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 [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 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 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 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