The Debate (Al-Mujaadalah)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ GOD has indeed heard the words of her who pleads with thee concerning her husband, and complains unto God. And God does hear what you both have to say: verily, God is all-hearing, all-seeing. 1 As for those of you who [henceforth] separate themselves from their wives by saying, "Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother", [let them bear in mind that] they can never be [as] their mothers: none are their mothers save those who gave them birth: and so, behold, they but utter a saying that runs counter to reason, and is [therefore] false. But, behold, God is indeed an absolver of sins, much-forgiving: 2 hence, as for those who would separate themselves from their wives by saying, "Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother", and thereafter would go back on what they have said, [their atonement] shall be the freeing of a human being from bondage before the couple may touch one another again: this you are [hereby] exhorted to do - for God is fully aware of all that you do. 3 And he who does not find [a slave] - then a fast for two months consecutively before they touch one another; and he who is unable - then the feeding of sixty poor persons. That is for you to believe [completely] in Allah and His Messenger; and those are the limits [set by] Allah. And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment. 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 upon the day when God shall raise them up all together, then He shall tell them what they did. 6