The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Allah has indeed heard the speech of the woman who is arguing with you (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) concerning her husband, and is complaining to Allah; and Allah hears the conversation of you both; indeed Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. 1 Those of you who say, regarding their wives, 'Be as my mother's back,' they are not truly their mothers; their mothers are only those who gave them birth, and they are surely saying a dishonourable saying, and a falsehood. Yet surely God is All-pardoning, All-forgiving. 2 Those who renounce their wives by calling them mothers and then change their minds about what they have said will have to set free a slave as a ransom and only then will their carnal relations be lawful. This is what you have been commanded. God is Well Aware of whatever you 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 Surely those who act in opposition to Allah and His Apostle shall be laid down prostrate as those before them were laid down prostrate; and indeed We have revealed clear communications, and the unbelievers shall have an abasing chastisement. 5 On the day when Allah will raise them up all together, then inform them of what they did: Allah has recorded it while they have forgotten it; and Allah is a witness of all things. 6