The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Allah has heard the words of her that reasons with you (Prophet Muhammad) concerning her husband and made her complaint to Allah. Allah has heard both of you discussing with one another. Indeed, Allah is the Hearer, the Seer. 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 hence, as for those who would separate themselves from their wives by saying, "Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother", and thereafter would go back on what they have said, [their atonement] shall be the freeing of a human being from bondage before the couple may touch one another again: this you are [hereby] exhorted to do - for God is fully aware of all that you do. 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 Verily, those who contend against God and His Apostle shall be brought low even as those [evildoers] who lived before them were brought low after We had bestowed [on them] clear messages from on high. And [so,] for those who deny the truth there will be shameful suffering in store 5 On the Day that Allah will raise them all up (again) and show them the Truth (and meaning) of their conduct. Allah has reckoned its (value), though they may have forgotten it, for Allah is Witness to all things. 6