Sūrah al-Taḥrīm

O Prophet! In order to please your wives, why do you prohibit that which God has made lawful to you? Anyway, what happened, so happened! God is Forgiving, Ever-Merciful. And God has made it mandatory upon you to break such oaths of yours, and only God is your Master, and He is Omniscient and Wise.

[A similar situation arose] when the Prophet confided a secret with one of his wives; so, when she disclosed it [to another of his wives], and God informed the Prophet of this, he expressed some part of it and suppressed the other. Then, when the Prophet informed his wife of it, she said: “Who informed you of this?” The Prophet replied: “I was informed by the [Lord Who is] the Omniscient and the All-Knowing.” [Wives of the Prophet! Reform this attitude of yours;] if the two of you turn to God in repentance, then this only is befitting for you; your hearts are already inclined to do this. But if you unite against the Prophet, you will not be able to harm him in any way because God is his supporter, and Gabriel, and all righteous Muslims and moreover the angels also are his supporters and helpers. It may well be that if he divorces you, then His Lord gives him in your place better wives than you – Muslim, true in faith, obedient, penitent, devout in worship, abstinent, whether formerly-wedded or virgins.

Believers! [When even the Prophet and his wives are not beyond accountability,] you also protect yourselves and your kindred from the Fire – fuelled with people and stones [which they worshipped] – on which harsh and stern angels will be deputed. They will not disobey whatever God will say to them and will do exactly as they will be directed. At that time, it will be said: “O Disbelievers! Make no excuses today; you are only being returned what you have been doing.”

Believers! Turn to God with sincerity. Hopefully, your Lord will distance from you your sins and admit you to orchards below which streams flow on the day when He will not disgrace His Prophet and those who professed faith with him. Their light will march in front of them and on their right. They will be praying: “Lord! Perfect this light of ours for us, and forgive us; in reality, You have power over all things.”

Prophet! [None among your addressees deserves any lenience now. So,] wage jihād against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and deal sternly with them, and [tell them that] Hell is their abode, and what an evil abode it is.

[They should know that that each person is responsible for his deeds.] God cites the example of Noah’s wife and Lot’s wife for the disbelievers. Both were married to two righteous ones from among Our servants, but they betrayed their husbands. So, their husbands could in no way protect them from God, and both women were ordered: “Go, enter the Fire with those who enter it.”

God cites the example of the Pharaoh’s wife for the believers when she prayed: “Lord! Build me a house with You in Paradise and deliver me from the Pharaoh and his deeds and deliver me from this wicked nation.” And [God] cites the example of Mary, ‘Imrān’s daughter, who preserved her chastity. Then into Her We breathed a spirit from Ourselves, and she attested the directives of her Lord and His Books, and she was among the obedient.