024- AL-NUR

LIGHT 

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL

# A sūrah that We have sent down, and ordained, and in which We have sent down clear signs, that haply you may remember. # As for the adulterer and the adulteress, flog them each one hundred lashes, and let not pity for them overcome you concerning God’s Judgment, if you believe in God and the Last Day. And let their punishment be witnessed by a group of the believers. # The adulterer shall marry none but an adulteress or idolatress, and the adulteress shall marry none but an adulterer or idolater. And that is forbidden to the believers. # And as for those who accuse chaste women, but then do not bring four witnesses, flog them eighty lashes, and never accept any testimony from them. And it is they who are the iniquitous, # save those who repent thereafter and make amends, for truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. # And as for those who accuse their wives and have no witnesses but themselves, then the testimony of one of them shall be four testimonies, swearing by God that he is among the truthful, # and the fifth shall be that the curse of God be upon him if he is among the liars. # And the punishment shall be averted from her should she give four testimonies, swearing by God that he is among the liars, # and the fifth that God’s Wrath shall come upon her if he is among the truthful. # And were it not for God’s Bounty upon you, and His Mercy, and that God is Relenting, Wise! # Truly those who brought forth the lie were a group among you. Do not suppose it to be an evil for you. Rather, it is a good for you. Unto each man among them is the sin he committed. And he among them who undertook the greater part of it, his shall be a great punishment. # Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and women think well of their own, and say, “This is a manifest lie”? # Why did they not bring forth four witnesses thereto? For when they brought not the witnesses, it is they who were then liars in the Eyes of God. # And were it not for God’s Bounty upon you, and His Mercy, in this world and the Hereafter, a great punishment would have befallen you for having engaged [in vain talk] concerning it, # when you accepted it with your tongues, and spoke with your mouths that whereof you had no knowledge, supposing it to be slight, though it is great in the Eyes of God. # And why, when you heard it, did you not say, “It is not for us to speak of this! Glory be to Thee! This is a tremendous calumny!” # God exhorts you, lest you ever return to the like of it, if you are believers. # And God makes clear unto you the signs, and God is Knowing, Wise. # Truly those who desire that indecency be spread among those who believe, theirs shall be a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. God knows, and you know not. # And were it not for God’s Bounty toward you, and His Mercy, and that God is Kind, Merciful! # O you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of Satan! And whosoever follows the footsteps of Satan, truly he enjoins indecency and wrong. And were it not for God’s Bounty toward you, and His Mercy, not one of you would ever be pure. But God purifies whomsoever He will, and God is Hearing, Knowing. # And let not the men of bounty and means among you forswear giving to kinsfolk and the indigent and those who emigrated in the way of God. And let them pardon and forbear. Do you not desire that God forgive you? And God is Forgiving, Merciful. # Truly those who accuse chaste and heedless believing women are cursed in this world and the Hereafter, and theirs shall be a great punishment # on the day their tongues, their hands, and their feet bear witness against them as to that which they used to do. # On that Day God will pay them their just due in full, and they will know that God is the Manifest Truth. # Vile women are for vile men, and vile men are for vile women, and good women are for good men, and good men are for good women. They are innocent of what they say. Theirs is forgiveness and a generous provision. # O you who believe! Enter not houses other than your own, until you inquire and greet the dwellers thereof. That is better for you, that haply you may remember. # But if you find not anyone therein, then enter them not until permission is granted you. And if it is said to you, “Turn back,” then turn back. That is purer for you, and God knows what you do. # There is no blame upon you for entering uninhabited houses wherein there is some good for you. And God knows what you disclose and what you conceal. # Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely God is Aware of whatsoever they do. # And tell the believing women to lower their eyes and to guard their private parts, and to not display their adornment except that which is visible thereof. And let them draw their kerchiefs over their breasts, and not display their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers, or their sons, or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or male attendants free of desire, or children who are innocent of the private areas of women. Nor let them stamp their feet such that the ornaments they conceal become known. And repent unto God all together, O believers, that haply you may prosper. # And marry those who are single among you, and the righteous among your male slaves and your female slaves. If they are poor, God will enrich them from His Bounty. And God is All-Encompassing, Knowing. # And let those who are unable to marry be chaste till God enriches them from His Bounty. And as for those among the ones whom your right hands possess who seek a contract [of emancipation] with you, contract with them if you know of any good in them, and give unto them from the Wealth of God, which He has given you. And compel not your female slaves into prostitution if they desire to be chaste, for the sake of seeking after the ephemeralities of the life of this world. And whosoever compels them, then truly God, after their having been compelled, will be Forgiving, Merciful. # We have indeed sent down unto you clarifying signs and a description of those who have passed before you, and an exhortation for the reverent. # God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche, wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as a shining star kindled from a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West. Its oil would well-nigh shine forth, even if no fire had touched it. Light upon light. God guides unto His Light whomsoever He will, and God sets forth parables for mankind, and God is Knower of all things. # [It is] in houses that God has permitted to be raised and wherein His Name is remembered. He is therein glorified, morning and evening, # by men whom neither trade nor buying and selling distract from the remembrance of God, the performance of prayer, and the giving of alms, fearing a day when eyes and hearts will be turned about, # that God may reward them for the best of that which they have done, and increase them from His Bounty. And God provides for whomsoever He will without reckoning. # As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage upon a desert plain which a thirsty man supposes is water, till when he comes upon it, he does not find it to be anything, but finds God there. He will then pay him his reckoning in full, and God is swift in reckoning. # Or like the darkness of a fathomless sea, covered by waves with waves above them and clouds above them—darknesses, one above the other. When one puts out one’s hand, one can hardly see it. He for whom God has not appointed any light has no light. # Hast thou not considered that God is glorified by whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth, and by the birds spreading their wings? Each indeed knows its prayer and its glorification, and God knows that which they do. # And unto God belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth, and unto God is the journey’s end. # Has thou not considered that God drives the clouds, then joins them together, then makes them as a heap, and then thou seest the rain come forth from amid them? And He sends down from the sky—from the mountains [of clouds] therein—hail, wherewith He smites whomsoever He will, and which He turns away from whomsoever He will. The flash of His lightning well-nigh takes away sight. # God alternates the night and the day. Truly in that is a lesson for those possessed of sight. # And God created every beast from water: among them are those that go upon their bellies, and among them are those that go upon two legs, and among them are those that go upon four. God creates whatsoever He will. Truly God is Powerful over all things. # We have indeed sent down clarifying signs, and God guides whomsoever He will unto a straight path. # And they say, “We believe in God and in the Messenger, and We obey.” Then a group of them turn away thereafter, and believers they are not. # And when they are called to God and His Messenger, that He may judge between them, behold, a group of them turn away. # But if the right is theirs, they come unto Him submissively. # Is there a disease in their hearts? Or do they doubt, or fear that God and His Messenger will deal unjustly with them? Nay, but it is they who are the wrongdoers. # The only words of the believers when they are called unto God and His Messenger, that he may judge between them, will be to say, “We hear and we obey.” And it is they who shall prosper. # Whosoever obeys God and His Messenger, and who fears God and reverences Him, it is they who shall triumph. # And they swear by God with their most solemn oaths that, wert thou to command them, they would surely go forth. Say, “Swear not! [But give] honorable obedience! Surely God is Aware of whatsoever you do.” # Say, “Obey God and obey the Messenger.” But if they turn away, he is only accountable for that wherewith he has been burdened, and you are accountable for that wherewith you have been burdened. But if you obey him, you will be rightly guided, and naught is incumbent upon the Messenger save the clear proclamation. # God has promised those among you who believe and perform righteous deeds that He will surely make them vicegerents upon the earth, as He caused those before them to be vicegerents, and that He will establish for them their religion, which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change them from a state of fear to [one of] security. They will worship Me, not ascribing any partners unto Me. And whosoever disbelieves thereafter, it is they who are iniquitous. # And perform the prayer, and give the alms, and obey the Messenger, that haply you may receive mercy. # Do not suppose that the disbelievers thwart [aught] on the earth. The Fire will be their refuge—what an evil journey’s end! # O you who believe! Let those whom your right hands possess and those who have not come of age ask your leave three times: before the dawn prayer, when you doff your garments at noon, and after the night prayer—three times of privacy for you. Beyond these, there is no blame upon you or upon them should you go about [visiting] one another. Thus does God make clear unto you the signs, and God is Knowing, Wise. # And when the children among you come of age, let them ask leave as those before them asked leave. Thus does God make clear unto you His signs, and God is Knowing, Wise. ` As for elderly women who no longer anticipate marriage, there is no blame upon them to doff their garments without displaying any ornament. And it is better for them to be modest, and God is Hearing, Knowing. # There is no fault against the blind, nor fault against the lame, nor fault against the sick, nor upon yourselves in that you eat from your houses, or your fathers’ houses, or your mothers’ houses, or your brothers’ houses, or your sisters’ houses, or your paternal uncles’ houses, or your paternal aunts’ houses, or your maternal uncles’ houses, or your maternal aunts’ houses, or those whose keys you possess, or [those of] your friends. # There is no blame upon you whether you eat together or separately. So when you enter houses, greet each other with a salutation from God, blessed and good. Thus does God make clear unto you the signs, that haply you may understand. # Only they are believers who believe in God and His Messenger and who, when they are with him in a collective affair, go not forth until asking his leave. Truly those who ask thy leave, it is they who believe in God and His Messenger. So when they ask thy leave in some matter of theirs, give leave unto whomsoever thou wilt, and seek forgiveness for them from God. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. # Do not deem the Messenger’s calling among you to be like your calling to one another. Indeed, God knows those among you who steal away under shelter. So let those who contradict his command be wary, lest a trial befall them or a painful punishment befall them. # Behold! Unto God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and on the earth. God certainly knows [the state] you are in. On the day they will be returned unto Him, He will inform them of that which they did. And God is Knower of all things.

Commentary

# A sūrah that We have sent down, and ordained, and in which We have sent down clear signs, that haply you may remember.

1 An implied subject at the start of this verse would have it begin, “This is a sūrah . . . ” For some, ordained refers to the many important rulings that are legislated in this sūrah (R). The verb rendered by ordained (faraḍa) also means “to allocate” or “to apportion,” in which case it is interpreted to mean that the Quran is revealed portion by portion (Q).

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# As for the adulterer and the adulteress, flog them each one hundred lashes, and let not pity for them overcome you concerning God’s Judgment, if you believe in God and the Last Day. And let their punishment be witnessed by a group of the believers.

2 Adulterer and adulteress render zānī and zāniyah, respectively, which are derived from zinā, meaning unlawful sexual intercourse (by both married and unmarried persons; Q). Zinā is also mentioned in 17:32; 25:68; 60:12. A related word is faḥshāʾ or fāḥishah, usually rendered “indecency,” which often, though not always, refers to sexual misconduct in the Quran; for example, 4:15 refers to a fāḥishah (“indecency”) that is usually understood to mean zinā (“adultery”).

