A Verse-by-Verse Commentary on Surah At-Tahrim (Qur’an 66)

Presented by Claude

Classical and Contemporary Exegesis on “The Prohibition”

ABSTRACT

Surah At-Taḥrīm, the sixty-sixth chapter of the Qur’an, is a twelve-verse Medinan revelation traditionally dated to between 7 and 8 AH, in the years following the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyya and the conquest of Khaybar. Named after the verb tuḥarrim (“you forbid”) in its opening verse — and known also as Sūrat al-Mutaḥarrim and Sūrat al-Nabī — the chapter opens with a divine address to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that gently reproves him for declaring forbidden upon himself something that God had made lawful, in order to please his wives. From this intimate household episode the surah ascends in widening circles: it addresses the legal status of oaths (verse 2), recounts a breach of marital confidence (verse 3), warns and consoles two specific wives (verses 4–5), commands every believer to shield self and family from the Fire (verse 6), silences disbelievers on the Day of Judgment (verse 7), commands sincere repentance (verse 8), orders the Prophet to strive against rejecters and hypocrites (verse 9), and concludes with four paradigmatic women — the wives of Noah and Lot as warnings, and Āsiya the wife of Pharaoh and Maryam the daughter of ʿImrān as supreme exemplars (verses 10–12).

The two principal asbāb al-nuzūl (occasions of revelation) reported by the classical tradition are the “honey incident” — narrated by ʿĀʾisha and authenticated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (4912) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1474) — and the “Māriya incident,” widely cited by exegetes including al-Wāḥidī, but absent from the canonical six collections. Imām al-Nasāʾī, Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, and Qāḍī Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī favor the honey narrative; Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in Fatḥ al-Bārī (8:765) accepts that the multiplicity of routes lends “some substance” to the Māriya report, and the Shīʿī tradition reflected in Tafsīr al-Qummī (2:376) leans toward it. Both incidents share a single ethical center: the inviolability of divine law and the spiritual stakes of the prophetic household. Islamic Studies + 2

This commentary synthesizes the readings of al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, al-Rāzī, al-Qurṭubī, al-Bayḍāwī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Jalālayn, and al-Suyūṭī among classical authorities, with the modern voices of Maududi, Sayyid Quṭb, Muhammad Asad, Mufti Shafi, Tahir-ul-Qadri, Wahba al-Zuḥaylī, ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī, and selected contemporary lectures by Yasir Qadhi and Nouman Ali Khan. Twelve English translations — including that of M. A. S. Abdel Haleem specifically requested — are placed beside the Arabic for each verse. The contemporary resonance is unmistakable: in an age of fragile marriages and contested gender ethics, At-Taḥrīm offers a Qur’anic theology in which women are independent moral agents, the household is the first arena of accountability, and prophetic dignity is preserved precisely by being held to divine law.

1. INTRODUCTION TO SŪRAT AT-TAḤRĪM

Name and Position

The surah’s principal name, At-Taḥrīm (التحريم, “The Prohibition” or “The Forbidding”), is taken from the opening verse: li-mā tuḥarrim mā aḥalla Allāhu lak — “Why do you forbid what God has made lawful for you?” Two further names are attested in early tafsīr literature: Sūrat al-Mutaḥarrim (“the one who forbids” — referencing the verbal form) and Sūrat al-Nabī (“The Surah of the Prophet”), drawn from the vocative yā ayyuhā al-Nabī with which it opens. As Ibn ʿĀshūr notes in al-Taḥrīr wa-l-Tanwīr, the title “At-Taḥrīm” does not denote a theme so much as flag the incident from which the revelation arose. Wikipedia

The surah occupies the 66th position in the Qur’anic muṣḥaf, situated in the 28th juzʾ, between Sūrat al-Ṭalāq (65) and Sūrat al-Mulk (67). It contains twelve verses (āyāt) in the Cairo (Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim) reading and approximately 247 words. Wikishia Wikipedia +2

Place and Date of Revelation

There is consensus that At-Taḥrīm is Madanī (Medinan). Internal evidence and the asbāb al-nuzūl place its revelation between 7 AH and 9 AH. The chronological anchors are precise: Qur’an Wiki

Ṣafiyya bint Ḥuyayy entered the Prophet’s household after the conquest of Khaybar in 7 AH. Wikipedia Alim
Māriya the Coptic (al-Qibṭiyya) was sent by al-Muqawqis, the ruler of Egypt, in 7 AH, and bore the Prophet’s son Ibrāhīm in Dhū al-Ḥijja 8 AH. Wikipedia Alim
The honey incident is generally placed in 8 AH. Wikipedia

Sayyid Quṭb in Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʾān and Maududi in Tafhīm al-Qurʾān both regard the surah’s revelation as falling shortly after the Prophet’s domestic affairs entered a season of strain reflected also in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb (vv. 28–34), the celebrated “Verse of Choice” (āyat al-takhyīr), revealed earlier.

Connection to Surrounding Surahs

Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī in Tadabbur-i-Qurʾān and Javed Ahmad Ghāmidī both observe that Sūrat al-Ṭalāq (65) and Sūrat al-Taḥrīm (66) form a deliberate pair. Sūrat al-Ṭalāq legislates the limits of conjugal separation; Sūrat al-Taḥrīm legislates the limits of conjugal intimacy. Where the former preserves the dignity of the divorced woman, the latter preserves the dignity of the wife within the household and the dignity of the household within the divine mission. Forward, the surah opens out into Sūrat al-Mulk (67), which lifts the reader’s gaze from the household to the cosmos — from family law to the dominion of the Sovereign whose Fire was just invoked in 66:6. Wikipedia + 2

Central Themes

Six thematic strands intertwine across the twelve verses:

The inviolability of divine permission — neither love, nor jealousy, nor piety can re-classify the ḥalāl as ḥarām.
The ethics of oaths and their dissolution (kaffārat al-yamīn).
The sanctity of the prophetic household and the gravity of breaches of trust.
Tawba naṣūḥ — sincere, corrective repentance as the believer’s lifeline.
Personal moral accountability — no relation to a prophet, however intimate, is itself salvific.
The exemplary feminine — culminating in Āsiya and Maryam as paradigms of faith under tyranny.

2. ASBĀB AL-NUZŪL: THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF REVELATION

The classical tradition records two principal narratives concerning what the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ “forbade upon himself” — the act that triggered the opening verse.

(a) The Honey Narrative (al-ʿasal)

The most rigorously authenticated report, transmitted from ʿĀʾisha (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhā) and recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Book of Tafsīr, ḥadīth 4912) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (no. 1474) — muttafaqun ʿalayh — runs as follows. The Prophet ﷺ used to visit Zaynab bint Jaḥsh after the ʿaṣr prayer, where she would serve him a honey-drink. ʿĀʾisha and Ḥafṣa, in a moment of co-wifely concern, agreed that whichever of them the Prophet next visited would say to him, “I notice the odor of maghāfīr upon you” — a foul-smelling gum from the ʿurfuṭ tree. Knowing the Prophet’s exquisite aversion to disagreeable odors, they hoped he would shorten his stays with Zaynab. The strategy worked: the Prophet said, “Rather, I drank honey at Zaynab’s house, and I will not return to it; and I have sworn — do not inform anyone.” Imām al-Nasāʾī’s verdict on this question — preserved in al-Fatḥ al-Rabbānī (18:310) and quoted in Maududi’s Tafhīm al-Qurʾān on 66:1–5 — is unambiguous: “ʿĀʾisha’s version regarding honey is sound. As to the incident about the Prophet forbidding Māriya for himself, it is not recorded in any authentic report.” Abu Amine Elias + 2

