And when He had informed him, glorified and exalted is He - as narrated by al-Baghawi and others from Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah from Ali ibn Jud'an from Zain al-Abidin Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib - that Zainab, may Allah be pleased with her, would be one of his wives and that Zayd would divorce her. He concealed that within himself out of honor and fear of the people's words that he intended to marry his son's wife. In revealing that, there were signs of prophethood. The matter of the message was based on conveying to the people what Allah had informed him of, whether they loved it or hated it, and that he should not consider others nor turn to anyone else, even if there was fear of losing his life. For he is sufficient for whoever seeks His honor, and He is perfect for whoever seeks His wisdom. Just as Allah took the covenant from all the prophets, including Muhammad, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, and 'Isa ibn Maryam, blessings and peace be upon them. It was known that the command was: 'Mention what We took from you and from the prophets of the covenant to convey everything We informed you of, and We did not prohibit you from disclosing it, and what We took from the creation in every obedience and disobedience to You.' He then referred to His saying: 'And when you said...' This is because the perfect one admonishes for some of the perfections due to his elevated status above them and adorns himself with a more complete one, in the sense of 'The good deeds of the righteous are sins of the close ones.' He clarified his honor with His saying: 'For the one whom Allah has bestowed.' That is, the king who possesses all perfection. 'Upon him' means with Islam and the appointment of His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to him after creation and upbringing. He clarified his status with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with His saying: 'And You bestowed upon him.' That is, with emancipation and adoption when he consulted you about divorcing his wife whom Allah informed you that he would separate from her and she would become your wife: 'Keep your wife.' That is, Zainab. 'And fear Allah,' meaning the One who has all greatness in all your affairs, especially what relates to her rights, and do not wrong her by saying: 'She is elevated above me' - and similar to that. 'And you conceal,' meaning while you are concealing, that is, you say to him while concealing 'within yourself' what Allah informed you that she would become one of your wives after Zayd's divorce. 'What Allah is making evident' means by compelling Zayd to divorce her, even if you commanded him to keep her and your marriage to her and your command to enter upon her. This is evidence that he concealed nothing other than what Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed him that she would become his wife after Zayd's divorce, for Allah, glorified and exalted is He, did not make evident anything other than that. If he had concealed anything else, He would have made it evident, glorified is He, for His words cannot be changed. Al-Bukhari narrated from Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, that these verses were revealed concerning Zainab bint Jahsh and Zayd ibn Harithah, may Allah be pleased with them both.

And when he mentioned his concealing that, he mentioned its reason and said, adding to "conceal": ﴿And you fear the people﴾ meaning [from] that you inform of what Allah has informed you of, so they may direct towards you the stones of suspicion, especially the Jews and the hypocrites. ﴿And Allah﴾ meaning, while the One who is nothing is greater than Him ﴿is more deserving that you fear Him﴾ meaning alone, and do not combine the fear of the people with His fear in that you delay something He has informed you of for something that burdens you until a matter is clarified for you in it. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: If the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, had concealed anything from what was revealed to him, he would have concealed this verse.

And when he knew from this that He, glorified and exalted is He, informed him that Zayd would divorce her and that she would become his wife after Zayd's divorce of her, he caused his saying, adding to it: ﴿So when Zayd had fulfilled his need of her﴾ meaning a need from her marriage and entering upon her, and that was with the completion of her waiting period from him, for by it it is known that he has no need for her, and that his desire for her has diminished, and she has become pleasing to him, otherwise he would have taken her back. ﴿We married you to her﴾ and we did not require you to have a guardian from the creation to contract for you with her, honoring you and her, by what we have of the greatness that we have broken the norms of creation with until all who knew of it submitted to that, and all souls were pleased with it, and no hypocrite nor anyone else could dare to speak about that with a word that would weaken him and affect him. Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "When the waiting period of Zainab, may Allah be pleased with her, ended, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to Zayd: Go and mention her to me. So Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him, went until he came to her while she was kneading her dough. He said: When I saw her, she became great in my chest until I could not look at her because the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, mentioned her, so I turned my back and retreated. I said: O Zainab! The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, is mentioning you. She said: I will not do anything until my Lord commands me. So she stood up to her mosque and the Quran was revealed, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, entered upon her without permission. He said: And I saw that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, fed us bread and meat until the day extended, and the people left, and there remained men talking." He mentioned it, it will come. And Al-Baghawi said: (p-360) Al-Sha'bi said: "Zainab, may Allah be pleased with her, used to say to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: I can point out to you three things that no woman among your women can point out with: My grandfather and your grandfather are one, and that Allah married me to you in the heavens, and that the messenger is Gabriel, peace be upon him."

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned marriage due to His greatness, He mentioned its reason, indicating that the original matter is the participation of the nation with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in the rulings, and that there is no specificity except by evidence. He said: "So that there is not upon the believers" meaning those whose lineage in faith has removed their shares, "any hardship" meaning difficulty, "in the wives of their adopted sons" meaning those whom they have adopted and treated them in the prohibition of their wives like the wives of biological sons, [in reality]. "When they have fulfilled their desire from them" meaning a need by entering into them, then divorce and the end of the waiting period.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, knew that some people would say various sayings regarding this incident, He indicated what was said by the adornment of the worshipers with His saying: "And the command of Allah" meaning [of] the ruling of marrying her even if you dislike it and you refrained from showing what Allah informed you of due to dislike for the bad talk and shyness from that. And likewise, every matter that He, glorified and exalted is He, wants is "done" because He, glorified and exalted is He, has the command all of it; there is no repelling of His command nor any reversing of His judgment.