Tafsir of At-Tahreem 66:10

God, the Almighty, has set forth an example regarding the state of the disbelievers: that they shall be punished for their disbelief and their enmity toward the believers with a punishment that spares no one and shows no favoritism. Neither the ties of lineage nor the bonds of marriage shall avail them against their enmity. For their enmity toward the believers and their disbelief in God and His Messenger have severed all ties and cut off all connections, rendering them more distant than even strangers.

Even if the believer to whom the disbeliever is connected is a Prophet of God—as in the case of the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot—when they acted hypocritically and betrayed the two Messengers, the Messengers could not protect them in the slightest from the punishment of God, despite the bond of marriage between them. It was said to them, at their death or on the Day of Resurrection: "Enter the Fire with those who enter," meaning with the rest of those who have no connection to the Prophets, or with those who enter it from among your own kin—the people of Noah and the people of Lot.

Conversely, God set forth an example regarding the state of the believers: that the connection to disbelievers does not harm them nor diminish in the least their reward or their proximity to God. This is seen in the example of the wife of Pharaoh and her status before God, despite being the wife of the greatest enemy of God, who uttered the supreme claim of divinity. Likewise is Mary, daughter of ‘Imran, and the honor she was granted in this world and the Hereafter, and her selection over the women of the worlds, even though her people were disbelievers.

Contained within these two examples is an allusion to the two Mothers of the Believers mentioned at the beginning of the Surah, regarding their excessive behavior in conspiring against the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) in a way he disliked. It serves as a warning to them in the sternest and most severe manner, given that the example mentions disbelief. Similar in its severity is the saying of the Almighty: "And whoever disbelieves, then indeed, God is free from need of the worlds." It points to the fact that it is their duty to be in sincerity and perfection like these two believing women, and not to rely on the fact that they are wives of the Messenger of God; for that merit will not avail them unless they are sincere. The allusion to Hafsa is more probable, for the wife of Lot betrayed him by revealing his secrets, just as Hafsa betrayed the Messenger of God. The secrets and symbols of the Revelation in every chapter reach a level of subtlety and concealment that eludes the understanding of the scholar and escapes his insight.

If you ask: What is the benefit of His saying: "from among Our servants"? I say: Since the foundation of the example is based on the existence of righteousness in a human being—whoever they may be—and that it alone is what leads to success and the attainment of what is with God, He said: "two servants from among Our righteous servants." He mentioned these two famous, prominent Prophets as being merely two servants, no different from the rest of Our servants, with no distinction between them and others except for righteousness alone. This is to demonstrate and clarify that a servant is not favored by Him except through righteousness, and that anything else by which people favor one another among themselves is not a cause for favor in His sight.

If you ask: What was their betrayal? I say: Their hypocrisy, their concealment of disbelief, and their conspiring against the two Messengers. The wife of Noah told his people that he was insane, and the wife of Lot signaled to her guests [to betray them]. It is not permissible for "betrayal" to mean adultery, for that is repulsive by nature and a disgrace to everyone, unlike disbelief, which the disbelievers do not find repulsive but rather deem good and call "truth." It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may God be pleased with them both): "No wife of a Prophet ever committed adultery."