Tafseer of She that is to be examined · Al-Mumtahana · 60:10
O you who have believed, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, examine them. Allah is most knowing as to their faith. And if you know them to be believers, then do not return them to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful [husbands] for them. But give the disbelievers what they have spent. And there is no blame upon you if you marry them when you have given them their due compensation. And hold not to marriage bonds with disbelieving women, but ask for what you have spent and let them ask for what they have spent. That is the judgement of Allah; He judges between you. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.
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 His word, the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ فَلا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ لا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them. Allah knows best concerning their faith. If you know them to be believers, then do not send them back to the disbelievers; they are not lawful for them, nor are they lawful for them") (10).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to the believers among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ ("O you who believe, when there come to you") the women, الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ ("the believing women as emigrants") from the territory of disbelief to the territory of Islam, فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("then test them"). And the testing by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of them, when they arrived as emigrants, was as follows.
As Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of al-Agharr ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, on the authority of Khalīfa ibn Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Naṣr al-Asadī, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās was asked: how was the testing by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of the women? He said: he used to test them (by having them swear): by Allah, you did not leave out of aversion to a husband; by Allah, you did not leave out of a desire to move from one land to another; by Allah, you did not leave in pursuit of worldly gain; by Allah, you left only out of love for Allah and His Messenger.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, on the authority of Qays, he said: al-Agharr ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ informed us, on the authority of Khalīfa ibn Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Naṣr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them"). He said: when a woman came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he had her swear by Allah that she had not left... — and then he mentioned something similar.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, that ʿĀʾisha said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ tested the believing women only with the verse; Allah said: إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ عَلَى أَنْ لا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا ("When the believing women come to you to pledge allegiance to you that they will not associate anything with Allah") and so forth and so forth.
Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr informed me, that ʿĀʾisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, said: the believing women, when they emigrated to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, were tested with the word of Allah: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ ("O Prophet, when the believing women come to you to pledge allegiance to you") ... to the end of the verse. ʿĀʾisha said: whoever of the believing women agreed to this had thereby acknowledged the pledge; and when they agreed to it, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to them: depart, I have accepted your allegiance. And, by Allah, the hand of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ never touched the hand of a woman; he accepted their allegiance only with the word. ʿĀʾisha said: by Allah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ never took from the women anything other than that which Allah, Mighty and Exalted, commanded him; and he used to say to them, when he took their pledge of allegiance: I have accepted your allegiance — as a word.
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, concerning His word: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants") ... up to His word: عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("All-Knowing, All-Wise"): their testing was that they bore witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("then test them"), he said: ask them what brought them; and if they have come out of anger toward their husbands, or out of resentment or something else, and they do not believe, then send them back to their husbands.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("then test them"): their testing was that they swore by Allah: it was no marital discord (nushūz) that made you leave, and nothing made you leave but love for Islam and its people and a longing for it. When they said that, it was accepted from them.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("then test them"), he said: they swear that they left only out of a desire for Islam and out of love for Allah and His Messenger.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of his father or of ʿIkrima: إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them"), he said: it is said: nothing brought you but love for Allah; no infatuation with a man of ours brought you, and no flight from your husband. That is His word: فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("then test them").
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: a woman of the polytheists used to say, when she was angry with her husband and words had passed between him and her: by Allah, I will emigrate to Muḥammad ﷺ and his Companions. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted, said: إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them"): if anger brought her, then send her back; and if Islam brought her, then do not send her back.
Yūnus related to us, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith related to me, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Ashajj, he said: their testing was: nothing made you leave but the religion.
His word: اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ ("Allah knows best concerning their faith"). He says: Allah knows best concerning the faith of the women who have come to you as emigrants.
His word: فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ فَلا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ("if you know them to be believers, then do not send them back to the disbelievers"). He says: if at the testing they acknowledge what makes the covenant of faith valid for them and their entry into Islam, then do not send them back thereby to the disbelievers. And this was said only to the believers, because between the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the polytheists of Quraysh, at the truce of al-Ḥudaybiya, a treaty had been concluded that the Muslims would return to the polytheists whoever came to them as a Muslim. Then that condition was annulled with respect to the women, when they came as believing emigrants and were tested, and the Muslims found them to be believers, and that was established for them by what we mentioned earlier; and they were commanded not to send them back to the polytheists when it was established that they were believers. And He, exalted is His praise, said to them: فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ فَلا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ لا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ ("if you know them to be believers, then do not send them back to the disbelievers; they are not lawful for them, nor are they lawful for them"). He says: neither are the believing women lawful for the disbelievers, nor are the disbelievers lawful for the believing women.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the reports have come.
