Prohibition (Al-Tahreem)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Prophet, why in your desire to please your wives, do you impose a ban on what God has made lawful to you? God is forgiving and merciful. 1 Allah hath made lawful for you (Muslims) absolution from your oaths (of such a kind), and Allah is your Protector. He is the Knower, the Wise. 2 The Prophet confided a certain matter to one of his wives but thereafter she disclosed it, then Allah revealed what she had done to him. He made part of it known and another part not. And when he acquainted her with it, she said: 'Who has told you this' He replied: 'I was told of it by the Knower, the Aware' 3 If you two repent to God, yet your hearts certainly inclined; but if you support one another against him, God is his Protector, and Gabriel, and the righteous among the believers; and, after that, the angels are his supporters. 4 [O wives of the Prophet!] Were he to divorce [any of] you, God might well give him in your stead spouses better than you - women who surrender themselves unto God, who truly believe, devoutly obey His will, turn [unto Him] in repentance [whenever they have sinned] worship [Him alone] and go on and on [seeking His goodly acceptance] - be they women previously married or 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 you unbelievers, do not excuse yourselves today; you are only being recompensed for what you were doing.' 7