(b) The Māriya Narrative

A second cluster of reports — collected by al-Wāḥidī in Asbāb al-Nuzūl, al-Ṭabarānī, Ibn Marduwayh, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and ascribed to ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, and Abū Hurayra — records that the Prophet ﷺ was with Māriya the Coptic in Ḥafṣa’s chamber on a day that was not Ḥafṣa’s. Ḥafṣa was distressed; the Prophet, to console her, vowed that he would not approach Māriya again and asked her to keep the matter confidential. Ḥafṣa told ʿĀʾisha; the verses descended. Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in Fatḥ al-Bārī (8:765) judged that the multiplicity of routes lends “some substance” to the report, though it does not appear in any of the six canonical collections. Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, as preserved in al-Fatḥ al-Rabbānī (18:310), held: “The truth is that the first verse of Surah al-Taḥrīm was sent down with reference to the Prophet’s forbidding the drink of honey for himself, not Māriya.” Qāḍī Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī in Aḥkām al-Qurʾān (4:294) likewise links the verse to honey. QuranX + 3

(c) The Tradition of ʿUmar — al-Bukhārī’s “Two Women Who Supported Each Other”

A separate and longer narration from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu), preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (5191) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1479), provides the indispensable backdrop. ʿUmar recounts that the Prophet ﷺ withdrew from his wives for twenty-nine nights into an upper chamber (al-mashruba) after a quarrel sparked by the disclosed secret. The community feared he had divorced them. ʿUmar visited his daughter Ḥafṣa, then Umm Salama, then ascended to the mashruba, where he made his famous remark — preserved verbatim in the Arabic of Bukhārī 5191: “وَكُنَّا مَعْشَرَ قُرَيْشٍ نَغْلِبُ النِّسَاءَ، فَلَمَّا قَدِمْنَا عَلَى الأَنْصَارِ إِذَا قَوْمٌ تَغْلِبُهُمْ نِسَاؤُهُمْ، فَطَفِقَ نِسَاؤُنَا يَأْخُذْنَ مِنْ أَدَبِ نِسَاءِ الأَنْصَار” — “We the Quraysh used to dominate our women, but when we came among the Anṣār we found a people whose women dominated them; and our women began to adopt the manners of the Anṣārī women.” Confronting Ḥafṣa, he warned her against provoking the Messenger ﷺ, then addressed the Prophet himself, who, ʿUmar reports, smiled (tabassama). When ʿĀʾisha later counted, she found the seclusion lasted twenty-nine days, and the Prophet remarked, “The (lunar) month is sometimes twenty-nine days.” This same narration is the source of ʿUmar’s celebrated saying — sometimes counted among the muwāfaqāt ʿUmar (concurrences in which divine revelation corroborated ʿUmar’s prior judgment), recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2399) — that if the Prophet were to divorce his wives, God could give him better in their stead, which appears almost verbatim in verse 5. sunnah + 3

Scholarly Verdict

Three positions emerge:

Honey-only: al-Nasāʾī, Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, Ibn al-ʿArabī, and the majority of Sunnī muḥaddithūn.
Māriya-preferred: the Shīʿī exegetical tradition reflected in Tafsīr al-Qummī (2:376) and Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, sympathetically considered by ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī in al-Mīzān, who (per the Wikishia summary) treated the simple honey narration as not commensurate in gravity with the threats of divorce, replacement, and the angelic-Gabrielic backing the verses contain. Among Sunnīs, Yasir Qadhi has noted in his published Seerah lectures (lesson 098) that the Māriya account “fits the events of these verses [more] perfectly… it doesn’t seem that big of a deal that the Prophet PBUH says, ‘I’ll never eat honey again,’ versus the issue of never seeing Māriya again.” Blogger
Both possible: Ibn Ḥajar, Ibn Kathīr, and Mufti Shafi in Maʿārif al-Qurʾān, who note that the surah’s opening words li-mā tuḥarrim are general enough to accommodate multiple incidents that may have converged in time.

What the surah does not record — and what classical adab forbids us to speculate upon — is the precise content of the disclosed secret (verse 3). The Qur’an veils what God veiled. The lesson, as Sayyid Quṭb writes, is that the prophetic household was not a private hearth but the cradle of the message; even the smallest discord within it carried cosmic weight.

3. VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENTARY

Verse 1

Arabic: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ لِمَ تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكَ ۖ تَبْتَغِي مَرْضَاتَ أَزْوَاجِكَ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Transliteration: Yā ayyuhā al-Nabiyyu lima tuḥarrimu mā aḥalla Allāhu lak, tabtaghī marḍāta azwājik, wa-Allāhu Ghafūrun Raḥīm.

Twelve translations:

Sahih International: “O Prophet, why do you prohibit [yourself from] what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the approval of your wives?”
Pickthall: “O Prophet! Why bannest thou that which Allah hath made lawful for thee, seeking to please thy wives?” Islam Awakened
Yusuf Ali: “O Prophet! Why holdest thou to be forbidden that which Allah has made lawful to thee? Thou seekest to please thy consorts.” IslamAwakened
Muhammad Asad: “O PROPHET! Why dost thou, out of a desire to please [one or another of] thy wives, impose [on thyself] a prohibition of something that God has made lawful to thee?” IslamAwakened
M. A. S. Abdel Haleem: “Prophet, why do you prohibit what God has made lawful to you, seeking to please your wives? God is the Most Forgiving, the Mercy Giver.” IslamAwakened
Arberry: “O Prophet, why forbiddest thou what God has made lawful to thee, seeking the good pleasure of thy wives?” IslamAwakened
Maududi: “O Prophet, why do you forbid what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the pleasure of your wives?”
Hilali–Khan: “O Prophet! Why do you forbid (for yourself) that which Allah has allowed to you, seeking to please your wives?”
Shakir: “O Prophet! why do you forbid (yourself) that which Allah has made lawful for you; you seek to please your wives.”
Ali Quli Qarai: “O Prophet! Why do you prohibit [yourself] what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking to please your wives?”
Mustafa Khattab (The Clear Qurʾan): “O Prophet! Why do you prohibit ˹yourself˺ from what Allah has made lawful to you, seeking to please your wives?” IslamAwakened
Daryabadi: “O Prophet! wherefore makest thou unlawful that which Allah hath made lawful unto thee, seeking the goodwill of thy wives?”

Commentary. Al-Ṭabarī (Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, 28:101) opens by noting that the verse is a tender reproach (ʿitāb), not a charge of sin. The Prophet ﷺ has not transgressed divine law; he has tightened a permission on himself out of marital concern. Al-Zamakhsharī (al-Kashshāf, 4:563) and al-Bayḍāwī both observe that the question li-mā (“why?”) is not informational but discouraging (istifhām inkārī) — it expresses divine displeasure with self-imposed strictness in pursuit of human approval. Al-Rāzī in Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb draws the theological inference: only God has the authority to declare ḥalāl or ḥarām (cf. Q 16:116). When even the Messenger of God treats a permission as a prohibition, he must be corrected — a principle that protected the Muslim community from later asceticisms grafted onto prophetic conduct.

The closing clause — wa-Allāhu Ghafūrun Raḥīm — is, as Ibn Kathīr notes, the immediate divine reassurance: the act receives forgiveness even as it is corrected. The surah opens not with rebuke but with mercy.

The legal (fiqh) consequence is laid out in verse 2. As al-Jaṣṣāṣ writes in Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, scholars including Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, ʿAṭāʾ, Ṭāwūs, Sulaymān ibn Yasār, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, Qatāda, and the Ḥanafī school treat the act of “forbidding upon oneself a ḥalāl” as a sworn oath requiring kaffāra (expiation), not a true prohibition. Bukhārī and Muslim record Ibn ʿAbbās ruling: “She [your wife] is not forbidden to you; but you must offer expiation.” Maududi summarizes the universal rule: “the powers to prescribe the bounds of the lawful and the unlawful are entirely and absolutely in the hand of God, and nothing has been delegated even to the Prophet of God himself.” Wikipedia Wikipedia

Asad notes the gender-pluralizing of azwāj (“wives”), suggesting that more than two wives were implicated in the broader domestic context, even if the specific disclosure (verse 3) involved one. Sayyid Quṭb adds the literary observation that the address yā ayyuhā al-Nabī (“O Prophet”) — rather than yā ayyuhā al-Rasūl (“O Messenger”) — invokes the dimension of the Prophet’s personal humanity rather than his public mission, which is precisely the dimension under examination.

