Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “O Prophet, why do you forbid what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the pleasure of your wives? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful”

The Shaykh : As for the third topic, it is prohibition. Regarding prohibition, Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: Look, then He said: . The beginning of the address is to the Messenger, and the end is to whom? To the Ummah. So, forbidding what Allah has made lawful is forbidden. And the evidence for that is the saying of Allah Blessed and Exalted: . The second evidence is that Allah rebuked His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for forbidding what Allah had made lawful for him, and He said: Complete it: . Why the rebuke? But the rebuke of Allah for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is a gentle rebuke. Listen, my brother, the rebuke of Allah for His Prophet is a gentle rebuke. This matter for which Allah rebuked him, Allah erased it by His saying—walk—: Immediately, the effect of this prohibition was erased. And this is undoubtedly a gentle rebuke, because as soon as the rebuke was lifted, what was lifted? Forgiveness and mercy meaning He legislated the release from oaths, i.e., the release of the oath. If I say, “By Allah, I will not eat this loaf,” and then I eat it, what is on me? Expiation. Clear? Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: . Okay, I said, “By Allah, I will not eat this loaf,” then I desired to eat it, I paid the expiation, and then I ate it. The first is called what? This is called release. So, if the expiation is before the breaking of the oath, it is a release, meaning a release, a release from the knot of the oath; and if it is after the breaking of the oath, it is an expiation. May Allah reward you. So we return to What is this? It is a relative pronoun that encompasses every lawful thing that a person forbids, and it is an oath. And for that reason He said: Brother, the one who said, we said, if I said, “It is forbidden for me to sleep in the lesson,” what is this? An oath or not an oath? What? An oath. Then I slept, is there an expiation on me or not? Is there an expiation on me? May Allah reward you. Be careful, do not have expiations on you now, sit down. Okay, whatever you forbid that is lawful, it is an oath. He said, “It is forbidden for me to talk to so-and-so,” and he talked to him. Answer, everyone, is there an expiation on him because this is an oath. Okay, he said: “It is forbidden for me to visit so-and-so,” and he visited him, is there an expiation on him? He did not swear, but Allah made the prohibition an oath, so He said: . He said: “It is forbidden for me [regarding] my wife if I talk to so-and-so,” and he talked to him, what? Is there an expiation on him. And it is not as some scholars said that it becomes a final divorce, because this is contrary to the apparent meaning of the Qur'an. So Allah said: From everything, from wives and slave women, and clothing, and eating, and drinking, and traveling, and staying, and entering, and exiting, everything. Whatever you forbid, it means that you swore not to do it. A brother said, a man said, “It is forbidden for me to enter the house of so-and-so,” and he entered it, is there an expiation? What? An expiation for an oath. The evidence? The saying of Allah the Exalted: . So Allah made the prohibition an oath. That is enough, rest. But with that, I warn you, my brothers, against frequent prohibition, because some people—may Allah grant us safety—everything is forbidden, “It is forbidden for me to talk to so-and-so,” “It is forbidden for me to go to such and such,” “It is forbidden for me,” Glory to Allah! Allah the Mighty and Majestic rebuked the Prophet, and he is more noble than you, and He said: . And if you want to swear about something, and the oath is in its place and the need calls for it, swear by what? By whom? By Allah the Mighty and Majestic. But not by prohibition. And with that, we say that prohibition is in the position of an oath, whether it falls on the wife, or the slave woman, or entering the house, or exiting it, or wearing a garment, or taking it off. Whatever you forbid that is from what Allah has made lawful for you, then this prohibition is considered an oath, and it is not zihar, and it is not divorce regarding the wife. Rather, it is an oath. And you have evidence from the Qur'an, which is: Then He said: . Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: . And what is its evidence? Its evidence is this verse: .