At-Tahrim

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ لِمَ تُحَرِّمُ مَآ أَحَلَّ ٱللَّهُ لَكَ ۖ تَبْتَغِى مَرْضَاتَ أَزْوَٰجِكَ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ 1

{ يأيها النبى لم تحرم ما أحل الله لك } من أمتك مارية القبطية لما واقعها في بيت حفصة، وكانت غائبة فجاءت وشق عليه كون ذلك في بيتها وعلى فراشها حيث قلت: هي حرام علي { تبتغى } بتحريمها { مرضات أزوجك } أي رضاهن { والله غفور رحيم } غفر لك هذا التحريم.

O Prophet! Why do you prohibit what God has made lawful for you, in terms of your Coptic handmaiden Māriya — when he lay with her in the house of Hafsa, who had been away, but who upon returning [and finding out] became upset by the fact that this had taken place in her own house and on her own bed — by saying, ‘She is unlawful for me!’, seeking, by making her unlawful [for you], to please your wives? And God is Forgiving, Merciful, having forgiven you this prohibition.

قَدْ فَرَضَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ تَحِلَّةَ أَيْمَـٰنِكُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ مَوْلَىٰكُمْ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ 2

{ قد فرض الله } شرع { لكم تحلة أيمنكم } تحليلها بالكفارة المذكورة في سورة (المائدة) [5:5]، ومن الأيمان تحريم الأمة، وهل كفر صلى الله عليه وسلم؟ قال مقاتل: أعتق رقبة في تحريم مارية. وقال الحسن: لم يكفر لأنه صلى الله عليه وسلم مغفور له { والله مولكم } ناصركم { وهو العليم الحكيم }.

Verily God has prescribed, He has made lawful, for you [when necessary] the absolution of your oaths, to absolve them by expiation, as mentioned in the sūrat al-Mā’ida [Q. 5:89] and the forbidding of [sexual relations with] a handmaiden counts as an oath, so did the Prophet (s) expiate? Muqātil [b. Sulaymān] said, ‘He set free a slave [in expiation] for his prohibition of Māriya’; whereas al-Hasan [al-Basrī] said, ‘He never expiated, because the Prophet (s) has been forgiven [all errors]’. And God is your Protector, your Helper, and He is the Knower, the Wise.

وَإِذْ أَسَرَّ ٱلنَّبِىُّ إِلَىٰ بَعْضِ أَزْوَٰجِهِۦ حَدِيثًا فَلَمَّا نَبَّأَتْ بِهِۦ وَأَظْهَرَهُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ عَرَّفَ بَعْضَهُۥ وَأَعْرَضَ عَنۢ بَعْضٍ ۖ فَلَمَّا نَبَّأَهَا بِهِۦ قَالَتْ مَنْ أَنۢبَأَكَ هَـٰذَا ۖ قَالَ نَبَّأَنِىَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ 3

{ و } اذكر { إذ أسر النبى إلى بعض أزوجه } هي حفصة { حديثا } هو تحريم مارية، وقال لها لا تفشيه { فلما نبأت به } عائشة ظنا منها أن لا حرج في ذلك { وأظهره الله } أطلعه { عليه } على المنبأ به { عرف بعضه } لحفصة { وأعرض عن بعض } تكرما منه { فلما نبأها به قالت من أنبأك هذا قال نبأنى العليم الخبير } أي الله.

And, mention, when the Prophet confided to one of his wives, namely, Hafsa, a certain matter, which was his prohibition of Māriya, telling her: ‘Do not reveal it!’; but when she divulged it, to ‘Ā’isha, reckoning there to be no blame in [doing] such a thing, and God apprised him, He informed him, of it, of what had been divulged, he announced part of it, to Hafsa, and passed over part, out of graciousness on his part. So when he told her about it, she said, ‘Who told you this?’ He said, ‘I was told by the Knower, the Aware’, namely, God.

