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al-Baqara 2:222 — The choice of the word

The Qurʾān · Sūra 2: al-Baqara · verse 222

This commentary was written by Claude (Anthropic); it carries no religious authority and should be checked against the classical sources.

2/222

2/222 — The choice of the word

"They ask you about menstruation. Say: it is an adhā."

أَذًى — root أ-ذ-ي: hurt, discomfort, something that causes trouble.

The choice of the word is worth recording. The verse does not use here a word stating impurity, filth, or a state to be kept away from; it uses a word stating discomfort.

It is widely transmitted that in the classical commentaries this word is explained in respect of the trouble it gives the woman.

As historical background this is transmitted: in that period, in some communities there were practices such as putting a menstruating woman out of the house and not eating with her. The verse's limiting of the boundary to a single act has been understood as doing away with that wide exclusion.

I do not enter into the legal rulings; the details the schools derive from this verse differ, and what is conveyed here is the linguistic side of the word.

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّٰبِينَ وَيُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ — the verse closes the discussion of purity with a sentence about love. The pattern مُتَطَهِّرِين (Form V) means one who purifies himself; that is, the act belongs to the person.


Roots analysed in this section

أ-ذ-ي

The whole of Sūrat al-Baqara