Exegesis of the statement 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, false statement."

The Shaykh : Then Allah the Exalted mentioned what follows from zihar, and that if a man practices zihar with his wife, he is a liar. Allah Mighty and Majestic said: meaning an ugly, forbidden statement, meaning a lie. As for why it is forbidden, it is because he likened the most lawful person to him—his wife—to the most forbidden person to him, his mother. And as for why it is a lie, it is because his wife is not like his mother; he is a liar. meaning they must free a slave, . If a man says to his wife, "You are to me like the back of my mother," she is not divorced from him. However, it is not permissible for him to have intercourse with her until he frees a slave. Now, finding a slave is not easy; it takes six or seven months to look for a slave to free. What do we say? Does he remain without having intercourse with his wife?—Say it, everyone—Yes, he remains, because Allah said: We say: Wait, do not touch your wife until you do what Allah has commanded, which is freeing the slave. He says, "I have no money." Allah the Exalted said: We say: If you fast for two consecutive months before you have intercourse. Two consecutive months, you do not break the fast for a single day except for a valid legal excuse, such as travel or illness. And they must be consecutive. What does consecutive mean? Yes, perfect, meaning he does not break the fast in between. Perfect, rest. If a man fasts fifty-nine days and one day remains of the two months, and then he has intercourse with his wife at night, not during the day, what is upon him? We say: He must repeat the two months. He must repeat the two months because Allah stipulated two consecutive months. Now, if he fasted two months and then, after twenty-five days, he has intercourse with his wife at night, not during the day, what do we say? What? He must repeat two consecutive months, because Allah stipulated consecutiveness. Now, if he has two wives and he practiced zihar with one but not the other, and he fasted two months, but when one day remained, he had intercourse with the other wife. Do we say he must repeat or not? If you say no, you are wrong. And if you say yes, you are wrong. So we say: If he has intercourse with the second wife during the day, he must repeat. He must repeat because the consecutiveness was broken. The day on which intercourse occurs invalidates the fast, so he must start over. And if he has intercourse with the other wife at night, there is no harm; he continues. If he is unable due to illness, physical weakness, or strong desire that he cannot control, then he must feed sixty poor people. This is the ruling on zihar. Now, if he says to his wife, "You are to me like the back of my sister," yes? It is the same thing, because a sister is forbidden to her brother with a permanent prohibition, like the prohibition of a mother. Now, if he says to his wife, "You are to me like your sister," is he practicing zihar? No, because the wife's sister is not forbidden to the husband. The wife's sister is not forbidden to the husband. Correct, yes, a fine point: what is forbidden is combining them, combining her with her sister. For this reason, some jurists express it by saying: "The wife's sister is forbidden to the husband for a limited time" This is a very weak expression, because Allah did not say that the wife's sister is forbidden to the husband. Rather, He said: up to His saying: . And He did not say: The sister is forbidden. What is forbidden is the combination. Based on this, if the wife is divorced, it is permissible for him to marry her sister. I hope you pay attention. So, if he says to his wife, "You are to me like your sister," what do you say: is it zihar or not zihar? It is not zihar, because her sister is not forbidden to him. Rather, what is forbidden is the combination. We have finished with zihar.