'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Tahrim

And it is a Medinan surah, by consensus of the scholars without disagreement.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿O Prophet, why do you prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the pleasure of your wives? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful﴾ ﴿Allah has decreed for you the expiation of your oaths. And Allah is your protector, and He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise﴾ ﴿And when the Prophet confided to one of his wives a statement, and when she informed of it and Allah made it known to him, he acknowledged part of it and disregarded part. And when he informed her about it, she said, 'Who informed you of this?' He said, 'The All-Knowing, the All-Aware informed me.'﴾

It has been narrated in the hadith from Zayd ibn Aslam, Al-Shabi, and others, that the meaning is: 'When the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was gifted by Al-Muqawqis with Mariyah the Copt, he took her as a concubine. Then, on one of the days, which was the day of Hafsah bint Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, and it is said: rather it was on the day of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, came to the house of Hafsah and found that she had gone to visit her father. So the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, sent for his concubine and said, 'Come with her.' Hafsah came and found them together. She stood outside the house until the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, brought out Mariyah and she left. Hafsah then entered without being changed, and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, was there not in your women one who is easier for you than me? In my house, another woman and on my bed?' The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to her, seeking to please her: 'Would it please you if I prohibited her?' She said: 'Yes.' He said: 'Indeed, I have prohibited her.' Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'And he added with that: By Allah, I will never approach her again.' Then he said: 'Do not inform anyone of this.' Whoever said: 'Indeed, that was on the day of Aisha,' said: 'He kept it secret out of fear of Aisha's anger, and for the sake of good companionship with her.' And whoever said: 'Rather, it was on the day of Hafsah,' said: 'He kept it secret for the sake of the matter itself.' Then Hafsah knocked on the wall that was between her and Aisha, may Allah be pleased with them, and informed her to give her the good news of the matter, and she did not see any harm in revealing it to her, and she kept it secret. So Allah revealed that to His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the verse was revealed.'

It has been narrated from Ikrimah that this was revealed because of Sharikah, who offered herself to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Al-Naqqash mentioned something similar from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him. And Ubaid ibn Umar narrated from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that this prohibition mentioned in the verse was because of the honey drink that he drank at the house of Zainab bint Jahsh. 'Then Aisha, Hafsah, and Sawdah conspired to say to him, whoever approached her: 'Did you eat maghafir?' And maghafir is the gum of the 'urfut tree, and it has a heavy scent. So they did that, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'No, but I drank honey.' They said to him: 'The bees have mixed it with 'urfut.' The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'I will never drink it again,' and he disliked that a heavy scent should be found from it. Then, after that, he entered upon Zainab, may Allah be pleased with her, and she said to him: 'Shall we not offer you some of that honey?' He said: 'I have no need for it.' Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: 'Sawdah said when she learned of his refusal: 'By Allah, we have prohibited him.' I said to her: 'Be quiet.'

(p-340) The first saying is that the verse was revealed because of Mariyah. This is the most correct and clear, and upon it is the understanding of the people regarding the verse. When a man prohibits wealth or a concubine without freeing her or stipulating freedom or something like that, then his prohibition is of no consequence. The scholars differed when a man prohibits his wife by saying: 'You are forbidden to me' or: 'What is lawful for me is forbidden,' and he does not exempt his wife. Malik said: It counts as three if he has consummated the marriage with her, and he intends in the case of one not consummated with her, so he means by it one, two, or three. Abd al-Malik ibn al-Majshun said: It counts as three in both cases, and he does not intend anything. Abu al-Mus'ab and others - and Ibn Khuwaitir reported from Malik - said: It is one irrevocable divorce in the case of one consummated with her. It was narrated from Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Majshun that he said: He considers it as one revocable divorce. And many of the scholars said: The prohibition is of no consequence, and indeed Allah admonished His Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding it and guided him to the expiation of the oath clarified in Al-Ma'idah due to His saying: 'I have prohibited her, and by Allah, I will never approach her.' And Masruq said: I do not care if she is prohibited or a bowl of stew. Likewise, Al-Sha'bi said: 'The prohibition is of no consequence.' Allah, the Exalted, said: 'And do not say about what your tongues describe, 'This is lawful and this is unlawful' [An-Nahl: 116]. And He, the Exalted, said: 'Do not make unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you' [Al-Ma'idah: 87]. And one who prohibits his wife has been named unlawful what Allah has made lawful, and he has prohibited what Allah has made lawful for him. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar al-Faruq, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Abbas, Aisha, Ibn al-Musayyib, Ata, Tawus, Sulayman ibn Yasar, Ibn Jubayr, and Qatadah, and Abu Thawr and Al-Awza'i, and Al-Hasan, and a group said: The prohibition necessitates the expiation of an oath by Allah, the Exalted, and the expiation is only for the sake of the prohibition. And the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, did not say: 'By Allah, I will never approach her.' And Abu Qilabah said: 'The prohibition is like a form of zihar.' And Abu Hanifah, Sufyan, and the Kufans said: 'It is what he intended by divorce. If he did not intend by that divorce, then it is of no consequence.' Others said: 'It is what he intended by divorce. If he did not intend divorce, then it is an oath.'

