I Meaning & Morphology (الصرف
و اللغة)
1. ‘قَرْءٌ’
The word ‘قَرْءٌ’
is among those words of the Arabic language which are classed as ‘اَضْدَاد’
(antithetical words). They are words which have two meanings entirely opposite
to one another. It is the context which determines the shade of meaning in which
they are used. Example of such words are ‘بَيْع’
which means both ‘sale’ and ‘purchase’, and ‘اَسَرَّ’
which means both ‘to reveal’ and ‘to conceal’.
As pointed out by Ghamidi (note: 14),
the context readily suggests that the word ‘قَرْءٌ’
here means ‘حَيْض’ (the
period of menstruation) and not ‘طُهْر’
(the period of purity).
2. ‘
أَحَقُّ’
The comparative
degree in this word (‘greater rights’) does not imply that the wife also has the
right to revoke divorce and that her husband’s right to divorce is only
greater. Instead, it actually suggests that, as pointed out by Zamakhshari,
if a wife does not accept reconciliation, then the will of the husband shall
prevail. In other words, the comparison is between the right of the husband to
revoke the divorce and the wife’s rejection of the husband’s decision.
3. ‘دَرَجَةٌ’
This indefinite
noun here connotes ‘وَحْدَانِيَّه’.
The implied meaning is that the superiority of husbands is not absolute; it is
only in one sphere: as head of the family, as the context suggests. The previous
verses mention the rights of the husband as head of the family. Also, this
relative ‘superiority’ is not being mentioned regarding women and men generally,
but within the framework of the marital relationship and in reference to a
specific aspect.
4. ‘ال’
in ‘الطَّلَاقُ مَرَّتَانِ’
Technically
speaking the ‘ال’ on ‘الطَّلَاقُ
مَرَّتَانِ’ is for ‘عهد’
and not of ‘جنس’ as some
exegetes contend. The implied meaning after taking into consideration this fact
would be: ‘the divorce which has been mentioned above in which a husband can
revoke his decision can be given twice only’.
5.
يَعِظُكُمْ بِهِ
The particle ‘ب’
is a preposition of the verb ‘يَعِظُ’
and is not of ‘سببيه’
(causative). When this verb relates to two objects, the second object takes the
preposition ‘ب’. Thus
translation ‘He instructs you through it’3
would not be correct. The meaning of
the expression, consequently, would be ‘He instructs you of these things’ and
not ‘He instructs you through these things’.
The following
Qur’anic verse testifies to this usage:
قُلْ
إِنَّمَا أَعِظُكُمْ بِوَاحِدَةٍ (46:34)
Say: ‘‘I
do admonish you on one point’’. (34:46)
II Eloquence & Style (الاساليب و البلاغة)
1. Tadmin in ‘يُؤْلُونَ
مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ’
The conventional preposition after ‘يُؤْلُونَ’
is ‘عَلى’. However, the
preposition ‘مِِنْ’ after it
shows the existence of tadmin. In other words, the verb encompasses the meaning
of ‘drawing away’. While pointing it out Zamakhshari writes:
قد
ضمن فى هذا القسم المخصوص معنى البعد فكانه قيل: يبعدون من نساءهم مؤلين او مقسمين
Contained in this specific oath is
the meaning of withdrawal as if the implied import is: they withdraw from their
wives while swearing…
2. Khabr li al-Amr
In the
expression ‘…وَالْمُطَلَّقَاتُ يَتَرَبَّصْنَ’,
the predicate, which is in the form of a verb, connotes the imperative mood.
Thus ‘Divorced women wait…’ is actually ‘Divorced women should wait...’ Such
usage actually places emphasis on the imperative. It is as if the directive has
already been obeyed. A similar expression is ‘…وَلْوَالِدَاتُ
يُرضِِعْنَ اَوْلَادَهُنَّ’ (Mothers should suckle
their offspring…(2:233)). Invocations like ‘رَ حِمَكَ
اللَّه’ and ‘حَسْبِىَ اللَّه’
also reflect this usage.
3. Ellipses
i. As opined by
Abu Hayyan, the pithy expression ‘وَلَهُنَّ
مِثْلُ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ’ that occurs
at the end of verse 228 can be unfolded thus: ‘وَلَهُنَّ
عَلَى اَزْوَاجِهِنَّ مِثْلُ الَّذِي لِاَزْوَاجِهِنَّ عَلَيْهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ’.
ii. One feature
of Qur’anic Arabic is that it does not employ words which can be avoided to
convey the required meaning. For example, though there is a word (اَيْضاً)
in classical Arabic for ‘also’, the Qur’an has not used it at all. It uses the
context to imply this word in a sentence. This elliptical style of course adds
to the eloquence of the language. Here, the words ‘فَإِنْ
خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ’ (2:229)
present a very good example of this. In the preceding verse the word ‘يَخَافَا’
refers to apprehension of the husband and wife and here as ‘خِفْتُمْ’
it refers to the apprehension of the elders of the society. Thus, the word
‘also’ must be considered present or else the words would lose their stress and
actual import.
