Tafseer of She that is to be examined · Al-Mumtahana · 60:12
O Prophet, when the believing women come to you pledging to you that they will not associate anything with Allah, nor will they steal, nor will they commit unlawful sexual intercourse, nor will they kill their children, nor will they bring forth a slander they have invented between their arms and legs, nor will they disobey you in what is right - then accept their pledge and ask forgiveness for them of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
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: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ عَلَى أَنْ لا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَلا يَسْرِقْنَ وَلا يَزْنِينَ وَلا يَقْتُلْنَ أَوْلادَهُنَّ وَلا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَانٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ فَبَايِعْهُنَّ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُنَّ اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ("O Prophet, when the believing women come to you to pledge allegiance to you that they will not associate anything with Allah, will not steal, will not commit fornication, will not kill their children, will not bring forth a slander that they fabricate between their hands and their feet, and will not disobey you in anything proper — then accept their pledge of allegiance and ask Allah for forgiveness for them; truly, Allah is forgiving, merciful") (60:12).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ ("O Prophet, when the believing women come to you") — those who believe in Allah — يُبَايِعْنَكَ عَلَى أَنْ لا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَلا يَسْرِقْنَ وَلا يَزْنِينَ وَلا يَقْتُلْنَ أَوْلادَهُنَّ وَلا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَانٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ ("to pledge allegiance to you that they will not associate anything with Allah, will not steal, will not commit fornication (zinā), will not kill their children, and will not bring forth a slander that they fabricate between their hands and their feet") — He says: and that they will not bring forth a falsehood that they fabricate concerning a child found between their hands and their feet. The meaning of the saying is merely: and that they will not attribute to their husbands children who are not theirs.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: وَلا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَانٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ ("and will not bring forth a slander that they fabricate between their hands and their feet") — he says: they will not attribute to their husbands children who are not theirs.
His saying: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ ("and will not disobey you in anything proper") — He says: and that they will not disobey you, O Muḥammad, in anything proper from the command of Allah, mighty and exalted is He, that you enjoin upon them. And it has been mentioned that the proper thing (maʿrūf) which He laid down upon them as a condition — that they not disobey the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, therein — is wailing in mourning (niyāḥa).
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he says: they will not wail in mourning.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, concerning وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: wailing in mourning.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, the like of it.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim, the like of it.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to us, saying: Mūsā ibn ʿUmayr related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His saying: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: concerning wailing in mourning.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, concerning وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: wailing in mourning.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, concerning وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: they will not scratch open a face, nor tear open a collar, nor cry out "woe!", nor recite [mourning] verses.
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, who said: "The testing of the women was that the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — instructed ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: say to her: truly, the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — accepts your pledge of allegiance that you will not associate anything with Allah. And Hind bint ʿUtba ibn Rabīʿa, the one who had ripped open the belly of Ḥamza — may Allah's mercy be upon him — was disguised among the women, and she said: truly, if I speak he will recognize me, and if he recognizes me he will kill me — she was disguised only out of fear of the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The women who were with Hind kept silent and refused to speak. Hind said, while she was disguised: how can he accept from the women something he did not accept from the men? Then the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — looked at her and said to ʿUmar: say to them: 'and that they will not steal.' Hind said: by Allah, I sometimes take a trifle from Abū Sufyān, and I do not know whether he considers that permissible for me or not. Abū Sufyān said: what you have taken of what is past, or what yet remains, that is permissible for you. Then the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — laughed and recognized her, and he called her, and she came to him and took his hand and sought protection with him. He said: you are Hind. She said: may Allah forgive what has passed. Then the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — did [not] turn away from her, and he said: 'and that they will not commit fornication.' She said: O Messenger of Allah, does a free woman commit fornication? He said: no, by Allah, a free woman does not commit fornication. He said: 'and that they will not kill their children.' Hind said: you killed them on the day of Badr, so you and they know that best. He said: 'and that they will not bring forth a slander that they fabricate between their hands and their feet, and will not disobey you in anything proper.' He said: He forbade them to wail in mourning, whereas the people of the Jāhiliyya would tear their garments, scratch open their faces, cut off their hair, and cry out for ruin and woe."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ ("O Prophet, when the believing women come to you to pledge allegiance to you") until he reached فَبَايِعْهُنَّ ("then accept their pledge of allegiance") — it has been transmitted to us that the Prophet of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — took the pledge from them on that day against wailing in mourning, and: do not speak with men, except with a man among you who is a maḥram (an unmarriageable relative). Then ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf said: O Prophet of Allah, we have guests, and we are absent from our wives. He said: then the Messenger of Allah said: "It is not those whom I meant."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: that is wailing in mourning; the pledge was taken from them that they would not wail in mourning, and that they would not be alone in conversation with men, except with a maḥram relative. He said: then ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf said: we are sometimes absent and we have guests. He said: "It is not those whom I meant."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl informed us, saying: Qatāda related to us, concerning His saying: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: they will not speak with a man.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn ʿAyyāsh related to me, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, who said: "Umayma bint Ruqayqa came to the Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — to pledge allegiance to him upon Islam, and the Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — said to her: I take your pledge of allegiance that you will not associate anything with Allah, will not steal, will not commit fornication, will not kill your child, will not bring forth a slander that you fabricate between your hands and your feet, will not wail in mourning, and will not adorn yourself as the adornment of the first Jāhiliyya."