The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Allah indeed knows the plea of her who pleads with you about her husband and complains to Allah, and Allah knows the contentions of both of you; surely Allah is Hearing, Seeing. 1 (As for) those of you who put away their wives by likening their backs to the backs of their mothers, they are not their mothers; their mothers are no others than those who gave them birth; and most surely they utter a hateful word and a falsehood and most surely Allah is Pardoning, Forgiving. 2 And those who say, regarding their wives, 'Be as my mother's back,' and then retract what they have said, they shall set free a slave, before the two of them touch one another. By that you are admonished; and God is aware of the things you do. 3 However, he who does not have the wherewithal shall fast [instead] for two consecutive months before the couple may touch one another again; and he who is unable to do it shall feed sixty needy ones: this, so that you might prove your faith in God and His Apostle. Now these are the bounds set by God; and grievous suffering [in the life to come] awaits all who deny the truth. 4 Verily those who oppose Allah and His apostle shall be abased even as those before them were abased; and of a surety We have sent down manifest signs. And for the infidels will be a torment ignominious. 5 On the Day when Allah will resurrect them all and inform them of what they did. Allah had enumerated it, while they forgot it; and Allah is, over all things, Witness. 6