Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:235
There is no blame upon you for that to which you [indirectly] allude concerning a proposal to women or for what you conceal within yourselves. Allah knows that you will have them in mind. But do not promise them secretly except for saying a proper saying. And do not determine to undertake a marriage contract until the decreed period reaches its end. And know that Allah knows what is within yourselves, so beware of Him. And know that Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing.
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.
(42)
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: "And there is no blame (junāḥ) upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means thereby: there is no blame upon you, O men, in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women — namely to the women who are passing the waiting period (ʿiddah) on account of the death of their husbands — during their waiting period, so long as you do not expressly conclude a marriage contract.
And the allusion (taʿrīḍ) that is permitted in this is that which: -
5098- Ibn Ḥumayd related it to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: The allusion is that he says: "I would like to marry," and: "Indeed, I would love a woman of such and such a nature," whereby he alludes to her in a proper manner (bil-maʿrūf) with his words.
5099- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "There is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: "I would like to marry."
5100- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The allusion is what he does so long as he does not address the proposal openly. (43) Mujāhid said: A man said to a woman at the funeral of her husband: "Do not pass me by with yourself!" She said: "That has already happened!"
5101- Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said concerning this verse: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: The allusion is what he does so long as he does not address the proposal openly.
5102- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: The allusion is that he says to the woman in her waiting period: "Indeed, I do not wish to marry any other than you, if Allah wills," and: "I would wish that I might find a righteous woman," without addressing her openly so long as she is in her waiting period.
5103- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He says: He alludes to her in her waiting period; he says to her: "If you would see fit not to pass me by with yourself," and: "I would wish that Allah had set things right between me and you," and the like words — then there is no objection.
5104- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: That is that he says to her in her waiting period: "I would like to marry, and I would wish that Allah grant me a wife," and the like, without addressing the proposal openly.
5105- Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿUbayda, concerning this verse, who said: He makes mention of it to her guardian (walī); he says: "Do not pass me by with her."
5106- Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: He says: "Indeed, you are beautiful, and indeed, you are desirable, and indeed, you will come to good."
5107- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he disapproved of one saying: "Do not pass me by with yourself."
5108- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: That is the word of the man to the woman: "Indeed, you are beautiful, and indeed, you are desirable, and indeed, you will come to good."
5109- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: He alludes to the woman in her waiting period and says: "By Allah, indeed, you are beautiful, and indeed, women are among my needs, and indeed, you will come to good, if Allah wills."
5110- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ādam related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: That is the word of the man: "Indeed, I wish to marry, and indeed, if I marry, I will treat my wife well" — this is the allusion.
5111- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: He says: "I will surely give to you, I will surely treat you well, I will surely do for you this and that." (44)
5012- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, he said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd saying, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim informed me, concerning his saying: "in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: It is the word of the man to the woman in her waiting period, whereby he alludes to the proposal: "By Allah, indeed, I desire you, and indeed, I am fond of you," and the like.
5113- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī related to us, he said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim informed me: that he heard al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad saying: "in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women" is the word of the man to the woman: "Indeed, you are beautiful, and indeed, you are desirable, and indeed, you will come to good."
5114- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: How does the one who makes the proposal speak? He said: He merely alludes with an allusion and utters nothing openly. He says: "Indeed, I have a need, be glad, and you are — praise be to Allah — desirable," without uttering anything openly. ʿAṭāʾ said: And she says: "I have heard what you say," without promising him anything, and without saying: "Perhaps that is so."
5115- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim related to me: that he heard al-Qāsim saying concerning the woman whose husband has died, while the man wishes to propose to her and to speak with her — what word befits him? He said: He says: "Indeed, I desire you, and indeed, I am fond of you, and indeed, I am enchanted by you," and the like words.
5116- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: There is no objection to a gift in connection with the allusion to marriage.
5117- Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Mughīra informed us, he said: Ibrāhīm saw no objection in giving her a gift during the waiting period, when that accorded with his intention. (45)
5118- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: He says: "Indeed, you are desirable, and indeed, you are enchanting, and indeed, you are beautiful," (46) "and if Allah decrees something, then it will come to pass."
5119- It was related to us on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī used to say: "Indeed, you are enchanting, and indeed, I desire you."
5120- Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: And he informed me — namely Shabīb — on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, that he said concerning this verse: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: You do not take any pledge from her that she will marry none other than you. (47)
5121- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: My father used to say: Everything that there was, provided they do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract, is as Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, has said: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women."
