and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out.
“Reaching their prescribed time” means “nearing the end of their ʿiddah.” “Retaining them” (amsikūhunna) is a figure of speech for “returning to them,” and “separating from them” (fāriqūhunna) means “leaving them to complete the ʿiddah.”
“Retaining them with kindness” means to treat them nicely and observe the rights that God has ordained for them. “Separating from them with kindness” also means observing her rights in Islamic law. “Kindness” (maʿrūf) means “in accordance with the custom that Islamic law has ordained.”
And call to witness two men of justice from among you: Meaning, have two of your just companions witness the divorce. The meaning of “justice” was explained in the commentary on Sūrah al-Baqarahh.
And give upright testimony for God: This was explained in the commentary on Sūrah al-Baqarahh.
With that is admonished he who believes in God and the latter day: This refers to what was previously mentioned about being mindful of God and bearing witness uprightly for the sake of God, and the prohibition against transgressing the divine limits. Either that, or it can be taken to refer to everything that has come before, including the divine ordinances, the call to be mindful of and sincere to God when bearing witness, and the exhortation against transgressing the divine limits. It thereby exhorts the faithful to rely on the truth and weed out falsehood. It also hints that turning away from or changing the divine ordinances takes one out of the pale of faith.
And whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out: If someone is careful (of his duty to) God, shies away from what God has prohibited, observes the divine limits, respects the divine shari‘ah, and acts, according to it, then God will make for him a way out from the travails of life, for the shari‘ah suits human nature. Through it, God guides man regarding the demands of human nature and fulfils his needs, and it secures his happiness here and in the hereafter.
وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لا يَحْتَسِبُ وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بَالِغُ أَمْرِهِ قَدْ جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدْرًا ٣
(65:3) And give him sustenance from whence he thinks not; and whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him; surely God attains His purpose; God indeed has appointed a measure for everything.
Meaning, and give him sustenance with a spouse, wealth, and everything required for a wholesome life and the purity of life from whence he thinks not or anticipate. Therefore, the faithful do not fear that if they are mindful of God and respect God’s limits, they will be barred from a good life and will be afflicted with poverty, since sustenance is guaranteed, and God is able to fulfil His promises.
And whoever trusts in God by setting aside their own desires and taking control of himself, preferring Allah’s will over their own, and does what God wills rather than what he wants, or in other words, adopting Allah’s religion and acting according to His rulings, then He is sufficient for him, meaning sufficient for what they desire from a good life and the happiness they naturally wish for, not their false imaginations.
This is because God is the ultimate cause, whom all other causes return to. When He will something, He causes it, and enacts His will, without any change in it. He says: The Word changes not before Me (50: 29). No obstacle block Him from enacting His will; he says: God decrees, and no one rolls back His decree (). As for other causes that humans cling to for fulfilling their needs, they only have as much causality as God has granted them. He is the owner of what they possess and capable of what He has empowered them for, and they can only act as much as God has permitted.
Therefore, God suffices whoever trusts in Him, and no one else. God attains his purpose however He wills. His command is such that whenever He wills something, he but says to it “Be,” and it is (); God indeed has appointed a measure for everything (). There is naught which is not measured or limited (by God), whereas God has no limit our bound; rather, He encompasses all things.
This is what the verse means, if it is examined in the context of the verses on divorce. However, if one looks at it in and of itself, without being restrained by the context, it can be gleaned from and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not () that if someone truly is mindful of God—and that can only be attained through knowing God through His names and attributes—and therefore avoids performing forbidden acts or neglecting required acts, sincerely for His sake, then that person will reach the point whereby he only wills to do or refrain from doing what God wills. That person’s will necessarily will be dissolved in the divine will, and so the only actions that will issue forth from him are those which issue forth from the divine will.
Furthermore, as a corollary, he will see himself and all his components—such as traits or acts—as belonging solely to God, who may employ them as He wills. This is the wilāyah (guardianship) of God, through which He looks after His servant. The person will not retain any thing of his own; rather, he will ascribe all to God, for He is the true owner of what is owned, and the kingdom belongs to God, mighty be His name.