According to most jurists, 4:15–16 promulgated the first punishments for adultery: As for those of your women who commit an indecency, call four witnesses among you to bear witness against them. And if they bear witness, then confine them to their houses until death takes them, or until God appoints for them another way. And if two of those among you are guilty thereof, punish them both; but if they repent and make amends, then let them be. These punishments were then considered abrogated by 24:2. It is thought by many jurists and commentators that 24:2 was further abrogated or delimited by the punishment of stoning to death—established by the Prophet, but not in the Quran—for married adulterers (both male and female), while some believe that 24:2 had always been understood as applicable only to unmarried people.

Upholders of the penalty of stoning to death point to aḥādīth describing the Prophet enforcing a penalty of stoning to death for married adulterers, a practice also said to have been followed by the first caliphs. They also mention a verse from the Quran that prescribed the punishment of stoning whose “recitation” (tilāwah) was abrogated, while its legal status (ḥukm) remained; that is, although it is not found in the Quran, its ruling is still binding—a highly contested idea. These sources regarding stoning merit consideration in some detail.

The Jewish couple: In one account, often mentioned in the commentaries on 3:23 and 5:43–44, two Jews in Madinah of high station who were guilty of adultery came to the Prophet to decide their case. According to most accounts, they did so hoping to avoid the punishment of stoning recorded in the Torah by relying upon the reportedly more lenient law being brought by Muhammad.

According to some accounts, the Prophet asked for the Torah and had the relevant passage read for him, while in others he asked the expertise of a learned Jew of Madinah. In some versions the couple confessed, and in other versions the sentence depended upon the testimony of eyewitnesses. In all accounts of the Jewish couple the Prophet resolutely vowed to follow the dictates of the Torah, and the couple were stoned to death.

Māʿiz ibn Mālik: In another account, a man identified as Māʿiz ibn Mālik, or simply “a man from [the tribe of] al-Aslam,” came to the Prophet to confess adultery, and at this initial confession the Prophet rebuffed him and sent him away. Undaunted, the man returned a second and then a third time and received the same reaction from the Prophet. After he confessed a fourth time, the Prophet ordered him stoned. In some versions, the Prophet thoroughly interrogated the man, asking if perhaps he only engaged in passionate acts other than intercourse, and then made inquiries about whether the man was known to be sane. According to some versions, the man asked the Prophet directly to stone him, while in other versions the man attempted to run from the stoning, crying that his people fooled him into confessing and that he never thought the Prophet would kill him. In these versions, when the Prophet heard of this, he asked why they did not let him go when he said that, so that perchance he could repent. In other versions, the Prophet met him and was the first to ask if it were true that he had committed the sin of adultery, to which the man replied in the affirmative, after which the Prophet warned the man that if he confessed a fourth time, he would be stoned.

The pregnant woman: In another account, a pregnant woman, sometimes identified as from the tribe of Juhaynah (or its subtribe Ghāmid), came and confessed her adultery, and even wondered if the Prophet would try to turn her away as he did with Māʿiz. The Prophet ordered her to go away until she gave birth; when she came back after the baby had been weaned, the Prophet ordered her stoned.

The ḥadīth of double punishment: According to this ḥadīth, the Prophet is reported to have said regarding adulterers, “God has come with a way pertaining to them: for the virgin with a virgin (bikr), one hundred lashes and a year’s exile, and the nonvirgin with the nonvirgin (thayyib), one hundred lashes and stoning.” Other versions exist with similar wording.

The employer’s wife: In yet another account, a man attempted to give a kind of compensation for his virgin son’s crime of adultery with his employer’s wife through a large payment of livestock. The Prophet ordered the virgin’s father to take back the goods. He then had the son lashed and exiled, and told the people to go to the woman and ask if she would confess; if she did, they were to stone her. She confessed, and they stoned her to death.

Sayings attributed to the Companions: In variations of an account attributed to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿUmar affirmed the penalty of stoning, warning others not to be led astray by the absence of such a penalty in the Quran; he maintained that he saw the Prophet enforce it and that “we” (presumably referring to the first Caliphs) also practiced it. The versions of what is attributed to ʿUmar vary significantly in their content, and some allude to a verse in the Quran that describes stoning (see below). Some accounts describe ʿAlī as having both lashed and stoned a woman and then saying, “We lashed in accordance with the Book of

God and stoned in accordance with the wont of the Messenger of God.”

The “stoning verse”: According to some reports attributed to ʿUmar, there was a verse in the Quran that read, “And the shaykh and shaykhah, stone them outright,” with some variation in wording, such as the inclusion of “when they commit adultery.” Shaykh and shaykhah mean “old man” and “old woman,” respectively, which those jurists who accept the stoning verse interpret to mean nonvirgins or married people. This “stoning verse” is often cited as an example of “abrogation of the text but not the ruling,” unlike the usual kind of abrogation in which the text remains, but its legal status is overruled by another verse (see 2:106c).

The central legal problem pertaining to stoning to death for adultery is that 24:2 lays out a clear and detailed punishment for adultery, describing how and by whom the punishment is to be carried out, while making no mention of stoning or distinguishing between married and unmarried persons. In Islamic jurisprudence, abrogating or partly overturning an unambiguous text of the Quran requires a high standard for evidence—and it is only possible if one accepts that a ḥadīth can abrogate a part of the Quran, a view rejected by most religious authorities. The penalty of stoning is much more than an explanation or elucidation through the Prophet’s Sunnah of a general Quranic concept, as are, for example, the descriptions of how to pray or fast, which are not found detailed in the Quran, but which are transmitted in detail through Sunnah as recorded in the Ḥadīth. Rather, stoning is a more severe and different kind of punishment—indeed the harshest of all—applied to a class of people (married persons) not specified in the Quran. Elsewhere the Quran does explicitly assign different punishments for sexual misconduct, but these are to make the punishment of a slave half that of a free person (4:25) and to make the punishment of any wife of the Prophet—should she commit such an act—double that of an ordinary person (33:30; though this latter verse is not necessarily always interpreted in this way).

The text of the Quran does not, however, distinguish between the categories of married and unmarried as they relate to zinā (“adultery”) or faḥshāʾ (“indecency”). Nor is there any other area in Islamic Law in which a distinction is made between young and old (shaykh); the nearest such distinction is between prepubescent children and adults, the latter of which are identified as those bearing full legal responsibility for their actions if they are sane. Thus, even if one can accept the existence of a verse that is no longer present in the Quran but is still legally binding, which notion does not rest on solid textual evidence, the use of shaykh and shaykhah (“old man,” “old woman”) only serves to confuse the issue, since an old person can be a virgin and a young person can be married. Furthermore, the doubling (33:30) and halving (4:25) of the punishment for adultery is incongruous with the punishment of stoning to death, which unlike lashing can by definition be neither doubled nor halved. The stoning punishment would also complicate the interpretation of the punishment shall be averted in v. 8. Since v. 8 refers unambiguously to married women, the punishment would be stoning according to the widely accepted interpretation, but the only punishment mentioned in the passage is lashes.

With respect to the relevant aḥādīth, the various versions of individual stoning accounts—such as that of Māʿiz ibn Mālik—often contradict each other on important details and contain errors and inconsistencies, such as misquotations from the Torah that amount to paraphrases of later Islamic legal maxims or the Quran itself (such as mention of four eyewitnesses seeing the act “as if seeing a kohl stick going into a kohl container,” referring to a stick used to apply kohl, a black substance sometimes rubbed around the eyes, being inserted into its container). There are, moreover, substantial incongruities between the different accounts. For example, in the cases of Māʿiz and the pregnant woman, the Prophet is portrayed as sparing no effort to give the confessor an opportunity to recant, while in the case of the Jewish couple no such efforts are made. In the case of Māʿiz, he investigates the matter thoroughly, while in the case of the employer’s wife, he simply sends a delegation to ask if she will confess and has her stoned with no similar stream of questioning. Some aḥādīth mention lashes and stoning combined, while others do not. Furthermore, some accounts mention banishment, but it is absent from other accounts. Though ʿUmar is said to have spoken of stoning, there is no record of either Abū Bakr or ʿUmar stoning anyone in the traditional histories. None of these ḥadīth accounts taken singly would seem to rise to the level of abrogating an unambiguous Quranic text, especially because they contradict each other, do not reinforce each other when they are taken together, and indeed seem to nullify each other. Despite this fact, many commentators and jurists do make the claim that the penalty of stoning to death is mutawātir, or “widely transmitted,” a technical term that refers to something so widely transmitted from disparate sources that it would be inconceivable for it to have been falsified.

Beyond such ambiguities, some basic logical questions arise, which are mentioned by al-Rāzī as objections on the part of the Khārijites. The Quran describes many kinds of transgressions including theft and murder, but does not go into the same level of detail for them as it does for adultery, and thus it is implausible that, in the midst of this detail, stoning, which is a more grievous punishment than all others mentioned in the Quran, would go unmentioned. It is also argued that no solitary ḥadīth could overturn the plain sense of the Quran, much less on a question as momentous as imposing the severest of penalties.

Jurists typically place the penalty of stoning for adultery in the category of ḥudūd (sing. ḥadd), referring to those corporal punishments that are mandatory once guilt is established. Another category of punishments, called taʿzīr, are those discretionary actions that can be taken by a legitimate political authority but that do not constitute Divinely mandated punishments. This distinction is not necessarily rigid, however, as it is widely accepted that ʿUmar suspended the ḥadd punishment for theft during a time of famine. Some have speculated that if indeed the Prophet did have people stoned, it was a taʿzīr, not a ḥadd. Among these jurists, some speculate that those incidents of stoning, even if taken as historical events, took place before the revelation of 24:2, and thus 24:2 is the final and abrogating punishment for adultery and stoning is at a maximum a possibility of taʿzīr. In one account, when the jurist al-Shaybānī asked the Companion ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā about stoning, he affirmed that the Prophet did stone, but he did not know whether it was before or after the revelation of alNūr (the present sūrah).

Regarding the requirement that the lashing be witnessed by a group, there are disagreements over the minimum number required, some saying one or more, others saying four (corresponding to the number of witnesses necessary to ascertain the guilt of adultery), others saying two (a usual number for witnesses), and others saying three, which is the minimum number for being called a “group” (Q, Ṭ).

Al-Qurṭubī, surveying the legal rulings, describes the punishment of lashes as follows: The lashes should land upon one’s back, but not the head; men are to expose their skin (according to some), but women retain a layer of clothing. They remain standing and are not bound. The whip to be used is described as neither too hard nor too soft, and the blows, although meant to cause pain, should not be so hard as to draw blood. The person administering the lashes is not to raise his arm high up so as to deliver a harder blow and should never let his armpit become visible (from raising his arm to strike). Some say that this limitation is realized by requiring the person to hold an object in his armpit while delivering the lashes. The punishment should be carried out by the most respected members of society and only under the aegis of a legitimate political and legal authority.