Verse 2

Arabic: قَدْ فَرَضَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ تَحِلَّةَ أَيْمَانِكُمْ ۚ وَاللَّهُ مَوْلَاكُمْ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ

Transliteration: Qad faraḍa Allāhu lakum taḥillata aymānikum, wa-Allāhu mawlākum, wa-huwa al-ʿAlīmu al-Ḥakīm.

Translations:

Sahih International: “Allah has already ordained for you [Muslims] the dissolution of your oaths.” Islamicstudies.info
Asad: “God has already enjoined upon you [O believers] the breaking and expiation of [such of] your oaths [as may run counter to what is right and just].”
Abdel Haleem: “God has ordained for you [believers] the absolution of your oaths.”
Yusuf Ali: “Allah has already ordained for you, (O men), the dissolution of your oaths (in some cases).”
Khattab: “Allah has already ordained for you ˹believers˺ the way to absolve yourselves from your oaths.”
Arberry: “God has ordained for you the absolution of your oaths.”
Pickthall: “Allah hath made lawful for you (Muslims) absolution from your oaths (of such a kind).”
Maududi: “Allah has prescribed for you a way for the absolution of your oaths.” Islamic Studies
Qarai: “Allah has certainly made lawful for you the dissolution of your oaths.”
Daryabadi: “Surely Allah hath ordained for you absolution from your oaths.”
Shakir: “Allah indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths.”
Hilali–Khan: “Allah has already ordained for you (O men) the absolution from your oaths.”

Commentary. The verse pivots from individual rebuke to general legislation. Taḥilla (تحلة) is the verbal noun signifying “the rendering ḥalāl again of what one has rendered ḥarām upon oneself.” The classical exegetes — al-Qurṭubī, al-Rāzī, Ibn Kathīr — cross-reference this verse with Q 5:89, where the expiation (kaffāra) for a broken oath is specified: feeding ten poor persons, or clothing them, or freeing a slave, or, failing all three, fasting three days. Mufti Shafi in Maʿārif al-Qurʾān notes the divine pedagogy: a single household incident becomes the occasion for a universal legal principle. Islamic Studies

Al-Qurṭubī (al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, 18:188) records the juristic debate: must one always break such an oath, or only if the better course requires it? The majority hold that where keeping the oath would entail wrong, the oath must be broken and atoned for; where breaking it would entail no wrong, the oath may be kept. The Prophetic ḥadīth governs: “Whoever swears an oath and then sees that something else is better, let him do what is better and expiate his oath” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1650).

The verse’s closing names — al-ʿAlīm al-Ḥakīm (the All-Knowing, the All-Wise) — are perfectly poised: God knows the inner states behind oaths, and God is wise in legislating their dissolution.

Verse 3

Arabic: وَإِذْ أَسَرَّ النَّبِيُّ إِلَىٰ بَعْضِ أَزْوَاجِهِ حَدِيثًا فَلَمَّا نَبَّأَتْ بِهِ وَأَظْهَرَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ عَرَّفَ بَعْضَهُ وَأَعْرَضَ عَن بَعْضٍ ۖ فَلَمَّا نَبَّأَهَا بِهِ قَالَتْ مَنْ أَنبَأَكَ هَٰذَا ۖ قَالَ نَبَّأَنِيَ الْعَلِيمُ الْخَبِيرُ

Transliteration: Wa-idh asarra al-Nabiyyu ilā baʿḍi azwājihi ḥadīthan, fa-lammā nabbaʾat bihi wa-aẓharahu Allāhu ʿalayhi, ʿarrafa baʿḍahu wa-aʿraḍa ʿan baʿḍ. Fa-lammā nabbaʾahā bihi, qālat: man anbaʾaka hādhā? Qāla: nabbaʾaniya al-ʿAlīmu al-Khabīr.

Translations:

Sahih International: “And [remember] when the Prophet confided to one of his wives a statement; and when she informed [another] of it and Allah showed it to him, he made known part of it and ignored a part.” Quranic Arabic Corpus
Pickthall: “When the Prophet confided a fact unto one of his wives and when she afterward divulged it and Allah apprised him thereof, he made known (to her) part thereof and passed over part.” My Islam
Abdel Haleem: “The Prophet told something in confidence to one of his wives. When she disclosed it [to another wife] and God made this known to him, he confirmed part of it, keeping the rest to himself.” My Islam
Asad: “And lo! [It so happened that] the Prophet told something in confidence to one of his wives; and when she thereupon divulged it, and God made this known to him, he acquainted [others] with some of it and passed over some of it.”
Yusuf Ali: “When the Prophet disclosed a matter in confidence to one of his consorts, and she then divulged it (to another), and Allah made it known to him, he confirmed part thereof and repudiated a part.”
Maududi: “The Prophet confided something to one of his wives and then she disclosed it (to another); so after Allah revealed to the Prophet (that she had disclosed that secret), he made a part of it known to her and passed over a part of it.” My Islam
Khattab: “˹Remember˺ when the Prophet had ˹once˺ confided something to one of his wives, then when she disclosed it ˹to another wife˺ and Allah made it known to him, he presented ˹to her˺ part of what was disclosed and overlooked a part.” Islam Awakened
Daryabadi: “And recall what time the Prophet confided a story unto one of his spouses…”
Qarai: “When the Prophet confided to one of his wives a matter…”
Arberry: “And when the Prophet confided to one of his wives a certain matter…”
Shakir: “And when the Prophet secretly communicated a piece of information to one of his wives…”
Hilali–Khan: “And (remember) when the Prophet (SAW) disclosed a matter in confidence to one of his wives (Hafsah)…” My Islam

Commentary. The verse describes a triple movement: a secret confided, a confidence broken, and a divine disclosure. Asarra (أسرّ) carries the sense of “to whisper, to entrust privately.” The “one of his wives” is identified by consensus of classical Sunnī and Shīʿī exegetes alike as Ḥafṣa bint ʿUmar (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhā), who relayed the matter to ʿĀʾisha (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhā) — a fact taken up explicitly in verse 4.

The most spiritually striking element is the Prophet’s response when he confronts Ḥafṣa: he “made known part” and “turned aside from a part.” Both al-Zamakhsharī and al-Bayḍāwī highlight this as exemplifying ḥusn al-ʿishra — beautiful conduct in marriage. Ibn Kathīr quotes the classical maxim: “the noble man does not investigate every detail.” The Prophet’s discretion is enshrined as a model. Yasir Qadhi, in his Seerah lectures, observes that the Prophet’s restraint preserved Ḥafṣa’s dignity even in correction — “he could have humiliated her with the full disclosure; he chose mercy.”

The classical Shīʿī tafsir tradition — Tafsīr al-Qummī (2:376) and al-Burhān, summarized by Ṭabāṭabāʾī in al-Mīzān — relates that the “secret” included the Prophet’s announcement that “Abū Bakr shall hold authority after me, and after him your father ʿUmar.” This Shīʿī reading is not accepted in the Sunnī tradition, which treats the content of the secret as either Māriya-related (al-Wāḥidī) or honey-related (Bukhārī/ʿĀʾisha), and in any case as something God concealed from the umma. Alhabib

Sayyid Quṭb comments on the divine epithets that conclude the verse — al-ʿAlīm al-Khabīr (the Knower, the All-Aware): these names do not merely close the verse; they crash through every closed door, every whispered corner. There is no privacy from the One whose knowledge is the very substance of the cosmos.

Grammatically, Asad notes that baʿḍ azwājihi (“one of his wives”) is non-specific in form; the Qur’an deliberately veils the wife’s identity, leaving its disclosure to the prophetic tradition. The hidden name is itself an act of decorum (adab).

Verse 4

Arabic: إِن تَتُوبَا إِلَى اللَّهِ فَقَدْ صَغَتْ قُلُوبُكُمَا ۖ وَإِن تَظَاهَرَا عَلَيْهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ مَوْلَاهُ وَجِبْرِيلُ وَصَالِحُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۖ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ ظَهِيرٌ

Transliteration: In tatūbā ilā Allāhi fa-qad ṣaghat qulūbukumā, wa-in taẓāharā ʿalayhi fa-inna Allāha huwa mawlāhu wa-Jibrīlu wa-ṣāliḥu al-muʾminīn, wa-l-malāʾikatu baʿda dhālika ẓahīr.