5122- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us = and ʿAlī related to me, he said: Zayd related to us = both together, on the authority of Sufyān, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." And the allusion, according to what we have heard, is that the man, while she is in her waiting period, says: "Indeed, you are beautiful, indeed, you will come to good, indeed, you are desirable, indeed, you please me," and the like — that is the allusion.
5123- Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of his aunt Sukayna bint Ḥanẓala ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanẓala, who said: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī entered upon me while I was in my waiting period, and said: O daughter of Ḥanẓala, I am the one whose kinship with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ you know, and the right of my grandfather over me, and my early share in Islam. I said: May Allah forgive you, O Abū Jaʿfar — do you propose to me in my waiting period, while [your words] are taken from you [as authoritative]? He said: Have I then done that? I am only informing you of my kinship with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and of my standing! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once entered upon Umm Salama, who had been married to her cousin Abū Salama, who had died, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kept on mentioning to her his rank with Allah while he leaned upon his hand, until the [plaited] mat left an imprint in his hand on account of the force with which he leaned upon his hand — and yet that was no proposal. (48)
5124- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Al-Layth related to me, he said: ʿUqayl related to me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: There is no blame upon whoever alludes to the proposal with them before they become free [of their waiting period], when they [consider it] within themselves. (49)
5125- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Mālik informed me, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim, on the authority of his father, that he used to say concerning the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women": that the man says to the woman, while she is in a waiting period on account of the death of her husband: "Indeed, you are dear to me, and indeed, I desire you, and indeed, Allah will drive goodness and sustenance toward you," and the like words.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The grammarians (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) have differed concerning the meaning of "al-khiṭba" (the proposal).
Some of them said: "al-khuṭba" is the mentioning, and "al-khuṭba" is the profession of faith [in the sermon]. (50)
It is as though the one who made this statement explained the words thus: there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude by mentioning the women to them. (51) And the proponent of this statement claimed that He said: "But do not make a secret tryst with them (sirran)," because, when He said: "and there is no blame upon you," it was as though He said: mention them, but do not make a secret tryst with them.
* * *
And others among them said: "khaṭaba-hu, khiṭbatan wa khaṭban." (52) He said: And the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted: "He said: What is your affair (khaṭbuka), O Sāmirī?" [Sūrat Ṭā Hā: 95] — it is said that this is [derived] from this. He said: And as for "al-khuṭba," that is that about which one preaches, from their saying: (53) "he delivered a sermon (khaṭaba) upon the pulpit and preached (ikhtaṭaba)."
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: "Al-khiṭba" is, in my opinion, the "fiʿla" form of the saying of one who says: "I proposed to so-and-so" (khaṭabtu fulāna), like "al-jilsa" (the manner of sitting) from his saying "jalasa" (he sat), or "al-qaʿda" (the manner of sitting) from his saying "qaʿada" (he sat down). (54)
And the meaning of their saying "so-and-so proposed to so-and-so" (khaṭaba fulān fulāna) is: he requested of her his proposal to her, with respect to herself, and that is his need — from their saying "what is your affair (khaṭbuka)?", in the meaning of: what is your need, and what is your matter?
* * *
And as for "al-taʿrīḍ" (the allusion), that is that which belongs to the implication (laḥn) of speech, whereby the hearer understands that which he would understand from the open utterance of it. (55)
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: "or you conceal it within yourselves"
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means by His saying: "or you conceal it within yourselves," or you conceal within yourselves and keep secret — namely the proposal to them and the intention to marry them, while they are in their waiting period. Then there is likewise no blame upon you in that, so long as you do not firmly resolve to conclude the marriage contract until the prescribed term (al-kitāb) reaches its end.
* * *
One says of this: "so-and-so kept this matter hidden within himself, and he keeps it hidden, ikkānan," and "kannahu," when he covered it: "yakunnuhu kannan wa kunūnan," and "he sat in the shelter (al-kinn)." But there has not been heard "kanantuhu fī nafsī" [with the bi-radical form in the meaning 'I concealed it within myself']; (56) one only says: "kanantuhu fī al-bayt aw fī al-arḍ," when one concealed it therein. And of this is the saying of Him, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted: "as though they were concealed eggs (bayḍun maknūn)" [Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt: 49], that is to say: hidden. And of this is the saying of the poet: (57)
Three out of three of the foremost flight feathers of those which are sheltered against the frost (58)
And "tukannu" with the tāʾ, that is better, and "yukannu." (59) And one says: "akkannathu thiyābuhu min al-bard" (his clothes protected him against the cold) and "akkannahu al-bayt min al-rīḥ" (the house sheltered him against the wind).
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
5126- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "or you conceal it within yourselves." He said: The concealing (al-ikkān) is that he mentions the proposal to her within himself without showing it to her. All of this is permissible and proper (maʿrūf).
