No other women are lawful for you after this except those you have married, nor to change your present wives for other women even though their beauty should appeal to you. God is watchful of everything.
Other women are not permitted for you after these, nor that you change them for other wives even if their beauty pleases you except the bondwomen whom you possess; and Allah is the Guardian over all things.
Thereafter women are not lawful to thee, neither for thee to take other wives in exchange for them, though their beauty please thee, except what thy right hand owns; God is watchful over everything.
No [other] women shall henceforth be lawful to thee nor art thou [allowed] to supplant [any of] them by other wives, even though their beauty should please thee greatly -: [none shall be lawful to thee] beyond those whom thou [already] hast come to possess. And God keeps watch over everything.
Women are not allowed unto thee henceforth, nor mayest thou change them for other wives although their beauty please thee, save those whom thy right hand shall own; and Allah is ever over everything a Watcher.
It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, except those (captives or slaves) whom your right hand possesses. And Allah is Ever a Watcher over all things.
Beyond that, no other women are permissible for you, nor can you exchange them for other wives, even if you admire their beauty, except those you already have. God is Watchful over all things.
Thereafter women will not be lawful for you, and it will not be lawful for you to take other wives in place of them, even though their beauty might please you, unless they be those whom your right hand owns. Allah is watchful over everything.
It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, except those whom your right hand possesses. And Allah is Ever a Watcher over all things.
It is not allowed thee to take (other) women henceforth, nor that thou shouldst change them for other wives even though their beauty pleased thee, save those whom thy right hand possesseth. And Allah is ever Watcher over all things.
Beyond that, women are not lawful for you, nor that you should change them for other wives even though their beauty should impress you, except those whom your right hand owns. Allah is watchful over all things.
It shall be unlawful for you to take more wives or to exchange your present wives for other women, though their beauty pleases you, except those whom your right hand possesses. Allah is watchful over everything.
Not lawful to you, [O Muhammad], are [any additional] women after [this], nor [is it] for you to exchange them for [other] wives, even if their beauty were to please you, except what your right hand possesses. And ever is Allah, over all things, an Observer.
Besides these, other women are not lawful for you to marry nor is it lawful for you to exchange your wives for the wives of others (except for the slave girls), even though they may seem attractive to you. God is watchful over all things.
It is not allowed to you to take women afterwards, nor that you should change them for other wives, though their beauty be pleasing to you, except what your right hand possesses and Allah is Watchful over all things.
L<u>a</u> ya<u>h</u>illu laka a<b>l</b>nnis<u>a</u>o min baAAdu wal<u>a</u> an tabaddala bihinna min azw<u>a</u>jin walaw aAAjabaka <u>h</u>usnuhunna ill<u>a</u> m<u>a</u> malakat yameenuka wak<u>a</u>na All<u>a</u>hu AAal<u>a</u> kulli shayin raqeeb<u>a</u><b>n</b>
It is not lawful for you to marry more women after this, nor to change them for other wives, even though their beauty may please you, except any that your right hand possesses. God is watchful over all things.
It is not lawful for thee (to marry more) women after this, nor to change them for (other) wives, even though their beauty attract thee, except any thy right hand should possess (as handmaidens): and Allah doth watch over all things.
لَّا يَحِلُّ لَكَ ٱلنِّسَآءُ مِنۢ بَعْدُ وَلَآ أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَٰجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ رَّقِيبًا
O Messenger! It is not permissible for you to marry women other than your wives who are already in your protection, neither is it permissible for you to divorce them, or divorce any one of them so that you may marry another woman, even if her beauty appeals to you. However, it is permissible for you to take captive women into your possession. And Allah is a guardian over everything. This ruling proves the virtue of the mothers of the believers, because the Prophet peace be upon him was prohibited from divorcing them and marrying others whilst he was married to them.
O Messenger! It is not permissible for you to marry women other than your wives who are already in your protection, neither is it permissible for you to divorce them, or divorce any one of them so that you may marry another woman, even if her beauty appeals to you. However, it is permissible for you to take captive women into your possession. And Allah is a guardian over everything. This ruling proves the virtue of the mothers of the believers, because the Prophet peace be upon him was prohibited from divorcing them and marrying others whilst he was married to them.