In cases where a person’s health cannot withstand the blows, the conditions are modified. In one account, a very frail man was presented for punishment, but it was clear he would not survive it; so the Prophet ordered that a number of twigs corresponding to the number of lashes be tied together, and the man was struck once with the bundle (Q).

More than one crucial dimension of the interpretation of the Quran comes into discussion regarding the punishment of stoning for adultery, including abrogation (see 2:106c), the relationship between the Quran and the Ḥadīth, the authentication and comparison of competing accounts within the Ḥadīth, and the status of religious laws other than those of Islam. In contemporary discussions of stoning several Islamic authorities have raised serious doubts about the authenticity of those accounts that attribute stoning to the Prophet or to the early leadership of the Muslim community, basing this conclusion not only upon the punishment’s incongruity with the actually existing text of the Quran (setting aside the question of “abrogation of the text but not the command”), but also based upon the improbable nature of some of the aḥādīth adduced in its favor as well as their mutual contradiction. It is not implausible that the stoning punishment was a holdover from other local traditions (such as that of the Jews) that then came to be considered normative practice in Islam. Some jurists may have reasoned that since stoning is a part of Jewish Law and was not explicitly cancelled by Islamic Law, it could be employed in some conditions, and this act of discretion may have, over the course of time, risen to the level of general obligation; such a position would be supported by the account that describes the Prophet executing Jewish Law against the Jewish couple. One could further speculate that, for reasons of social cohesion, early authorities (after the death of the Prophet and the first generation) felt that the punishment of lashes was not sufficient a check on adultery (indeed, some contemporaries of the Prophet deemed the standards of evidence far too demanding, as mentioned in 24:6–9c) and believed that penalty of stoning to death had to exist as a disincentive on licentiousness, which could lead to social disintegration. Such speculation about the origins of this punishment is justified and worthwhile in the face of the evidence in favor of stoning to death—evidence that is equivocal at best and contradictory and untenable at worst. It is also important to mention that the condition set for the proof of adultery—four eyewitnesses to the very act—was such that this punishment was very rare in Islamic society.

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# The adulterer shall marry none but an adulteress or idolatress, and the adulteress shall marry none but an adulterer or idolater. And that is forbidden to the believers.

3 Some interpret this verse as highlighting the enormity of adultery by forbidding adulterers to marry believers (Q). For others, it means that those who are inclined to adultery would only want to marry adulterers or idolaters (R). Others interpret it to mean that the only people who would assent to the actions of an adulterer would be other rebellious adulterers or idolaters who had no qualms about such conduct (IK). Marry renders the verbal form of nikāḥ, which according to context can also refer to sexual intercourse (IK, Q, Ṭ). If read as a reference to intercourse, this verse is understood to mean that there is no onesidedness in adultery; that is, if one of the two can be considered an adulterer, both must be considered adulterers. Some commentators object to this reading on the grounds that nikāḥ only appears in the Quran to describe marriage (Q), though in fact some commentators on 4:22 interpret the same verb as referring to sexual relations (see 4:22c).

According to another set of opinions, the verse refers to certain believers who wished to marry women who were known to be prostitutes. Others mention an account where some of the People of the Veranda (see 2:273c), who were homeless except for the mosque and who were extremely poor, desired to marry certain women of Madinah who were known prostitutes, but who could at least provide them food and shelter (IK, Q, R, Ṭ). Some prefer this reading, because those who commit adultery are generally not hindered from marrying later, and indeed taking the verse in the literal sense would seem to allow believers to marry idolaters, which is categorically forbidden. Interpreting this verse as a reference to certain women would then not hinder a believing person once guilty of adultery from marrying again. A variant opinion is that this verse refers to those upon whom the ḥadd punishment (i.e., lashes) has been rendered (Q), that is, those who had been judicially convicted of adultery and received the punishment. But al-Qurṭubī rejects this interpretation on the grounds that it would then allow the believing adulteress to marry an idolater, something that was already forbidden to her before she was an adulterer.

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# And as for those who accuse chaste women, but then do not bring four witnesses, flog them eighty lashes, and never accept any testimony from them. And it is they who are the iniquitous,

4 Chaste renders muḥṣan, which can also mean free (as opposed to slave) or married; see 4:24c. This verse applies equally to men and women (IK, Q). It refers to the crime of slander (qadhf) with regard to the accusation of adultery (zinā). Some believe this verse was revealed in the context of the accusation made against ʿĀʾishah (see 24:10–22c), while others believe that it is a general ruling that was not occasioned by any particular incident (Q, Ṭ).

Al-Qurṭubī describes the various conditions under which the accusation of adultery becomes a punishable offense: the accuser must be a sane adult; the alleged crime must be a punishable offense, such as adultery or sodomy; and the accused must be a sane, free adult. The witnesses must see the act of penetration directly, in one place and at one time, meaning that four people each witnessing a separate occasion would not be admissible (Q); on the necessity of four witnesses for prosecuting such offenses, see 4:15c.

Some say that the command to never accept any testimony from them applies only to those who gave false testimony regarding matters whose punishment would be a ḥadd punishment (a Divinely ordained capital or corporal punishment), not other matters. Some also say that if someone repents sincerely for having given false testimony, that person’s testimony can be accepted without restriction in the future (Q).

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# save those who repent thereafter and make amends, for truly God is Forgiving, Merciful.

5 The issue of repentance in connection with punishable offenses arises in each context where the Quran prescribes punishment for such an offense. For some, the possibility of repentance mentioned in v. 5 applies only to freeing oneself from being considered iniquitous (v. 4), while others believe that this repentance also applies to the possibility of having one’s testimony restored to the status of being acceptable by the community (v. 4; Q). Some thus interpret the word never (abad^an) in v. 4 to mean “never as long as they are committing the adultery slander” (Q). For similar verses that suggest that repentance might avert the consequences or punishments prescribed for major crimes, see 4:93c; 5:34c. To make amends refers to living for a period of time in an honorable way and perhaps even being required to perform acts such as giving charity (R) to make one’s repentance manifest to others (Q).

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# And as for those who accuse their wives and have no witnesses but themselves, then the testimony of one of them shall be four testimonies, swearing by God that he is among the truthful,

# and the fifth shall be that the curse of God be upon him if he is among the liars.

# And the punishment shall be averted from her should she give four testimonies, swearing by God that he is among the liars,

# and the fifth that God’s Wrath shall come upon her if he is among the truthful.

6–9 Several reports are widely associated with the revelation of this passage dealing with “mutual condemnation” (liʿān), that is, the swearing of oaths pertaining to the accusation of adultery by one spouse against another. In some of these reports, a man came to the Prophet to accuse his wife of an act of adultery in progress, but balked at the requirement that he bring four witnesses (4:15; 24:4), arguing that by the time he collected four witnesses and returned, the adulterer would have had ample time to cease the act of penetration, which the witnesses were required to see. The Prophet, described as immovable on the question of four witnesses, then commanded the husband to testify as described in this passage. The wife was given an opportunity to do the same. This procedure saves the accusing spouse from the punishment of eighty lashes for false accusation, while allowing the accused spouse to declare his or her innocence; that is, only a spouse can make an accusation of adultery that is unsubstantiated by four witnesses and emerge without being lashed.

There are a range of opinions regarding several questions pertaining to the accusation of adultery on the part of a spouse, including whether the marriage thereby comes automatically to an end; whether the couple can ever remarry; the status of any child that the husband might deny as his own (since one form of the accusation of adultery is to declare that a child to whom one’s wife has given birth is not one’s own); how long a man has to renounce the child before his silence becomes acceptance; whether the renunciation can be taken back; and whether and how these rules apply to free, slave, Muslim, and non-Muslim individuals. The mutual condemnation must take place in public, preferably in a large “congregational mosque,” where the Friday prayers are held (Q, R).

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# And were it not for God’s Bounty upon you, and His Mercy, and that God is Relenting, Wise!

10–22 This passage relates to an incident involving the Prophet’s wife ʿĀʾishah. According to the traditional accounts, while on a journey ʿĀʾishah’s necklace fell from her neck two times. The first time, the Prophet ordered the Muslims to make camp to look for it, and eventually the verse related to ritual purification by dust was revealed (for the full account, see 4:43c). The second time, ʿĀʾishah again realized that her necklace had fallen, and she left the enclosed tentlike saddle atop her camel to go look for it. At the time, it was said that ʿĀʾishah was still fourteen and slight of build, and those who led her mount did not detect that the covered saddle was empty. ʿĀʾishah, expecting that the group would not leave without her, returned to the campsite to find that everyone had left. She waited, expecting that sooner or later they would realize their oversight and return, and fell asleep. Eventually a man named Ṣafwān ibn Muʿaṭṭal found her and brought her back to the main group, leading her on his mount. Ṣafwān is described in the sources as having been a valorous, chaste man who tended the Prophet’s camel during battles and was later killed in battle during the caliphate of ʿUmar (Q). Soon after Ṣafwān brought ʿĀʾishah back to the encampment, rumors began to spread accusing ʿĀʾishah of committing adultery with Ṣafwān.

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# Truly those who brought forth the lie were a group among you. Do not suppose it to be an evil for you. Rather, it is a good for you. Unto each man among them is the sin he committed. And he among them who undertook the greater part of it, his shall be a great punishment.

11 The group among you was reported to consist mainly of three people, ḥassān ibn Thābit, Misṭaḥ ibn Uthāthah, and Ḥamnah bint Jaḥsh, though others report that the group consisted of ten or even up to forty persons (Q). Who undertook the greater part of it is thought to refer to Ḥassān ibn Thābit; this phrase is meant to refer to the person who began the rumor and therefore carried the greatest blame for it (Ṭ). According to some reports, Ḥassān later went blind, which was interpreted by some as his recompense (Q, Ṭ); it is also recorded that Ṣafwān struck a nonlethal blow to his head with his sword (Q, R). Others interpret the one who undertook the greater part of it to refer to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy, usually thought of as the leader of the hypocrites and described as having had an important role in the scandal (Ṭ).

There are also differing reports as to whether the Prophet beat or lashed these three scandalmongers. In one account, only ḥassān received a corporal punishment; other reports indicate that all three did; and still others report that none of them did, because such punishments require clear evidence in order to be carried out, and the evidence of guilt was insufficient in this case (Q). For alQurṭubī this gap between moral culpability and criminal liability is reminiscent of the fact that, though the hypocrites are mentioned frequently in the Quran, they are not named in such a way as to bring a legal claim against them. He reports that in the most well known account these three were lashed, but that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy was not.

Rather, it is a good for you is interpreted to mean that the “bringing forth” of this lie was a good thing for the community, either because, rather than leaving the people suspicious and uncertain, the matter was resolved openly and put to rest, or because it resulted in the revelation of these Quranic verses about the issue (R). When the good that comes from this development is understood to be for the benefit of the false accusers rather than the victims of the scandal (ʿĀʾishah and Ṣafwān and by extension the Prophet and ʿĀʾishah’s family), it can be seen as preventing them from carrying on in sin or as providing a punishment in this life that would avert a harsher punishment in the Hereafter (R).

