Tafseer of Divorce · At-Talaaq · 65:6
Lodge them [in a section] of where you dwell out of your means and do not harm them in order to oppress them. And if they should be pregnant, then spend on them until they give birth. And if they breastfeed for you, then give them their payment and confer among yourselves in the acceptable way; but if you are in discord, then there may breastfeed for the father another woman.
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 Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Lodge the women whom you have divorced in the place where you yourselves dwell, ( مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (according to what your means allow). He says: according to the space that is at your disposal. The men are commanded to provide them with a dwelling that they can inhabit, in accordance with what they are capable of, until they have completed their waiting period (ʿiddah).
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
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 word: ( أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنْتُمْ مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (Lodge them where you yourselves dwell, according to what your means allow). He says: according to your space.
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 word: ( مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (according to what your means allow). He said: according to your space.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنْتُمْ مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (Lodge them where you yourselves dwell, according to what your means allow). He said: according to your space.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, concerning His word: ( أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنْتُمْ مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ وَلا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ ) (Lodge them where you yourselves dwell, according to what your means allow, and do not harm them in order to make things difficult for them). He said: if you find nothing but a corner of your house, lodge her in it.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: ( أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنْتُمْ مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (Lodge them where you yourselves dwell, according to what your means allow). He said: it concerns the woman whom he divorces; he is obliged to provide her with shelter and to maintain her livelihood.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: I asked him about the word of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: ( أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنْتُمْ مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (Lodge them where you yourselves dwell, according to what your means allow). He said: according to your means, where you are able. If you possess nothing and you reside in a dwelling that is not yours, and there comes a command that drives you out of that dwelling, and you have no dwelling to live in and you find nothing, then so it is. But if he is able to pay rent, then that is his means, and he may not then put her out of her house. If he finds nothing and the owner of the dwelling says: "I will not let this woman stay in my house," then no; but if he does find something, then that rests upon him.
And His word: ( وَلا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ ) (and do not harm them in order to make things difficult for them).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And do not harm them in the dwelling in which you lodge them, while you find space in the dwellings, by seeking to make things difficult for them. That is His word: ( لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ ) (in order to make things difficult for them), that is to say: in order to make things cramped for them in the dwelling, even though you find space.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
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: ( وَلا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ ) (and do not harm them in order to make things difficult for them). He said: in the dwelling.
Muḥammad related to me, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: ( مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ ) (according to what your means allow). He said: according to what you possess, according to your means.
And concerning His word: ( وَلا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ ) (and do not harm them in order to make things difficult for them) he said: to make their dwellings cramped for them so that they leave.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: ( وَلا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ ) (and do not harm them in order to make things difficult for them). He said: it is not fitting for him to harm her and to make her abode cramped for her. ( حَتَّى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ) (until they deliver their burden) — this applies both to him who possesses the right of return and to him who does not possess the right of return.
And His word: ( وَإِنْ كُنَّ أُولاتِ حَمْلٍ فَأَنْفِقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتَّى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ) (And if they are pregnant, then provide for their maintenance until they deliver their burden). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And if the women whom you have divorced are pregnant and are irrevocably divorced from you, then provide for their maintenance during their waiting period with you, until they deliver their burden.
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 word: ( وَإِنْ كُنَّ أُولاتِ حَمْلٍ فَأَنْفِقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتَّى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ) (And if they are pregnant, then provide for their maintenance until they deliver their burden). This concerns the woman who is divorced by her husband, and he makes her divorce irrevocable while she is pregnant. Allah commands him to provide her with shelter and to provide for her maintenance until she gives birth, and if she breastfeeds: until she weans the child. If he makes her divorce irrevocable and she is not pregnant, then she has the right to shelter until her waiting period expires, but no maintenance. And likewise the woman whose husband dies: if she is pregnant, her maintenance is provided from the share of the child in her womb, when there is an inheritance; and if there is no inheritance, the heir provides for her maintenance until she gives birth and weans her child, as Allah, mighty and exalted is He, has said: وَعَلَى الْوَارِثِ مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ (And upon the heir rests the like of that). And if she is not pregnant, then her maintenance comes from her own property.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: ( وَإِنْ كُنَّ أُولاتِ حَمْلٍ فَأَنْفِقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتَّى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ) (And if they are pregnant, then provide for their maintenance until they deliver their burden). He said: maintenance is provided for the pregnant woman as long as she is pregnant, until she delivers her burden.
Others said: by His word ( وَإِنْ كُنَّ أُولاتِ حَمْلٍ فَأَنْفِقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتَّى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ) (And if they are pregnant, then provide for their maintenance until they deliver their burden) every divorced woman is meant, whether her husband possesses the right of return over her or not.
And among those who said that are: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, may Allah be pleased with them both.
* Mention of the narration about that from the two of them:
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: ʿUmar and ʿAbd Allāh granted to the thrice-divorced woman: the shelter, the maintenance, and the consolatory gift (mutʿa). And when in ʿUmar's presence the narration of Fāṭima bint Qays was mentioned, that the Prophet ﷺ had commanded her to spend her waiting period outside the house of her husband, he said: We would not, in our religion, admit the testimony of a single woman.
Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Awdī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Qarṭās, saying: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn say concerning the thrice-divorced woman: she has the right to shelter, maintenance, and the consolatory gift; but if she leaves her house, then there is no shelter, no maintenance, and no consolatory gift.
Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Yarbūʿī related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: the thrice-divorced woman has the right to shelter and maintenance.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: if the man divorces three times, then she has the right to shelter and maintenance.
