The Online Library of Liberty

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• The QurÁn.
• Chapter Xli.: Entitled Surat Al Fussilat (explanation). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Xlii.: Entitled Surat Al ShorÍ (consultation). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Xliii.: Entitled Surat Al ZuḲhrÁf (the Ornaments of Gold). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Xliv.: Entitled Surat Al DuḲhan (smoke). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Xlv.: Entitled Surat Al JÁsÍyah (kneeling). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Xlvi.: Entitled Surat Al AhqÁf (the Sandhills). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Xlvii.: Entitled Surat Muhammad. Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Xlviii.: Entitled Surat Al Fatah (victory). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Xlix.: Entitled Surat Al HujrÁt (the Inner Apartments). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter L.: Entitled Surat Al QÁf (q.). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Li.: Entitled Surat Al ZÁriyÁt (the Dispersing). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lii.: Entitled Surat Al TÚr (the Mountain). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Liii.: Entitled Surat Al Najm (the Star). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Liv.: Entitled Surat Al Qamr (the Moon). Revealed At Makkah
• Chapter Lv.: Entitled Surat Al RahmÁn (the Merciful). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lvi.: Entitled Surat Al WÁqÍa (the Inevitable). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lvii.: Entitled Surat Al HadÍd (iron). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lviii.: Entitled Surat Al MujÁdalah (she Who Disputed). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lix.: Entitled Surat Al Hashr (the Emigration). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lx.: Entitled Surat Al Mumtahina (she Who Is Tried). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxi.: Entitled Surat Al Saf (battle-array). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxii.: Entitled Surat Al Juma (the Assembly). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxiii.: Entitled Surat Al MunÁfiqÚn (the Hypocrites). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxiv.: Entitled Surat Al TaghabÚn (mutual Deceit). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxv.: Entitled Surat Al TalÁq (divorce). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxvi.: Entitled Surat Al TahrÍm (prohibition). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter Lxvii.: Entitled Surat Al Mulk (the Kingdom). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxviii.: Entited Surat Al Qalam (the Pen). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxix.: Entitled Surat Al HÁqqat (the Infallible). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxx.: Entitled Surat Al MaÁrij (the Steps). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxi.: Entitled Surat NÚh (noah). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxii.: Entitled Surat Al Jinn (the Genii). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxiii.: Entitled Surat Al Muzzammil (wrapped Up). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxiv.: Entitled Surat Al Muddassir (the Covered). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxv.: Entitled Surat Al QÍyÁmat (the Resurrection). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxvi.: Entitled Surat Al InsÁn (man). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxvii.: Entitled Surat Al MursalÁt (the Messengers). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxviii.: Entitled Surat Al NabÁ (the News). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxix.: Entitled Surat Al NÁziÁt (those Who Tear Forth). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxx.: Entitled Surat Al Abas (he Frowned). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxi.: Entitled Surat Al TakwÍr (the Folding Up). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxii.: Entitled Surat Al InfitÁr (the Cleaving In Sunder). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxiii.: Entitled Surat Al TatfÍf (those Who Give Short Measure). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxiv.: Entitled Surat Al InshiqÁq (the Rending In Sunder). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxv.: Entitled Surat Al BurÚj (the Celestial Signs). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxvi.: Entitled Surat Al TÁriq (the Star Which Appeared By Night). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxvii.: Entitled Surat Al ÁlÁ (the Most High). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxviii.: Entitled Surat Al GhÁshiya (the Overwhelming). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter Lxxxix.: Entitled Surat Al Fajr (the Daybreak). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XC.: Entitled Surat Al Balad (the Territory). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCI.: Entitled Surat Al Shams (the Sun). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCII.: Entitled Surat Al Lail (the Night). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCIII.: Entitled Surat Al ZuhÁ (the Brightness). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCIV.: Entitled Surat Al InshirÁh (have We Not Opened?). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCV.: Entitled Surat Al TÍn (the Fig). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCVI.: Entitled Surat Al Alaq (congealed Blood). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCVII.: Entitled Surat Al Qadr (night of Power). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter XCVIII.: Entitled Surat Al Baiyana (the Evidence). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter XCIX.: Entitled Surat Al ZilzÁl (the Earthquake). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter C.: Entitled Surat Al AdiyÁt (the War-horses Which Run Swiftly). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CI.: Entitled Surat Al QÁrÍa (the Striking). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CII.: Entitled Surat Al TakÁsur (the Emulous Desire of Multiplying). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CIII.: Entitled Surat Al Asar (the Afternoon). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CIV.: Entitled Surat Al Hamza (the Slanderer). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CV.: Entitled Surat Al FÍl (the Elephant). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CVI.: Entitled Surat Al Quraish (the Quraish). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CVII.: Entitled Surat Al MÁÚn (necessaries). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CVIII.: Entitled Surat Al Kauthar (abundance). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CIX.: Entitled Surat Al KÁfirÚn (the Unbelievers). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CX.: Entitled Surat Al Nasr (assistance). Revealed At Madína.
• Chapter CXI.: Entitled Surat Al Abu Lahab. Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CXII.: Entitled Surat Al IḲhlÁs (declaration of God’s Unity). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CXIII.: Entitled Surat Al Falaq (the Daybreak). Revealed At Makkah.
• Chapter CXIV.: Entitled Surat Al NÁs (men). Revealed At Makkah.

