Surah 33. Al-Ahzab, Ayah 37
| وَإِذْ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِي أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ زَوْجَكَ وَاتَّقِ اللَّهَ وَتُخْفِي فِي نَفْسِكَ مَا اللَّهُ مُبْدِيهِ وَتَخْشَى النَّاسَ وَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَنْ تَخْشَاهُ ۖ فَلَمَّا قَضَىٰ زَيْدٌ مِنْهَا وَطَرًا زَوَّجْنَاكَهَا لِكَيْ لَا يَكُونَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ حَرَجٌ فِي أَزْوَاجِ أَدْعِيَائِهِمْ إِذَا قَضَوْا مِنْهُنَّ وَطَرًا ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا |
| Transliteration | : | wa- 'idh taqol li- 'alladhe ancama 'allaah calay -hi wa- ancamta calay -hi amsik calay -ka zawj -ka wa- ittaqi 'allaah wa- tukhfe fe nafs -ka maa 'allaah mubde -hi wa- takhshaa an- naas wa- 'allaah ah.aqq 'an takhshaa -hu fa- lammaa qad.aa zayd min -haa wat.ar(an) zawwajnaa -ka -haa li- kay laa yakon calaa al- mu'minen h.araj fe azwaaj adciyaa' -him 'idhaa qad.aw min -hunna wat.ar(an) wa- kaana 'amr 'allaah mafcol(an) |
| Pickthall | : | And when thou saidst unto him on whom Allah hath conferred favor and thou hast conferred favor: Keep thy wife to thyself, and fear Allah. And thou didst hide in thy mind that which Allah was to bring to light, and thou didst fear mankind whereas Allah had a better right that thou shouldst fear Him. So when Zeyd had performed the necessary formality (of divorce) from her, We gave her unto thee in marriage, so that (henceforth) there may be no sin for believers in respect of wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have performed the necessary formality (of release) from them. The commandment of Allah must be fulfilled. |
| Asad | : | AND Lo,42 [O Muhammad,] thou didst say unto the one to whom God had shown favour and to whom thou hadst shown favour,43 "Hold on to thy wife, and remain conscious of God!" And [thus] wouldst thou hide within thyself something that God was about to bring to light44 - for thou didst stand in awe of [what] people [might think], whereas it was God alone of whom thou shouldst have stood in awe!45 [But] then, when Zayd had come to the end of his union with her,46 We gave her to thee in marriage, so that [in future] no blame should attach to the be-lievers for [marrying] the spouses of their adopted children when the latter have come to the end of their union with them.47 And [thus] God's will was done. |
| Malik | : | O Prophet, remember when you said to the one (Zaid, Prophet's adopted son) whom Allah as well as you had favored: "Keep your wife in wedlock and fear Allah". You sought to hide in your heart what Allah intended to reveal; you were afraid of the people whereas it would have been more appropriate to fear Allah. So when Zaid divorced his wife, We gave her to you in marriage, so that there remains no hindrance for the believers to wed the wives of their adopted sons if they divorced them. And Allah's Command had to be carried out. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | Behold! thou didst say to one who had received the grace of Allah and thy favor: "Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife and fear Allah." But thou didst hide in thy heart that which Allah was about to make manifest: thou didst fear the people but it is more fitting that thou shouldst fear Allah. Then when Zaid had dissolved (his marriage) with her with the necessary (formality) We joined her in marriage to thee: in order that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the Believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted sons when the latter have dissolved with the necessary (formality) (their marriage) with them: and Allah's command must be fulfilled. 3722 3723 3724 3725 3726 |
Note - 42For this rendering of the particle idh, see surah {2},
note [21]. - With the above verse, the discourse returns
to the problem of "elective" relationships touched upon
in verses {4} ff. Several years before Muhammad's call to
prophethood, his wife Khadijah made him a present of a
young slave, Zayd ibn Harithah, a descendant of the
North-Arabian tribe of Banu Kalb, who had been taken
captive as a child in the course of one of the many
tribal wars and then sold into slavery at Mecca. As soon
as he became the boy's owner, Muhammad freed him, and
shortly afterwards adopted him as his son; and Zayd, in
his turn, was among the first to embrace Islam. Years
later, impelled by the desire to break down the ancient
Arabian prejudice against a slave's or even a freedman's
marrying a "free-born" woman, the Prophet persuaded Zayd
to marry his (Muhammad's) own cousin, Zaynab bint Jahsh,
who, without his being aware of it, had been in love with
Muhammad ever since her childhood. Hence, she consented
to the proposed marriage with great reluctance, and only
in deference to the authority of the Prophet. Since Zayd,
too, was not at all keen on this alliance (being already
happily married to another freed slave, Umm Ayman, the
mother of his son Usamah), it was not surprising that the
marriage did not bring happiness to either Zaynab or
Zayd. On several occasions the latter was about to
divorce his new wife who, on her part, did not make any
secret of her dislike of Zayd; and each time they were
persuaded by the Prophet to persevere in patience and not
to separate. In the end, however, the marriage proved
untenable, and Zayd divorced Zaynab in the year 5 H.