And the correct position on this, in our judgment, is that the irrevocably divorced woman has no right to maintenance, unless she is pregnant. For Allah, whose praise is exalted, has assigned the maintenance, with His word ( وإن كن أولات حمل فأنفقوا عليهن ) (and if they are pregnant, then provide for their maintenance), to the pregnant women and not to the other women irrevocably separated from their husbands. If the irrevocably divorced women, both the pregnant and the non-pregnant, were equal in the maintenance that their husbands owe them, then singling out the pregnant women specifically in this place would have no intelligible meaning, since they and the others would be equal in that. In the fact that they specifically are singled out and not the others lies the strongest proof that there is no maintenance for the irrevocably divorced woman, unless she is pregnant.
And in agreement with what we have said about this, the narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has proven sound.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Bishr ibn Bakr related to us, on the authority of al-Awzāʿī, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr related to us, saying: Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to me, saying: Fāṭima bint Qays, the sister of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays, related to me that Abū ʿAmr al-Makhzūmī divorced her three times. He commanded a maintenance for her, but she found it too little. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had sent him to Yemen. Khālid ibn al-Walīd went with a group of men of the Banū Makhzūm to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while he was with Maymūna, and he said: O Messenger of Allah, Abū ʿAmr has divorced Fāṭima three times; does she have a right to any maintenance? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "She has no right to maintenance." Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent word to her that she should move to the house of Umm Sharīk, and he sent word to her that she should not dispose of herself without him. Then he sent word to her that the first Emigrants (Muhājirūn) used to come to Umm Sharīk, and that she should therefore move to Ibn Umm Maktūm, "for when you lay aside your head-covering, he does not see you." Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave her in marriage to Usāma ibn Zayd.
And His word: ( فَإِنْ أَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ) (And if they suckle for you, then give them their wages). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And if the women whom you have irrevocably divorced suckle your children for you, the little ones who are yours, for a fee, then give them their wages for suckling them.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, that he said concerning suckling: if agreement on an amount has been reached, then the mother of the child has the greatest right to the child; if she wishes, she suckles it, and if she does not wish, she leaves it — unless it will not accept from another; in that case she is compelled to suckle it.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( فَإِنْ أَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ) (And if they suckle for you, then give them their wages). She has the greatest right to her child, to take it for the same as that for which you would make another a wet-nurse.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: ( فَإِنْ أَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ) (And if they suckle for you, then give them their wages). He said: that on which they mutually agree — عَلَى الْمُوسِعِ قَدَرُهُ وَعَلَى الْمُقْتِرِ قَدَرُهُ (Upon the affluent according to his means, and upon the straitened according to his means).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning the child: if agreement on a price has been reached, his mother has the greatest right to suckle it; and if he finds no one to suckle it, the mother is compelled to suckle it.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: ( فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ) (then give them their wages). He said: if she suckles for you for a wage, then she has more right than another; and if she refuses to suckle it and does not come to agreement with you, but drives a hard bargain regarding the wage, then let another woman suckle it for him.
And His word: ( وَأْتَمِرُوا بَيْنَكُمْ بِمَعْرُوفٍ ) (and consult together in a fitting manner). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Let each of you, O people, accept from the other what the one enjoins upon the other of goodness.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: ( وَأْتَمِرُوا بَيْنَكُمْ بِمَعْرُوفٍ ) (and consult together in a fitting manner). He said: do good among yourselves.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: ( وَأْتَمِرُوا بَيْنَكُمْ بِمَعْرُوفٍ ) (and consult together in a fitting manner). The one urges the other on.
And His word: ( وَإِنْ تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُ أُخْرَى ) (and if you make difficulties for one another, then another will suckle for him). He says: and if the man and the woman make difficulties for one another regarding the suckling of her child by him, and she refuses to suckle it, then he has no power over her and may not compel her to suckle it; but he hires for the child a wet-nurse, other than its mother who is irrevocably divorced from him.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: ( وَإِنْ تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُ أُخْرَى ) (and if you make difficulties for one another, then another will suckle for him). He said: if the mother refuses to suckle her child when its father has divorced her, another wet-nurse is sought for it. The mother has the greatest right, if she is content with the same suckling-wage with which another would be content, and it is not fitting for him to take the child away from her.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, saying: if she refuses to suckle it and does not come to agreement with you, but drives a hard bargain regarding the wage, then let another woman suckle it for him.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah: ( وَإِنْ تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُ أُخْرَى * لِيُنْفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِنْ سَعَتِهِ وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنْفِقْ مِمَّا آتَاهُ اللَّهُ ) (and if you make difficulties for one another, then another will suckle for him. Let the affluent man spend according to his means, and let him whose provision is restricted spend from what Allah has given him). He said: he fixed for her according to what he finds, and she said: I am not content with this. He said: this is after the divorce; but as long as she is his wife, she suckles for him, willingly or by compulsion, whether she wishes or refuses. He says to her: I have no more than this; if you like this, then suckle for it, and if this is repugnant to you, then I shall have my child suckled by another. That is His word: ( وَإِنْ تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُ أُخْرَى ) (and if you make difficulties for one another, then another will suckle for him).
And His word: ( لِيُنْفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِنْ سَعَتِهِ وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنْفِقْ مِمَّا آتَاهُ اللَّهُ ) (Let the affluent man spend according to his means, and let him whose provision is restricted spend from what Allah has given him). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Let him from whom his wife is irrevocably divorced, if he is affluent in property and rich, spend out of the abundance of his means and his wealth upon his irrevocably divorced wife as a suckling-wage for his child by her, and upon his little child. ( وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ ) (and he whose provision is restricted) — He says: and he whose provision has been made straitened and to whom it has not been amply given, let him then spend from what Allah has given him, according to the measure of his means and what has been given to him thereof.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