Translations:

Sahih International: “If you two [wives] repent to Allah, [it is best], for your hearts have deviated. But if you cooperate against him — then indeed Allah is his protector, and Gabriel and the righteous of the believers and the angels, moreover, are [his] assistants.” My Islam
Yusuf Ali: “If ye two turn in repentance to Him, your hearts are indeed so inclined; but if ye back up each other against him, truly Allah is his Protector, and Gabriel, and (every) righteous one among those who believe — and furthermore, the angels — will back (him) up.”
Pickthall: “If ye twain turn unto Allah repentant, (ye have cause to do so) for your hearts desired (the ban); and if ye aid one another against him (Muhammad) then lo! Allah, even He, is his Protecting Friend, and Gabriel and the righteous among the believers; and furthermore the angels are his helpers.” My Islam
Asad: “[Say, O Prophet:] ‘Would that you two turn unto God in repentance, for the hearts of both of you have swerved [from what is right]! And if you uphold each other against him [who is God’s message-bearer, know that] God Himself is his Protector…’”
Abdel Haleem: “If both of you [wives] repent to God — for your hearts have deviated — [all will be well]; if you collaborate against him, [be warned that] God will aid him, as will Gabriel and all righteous believers, and the angels too will back him.”
Maududi: “If the two of you turn in repentance to Allah (that is better for you), for the hearts of both of you have swerved from the Straight Path.”
Khattab: “˹It will be better˺ if you ˹wives˺ both turn to Allah in repentance, for your hearts have certainly faltered. But if you ˹continue to˺ collaborate against him, then ˹know that˺ Allah Himself is his Guardian. And Gabriel, the righteous believers, and the angels are ˹all˺ his supporters as well.” Quran.com
Hilali–Khan: “If you two (wives of the Prophet SAW, namely ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah) turn in repentance to Allah, (it will be better for you), your hearts are indeed so inclined…”
Arberry: “If you two repent to God, yet your hearts certainly inclined; but if you support one another against him, God is his Protector…”
Daryabadi: “If ye twain turn penitently unto Allah, then surely your hearts are so inclined…”
Qarai: “If the two of you repent to Allah… then indeed Allah is his guardian…”
Shakir: “If you both turn to Allah, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this)…”

Commentary. The dual address (tatūbā, qulūbukumā) leaves no ambiguity: two wives are spoken to directly. The classical and modern exegetical tradition is unanimous — Sunnī and Shīʿī — that the two are ʿĀʾisha and Ḥafṣa, drawing on the Bukhārī hadith (4913) in which Ibn ʿAbbās asks ʿUmar to name them and ʿUmar names his own daughter and ʿĀʾisha.

The verb ṣaghat (from the root ṣ-gh-w) is striking. Al-Zamakhsharī and al-Rāzī gloss it as “inclined” or “swerved” — its primary Arabic usage is for stars descending toward the west, or ears inclining toward a sound. The metaphor is one of deviation from the upright: the hearts have leaned away from where they should sit. ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd, Ibn ʿAbbās, Sufyān al-Thawrī, and al-Ḍaḥḥāk read it as “your hearts have inclined toward what should not be” — that is, toward conduct displeasing to the Messenger ﷺ.

The conditional structure is a masterpiece of divine pedagogy: “If you both repent — [your hearts have already deviated, so repentance is needful]; if you persist in mutual support against him — [know that he is not alone].” Three layered defenders are named: Allah Himself, then Jibrīl (Gabriel), then the righteous of the believers, and finally the angels collectively. Both al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr cite reports that ʿUmar interpreted ṣāliḥ al-muʾminīn (the righteous of the believers) as Abū Bakr and ʿUmar — though the literal sense embraces every sincere believer. Asad captures the rhetorical force: three orders of beings stand behind the Prophet — the divine, the angelic, and the human righteous.

The Shīʿī tradition reads ṣāliḥ al-muʾminīn as a grammatical singular and identifies it with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (cf. Tafsīr al-Qummī and Majmaʿ al-Bayān, summarized in Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19). This is one of the principal sectarian fault-lines on the surah. The Sunnī majority reads it as the generic plural-construction-with-singular-form (ṣāliḥū al-muʾminīn), meaning “the righteous among the believers.”

Maududi offers a frank reflection: “If a person considers these questions deeply, he will inevitably have to adopt one of two views: either, in excessive reverence for the holy wives, refuse to admit any fault, or else acknowledge that at that time their conduct had become objectionable enough that God Himself administered a severe warning.” The classical adab requires neither sentimentalization nor sensationalism: the Mothers of the Believers were among the noblest of humankind, and they are addressed here not because they were small but because they were great — the standard expected of them was exalted.

Verse 5

Arabic: عَسَىٰ رَبُّهُ إِن طَلَّقَكُنَّ أَن يُبْدِلَهُ أَزْوَاجًا خَيْرًا مِّنكُنَّ مُسْلِمَاتٍ مُّؤْمِنَاتٍ قَانِتَاتٍ تَائِبَاتٍ عَابِدَاتٍ سَائِحَاتٍ ثَيِّبَاتٍ وَأَبْكَارًا

Transliteration: ʿAsā Rabbuhu in ṭallaqakunna an yubdilahu azwājan khayran minkunna, muslimātin muʾminātin qānitātin tāʾibātin ʿābidātin sāʾiḥātin thayyibātin wa-abkārā.

Translations:

Sahih International: “Perhaps his Lord, if he divorced you [all], would substitute for him wives better than you — submitting [to Allah], believing, devoutly obedient, repentant, worshipping, and traveling — [ones] previously married and virgins.” Quran.com
Yusuf Ali: “It may be, if he divorced you (all), that Allah will give him in exchange consorts better than you — who submit (their wills), who believe, who are devout, who turn to Allah in repentance, who worship (in humility), who travel (for Faith) and fast — previously married or virgins.”
Asad: “Were he to divorce you, God might well give him in your stead spouses better than you — women who surrender themselves unto God, who truly believe, who are devoutly obedient, who turn [unto God] in repentance [whenever they have sinned], who worship [Him alone] and go on and on [seeking His goodly acceptance] — be they women previously married or virgins.”
Abdel Haleem: “His Lord may well replace you with better wives if the Prophet decides to divorce any of you: wives who are devoted to God, true believers, devout, who turn to Him in repentance and worship Him, given to fasting, whether previously married or virgins.” My Islam
Khattab: “Perhaps, if he were to divorce you ˹all˺, his Lord would replace you with better wives who are submissive ˹to Allah˺, faithful ˹to Him˺, devout, repentant, dedicated to worship and fasting — previously married or virgins.”
Arberry: “It may be that his Lord, if he divorces you, will give him in exchange wives better than you, women who have surrendered, believing, obedient, penitent, worshipful, given to fasting, who were (previously) married, and virgins too.”
Maududi: “Maybe if he were to divorce you, your Lord might grant him in exchange wives better than you — those who truly submit to Allah, are full of faith, obedient, disposed to repentance, and given to worship and fasting — both previously wedded ones and virgins.” Surah Quran
Pickthall: “It may happen that his Lord, if he divorce you, will give him in your stead wives better than you, submissive (to Allah), believing, pious, penitent, devout, inclined to fasting, widows and maids.”
Daryabadi: “Belike his Lord, if he divorce you, will give him in exchange wives better than you, Muslims, believers, devout, penitent, worshippers, given to fasting, both non-virgins and virgins.” Quran O
Qarai: “It may be that if he divorces you, his Lord will give him, in [your] stead, wives better than you: [such as are] muslim, faithful, obedient, penitent, devout and given to fasting — virgins and non-virgins.” Quran O
Shakir: “Maybe, his Lord, if he divorce you, will give him in your place wives better than you, submissive, faithful, obedient, penitent, adorers, fasters, widows and virgins.” Quran O
Hilali–Khan: “It may be if he divorced you (all) that his Lord will give him instead of you, wives better than you — Muslims (who submit to Allah), believers, obedient to Allah, turning to Allah in repentance, worshipping Allah sincerely, fasting or emigrants (for Allah’s sake), previously married and virgins.”