<p>The pious life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the issue of polygamy</p><p>The enemies of Islam have always targeted the issue of polygamy, specially the number of the wives of the Holy Prophet ﷺ for their criticism. But if the whole life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is kept in view, even the Satan cannot find scope to cast doubts on the character of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . It is a proved fact that his first marriage at the age of twenty-five was with Sayyidah Khadijah 4.U1 who was an aged widow with children and had been married twice before. The Holy Prophet ﷺ spent his whole prime of life, upto the age of fifty, with that aged wife only. All these fifty years were spent right before the eyes of the people of Makkah who had started his opposition when he was of forty years and had announced his prophethood. His opponents did not leave any stone unturned in harassing and stigmatizing him. They called him a magician, a poet, a mad man, but no enemy could ever find a single chance to cast doubts in his piety, modesty or purity.</p><p>At the age of fifty, after the death of Sayyidah Khadijah ؓ ، he married Sayyidah Sawdah ؓ who was also a widow.</p><p>After migration to Madinah, at the age of fifty-four, in the second year of Hijrah, Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ came to the Holy Prophet's home as wife. He married Sayyidah Hafsah	رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہا a year later and Sayyidah Zainab bint Khuzaymah ؓ a few days after that, who expired a few months later. He married Sayyidah Umm Salamah ؓ a widow with children, in the year 4 of Hijrah. In the year 5 when he was fifty eight years old, he married Sayyidah Zainab hint Jahsh ؓ in accordance with Allah's order, as detailed in the beginning of the present surah. The rest of the blessed wives entered his house in the last five years.</p><p>The rules pertaining to the private life of a prophet and his domestic affairs constitute a major portion of a religion. The contribution of these nine blessed wives ؓ to the propagation and education of Islam can be imagined from the fact that Sayyidah ` A'ishah	رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہا ، alone narrated two thousand two hundred and ten ahadith and Sayyidah Umm Salamah ؓ narrated three hundred and sixty-eight ahadith which have been collected in reliable books. Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim, in his I'lmul Muwaqqi'in, has commented that the rulings of Shari'ah (fatawa) disclosed by Sayyidah Umm Salamah ؓ would constitute a separate book. More than two hundred noble companions of the Holy Prophet ﷺ were disciples of Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ who learnt hadith, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and fatawa from her.</p><p>Another wisdom of bringing a number of the blessed wives ؓ to the house of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was to attract their clans towards Islam. After keeping these facts in view and considering the general pattern of his pure life, can one find any scope for saying that the multiplicity of his wives was, Allah forbid, to fulfill selfish or sexual desires? If this was the case, why the last stage of life would have been selected for this purpose after spending the whole prime of life either in celibacy or with an aged widow. This subject along with the religious, intellectual, biological and economic issues of the polygamy has been thoroughly discussed with full details under the explanation of the third verse of Surah Nisa' in volume II of this book.</p><p>Seventh Injunction:</p><p>لَّا يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَاءُ مِن بَعْدُ وَلَا أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ</p><p>(No women are lawful for you after this, nor is it lawful that you replace them (the present wives) with other wives, even though their goodness may attract you.- 52),</p><p>The words مِن بَعْدُ ''after this" in this verse may be interpreted in two ways. One is that no women are lawful for you after the present wives. Some noble companions	and leading commentators have adopted this meaning. Sayyidna Anas " has stated that when the blessed wives ؓ were given the choice by Allah Ta’ ala to either opt for the pleasure of the worldly life and its charms but separation from the Holy Prophet ﷺ or to remain with him and be content with every economic condition they may face, all of them gave up their demand for increase in maintenance and elected to remain with him. Allah Ta` ala, as a reward for their decision, restricted the Holy Prophet ﷺ to those nine wives and it was no more permissible for him to marry other women. (Al-Baihaqi, as quoted by Ruh-ul- Ma’ ani)</p><p>Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ has stated that Allah Ta’ ala has restricted the blessed wives ؓ exclusively to the Holy Prophet ﷺ in that they could not marry anybody after him. Similarly, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been restricted to the blessed wives in the sense that he could not marry any other women. Sayyidna ` Ikrimah ؓ has also given this explanation as per one narration.</p><p>The second interpretation of these words, as reported by different authorities, like Ibn ` Abbas, ` Ikrimah and Mujahid ؓ ، according to some narrations is that مِن بَعدِ "after this" means it is not lawful for the Holy Prophet ﷺ to marry any women beyond the categories mentioned in the earlier verse. For example, the earlier verse has allowed for him only those women of his parents' families who had migrated from Makkah to Madinah either with him or later, according to his command; similarly the restriction that his wife must be a Muslim has made the Christian or Jewish women unlawful for him. As such the meaning of the words, "after this" would be that he cannot marry those women who do not fall in the categories made lawful for him. Thus, according to this explanation, this is not a new injunction; it is rather an elaboration to highlight the consequential outcome of the rule already laid down in the preceding verse. According to this interpretation, this verse does not prohibit marriage with other women after the nine blessed wives ؓ instead, it prohibits marriage with non-Muslims and with women of the parents families who did not migrate, as already known from the previous verse.</p><p>This second interpretation finds support from a narration of Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ to the effect that the permission of further marriages remained applicable for him (even after the revelation of the present verse)</p><p>وَلَا أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ "Nor is it lawful that you replace them (the present wives) with other wives" - 52.</p><p>The clear meaning of these words in view of the second explanation of this verse is that although the Holy Prophet ﷺ is permitted to marry other women besides his present wives subject to the conditions mentioned, yet it is not lawful for him to divorce a wife and to marry another woman to replace her.</p><p>However, the meaning of these words in view of the first explanation of this verse would be that he can neither marry any woman in addition to the present wives, nor can he replace them by divorcing one and marrying another.</p><p>Towards the end of these verses it is clarified that a bond woman owned by the Holy Prophet ﷺ is exempt from fifth and seventh rules in the sense that she is lawful for him, even if she is a Christian or Jew, and it is also permitted for him to replace her with another bondwoman. Lastly it has been reminded that Allah Ta’ ala is watchful of everything's reality, appearance and underlying reasons. All these injunctions and rules are based on divine wisdom and expedience, even if the wisdom is not stated specifically, and hence no one has the right to question them or raise objections against them.</p>
The pious life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the issue of polygamyThe enemies of Islam have always targeted the issue of polygamy, specially the number of the wives of the Holy Prophet ﷺ for their criticism. But if the whole life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is kept in view, even the Satan cannot find scope to cast doubts on the character of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . It is a proved fact that his first marriage at the age of twenty-five was with Sayyidah Khadijah 4.U1 who was an aged widow with children and had been married twice before. The Holy Prophet ﷺ spent his whole prime of life, upto the age of fifty, with that aged wife only. All these fifty years were spent right before the eyes of the people of Makkah who had started his opposition when he was of forty years and had announced his prophethood. His opponents did not leave any stone unturned in harassing and stigmatizing him. They called him a magician, a poet, a mad man, but no enemy could ever find a single chance to cast doubts in his piety, modesty or purity.At the age of fifty, after the death of Sayyidah Khadijah ؓ ، he married Sayyidah Sawdah ؓ who was also a widow.After migration to Madinah, at the age of fifty-four, in the second year of Hijrah, Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ came to the Holy Prophet's home as wife. He married Sayyidah Hafsah	رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہا a year later and Sayyidah Zainab bint Khuzaymah ؓ a few days after that, who expired a few months later. He married Sayyidah Umm Salamah ؓ a widow with children, in the year 4 of Hijrah. In the year 5 when he was fifty eight years old, he married Sayyidah Zainab hint Jahsh ؓ in accordance with Allah's order, as detailed in the beginning of the present surah. The rest of the blessed wives entered his house in the last five years.The rules pertaining to the private life of a prophet and his domestic affairs constitute a major portion of a religion. The contribution of these nine blessed wives ؓ to the propagation and education of Islam can be imagined from the fact that Sayyidah ` A'ishah	رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہا ، alone narrated two thousand two hundred and ten ahadith and Sayyidah Umm Salamah ؓ narrated three hundred and sixty-eight ahadith which have been collected in reliable books. Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim, in his I'lmul Muwaqqi'in, has commented that the rulings of Shari'ah (fatawa) disclosed by Sayyidah Umm Salamah ؓ would constitute a separate book. More than two hundred noble companions of the Holy Prophet ﷺ were disciples of Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ who learnt hadith, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and fatawa from her.Another wisdom of bringing a number of the blessed wives ؓ to the house of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was to attract their clans towards Islam. After keeping these facts in view and considering the general pattern of his pure life, can one find any scope for saying that the multiplicity of his wives was, Allah forbid, to fulfill selfish or sexual desires? If this was the case, why the last stage of life would have been selected for this purpose after spending the whole prime of life either in celibacy or with an aged widow. This subject along with the religious, intellectual, biological and economic issues of the polygamy has been thoroughly discussed with full details under the explanation of the third verse of Surah Nisa' in volume II of this book.Seventh Injunction:لَّا يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَاءُ مِن بَعْدُ وَلَا أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ(No women are lawful for you after this, nor is it lawful that you replace them (the present wives) with other wives, even though their goodness may attract you.- 52),The words مِن بَعْدُ ''after this" in this verse may be interpreted in two ways. One is that no women are lawful for you after the present wives. Some noble companions	and leading commentators have adopted this meaning. Sayyidna Anas " has stated that when the blessed wives ؓ were given the choice by Allah Ta’ ala to either opt for the pleasure of the worldly life and its charms but separation from the Holy Prophet ﷺ or to remain with him and be content with every economic condition they may face, all of them gave up their demand for increase in maintenance and elected to remain with him. Allah Ta` ala, as a reward for their decision, restricted the Holy Prophet ﷺ to those nine wives and it was no more permissible for him to marry other women. (Al-Baihaqi, as quoted by Ruh-ul- Ma’ ani)Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ has stated that Allah Ta’ ala has restricted the blessed wives ؓ exclusively to the Holy Prophet ﷺ in that they could not marry anybody after him. Similarly, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been restricted to the blessed wives in the sense that he could not marry any other women. Sayyidna ` Ikrimah ؓ has also given this explanation as per one narration.The second interpretation of these words, as reported by different authorities, like Ibn ` Abbas, ` Ikrimah and Mujahid ؓ ، according to some narrations is that مِن بَعدِ "after this" means it is not lawful for the Holy Prophet ﷺ to marry any women beyond the categories mentioned in the earlier verse. For example, the earlier verse has allowed for him only those women of his parents' families who had migrated from Makkah to Madinah either with him or later, according to his command; similarly the restriction that his wife must be a Muslim has made the Christian or Jewish women unlawful for him. As such the meaning of the words, "after this" would be that he cannot marry those women who do not fall in the categories made lawful for him. Thus, according to this explanation, this is not a new injunction; it is rather an elaboration to highlight the consequential outcome of the rule already laid down in the preceding verse. According to this interpretation, this verse does not prohibit marriage with other women after the nine blessed wives ؓ instead, it prohibits marriage with non-Muslims and with women of the parents families who did not migrate, as already known from the previous verse.This second interpretation finds support from a narration of Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ to the effect that the permission of further marriages remained applicable for him (even after the revelation of the present verse)وَلَا أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ "Nor is it lawful that you replace them (the present wives) with other wives" - 52.The clear meaning of these words in view of the second explanation of this verse is that although the Holy Prophet ﷺ is permitted to marry other women besides his present wives subject to the conditions mentioned, yet it is not lawful for him to divorce a wife and to marry another woman to replace her.However, the meaning of these words in view of the first explanation of this verse would be that he can neither marry any woman in addition to the present wives, nor can he replace them by divorcing one and marrying another.Towards the end of these verses it is clarified that a bond woman owned by the Holy Prophet ﷺ is exempt from fifth and seventh rules in the sense that she is lawful for him, even if she is a Christian or Jew, and it is also permitted for him to replace her with another bondwoman. Lastly it has been reminded that Allah Ta’ ala is watchful of everything's reality, appearance and underlying reasons. All these injunctions and rules are based on divine wisdom and expedience, even if the wisdom is not stated specifically, and hence no one has the right to question them or raise objections against them.
<h2 class="title">The Reward of His Wives for choosing to stay with the Messenger</h2><p>More than one of the scholars, such as Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah, Ibn Zayd, Ibn Jarir and others stated that this Ayah was revealed as a reward to the wives of the Prophet expressing Allah's pleasure with them for their excellent decision in choosing Allah and His Messenger and the Home of the Hereafter, when the Messenger of Allah , gave them the choice, as we have stated above. When they chose the Messenger of Allah their reward was that Allah restricted him to these wives, and forbade him to marry anyone else or to change them for other wives, even if he was attracted by their beauty -- apart from slave-girls and prisoners of war, with regard to whom there was no sin on him. Then Allah lifted the restriction stated in this Ayah and permitted him to marry more women, but he did not marry anyone else, so that the favor of the Messenger of Allah towards them would be clear. Imam Ahmad recorded that `A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: "The Messenger of Allah did not die until Allah permitted (marriage to other) women for him." It was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i in their Sunans. On the other hand, others said that what was meant by the Ayah,</p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">لاَّ يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَآءُ مِن بَعْدُ</div><p>(It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this,) means, `after the description We have given of the women who are lawful for you, those to whom you have given their dowery, those whom your right hand possesses, and daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts, maternal uncles and aunts, and those who offer themselves to you in marriage -- other kinds of women are not lawful for you.' This view was narrated from Ubayy bin Ka`b, from Mujahid in one report which was transmitted from him, and others. At-Tirmidhi recorded that Ibn `Abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah was forbidden to marry certain kinds of women apart from believing women who had migrated with him, in the Ayah,</p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">لاَّ يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَآءُ مِن بَعْدُ وَلاَ أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ إِلاَّ مَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ</div><p>(It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, except those whom your right hand possesses.) Allah has made lawful believing women, and believing women who offered themselves to the Prophet for marriage, and He made unlawful every woman who followed a religion other than Islam, as Allah says:</p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِالإِيمَـنِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُ</div><p>(And whosoever disbelieves in faith, then fruitless is his work) (5:5). Ibn Jarir, may Allah have mercy on him, stated that this Ayah is general in meaning and applies to all the kinds of women mentioned and the women to whom he was married, who were nine. What he said is good, and may be what many of the Salaf meant, for many of them narrated both views from him, and there is no contradiction between the two. And Allah knows best.</p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">وَلاَ أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ</div><p>(nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, ) He was forbidden to marry more women, even if he were to divorce any of them and wanted replace her with another, except for those whom his right hand possessed (slave women).</p>
The Reward of His Wives for choosing to stay with the MessengerMore than one of the scholars, such as Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah, Ibn Zayd, Ibn Jarir and others stated that this Ayah was revealed as a reward to the wives of the Prophet expressing Allah's pleasure with them for their excellent decision in choosing Allah and His Messenger and the Home of the Hereafter, when the Messenger of Allah , gave them the choice, as we have stated above. When they chose the Messenger of Allah their reward was that Allah restricted him to these wives, and forbade him to marry anyone else or to change them for other wives, even if he was attracted by their beauty -- apart from slave-girls and prisoners of war, with regard to whom there was no sin on him. Then Allah lifted the restriction stated in this Ayah and permitted him to marry more women, but he did not marry anyone else, so that the favor of the Messenger of Allah towards them would be clear. Imam Ahmad recorded that `A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: "The Messenger of Allah did not die until Allah permitted (marriage to other) women for him." It was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i in their Sunans. On the other hand, others said that what was meant by the Ayah,لاَّ يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَآءُ مِن بَعْدُ(It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this,) means, `after the description We have given of the women who are lawful for you, those to whom you have given their dowery, those whom your right hand possesses, and daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts, maternal uncles and aunts, and those who offer themselves to you in marriage -- other kinds of women are not lawful for you.' This view was narrated from Ubayy bin Ka`b, from Mujahid in one report which was transmitted from him, and others. At-Tirmidhi recorded that Ibn `Abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah was forbidden to marry certain kinds of women apart from believing women who had migrated with him, in the Ayah,لاَّ يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَآءُ مِن بَعْدُ وَلاَ أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ إِلاَّ مَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ(It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, except those whom your right hand possesses.) Allah has made lawful believing women, and believing women who offered themselves to the Prophet for marriage, and He made unlawful every woman who followed a religion other than Islam, as Allah says:وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِالإِيمَـنِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُ(And whosoever disbelieves in faith, then fruitless is his work) (5:5). Ibn Jarir, may Allah have mercy on him, stated that this Ayah is general in meaning and applies to all the kinds of women mentioned and the women to whom he was married, who were nine. What he said is good, and may be what many of the Salaf meant, for many of them narrated both views from him, and there is no contradiction between the two. And Allah knows best.وَلاَ أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ(nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, ) He was forbidden to marry more women, even if he were to divorce any of them and wanted replace her with another, except for those whom his right hand possessed (slave women).