Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:232
And when you divorce women and they have fulfilled their term, do not prevent them from remarrying their [former] husbands if they agree among themselves on an acceptable basis. That is instructed to whoever of you believes in Allah and the Last Day. That is better for you and purer, and Allah knows and you know not.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ أَنْ يَنْكِحْنَ أَزْوَاجَهُنَّ إِذَا تَرَاضَوْا بَيْنَهُمْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
(And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: It has been related that this verse was revealed concerning a man who had a sister who was married to a cousin of hers (the son of her paternal uncle). He divorced her and let her go, and he did not take her back until her waiting period after divorce (ʿiddah) had elapsed. Then he asked for her hand in marriage, but this man [the brother] refused to marry her to him and held her back from him, while she desired him.
* * *
Then the exegetes differed concerning who the man was who had done that, so that this verse was revealed about him. Some of them said: That man was "Maʿqil ibn Yasār al-Muzanī".
* Mention of who said that:
4927 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Maʿqil ibn Yasār, who said: My sister was married to a man, and he divorced her and then left her alone, until her waiting period (ʿiddah) had elapsed; then he asked for her hand in marriage. Maʿqil flared up over that out of pride and arrogance, and said: "He let her go while he had power over her!!" Thus he came to stand between him and her, and Allah, the Exalted, revealed: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner."
4928 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Faḍl ibn Dilham, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Maʿqil ibn Yasār: that the husband of his sister had divorced her, and afterward wanted to take her back, but Maʿqil held her back from him. Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands" — to the end of the verse.
4929 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Makhzūmī related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀmir related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Maʿqil ibn Yasār related to me, saying: I had a sister whose hand was sought in marriage, and I fended people off from her, until a cousin of mine (the son of my paternal uncle) asked me for her hand, and I married her to him. They lived together as long as Allah willed, and then he divorced her with a divorce that left him the right of return. Then he left her alone until her waiting period (ʿiddah) had elapsed. After that her hand was sought from me [in marriage], and he came to me to ask for her hand, along with the other suitors. I said to him: "You asked me for her hand, and I fended people off from her and favored you with her; then you divorced her with a divorce in which you had the right of return, and now that her hand is again being sought from me, you come asking for her hand along with the other suitors! By Allah, I will never marry her to you!" He said: Then this verse was revealed about me: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner." He said: Then I made expiation for my oath and married her to him.
4930 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner." It has been related to us that a man divorced his wife with a single divorce and then left her alone until her waiting period (ʿiddah) had elapsed; then he drew near to ask for her hand in marriage — and the woman was the sister of Maʿqil ibn Yasār. Maʿqil ibn Yasār flared up over that out of pride and said: "He left her alone while she was in her waiting period, and had he wished, he could have taken her back; and now he wants to take her back while she has been irrevocably separated from him!" Thus he refused to marry her to him. And it has been related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, when this verse was revealed, summoned him and recited it to him, whereupon he abandoned his grim arrogance and submitted to the command of Allah.
4931 — It was related to me, on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the saying of the Exalted: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them" — to the end of the verse. He said: This verse was revealed concerning Maʿqil ibn Yasār. Al-Ḥasan said: Maʿqil ibn Yasār related to me that it was revealed about him. He said: I married a sister of mine to a man, and he divorced her. When her waiting period (ʿiddah) had elapsed, he came to ask for her hand in marriage. I said to him: "I married you [to her], I made my sister your bedmate, and I honored you; then you divorced her, and now you come to ask for her hand! She will never return to you!" But he was an upright man, with whom nothing was wrong, and the woman dearly wished to return to him. Allah, the Exalted, said: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner."
He said: Then I said: "Now I will do it, O Messenger of Allah!" and he married her to him.
4932 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī related to us, on the authority of Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī, who said: The sister of Maʿqil ibn Yasār was married to a man, and he divorced her; then he asked for her hand [from the brother] in marriage, but her brother held her back from him. Then it was revealed: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term" — to the end of the verse.
