Topic: Chastity
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Subtopics
ٱلْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتُ ۖ وَطَعَامُ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ ۖ وَٱلْمُحْصَنَٰتُ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنَٰتِ وَٱلْمُحْصَنَٰتُ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ إِذَآ ءَاتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ مُحْصِنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَٰفِحِينَ وَلَا مُتَّخِذِىٓ أَخْدَانٍ ۗ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُۥ وَهُوَ فِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ مِنَ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ
یعنی ان کے ذبیحے حلال ہیں بشرطیکہ ان پر تکبیر پڑھ لی جائے۔ جیسا کہ حدیث میں آیا ہے۔ (بخاری کتاب الذبائح والصید) یہ حکم اس لئے دیا کہ تورات کی شریعت کے مطابق اُمتِ موسیٰ کے سب کھانے بھی وہی ہیں جن کو اسلام نے جائز رکھا ہے۔ اور اگر مسیحی مسیحؑ کی تعلیم کے مطابق تورات پر عمل کریں تو وہ بھی اسی حکم میں ہیں اور اگر علم ہو جائے کہ وہ حرام کھاتے ہیں تو پھر اس پر واقعات کے مطابق فتویٰ لگے گا۔ یہودی یا مسیحی ہونا کافی نہ ہوگا۔ کیونکہ کئی پرانے اور نئے مسیحی فرقے تورات کی تعلیم پر عمل کرتے ہیں۔
مُحْصِنِیْنَ غَیْرَ مُسَافِحِیْنَ وَلَامُتَّخِذِیْ اَخْدَانٍ کے متعلق دیکھئے نوٹ سورہ نساء آیت۲۶۔
This means that the meat of animals slaughtered in accordance with the Law of Torah is lawful for the Muslims inasmuch as all food permissible under the Law of Torah is lawful under the Law of Islam. As a precautionary measure, however, the name of Allah may be invoked over such food. According to Ibn- e-‘Abbas "food" here means, "lawful food" (Dhabihah) or the meat of an animal properly slaughtered (Bukhari; ch. Dhabihatu Ahlil-Kitab).
Whereas Islam permits marriage of Muslim men with non-Muslim women from among the People of the Book, it certainly prefers that Muslim men should ordinarily marry only Muslim women.
Important Words:
For the meaning of the word محصنین (contracting valid marriage) and مسافحین (committing fornication) and اخدان (secret paramours). See 4:25, 26.
Commentary:
The verse declares that if a person from among the People of the Book invites a Muslim to dinner, it is lawful for the latter to accept the invitation and partake of the food of the former, provided, of course, the food does not include anything forbidden by Islam. Similarly, a Muslim is allowed to invite the People of the Book to dinner.
Some commentators have taken the word طعام (food) in the clause, the food of the People of the Book is lawful for you, in the sense of "flesh of animals used as food." In this sense, the verse would signify that Muslims are allowed to partake of the flesh of an animal slaughtered by one from among the People of the Book, provided, of course, the name of God has been pronounced on the slaughtered animal.
The words, And lawful for you are chaste believing women and chaste women from among those who were given the Book before you, are intended to hint that whereas Islam permits marriage of Muslim men with non-Muslim women from among the People of the Book, it certainly prefers that Muslim men should ordinarily marry only Muslim women.
The words یکفر بالایمان rendered as "rejects the faith" may either mean "turns apostate" which is its primary significance; or it may mean "is ungrateful respecting faith". For the meaning of the particle با see 1:1.
1
یعنی ان کے ذبیحے حلال ہیں بشرطیکہ ان پر تکبیر پڑھ لی جائے۔ جیسا کہ حدیث میں آیا ہے۔ (بخاری کتاب الذبائح والصید) یہ حکم اس لئے دیا کہ تورات کی شریعت کے مطابق اُمتِ موسیٰ کے سب کھانے بھی وہی ہیں جن کو اسلام نے جائز رکھا ہے۔ اور اگر مسیحی مسیحؑ کی تعلیم کے مطابق تورات پر عمل کریں تو وہ بھی اسی حکم میں ہیں اور اگر علم ہو جائے کہ وہ حرام کھاتے ہیں تو پھر اس پر واقعات کے مطابق فتویٰ لگے گا۔ یہودی یا مسیحی ہونا کافی نہ ہوگا۔ کیونکہ کئی پرانے اور نئے مسیحی فرقے تورات کی تعلیم پر عمل کرتے ہیں۔
2
مُحْصِنِیْنَ غَیْرَ مُسَافِحِیْنَ وَلَامُتَّخِذِیْ اَخْدَانٍ کے متعلق دیکھئے نوٹ سورہ نساء آیت۲۶۔
645
Important Words:
For the meaning of the word محصنین (contracting valid marriage) and مسافحین (committing fornication) and اخدان (secret paramours). See 4:25, 26.
Commentary:
The verse declares that if a person from among the People of the Book invites a Muslim to dinner, it is lawful for the latter to accept the invitation and partake of the food of the former, provided, of course, the food does not include anything forbidden by Islam. Similarly, a Muslim is allowed to invite the People of the Book to dinner.
Some commentators have taken the word طعام (food) in the clause, the food of the People of the Book is lawful for you, in the sense of "flesh of animals used as food." In this sense, the verse would signify that Muslims are allowed to partake of the flesh of an animal slaughtered by one from among the People of the Book, provided, of course, the name of God has been pronounced on the slaughtered animal.
The words, And lawful for you are chaste believing women and chaste women from among those who were given the Book before you, are intended to hint that whereas Islam permits marriage of Muslim men with non-Muslim women from among the People of the Book, it certainly prefers that Muslim men should ordinarily marry only Muslim women.
The words یکفر بالایمان rendered as "rejects the faith" may either mean "turns apostate" which is its primary significance; or it may mean "is ungrateful respecting faith". For the meaning of the particle با see 1:1.
723
This means that the meat of animals slaughtered in accordance with the Law of Torah is lawful for the Muslims inasmuch as all food permissible under the Law of Torah is lawful under the Law of Islam. As a precautionary measure, however, the name of Allah may be invoked over such food. According to Ibn- e-‘Abbas "food" here means, "lawful food" (Dhabihah) or the meat of an animal properly slaughtered (Bukhari; ch. Dhabihatu Ahlil-Kitab).
724
Whereas Islam permits marriage of Muslim men with non-Muslim women from among the People of the Book, it certainly prefers that Muslim men should ordinarily marry only Muslim women.
وَرَٰوَدَتْهُ ٱلَّتِى هُوَ فِى بَيْتِهَا عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ وَغَلَّقَتِ ٱلْأَبْوَٰبَ وَقَالَتْ هَيْتَ لَكَ ۚ قَالَ مَعَاذَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ رَبِّىٓ أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَاىَ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ
Rawada-hu means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing by blandishments or deceitful arts (Lane).
Haita meaning, 'come or come forward' or 'hasten,' and the expression haita laka means, 'come thou' or 'now come;' also, 'come I am ready for thee or I am ready to receive thee' (Lane & Mufradat).
The verse shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her evil suggestion. The words, 'He is my Lord,' refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some Commentators have wrongly supposed.
Important Words:
راودته (she sought to seduce him). راود is derived from راد which means, he or it came and went; he went to and fro; he was restless; it also means, he sought or desired a thing; راوده means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing. راوده عن الامر means, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment or by deceitful arts from the thing. راوده علی الامرmeans, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., to the thing. The Quranic expression سنراود عنه اباہ means, we will endeavour to turn his father from him by blandishment or artifice and to make him yield him to us; or we will strive to obtain him of his father. So the words راودته عن نفسه would mean, she desired or sought of him a sinful act using blandishment or artifice for that purpose; she tempted him to do the sinful act; she endeavoured to entice him and to make him yield himself to her; more literally, she endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., from his disdainful noncompliance or from his purpose and will. الرود really signifies going about in search of a thing. المراودة means, seeking to make a person do a thing against his will (Lane & Mufradat).
ھیت لك (now come). ھیت is a word of exclamation denoting wonder. The Arabs say ھیت للحلم i.e. what forbearing mildness or clemency! The word is used in the sense of ھلم or تعال or اقبل meaning, "come or come forward." It is also used to signify "hasten" and "set forth journeying." The words therefore mean, "come thou" or "now come." The words also signify, "come, I am ready for thee, or I am ready to receive thee" (Lane & Mufradat).
معاذ الله (I seek refuge with God). معاذ is the noun-infinitive from عاذ. They say عاذ به من کذا i.e. he sought protection by him from that or sought refuge in him from that; or he put his trust in him, or relied upon him, for protection from such a thing. معاذ means, a refuge; a place to which one has recourse for protection or preservation; also the time at which one does so. The expressions معاذ الله and عیاذ الله and عیاذا بالله are all synonymous with اعوذ بالله معاذا i.e. I seek protection or preservation by God (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
The verse clearly shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her temptation. The words, "He is my Lord," refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some commentators have wrongly supposed. It is difficult to imagine that a highly spiritual man like Joseph should have abstained from sin merely out of regard for the paltry favours of a human benefactor and not for the manifold Divine boons.
Whatever honour Joseph had received from his Egyptian master was really in fulfilment of God’s promises. So it was for the sake of his True Lord and Master that he followed the path of rectitude and refused to be seduced into sin, which would have amounted to an act of ingratitude far more towards God than to any human benefactor.
Joseph not only himself abstained from the heinous sin, but also warned his master’s wife against its evil consequences by saying that the wrongdoers never prosper. The expression راودته translated as "she sought to seduce him against his will," literally means, as shown under Important Words, "she endeavoured to turn him from his purpose or will by blandishment and artifice and make him yield to her against his disdainful noncompliance." This meaning shows that Joseph abhorred the evil deed to which she invited him and was determined not to yield.
1527
Important Words:
راودته (she sought to seduce him). راود is derived from راد which means, he or it came and went; he went to and fro; he was restless; it also means, he sought or desired a thing; راوده means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing. راوده عن الامر means, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment or by deceitful arts from the thing. راوده علی الامرmeans, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., to the thing. The Quranic expression سنراود عنه اباہ means, we will endeavour to turn his father from him by blandishment or artifice and to make him yield him to us; or we will strive to obtain him of his father. So the words راودته عن نفسه would mean, she desired or sought of him a sinful act using blandishment or artifice for that purpose; she tempted him to do the sinful act; she endeavoured to entice him and to make him yield himself to her; more literally, she endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., from his disdainful noncompliance or from his purpose and will. الرود really signifies going about in search of a thing. المراودة means, seeking to make a person do a thing against his will (Lane & Mufradat).
ھیت لك (now come). ھیت is a word of exclamation denoting wonder. The Arabs say ھیت للحلم i.e. what forbearing mildness or clemency! The word is used in the sense of ھلم or تعال or اقبل meaning, "come or come forward." It is also used to signify "hasten" and "set forth journeying." The words therefore mean, "come thou" or "now come." The words also signify, "come, I am ready for thee, or I am ready to receive thee" (Lane & Mufradat).
معاذ الله (I seek refuge with God). معاذ is the noun-infinitive from عاذ. They say عاذ به من کذا i.e. he sought protection by him from that or sought refuge in him from that; or he put his trust in him, or relied upon him, for protection from such a thing. معاذ means, a refuge; a place to which one has recourse for protection or preservation; also the time at which one does so. The expressions معاذ الله and عیاذ الله and عیاذا بالله are all synonymous with اعوذ بالله معاذا i.e. I seek protection or preservation by God (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
The verse clearly shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her temptation. The words, "He is my Lord," refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some commentators have wrongly supposed. It is difficult to imagine that a highly spiritual man like Joseph should have abstained from sin merely out of regard for the paltry favours of a human benefactor and not for the manifold Divine boons.
Whatever honour Joseph had received from his Egyptian master was really in fulfilment of God’s promises. So it was for the sake of his True Lord and Master that he followed the path of rectitude and refused to be seduced into sin, which would have amounted to an act of ingratitude far more towards God than to any human benefactor.
Joseph not only himself abstained from the heinous sin, but also warned his master’s wife against its evil consequences by saying that the wrongdoers never prosper. The expression راودته translated as "she sought to seduce him against his will," literally means, as shown under Important Words, "she endeavoured to turn him from his purpose or will by blandishment and artifice and make him yield to her against his disdainful noncompliance." This meaning shows that Joseph abhorred the evil deed to which she invited him and was determined not to yield.
1370
Rawada-hu means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing by blandishments or deceitful arts (Lane).
1371
Haita meaning, 'come or come forward' or 'hasten,' and the expression haita laka means, 'come thou' or 'now come;' also, 'come I am ready for thee or I am ready to receive thee' (Lane & Mufradat).
1372
The verse shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her evil suggestion. The words, 'He is my Lord,' refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some Commentators have wrongly supposed.
