Tafseer of She that is to be examined · Al-Mumtahana · 60:11
And if you have lost any of your wives to the disbelievers and you subsequently obtain [something], then give those whose wives have gone the equivalent of what they had spent. And fear Allah, in whom you are believers.
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: وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي أَنْتُمْ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ (And if any of your wives slip away from you to the disbelievers, and you then obtain retribution, give to those whose wives have gone the like of what they had spent; and fear Allah, in Whom you are believers) (60:11).
The Exalted, Whose praise is exalted, says to the believers among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ ) (And if there slips away from you), O believers, ( شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ) (anything of your wives to the disbelievers), that is to say: she joins them.
The scholars of exegesis differed concerning who is meant by His saying ( إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ) (to the disbelievers): who are they? Some said: they are the disbelievers (kuffār) between whom and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ there was no treaty. They said: the meaning of the words is: and if anything of your wives slips away from you and goes over to those of the disbelievers between whom and you there was no treaty.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ): those between whom and you there is no treaty.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ): when they flee away from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ to disbelievers between whom and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ there is no treaty.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ), he said: those between whom there was no treaty.
And others said: rather they are the disbelievers of Quraysh, who were in a state of truce. That is the saying of al-Zuhrī.
Yūnus related that to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yūnus informed me of that from him.
And His saying ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ) (and you then obtain retribution): the Qurʾān reciters differed concerning its reading. The general reciters of the cities read it ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ) with an alif, according to the pattern "fāʿaltum", with the meaning: you have obtained from them a recompense (ʿuqbā). And Ḥumayd al-Aʿraj read it, according to what has been transmitted about him, ( فَعَقَّبْتُمْ ) according to the pattern "faʿaltum" with doubling of the qāf. Both forms differ only in wording and are comparable to His saying وَلا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ (And do not turn your cheek away from people in arrogance), where also "tuṣāʿir" occurs, with closely related meanings.
Abū Jaʿfar said: the correct of the two readings, in my judgment therein, is the reading of whoever read it ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ) with the alif, because of the agreement of the authoritative reciters upon it.
And His saying ( فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ) (give to those whose wives have gone the like of what they had spent) says: give then to those among you whose wives have gone to the disbelievers the like of what they had spent for them as the bridal gift (mahr).
The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the wealth out of which it was commanded to give to the one whose wife had gone to the polytheists (mushrikīn). Some said: they were commanded to give them the bridal gift of whoever, among the wives of the polytheists, had joined them.
* Mention of who said this:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, saying: the believers acknowledged the judgment of Allah and paid what they had been commanded of the expenditures of the polytheists which the latter had made for their wives; but the polytheists refused to acknowledge the judgment of Allah concerning what had been imposed upon them, namely to compensate the expenditures of the Muslims. So Allah said to the believers: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي أَنْتُمْ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ ). So if, after this verse, a woman of the wives of the believers were to go to the polytheists, then the believers would return to her husband the expenditure he had made for her, out of the ʿuqb (retribution) which they held in hand — that which they had been commanded to return to the polytheists of their expenditures which they had made for their wives who had become believers and had emigrated — and after that they would return to the polytheists the surplus, if anything remained for them. And the ʿuqb is: that which was in the hands of the believers of the bridal gifts of the wives of the disbelievers when they had become believers and had emigrated.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, saying: Allah revealed ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ). So Allah commanded the believers to return the bridal gift: when a woman of the Muslims went away while she had a husband, then the Muslims would return to him the bridal gift of his wife out of the bridal gift that was in their hands of what they had been commanded to return to the polytheists.
And others said: rather they were commanded to give it to him out of the war booty (ghanīma) or the fayʾ.
* Mention of who said this:
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, concerning His saying: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي أَنْتُمْ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ ): he means: if the wife of a man of the emigrants (muhājirūn) joined the disbelievers, then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded that he be given out of the war booty the like of what he had spent.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: they were commanded to return to them out of the war booty. And Mujāhid used to read: ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ).
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ), he says: you have obtained a war booty from Quraysh or others, ( فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ): their bridal gifts, as compensation.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ), he said: of those between whom there was no treaty, and a woman went away to the polytheists, then there is given to her husband the bridal gift of her like; ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ): and you have obtained a war booty, ( فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ), he said: the bridal gift of her like is given to her husband.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ): they were such that when they fled away from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ to the disbelievers between whom and the Prophet of Allah there was no treaty, and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ thereafter obtained a war booty, then her husband would receive out of the entire war booty what he had paid to her as a bridal gift, and after that they divided their war booty.
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: I heard al-Kisāʾī report on the authority of Zāʾida, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Masrūq, that he read it ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ) and explained it as: you have obtained spoils.
Aḥmad related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: ( فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ), he said: you have obtained spoils.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, saying: we asked al-Zuhrī about this verse and the saying of Allah therein: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ ) — the verse — he said: He says: if any of you loses his wife and she goes over to the disbelievers, and no woman comes to you for whom you may take the like of what they take from you, then compensate him out of the fayʾ, if you obtain it.
And others said concerning it what Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ), he said: a woman of the people of Islam went away to the polytheists, and none other than she went away. He said: then a woman of the polytheists came, and the people said: this is your ʿuqba (retribution) that has come to you. So Allah said ( وَإِنْ فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ ): you have held back the one who came to you from them, because of that which you had owing to you with them, ( فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُمْ مِثْلَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا ). Then Allah informed them that there is no sin upon them, when they have done what they did, that they marry her, after her womb has been ascertained to be free of pregnancy (istibrāʾ). He said: then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called the one whose wife had gone to the disbelievers, and he said to this woman who had come from among the polytheists: "This is the husband of the one who went away; shall I marry you to him?" She said: "O Messenger of Allah, Allah excuses the wife of this man for fleeing away from him; no, by Allah, I have no need of him." Then al-Bukhtarī, a heavily built man, called out. He said: "This one?" She said: "Yes." And she was among those who had come from Mecca.
* And the correct of the sayings concerning it is that one says: Allah, mighty and exalted, commanded in this verse the believers that they give to the one whose wife of the believers had fled to the people of disbelief the like of what they had spent on the fugitive woman who had gone over from them to them — that is, when they had upon the people of disbelief a retribution (ʿuqbā), whether by a war booty which they obtained from them, or by some of their wives joining them. And He did not restrict this giving to one wealth rather than another; so it is their obligation to give it to them out of all the kinds of wealth that we have mentioned.
And His saying ( وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي أَنْتُمْ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ ) (and fear Allah, in Whom you are believers) says: and fear Allah, in Whom you are believers, O believers; so fear Him by fulfilling His obligations and avoiding His sins.
