Sūrah Al-Mujādilah The Pleading Woman: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahAl-MujādilahMedinanAbrogation of pre-Islamic divorce practice and its replacement

Key Fiqh IssueẒihār definition, effect, and kaffārah (expiation) sequenceḤarām act requiring kaffārahPre-Islamic divorce form converted to expiation requirement

School ComparisonAll four schools: kaffārah sequence free slave → fast 60 days → feed 60 poor; must be completed before resuming marital relations; Ḥanafī: ẓihār possible with any unmarriageable woman; Mālikī/Shāfiʿī/Ḥanbalī: any female described with maternal-back formulaWājib expiationSequence is fixed; no takhyīr unlike yamīn kaffārah

Uṣūl PrincipleNaskh abrogation of pre-Islamic ẓihār divorce effectAbrogated then replacedIslam does not cancel the act but changes its legal consequence

Al-Qurṭubī begins with the historical context: Khawlah bint Thaʿlabah came to the Prophet complaining that her husband Aws had said "you are to me like my mother's back" (ẓihār) the pre-Islamic formula of permanent divorce. The surah was revealed abrogating the divorce effect of ẓihār and replacing it with an expiation (kaffārah) obligation. Al-Qurṭubī derives that this represents the Islamic legal method of naskh followed by replacement: the sin is acknowledged, the divorce effect cancelled, and a rehabilitation path provided.

The kaffārah sequence is fixed and ordered (unlike yamīn kaffārah which offers free choice): (1) free a believing slave, (2) if unable fast sixty consecutive days, (3) if unable feed sixty poor persons. The marital relationship cannot resume until the kaffārah is complete. Al-Qurṭubī notes the school differences on the ẓihār formula: the Ḥanafī school extends ẓihār to any woman related to the husband within forbidden marriage degrees (not just mother); the other schools focus on the mother specifically but accept analogy to other forbidden-degree women.

الَّذِينَ يُظَاهِرُونَ مِنكُم مِّن نِّسَائِهِمْ مَا هُنَّ أُمَّهَاتِهِمْ Alladhīna yuẓāhirūna minkum min nisāʾihim mā hunna ummahātihim Meaning: "Those who make ẓihār from their wives they are not their mothers" Al-Qurṭubī: the verse immediately corrects the pre-Islamic assumption: calling a wife "like my mother's back" does not make her a mother; the divorce effect is cancelled; the act is declared "munkar" (wrong) and "zūr" (falsehood), establishing its ḥaram status.

فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَتَمَاسَّا Fa-taḥrīru raqabatin min qabli an yatamāssā Meaning: "Then freeing a slave before they touch each other" Al-Qurṭubī: "min qabli an yatamāssā" (before they touch) the kaffārah must precede any resumption of the marital relationship; even a handshake counts as "touching" in this context; the sequence is therefore both ordered and temporally prior to resumption.

Ẓihār (likening wife to mother's back) had a divorce effect in pre-Islamic Arabia Islam abrogated that effect and imposed kaffārah instead.
Kaffārah sequence: (1) free a believing slave, (2) fast sixty consecutive days if no slave, (3) feed sixty poor if unable to fast ordered and non-interchangeable unlike yamīn kaffārah.
Kaffārah must be completed before any resumption of marital relations even non-sexual contact triggers the prohibition.
Ẓihār formula scope: all schools accept the mother formula; Ḥanafī extends to any unmarriageable female by analogy; other schools follow this extension with minor variations.
Al-Qurṭubī notes that ẓihār is classified as "munkar wa-zūr" (wrong and falsehood) establishing its moral and legal ḥarām status beyond the expiation obligation.

Finished this lesson?