Commentary. This is the verse that ʿUmar reports he had spoken to the Prophet’s wives nearly verbatim before its revelation — one of the celebrated muwāfaqāt ʿUmar (concurrences in which ʿUmar’s judgment was confirmed by descending revelation), recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2399).

Seven attributes of the hypothetical “better wives” are enumerated. They are not random: they form a complete spiritual portrait of the ideal believing woman, and they double — as Maududi and Tahir-ul-Qadri observe — as a curriculum the Prophet’s wives are being invited to embrace:

Muslimāt — surrendered to God outwardly.
Muʾmināt — believing inwardly.
Qānitāt — devoutly obedient.
Tāʾibāt — turning back to God after every lapse.
ʿĀbidāt — given to worship.
Sāʾiḥāt — literally “travelers.” Most classical exegetes (Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, ʿIkrima, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, Qatāda) gloss this as “those who fast,” since the faster, like the traveler, moves through the world without indulgence. Yusuf Ali offers “travel for faith and fast” — preserving both senses. ʿĀʾisha (per Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī) is reported to have said: “The travelling of this umma is fasting.” Surahquran
Thayyibāt wa-abkārā — previously-married women and virgins both — closing the portrait with a quiet egalitarianism: holiness is not the privilege of one marital status.

Crucially, as Ibn Kathīr observes, the verse does not say the Prophet’s wives lacked these qualities; it warns them that if they fail to cultivate them, God can provide replacements — but the threat was conditional and never executed. Tahir-ul-Qadri notes the maternal kindness wrapped inside the threat: the very thought of being divorced by the Prophet ﷺ was unbearable to them, and this conditional spared the umma the actuality.

Verse 6

Arabic: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلَائِكَةٌ غِلَاظٌ شِدَادٌ لَّا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ

Transliteration: Yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū qū anfusakum wa-ahlīkum nāran waqūduhā al-nāsu wa-l-ḥijāra, ʿalayhā malāʾikatun ghilāẓun shidādun lā yaʿṣūna Allāha mā amarahum wa-yafʿalūna mā yuʾmarūn.

Translations:

Sahih International: “O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.” My Islam
Yusuf Ali: “O ye who believe! save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe…” Alim
Asad: “O YOU who have attained to faith! Ward off from yourselves and those who are close to you that fire [of the hereafter] whose fuel is human beings and stones: [lording] over it are angelic powers awesome [and] severe, who do not disobey God in whatever He has commanded them, but [always] do what they are bidden to do.”
Abdel Haleem: “Believers, guard yourselves and your families against a Fire fuelled by people and stones, over which stand angels, stern and strong; angels who never disobey God’s commands to them, but do as they are ordered.”
Pickthall: “O ye who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire whereof the fuel is men and stones, over which are set angels strong, severe…”
Maududi: “Believers, guard yourselves and your kindred against a Fire whose fuel is human beings and stones, a Fire held in the charge of fierce and stern angels who never disobey what He has commanded them, and always do what they are bidden.” Surah Quran My Islam
Khattab: “O believers! Protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, overseen by formidable and severe angels, who never disobey whatever Allah orders — always doing as commanded.”
Arberry: “Believers, guard yourselves and your families against a Fire whose fuel is men and stones, and over which are harsh, terrible angels…”
Daryabadi: “O ye who believe! protect yourselves and your households from a Fire the fuel whereof is mankind and stones…”
Qarai: “O you who have faith! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel will be people and stones…”
Shakir: “O you who believe! save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones…”
Hilali–Khan: “O you who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones…”

Commentary. With this single āya the surah pivots from the prophetic household to every believing household. The imperative qū — a short, sharp verbal command from waqā (to shield, to guard) — places responsibility for spiritual welfare squarely on the head of every family. Mufti Shafi in Maʿārif al-Qurʾān records ʿUmar’s question to the Prophet ﷺ: “O Messenger of God, we understand how to guard ourselves — we keep God’s commands and avoid His prohibitions — but how do we guard our families?” The Prophet ﷺ answered: “Forbid them what God has forbidden, and command them what God has commanded; that is how you protect them from the Fire.”

Ibn Kathīr records ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib’s gloss: “Teach them and discipline them” (ʿallimūhum wa-addibūhum). Mujāhid added: “Have taqwā of God and order your family to have taqwā of Him.” Qatāda said: “He commands them to obey God and helps them to act upon God’s commands.” Asad notes that ahlīkum — “those who are close to you” — extends beyond biological family to anyone in one’s domestic or moral orbit.

The “stones” of the Fire’s fuel are variously identified: Ibn Masʿūd and Ibn ʿAbbās understood them as the brimstone-like stones of Hell; al-Rāzī suggests they are the idols once worshipped (cf. Q 21:98), turned now into kindling for those who worshipped them. The angels (ghilāẓ shidād) are explicitly named in classical tafsir: Ibn Kathīr in Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (7:322) on this verse says, “they are able to fulfill the command; they are called al-Zabāniya, meaning, the keepers and guards of Hell” (cf. Q 96:18), and Mufti Shafi in Maʿārif al-Qurʾān concurs: “the angels in charge of it, whose name is Zabāniya.” They are characterized by perfect, unhesitating obedience — a foil to the wives who hesitated. The contrast is pointed: the inhabitants of the household are urged toward an obedience like that of the angels who guard the Fire. Alim

Sayyid Quṭb stresses that the verse universalizes what verses 1–5 particularized: every believer is now in the Prophet’s position, responsible for the spiritual safety of those entrusted to him. Nouman Ali Khan, in his Surah at-Tahrim lectures, emphasizes the precise word order: “yourselves first, then your families” — one cannot guard others from a Fire one has not first guarded oneself against.

Verse 7

Arabic: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا الْيَوْمَ ۖ إِنَّمَا تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

Transliteration: Yā ayyuhā alladhīna kafarū lā taʿtadhirū al-yawm, innamā tujzawna mā kuntum taʿmalūn.

Translations:

Sahih International: “O you who have disbelieved, make no excuses that Day. You will only be recompensed for what you used to do.”
Yusuf Ali: “(They will say), ‘O ye Unbelievers! Make no excuses this Day! Ye are being but requited for all that ye did!’”
Asad: “[Hence,] O you who are bent on denying the truth, make no [empty] excuses today: [in the life to come] you shall be but recompensed for what you were doing [in this world].”
Abdel Haleem: “You who disbelieve, make no excuses today: you are only being repaid for what you used to do.”
Pickthall: “(Then it will be said): O ye who disbelieve! Make no excuses for yourselves this day. Ye are only being paid for what ye used to do.”
Maududi: “(It will then be said): ‘Unbelievers, make no excuses today. You are being recompensed for nothing else but what you used to do.’”
Khattab: “˹The deniers will then be told,˺ ‘O disbelievers! Make no excuses this Day! You are only rewarded for what you used to do.’”
Arberry: “O you unbelievers, do not excuse yourselves today; you are only being recompensed for what you were doing.”
Daryabadi: “O ye who disbelieve! excuse not yourselves Today; ye are only being requited for that which ye have been working.”
Qarai: “O faithless ones! Do not make any excuses today…”
Shakir: “O you who disbelieve! do not urge excuses today…”
Hilali–Khan: “(It will be said in the Hereafter) O you who disbelieve (in the Oneness of Allah — Islamic Monotheism)! Make no excuses this Day!” Alim

Commentary. This brief verse is an eschatological flash-forward addressing those who, on Judgment Day, will attempt to explain away their disbelief. Al-Ṭabarī notes that this is the closing of the door of excuse: the time for repentance was the dunyā, and that time has passed. Ibn Kathīr connects it to the universal Qur’anic refrain that the disbelievers will be requited strictly by their works — innamā tujzawna mā kuntum taʿmalūn — there is no surplus punishment, only the exact mirror of their deeds.

