Verse of Maharim
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| Verse's Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Maharim |
| Sura | Sura al-Nisa |
| Verse | 23 |
| Juz' | 4 |
| Content Information | |
| Cause of Revelation | The Prophet (s) marriage with Zaynab bt. Jahsh |
| Place of Revelation | Medina |
| Topic | Jurisprudence |
| About | Mahramiyya |
| Related Verses | Qur'an 24:31 |
Verse of Maḥārim is verse 23 of Sura al-Nisa which introduces the mahrams (relatives with whom marriage is forbidden). In this verse, several groups of women are mentioned with whom marriage is forbidden including seven groups due to blood relationship, two groups due to milk kinship and four other groups due to being mahram through marriage or blood relationship.
In verse 31 of Quran 24, known as the verse of hijab, some mahrams are introduced too.
Text and Translation
Verse 23 of Sura al-Nisa’ introduces those with whom marriage is forbidden.
| “ | حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ وَعَمَّاتُكُمْ وَخَالَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ الْأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ الْأُخْتِ وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمُ اللَّاتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُم مِّنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ وَأُمَّهَاتُ نِسَائِكُمْ وَرَبَائِبُكُمُ اللَّاتِي فِي حُجُورِكُم مِّن نِّسَائِكُمُ اللَّاتِي دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُونُوا دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَائِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَابِكُمْ وَأَن تَجْمَعُوا بَيْنَ الْأُخْتَيْنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
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| “ | Forbidden to you are your mothers, your daughters and your sisters, your paternal aunts and your maternal aunts, your brother’s daughters and your sister’s daughters, your [foster-]mothers who have suckled you and your sisters through fosterage, your wives’ mothers, and your stepdaughters who are under your care [born] of the wives whom you have gone into—but if you have not gone into them there is no sin upon you—and the wives of your sons who are from your own loins, and that you should marry two sisters at one time—excluding what is already past; indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
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| — Quran 4:23 | ||
Occasion of Revelation
According to al-Shaykh al-Tusi in al-Tibyan, a part of verse 23 of Sura al-Nisa’ (“…and the wives of your sons who are from your own loins,…”) was revealed when the Prophet (s) married Zaynab bt. Jahsh, the wife of Zayd b. Haritha (the Prophet’s (s) adopted son) after he was killed in the battle of Muta, and the polytheists began whispering and talking about it.[1]
As stated in Tafsir-i nimuna, the Prophet (s) married to Zaynab in order to eliminate one of the customs of the pre-Islamic era, which considered all the rulings related to non-adopted children also applicable to adopted children, and considered it reprehensible that a person marries the wife of his adopted son - after his death or divorce.[2]
Mahrams
Mahrams are those who, because of their special relationship, are allowed to look at each other and show their adornment, and their marriage is forbidden.[3] The verse Maharim indicates those, having blood relationship, relationship through marriage and milk kinship, with whom marriage is forbidden:[4]
- Blood relationship: It is a kind of kinship obtained through the birth of one or more people from another.[5] The jurists, with reference to the above verse, have considered the marriage of seven groups of men to seven groups of women forbidden due to blood relationship:[6]
- Milk kinship: It is a kinship resulting from the breastfeeding of a child by a woman other than her mother.[13] In the above verse, only the prohibition of a man’s marriage with his breastfeeding mother and milk sisters is mentioned.[14] The jurists, bring argument from a narration from the Prophet (s) which said that “everything that is forbidden through blood relationship is also forbidden in milk kinship”,[15] have ruled that regarding those women marriage with whom is forbidden through blood relationship, the marriage with them is also forbidden if there is a milk relationship involved.[16]
- Relationship through marriage: By reciting the marriage formula between a husband and the wife, in addition to them, some of their male and female relatives become mahram to each other, who are called mahram due to relationship through marriage.[17] The verse of Maharim mentions four of these women including the woman’s mother, rabiba (the woman’s daughter from her other husband (only if she had intercourse with him after their marriage)), the wife of one’s son (the bride), and the marriage with two sisters at the same time.[18]
Interpretation Notes
According to some commentators, the phrase “…and that you should marry two sisters at one time—excluding what is already past;...” in the above verse refers to the fact that marriage with two sisters at the same time was common during the Age of Ignorance, and with the revelation of this verse, those who had such marriages in the past were considered not liable to punishment, but they had to choose one of the two sisters and leave the other.[19] According to Allama Tabataba'i in al-Mizan commentary, it is possible that the exception is not only for a marriage with the two sisters, but also for all the ones mentioned in the verse; because, in the past, there were people among non-Arabs who married some of the women mentioned in the verse (mahrams), and with this exception, Islam considered those marriages valid and ruled the children born out of those marriages lawful.[20] Of course, Allama Tabataba’i finally considered the first possibility (applying the exception in the verse to the marriage with two sisters) more likely.[21]
