أَن تَبْتَغُوا۟

62:11.

2:153, 204; 8:46; 62:11.

Important Words:

فضل (bounty). See 2:65.

افضتم (you pour forth) is derived from افاض which is again derived from فاض. They say فاض السیل i.e. the flood-water was great in quantity and overflowed the banks. فاضت عینه means, his eye was full of tears, which began to flow down fast. افاض is both transitive and intransitive. They say افاض الماء i.e. he poured out water. افاض القوم من المکان means, the people, who were great in number, poured forth from the house and dispersed. فیاض is one whose charity flows like water (Aqrab).

عرفات (‘Arafat) is the name given to a plain or valley near Mecca where pilgrims halt in the latter portion of the ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah. It is about a mile and a half in circuit with sloping sides rising nearly two hundred feet above the level of the adjacent plain. It is nine miles from Mecca, and the halt technically known as وقوف at this place forms the principal factor of Hajj or Pilgrimage. The word is derived from عرف meaning, he knew or recognized.

مشعرالحرام (Mash‘arul-Haram) is the name given to a small hillock in Muzdalifah, which lies between Mecca and ‘Arafat. Here the Holy Prophet said the evening and the night Prayers and offered special prayers to God before the rising of the sun. It is thus a place specially meant for meditation and prayer in Pilgrimage. It is about six miles from Mecca. The name is a compound of مشعر (from شعر) meaning, the place or means of perception or knowledge, and الحرام (from حرم) meaning, sacred.

Commentary:

As the object of Pilgrimage is that the greatest possible number of Muslims should take part in it, therefore, the Quran permits pilgrims to engage in commerce and trade. Those who cannot take hard cash with them may carry merchandise, and thereby earn money to meet the expenses of the journey. This is what is hinted in the clause, it is no sin for you that you seek the bounty of your Lord. Similar permission is granted to those who gather for the Friday Prayers (62:11).

But trade should not interfere with the acts of worship and devotion prescribed in Pilgrimage. Says God, but when you pour forth from ‘Arafat, remember Him as He has guided you. The Holy Prophet used to pass his time in prayer and meditation at Mash‘arul-Haram and the Faithful are warned that trade or any other worldly occupation should not make them forget the real object of Pilgrimage. The word افضتم (pour forth, lit. overflow) also has a metaphorical meaning, i.e. when you return from ‘Arafat, you should not return empty-handed but should return like a vessel full to overflowing with spiritual knowledge and blessings.

The reader will note that عرفات (‘Arafat) and مشعرالحرام (Mash‘arul-Haram) are both attributive names which have now come to be used as proper ones. They are used to draw the attention of the pilgrim to the fact that Hajj should be a source of knowledge and spiritual realization to him and not a mere outward rite, a mere shell, with no inner soul. The word ‘Arafat also hints that it should be a means of mutual introduction and recognition for Muslims coming from different parts of the world.

4:26; 5:6.

4:5; 60:11.

Important Words:

المحصنات (married) is the plural of محصنة and is derived from حصن meaning, he or it was or became inaccessible, fortified or protected against attack. حصن المرأة means, the woman was chaste, i.e. protected against moral or sexual sinfulness. احصنت المرأة means, the woman got married. محصنة therefore, means a married woman; a chaste woman who abstains from what is unlawful; a free or noble woman as opposed to a bondwoman. Similarly محصن means, a married man; chaste man who abstains from what is unlawful: a free or noble man. حصن means, a fort or a fortress. The word محصنات would, therefore, mean, women who have protected themselves by entering, as it were, the fortress of marriage. The word has been used in the Quran in all the different senses, i.e. (1) married women, (2) chaste women and (3) free women; but in the present verse it has been used in the sense of married women (Lane & Aqrab).

مسافحین (committing fornication) is the active participle from سافح which is derived from سفح. They say سفح الدم i.e. he shed blood or made it flow. سفح الدمع means, tears began to flow. Thus the word is both transitive and intransitive. سافحة means, he vied with the other party in shedding blood; he committed fornication. مسافحة means, a fornicator and مسافحة means, a fornicatress (Lane & Aqrab).