Thereupon, God saves him from constricting delusions and the imprisonment of assigning external causes as partners to God. He will make for him a way out and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not. As for material sustenance, the person would have seen it before as resulting from his own efforts and external causes, which he used to put his faith in, not knowing that these external causes were but a fraction of what was going on, like a firebrand that a person carries on a dark night to see where he is stepping but who cannot see anything beyond. However, God encompasses all causes and manages them however He wills, and permits things to take effect that the person has no knowledge of.
However, spiritual sustenance is the true type of sustenance which sustains the human being and remains. This is something that the person could neither have known of nor imagined how it arrives at him.
All in all, God looks after that person’s situation, removes him from the locus of destruction, and sustains him from whence he knows not. In His perfection, he omits nothing—none of the blessings which this person used to hope to attain through his own efforts—since this person has fully put his trust in God and ceded his affairs to Him. And whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him; he trusts in Him rather than other apparent causes which are hit and miss. Surely God attains His purpose, because He bounds all things. God indeed has appointed a measure for everything; it is not outside His power to apportion them.
This is the share of the righteous friends of God (awliyāʾ), according to the verse.
As for those who are below them, such as the average faithful who are mindful of God but who have a lower degree of understanding of God and a lower degree of acts, they shall receive from God’s wilāyah what is suitable for their position with respect to sincerity, faith, and righteous acts. God has said unconditionally: God is the guardian (walī) of the faithful and God is the guardian (walī) of the certain ().
By following the religion of truth—which is the path of life—and coming to act as God wills—which is mindfulness of God (taqwā) and trust in God (tawakkul), through replacing their own will with His will—they attain happiness in life accordingly, and God makes a way out for them and sustains them from whence they knew not. Their Lord suffices them; He attains His command, and has apportioned all things.
As long as shirk (associating partners with God) creeps into their faith and deeds, they must endure some deprivation of happiness, for God has said: Most of them do not believe in God; rather, they are associating partners with Him (). God has also said unconditionally: God does not forgive that partners be associated with Him ().
God says: I forgive whoever repents, has faith, and does righteous deeds (). God also says unconditionally: Seek forgiveness in God; God is forgiving, merciful ().
Therefore, the faithful will only ascend degrees towards the wilāyat of God through repenting from the hidden shirk which lay beneath.
This verse is one of the most outstanding Qur’anic verses; exegetes have said many things about it, which we have abstained from here.
وَالَّلائِي يَئِسْنَ مِنَ الْمَحِيضِ مِن نِّسَائِكُمْ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ فَعِدَّتُهُنَّ ثَلاثَةُ أَشْهُرٍ وَالَّلائِي لَمْ يَحِضْنَ وَأُوْلاتُ الأَحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَن يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ وَمَن يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ يُسْرًا ٤
(65:4) And (as for) those of your women who have despaired of menstruation, if you have a doubt (irtabtum), their prescribed time shall be three months, and of those too who have not had their courses; and (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden; and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God He will make easy for him his affair.
Irtiyāb (the noun form of the verb irtabtum) refers to doubt over whether or not they will have menstrual cycles, whether due to old age or some other reason. It means: Those women who do not expect to get a menstrual cycle, or who are uncertain whether they will or not, whether that is due to old age or some other reason, should observe an ʿiddah of three months.
And of those too who have not had their courses is linked to And (as for) those of your women who have despaired of menstruation by the conjunction and. It means: Those women who have not yet menstruated, although they are at the age of menstruation, should observe an ʿiddah of three months.
And (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden: Meaning, their ʿiddah ends when they deliver.
And whoever is careful of (his duty to) God He will make easy for him his affair: Meaning, the hardships he faces will be made easy for him. Some say that it means that both worldly and otherworldly matters will be made easy for him, either through immediate relief or compensation in the hereafter.
ذَلِكَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ أَنزَلَهُ إِلَيْكُمْ وَمَن يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يُكَفِّرْ عَنْهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِ وَيُعْظِمْ لَهُ أَجْرًا ٥
(65:5) That is the command of God which He has revealed to you, and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will remove from him his evil and give him a big reward.
The statement, That is the command of God which He has revealed to you means the rulings that were revealed to you in the previous verses.
The clause, and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will remove from him his evil and give him a big reward indicates that carrying out the divine command is part of piety (taqwā), just as avoiding the forbidden things is also part of piety. Possibly, this indicates that carrying out the divine command necessitates avoiding its neglect.