4933 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands" — the verse. He said: It was revealed concerning a woman of the tribe of Muzayna, who had been divorced by her husband and irrevocably separated from him, after which another [man, namely her former husband] wanted to marry her; but her brother, Maʿqil ibn Yasār, prevented her, and caused her harm out of fear that she would return to her first husband. Ibn Jurayj said: And ʿIkrima said: It was revealed concerning Maʿqil ibn Yasār. Ibn Jurayj said: His sister was Jamal bint Yasār, who was married to Abū al-Baddāḥ; he divorced her, her waiting period (ʿiddah) elapsed, and then he asked for her hand in marriage, but Maʿqil ibn Yasār prevented her.
4934 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner." It was revealed concerning a woman of Muzayna, who had been divorced by her husband, whereupon her brother prevented her from returning to her first husband — and he, her brother, was Maʿqil ibn Yasār.
4935 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it — except that in it he did not say: "and he was Maʿqil ibn Yasār".
4936 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī: that Fāṭima bint Yasār had been divorced by her husband, and that afterward it seemed good to him and he asked for her hand in marriage, but Maʿqil refused and said: "We married you [to her], and you divorced her and did what you did!" Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands."
4937 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Qatāda, concerning his saying: "Do not prevent them." He said: It was revealed concerning Maʿqil ibn Yasār. His sister was married to a man, and he divorced her; when her waiting period (ʿiddah) had elapsed, he came to ask for her hand in marriage, but Maʿqil prevented her and refused to marry her to him. Then this verse was revealed about her — by which the guardians (al-awliyāʾ) are meant; He says: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands."
4938 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Maʿqil ibn Yasār, who said: My sister was married to a man, and he divorced her with an irrevocable divorce; then he asked for her hand in marriage, but I refused to marry her to him. Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands" — the verse.
* * *
And others said: The man was "Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī".
* Mention of who said that:
4939 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner." He said: It was revealed concerning Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī. He had a cousin (the daughter of his paternal uncle), and her husband divorced her with a single divorce, after which her waiting period (ʿiddah) elapsed; then he returned, desiring to take her back. But Jābir said: "You divorced our cousin, and now you want to marry her a second time!" — while the woman wanted her husband and had become reconciled with him. Then this verse was revealed.
* * *
And others said: This verse was revealed as an indication of the prohibition against a man harming his female ward by preventing her from marriage.
* Mention of who said that:
4940 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands." This is about the man who divorces his wife with one or two divorces, after which her waiting period (ʿiddah) elapses; then it seems good to him to marry her [again] and take her back, and the woman wants that too, but her guardians prevent her from that. Then Allah, the Exalted, forbade them to prevent her.
4941 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner." A man divorced his wife, so that she became irrevocably separated from him and her term elapsed, and then he wanted to take her back and she agreed to that, but her family refused. Then Allah, the Exalted, said: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner."
4942 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, concerning his saying: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands." He said: A man divorced his wife, and then it seemed good to him to marry her [again], but the guardians of the woman refused to marry her off. Then Allah, the Exalted, said: "Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands, when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner."
4943 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of his companions, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning his saying: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands." He said: The woman is married to a man, and he divorces her; then he wants to return to her, then her guardian may not prevent her from marrying him.
4944 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb: Allah, the Exalted, said: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands" — the verse. So when a man divorces a woman while he is her guardian, and her waiting period (ʿiddah) elapses, it is not permitted for him to prevent her [from remarrying] in order thereby to inherit from her and to hinder her from keeping herself chaste through a husband.
4945 — It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say, concerning his saying: "And when you divorce the women and they reach the end of their term, do not prevent them" — this is the man who divorces his wife with a single divorce and then remains silent about her, so that he becomes one of the suitors [who wish to seek her hand anew]. Then Allah said to the guardians of the woman: "Do not prevent them" — He says: do not prevent them from returning to their husbands by means of a new marriage contract — "when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner" — that is to say: when the woman consents and wishes to return to her husband by means of a new marriage contract.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning this verse is that one says: Allah, the Exalted, revealed it as an indication that He forbids the guardians of the women to harm those of whom they are guardians, by preventing them from marrying whom they wish to marry of the husbands they have had and from whom they are separated — by that through which a woman becomes separated from her husband, whether by divorce or by dissolution of the marriage. It is possible that it was revealed on the occasion of the affair of Maʿqil ibn Yasār and his sister, or on the occasion of the affair of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh and his cousin. But whichever of the two it was, the verse indicates what I have mentioned.
