58 Al-Mujadalah (The Pleading)
Medina Period [105]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قَدْ
سَمِعَ اللَّهُ
قَوْلَ الَّتِي
تُجَادِلُكَ ...
58: 1. Allah has indeed heard (and accepted) the statement of the woman ..
C5330. The immediate occasion was what happened to Khaula bint Thalaba, wife of Aus son of Samit. Though in Islam, he divorced her by an old Pagan custom: the formula was known as Zihar, and consisted of the words "Thou art to me as the back of my mother".
This was hold by Pagan custom to imply a divorce and freed the husband from any responsibility for conjugal duties. Such a custom was in any case degrading to a woman. It was particularly hard on Khaula, for she loved her husband and pleaded that she had little children whom she had no resources herself to support. She urged her plea to the Prophet and in prayer to Allah. Her just plea was accepted, and this iniquitous custom, based on false words, was abolished.
See also n. 3670 to 33:4.
... ِفي زَوْجِهَا وَتَشْتَكِي إِلَى اللَّهِ ...
.... who pleads with thee concerning her husband and carries her complaint (in prayer) to Allah:
...وَاللَّهُ يَسْمَعُ تَحَاوُرَكُمَا ...
and Allah (always) hears the arguments between both sides among you:
C5331. For He is a just God, and will not allow human customs or pretences to trample on the just rights of the weakest of His creatures.
... إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ ﴿١﴾
for Allah hears and sees (all things).
الَّذِينَ
يُظَاهِرُونَ
مِنكُم مِّن
نِّسَائِهِم
مَّا هُنَّ
أُمَّهَاتِهِمْ ...
58: 2. If any men among you divorce their wives by Zihar (calling them mothers), they cannot be their mothers:
C5332. See n. 5330 above.
...إِنْ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ إِلَّا اللَّائِي وَلَدْنَهُمْ ...
none can be their mothers except those who gave them birth.
...وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَقُولُونَ مُنكَرًا مِّنَ الْقَوْلِ وَزُورًا...
And in fact they use words (both) iniquitous and false:
C5333. Such words are false in fact and iniquitous, inasmuch as they are unfair to the wife and unseemly in decent society.
...وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌ ﴿٢﴾
but truly Allah is one that blots out (sins), and forgives (again and again).
Were it not that Allah in His Mercy makes allowances for our weaknesses and the various grades of motives that actuate us, such conduct would be inexpiable.
But He prescribes expiation as in the next verse, because He wishes to blot out what is wrong and give us a chance to reform by His forgiveness.
وَالَّذِينَ
يُظَاهِرُونَ
مِن نِّسَائِهِمْ
ثُمَّ يَعُودُونَ
لِمَا قَالُوا...
58: 3. But those who divorce their wives by Zihar, then wish to go back on the words they uttered,
C5335. If Zihar were to be ignored as if the words were never uttered, it would mean that men may foolishly resort to it without penalty. It is therefore recognised in respect of the penalty which the man incurs, but safeguards the woman's rights. She can sue for maintenance for herself. If it was a hasty act and he repented of it, he could not claim his conjugal rights until after the performance of his penalty as provided below.
If she loved him, as Khawlah’s case, she could also herself sue for conjugal rights in the legal sense of the term and compel her husband to perform the penalty and resume marital relations.
...فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَتَمَاسَّا ذَلِكُمْ تُوعَظُونَ بِهِ ...
(it is ordained that such a one) should free a slave before they touch each other: this are ye admonished to perform:
...وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ ﴿٣﴾
and Allah is well-acquainted with (all) that ye do.
فَمَن
لَّمْ يَجِدْ
فَصِيَامُ
شَهْرَيْنِ
مُتَتَابِعَيْنِ
مِن قَبْلِ أَن
يَتَمَاسَّا...
58: 4. And if any has not (the wherewithal), he should fast for two months consecutively before they touch each other.
C5336. Cf. 4:92.
The penalty is: to get a slave his freedom, whether it is your own slave or you purchase his freedom from another; if that is not possible, to fast for two months consecutively (in the manner of the Ramadan fast); if that is not possible, to feed sixty poor.