وَلَقَدْ هَمَّتْ بِهِۦ ۖ وَهَمَّ بِهَا لَوْلَآ أَن رَّءَا بُرْهَٰنَ رَبِّهِۦ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ لِنَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ ٱلسُّوٓءَ وَٱلْفَحْشَآءَ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ
The wife of Joseph’s master intended a thing about Joseph (i.e. copulation). Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her, i.e. resisting her evil intention. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only object was to dissuade her from her evil purpose.
By 'manifest Sign' are meant the heavenly Signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e.g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5), the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16) and also his being taken out alive from the well.
Just as an attempt was made to tempt Joseph away from the path of piety and rectitude, similarly, the idolaters of Mecca made an unsuccessful attempt to make the Holy Prophet give up preaching the Unity of God by offering to make him their king or to collect great wealth for him or to give him in marriage the most beautiful girl in Arabia. The offer was of course contemptuously rejected by the Holy Prophet with the historic words, 'If you place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, even then I will not give up preaching God’s Unity (Hisham).
Commentary:
This verse tells us that the wife of Joseph’s master intended a thing about Joseph (i.e. copulation) in which she did not succeed. Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her (i.e. turning her to pure thoughts), but he too did not succeed in his endeavour. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only purpose was to dissuade her from her evil course.
By "manifest sign" is meant the heavenly signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e.g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5) and the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16). Surely, the person who was being prepared for the exalted office of a Prophet could not debase himself before an idolatrous woman.
The words, that We might turn away from him evil and indecency, signify that a person who had witnessed such signs could not stoop to evil. They may also mean that God brought about these circumstances so that Joseph should no longer live in the evil company of his master’s wicked wife and her evil companions which might have exercised a pernicious influence on him.
Here there is another point of resemblance between Joseph and the Holy Prophet. Just as an attempt was made to tempt Joseph away from the path of piety and rectitude, similarly, the idolaters of Mecca made an unsuccessful attempt to make the Holy Prophet give up preaching the Unity of God by offering to make him their king or amass great wealth for him or give him in marriage the most beautiful girl in Arabia. The offer was of course disdainfully rejected by the Prophet with the historic words, "If you place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, I will not give up preaching the Oneness of God." (Zurqani & Hisham). This constitutes the eleventh resemblance between these two great Prophets.
1528
Commentary:
This verse tells us that the wife of Joseph’s master intended a thing about Joseph (i.e. copulation) in which she did not succeed. Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her (i.e. turning her to pure thoughts), but he too did not succeed in his endeavour. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only purpose was to dissuade her from her evil course.
By "manifest sign" is meant the heavenly signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e.g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5) and the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16). Surely, the person who was being prepared for the exalted office of a Prophet could not debase himself before an idolatrous woman.
The words, that We might turn away from him evil and indecency, signify that a person who had witnessed such signs could not stoop to evil. They may also mean that God brought about these circumstances so that Joseph should no longer live in the evil company of his master’s wicked wife and her evil companions which might have exercised a pernicious influence on him.
Here there is another point of resemblance between Joseph and the Holy Prophet. Just as an attempt was made to tempt Joseph away from the path of piety and rectitude, similarly, the idolaters of Mecca made an unsuccessful attempt to make the Holy Prophet give up preaching the Unity of God by offering to make him their king or amass great wealth for him or give him in marriage the most beautiful girl in Arabia. The offer was of course disdainfully rejected by the Prophet with the historic words, "If you place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, I will not give up preaching the Oneness of God." (Zurqani & Hisham). This constitutes the eleventh resemblance between these two great Prophets.
1373
The wife of Joseph’s master intended a thing about Joseph (i.e. copulation). Similarly, Joseph intended a thing about her, i.e. resisting her evil intention. That Joseph did not intend anything evil is clear from the previous verse. His only object was to dissuade her from her evil purpose.
1374
By 'manifest Sign' are meant the heavenly Signs which Joseph had already witnessed, e.g. the wonderful dream which foretold his future greatness (v. 5), the revelation he had received when cast into the well, which also pointed to his later eminence and glory (v. 16) and also his being taken out alive from the well.
1375
Just as an attempt was made to tempt Joseph away from the path of piety and rectitude, similarly, the idolaters of Mecca made an unsuccessful attempt to make the Holy Prophet give up preaching the Unity of God by offering to make him their king or to collect great wealth for him or to give him in marriage the most beautiful girl in Arabia. The offer was of course contemptuously rejected by the Holy Prophet with the historic words, 'If you place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, even then I will not give up preaching God’s Unity (Hisham).
قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى غُلَٰمٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِى بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا
3:48; 19:9.
3:48; 19:9.
The incident referred to in this and the preceding verses took place in a vision, and in a vision or dream a person experiences different kinds of sensations on different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the dream are subject to and under the effect of the dream while at another time they are not and he feels and talks as he would feel and talk if he were awake. For example, if in a dream a person is glad over the death of his son, his feelings will be regarded as under the effect of the dream because in his state of wakefulness no normal person would be glad over the death of his son. So if the words spoken by Mary when she saw the angel in her vision were under the effect of the vision, then they would signify that when the glad tidings was given to her she had a pleasant surprise whether God would work such a miracle as to give her—a virgin—a son. But if the words be regarded as a natural expression on her part when the tidings of the birth of a son was given to her, then they would sig
3:48; 19:9.
Commentary:
The incident referred to in this and the preceding verses took place in a vision, and in a vision or dream a person experiences different kinds of sensations at different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the dream are subject to and under the effect of the dream that he sees while at another time they are not, and he feels and talks as he would feel and talk if he were awake. For example, if in a dream a person is glad over the death of his son, his feelings will be regarded as under the effect of the dream because in his state of wakefulness no sane person would be glad over the death of his son. So if the words spoken by Mary when she saw the angel in her vision were under the effect of the vision, then they would signify that when the glad tidings were given to her about the birth of a son she had a pleasant surprise whether God would work such a miracle as to give her—a virgin—a son. But if the words be regarded as a natural expression on her part when the tidings of the birth of a son were given to her then they would signify that she was completely perplexed and horror-struck at the thought that a son should be born to her—a virgin. In the former case hers would be a very pleasant surprise at the great favour that God was going to do her and in the latter case it would be an expression of bewilderment indicating the horrified state of her mind.
The words 'no man has touched me' show that Mary thought that the glad tidings about the birth of a son to her meant that the child would be born to her without contracting a regular marriage, otherwise there was no sense in her denying having known any man. The words, 'neither have I been unchaste' show that whereas in the previous clause she had denied having known any man lawfully i.e. in a married state, these words refer to her denial of having known any person unlawfully i.e. outside legal wedlock. In her reply to the angel she seemed to be thinking of the circumstances of her life in the Temple and of her vow of celibacy which obviated the possibility of her having any offspring. If she thought that the promise made in the preceding verse referred to the birth of a son as a result of her conjugal relations in some future time, as some commentators of the Quran think, then there was no occasion for her to express any surprise.
c
3:48; 19:9.
b
3:48; 19:9.
2165
Commentary:
The incident referred to in this and the preceding verses took place in a vision, and in a vision or dream a person experiences different kinds of sensations at different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the dream are subject to and under the effect of the dream that he sees while at another time they are not, and he feels and talks as he would feel and talk if he were awake. For example, if in a dream a person is glad over the death of his son, his feelings will be regarded as under the effect of the dream because in his state of wakefulness no sane person would be glad over the death of his son. So if the words spoken by Mary when she saw the angel in her vision were under the effect of the vision, then they would signify that when the glad tidings were given to her about the birth of a son she had a pleasant surprise whether God would work such a miracle as to give her—a virgin—a son. But if the words be regarded as a natural expression on her part when the tidings of the birth of a son were given to her then they would signify that she was completely perplexed and horror-struck at the thought that a son should be born to her—a virgin. In the former case hers would be a very pleasant surprise at the great favour that God was going to do her and in the latter case it would be an expression of bewilderment indicating the horrified state of her mind.
The words 'no man has touched me' show that Mary thought that the glad tidings about the birth of a son to her meant that the child would be born to her without contracting a regular marriage, otherwise there was no sense in her denying having known any man. The words, 'neither have I been unchaste' show that whereas in the previous clause she had denied having known any man lawfully i.e. in a married state, these words refer to her denial of having known any person unlawfully i.e. outside legal wedlock. In her reply to the angel she seemed to be thinking of the circumstances of her life in the Temple and of her vow of celibacy which obviated the possibility of her having any offspring. If she thought that the promise made in the preceding verse referred to the birth of a son as a result of her conjugal relations in some future time, as some commentators of the Quran think, then there was no occasion for her to express any surprise.
c
3:48; 19:9.
1752
The incident referred to in this and the preceding verses took place in a vision, and in a vision or dream a person experiences different kinds of sensations on different occasions. Sometimes his feelings and talk in the dream are subject to and under the effect of the dream while at another time they are not and he feels and talks as he would feel and talk if he were awake. For example, if in a dream a person is glad over the death of his son, his feelings will be regarded as under the effect of the dream because in his state of wakefulness no normal person would be glad over the death of his son. So if the words spoken by Mary when she saw the angel in her vision were under the effect of the vision, then they would signify that when the glad tidings was given to her she had a pleasant surprise whether God would work such a miracle as to give her—a virgin—a son. But if the words be regarded as a natural expression on her part when the tidings of the birth of a son was given to her, then they would sig
يَٰٓأُخْتَ هَٰرُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ ٱمْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّا
حضرت مریمؑ کو ہارون کی بہن کہا گیا ہے اس پر مسیحی اعتراض کرتے ہیں کہ قرآن مجیدنے جہالت سے مریمؑ اُ مِّ عیسیٰؑ کو وہ مریم سمجھ لیا ہے جو ہارونؑ اور موسٰیؑ کی بہن تھی مگر ان کا اعتراض خود ان کی جہالت پر دلالت کرتا ہے۔ تمام اقوام میں رواج ہے کہ بچوں کے نام بزرگوں کے نام پر رکھتے ہیں۔ مریمؑ کے کسی بھائی کا نام بھی اگر ہارون ہو تو کیا تعجب ہے۔ اسے موسیٰ کا بھائی قرار دینا خود مسیحیوں کی ایجاد ہے۔ قرآن مجیدنے ایسا نہیں کہا۔ یہ سوال خود رسول اللہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم سے بھی کیا گیا تھا۔ اور آپ نے وہی جواب دیا تھا جو میں نے دیا ہے (دیکھیئے فتح البیان جلد۶ صفحہ۱۶)
The question of Mary having been called the sister of Aaron in the Qur’an was put before the Holy Prophet himself and he asked the questioner if he did not know that the Israelites used to name their children after their Prophets and saints (Bayan, vol. 6, p. 16; Jarir, vol. 16, p. 52). Mary has been here called the sister of Aaron and not that of Moses though both were brothers, for, whereas Moses was the founder of the Jewish Law, Aaron was the head of the Jewish priestly class (Enc. Bib. & Enc. Brit. under "Aaron"), and Mary also belonged to the priestly order. Tabari has related an incident from the life of the Holy Prophet which gives an insight into the meanings of such Arabic words as ab, ‘am, ukht, etc. When Safiyyah, the Holy Prophet’s wife, and incidentally a Jewess by descent, once complained to the Holy Prophet that some of his other wives had called her a Jewess in contempt, the Holy Prophet told her to return the taunt by saying that Aaron was her father, Moses
Commentary:
Some Christian writers in their ignorance of the Arabic language have accused the Quran of an historical anachronism inasmuch as it has spoken of Mary as sister of Aaron. Instead of regretting their own ignorance they have blamed theQuran of ignorance. The question of Mary having been called the sister of Aaron in the Quran was put before the Holy Prophet himself and he told the questioner whether he did not know that the Israelites used to name their children after their Prophets and saints (Bayan, vol. 6, p. 16; Jarir vol. 16, p. 52).
Mary has been here called the sister of Aaron and not that of Moses though both were brothers, for whereas Moses was the founder of the Jewish Law, Aaron was the head of the Jewish priestly class (Enc. Bib. & Enc. Brit. under "Aaron") and Mary also belonged to the priestly order. Tabari has related an incident from the life of the Holy Prophet which gives us an insight into the meanings of the Arabic words اب(ab), عم (‘amm),اخت (ukht) etc. When once Safiyyah, the Holy Prophet’s wife, and incidentally a Jewess by descent, complained to the Holy Prophet that some of his other wives had called her a Jewess in contempt, the Prophet told her to return the taunt by saying that Aaron was her father, Moses her uncle and Muhammad her husband. Surely, the Holy Prophet knew that Aaron was not Safiyyah’s father nor Moses her uncle. This tradition shows that the application of these Arabic words is by no means confined to the above-mentioned blood relations.
Mary might have been called a sister of Aaron by way of reproach or taunt inasmuch as another Mary, the real sister of Aaron and Moses’ stepsister or his sister-in-law, had charged him (Moses) with having unlawfully married a woman (Numbers 12:1). A reference to this accusation is also to be found in the Quran in 33:70. Thus the elders of the Jews, by calling Jesus’ mother sister of Aaron, meant that as Mary, the sister of Aaron had, by accusing Moses of unlawfully marrying a woman, committed a heinous crime, so did she, like her namesake, commit a heinous act of giving birth to an illegitimate child. See also 3:36.
