The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Allah has surely heard the words of her who contends with you concerning her husband and complains to Allah. Allah hears what both of you say. Verily Allah is All- Hearing, All-Seeing. 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 declare their wives to be their mothers and thereafter go back on what they have said shall free a slave before they may touch each other. That is what you are exhorted to do. Allah is fully aware of all your deeds. 3 So one who cannot find a slave, must then fast for two successive months before they touch one another; and one who cannot even fast, must then feed sixty needy ones; this is in order that you keep faith in Allah and His Noble Messenger; and these are the limits of Allah; and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment. 4 Those who oppose Allah and His Messenger shall be frustrated just as those before them were frustrated. We have sent down proofs and clear verses, and for the unbelievers, there is a humiliating punishment. 5 On the day God raises them all up from the dead, He will make them understand what they have done. God has taken everything into account, even though they have forgotten, for God is a witness to all things. 6