Verses 1–9
Introduction
This chapter begins by referring to what transpired between the Prophet and some of his wives in the story about forbidding (taḥrīm). It admonishes the Prophet for forbidding himself what God had allowed him in order to please some of his wives, thereby implying criticism of those wives and vindicating the Prophet, as the context of the verses indicates.
Then, it tells the faithful to guard themselves from divine punishment—the fire whose fuel is men and stones. They will only be recompensed for their deeds. None will be saved from it except the Prophet and those who believed along with him. Then it tells the Prophet to fight against those who reject faith (the kuffār) and the hypocrites.
The chapter concludes by presenting examples of faithless and faithful women. The context indicates that the chapter is doubtlessly Medinan.
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ لِمَ تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكَ تَبْتَغِي مَرْضَاتَ أَزْوَاجِكَ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ١
(66:1) O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you; you seek to please your wives; and God is Forgiving, Merciful?
This address is tinged with censure of the Prophet for forbidding himself something which God had allowed him. However, it does not clarify what that thing was, apart from the fact that it was because you seek to please your wives. This signals that it was something allowable which the Prophet was doing, but which his wives did not like. Therefore, they gave him a hard time and irked him until he assuaged them by taking an oath to stop doing it and not to ever do it again.
O Prophet!: By addressing the Prophet as a “prophet” (nabī) rather than as a “messenger” (rasūl), it indicates that it is speaking to the Prophet about a personal matter pertaining to him directly, not anything relating to his mission as a messenger.
Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you: “Forbidding” here means making something unlawful through swearing an oath not to do it, as indicated by the second verse: God indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths (). The apparent meaning of the verse is that the Prophet took an oath not to do something, similar to the type of oath known as the yamīn, which one must comply with: either one swears to do something, and must do it, or swears not to do something. Here, the Prophet swore not to do something which God had allowed him to do, thereby forbidding himself what God had allowed him through an oath.
“Forbidding” (taḥrīm) here does not mean that the Prophet legislated a lawful thing as unlawful for himself in a shari‘ah sense; it would not be his place to do that.
You seek to please your wives: Meaning, you seek to please them through forbidding this. This clause is either an equivalent expression (badal) for you forbid… (tuḥarrimu…, ) or a clause (ḥāl) describing its subject. It conveys that the censure is really directed at the wives—something emphasized by If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this)… () along with and God is Forgiving, Merciful ().
قَدْ فَرَضَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ تَحِلَّةَ أَيْمَانِكُمْ وَاللَّهُ مَوْلاكُمْ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ ٢
(66:2) God indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths and God is your Protector, and He is the Knowing the Wise.
Al-Rāghib says:
The expression faraḍā Allāh ʿalā (“God has ordained upon”) (in the Qur’an) denotes an obligation for all Muslims, including the Prophet. The expression faraḍa Allāhu li- (“God has ordained for”) indicates that the Prophet may not disallow himself the act in question, as in there is no harm in the Prophet doing that which Allah has ordained for him (faraḍa Allāhu lahu, ) and God indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths (faraḍa Allāhu lakum, ).
The word taḥillah (“dissolving (an oath),” “allowing”) comes from the word taḥallulah. It takes the same form as tadhkirah and takrīmah; the verbal noun of this root is taḥlīl (“dissolving,” “allowing”). Al-Rāghib explains: And His statement, God indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths means He has clarified the means by which the binding of your oaths can be undone through expiation (kaffārah).
It means: God has decreed for you—as if He has decreed a stroke of luck for them (the Muslims) when He did not forbid them from breaking oaths (ʿuqdat al-yamīn)—that you may nullify your oaths through atonement (kaffārah). God is your caring guardian (walī) who manages your affairs through legislation and guidance, since He is omniscient and wise.
The verse indicates that the Prophet had sworn not to do something, but that he has now been commanded to rescind that oath.
وَإِذْ أَسَرَّ النَّبِيُّ إِلَى بَعْضِ أَزْوَاجِهِ حَدِيثًا فَلَمَّا نَبَّأَتْ بِهِ وَأَظْهَرَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ عَرَّفَ بَعْضَهُ وَأَعْرَضَ عَن بَعْضٍ فَلَمَّا نَبَّأَهَا بِهِ قَالَتْ مَنْ أَنبَأَكَ هَذَا قَالَ نَبَّأَنِيَ الْعَلِيمُ الْخَبِيرُ ٣
(66:3) And when the Prophet secretly communicated (asarra) a piece of information to one of his wives—but when she informed (others) of it (nabbaʾat bihi), and God made him to know it (aẓharahu Allāhu ʿalayhi), he made known (ʿarrafa baʿḍahu) part of it and avoided (aʿraḍa) part; so when he informed her of it, she said: Who informed you of this (hādhā)? He said: The Knowing, the one Aware, informed me.
