يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ

1152

Commentary:

The words من اتبعك (those who follow thee) are grammatically in apposition to the pronoun (thee) in حسبك (sufficient for thee). It is thus wrong to translate the verse as "Allah is sufficient for thee and so are those who follow thee." The sufficing of God relates both to the Prophet and his followers.

1153

Commentary:

As disbelievers were not going to desist from fighting, as they were invited to do (8:23 & 8:39 above), but were determined to carry on war of aggression against Islam, therefore the Holy Prophet has been asked in this verse to urge Muslims also to fight in self-defence.

The verse promises victory to Muslims over an enemy ten times their number because they are a people who do not understand. Fighters should understand the purpose of their fighting. They should look upon the war, they are engaged in, as their own. They should know the advantage which will accrue to their community if they win, and they should also know the losses which they will have to suffer if they are defeated. Mere hirelings, or men, who are blindly led to war by their leaders but who do not understand its object and feel no personal interest in it, cannot win. The forces that fought against Islam were mostly composed of men, who took part in the war merely because they were called upon to do so by their mischievous leaders-the wicked and avowed enemies of Islam. They felt no personal interest in the war against the new religion.

Religiously speaking also, they were a people who did not "understand", whereas Muslims did understand what faith meant. They were moved by love for their God, their Prophet and their religion. Disbelievers, on the other hand, were not as devoted to their idols as the Faithful were to their God in Whom they had a living faith.

The verse gives the number twenty as the minimum number for Muslims to win sure victory over their enemy because that was the least number that made a regular fighting party. If the number of men was less than twenty, it was not to be regarded as a fighting force and the laws relating to war did not apply to them.

Thus, a party of twenty persons, the minimum comprising a fighting unit, was bound to fight if they met an enemy as many as ten times their strength, and they were forbidden to flee. The question of retiring before the enemy is not to be decided by the men but by their officers, who may act as they may think best in the interest of war. See also 8:16.

1158

Commentary:

The words of this verse, addressed to the Meccan prisoners in the hands of the Muslims, are meant by way of consolation. If they have been made to pay ransom for their release, they should not grieve, for if God sees some good in their hearts, He will not only forgive them their past errors but will also amply repay them for their financial loss. One of the prisoners taken at Badr was ‘Abbas, an uncle of the Holy Prophet. Some Muslims recommended him to the Holy Prophet for a free release in consideration of his near relationship to the Prophet and of his being a believer at heart, but the Holy Prophet refused to make any exception in his favour and declared that like other prisoners, he too should pay ransom for his release. When, however, he subsequently embraced Islam openly and came over to the Holy Prophet, he requested, on the basis of the verse under comment, that as God had promised to give the prisoners more than was taken from them as ransom, the promise may be fulfilled in his case, and the Holy Prophet granted his request (Jarir, x. 31).

1227

Commentary:

The words, disbelievers and hypocrites, do not here refer to two different classes of men, but only to hypocrites who are also disbelievers. As a matter of fact, the word "hypocrites" as used here explains the meaning of the word "disbelievers" which precedes it, hinting that the hypocrites referred to here are disbelievers at heart, though outwardly they profess to be believers. See also the succeeding verse.

The words, be severe to them, may mean" be strict in your dealings with the hypocrites", i.e. you should no longer be lenient to them or condone their offences, as you did formerly, but you should now call them to account for their misdeeds. The words do not signify cruel treatment or even harshness of language or demeanour but simply strictness of attitude and treatment.

3075A

Commentary:

In deference to his very exalted spiritual rank the Holy Prophet has been addressed as النبی (the Prophet) in the present verse and at several other places in the Quran. No other Prophet in any revealed Scripture or in the Quran has been addressed as such. All the Prophets have been addressed by their proper names. This peculiarity of address for the Holy Prophet has been adopted to show that he alone is النبی i.e. the Prophet par excellence. Or the reference in this form of address may be to a Biblical prophecy in which the advent of "that Prophet" has been foretold. The prophecy clearly and definitely applies only to the Holy Prophet.

Incidentally, according to Quranic idiom the word النبی (the Prophet) implies also the followers of the Holy Prophet.

