The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ God has certainly heard the words of the woman who disputed with you about her husband and who (after not having received a favorable response from you) complained to God. God was listening to your argument. He is All-hearing and All-aware. 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 call their wives their mothers then revoke what they had said, should free a slave before having physical contact (with them). This is to warn you, as God is aware of what 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 Those who oppose God and His Messenger will be humiliated like those who lived before. We have sent illustrious revelations and those who disbelieve will suffer a humiliating torment. 5 upon the day when God shall raise them up all together, then He shall tell them what they did. 6