5127- Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like.
5128- Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning his saying: "or you conceal it within yourselves." He said: That he enters, gives the greeting of peace, and gives a gift if he wishes, without saying anything.
5129- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī related to us, he said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim informed me: that he heard al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad saying, and he mentioned something similar.
5130- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "or you conceal it within yourselves." He said: You set marriage to her within yourself and kept that hidden.
5131- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us = and ʿAlī related to me, he said: Zayd related to us = both together, on the authority of Sufyān: "or you conceal it within yourselves." That he concealed within himself that he would marry her.
5132- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Hawdha related to us, he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning his saying: "or you conceal it within yourselves." He said: You kept it secret.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: In the fact that Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, has permitted that which He has permitted of allusion to marriage with the woman in the waiting period, directed to her in the state of her waiting period, while He forbade the open utterance (60) — therein lies that which has made clear the difference between the ruling on allusion in all the meanings of the word and the ruling on the open utterance thereof. And since that is so, it becomes clear that allusion with the false accusation (qadhf) is something other than the open utterance thereof, and that, if the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) for allusion with the false accusation were obligatory in the manner in which it is obligatory in the case of the open utterance thereof, then there would have to arise from the blame of allusion with the proposal during the waiting period the equivalent of that which is obligatory in the case of the firm resolve to conclude the marriage contract therein. And in the fact that Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, has distinguished between the two rulings concerning that, lies the clear proof of the difference between the rulings concerning that in the case of the false accusation.
* * *
The explanation of His saying: "Allah knows that you will remember them"
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means thereby: Allah knows that you will remember the women in the waiting period, during their waiting period, with the proposal — within yourselves and with your tongues — as: -
5133- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "Allah knows that you will remember them." He said: The proposal.
5134- Abū al-Sāʾib Salm ibn Junāda related to me, he said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women." He said: That you remember her within yourselves. He said: That is the saying of Allah: "Allah knows that you will remember them."
5135- Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning his saying: "Allah knows that you will remember them." He said: That is the proposal.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: "but do not make a secret tryst with them (sirran)"
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have differed concerning the meaning of "al-sirr" (the secret) which Allah, the Exalted, forbade His servants to arrange with the women in the waiting period.
Some of them said: it is fornication (zinā).
* Mention of who said that:
5136- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ al-Dahhān, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: Fornication (zinā). (61)
5137- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, concerning his saying: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: Fornication.
5138- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Yaḥyā related to us, he said: Sulaymān al-Taymī related to us, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, the like.
5139- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, the like.
5140- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: Fornication. It was said to Sufyān al-Taymī: did he mention it [explicitly]? He said: Yes.
5141- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of a man, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the tryst, the like of the saying of Abū Mijlaz.
5142- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: Fornication.
5143- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Yaḥyā related to us, he said: Ashʿath and ʿImrān related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, the like.
5144- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Yaḥyā related to us, both said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: I heard Ibrāhīm saying: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: Fornication.
5145- Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, he said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the like.
5146- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: Fornication.
5147- Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: Fornication.
5148- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning his saying: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: The abomination (al-fāḥisha).
5149- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk = and Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, he said: Yazīd ibn Hārūn informed us, he said: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: The secret (al-sirr): fornication.
5150- Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: My father related to me, he said: My uncle related to me, he said: My father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: That secret is the suspicion (al-rība). (62) The man used to enter for the sake of the suspicion, while alluding to marriage; then Allah forbade that, except for whoever spoke properly (maʿrūf).
5151- Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Manṣūr informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, and Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, that they said: Fornication.
5152- It was related to us on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning his saying: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." [He said:] For immorality and the cajoling softening (al-khaḍʿ) of speech. (63)
5153- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: It is the abomination (al-fāḥisha).
* * *
And others said: Rather, the meaning of it is: do not take any pledge or covenant from them, during their waiting period, that they will marry none other than you.
* Mention of who said that:
5154- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He says: Do not say to her: "Indeed, I am in love, promise me that you will marry none other than me," and the like.
5155- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning his saying: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: That he does not conclude a binding agreement with her over this and that, that she will marry none other than him. (64)
5156- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir and Mujāhid and ʿIkrima, who said: He does not take any pledge from her in her waiting period, that she will marry none other than him.
5157- Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, who said: It was mentioned on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, that he said concerning this verse: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: You do not take any pledge from her that she will marry none other than you.
5158- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: He does not take any pledge from her that she will marry none other than him.