* * *
And by His saying, the Exalted: "Do not prevent them", He means: do not constrain them by preventing them — O guardians — from returning to their husbands by means of a new marriage contract, when by that you intend to cause them harm.
* * *
Of this one says: "ʿaḍala fulān fulānatan ʿani l-azwāj, yaʿḍulu-hā ʿaḍlan" (meaning: he prevented such-and-such [a woman] from marrying). It has been related to us that there is a tribe among the tribes of the Arabs in whose dialect one says: "ʿaḍala yaʿḍilu." Whoever says "ʿaḍala" in his dialect, when he passes over to the form "yafʿal", says "yaʿḍal" with a fatḥa on the ḍād. But the [canonical] reading is with a ḍamma on the ḍād, not with a kasra, and the ḍamma belongs to the dialect of whoever says "ʿaḍala".
* * *
The original meaning of "al-ʿaḍl" is constriction (al-ḍīq). Of this is also the saying of ʿUmar, may the mercy of Allah be upon him: "The people of Iraq have put me in a tight position (aʿḍala bī); they are not satisfied with a governor, and no governor is satisfied with them." By that he means: they have forced me into an extremely constricting, burdensome matter that I cannot accomplish.
Of this too is "al-dāʾ al-ʿuḍāl" (the incurable disease), namely the disease whose treatment cannot be managed, because of its imperviousness to treatment and because it exceeds the limit of the maladies for which treatment does exist. Of this is the saying of Dhū al-Rumma:
"And I have hurled against no chaste believing woman [a disgraceful accusation], with Allah's leave, [an accusation] that would impose an incurable [disgrace]."
Of this one also says: "ʿaḍala l-faḍāʾu bil-jayshi li-kathratihim" (the space became too tight for the army because of their numbers), when, due to their number, they no longer fit in it. And one says: "ʿaḍalati l-marʾatu" (the woman had a difficult delivery), when the child is stuck in her womb and its exit becomes too narrow for it. Of this is the saying of Aws ibn Ḥajar:
"And your brother is not he who keeps faith inviolable, who blames you when he turns away and pleases you when he turns toward you,
but he is the one who keeps his distance when you are safe, and your close companion when the matter becomes constricted (aʿḍala)."
* * *
And the "an" in His saying "an yankiḥna" (that they marry) is in the position of naṣb [as object] of His saying "taʿḍulūhunna".
And the meaning of His saying "when they have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner" is: when the husbands and the women reach mutual agreement among themselves over what is lawful. And it may be that it [the proper manner] concerns a recompense for their conjugal union, in the form of the bride-gift (mahr), and a new, freshly contracted marriage — as in:
4946 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿUmayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Mughīra, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Marry off the unmarried women." A man said: "O Messenger of Allah, what are the bonds (the marriage-gifts) between them?" He said: "That over which their families mutually agree."