إِن تَتُوبَآ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ صَغَتْ قُلُوبُكُمَا ۖ وَإِن تَظَـٰهَرَا عَلَيْهِ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ مَوْلَىٰهُ وَجِبْرِيلُ وَصَـٰلِحُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۖ وَٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ ظَهِيرٌ 4

{ إن تتوبآ } أي حفصة وعائشة { إلى الله فقد صغت قلوبكما } مالت إلى تحريم مارية أي سركما ذلك مع كراهة النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم له، وذلك ذنب، وجواب الشرط محذوف: أي تقبلا، وأطلق «قلوب» على «قلبين» ولم يعبر به لاستثقال الجمع بين تثنيتين فيما هو كالكلمة الواحدة { وإن تظاهرا } بإدغام التاء الثانية في الأصل في الظاء، وفي قراءة بدونها: تتعاونا { عليه } أي النبي فيما يكرهه { فإن الله هو } ضمير فصل { موله } ناصره { وجبريل وصلح المؤمنين } أبو بكر وعمر رضي الله عنهما، معطوف على محل اسم «إن» فيكونون ناصريه { والملئكة بعد ذلك } بعد نصر الله والمذكورين { ظهير } ظهراء أعوان له في نصره عليكما.

If the two of you, namely, Hafsa and ‘Ā’isha, repent to God … for your hearts were certainly inclined, towards the prohibition of Māriya, that is to say, your keeping this secret despite [knowing] the Prophet’s (s) dislike of it, which is itself a sin (the response to the conditional [‘if the two of you repent to God’] has been omitted, to be understood as, ‘it will be accepted of both of you’; the use of [the plural] qulūb, ‘hearts’, instead of [the dual] qalbayn, ‘both [your] hearts’, is on account of the cumbersomeness of putting two duals together in what is effectively the same word); and if you support one another (tazzāharā: the original second tā’ [of tatazāharā] has been assimilated with the zā’; a variant reading has it without [this assimilation, tazāharā]) against him, that is, the Prophet, in what he is averse to, then [know that] God, He (huwa, [a pronoun] for separation) is indeed his Protector, His supporter, and Gabriel, and the righteous among the believers, Abū Bakr and ‘Umar, may God be pleased with both of them (wa-Jibrīlu wa-sālihu’l-mu’minīna is a supplement to the [syntactical] locus of the subject of inna [sc. ‘God’]), who will [also] be his supporters, and the angels furthermore, further to the support of God and those mentioned, are his supporters, assistants of his, in supporting him [to prevail] over both of you.

عَسَىٰ رَبُّهُۥٓ إِن طَلَّقَكُنَّ أَن يُبْدِلَهُۥٓ أَزْوَٰجًا خَيْرًا مِّنكُنَّ مُسْلِمَـٰتٍ مُّؤْمِنَـٰتٍ قَـٰنِتَـٰتٍ تَـٰٓئِبَـٰتٍ عَـٰبِدَٰتٍ سَـٰٓئِحَـٰتٍ ثَيِّبَـٰتٍ وَأَبْكَارًا 5

{ عسى ربه إن طلقكن } أي طلق النبي أزواجه { أن يبدله } بالتشديد والتخفيف { أزوجا خيرا منكن } خبر «عسى» والجملة جواب الشرط ولم يقع التبديل لعدم وقوع الشرط { مسلمت } مقرات بالإسلام { مؤمنت } مخلصات { قنتت } مطيعات { تئبت عبدت سئحت } صائمات أو مهاجرات { ثيبت وأبكارا }.

It may be that, if he divorces you, that is, [if] the Prophet divorces his wives, his Lord will give him in [your] stead (read yubaddilahu or yubdilahu) wives better than you (azwājan khayran minkunna is the predicate of ‘asā, ‘it may be’, the sentence being the response to the conditional) — the replacement [of his wives by God] never took place because the condition [of his divorcing them] never arose — women submissive [to God], affirming Islam, believing, faithful, obedient, penitent, devout, given to fasting — or given to emigrating [in God’s way] — previously married and virgins.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ قُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا ٱلنَّاسُ وَٱلْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلَـٰٓئِكَةٌ غِلَاظٌ شِدَادٌ لَّا يَعْصُونَ ٱللَّهَ مَآ أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ 6

{ يأيها الذين ءامنوا قوا أنفسكم وأهليكم } بالحمل على طاعة الله { نارا وقودها الناس } الكفار { والحجارة } كأصنامهم منها، يعني أنها مفرطة الحرارة تتقد بما ذكر، لا كنار الدنيا تتقد بالحطب ونحوه { عليها ملائكة } خزنتها عدتهم

تسعة عشر

[31,30:74] كما سيأتي في المدثر { غلاظ } من غلظ القلب { شداد } في البطش { لا يعصون الله ما أمرهم } بدل من الجلالة، أي لا يعصون أمر الله { ويفعلون ما يؤمرون } تأكيد، والآية تخويف للمؤمنين عن الارتداد، وللمنافقين المؤمنين بألسنتهم دون قلوبهم.

