Al-Kashshaf on At-Tahreem 66:4

Surah At-Tahreem 66:4

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ﲀ ﲁ ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ

If you two [wives] repent to Allah, [it is best], for your hearts have deviated. But if you cooperate against him - then indeed Allah is his protector, and Gabriel and the righteous of the believers and the angels, moreover, are [his] assistants.

{إن تتوبا} (If you two repent) This is an address to Hafsa and Aisha, employing the rhetorical device of iltifat (shifting from third to second person), to make the rebuke more poignant.

Ibn Abbas narrated: "I was always eager to ask Umar about them [the two women] until he went on Hajj and I accompanied him. On the road, he stepped aside to relieve himself, and I followed with a water skin. I poured water over his hands for his ablution, then asked: 'Who are they?' He replied: 'How strange, O Ibn Abbas!'—as if he disliked the question—then said: 'They are Hafsa and Aisha.'"

{فقد صغت قلوبكما} (Your hearts have inclined) It means: what necessitates repentance has been found in you, which is the deviation of your hearts from what is obligatory in your devotion to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)—namely, loving what he loves and hating what he hates. Ibn Mas’ud read it as: faqad zaghat (have swerved).

{وإن تظاهرا عليه} (And if you two conspire against him) Meaning: if you two cooperate against him in matters that distress him, such as excessive jealousy or disclosing his secrets.

{فإن الله هو مولاه} (Then indeed, Allah is his protector) He will not lack someone to support him. How could the conspirator know that Allah is his mawla—that is, his guardian and helper? The addition of the pronoun {هو} (He) signals that His support is a firm decree, and that He takes charge of it Himself.

{وجبريل وصالح المؤمنين} (And Gabriel and the righteous among the believers) * Gabriel: The chief of the Cherubim. His mention is paired with Allah’s to single him out from among the angels, honoring him and manifesting his status before Him. * The righteous among the believers: Meaning everyone who believes and does righteous deeds. Sa’id ibn Jubayr said: "Those among them who are free of hypocrisy." Others said: "The Prophets," "the Companions," or "the Caliphs among them."

If you ask: Is "the righteous" (salih) singular or plural? I say: It is a singular noun used to denote a collective, like saying "The righteous person among the people does not do this," intending the genus. It is also possible that the original was salihu (with a waw), but it was written without it to match the pronunciation, as the singular and plural forms sound the same. Similar instances exist in the Mushaf where the orthography follows the pronunciation rather than the grammatical rule, such as al-mawt and al-mala'ika.

{والملائكة بعد ذلك ظهير} (And the angels, after that, are [his] assistants) Meaning: a group supporting him, as if they are one hand against those who oppose him. How could the conspiracy of two women reach the level of those who are his supporters?

If you ask: Does {بعد ذلك} (after that) elevate the angels and their support, even though the support of Allah, Gabriel, and the righteous believers has already been mentioned—and Allah’s support is infinitely greater? I say: The support of the angels is part of Allah’s support. It is as if He is emphasizing His support through them over other forms of His support, due to their superiority over all His creation.

(Note: Variations in reading include: tadhahara, tatadhahara, and tadhahara.)

{عسى ربه إن طلقكن أن يبدله أزواجا خيرا منكن مسلمات مؤمنات قانتات تائبات عابدات سائحات ثيبات وأبكارا} (Perhaps his Lord, if he divorced you, would substitute for him wives better than you—submitting, believing, devout, repentant, worshipping, fasting—previously married and virgins.)

Tafsir of At-Tahreem 66:4

Al-Kashshaf

{إن تتوبا} (If you two repent) This is an address to Hafsa and Aisha, employing the rhetorical device of *iltifat* (shifting from third to second person), to make the rebuke more poignant.

{وإن تظاهرا عليه} (And if you two conspire against him) Meaning: if you two cooperate against him in matters that distress him, such as excessive jealousy or disclosing his secrets.

{والملائكة بعد ذلك ظهير} (And the angels, after that, are [his] assistants) Meaning: a group supporting him, as if they are one hand against those who oppose him. How could the conspiracy of two women reach the level of those who are his supporters?

{إن تتوبا} (If you two repent) This is an address to Hafsa and Aisha, employing the rhetorical device of iltifat (shifting from third to second person), to make the rebuke more poignant.