3096

Commentary:

As a result of the Battle of the Ditch and of the subsequent banishment of the Banu Quraizah, large booty fell into the hands of Muslims. They were also promised more conquests and wealth (see v. 28 above). From a persecuted and economically very poor minority they had grown into a rich, powerful and prosperous community. Material wealth, however, brings in its train worldly-mindedness, and a desire for ease and comfort and a disinclination to render acts of service and sacrifice. This is a state of affairs which a Reformer has especially to guard against. As love of ease and comfort, generally makes its appearance first in the domestic circle, and as the members of the Holy Prophet’s household were to serve as a model in social behaviour, it was in the fitness of things that they should have been required to set an example in self-denial. Not that the use of money was altogether taboo or that amenities of life were completely forbidden to them, but they were, no doubt, expected to set a very high standard of self-abnegation. It is to this high standard of the sacrifice of material benefits and of an affluent and easy living, to which the present and the following few verses refer. The companionship of the Holy Prophet demanded this sacrifice, and his wives were told to make a choice between comfortable life and his companionship, and it should be said to their credit that they chose the latter alternative and that even when, afterwards, in the time of the Caliphate of ‘Umar and ‘Uthman, very high stipends were paid to them, they lived extremely simple lives and spent most of the money in charity.

The words, "I will provide for you and send you away in a handsome manner" imply that the Holy Prophet’s wives were allowed a free choice and if anyone of them had elected to part company with him, it would have entailed no displeasure of God, on the contrary she would have been handsomely provided.

It may also be noted that just as the Holy Prophet was a perfect exemplar for all sections of humanity, his wives were expected to serve as model for women in their special sphere. This is why they have been called "the Mothers of the Faithful." Naturally, a very strict and high standard of self-discipline and self-denial is demanded of them in this and the next few verses.

3108

Commentary:

In this and the next verse five prominent qualities of the Holy Prophet have been mentioned to show that he possesses all the necessary qualifications which a spiritual leader who is entrusted with the divine mission "to bring men out of darkness into light," should possess; (1) he is a witness i.e. a promulgator of the Law and a model; (2) he is a bearer of glad tidings, i.e. God has not lost interest in men and continues to send His Messengers and Prophets to reclaim lost humanity when there is need for one; (3) he is a Warner telling men that if they did not benefit from his teaching and persisted in their evil ways, they will come to grief; (4) he is a Summoner unto Allah by His command, i.e. he is not a self-appointed Reformer but a Divinely-commissioned teacher; and (5) he is a Lamp that gives light, i.e. now, he alone is "the light and the way."

3111

Commentary:

This verse should be read along with vv. 29 and 30 above. In those verses the wives of the Holy Prophet were offered a choice between the companionship of the Holy Prophet and the material benefits and comforts of life, but they preferred the Prophet’s company. The present verse by implication refers to that reply of the Prophet’s consorts which is recorded in the books of history but expressly nowhere in the Quran. Till they gave their reply, the marital relations between them and the Holy Prophet remained, as it were, in a state of suspension. The verse shows that while the wives of the Holy Prophet preferred his company to material goods and amenities of life, he too had great consideration for their feelings, and though he was given the choice to retain such of them as he liked (v. 52) he did not exercise the choice and in deference to his wishes God permitted him in the present verse to retain all his wives.

The verse refers to three kinds of women whom the Holy Prophet could marry in addition to his already wedded wives: (1) Women who were taken prisoner in wars against Islam; (2) women who had migrated to Medina with the Holy Prophet, and (3) a woman who should offer herself for marriage to him. This shows that the Holy Prophet’s marriages were motivated by considerations other than sensuous gratification as his ignorant and mischievous critics try to depict. Those who had left their hearths and homes for the sake of Islam and those whose husbands had been killed in wars fighting in defence of Islam had special claim on the Holy Prophet’s consideration. It is in view of these considerations that he married most of his wives. He married Hafsah whose husband was killed in the Battle of Badr; Zainab bint Khuzaimah whose husband was killed in the Battle of Uhud; Ummi Salmah whose husband died in 4 A.H., and Ummi Habibah, daughter of Abu Sufyan, who became a widow in 5 or 6 A.H. (in exile in Abyssinia). He married Juwairiyyah and Safiyyah, both widows, in 5 A.H. and 7 A.H. respectively, seeking a union with and pacification of their tribes. It is worthy of note that a hundred families of the Banu Mustaliq were liberated by Muslims when the Holy Prophet married Juwairiyyah. Maimunah, another widow, it is said, offered herself to be taken in marriage by the Holy Prophet which offer he condescended to accept in the interest of the education and training of Muslim women. He married Zainab, the divorced wife of Zaid in 5 A.H. in order to put a stop to a foolish custom prevailing among the Arabs and in order also to assuage her wounded feelings as the respected lady had felt deeply humiliated at being divorced by Zaid. He married Mariah in 7 A.H., and thus by raising a freed slave girl to the highly eminent spiritual status of the "Mother of the Faithful", he gave a death blow to slavery. Such were the pious and righteous motives of our noble Master in marrying widows and divorced women, by no means noted for their youth or beauty, and yet his cruel and mean traducers vainly try to depict him as a person who was given to gratifying his carnal desires. They deliberately ignore the patent fact that up to the age of 25 he lived the spotless life of a celibate. Then in the prime of his youth he married a lady fifteen years his senior and lived with her a most happy life till he was an old man of fifty and she about sixty-five. After her death he married Saudah, another lady of a very advanced age. He married all his other wives, to which exception has been taken by evil-minded carpers, between 2 A.H. and 7 A.H., a period when he was constantly engaged in active fighting and his life was perpetually in danger and the fate of Islam itself hung in the balance. Could any sane person in such situation of danger and uncertainty conceive of contracting marriage after marriage from motives attributed to the Holy Prophet? After this he lived for about three years as virtual ruler of the whole of Arabia when all the comforts and amenities of life were at his disposal and yet he entered into no further marriage. Does not this fact alone establish the honesty and sincerity of the Holy Prophet’s motives in marrying his wives?

