The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ GOD has indeed heard the words of her who pleads with thee concerning her husband, and complains unto God. And God does hear what you both have to say: verily, God is all-hearing, all-seeing. 1 As for those of you who [henceforth] separate themselves from their wives by saying, "Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother", [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, and is [therefore] false. But, behold, God is indeed an absolver of sins, much-forgiving: 2 Those who put away their wives (by saying they are as their mothers) and afterward would go back on that which they have said, (the penalty) in that case (is) the freeing of a slave before they touch one another. Unto this ye are exhorted; and Allah is Informed of what ye do. 3 But whosoever finds not the means, then let him fast two successive months, before the two of them touch one another. And if any man is not able to, then let him feed sixty poor persons -- that, that you may believe in God and His Messenger. Those are God's bounds; and for the unbelievers there awaits yet a painful chastisement. 4 Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be humbled to dust, as were those before them: for We have already sent down Clear Signs. And the Unbelievers (will have) a humiliating Penalty,- 5 a chastisement that shall come upon them on the Day when Allah will raise them all to a new life and will inform them of their deeds. Allah has recorded it all while they have forgotten it. Allah is a witness over everything. 6