4947 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, something similar.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: In this verse lies the clear proof of the soundness of the view of whoever says: "There is no [valid] marriage except with a guardian from the male paternal blood-relatives (al-ʿaṣaba)." That is because Allah, the Exalted, has prevented the guardian from preventing the woman if she wishes to marry, and has forbidden him that. For if it were permitted for the woman to marry herself off without her guardian marrying her off, or if it were permitted for her to appoint whomever she wishes to marry her off — then the prohibition addressed to her guardian against preventing her would have no intelligible meaning, since he would then have no means of preventing her. For indeed: if, every time she wished to marry, she were permitted to marry herself off, or to appoint whomever she authorizes to marry her off, then there would be for her no hindrance from anyone, so that the hinderer could be forbidden to prevent her. And in the absurdity of the claim that the prohibition of Allah against what He has forbidden would have no meaning lies the soundness of the view that the woman's guardian has a right in her marriage without which the contract cannot be validly concluded. And that is the meaning to which Allah has commanded the guardian: namely to marry her off when a suitor asks for her hand and she consents to him, and it is — in the judgment of the Muslims — lawful for someone like her to marry someone like him, with the consent of her guardians; and He has forbidden the guardian the opposite of that: namely to prevent her and to hold her back from what she wishes, over which she and the suitor have mutually agreed.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ذَلِكَ يُوعَظُ بِهِ مَنْ كَانَ مِنْكُمْ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ
(By that is admonished whoever among you believes in Allah and the Last Day.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His saying "by that" what is mentioned in this verse: the prohibition addressed to the woman's guardians against preventing her from marrying. He says: This from which I have restrained you — namely preventing them from marrying — is an admonition from Me to whoever among you, O people, believes in Allah and the Last Day — that is to say: whoever holds Allah to be true, acknowledges Him alone, and professes His Lordship; "and the Last Day" — He says: and whoever believes in the Last Day, that is to say: holds the Resurrection to be true, with a view to the requital, the reward, and the punishment — so that he fears Allah concerning his own soul and does it no wrong by harming his ward and preventing her from marrying whom she has chosen for herself, of those whom she is permitted to marry.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone were to ask us: How is it that it is said "by that is admonished" — while this is an address to a plural, for earlier it was said: فَلا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ (do not prevent them)? And if, in addressing a plural, it is permissible to say "dhālika" [with the singular kāf], is it then also permissible that you say to a group of people whom you are addressing: "O people, this is your [singular] servant, and this is your [singular] attendant", while you mean: this is your [plural] attendant and this is your [plural] servant?
The answer is: No, that is not permissible with the [ordinary] nouns (al-asmāʾ al-mawḍūʿāt), because — as regards that to which nouns other than themselves are annexed — a listener who hears the saying of one who says to a group: "O people, this is your servant", will not understand that he means thereby "this is your [plural] servant" — except by charging the speaker with an error in his expression. And if one were to seek a correct interpretation for that expression, then one would have to construe that saying in such a way that he turned away from addressing the group with that with which he wished to address them, toward addressing a single man from among them or from others, and that he refrained from striking the group with the word with which he wished to strike them. But it is not so with "dhālika", because of its frequent use on the tongues of the Arabs in their expression and speech, until the "kāf" — which in it is the indication (kināya) of the name of the one addressed — has become like a letter among the letters of the word with which it is joined. Thereby the word with it has become like the saying of one who says "hādhā", as if there were no name of an addressee with it. So whoever says "dhālika yūʿaẓu bihi man kāna minkum yuʾminu bi-Llāhi wal-yawmi l-ākhir" leaves the "kāf" of "dhālika" singular and with a fatḥa, when addressing a single woman, a single man, two persons, or a plural. And whoever says "dhālikum yūʿaẓu bihi" gives the "kāf" a kasra when addressing a single woman, a fatḥa when addressing a single man, and says when addressing two persons among them "dhālikumā", and when addressing a plural "dhālikum".
And it has been said: that His saying "dhālika yūʿaẓu bihi man kāna minkum yuʾminu bi-Llāh" is an address to the Prophet ﷺ, and that it is therefore in the singular; and that He then passes over to addressing the believers with His saying: "whoever among you believes in Allah". And if the interpretation is construed in this direction, then it presents no difficulty.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ذَلِكُمْ أَزْكَى لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لا تَعْلَمُونَ (232)
(That is purer for you and more chaste. And Allah knows, while you do not know.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His saying "that (dhālikum)" their [the women's] marrying their husbands, and the taking back of them by their husbands, in the manner He has permitted them, namely by a new marriage and a new bride-gift (mahr) — "is purer for you", O guardians, husbands, and wives.