Sayyid Quṭb notes the surah’s structural logic: having issued the protective command in verse 6, the Qur’an now shows the consequence of its neglect — the silent dock of judgment where excuses are inadmissible. Asad observes that the address shifts to yā ayyuhā alladhīna kafarū (“O you who have disbelieved”) in deliberate counterpoint to the yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū (“O you who have believed”) of verse 6: every believer is being shown the alternative path’s terminus. Quranglobal

Verse 8

Arabic: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُكَفِّرَ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَيُدْخِلَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ يَوْمَ لَا يُخْزِي اللَّهُ النَّبِيَّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ ۖ نُورُهُمْ يَسْعَىٰ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

Transliteration: Yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū tūbū ilā Allāhi tawbatan naṣūḥā, ʿasā Rabbukum an yukaffira ʿankum sayyiʾātikum wa-yudkhilakum jannātin tajrī min taḥtihā al-anhāru yawma lā yukhzī Allāhu al-Nabiyya wa-alladhīna āmanū maʿah; nūruhum yasʿā bayna aydīhim wa-bi-aymānihim, yaqūlūna: Rabbanā atmim lanā nūranā wa-aghfir lanā; innaka ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr.

Translations:

Sahih International: “O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance. Perhaps your Lord will remove from you your misdeeds and admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow…” Recite Quran
Yusuf Ali: “O ye who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance: In the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow…”
Asad: “O you who have attained to faith! Turn unto God in sincere repentance: it may well be that your Sustainer will efface from you your bad deeds, and will admit you into gardens through which running waters flow, on a Day on which God will not shame the Prophet and those who share his faith…”
Abdel Haleem: “Believers, turn to God in sincere repentance. Your Lord may well cancel your bad deeds for you and admit you into Gardens graced with flowing streams, on a Day when God will not disgrace the Prophet or those who have believed with him…”
Pickthall: “O ye who believe! Turn unto Allah in sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will remit from you your evil deeds and bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow…” My Islam
Maududi: “Believers, turn to Allah in sincere repentance; maybe your Lord will expunge your evil deeds and admit you to the Gardens beneath which rivers flow…” My Islam
Khattab: “O believers! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance, so your Lord may absolve you of your sins and admit you into Gardens, under which rivers flow…” Quran.com
Arberry: “Believers, turn to God in sincere repentance; it may be that your Lord will acquit you of your evil deeds…”
Daryabadi: “O ye who believe! turn unto Allah with a sincere repentance…”
Qarai: “O you who have faith! Repent to Allah with sincere repentance…”
Shakir: “O you who believe! turn to Allah a sincere turning…”
Hilali–Khan: “O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will expiate from you your sins…” My Islam

Commentary. This is the longest verse of the surah and one of the great repentance verses of the Qur’an. Tawba naṣūḥ — “sincere repentance” — is the verse’s signature phrase. The grammatical curiosity is naṣūḥā: an intensive adjective applied to tawba (feminine). Classical exegetes derive it from naṣaḥ (“to be sincere, to wish well”); some link it to naṣaba (“the act of stitching”), suggesting a repentance that re-sews the torn fabric of faith. Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu), when asked by Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh what tawba naṣūḥ meant, replied — as preserved by Ibn Abī Ḥātim and cited by Ibn Kathīr in Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (8:169): “I asked the Messenger of God ﷺ the same question. He said: ‘It means that you should repent when you commit a mistake, then you should seek God’s forgiveness for the guilt in the state of shame, and do not repeat the same misdeed ever.’”

Ibn Kathīr records the classical fourfold condition: (i) abandonment of the sin, (ii) regret for having done it, (iii) firm resolution never to return, and (iv) — where rights of others are involved — restitution. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Ibn Masʿūd, Muʿādh ibn Jabal, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib are all reported with mutually compatible definitions emphasizing inner sincerity. Mufti Shafi notes that naṣūḥ describes the believer who is sincere toward his own soul: he refuses to mortgage his hereafter for a moment’s pleasure. Quran.com

The verse’s eschatological climax is unforgettable: the believers’ light running before them and on their right, and their prayer — Rabbanā atmim lanā nūranā wa-ighfir lanā (“Our Lord, perfect for us our light and forgive us”). Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr record that this light corresponds to the deeds of obedience; the prayer is a recognition that no light, however bright, suffices on that Day without God’s perfecting grace. Sayyid Quṭb writes movingly of the image: in the darkness of the Day of Judgment, faith glows — and the prayer for its completion is itself a continuation of the tawba naṣūḥ commanded at the verse’s opening.

The Qur’anic ʿasā (“perhaps”) in ʿasā Rabbukum is, as classical Arabic grammarians (and al-Rāzī specifically) note, a particle of near-certainty when used of God — what would be tentative on human lips becomes a generous promise on the divine.

Verse 9

Arabic: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ جَاهِدِ الْكُفَّارَ وَالْمُنَافِقِينَ وَاغْلُظْ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَمَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ

Transliteration: Yā ayyuhā al-Nabiyyu jāhidi al-kuffāra wa-l-munāfiqīna wa-aghluẓ ʿalayhim, wa-maʾwāhum Jahannam, wa-biʾsa al-maṣīr.

Translations:

Sahih International: “O Prophet, strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh upon them. And their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the destination.” Quran.com Recite Quran
Yusuf Ali: “O Prophet! Strive hard against the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell — an evil refuge (indeed).”
Asad: “O PROPHET! Strive hard against the deniers of the truth and the hypocrites, and be adamant with them. And their final goal shall be hell — and how vile a journey’s end!”
Abdel Haleem: “Prophet, strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Deal with them sternly. Hell will be their home, an evil destination!” My Islam
Pickthall: “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” My Islam
Maududi: “O Prophet, strive against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be severe with them. Hell shall be their resort. What a grievous end!” My Islam +2
Khattab: “O Prophet! Struggle against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be firm with them. Hell will be their home. What an evil destination!” Quran.com
Arberry: “O Prophet, struggle with the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be thou harsh with them…”
Daryabadi: “O Prophet! strive hard against the infidels and the hypocrites, and be stern unto them.”
Qarai: “O Prophet! Wage jihād against the faithless and the hypocrites…”
Shakir: “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites…”
Hilali–Khan: “O Prophet (Muhammad SAW)! Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites…”

Commentary. This verse is repeated almost verbatim from Sūrat al-Tawba (9:73), but here it sits in a strikingly different context — bracketed on one side by the call to family-protection (verse 6) and on the other by the parables of believing women under tyrannical husbands (verses 10–12).

Classical exegetes — al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Bayḍāwī, al-Jalālayn — note that the jihād against the two groups operates by two means: against open disbelievers by physical struggle (bi-l-sayf) where war exists, and against hypocrites by argument, censure, and the application of revealed law (bi-l-ḥujja wa-iqāmat al-ḥudūd). Ibn Kathīr quotes the classical gloss attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās: “Strive against the disbelievers with the sword, and against the hypocrites with the tongue.” Surah Quran

Sayyid Quṭb reads the verse structurally: having corrected the household (vv. 1–5), having universalized the responsibility (vv. 6–8), the surah turns the Prophet’s gaze outward to the umma’s twin external and internal threats. The order is significant — internal reform precedes external striving. Asad softens “be harsh” (aghluẓ ʿalayhim) as “be adamant” — implying firmness without cruelty, holding the line without losing the soul.

Verse 10

Arabic: ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا امْرَأَتَ نُوحٍ وَامْرَأَتَ لُوطٍ ۖ كَانَتَا تَحْتَ عَبْدَيْنِ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا صَالِحَيْنِ فَخَانَتَاهُمَا فَلَمْ يُغْنِيَا عَنْهُمَا مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَقِيلَ ادْخُلَا النَّارَ مَعَ الدَّاخِلِينَ

Transliteration: Ḍaraba Allāhu mathalan li-lladhīna kafarū imraʾata Nūḥin wa-imraʾata Lūṭ; kānatā taḥta ʿabdayni min ʿibādinā ṣāliḥayni fa-khānatāhumā, fa-lam yughniyā ʿanhumā min Allāhi shayʾan wa-qīla: udkhulā al-Nāra maʿa al-dākhilīn.