5159- Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, who said: I heard him saying concerning his saying: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: You do not take any pledge from her that she will marry none other than you, and he does not make the contract obligatory until the waiting period has elapsed. (65)
5160- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: He does not take any pledge from her that she will marry none other than him.
5161- Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He says: "Keep yourself free for me, for I will marry [you]" = and he takes a covenant from her = "marry none other than me." (66)
5162- Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: This concerns the man who takes the covenant of the woman while she is in her waiting period, that she will marry none other than him. Then Allah forbade that and established therein a prior ordinance, and He permitted the proposal and the proper word, and He forbade the abomination and the cajoling softening of speech. (67)
5163- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, and ʿAlī related to me, he said: Zayd related to us = both together, on the authority of Sufyān: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: That he secretly arranges with her over this and that, "on condition that you marry none other than me."
5164- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: "do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: The secret tryst is that he takes from her a covenant and a pledge that she will keep herself for him and marry none other than him.
5165- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
* * *
And others said: Rather, the meaning of it is: that the man says to her: "Do not pass me by with yourself."
* Mention of who said that:
5166- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: The word of the man to the woman: "Do not escape me with yourself, for I will marry you" — this is not permitted.
5167- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: It is the word of the man to the woman: "Do not escape me."
5168- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: The tryst is that he says: "Do not pass me by with yourself."
5169- Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: "but do not make a secret tryst with them," that he says: "Do not pass me by with yourself."
* * *
And others said: Rather, the meaning of it is: and do not marry them in secret during their waiting period.
* Mention of who said that:
5170- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He says: Do not marry them in secret so as to hold her thereafter, until, when she becomes free [of her waiting period], you make that public and bring her in [in marriage].
5171- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "but do not make a secret tryst with them." He said: My father used to say: Do not make a secret tryst with them so as to hold her thereafter, while you possess the conclusion of her marriage contract, so that you, when she becomes free, make that public and bring her in [in marriage].
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements in the explanation thereof is the explanation of him who said: "al-sirr" means in this place fornication (zinā). That is because the Arabs call sexual intercourse and the man's lying with the woman "sirr," because that belongs to what takes place in secrecy between men and women, not openly and not observed, and therefore, on account of its secrecy, it is called "sirr." Of this is the saying of Ruʾba ibn al-ʿAjjāj:
He abstained from lying with her after the attachment, and did not place her between aversion and passion (68)
He means thereby: he abstained from lying with her after long perseverance therein. And of this is the saying of al-Ḥuṭayʾa:
And the secret (sirr) of their neighbor's wife is forbidden to them, and their neighbor eats the topmost of the bowls (69)
And likewise one says of everything that a person conceals within himself: "sirr." And one says: "he belongs to the sirr of his people," that is to say: to their choicest and their nobility.
Since "al-sirr" in their speech can only be directed to one of these three meanings, and it is known that one of them is not intended by His saying "but do not make a secret tryst with them" — namely the "sirr" that has the meaning of the choicest and the nobility — there remain only the two other meanings: the "sirr" with the meaning of that which the soul of the one making the tryst conceals between the two parties to the tryst, (70) and the "sirr" with the meaning of lying together and sexual intercourse.
Since there remain none other than these two, and the proof is clear that one of them is not intended, it is correct that the other is the one intended.
* * *
And if someone were to say: (71) What then is the proof that the verbal tryst in secret is not intended — according to what he said who said that the meaning of it is: that the man takes the pledge of the woman that she will marry none other than him, or according to what he said who said: the word of the man to her: "Do not pass me by with yourself"?
Then it is said: Because "al-sirr," if it has the meaning that those who said that gave to it, then that "sirr" will be none other than either the tryst of the man with the woman and his request of her that she marry none other than him, or the marriage about which he requested of her that she give him an answer thereto, after the elapsing of her waiting period and after its conclusion for him, to the exclusion of the rest of the people. If, then, "al-sirr" which Allah forbade the man to arrange with the women in the waiting period is the taking of the covenant from them that they will marry none other than him, then it is nullified that "al-sirr" should mean: that which is concealed in the souls of matters, or what one utters without its becoming known, such that the open aspect of the matter would become a secret. And that is contrary to what is reasonable in the language in which the Qurʾān was sent down.
Unless the proponent of this thesis says: Allah only forbade the men to make a secret tryst about it with them, between them and them, not that the actual utterance thereof — even if it is openly proclaimed — is a secret.
Then it is said to him, if he says that: Then it would necessarily have to be permissible to arrange marriage and the proposal with them openly and overtly, since that which is forbidden of the tryst is only that which takes place of it in secret.