* Mention of part of what has been transmitted in narration about this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: I entered upon ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, while he was writing a letter to Ibn Abī Hunayd, the official of al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, who had written to him asking him about the word of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ ("when the believing women come to you as emigrants") ... up to His word: وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise"). And ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr wrote back to him: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in the year of al-Ḥudaybiya, had concluded a treaty with Quraysh that he would return to them whoever came without the permission of his guardian. When the women emigrated to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and to Islam, Allah refused that they be sent back to the polytheists, when they underwent the testing of Islam and it was acknowledged that they had come only out of a desire for it.
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: وَآتُوهُمْ مَا أَنْفَقُوا وَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ تَنْكِحُوهُنَّ إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ وَلْيَسْأَلُوا مَا أَنْفَقُوا ذَلِكُمْ حُكْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("And give them what they have spent. And there is no sin upon you that you marry them, provided you give them their wages. And do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women, and ask back what you have spent, and let them ask back what they have spent. That is the judgment of Allah; He judges between you. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise") (10).
His word: وَآتُوهُمْ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ("And give them what they have spent"). He, exalted is His praise, says: and give to the polytheists from whom the believing women have come to you — when you know that they are believers and you do not send them back to them — what they spent at their marriage as dower (mahr).
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
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, concerning His word: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants") ... up to His word: عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("All-Knowing, All-Wise"), he said: their testing was that they bore witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger. When it was then known that this was sincere from them, they were not sent back to the disbelievers, and to her husband among the disbelievers with whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had concluded a treaty, the dower that he had given her as bridal gift was given.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَآتُوهُمْ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ("And give them what they have spent"): give to their husbands their dowers.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them. Allah knows best concerning their faith"), until he reached: وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise"): this is a judgment that Allah, Mighty and Exalted, passed between the people of guidance and the people of error. When they fled from the polytheists between whom and the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and his Companions there was a treaty, to the Companions of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, and these married them, they sent their dowers to their husbands among the polytheists between whom and the Prophet of Allah ﷺ there was a treaty; and when they fled from the Companions of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ to the polytheists between whom and the Prophet of Allah ﷺ there was a treaty, they sent their dowers to their husbands among the Companions of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: it was revealed to him while he was at the lower part of al-Ḥudaybiya. The Prophet ﷺ had concluded a treaty with them that he would return to them whoever of them came to him. When the women came to him, this verse was revealed to him, and He commanded him to return the dower to their husbands; and He judged concerning the polytheists likewise: when a woman of the Muslims came to them, they had to return the dower to her husbands. Then He said: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women").
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ ("then test them. Allah knows best concerning their faith"): the Prophet of Allah ﷺ had concluded a treaty with the polytheists and with the People of the Book; he concluded a treaty with them and they with him, and among the conditions it was stipulated that they would return the possessions and the women. So when one of the wives of the believers escaped from the Prophet of Allah and joined the treaty party, abandoning her religion and choosing polytheism, he returned to her husband what he had spent on her. And when one of the wives of the polytheists joined the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, the Prophet of Allah ﷺ tested her and asked her: what made you leave your people? If he found that she had left out of a desire for Islam, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ accepted her and returned to her husband what he had spent on her. And if he found that she had fled from her husband to another with whom there was a kinship between her and him, while she clung to polytheism, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent her back to her husband among the polytheists.
Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them") ... the whole verse, he said: when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concluded an armistice with the polytheists, in the condition that he stipulated it stood: that there be returned to us whoever of us comes to you, and we return to you whoever of you comes to us. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever of you comes to us, we return him to you; but whoever of us comes to you and prefers disbelief over faith, of him we have no need." He said: then Allah refused that for the Prophet ﷺ with respect to the women, and He did not refuse it with respect to the men. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted, said: إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ("when the believing women come to you as emigrants, then test them") ... up to His word: وَآتُوهُمْ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ("And give them what they have spent") — their husbands.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Ashajj, he said: there was between the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the polytheists an armistice concerning whoever of the women fled; when a polytheist woman fled, the Muslims returned to her husband his expenditure for her. The Muslims did this; and when neither these nor those gave anything, the Muslims paid out for the Muslim whose wife had left, her expenditure.
