The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Of a surety Allah hath heard the saying of her that disputed with thee concerning her husband and bewailed unto Allah; and Allah hath heard your mutual discourse. Verily Allah is Hearing, Beholding. 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 call their wives their mothers then revoke what they had said, should free a slave before having physical contact (with them). This is to warn you, as God is aware of what you do. 3 And whosoever findeth not a slave to free on him is the fasting for two months in succession before the twain touch each other, and on him who is not able to do so is the feeding of sixty needy ones. That is in order that ye may believe in Allah and His apostle; and these are the ordinances of Allah. And for the infidels is a torment afflictive. 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 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