1. It was honey that the Prophet had declared he would not drink (Shafi`). See details below.

As regards forbidding something to oneself, one might remember the following: (i) If someone treats, despite knowledge, a lawful of Allah as unlawful, then, it amounts to disbelief. (ii) If he does not believe that it is unlawful, but declares it unlawful to himself, then, he is merely a sinner. If he has sworn against it, he should break the oath and seek to expiate: an obligation on him. (iii) If he does not think a lawful of Allah is unlawful, nor declares it unlawful for himself, but decides to avoid it for the rest of his life then there are two situations: (a) he thinks this is a virtue: if so, it is a bid`ah and an act of asceticism which is forbidden. (b) alternatively, he treats a thing unlawful, for a time, for health reasons: either spiritual or physical, then, it is allowed. The stories that have come to us of the Sufis shunning some delicacies, are of this nature (Shafi`).

2. There are a variety of reports that explain the context, but most are not trustworthy except for what is reported in Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad. To sum them up:

`A’isha, who has been reproached in this Surah, is herself the narrator. She said: The Prophet loved honey and sweets. Now, usually, when he had done his `Asr Prayer, he would visit his wives and then get close to one of them (i.e., stay on with one whose turn it was). Once he entered into Hafsa’s house and was held back more than the usual. I felt jealous and sought to find out what was going on. I was told that a woman had gifted a bag of honey out of which she made some sort of drink for him (which seemed to have delayed him). I said to myself that I shall play a trick on him. I told Sawda that he was likely to come to her and that when he comes near you tell him, “Have you eaten maghafir” (a bad smelling gum). He will say no. Then you tell him, “Then what kind of smell is that I find coming from you?” He will say, “Hafsa gave me a honey-drink.” Then you tell him, “Perhaps the bees visited the `Urfut plant.” I (`A’isah) will say the same thing and, you O Safiyyah, will say the same thing. Later, Sawdah said (to `A’isha), “By Allah it wasn’t long when he was at the door and I thought I will tell him all about what you had said (but did not) because of your fear.”

When he came in Sawdah asked him, “Messenger of Allah, have you of late eaten maghafir?” He said, “No.” She said, “Then what smell is this, coming from you?” He said, “Hafsa gave me a honey-drink.” She said, “Perhaps the bees visited the Urfut plant (which yields maghafir).” When he visited me (`A’isha) I said the same things as Sawdah. When he visited Saifyyah, she said the same thing. Now, when he visited Hafsa again she asked, “Messenger of Allah, shall I serve you with the same drink?” He replied, “I don’t need it.” Sawdah told `A’isha, “By Allah, we have deprived him of it.” I said, “Be quiet about it.”

However, we have a second report in Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Da’ud, Nasa’i and others, that say that it was Zaynab bint Jahsh’s house where the Prophet was served with the honey-drink. It comes from `A’isha herself. She said:

The Prophet would drink honey in the house of Zaynab bint Jahsh and stay there for some time until myself and Hafsa agreed that whichever of us he entered upon, we shall say to him that he had perhaps taken maghafir and that “I found you emitting the smell of maghafir.” (When we did that) he said, “No. But rather I used to drink a honey-drink at Zaynab’s house, and I shall never do it again.” Thereupon it was revealed in reference to `A’isha and Hafsa: “O Prophet, why do you treat as forbidden what Allah has made lawful to you; seeking the approval of your wives?” .. until .. “Now, if you two turn to Allah in repentance..”,

And in reference to the Prophet, it was revealed, “And when the Prophet confided to one of his wives a certain matter..”

Other versions add that the Prophet said when asked about the bad smell,

“But rather I used to drink honey in Zaynab’s house. I shall not do it again. I have indeed sworn, but do not mention it to anyone.”

He told the two not to reveal to anyone, adds Mufti Shafi`, because he did not wish to hurt Zaynab.