See next note.
...فَمَن لَّمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَإِطْعَامُ سِتِّينَ مِسْكِينًا ...
But if any is unable to do so, he should feed sixty indigent ones.
C5337. There is a great deal of learned argument among the jurists as to the precise requirements of Canon Law under the term "feeding" the indigent.
For example, it is laid down that half a Sa' of wheat or a full Sa' of dates or their equivalent in money would fulfil the requirements, a Sa' being a measure corresponding roughly to about 9 lbs. of wheat in weight.
Others hold that a Mudd measure equivalent to about 2 1/4 lbs. would be sufficient. This would certainly be nearer the daily ration of a man.
It is better to take the spirit of the text in its plain simplicity, and say that an indigent man should be given enough to eat for two meals a day.
The sixty indigent ones fed for a day would be equivalent to a single individual fed for sixty days, or two for thirty days, and so on. But there is no need to go into minutiae in such matters.
... ذَلِكَ لِتُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ...
This, that ye may show your faith in Allah and His Messenger.
C5338. These penalties in the alternative are prescribed, that we may show our repentance and Faith and our renunciation of "iniquity and falsehood" (verse 2 above), whatever our circumstances may be.
...وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿٤﴾
Those are limits (set by) Allah. For those who Reject (Him), there is a grievous Penalty.
C5339. It would seem that this refers to the spiritual Penalty in the Hereafter for not complying with the small penalty here prescribed. The next verse would then refer to the bigger “humiliating Penalty” for “resistance” to Allah’s Law generally.
إِنَّ
الَّذِينَ
يُحَادُّونَ
اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ
كُبِتُوا كَمَا
كُبِتَ الَّذِينَ
مِن قَبْلِهِمْ...
58: 5. Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be humbled to dust, as were those before them:
...وَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ...
for We have already sent down clear Signs.
...وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ ﴿٥﴾
And the Unbelievers (will have) a humiliating Penalty,
يَوْمَ
يَبْعَثُهُمُ
اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا
فَيُنَبِّئُهُم
بِمَا عَمِلُوا...
58: 6. On the Day that Allah will raise them all up (again) and show them the truth (and meaning) of their conduct.
C5340. This phrase, "Allah will tell them of their deeds (or their doings or their conduct)" occurs frequently. See 5:48, n. 762; (5:105), n. 811; 6:60; 9:94; etc.
In this life there is a certain mist or illusion in our spiritual sight. We see things from different angles and dispute about them; we hide real motives, and pretend to virtues which we do not possess; others may attribute such virtues to us, and we may come to believe it ourselves; we conceive likes and hatreds on insufficient grounds; we forget what we should remember, and remember what we should forget. Our vision is narrow, and our values are false. On the Day of Account all this will be remedied. Not only will true values be restored, but we shall ourselves see the inwardness of things in our own lives, which we never saw before.
...أَحْصَاهُ اللَّهُ وَنَسُوهُ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ ﴿٦﴾
Allah has reckoned its (value), though they may have forgotten it: for Allah is Witness to all things.
أَلَمْ
تَرَ أَنَّ
اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ
مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَمَا فِي
الْأَرْضِ...
58: 7. Seest thou not that Allah doth know (all) that is in the heavens and on earth?
...مَا يَكُونُ مِن نَّجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ ...
There is not a secret consultation between three, but He makes the fourth among them,
C5341. Secrecy is a relative and limited term among ourselves. There is nothing hidden or unknown to Allah. Usually secrecy implies fear or distrust, plotting or wrong-doing. But all is open before Allah's sight.
... وَلَا خَمْسَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ سَادِسُهُمْ...
nor between five but He makes the sixth,
...وَلَا أَدْنَى مِن ذَلِكَ وَلَا أَكْثَرَ إِلَّا هُوَ مَعَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كَانُوا...
nor between fewer nor more, but He is in their midst wheresoever they be:
...ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ﴿٧﴾
in the end will He tell them the truth of their conduct, on the Day of Judgment for Allah has full knowledge of all things.