4. Usage of the
verb ‘بَلَغَ’
In classical
Arabic, as in indeed in most languages, verbs in the past tense sometimes
connote an action that is yet to take place. While pointing out this aspect,
Zamakhshari writes:
فيقال: بلغ البلد إذا شارفه وداناه. ويقال: قد وصلت، ولم يصل
وإنما شارف
… so it is
said: ‘He has reached the city’ when a person is near it. Similarly it is said:
‘I have reached [my destination]’, whereas actually the destination has not been
reached; one has only drawn near it.
The verb ‘بَلَغَ’
is used in this sense in ‘وَإِذَا طَلَّقْتُمْ
النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ’ (2:231). In other
words it implies the sense ‘about to reach’. In the very next verse: ‘وَإِذَا
طَلَّقْتُمْ النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ’,
(2:232) it is used in its conventional meaning.
5.
الى ما يئول اليه تسمية الشئ
The word ‘أَزْوَاجَهُنَّ’
used in 2:232 is an example of a word being used for meaning that it will
ultimately convey: the future
husbands are called husbands. This usage is very common in other languages also.
For example, we call a medical student a doctor even though he is yet to become
a doctor.
It would be
incorrect to take this word in its actual sense, as some commentators have,
thereby implying that a husband who divorces his wife should not impede her in
any way to go back to her former husband. A woman if she wishes to re-marry, can
remarry her former husband and she can re-marry someone else.
6. Gradations in
Verbs
In classical Arabic, a verb can be used
in various stages (مدارج).
Thus the same verb can be used to express intention, decision, and severity of
the actual meaning it conveys. For example the verb ‘أمَنُوْا’
can mean ‘they intend to believe’, ‘they have decided to believe’ or ‘they fully
believed’. It depends on the context and usage as to which meaning is implied.
Here the verb ‘يَعْلَمُوْن’
in the expression ‘لِقْومٍ يَعْلَمُوْنَ’
expresses ‘intention of knowing’. An accurate rendering of this expression would
be ‘Those who want to know’. In other words, ‘تِلْكَ
حُدُوْدُ الله يَبَيَّنُهاَ لِِقَوْمٍ يَعْلِمُوْنَ’
actually implies that the Almighty is explaining his bounds to only those who
want to gain knowledge.
7. Direction of
Address
Most commentators mention the
possibility that the verb in the expression ‘فَلَا
تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ’. (And do not stop them) can be
directed at the guardians of the wife who may stop her from marrying some other
person once she has been divorced. However, there is intrinsic evidence found
within the verse that conclusively proves that the verb is actually directed at
the husband who has divorced his wife. While referring to this intrinsic
evidence Imam Razi writes:
المسألة الثالثة: اختلف المفسرون في أن قوله: {فلا تعضلوهن}
خطاب لمن؟ فقال الأكثرون إنه خطاب للأولياء، وقال بعضهم إنه خطاب للأزواج، وهذا هو
المختار، الذي يدل عليه أن قوله تعالى: {وإذا طلقتم النساء فبلغن أجلهن فلا
تعضلوهن} جملة واحدة مركبة من شرط وجزاء، فالشرط قوله: {وإذا طلقتم النساء فبلغن
أجلهن} والجزاء قوله: {فلا تعضلوهن} ولا شك أن الشرط وهو قوله: {وإذا طلقتم النساء}
خطاب مع الأزواج، فوجب أن يكون الجزاء وهو قوله: {فلا تعضلوهن} خطاباً معهم أيضاً،
إذ لو لم يكن كذلك لصار تقدير الآية: إذا طلقتم النساء أيها الأزواج فلا تعضلوهن
أيها الأولياء وحيئنذٍ لا يكون بين الشرط وبين الجزاء مناسبة أصلاً وذلك يوجب تفكك
نظم الكلام وتنزيه كلام الله عن مثله واجب
The commentators disagree regarding
the addressees of the words ‘فَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ’.
Most of them are of the opinion that the expression addresses the guardians of
the divorced women. Some commentators, however, do say that these words address
the husbands. I also subscribe to this opinion. The reason is that the verse ‘وَإِذَا
طَلَّقْتُمْ النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ’
is a single sentence composed of a prodosis (شرط)
and an apodosis (جزا). The
prodosis is ‘وَإِذَا طَلَّقْتُمْ النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ
أَجَلَهُنَّ’ and the apodosis is ‘فَلَا
تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ’. There can be no doubt in the fact
that the prodosis is addressed to the husbands. Consequently, it is imperative
that the apodosis also be addressed to the husbands. If this were not so, the
verse would imply ‘‘When you O husbands, divorce your wives, you O guardians
should not stop them….’. This of course would create a disagreement between the
prodosis and the apodosis and this would also dismember the coherence of the
discourse, and it is essential to disregard such a thing from the message of
God’’.