“Removing from him his evil” means covering his wrong deeds with forgiveness. Evil refers to the lesser sins; greater transgressions remain in the face of piety (taqwā). These two verses can be read together to understand their meaning better: And whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will remove from him his evil and give him a big reward () and If you avoid the greater (sins) which you have been forbidden from, We shall cover your misdeeds and cause you to enter an honorable place of entering ().
From the two verses, it is clear that “the forbidden” what has been narrated about the definition of piety (taqwā)—that is, it is “avoiding what God has forbidden”—means abstaining from the greater sins which God has forbidden.
Clearly, also, violating the divinely revealed commands regarding divorce and the ʿiddah is doubtlessly a greater sin, since taqwā as mentioned in the verse includes what observing was said about divorce and the ʿiddah. Violating this would not be one of the misdeeds that would be overlooked, unless one tinkers with the meaning of the verse.
أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنتُم مِّن وُجْدِكُمْ وَلا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ وَإِن كُنَّ أُولاتِ حَمْلٍ فَأَنفِقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتَّى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ فَإِنْ أَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَأْتَمِرُوا بَيْنَكُم بِمَعْرُوفٍ وَإِن تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُ أُخْرَى ٦
(65:6) Lodge them where you lodge according to your means, and do not injure them in order that you may straiten them; and if they are pregnant, spend on them until they lay down their burden; then if they suckle for you, give them their recompense and enjoin one another among you to do good; and if you disagree, another (woman) shall suckle for him.
Al-Mufradāt says:
According to your means (min wujdikum) means “your ability” and “in accordance with your wealth.” Wijdān and jiddah are both used as expressions for wealth. The word forms wajd, wijd, and wujd are all used with each of the three vowels after the letter w.
The context indicates that the pronoun them (-hunna, feminine plural) refers to the divorced women. It means: Lodge the divorced women where you live, in accordance with your capability and wealth; the rich in accordance with his means, and the poor in accordance with his means.
And do not injure them in order that you may straiten them: Meaning, do not cause hardship for them in providing their lodging, clothing, and financial upkeep as a means of making things difficult for them.
And if they are pregnant, spend on them until they lay down their burden: The meaning is clear.
Then if they suckle for you, give them their recompense: She should be paid for suckling; this is part of the financial upkeep due from the father to the child.
And enjoin one another (aʾtamirū) among you to do good: Iʾtimār means for a group of people to consult each other about something and tell each other to follow through. This is addressing both the man and the woman. That is, they should consult with each other about their child and come to an agreement in accordance with custom so that the man is not harmed through having to pay excessively for financial upkeep, the woman is not financially deprived, and the child is not deprived of a full period of suckling; nor is any other sort of harm experienced.
And if you disagree, another (woman) shall suckle for him: Meaning, if each of them wants from the other something that would cause hardship, and they disagree, then the father can hire a different woman (not the mother) to suckle the child.
لِيُنفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِّن سَعَتِهِ وَمَن قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنفِقْ مِمَّا آتَاهُ اللَّهُ لا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ مَا آتَاهَا سَيَجْعَلُ اللَّهُ بَعْدَ عُسْرٍ يُسْرًا ٧
(65:7) Let him who has abundance spend out of his abundance and whoever has his means of subsistence straitened to him, let him spend out of that which God has given him; God does not lay on any soul a burden except to the extent to which He has granted it; God brings about ease after difficulty.
Let him who has abundance spend out of his abundance: A man who has abundant wealth should spend abundantly. This is a command to the rich: that they should spend openhandedly on their divorced women who are suckling their children.
Whoever has his means of subsistence straitened to him, let him spend out what God has given him (atāhu): Meaning his money is tight. Ītāʾ means iʿṭāʾ (“giving”). Those who are poor, with strained means, and cannot give generously should give of their wealth in accordance with what God has provided them. That is, they should provide financial upkeep as they are able.
God does not lay on any soul a burden except to the extent to which He has granted it: Meaning, God is only requiring them to pay in accordance with their ability and is not burdening them with more. In other words, it says there should be no hardship in fulfilling religious responsibilities, one of which is paying upkeep to divorced women.
The ending clause, God brings about ease after difficulty is encouraging and reassuring.
Examining Narrations
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn Mardawayh that Ibn Saʿīd al-Khudrī said: The short chapter about women (Sūrah al-nisāʾ al-quṣrā) was revealed seven years after Sūrah al-Baqarahh.