أَلَمْ
تَرَ إِلَى
الَّذِينَ
نُهُوا عَنِ
النَّجْوَى ...
58: 8. Turnest thou not thy sight towards those who were forbidden secret counsels ...
C5342. When the Muslim Brotherhood was acquiring strength in Madinah and the forces of disruption were being discomfited in open fight against the Messenger of Righteousness, the wicked resorted to duplicity and secret intrigues, in which the ringleaders were the disaffected Jews and the Hypocrites, whose machinations have been frequently referred to in the Quran. e.g. see 2:8-16; and 4:142-145.
... ثُمَّ يَعُودُونَ لِمَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ...
... yet revert to that which they were forbidden (to do)?
...وَيَتَنَاجَوْنَ بِالْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَمَعْصِيَتِ الرَّسُولِ...
And they hold secret counsels among themselves for iniquity and hostility, and disobedience to the Messenger.
...وَإِذَا جَاؤُوكَ حَيَّوْكَ بِمَا لَمْ يُحَيِّكَ بِهِ اللَّهُ...
And when they come to thee, they salute thee, not as Allah salutes thee, (but in crooked ways):
C5343. The salutation of Allah was (and is) "Peace!" But the enemies, who had not the courage to fight openly often twisted the words, and by using a word like "Sam", which meant "Death!" or "Destruction!" instead of "Salam!" (Peace!), they thought they were secretly venting their spite and yet apparently using a polite form of salutation.
Cf. 2:106, and n. 107, where another similar trick is exposed.
...وَيَقُولُونَ فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ لَوْلَا يُعَذِّبُنَا اللَّهُ بِمَا نَقُولُ...
and they say to themselves, "Why does not Allah punish us for our words?"
C5344. The enemies derisively enjoyed their trick (see last note) according to their own perverted mentality. They asked blasphemously, "Why does not Allah punish us?"
The answer is given: there is a Punishment, far greater than they imagine: it will come in good time: it will be the final Punishment after Judgment: it is delayed in order to give them a chance of repentance and reformation.
...حَسْبُهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ يَصْلَوْنَهَا فَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿٨﴾
Enough for them is Hell: in it will they burn, and evil is that destination!
Asad’s Version:
BEGINNING with an allusion to the wrongs done to woman in pre-Islamic times, followed by a divine reductio ad absurdum - and thus, a prohibition - of the pagan method of divorce known as zihar (see note 1 below, as well as a fuller explanation in note 3 on 33:4), the surah proceeds to questions of faith and its absence as well as their repercussions on man's social life, to the problem of hypocrisy, and ends with a discussion of the attitude which believers should adopt towards non-believers.
The date of revelation may be placed at the beginning of the year 5 H. or, possibly, towards the end of 4 H. The customary title of this surah is based on the mention of "her who pleads" in its first verse.
In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:
58:1 GOD has indeed heard the words of her who pleads with thee concerning her husband, and complains unto God. 1 And God does hear what you both have to say: 2 verily, God is all- hearing, all-seeing.
(58:2) As for those of you who [henceforth] separate themselves from their wives by saying, "Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother", 3 [let them bear in mind that] they can never be [as) their mothers: none are their mothers save those who gave them birth: and so, behold, they but utter a saying that runs counter to reason, 4 and is (therefore) false. But, behold, God is indeed an absolver of sins, much-forgiving:
(58:3) hence, as for those who would separate themselves from their wives by saying, "Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother", and thereafter would go back on what they have said, [their atonement] shall be the freeing of a human being from bondage 5 before the couple may touch one another again: this you are [hereby] exhorted to do - for God is fully aware of all that you do. 6
58:4 However, he who does not have the wherewithal shall fast [instead] for two consecutive months 7 before the couple may touch one another again; and he who is unable to do it shall feed sixty needy ones: 8 this, so that you might prove your faith in God and His Apostle.' Now these are the bounds set by God; and grievous suffering (in the life to come) awaits all who deny the truth.
