His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿You may defer whom you wish of them and you may take to yourself whom you wish. And there is no blame upon you for what you desire of those you have left behind. That is nearer to having their eyes comforted and that they not grieve, and that they be pleased with what you have given them, all of them. And Allah knows what is in your hearts, and Allah is Knowing and Forbearing.﴾

﴿It is not lawful for you to have other women after that, nor to exchange them for other wives, even if their beauty pleases you, except what your right hand possesses. And Allah is Ever Watchful over all things.﴾

The word ﴿" , "﴾ means: to delay. Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, Ibn Amer, and Asim read it as ﴿

(p-135) And His saying, exalted and majestic: ﴿And whoever you seek from those whom you have separated﴾ has meanings: One of them is that 'whoever' is for part of a whole, meaning: whoever you desired and your soul sought from those whom I have separated and delayed, there is no harm in returning him to yourself and sheltering him with you after his separation. And a second interpretation is that it strengthens and affirms His saying: (You delay whom You will and shelter whom You will), so He says afterward: ￿And whoever you seek from those whom you have separated﴾, thus it is equal, there is no harm upon you in all of it. This is like saying: 'Whoever meets you from those who did not meet you, all of them are grateful to you,' and you mean: 'whoever meets you and whoever did not meet you.' This meaning can be valid in the context of an oath, and it can also be valid in divorce and retention, and in the gifts, and each group has said something about it.

And the majority read: ￿That is nearer that their eyes may be comforted﴾ with the eyes raised. And Ibn Muhaisin read: 'that you may comfort' with the 'ta' in 'tuqirra' being pronounced with a dammah and the qaf being broken, 'their eyes' in the accusative. And His saying: ￿with what You have given them﴾ means: from Yourself and Your wealth. And the majority of the people read: ￿all of them﴾ with the raising for the affirmation of the pronoun in 'they are pleased,' and Al-Tabari did not permit anything else. And Juwayrat ibn Abid read: 'all of them' in the accusative for the affirmation of the pronoun in 'You have given them.' The meaning is that they submit to Allah and His judgment, and they used to not tolerate among themselves due to jealousy, and they would not submit to the Prophet ﷺ out of pride. Ibn Zayd and Qatadah inclined towards this meaning.

And His saying, exalted is He: ￿And Allah knows what is in your hearts﴾ is a general statement, and it refers to what is in the heart of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the love of one person over another, and likewise it also includes the believers. And His saying: ￿Forbearant﴾ is a description that necessitates from Him, blessed and exalted is He, forgiveness and reassurance in this meaning; for these are thoughts and reflections that a person does not usually control.

And the narrations agree that he, blessings and peace be upon him, was just among them in the division until he died, and he did not adhere to what was permitted for him with them, controlling himself and taking the better option, except that Sawdah gave her day to Aisha as a means to please the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

And His saying, exalted is He: "It is not lawful for you to marry women after this," it is said, as we have mentioned: that women occurred to him except for the nine who were with him. So, it is as if the verse is not connected to what preceded it. Ibn Abbas and Qatadah, may Allah be pleased with them, said: When the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, abandoned them for a month and took an oath against them, then he came out and gave them a choice, and they chose Allah and His Messenger, Allah compensated them by prohibiting him from other women and sufficed him with them. He prohibited him from replacing them, and by this, He abrogated what had been permitted to him before regarding the expansion in all women. And Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ikrimah said: "It is not lawful for you to marry women after this," meaning: after the specified categories. And whoever said that the permission was absolute for him said here: "It is not lawful for you to marry women," its meaning is: it is not lawful for you to marry Jewish or Christian women. And this interpretation is distant, even if it has been narrated from Mujahid. Likewise, it has been estimated: nor to replace Jewish and Christian women with Muslim women. And this is the saying of Abu Razin and Sa'id ibn Jubair. And Ubayy ibn Ka'b said: "It is not lawful for you to marry women after this," meaning: it is not lawful for you to marry aunts or maternal aunts and similar ones. And he commanded, along with that, that he should not replace his nine wives, and it was prohibited for him to divorce any of them and marry others, as said by Al-Dahhak. And it was said: by whom he married and who was in his custody, meaning: he should not replace her by taking another man's wife and giving him his wife. Ibn Zayd said: And this is something that the Arabs used to do. And this is a weak saying that Al-Tabari and others denied regarding the meaning of the verse, and the Arabs never did this. And what has been narrated from Uyaynah ibn Hisn that he entered upon the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and there was Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, and he said: "Who is this red-haired one?" The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "This is Aisha." Uyaynah said: "O Messenger of Allah, if you wish, I will step aside for you from the lady of the Arabs in beauty and lineage." This is neither a replacement nor did he intend that, but he belittled Aisha because she was young and said this statement. And Abu Amr read - differently - "It is lawful" (p-137) with a ت (taa) meaning: a group of women, and the others read with a ي (yaa) from below, meaning: all women, and both are good; because the feminine form of the word women is not literal.

'And His saying, the Most High: ﴿And if their beauty impresses you﴾. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: This was revealed because of the names of the daughter of Umayys. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was impressed by her beauty when Ja'far ibn Abi Talib passed away, [so he intended to marry her].' And in this expression: ﴿If their beauty impresses you﴾ is evidence that it is permissible for a man to look at the one he intends to marry. It was reported that Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba intended to marry a woman, and the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: 'Look at her, for it is more likely to bring you together.' And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said to another: 'Look at her, for there is something in the eyes of the Ansar.' Al-Humaydi said: meaning: yellowish. And Sahl ibn Abi Hathma said: 'I saw Muhammad ibn Maslama pursuing Buiyita, the daughter of Al-Dahhak, on a rental from the renters of Medina. I said to him: Will you do this? He said: Yes. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'If Allah casts a proposal for a woman into the heart of any of you, there is no harm in looking at her.'