Author’s comment: The “short chapter about women” is Sūrah al-Ṭalāq.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related:
Ibn ʿUmar divorced his wife while she was menstruating. He told that to the Messenger of God, who grew angry, then said, “Take her back, and be intimate with her until her period ends, and then she has another period which ends. Then, if you want to divorce her, divorce her while she is not on her period, and before resuming relations after her period. This is the ʿiddah which God commanded for divorcing women.” Then the Prophet recited this verse: “O Prophet! When you divorce women, divorce them in the face of their prescribed time (fa-ṭalliqūhunna fī qubul ʿiddatihinna, ).”
Author’s comment: Fī qubul ʿiddatihinna is Ibn ʿUmar’s recitation of this, but the standard copy of the Qur’an says li-ʿiddatihinna (for their prescribed time) instead.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn al-Mundhir, from Ibn Sīrīn, regarding perhaps God will bring something new to pass thereafter ():
This was about Ḥafṣah, the daughter of ʿUmar. The Prophet divorced her a single time. Then the verse was revealed: O Prophet! When you divorce women… perhaps God will bring something new to pass thereafter (), so he took her back.
- In Al-Kāfī, with its chain of narration, it is related from Zurārah:
Imām al-Bāqir said, “Any divorce which is neither of the sunnah (the way of the Prophet) nor of the ʿiddah is baseless.”
Zurārah said, “Explain to me the divorce of the sunnah and the divorce of the ʿiddah.”
He (Imām al-Bāqir) said, “The divorce of the sunnah is when a man wants to divorce a woman, so he waits until she gets her period and it ends. When her period is over, before engaging in intercourse with her, he divorces her, and two witnesses bear witness to that. Then he abstains from (intercourse with) her until she has two more periods, and her ʿiddah finishes at the third, at which time the divorce is finalized. Then, if he wishes to remarry her, he can seek her hand like any other suitor, and she can accept or reject, as she likes. It is his responsibility to pay for her financial upkeep and lodging during that time, and they inherit from each other until the ʿiddah finishes.
“The divorce of the ʿiddah is what God says: divorce them for their prescribed time, and calculate the number of the days prescribed (). When a man from among you wants to divorce his wife through the divorce of the ʿiddah, he should wait until she has her period and it finishes. Then, before having conjugal relations with her, he should pronounce the divorce; two just witnesses should bear witness to the divorce. He can take her back immediately; that is better. Or he can take her back at any time before she menstruates; two witnesses should bear witness that she has returned to him, and he should engage in intercourse with her. She remains with him until she has her period; after she has her period and her period finishes, before having intercourse with her, he then pronounces a second divorce. Witness should be borne to that. He may take her back whenever he likes before she gets her period again. Two witnesses should bear witness to her return, and he should have intercourse with her. She remains with him until she gets her period a third time, and after her period finishes, before having intercourse with her, if he pronounces a third divorce, and this is borne witness to, then the divorce is finalized, and it is not lawful for him to remarry her unless she marries a different husband (and then that marriage ends).”
He (Imām al-Bāqir) was asked, “What if she does not experience menstrual cycles?”
He (Imām al-Bāqir) said, “This is done similar to the divorce of the sunnah.”
- In Qurb al-Isnād, it is related via a chain of narration from Ṣafwān:
I heard that a man came and asked him—that is, Imām al-Ṣādiq—“I have divorced my wife three times in a single sitting.”
He said, “This is invalid. Have you read the Book of God? O Prophet! When you divorce women, divorce them for their prescribed time… unless they commit an open indecency (). Do you not know that perhaps God will bring something new to pass thereafter ()? Anything which contradicts the Book of God and the way of the Prophet (sunnah) should be returned to the Book of God and the way of the Prophet.”
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, regarding do not drive them out of their houses… unless they commit an open indecency (), it says:
It is not lawful for a man to expel his wife from his house after he divorces her while he still has the right to return to her. It is also not lawful for her to leave his house. This is unless she has committed a flagrant indecency. “Indecency” (fāḥishah) means that she commits adultery or steals from the man. It also includes being impudent towards her husband. If she does any of that, he may expel her.