* * *
And by His saying "is purer for you" He means: more excellent and better with Allah than their separation from their husbands. And we have already previously expounded the meaning of "al-zakāh" (purity/growth), so that this absolves us from repeating it.
* * *
And as for His saying "and more chaste (wa-aṭhar)", by that He means: purer for your hearts, their hearts, and the hearts of their husbands, free of suspicion. That is because, when in the soul of each of the two — I mean the husband and the wife — there exists a bond of love, one cannot be certain that they will not transgress that [bond] toward something other than what Allah has permitted them; and one likewise cannot be certain that in the hearts of the two of them's guardians there may not arise a thought about them [a suspicion] of which the two of them may be innocent. Therefore Allah, the Exalted, commanded the guardians — when the husbands wish to take each other back after irrevocable separation, by means of a freshly contracted marriage, in the situation in which Allah has permitted them to take each other back — that he should not prevent his ward in that which she wishes of it, and that he should marry her off. For that is more excellent for them all, and purer for their hearts from that which is feared will creep into them of reprehensible thoughts.
Then the Exalted informed His servants that He knows of their inner states and their hidden affairs what the one does not know of the other. And He pointed out to them by His saying in this place that He commanded the guardians of the women only to marry off those of whom they are guardians when the woman and the suitor-husband have come to a mutual agreement among themselves in a proper manner, and that He forbade them to prevent them from that — because of what He knows of what lives in the heart of the suitor and the one sought of overwhelming passion and of the inclination of each of the two toward the other, with affection and love. Therefore the Exalted said to them: Do what I have commanded you, if you believe in Me, and in My reward and My punishment at your return in the Hereafter; for I know of the heart of the suitor and the one sought, of passion and love, what you do not know. And that action of yours is more excellent for you with Allah and for them, and purer and more chaste for your hearts and their hearts in the temporal life.
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Footnotes:
(18) "Khalā ʿani l-shayʾ": he left the matter alone. This triliteral verb you will rarely find clearly mentioned in the dictionaries, but it is deeply rooted Arabic. It occurs in passing in the entry (khalā) of the Lisān al-ʿArab, and al-Shīrāzī mentioned it clearly in his Miʿyār al-lugha. The following narration likewise points to the soundness of its meaning. Thus it has come in both places in the manuscript of Ṭabarī and in the printed edition as "khalā" triliterally, while in the narration of al-Bukhārī that we shall mention hereafter it is in both places "khallā ʿanhā", which has the same meaning.
(19) Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Fatḥ: "ḥamiya — with a kasra on the second [letter] — and anafan, with a fatḥa on the hamza and the nūn, that is to say: he refrained from the act out of bitterness and arrogance." And "ḥamiya": pride (al-ḥamiyya) overcame him, that is haughtiness and jealous zeal.
(20) [Identical to footnote 18 concerning "khalā ʿani l-shayʾ".]
(21) Narration 4927 — al-Bukhārī related it via Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Aʿlā (al-Fatḥ 9:425–426). In the narration of al-Bukhārī there is an addition: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ summoned him and recited it to him, whereupon he abandoned his grim arrogance and submitted to the command of Allah." It will recur in the mursal narration of Qatāda that follows hereafter under number 4930, and I will explain it there in the note.
(22) Narration 4928 — al-Ḥākim related it in al-Mustadrak 2:280 and said: "This is a ḥadīth with a reliable isnād, but they [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] did not relate it." Al-Dhahabī commented on this and said: "al-Faḍl — Ibn Maʿīn declared him weak, but others strengthened him." Ibn Abī Ḥātim, however, mentioned in his biography in al-Jarḥ wal-taʿdīl 3/2/61: "Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn was asked about al-Faḍl ibn Dilham, and he said: 'His ḥadīth is sound.'" See the difference of opinion over the case of al-Faḍl in his biography in al-Tahdhīb.