And if he says: That is indeed so, then he departs from the statement of the entire community (umma). In addition to that, this is not the statement of any of those who explained the verse such that "al-sirr" here has the meaning of the pledge that she will marry none other than him to whom she has bound herself.
And if he says: That is not permissible.
Then it is said to him: Then it is nullified that the meaning thereof should be: the man's secret whispering to the woman with the tryst. For if the meaning thereof were so, then it would not be forbidden to him to arrange with her openly and in public. And in the fact that that is forbidden to him both in secret and in public, lies that which has made clear that the meaning of "al-sirr" in this place is something other than the meaning of the man's secret whispering to the woman with the pledge that she will marry none other than him when her waiting period has elapsed — or else the meaning thereof, when this explanation is nullified, would be: the proposal and the marriage with which the woman promised the man that she would not go over to any other than him. When that is so, then it takes place only with a guardian and witnesses, openly and not in secret. And how can it be called a secret, while it is open and the concealment of it is not permissible?
And in the nullification of these possible interpretations for the explanation of His saying "but do not make a secret tryst with them," by means of that to which we have pointed with the proofs, lies the clarity of the correctness of the explanation thereof that it has the meaning of lying together and sexual intercourse.
And since that is correct, the explanation of the verse is: There is no blame upon you, O people, in that whereby you allude toward the women in the waiting period on account of the death of their husbands, with respect to the proposal to the women — and that is your need for them — so long as you do not openly utter to them marriage and the need for them, when you conceal it within yourselves, thus keeping secret your need for them and your proposal to them within yourselves, so long as they are in their waiting period. Allah knows that you will remember their proposal while they are in their waiting period, and therefore He permitted you to allude to that with them, and He lifted the blame concerning that which your souls concealed — a ruling from Him. (72) But He forbade you that you arrange sexual intercourse with them in their waiting period, by one of you saying to one of them in her waiting period: "I have married you within myself, and I only await the elapsing of your waiting period," whereby he requests of her with that word that she make possible for him, with respect to herself, sexual intercourse and lying together. That Allah forbade, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted.
* * *
The explanation of His saying: "except that you speak a proper word"
Abū Jaʿfar said: Then He said, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted: "except that you speak a proper word." He thus made the proper word an exception to that which He forbade, namely the secret tryst of the man with the woman, although it [the proper word] is not of the same kind. It belongs, however, to the exception that I mentioned earlier: that it comes with a meaning that, with respect to its quality in particular, is opposed to what preceded it, and that "illā" therein has the meaning of "lākin" (but), (73) and His saying "except that you speak a proper word" belongs to that — and its meaning is: but speak a proper word. Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, thus permitted that one speak to her the proper word in her waiting period, and that is what He permitted him with His saying: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women," as: -
5172- Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: He says: "Indeed, I desire you, and indeed, I hope that we may be brought together."
5173- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: That is his saying: "If you would see fit not to pass me by with yourself."
5174- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: He means the allusion.
5175- Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: He means the allusion.
5176- Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And there is no blame upon you in that whereby you allude to a proposal of marriage to the women" up to "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: That is the man who enters upon the woman while she is in her waiting period and says: "By Allah, indeed, you are noble equals, and indeed, you are desirable, (74) and indeed, you please me, and if anything is decreed, then it will come to pass." This is the proper word.
5177- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, and ʿAlī related to me, he said: Zayd related to us — both said: Sufyān said: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: He says: "Indeed, I desire you, and indeed, I hope, if Allah wills, that we may be brought together."
5178- Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: He says: "Indeed, you have with me this, and you have with me that, and I will give you this and that." He said: All of this, and everything that there was before he concluded the marriage contract, is abrogated by His saying: "And do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract until the prescribed term reaches its end."
5179- Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, he said: Yazīd informed us, he said: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "except that you speak a proper word." He said: The woman is divorced or her husband dies, and then the man comes to her and says: "Hold yourself for me, for I desire you," whereupon she says: "And I am likewise," so that his soul desires her. (75) That is the proper word.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: "And do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract until the prescribed term reaches its end"
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means by His saying "And do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract": do not make the conclusion of the marriage contract valid during the waiting period of the woman who is passing her waiting period, so as to make it binding between you and them and conclude it before the elapsing of the waiting period = "until the prescribed term reaches its end," that is to say: until they reach the term of the prescribed ordinance which Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, has set forth with His saying: "And those of you who die and leave behind wives — they [the wives] wait with themselves four months and ten [days]." He thus assigned the reaching of the term to the prescribed ordinance, while the meaning pertains to the two who marry: that the man does not marry the woman in the waiting period, so as to firmly resolve to conclude the marriage contract with her before her waiting period has elapsed, so that there is reached the term which Allah has fixed in His Book for the elapsing thereof, as: -
5180- Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, both said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, on the authority of al-Thawrī, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: Until the waiting period has elapsed.