Translations:

Sahih International: “Allah presents an example of those who disbelieved: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants but betrayed them, so those prophets did not avail them from Allah at all, and it was said, ‘Enter the Fire with those who enter.’” My Islam Quranic Arabic Corpus
Asad: “For those who are bent on denying the truth God has propounded a parable in [the stories of] Noah’s wife and Lot’s wife: they were wedded to two of Our righteous servants, and each one betrayed her husband…”
Abdel Haleem: “God has given examples of disbelievers: the wives of Noah and Lot who married two of Our righteous servants but betrayed them…”
Yusuf Ali: “Allah sets forth, for an example to the Unbelievers, the wife of Noah and the wife of Lut: they were (respectively) under two of our righteous servants, but they were false to their (husbands)…” My Islam
Khattab: “Allah sets forth an example for the disbelievers: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. Each was married to one of Our righteous servants, yet betrayed them…”
Maududi: “Allah has set forth for the unbelievers the parable of the wives of Noah and Lot…” My Islam QuranX
Pickthall: “Allah citeth an example for those who disbelieve: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot, who were under two of Our righteous slaves yet betrayed them…” My Islam
Arberry: “God has struck a similitude for the unbelievers — the wife of Noah, and the wife of Lot…”
Daryabadi: “Allah propoundeth as an example unto those who disbelieve, the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut…”
Qarai: “Allah draws an example for the faithless: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot…”
Shakir: “Allah sets forth an example to those who disbelieve the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut…”
Hilali–Khan: “Allah sets forth an example for those who disbelieve: the wife of Nuh (Noah) and the wife of Lout (Lot)…”

Commentary. The classical exegetes are unanimous and emphatic: the “betrayal” (khiyāna) of these two wives was not sexual infidelity but religious treachery. Ibn Kathīr in his Tafsīr on this verse quotes Ibn ʿAbbās via al-Ḍaḥḥāk: “By God, no wife of any prophet has ever committed indecency; their betrayal was only in the matter of religion.” The same is reported from ʿIkrima and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr. The wife of Nūḥ — named Wāhila in some narrations — Ibn Kathīr specifies (via al-ʿAwfī from Ibn ʿAbbās): “used to expose his secrets, informing his oppressive people whenever any person embraced the faith with Nūḥ,” and al-Jalālayn adds the detail that she would call him a madman to his people. The wife of Lūṭ (named Wāʿila or Wāliha in some reports) used to signal to her city’s sodomites whenever guests arrived at her husband’s house — a fire by night, smoke by day. My Islam My Islam

The theological lesson — laid out by al-Ṭabarī, al-Rāzī, al-Qurṭubī, Maududi, Quṭb, and Ṭabāṭabāʾī alike — is staggering in its severity: proximity to a prophet does not save. Marriage to Nūḥ did not save his wife; marriage to Lūṭ did not save his wife. Each soul stands alone before God. This is the same theology of personal responsibility expressed in Q 53:38 — “No bearer of burdens shall bear another’s burden.” The Last Dialogue

The verse’s placement is exquisitely calibrated. After admonishing the Prophet’s wives in verses 1–5 and setting before them the alternative of “better wives” in verse 5, the surah now lays before them the ultimate negative exemplar: women who shared the household of prophecy and were not saved by it. The implicit warning is clear — and yet, as Maududi observes, the Qur’an never actually likens the Mothers of the Believers to Nūḥ’s wife or Lūṭ’s wife. It places the example before them as a corrective horizon, not as a comparison.

Verse 11

Arabic: وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا امْرَأَتَ فِرْعَوْنَ إِذْ قَالَتْ رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِندَكَ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَنَجِّنِي مِن فِرْعَوْنَ وَعَمَلِهِ وَنَجِّنِي مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ

Transliteration: Wa-ḍaraba Allāhu mathalan li-lladhīna āmanū imraʾata Firʿawn idh qālat: Rabbi ibni lī ʿindaka baytan fī al-jannati wa-najjinī min Firʿawna wa-ʿamalihi wa-najjinī mina al-qawmi al-ẓālimīn.

Translations:

Sahih International: “And Allah presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, ‘My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people.’”
Asad: “And for those who have attained to faith God has propounded a parable in [the story of] Pharaoh’s wife as she prayed, ‘O my Sustainer! Build Thou for me a mansion in the paradise [that is] with Thee, and save me from Pharaoh and his doings, and save me from all evildoing folk!’”
Abdel Haleem: “God has also given examples of believers: Pharaoh’s wife, who said, ‘Lord, build me a house near You in the Garden. Save me from Pharaoh and his actions; save me from the evildoers.’”
Yusuf Ali: “And Allah sets forth, as an example to those who believe the wife of Pharaoh: Behold she said: ‘O my Lord! Build for me, in nearness to Thee, a mansion in the Garden, and save me from Pharaoh and his doings, and save me from those that do wrong.’”
Khattab: “And Allah sets forth an example for the believers: the wife of Pharaoh, who prayed, ‘My Lord! Build me a house in Paradise near You, deliver me from Pharaoh and his ˹evil˺ doing, and save me from the wrongdoing people.’”
Maududi: “Allah has set forth for the believers the parable of Pharaoh’s wife…”
Pickthall: “And Allah citeth an example for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh…”
Arberry: “God has struck a similitude for the believers — the wife of Pharaoh…”
Daryabadi: “And Allah propoundeth as an example unto those who believe, the wife of Firʿawn…”
Qarai: “Allah draws an example for those who have faith: the wife of Pharaoh…”
Shakir: “And Allah sets forth an example to those who believe the wife of Firʿawn…”
Hilali–Khan: “And Allah has set forth an example for those who believe, the wife of Firʿaun (Pharaoh)…”

Commentary. Her name, per Ibn Kathīr, al-Qurṭubī, al-Tabrisī, al-Thaʿlabī, and al-Ṭabarī, was Āsiya bint Muzāḥim (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhā). Tradition holds that she believed in the message of Mūsā ʿalayhi al-salām after witnessing the defeat of the magicians; Pharaoh, on learning of her faith, had her staked out under the desert sun with a heavy stone (or millstone) on her chest. As the angels shaded her with their wings — a detail Ibn Kathīr cites from Salmān al-Fārisī — she made the prayer the Qur’an preserves: “My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise.”

The structure of her prayer rewards close attention. Ṭabāṭabāʾī in al-Mīzān (vol. 19) notes that her petition follows a perfect ascending order:

A house in Paradise — but not just any house: ʿindaka (“near You”). She names location before description: nearness to God matters more than the dwelling.
Deliverance from Pharaoh and his deeds — from the tyrant individual and from his actions, which corrupt the air around him.
Deliverance from the wrongdoing people — from the wider society of injustice.

Her prayer, in other words, moves from intimate proximity to God outward to the broader social rescue. Al-Rāzī observes that this is a believer’s complete liberation theology: vertical communion plus horizontal escape from oppression. The Prophet ﷺ named Āsiya, alongside Maryam and Khadīja, as one of the women who attained perfection (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3411, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2431).

Sayyid Quṭb writes that Āsiya’s example is precisely calibrated to console the Prophet’s wives and every later believing wife: the worst husband in human history did not prevent his wife from reaching Paradise. Faith is not held hostage to family.

Verse 12

Arabic: وَمَرْيَمَ ابْنَتَ عِمْرَانَ الَّتِي أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِنَا وَصَدَّقَتْ بِكَلِمَاتِ رَبِّهَا وَكُتُبِهِ وَكَانَتْ مِنَ الْقَانِتِينَ

Transliteration: Wa-Maryama ibnata ʿImrāna allatī aḥṣanat farjahā fa-nafakhnā fīhi min rūḥinā, wa-ṣaddaqat bi-kalimāti Rabbihā wa-kutubihi, wa-kānat min al-qānitīn.

