Al Islam

2031. After the accused woman has established her innocence by taking four oaths that her husband had falsely accused her and the fifth oath invoking God’s curse upon herself if her husband’s accusation was true, no punishment is awarded to her and the husband is also not held punishable for accusing her. But after such a serious breach the couple will cease to live as husband and wife, because no chance will then be left of the restoration of amicable relations between them. (close)

2599. Commentary:

The verse means to say that God is merciful to mankind inasmuch as He has laid down in the Quran injunctions by acting upon which they can save themselves from those most dreadful social evils which are likely to undermine the whole social structure. The verse also implies a warning to Muslims to beware of these evils. It is, however, to be regretted that the Quranic injunctions in regard to these social evils have been honoured more in the breach than in the observance thereof. (close)

2032. The extremely painful incident referred to in this verse took place when on the Holy Prophet’s return from the expedition against Bani Mustaliq in 5 A.H., the Muslim army had to halt for the night at a place, a short distance from Medina. In this expedition the Holy Prophet was accompanied by his noble and talented wife, ‘A’ishah. As it so happened, ‘A’ishah went out some distance from the camp to attend to the call of nature. When she returned, she discovered that she had dropped her necklace somewhere. The necklace itself was of no great value, but as it was a loan from a friend ‘A’ishah went out again to search for it. On her return, to her great grief and mortification, the army had already marched away with the camel she was riding, her attendants thinking that she was in the litter as she was then very young and light of weight. In her helplessness she sat down and cried till sleep overpowered her. Safwan, a refugee who was coming in the rear recognized her as he had seen her before the verse enjoining "Pardah" was revealed, and brought her on his camel to Medina, himself walking behind the animal (Bukhari, Kitabun-Nikah). The Hypocrites of Medina, led by ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, sought to make capital out of this incident and spread a malicious scandal against ‘A’ishah and unfortunately some of the Muslims also became involved in it. ‘A’ishah’s innocence was established by Divine revelation. Those who had taken part in fabricating and spreading the accusation were punished and injunctions were revealed to deal effectively with scandal-mongers and their evil designs and activities. (close)

2033. The words, 'who took the principal part,' are understood to refer to ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, the leader of the Hypocrites of Medina, who had invented the lie and gave it wide publicity. He died an ignominious death, frustrated in all his designs against Islam and in his ambition and aspiration to become the crowned king of Medina. (close)

2600. Important Words:

إفک (a lie) is infinitive noun from افک (afaka). They say أفکه i.e. (i) he changed his or its condition or manner of being; (ii) he turned him or it away or back from a thing; (iii) he turned him away or back by lying; (iv) he changed or perverted his judgement; (v) he deceived or beguiled him; (vi) he lied or said what was untrue. أفک الناس means, he told the people a big lie. إفک (ifkun) means, a lie; a great lie; a falsehood (Lane & Aqrab). See also 5:76.

Commentary:

The extremely painful incident referred to in this verse took place when on the Holy Prophet’s return from the expedition against Bani Mu- staliq in 5 A.H., the Muslim army had to halt for the night at a place, a short distance from Medina. In this expedition, the Holy Prophet was accompanied by his noble wife, ‘A’ishah. As it happened ‘A’ishah went out some distance from the camp to attend to the call of nature. When she returned, she discovered that she had dropped her necklace somewhere. The necklace itself was of no great value, but as it was a loan from a friend, ‘A’ishah went out again to search for it. On her return, to her great grief and mortification she found that the army had already marched away with the camel she was riding, her attendants supposing that she was in the litter as she was then very young and light of weight. In her helplessness she sat down and cried till sleep overpowered her. Safwan, a Muhajir, who was coming in the rear recognized her as he had seen her before the verse enjoining "purdah" was revealed and brought her on his camel to Medina, himself walking behind the animal (Bukhari, Kitabun-Nikah). The hypocrites of Medina, led by ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, were always on the lookout to create some mischief and cause distress to the Holy Prophet. They made capital out of this incident and spread a malicious scandal against ‘A’ishah and unfortunately some of the Muslims also became associated with it. ‘A’ishah’s innocence was at last established in the present and the following few verses of the Quran. Those who had taken part in fabricating and spreading the accusation were punished and injunctions were revealed effectively to deal with scandal-mongers and their evil designs and activities.

The words "who took the chief part," are understood to refer to ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites of Medina, who had invented the lie and gave it wide publicity. He died an ignominious death, frustrated in all his designs against Islam and in his ambition and aspiration to become the crowned king of Medina.

The words, "think it not to be an evil for you, nay it is good for you," signify that the incident contained a great lesson for the Muslims. They were warned to be on their guard against falling victim to the machinations of scandal-mongers and against accusing Muslim men and women of crimes of which they were quite innocent. (close)

2034. He, who accuses a Muslim man or woman of adultery and does not produce four witnesses to prove his allegation, shall be held to be a liar and treated as such by the Islamic Law if he can produce only one, two or even three persons as eyewitnesses to the act. The fact of one person seeing another person committing this immoral act does not entitle him to go about spreading the evil report. (close)

2601. Commentary:

As stated above, not only does Islam take a very serious view of the crimes against chastity and punishes them severely, it is also very sensitive about the good reputation of Muslim men and women and takes very effective steps to safeguard it. Islam regards it as highly reprehensible and even criminal to spread false accusations against them. According to this verse, he who accuses a Muslim man or woman of adultery and does not produce four witnesses to prove his allegation shall be held to be a liar and treated as such by the Islamic Law even if he can produce one, two or even three persons as eye-witnesses to the act. The fact of one person seeing another person committing this immoral act does not entitle him to go about spreading the evil report. (close)

a. 2:65; 4:84. (close)

a. 2:65; 4:84. (close)

2602. Important Words:

For تلقونه (you received it) see 2:38.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that the evils mentioned above are moral sins which are, unfortunately committed light-heartedly, but which produce very grievous results. Every sin is a deadly poison which a true believer must avoid. The wages of sin is death. This is the supreme lesson which this verse teaches. (close)