Sirr means “a secret that one keeps to one’s self.” Isrār means “to confide a secret to someone else while urging them to keep it secret.” The pronoun which is the subject of the verb nabbaʾat (“she informed”) refers to one of his wives (baʿḍ-i azwājihi). The pronoun -hi in bihi (“of it”) refers to what the Prophet told her secretly. The pronoun -hu in aẓharahu (God made him to know it) refers to the Prophet. The pronoun -hi in ʿalayhi refers to her telling the secret to someone else. The pronoun which is the subject of the verb ʿarrafa (he made known) and aʿraḍa ((he) avoided) refers to the Prophet. The pronoun -hu in baʿḍahu (part of it) refers to the conversation about the secret. The pronoun hādhā (this) refers to what she told someone else, when she spilled the secret.
The upshot of what happened is: The Prophet told a secret to one of his wives—namely, Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—and urged her to keep it secret. However, she told it to someone else, against the Prophet’s wishes. God informed the Prophet that she had told someone else the secret; he had told her about some of it but not all. When the Prophet told her about this, she asked him, “Who told you that I told the secret?” The Prophet said, “The One who is Knowing and Aware told me this; God knows what is secret and what is manifest, and is aware of all secrets.”
إِن تَتُوبَا إِلَى اللَّهِ فَقَدْ صَغَتْ قُلُوبُكُمَا وَإِن تَظَاهَرَا عَلَيْهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ مَوْلاهُ وَجِبْرِيلُ وَصَالِحُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمَلائِكَةُ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ ظَهِيرٌ ٤
(66:4) If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this) (ṣaghat qulūbukummā); and if you back up each other against him, then surely God it is Who is his Guardian, and Gabriel and the righteous one among the faithful ones, and the angels after that are the aide.
This means: If you two repent to God, then you will have carried out the repentance that is incumbent upon both of you. However, if you unite against him, (know that) God it is Who is his Guardian….
Narrations concur that the two were ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah, two of the wives of the Messenger of God.
Ṣaghw means “to incline.” Here, it means to incline towards falsehood, away from rectitude. When they vexed the Prophet and united against him, they committed a major sin, since God says: Surely (as for) those who vex Allah and His Messenger, God has cursed them in this world and the hereafter, and He has prepared for them a chastisement bringing disgrace (); And there are some of them who vex the Prophet and say: He is one who believes every thing that he hears; say: A hearer of good for you (who) believes in Allah and believes the faithful and a mercy for those of you who believe; and (as for) those who molest the Messenger of Allah, they shall have a painful punishment. ()
‘Hearts’ in the phrase, your two hearts (qulūbukummā) is in the plural but refers to their two hearts (not more than two hearts). This is a common grammatical construction.
And if you back up each other against him (taẓaharā), then surely God it is Who is his Guardian: Taẓahur means “to help each other.” It (is a shorted form of) the original word tataẓāharā. The pronoun ‘Who’ (huwa) in “surely it is God Who is his Guardian indicates that God—exalted be He—has a special care for the Prophet. He will assist him and directly look after his affairs, without any creature as an intermediary. A ‘Guardian’ (mawlā) is the one who looks after one’s affairs and aids him against those who wish ill towards him.
‘Gabriel’ (Jibrīl) is appended to God, and ‘the righteous among the believers’ is appended in a manner like Gabriel. What is meant by ‘the righteous among the believers,’ as (some exegetes have) understood, are the virtuous ones from among the believers. Therefore, ‘the righteous among the believers’ is singular but is intended to refer to the collective, as in the saying: ‘This righteous person among the people does not do this,’ meaning the category as a whole. It is similar to saying: ‘None who are righteous among them do it,’ and akin to saying: ‘I was among those conversing (using sing. pronoun al-sāmir) and among those present (using sing. pronoun al-ḥāḍir).’
In this context, the way ‘the righteous among the believers’ is phrased differs from the phrase, ‘the righteous one of the believers’ and does not covey the same meaning. The former phrase could convey a sense of referring to the entire group (of righteous believers).
Sunni narrations from the Prophet and Shi‘i narrations from the Imams say that the righteous one among the faithful is ʿAlī; we shall discuss them, God willing.
There are other views about this expression, but we have overlooked them here since they are unsupported.
And the angels after that are the aide (ẓahīr): The singular form aide (ẓahīr) is employed to denote the angels’ collective and unified support, standing together in a single rank. Their mention following the guardianship of Allah, Gabriel, and the righteous among the believers serves to emphasize their exalted status and the significance of their role.
The tone of these verses is unusual, since they inform the Prophet about those who mistreated him and wished ill for him, and threaten those who united against him. However, the Prophet is addressed first and censured for forbidding himself something which God had allowed. It indicates that he should break his oath and promises to support him, even though this is done in the guise of censure.
