065 - Sūrat at-Talāq

In the name of Allah (who is) Rahmān (and) Rahīm.

[For explanation, see Sūrat al-Fātiha: 1]

1

O Prophet, meaning [to address] his community, on account of what follows; or, [it means] say to them: when you [men] divorce women, when you intend to [effect a] divorce, divorce them by their prescribed period, at the beginning of it, such that the divorce is effected while she is pure and has not been touched [sexually], based on the Prophet's "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam" explaining it in this way, [as] reported by the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim]. And count the prescribed period, keep record of it, so that you may repeal [your decision] before it is concluded; and fear Allahu ta’ālā your Rabb, obey Him in His commands and prohibitions. Do not expel them from their houses, nor let them go forth, from them until their prescribed period is concluded, unless they commit a blatant [act of] indecency, [such as] adultery (read mubayyana or mubayyina, corresponding [respectively] to buyyinat, 'one that has been proven', and bayyina, 'blatant'), in which case they are brought out in order to carry out the [prescribed] legal punishment against them. And those, mentioned [stipulations], are Allah’s bounds; and whoever transgresses the bounds of Allahu ta’ālā has verily wronged his soul. You never know: it may be that Allahu ta’ālā will bring something new to pass afterwards, [after] the divorce, [such as] a retraction, in the event that it was the first or second [declaration of divorce].

2

Then, when they have reached their term, [when] they are near the end of their prescribed period, retain them, by taking them back, honourably, without coercion, or separate from them honourably, leave them to conclude their waiting period and do not compel them to go back [to you]. And call to witness two just men from among yourselves, [to witness] the retraction or the separation, and bear witness for the sake of Allahu ta’ālā, and not [merely] for the sake of what is being witnessed or for the sake of the man. By this is exhorted whoever believes in Allahu ta’ālā and al-yawm al-ākher (the Last Day). And whoever fears Allahu ta’ālā, He will make a way out for him, from the distress of this world and the Hereafter;

3

And He will provide for him from whence he never expected, [from whence] it never occurred to him. And whoever puts his trust in Allahu ta’ālā, regarding his affairs, He will suffice him. Indeed Allahu ta’ālā fulfils His command, His will (a variant reading [for bālighun amrahu] has the genitive construction [bālighu amrihi]). Verily Allahu ta’ālā has ordained for everything, [even things] such as comfort and hardship, a measure, a fixed time.

And [as for] those of your women who (read allā'ī or allā'i in both instances) no longer expect to menstruate, if you have any doubts, about their waiting period, their prescribed [waiting] period shall be three months, and [also for] those who have not yet menstruated, because of their young age, their period shall [also] be three months - both cases apply to other than those whose spouses have died; for these [latter] their period is prescribed in the verse: they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten [days] [Q. 2:234]. And those who are pregnant, their term, the conclusion of their prescribed [waiting] period if divorced or if their spouses be dead, shall be when they deliver. And whoever fears Allahu ta’ālā, He will make matters ease for him, in this world and in the Hereafter.

That, which is mentioned regarding the prescribed [waiting] period, is Allah’s command, His ruling, which He has revealed to you. And whoever fears Allahu ta’ālā, He will absolve him of his misdeeds and magnify the reward for him.

Lodge them, that is, the divorced women, where you dwell, that is to say, in some part of your dwellings, in accordance with your means (min wujdikum is an explicative supplement, or a substitution of what precedes it with the repetition of the same preposition [min] and with an implied genitive annexation, in other words, [something like] amkinat sa'atikum, '[house them in] the places of your means and not otherwise') and do not harass them so as to put them in straits, with regard to accommodation, such that they would then need to go elsewhere or [be in need of] maintenance [to provide for themselves] so that they [are forced to] ransom themselves from you. And if they are pregnant, then maintain them until they deliver. Then, if they suckle for you, your children [whom you have] from them, give them their wages, for the suckling, and consult together, with them, honourably, with kindness, for the sake of the children, by mutual agreement on a fixed wage for the suckling. But if you both make difficulties, regarding the suckling, with either the father withholding [payment of] the wage or the mother refraining from performing it, then another woman will suckle [the child] for him, for the father, and the mother should not be compelled to suckle it.

Let the affluent man expend, on the divorced or the suckling woman, out of his affluence. And let he whose provision has been straitened, restricted, for him, expend of what Allahu ta’ālā has given him, in accordance with his means. Allahu ta’ālā does not charge any soul save except with what He has given it. Allahu ta’ālā will assuredly bring about ease after hardship - which He indeed did by way of the [Muslim] conquests.

And how many (ka'ayyin: the kāf is the genitive prepositional particle which has been added to ayy, 'which', to give the meaning of kam, 'how many') a town - that is to say, many a town, meaning its inhabitants, disobeyed the command of its Rabb and His messengers (rusul), then We called it, in the Hereafter - even if it has not yet arrived, [Allahu ta’ālā says so] because of the fact that it will surely come to pass - to a severe reckoning and chastised it with a dire chastisement (read nukran or nukuran), namely, the chastisement of the Fire.

So it tasted the evil consequences of its conduct, the punishment for it, and the consequence of its conduct was [utter] loss, failure and destruction.

Allahu ta’ālā has prepared for them a severe chastisement (the reiteration of the threat is for emphasis). So fear Allahu ta’ālā, O people of pith, O possessors of intellect, [you] who believe! (this is a description of the vocative, or an explication of it) Allahu ta’ālā has certainly revealed to you a [source of] remembrance, that is, the Qur'ān;

a Messenger (rasūl), that is, Muhammad "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam" (rasūlan is in the accusative because of an implied verb, that is to say, wa-arsala, 'and He sent you [a Messenger (rasūl)]') reciting to you the clear verses of Allahu ta’ālā (read mubayyanāt or mubayyināt, as [explained] above) that He may bring forth those who believe and perform righteous deeds, after the arrival of the remembrance and the Messenger (rasūl), from darkness, the disbelief to which they adhered, to light, the faith that was established in them after [a life of] disbelief. And those who believe in Allahu ta’ālā and act righteously, He will admit them (a variant reading has the first person plural [nudkhilhu, 'We will admit them']) into gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. Allahu ta’ālā has verily made a good provision for him, namely, the provision of Paradise, the bliss of which never ends.

Allahu ta’ālā it is Who created seven heavens, and of earth the like thereof, that is to say, seven earths. The command, the revelation, descends between them, between the heavens and the earth: Gabriel descends with it from the seventh heaven to the seventh earth) that you may know (li-ta'lamū is semantically connected to an omitted clause, that is to say, 'He apprises you of this creation and this sending down [that you may know]', that Allahu ta’ālā has power over all things and that Allahu ta’ālā encompasses all things in knowledge.

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