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from Wahab ibn Ḥafṣ, that Imām al-Bāqir or Imām al-Ṣādiq said about a divorced woman:
She should remain in her home and adorn herself for her husband; perhaps God will bring something new to pass thereafter ().
Author’s comment: There are many other narrations from the Imāms of the family of the Prophet with a similar meaning about this verse as well as both verses that we have been discussing.
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from Muʿāwiyah ibn Wahab that Imām al-Ṣādiq said:
Whoever is blessed with three things will never be deprived of three things: whoever is blessed with prayerfulness will be given a response, whoever is blessed with gratitude will be given more, and whoever is blessed with trust in God will be sufficed. Have you recited the Book of God, the mighty and glorious? Whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him (). And He said: if you are grateful, We shall give you more (). And He said: Call upon Me, and I shall respond to you ().
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related from Muḥammad ibn Muslim:
I asked Imām al-Ṣādiq about: and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out, and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not (). He said, “In his worldly affairs.”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from ʿAbd ibn Ḥamīd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, that Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd said:
The verse and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out () was revealed about a member of the Ashjaʿ tribe who suffered from poverty. The enemy had captured his son, so he went to the Prophet, who said, “Be mindful (have taqwā) of God, and be patient.”
His son who had been captured was returned to him; God had freed him. He had acquired some goats, and brought them with him. When news of this reached the Prophet, this verse was revealed, and the Prophet said, “These (goats) are yours.”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn ʿAbbās regarding and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out ():
From the uncertainties of this world, the pangs of death, and the hardships of the Day of Resurrection.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related that Abū Dharr said:
The Messenger of God began to recite this verse: and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him a way out, and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not () and then repeated it until I felt drowsy, whereupon he said, “O Abū Dharr! If all people held to this, it would suffice them.”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related that ʿImrān ibn Ḥaṣīn said:
The Messenger of God said, “Whoever cuts off (reliance on anyone other than) God, God shall suffice him in all of his needs, and shall grant him sustenance from whence he knows not. And whoever cuts off (reliance on anything other than) the world, God leaves him to it (the world).”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn Abī Ḥātim, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who relates, without mentioning the intervening chain of narration, that the Prophet had said:
Whoever wants to be the strongest person should trust in God. Whoever wants to be the wealthiest person should trust more in what is in the hands of God than what is in his own hands. And whoever wants to be the most respected person should fear (have taqwā of) God.
Author’s comment: The meaning of these narrations has already been discussed at the end of the discussion about the verses.
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related from al-Ḥalabī:
Imām al-Ṣādiq said: “The ʿiddah of a woman who does not experience menstrual cycles and the woman who bleeds continually is three months. The ʿiddah of a woman who has irregular cycles is three cycles.”
I asked him about the verse if you have a doubt (). “What is the doubt about?”
He said, “Whatever (menstrual) bleeding exceeds a month is a doubt, so (if she bleeds for more than a month), she should count three months (for the ʿiddah) and not pay attention to her menstrual cycles.”
- In Al-Kāfī, with a chain of narration from Muḥammad ibn Qays, it is related that Imām al-Bāqir said:
The ʿiddah of a pregnant woman lasts until she delivers the baby. Her husband must pay her upkeep in a conventional manner until she delivers.
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from Abū al-Ṣabāḥ al-Kanānī that Imām al-Bāqir said:
If a man divorces his wife while she is pregnant, he must pay financial maintenance to her until she delivers the baby. After she delivers, he should pay her (for suckling) and not harm her unless he finds a woman who will suckle the baby for a cheaper price. If she (the mother) agrees to that price, then she has a greater right to suckle her own child.
- In al-Faqīh, it is related via a chain of narration from Rubʿī ibn ʿAbd Allāh and al-Fuḍayl ibn Yasār regarding this verse: whoever has his means of subsistence straitened to him, let him spend out of that which God has given him ()
If he can take care of her bare necessities for food and clothing. If he cannot, they should separate.
Author’s comment: This is also narrated from him in Al-Kāfī with a chain of narration from Abū Baṣīr.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, it says regarding and (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden ():
The waiting period for a pregnant divorced woman continues until she delivers what is in her womb. If she delivers it on the day that her husband divorces her, then she can remarry as soon as the post-partum bleeding has ended. If she delivers nine months later, she cannot remarry until after her delivery.