O you who believe! Guard yourselves and your families, by enjoining obedience to God, against a Fire whose fuel is, disbelieving, people and stones, such as those idols of theirs made of that [stone] — the meaning is that it is extremely hot, fuelled by the above-mentioned, unlike the fire of this world which is fuelled by wood and the like — over which stand angels, its keepers — numbering nineteen as will be stated in [sūrat] al-Muddaththir [Q. 74:30] — stern, a sternness of the heart, mighty, in [their power of] assault, who do not disobey God in what He commands them (mā amarahum is a substitution for His Majesty [‘God’]), in other words, they do not disobey the command of God, but do what they are commanded — this is [reiterated] for emphasis; the verse is meant as a threat to deter believers from apostatising and for hypocrites who believe only with their tongues and not with their hearts.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا۟ ٱلْيَوْمَ ۖ إِنَّمَا تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ 7

{ يأيها الذين كفروا لا تعتذروا اليوم } يقال لهم ذلك عند دخولهم النار، أي: لأنه لا ينفعكم { إنما تجزون ما كنتم تعملون } أي جزاءه.

‘O you who disbelieve! Do not make any excuses today — this is said to them upon their entering the Fire — in other words, because this [excusing] will be of no use to you. You are only being requited for what you used to do’, that is, [only] the [due] requital thereof.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ تُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُكَفِّرَ عَنكُمْ سَيِّـَٔاتِكُمْ وَيُدْخِلَكُمْ جَنَّـٰتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ يَوْمَ لَا يُخْزِى ٱللَّهُ ٱلنَّبِىَّ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ ۖ نُورُهُمْ يَسْعَىٰ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَـٰنِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَآ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ 8

{ يأيها الذين ءامنوا توبوا إلى الله توبة نصوحا } بفتح النون وضمها: صادقة بأن لا يعاد إلى الذنب ولا يراد العود إليه { عسى ربكم } ترجية تقع { أن يكفر عنكم سيئاتكم ويدخلكم جنت } بساتين { تجرى من تحتها الأنهر يوم لا يخزى الله } بإدخال النار { النبي والذين ءامنوا معه نورهم يسعى بين أيديهم } أمامهم { و } يكون { بإيمانهم يقولون } مستأنف { ربنا أتمم لنا نورنا } إلى الجنة والمنافقون يطفأ نورهم { واغفر لنا } ربنا { إنك على كل شىء قدير }.

O you who believe! Repent to God with sincere repentance (read nasūhan or nusūhan), a truthful [repentance], so that one does not return to [committing] that sin again, nor have the desire to return to it. It may be that your Lord (‘asā: [an expression denoting] ‘a hope’ that will be realised) will absolve you of your misdeeds and admit you into gardens, orchards, underneath which rivers flow, on the day when God will not let down, by admitting into the Fire, the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their light will be running before them, in front of them, and, it will be, on their right. They will say (yaqūlūna: this denotes the beginning of a new [syntactically independent] sentence), ‘Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, towards Paradise — whereas the hypocrites, their light will be extinguished — and forgive us, Our Lord. Assuredly You have power over all things’.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ جَـٰهِدِ ٱلْكُفَّارَ وَٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ وَٱغْلُظْ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَمَأْوَىٰهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَبِئْسَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ 9

{ يأيها النبى جهد الكفار } بالسيف { والمنفقين } باللسان والحجة { واغلظ عليهم } بالانتهار والمقت { ومأوهم جهنم وبئس المصير } هي.

O Prophet! Struggle against the disbelievers, with the sword, and the hypocrites, by the tongue and with argument, and be stern with them, in rebuke and hatred. For their abode will be Hell — and [what] an evil journey’s end!, it is.

