Surah Al-Mujadilah: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

O Prophet! Allah heard the prayer of the woman who was arguing with you about her husband and laying her plight before her Lord. Allah hears everything, sees everything, and knows everything.

Those among you who divorce their wives by saying to them, “From now on you are forbidden to me like my mother’s back,” let them know well that their wives are by no means their mothers. Their mothers are the women who gave birth to them. So these words spoken are both very ugly and baseless. Let those who do so repent after this warning from Allah and give up this ugly custom at once. Allah is most merciful, compassionate, and forgiving toward the believers.

Those who divorce their wives by saying to them, “From now on you are forbidden to me like my mother’s back,” and then regret what they did and wish to go back, let them set a slave free before they have relations with them. This is the atonement for the words spoken; do not forget that Allah is aware of all you do.

Anyone who has no slave to free, or no money to give an owner so that another slave may be freed, let him fast for two consecutive months before he has relations with his wife; and whoever cannot manage this either, let him feed sixty poor people. Abiding by these rulings is a requirement of your faith in Allah and His Messenger. These are Allah’s rulings. For those who refuse to abide by Allah’s rulings there is a very severe punishment.

Those who oppose Allah’s rulings will be abased and humiliated as those who acted so before them were. For those who, despite Our verses and rulings that make everything plain, turn their backs on them and set about inventing rulings of their own, there is a very severe punishment.

When the Day of Reckoning comes, Allah will raise everyone and give them the full recompense for their deeds. Even if they have forgotten what they did, Allah has recorded everything down to the finest detail, and He is witness to everything.

Allah sees and knows what is in the heavens and on the earth. If three people hold a secret meeting, know that Allah is the fourth; or if five hold such a meeting, Allah is the sixth. Whether those holding a secret meeting are few or many, Allah sees them. Then on the Day of Reckoning He will tell them what they talked about and what they did.

Without doubt Allah knows everything fully.

O Prophet! Are you aware of those who, though they have been forbidden to hold secret meetings and secret talks among themselves with ill intent on matters such as stirring up hostility and mischief, do not heed this ban but gather in secret meetings to oppose you, rebel and rise against you, and stir up corruption and mischief?

When they meet you, they greet you with words Allah would never approve, and then among themselves they mock, saying, “If only Allah would punish us for greeting His Prophet like this!” Hell will deal with them, and that will be their final stop.

O believers! If you have to talk in private among yourselves, never gather and talk, as the hypocrites do, with the aim of hostility toward the Prophet and of plotting against him. Talk instead about how you can better fulfill your responsibilities toward Allah and how you can give the Prophet more help and support.

Do not forget that Allah is aware of everything and that on the Day of Reckoning He will give everyone the recompense they deserve.

Secret meetings and talks held with the aim of harming Allah’s call, His Prophet, and the believers are the work of Satan and of those who follow in Satan’s footsteps; for he constantly whispers to people to rebel against Allah.

Yet their plots can do the believers no harm at all without Allah’s leave, provided only that the believers trust in Allah alone and submit to Him.

O you who believe! In the assemblies where you gather, make room among you for the believers who ask you to make room for them too, giving them the opportunity to say what they think and put forward their proposals. Do not block the way of one who comes with such a request; and when it is said, “Rise and set about carrying out the decisions taken for the right things that must be done,” act at once, so that Allah too may increase your knowledge and your faith.

Without doubt Allah knows best who does what, and with what intention.

O you who believe! Do not seek meetings with the Prophet at all hours, on needless matters, and whenever the fancy takes you! If you need to meet him on an important, private matter, give charity to the poor before the meeting, for this is better for you. Allah does not hold responsible one who has nothing to give as charity for not being able to give. For Allah is most merciful, compassionate, and forgiving toward the believers.

You also feared, did you not, falling into sin because, though able to give some charity before discussing such a private matter with the Prophet, you did not wish to give it? Despite your shrinking from carrying out this proposal of Allah’s, He forgave you and lifted this responsibility from you.

So perform your prayers consciously and carefully, pay your zakat gladly and from the heart, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah knows what you do in all its detail.

The hypocrites who take as friends, and collaborate with, those who associate partners with Allah and deny the truth, who have incurred Allah’s wrath, are neither of them nor of you, and on top of that they shamelessly swear false oaths that they are of you. For this attitude Allah has prepared a severe punishment for them. Making their oaths a cover for their two-facedness, they try to keep others from Allah’s call too. For this reason they will be punished with a humiliating, severe punishment; neither their wealth, property, children, nor their whole lineage can save them from Allah’s punishment. Their place is Hell, where they will remain forever. When they are raised to give account, they will swear oaths to Allah, just as they swore to you, trying to clear themselves and escape the punishment of Hell. But their oaths will be of no use there, for Allah knows full well their inner selves and their lying. They followed Satan’s whispered suggestions and the call of satanic people, turned away from the order of life to which Allah invites, and so became satanic. That is why they have come to ruin and deserved punishment.

These are the basest, most wretched, and most abased of people, who set about rebelling against Allah and His messenger.

Allah has decreed, “I and My messengers will surely prevail.” Surely Allah is most strong, and no one has the power to stand in the way of His decree being fulfilled.

You will never find a people who believe in Allah and the Day of the Hereafter befriending, or trying to befriend, those who are hostile to His call and His messenger, even if these are their fathers, their children, their brothers, or their kinsfolk. For Allah has firmly settled and engraved faith in the hearts of these believers and supported and strengthened them with a spiritual inspiration.

Allah will settle these believers in the Hereafter in His Gardens through which rivers flow. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Allah. These are the ones truly on Allah’s side, who will attain happiness.