Prohibition (Al-Tahreem)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ O Prophet, why do you forbid that which Allah has made lawful to you. Do you seek to please your wives' Allah is the Forgiving, the Most Merciful. 1 Allah indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths and Allah is your Protector, and He is the Knowing the Wise. 2 The Prophet confided something to one of his wives and then she disclosed it (to another); so after Allah revealed to the Prophet (that she had disclosed that secret), he made a part of it known to her and passed over a part of it. And when he told her about this (i.e., that she had disclosed the secret entrusted to her), she asked: “Who informed you of this?” He said: “I was told of it by He Who is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” 3 If only both of you would turn to God in repentance -- and your hearts are already so inclined. But if you uphold each other against him, then surely God is his protector, and Gabriel and the righteous among the believers; and the angels too are his helpers. 4 Were he to divorce you, his Lord might well replace you with better wives -- submissive [to God], believing, pious, penitent, devout in worship, given to fasting -- previously married and virgins. 5 O YOU who have attained to faith! Ward off from yourselves and those who are close to you that fire [of the hereafter] whose fuel is human beings and stones: [lording] over it are angelic powers awesome [and] severe, who do not disobey God in whatever He has commanded them, but [always] do what they are bidden to do. 6 O ye who disbelieve! excuse not yourselves today; ye are only being requited for that which ye have been working. 7