اجور (dowries) is the plural of اجر which means, reward or wages. اجر المرأة means, dowry of a woman (Taj). Also, in 33:51 the word has been used in the sense of dowry.

استمتعتم (the benefit you receive) is formed from متع. They say متعھا بکذا i.e. he gave her (his wife) such a thing. تمتع بالمرأةmeans, he benefited by the woman temporarily. استمتع بکذا means, he benefited by it for a long time. The Arabic idiom does not countenance the use of استمتاع with regard to a woman in the sense of temporary connection (Lisan). It must also be noted that whenever the noun تمتع (tamattu‘) is used to denote temporary connection with a woman, it is followed by the preposition با (ba) put before the word standing for the woman, as in the above example. But in the expression فما استمتعم به منھن to pronoun ھن referring to women is preceded by the preposition من.

ماملکت ایمانکم (what your right hands possess). The Arabs say ھذا ملک یمینی i.e. he or it is in the possession of my right hand, meaning, he or it is in my possession and I can deal with him or it as I like (Lisan & Aqrab). The expression ما ملکت ایمانکمgenerally signifies, men or women taken prisoner in war and being in the custody and control of their Muslim captors. In this verse, the expression means women prisoners only. The term has been used by the Quran in preference to عباد or اماء (slaves and bondwomen) to point to just and rightful possession, the word ایمان (right hands) also pointing to the same fact.

Commentary:

The expression, such as your right hands possess, has been used in the Quran with regard to those men or women who took part in aggressive wars against Islam and fell prisoners into the hands of Muslims. The context, however, shows that the expression used in the present verse means female prisoners of war. Islam does not allow women taken prisoner in ordinary wars to be taken as wives. This exceptional injunction becomes operative only when a hostile nation wages a religious war against Islam with a view to extirpating it and compelling Muslims to abandon their religion at the point of the sword, and treats their prisoners as slaves, as was done in the days of the Holy Prophet when the enemy took away Muslim women as prisoners and treated them as slaves. The Islamic injunction was thus only a retaliatory measure and also served the additional purpose of protecting the morals of captive women who were generally in large numbers and whom war separated from their kith and kin. A people who seek to compel others to forsake their religion at the point of the sword and reduce them to slavery are mere brutes and not respectable human beings. They must be paid back in their own coin in order to bring them to their senses. For a fuller exposition of this subject see General Introduction.

It may be noted that it is not permitted to take into marriage such female relations of a bondwoman who is treated as wife, as correspond to the relations of a free woman within the prohibited degree. For instance, the mothers, sisters, daughters etc. of such bondwomen cannot be taken in marriage.

The advocates of mut‘a (temporary marriage) have endeavoured in vain to infer its legality from this verse. The Quran and the Arabic language both contradict this manifestly unfounded inference. The misunderstanding about mut‘aseems to have arisen from the failure to understand the difference between the meanings of تمتع and استمتاع given under Important Words. The author of Lisanul-‘Arab quotes Zajjaj as saying: "This is a verse in the interpretation of which some men have committed a great blunder, owing to their ignorance of the Arabic language. They have inferred from it the legality of mut‘a which, by the consensus of opinion among Muslim theologians, has been declared to be unlawful, whereas the words simply mean marriage performed in accordance with the conditions mentioned above."

According to Arabic usage, the legality of mut‘a, as asserted by some people, cannot, therefore, be inferred from this verse. If there had been any reference to mut‘a, the preposition used ought to have been با (ba) and not من (min). Moreover, the expression used here is not تمتع but استمتع which possesses a sense different from that of the former word.

Nor can any inference in favour of mut‘a be drawn from the expression اجورھن which, as explained under Important Words, means "their dowries", in which sense it has been used in the Quran elsewhere also (33:51).

On principle, the dowry must be paid immediately at marriage; but with the wife’s consent the payment can be suitably deferred. The husband can increase the amount of the dowry later, if he so desires; but he cannot decrease it except with the permission of the wife or the qadi.