According to Makarim Shirazi, the final phrase of the verse “… indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful” has agreement with the second possibility.[22] In Tafsir-i nimuna, it is stated that the philosophy of prohibition of marriage with two sisters in this verse is to prevent emotional conflict between them, because due to their blood relationship, they have a strong emotion toward each other, but when they become rivals, they cannot maintain that love, as the forces for love and competition in them would constantly be in conflict.[23]
Related Verse
Also, the verse 31 of Quran 24, known as the verse of Hijab, while giving some commands to women, has mentioned some of their mahrams:
| “ | وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ...وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا ۖ وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ ۖ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا لِبُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَائِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَاءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَائِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَاءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي أَخَوَاتِهِنَّ...
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| “ | And tell the faithful women...and not to display their charms, beyond what is [acceptably] visible, and let them draw their scarfs over their bosoms, and not display their charms except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband’s fathers, or their sons, or their husband’s sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons,
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| — Quran 24:31 | ||
Notes
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 159.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 330.
- ↑ Mishkinī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 272.
- ↑ Ardibīlī, Zubdat al-bayān fī āyāt al-aḥkām, p. 523-524.
- ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāyiʿ al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 225.
- ↑ Ardibīlī, Zubdat al-bayān fī āyāt al-aḥkām, p. 523-524; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 29, p. 238.
- ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 29, p. 238.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 2, p. 282.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 2, p. 283.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 2, p. 283.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 2, p. 283.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 2, p. 283.
- ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 29, p. 264.
- ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Kanz al-ʿirfān fī fiqh al-Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 182.
- ↑ Maghribī, Daʾāim al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 240.
- ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Kanz al-ʿirfān fī fiqh al-Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 182; Ardibīlī, Zubdat al-bayān fī āyāt al-aḥkām, p. 524.
- ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 7, p. 281.
- ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Kanz al-ʿirfān fī fiqh al-Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 184.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 265; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 331.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 266.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 266.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 331.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 331.
References
- Ardibīlī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Zubdat al-bayān fī āyāt al-aḥkām. 1st edition. Tehran: al-Maktabat al-Murtaḍawīyya li Iḥyāʾ al-āthār al-Jaʿfariyya, [n.d].
- Fāḍil Miqdād, Miqdād b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Kanz al-ʿirfān fī fiqh al-Qurʾān. Qom: Manshūrāt al-Maktabat al-Murtaḍawīyya li Iḥyāʾ al-āthār al-Jaʿfariyya, [n.d].
- Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Sharāyiʿ al-Islām. 2nd edition. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.
- Khomeini, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. Taḥrīr al-wasīla. 1st edition. Qom: Muʾassisah-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeini, 1434 AH.
- Mishkinī, ʿAlī. Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh. 3rd edition. Qom: Nashr al-Hādī, 1381 SH.
- Maghribī, Qāḍī Nuʿmān al-. Daʾāim al-Islām. 2nd edition. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1385 AH.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. 1st edition. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
- Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1404 AH.
- Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAlī. Masālik al-ifhām ilā tanqīh sharāyiʿ al-Islām. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya, 1413 AH.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. 5th edition. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmīyya-yi Qom, 1417 AH.