CHAPTER LX.

ENTITLED SURAT AL MUMTAHINA (SHE WHO IS TRIED).

Revealed at Madína.

INTRODUCTION.

This chapter bears this title, says Sale, “because it directs the women who desert and come over from the infidels to the Muslims to be examined and tried whether they be sincere in their profession of the faith.” The incident which is said to have occasioned this revelation is given in the note on the first verse.

The separation of the Muslims from believers, noticed in the Introduction to chap. lviii., is here strictly enjoined. In this case the measure seems to have been a matter of policy to prevent the Quraish from tampering with the loyalty of the refugees, or to prevent their receiving information as to the intentions of the Muslims. See Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. iv. p. 45, note.

Probable Date of the Revelations.

According to the Muslim commentators, the first part of this chapter (vers. 1-9) was revealed in a.h. 8, when the incident occurred which is narrated in the note on the first verse. The remaining verses date from a short time after the treaty with the Quraish at Hudaibiyah (ver. 10, note), a.h. 6.

Principal Subjects.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

∥ (1) O true believers, take not my enemy and your enemy for your friends, showing kindness towards them; since they believe not in the truth which hath come unto you, having expelled the Apostle and yourselves from your native city, because ye believe in God your Lord. If ye go forth to fight in defence of my religion, and out of a desire to please me, and privately show friendship unto them, verily I well know that which ye conceal and that which ye discover: and whoever of you doth this hath already erred from the straight path. (2) If they get the better of you, they will be enemies unto you, and they will stretch forth their hands and their tongues against you with evil; and they earnestly desire that ye should become unbelievers. (3) Neither your kindred nor your children will avail you at all on the day of resurrection, which will separate you from one another: and God seeth that which ye do. (4) Ye have an excellent pattern in Abraham and those who were with him, when they said unto their people, Verily we are clear of you, and of the idols which ye worship besides God: we have renounced you; and enmity and hatred is begun between us and you for ever, until ye believe in God alone: except Abraham’s saying unto his father, Verily I will beg pardon for thee; but I cannot obtain aught of God in thy behalf. O Lord, in thee do we trust, and unto thee are we turned; and before thee shall we be assembled hereafter.(5) O Lord, suffer us not to be put to trial by the unbelievers; and forgive us, O Lord; for thou art mighty and wise. (6) Verily ye have in them an excellent example, unto him who hopeth in God and the last day: and whoso turneth back; verily Godis self-sufficient and praiseworthy.

∥ (7) Peradventure God will establish friendship between yourselves and such of them as ye now hold for enemies: for Godis powerful; and Godis inclined to forgive, and merciful. (8) As to those who have not borne arms against you on account of religion, nor turned you out of your dwellings, God forbiddeth you not to deal kindly with them, and to behave justly towards them; for God loveth those who act justly. (9) But as to those who have borne arms against you on account of religion, and have dispossessed you of your habitations, and have assisted in dispossessing you, God forbiddeth you to enter into friendship with them: and whosoever of you entereth into friendship with them, those are unjust doers. (10) O true believers, when believing women come unto you as refugees, try them: God well knoweth their faith. And if ye know them to be true believers, send them not back to the infidels: they are not lawful for the unbelievers to have in marriage; neither are the unbelievers lawful for them. But give their unbelieving husbands what they shall have expended for their dowers. Nor shall it be any crime in you if ye marry them, provided ye give them their dowries. And retain not the patronage of the unbelieving women; but demand back that which ye have expended for the dowry of such of your wives as go over to the unbelievers; and let them demand back that which they have expended for the dowry of those who come over to you. This is the judgment of God, which he establisheth among you, and Godis knowing and wise. (11) If any of your wives escape from you to the unbelievers, and ye have your turn by the coming over of any of the unbelievers’ wives to you; give unto those believers whose wives shall have gone away, out of the dowries of the latter, so much as they shall have expended for the dowers of the former: and fear God, in whom ye believe. (12) O Prophet, when believing women come unto thee, and plight their faith unto thee that they will not associate anything with God, nor steal, nor commit fornication, nor kill their children, nor come with a calumny which they have forged between their hands and their feet, nor be disobedient to thee in that which shall be reasonable: then do thou plight thy faith unto them, and ask pardon for them of God; for Godis inclined to forgive, and merciful. (13) O true believers, enter not into friendship with a people against whom God is incensed; they despair of the life to come, as the infidels despair of the resurrection of those who dwell in their graves.

