| Answer: class="Paragraph">There
is no contradiction between the verse of the Qur’ān and the two Ahadīth that you
have quoted. The Qur’ānic words: La taqrabuhunna (go not to them) in Arabic
usage imply sexual intercourse. They are not be taken literally. Moreover, this
becomes even more evident, if the words fa’tu hunna min haythu amarakumullah
(then go unto them as Allah has enjoined upon you) are deliberated upon. During
menses, sexual intimacy with one’s wife that excludes intercourse is not
prohibited. Anas Ibn Mālik reports in the Sahīh of Imām Muslim:
When a woman
amongst the Jews menstruated the men did not dine with her or live with her in
their houses. So the companions of the Prophet asked him and Allah revealed ...
(See 2:222 above). The Prophet then said: ‘You can do
everything except having intercourse with her.’ (Kitābu’l
Hayd)
Similar usage can be seen in the underlined portion of the
following verse:
O you who believe! Approach not prayers in a state of
inebriation until you can understand all that you say, -- nor in a state of
ceremonial impurity except if you just have to pass through [the mosque] until
the ceremonial bath. If you are ill or on a journey, or if one of you comes from
offices of nature, or if you have been in contact with women, and you find no
water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your
faces and hands. For God does blot out sins and forgive again and again. (4:43)
Here again the
Arabic words lāmastumu’l-nisā (if you have touched women) must not be taken
literally. They connote sexual intercourse after which one has been bound by
Islam to have the ceremonial bath.
In short, one
should try to appreciate the literal and figurative usage of Qur’ānic Arabic. If
one finds any difficulty in appreciating them, one should look up reliable
commentaries of the Book. |