Shortly afterwards the Prophet married her in order to
redeem what he considered to be his moral responsibility
for her past unhappiness.
|
Note - 43I.e., Zayd ibn Harithah, whom God had caused to become
one of the earliest believers, and whom the Prophet had
adopted as his son.
|
Note - 44Namely, that the marriage of Zayd and Zaynab, which had
been sponsored by Muhammad himself, and on which he had
so strongly insisted, was a total failure and could only
end in divorce (see also next note).
|
Note - 45Lit., "whereas God was more worthy (ahaqq) that thou
shouldst stand in awe of Him". Referring to this divine
reprimand (which, in itself, disproves the allegation
that the Qur'an was "composed by Muhammad"), A'ishah is
reliably quoted as having said, "Had the Apostle of God
been inclined to suppress anything of what was revealed
to him, he would surely have suppressed this verse"
(Bukhari and Muslim).
|
Note - 46Lit., "ended his want of [or "claim on"] her", se., by
divorcing her (Zamakhshari).
|
Note - 47Thus, apart from the Prophet's desire to make amends for
Zaynab's past unhappiness, the divine purpose in causing
him to marry the former wife of his adopted son (stressed
in the phrase, "We gave her to thee in marriage") was to
show that - contrary to what the pagan Arabs believed -
an adoptive relationship does not involve any of the
marriage-restrictions which result from actual,
biological parent-and-child relations (cf. note [3] on
verse {4} of this surah).
|
Note - 3722This was Zaid son of Haritha, one of the first to accept
the faith of Islam. He was a freedman of the holy
Prophet, who loved him as a son and gave him in marriage
his own cousin Zainab. The marriage however turned out to
be unhappy. See next note.
|
Note - 3723Zaid's marriage with the Prophet's cousin Zainab daughter
of Jahsh did not turn out happy. Zainab the high-born
looked down upon Zaid the freedman who had been a slave.
And he was not comely to look at. Both were good people
in their own way, and both loved the Prophet, but there
was mutual incompatibility and this is fatal to married
life. Zaid wished to divorce her, but the Prophet asked
him to hold his hand, and he obeyed. She was closely
related to the Prophet; he had given a handsome marriage
gift on her marriage to Zaid; and people would certainly
talk if such a marriage was broken off. But marriages are
made on earth, not in heaven, and it is no part of
Allah's Plan to torture people in a bond which should be
a source of happiness but actually is a source of misery.
Zaid's wish-indeed the mutual wish of the couple-was for
the time being put away, but it became eventually an
established fact, and everybody came to know of it.
|
Note - 3724All actual facts are referred to Allah. When the marriage
is unhappy, Islam permits the bond to be dissolved,
provided that all interests concerned are safeguarded.
Apparently there was no issue here to be considered.
Zainab had to be considered, and she obtained the dearest
wish of her heart in being raised to be a Mother of the
Believers, with all the dignity and responsibility of
that position. See n. 3706 to xxxiii. 28 above.
|
Note - 3725The Iddat or period of waiting after divorce (ii. 228,
and n. 254) was duly completed.