And Allah, the Exalted, called His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, by the name of Prophethood, which indicates the honor of his status and the virtue that He has specifically granted him over mankind and has decreed for him, as one who admonishes regarding the reason for his prohibition of what Allah, the Exalted, has made lawful for him.

(p-341) And His saying, the Exalted: 'You seek the pleasure of your wives' is a clause in the position of the state of the pronoun in 'You prohibit.' And 'pleasure' is a noun like 'contentment.' Then He, the Exalted, forgave him for what He admonished him about and had mercy on him.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, Allah has made obligatory﴾ means: He has clarified and established. Some of the people of knowledge said: This is an indication of the expiation of prohibition. Others said: It is an indication of the expiation of an oath that is associated with prohibition. And "the expiation" is a noun, its form is "tafa'ila," and it has been assimilated due to the occurrence of similar letters. And in this verse, He refers to the verse in which He explained feeding as an expiation for the oath by Allah, exalted is He. And "the ally" is the supporter and helper.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And when the Prophet concealed﴾, the meaning of the verse is: Mention, O Muhammad, that in the context of reprimanding and blaming them. The majority said: "The saying" refers to his ﷺ words regarding Mariyah. Others said: It is his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: "I only drank honey." And "some of his wives" refers to Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with her. And "she informed" means: she told. This is the reading of the majority, while Talhah read: "she informed" and her informing was to Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her. This and similar matters are the pretense for which they were reproached. And Maymun ibn Mehran said: The saying that he concealed to Hafsah was that he told her: And give glad tidings that Abu Bakr and Umar will hold the matter of my community after me as a caliphate. And "informed" in this verse can take two objects at one time and one at another, because it is permissible in "informed" and "to inform" when they do not begin with the subject and the predicate. So when it enters the sentence, it can take three objects, and it is not permissible to limit it. And His saying, glorified is He: ﴿And Allah made it known to him﴾ means: He informed him.

And Al-Kisai read alone, and Abu Abdur-Rahman, and Talhah, and Al-Hasan and Qatadah: "he knew" with a lightening of the letter 'ra'. The rest of the people read: "he made known" with a strengthening of it. The meaning in the word with the lightening is: he compensated with reprimand and blame, as you say to a person who harms you: I have made this known to you, and I will certainly make this known to you, meaning: I will surely compensate you for it. And similar in meaning is His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Those are the ones whom Allah knows what is in their hearts, so turn away from them﴾ [An-Nisa: 63]. Thus, the knowledge of Allah is a guarantee of their recompense, and likewise the knowledge of the Prophet ﷺ. And the meaning with the strengthening of the letter 'ra' is: he informed him and reproached him. And His saying, exalted is He: "And he turned away from some" means: out of generosity, shyness, and good companionship. Al-Hasan said: A noble person never exhausts. It has been narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ divorced Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with her, at that time. Then Allah, exalted is He, commanded him to take her back. It has also been narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reproached her and did not divorce her. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed her of the news and that she had disclosed it to Aisha, she thought that Aisha had exposed her. So she said: "Who informed you of this?" in order to verify. When he informed her that Allah, exalted is He, had informed him, she became silent and accepted.