AAasa rabbuhu in tallaqakunna an yubdilahu azwajan khayran minkunna muslimatin mu'minatin qanitatin (surah Tahrim: 5)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(66:5) Maybe if he were to divorce you, your Lord might grant him in exchange wives better than you *10 ' those who truly submit to Allah, *11 are full of faith, obedient, *12 disposed to repentance, *13 and given to worship *14 and fasting *15 ' both previously wedded ones and virgins.

Asaa rabbuhooo in tallaqakunna anyyubdilahooo azwaajan khairam mnkunna muslimaatim mu`minaatin qaanitaatin taaa`ibaatin `aabidaatin saaa`ihaatin saiyibaatinw wa abkaaraa

*10) This shows that the fault did not lie only with Hadrat 'A'isha and Hadrat Hafsah but the other wives also had some share in it. That is why, after them, aII the other wives too, have been warned in this verse. No light has been thrown on the nature of the error in the Qur'an. However, some details are found in the Hadith, which we shall relate below.
In Bukhari, a tradition has been reported from Hadrat Anas, saying that Hadrat 'Umar said: "The Holy Prophet's wives because of their mutual envies and rivalries had utterly displeased him. At this 1 said to them: It may well be that if the Holy Prophet divorced you, Allah would give him in your place better wives than you. " Ibn Abi Hatim has, on the authority of Hadrat Anas, reported the statement of H_ adrat Umar in these words: "I was informed that a discord had been created between the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) and his wives. At this I went to each of them and asked them to refrain from vexing the Holy Prophet; otherwise Allah would give him in their stead better wives than them selves. So much so that when I went to the last of them (and according to a tradition of Bukhari, to Umm Salamah), she said to me: O `Umar, is not the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) himself enough to admonish his wives? Then why should you come out to counsel them? This made me quiet, and after this Allah sent down this verse.'
In Muslim, Hadrat `Abdullah bin 'Abbas has related that Hadrat 'Umar said to him: "When the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) separated himself from his wives, I went to the Mosque and found the people worried and upset and playing with pebbles and saying to one another: 'The Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) has divorced his wives.' After this Hadrat `Umar related his visiting the apartments of Hadrat 'A'ishah and Hafsah and admonishing them. then said: I went before the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) and said: Why do you feel upset with regard to your wives? If you divorce them, AIIah is with you, alI the angels and Gabriel and Michael arc with you, and I and Abu Bakr and all the Believers are with you. I thank Allah that seldom has it so happened that I said a thing and did not have hope from AIIah that He would testify to what I said. So, after this these verses of Surah At-Tahrim were sent down. Then I asked the Holy Prophet: Have you divorced your wives'? He said: No. Thereupon I stood at the entrance of the Mosque and announced in a loud voice: The Holy Prophet has not divorced his wives."
The traditions related in Bukhari from Hadrat Anas and in Musnad Ahmad from Hadrat 'Abdullah bin `Abbas, Hadrat 'A'ishah and Hadrat Abu Hurairah say that the Holy Prophet had pledged to remain away from his wives for a month and he retired in seclusion to his apartment. When 29 days passed, Gabriel carne and said; "You have fulfilled your oath: a month has come to completion."
Hafiz Badruddin 'Aini in 'Umdat al-Qari has related this on the authority of Hadrat 'A'ishah: The wives of the Holy Prophet had become divided into two parties. one party consisted of Hadrat 'A'ishah herself and Hadrat Hafsah. Hadrat Saudah and Hadrat Safiyyah, and the other of Hadrat Zainab, Hadrat.Umm Salamah and the rest of the wives.
