Surah Al-Ahzab 33:1-8 - Quran Translation Commentary

4. Allah has not made two hearts ⁶ for any man within his body, nor has he made your wives whom you declare as your mothers as your mothers,⁷ nor has He made your adopted sons your sons.⁸ This is but a saying of your mouths.⁹ And Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the right path. ¹⁰

5. Call your adopted sons by their fathers¹¹ that is most just in the sight of Allah.l² And if you do not know their fathers, regard them as your brothers in faith and friends.¹³And there is no sin for you in the mistakes you make unintentionally, but what you intend from your hearts! ¹⁴ (that will be a sin for you). Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

6. The Prophet has a greater claim ¹⁵ on the people of faith than they have on each other and his wives are their mothers. ¹⁶ Blood relations are closer to one another in the Book of Allah than to other believers and muhajirs, although you may act kindly with your friends.¹⁷ This is decreed in Allah’s Book.¹⁸

7. And (recall) when We took a covenant from the Prophets, and from you (O Prophet!) and also from Nooh, Ibrahim, Moosa and Eesa, son of Maryam,We took from them a solemn covenant ; ¹⁹

8. So that He may question²⁰ the truthfulness about their truthfulness. And for the disbelievers He has prepared a painful punishment.²¹

Commentary

1.“Nabi” (Prophet) means one who gives information about Allah (Lissan-ul- Arab,Vol.I.P. 162), and in the terminology of Quran it means that person to whom revelation is sent down by Allah, and who gives information to the people on the basis of this special means of knowledge, and conveys Allah’s commands.

Here the address is to the Quran’s prophet, Muhammad, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam. Nowhere in the Quran the prophet has been addressed by name, i.e. as’ O Muhammad: ‘He has been called by his designation of prophethood as’ O Prophet: ‘It expresses his elevated position as also it gives the guideline that while addressing him proper etiquette be observed, because he is the prophet of the time.

2. This emphatic command was given to the prophet at a time when it was necessary to take some steps to reform a problem concerning the family life, and it is a proof of the fact that the Shariah is not a self-invented matter, but that it decides on the commands from Allah, obeying which was also essential for Prophet also.

The meaning of the verse is that in obeying any Shariah command when it is against the current social system there should be no hesitation whatsoever, nor should you worry about the jeers and reproaches of the disbelievers and the hypocrites, nor should you care about any wrong propaganda that they may be doing against you, but that you should adopt such a righteous stance that all these things should seem insignificant to you.

3. Allah has knowledge and wisdom, therefore, all His Shariah commands are based on full knowledge and wisdom.

4. The command to obey the divine commands is given to the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, and through him to all people. This revelation has taken into its area of operation all the corners of the human life, which means obedience is not restricted to religious matters only, but that they should be obeyed in all matters. After this guideline there is no room for dividing life into secular and non-secular slots.

5. That is: The oppositions that you will have to face on account of your obeying the divine commands should not be allowed to impress you at all, but that you should put your trust in Allah who will relieve you of all your troubles and make you reach your, goal. Trust in God is the fruit of sincere belief. It fills the heart with certainty and sets it firm on truth.

6. The mould in which Allah has created man, according to that only one personality is active in that. Accordingly, a woman is the mother of her children, but she does not become the mother of her husband by merely his saying that she is his mother. So also a man’s children are only those who are born from his own seed. By merely saying some one to be one’s son, that one does not become a son. Thus the adopted son does not take the place of the real son.

Besides this, there is another meaning hidden in this verse that in every man according to his own creation there is only one personality that can decide and determine a thing, that is he can either be a faithful (momin)or a denier (kafir).It is not possible that a man be a Momin and also a Kafir, disbeliever, and because of collecting contradictory things in himself he deserves to be called a hypocrite.

7. In the pre-Islamic day (Jahiliyah) if anybody told his wife that she was like ‘the back of his mother’ for him, then she used to be unlawful (haram) for him as a wife. Then he could neither live with her as a husband nor could he give her divorce. Quran has reformed this wrong practice of the pre-Islamic days, which has been hinted at in the ayah, and the detailed command in this connection is given in the Surah Mujadilah.

Here the idea is to clarify that a wife does not become a man’s mother by his saying that she is his mother, because such a thing is contrary to realism. Therefore, one should avoid saying such things or such words or expressing such sentiments.

8. In the pre-Islamic days the adopted were treated as equal to the real begotten sons. No person could marry the divorced wife of his adopted son, and the adopted son used to be his legal heir. But since just calling some one as your son does not make him in reality your son, therefore, the Shariah commands which apply to the real begotten son cannot apply to the adopted son. These ayat were revealed in order to reform this custom, and the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, provides the practical model for such a reform, which will be described further.

It may be noted that Islam does not prevent any one from helping or sponsoring any orphan children or from being their guardians; it considers it a great act of virtue, but it does not permit one to consider such a child as one’s own real son. In this connection it has put the following restrictions:

1. The boy should be called as the son of his real father.

2. The adopted son’s wife does not become the daughter-in-law of the person sponsoring him, therefore, nothing should stop him from marrying her after she become a widow or is divorced, if his mentor wants it.

3.The son living in the guardian’s house cannot be his heir. However, if the mentor desires, he can execute a will in favour of the boy according to the Islamic law, bequeathing one third of his property to the boy if he so desires.

4. The boy will be a ‘Na Mahram’ (stranger) for the ladies of the house, and on his becoming adult the ladies will have to follow the same restrictions as they do in the case of strangers, according to Shariah.

