يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ إِنَّآ أَحْلَلْنَا لَكَ أَزْوَٰجَكَ ٱلَّٰتِىٓ ءَاتَيْتَ أُجُورَهُنَّ … خَالِصَةً لَّكَ مِن دُونِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا فَرَضْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِىٓ أَزْوَٰجِهِمْ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُهُمْ لِكَيْلَا يَكُونَ عَلَيْكَ حَرَجٌ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
Yā ayyuha'l-nabiyyu innā aḥlalnā laka azwājaka'llātī ātayta ujūrahunna… khāliṣatan laka min dūni'l-muʾminīn, qad ʿalimnā mā faraḍnā ʿalayhim fī azwājihim wa mā malakat aymānuhum li-kaylā yakūna ʿalayka ḥaraj, wa kāna'llāhu ghafūran raḥīmā
"O Prophet! We have made lawful for you your wives whose bridal gifts you have given … This is yours alone, apart from the believers. We know what We have laid down for them concerning their wives and those their right hands possess — so that there should be no difficulty for you. God is Forgiving, Merciful."
Note: the full text of the verse is long; its beginning and its end are given here, and the enumeration in the middle is treated below.
The verse states a regulation particular to the Prophet and says so explicitly: khāliṣatan laka min dūni'l-muʾminīn — "as yours alone, apart from the believers."
This note is the most important sentence of the verse and must be recorded at the outset: the regulation the verse brings is not a general ruling, and the verse itself states this.
خَالِصَة — root خ-ل-ص. Pure, unmixed, belonging to one thing alone. Ikhlāṣ is from the same root (treated as the name of a sūra at al-Ikhlāṣ). In the root of the word there is a sifting out: what has been cleared of any admixture.
| # | Category |
|---|---|
| 1 | Wives whose bridal gifts have been given |
| 2 | Those in his possession |
| 3 | Of the daughters of paternal and maternal uncles and aunts, those who emigrated with him |
| 4 | A believing woman who gives herself to the Prophet — if the Prophet accepts |
| View | What it says |
|---|---|
| It belongs to the fourth category alone | The note attaches to the clause immediately before it |
| It belongs to the whole enumeration | The note qualifies the entire regulation |
I do not impose a preference. The word order, in that the note comes immediately after the fourth category, seems to support the first view; this is an observation.
No legal ruling is issued on this in this commentary and how the subject has been debated through history is not entered into. But for the text to be readable two notes must be entered:
One. The Qurʾān names this institution as an existing reality and brings regulations. The same Qurʾān, in many places, sets the freeing of slaves forward as a good deed and an expiation: "the freeing of a neck from its yoke" (al-Balad 90/13 — treated at al-Balad); the expiation of an oath (al-Māʾida 5/89); the expiation of ẓihār (al-Mujādala 58/3 — treated at al-Mujādala); and, as one of the categories to which alms are directed, fi'l-riqāb (al-Tawba 9/60).
Two. What conclusion is to be drawn as a whole from the verses in which this expression occurs is a question long debated in the history of Islamic thought and goes beyond the limits of this commentary. What is done here is to record, without concealment, the existence of the expression and the Qurʾān's other notes on the same subject.
Per the method (Method): no legal ruling is issued, no preference is imposed, and current debates are not entered.
| Verse | The ground | For whom |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | li-kay lā yakūna ʿala'l-muʾminīna ḥaraj | The believers |
| 38 | mā kāna ʿala'l-nabiyyi min ḥaraj | The Prophet |
| 50 | li-kaylā yakūna ʿalayka ḥaraj | The Prophet |
And the picture in the root of the word — a dense thicket that gives no passage — is the same in all three: the opening of a way.