Then it shifts person and addresses the faithful, saying: And when the Prophet secretly communicated (asarra) a piece of information to one of his wives… (). This alludes to what had happened, although the details are omitted. Already, even before alluding to the story, God had backed the Prophet; telling the story in an obfuscated manner is a further way in which God backs the Prophet.
Then, it shifts person again. Previously, it had been addressing the faithful; now it addresses the two wives, declaring that their hearts had slipped due to their deed. Rather than commanding them to repent for their sin, it declares that they really stand before two choices: either they can both repent, or else (they should know that) the Prophet is supported by God—who is his guardian—Gabriel, the righteous among the faithful, and the angels after that. Then it expresses the hope that, should he divorce them, God would grant him better wives.
After that, it commands the Prophet to fight those who reject faith (the kuffār) and the hypocrites severely.
It concludes by presenting the examples of two faithless women and two faithful women.
In this chapter, God moves along the discussion after laying out their situation in If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this); and if you back up each other against him…. Then God demonstrates the situation of the faithful and the faithless: O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families... (); O you who disbelieve! Do not urge excuses... (); O you who believe! Turn to God… (); O Prophet! Strive hard… (); God sets forth an example to those who disbelieve… (); And God sets forth an example to those who believe… ()
عَسَى رَبُّهُ إِن طَلَّقَكُنَّ أَن يُبْدِلَهُ أَزْوَاجًا خَيْرًا مِّنكُنَّ مُسْلِمَاتٍ مُّؤْمِنَاتٍ قَانِتَاتٍ تَائِبَاتٍ عَابِدَاتٍ سَائِحَاتٍ ثَيِّبَاتٍ وَأَبْكَارًا ٥
(66:5) Maybe, his Lord, if he divorces you, will give him in your place wives better than you, submissive, faithful, obedient, penitent, adorers, fasters, widows and virgins.
This signifies Divine self-sufficiency (that is, God is needless of them). Although the Prophet’s wives may possess the distinction of being married to the Prophet, true nobility with God is attained through piety, as God has stated: ‘Surely God has prepared for the doers of good among you (minkunna, the wives of the Prophet) a mighty reward’ (). Pay attention to ‘among you’ (minkunna) in this context. Furthermore, He declares: ‘O wives of the Prophet! Whoever of you commits an open indecency, the punishment shall be increased to her doubly; and this is easy to God. And whoever of you is obedient to Allah and His Messenger and does good, We will give to her, her reward doubly, and We have prepared for her an honorable sustenance’ ().
For that reason, after declaring that God is self-sufficient, it proceeds to present the pleasant possibility that, should the Prophet divorce them, they would be substituted by better wives. The predicate rests on the noble traits of these new wives that are mentioned: that is, they are Muslim, faithful, devoutly obedient, penitent, worshipful, fasting (sāʾiḥāt), and either virgin or otherwise.
If the Prophet were to marry a woman with all those qualities, she would be better than them. Her superiority would really be due to two qualities—devout obedience (qunūt) and penitence. Or it could just be due to devout obedience, since the other qualities could be shared, but devout obedience is a precondition for obedience (to God), along with humility.
This understanding is supported by the example of Mary later in the chapter. She is described as “devoutly obedient”—and she was of the obedient ones (). This devout obedience is what these two wives lacked, whereas obeying the Prophet is essential to obeying God, along with fearing to cross or vex the Prophet.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it is clear that the following exegetical view is invalid. That is, some exegetes hold that when this verse speaks of wives being “better,” it means that his present wives are better than any previous wives that he had divorced, who would then no longer have had the immeasurable honor of having been married to him.
However, if the criterion in the verse for being “better” were just being married to the Prophet, as opposed to being divorced from him, then all of his wives would share that trait equally, and there would be no place for the noble qualities which the verse enumerates.
Tafsīr al-Kashshāf says:
Question: Why were all the qualities (for the wives) listed one after another, without any conjunctions, apart from “virgin and otherwise”?
Answer: Because these latter two qualities are antonyms; a single person cannot possess both at once, unlike the other qualities.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلائِكَةٌ غِلاظٌ شِدَادٌ لا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ ٦
(66:6) O you who believe! Save (qū) yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel (waqūduhā) is men and stones; over it are angels stern and strong, they do not disobey God in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded.
The verb qū is the imperative form of wiqāyah (“safeguarding”) and means to protect something from distress or harm. Waqūd (with an a after the w) are the things that one uses to kindle a fire, such as wood or other things.
The fire is hell, and the people punished in it are its firewood. It means that the people themselves will be set alight, as in the verse: Then in the fire they shall be burned ().
This and the next verse (O you who disbelieve!... , ) lend support to the idea that deeds are embodied in the hereafter. Stones has been interpreted to mean “idols.”