His word: وَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ تَنْكِحُوهُنَّ إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ("And there is no sin upon you that you marry them, provided you give them their wages"). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and there is no objection upon you, O believers, that you marry these emigrating women who have joined you from the land of war, separated from their husbands — even though they have husbands in the land of war — when you know that they are believers, provided you give them their wages. And by "wages" He means: the dowers. And Qatāda used to say: when they fled from the polytheists between whom and the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and his Companions there was a treaty, to the Companions of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, and these married them, they sent their dowers to their husbands among the polytheists between whom and the Companions of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ there was a treaty.
That Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda. And al-Zuhrī used to say: Allah only commanded that their dower be returned to them when they were kept away from them, provided they returned to the Muslims the dower of the women who were kept away from them.
That Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī. Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: وَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ تَنْكِحُوهُنَّ ("And there is no sin upon you that you marry them") — while she has a husband there, for Islam has separated them — when you have ascertained their wombs to be free of pregnancy (istibrāʾ).
His word: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"). He, exalted is His praise, says to the believers in Him among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: do not hold, O believers, to the bonds of the disbelieving women and their ties. "The disbelieving women" (al-kawāfir) is the plural of kāfira (disbelieving woman), and "the bonds" (al-ʿiṣam) is the plural of ʿiṣma, and that is that to which one clings of covenant and tie. This is a prohibition from Allah to the believers against proceeding to marry polytheist women among the idolaters, and a command to them to separate from them.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān related to us, he said: ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Miswar ibn Makhrama and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam: that there came to the Prophet ﷺ believing women after the document of the agreement between him and Quraysh had been drawn up. Then Allah revealed: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants"), until he reached: بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"). ʿUmar on that day divorced two women he had had in polytheism; one of them Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān married, and the other Ṣafwān ibn Umayya.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: it reached us that the verse of testing (āyat al-miḥna), with which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dealt with the disbelievers of Quraysh, was because of the treaty that existed between the disbelievers of Quraysh and the Prophet ﷺ; the Prophet ﷺ used to return to the disbelievers of Quraysh what they had spent for their wives who converted and emigrated, while their husbands were disbelievers, because of the treaty that existed between the Prophet ﷺ and them. And had they been in a state of war, without there being between them and the Prophet ﷺ a term and a covenant, he would not have returned to them anything of what they had spent. And Allah judged for the believers against the people of the treaty among the disbelievers likewise. Allah said: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as emigrants"), until he reached: وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise"). When this verse was revealed, the believers divorced every disbelieving woman who was with any of them; ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, divorced his wife, the daughter of Abū Umayya ibn al-Mughīra of the Banū Makhzūm, and Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān married her; and the daughter of Jarwal of Khuzāʿa, and Abū Jahm ibn Ḥudhāfa al-ʿAdawī married her. And Allah made that a judgment by which He judged between the believers and the polytheists during that term that existed.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, he said: and al-Zuhrī said: when this verse was revealed, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ ("O you who believe, when the believing women come to you") ... up to His word: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"), among those who divorced was: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, who divorced his wife Qarība, daughter of Abū Umayya ibn al-Mughīra, whom afterwards Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān married — both of them in their polytheism at Mecca; and Umm Kulthūm, daughter of Jarwal al-Khuzāʿiyya, the mother of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, whom Abū Jahm ibn Ḥudhāfa ibn Ghānim, a man of his own people, married — both of them in their polytheism. And Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbaydillāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAmr al-Taymī had with him Arwā, daughter of Rabīʿa ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib; Islam separated between them when the Qurʾān forbade holding to the bonds of the disbelieving women. Ṭalḥa had emigrated while she was at Mecca, upon the religion of her people; thereafter, in Islam, after Ṭalḥa, Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams married her. And among those who fled to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ among the disbelieving women — between whom and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ there was no treaty, so that he held her and married her to a man of the Muslims — was Umayma, daughter of Bishr al-Anṣāriyya; further, one of the women of the Banū Umayya ibn Zayd of Aws Allāh, who was with Thābit ibn al-Daḥdāḥa; she fled from him, while he was that day a disbeliever, to the Messenger of Allah, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ married her to Sahl ibn Ḥunayf, one of the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf; and she bore ʿAbdullāh ibn Sahl.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: Allah said: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"). Al-Zuhrī said: then ʿUmar divorced two women he had at Mecca.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"), he said: the Companions of Muḥammad were commanded to divorce their disbelieving wives at Mecca, who had remained with the disbelievers.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"): the polytheist women of the Arabs who refused Islam — it was commanded to let them go free.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ ("and do not hold to the marriage bonds with the disbelieving women"): when the woman becomes a disbeliever, then do not hold her, let her go; the separation between her and her husband is accomplished as soon as she becomes a disbeliever.
