The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Allah has indeed heard the speech of the woman who is arguing with you (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) concerning her husband, and is complaining to Allah; and Allah hears the conversation of you both; indeed Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. 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 Those who put away their wives (by saying they are as their mothers) and afterward would go back on that which they have said, (the penalty) in that case (is) the freeing of a slave before they touch one another. Unto this ye are exhorted; and Allah is Informed of what ye do. 3 And whosoever findeth not a slave to free on him is the fasting for two months in succession before the twain touch each other, and on him who is not able to do so is the feeding of sixty needy ones. That is in order that ye may believe in Allah and His apostle; and these are the ordinances of Allah. And for the infidels is a torment afflictive. 4 Indeed those who oppose Allah and His Noble Messenger have been humiliated, like those before them who were humiliated, and We have indeed sent down clear verses; and for the disbelievers is a disgraceful 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