This passage begins with a general rule concerning women who are divorced before their marriage has been consummated. This is followed by a number of rules relating to the Prophet’s own family life, including the relationship between his wives and men generally, how Muslims should approach the Prophet’s home, and the honour God bestows on His Messenger’s home and how it is viewed by the angels and those on high. It concludes with a general order that applies to the Prophet’s wives, daughters and all Muslim women. They are ordered to draw their outer garments over their bodies when they go out, so that they are recognized as chaste women. Thus, men with bad characters, such as the hypocrites and other wicked people who used to tease and irritate women would not approach them. It concludes with a warning to the hypocrites and circulators of rumours that they would be expelled from Madinah unless they stopped disturbing and irritating the Muslim women.

These rules and directives form part of the reorganization of the Muslim community on the basis of the Islamic concept of life and society. As for matters that concern the Prophet’s own private life, God has willed that life in the Prophet’s home should remain a book open to all generations. Therefore, He incorporated these aspects into the Qur’ān, which will remain intact, and read in full, for the rest of time.

At the same time, they are a sign of the honour God bestows on the Prophet’s home, as He Himself undertakes to regulate its affairs and present it to mankind in His book, the Qur’ān.

Believers! If you marry believing women and then divorce them before the marriage is consummated, you have no reason to expect them to observe a waiting period. Hence, provide well for them and release them in a becoming manner. (Verse 49)

The situation of women divorced before their marriages have been consummated is dealt with in specific provisions outlined in Sūrah 2, The Cow: “You will incur no sin if you divorce women before having touched them or settled a dowry for them. Provide for them, the rich according to his means and the straitened according to his means. Such a provision, in an equitable manner, is an obligation binding on the righteous. If you divorce them before having touched them but after having settled a dowry for them, then give them half of that which you have settled, unless they forgo it or he in whose hand is the marriage tie forgoes it. To forgo what is due to you is closer to being righteous. Do not forget to act benevolently to one another. God sees all that you do.” (2: 236-237)

This means that if a dowry has been agreed by the two parties in a marriage terminated before consummation, then the divorced woman is entitled to half the dowry. If the dowry has not been stated, then she is entitled to some provisions, in accordance with the means of the divorcing husband. Such a provision is binding on righteous people. The two verses in Sūrah 2 do not mention any waiting period for such a divorced woman. We now have here a rule concerning this aspect, making it clear that such a woman has no waiting period to observe.

The waiting period is primarily to establish whether or not there is a pregnancy, so that no child is attributed to anyone other than its father, and no father is deprived of his child who might still be in the early days of conception. If the marriage has not been consummated, then no pregnancy has taken place, and there is no need for a waiting period. “You have no reason to expect them to observe a waiting period. Hence, provide well for them.” (Verse 49) This provision is according to what is mentioned in the other verses: half the agreed dowry or, if no dowry is agreed, a provision commensurate with the man’s financial status. The other obligation is to “release them in a becoming manner.” (Verse 49) There must never be any imposition of hardship.

Divorced women should be released so that they can begin a new life with someone else. This rule applies generally to all Muslims, given here in the context of organizing the Muslim community’s social life.

The Prophet is then told which women are lawful for him o marry, and the special dispensation for him after the limit of four wives was imposed in an earlier sūrah:

“You may marry of other women as may be agreeable to you, two or three or four.” (4: 3) At the time the Prophet had nine wives, each of whom he married for a specific reason.

`Ā’ishah and Ĥafşah were the daughters of his two closest Companions, Abū Bakr and `Umar. Umm Ĥabībah bint Abī Sufyān, Umm Salamah, Sawdah bint Zim`ah and Zaynab bint Khuzaymah5 were women from the Muhājirīn who had lost their husbands and the Prophet wanted to honour them. None of them was young or very pretty. Marrying them was merely an honour the Prophet gave them. As for Zaynab bint Jaĥsh, we have already discussed her marriage to the Prophet in detail. The other two were Juwayriyyah bint al-Ĥārith and Şafiyyah bint Ĥuyay. Both were taken captive in war, but the Prophet freed them from bondage and married them to strengthen relations with their tribes and communities. Moreover, their marriage o the Prophet was an honour. Both accepted Islam after their people suffered the hardship of defeat.

They had all become ‘mothers of the believers’ and had the honour of being so close to God’s Messenger, choosing God, His Messenger and the life to come over the luxuries and comforts of this world, when that choice was offered to them. It would have been very hard for them to be divorced when the maximum number of wives a Muslim may have was fixed at four. God looked at their situation and exempted His Messenger from that rule, permitting him to retain all his wives. Then, the Qur’ān stipulated that he must not add to them or replace any of them. Thus, the Prophet’s exemption from the maximum of four wives was given specifically to those whom he had already married, so that they would not be deprived of this honour. The following verses clearly indicate this:

Prophet! We have made lawful to you the wives whom you have paid their dowries, as well as those whom God has placed in your right hand through war, as also the daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and aunts, who have migrated with you; and any believing woman who offers herself to the Prophet and whom the Prophet might be willing to wed: [this latter] applies to you alone and not to other believers. We well know what We have made obligatory to them in respect of their wives and other women their right hands possess; and thus no blame shall attach to you. God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful. You may defer any of them you please, and take to yourself any of them you please. No blame will attach to you if you invite one whose turn you have previously set aside: this makes it more likely that they will be contented and not distressed, and that all of them will be satisfied with whatever you have to give them. God knows what is in your hearts. God is indeed All-Knowing, Forbearing. You [Muĥammad] are not permitted to take any further wives, nor to exchange these for other wives, even though you are attracted by their beauty, except for any that your right hand may possess. God keeps watch over all things. (Verses 50-52)