(23) Narration 4929 — "Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak al-Qurashī al-Mukharrimī" (with a ḍamma on the mīm, a fatḥa on the khāʾ and a doubled, kasra-vocalized rāʾ, an ascription to "al-Mukharrim", a quarter that lay in Baghdad, between al-Ruṣāfa and the river al-Muʿallā. He died in Baghdad in the year 260. Al-Nasāʾī said: "He was one of the reliable ones; we have not seen in Iraq anyone like him." Al-Dāraquṭnī said: "Reliable, distinguished, meticulous." The narration of Ṭabarī on his authority has already occurred under number 3730. In the printed edition it stood: "al-Makhzūmī."
This narration al-Bukhārī related via ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Abū ʿĀmir al-ʿAqadī, but he mentioned only the beginning of the report, in order thereby to establish the narration of al-Ḥasan on the authority of Maʿqil, because of his words: "Maʿqil ibn Yasār related to me" (Fatḥ al-Bārī 8:143). And Abū Dāwūd related it via Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, on the authority of Abū ʿĀmir al-ʿAqadī, in abridged form.
(24) Narration 4930 — this is the customary isnād of Ṭabarī in the tafsīr, from the tafsīr of Qatāda, but it is in meaning the narration of Qatāda on the authority of al-Ḥasan, number 4927, and ends with the addition to which we pointed in the narration of al-Bukhārī of the preceding narration. "Al-ḥamiyya" is haughtiness and wrath. And "istaqāda lil-shayʾ" means: he gave in and obeyed, derived from "qāda l-dābbata yaqūduhā" (he led the beast of burden); that is to say: he surrendered willingly, without being recalcitrant or stubborn.
(25) Narration 4931 — al-Bukhārī related it. He said: "Aḥmad ibn Abī ʿUmar related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm related to me, on the authority of Yūnus." And "Aḥmad ibn Abī ʿUmar" is: Aḥmad ibn Ḥafṣ ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rāshid. And "Ibrāhīm" is: Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān, and "Yūnus" is: Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd (al-Fatḥ 9:160). The ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar treated its discussion thoroughly, and then mentioned it in (al-Fatḥ 8:143). Al-Ḥākim also related it in al-Mustadrak 2:174, and al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan 7:138, both via Aḥmad ibn Ḥafṣ, in accordance with the narration of al-Bukhārī, which agrees with the narration of Ṭabarī, even if there is a difference in some of the wordings, as the ḥāfiẓ pointed out in al-Fatḥ, and he mentioned the narrations that exist about it. Here there is a difference that the ḥāfiẓ did not mention, in the words "farashtuka ukhtī" (I made my sister your bedmate); thus it stands in the manuscript and in the printed edition, and in both al-Mustadrak and in al-Dhahabī, while in the other narrations it is "afrashtuka" — and both are correct in Arabic, derived from their saying: "farashtu fulānan bisāṭan wa-afrashtuhu iyyāhu" (I spread out a carpet for such-and-such), when you spread it out for him. And "farasha lahu ukhtahu wa-afrashahā lahu": he made her his bedmate. And "al-firāsh" (the bed) is an indication for the woman.
(26) In the manuscript it stands: "ikhwatuhā" (her brothers), but what stands in the printed edition is closer to the correct, because of its agreement with the other narrations.
(27) In the printed edition it stands "Jumayl" in the diminutive form, as Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Fatḥ and al-Iṣāba (9:160). But what stands in the manuscript is vocalized with the pen as "Jumal" with a ḍamma on the jīm. He also mentioned it thus therein and in al-Iṣāba (with a ḍamma on the first [letter] and a sukūn on the mīm). Ibn Ḥajar said that in the tafsīr of Ṭabarī it occurs as "Jumayl", but this manuscript testifies to the difference between the copies of Ṭabarī. There is a long difference of opinion over her name and the name of "Abū al-Baddāḥ"; consult for that Fatḥ al-Bārī 9:160 and al-Iṣāba. And under number 4936 it will follow that her name is "Fāṭima".
(28) Narration 4936 — "Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī" is "Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī, ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd, of [the tribe of] Sabīʿ, and Sabīʿ belongs to Hamdān." He narrated from ʿAlī and al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba, and died in the year 126.
