Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And do not marry those women whom your fathers married”

Question:
May Allah reward you. This is Sudanese Ibrahim, a resident of al-Taif, asking about the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: .

Answer:
Yes, it contains the prohibition of marrying the woman to whom a person’s father has contracted a marriage. If your father contracts a valid marriage with a woman, it is not permissible for you to marry her merely on the basis of the contract. The meaning of His saying is that your fathers contracted a legal marriage with them. So among the prohibited categories, indeed the first of the prohibited categories in marriage, is the father’s wife. She is prohibited to his son and to his son’s son, forever, as long as they continue to be born, in this noble verse, even if the father did not consummate the marriage with her. The mere contract is sufficient for the prohibition. His saying, Exalted is He, means what passed before the prohibition, before the revelation of the verse, from what was done in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah). They used to do this thing in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. So what passed before the revelation of the verse is forgiven, except for what has already passed. Yes.