[(1) ]My enemy and your enemy, &c. “This passage was revealed on account of Hátib Ibn Abi Balpáa, who, understanding that Muhammad had a design to surprise Makkah, wrote a letter to the Quraish, giving them notice of the intended expedition, and advised them to be on their guard; which letter he sent by Sarah, a maidservant belonging to the family of Háshím. The messenger had not been gone long, before Gabriel discovered the affair to the Prophet, who immediately sent after her; and having intercepted the letter, asked Hátib how he came to be guilty of such an action? To which he replied that it was not out of infidelity or a desire to return to idolatry, but merely to induce the Quraish to treat his family, which was still at Makkah, with some kindness: adding that he was well assured his intelligence would be of no service at all to the Makkans, because he was satisfied God would take vengeance on them. Whereupon Muhammad received his excuse and pardoned him; but it was thought proper to forbid any such practices for the future.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

See also Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. iv. p. 114.

Privately show friendship. “The verb here used has also a contrary signification, according to which the words may be rendered, ‘and yet openly show friendship unto them.’ ”—Sale.

[(4) ]An excellent pattern. The Muhájirín and others leaving Makkah with Muhammad are likened to Abraham and those leaving Chaldea with him. See Rodwell’s note in loco.

Except Abraham’s saying, &c. “For in this Abraham’s example is not to be followed.”—Sale. See notes on chap. ix. 114, 115.

[(5) ]Suffer us not, &c., i.e., “suffer them not to prevail against us, lest they thence conclude themselves to be in the right, and endeavour to make us deny our faith by the terror of the persecution.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

[(7) ]“And this happened accordingly on the taking of Makkah, when Abu Sufián and others of the Quraish, who had till then been inveterate enemies to the Muslims, embraced the same faith, and became their friends and brethren. Some suppose the marriage of Muhammad with Omm Habíba, the daughter of Abu Sufián, which was celebrated the year before, to be here intended.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

[(8) ]Behave justly towards them. “This passage, it is said, was revealed on account of Kutaila bint Abdul Uzza, who having, whilst she was an idolatress, brought some presents to her daughter, Asma bint Abu Baqr, the latter not only refused to accept them, but even denied her admittance.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

[(10) ]Try them. “When such women sought an asylum at Madína, Muhammad obliged them to swear that they were prompted only by the desire of embracing Islamism, and that hatred of their husbands, or love of some Mussulmán, had not had any influence on their conduct.”—Savary.

They are not lawful for the unbelievers. Muslim men may marry unbelievers, if not idolaters, but Muslim women may marry only believers. The practical working of this law has been very favourable to the propagation of Islám.

But give . . . their dowers. “For, according to the terms of the pacification of al Hudaibiyah (chap. xlviii. 15) each side was to return whatever came into their power belonging to the other; wherefore, when the Muslims were, by this passage, forbidden to restore the married women who should come over to them, they were at the same time commanded to make some sort of satisfaction, by returning their dowry.

“It is related that, after the aforesaid pacification, while Muhammad was yet at al Hudaibiyah, Subaia bint al Hárith, of the tribe of Aslam, having embraced Muhammadism, her husband, Musáfir, the Maḳhzúmite, came and demanded her back; upon which this passage was revealed; and Muhammad, pursuant thereto, administered to her the oath thereafter directed, and returned her husband her dower, and then Omar married her.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

Noëldeke points out that this must have occurred after the return from Hudaibiyah, on the ground of the terms of the treaty, which could not have been infringed at Hudaibiyah itself.

Provided ye give them their dowries. “For what is returned to their former husbands is not to be considered as their dower.”—Sale.

See also notes on chaps. ii. 229 and iv. 3.

[(11) ]If any of your wives, &c. “Literally, ‘anything of your wives;’ which some interpret, ‘any part of their dowry.’ ”—Sale.

And ye have your turn. “Or, as the original verb may be translated, ‘and ye take spoils;’ in which case the meaning will be, that those Muslims whose wives shall have gone over to the infidels shall have a satisfaction for their dower out of the next booty. This law, they say, was given because the idolaters, after the preceding verse had been revealed, refused to comply therewith, or to make any return of the dower of those women who went over to them from the Muslims; so that the latter were obliged to indemnify themselves as they could.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

[(12) ]Plight their faith unto thee. “See the Prelim. Disc., p. 81. Some are of opinion that this passage was not revealed till the day of the taking of Makkah, when, after having received the solemn submission of the men, he proceeded to receive that of the women.”—Sale, Baidháwi.

It is best to connect this verse with those preceding. It thus gives the confession of faith required of true Muslim converts from Arab idolatry.

Nor kill their children. See note on chap. lxxxi. 8.

A calumny. “Jaláluddín understands these words of their laying their spurious children to their husbands.”—Sale.

[(13) ]A people against whom God is incensed, i.e., “the infidels in general, or the Jews in particular.”—Sale.

See note on chap. i. 5-7.

They despair, &c. “By reason of their infidelity, or because they well know they cannot expect to be made partakers of the happiness of the next life, by reason of their rejecting of the Prophet, foretold in the law, and whose mission is confirmed by miracles.”—Sale, Baidháwi.