1
حضرت مریمؑ کو ہارون کی بہن کہا گیا ہے اس پر مسیحی اعتراض کرتے ہیں کہ قرآن مجیدنے جہالت سے مریمؑ اُ مِّ عیسیٰؑ کو وہ مریم سمجھ لیا ہے جو ہارونؑ اور موسٰیؑ کی بہن تھی مگر ان کا اعتراض خود ان کی جہالت پر دلالت کرتا ہے۔ تمام اقوام میں رواج ہے کہ بچوں کے نام بزرگوں کے نام پر رکھتے ہیں۔ مریمؑ کے کسی بھائی کا نام بھی اگر ہارون ہو تو کیا تعجب ہے۔ اسے موسیٰ کا بھائی قرار دینا خود مسیحیوں کی ایجاد ہے۔ قرآن مجیدنے ایسا نہیں کہا۔ یہ سوال خود رسول اللہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم سے بھی کیا گیا تھا۔ اور آپ نے وہی جواب دیا تھا جو میں نے دیا ہے (دیکھیئے فتح البیان جلد۶ صفحہ۱۶)
2173
Commentary:
Some Christian writers in their ignorance of the Arabic language have accused the Quran of an historical anachronism inasmuch as it has spoken of Mary as sister of Aaron. Instead of regretting their own ignorance they have blamed theQuran of ignorance. The question of Mary having been called the sister of Aaron in the Quran was put before the Holy Prophet himself and he told the questioner whether he did not know that the Israelites used to name their children after their Prophets and saints (Bayan, vol. 6, p. 16; Jarir vol. 16, p. 52).
Mary has been here called the sister of Aaron and not that of Moses though both were brothers, for whereas Moses was the founder of the Jewish Law, Aaron was the head of the Jewish priestly class (Enc. Bib. & Enc. Brit. under "Aaron") and Mary also belonged to the priestly order. Tabari has related an incident from the life of the Holy Prophet which gives us an insight into the meanings of the Arabic words اب(ab), عم (‘amm),اخت (ukht) etc. When once Safiyyah, the Holy Prophet’s wife, and incidentally a Jewess by descent, complained to the Holy Prophet that some of his other wives had called her a Jewess in contempt, the Prophet told her to return the taunt by saying that Aaron was her father, Moses her uncle and Muhammad her husband. Surely, the Holy Prophet knew that Aaron was not Safiyyah’s father nor Moses her uncle. This tradition shows that the application of these Arabic words is by no means confined to the above-mentioned blood relations.
Mary might have been called a sister of Aaron by way of reproach or taunt inasmuch as another Mary, the real sister of Aaron and Moses’ stepsister or his sister-in-law, had charged him (Moses) with having unlawfully married a woman (Numbers 12:1). A reference to this accusation is also to be found in the Quran in 33:70. Thus the elders of the Jews, by calling Jesus’ mother sister of Aaron, meant that as Mary, the sister of Aaron had, by accusing Moses of unlawfully marrying a woman, committed a heinous crime, so did she, like her namesake, commit a heinous act of giving birth to an illegitimate child. See also 3:36.
1763
The question of Mary having been called the sister of Aaron in the Qur’an was put before the Holy Prophet himself and he asked the questioner if he did not know that the Israelites used to name their children after their Prophets and saints (Bayan, vol. 6, p. 16; Jarir, vol. 16, p. 52). Mary has been here called the sister of Aaron and not that of Moses though both were brothers, for, whereas Moses was the founder of the Jewish Law, Aaron was the head of the Jewish priestly class (Enc. Bib. & Enc. Brit. under "Aaron"), and Mary also belonged to the priestly order. Tabari has related an incident from the life of the Holy Prophet which gives an insight into the meanings of such Arabic words as ab, ‘am, ukht, etc. When Safiyyah, the Holy Prophet’s wife, and incidentally a Jewess by descent, once complained to the Holy Prophet that some of his other wives had called her a Jewess in contempt, the Holy Prophet told her to return the taunt by saying that Aaron was her father, Moses
وَٱلَّتِىٓ أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهَا مِن رُّوحِنَا وَجَعَلْنَٰهَا وَٱبْنَهَآ ءَايَةً لِّلْعَٰلَمِينَ
بدقسمتی سے مسلمانوں نے یہ سمجھ لیا ہے کہ مریمؑ اور عیسیٰ ؑ کے سوا کوئی اور شخص نشان نہ تھا۔ حالانکہ قرآن کریم کے ہر ایک ٹکڑے کا نام آیت یعنی نشان رکھا گیا ہے (تاج) پس رسول کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم جن پر سارا قرآن نازل ہوا سب نشانوں کا مجموعہ تھے۔
66:13.
The verse refutes the calumnious charges that the Jews had levelled against Mary. It may also apply to any person who leads a righteous and upright life. In 66:13 a certain class of righteous believers are likened to Mary. Everyone of such righteous believers, so to say, is Mary, and when God breathes into him of His spirit he becomes a "son of Mary," i.e. he acquires the Divine attributes possessed by Jesus.
66:13.
Commentary:
The verse refutes the calumnious charges that the Jews had levelled against Mary. It also has a general application and may apply to any person who leads a righteous and upright life. In 66:13 a certain class of righteous believers are likened to Mary. Everyone of such righteous believers is Mary; and when God breathes into him of His spirit he becomes a 'son of Mary'. It is in this sense that the Promised Messiah has been called 'son of Mary' by the Holy Prophet.
Mary and her son were a sign in the sense that the fatherless birth of Jesus implied a warning to the Israelites that on account of their corruption and depravity and their persistent rejection of God’s Messengers they were to be deprived of the gift of prophethood forever. Jesus’ unusual birth marked a transitional stage. He had an Israelite mother but not an Israelite father. The next prophet was not to be from the House of Israel. With him the gift of prophethood, in accordance with the Biblical prophecy (Deut. 18:18), was to be transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael. That Prophet was the Holy Prophet Muhammad. See also Introduction to the chapter 19.
a
66:13.
843
这节经文驳斥了犹太人对玛尔彦诬蔑性的种种指控。这也可以适用於任何一个过着正直生活的人。66:13 经文中, 某一阶层的正直信者被比作玛尔彦。因此, 每一个这样的正直信者可以说是玛尔彦, 而且当安拉把他的精神灌输给他后, 他就变成了 “玛尔彦的儿子” 也就是说, 他获得了伊撒所具有的安拉的常德。
2
بدقسمتی سے مسلمانوں نے یہ سمجھ لیا ہے کہ مریمؑ اور عیسیٰ ؑ کے سوا کوئی اور شخص نشان نہ تھا۔ حالانکہ قرآن کریم کے ہر ایک ٹکڑے کا نام آیت یعنی نشان رکھا گیا ہے (تاج) پس رسول کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم جن پر سارا قرآن نازل ہوا سب نشانوں کا مجموعہ تھے۔
c
66:13.
2418
Commentary:
The verse refutes the calumnious charges that the Jews had levelled against Mary. It also has a general application and may apply to any person who leads a righteous and upright life. In 66:13 a certain class of righteous believers are likened to Mary. Everyone of such righteous believers is Mary; and when God breathes into him of His spirit he becomes a 'son of Mary'. It is in this sense that the Promised Messiah has been called 'son of Mary' by the Holy Prophet.
Mary and her son were a sign in the sense that the fatherless birth of Jesus implied a warning to the Israelites that on account of their corruption and depravity and their persistent rejection of God’s Messengers they were to be deprived of the gift of prophethood forever. Jesus’ unusual birth marked a transitional stage. He had an Israelite mother but not an Israelite father. The next prophet was not to be from the House of Israel. With him the gift of prophethood, in accordance with the Biblical prophecy (Deut. 18:18), was to be transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael. That Prophet was the Holy Prophet Muhammad. See also Introduction to the chapter 19.
b
66:13.
1914
The verse refutes the calumnious charges that the Jews had levelled against Mary. It may also apply to any person who leads a righteous and upright life. In 66:13 a certain class of righteous believers are likened to Mary. Everyone of such righteous believers, so to say, is Mary, and when God breathes into him of His spirit he becomes a "son of Mary," i.e. he acquires the Divine attributes possessed by Jesus.
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَٰفِظُونَ
70:30.
70:30.
70:30.
Important Words:
فروجھم (their chastity) is the plural of فرج (farjun) which is derived from فرج (faraja). فرج الشیء means, he opened the thing so as to make a gap or breach. فرج means, the pudendum or pudenda; the part or parts of a person which it is indecent to expose; or the external portion of the organs of generation of a man or a woman; an open, wide space; the part between the two sides of a valley, i.e. entrance; a frontier of access to a country (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
This verse refers to the fourth stage in the spiritual development of man. It indeed marks a very high stage. The lesson is writ large on the pages of history that many a nation has gone to rack and ruin because they abandoned themselves to immoral practices. Sexual morality plays a very important part in the building up of the national character of a people. Islam is very keen on this point. It regards the guarding of sexual chastity as one of the most sacred duties of a believer. It has closed the door to all those avenues which lead to moral laxity. The word فرج signifies those avenues through which evil thoughts find access to the human heart. It covers all parts and organs of the body, i.e. eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet etc. Islam looks with extreme disfavour upon all those practices which are calculated to excite human passions and which are so popular in the west or among people enamoured of western ways of life.
The verse marks a still higher stage in the spiritual development of man than the one mentioned in v. 5 above. It seems much easier to spend one’s money and property in the way of God, to which reference has been made in the preceding verse, than to overcome one’s carnal passions when they once get excited. Man has suffered more from the gratification of his sensual appetites than perhaps from any other evil. The curbing of carnal desires requires a greater mental discipline than the spending of wealth in good causes.
d
70:30.
a
70:30.
2513
Important Words:
فروجھم (their chastity) is the plural of فرج (farjun) which is derived from فرج (faraja). فرج الشیء means, he opened the thing so as to make a gap or breach. فرج means, the pudendum or pudenda; the part or parts of a person which it is indecent to expose; or the external portion of the organs of generation of a man or a woman; an open, wide space; the part between the two sides of a valley, i.e. entrance; a frontier of access to a country (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
This verse refers to the fourth stage in the spiritual development of man. It indeed marks a very high stage. The lesson is writ large on the pages of history that many a nation has gone to rack and ruin because they abandoned themselves to immoral practices. Sexual morality plays a very important part in the building up of the national character of a people. Islam is very keen on this point. It regards the guarding of sexual chastity as one of the most sacred duties of a believer. It has closed the door to all those avenues which lead to moral laxity. The word فرج signifies those avenues through which evil thoughts find access to the human heart. It covers all parts and organs of the body, i.e. eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet etc. Islam looks with extreme disfavour upon all those practices which are calculated to excite human passions and which are so popular in the west or among people enamoured of western ways of life.
The verse marks a still higher stage in the spiritual development of man than the one mentioned in v. 5 above. It seems much easier to spend one’s money and property in the way of God, to which reference has been made in the preceding verse, than to overcome one’s carnal passions when they once get excited. Man has suffered more from the gratification of his sensual appetites than perhaps from any other evil. The curbing of carnal desires requires a greater mental discipline than the spending of wealth in good causes.
d
70:30.
ٱلزَّانِيَةُ وَٱلزَّانِى فَٱجْلِدُوا۟ كُلَّ وَٰحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا مِا۟ئَةَ جَلْدَةٍ ۖ وَلَا تَأْخُذْكُم بِهِمَا رَأْفَةٌ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ ۖ وَلْيَشْهَدْ عَذَابَهُمَا طَآئِفَةٌ مِّنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
The words, az-Zani and az-Zaniyah, signify respectively both an adulterer and a fornicator; and an adulteress and a fornicatress.
Chastity as a moral virtue holds a very high place in the code of Islamic laws that govern relations between the sexes. The present Surah has laid down comprehensive commandments to safeguard and protect it. Islam views with extreme disapprobation the slightest breach of these laws. It is Islam’s very great sensitiveness about chastity that is reflected in the punishment prescribed for adultery or fornication in the verse under comment. The punishment prescribed is hundred stripes, no distinction having been made whether the guilty persons are married or unmarried or one of the party is married and the other unmarried. Flogging and not stoning to death, according to this verse, is the prescribed punishment. Nowhere in the Qur’an stoning to death has been laid down as punishment for adultery and, for that matter, for any other crime, however serious. Islam has not prescribed killing as a necessary and unqualified punishment even for crimes much more heinous than adultery such as unprovoked murder
Important Words:
الزانی is act. part. from زنی (aor. یزنی inf. n. زنی & زناء). They say زنی بھا i.e. he committed fornication or adultery with her. Thus الزنا means both fornication and adultery. ابن زنی، ولد زنیة and ولد الزنا all mean the same thing, i.e. the offspring of fornication or adultery. الزانی means, fornicator or adulterer, and الزانیة means, fornicatress or adulteress; and applied to a man it has an intensive meaning, i.e. one much addicted to fornication or adultery. The plural of زان is زناة like قضاة which is plural of قاض and the plural of زانیة is زوان (Lane & Aqrab).