Over it are angels stern (ghilāẓ) and strong (shidād), they do not disobey God in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded: Stern, strong angels have been appointed to administer various types of punishment to the deserving.
Ghilāẓ is the plural of ghalīẓ, which is the antonym of “delicate” (raqīq). It most befits the situation to say that they are called ghalīẓ because they have a harsh job, similar to how the word aghluẓ is used in the verse: strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be hard against them (aghluẓ ʿalayhim, ). Shidād is the plural of shadīd, meaning “strong in resolve and deed.”
They do not disobey God in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded: This seems to elaborate on stern and strong, meaning that they staunchly dole out the punishments that has God commanded and do not disobey Him or refuse. Rather, they do what they have been commanded to do unceasingly, without omissions or lapses due to weakness, for they are stern and strong.
From this, it is clear that they do not disobey God in what He commands them means that they strictly adhere to their responsibilities, and (they) do as they are commanded describes how exactingly they carry out their tasks. The two sentences do not mean the same thing, as some exegetes say.
About the end of the verse, Tafsīr al-Kabīr says:
This indicates that, in the hereafter, angels will be charged with responsibilities (similar to how humans are in the world). They will be given divine commands and prohibitions, which they could violate.
However, the problem with this view is that this verse, and others, describe the angels as absolutely obedient, never disobeying God in any way whatsoever. This encompasses both the world and the hereafter. Therefore, nothing indicates that they will be charged with responsibilities in the hereafter.
Furthermore, the way the angels are charged with responsibility (taklīf) differs from humans. Among humans, being a mukallif (the one awarding responsibility, God) and mukallaf (the one made responsible, the human) is closely tied into divine reward and punishment, due to free will and the possibility of obeying or disobeying. However, the angels have an inherently pure essence, made of light. They only will what God wills, and only do what they are commanded. God says: Nay! they are honored servants. They do not precede Him in speech and (only) according to His commandment do they act (). Therefore, they are not rewarded or punished for their deeds, since they are obligated to obey on a creational level, not a legislative level, in accordance with their varying degrees. God says: There is no one who lacks an assigned place () and And we do not descend but by the command of your Lord; to Him belongs whatever is before us and whatever is behind us… ().
This verse addresses a general audience whereas the previous verses were specific, scolding the wives of the Prophet through revealing how they had wronged the Prophet and the ill effect of that. It urges the faithful, as a group, to discipline themselves and their families to guard themselves against the fire fuelled by those entering it, meaning that their misdeeds will cling to them and revisit them as a fire, tormenting them, with no saviour and no escape.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لا تَعْتَذِرُوا الْيَوْمَ إِنَّمَا تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ٧
(66:7) O you who disbelieve! Do not urge excuses today; you shall be rewarded only according to what you did.
This addresses the faithless as a group. After they have been recompensed by the fire, they shall proffer excuses for their faithlessness and disobedience. However, they shall be told that there are no excuses today, since it is the day of recompense on which each soul will receive what they had done, meaning that the punishment they are enduring is their misdeeds, the reality of which has now been laid bare to them. Since they have committed them, these deeds have stuck to them, and reality cannot be changed, nor can the decree of punishment be annulled. This is the apparent meaning of what they are told.
Some exegetes say that (they are told) do not urge excuses today after they enter the fire, since offering excuses is a form of repentance, and repentance cannot be accepted after someone enters the fire. However, they are but recompensed as their deeds require, in wisdom.
Given that this verse follows the previous verses, with their harsh warnings, it lends the sense that disobeying God and His messenger could be considered faithlessness (kufr).
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا عَسَى رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُكَفِّرَ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَيُدْخِلَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ يَوْمَ لا يُخْزِي اللَّهُ النَّبِيَّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ نُورُهُمْ يَسْعَى بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا إِنَّكَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ٨
(66:8) O you who believe! Turn to God a sincere turning (tawbatan naṣūḥan); maybe your Lord will remove from you your evil and cause you to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, on the day on which God will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him; their light shall run on before them and on their right hands; they shall say: Our Lord! make perfect for us our light, and grant us forgiveness, surely Thou hast power over all things.
Naṣḥ means “seeking a better deed or word which is wholesome for the doer or speaker.” It also means “sincerity,” such as in the expression naṣaḥtu lahu al-wudd, meaning to sincerely mean well and have goodwill towards someone; this is according to what al-Rāghib has said. A sincere turning (al-tawbah al-naṣūḥ) is a form of repentance which turns the doer away from the misdeed permanently, saving them from ever returning to it; therefore, they never do it again.
It first commands the faithful to guard themselves and their families against the fire and then enjoins them to repentance. As a consequence, they may have hope that God will cover their misdeeds and bring them into gardens beneath which rivers flow.