The words "if she entrusts herself to the Prophet" have been taken as specially referring to Maimunah who is reported to have offered herself to be taken into marriage by the Holy Prophet. The clause, "This provision is only for thee as against other believers," means that it was a special privilege of the Holy Prophet and was due to the special nature of his duties as a Divine Prophet. In fact, marriages of the Holy Prophet were dictated by much higher and nobler considerations than merely personal ones. The clause may also refer to the special permission granted to the Holy Prophet, to retain all his wives, after the commandment contained in 4:4 was revealed, limiting to four the number of wives allowed to Muslims at one time.

The words, "We have already made known what We have enjoined on them concerning their wives," refer to the commandment contained in 4:4.

3119

Important Words:

جلابیب (outer coverings) is the plural of جلباب which is derived from جلب. They say جلببه جلباباً i.e. he put on himself a garment of the kind called جلباب. This word has several meanings; (a) a woman’s outer wrapping garment; this is its primary signification; (b) a shirt; (c) a garment that envelops the whole body; (d) the kind of covering called خمار (e) a garment with which a woman covers her head and bosom; (f) a woman’s head-covering; (g) a garment worn by a woman that entirely envelops the body so that not even a hand is left uncovered; (h) a garment or other thing that one uses as a covering (Lane).

یدنین (draw close) is aorist from أدنی which is transitive verb from دنی which means, he or it was or became near. أدناہ means, he made him draw near. أدنت علیھا ثوبھا means, she let down her garment upon her and veiled herself with it. أدنیت الستر means, I let down the veil, or curtain, for the purpose of concealment (Lane & Aqrab)

Commentary:

This verse contains the basic commandment with regard to "Purdah" as enjoined by Islam. For a full discussion, however, of this subject see 24:32 where the present verse has also been discussed. Briefly, it may be stated here that Islamic "Purdah" is intended to serve a double purpose. It enjoins privacy and recommends decorum and dignified behaviour. Women are not allowed to meet men promiscuously and they are expected to observe certain rules regarding dress when going out of their houses.

4285

Commentary:

Whereas, in the preceding verse it was stated that spiritual progress, not only in this world but in the life after death, is endless, in the verse under comment we are told that no advance is possible unless the disbelievers and the hypocrites are strenuously striven against. Incidentally, the verse explains the real significance of jihad which means, "striving against". Since the hypocrites were regarded as part of the Muslim Community, jihad in the sense of fighting with the sword was never waged against them.

4220

Commentary:

The expression, بین أیدیھن و أرجلھن means from themselves or by themselves.

4268

Commentary:

This is one of those verses of the Quran in which the address made to the Holy Prophet, is, in reality, meant for the believers. Since the Holy Prophet was debarred from divorcing any of his wives (33:53), the injunction is meant clearly for his followers.

The procedure of divorce given in this Surah is as follows:

The first pronouncement of divorce should be in the interval between two monthly courses, during which the husband and wife should not have conjugal relations. This ensures that the decision to divorce has not been taken hastily in a fit of anger or under the influence of some other momentary impulse but after cool and deliberate reflection. Moreover, a divorced wife is to remain in her house till the expiry of ‘iddah (the period of waiting) which extends over three courses.