58:5 Verily, those who contend against God and His Apostle shall be brought low even as those [evildoers) who lived before them were brought low after We had bestowed [on them] clear messages from on high. 10 And [so,) for those who deny the truth there will be shameful suffering in store
(58:6) on the Day when God will raise them all from the dead and will make them truly understand all that they did [in life] : God will have taken [all of] it into account, even though they [themselves] may have forgotten it - for God is witness unto everything.
[[Asad’s notes:
1 According to the classical commentators, this is a reference to the case of Khawlah (or Khuwaylah) bint Tha'labah, whose husband Aws ibn as-Samit divorced her by pronouncing the arbitrary pre- Islamic oath known as zihar (explained in note 3 on 33:4). When she pleaded before the Prophet against this divorce - which deprived her of all her marital rights and, at the same time, made it impossible for her to remarry - the iniquitous custom of zihar was abolished by the revelation of verses 24 of this surah. - In view of the sequence, as well as of several Traditions to this effect, there is no doubt that the above verse alludes, in the first instance, to the divine condemnation of zihar. However, the deliberately unspecified reference to "her who pleads concerning her husband" seems to point to all cases where a wife has reason to complain against her husband: that is to say, not merely to an appeal against an unjustified or cruel divorce, but also to a wife's demand for release from an unbearable marriage. Such a dissolution of the marriage-tie at the wife's instance - termed khul' - is fully sanctioned by the shari'ah on the basis of 2:229 and a number of extremely well-authenticated Traditions. (For a fuller discussion of this problem, see note 218 on the second paragraph of 2:229.)
2 Lit,, "does hear the mutual contentions of both of you (tahawurakuma)", i.e., of husband and wife alike, embracing with His infinite wisdom and justice the innermost motivations of both. Alternatively -if the above verse is understood as referring specifically to the case of Khawlah - the second person indicated by the suffix kuma ("both of you") may relate to the Prophet, who, before the revelation of this surah, thought that a divorce through zihar was valid and, therefore, repeatedly told Kbawlah, "Thou art now indeed unlawful to him" (Tabari). This opinion was subsequently - almost immediately - reversed by the divine prohibition of zihar expressed in verses 2 ff.
3 For this explanatory rendering of the verb yuzahirun, see surah 33, note 3. My interpolation of the word "henceforth" is necessary in view of the fact that the custom of zihar - in its sense of a definitive act of divorce - had been abolished by verses 24 of the present surah.
4 For this particular rendering of the term munkar, see surah 16, note 109.
5 I.e., the freeing or purchasing the freedom of a slave or captive. In modern times, when slavery is more or less non-existent, the concept of tahnr raqabah may, I believe, be legitimately extended to the redeeming of a human being from the bondage of debt or of great poverty.
6 Cf 2:225 - "God will not take you to task for oaths which you may have uttered without thought, but will take you to task [only] for what your hearts have conceived [in earnest]".
7 I.e., in the manner prescribed for fasting during the month of Ramadan (see 2:183-187). As regards the phrase "he who does not find the wherewithal (lam yajid)", it may indicate either a lack of financial means or the impossibility of finding anyone else who could be redeemed from factual or figurative bondage (see note 5 above). According to many Islamic scholars of our times (e.g., Rashid Ridi', commenting on 4:92), this relates, in the first instance, to circumstances in which "slavery will have been abolished in accordance with the aim of Islam" (Manar V, 337).
8 Or, alternatively, one needy person for sixty days. The inability to fast for two consecutive months may be due either to ill-health or to really compelling external circumstances (for instance, the necessity of performing labours which require great physical and/or mental vigour and alertness).
9 Sc, "by showing that you have renounced the practices of the Time of Ignorance" (Razi). In other words, the pronouncement of zihar is not to be considered a divorce, as was the case in pre- Islamic times, but solely as a reprehensible act which must be atoned for by a sacrifice.
10 Sc, "which they chose to disregard". Thus, proceeding from the particular to the general, the present passage connects with the reference, at the end of verse 4, to "all who deny the truth", i.e., of divine revelation. ]]