III Exegesis and
Explanation (الشرح و التفسير)
1. ‘أَمَرَكُمْ
اللَّهُ’ (The directive of God)
The words ‘أَمَرَكُمْ
اللَّهُ’, as pointed out by Ghamidi (note: 3), imply
the directive of God that is ingrained in human nature regarding sexual
intercourse with one’s wife. It needs to be appreciated that man has received
God’s directives and His guidance in two forms: a. Innate Guidance and b.
Revealed Guidance. As such, the words ‘أَمَرَكُمْ
اللَّهُ’ hold good for both types of guidance.
The implication in this verse (2:222) is
that the details of sexual intercourse are intrinsically found in human nature.
So just as a person intrinsically knows that food is to be put in the mouth, he
knows through his ingrained guidance where to satisfy his sexual urge from.
2. Wife seeking
Divorce
The part of
verse 229 ‘…وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَأْخُذُوا
مِمَّا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ شَيْئًا’ till the end of the
verse is often interpreted to mean the right of a wife to seek divorce from her
husband (خُلع).
Many commentators argue that these verses suggest that a woman must pay some
money to her husband in order to liberate herself from him. However, if the
context of the verse is taken into consideration, this cannot be the meaning of
the verse, as pointed out by Ghamidi (note: 23). The husband is first told that
if he finally decides to divorce his wife, then he must be decent enough not to
take back any gifts he may have given his wife. Then, in the aforementioned
verse, he is told that in one exceptional case it is lawful for him to take back
some gifts: when both parties desire legal separation, but the husband desists
from divorce because he believes his financial loss, through wealth, assets or
property, would be too significant. In such a case, it would be acceptable for
the wife to return the gifts to her husband and for the husband to accept them.
3. The implication of ‘تَنكِحَ’
In the verse, ‘فَإِنْ
طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ مِنْ بَعْدُ حَتَّى تَنكِحَ زَوْجًا غَيْرَهُ’
the verb ‘تَنكِحَ’ is used.
As pointed out by Ghamidi (note: 25). Nikah (marriage contract) is a well-known
term of the Qur’an and refers to marriage, which is a contract made by a man and
a woman who intend to live their lives together as husband and wife. If a
divorce is planned at the beginning of a marriage merely to legalize the wife
for the first husband then this is against the spirit of the marriage contract.
The very words of the verse also go against such an arrangement. The particle of
condition ‘إِنْ’ is used for
exceptional and contingent situations. While pointing to this usage, Islahi
writes:
In Arabic ‘إِنْ’
is not used for routine and usual matters. Usually, it is used for rare and
contingent occurrences. For regular matters, ‘اِذَاِ’
is used.
Moreover, there is no linguistic basis
of construing that in this verse the verb ‘تَنكِحَ’
implies sexual intercourse.
IV Scriptures and
Testaments (العهود و الصحف)
1. Menstruation
Directives
The Bible contains severer restriction
on women during their menstrual periods:
When a
woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will
last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
Anything
she lies on during her period will be unclean and anything she sits on will be
unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water and
he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed she was sitting on or
anything else she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean
till evening.
If a man
lies with her and her monthly flow touches her, he will be unclean for seven
days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. (Leviticus, 15:19-24)
2. Wrongful
Oaths
The Qur’anic
words ‘and for your oaths do not make the name of Allah an obstacle’ (2:224) are
comparable to the following verse of the Old Testament:
You shall
not misuse the name of the Lord your Lord, for the Lord will not hold anyone
guiltless who misuses his name. (Exodus, 20:7)
3. Divorce
The divorce
verses of the Old Testament read as follows:
If a man
marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something
indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives to her and
sends her from his house, and after she leaves his house, she becomes the wife
of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate
of divorce, gives to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then the
first husband who divorced her is not allowed to marry her again after she had
been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin
upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy,
24:1-4)
Some of the
contrasting points regarding divorce between the OT and the Qur’an are:
i. According to
the OT, a husband can seemingly divorce his wife only on the grounds of
indecency.
The Qur’an, on the contrary does not impose such a condition.
ii. The divorce
sentence according to OT must be in written form (certificate of divorce), while
the Qur’an does not impose this condition. Divorce sentences pronounced orally
are also acceptable.
iii. Contrary
to the Qur’an, the OT does not allow re-marriage between a former husband and
wife, if after divorce, the wife is married to some other person and this second
husband dies or divorces her.
iv. The OT also
does not allow a husband to exercise his right of a revocable divorce twice in
the course of a marriage, as the Qur’an does. He can only exercise it once.
ا فى كل عام انت جاشم غزوة تشد لاقصاها
عزيم عزائك
مؤصلة مالا و فى الحي رفعة لما ضاع فيها من قروء
نسائكا
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