5181- Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning his saying: "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: Until four months and ten [days] have elapsed.
5182- Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying: "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: Until the waiting period has elapsed.
5183- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, the like.
5184- Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: My father related to me, he said: My uncle related to me, he said: My father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: The waiting period elapses.
5185- Al-Qāsim related to me, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: "And do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: Until the waiting period has elapsed.
5186- Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning his saying: "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: He does not marry her until her term has elapsed. (76)
5187- ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, he said: Abū Qutayba related to us, he said: Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning his saying: "And do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: Out of fear that the woman would marry before the elapsing of the waiting period. (77)
5188- ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "And do not firmly resolve upon the conclusion of the marriage contract until the prescribed term reaches its end," until the waiting period has elapsed.
5189- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us = and ʿAlī related to me, he said: Zayd related to us = both together, on the authority of Sufyān, concerning his saying: "until the prescribed term reaches its end." He said: Until the waiting period has elapsed.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: "And know that Allah knows what is within yourselves, so beware of Him, and know that Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing (Ḥalīm)." (235)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, means thereby: And know, O people, that Allah knows what is within yourselves of desire for them and of marriage with them and of other of your affairs, so beware of Him. He says: So beware of Allah and fear Him within yourselves, lest you commit anything of that which He has forbidden you — of the firm resolve to conclude the contract of marriage with them, or the secret tryst with them in their waiting period, or anything else of that which He has forbidden you with respect to them, in the state in which they are passing their waiting period, and in other cases = "and know that Allah is Forgiving," (78) that is to say that He is the One who covers the sins of His servants and places a covering over them, with respect to that which the souls of the men conceal of the proposal to the women in the waiting period, and their remembering them in the state of their waiting period, and in other of their transgressions = and His saying "Forbearing (Ḥalīm)," that is to say that He is the One who has patience and does not hasten to punish His servants for their sins.
----------------
The footnotes:
(42) This is the text of the beginning of the old division:
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Lord, make it easy."
(43) "naṣaba al-shayʾ yanṣibu naṣban": when he aimed at it and directed himself wholly to it.
(44) In the manuscript and the printed edition: "li-uḥsina ilayki," but the correct reading is what I have established.
(45) His saying "min shaʾnihi," that is to say: of his need, his will and his intention. One says: "shaʾana shaʾnahu," that is to say: he aimed at his goal.
(46) In the manuscript: "wa-innaki la-muʿjiba, la-jamīla," and the two are equivalent.
(47) In the printed edition: "lā yaʾkhudhu mīthāqahā an lā tankiḥa ghayrahu," but I have established what is in the manuscript.
(48) Tradition 5123: "ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥanẓala, the washed of the angels (ghasīl al-malāʾika), ibn Abī ʿĀmir the monk (al-rāhib)," he is known as Ibn al-Ghasīl, and that is the grandfather of his father, Ḥanẓala whom the angels washed on the day of Uḥud. Ibn Maʿīn said: "There is no objection to him," he used to err and go astray; Aḥmad said: righteous (ṣāliḥ). He died in the year 171. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb. And "Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī" is Muḥammad al-Bāqir ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and his son is Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq; he belonged to the jurists (fuqahāʾ) of Medina, and was the lord of the Banū Hāshim in his time; he combined knowledge, jurisprudence, nobility, piety, trustworthiness and lordship, and was fit for the caliphate. He is one of the twelve of whose infallibility the Rāfiḍa are convinced — but there is no infallibility except for a prophet! He died in the year 114. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and in Taʾrīkh al-Islām of al-Dhahabī 4: 299. And I have found this report only in al-Baghawī, in the margin of Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr 1: 567.
(49) "kanna al-shayʾ fī ṣadrihi wa-akannahu wa-ktannahu": he concealed it and covered it.
(50) This is the statement of al-Akhfash; see Tafsīr al-Baghawī 1: 567.
(51) In the manuscript and the printed edition: "ʿindahum," and that is not correct; the correct reading is what I have established; see also Tafsīr al-Baghawī 1: 567.