(29) In the printed edition it stands "tabīnu minhu" without the fāʾ; the correct is from the manuscript.
(30) This exposition you will not find in the dictionaries, and in them does not stand what he relates about the dialect of this tribe among the Arabs. And his saying "ʿaḍala yaʿḍilu" with a kasra on the first ḍād and a fatḥa on the second is vocalized with the pen in the manuscript, as the other verbs are vocalized.
(31) Al-Zamakhsharī and the author of the Lisān related in the entry (ʿaḍl): "The people of Kūfa have put me in a tight position (aʿḍala bī); they are not satisfied with a governor and no governor is satisfied with them." Then al-Zamakhsharī said: "And it has been related: The people of Kūfa have overwhelmed me; I appoint over them a believer, and he becomes weak; and I appoint over them a corrupt man (fājir), and he acts corruptly!"
(32) His dīwān, p. 441 — among verses in which he described his poetic art, where he said:
"And many a marvelous poem I have lain awake over, for which I string together [verses], with support and ingenuity,
rare verses, known at every horizon of the horizons, fashioned with skill.
Thus I passed [the night], perfecting it, and from it I forged rhymes for which I have no precedent ..."
This last verse — in it he alludes to the masters of lampoon poetry in his time: Jarīr, al-Farazdaq, al-Akhṭal, and the others who assailed one another with invective. "Al-ḥaṣān" is the chaste, pure woman. And "al-mūjiba" is that which makes obligatory the prescribed punishment for false accusation of zinā (qadhf), or makes the Fire (al-nār) obligatory — may Allah preserve us from that! And "al-ʿuḍāl" is that from which there is no way out and for which there is no treatment. The import of the verse: I have hurled no sin-causing, incurable [accusation] — against a chaste believing woman ... that is to say: I have uttered no disgraceful word or gross slander with which I assailed a chaste woman whom Allah has exonerated of what is said. The narration of the dīwān has "bi-ḥamdi-llāh" (by the praise of Allah), and that is better. This while the verse in the manuscript is corrupted: "li-ramtuhu ḥiṣāl"!!
(33) His dīwān, poem 31. They are two verses that lay bare the inner states of people without dissimulation. Rarely do you come across anything like it.
(34) "Al-abḍāʿ" is the plural of "buḍʿ" (with a ḍamma followed by a sukūn): it is the private parts, sexual intercourse, the marriage contract, and the bride-gift; the first [meaning] is intended.
(35) Ḥadīth 4946 — ʿAbd al-Raḥmān is Ibn Mahdī. Sufyān is al-Thawrī. ʿUmayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishr al-Khathʿamī is reliable; Ibn Numayr and others declared him reliable. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Mughīra al-Ṭāʾifī is a reliable tābiʿī, and he narrates here from another tābiʿī. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī, the freedman of ʿUmar, is a reliable tābiʿī; some scholars have leveled criticism at him, but the truth is that what is rejected of his ḥadīth comes only from that which his son Muḥammad related on his authority. As for himself, he is reliable. And this ḥadīth is weak, because it is mursal. Al-Bayhaqī related it 7:239, via Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of ʿUmayr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, with this isnād. Then he related it via Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth and Abū Muʿāwiya, on the authority of Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Mughīra al-Ṭāʾifī, and then said: "This is interrupted (munqaṭiʿ)."
(36) Ḥadīth 4947 — this is a repetition of the preceding ḥadīth, but this one is connected (muttaṣil), through the mention of "Ibn ʿUmar" in it. And it is likewise weak; rather, it is weaker than that mursal one. Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Ziyād ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Ḥārithī is reliable, but criticism has been leveled at him. We have expounded the discussion of preferring [his reliability] in the commentary on al-Musnad: 5371.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī is very weak, and the defect in the narrations of his father, and then in the narrations of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith al-Ḥārithī, comes only from his side. He related from his father reprehensible (manākīr) narrations that have no basis, or mursal narrations whose connection has no basis; and Muḥammad al-Ḥārithī related from him — so that criticism was leveled at each of the two because of him. We have expounded the discussion of his weakening in the commentary on al-Musnad: 4910.