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# Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and women think well of their own, and say, “This is a manifest lie”?

12. This verse encapsulates the ethical principle of erring against suspicion and not repeating something one has heard if its source is unreliable or unknown (Q). In this connection al-Rāzī quotes the ḥadīth, “In their togetherness and compassion for one another and what God placed between them, the Muslims are like unto a single body. When one part is afflicted, the whole will be afflicted by fever and wakefulness.” Islamic ethical writings make frequent mention of “positive presumption” or “thinking well [of others]” (ḥusn al-ẓann), which can apply to human beings as well as on another level to God. In the former case, it refers to the presumption of innocence and good character in others, and in relation to God it refers to belief in God’s Compassion and Mercy.

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# Why did they not bring forth four witnesses thereto? For when they brought not the witnesses, it is they who were then liars in the Eyes of God.

13. This verse refers to the requirement that accusations of sexual misconduct be supported by four eyewitnesses, as mentioned in 4:15 and 24:4. Al-Rāzī discusses the possibility that a person might be truthful in his or her accusation of adultery, but fail to produce four witnesses. He suggests that it could mean that, as a matter of law and dealing with such an accuser, such an accuser must be treated as a liar in the absence of the requisite witnesses, regardless of the merit of the claim.

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# And were it not for God’s Bounty upon you, and His Mercy, in this world and the Hereafter, a great punishment would have befallen you for having engaged [in vain talk] concerning it,

14. Empty or vain talk about subjects without benefit is a vice frequently condemned in the Quran, as in 4:140; 6:68; and 9:65.

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# when you accepted it with your tongues, and spoke with your mouths that whereof you had no knowledge, supposing it to be slight, though it is great in the Eyes of God.

15. Accepted it with your tongues could be translated literally, “You met it with your tongues,” meaning that they received and transmitted the lie readily (Ṭ). The verb you accepted renders talaqqawna (from the root l-q-y), which some read as taliqūna (from the root w-l-q), meaning to penetrate as with a weapon, to quickly follow upon something, or to do something quickly in succession. In such a reading, the phrase could be rendered, “You propagated it quickly with your tongues.” Slight is understood to mean that they thought no sin would attach to them on its account (Q, Ṭ).

***

# And why, when you heard it, did you not say, “It is not for us to speak of this! Glory be to Thee! This is a tremendous calumny!”

16. In traditional Islamic ethics gossip and backbiting are considered serious vices, even when what is being said is true; see also 49:12c. In this verse, calumny renders buhtān, which signifies backbiting by telling lies (Q), since one can also backbite by relating that which is factually true but still damaging to a person. Glory be to Thee! is understood as an expression of astonishment, or as an implicit declaration that the wife of God’s chosen Messenger could not do such a thing, or as an exclamation that God is too Glorious to leave this matter unattended (R). In the context of this verse discussing calumny, al-Rāzī mentions several aḥādīth pertaining to it, such as, “A Muslim is he from whose tongue the Muslims are safe, and the Emigrant is he who emigrates from what God has forbidden.”

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# God exhorts you, lest you ever return to the like of it, if you are believers.

# And God makes clear unto you the signs, and God is Knowing, Wise.

17–18 If you are believers means if the accusers heed God’s Exhortation (Ṭ) and never repeat the same type of accusation in the future (IK). God makes clear the signs is mentioned elsewhere in the Quran (e.g., 2:187, 221, 242; 3:103; 5:89; 24:59), and in this case the signs can be understood as referring to the laws and rulings that benefit His servants (IK).

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# Truly those who desire that indecency be spread among those who believe, theirs shall be a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. God knows, and you know not.

19. Those who desire that indecency be spread among believers shall be punished unless they make sincere repentance (Q). This verse, and indeed this entire passage, is understood as a warning against such slander-mongering and a reminder to the believers that their inner thoughts are not hidden from God (R). In this connection Ibn Kathīr mentions the ḥadīth, “Do not insult the servants of God, and do not reproach them, and do not look for their faults. Whosoever looks for the faults of his Muslim brother, God will look for his faults so much so that He will expose him in his home.”

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# And were it not for God’s Bounty toward you, and His Mercy, and that God is Kind, Merciful!

20. The result contingent upon were it not is implied (cf. v. 10), meaning that were it not for God’s Bounty, the slanderers would have been worse off, either through their own ultimate perdition or because the slander would have spread even farther (R). It could also refer to the result contingent upon the similar phrase in v. 21 and thus to their inability to be purified without God’s Bounty.

***

# O you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of Satan! And whosoever follows the footsteps of Satan, truly he enjoins indecency and wrong. And were it not for God’s Bounty toward you, and His Mercy, not one of you would ever be pure. But God purifies whomsoever He will, and God is Hearing, Knowing.

21. To be pure is understood here to mean to be upright or righteous (ṣāliḥ; Q), or to be rightly guided, or to follow Islam (Ṭ). Other verses that mention following in the footsteps of Satan include 2:168, 208; 6:142. That Satan commands to evil or indecency is also mentioned in 2:169, 268.

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# And let not the men of bounty and means among you forswear giving to kinsfolk and the indigent and those who emigrated in the way of God. And let them pardon and forbear. Do you not desire that God forgive you? And God is Forgiving, Merciful.

22. Some connect this verse to Abū Bakr, who used to give charity to his impoverished maternal cousin, Misṭaḥ ibn Uthāthah. But when it became clear that he was one of the three main culprits in propagating the lie against ʿĀʾishah, Abū Bakr vowed not to give Misṭah charity ever again (Q, R, Ṭ). Others say this verse was revealed in connection with all such persons (Q). It is reported that after this verse was revealed, Abū Bakr said, “Yea, by God I desire, O Lord, that Thou forgivest us!” returned to Miṣtaḥ, and promised not to withhold charity from him (IK). Some commentators speak of this verse as the “most hopeful” in the Quran, as it shows God’s Kindness even to those who commit slander (Q). Other verses listed as being among those that are “most hopeful” include 2:260; 33:47; 39:53; 42:19, 22; 93:5 (Q); see also 2:260c. Al-Rāzī notes the great moral challenge that this verse presented to Abū Bakr, who was thereby enjoined to continue giving regular charity to a man who had defamed his own daughter ʿĀʾishah—that is, to respond to evil with good, not in kind. See 13:22 and 28:54 for the injunction to repel evil with good.

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# Truly those who accuse chaste and heedless believing women are cursed in this world and the Hereafter, and theirs shall be a great punishment

23. Here heedless means the women are without guile or cunning (Z). Though this passage was reportedly revealed in connection with ʿĀʾishah, it is considered to have a general application (Ṭ). Some commentators think this verse referred specifically to the wives of the Prophet, since this and the following verses do not mention the possibility of repentance, whereas the discussion of slander in vv. 4–5 does address the issue of repentance (R); that is, some commentators placed such accusations against the Prophet’s wives in a more egregious category, one in which the consequences could not be averted through repentance (Q). However, since it is widely acknowledged that all sincere repentance is accepted by God (9:104; 39:53), this passage would refer, according to some authorities, to those who persevered in their offense without contrition (Q, R).

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# on the day their tongues, their hands, and their feet bear witness against them as to that which they used to do.

24. Similar verses describing how objects incapable of speech will speak in the Hereafter include 41:21: And they will say to their skins, “Why did you bear witness against us?” They will reply, “God, Who makes all things speak, made us speak”; and 36:65: On that Day We shall seal their mouths. Their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to that which they used to earn. In a famous verse, the Sufi poet Rūmī, in referring to inanimate objects, writes that they are silent here but speak there, meaning in the Hereafter.

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# On that Day God will pay them their just due in full, and they will know that God is the Manifest Truth.

25. Just due renders dīn, a word usually translated as “religion,” but which is also etymologically related to the words “recompense” and “debt.” “Day of Judgment” renders yawm al-dīn (lit. “Day of Religion”); see 1:4c.

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# Vile women are for vile men, and vile men are for vile women, and good women are for good men, and good men are for good women. They are innocent of what they say. Theirs is forgiveness and a generous provision.

26. As translated, this verse can be understood to be similar to v. 3 (Q, R). However, this verse could also be translated, “Vile things are for vile people, and vile people are for vile things, and good things are for good people, and good people are for good things.” In this reading, preferred by al-Rāzī, al-Qurṭubī, and many others, the vile and good things are usually interpreted to mean vile and good words or speech, recalling that the context of this passage is the matter of false accusations of adultery (Q, R, Ṭ); that is, vile things are only said by vile people, or else vile things are only truly said about vile people (R). They are innocent means that good people are innocent of the vile things said about them (R), which many commentators see as a specific reference to ʿĀʾishah and Ṣafwān (IK, Q).

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# O you who believe! Enter not houses other than your own, until you inquire and greet the dwellers thereof. That is better for you, that haply you may remember.

27. Some say inquire and greet the dwellers refers to a signal like clearing one’s throat or knocking at the door to let the occupants inside know that someone is there (Ṭ), meaning there is no sense in greeting unless you know someone is inside (R). The greeting here is the formula “Peace be upon you” (al-salāmu ʿalaykum; Q, Ṭ).

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# But if you find not anyone therein, then enter them not until permission is granted you. And if it is said to you, “Turn back,” then turn back. That is purer for you, and God knows what you do.

28. Traditionally one is limited to seeking permission to enter three times, after which one should leave (Q, R). Many commentators mention the ḥadīth, “If one of you asks permission three times and permission is not given him, let him go back.” They also note that it was the wont of the Prophet not to stand immediately in front of the doorway when asking permission to enter, but to stand off to the side, as doorways did not necessarily have actual doors or covers (Q, Ṭ). This verse holds whether the door is locked or unlocked and even if there is no door at all (Q). Al-Qurṭubī records a ḥadīth in which the Prophet rebukes severely a man who peered through a hole in the Prophet’s door and saw him combing his hair. The right to privacy became an important and much discussed subject in Islamic Law.

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# There is no blame upon you for entering uninhabited houses wherein there is some good for you. And God knows what you disclose and what you conceal.

29. Uninhabited houses are thought to refer to way stations on the road for travelers, way stations that are not anyone’s permanent domicile; others say that they refer to ruins (Q, Ṭ). It is permissible to enter them without permission, because there is no risk of exposing anything inside that should be kept private (Q).

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# Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely God is Aware of whatsoever they do.

30. The same command for men to be modest and chaste in this verse is repeated for women in the next verse. Since one cannot “lower one’s eyes” against everything, this verse is interpreted to mean that men should not look at things with passion or at those things that are forbidden or that God dislikes (Ṭ). Al-Qurṭubī quotes a ḥadīth: “Let not a glance follow a glance. The first is yours, but not the second.” This saying means that one is not responsible for the first glance at something forbidden, but is responsible if one continues to look at it. In another ḥadīth the Prophet said, “Give the road its rights.” When asked what these rights were, he added, “Lowering the eyes, removing harmful obstacles, sharing greetings, and enjoining right and hindering wrong.” “Guarding one’s private parts,” referring to abstaining from sexual misconduct, is also mentioned in 23:5; 33:35; 70:29.