(52) In the printed edition: "wa-qāla ākharūna minhum: al-khuṭba akhṭubu khaṭbahu wa-khaṭban," and that is a wrongly composed utterance, in which there is an addition by a copyist. And in the manuscript: "wa-qāla ākharūna minhum: al-khuṭba wa-khaṭbahu wa-khaṭban," and that is likewise incorrect; the correct reading is what I have established. If there is a defect or a lacuna in the words of Ṭabarī, then it is the explanation of this word, and the author of Asās al-balāgha has clarified it by saying: "fulān yakhṭubu ʿamala kadhā: he strives for it. And 'qad akhṭabaka al-ṣayd fa-rmihi' — that is to say: it has come near to you and made it possible for you. And 'akhṭabaka al-amr,' and it is 'amr mukhṭib': and its meaning is: it has been brought near to you — from 'ṭalabtu ilayhi ḥājatan fa-aṭlabanī.' And 'mā khaṭbuka': what is your matter that you pursue. And of this is: 'hādhā khaṭb yasīr' (this is a minor affair), and 'khaṭb jalīl' (a weighty affair). And 'huwa yuqāsī khuṭūb al-dahr' (he endures the calamities of time)." What I have taken from al-Zamakhsharī has thus clarified that he wished to say: "khaṭaba al-amra yakhṭubuhu khiṭbatan wa-khaṭban," that is to say: he strove for it. And Abū Jaʿfar did not give the explanation of this word in full at "Sūrat Ṭā Hā," verse 95, and there he laid down his explanation of it.
(53) This addition between brackets is indispensable; he means: the utterance about which one preaches/strives.
(54) He means that it is a verbal noun (maṣdar); see what has preceded concerning the "fiʿla" form in the indexes of the Arabist treatises in the previous volumes, and see Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 152, and Tafsīr Abī Ḥayyān 2: 221.
(55) "laḥn al-kalām": that is the implication in speech without the open utterance, and the wording of Ṭabarī in the explanation of this word is an excellent wording. There is in the lexical works nothing resembling it in the elucidation of this lemma.
(56) The grammarians mentioned that that has been said, and they adduced as proof the saying of Abū Quṭayfa:
Sometimes people conceal secrets, but I know them, and they do not even reach my secret unto death.
(57) I have not been able to ascertain the poet of it.
(58) Maʿānī al-Farrāʾ 1: 152, and al-Lisān (lemma kanna). "Qudāmiyyāt" is the plural of "qudāmā," and "al-qudāmā" is singular and plural, and it is here singular. And "al-qudāmā" and "al-qawādim" in the bird are ten flight feathers in each wing. And his saying "thalāth min thalāth qudāmiyyāt," it is as though he means that from the foremost flight feathers of three birds he chose three feathers of his plumage, and it is as though he means that for his arrows, with which he fletches the arrows with feathers. And "al-ṣaqīʿ" is that which falls during the night, resembling snow.
(59) In the printed edition: "bil-tāʾi huwa ajwadu," and the addition of the wāw comes from the manuscript. This sentence is, in my opinion, not clear in meaning, and it is as though the correct reading of it is: "wa-tukannu bil-tāʾi al-maḍmūma, wa-huwa ajwad wa-yukannu." And he means that the first is from "akanna yukinnu," and that the other is from "kanna yakunnu," as becomes clear from this his argument. And al-Farrāʾ followed this verse by saying: "And some transmit it as 'tukannu' from 'aknantu.'" This thus strengthens what I have assumed.
(60) His saying "lahā" is connected with his saying "al-taʿrīḍ," that is to say: the allusion toward her, and the import of this sentence and the following is: "And in the fact that Allah, the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, has permitted ... lies that which has made clear the difference between the ruling on allusion [and the ruling on the open utterance]." And his saying "minhu" in the following sentence means: the difference between the ruling on allusion and the ruling on the open utterance.
(61) Tradition 5136: "Ṣāliḥ al-Dahhān" is Ṣāliḥ ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dahhān al-Juhanī, Abū Nūḥ. He is trustworthy (thiqa). He has a biography in al-Jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl 2/1/393; see al-Tahdhīb 4: 388. And Jābir ibn Zayd al-Azdī, Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, has a biography in al-Tahdhīb; he transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn al-Zubayr. He died in the year 93.
(62) In the printed edition: "al-zinya" in this place and the following, and the correct reading comes from the manuscript. And "al-rība" (with kasra on the rāʾ): the doubt, the suspicion and the accusation, and it is a description of every reprehensible matter about which, and about whose perpetrator, one is in doubt.
