The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ God has indeed heard the words of the woman who pleads with you about her husband and lays her complaint before God: God hears what the two of you have to say. 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 And (as for) those who put away their wives by likening their backs to the backs of their mothers then would recall what they said, they should free a captive before they touch each other; to that you are admonished (to conform); and Allah is Aware of what 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 Those who oppose God will be disgraced, as those before them were. We have sent down very clear signs. For unbelievers there is a shameful punishment. 5 On the day when everyone will be resurrected, God will tell them about their deeds which He has recorded in their entirety - while they themselves have forgotten them. God is the witness over all things. 6