And this ḥadīth al-Bayhaqī related 7:239, via Bundār, that is Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, the teacher of Ṭabarī here — with this isnād. Then he related it via Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ḥaḍramī Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās! Then he cited from Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī, who said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī is weak, and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith is weak, and the weakness of the ḥadīth of both of them is evident.
And al-Suyūṭī cited it 1:287, from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar, and ascribed it to Ibn Abī Shayba, Ibn Jarīr, and Ibn Mardawayh; then he kept silent about its weakness.
(37) In the printed edition it stands "man tuwakkiluhu inkāḥahā" with the omission of the bāʾ; I have adopted what stands in the manuscript.
(38) See what occurred earlier about the meaning of "al-īmān" in the entry (amn) of the linguistic indexes in the preceding volumes.
(39) See what occurred earlier in the explanation of "al-yawm al-ākhir" 1:271 / 2:148.
(40) "Al-asmāʾ al-mawḍūʿāt": it is as if "the posited noun (al-ism al-mawḍūʿ)" is "the declinable or conjugable noun (al-ism al-mutamakkin or al-muʿrab)", the opposite of "the indeclinable or non-inflecting noun (al-ism ghayr al-mutamakkin or al-mabnī)".
(41) His saying "ghayruhā" means: other than the nouns.
(42) In the printed edition it stands "wajhan fal-ṣawāb", and that is a pure error; the correct is from the manuscript.
(43) In the printed edition it stands "mujāwazat al-qawm ... mujāwazatihim" with the jīm and the zāy in both places, and that is an inexpert formulation. The correct is what stands in the manuscript and what the context requires.
(44) He means that it [the word dhālika] has come to occupy the place of "hādhā" in its usage, as if it were a single word, while it is composed of the "hāʾ" and "dhā", which is a demonstrative pronoun.
(45) In the printed edition and the manuscript it stands "fa-qāla fī khiṭāb ..." with the fāʾ, and that is not correct.
(46) In the printed edition it stands "wa-li-dhālika wajaha", and that is a formulation stripped of meaning; the correct is from the manuscript.
(47) In the printed edition it stands "nikāḥu azwājihinna lahunna", and in the manuscript it stands "nikāḥuhunna azwājahunna lahunna". What stands in the printed edition is one way of correcting what stands in the manuscript, but I found that there is another way of correcting, namely the omission of "lahunna". That is because by his saying "nikāḥuhunna azwājahunna" he meant what occurs in the verse: "an yankiḥna azwājahunna", with the attribution of the "marrying" to the women; therefore I preferred this correction, and so that there would be no repetition in the text of his saying afterward "wa-murājaʿati azwājihinna iyyāhunna".
(48) See what occurred earlier 1:573–574 / 2:297 / 3:88.
(49) In the printed edition it stands "adhina-llāhu lahumā", but in the manuscript the addition "Allāh" does not stand.
(50) "Subūq" is a verbal noun of "sabaqa", which does not occur in the dictionaries, but Ṭabarī uses it frequently, as we have just pointed out in volume 4:287, 288 / then: 427 / then: 446, and the notes thereon.
(51) This is the saying of a divinely-guided, wise master (ḥabr rabbānī), to whom Allah has given insight into the affairs of His religion, to whom He has granted wisdom in the affairs of his worldly life, and whom He has taught of the explanation of His Book, so that he bore the trust and transmitted it, and sincerely advised the people by teaching them and making them perceptive. And in the explanation of the Book of his Lord, neither grammar nor philology nor fiqh nor the uṣūl — as they have named those [disciplines] — held him back from laying bare the meanings for the people, addressing their hearts and their intellects thereby, to clarify for them what Allah sent down to His Prophet, by virtue of the covenant that Allah took from the scholars. May Allah have mercy on Abū Jaʿfar, and may Allah forgive the exegetes after him. Rarely do you come across anything like what he has written, in any book of the tafsīr works.
