Verse 1
God has certainly heard the words of her who disputes with you, [her who] consults you, O Prophet, concerning her husband, who has repudiated her by zihār — he had said to her, ‘You are to me [as untouchable] as the back of my mother’. She asked the Prophet (s) about this and he told her that she was [thenceforth] forbidden to him, as was customary among them [at the time of Jāhiliyya], namely, that repudiation by zihār results in permanent separation. She was Khawla bt. Tha‘laba and he was Aws b. al-Sāmit — and complains to God, of her being alone and of her impoverishment while having young children, whom if she were to leave with him, they would go astray, but whom, if they remained with her, would go hungry. And God hears your conversation, your consulting. Assuredly God is Hearer, Seer, [He is] Knower.
Verse 2
Those of you who repudiate their wives by zihār (yazzahharūna is actually yatazahharūna, in which the tā’ has been assimilated with the zā’; a variant reading has yazzāharūna, and still another has yuzāhirūna, similar [in form] to yuqātilūna; the same applies for the second instance [of this verb below]), they are not their mothers; their mothers are only those who (read allā’ī, or without the [final long] yā’, allā’i) gave birth to them, and indeed they, [in repudiating them] by zihār, utter indecent words and a calumny, a lie. Yet assuredly God is Pardoning, Forgiving, to the one who repudiates by zihār through an atonement [which he must offer].
Verse 3
And those who repudiate their wives by zihār and then go back on what they have said, instead doing the opposite of this and retaining the woman divorced by zihār, that which is contrary to the purpose of zihār in which a woman is characterised as being forbidden — then [the penalty for them is] the setting free of a slave, an obligation upon him, before they touch one another, in sexual intercourse. By this you are being admonished; and God is Aware of what you do.
Verse 4
And he who cannot find [the wherewithal], [to set free] a slave, then [his redemption shall be] the fasting of two successive months before they touch one another. And if he is unable, to fast, then [the redemption shall be] the feeding of sixty needy persons, as an obligation upon him, that is, before they touch one another: understanding the unrestricted [prescription] as [having the same restriction as] the restricted one. For every needy person [he should give] one mudd measure of the principal food of the town. This, namely, lightening of the atonement is, so that you may believe in God and His Messenger. And these, namely, the rulings mentioned, are God’s bounds; and for the rejecters, of them, there is a painful chastisement.
Verse 5
Indeed those who oppose God and His Messenger will be abased, humiliated, just as those before them were abased, for opposing their messengers. And verily We have revealed clear signs, indicating the truthfulness of the Messenger, and for those who disbelieve, in the signs, there is a humiliating chastisement.
Verse 6
The day when God will raise them all together, He will then inform them of what they did. God has kept count of it, while they forgot it. And God is Witness to all things.
Verse 7
Have you not seen, [have you not] realised, that God knows all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth? Not secret conversation of three takes place but He is their fourth [companion], by [virtue of] His omniscience, nor of five but He is their sixth, nor of fewer than that or more but He is with them wherever they may be. Then He will inform them of what they did, on the Day of Resurrection. Assuredly God has knowledge of all things.
Verse 8
Have you not seen, [have you not] observed, those who were forbidden from conversing in secret [but] then returned to that they had been forbidden, and [all the while] hold secret conversations [tainted] with sin and [plans for] enmity and disobedience to the Messenger? These were the Jews, whom the Prophet (s) had forbidden them what they used to do in their secret talks, that is, their [habit of] conversing secretly with one another and giving the believers looks in order to cast doubt into their hearts [about the faith]. And [who] when they come to you, they greet you, O Prophet, with that with which God never greeted you — namely, their saying [to the Prophet]: al-sāmu ‘alayka, meaning, ‘Death [be upon you]’, and they say within themselves, ‘Why does God not chastise us for what we say?’, in the way of such a greeting and [our saying] that he is not a prophet, if he [truly] were a prophet. Hell will suffice them! In it they will be made to burn — and [what] an evil journey’s end!, it is.
Verse 9
O you who believe, if you do talk in secret, then do not talk in secret sinfully and in enmity and disobedience to the Messenger, but talk secretly in piety and fear of God. And fear God to Whom you will be gathered.