جلدة (stripes) is derived from جلد. They say جلدہ i.e. he hit or hurt his skin; he beat his skin; he beat him; he struck him with a whip; he flogged him with a whip. جلدة means, flogging, scourging, whipping; stripe. The word is used both as plural and singular (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
Chastity as a moral virtue holds a very high place in the code of Islamic laws that govern relations between the sexes. The present Surah has laid down comprehensive commandments to safeguard and protect it. Islam views with extreme disapprobation the slightest breach of these laws. It is Islam’s very great sensitiveness about chastity that is reflected in the punishment prescribed for adultery or fornication in the verse under comment. The punishment prescribed is hundred stripes, no distinction having been made whether the guilty persons are married or unmarried or one of the party is married and the other unmarried. Thus flogging and not stoning to death according to this verse is the punishment prescribed by Islam for adultery or fornication. Nowhere in the Quran has stoning to death been laid down as punishment for adultery and for that matter for any other crime however serious. Islam has not prescribed killing as a necessary and unqualified punishment even for crimes much more heinous than adultery such as unprovoked murder, dacoity, treason against the state and disturbing the peace of the land. Though extreme penalty for these crimes is death, yet the payment of blood money in the case of the first offence (2:129) and imprisonment or banishment for the other crimes (5:33-34) have been laid down as alternative punishments. Elsewhere in the Quran where punishment for adultery for a married slave-girl is mentioned (4:26), it is clearly stated that she will get half the punishment prescribed for that of a free, married woman; and evidently the punishment of stoning to death cannot be halved.
So in spite of the fact that the Quran has quite clearly and unequivocally laid down (as in the verse under comment) flogging as the punishment for adultery and has made no discrimination whatever between a married or an unmarried culprit in the matter of awarding punishment (because زانی means both a fornicator and adulterer), and in spite of the fact that the present and other relevant verses were revealed in connection with slander-mongering about ‘A’ishah, the Holy Prophet’s noble consort, who herself was a married lady, it is curious that the misconception has persisted without any justification or linguistic authority among certain schools of Muslim religious thought that the verse under comment deals with punishment for unmarried persons only and that the punishment for a married adulterer and adulteress is stoning to death. The misconception seems to be due to a few cases recorded in Hadith whereby married persons guilty of adultery were stoned to death by the order of the Holy Prophet. One of these few cases was that of a Jew and a Jewess who were stoned to death in accordance with the Mosaic Law (Bukhari). It was invariably the Holy Prophet’s practice that he abided by the Law of the Torah in deciding cases till a new commandment was revealed to him. In one or two other cases on record in which the punishment accorded was stoning to death, it has not been established whether the crime was committed before or after the verse under comment was revealed. It seems that in cases in which the guilty person was stoned to death, the crime was committed before the revelation of this verse, but by some miscalculation on the part of some chronicler it was believed to have taken place after it. There is no dearth of such historical anachronisms in the books of Hadith. Or there might have been some other aggravating circumstances besides the crime of adultery which made the Holy Prophet award the guilty person or persons the extreme punishment of death and which the chronicler of the incident failed to take into account. Otherwise it is simply inconceivable that the Holy Prophet should have contravened the quite clear and unequivocal Divine commandment in this respect.
Another possible cause for misunderstanding about the form of punishment for adultery may be a saying attributed to Caliph ‘Umar. He is reported to have said: "There was a verse in the Book of God about rajm (stoning). We read it, we understood it and we remembered it. The Holy Prophet stoned adulterers to death and we also stoned after him. Were it not that people might say that ‘Umar had added in the Book of God what was not in it, I would have written it down" (Kashful-Ghummah vol.2, p.111). The whole hadith seems to be a pure fabrication or at best the result of misunderstanding or distortion of what ‘Umar might actually have said. How by writing down in the Quran what was a part of it could be called an addition to it and how, of all men, ‘Umar could have been afraid of anybody for doing the right thing, least of all for restoring to the Quran a lost text! It is impossible to attribute such confused thinking and irresponsible talk to a man of ‘Umar’s intellectual and moral calibre and stature. If the saying were to be taken at its face value, the whole claim of the Quran that it enjoys perpetual Divine protection and therefore is quite free from human interference falls to the ground.
‘Ali seems to hold quite a different view from that of ‘Umar regarding this very important religious question. After flogging a woman who had committed adultery and then stoning her to death, he is reported to have said: "I have flogged her in obedience to the commandment of the Book of God and have stoned her to death in accordance with the practice of the Holy Prophet" (Bukhari). From this hadith, two inferences clearly emerge:
(1) In the matter of punishing an adulterer or adulteress the practice of the Holy Prophet was at variance with the commandment of God as laid down in the Quran, which is impossible. (2) Whereas according to ‘Umar there was a commandment in the Book of God about stoning to death of an adulterer, according to ‘Ali there was no such commandment, it was only the practice of the Holy Prophet according to which he stoned to death persons guilty of adultery. It is impossible to reconcile the views of these two great leaders of Islam and equally impossible to believe that they held diametrically opposed views regarding a most important question of religion. And it is indeed very surprising that in the face of quite clear, unambiguous and unequivocal Divine commandments the view should have been held, of all men by ‘Umar and ‘Ali, or by any school of Muslim religious thought that Islam has prescribed stoning to death as punishment for an adulterer. The Quran rejects this view as wholly untenable. Somewhere some misunderstanding must have occurred on the part of a chronicler or narrator of the sayings of the Holy Prophet which has caused all this confusion.
It may be of interest to note that the verse has used the words الزانی and الزانیة (and not زانی and زانیة) which suggest a particular class of adulterers and fornicators such as hardened or habitual culprits or those who are lost to all sense of shame and remorse and having thrown all restraint and constraint to the winds indulge in this hideous crime openly.
The verse further lays down that the beating of the culprit should not be so severe as to cause his death or break his bone but should hurt only the skin as the word اجلدوا used in the verse signifies and as is implied in 4:26.
2592
Important Words:
الزانی is act. part. from زنی (aor. یزنی inf. n. زنی & زناء). They say زنی بھا i.e. he committed fornication or adultery with her. Thus الزنا means both fornication and adultery. ابن زنی، ولد زنیة and ولد الزنا all mean the same thing, i.e. the offspring of fornication or adultery. الزانی means, fornicator or adulterer, and الزانیة means, fornicatress or adulteress; and applied to a man it has an intensive meaning, i.e. one much addicted to fornication or adultery. The plural of زان is زناة like قضاة which is plural of قاض and the plural of زانیة is زوان (Lane & Aqrab).
جلدة (stripes) is derived from جلد. They say جلدہ i.e. he hit or hurt his skin; he beat his skin; he beat him; he struck him with a whip; he flogged him with a whip. جلدة means, flogging, scourging, whipping; stripe. The word is used both as plural and singular (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
Chastity as a moral virtue holds a very high place in the code of Islamic laws that govern relations between the sexes. The present Surah has laid down comprehensive commandments to safeguard and protect it. Islam views with extreme disapprobation the slightest breach of these laws. It is Islam’s very great sensitiveness about chastity that is reflected in the punishment prescribed for adultery or fornication in the verse under comment. The punishment prescribed is hundred stripes, no distinction having been made whether the guilty persons are married or unmarried or one of the party is married and the other unmarried. Thus flogging and not stoning to death according to this verse is the punishment prescribed by Islam for adultery or fornication. Nowhere in the Quran has stoning to death been laid down as punishment for adultery and for that matter for any other crime however serious. Islam has not prescribed killing as a necessary and unqualified punishment even for crimes much more heinous than adultery such as unprovoked murder, dacoity, treason against the state and disturbing the peace of the land. Though extreme penalty for these crimes is death, yet the payment of blood money in the case of the first offence (2:129) and imprisonment or banishment for the other crimes (5:33-34) have been laid down as alternative punishments. Elsewhere in the Quran where punishment for adultery for a married slave-girl is mentioned (4:26), it is clearly stated that she will get half the punishment prescribed for that of a free, married woman; and evidently the punishment of stoning to death cannot be halved.
So in spite of the fact that the Quran has quite clearly and unequivocally laid down (as in the verse under comment) flogging as the punishment for adultery and has made no discrimination whatever between a married or an unmarried culprit in the matter of awarding punishment (because زانی means both a fornicator and adulterer), and in spite of the fact that the present and other relevant verses were revealed in connection with slander-mongering about ‘A’ishah, the Holy Prophet’s noble consort, who herself was a married lady, it is curious that the misconception has persisted without any justification or linguistic authority among certain schools of Muslim religious thought that the verse under comment deals with punishment for unmarried persons only and that the punishment for a married adulterer and adulteress is stoning to death. The misconception seems to be due to a few cases recorded in Hadith whereby married persons guilty of adultery were stoned to death by the order of the Holy Prophet. One of these few cases was that of a Jew and a Jewess who were stoned to death in accordance with the Mosaic Law (Bukhari). It was invariably the Holy Prophet’s practice that he abided by the Law of the Torah in deciding cases till a new commandment was revealed to him. In one or two other cases on record in which the punishment accorded was stoning to death, it has not been established whether the crime was committed before or after the verse under comment was revealed. It seems that in cases in which the guilty person was stoned to death, the crime was committed before the revelation of this verse, but by some miscalculation on the part of some chronicler it was believed to have taken place after it. There is no dearth of such historical anachronisms in the books of Hadith. Or there might have been some other aggravating circumstances besides the crime of adultery which made the Holy Prophet award the guilty person or persons the extreme punishment of death and which the chronicler of the incident failed to take into account. Otherwise it is simply inconceivable that the Holy Prophet should have contravened the quite clear and unequivocal Divine commandment in this respect.
Another possible cause for misunderstanding about the form of punishment for adultery may be a saying attributed to Caliph ‘Umar. He is reported to have said: "There was a verse in the Book of God about rajm (stoning). We read it, we understood it and we remembered it. The Holy Prophet stoned adulterers to death and we also stoned after him. Were it not that people might say that ‘Umar had added in the Book of God what was not in it, I would have written it down" (Kashful-Ghummah vol.2, p.111). The whole hadith seems to be a pure fabrication or at best the result of misunderstanding or distortion of what ‘Umar might actually have said. How by writing down in the Quran what was a part of it could be called an addition to it and how, of all men, ‘Umar could have been afraid of anybody for doing the right thing, least of all for restoring to the Quran a lost text! It is impossible to attribute such confused thinking and irresponsible talk to a man of ‘Umar’s intellectual and moral calibre and stature. If the saying were to be taken at its face value, the whole claim of the Quran that it enjoys perpetual Divine protection and therefore is quite free from human interference falls to the ground.
‘Ali seems to hold quite a different view from that of ‘Umar regarding this very important religious question. After flogging a woman who had committed adultery and then stoning her to death, he is reported to have said: "I have flogged her in obedience to the commandment of the Book of God and have stoned her to death in accordance with the practice of the Holy Prophet" (Bukhari). From this hadith, two inferences clearly emerge:
(1) In the matter of punishing an adulterer or adulteress the practice of the Holy Prophet was at variance with the commandment of God as laid down in the Quran, which is impossible. (2) Whereas according to ‘Umar there was a commandment in the Book of God about stoning to death of an adulterer, according to ‘Ali there was no such commandment, it was only the practice of the Holy Prophet according to which he stoned to death persons guilty of adultery. It is impossible to reconcile the views of these two great leaders of Islam and equally impossible to believe that they held diametrically opposed views regarding a most important question of religion. And it is indeed very surprising that in the face of quite clear, unambiguous and unequivocal Divine commandments the view should have been held, of all men by ‘Umar and ‘Ali, or by any school of Muslim religious thought that Islam has prescribed stoning to death as punishment for an adulterer. The Quran rejects this view as wholly untenable. Somewhere some misunderstanding must have occurred on the part of a chronicler or narrator of the sayings of the Holy Prophet which has caused all this confusion.
It may be of interest to note that the verse has used the words الزانی and الزانیة (and not زانی and زانیة) which suggest a particular class of adulterers and fornicators such as hardened or habitual culprits or those who are lost to all sense of shame and remorse and having thrown all restraint and constraint to the winds indulge in this hideous crime openly.
The verse further lays down that the beating of the culprit should not be so severe as to cause his death or break his bone but should hurt only the skin as the word اجلدوا used in the verse signifies and as is implied in 4:26.
2025A
The words, az-Zani and az-Zaniyah, signify respectively both an adulterer and a fornicator; and an adulteress and a fornicatress.
