Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:236

"There is no blame upon you": [It means] there is no liability concerning the dowry, and this is the most apparent interpretation. It has been said: [it means] no sin, because there is no innovation in divorce before consummation, even if it occurs during menstruation. It has also been said: The Prophet (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) used to frequently forbid divorce, so it was thought that there was blame in it; therefore, [Allah] negated that.

"If you divorce women as long as you have not touched them": Meaning, not having touched them, or the duration of not touching them; this is a metonymy for sexual intercourse. Hamzah and al-Kisa’i recited tamassuhunna, al-A‘mash recited min qabli an tamassuhunna, and Abdullah [ibn Mas‘ud] recited min qabli an tujami‘uhunna.

"Or settled for them a dowry": Meaning, until you settle, or except that you settle, as is in the commentaries on the Book. Faridah (dowry) is a fa‘ilah form in the meaning of a passive participle (maf‘ul); it is in the accusative case as a direct object, and the ta serves to shift the expression from a description to a noun, so it becomes equivalent to "dowry." Thus, "settling" is not permissible [in this context]. It has been permitted that it be in the accusative as an infinitive (masdar), but that is not excellent. The meaning is: There is no liability upon the divorcer regarding a claim for the dowry at all if the divorce is before consummation in any case, except in the case of a settlement, for he is then liable for half of the specified [amount], as will be made explicit. In the case of not having specified it, he is liable for the Mut‘ah (gift of consolation), not half of the equivalent dowry (mahr al-mithl). As for if it is after consummation, he is liable in the case of specification for the full specified amount, and in the case of no specification, for the full equivalent dowry. These are four scenarios for a divorced woman. The verse negates the obligation in some by its explicit wording and necessitates the obligation in others by its implication.

It has been said: There is a strong difficulty here, which is that what follows "or"—which is in the sense of "until" and denotes the limit—is related to what precedes it. So, your statement "I will not compel you or you pay me my right" means that the compulsion ends at the payment. Following this analogy, the "settling of a dowry" would be the limit of "not touching," not the limit of "the absence of blame," and that is not the intended meaning. It has been answered that what follows it is a conjunction to the verb and is connected to what precedes it, so it is a meaning restricted by it; it is as if it were said: "You are, as long as you have not touched them, without blame or liability, unless you settle a dowry, then there is blame," because the meaning of the restricted [condition] ends with the removal of its restriction—so contemplate this.

Some people hold that the word "or" is a conjunction for what follows it to the preceding jussive verb, and that lam (the negation) is then for the negation of one of the two things without specifying which one. It is an indefinite in a negative context, thus providing generalization—meaning: as long as there is neither touching nor settling from you, along the lines of "and do not obey among them a sinner or a disbeliever." Al-Qutb objected to this, saying it suggests the estimation of a negative particle, so it becomes "as long as you have not touched them and as long as you have not settled." The condition then becomes one of the two negations, not the negation of one of the two things, which would necessitate that the dowry is not mandatory if touching is absent and a settlement is found, or if there is no settlement and there is touching. It is not hidden that this is not valid, and there is no need to claim that "or" is in the sense of "and," as in the verse "or they increase," according to one opinion.

"And provide for them [a gift of consolation]": Meaning, grant them ownership of something with which they may find enjoyment; that thing is called Mut‘ah. This is a conjunction to what is a reward in meaning; it is as if it were said: "If you divorce women, then there is no blame, and provide for them." The conjunction of the imperative to the declarative is—according to [what is in] al-Kashshaf—because the reward unites them, making them like two singulars, meaning the ruling is this and that; or because the meaning is "there is no blame and this is mandatory," or "do not resolve upon that, but provide for them." It has been permitted that it be a conjunction to the declarative sentence, the conjunction of a story to a story, and that it be a parenthetical phrase with wa (and), introduced to clarify what is mandatory for the mentioned divorced women from their husbands after the divorce. A conjunction to an omitted phrase upon which the speech depends—meaning, "so divorce them and provide for them"—is rejected by refined taste, as there is no meaning in our saying "if you divorce women, then divorce them," unless the intended meaning is the conjunction.