Another report, coming from Ibn `Abbas through Bukhari, Muslim and Imam Ahmad also confirms that it was `A’isha and Hafsa who were reproached in this Surah. It says:

I waited for a year to ask `Umar ibn al-Khattab about a verse of the Qur’an but was overawed to do it, until he started off for pilgrimage and I too went with him. At one point in the journey he left us to go behind acacia trees to relieve himself. I waited for him until when he came back, I accompanied him and asked, “Leader of the Believers, who were the two wives of the Prophet that had backed each other against the Prophet?” He answered, “Those were `A’isha and Hafsa.” I told him, “By Allah, I have been wanting to ask you since a year but could not because of your dread.” He answered, “Don’t do that. If you think I have a piece of knowledge, ask me. If I know about it, I’ll let you know.”

Then `Umar added, “By Allah, in pre-Islamic times, we never counted women as worth anything until Allah revealed about them what He revealed and allotted them what He allotted. Now, while I was engaged in something when my wife said, ‘If you did it this way ..’ I said, ‘What’s the matter with you? And why do you interfere in an affair of mine?’ She answered, ‘It is strange of you O Ibn al-Khattab that you do not wish that you should be answered back while your daughter answers back the Prophet – to the extent that sometimes he remains angry the whole day.’”

[So `Umar got up, gathered his cloak and entered upon Hafsa. He told her], ‘My dear daughter. Do you answer back the Prophet to the extent that he remains angry the whole day?” She answered, “By Allah, we do answer back.’ I said, ‘I warn you of Allah’s punishment and His anger for His Messenger. My dear daughter, do not be misled by the other one whose beauty has led the Prophet to her love.’ [He meant `A’isha].

Then, “I left and entered upon Umm Salamah because of my relationship with her and spoke to her. She answered, ‘Strange of you O Ibn al-Khattab, you have begun to poke your nose into everything to the extent that you wish to interfere in affairs of the Prophet and his wives!’ Then she took me on, and (I tell you) by Allah, so severely that it broke some of what I was finding within me. (According to other reports she said at that time: “Now, are not the Prophet’s admonitions enough for us that want to add your own?”). So I left her. Now, I had an Ansari friend who would bring me news when I was absent, and when he was absent I would take the news to him.

Those days we were afraid of one of the Ghassani rulers. We were informed that he had decided to march against us. Our minds were full of him, and there was my Ansari companion knocking at the door and saying, ‘Open the door, open the door.’ I said, ‘What, has the Ghassani arrived?’ He answered, ‘Something worse than that. The Prophet has withdrawn from his wives.’ I said to myself, ‘May Hafsa’s and `A’isha’s nose be in the dust.” I put on my clothes, went up to find the Messenger of Allah in an upper quarter which you reached by a ladder. The Prophet’s dark slave sat at the door. I told him to tell the Prophet that here was `Umar ibn al-Khattab. He allowed me in and I spoke of my talks with his wives and when I described my encounter with Umm Salamah, the Prophet smiled. He was then on a mat without anything between him and the mat, with a leather pillow filled with frond. There was some tanning-grass near his feet and an untanned leather bottle dangling near his head. I saw the imprint of the mat on his side and wept. He asked, ‘What makes you cry?’ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah here are Kisra and Caesar, in the condition in which they are, and here you are while you are a Messenger of Allah!’ He answered, ‘Are you not satisfied that they should have this world and we the Hereafter?’”