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Umayma bint Ruqayqa, she said: "Women came to the Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — to pledge allegiance to him, and he said: 'in that which you are able and capable of.' Then we said: Allah and His Messenger are more merciful to us than we are to ourselves."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to us, saying: my father and Shuʿayb ibn al-Layth related to us, on the authority of al-Layth, saying: Khālid ibn Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Hilāl, on the authority of Ibn al-Munkadir, "that Umayma informed him that she entered upon the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — amid women, and they said: O Messenger of Allah, stretch out your hand so that we may shake it. He said: I do not shake the hands of women, but I will take [the pledge] from you. Then he took [the pledge] from us, until he reached وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ , and he said: 'in that which you are capable of and able to do.' Then we said: Allah is more merciful to us than we are to ourselves."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Umm ʿAṭiyya al-Anṣāriyya, she said: "Among that which was laid upon us as proper when we pledged allegiance was that we would not wail in mourning. Then a woman of the Banū So-and-so said: truly, the Banū So-and-so assisted me [in mourning], so [I will not desist] until I requite them. Then she went and assisted them, and afterward she came and pledged allegiance. He said: and none of them kept her word except her and Umm Sulaym bint Milḥān, the mother of Anas ibn Mālik."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Farrūkh al-Qattāt related to us, saying: Muṣʿab ibn Nūḥ al-Anṣārī related to us, saying: "I met an old woman of ours who was among those who had pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. She said: I came to him to pledge allegiance to him, and among the things he took from us was: 'and you will not wail in mourning.' Then an old woman said: O Prophet of Allah, truly, certain people assisted me in calamities that befell me, and a calamity has now befallen them, and I wish to assist them. He said: go and reward them. Afterward she came and pledged allegiance to him. He said: that is the proper thing (maʿrūf) about which Allah spoke: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ ."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Yazīd, the freedman of al-Ṣahbāʾ, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Umm Salama, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — concerning His saying: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: wailing in mourning.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Umayma bint Ruqayqa al-Taymiyya, she said: "I pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — amid women of the Muslims, and we said to him: we have come to you, O Messenger of Allah, to pledge allegiance to you that we will not associate anything with Allah, will not steal, will not commit fornication, will not kill our children, will not bring forth a slander that we fabricate between our hands and our feet, and will not disobey you in anything proper. Then the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — said: 'in that which you are able and capable of.' We said: Allah and His Messenger are more merciful to us than we are to ourselves. Then we said: take our pledge of allegiance, O Messenger of Allah. He said: 'go, for I have taken your pledge of allegiance; my word to a hundred women is but as my word to a single woman.' And the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — did not shake the hand of any of us."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Tamīmī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Umayma bint Ruqayqa, the maternal aunt of Fāṭima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He said: I heard her say: "We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — and he took from us that we would not associate anything with Allah" — and he mentioned the like of the narration of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Umayma bint Ruqayqa, she said: "I came to the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — amid women to pledge allegiance to him. She said: the Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — took from us what is in the Qurʾān: أَنْ لا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا ("that they will not associate anything with Allah") ... the [rest of the] verse. Then he said: 'in that which you are able and capable of.' We said: O Messenger of Allah, will you not shake our hand? He said: 'I do not shake the hands of women; my word to a single woman is but as my word to a hundred women.'"
Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Umayma bint Ruqayqa, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — the like of it.
It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — and the proper thing (maʿrūf) is: that which He laid upon them as a condition at the pledge of allegiance, namely that they would follow his command.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the saying of Allah: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — and he said: truly, the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — is His Prophet and His chosen one among His creatures, and yet He declared no matters permissible for him except under a condition. He did not say: "and they will not disobey you" and leave it at that, but He said: "in anything proper." How then would it be fitting for anyone to be obeyed in something that is not proper, when Allah has laid this as a condition upon His Prophet? He said: the proper thing, then, is every proper matter that he enjoins upon them in all affairs, and it does not befit them to disobey him therein.
Muḥammad ibn Sinān al-Qazzāz related to us, Isḥāq ibn Idrīs related to us, Isḥāq ibn ʿUthmān ibn Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAṭiyya related to me, on the authority of his grandmother Umm ʿAṭiyya, she said: when the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — came to Medina, he gathered the women of the Anṣār in a house, and then he sent ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb to us. He stood at the door and greeted us, and they — or: we — answered his greeting. Then he said: I am the envoy of the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — to you. She said: we said: welcome to the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — and to the envoy of the Messenger of Allah. He said: pledge allegiance that you will not associate anything with Allah, will not steal, and will not commit fornication. She said: we said: yes. He said: then he stretched out his hand from outside the door or the house, and we stretched out our hands from inside the house, and then he said: O Allah, be witness. She said: and he commanded us on the two festival days to bring out there the menstruating women and the unmarried young girls — and upon us there is no [obligation of the] Friday prayer — and he forbade us to follow the funeral procession. Ismāʿīl said: then I asked my grandmother about the saying of Allah: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — she said: wailing in mourning.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, concerning the saying of Allah: وَلا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — he said: that a man will not be alone with a woman.
His saying: فَبَايِعْهُنَّ ("then accept their pledge of allegiance") — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: when the believing women come to you to pledge allegiance to you under these conditions, then accept their pledge of allegiance. وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُنَّ اللَّهَ ("and ask Allah for forgiveness for them") — He says: ask Allah for them that He may remit their sins and conceal these for them by granting them forgiveness for them. إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ("truly, Allah is forgiving, merciful") — He says: truly, Allah is the One who conceals the sins of whoever turns to Him in repentance from his sins, so that He does not punish him for them after his repentance from them.
