His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿Allah has not made for a man two hearts in his interior. And He has not made your wives whom you declare to be like your mothers your mothers. And He has not made your adopted sons your sons. That is your saying with your mouths. And Allah says the truth, and He guides to the way.﴾

People have differed regarding the reason for His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Allah has not made for a man two hearts in his interior.﴾ Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The reason for it is that some of the hypocrites said: If Muhammad has two hearts; because he sometimes inclines towards one thing and then returns to his original matter. They said this about him, so Allah, exalted and glorified is He, denied it. Ibn Abbas also said: Rather, the reason for it is that there was among the Quraysh, in the Banu Fihir, a man who claimed that he had two hearts; and he was called: Dhul-Qalbain. Al-Thalabi said: He is Ibn Ma'mar, and he used to say: I am smarter than Muhammad and more understanding. So when the defeat at Badr occurred, his mind became confused, and he spoke to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb as if he were deranged, and the verse was revealed because of him and to deny his claim. It was said that he was Ibn Khatal. Al-Zahrawi said: This term came in the context of a proverb regarding Zayd ibn Harithah and the introduction to His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And He has not made your adopted sons your sons.﴾ That is: just as no one has two hearts, likewise, his adopted son is not his son.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It appears from the verse that it is, in its entirety, a denial of things that the Arabs believed at that time, and an informing of the truth of the matter. Among them was that some of the Arabs used to say: A person has two hearts, one heart commands him and another heart forbids him, and the contradiction of thoughts led them to this. From this is the saying of Al-Kumayt:

So remember from where and from where his drinking is He commands his two selves like the camel's charge.

And people even now say when they describe their thoughts about something: One says to me I have two hearts like this, and the other says like this. And likewise, the Arabs believed that when a wife was declared like a mother, it was considered a divorce, and they believed that the adopted child was a son. So Allah, blessed and exalted is He, informed that no one has two hearts, and there is also a refutation of the hypocrites mentioned earlier, meaning: It is only one heart, either it is filled with faith or it is filled with disbelief; because the degree of hypocrisy is as if it is intermediate, one heart believes and the other disbelieves. So Allah, exalted and glorified is He, denied it and clarified that it is one heart. And in this way, a person can use this verse as a proof whenever he forgets something or is mistaken, saying in the context of an apology: ﴿Allah has not made for a man two hearts in his interior.﴾ Meaning: If his one heart forgets, the other reminds him. Likewise, He informed that a wife cannot be a mother, and that the adopted child is not made a son.

Nafi and Ibn Kathir read: "the ones whom you declare" without a yā, and it has been narrated from Abu Amr and Ibn Jubayr: "the ones whom you declare" with a silent yā without hamzah. And Warsh read with a broken yā without hamzah, and Asim, Hamzah, Al-Kisai, Ibn Amir, Talhah, and Al-Amash read with a broken hamzah followed by a yā.

Ibn 'Amir read: "tazahharun" with a strong dhad and an alif. Al-Asim, Al-Hasan, Abu Ja'far, and Qatadah read: "tudhahirun" with a dammah on the ta and a softened dhad. Abu 'Amr rejected it and said: This is only in cooperation.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It is not rejected, and the term dhihar necessitates it. Al-Asim, Hamzah, and Abu Bakr from Al-Asim read: "tazahirun" with a fatha on the ta and a softened dhad. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', and Abu 'Amr read: "tazahharun" with a strong dhad and a ha without an alif. Yahya ibn Wathab read: "tudhhirun" with a dammah on the ta, a sukoon on the dhad, and a kasrah on the ha. In the Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, it is "tatazahharun" with two tas. The Arabs used to say: "You are to me like the back of my mother," so the verse was revealed, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, revealed the expiation for dhihar. The explanation of dhihar and its clarification have been established in Surah Al-Mujadila.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And He has not made your adopted sons your sons" - the reason for this is that Zayd ibn Harithah was called Zayd ibn Muhammad, because he was a slave of Khadijah. She gifted him to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and he stayed with him for a period. Then his uncle and father came desiring to ransom him. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to them - and this was before the Prophethood: "Choose for him, for if he chooses you, he is yours without ransom." So they chose for him, and he chose servitude with Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, over his freedom and his people. Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "O people of Quraysh, bear witness that he is my son; he inherits from me and I inherit from him." His father and uncle were pleased with that and departed.

And His saying: "With your mouths" is an affirmation of the invalidity of the saying, meaning that it has no reality in existence; it is only a saying. This is like saying: "I walk to you on foot," for you are affirming the act of walking. This is common. And "guides" means: clarifies, and it is transitive without a preposition. Qatadah read: "yuhdhi" with a dammah on the ya, a fatha on the ha, and a shaddah on the dal. And "the way" is the way of the Shari'ah and faith. Ibn Kathir, Ibn 'Amir, and Al-Asim - in the narration of Ja'far - pause at "the way" and drop it in connection. Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, and Al-Asim read with the alif in connection and pause, while Abu 'Amr and Hamzah read without the alif in connection and pause. All of this is in other than this context, and they all agreed here specifically on dropping the alif in connection and pause due to the place of the alif of connection that meets the lam.