The wisdom in giving the Mut‘ah is to compensate for the desolation caused by divorce. The apparent meaning regarding it is that there is no fixed estimation, due to the saying of the Almighty: "Upon the wealthy is his capacity, and upon the poor is his capacity"—meaning, upon each of them is the measure of what he can bear and what befits him, whatever that may be. Ibn Jarir extracted from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Mut‘ah of divorce: at its highest is a servant; below that is silver; and below that is clothing. From Ibn Umar: The least of what constitutes Mut‘ah is thirty dirhams. Imam Abu Hanifah said: It is a shirt, a head covering, and a wrap, according to the situation, unless the equivalent dowry is less than that; then she gets the lesser of half the equivalent dowry or the Mut‘ah, and it shall not be less than five dirhams. Al-Musi’ (the wealthy) is one who possesses capacity and wealth, from the phrase "a man expands" when his wealth increases and his situation broadens. Al-Muqtir (the poor) is one who is in a narrow state, from "he became destitute" when he becomes poor and what is in his hand is small. The root of the category is scarcity. The sentence is an initiating statement with no place in inflection, clarifying the measure of the Mut‘ah with regard to the state of the divorcer in terms of ease and hardship. The majority hold that it is in the position of a state (hal) from the doer of "provide for them," and the link is omitted—meaning "from you." Whoever made the alif-lam (the definite article) a replacement for the possessor of the genitive—meaning "upon your wealthy"—is dispensed from the need to claim an omission.

Abu Ja‘far and the people of Kufa, except for Abu Bakr and Ibn Dhakwan, read qadruhu with the fatha on the dal; the rest read it with a sukun. These are two dialects for it. It has been said: al-qadr with sukun is capacity, and with harakah (the fatha) it is the measure. It has been recited as qadrahu in the accusative, and this is interpreted as being an object according to the meaning, because the meaning of "provide for them" etc., is "let each of you pay the measure of his capacity." Abu al-Baqa' said: More excellent than this is that the estimation be "so make incumbent upon the wealthy his measure."

"As a provision": A noun [acting as an] infinitive treated as its counterpart—meaning, as a granting of enjoyment.

"In a fair manner": Meaning, clothed in the way that is considered good. It is in the place of an adjective for "a provision."

"As a duty": Meaning, established. A second adjective for it. It is also permissible for it to be an infinitive for emphasis—meaning, this is confirmed as a duty.

"Upon the doers of good": Connected to the installer of the infinitive, or to it, or to an omitted [element] that occurs as an adjective. The intended meaning by "the doers of good" is those whose habit is to do good, or those who do good to their own selves by hastening to comply [with the command], or to the divorced women by providing them with the Mut‘ah. They are named as such in consideration of the aspiration, as an encouragement and incitement.

Imam Malik said: The doers of good are the voluntary givers, and through this he inferred the recommendation (istihbab) of the Mut‘ah, making it a contextual indicator shifting the command to a recommendation. According to us, it is mandatory for the divorced women [mentioned] in the verse and recommended for all other divorced women. According to al-Shafi‘i (may Allah be pleased with him), in one of his two opinions, it is mandatory for every divorced wife if the separation is from the husband, except for her who has had a dowry specified and is divorced before consummation. Since the implication of the verse did not assist him, and he did not consider the generalization in the saying of the Almighty: "And for divorced women is a provision in a fair manner" because he carries the absolute over the restricted, he spoke according to analogy and held it [analogy] to be prior to the implication, as it is among the definitive proofs, unlike the latter. The answer to what Malik said is by forbidding the restriction of the "doer of good" to the voluntary giver; rather, it is more general than that and [includes] the one who performs the mandatory duties. Thus, it does not contradict the obligation, so it would not be a shifter of the command away from it, along with what is added from the word "as a duty."