***

# And tell the believing women to lower their eyes and to guard their private parts, and to not display their adornment except that which is visible thereof. And let them draw their kerchiefs over their breasts, and not display their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers, or their sons, or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or male attendants free of desire, or children who are innocent of the private areas of women. Nor let them stamp their feet such that the ornaments they conceal become known. And repent unto God all together, O believers, that haply you may prosper.

31. The command to women to be modest and chaste mirrors the command for men in the previous verse. Kerchiefs renders khumur (sing. khimār), and breasts renders juyūb (sing. jayb). A khimār can mean a cloth that covers the head or neck; a scarf; a flowing garment; a garment without stitching; or a man’s turban. According to commentators, before the advent of Islam women would wear the khimār and it would drape behind their backs, exposing their upper chests (and, according to some accounts, their breasts as well). Some say this was done after the manner of “the Nabateans”(M, Q), presumably a reference to the tribes of northern Arabia or the inhabitants of the marshlands of southern Iraq. It was in any event a common feature of women’s dress in the ancient Near East. Beyond describing that it was worn atop the head or neck, no precise details are available for the dimensions or coverage of the khimār. A jayb can refer to the heart or chest, the beginning of a woman’s cleavage, the place where the chest meets the neck, the opening of a shirt through which one places one’s head, a pocket, or the shirt itself. Jayb is also used to describe that into which Moses places his hand and pulls it out white in 27:12 and 28:32, where it is rendered bosom (referring to the chest area of his garment; it thus could also mean “pocket” or “enclosure”).

The only other place in the Quran where garments are discussed is 33:59, which mentions the jilbāb, or cloak women draw around their bodies as a way of identifying themselves so as not to be accosted (see 33:59c). As will be seen below, most jurists interpreted the command in this verse to mean that a free woman’s hair, ears, throat, and chest should be covered (IK, Q, Th). Beyond these general requirements, certain special rules of seclusion applied to the wives of the Prophet (see commentary on 33:32, 33, 53), but these did not extend to other Muslim women; ḥijāb comes from the veil or partition mentioned in 33:53 meant to shield the Prophet’s wives from petitioners and those displaying excessive familiarity.

A handful of reports attributed to some of the Companions describe the women of Madinah responding to the revelation of this verse by cutting cloth from their skirts and “covering” with it (using the verb ikhtamara, related by root to the word khimār), but how this was done and what was covered are not described, though it was later often mistranslated as “covering the face.” In some accounts the women are described as appearing “as if crows were on their heads,” but this is of ambiguous meaning as well. Similar metaphors in Arabic of birds above one’s head can also describe a mood of solemnity. Al-Ālūsī, for example, interprets these aḥādīth as merely communicating that the women of Madinah were responsive to the revelation of v. 31. A relevant ḥadīth in which the Prophet describes to his sister-in-law Asmāʾ (the daughter of Abū Bakr) the parts of the body that a woman should cover (everything but the face and hands) is of weak authenticity.

It was typical for jurists to discuss the question of dress, for both men and women, in terms of what must be covered in order to perform the canonical prayer, which was usually taken as equivalent to what had to be covered in the presence of those not listed in this verse. This area to be covered was usually referred to as one’s ʿawrah (“private area”) and generally fell into one of three categories as classified by jurists: the ʿawrah of men, of female slaves, and of free women. A man’s ʿawrah was typically described as the area from his navel to his knees. The ʿawrah of a free woman was almost always everything but the hands (and sometimes the forearm), face, and sometimes feet (and sometimes part of the calf), though some early minority opinions, such as that of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr (d. 95/714), disapproved of uncovering the hair while noting that the hair was not mentioned explicitly in this verse. Other jurists considered a free woman’s entire body to be ʿawrah. For most jurists the ʿawrah of a female slave (or even a female servant) was similar to that of a man, though some jurists, such as the Ḥanafīs, preferred that they cover their chests and backs as well. Many jurists stated plainly that the female slave’s ʿawrah was appropriate to her obligations of carrying out her work without being overly encumbered.

Though jurists considered it forbidden and sinful to look upon women with lust and to stare at female slaves not one’s own, they did not demand any change in women’s dress or prevent them from going about actively in society. Some jurists cite a tradition that ʿUmar actually forbade female slaves from covering their hair, lest they be mistaken for free women. It is reasonable to assume that early jurists saw dress at least partly as a signifier of rank or communal identity (as it seems to be in 33:59) rather than solely in connection with indecency and temptation. In any case, the rules on slave and servant women seem to indicate that the mere fact of women being exposed was not a motivating concern separable from their social status, at least in the formative period of Islamic Law. Jurists who allow uncovering of the face for free women and other parts of the body for slave women still note that looking upon such areas with passion is forbidden; that is to say, the mere fact that it is forbidden to stare at something does not render it ʿawrah, or an area that must be covered (Āl).

Adornment renders zīnah, a word that also means “decoration,” “embellishment,” “finery,” or something that beautifies. That which is visible thereof renders mā ẓahara minhā, which can mean “that which shows” or “that which is exterior,” referring to what could be seen under normal circumstances (Z). For some the adornment that is visible refers to the face and hands, clothes, eye makeup (kuḥl), rings, and bracelets (Ṭ). Al-Rāzī notes that for some jurists this means whatever usually appears in customary practice (al-ʿādah al-jāriyah), which in the case of women refers to the face and hands. As a woman could not be expected reasonably to cover her face and hands and the ornaments upon them without hardship and difficulty, they could not be part of her ʿawrah (R). AlZamakhsharī notes that this ruling can extend to the feet as well, especially for poor women. For nearly all jurists, these guidelines did not apply to female slaves (see above).

Their women refers to Muslim women, and many note that it is also prohibited for them to be exposed to female idolaters (IK, Ṭ); others interpret this as a reference to Muslim women’s female attendants or companions (R). Those whom their right hands possess is thought by some to refer to any slave, male or female, though some jurists limited it to female servants (R). Male attendants free of desire is understood to refer to certain kinds of mentally disabled men uninterested in women’s sexuality, those who are impotent, eunuchs, or old men (Q, Ṭ). Children who are innocent of the private parts of women refers to young children who do not see women as sources of sexual attraction (Ṭ). The ornaments they conceal refers to the anklets, sometimes described as having small bells, that women would wear under their skirts; women were not to reveal the presence of these ornaments by stamping their feet (Ṭ).

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# And marry those who are single among you, and the righteous among your male slaves and your female slaves. If they are poor, God will enrich them from His Bounty. And God is AllEncompassing, Knowing.

32 Depending on how the verb is read, this verse can be seen as addressing those who will themselves marry or those who “give in marriage”—that is, legal guardians (Q)—whose permission, according to many jurists, is required for a woman to marry (unless she has been married previously, in which case the guardian’s permission is not required). Some believe that the single among you refers to free persons (Q), because the remainder of the sentence concerns slaves (on the marriage of slaves, see 4:25c). Some commentators are careful to say that this verse is not interpreted as an absolute command to reduce the single population, such that it would be a sin for there to be marriageable men and women who were not married (R).

God will enrich them is not interpreted as a promise of wealth after marriage, but as a general statement about God’s Power over giving (R). However, some accounts do speak of marriage in these terms. Al-Rāzī mentions sayings of Companions such as Abū Bakr and Ibn ʿAbbās that encourage marriage and say that marriage will bring material blessings with it.

***

# And let those who are unable to marry be chaste till God enriches them from His Bounty. And as for those among the ones whom your right hands possess who seek a contract [of emancipation] with you, contract with them if you know of any good in them, and give unto them from the Wealth of God, which He has given you. And compel not your female slaves into prostitution if they desire to be chaste, for the sake of seeking after the ephemeralities of the life of this world. And whosoever compels them, then truly God, after their having been compelled, will be Forgiving, Merciful.

     33 Commentators recognize that poverty can hinder one from marrying, though they acknowledge that a woman could willingly marry a man of meager means, accepting a small bridewealth and living modestly (Q).

A contract of [emancipation] (kitāb, also mukātabah) refers to an agreement by which slaves can purchase their freedom for an agreed-upon sum. Once the master agrees to emancipation, slaves can then begin to earn money to make the payments. Some consider it obligatory to contract emancipation with slaves if one knows any good in them (Q, Ṭ), while others read this as a recommendation, a kind of guidance, so that an owner cannot be compelled by the request of the slave for freedom (Q). The good refers to being trustworthy or honest or having the capability of working to pay the sum (IK, Q, R, Ṭ). Jurists discuss many ancillary issues regarding this matter, such as the advisability of contracting such emancipation with a slave who has no expertise or profession by which to earn an income, some reasoning that this could lead to burdening society with a helpless individual dependent upon charity (Q). Some understand the command to give unto them from the Wealth of God to mean that some of the zakāh funds should be given to slaves after their emancipation (IK), pointing to 9:60, the verse that lists the freeing of slaves as one use of zakāh; the freeing of slaves is also encouraged in 5:89 and 90:13. Al-Qurṭubī and Ibn Kathīr mention the ḥadīth: “There are three who have a right with God to be helped: the slave contracting his emancipation; he who desires to marry chastely; and he who strives in the way of God.” Others say that the Wealth mentioned here refers to a portion of the sum from the contract of emancipation that would be given back to the slave after his or her emancipation (IK, R, Ṭ).

Compel not your female slaves refers to the practice before Islam of forcing female slaves into prostitution. Many commentators mention that the chief hypocrite, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy, compelled his female slaves in this fashion and collected the payments (R, Ṭ). God, after their having been compelled, will be Forgiving, Merciful refers to the fact that God will not hold such female slaves responsible for what they were forced to do (Ṭ).

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# We have indeed sent down unto you clarifying signs and a description of those who have passed before you, and an exhortation for the reverent.

34. Description renders mathal, which depending on context can mean a parable, allegory, example, or illustrative case. For variations of the refrain an exhortation for the reverent, also see 2:66; 3:138; 5:46.

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# God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche, wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as a shining star kindled from a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West. Its oil would well-nigh shine forth, even if no fire had touched it. Light upon light. God guides unto His Light whomsoever He will, and God sets forth parables for mankind, and God is Knower of all things.

35. This is the Light Verse (āyat al-nūr), one of the most famous and often recited verses of the Quran, from which this sūrah takes its name. “Light” is considered a Name of God. Many independent treatises have been composed on the Light Verse, perhaps the most famous of which is Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī’s The Niche of Lights (Mishkāt al-anwār), which contains a meditation on the meaning of the symbolism of this verse as well as a metaphysical treatment of the concept and reality of light in general. The verse is often found inscribed on the lamps that hang in many mosques in the Islamic world, and the design of some mosques has been based on its symbolism.

