Exegesis of Verses (1 - 4) of Surat al-Mujadilah.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
This is the thirty-first meeting after two hundred, of the meetings known as the Open Door Meeting, which takes place every Thursday of every week, and this Thursday is the eighth of the month of Muharram in the year one thousand four hundred and twenty-one.
We begin this meeting by speaking about what Allah Mighty and Majestic facilitates regarding Surat al-Mujadilah, and it is also called al-Mujadala, so al-Mujadilah is in the form of the active participle, and al-Mujadala is in the form of the verbal noun of the verb jadala, jadil, mujadala.
Allah Mighty and Majestic says, after mentioning the Basmala, and much has been said previously about the Basmala:
He Mighty and Majestic says: The word "qad" here is for realization and emphasis.
: And it is a woman who came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) complaining about her husband that after his age and her age had advanced, he pronounced zihar against her and said to her: "You are to me as the back of my mother." This is zihar, "You are to me as the back of my mother," and zihar in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance meant the irrevocable divorce by which the woman does not become lawful to him, she remains forbidden to him forever.
This woman came complaining to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that after this age, the children, and the toil with this husband, he pronounces zihar against her!
So Allah Mighty and Majestic made it clear that He had heard her words and his words: : Meaning: regarding her husband when he said: What?
The phrase "O my brother" when he said "What?"

The questioner : You are to me as the back of my mother.

The Shaykh : You are to me as the back of my mother.
Meaning: she raises the complaint to Allah Mighty and Majestic so that He may fulfill her need, Blessed and Exalted is He, so the revelation descended immediately upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and Allah gave him the ruling regarding it, then He confirmed this hearing by saying:
Meaning: your mutual consultation, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was consulting with her and ordering her to be patient and to wait until Allah brings His command.
And in this verse is evidence of the vastness of the hearing of Allah Mighty and Majestic, and that He hears everything. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: , and in another hadith: , so she praised Allah Mighty and Majestic for the perfection of His attributes, where He hears while He is above the Throne, above the seven heavens, He hears the conversation of this woman and Aisha in the chamber does not hear it.
And in this is a warning against a person saying what does not please his Lord Mighty and Majestic, and that however much he conceals the speech, Allah the Exalted hears it. Allah the Exalted said in another verse: Meaning: We hear and We record their secret: what they concealed in their souls, and their whispered conversation: what they whispered to each other.
But the correct view is that His saying: "their secret" means: what two men whisper to each other, and "whispered conversation" is what was a conversation among the people, because His saying: "We hear" does not apply to the secret in the heart, a man next to you speaks to you in secret, this is not called whispered conversation, you speak in the assembly with a loud voice, that is called whispered conversation.
Allah the Exalted said He hears everything, and He sees everything, Mighty and Majestic, so beware of making your Lord hear what He does not like, and beware of making your Lord see through your actions what He does not like, everything is known to Allah Mighty and Majestic.
Now, if a person says: "You are to me as the back of my sister," is it like saying "as the back of my mother"?
The answer: Yes, it is, because there is no difference, and as for the mention of the verses, whoever pronounces zihar from his mother, this is based on the fact that it is the most common, that a person pronounces zihar by his mother.
Now, if he says: "You are to me as the back of my aunt," the ruling is the same, and the criterion in this is that he likens his wife to one who is permanently forbidden to him, did you understand? Good.
The mother, the daughter, the sister, the paternal aunt, the maternal aunt, the daughter of the brother, the daughter of the sister, the ruling is one. Now, if he likens her to something other than the back, by saying: "You are to me like the head of my mother" or "like the private part of my mother," is the ruling one?
The answer: Yes, the ruling is one, it is like the back, but the mention of the back is based on the most common known at that time.
Then Allah Mighty and Majestic said: : Allah Mighty and Majestic made clear the falsehood of these, so He said:
The news:
Meaning: they are not their mothers from the mother who gave birth to you.
So how does he make this woman who is lawful for him, whom it is permissible for him to have intercourse with, like his mother who cannot become lawful to him in any way?
Is this truth and honesty or not?
The answer is: No.
And for this he said: Denying the statement because it is forbidden, and lying because it is falsehood, so she is not his mother, and in this is clear evidence of the prohibition of zihar, and that it is among the abominations and among the lies, and it is not lawful for a person to pronounce zihar against his wife.
Now, if he forbids his wife without zihar by saying to her: "You are forbidden to me," is it zihar or divorce or an oath?
In this there is disagreement among the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them), and the correct view is that it is an oath, so if a man says to his wife: "You are forbidden to me," it is an oath due to its inclusion in the generality of His saying the Exalted: : So Allah Mighty and Majestic made clear that forbidding the lawful, what is it?
An oath, Allah has prescribed for you the expiation of your oaths, so forbidding the lawful is an oath, there is no difference between the wife and others.
Someone might say: Is the forbidding, if he says to his wife "You are forbidden to me," like "You are to me as the back of my mother"?