In the modern times governments generally adopt such rules of law which give the same status in law to the adopted son as to the real begotten son, and such a step is presented as sympathy and a means of providing maintenance and guardianship to the helpless orphans, etc. but the imbalances which it creates in the family life of the concerned persons and the rights of the real relatives which are trampled upon are lost sight of, while other steps to solve the problem of the helpless orphans and needy children can be adopted, and these steps can be the same as suggested in the Shariah.

9. Such things cannot be given the status of the Shariah.

10. The guidance of Allah only is right and all other guidance’s are false, and wrong.

11. That is: Do not call the children being looked after by other persons as sons of those persons, but call them after the names of their real fathers. It indicates the relationship as also it is the just thing to do. Zaid (R) was brought up by the Prophet as his son and he was being called as Zaid bin Muhammad, but after the revelation of this ayah, he was called Zaid bin Haritha.

From this ayah it has also become clear that every one should be called after the name of his father, i.e. X son of Y, M son of N, etc. And in the hadith it is stated that on the Day of Judgment everybody will be called as some one son of some one, etc. except Prophet Eesa (Jesus) who would be addressed as Eesa Ibn Maryam, because he was born without a father.

In India, women after marriage call themselves after their husbands as some one wife of some one, while the relationship of marriage is not permanent, but the relationship of father and daughter is unchangeable, therefore, the Islamic system is to put the name of father after the name of the woman, as some one daughter of some one. The names of the wives of the Prophet were taken with the names of their fathers, like Ayesha daughter of Abu Bakr, Hafsa daughter of Umar, and the Prophet’s daughter was called Fatima Binte Muhammad.

12. It is according to reality and it also ensures that the rights of the fathers are also not trampled upon.

13. That is: If somebody’s father is not known, they do not call him as the son of some one other than his father, but that in their case adopt an attitude of love and sympathy of a co-religionist. Islam admonishes for stating wrong fatherly connection. In the hadith it is stated:

“Whoever relates himself as a son to a person who is not his father, in spite of knowing that he is not his father, for such a person Paradise is haram (forbidden)”- (Muslim, kitabul Iman).

At the same time Islam forbids people to disrespect those whose fathers are not known and persuades Muslims to call them as their religious brothers and friends.

14. That is: The errors committed by you unwittingly and unknowingly, there is no accountability for you for that. But if you have intentionally stated the wrong fatherly connection, then you will have to account for it.

15. The relationship of the Prophet with the people of faith takes precedence over all other relationships, for the reason that it is the demand of the faith and also because he is a greater well wisher of theirs than they are of themselves. Therefore, the people of faith should give him precedence over their own selves, they should love him devotedly, they should consider him dearer than their own lives, they should protect him at the risk of their own lives and accept all his decisions without the slightest hesitation. In a hadith it is stated:-

“None of you can be a faithful unless I am more dear to him than his father, his children and all the people.”-(Bukhari, Kitab - ul - Iman)

16. The special nature of relationship between the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, and the people of faith demanded that his wives should have the status of mothers for them, and after him nikah with them should be forbidden. Therefore, in the Verse No.53 of this Surah it has been clearly forbidden and declared haram.

By giving the holy wives of the Prophet the status of the mothers of the people of Faith, emphasis is laid on giving the utmost respect and a special position to them in the Ummah so that nothing done by a Muslim should cause any kind of ill feeling to the Prophet.

(See Ayah No.53), but it is very regrettable that inspite of this clear direction a sect of Muslims, in its exaggeration of regard and devotion for Ali(R),has made. Ayesha Siddiqah (R) the butt of its abuses. These people considering their creed to be right and with their mental reservations, when they study the Quran and come across anything against their own creed and belief, they try to interpret it in an absurd way. Thus they continue to go astray even after reading Quran.

17. That is: So far as the heir ship is concerned, according to Allah’s law only blood relations will be considered lawful to be declared as the heirs. This is a hint of the fact that the status of mothers of the Faithful given to the holy wives of the Prophet has no relation to the heirship of the Muslims. Besides it also indicates that the relationship of brotherhood that was established between the Muhajirs from Makkah and the Ansars from Madina and as a result of that relationship Ansars had shared their property equally with the Muhajireen, this relationship was of a temporary nature and because of it they could not be heir to one another’s property, because Islam’s law of heirship takes into account only the blood and uterine relationships. However, other forms of beneficiary dealings can be adopted to oblige one’s friends and others, e.g. to give something to them in one’s lifetime only, or to execute a will bequeathing up to one third of the property in their favour.

18. Refers to that law of heirship which has been described in Surah Nisa. Moreover in Surah Anfal also precedence is given to the blood and uterine relations’ economic rights.

19.The covenant refers to the solemn of promise fulfilling the responsibilities of Prophethood, as is clear from the reference to context. This responsibility becomes compulsory for a prophet to fulfill on his being appointed a prophet by God. In these duties is included the obedience of Allah’s commands as revealed to him,without fearing the people, and conveying the divine message to the people, making clear the teachings of His religion. In the Ayah No.2 of this Surah the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, has himself been asked to follow the command contained in His revelation. Further on in the ayah No.39 it is clarified that prophets convey Allah’s messages and have fear of Him; they do not fear anyone else but Him. In the ayah a general mention is made of the covenant taken from the prophets, and names of the great prophets have been mentioned in particular.

20. On the Day of Judgment prophets will be asked whether they had conveyed the message of Allah and whether they had themselves followed them or not with truthfulness. In Surah A’raf it is stated:

“So (remember) We will question those to whom our messengers were sent, and we will question the messengers well.”(Surah A’raf.6)

21. That is: when through the Prophets the divine message will be conveyed convincingly to the people, then those who will deny the message will be liable to receive painful punishment.