Al-Qurṭubī mentions that the Prophet was asked, “Did thou seest thy Lord?” and he replied, “I saw Light.” Ibn Kathīr cites a ḥadīth evoking the content of this verse in which the Prophet prays, “O God! Praise be to Thee! Thou dost sustain the heavens and the earth. Thou art the Light of the heavens and the earth and all therein.” That God is the Light is interpreted also to mean that God guides or directs the affairs of the heavens and the earth (Ṭ). Most commentators on this verse focus their reflections not on the initial phrase God is the Light of the heavens and the earth, but rather on the second phrase, the parable of His Light, and the meaning of light itself. The parable of His Light is typically understood to refer to the light in the heart of the believer placed there by God (Ṭ), although it is also interpreted by some to refer to the Quran (Ṭ), which, like other Divine books, is described in terms of its light and luminosity (see 4:174; 5:15, 44, 46; 6:91; 7:157; 21:48; 22:8; 31:20; 64:8). For other uses of light in the Quran, see 2:17, 257; 6:1, 122; 9:32; 13:16; 14:1, 5; 28:71; 33:43; 39:22; 39:69; 42:52; 57:9, 12, 19, 28; 61:8; 65:11; 66:8.

Niche translates mishkāh, which is usually described as a recess in a wall within which to set or hang a lamp. There are, however, others who understand it to mean the body of the lamp itself, the metal by which the lamp is hung, or the piece that holds the wick (IK, R, Ṭ). Lamp renders miṣbāḥ, which refers here to the lighted wick, but some have interpreted it to be the whole lamp itself.

Combined with the reading of mishkāh as the lamp or the piece of the lamp that holds the wick, this phrase could be read, “The parable of His Light is a lamp wherein is a lighted wick.” The glass would then refer to the enclosure around the wick, and kindled from a blessed olive tree refers to the special olive oil that is the lamp’s fuel; in one reading, the glass is understood to be a windowpane that covers the niche (Ṭs). Some read a syntactical inversion of lamp and niche in the two sentences: The parable of His Light is a niche, wherein is a lamp (or lighted wick). The lamp (or lighted wick) is in a glass. According to this reading, the lines actually mean, “The parable of His Light is as a lamp in a niche,” since that is the source of the light as ordinarily understood (R). It is pointed out that parable . . . is does not restrict the comparison to the niche alone, but includes everything that follows (Ṭb).

A blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West is interpreted to mean that it is a heavenly tree, since any earthly tree would necessarily be eastern or western (R), or it is a symbolic tree (Ṭ). In one opinion attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās, it means the tree is on a high mountain or open plain, such that the sun strikes it as it both rises and sets (IK, R, Ṭ); in this sense, it can mean that the tree is of both the East and the West because it is neither exclusively (R). According to these interpretations, of the East (sharqiyyah) and of the West (gharbiyyah) can also mean “easterly” and “westerly” or “east-facing” and “west-facing,” because the words for “east” and “west” in Arabic refer directly to the rising and setting of the sun. The blessed olive tree can also be seen as referring symbolically to the axis mundi.

The imagery created by the first part of this verse is of a light radiating from a lamp fueled by oil, shining through a glass that covers the niche holding the lamp (alternately, the light simply radiates through the glass that is part of the lamp body). These phrases, which symbolize the Light of God or the light in the heart of a believer, have been interpreted as a description of the nature of cosmic reality itself or as a symbolic account of human spiritual realization or both. For some commentators this symbol applies to all believers: the niche is the breast of the believer, the lamp (lighted wick) is the Quran and faith, and the glass is the heart (Ṭ). For others this verse is a symbol of the reality of the Prophet: the niche is the breast of the Prophet, the glass refers to his heart, and the lamp refers to the faith within it; the blessed olive tree is Abraham, and God placed the same light within the Prophet that He put within Abraham (R, Su). For others, the niche is the tongue and mouth, the lamp (lighted wick) is the Quran, the glass is the heart of the believer, and the tree is the tree of revelation (Tṣ). Still others describe the niche as referring to the body, whose dark nature is illumined by the lamp of the Spirit, while the glass is the heart lit by the Spirit (K).

Its oil would well-nigh shine forth, even if no fire had touched it is interpreted to mean that the Prophet shone even before revelation had touched him (IK), that his light was clear to people even before he spoke, or that he was possessed of wisdom even before the onset of his mission as prophet (R). Alternately, the oil may refer to the proofs in the Quran, which would well-nigh shine forth even if they were not recited (Ṭs). Al-Rāzī says that the oil of the olive tree, when it is pure and viewed from afar, looks as if it has rays coming from it, and fire only increases that; likewise, the heart of believers acts according to right guidance before understanding comes to them, after which their inner illumination increases.

Many spiritual, ontological, and cosmological interpretations have been given for the Light Verse throughout the ages. According to Junayd, God illuminates the hearts of the angels so that they glorify Him, the hearts of the prophets to attain true knowledge and to worship with true worship, and the hearts of believers to attain guidance and knowledge. He interprets neither of the East nor of the West to mean desiring neither this world nor the Hereafter, but being detached from both and desiring only God. For him, the oil that would well-nigh shine forth means that light shines forth from the heart unto the tongue when one remembers God, wherever one happens to be between the East and West. He interprets light upon light to refer to the light of certainty combined with the light of faith (Su). For al-Kashānī, the oil symbolizes the soul in its state of readiness to receive illumination from the Spirit; when light does strike the soul (when it comes upon the light lying there in a potential state), it becomes actualized light (K). For some, the oil is sincerity, and as one’s sincerity increases, so does one’s light (ST). Ibn ʿAjībah, like many other Sufis, interprets the verse through the lens of ontology and says that all elements of creation are aspects of the Light of God: the niche is like a window into a subtle treasure from which earthly lights radiate, and indeed every part of creation is a niche for a light from the Light of lights, a view that interprets light as the inner reality of the cosmos.

For some Shiites, the niche symbolizes Fāṭimah, the Prophet’s daughter, while the lamp represents Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, and light upon light refers to the succession of Imams who were her progeny (Qm).

In commenting on light upon light, some see a symbol for the faith of a believer, and many commentators transmit an opinion attributed to Ubayy ibn Kaʿb that describes the five kinds of light a believer possesses: speech, deeds, entrance (into the grave at death), exit (from the grave on the Day of Judgment), and return (to the Garden; Ṭ). For some light upon light refers to faith and action (Ṭ) or to the light of the Quran together with the light of the believer (IK).

For al-Ghazzālī, the niche, glass, wick, tree, and oil all represent levels of perception and consciousness, which he describes as lights in the sense that they are that by which things are known. The niche represents the physical senses that receive light passively; the glass represents the imagination, which, like clay transformed into glass, is purified through spiritual discipline; the lamp (lighted wick) symbolizes the soul’s power to understand meanings and ideas; the blessed olive tree represents the power of meditation, each branch giving rise to two branches, which each give rise to more; the oil that would well-nigh shine forth is the knowledge and consciousness possessed by the prophets and great “friends of God” (awliyāʾ), which is almost self-awakening, though it does require the kindling of revelation and inspiration from God. These levels of perception and consciousness are light upon light.

The concept of light became the scriptural basis for an entire current of Islamic philosophy called the School of Illumination, which describes all of reality as composed of varying grades of the same reality, which is light and which becomes mixed with darkness as it is removed from its luminous Source, or God, Who is called the Light of lights (Nūr al-anwār). The symbolism of light is, moreover, employed in many schools of theology, philosophy, and Sufism as a most powerful symbol for the nature of God’s relationship with the various levels of creation down to this world. Light is visible in itself and grants visibility to everything else; it thus symbolizes the truth that God is the most evident Reality in Himself and is also That by which all things are known. Just as sensory objects become manifest to the eye by physical light, so too are inward realities made manifest to the inner eye through the Light of God. In al-Rāzī’s words, one can imagine sunlight disappearing, but God’s Light could not disappear without the heavens and the earth ceasing to exist. The mystery of God’s Light is that it is so manifest in all things that He is hidden. Ibn ʿArabī once wrote, “Glory be unto

Him who is hidden by that which is none other than Himself.”

The Light Verse has been commented upon over the ages metaphysically, cosmologically, cosmogonically, epistemologically, and psychologically. Moreover, it has been a major influence in the Islamic arts in domains ranging from poetry to miniature painting to architecture, where it has played a central role in the understanding of the relation of light to space in Islamic sacred architecture. Some of the greatest works of Islamic metaphysics, such as the already cited work of al-Ghazzālī or Mullā Ṣadrā’s commentary on this verse, attest to the central significance of this verse in Islamic thought, just as so many works of architecture and painting provide evidence of its importance for Islamic art. This verse, quoted so often in daily life by Muslims, has been influential in determining, along with certain other Quranic verses, the general attitudes and sensibility of Muslims to light and its ever-present spiritual and psychological impact upon the soul.

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# [It is] in houses that God has permitted to be raised and wherein His Name is remembered. He is therein glorified, morning and evening,

36. This verse is usually read as a continuation of the previous verse, meaning that the lamp or “lighted wick” is in a niche within houses (Ṭ) or, similarly, that the light is kindled in the houses (R). It could also be read as a new sentence: “In houses that God has permitted to be raised and wherein His Name is remembered, He is therein glorified morning and evening.” By houses many understand mosques, while others extend it to mean all houses (R, Ṭ) or else specific places such as the Kaʿbah, the Holy Sanctuary (in Jerusalem), the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah, or the Qubāʾ mosque (see commentary on 9:107–8; Q, R). That the houses are raised refers to either the building of such houses, their exaltation, or both (R, Ṭ). Many commentators believe that the glorification (tasbīḥ) mentioned here refers to the Muslim canonical prayer (ṣalāh; Q, R, Ṭ). Continuing the symbolism from the previous verse, houses is understood here by

Sufis to be a symbol for the illumination of the hearts of human beings in which the Name of God is remembered (Aj). The juxtaposition of the general word houses and the remembrance of God’s Name is also suggestive of the different kinds of houses of worship mentioned in 22:40, which speaks of monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, wherein God’s Name is mentioned much.

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# by men whom neither trade nor buying and selling distract from the remembrance of God, the performance of prayer, and the giving of alms, fearing a day when eyes and hearts will be turned about,

37. The language here is similar to that in 63:9: Let neither your property nor your children divert you from the remembrance of God; and 62:9: When you are called to the congregational prayer, hasten to the remembrance of God and leave off trade. The phrase when eyes and hearts will be turned about refers to the terror and awe experienced on the Day of Judgment (Ṭ), and related imagery is used to describe eyes and hearts in 14:42–43: He merely grants them reprieve till a day when eyes will stare, transfixed, running with necks outstretched and heads upraised, their glance returning not to them, their hearts vacant. Continuing the symbolism of the previous verse, the houses can be said to symbolize the hearts of those who are afraid of their eyes and hearts being turned away from the remembrance of God (Aj).

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# that God may reward them for the best of that which they have done, and increase them from His Bounty. And God provides for whomsoever He will without reckoning.

38. On what it means to be rewarded for the best of that which they have done, see 9:121c; 29:7c. Increase them is understood by al-Rāzī to mean that there is an element of deserving in one’s reward in the Hereafter beyond which God grants an added bounty. On God’s providing without reckoning, see 2:212c; 3:27c.

