The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Allah has heard the words of her that reasons with you (Prophet Muhammad) concerning her husband and made her complaint to Allah. Allah has heard both of you discussing with one another. Indeed, Allah is the Hearer, the Seer. 1 Those of you who say, regarding their wives, 'Be as my mother's back,' they are not truly their mothers; their mothers are only those who gave them birth, and they are surely saying a dishonourable saying, and a falsehood. Yet surely God is All-pardoning, All-forgiving. 2 Those who put away their wives by equating them with their mothers, and then wish to go back on what they have said, must set free a slave before the couple may touch one another again. This is what you are exhorted to do. God is fully aware of what you do, 3 If one does not have the means (of doing so) then he should fast for two months continuously before he has physical contact; but any one who is unable to do so, should feed sixty needy persons. This (is enjoined) so that you may be faithful to God and His Apostle. These are the limits set by God. As for the unbelievers, there is painful punishment for them. 4 Verily those who oppose Allah and His apostle shall be abased even as those before them were abased; and of a surety We have sent down manifest signs. And for the infidels will be a torment ignominious. 5 On the day when everyone will be resurrected, God will tell them about their deeds which He has recorded in their entirety - while they themselves have forgotten them. God is the witness over all things. 6