And the answer: That this is a mistake, because if he says "You are to me as the back of my mother," he has likened the most lawful thing for him in enjoyment to the most forbidden thing for him, and then in it is belittling the Shari'ah that he likens this to this.
And then it may also be in it belittling the mother that he makes the wife like her, so in any case the difference between the two expressions is clear and the legal ruling in the difference between them is clear, so Allah has made zihar have a ruling and Allah has made forbidding have another ruling, so this statement is the stronger position: that forbidding the wife is like forbidding others, it is an oath, so it is as if he said:
It is forbidden for me to wear this garment, then he wore it, we say: upon you is the expiation of an oath, he said to his wife: "You are forbidden to me," then he had intercourse with her, we say: upon you is the expiation of an oath, and there is no difference.
Then He Mighty and Majestic said: Forgiving of the shortcoming in obligations, Forgiving of the doing of forbidden things, and how vast is the forgiveness of Allah Mighty and Majestic: .
Then Allah made clear the ruling of zihar, the ruling that the jurists call the practical ruling, meaning what do we do if zihar occurs?
So He Mighty and Majestic said: : Now how many items did Allah Mighty and Majestic mention?
Three: freeing a slave, fasting two consecutive months, feeding sixty poor people, this is the expiation of zihar if the person returns to what he said, and the meaning of his return to what he said: that he returns to his wife whom he made like the back of his mother, by intending to have intercourse with her, so he says before he has intercourse: I have expiated,
First, freeing a slave, the meaning of freeing is releasing her from slavery, meaning a person has a slave owned by him, so he frees him, or he buys from the market and frees him, if he does not find?
What does he find?
If he does not find the price of the slave or the slave is not found, as in our time now, there are no slaves as far as we know:
Meaning: so upon him is fasting two consecutive months, he does not break the fast between them except for a legal excuse.
Are the two months sixty days or are they two lunar months?
The answer: The second, two lunar months, so if it happens that the first month is short and the second is short, the days will be fifty-eight days, there is no harm, because Allah did not say sixty days, He said: , and His saying: consecutive means it is obligatory that he does not break the fast between them except for an excuse like travel and illness.
If he does not make them consecutive by breaking the fast for a day during the two months without an excuse, then upon him is to restart, because Allah has made it a condition that the two months be consecutive, so he must restart.
Meaning: before one of them has intercourse with the other, so he remains patient away from his wife for the duration of two months, this is if he starts the fasting immediately, but if he delays, perhaps he delays a month then fasts, he remains away from his family for three months.
Meaning: you deter them by this from this forbidden, abominable statement.
: That he fasts the two consecutive months, either due to illness or due to intense lust, meaning: the desire for intercourse and the like of that.
Meaning: so upon him is to feed sixty poor people.
And does he feed sixty poor people before he has intercourse, or is it permissible for him to have intercourse before he feeds?
Listen to the verse regarding the freeing of a slave: . And regarding fasting, it says: . As for feeding, Allah did not mention this condition before they touch each other. So the apparent meaning of the noble verse is that it is permissible for him to return to his wife and have intercourse with her before he feeds them. However, the scholars say: Feeding is like the others; he does not return to his wife until he has fed them. They said: If Allah the Exalted made it obligatory that the expiation come before intercourse in the case of freeing a slave, and this may be delayed—perhaps a person remains searching for a slave for a month, two months, or more—in the case of fasting, it is two months, and he remains not having intercourse with his wife until he fasts, so what about feeding?!
Feeding is possible to do within half an hour, is it not?!
They say: If freeing a slave and fasting must precede returning to the wife, then feeding is all the more so. But how does he feed the sixty poor people?
Feeding them is done in two ways:
The first way: He prepares a lunch or dinner and invites sixty poor people.
If the place is not spacious enough for sixty, he invites ten today, ten others tomorrow, ten others the day after, and ten others the day after that, until he completes sixty poor people. This is clear for a lunch or dinner. If he does not prepare a lunch or dinner, let him feed each poor person a kilo of rice with meat. That is, he takes, for example, nylon bags, puts a kilo of rice and a type of meat in them—enough meat for them—and distributes them to sixty poor people. In this way, the expiation is completed.
Now, if a person is unable to do even the feeding, what does he do?
We say: Do not approach your wife until you are able to feed, or to fast, or to free a slave, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: . And in this case, he may come to his wife and there is no blame on him. which follows it. Yes:
Meaning: We made that obligatory so that your faith may be established. For whenever a person complies with the command of Allah despite hardship, his faith and his desire for what is with Allah increase. Meaning: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
The verses end with this phrase, which is frightening, as if He is saying: Prepare for the painful punishment if you do not believe in Allah and His Messenger, and fulfill what Allah has made obligatory upon you of expiations. And here ends the discussion on what you have heard from the Book of Allah the Glorious and Exalted. And we ask Allah to grant us and you beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds.
And the questions, we begin with the oath.