Verse 10
Secret conversations, [tainted] with sin and the like, are of [the work of] Satan, [a result] of his deception, that those who believe may end up grieving; but he cannot harm them in any way, except God’s leave, that is, [except by] His will. And in God let the believers put [all] their trust.
Verse 11
O you who believe, when it is said to you, ‘Make room’ during the assembly, during the assembly [convened] with the Prophet (s) or for remembrance, so that those arriving to [join] you may [find room to] sit (al-majlis, ‘assembly’, may also be read [in the plural] al-majālis) then make room; God will make room for you, in Paradise. And when it is said, ‘Rise up’, stand up for prayer or for other good deeds, do rise up (a variant reading [for unshuzū fa’nshuzū] has anshizū in both instances [sc. anshizū fa’nshizū]); God will raise those of you who have faith, [thereby] obeying this [command], and, He will raise, those who have been given knowledge by degrees, in Paradise. And God is Aware of what you do.
Verse 12
O you who believe, when you converse in secret with the Messenger, when you wish to converse with him privately, offer some voluntary alms before your secret talk. That is better for you and purer, for your sins. But if you find nothing, to offer as alms, then God is indeed Forgiving, of your secret conversation, Merciful, to you. In other words: nothing will be held against you for holding a secret conversation without having offered some voluntary alms [beforehand]. However, He [God] abrogated this later by saying:
Verse 13
Do you fear (read a-ashfaqtum, either pronouncing both hamzas fully, or by replacing the second one with an alif, or not pronouncing it, but inserting an alif between the one not unpronounced and the other one, or without [this insertion]), poverty [when you fear], to offer [voluntary] alms before your secret talks. So, as you did not do this, giving of voluntary alms, and God relented to you, waiving this [requirement] for you, maintain prayer and pay the alms and obey God and His Messenger, that is to say, observe these [duties] regularly. For God is Aware of what you do.
Verse 14
Have you not regarded, [have you not] seen, those who — these being the hypocrites — fraternise with a folk — these being the Jews — at whom God is wrathful? They, the hypocrites, neither belong with you, the believers, nor with them, the Jews, but are suspended in between, and they swear falsely, in other words, saying that they are believers, while they know, that they are lying in this.
Verse 15
God has prepared for them a severe chastisement. Evil indeed is that which they [are wont to] do, in the way of acts of disobedience.
Verse 16
They have taken their oaths as a shield, a [means of] protection for themselves and their possessions, and so they bar, thereby the believers, from the way of God, that is, from engaging in a struggle against them, thereby slaying them and seizing their possessions. So for them there will be a humiliating chastisement.
Verse 17
Neither their possessions nor their children will avail them in any way against God, against His chastisement. Those — they are the inhabitants of the Fire, wherein they will abide.
Verse 18
Mention, the day when God will raise them all together, whereupon they will swear to Him, that they are believers, just as they swear to you [now], and suppose that they are [standing] on something, beneficial by swearing in Hereafter just as [they supposed it to have been beneficial for them] in this world. Yet assuredly it is they who are the liars!
Verse 19
Satan has prevailed upon them, by their obedience of him, and so he has caused them to forget the remembrance of God. Those are Satan’s confederates, his followers. Yet it is indeed Satan’s confederates who are the losers!
Verse 20
Indeed those who oppose God and His Messenger — they will be among the most abased, the vanquished.
Verse 21
God has inscribed, in the Preserved Tablet, or [it means] He has decreed: ‘I shall assuredly prevail, I and My messengers’, by means of definitive proof or the sword. Truly God is Strong, Mighty.
Verse 22
You will not find a people who believe in God and the Last Day loving, befriending, those who oppose God and His Messenger, even though they, the opposers, were their fathers, that is to say, the believers’ [fathers], or their sons or their brothers or their clan, rather [you will find that] they intend to do them harm and they fight them over [the question of] faith, as occurred on one occasion with some Companions, may God be pleased with them. [For] those, the ones who are not loving of them, He has inscribed, He has established, faith upon their hearts and reinforced them with a spirit, a light, from Him, exalted be He, and He will admit them into gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide, God being pleased with them, for their obedience of Him, and they being pleased with Him, because of His reward. Those [they] are God’s confederates, following His command and refraining from what He has forbidden. Assuredly it is God’s confederates who are the successful, the winners.