The reciters differed concerning the recitation of His word: وَلا تُمْسِكُوا ("and do not hold"). The general body of reciters of the Ḥijāz, Medina, Kūfa, and Syria recited it as وَلا تُمْسِكُوا with lightening (takhfīf) of the sīn. And Abū ʿAmr recited it as وَلا تُمَسِّكُوا with doubling (tashdīd) of it; and it was mentioned that this is the recitation of al-Ḥasan. And whoever recites it with lightening took into consideration: وَإِمْسَاكٌ بِمَعْرُوفٍ ("and the proper holding").
And the correct ruling concerning this is that they are both well-known recitations and two famous linguistic forms; from the Arabs it is transmitted: amsaktu bihi and masaktu, and tamassaktu bihi.
His word: وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ وَلْيَسْأَلُوا مَا أَنْفَقُوا ("and ask back what you have spent, and let them ask back what they have spent"). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to the husbands of the women who have joined, from among the believers from the territory of Islam, the polytheists at Mecca, the disbelievers of Quraysh: ask back, O believers whose wives have left and joined the polytheists, what you spent on your wives who joined them as dower, from whoever among them marries her; and let the polytheists among them, whose wives have joined you as believers, ask you back — when these among you marry — what they spent on them as dower, from whoever among you marries her.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: the believers acknowledged the judgment of Allah and paid what they had been commanded of the expenditures of the polytheists that they had made for their wives; but the polytheists refused to acknowledge the judgment of Allah with respect to what He had imposed upon them of paying the expenditures of the Muslims.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ وَلْيَسْأَلُوا مَا أَنْفَقُوا ("and ask back what you have spent, and let them ask back what they have spent"), he said: whatever of the wives of the Companions of Muḥammad ﷺ has gone away to the disbelievers — let the disbelievers give them their dowers and keep them; and whatever of the wives of the disbelievers has gone away to the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ — likewise; by virtue of a truce that existed between Muḥammad ﷺ and Quraysh.
His word: ذَلِكُمْ حُكْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ ("That is the judgment of Allah; He judges between you"). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: this judgment that I have passed between you — by commanding you, O believers, to ask the polytheists for what you spent on your wives who joined them, and by commanding them to ask you likewise concerning their wives who joined you — is the judgment of Allah between you; so do not transgress it, for it is the truth above which no other is heeded. Thus the believers among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ submitted, according to what is mentioned, to the command of Allah and His judgment; but the polytheists withheld themselves from that and demanded fulfillment of the conditions they had stipulated among themselves in that truce. And in that sense the reports and accounts have come from the scholars of historical narration (ahl al-siyar) and others.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: as for the believers, they acknowledged the judgment of Allah; and as for the polytheists, they refused to acknowledge it. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted, revealed: وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ("and if anything of your wives escapes you to the disbelievers") ... the verse.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: Allah said: ذَلِكُمْ حُكْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ ("That is the judgment of Allah; He judges between you"). Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ held the women and returned the men; and he asked for that which Allah had commanded him to ask of the dowers of the women whom they had held, and that they return to them likewise what they returned to them, if they did so. And had it not been for that judgment which Allah passed concerning this, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have returned the women just as he returned the men; and had it not been for the armistice and the covenant that existed between him and Quraysh on the day of al-Ḥudaybiya, he would have held the women and not returned to them any dower. And likewise he did with the Muslim women who came to him before the treaty. His word: وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ("and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise"). He, exalted is His praise, says: and Allah has knowledge of what benefits His creation and of other matters, All-Wise in His governance of them.