Translations:

Sahih International: “And [the example of] Mary, the daughter of ʿImran, who guarded her chastity, so We blew into [her garment] through Our angel, and she believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures and was of the devoutly obedient.”
Asad: “And [We have propounded yet another parable of God-consciousness in the story of] Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, whereupon We breathed of Our spirit into that [which was in her womb], and who accepted the truth of her Sustainer’s words — and [thus,] of His revelations — and was one of the truly devout.”
Abdel Haleem: “[Remember] Mary, daughter of ʿImran. She guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her from Our Spirit; she accepted the truth of her Lord’s words and Scriptures: she was truly devout.”
Yusuf Ali: “And Mary the daughter of ʿImran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (her body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (servants).”
Khattab: “˹There is˺ also ˹the example of˺ Mary, the daughter of ʿImrān, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her ˹womb˺ through Our angel ˹Gabriel˺. She testified to the words of her Lord and His Scriptures, and was one of the ˹sincerely˺ devout.”
Maududi: “Allah has also set forth the parable of Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity…”
Pickthall: “And Mary, daughter of ʿImran, whose body was chaste, therefor We breathed therein something of Our Spirit. And she put faith in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and was of the obedient.”
Arberry: “And Mary, Imran’s daughter, who guarded her virginity, so We breathed into her of Our Spirit, and she confirmed the Words of her Lord and His Books, and became one of the obedient.”
Daryabadi: “And Maryam, daughter of ʿImran, who guarded her chastity…”
Qarai: “And Mary, daughter of ʿImrān, who guarded the chastity of her womb…”
Shakir: “And Maryam, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity…”
Hilali–Khan: “And Maryam (Mary), the daughter of ʿImran who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (the sleeve of her shirt or her garment) through Our Rūḥ [i.e. Jibril (Gabriel)]…”

Commentary. The surah closes on its highest note: Maryam, the daughter of ʿImrān, whose chastity (aḥṣanat farjahā) preserved a vessel for the breath of divine spirit and whose faith bore the impossible. Al-Zamakhsharī writes that “the breathing of the spirit into a body signifies the endowing it with life,” and al-Rāzī concurs. Asad notes that aḥṣanat — from the same root as ḥiṣn (fortress) — denotes “being fortified against any danger or evil,” and that the same root is used elsewhere in the Qur’an for both men and women.

The verse credits Maryam with two cognitive acts and one dispositional one: she affirmed (ṣaddaqat) the words (kalimāt) of her Lord — which Ibn Kathīr glosses as God’s commanding utterance Kun fa-yakūn by which ʿĪsā came into being — and His Books (kutubih) — the Tawrāt and the Injīl prophesying her son — and she was of the devoutly obedient (min al-qānitīn). The masculine plural qānitīn rather than the feminine qānitāt has been read as elevating her to the rank of the devout men of the prophets’ circles — a striking grammatical exaltation that several modern commentators, including Tahir-ul-Qadri and Nouman Ali Khan, have highlighted in their lectures.

Ibn Kathīr closes his commentary on the surah by quoting the Prophet’s hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (3411) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2431): “Many men have reached perfection, but none among women have reached it except Āsiya the wife of Pharaoh, Maryam the daughter of ʿImrān, and Khadīja bint Khuwaylid; and the superiority of ʿĀʾisha to other women is like the superiority of tharīd to other foods.” Thus the surah that opened with a delicate quarrel involving ʿĀʾisha closes with a tradition that names her superiority — a closing arc both classical exegetes and modern readers find deeply moving.

4. THEMATIC ANALYSIS

Five great themes weave through the surah:

1. The boundary between divine permission and personal piety. No human authority — not even the Messenger’s own — may re-classify what God has rendered ḥalāl as ḥarām. The surah’s opening establishes a principle that protected the umma from later asceticisms: piety cannot exceed God’s law by tightening what He has loosed. This is reinforced by the legislative verse that follows, instituting kaffārat al-yamīn as the mechanism by which a believer who has rashly bound himself may be released.

2. Marriage as covenant and ethical workshop. The household is not a private hearth detached from spiritual stakes; it is a workshop of character. The Mothers of the Believers are addressed not because they are small but because they are great — the standard expected of them is exalted, and even slight inclinations of heart are corrected with cosmic backing (Gabriel, the angels, the righteous of the believers).

3. Tawba naṣūḥ — sincere repentance — as the heartbeat of faith. Tawba in the surah is not merely a private ritual but a corrective rejoining of the believer to community and to God. The light running before the believer on Judgment Day is the deeds of obedience born of sincere repentance.

4. The architecture of personal accountability. No relation, however close to prophecy, is salvific in itself. The wives of Noah and Lot dwelt under prophecy’s roof and perished; Āsiya dwelt under tyranny’s roof and was saved. Each soul stands alone before God.

5. The exemplary feminine. The surah concludes with women as the bearers of its highest exemplars. Faith is not gendered. The believing community is offered not a male prophet as its highest icon at this surah’s close, but two women — and the contrast with the unbelieving wives could not be sharper.

5. THEMATIC EPILOGUE

Surah At-Taḥrīm begins with a whisper in a room and ends with a breath that fashioned a Messiah. Between these two scenes — between the closed door of a wife’s chamber and the open chamber of a virgin’s womb — the surah maps the entire vertical dimension of human life. It begins where many of us live most of our days: in the small domestic quarrels, the murmured confidences, the strategic alliances of intimate life. And from there it climbs, verse by verse, to the angelic and the divine — until at last we are standing with Maryam, watching the Spirit of God breathe into her what only her chastity and faith had prepared a body to receive.

The surah’s deepest insight, perhaps, is that the household is the first arena of faith. Long before a believer enters the mosque he has entered the home; long before he confronts the disbelievers (verse 9) he has confronted himself and those he loves (verses 1–6). The Mothers of the Believers are not idealized into bloodless saints in this surah; they are loved and corrected. That refusal to sentimentalize is itself a form of honor — for it accords to women the same dignity of moral agency that the Qur’an accords to men. ʿĀʾisha and Ḥafṣa are not props in someone else’s drama; they are independent souls before God, capable of inclination and of repentance, addressed in the dual and named through ʿUmar’s narration. They are believed in enough to be rebuked.

The pairing of Āsiya and Maryam at the close is the surah’s masterstroke. Both women had impossible husbands — one a tyrant, one no human husband at all — and both refused to let circumstance define their relation to God. Āsiya prayed for nearness (ʿindaka) before she prayed for shelter; Maryam guarded a body that became, in the end, a temple. They are placed before the wives of the Prophet — and before every believing woman to come — as templates of an emancipated piety: a faith that does not depend on the right marriage, the right father, or the right historical moment, but holds its ground inside whatever circumstance God’s wisdom has ordained.

In our own moment, the surah’s resonance is exact. Marriages are fragile; co-wives have been replaced by co-anxieties; the household feels small set against the world’s roar. Surah At-Taḥrīm refuses both anxieties. It says: your house is large — large enough for the angels to descend, large enough for the Spirit to breathe, large enough for the Fire to be averted by your guarding. It says: women are not bystanders in the divine economy. It says: the Prophet ﷺ himself was answerable to law, and so the highest dignity is not to stand above the law but to live within it.

The final image is the one to hold. A young woman in the temple precinct, her body chaste, her heart turned to her Lord, hears a voice she cannot see. Fa-nafakhnā fīhi min rūḥinā — and We breathed into it of Our Spirit. That breath — silent, invisible, world-changing — is the surah’s last word and its theological summit. Every other figure in the surah is in some posture of speech: forbidding, confiding, divulging, supplicating, excusing, repenting. Maryam alone is silent. She is the qānita — the devoutly obedient — and her silence is fuller than every other voice in the chapter. To end here is to suggest that the goal of the surah’s pedagogy is not finally more correct speech but the silence of a soul wholly given to God.

And so the surah named “The Prohibition” turns out to be a surah about openness — the opening of the heart in repentance, the opening of the household to divine purpose, the opening of the body to divine spirit. The only thing finally prohibited is the soul’s withdrawal from its Lord.

Wa-Allāhu aʿlam.