Exegesis of the verse: “And the married women, except those your right hands possess, are forbidden to you…”

Then Allah the Exalted said: is a passive participle derived from a quadriliteral verb, which is “ahsan”, meaning that the verb of the passive participle is constructed in the passive voice. The term *ihsan* is used for several meanings: it is used for free women, it is used for chaste women, and it is used for married women. All of this is found in the Qur'an. Allah the Exalted said regarding the first: The intended meaning of *al-muhsanāt* here is free women. From the second, Allah the Exalted said: *al-muhsanāt* means chaste women, those who are chaste regarding zina. And from the third, the married women, this is the verse: . If someone asks: How do we determine the intended meaning from these shared terms that have multiple meanings? We say: We know it by the context. If the context does not specify, the correct view is that it is permissible to use the shared term in all its meanings, and it becomes inclusive of them, just as a general term includes all its individuals. So, a term shared between two or more meanings becomes general for those meanings if there is no indicator specifying one of the meanings. Pay attention to this benefit! Just as a general term includes all its individuals, a shared term includes all its meanings. Let us now look at the three examples. The first example is that the intended meaning of *al-muhsanāt* is free women. What is the context that specifies this? His saying: So, *al-muhsanāt* are not the slave women, but free women. The second is: It is specified by His saying: unaware of zina, and no one has any concern for them, so they are chaste. The third: the married women. There is nothing in the wording of the noble verse that specifies the intended meaning, but the Sunnah came with it. So, *al-muhsanāt*, and what is the meaning of His saying: ? Does it mean that if a man has a slave woman who is married, it is permissible for him to have intercourse with her? No, but the issue occurred in a specific case, which is the captive woman, a captive from fighting with the disbelievers. If she has a husband and then the Muslims take her as a captive, she becomes lawful because her marriage to her first husband is dissolved by her being taken captive. So, *al-muhsanāt* means the married women who are taken captive in jihad. If they are taken captive in jihad, they become the property of the captor, and at that time, they become lawful for him. So, means the married women, means the captive women from among the women taken captive. And this is in fighting whom? The disbelievers. As for fighting the believers, there is no taking of women as captives, even if it is a forbidden fight, such as the people of *baghy* (armed rebellion), for example; their women are not taken as captives. But the intended meaning is the women of the disbelievers. means, so they are lawful. But it must be noted that what is lawful of the prohibited relatives that they possess may be a person's sister or aunt, or something similar. It was said: It is the object of a deleted verb, meaning, “Enforce the Book of Allah upon you,” meaning, “Enforce the obligation of Allah upon you,” because *al-Kitab* here means *maktub* (written), i.e., prescribed. And *al-kutub* comes to mean *fard* (obligation), as in His saying: Enforce the Book of Allah upon you, meaning, enforce the obligation of Allah upon you and do not transgress it. Allah emphasized this due to its importance. It is also possible that is a verbal noun for a deleted verb, meaning, “Allah wrote the Book of Allah upon you,” so it would be a verbal noun for a deleted verb indicated by the context. But the first meaning seems clearer: meaning, He prescribed it as an obligation upon you. And in the Saba'ic reading: Rather, the Saba'ic reading is more fitting for Allah's saying: And the other Saba'ic reading is more fitting for the context in His saying: meaning, is constructed in the passive voice, and is constructed in the passive voice. So, there is a correspondence between the two terms indicating these two rulings. In any case, the reading that includes the passive construction omits the doer because it is known. Because if creation or legislation is constructed in the passive voice, that is for the sake of the doer, because there is no Creator except Allah and no Legislator except Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And His saying: here means *dun* (except) or *siwa* (other than), meaning, other than that, it is lawful. And this is a general lawfulness. means, “ma” is a relative pronoun for generality, so it includes everything other than that. And at that time, we return to the verse to see what is there. Is the aunt through breastfeeding lawful? Was it mentioned? Your sisters through breastfeeding? We say, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So, this ruling is something added by the Sunnah, and what came from the Messenger of Allah is as it came from Allah. Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah, and whoever disobeys the Messenger has disobeyed Allah. So, the prohibition of the aunt through breastfeeding and the maternal aunt through breastfeeding is derived from where? From the Sunnah. So, the specification has entered. What is it? The aunt through breastfeeding and the maternal aunt through breastfeeding. If a man marries a woman and her aunt? Is it permissible? No. Allah said: And there is no doubt that between two sisters there are bonds that are not between others. We say, the Sunnah came with it: So, we now have four: the aunt through breastfeeding, the maternal aunt through breastfeeding, marrying a woman and her aunt, and marrying a woman and her maternal aunt. All of this is what the Sunnah brought, so it specifies the generality of His saying: And here we ask about the prohibition, because we forgot to bring it up. How long does the prohibition between two sisters last? Until one dies, is divorced, or the marriage is annulled. If she is divorced, is there a detail or not? We say, if she is divorced with a revocable divorce, it is obligatory to wait until the *'iddah* (waiting period) ends. Meaning, if he divorces his wife who has a sister with a revocable divorce—and you know what a revocable divorce is from before—it is obligatory by consensus to wait until the *'iddah* ends. If the divorce is final, or rather, if the separation is final by three divorces, or divorce for compensation, or annulment, must he wait until the *'iddah* ends, or can he marry her sister? The famous view in the Hanbali schools is that it is obligatory to wait. It is obligatory to wait until the *'iddah* ends, because she is still occupied with a right from the rights of the wife, occupied with a right from the rights of the husband, so it is obligatory to wait. And some scholars said: If the separation is final by annulment, or divorce for compensation, or three divorces, it is valid for him to marry her sister.