On the day on which God will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him: Al-Rāghib says in brief:
The verb khizy can be used intransitively (“he was abased,” “he felt ashamed”) or transitively (“he humbled someone else,” “he vanquished someone else”). It is similar to the verb ʿalima, yaʿlamu and connotes degradation. When used for one’s self, it refers to intense shame; the verbal noun for this is khazāyah. When it is used for someone else, it means to humiliate that person; the verbal noun for this is khizy. The verbal noun ikhzāʾ is used for both khizāyah and khizy.
Something similar can be said about the words dhull and hawn. Hawn is used for an inner feeling. Hawn and dhull, when applied to one’s self, can be praiseworthy (such as inner humility). Hūn (“disgrace,” “abasement”) is done to someone else, and when hūn and dhull are done to someone else, it carries a negative connotation.
The day is an adverb describing what came previously. It means: Repent to God; possibly He shall cover your misdeeds and bring you into a garden on the day when none shall be humiliated and God shall not dishonor the Prophet through depriving them of generosity nor break the beauteous promise which He has promised.
The Prophet and those who believe with him: The expression with here refers to those who had faith in this world and who, therefore, necessarily, adhered to and obeyed the Prophet, never disobeying or antagonizing him.
Alternatively, it is possible that those who believe is the subject of the sentence, and with him is the predicate, while their light shall run on is a second predicate and they shall say… is a third predicate. In this case, it would mean that they never separate from the Prophet, neither in this world nor during the resurrection. This is a good view. A corollary of this interpretation is that the Prophet, specifically, is the one who would never be disgraced, and those whose light runs ahead and who ask for it to be perfected are, specifically, those who believed with him. This view is supported by a verse in Sūrah al-Ḥadīd, which shall be presented soon.
Possibly, also, with is connected to those who believe, and their light shall run on is the first predicate, while the second predicate is the relative pronoun.
Their light shall run on before them and on their right hands: Similar ideas have been discussed before, such as regarding the day you see the faithful men and women, their light running before them, and on their right hands (Sūrah al-Ḥadīd, ). It is not unlikely that the light running before them is the light of faith and the light on their right hands is the light of their deeds.
They shall say: Our Lord! make perfect for us our light, and grant us forgiveness, surely Thou hast power over all things: From the context, it can be understood that the forgiveness they are seeking perfects their light, or else that this is a precondition for perfecting their light. Therefore, there are some gaps in their light, which is the light of faith and the light of their deeds. This light has gaps in reverse proportion to their degrees of faith, as well as in proportion to their misdeeds which have left some spots empty in the their books of deeds which should have recorded their acts of servitude (towards God). Therefore, they beseech their Lord to perfect their light for them and forgive them. This is alluded to in the verse: And (as for) those who believe in God and His messengers, these it is that are the truthful and the faithful ones in the sight of their Lord: they shall have their reward and their light… ().
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ جَاهِدِ الْكُفَّارَ وَالْمُنَافِقِينَ وَاغْلُظْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَمَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ ٩
(66:9) O Prophet! Strive hard against (jāhid) the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be hard against them; and their abode is hell; and evil is the resort.
Jihād means to put forth effort to reform a matter and to defend against harm. When used here with respect to the unbelievers, it means to proclaim the truth: if they believe, (then they believe), and if not, then fight. When used with respect to the hypocrites, it means to try to appease them, until their hearts settle on faith. If that does not happen, the Prophet never warred against hypocrites.
Some exegetes say that and be hard against them (ashdud ʿalayhim) mean to uphold the laws of punishment (ḥudūd) because, in that time, these punishments were mostly applied to the hypocrites.
However, you can see that this latter view is unsuitable.
Examining narrations
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, it is related via a chain of narration from Ibn Sayyār from Imām al-Ṣādiq regarding O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you; you seek to please your wives ():
ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah found the Prophet with Māriyah. (After they objected,) the Prophet said, “By God, I will not be intimate with her (again),” so God commanded him to make expiation for his oath.
- In Al-Kāfī, via a chain of narration from Zūrārah:
I asked Imām al-Bāqir about a man who tells his wife, “You are forbidden to me.”
He said, “If I were in charge, I would have clapped him on the head and told him, ‘God has permitted her to you, so how is it your place to make her unlawful to you? He has lied greatly, through swearing that what God has prohibited him is forbidden. This neither triggers divorce nor requires expiation (kaffārah).’”
I said, “What about the verse O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you ()—didn’t God instruct the Prophet to pay expiation (kaffārah)?”
He said, “He forbade his slave-girl, Māriyah the Copt, to himself, and swore he would not be intimate with her. God required the Prophet to pay expiation for swearing the oath, not for forbidding her from him.”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related that Ibn ʿAbbās said:
When he was with (his wife) Sawdah, the Prophet used to drink a beverage made of honey.