The words "it may be that thereafter Allah will bring about something new to pass," signify that the above-mentioned procedure is enjoined because it is possible that during the period of waiting the causes of friction may wear out and reconciliation may take place between the estranged parties.

4278

Commentary:

It is related that one day one of the wives of the Holy Prophet gave him a drink made from honey, which he seemed to like. Some of his other wives, out of pique, pointed out to him that his breath smelt of Maghafir, a shrub the taste of which resembled that of honey but having a bad smell. The Holy Prophet, because of his delicate nature, promised not to take honey any more (Buldan). It is to this incident that the verse under comment is generally taken to refer. But it seems improbable that the Holy Prophet, merely to satisfy the pique of his wife or wives, should have taken such a drastic step as to have forbidden himself the use of some-thing which was lawful, particularly that in which, according to the Quran, "there is cure for men" (16:70). It appears the narrator or narrators of this incident in the traditions suffered from some misunderstanding or confusion, particularly when, accor-ding to one tradition, the Holy Prophet took honey from the house of Zainab, and it were ‘A’ishah and Hafsah who contrived to draw him into making the aforesaid promise, while, according to another tradition, it was at the house of Hafsah that he was served with honey and that the wives who objected were ‘A’ishah, Zainab and Safiyya. It appears, moreover, that according to the hadith, two, or at the most three, of the Holy Prophet’s wives were concerned in the incident, but, according to vv. 2 & 6 of the present Surah, all were connected with it, two of them taking a leading part (v.5). These considerations indicate that the Surah refers to some incident of much greater significance than the mere taking of honey by the Holy Prophet at the house of one of his wives and of having been drawn into making a promise not to take it anymore. In the commentary on this Surah, Bukhari (Kitabul-Mazalim wal Ghasb) quotes Ibn ‘Abbas as relating that he was always on the lookout to enquire of ‘Umar as to who were the two wives to whom reference had been made in the verse: "Now, if you two turn unto Allah, it will be better for you, and your hearts are already so inclined." One day, finding ‘Umar alone, he sought to satisfy his curiosity. He had hardly finished his question, says Ibn ‘Abbas, when ‘Umar said that they were ‘A’ishah and Hafsah and then proceeded to relate the story: "Once, when my wife offered me her advice concerning some domestic affair, I curtly told her that it was no business of hers to advise me, for in those days we did not hold our womenfolk in much respect. My wife sternly replied: 'Your daughter Hafsah takes so much liberty with the Holy Prophet that she retorts back, when he says something not to her liking till he feels offended, and you do not allow me to speak to you even about our domestic affairs.' Upon this I went to Hafsah and sternly told her that she should not be misled by ‘A’ishah in this matter as she was nearer to the Prophet’s heart. Then I went to Ummi Salma and had hardly broached the matter with her when she also curtly told me not to interfere in affairs concerning the Prophet and his wives. A short time after this, the Prophet separated himself from his wives and decided not to go to the house of any of them. The news went round that the Prophet had divorced his wives. I went to him and asked him if it was true that he had divorced his wives to which he replied in the negative." This incident shows that ‘Umar, and Ibn ‘Abbas were of the view that the relevant verses of the Surah referred to this temporary separation of the Holy Prophet from his wives. The fact that the preceding Surah mentions the subject of Talaq which is separation of a permanent character, lends weight to the inference that these verses relate to the Prophet’s separation from his wives, which, however, was of a temporary nature. Besides, as reported by ‘A’ishah in the above mentioned hadith, immediately after the period of separation was over, v. 33:29 was revealed, and the Prophet’s wives were given the choice between the Prophet’s companionship and a life of poverty and austere simplicity on the one hand, and separation from him with a life of ease and comfort and all sorts of material benefit on the other. The choice was given to all the wives and the verse under comment speaks of all the wives, as also does v. 4. This shows that the incident referred to in these verses concerns all the wives in which two of them took a more prominent part. And this was when the Prophet’s wives, led by ‘A’ishah and Hafsah, demanded of him that like other Muslim women they should also have amenities of life and comfortable living (Fathul-Qadir). In this context the words تبتغی مرضاة أزواجک would seem to mean something like this: "Since thou always desirest to please thy wives and meet their wishes, they have been encouraged by this loving attitude of thine naturally to lose sight of thy high position as a Prophet of God and to make excessive demands on thee."

The alleged incident of Mariah, the Copt, being too foolish and fantastic a concoction of Christian writers and lacking all reliable historical evidence, does not merit serious notice. Mary was the Holy Prophet’s wedded consort and the respected mother of the Faithful. The Prophet never kept a slave girl.