The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you, [O Muhammad], concerning her husband and directs her complaint to Allah. And Allah hears your dialogue; indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing. 1 Those who separate themselves from their wives by pronouncing, "To me you are like my mother's back," must concede that they are not their mothers; none are their mothers except those who gave birth to them -- surely they utter an evil word and a lie. God is pardoning, forgiving. 2 Those who declare their wives to be their mothers and thereafter go back on what they have said shall free a slave before they may touch each other. That is what you are exhorted to do. Allah is fully aware of all your deeds. 3 and anyone who does not have the means must fast for two consecutive months before they touch each other, and who is not able to do that must feed sixty needy people. That is to affirm your faith in God and His messenger. These are the limits set by God. Those who deny the truth shall have a painful punishment. 4 Verily, those who contend against God and His Apostle shall be brought low even as those [evildoers] who lived before them were brought low after We had bestowed [on them] clear messages from on high. And [so,] for those who deny the truth there will be shameful suffering in store 5 On the Day whereon Allah will raise them all together and declare unto them that which they have worked. Allah hath taken count thereof, whilst they forget it. And Allah is over everything a Witness. 6