Thus, the whole story with reference to the early part of the Surah is no more than a minor family affair, but, when a Prophet is involved, then it acquires a serious status. Further, there seem to be several other family events that seem to have distracted the Prophet’s concerns. For example, as pointed out by Shabbir, one was about maintenance allowance. It was a pittance. His wives surrounded the Prophet and demanded that their allowance be increased. He did not like it and took to seclusion for a month. In fact, it is not clear whether his month-long seclusion was due to their demands, or due to one of them divulging something he had told her not to reveal to others. The report about their demand for increased allowance is in Muslim:

Jabir reported that Abu Bakr arrived into the mosque to find people at the door and none was being allowed in. He sought permission and was allowed in. Then `Umar came in and he too was allowed. He found the Prophet surrounded by his wives: squatting, aggrieved and quiet. He said to himself, “Let me say something that will make him smile. So I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, do you know about Kharijah’s daughter? She asked me for higher food allowance so I jumped at her and poked her in the neck.’ The Prophet smiled and said, ‘As you see them, they are around me, demanding higher allowances.’” So Abu Bakr got up and slapped `A’isha’s neck. And `Umar got up and slapped Hafsa’ neck; both saying, “Do you demand of the Prophet what he does not have?” They said, “By Allah, we shall never ask for what the Messenger of Allah does not have.” Then he withdrew from them for a month (Au.).

As regards the stories in connection with Maariyyah, (quoted by many commentators), to the effect that he lay with her in Hafsa’s house, which displeased her, to the end of it, they have not been quoted by the Sihah works, and outside of them, the narratives suffer from a variety of technical defects and, therefore, untrustworthy (Imam Nawawi and Qurtubi).

It might be remembered in this connection that Mariyyah Qibtiyyah did not live near the mosque. She lived quite a distance away in another neighborhood. As for the Prophet having intercourse with her in Hafsa’s house, far from him, it is difficult to imagine of any man, with several wives, and at liberty to visit them in their homes any time, would attempt it, at an odd time, with the constraint of time on someone who was extremely busy in his life. As regards Allah’s strong words of reproach, as Shabbir has pointed out, most serious family troubles start with a scuffle over a minor affair; hence Allah dealt with it firmly to put a complete stop to it (Au.).

3. The matter that the Prophet had asked one of his wives to keep to herself was that he would not take any honey-drink. But she disclosed it to another (Shafi` and others). But this is an opinion and not a hadith (Au.).

4. That is, after Allah had informed the Prophet of the matter, (whatever it was) he in turn did not divulge all that he had been told, but informed his wife of a part ignoring the rest, out of kindness to her (Ibn Jarir).

5. `A’isha and Hafsa were good friends. They trusted each other and did not divulge their personal secrets to others. When one of them confided to the other something that she was not supposed to reveal, it was because of mutual trust. But of course, it was to remain between the two. Accordingly, when the Prophet informed one of them of what she had divulged, she was surprised. Had the other one betrayed? It could not be she. So she asked, “Who informed you that?” (Au. based on a point in Shabbir).

6. The textual word “qulub” is in plural, instead of dual which the context requires, perhaps because more than two of the wives of the Prophet were involved, with `A’isha and Hafsah being in the forefront; which also explains the personal pronouns in plural in the following verses (Thanwi).

7. Sufi commentator Thanwi offers a note that is at some distance from the matter-of-fact approach of the majority of commentators: The word “mawla” (“supporter”, or “companion” – as Thanwi translates), acquires different connotations with the change of the object. When it is used for Allah, it is in the real and true sense (of Bestower). When used for Jibril, it is in the sense of ‘the transmitter of spiritual bequeathals.’ When used for the righteous Believers, it is in the sense of ‘adherents (to the transmitted values)’ and, when used for ordinary angels, it is in the sense of ‘carriers of tranquility’ (slightly reworded).

8. Bukhari has recorded that when `Umar went around visiting the wives of the Prophet (hijab-verses had not yet been revealed), he warned them in these very words, “It is possible that if he divorced you all..”

On several other occasions `Umar’s words coincided with Allah’s words. E.g., when he suggested to the Prophet that Muslim women ought to observe hijab, or when he suggested that the prisoners at Badr be slaughtered, or that the Prophet may offer Prayer near the Station of Ibrahim (Ibn Kathir).

9. Some scholars have understood the textual “qanitat” as meaning, “the obedient ones” (Ibn Jarir).