When he went to ʿĀʾishah, she said, “There is a smell coming from you.”
Then, when he went to Ḥafṣah, she said, “There is a smell coming from you.”
He said, “This must be due to the beverage I drank at Sawdah’s. By God, I will never drink it again.”
Then God revealed O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you… ().
Author’s comment: This hadith is narrated through various chains and in different wordings. However, it does not fit with this verse, which discusses a single event.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related that Ibn ʿAbbās said:
ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah were fast friends. When Ḥafṣah went to her father’s house to speak to him, the Prophet sent for his slave-girl, who stayed with him in Ḥafṣah’s house. That was on ʿĀʾishah’s day. When she found the two of them in her house, she waited for her to leave, enflamed with jealousy. After the Prophet sent his slave-girl away, Ḥafṣah entered and said, “I saw who was with you. By God, you have wronged me.”
The Prophet said, “By God, I will make you happy and will tell you a secret, if you promise to keep it.”
She said, “What?”
He said, “I take you as my witness and swear that my slave-girl is now forbidden to me. (I am swearing this) in order to please you.”
So Ḥafṣah went to ʿĀʾishah and confided in her that she should rejoice, since the Prophet had forbidden his girl to himself.
After she told the Prophet’s secret, God revealed to him: O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you ().
Author’s comment: There is somewhat of a mismatch between this account and the verses, especially the part which says he made known part of it and avoided part.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, al-Ṭabarānī and Ibn Mardawayh relate that Ibn ʿAbbās said about And when the Prophet secretly communicated a piece of information to one of his wives ():
Ḥafṣah entered her house while the Prophet was there, lying with Māriyah. The Messenger of God told her, “Do not tell ʿĀʾishah about this and I will give you some good news: your father will hold command after Abū Bakr after I die.”
Ḥafṣah went and told ʿĀʾishah. ʿĀʾishah said to the Prophet, “Who informed you of this ()?”
The Prophet told her, “The Knowing, the one Aware, informed me ().”
ʿĀʾishah said, “I will not look at you until you forbid Mariyah to yourself,” so the Prophet forbade her to himself, and God revealed, “O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself)… ()?”
Author’s comment: There are many narrations on this topic, but they differ from each other. Many of them say that the Prophet forbade Māriyah from himself because of what Ḥafṣah said, not because of what ʿĀʾishah said, and that the one who said to the Prophet “Who informed you of this ()?” was Ḥafṣah—meaning, “Who told you that I spilled your secret?”—not ʿĀʾishah.
Nevertheless, he made known part of it and avoided part () is still unclear.
True, Ibn Mardawayh narrates that ʿAlī said, “No honorable person would ever investigate because God says he made known part of it and avoided part (663).” It is also related from Abū Ḥātim from Mujāhid and Ibn Mardawayh from Ibn ʿAbbās: “What was made known was what happened with Māriyah, and what was kept secret was what he said: ‘Your father and her father shall lead the people after me.’ This was kept secret out of fear that it would be spread.”
However, there is a problem with this—it would not be respectful towards the Prophet for people to know what he said about swearing off Māriyah (a private matter) but to be kept in the dark about what he told her about the next two leaders (a public matter). Rather, it should have been the reverse.
Some narrate the reason for the revelation of this verse via a chain of narration from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, but do not mention this. In the compilations of hadith, like al-Bukhārī, Muslim, or al-Tirmidhī, it is related that Ibn ʿAbbās said:
I kept wanting to ask ʿUmar about the two wives of the Prophet whom God mentions in: If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this) (). Finally, ʿUmar and I were performing hajj together. While we were on the way, ʿUmar took a detour off the path, so I took my waterskin and went after him. After he had answered the call of nature and came back to me, I poured water over his hands, and he washed (or performed wuḍūʾ). Then I said, “O Commander of the Faithful, who were the two wives of the Prophet mentioned in If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this) ()?”
He said, “How strange, Ibn ʿAbbās (that you should ask this)! They were ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah.” Then he began recounting to me what had happened.
(ʿUmar said:) “We Quraysh used to have the upper hand over our women. When we came to Medina, we found a people ruled by their women. Then our women began to learn from their women.
“One day, I got angry at my wife for talking back to me, and I didn’t like her doing that. She said, ‘Why don’t you like that? By God, the wives of the Prophet used to speak their mind to him, and sometimes one of them would stay away from him for the whole day until nighttime.’
“I said, ‘Whichever one of them did that is ruined!’”
“He (ʿUmar) said, “My house was in the highlands (of Medina; the ʿAwālī area). I had a neighbor who was one of the Helpers (anṣār). We used to take turns going down to the Messenger of God. One day, he would go and bring me news of the revelation and other things. Another day, I would do the same.