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Note - 3726The Pagan superstition and taboo about adopted sons had
to be destroyed. See xxxiii. 4-5 and notes 3671-3672
above.
|
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For this rendering of the particle idh, see surah {2}, note [21]. - With the above verse, the discourse returns to the problem of "elective" relationships touched upon in verses {4} ff. Several years before Muhammad's call to prophethood, his wife Khadijah made him a present of a young slave, Zayd ibn Harithah, a descendant of the North-Arabian tribe of Banu Kalb, who had been taken captive as a child in the course of one of the many tribal wars and then sold into slavery at Mecca. As soon as he became the boy's owner, Muhammad freed him, and shortly afterwards adopted him as his son; and Zayd, in his turn, was among the first to embrace Islam. Years later, impelled by the desire to break down the ancient Arabian prejudice against a slave's or even a freedman's marrying a "free-born" woman, the Prophet persuaded Zayd to marry his (Muhammad's) own cousin, Zaynab bint Jahsh, who, without his being aware of it, had been in love with Muhammad ever since her childhood. Hence, she consented to the proposed marriage with great reluctance, and only in deference to the authority of the Prophet. Since Zayd, too, was not at all keen on this alliance (being already happily married to another freed slave, Umm Ayman, the mother of his son Usamah), it was not surprising that the marriage did not bring happiness to either Zaynab or Zayd. On several occasions the latter was about to divorce his new wife who, on her part, did not make any secret of her dislike of Zayd; and each time they were persuaded by the Prophet to persevere in patience and not to separate. In the end, however, the marriage proved untenable, and Zayd divorced Zaynab in the year 5 H. Shortly afterwards the Prophet married her in order to redeem what he considered to be his moral responsibility for her past unhappiness. |
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I.e., Zayd ibn Harithah, whom God had caused to become one of the earliest believers, and whom the Prophet had adopted as his son. |
| |
Namely, that the marriage of Zayd and Zaynab, which had been sponsored by Muhammad himself, and on which he had so strongly insisted, was a total failure and could only end in divorce (see also next note). |
| |
Lit., "whereas God was more worthy (ahaqq) that thou shouldst stand in awe of Him". Referring to this divine reprimand (which, in itself, disproves the allegation that the Qur'an was "composed by Muhammad"), A'ishah is reliably quoted as having said, "Had the Apostle of God been inclined to suppress anything of what was revealed to him, he would surely have suppressed this verse" (Bukhari and Muslim). |
| |
Lit., "ended his want of [or "claim on"] her", se., by divorcing her (Zamakhshari). |
| |
Thus, apart from the Prophet's desire to make amends for Zaynab's past unhappiness, the divine purpose in causing him to marry the former wife of his adopted son (stressed in the phrase, "We gave her to thee in marriage") was to show that - contrary to what the pagan Arabs believed - an adoptive relationship does not involve any of the marriage-restrictions which result from actual, biological parent-and-child relations (cf. note [3] on verse {4} of this surah). |
| |
This was Zaid son of Haritha, one of the first to accept the faith of Islam. He was a freedman of the holy Prophet, who loved him as a son and gave him in marriage his own cousin Zainab. The marriage however turned out to be unhappy. See next note. |
| |
Zaid's marriage with the Prophet's cousin Zainab daughter of Jahsh did not turn out happy. Zainab the high-born looked down upon Zaid the freedman who had been a slave. And he was not comely to look at. Both were good people in their own way, and both loved the Prophet, but there was mutual incompatibility and this is fatal to married life. Zaid wished to divorce her, but the Prophet asked him to hold his hand, and he obeyed. She was closely related to the Prophet; he had given a handsome marriage gift on her marriage to Zaid; and people would certainly talk if such a marriage was broken off. But marriages are made on earth, not in heaven, and it is no part of Allah's Plan to torture people in a bond which should be a source of happiness but actually is a source of misery. Zaid's wish-indeed the mutual wish of the couple-was for the time being put away, but it became eventually an established fact, and everybody came to know of it. |
| |
All actual facts are referred to Allah. When the marriage is unhappy, Islam permits the bond to be dissolved, provided that all interests concerned are safeguarded. Apparently there was no issue here to be considered. Zainab had to be considered, and she obtained the dearest wish of her heart in being raised to be a Mother of the Believers, with all the dignity and responsibility of that position. See n. 3706 to xxxiii. 28 above. |
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The Iddat or period of waiting after divorce (ii. 228, and n. 254) was duly completed. |