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# As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage upon a desert plain which a thirsty man supposes is water, till when he comes upon it, he does not find it to be anything, but finds God there. He will then pay him his reckoning in full, and God is swift in reckoning.

39. The mirage discussed here is based on the physical phenomenon caused by the difference in temperature between the warm air immediately above the hot desert floor and the cooler air above it. The warm air close to the ground refracts the light from distant objects slightly upward, giving the appearance of water reflecting the sky or other objects. Since the apparent “water” is actually the inverted light of distant objects or the sky, one can never actually reach it; the inversion effect will gradually disappear, the closer one gets to it.

Their deeds are like a mirage is thought to refer to the good actions of disbelievers such as acts of filial piety, maintaining good family relations, and acting well toward one’s neighbor (Q); that is, they believe there is some reward or benefit from their deeds, but ultimately there is not, because they exclude God. Finds God there is understood to mean “finds the Recompense of God” or “finds the Judgment of God” (Aj, Q, R) or “finds the path to Him” (Su). It also means that their deeds are not ultimately good even in this world and that what they believe to be good leads to greater corruption and error (Aj). God is swift in reckoning, because such reckoning is easy for Him (R) as He has infinite Power and need not consult anyone (Aj).

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# Or like the darkness of a fathomless sea, covered by waves with waves above them and clouds above them—darknesses, one above the other. When one puts out one’s hand, one can hardly see it. He for whom God has not appointed any light has no light.

40. For some, this verse continues the description of the deeds of the previous verse, meaning that the disbelievers’ deeds are like the darkness of a fathomless sea (Ṭ); alternately, this verse is likening their disbelief to darkness, since disbelief can also be viewed as an action or deed (Q). Darknesses renders the plural form ẓulumāt, implying that there are levels of darkness (see 5:16c). Remarks similar to those attributed to Ubayy ibn Kaʿb with regard to light in v. 35 are also mentioned here by several commentators, when they state that a person’s “darknesses” are five: speech, actions, entrance (into the grave at death), exit (from the grave at the Resurrection), and return (in this case, to the Fire rather than to the Garden; R, Ṭ). The three kinds of darkness mentioned here—the sea, the waves, the clouds—are interpreted to be the darkness of one’s heart, one’s sight, and one’s hearing (R); see 2:7c for the notion of hearts and spiritual faculties being sealed or covered. Others interpret this verse to refer to the compound ignorance of the disbeliever: he does not understand, he fails to know that he does not understand, and he thinks that he does understand (R). The imagery is meant to show how he is surrounded, since he is struck by the terror from below (sea), the terror from around (waves), and the terror from above (clouds; Q). For some, the notion that he can barely see his hand in front of his face shows the profundity of his ignorance (R). With his heart he cannot see the light of faith (Q). The final phrase shows that all light, guidance, and understanding come from God (Q, R). That the disbeliever can hardly see his hand suggests that human beings can never be left in total darkness, and the light of guidance is available as long as they are still alive.

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# Hast thou not considered that God is glorified by whosoever is inthe heavens and on the earth, and by the birds spreading their wings? Each indeed knows its prayer and its glorification, and God knows that which they do.

41. The worship and glorification of God by all beings is a common theme throughout the Quran (e.g., 17:44; 38:18–19; 21:19–20; 22:18); see also 2:74c; 30:26c; 64:1c. This verse is noteworthy in describing that prayer and glorification are differentiated, because everything knows its prayer and its glorification.

According to some, prayer (ṣalāh) refers to the activity of human beings, while glorification (tasbīḥ) refers to this activity in all other beings (Ṭ). Some say that the beating of their wings is the birds’ prayer, while their song is their glorification (Q).

There are those who interpret these verses to mean not that the beings of the heavens and the earth consciously glorify God, but that God is glorified through their very being; that is, they are in themselves testaments to God’s Glory and their existence points to His Transcendence (R). This interpretation is offered because some beings appear to oppose openly and abstain from prayer and glorification —specifically, disbelieving human beings (Q). This is similar to the apparent paradox that all things submit to God willingly or unwillingly, a distinction discussed in 3:83c; see also 13:15c.

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# And unto God belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth,and unto God is the journey’s end.

42. The concept of sovereignty (mulk) is discussed in 67:1c; 36:83c. The journey’s end (maṣīr) refers to one’s return to God in the Hereafter, an idea present throughout the Quran in various forms.

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# Has thou not considered that God drives the clouds, then joinsthem together, then makes them as a heap, and then thou seest the rain come forth from amid them? And He sends down from the sky —from the mountains [of clouds] therein—hail, wherewith He smites whomsoever He will, and which He turns away from whomsoever He will. The flash of His lightning well-nigh takes away sight.

43. Some read from the mountains [of clouds] therein as a reference to the appearance of the clouds, while others read the grammar of the phrase to mean that a “mountain’s worth of hail” comes down (Q, R). The hail is interpreted here as an instrument of destruction (Th). Other destructive clouds are mentioned in 46:24. Often, however, in the Quran clouds are beneficial givers of rain (7:57; 35:9), and this symbolizes spiritual blessings raining down upon the heart of the believer (Aj). The image of lightning snatching away sight is also mentioned in 2:20.

***

# God alternates the night and the day. Truly in that is a lesson forthose possessed of sight.

44. Cf. 3:190; 10:6; 23:80; 39:5; 45:5.

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# And God created every beast from water: among them are thosethat go upon their bellies, and among them are those that go upon two legs, and among them are those that go upon four. God creates whatsoever He will. Truly God is Powerful over all things.

45. Beast renders dābbah, which means an animal that ambulates on the surface of the earth (which would therefore exclude fish; Q). Some commentators such as al-Rāzī seem to understand water to be a reference to reproductive fluids and interpret the verse on that basis. Similar verses are 21:30: And We made every living thing from water; and 25:54: And He it is Who created a human being from water. In the Quran different kinds of beings are described as made from different substances. Human beings are described as made from clay (6:2; 32:7), water (25:54), and dust (22:5; 30:20; 35:11). Iblīs was created from fire (7:12), and the jinn from a smokeless fire (55:15). In the Ḥadīth the angels are described as beings created from light (see 2:30c; 55:31c).

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# We have indeed sent down clarifying signs, and God guides whomsoever He will unto a straight path.

46. The word clarifying (mubayyināt) here is etymologically closely related to clear (bayyināt) in other instances of the similar phrase clear signs (e.g., 3:97; 22:16; 28:36), the former being a more intensive form. On straight path, see 1:6c.

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# And they say, “We believe in God and in the Messenger, and Weobey.” Then a group of them turn away thereafter, and believers they are not.

47. This verse is understood to refer to the hypocrites of Madinah (Q, Ṭ).

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# And when they are called to God and His Messenger, that He mayjudge between them, behold, a group of them turn away.

48. According to some, this verse was revealed in connection with a land dispute between Mughīrah ibn Wāʾil and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. When ʿAlī proposed that they bring the dispute to the Prophet to judge, Mughīrah reportedly said, “I fear Muhammad will deal unjustly [see v. 50] with me.” In another account, it was a hypocrite named Bishr who had a dispute with a Jew. When the latter suggested bringing the dispute to the Prophet, Bishr proposed Kaʿb ibn Ashraf instead, saying, “Muhammad treats us unjustly” (Q, R).

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# But if the right is theirs, they come unto Him submissively.

49. According to this verse, the hypocrites submit to judgment whenever they think the outcome will be in their favor or when they think that they are truly in the right (R).

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# Is there a disease in their hearts? Or do they doubt, or fear thatGod and His Messenger will deal unjustly with them? Nay, but it is they who are the wrongdoers.

50. Al-Rāzī ponders the fact that the three categories mentioned here—having a diseased heart, doubting God, and being a wrongdoer—are not always distinct, since hypocrisy, doubt, and disbelief can be seen as overlapping or even synonymous, and people can harm themselves through these attitudes. Other verses that refer to a diseased heart include 2:8–11; 5:52; 33:12, 60; 47:20, 29; 74:31.

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# The only words of the believers when they are called unto Godand His Messenger, that he may judge between them, will be to say, “We hear and we obey.” And it is they who shall prosper.

51. Some read that he may judge in the passive voice, so it means “that it may be a judgment rendered” (Z). Hear and . . . obey, used to express loyalty and faith (in either the positive or the negative), also appears in 2:93, 285; 4:46; 5:7.

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# Whosoever obeys God and His Messenger, and who fears God andreverences Him, it is they who shall triumph.

52. On the question of obeying God and the Prophet, see 3:32c; 4:59c.

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# And they swear by God with their most solemn oaths that, wertthou to command them, they would surely go forth. Say, “Swear not! [But give] honorable obedience! Surely God is Aware of whatsoever you do.”

53. For similar false oaths sworn by the hypocrites and disbelievers, see 5:53c.

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# Say, “Obey God and obey the Messenger.” But if they turn away,he is only accountable for that wherewith he has been burdened, and you are accountable for that wherewith you have been burdened. But if you obey him, you will be rightly guided, and naught is incumbent upon the Messenger save the clear proclamation.

54. Burdened refers to what one is commanded to do and for which one is responsible (Ṭ; cf. 2:286: Our Lord, lay not upon us a burden like Thou laid upon those before us). The Prophet is only tasked with the clear proclamation of the message, while the believers are tasked with following him and acting in accordance with the Commands of God (R, Ṭ). That the Prophet is not responsible for anything beyond conveying the message (3:20; 5:92, 99; 13:40; 16:35, 82; 36:17; 42:48; 64:12) is also discussed in 88:21–26c.

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# God has promised those among you who believe and perform righteous deeds that He will surely make them vicegerents upon the earth, as He caused those before them to be vicegerents, and that He will establish for them their religion, which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change them from a state of fear to [one of] security. They will worship Me, not ascribing any partners unto Me. And whosoever disbelieves thereafter, it is they who are iniquitous.

55. To make . . . vicegerents renders the verb istakhlafa, which in addition can also mean “to cause to inherit” or “to cause to become successor to.” Some interpret this verse as a response to the laments of the Makkan Emigrants regarding their long struggle with their enemies in Makkah and see the vicegerency mentioned in this verse as referring to their inheriting the land of Makkah (Q, Ṭs; in which case earth, arḍ, would be rendered “land”). In these accounts, it is said that the Companions, having lived through many years of conflict and persecution, asked whether a time would come when they could put their swords away and live without fear, and this verse was then revealed (Q, R, Ṭ). For some this land over which He will surely make them vicegerents refers to the Arabian Peninsula (Ṭ). For others it refers to the lands of the Arabs and Persians (Q, Ṭs). Those before them who became vicegerents is thought to refer to the Children of Israel and triumph and state of security granted to them (Q, R).