“We used to say that the Ghassān tribe was shoeing their horses in preparation for battle. Then, one day, someone rapped on the door. I went out, and he said, ‘Something serious has happened.’
“I said, ‘Have the Ghassān come?’
“He said, ‘More serious than that. The Messenger of God has divorced his wives.’
“I told myself, ‘Ḥafṣah has lost out; Ḥafṣah is ruined!’ I used to think that that might happen.
“After we prayed the morning prayer, I got dressed and went to Ḥafṣah’s. She was crying. I said, ‘Has the Mesenger of God divorced you all?’
“She said, ‘I don’t know. He has been keeping to himself upstairs (or outdoors, in his mashrubah).’
“I fetched a young black servant, then told him, ‘Ask (the Prophet) for permission for ʿUmar (to come in).’
“He went in, then came out, and said, ‘I told him that you are here, but he did not say anything.’
“So I went to the mosque. A group of people had gathered around the mosque and were crying. I sat with them. However, I couldn’t handle it, so I went back to the servant and told him, ‘Ask permission (from the Prophet) for ʿUmar (to come see him).’
“He went in, then came out, and said, ‘I told him that you are here, but he did not say anything.’
“I turned to leave, when he called me. ‘Come in! He has granted you permission.’
“So I entered. The Prophet was resting on a straw mat, which had left marks on his side. I said, ‘O Messenger of God! Have you divorced your wives?’
“He said, ‘No.’
“I said, ‘God is the greatest! O Messenger of God! Had you but seen us Quraysh, we used to have the upper hand over our women. But when we came to Medina, we found a people ruled by their women, and our women learned from their women. One day, I got angry at my wife because she talked back to me, and I disliked that. She asked, ‘Why are you upset? By God, the wives of the Prophet speak their minds to him, and he stays away from them all day until the nighttime.’ I told her, ‘Whichever of them has done this has lost out.’ Then I went to Ḥafṣah and asked, ‘Did one of you talk back to the Messenger of God, and stay away from him all day until nighttime?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Whichever one of you has done that has lost out and is ruined! Can any of you be sure that God will not be angry with you because you have angered the Messenger of God? If that happens, you are doomed!’
“The Messenger of God smiled.
“I told Ḥafṣah, ‘Do not talk back to the Messenger of God, and do not ask him for anything. Ask me for whatever comes to your mind. Do not be fooled; your sister-wife is more beautiful and more beloved to the Messenger of God than you.’ (That is, she can get away with this, but you can’t.)
“He smiled again.
“I said, ‘O Messenger of God, can I make myself comfortable?’
“He said, ‘Yes.’
“I raised my head and saw there was nothing in the house but three hides. I said, ‘O Messenger of God, beseech God to bestow prosperity upon your community, as He did to the Persians and Romans, who do not even worship God.’
“He sat up and said, ‘Are you in doubt, O Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb? They are a people whose delicacies rushed to them in this world (instead of remaining for them in the hereafter).’ He had sworn to stay away from his wives for a month. So God admonished him about that and had him pay expiation for his oath.”
Author’s comment: The same idea is related in detail and in brief, through various chains of narration. As you see, the narration does not say which of his wives the Prophet confided in, or what was spoken of and what was kept back. This is of importance.
Additionally, this narration says that the Prophet swore off all of his wives. However, that does not match the verse. Additionally, God follows Why do you forbid (yourself) that which God has made lawful for you; you seek to please your wives () with If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this); and if you back up each other against him… () However, this narration does not say which two are referred to or what they had to repent for.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, it is related through a chain of narration from Abū Baṣīr that Imām al-Bāqir said:
If you both turn to God, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this); and if you back up each other against him, then surely God it is Who is his Guardian, and Gabriel and the righteous one among the faithful ones (): The righteous one among the faithful (ṣāliḥ al-muʾminīn) is ʿAlī.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn Mardawayh from Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays:
I heard the Messenger of God say, “The righteous one among the faithful (ṣāliḥ al-muʾminīn) is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.”
Author’s comment: After presenting the previous narration from Abū Baṣīr, the author of (Tafsīr) al-Burhān says that Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbās has mentioned fifty-two narrations with a similar meaning, through both Sunni and Shi‘i chains of narration. Then he presents a selection of them.
- In Al-Kāfī, via a chain of narration from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, the retainer (mawlā) of Āl Sām, it is related that Imām al-Ṣādiq said:
When this verse was revealed—O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fire ()—one of the believers sat down, crying, and said, “I am unable to do anything for myself, and now I have to do something for my family.”
The Messenger of God said, “It suffices if you command them to do what you yourself do, and forbid them from what you forbid yourself from.”
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from Samāʿah from Abū Baṣīr regarding save yourselves and your families from a fire ():
I said, “How should I save them?”
He said, “Command them to do what God has commanded, and forbid them from what God has forbidden. If they obey you, you will have saved them. And if they disobey you, you will have fulfilled your responsibility.”