2026
Chastity as a moral virtue holds a very high place in the code of Islamic laws that govern relations between the sexes. The present Surah has laid down comprehensive commandments to safeguard and protect it. Islam views with extreme disapprobation the slightest breach of these laws. It is Islam’s very great sensitiveness about chastity that is reflected in the punishment prescribed for adultery or fornication in the verse under comment. The punishment prescribed is hundred stripes, no distinction having been made whether the guilty persons are married or unmarried or one of the party is married and the other unmarried. Flogging and not stoning to death, according to this verse, is the prescribed punishment. Nowhere in the Qur’an stoning to death has been laid down as punishment for adultery and, for that matter, for any other crime, however serious. Islam has not prescribed killing as a necessary and unqualified punishment even for crimes much more heinous than adultery such as unprovoked murder
قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا۟ مِنْ أَبْصَٰرِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا۟ فُرُوجَهُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَزْكَىٰ لَهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ
As stated above the Qur’an is not content with merely taking a superficial view of things but goes to their very root. According to it, every good or bad quality springs from a certain root. In the case of a good quality, the Qur’an enjoins that the root should be mastered and fully kept under control and, in the case of an evil, it aims at its complete eradication and extermination and thus bolts and bars all the avenues to it. As it is the eyes through which most evil thoughts enter the mind, so in the verse under comment believing men and women have been commanded to restrain their looks when they happen to meet one another.
Furuj may also signify "senses."
Important Words:
یغضوا (restrain) is derived from غض. They say غض طرفه او بصرہ او من طرفه i.e. he restrained or lowered his eye or eyes; he blinked; he contracted his eye or eyes so as to wrinkle the lids; he contracted his eyelids and he looked; he contracted his eye or eyes and looked towards the ground, not opening his eye or eyes. غض صوته means, he lowered his voice (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
As stated above the Quran is not content with merely taking a superficial view of things but goes to their very root. According to it every good or bad quality springs from a certain root. In the case of a good quality the Quran enjoins that the root should be mastered and fully kept under control and in the case of an evil it aims at its complete eradication and extermination and thus bolts and bars all the avenues to it. As it is the eyes through which most evil thoughts enter the mind, so in the verse under comment believing men and women have been commanded to lower their gaze when they happen to meet one another.
905
如上所述, «古兰经» 不满足于仅仅看事物的外表, 而是要看事物的根底。根据这一点, 每一种好的或坏的品质都有它的根源。对于好的品质, «古兰经» 告诫说要把它的根源倍加掌握和管理;而对坏的品质, «古兰经» 力求根除和消灭它的根源, 这样以来堵塞通往邪恶的念头都是通过眼睛而进入脑海的, 因此, 现在注释的这节经文要求信仰的男女当他们不期而遇时要克制自己的视线。
906
فُرُوْج (Furuj) 也可以意指 “官能、理智、感觉”。
2613
Important Words:
یغضوا (restrain) is derived from غض. They say غض طرفه او بصرہ او من طرفه i.e. he restrained or lowered his eye or eyes; he blinked; he contracted his eye or eyes so as to wrinkle the lids; he contracted his eyelids and he looked; he contracted his eye or eyes and looked towards the ground, not opening his eye or eyes. غض صوته means, he lowered his voice (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
As stated above the Quran is not content with merely taking a superficial view of things but goes to their very root. According to it every good or bad quality springs from a certain root. In the case of a good quality the Quran enjoins that the root should be mastered and fully kept under control and in the case of an evil it aims at its complete eradication and extermination and thus bolts and bars all the avenues to it. As it is the eyes through which most evil thoughts enter the mind, so in the verse under comment believing men and women have been commanded to lower their gaze when they happen to meet one another.
2043
As stated above the Qur’an is not content with merely taking a superficial view of things but goes to their very root. According to it, every good or bad quality springs from a certain root. In the case of a good quality, the Qur’an enjoins that the root should be mastered and fully kept under control and, in the case of an evil, it aims at its complete eradication and extermination and thus bolts and bars all the avenues to it. As it is the eyes through which most evil thoughts enter the mind, so in the verse under comment believing men and women have been commanded to restrain their looks when they happen to meet one another.
2043A
Furuj may also signify "senses."
وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَٰتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَٰرِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا ۖ وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ ۖ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا لِبُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ ءَابَآئِهِنَّ أَوْ ءَابَآءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَآئِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَآءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ إِخْوَٰنِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِىٓ إِخْوَٰنِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِىٓ أَخَوَٰتِهِنَّ أَوْ نِسَآئِهِنَّ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُهُنَّ أَوِ ٱلتَّٰبِعِينَ غَيْرِ أُو۟لِى ٱلْإِرْبَةِ مِنَ ٱلرِّجَالِ أَوِ ٱلطِّفْلِ ٱلَّذِينَ لَمْ يَظْهَرُوا۟ عَلَىٰ عَوْرَٰتِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ ۖ وَلَا يَضْرِبْنَ بِأَرْجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعْلَمَ مَا يُخْفِينَ مِن زِينَتِهِنَّ ۚ وَتُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
正派的妇女。
即使在穆斯林中间也普遍存在着对伊斯兰教的 “妇女隔幔制度” 的许多误解和缺乏正确的知识。因此有必要对这一使人引起许多烦恼的问题作些详细的注解。以下经文述及 “妇女隔幔制度” 的各个方面:
(1) 对信仰的女子说, 她们要克制自己的视线, 保护自己的羞体, 不要显露自己的美色或自己的装饰, 除非是自然显露的。她们要把头盖拉过胸部, 不要显露自己的美色……(24:32, 即现在注释的这一节)。
(2) 先知啊! 对你的妻子、女儿和信仰的妇女说, (当她们到外面去时, )她们应当从头到脸拉下自己的外衣。这使她们更可能被辩认而不受戏弄 (33:60)。
这节经文 (33:60) 中用的这一阿拉伯单词是 جَلَابِيْب (Jalabib), 它的单数是 جِلْبَاب (Jilbab), 意思是外面用的或覆盖用的长衣。
(3) 先知的妻子们啊! 如果你们敬畏安拉, 那你们与一般妇女是不同的。你们讲话不要过于温柔, 免得心中有病的人产生恶的意念。要对人们说合乎礼仪的言语。要庄严地留在自己家中, 不要做过去愚昧时代妇女模样的打扮……(33:33-34)。
(4) 信仰的人啊! 教你们手下的人和尚未成年的人向你们在三个时辰请示 (进入室内的) 许可:晨礼之前、夏季正午脱下衣服、宵礼之后……(24:59)。
以下的推断出自后面四节经文:
(a) 穆斯林妇女外出时, 必须穿上 جِلْبَاب (Jilbab), 就是一种覆盖的外套在外面的长衣。穿着时该衣从头部向下覆盖到腹部而遮住全身。这就是 يُدْنِيْنَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيْبِهِنَّ (Yudnina ‘Alaihinna min Jalabibihinna) (33:60)。这一句 «古兰经» 中的话的意思: 穿上一件外罩长衣的目的, 是保护穆斯林妇女在出外做事时, 免于被盯注或受戏弄, 或任何在性格上有问题的人们做出各种使她感到不方便等精神上的极度痛苦。
(b) 穆斯林男女在偶然迎面相见时, 要克制各自的视线。
(c) 第三种律令虽然表面上是对先知的妻子说的, 实际上是 «古兰经» 的习常做法, 包括其他穆斯林妇女在内。“要庄严地留在自己家中” (33:34) 这句话意示, 妇女在必要时可以外出, 但是她们主要的活动范围是在家里。
(d) 在上述的三种时间内, 即使孩子们也不容许进入双亲的私室, 家里的仆人或女奴也不容许进入主人的卧室。
第一个律令用于妇女出外时。那时她们要穿上外衣并应遮住全身。第二个律令主要与家室以内的 “面纱” 有关, 那里经常有男性近亲来往。在这种情况下, 要求男女只要克制自己的视线, 并且作为一种外加的预防措施, 妇女们要留意不要显露她们的 زِيْنَة (Zinah), 即人的美色、服装和装饰。那时她们不须要穿外用的长罩衣 (جِلْبَاب, Jilbab), 因为在非常近的、有血缘关系的亲戚的随便而经常的访问中, 这样做会令人厌烦而不切合实际情况。经文的上下文表明了这一律令是与家室以内的 “面纱” 有关, 因为现在注释中的这节经文所谈到的所有的人都是一般来访问他们的近亲。除了近亲以外, 这节经文还特别谈了四种人, 即正派的妇女、老仆人, 女奴和小男孩, 由此更加可得出这样一个推断:这节经文中的律令与家室以内的 “面纱” 有关的。实则, 第一个律令涉及家室以外的 “面纱” 以及第二个律令基本上涉及家室以内的 “面纱”。这一事实, 还可以从有关经文即33:60和现在注释的这节经文中所用来表达两种不同形式的 “面纱” 的不同用词方面清楚地看出。在33:60节经文中, 女人外出时要穿的那件衣服是 Jilbab (一件外面覆盖的长衣), 而当亲戚来访时她在家室以内必须穿的那件衣服是头盖 (خِمَارْ, Khimar)。而且, 在33:60节经文中所用的那些字是 يُدْنِيْنَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيْبِهِنَّ (Yudnina ‘Alaihinna min Jalabibihinna), (也就是说, 她们应该将头盖遮到腹部。很清楚的是,) 前一种情况下, 外用长衣将遮住头部、脸部和胸腹部, 而后一种情况下, 将遮住的是头部和腹部, 但脸就是露出的。
可以顺便说一下, 妇女外出时必须穿着遮盖她全身的上述外用长衣样式的服装, 按照穆斯林社会的风俗、习惯、社会地位、家庭传统和不同阶层的用法而有所不同。有关家室以内的 “头盖” 的那一律令, 也将适用于店铺、田野等处, 那里穆斯林社会某些部门的妇女必须工作来嫌钱维持生计。那里, 妇女不必用面纱遮住脸部。她只要克制自己的视线并且不显露她的 زِيْنَة (Zinah), 即她的首饰和其他装饰品, 犹如妇女在家室内当男性近亲访问她们时所做的那样。
第三个律令要求妇女在同陌生男子谈话时态度要端庄, 要近似严肃的程度;而且也要求她们充分注意善尽有关她们自己的性幸福、管理家务、照顾和抚养子女以及亲属事务的严肃而重要的职责。第四个律令责成夫妻尽可能同其他家庭成员的卧室分开, 即使小男孩也不容许在59节经文所述的时间内进入自己的卧室。
在这节经文中用的 زِيْنَة (Zinah) 这个单词包括天然和人工的两种美色--------身体、服装和饰物的美色。“除非自然显露的” 这句话包含妇女所不能遮掩的所有那些事物, 诸如声音、身材、体态, 也包含了按照她的社会地位、家庭传统、职业以及社会的风俗所容许的可以露出的身体的某些部份。允许身体某些部份可以不必遮掩的情况可有某些变动。因此, “不要显露自己的美色” 这句话, 对属于社会不同部门和等级的妇女将有不同的涵义, 而且这种涵义将随着一个民族的风俗和生活方式以及各种职业的变化而变化。“不要为使人知道所隐藏的装饰而跺脚” (24:32) 这句话, 表明有某些国家普遍风行的当众跳舞, 伊斯兰教是绝对不容许的。
这就是伊斯兰教 “妇女隔幔制度” 的概念。按照穆斯林的看法, 妇女可经常出外, 只要合法合理地, 需要她们这样做; 但是她们本来和主要的职能是限在家中, 如果不是更重要的话, 那么, 也是同男子的各种本职同样的重要和严肃, 必须认真对待的。如果妇女担任了男子的本职的话, 她们是想违反自然, 而 (自然法则是不容许违反而不受惩罚的) 违反自然法则必将遭到惩罚。
جیسے قد اور موٹاپا یا دُبلا پن۔
یعنی جو شرافت میں مشہور ہوں۔ یہ نہیں کہ مسلمانوں کے عام رواج کے مطابق ڈومنیاں ہر وقت گھر میں گھسی رہیں۔
Decent women.
As a good deal of misunderstanding and lack of proper knowledge as to what constitutes the Islamic notion of "Pardah" prevails even among Muslims, a somewhat detailed note on this much-vexed question is called for. The following verses deal with every aspect of "Pardah":—
(i) And say to the believing women that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts, and that they display not their beauty or their embellishment except that which is apparent thereof, and that they draw their head-coverings over their bosoms, and that they display not their beauty………(24:32, i.e. the verse under comment).
(ii) O Prophet, tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers that they should let down over them their loose outer garments. That is more likely that they will thus be recognised and not molested (33:60).
The Arabic word used in this verse (33:60) is, Jalabib of which the singular is Jilbab which means an outer or wrapping garment (Lane).
(iii)
Important Words:
خمرھن (their head-coverings). خمر is the plural of خمار which is derived from خمر which means, he veiled, covered or concealed a thing. خمار means, a woman’s muffler or veil with which she covers her head and the lower part of the face leaving exposed only the eyes and part of the nose; a woman’s head-covering; a piece of cloth with which a woman covers her head; also a man’s turban (Lane & Aqrab).
جیوبھن (their bosoms). جیوب is the plural of جیب which is derived from جاب. They say جابه i.e. he made a hole in it; he rent it or tore it; he pierced or bored it; he cut it. جاب القمیص means, he hollowed out the جیب of the shirt, he cut the جیب of the shirt or he made a جیب in the shirt. جیب means, the opening at the neck and bosom of a shirt and the like; a pocket; the heart; the bosom (Lane & Aqrab).