(63) "al-khaḍʿ" (with fatḥa and then sukūn) is the verbal noun of "khaḍaʿa al-rajul": he made the speech soft and cajoling toward the woman. In the manuscript it is recorded with ḍamma on the khāʾ, but I have not found that. And "khaḍaʿa" belongs to the paradigm of "nafaʿa"; the author of Miʿyār al-lugha has expressly established that. And in the tradition of ʿUmar it stands that a man in his time passed by a man and a woman who had made the conversation cajolingly soft with each other, and he struck him until he inflicted a head wound upon him; the matter was brought before ʿUmar, and he declared [the blood of the struck one] void (ahdarahu) — that is to say: they had softened the conversation between them and spoke in a manner that made each of the two desire the other. And "khaḍaʿa al-qawl" will likewise occur in his tafsīr 22: 3 (Būlāq edition), and it will also occur in tradition number 5162.
(64) In the printed edition: "lā yuqāṣṣuhā," and so it stands also in the manuscript, undotted, and the correct reading of it is what I have established. "qāḍāhu ʿalā al-amr": he decided concerning it, made it binding, imposed it and concluded it. And in the document of the Treaty of al-Ḥudaybiya: "This is that which Muḥammad agreed upon (qāḍā) ..." and that resembles a treaty.
(65) In the printed edition: "wa-yaʾkhudhu ʿalayhā ʿahdan an lā tankiḥī ..." with the addition of "an," but I have established what is in the manuscript, for that is the correct and good reading.
(66) In the printed edition: "wa-yaʾkhudhu ʿalayhā ʿahdan an lā tankiḥī ..." with the addition of "an," but I have established what is in the manuscript, for that is the correct and good reading.
(67) See the note on the preceding tradition: 5152.
(68) His dīwān: 104, and al-Lisān (lemmata: ʿasaq, ʿishq, firk, sarr); and in al-Lisān it stands in some of its lemmata "isrārihā" (with kasra), and that is incorrect, and in some of them "al-ghasaq," and that is likewise incorrect. And "al-asrār" is the plural of "sirr." And "al-ʿasaq" is the verbal noun of "ʿasiqa bihi yaʿsaqu": he attached himself to it and was infatuated with it. And "al-firk" (with kasra on the fāʾ and sukūn on the rāʾ): the aversion of the man toward his wife, or the aversion of his wife toward him. And a woman is "fārik" and "farūk" [when] she detests her husband, and a man is "mufrak" (with doubling of the rāʾ) [when] he enjoys no favor with the women. And "al-ʿishq" (with kasra and then sukūn) and "al-ʿashaq" (with two fatḥas) are the verbal noun of "ʿashiqa yaʿshaqu." And the pronoun in his saying "fa-ʿaffa" refers to the wild ass that he describes, and whose she-asses he describes. And the pronoun in "asrārihā" refers to the she-asses.
(69) His dīwān: 93, and al-Lisān (lemma anf). He praises the Banū Riyāḥ and the Banū Kulayb of the Banū Yarbūʿ. "Anf" of every matter: the utmost and the beginning of it. And "al-qiṣāʿ" is the plural of "qaṣʿa": that is the large dish. He mentions their chastity, their protection [of honor] and their refusal to violate the inviolability of the neighbor's wife and to commit sin against her, and he describes their generosity and the fact that they prefer their neighbor over themselves at food, so that they do not precede him at the food until he takes of it what he desires and what suffices him. And before the verse:
The neighbor of the Banū Riyāḥ is no neighbor who is neglected or abandoned in drought.
They have prepared for their neighbor, and the hand of the clumsy woman is not like the hand of the skilled.
(70) In the printed edition: "nafs al-muwāʿidīna al-mutawāʿidīna," and the correct reading comes from the manuscript.
(71) This addition I have inferred from hundreds of its likes that have passed by.
(72) In the printed edition: "ḥilman minhu," and I have established the correct reading which is in the manuscript.
(73) See what has preceded 2: 263-265, and then 3: 204-206.
(74) In the printed edition and the manuscript: "li-raʿa," and it is in the manuscript undotted, and I have read it thus — because it fits better, and because for his saying "raʿa" I have found no meaning. And he named the woman "raghba" (desire), as one names her "hawā" (longing) with the verbal noun, that is to say: he desires you. And of this is "al-raghība": that is that which is desired.
(75) In the manuscript: "fa-tuʾtī nafsuhu lahā," and I have not found it in another place, and what is in the printed edition is acceptable, and it is close to the indication of the meaning.
(76) "khalā al-shayʾ yakhlū khuluwwan": it passed by and elapsed.
(77) Tradition 5187: "Abū Qutayba" is Salm ibn Qutayba al-Shaʿīrī, Abū Qutayba al-Khurāsānī. "Trustworthy (thiqa), there is no objection to him, his transmission is recorded." He died in the year 201. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb.
(78) See "Ghafūr" in what has preceded, in the lexical indexes in the previous volumes.