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥajjāj from Abū al-Ḥasan:
I asked him about what happens when a man divorces a woman who is pregnant, and she miscarries—either a stillbirth of a fully developed child, or an incompletely developed child, or an embryo.
He said, “As long as it is clear that her pregnancy has ended, anything she delivers marks the end of her ʿiddah, whether or not it is fully formed.”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn al-Mundhir from Mughīrah:
I told al-Shaʿbī, “I cannot believe that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib used to say that the ʿiddah of a widow is the longer of the two time spans.”
He replied, “No; rather, you should believe it more firmly than anything else, since ʿAlī used to say that the verse and (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden () is about divorced women (not widows).”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from ʿAbd al-Razzāq from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah:
Abu ʿAmr ibn Ḥafṣ al-Mughīrah went to Yemen with ʿAlī, and wrote to his wife Fāṭimah bint Qays telling her that he had divorced her. This was her last divorce (that is, it was the third time that he had divorced her.) He ordered al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām and ʿAbbās ibn Abī Rabīʿah to pay maintenance to her, but they left her to her own devices and told her, “By God! You will receive no maintenance unless you are pregnant.” (And she was not pregnant.)
So she went to the Prophet and told him what had happened. He told her, “You do not receive financial maintenance.” She asked for permission to move (out of her former husband’s house), and he granted that.
Marwān wrote to her asking her about what had happened. After she told him, Marwān said, “I have never heard of such a thing, not from about one woman. May we be protected from what the people are doing!”
Fāṭimah said, “Between me and you is the book of God, the Mighty and Glorious.” (She recited:) “Do not drive them out of their houses” until she reached “unless they commit an open indecency” and then continued to “You do not know; perhaps God will bring something new to pass thereafter” ().
Then she said, “This is about a woman whose husband can still take her back. But what about a woman who has received the third divorce? And how are you all saying ‘you will not receive any financial maintenance unless you are pregnant’ while you are going to imprison her and leave her to herself (during the ʿiddah) until she has the (final) period and it finishes? If she menstruates, her ʿiddah is three cycles, and if she does not menstruate, then her ʿiddah is three months. And if she is pregnant, then her ʿiddah is until she delivers. If, before the end of her ʿiddah, her husband wants to take her back, two men can bear witness to this. God says: And call to witness two men of justice from among you () when there is a divorce and when a man takes back his wife. Then, if she returns to him, she can stay with him for two more pronouncements of divorce. If he does not take her back, then her ʿiddah finishes at the last pronouncement of divorce, and she can do what she likes with herself, and marry whoever she pleases, either him or someone else.”
Meaning, the verse is saying to wash when you are about to pray, not after you have already started the prayer. The grammatical construction is the same in both verses. (Trans.) ↩︎
Badal, i.e. replacing one term with another term to introduce and focus on the second. (Trans.) ↩︎
ʿAllāmah appears to be conceptualizing the home as the property of the husband, and therefore explaining why the Qur’an might instead refer to the home as belonging to the wife. (Trans.) ↩︎
The word maʿrūf, here translated as “kindness” as per the Shakir’s translation of the Qur’an, also relates to the word ʿurf, which means both “kindness” and “common custom.” (Trans.) ↩︎
This is related from Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq in his Muṣannaf, Aḥmad, ʿAbd ibn Ḥamīd, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhīr, Abū Yaʿlā, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan. ↩︎
Translator’s note: According to Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, he had captured these goats from the enemy, but was unsure whether or not he was allowed to keep the goats. ↩︎
This is related from Abū Yaʿlā, Abū Nuʿaym, and al-Daylamī, through ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Ibn ʿAbbās. ↩︎
This is related from al-Ḥākim (who authenticated it), Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī. ↩︎
This is related from Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Ṭabarānī, and al-Khaṭīb. ↩︎
Translator’s note: “Abū al-Ḥasan” here likely refers to Imām al-Kāẓim but could refer to Imām al-Riḍā. ↩︎
Translator’s note: That is, her ʿiddah lasts for either four months and ten days, or—if she is pregnant—until her pregnancy completes; whichever is longer. This is in contradistinction to the four main Sunni schools of law, which hold that the ʿiddah of a pregnant woman who loses her husband ends after her pregnancy completes, even if it is shorter than four months and ten days. ↩︎
Translator’s note: It seems he is shocked that the Prophet allowed her to move out of her former husband’s home. ↩︎