إربة (sexual appetite) is derived from أرب (aruba), or أرب (ariba). The former means he was or became cunning, intelligent, sagacious or excellent in judgement and the latter, i.e. ariba, means, he wanted it, he was or became in want of it and sought it or desired it. إربة and إرب (irbun) and أرب (arabun) mean the same thing, viz. cunning, intelligence, excellence of judgement, sagacity; want of need. About the Holy Prophet it is said in a hadith کان أملککم لاربه i.e. he had the greatest control over his want, desire or sexual desire (Bukhari). The Quranic words غیر اولی الاربه mean, idiots, or persons deficient in intellect or such men as have no need of women; or have no sexual desire (Lane & Mufradat).
عورات (private parts or nakedness) is the plural of عورة which is derived from عور which means, he was or became blind in one eye. عورة means, the pendulum or pudenda of a man and of a woman; the part or parts of a person which are indecent to expose; parts between the navel and the knee; anything that a man veils or conceals by reason of disdainful pride or of shame or prudency; anything of which one is ashamed when it appears; a woman; any place of concealment; a gap, an opening or a breach in the frontier of hostile country, or in war from which one fears slaughter; cleft or fissure; disgrace or disfigurement; blindness of one eye (Lane & Aqrab).
نسائھن (their women) signifies known or familiar decent women.
Commentary:
As a good deal of misunderstanding and lack of proper knowledge as to what constitutes Islamic "purdah" prevails even among Muslims, a somewhat detailed note on this much-vexed question is called for. Here are the relevant Quranic verses that embody necessary commandments about "purdah":
(i) O Prophet, tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers that they should let down over them their loose outer garments. It is more likely that they will thus be distinguished and not molested (33:60).
The Arabic word used in this verse is جلابیب of which the singular is جلباب meaning, an outer or wrapping garment; a head-covering; the garment with which a woman covers her head and bosom.
(ii) And say to the believing women that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts and that they disclose not their natural and artificial beauty except that which is apparent thereof, and that they cast their head-coverings over their bosoms, and that they disclose not their beauty…(24:32 i.e. the verse under comment.)
(iii) O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women if you are righteous. So be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease should feel tempted; and speak a decent speech. And stay in your houses with dignity and do not show off yourselves like the showing off of the former days of ignorance (33:33-34).
(iv) O ye who believe, let those whom your right hands possess, and those of you who have not attained to puberty, ask permission of you three times before coming into your presence: before the morning Prayer, and when you take off clothes at noon in summer and after the night Prayer (24:59).
The following inferences are clearly deducible from the verses quoted above:
(i) When they go out, Muslim women are to wear an outer and wrapping garment which should cover their heads and bosoms in such a manner that the garment should come down from the head to the bosom covering the whole body including the face. This is the significance of the Quranic words یدنین علیھن من جلابیبھن (33:60). The outer garment is intended to make known the fact that while a Muslim woman goes about her business she may be spared the mental anguish of being stared at by persons of questionable character.
(ii) Muslim men and women are to restrain their eyes when they happen to face each other.
(iii) The third commandment though apparently applying to the wives of the Prophet, includes, as is the practice of the Quran, other Muslim women also. The words "And stay in your houses" imply that whereas women may go out when necessary, the principal and primary sphere of their activities is inside the house.
(iv) At three stated hours, even children are not allowed to enter the private apartments of their parents nor are domestic servants or female slaves allowed to enter the sleeping room of their masters.
The first commandment applies to women when they go out. Then they are to use an outer garment which should cover their whole body including the face. The second commandment relates to "purdah" primarily inside the four walls of the house when near male relatives frequently come and go. In that case men and women are only to restrain their looks and as an additional precaution women are to take care that their زینة i.e. beauty of person, dress and ornaments, is not displayed. They are not required to use جلباب (outer garment) because that would be very irksome and even impracticable in view of the free and frequent visits of near blood relations such as cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, etc. The context shows that this commandment relates to "purdah" inside the four walls of the house, because all the persons mentioned in the verse are very near relations who generally visit the houses of their relatives. The special mention in it of four categories of persons besides near relatives, viz. decent women, old servants, female slaves and minor boys, lends additional weight to the inference that the commandment in this verse relates to "purdah" within the four walls of the house.
The fact that the first commandment refers to "purdah" outside the house and the second commandment basically refers to "purdah" within the four walls of the house is also apparent from the different words that have been used to express the two forms of "purdah" in the relevant verses i.e. 33:60, and the verse under comment. Whereas in 33:60 the garment which a woman is to use when she goes out is جلباب the garment which she has to use inside the house when relatives visit is خمار. Moreover, whereas in 33:60 the words used are یدنین علیھن من جلابیبھن i.e. they should let down over them their outer garments (for a detailed discussion of جلباب and یدنین see 33:60); in the verse under comment the words used are یضربن بخمرھن علی جیوبھن i.e. they should cast their head-coverings over their bosoms. It is clear that in the former case the garment will cover the head, the face and the bosom while in the latter case only the head and the bosom will become covered and the face may remain uncovered.
It may also be noted in passing that the shape and form of the outer-garment which, as mentioned above, a woman must wear when she goes out and which covers her whole body including the face will vary according to the customs, habits, social status, family traditions and usages of various classes of the Muslim community. The commandment with regard to "purdah" within the four walls of the house will also apply to shops, fields, etc. where women of certain sections of Muslim society have to work to earn their living. There a woman will not be required to veil her face. She will have only to restrain her eyes and to cover her زینة i.e. her ornaments and other embellishments, as women within the house have to do when their relatives visit them.
The third commandment requires women to behave with dignity bordering on austerity when talking to stranger men; and they are also required to give their full attention to the discharge of their serious and important duties in regard to the affairs connected with the well-being of their own sex and the management of the household affairs and to looking after and bringing up of children and kindred matters. The fourth commandment enjoins husband and wife to have, as far as possible, sleeping apartments separate from those of other members of the family which even minor boys are not allowed to enter at stated hours.
In the expression لا یبدین زینتھن i.e. they display not their زینة (beauty), the word زینة includes both natural and artificial beauty. It signifies the beauty of person, and includes the beauty of dress and ornaments which women wear on their hands, feet, ears, arms, necks, bosoms, etc. The expression, "except that which is apparent thereof," contains all those things which it is not possible for a woman to cover such as her voice, gait or stature and also certain parts of her body which remain uncovered according to her social status, her family traditions, her avocation and the customs of the society. The permission to keep certain parts of the body uncovered will be subject to certain variations. Thus the words, "they display not their beauty" will have different connotations with regard to women belonging to different sections and grades of society and the connotation will change with the change in the customs and modes of living and professions of the people.
The words "and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may become known," show that public dancing which is so much in vogue in certain countries is definitely not allowed by Islam.
This is the Islamic conception of "purdah." According to it Muslim women may go out as often as it is legitimately necessary for them to do so, but their primary and principal functions are confined to their homes which are as important and serious, if not more, as the avocations of men are. If women take to men’s avocations they seek to defy nature and nature does not allow its laws to be defied with impunity.
If would be noticed that the incident about ‘A’ishah which forms one of the principal subjects of this Surah sheds a flood of light on the form of "purdah" which Islam enjoins its followers to observe. According to tradition when Safwan came to the place where ‘A’ishah was lying asleep with her face uncovered, he recognized her because he had seen her, as he himself afterwards said, before the verse about "purdah" was revealed (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir).
907
正派的妇女。
908
即使在穆斯林中间也普遍存在着对伊斯兰教的 “妇女隔幔制度” 的许多误解和缺乏正确的知识。因此有必要对这一使人引起许多烦恼的问题作些详细的注解。以下经文述及 “妇女隔幔制度” 的各个方面:
(1) 对信仰的女子说, 她们要克制自己的视线, 保护自己的羞体, 不要显露自己的美色或自己的装饰, 除非是自然显露的。她们要把头盖拉过胸部, 不要显露自己的美色……(24:32, 即现在注释的这一节)。
(2) 先知啊! 对你的妻子、女儿和信仰的妇女说, (当她们到外面去时, )她们应当从头到脸拉下自己的外衣。这使她们更可能被辩认而不受戏弄 (33:60)。
这节经文 (33:60) 中用的这一阿拉伯单词是 جَلَابِيْب (Jalabib), 它的单数是 جِلْبَاب (Jilbab), 意思是外面用的或覆盖用的长衣。
(3) 先知的妻子们啊! 如果你们敬畏安拉, 那你们与一般妇女是不同的。你们讲话不要过于温柔, 免得心中有病的人产生恶的意念。要对人们说合乎礼仪的言语。要庄严地留在自己家中, 不要做过去愚昧时代妇女模样的打扮……(33:33-34)。
(4) 信仰的人啊! 教你们手下的人和尚未成年的人向你们在三个时辰请示 (进入室内的) 许可:晨礼之前、夏季正午脱下衣服、宵礼之后……(24:59)。
以下的推断出自后面四节经文:
(a) 穆斯林妇女外出时, 必须穿上 جِلْبَاب (Jilbab), 就是一种覆盖的外套在外面的长衣。穿着时该衣从头部向下覆盖到腹部而遮住全身。这就是 يُدْنِيْنَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيْبِهِنَّ (Yudnina ‘Alaihinna min Jalabibihinna) (33:60)。这一句 «古兰经» 中的话的意思: 穿上一件外罩长衣的目的, 是保护穆斯林妇女在出外做事时, 免于被盯注或受戏弄, 或任何在性格上有问题的人们做出各种使她感到不方便等精神上的极度痛苦。
(b) 穆斯林男女在偶然迎面相见时, 要克制各自的视线。
(c) 第三种律令虽然表面上是对先知的妻子说的, 实际上是 «古兰经» 的习常做法, 包括其他穆斯林妇女在内。“要庄严地留在自己家中” (33:34) 这句话意示, 妇女在必要时可以外出, 但是她们主要的活动范围是在家里。
(d) 在上述的三种时间内, 即使孩子们也不容许进入双亲的私室, 家里的仆人或女奴也不容许进入主人的卧室。
第一个律令用于妇女出外时。那时她们要穿上外衣并应遮住全身。第二个律令主要与家室以内的 “面纱” 有关, 那里经常有男性近亲来往。在这种情况下, 要求男女只要克制自己的视线, 并且作为一种外加的预防措施, 妇女们要留意不要显露她们的 زِيْنَة (Zinah), 即人的美色、服装和装饰。那时她们不须要穿外用的长罩衣 (جِلْبَاب, Jilbab), 因为在非常近的、有血缘关系的亲戚的随便而经常的访问中, 这样做会令人厌烦而不切合实际情况。经文的上下文表明了这一律令是与家室以内的 “面纱” 有关, 因为现在注释中的这节经文所谈到的所有的人都是一般来访问他们的近亲。除了近亲以外, 这节经文还特别谈了四种人, 即正派的妇女、老仆人, 女奴和小男孩, 由此更加可得出这样一个推断:这节经文中的律令与家室以内的 “面纱” 有关的。实则, 第一个律令涉及家室以外的 “面纱” 以及第二个律令基本上涉及家室以内的 “面纱”。这一事实, 还可以从有关经文即33:60和现在注释的这节经文中所用来表达两种不同形式的 “面纱” 的不同用词方面清楚地看出。在33:60节经文中, 女人外出时要穿的那件衣服是 Jilbab (一件外面覆盖的长衣), 而当亲戚来访时她在家室以内必须穿的那件衣服是头盖 (خِمَارْ, Khimar)。而且, 在33:60节经文中所用的那些字是 يُدْنِيْنَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيْبِهِنَّ (Yudnina ‘Alaihinna min Jalabibihinna), (也就是说, 她们应该将头盖遮到腹部。很清楚的是,) 前一种情况下, 外用长衣将遮住头部、脸部和胸腹部, 而后一种情况下, 将遮住的是头部和腹部, 但脸就是露出的。
可以顺便说一下, 妇女外出时必须穿着遮盖她全身的上述外用长衣样式的服装, 按照穆斯林社会的风俗、习惯、社会地位、家庭传统和不同阶层的用法而有所不同。有关家室以内的 “头盖” 的那一律令, 也将适用于店铺、田野等处, 那里穆斯林社会某些部门的妇女必须工作来嫌钱维持生计。那里, 妇女不必用面纱遮住脸部。她只要克制自己的视线并且不显露她的 زِيْنَة (Zinah), 即她的首饰和其他装饰品, 犹如妇女在家室内当男性近亲访问她们时所做的那样。
第三个律令要求妇女在同陌生男子谈话时态度要端庄, 要近似严肃的程度;而且也要求她们充分注意善尽有关她们自己的性幸福、管理家务、照顾和抚养子女以及亲属事务的严肃而重要的职责。第四个律令责成夫妻尽可能同其他家庭成员的卧室分开, 即使小男孩也不容许在59节经文所述的时间内进入自己的卧室。
在这节经文中用的 زِيْنَة (Zinah) 这个单词包括天然和人工的两种美色--------身体、服装和饰物的美色。“除非自然显露的” 这句话包含妇女所不能遮掩的所有那些事物, 诸如声音、身材、体态, 也包含了按照她的社会地位、家庭传统、职业以及社会的风俗所容许的可以露出的身体的某些部份。允许身体某些部份可以不必遮掩的情况可有某些变动。因此, “不要显露自己的美色” 这句话, 对属于社会不同部门和等级的妇女将有不同的涵义, 而且这种涵义将随着一个民族的风俗和生活方式以及各种职业的变化而变化。“不要为使人知道所隐藏的装饰而跺脚” (24:32) 这句话, 表明有某些国家普遍风行的当众跳舞, 伊斯兰教是绝对不容许的。
这就是伊斯兰教 “妇女隔幔制度” 的概念。按照穆斯林的看法, 妇女可经常出外, 只要合法合理地, 需要她们这样做; 但是她们本来和主要的职能是限在家中, 如果不是更重要的话, 那么, 也是同男子的各种本职同样的重要和严肃, 必须认真对待的。如果妇女担任了男子的本职的话, 她们是想违反自然, 而 (自然法则是不容许违反而不受惩罚的) 违反自然法则必将遭到惩罚。
1
جیسے قد اور موٹاپا یا دُبلا پن۔
2
یعنی جو شرافت میں مشہور ہوں۔ یہ نہیں کہ مسلمانوں کے عام رواج کے مطابق ڈومنیاں ہر وقت گھر میں گھسی رہیں۔
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Important Words:
خمرھن (their head-coverings). خمر is the plural of خمار which is derived from خمر which means, he veiled, covered or concealed a thing. خمار means, a woman’s muffler or veil with which she covers her head and the lower part of the face leaving exposed only the eyes and part of the nose; a woman’s head-covering; a piece of cloth with which a woman covers her head; also a man’s turban (Lane & Aqrab).
