The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you, [O Muhammad], concerning her husband and directs her complaint to Allah. And Allah hears your dialogue; indeed, Allah is Hearing and 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 those among you who have proclaimed their wives as their mothers and then wish to revert to the matter upon which they had uttered such an enormous word, must then free a slave before they touch one another; this is what you are advised; and Allah is Aware of your deeds. 3 And he who findeth not (the wherewithal), let him fast for two successive months before they touch one another; and for him who is unable to do so (the penance is) the feeding of sixty needy ones. This, that ye may put trust in Allah and His messenger. Such are the limits (imposed by Allah); and for disbelievers is a painful doom. 4 Surely those who oppose God and His Messenger shall be frustrated as those before them were frustrated. Now We have sent down signs, clear signs; and for the unbelievers awaits a humbling chastisement, 5 On the day when Allah will raise them all together and inform them of what they did. Allah hath kept account of it while they forgot it. And Allah is Witness over all things. 6