Al-Ahzab: (52) It is not lawful for you...

When God did not obligate the Prophet to take an oath, but commanded him to give them the choice, and they chose God and His Messenger,

He mentioned to them the recompense He gave them: the prohibition of other women for the Prophet, and the prohibition of divorcing them, by saying: {Nor that you should exchange them for other wives}. In this, there are several issues:

Issue 1: His saying, {It is not lawful for you to marry women after this}

The commentators say: "after these women [i.e., his current wives]." A better interpretation is: "It is not lawful for you to marry women after they have chosen God, His Messenger, and accepted what He grants them of connection, abstinence, deficiency, or deprivation."

Issue 2: His saying, {Nor that you should exchange them for other wives}

This implies the prohibition of divorcing them. If divorce were permissible, it would be permissible to divorce all of them. After divorcing them, he would either marry others or not marry at all. If he did not marry, he would fall into the category of bachelors, and marriage is a virtue the Prophet would not abandon, especially since he said, "Marriage is my Sunnah." If he married others, he would have exchanged them, which is forbidden.

Issue 3: Some commentators hold that the verse does not imply a prohibition against marrying other women, nor a prohibition against divorcing his current wives.

Rather, the meaning is: "It is not lawful for you to marry women other than those mentioned to you—the believing emigrant women from your paternal uncles' daughters, your paternal aunts' daughters, your maternal uncles' daughters, and your maternal aunts' daughters. As for others, such as the People of the Book, it is not lawful for you to marry them."

And His saying, {Nor that you should exchange them for other wives} is a prohibition against the practice of tabaddul (exchange) in the Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance), where they would exchange wives—one would give up his wife for another's wife and take his friend's wife in return.

Based on both interpretations, there is disagreement on two matters:

1. The prohibition of divorcing his wives.
2. The prohibition of marrying women from the People of the Book.

The one who interpreted it as the first (prohibition of exchange) prohibited divorce, while the one who interpreted it as the second prohibited marrying women from the People of the Book.

Issue 4: His saying, {even if their beauty were to please you}

Meaning, the beauty of women. Al-Zamakhshari said that His saying, {even if it pleased you} is in the sense of a circumstantial clause (hal). It cannot refer to {wives} because of the indefinite nature (tankir) of the word, and the subject of the circumstantial clause (dhū al-ḥāl) should not be indefinite. Therefore, it refers to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The meaning is: "It is not lawful for you to marry women, nor to exchange them for other wives, even while you are pleased by their beauty."

Issue 5: The apparent meaning of this verse suggests it abrogates what was previously established for the Prophet (PBUH): that if he saw a woman and she captured his heart, she would become forbidden to her husband, and he would be required to divorce her.

This is a legal matter: In the beginning of prophethood, the distress of revelation was intense upon the Prophet (PBUH) and all prophets. Then they became accustomed to it, and revelation descended upon them while they were conversing with their companions, with no barrier preventing it. In the beginning, God permitted him to marry whomever captured his heart to free his heart and expand his chest, so that he would not be preoccupied with anything other than God. Then, when he became accustomed to the revelation and to those who conveyed it, this ruling was abrogated. This was either because of his strength to combine both matters, or because with the continuous descent of revelation, he no longer had any attachment to worldly matters, so his attention was solely on God, removing the need for the permission to marry whomever his eye fell upon.

Issue 6: Scholars differed on whether the prohibition of marrying other women was abrogated or not.

Al-Shafi'i said it was abrogated. 'A'ishah said: "The Prophet (PBUH) did not pass away until women were made lawful for him." According to this view, the abrogating verse is His saying: {O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful for you your wives...} (Al-Ahzab: 50) up to {and the daughters of your paternal uncles}, and {and a believing woman}, according to those who hold that the Book cannot be abrogated by a solitary report (khabar al-āḥād), since the abrogator (if it is a report) is not mutawatir (mass-transmitted).

Then God Almighty said: {except what your right hand possesses}. Concubines were not forbidden to him because harm does not result from possessing a female slave. This is why a man is not permitted to have two co-wives in one household, as equality between them is required, and contention might arise. However, a man may have a wife and a group of female slaves, because there is no equality between them, and thus no division of time (qism) is required for the slaves.

Then God Almighty said: {And Allah is ever, over all things, a Witness}, meaning: a Preserver, knowing everything, and capable of everything, because preservation is not achieved except through knowledge and capability.

**7 < { O you who have believed, do not enter the houses of the Prophet except when you are invited to a meal, without lingering until its preparation is finished. But when you are invited, then enter; and when you have eaten, then disperse without lingering for conversation. Indeed, that was causing the Prophet [distress], and he was shy of [telling] you [to leave]. And Allah is not shy of the truth. And when you ask [his wives] for something, ask them from behind a screen. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts. And it is not for you to harm the Messenger of Allah or to marry his wives after him, ever. Indeed, that was great [in the sight of] Allah. } > 7

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