جیوبھن (their bosoms). جیوب is the plural of جیب which is derived from جاب. They say جابه i.e. he made a hole in it; he rent it or tore it; he pierced or bored it; he cut it. جاب القمیص means, he hollowed out the جیب of the shirt, he cut the جیب of the shirt or he made a جیب in the shirt. جیب means, the opening at the neck and bosom of a shirt and the like; a pocket; the heart; the bosom (Lane & Aqrab).
إربة (sexual appetite) is derived from أرب (aruba), or أرب (ariba). The former means he was or became cunning, intelligent, sagacious or excellent in judgement and the latter, i.e. ariba, means, he wanted it, he was or became in want of it and sought it or desired it. إربة and إرب (irbun) and أرب (arabun) mean the same thing, viz. cunning, intelligence, excellence of judgement, sagacity; want of need. About the Holy Prophet it is said in a hadith کان أملککم لاربه i.e. he had the greatest control over his want, desire or sexual desire (Bukhari). The Quranic words غیر اولی الاربه mean, idiots, or persons deficient in intellect or such men as have no need of women; or have no sexual desire (Lane & Mufradat).
عورات (private parts or nakedness) is the plural of عورة which is derived from عور which means, he was or became blind in one eye. عورة means, the pendulum or pudenda of a man and of a woman; the part or parts of a person which are indecent to expose; parts between the navel and the knee; anything that a man veils or conceals by reason of disdainful pride or of shame or prudency; anything of which one is ashamed when it appears; a woman; any place of concealment; a gap, an opening or a breach in the frontier of hostile country, or in war from which one fears slaughter; cleft or fissure; disgrace or disfigurement; blindness of one eye (Lane & Aqrab).
نسائھن (their women) signifies known or familiar decent women.
Commentary:
As a good deal of misunderstanding and lack of proper knowledge as to what constitutes Islamic "purdah" prevails even among Muslims, a somewhat detailed note on this much-vexed question is called for. Here are the relevant Quranic verses that embody necessary commandments about "purdah":
(i) O Prophet, tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers that they should let down over them their loose outer garments. It is more likely that they will thus be distinguished and not molested (33:60).
The Arabic word used in this verse is جلابیب of which the singular is جلباب meaning, an outer or wrapping garment; a head-covering; the garment with which a woman covers her head and bosom.
(ii) And say to the believing women that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts and that they disclose not their natural and artificial beauty except that which is apparent thereof, and that they cast their head-coverings over their bosoms, and that they disclose not their beauty…(24:32 i.e. the verse under comment.)
(iii) O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women if you are righteous. So be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease should feel tempted; and speak a decent speech. And stay in your houses with dignity and do not show off yourselves like the showing off of the former days of ignorance (33:33-34).
(iv) O ye who believe, let those whom your right hands possess, and those of you who have not attained to puberty, ask permission of you three times before coming into your presence: before the morning Prayer, and when you take off clothes at noon in summer and after the night Prayer (24:59).
The following inferences are clearly deducible from the verses quoted above:
(i) When they go out, Muslim women are to wear an outer and wrapping garment which should cover their heads and bosoms in such a manner that the garment should come down from the head to the bosom covering the whole body including the face. This is the significance of the Quranic words یدنین علیھن من جلابیبھن (33:60). The outer garment is intended to make known the fact that while a Muslim woman goes about her business she may be spared the mental anguish of being stared at by persons of questionable character.
(ii) Muslim men and women are to restrain their eyes when they happen to face each other.
(iii) The third commandment though apparently applying to the wives of the Prophet, includes, as is the practice of the Quran, other Muslim women also. The words "And stay in your houses" imply that whereas women may go out when necessary, the principal and primary sphere of their activities is inside the house.
(iv) At three stated hours, even children are not allowed to enter the private apartments of their parents nor are domestic servants or female slaves allowed to enter the sleeping room of their masters.
The first commandment applies to women when they go out. Then they are to use an outer garment which should cover their whole body including the face. The second commandment relates to "purdah" primarily inside the four walls of the house when near male relatives frequently come and go. In that case men and women are only to restrain their looks and as an additional precaution women are to take care that their زینة i.e. beauty of person, dress and ornaments, is not displayed. They are not required to use جلباب (outer garment) because that would be very irksome and even impracticable in view of the free and frequent visits of near blood relations such as cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, etc. The context shows that this commandment relates to "purdah" inside the four walls of the house, because all the persons mentioned in the verse are very near relations who generally visit the houses of their relatives. The special mention in it of four categories of persons besides near relatives, viz. decent women, old servants, female slaves and minor boys, lends additional weight to the inference that the commandment in this verse relates to "purdah" within the four walls of the house.
The fact that the first commandment refers to "purdah" outside the house and the second commandment basically refers to "purdah" within the four walls of the house is also apparent from the different words that have been used to express the two forms of "purdah" in the relevant verses i.e. 33:60, and the verse under comment. Whereas in 33:60 the garment which a woman is to use when she goes out is جلباب the garment which she has to use inside the house when relatives visit is خمار. Moreover, whereas in 33:60 the words used are یدنین علیھن من جلابیبھن i.e. they should let down over them their outer garments (for a detailed discussion of جلباب and یدنین see 33:60); in the verse under comment the words used are یضربن بخمرھن علی جیوبھن i.e. they should cast their head-coverings over their bosoms. It is clear that in the former case the garment will cover the head, the face and the bosom while in the latter case only the head and the bosom will become covered and the face may remain uncovered.
It may also be noted in passing that the shape and form of the outer-garment which, as mentioned above, a woman must wear when she goes out and which covers her whole body including the face will vary according to the customs, habits, social status, family traditions and usages of various classes of the Muslim community. The commandment with regard to "purdah" within the four walls of the house will also apply to shops, fields, etc. where women of certain sections of Muslim society have to work to earn their living. There a woman will not be required to veil her face. She will have only to restrain her eyes and to cover her زینة i.e. her ornaments and other embellishments, as women within the house have to do when their relatives visit them.
The third commandment requires women to behave with dignity bordering on austerity when talking to stranger men; and they are also required to give their full attention to the discharge of their serious and important duties in regard to the affairs connected with the well-being of their own sex and the management of the household affairs and to looking after and bringing up of children and kindred matters. The fourth commandment enjoins husband and wife to have, as far as possible, sleeping apartments separate from those of other members of the family which even minor boys are not allowed to enter at stated hours.
In the expression لا یبدین زینتھن i.e. they display not their زینة (beauty), the word زینة includes both natural and artificial beauty. It signifies the beauty of person, and includes the beauty of dress and ornaments which women wear on their hands, feet, ears, arms, necks, bosoms, etc. The expression, "except that which is apparent thereof," contains all those things which it is not possible for a woman to cover such as her voice, gait or stature and also certain parts of her body which remain uncovered according to her social status, her family traditions, her avocation and the customs of the society. The permission to keep certain parts of the body uncovered will be subject to certain variations. Thus the words, "they display not their beauty" will have different connotations with regard to women belonging to different sections and grades of society and the connotation will change with the change in the customs and modes of living and professions of the people.
The words "and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may become known," show that public dancing which is so much in vogue in certain countries is definitely not allowed by Islam.
This is the Islamic conception of "purdah." According to it Muslim women may go out as often as it is legitimately necessary for them to do so, but their primary and principal functions are confined to their homes which are as important and serious, if not more, as the avocations of men are. If women take to men’s avocations they seek to defy nature and nature does not allow its laws to be defied with impunity.
If would be noticed that the incident about ‘A’ishah which forms one of the principal subjects of this Surah sheds a flood of light on the form of "purdah" which Islam enjoins its followers to observe. According to tradition when Safwan came to the place where ‘A’ishah was lying asleep with her face uncovered, he recognized her because he had seen her, as he himself afterwards said, before the verse about "purdah" was revealed (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir).
2043B
Decent women.
2044
As a good deal of misunderstanding and lack of proper knowledge as to what constitutes the Islamic notion of "Pardah" prevails even among Muslims, a somewhat detailed note on this much-vexed question is called for. The following verses deal with every aspect of "Pardah":—
(i) And say to the believing women that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts, and that they display not their beauty or their embellishment except that which is apparent thereof, and that they draw their head-coverings over their bosoms, and that they display not their beauty………(24:32, i.e. the verse under comment).
(ii) O Prophet, tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers that they should let down over them their loose outer garments. That is more likely that they will thus be recognised and not molested (33:60).
The Arabic word used in this verse (33:60) is, Jalabib of which the singular is Jilbab which means an outer or wrapping garment (Lane).
(iii)
إِنَّ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ وَٱلْمُسْلِمَٰتِ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَٰتِ وَٱلْقَٰنِتِينَ وَٱلْقَٰنِتَٰتِ وَٱلصَّٰدِقِينَ وَٱلصَّٰدِقَٰتِ وَٱلصَّٰبِرِينَ وَٱلصَّٰبِرَٰتِ وَٱلْخَٰشِعِينَ وَٱلْخَٰشِعَٰتِ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقَٰتِ وَٱلصَّٰٓئِمِينَ وَٱلصَّٰٓئِمَٰتِ وَٱلْحَٰفِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَٱلْحَٰفِظَٰتِ وَٱلذَّٰكِرِينَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَٱلذَّٰكِرَٰتِ أَعَدَّ ٱللَّهُ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
9:112.
This verse embodies a most effective repudiation of the charge that Islam accords a lower status to women. According to the Qur’an women stand on the same level with men, and they can attain to all those spiritual heights to which men can attain and enjoy all those political and social rights which men enjoy. Only their spheres of activities being different, their duties are different. It is this difference in duties of both the sexes that has mistakenly, or perhaps deliberately, been misunderstood by hostile critics of Islam as implying a lower status for women.
9:112.
Commentary:
This verse embodies a most effective repudiation of the charge that Christian missionaries and publicists are in the habit of levelling at Islam, viz. that it accords a lower status to women. The Quran has repeatedly said that Muslim women stand on the same level with Muslim men, and that they can attain to all those spiritual heights to which men can attain. Besides, Islam confers on women all the political and social rights which men enjoy. Only their spheres of activities being different, their duties are different. It is this difference in duties of both the sexes that has been mistakenly, or perhaps deliberately, misunderstood by hostile critics of Islam as implying a lower status for women.
The ten outstanding attributes of Muslim men and women mentioned in this verse have been appropriately described in an ascending order.