ضَرَبَ ٱللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ٱمْرَأَتَ نُوحٍ وَٱمْرَأَتَ لُوطٍ ۖ كَانَتَا تَحْتَ عَبْدَيْنِ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا صَـٰلِحَيْنِ فَخَانَتَاهُمَا فَلَمْ يُغْنِيَا عَنْهُمَا مِنَ ٱللَّهِ شَيْـًٔا وَقِيلَ ٱدْخُلَا ٱلنَّارَ مَعَ ٱلدَّٰخِلِينَ 10

{ ضرب الله مثلا للذين كفروا امرأت نوح وامرأت لوط كانتا تحت عبدين من عبادنا صلحين فخانتاهما } في الدين إذ كفرتا. وكانت امرأة نوح واسمها (واهلة) تقول لقومه: إنه مجنون، وامرأة لوط واسمها (واعلة) تدل قومه على أضيافه إذا نزلوا به ليلا بإيقاد النار، ونهارا بالتدخين { فلم يغنينا } أي نوح ولوط { عنهما من الله } من عذابه { شيئا وقيل } لهما { ادخلا النار مع الداخلين } من كفار قوم نوح وقوم لوط.

God has struck a similitude for those who disbelieve: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants, yet they betrayed them, in [their] religion, for they both disbelieved — Noah’s wife, called Wāhila, used to say to his people that he was a madman, while Lot’s wife, called Wā‘ila, used to tell his people the whereabouts of his guests when they stayed with him, at night by lighting a fire, and during the day by making smoke. So they, that is, Noah and Lot, did not avail the two women in any way against God, against His chastisement, and it was said, to the two women: ‘Enter, both of you, the Fire along with the incomers’, from among the disbelievers of the peoples of Noah and Lot.

وَضَرَبَ ٱللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱمْرَأَتَ فِرْعَوْنَ إِذْ قَالَتْ رَبِّ ٱبْنِ لِى عِندَكَ بَيْتًا فِى ٱلْجَنَّةِ وَنَجِّنِى مِن فِرْعَوْنَ وَعَمَلِهِۦ وَنَجِّنِى مِنَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ 11

{ وضرب الله مثلا للذين ءامنوا امرأت فرعون } آمنت بموسى واسمها (آسية)، فعذبها فرعون بأن أوتد يديها ورجليها وألقى على صدرها رحى عظيمة واستقبل بها الشمس، فكانت إذا تفرق عنها من وكل بها ظللتها الملائكة { إذ قالت } في حال التعذيب { رب ابن لى عندك بيتا فى الجنة } فكشف لها فرأته فسهل عليها التعذيب { ونجنى من فرعون وعمله } وتعذيبه { ونجنى من القوم الظلمين } أهل دينه فقبض الله روحها. وقال ابن كيسان: رفعت إلى الجنة حية فهي تأكل وتشرب.

And God has struck a similitude for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh — she believed in Moses, her name was Āsiya; Pharaoh chastised her by tying her hands and feet to pegs and placing a huge millstone on her chest, and having her laid out in the sun; but when those in charge of her would leave her, the angels would [come to] shade her — when she said, during her torture, ‘My Lord, build for me a home near You in Paradise, — so He disclosed for her [a veil of the Unseen] and she saw it, which in turn alleviated for her the torture — and deliver me from Pharaoh and his work, his torture, and deliver me from the evildoing folk’, the followers of his [Pharaoh’s] religion, whereat God took [unto Himself] her spirit [in death]. Ibn Kaysān said, ‘She was raised to Paradise alive, where she eats and drinks’.

وَمَرْيَمَ ٱبْنَتَ عِمْرَٰنَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِنَا وَصَدَّقَتْ بِكَلِمَـٰتِ رَبِّهَا وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَكَانَتْ مِنَ ٱلْقَـٰنِتِينَ 12

{ ومريم } عطف على «امرأة فرعون» { ابنة عمران التى أحصنت فرجها } حفظته { فنفخنا فيه من روحنا } أي جبريل حيث نفخ في جيب درعها بخلق الله تعالى فعله الواصل إلى فرجها فحملت بعيسى { وصدقت بكلمت ربها } شرائعه { وكتبه } المنزلة { وكانت من القنتين } من القوم المطيعين.

And Mary (wa-Maryama is a supplement to imra’ata Fir‘awna) daughter of ‘Imrān, who preserved [the chastity of] her womb, so We breathed into it of Our Spirit, namely, Gabriel — when he breathed into the opening of her shirt, by God’s creation of this action of his which reached her womb, thus conceiving Jesus — and she confirmed the words of her Lord, His prescriptions, and His, revealed, Scriptures and she was of the obedient, [one] of the obedient folk.