This verse has also served as the locus for reflections on the question of the successors to the Prophet. For some Sunni commentators, it describes some or all of the period of thirty years subsequent to the death of the Prophet when the Muslim community was led by the four rightly guided Caliphs (al-khulafāʾ alrāshidūn): Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī (Q, R). Some have posed the question whether this inheritance or vicegerency refers only to the Companions or also to later caliphs and in fact to all believers in general (R, Ṭs). For some Shiites, this verse refers to the coming of the Mahdī (Ṭs) and the vicegerents are the People of the House (ahl al-bayt), meaning the descendants of the Prophet. Alternately, some say that it describes the period of the reign of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar specifically, since after their rule Muslims became divided among themselves (IK, Q).

On their religion, which He has approved for them, see also 5:3: This day I have perfected for you your religion, and completed My Blessing upon you, and have approved for you as religion, Submission (Islam). For some the change from a state of fear to [one of] security refers not to a change in status in this world, but the move from this world to the Hereafter (Ṭs). They will worship Me, not ascribing any partners is an adverbial phrase in the Arabic, meaning that it is a description of the believers’ state as they live in security (R).

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# And perform the prayer, and give the alms, and obey the Messenger, that haply you may receive mercy.

56. Cf. 3:132; 6:155; 7:63, 204; 27:46; 36:45; 49:10.

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# Do not suppose that the disbelievers thwart [aught] on the earth.The Fire will be their refuge—what an evil journey’s end!

57. The idea of the disbelievers not being able to thwart or frustrate God or His signs appears several times in the Quran, including 8:59; 9:2–3; 11:20; 29:22; 35:44; 42:31; 46:32; 72:12.

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# O you who believe! Let those whom your right hands possess andthose who have not come of age ask your leave three times: before the dawn prayer, when you doff your garments at noon, and after the night prayer—three times of privacy for you. Beyond these, there is no blame upon you or upon them should you go about [visiting] one another. Thus does God make clear unto you the signs, and God is Knowing, Wise.

58. Many jurists note that the Command to ask your leave, or ask permission to enter, is not abrogated and is an obligation for all men and women, a view that al-Qurṭubī says is the opinion of most jurists, though he also mentions other opinions that understand it as a recommendation or advice or as an obligation upon one gender or the other. It seems that the question of abrogation of this verse arose because the action mentioned in this specific verse fell out of practice, and many people bemoaned the fact (IK, Ṭ). Al-Qurṭubī mentions that Ibn ʿAbbās was asked by the people of Iraq (usually a reference to the towns of Basra and Kufa) about this verse, which was no longer followed. Ibn ʿAbbās replied that God loves modesty and explained that, because servants or children would walk in on people without announcing their presence and many of the houses did not have partitions or separate chambers, this verse was revealed as an act of compassion and generosity by God. Al-Qurṭubī opines that the conditions in non-urban areas still made the verse relevant, even though for many people the situation addressed by this verse did not normally arise.

Three times is thought by most to refer to the three periods of time mentioned in this verse, though others interpret it to mean that when one asks, one should do so thrice (Q). It is aimed at those who normally would go back and forth in one’s house, not people outside of the household (IK). When you doff your garments at noon refers to the traditional midday rest taken at the time of greatest heat, while before the dawn prayer and after the night prayer refer to the beginning and end of the day, after rising in the morning and going to bed at night.

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# And when the children among you come of age, let them ask leaveas those before them asked leave. Thus does God make clear unto you His signs, and God is Knowing, Wise.

59. As those before them asked leave means that those children who, before coming of age, only had to ask permission during the three times mentioned in the previous verse would now have to ask permission at any time, as is the case for adults (IK).

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#  As for elderly women who no longer anticipate marriage, there is no blame upon them to doff their garments without displaying any ornament. And it is better for them to be modest, and God is Hearing, Knowing.

60. Elderly renders qawāʿid (sing. qāʿid), which evokes the sense of someone who is now “sitting out” or “sitting back” from marriage and childbearing or from a busy life (M, R). Garments (thiyāb) is interpreted as the jilbāb, the garment mentioned in 33:59 (IK, M, Q, Ṭ); the kerchief (khimār; R, Ṭ); the “wrap” (ridāʾ or milḥafah; M, Ṭ, Z); or simply one’s garments (R). AlQurṭubī mentions the opinion of some jurists that if the hair of an old woman—one who is a free woman, see 24:31c—shows, there is no problem, but he still thinks it refers to the jilbāb, which goes over the kerchief. For al-Qurṭubī himself, this is because women of the age mentioned in this verse are beyond the dangers of passion and do not have to comply with “inconvenient” obligations.

Ornament (zīnah) is interpreted here to mean what is ordinarily supposed to

be covered as described in 24:31 (Z). As in 24:31, those areas that women are supposed to cover are not clearly specified in the text and the reference to not displaying any ornament appears to mean that, although the rules governing elderly women are different, those rules still remain in effect to a degree. AlMāturīdī says that no woman can show her zīnah in any case; so he is against the opinion that garments refers to the kerchief (khimār). He interprets it as a wrap they wear when they go out. It is better for them to be modest is thought to refer to the preference that they wear the kerchief (khimār; Ṭ).

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# There is no fault against the blind, nor fault against the lame, nor fault against the sick, nor upon yourselves in that you eat from your houses, or your fathers’ houses, or your mothers’ houses, or your brothers’ houses, or your sisters’ houses, or your paternal uncles’ houses, or your paternal aunts’ houses, or your maternal uncles’ houses, or your maternal aunts’ houses, or those whose keys you possess, or [those of] your friends. There is no blame upon you whether you eat together or separately. So when you enter houses, greet each other with a salutation from God, blessed and good. Thus does God make clear unto you the signs, that haply you may understand.

61 There are diverse opinions as to what is meant by saying that there is no fault on the blind, lame, or sick in this verse. According to some, the weaker members of society mentioned here were distressed when people would take them not to their own houses to eat, but to other people’s houses, and this verse was then revealed to set them at ease (IK). Others say that it means that sometimes the Companions would not have food in their own houses; so they would take the needy to other houses to eat, but the needy would be uncomfortable with that arrangement, and this verse was meant to comfort them (Ṭ). For still others it refers to those who went to war, leaving the keys of their home with someone, and the needy were unsure whether they could eat such food as was offered to them from the houses of those who were away (Ṭ). Some believe that it means that when they were told by the owners of the houses, “Eat as you need,” they feared or perceived that this was said grudgingly (Q). For some, it refers to pre-Islamic times when people would not like to eat with those suffering from misfortunes, because they found their afflictions inconvenient or distasteful (Q, Ṭ), or it refers to these people’s reticence to cause trouble or discomfort for other people because of their own afflictions (Q). In the opinion of Abū Muslim al-Iṣfahānī, however, this verse refers to non-Muslim relatives (R). Some commentators note the custom in some tribes of never eating alone—a person might even wait an entire day for someone with whom to share a meal—and this verse clarifies that there is no sin in eating together or separately (R, Z).

Your houses is thought to include the houses of one’s children (R, Z), since the structure in the Arabic allows for the reading, “The houses of your own.” Those whose keys you possess refers to those houses that have been entrusted to the care of others, who are allowed to partake of the food and gardens of the house (Z).

Regarding the mention of your friends, some commentators report a saying attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās in which he notes that friends are in a sense more important than parents, because on the Day of Judgment people will call out not to their parents, but to their friends, as in 26:100–101: So now we have no intercessors, nor any loyal friend (Z). For some the Quran elevates the status of friends by mentioning them with others with whom one has intimacy in this verse (Z). The salutation is made in a manner that is blessed and good, because a believer is praying to God that He bless and give good provision to other people (Z).

One possible way of understanding this verse is that people had various scruples about sharing meals or food with each other, and the verse was meant to put them at ease and to discourage them from being overly officious or formal to the detriment of enjoying the meals in blessing and wholesomeness. Alternately, in the situations described the level of permission and formality is different, as the settings are more intimate.

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# Only they are believers who believe in God and His Messengerand who, when they are with him in a collective affair, go not forth until asking his leave. Truly those who ask thy leave, it is they who believe in God and His Messenger. So when they ask thy leave in some matter of theirs, give leave unto whomsoever thou wilt, and seek forgiveness for them from God. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful.

62. A collective affair refers to the congregational prayer or to people sitting together for the purposes of consultation (IK). More generally it can refer to a gathering for defense or similar purposes that requires the leader to call people together (Q). Ibn Kathīr notes that just as the previous verse teaches the adab, or courtesy, of entering houses, this verse addresses the adab of leaving them; that is, when in a gathering with the Prophet, one should ask his permission to leave. Ibn Kathīr quotes the ḥadīth: “When one of you comes upon a gathering, let him offer greetings, and when he wishes to leave, let him offer salutations, for the former is not worthier to do than the latter.” Others interpret the verse to mean that people steal and slink away within their souls from the Book of God and from His remembrance (R).

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# Do not deem the Messenger’s calling among you to be like yourcalling to one another. Indeed, God knows those among you who steal away under shelter. So let those who contradict his command be wary, lest a trial befall them or a painful punishment befall them.

63. It is said that the Prophet used to be addressed, “O Muhammad,” or “O Abuʾl-Qāsim,” the former being his given name and the latter the common Arab sobriquet (kunya) formed by calling a man the father of his son; Abuʾl-Qāsim means “Father of Qāsim,” referring to the Prophet’s son, who died as a child. Believers were commanded instead to honor and respect him by saying, “O Messenger of God” or “O Prophet of God” (IK, Ṭ). According to another interpretation, the calling (duʿāʾ) refers not to a hail, but instead to supplicatory prayer, in which case it means that the prayers of the Prophet have a status greater than those of ordinary believers. Still others interpret it to mean that when the Prophet calls, one should respond with urgency and obedience (R, Ṭ). Others say that it means one should not raise one’s voice when calling him, as in 49:2 (R).

Those who steal away refers to the hypocrites who did not want to stay for the entire Friday sermon or who actually left from the back rows during prayer (IK); others see it as an attempt to plead an excuse to other Companions for having done so (R). Contradict his command can have the general meaning of “go against him” and can refer to spurning the Prophet’s example and teachings and not following his way, the punishment for which can come in either this life or the Hereafter (R).

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# Behold! Unto God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and onthe earth. God certainly knows [the state] you are in. On the day they will be returned unto Him, He will inform them of that which they did. And God is Knower of all things.

64. [The state] you are in renders a phrase that can also mean “what you do” or “what you follow.” For many, the implication of this verse is that, in addition to knowing individuals’ state and actions in life and informing them of them, God will also then give their just recompense (R, Ṭ, Z). The shift from you are in (second person) to they will be (third person) can serve more than one purpose, and al-Zamakhsharī offers the view that it could mean that the third person refers to the hypocrites specifically. The common idea of the heavens and the earth belonging to God is repeated in 2:284; 3:109, 129; 4:126, 131, 170; 53:31. That God will inform human beings of their every action on earth is a pervasive dimension of the Quran’s message, stated explicitly in this and similar passages (see 6:60c) and also implicitly in those verses describing the Day of Judgment more generally.

Source: The Study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 Others

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