Author’s comment: He related this via another chain of narration from Dharʿah from Abū Baṣīr from one of the Imams.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said regarding the verse: save yourselves and your families from a fire ():
Teach yourselves and your family about what is good, and discipline them.
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn Mardawayh that Zayd ibn Aslam said:
The Messenger of God recited this verse: save yourselves and your families from a fire ().
They said, “O Messenger of God! How do we save our families from the fire?”
He said, “Command them to do what God loves, and forbid them from doing what God hates.”
- In Al-Kāfī, via a chain of narration from Abū al-Ṣabāḥ al-Kanānī, it says:
I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh about the verse: O you who believe! Turn to God a sincere turning ().
He said, “The servant (of God) repents from his sin, then does not repeat it.”
Muḥammad ibn al-Fuḍayl said, “‘I asked Abū al-Ḥasan about it and he said, “He repents from his sin and does not return to it….”’”
- In Al-Durr al-manthūr, it is related from Ibn Mardawayh that Ibn ʿAbbās said:
Muʿādh ibn Jabal said, “O Messenger of God! What is a sincere turning (al-tawbah al-naṣūḥ, )?”
He said, “That the servant regrets his sin which he committed, apologises to God, and then does not do it again, just like milk does not return to the udder.”
Author’s comment: There are many Sunni and Shi‘i narrations with this meaning.
- In Al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration that Ṣāliḥ ibn Sahl al-Hamdāni said:
Imām al-Ṣādiq said regarding their light shall run on before them and on their right hands (): “On the Day of Resurrection, the leaders of the faithful shall run before the faithful and on their right until they bring them to the homes of the people of the garden.”
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, it is related regarding this verse via a narration from Abū al-Jārūd from Imām al-Bāqir:
Whoever has light on that day will be saved, and every believer has light.
Translator’s note: The yamīn or qasam is when someone swears an oath and thereby makes it obligatory on himself to fulfil it; otherwise, he must pay atonement (kaffārah). ↩︎
Translator’s note: That is, it is from the second form of the verb root ḥ-l-l, meaning “to dissolve a substance,” “to break an oath,” and “to permit (make ḥalāl),” among other things. ↩︎
Translator’s note: Presumably, ʿAllāmah is alluding to al-Rāghib’s explanation above, which treats the expression faraḍā lakum as allowing the Prophet to do things; or, more specifically, from disallowing him to forbid things from himself. ↩︎
Translator’s note: One of the kabāʾir; that is, an act which the Qur’an threatens to send people to hell for. ↩︎
Translator’s note: In the word qulūbukummā, “hearts” (qulūb) is in the plural, but “your two” is in the dual (kummā). ↩︎
Editor’s note: In this passage, the author employs the linguistic feature of Arabic where singular nouns can represent a broader, collective concept. This is exemplified in the usage of ‘the righteous among the believers.’ While this phrase appears singular, it is intended to denote the entire group of virtuous believers, not just an individual. This concept is further illustrated with the examples ‘the one conversing’ (al-sāmir) and ‘the one present’ (al-ḥāḍir), both singular in form but implying a collective group involved in the act of conversing or being present. ↩︎
Editor’s note: This difference is due to the unique structure of Arabic where the relation of words to each other can change their apparent meaning. In Arabic grammar, the way words are connected (like ‘of the’ or ‘among the’) can make a significant difference in interpretation, even when the individual words are similar. ↩︎
Translator’s note: For instance, it does not mention the wives’ names, or what the secret was about. ↩︎
Translator’s note: For instance, by protecting his privacy. ↩︎
That is, those who fast. (Ed.) ↩︎
Translator’s note: By Fakhr al-Rāzī (d. 1210). ↩︎
Translator’s note: Taʾlīf qulūbuhum, which could include giving them gifts. ↩︎
Translator’s note: For instance, as a formally appointed religious judge which they came to for arbitration. ↩︎
This is related from Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Ḥātim, al-Ṭabarānī, and Ibn Mardawayh through an authentic chain of narration from Ibn ʿAbbās. ↩︎
This is related from Ibn Saʿd and Ibn Mardawayh, who relate it from Ibn ʿAbbās. ↩︎
Translator’s note: Mashrubah has been interpreted to mean either (a) an upper room, like an attic, or (b) a garden in the household belonging to Māriyah. ↩︎
Translator’s note: The narration does not mention who said this, although it is implied that it is one of the Imams. ↩︎
This is related from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, al-Fāryābī, Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, ʿAbd ibn Ḥamīd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Ḥākim (who authenticated it), and al-Bayhaqī in al-Madkhal from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. ↩︎
Translator’s note: There is more related from Muḥammad ibn al-Fuḍayl, but it is not included in Tafsīr al-Mīzān here. ↩︎