These traditions indicate to some extent the conditions ,that existed in the Holy Prophet's domestic life at that time, which made it necessary that AIIah Almighty should intervene and reform the attitude of the holy wives. Although the wives were the best ladies of society, yet they were human beings and were not tree from human weaknesses. Sometimes when it became difficult for them to lead a life of continous poverty and hardship, they would become restive, impatient and would start pressing the Holy Prophet for better maintenance. At this AIIah sent down vv. 28-29 of Surah AI-Ahzah and admonished them to the effect: 'If you seek the world and it adotnments,.0ur Messenger will give you of these and send you of in a good way. But if you seek AIIah and His Messenger and the Hereafter, you should bear up against the hardships with patience, which you might have to face when living with the Messenger." (For details, see E.N. 41 of Surah Al-Ahzab and the Introduction to it). Then on account of the feminine nature they sometimes happened to behave in a way, which though not unusual in everyday human life, did not go well with the unique dignity and great responsibilities of the house to which AIIah had given them the honour to belong. So, when it was apprehended that those things might embitter the Holy Prophet's domestic life and might even adversely affect the great mission that AIIah had entrusted to him, He sent down this verse in the Qur'an, and reformed them so that the holy wives may realize the responsibilities of the position and rank which they had attained as the life-companions of the Last Messenger of Allah, and should not regard themselves as.ordinary women and their household as a common household. The very first sentence of this verse was such as might have caused Their hearts to shudder. There could be no severer warning for them than ,this: `It may well be that if the Prophet divorces aII of you, Allah will give him in your place better wives than yourselves." In the first place, even the thought of being divorced by the Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) was unbearable for them: more than that, this would deprive them of the honour of being Mothers of the Believers, and the other women whom Allah would give as wives to the Prophet would be better than them, After this it was no longer possible for the holy wives to behave in a way as would have occasioned a reproof from AIlah. That is why we find only two places in the Qur'an where these select and distinguished ladies have been administered a warning, in Surah Al-Ahzab and here in Surah ,At-Taltrim.
*11) In the places where the words .muslim and mu min have been used together, muslim means the one who carries out Divine commands practically, and mu min the one who believes sincerely and truly Thus, the foremost quality of the best Muslim wives is that they should be believing in AIIah and His Messenger and His Religion (din) sincerely and also practically following Allah's Religion in their morals, habits, customs and conduct.
*12) "Obedient" has two meanings and both are implied here (1) They are obedient to AIIah and His Messenger: (2) they are obedient to their husbands.
*13) The word ta'ib when used as attribute of a man does not imply the one who offers repentance only once but the one who continues to implore AIIah again and again for the forgiveness of his mistakes, whose conscience is alive and active, who is always a are of his weaknesses and errors and is penitent for them. Such a person never feels proud, arrogant and conceited, but is gentle and clement by nature.
*14) A worshipper can never be so heedless of God as a non-worshipper. This also helps much in making a woman a good wife. Being devout she adheres to the bounds set by AIIah, recognizes and discharges the rights of others and keeps her faith fresh and alive at aII times. Because of these qualities she can better be expected that she would not reject obedience to Divine Commands.
*15) The word sa ihat in the original has been interpreted by several companions and large number of their successors to mean the same as sa imat 1 those given to fasting). The reason why the word siyahat journeying has been used for fasting is that in the ancient times journeys were mostly undertaken by the monks and ascetics, who had no provisions and had to go without food till they got something to eat from somewhere. On that account fasting also is a kind of asceticism, for a faster has to remain hungry until the time of breaking the fast. Ibn Jarir in his Commentary of At-Taubah 12 has cited a saying of Hadrat 'A'ishah, saying: "The journeying (i.e. asceticism) of the Ummah is fasting. Here, making mention of fasting as an attribute of the pious wives dces not mean that they observe the obligatory fasting month of Ramadan only but that they observe voluntary fasts also besides the obligatory fasts.
Addressing the holy wives Allah's saying: "If the Holy Messenger divorces aII of you, AIIah will give him in your place better wives who will have this quality" does not mean that the wives were not virtuous, but it means; "Give up your wrong conduct which is causing so much distress to the Holy Prophet; instead, pay attention to developing in yourselves these noble qualities to the highest degree.'