The first stage of the spiritual development of a believer is that of اسلام which in this verse has been used in the sense of intellectual acceptance of truth. The next stage is that of ایمان which implies the giving of peace and safety to others and testifying to the Divinely-revealed Teaching. At the stage of اسلام a Muslim accepts truth because reason and common sense demand of him this acceptance, while at the stage of ایمان he combines emotions and feelings with reason, and becomes intellectually and emotionally a true believer. The third stage of spiritual development is that of قنوت which signifies total obedience to God’s commandments. At this stage the spiritual wayfarer finds himself irresistibly attracted towards his Creator, and his submission to Divine commandments proceeds from his love for the Supreme Being. The next stage in the spiritual journey is reached when a believer becomes صادق which means that he identifies himself completely with truth, and faces trials and temptations with complete equanimity. His faith becomes pure and free from all dross of hypocrisy and love of worldly things. The fifth stage is that of صبر; when identification with truth becomes a permanent feature of a believer’s character. The stage of خشوع is a still higher stage in spiritual progress. It indicates an attitude of humility which the believer develops after he has gained complete victory over trials and tribulations consequent upon the growing consciousness of his own weakness and that of the perfection and completeness of the Divine Being. The next stage is that of متصدق. At this stage the believer becomes conscious that he is not to live for himself alone but should share God-given blessings with other fellow beings. At the stage of صائم which is the next high spiritual stage the believer learns to sacrifice his own legitimate needs and comforts for the benefit of others and at the ninth stage of حافظین فروجھم he scrupulously guards all the avenues through which sin can find access to his mind. At the tenth stage i.e. الذا کرین الله, which is the last stage and which forms the climax of spiritual growth and development, the believer is so completely engrossed in God as to have become lost in His remembrance.
b
9:112.
1034
本节经文极有力地驳斥了那种伊斯兰教给妇女以较低地位的指控。按照 «古兰经» 启示, 女子与男子处于同等地位而她们可以达到男子可达到的所有那些神圣高度和享有男子所享有的那些政治和社会权利。只是她们的活动范围有所不同, 她们的职责有所不同。正是这种男子和女子的职责不同, 以致受到对伊斯兰教怀有敌意的评论者错误地, 甚至蓄意地曲解为给妇女以较低的地位。
a
9:112.
3102
Commentary:
This verse embodies a most effective repudiation of the charge that Christian missionaries and publicists are in the habit of levelling at Islam, viz. that it accords a lower status to women. The Quran has repeatedly said that Muslim women stand on the same level with Muslim men, and that they can attain to all those spiritual heights to which men can attain. Besides, Islam confers on women all the political and social rights which men enjoy. Only their spheres of activities being different, their duties are different. It is this difference in duties of both the sexes that has been mistakenly, or perhaps deliberately, misunderstood by hostile critics of Islam as implying a lower status for women.
The ten outstanding attributes of Muslim men and women mentioned in this verse have been appropriately described in an ascending order.
The first stage of the spiritual development of a believer is that of اسلام which in this verse has been used in the sense of intellectual acceptance of truth. The next stage is that of ایمان which implies the giving of peace and safety to others and testifying to the Divinely-revealed Teaching. At the stage of اسلام a Muslim accepts truth because reason and common sense demand of him this acceptance, while at the stage of ایمان he combines emotions and feelings with reason, and becomes intellectually and emotionally a true believer. The third stage of spiritual development is that of قنوت which signifies total obedience to God’s commandments. At this stage the spiritual wayfarer finds himself irresistibly attracted towards his Creator, and his submission to Divine commandments proceeds from his love for the Supreme Being. The next stage in the spiritual journey is reached when a believer becomes صادق which means that he identifies himself completely with truth, and faces trials and temptations with complete equanimity. His faith becomes pure and free from all dross of hypocrisy and love of worldly things. The fifth stage is that of صبر; when identification with truth becomes a permanent feature of a believer’s character. The stage of خشوع is a still higher stage in spiritual progress. It indicates an attitude of humility which the believer develops after he has gained complete victory over trials and tribulations consequent upon the growing consciousness of his own weakness and that of the perfection and completeness of the Divine Being. The next stage is that of متصدق. At this stage the believer becomes conscious that he is not to live for himself alone but should share God-given blessings with other fellow beings. At the stage of صائم which is the next high spiritual stage the believer learns to sacrifice his own legitimate needs and comforts for the benefit of others and at the ninth stage of حافظین فروجھم he scrupulously guards all the avenues through which sin can find access to his mind. At the tenth stage i.e. الذا کرین الله, which is the last stage and which forms the climax of spiritual growth and development, the believer is so completely engrossed in God as to have become lost in His remembrance.
a
9:112.
2355
This verse embodies a most effective repudiation of the charge that Islam accords a lower status to women. According to the Qur’an women stand on the same level with men, and they can attain to all those spiritual heights to which men can attain and enjoy all those political and social rights which men enjoy. Only their spheres of activities being different, their duties are different. It is this difference in duties of both the sexes that has mistakenly, or perhaps deliberately, been misunderstood by hostile critics of Islam as implying a lower status for women.
وَمَرْيَمَ ٱبْنَتَ عِمْرَٰنَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِنَا وَصَدَّقَتْ بِكَلِمَٰتِ رَبِّهَا وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَكَانَتْ مِنَ ٱلْقَٰنِتِينَ
21:92.
لوگ اعتراض کرتے ہیں کہ عمران تو موسٰیؑ کے والد تھے‘ اور حضرت مریمؑ اُن سے ڈیڑھ ہزار سال بعد پیدا ہوئی تھیں۔ معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ قرآنِ کریم کے بھیجنے والے کو تاریخ کا بھی علم نہیں تھا‘ مگر یہ اعتراض بے عقلی پر دلالت کرتا ہے۔ رسول کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے سامنے خود اسی قسم کا اعتراض کیا گیا تھا اور آپ نے فرمایا تھا کہ یہ کوئی عجیب بات نہیں۔ ہر قوم میں یہ رواج ہے کہ اپنے بڑے آدمیوں کا نام تبرک کے طور پر رکھتے ہیں۔ پس مریم کے باپ کابھی اگر اس کے باپ نے تبرک کے طور پر عمران نام رکھ دیا ہو تواس میں تعجب کی کونسی بات ہے۔
لوگ کہتے ہیں کہ مسیحؑ روح ہے کیونکہ وہ مریمؑ کے پیٹ میں ڈالا گیا تھا۔ لیکن یہ نا سمجھی کی بات ہے روح کے معنے جیسا کہ ہم پہلے سے لکھ چکے ہیں کلام کے بھی ہوتے ہیں۔ پس اس کے محض یہ معنے ہیں کہ ہم نے مریمؑ پر اپنا کلام نازل کیا تھا اور اس کو الہام کے ذریعہ سے مسیحؑ کی پیدائش کی خبر دی تھی۔
یعنی اس بات پر ایمان لائی تھی کہ واقعہ میں مجھے خداتعالیٰ کی طرف سے ایک بیٹا دیا جانے والا ہے۔
یعنی مسیحؑ کے متعلق جو پیشگوئیاں پرانی کتابوں میں پائی جاتی تھیں‘ مریمؑ صرف اپنی وحی کے ذریعہ سے ان پر ایمان نہیں لائی‘ بلکہ ان کتابوں کی پیشگوئیوں کے ذریعہ بھی ایمان لائی۔
کَانَتْ کا صیغہ مؤنث کا ہے مگر مِنَ الْقٰنِتِیْنَ میں قَانِتٌ مذکر آیا ہے۔ جس کے معنے یہ بنتے ہیں کہ وہ عورت ذات فرمانبرداروں میں شامل ہوگئی۔ یعنی اس کو ترقی دیتے دیتے اللہ تعالیٰ نے وہ مقام دے دیا‘ جو کامل مردوں کو حاصل ہوتا ہے یہ ایک پیشگوئی تھی کہ آئندہ زمانہ میں خداتعالیٰ کی طرف سے ایک ایسا آدمی ظاہر ہوگا جس کو پہلے مریم کا نام دیا جائے گا اور پھر ترقی کرتے کرتے اس کو عیسیٰ کا نام دیا جائے گا۔ جو مرد کامل تھا۔
21:92.
Commentary:
In this and the preceding two verses, examples of the wives of the Prophets Noah and Lot, of the wife of Pharaoh, and the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus, are set forth. The disbelievers are compared to the wives of Noah and Lot in order to show that the companionship of a righteous man, even of a Prophet of God, does not benefit an evilly minded person who is bent upon rejecting truth. Prophet Noah’s wife was of a more wicked disposition than the wife of Lot since the latter only preferred the company of her relatives to that of Lot, while Noah’s son, probably under the corrupting influence of his mother, had rejected his father’s Message. The wife of Pharaoh stands for those believers who, though passionately desiring and praying to get rid of sin, yet cannot fully dissociate themselves from evil influences, represented by Pharaoh, and having arrived at the stage of the self-accusing soul (النفس اللوامة ) sometimes fail and falter. Mary, the mother of Jesus, represents those righteous servants of God, who having closed all avenues of sin and having made peace with God, are blessed with Divine inspiration; the pronoun (masculine gender) in فیه standing for such fortunate believers. Or, the pronoun may stand for فرج which, literally meaning a cleft or fissure, signifies an opening through which sin can find access.
a
21:92.
1
لوگ اعتراض کرتے ہیں کہ عمران تو موسٰیؑ کے والد تھے‘ اور حضرت مریمؑ اُن سے ڈیڑھ ہزار سال بعد پیدا ہوئی تھیں۔ معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ قرآنِ کریم کے بھیجنے والے کو تاریخ کا بھی علم نہیں تھا‘ مگر یہ اعتراض بے عقلی پر دلالت کرتا ہے۔ رسول کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے سامنے خود اسی قسم کا اعتراض کیا گیا تھا اور آپ نے فرمایا تھا کہ یہ کوئی عجیب بات نہیں۔ ہر قوم میں یہ رواج ہے کہ اپنے بڑے آدمیوں کا نام تبرک کے طور پر رکھتے ہیں۔ پس مریم کے باپ کابھی اگر اس کے باپ نے تبرک کے طور پر عمران نام رکھ دیا ہو تواس میں تعجب کی کونسی بات ہے۔
2
لوگ کہتے ہیں کہ مسیحؑ روح ہے کیونکہ وہ مریمؑ کے پیٹ میں ڈالا گیا تھا۔ لیکن یہ نا سمجھی کی بات ہے روح کے معنے جیسا کہ ہم پہلے سے لکھ چکے ہیں کلام کے بھی ہوتے ہیں۔ پس اس کے محض یہ معنے ہیں کہ ہم نے مریمؑ پر اپنا کلام نازل کیا تھا اور اس کو الہام کے ذریعہ سے مسیحؑ کی پیدائش کی خبر دی تھی۔
3
یعنی اس بات پر ایمان لائی تھی کہ واقعہ میں مجھے خداتعالیٰ کی طرف سے ایک بیٹا دیا جانے والا ہے۔
4
یعنی مسیحؑ کے متعلق جو پیشگوئیاں پرانی کتابوں میں پائی جاتی تھیں‘ مریمؑ صرف اپنی وحی کے ذریعہ سے ان پر ایمان نہیں لائی‘ بلکہ ان کتابوں کی پیشگوئیوں کے ذریعہ بھی ایمان لائی۔
5
کَانَتْ کا صیغہ مؤنث کا ہے مگر مِنَ الْقٰنِتِیْنَ میں قَانِتٌ مذکر آیا ہے۔ جس کے معنے یہ بنتے ہیں کہ وہ عورت ذات فرمانبرداروں میں شامل ہوگئی۔ یعنی اس کو ترقی دیتے دیتے اللہ تعالیٰ نے وہ مقام دے دیا‘ جو کامل مردوں کو حاصل ہوتا ہے یہ ایک پیشگوئی تھی کہ آئندہ زمانہ میں خداتعالیٰ کی طرف سے ایک ایسا آدمی ظاہر ہوگا جس کو پہلے مریم کا نام دیا جائے گا اور پھر ترقی کرتے کرتے اس کو عیسیٰ کا نام دیا جائے گا۔ جو مرد کامل تھا۔
a
21:92.
4286
Commentary:
In this and the preceding two verses, examples of the wives of the Prophets Noah and Lot, of the wife of Pharaoh, and the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus, are set forth. The disbelievers are compared to the wives of Noah and Lot in order to show that the companionship of a righteous man, even of a Prophet of God, does not benefit an evilly minded person who is bent upon rejecting truth. Prophet Noah’s wife was of a more wicked disposition than the wife of Lot since the latter only preferred the company of her relatives to that of Lot, while Noah’s son, probably under the corrupting influence of his mother, had rejected his father’s Message. The wife of Pharaoh stands for those believers who, though passionately desiring and praying to get rid of sin, yet cannot fully dissociate themselves from evil influences, represented by Pharaoh, and having arrived at the stage of the self-accusing soul (النفس اللوامة ) sometimes fail and falter. Mary, the mother of Jesus, represents those righteous servants of God, who having closed all avenues of sin and having made peace with God, are blessed with Divine inspiration; the pronoun (masculine gender) in فیه standing for such fortunate believers. Or, the pronoun may stand for فرج which, literally meaning a cleft or fissure, signifies an opening through which sin can find access.
a
21:92.
3078
See 3078 under 66:11.
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَٰفِظُونَ
23:7.
23:7.
23:6.
a
23:7.
a
23:6.
d
23:7.
إِلَّا عَلَىٰٓ أَزْوَٰجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ
23:7.
23:7.
b
23:7.
b
23:7.
4379
Commentary:
For a detailed explanation of this verse see 23:7 and 24:34.
e
23:7.