Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Those who practice zihar with their wives from among you, [saying] they are their mothers. Their mothers are none but those who gave birth to them. And indeed, they say an ugly statement and a lie. And Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful."

The Shaykh : Then Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) clarified the ruling on zihar and explained that it is an ugly statement and a lie. It is an ugly statement in terms of the ruling, and it is a lie in terms of the report. This is because when a man says to his wife, "You are to me like the back of my mother," this entails two things. The first is reporting about her that she is like the back of his mother. In this regard, half of this report is a lie, and a lie is falsehood. The second is the ruling that his wife is forbidden to him, just as his mother is forbidden to him. In this regard, it is an ugly statement. Thus, this statement combines both the ugly statement and the lie. This is because he likened the woman most lawful to him to the woman most forbidden to him when he said, "You are to me like the back of my mother." If a man says this to his wife, we say that this is an ugly statement and a lie. It is forbidden for you, and it is obligatory for you to repent to Allah for what you said.