The sūrah moves on to delineate the position of Muslims vis-à-vis the Prophet’s homes and his wives, both during his lifetime and after his death. It addresses the fact that some hypocrites and others with hearts full of sickness used to affront the Prophet by directing their annoying behaviour at his homes and wives. It issues a very strong warning to them, describing the enormity of their action in God’s sight and reminding them that God is fully aware of their wickedness:

Believers! Do not enter the Prophet’s homes, unless you are given leave, for a meal without waiting for its proper time. But when you are invited, enter; and when you have eaten, disperse without lingering for the sake of mere talk. Such behaviour might give offence to the Prophet, and yet he might feel too shy to bid you go. God does not shy of stating what is right. When you ask the Prophet’s wives for something, do so from behind a screen: this makes for greater purity for your hearts and theirs.

Moreover, it does not behove you to give offence to God’s Messenger, just as it would not behove you ever to marry his widows after he has passed away. That is certainly an enormity in God’s sight. Whether you do anything openly or in secret, [remember that] God has full knowledge of everything. (Verses 53-54)

Al-Bukhārī relates on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik: “When the Prophet espoused Zaynab bint Jaĥsh, he served a meal of meat and bread. I was sent to invite people to come over, and they came in groups. They would eat and leave, then another group came in, ate, and left. I invited everyone until I could find none o invite. I said this to the Prophet, and he said to his family: ‘Remove your food.’ Three people remained in his home chatting. The Prophet went out to `Ā’ishah’s room and said: ‘Peace be o you, members of this household, together with God’s mercy and blessings.’ She replied to his greeting in the same way and asked him: ‘How have you found your wife, Messenger of God? May God bless you ,and yours.’ He then went to the rooms of every one of his wives, and each one of them said to him the same as `Ā’ishah. Then he went back, and found the three people still there chatting.

The Prophet was very shy. He went out again, heading towards `Ā’ishah’s room. I am not sure whether it was she or someone else who told him that those people had left. He came back, and when he had one foot inside and one out, the door was closed. Then the Qur’ānic verse mentioning the screen was revealed.” The verse outlines certain manners with regard to entering people’s homes that were unknown in pre-Islamic Arabia. People just came into a home without asking permission, as we explained in commenting on the relevant verses in Sūrah 24, The Light. 7 Perhaps this was more visible in the case of the Prophet’s homes which were the source of knowledge and wisdom. Some people might come in, and if they saw food being prepared, they would wait to have a meal, without being invited. Some might stay on to chat after the meal was over, even though they had not been invited in the first place. They were totally oblivious to the inconvenience their behaviour caused the Prophet and his family. One report suggests that when those three people stayed on to chat on the night of the Prophet’s wedding to Zaynab, she sat with her face to the wall. The Prophet was too shy to draw their attention to the inconvenience they caused. He could not say to his visitors something that might make them ashamed of themselves. Therefore, God stated this on his behalf, because: “God does not shy of stating what is right.” (Verse 53)

The sūrah continues to warn those who give offence to the Prophet, either in person or with regard to his family, showing their action as an enormity. It does so in two ways: honouring the Prophet and describing his status with his Lord and on high, and stating that to give offence to the Prophet is to give offence to God Himself.

Therefore, it earns the perpetrator expulsion from God’s mercy both in the present life and in the life to come. Furthermore, the perpetrators stand to suffer a humiliating punishment:

God and His angels bless the Prophet. Believers! Bless him and give him greetings of peace. Those who affront God and His Messenger will be rejected by God in this world and in the life to come. He has prepared for them a humiliating suffering. (Verses 56- 57)

The Arabic text uses the word şalāt and its derivatives for what is rendered in English as ‘bless’. Şalāt means prayer, but prayer by God for the Prophet means that God praises him to those on high, while when it refers to the angels it means that they pray to God for him. This gives the Prophet a sublime position: the whole universe echoes God’s praise of His Prophet. No honour could be greater than this.

How would a prayer and blessing by human beings compare with God’s own blessing and honour bestowed on the Prophet, or with those of the angels among the community on high? There is certainly no comparison, but God wishes to bestow honour on the believers by putting their blessing of the Prophet together with His own, thus providing them with a tie with those on high.

When God so honours and praises the Prophet, it is exceedingly grotesque for humans to give offence to him: “Those who affront God and His Messenger will be rejected by God in this world and in the life to come. He has prepared for them a humiliating suffering.” (Verse 57) What makes this even more grotesque and ridiculous is that it is an affront to God by His creatures. They can never affront or offend God, but the expression here serves to show great sensitivity to any offence committed against the Prophet, in effect making it an offence against God Himself.

The sūrah then speaks of giving offence to believers generally, men and women, and falsely attributing to them what they do not have: “And those who malign believing men and women for no wrong they might have done shall have burdened themselves with the guilt of calumny and with a blatant injustice.” (Verse 58) This strong condemnation suggests that there was in Madinah at the time a group of people who schemed in this way against believers: they defamed them, conspired against them and circulated false allegations about them. This takes place in all communities at all times with believers in particular being so maligned. God therefore undertakes to reply o their accusers, describing them as hypocrites guilty of calumny and injustice.

He certainly says only what is absolutely true.

God Almighty then instructs His Messenger to issue an order to his wives, daughters and Muslim women generally requiring them, when they leave their homes, to cover their bodies and heads with an outer garment. In this way, they would be recognized and he protected from the machinations of transgressors. Their modest appearance would distinguish them as chaste women, which embarrasses those who follow women o tease and malign them: