Al-Imtihan Verse
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| Verse's Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Al-Imtihan Verse |
| Sura | Qur'an 60 |
| Verse | 10 |
| Juz' | 28 |
| Content Information | |
| Cause of Revelation | Not send back believer women to the faithless |
| Place of Revelation | Medina |
| Topic | Belief, Ethic, Jurisprudential |
| About | Examination of believers woman who claimed that she converted to Islam |
| Others | It is forbidden for Muslim women to marry unbelievers |
Al-Imtiḥān Verse (Arabic: آية الامتحان) or the Verse of Examination, is the tenth verse of Qur'an 60 (al-Mumtahana), concerning the examination of woman believers who went from Mecca to Medina and claimed that they had converted to Islam, in order to make sure that they really believed in Islam.
On Ibn Abbas's report, women's conversion to Islam was examined by testimonies or swearing. According to the verse, if their belief in Islam was verified, then they would be permitted to stay in Medina. Otherwise, they were returned to Mecca.
Some jurists appeal to the verse to show that it is forbidden for Muslims to marry unbelievers.
Text and Translation
| “ | يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنُوا إِذا جاءَکُمُ الْمُؤْمِناتُ مُهاجِراتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإيمانِهِنَّ فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِناتٍ فَلا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَي الْکُفَّارِ لا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَ لا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ وَ آتُوهُمْ ما أَنْفَقُوا وَ لا جُناحَ عَلَيْکُمْ أَنْ تَنْکِحُوهُنَّ إِذا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَ لا تُمْسِکُوا بِعِصَمِ الْکَوافِرِ وَ سْئَلُوا ما أَنْفَقْتُمْ وَ لْيَسْئَلُوا ما أَنْفَقُوا ذلِکُمْ حُکْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْکُمُ بَيْنَکُمْ وَ اللَّهُ عَليمٌ حَکيمٌ
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| “ | O you who have faith! When faithful women come to you as immigrants, test them. Allah knows best [the state of] their faith. Then, if you ascertain them to be faithful women, do not send them back to the faithless. They are not lawful for them, nor are they lawful for them. And give them what they have spent [for them]. There is no sin upon you in marrying them when you have given them their dowries. Do not hold on to [conjugal] ties with faithless women. Ask [the infidels] for what you have spent, and let the faithless ask for what they have spent. That is the judgment of Allah; He judges between you; and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.
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” |
| — Quran 60:10 | ||
Occasion of the Revelation
According to Hudaybiyya Peace Treaty, Muslims and polytheists agreed that if people escaped from Medina to Mecca they could live there, and if a person escaped from Mecca to Medina then they had to be returned to polytheists.[1] After the treaty, a woman called "Subay'a" or "Umm Kulthum"[2] converted to Islam and went from Mecca to Medina. The polytheists asked Muslims to return her to Mecca.[3] According to exegetes, al-Imtihan Verse was revealed on this occasion and the Prophet (s) was commanded to examine the belief of women who alleged to have believed in Islam, and if their belief was assured, then they would not be returned to Mecca.[4]
According to Qur'anic exegetes, the refusal to return believing women to Mecca was not contrary to the letter of Hudaybiyya Peace Treaty, because the treaty was silent about women.[5] Allama Tabataba'i also believes that the treaty only referred to the return of men.[6]
Explanation of the Verse
The verse ten of Qur'an 60 (al-Mumtahina) is known as al-Imtihan verse or the Verse of Examination.[7] The verse is concerned with women who fled Mecca to Medina and claimed that they had converted to Islam.[8] On this verse, such women had to be examined to make sure that they were believers in Islam. According to Ibn Abbas, the belief of these women was examined by testimony or swearing.[9]
Al-Tabrisi, an important Shiite exegete of the Qur'an, believes that the examination was intended to show that Meccan women did not escape Mecca from the fear of their husbands or out of desires to move to a new place and that their only motivation was their conversion to Islam.[10]
According to the verse, it is forbidden for Muslim women to marry unbelievers. Thus, they stayed in Medina and the mahr they had received from their ex-husbands was returned to them.[11] Also, if a Muslim woman escaped from Medina to Mecca, Muslims could get back the mahr they had given to her.[12] Some jurists have appealed to the phrase, "Do not hold on to [conjugal] ties with faithless women", to show that it is forbidden to marry unbelievers.[13]
Notes
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 24, p. 35; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 410; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 240.
- ↑ Anṣārī, Kashf al-asrār, vol. 10, p. 73; Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 206.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 24, p. 35.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 410.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 410; Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 206.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 240.
- ↑ Farhangnāma-yi ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, p. 282; Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 206.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 24, p. 35; Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 206; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 410.
- ↑ Sayyid Quṭb, Fī ẓilāl al-Qurʾān, vol. 6, p. 35-46; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 411; Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 206.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 410.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 411.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 241.
- ↑ Shubayrī Zanjānī, Kitāb nikāh, vol. 16, p. 159.
References
- Anṣārī, ʿAbd Allah b. Muḥammad. Kashf al-asrār wa 'uddat al-abrār. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1371 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1371 Sh.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-maʾthūr. Qom: Kitābkhāna-yi Āyatullāh Marʿashī al-Najafī, 1404 AH.
- Shubayrī Zanjānī, Mūsā. Kitāb nikāh. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Raʾy-Pardāz, 1419 AH.
- Sayyid Quṭb, Muḥammad. Fī ẓilāl al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Shurūq, 1408 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 AH.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Naṣir Khusruw, 1372 Sh.