Pages of the Glorious Qur’ān today Wednesday 21/10/26, Sūrah alAḥzāb (33): 36-50, tafakkur verse 33: 37 Theme: Divine Wisdom in the Marriage of the Rasūl (ṣallāLlāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) with Zaynab وَإِذۡ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِیۤ أَنۡعَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَیۡهِ وَأَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَیۡهِ أَمۡسِكۡ عَلَیۡكَ زَوۡجَكَ وَٱتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ وَتُخۡفِی فِی نَفۡسِكَ مَا ٱللَّهُ مُبۡدِیهِ وَتَخۡشَى ٱلنَّاسَ وَٱللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَن تَخۡشَىٰهُۖ فَلَمَّا قَضَىٰ زَیۡدࣱ مِّنۡهَا وَطَرࣰا زَوَّجۡنَـٰكَهَا لِكَیۡ لَا یَكُونَ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِینَ حَرَجࣱ فِیۤ أَزۡوَ ٰ⁠جِ أَدۡعِیَاۤىِٕهِمۡ إِذَا قَضَوۡا۟ مِنۡهُنَّ وَطَرࣰاۚ وَكَانَ أَمۡرُ ٱللَّهِ مَفۡعُولࣰا "And [remember, O Muḥammad], when you said to the one on whom Allāh bestowed favor and you bestowed favor, Keep your wife and fear Allāh, while you concealed within yourself that which Allāh is to disclose. And you feared the people, while Allāh has more right that you fear Him. So when Zayd had no longer any need for her, We married her to you in order that there not be upon the believers any discomfort [i.e., guilt] concerning the wives of their claimed [i.e., adopted] sons when they no longer have need of them. And ever is the command [i.e., decree] of Allāh accomplished." LESSONS: 1. The verse explicitly records that Prophet Muhammad (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) advised Zayd to retain his wife rather than divorce her. This is a crucial detail that is often omitted in polemical presentations. The Prophet did not instruct Zayd to divorce Zaynab so that he could marry her. The Qur’ānic account records the opposite advice. Zayd subsequently ended the marriage, and only after the marriage had ended did Allāh decree the Prophet’s marriage to Zaynab. 2. Before the revelation of these verses, Zayd ibn Ḥārithah was publicly known as Zayd ibn Muḥammad because Prophet Muhammad (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) had adopted him. Islam corrected the attribution of lineage, instructing believers to identify adopted children by their biological fathers when known (Qur’ān 33:5). 3. The marriage of Prophet Muhammad (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) to Zaynab bint Jaḥsh (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhā) was divinely degrees to provide a practical demonstration of a legal principle that would otherwise have remained difficult to implement against entrenched social prejudice. The following verse reinforces the principle by affirming that there is no blame upon the Prophet concerning what Allāh has prescribed for him (Qur’ān 33:38). 4. The verse contains a divine admonition concerning the Prophet’s apprehension about how people would react to the marriage. Yet the very revelation that contains this admonition was preserved and recited by the Muslim community. If the Qur’ān were simply a text composed to protect the Prophet from criticism, the inclusion of a passage that openly admonishes him would require an explanation. Its preservation demonstrates the Prophet’s faithful delivery of revelation, including verses that contain divine correction. 5. Zayd was married to Zaynab; the Prophet counselled him to retain his wife; Zayd subsequently ended the marriage; and Allāh then decreed the Prophet’s marriage to her. The verse does not describe the Prophet taking a woman away from a man who remained married to her. The allegation of “snatching” therefore does not accurately represent the sequence or the stated purpose in the Qur’ān. Nor should later reports be repeated uncritically as though every popular account has the same evidentiary status as the Qur’ānic text. The account is not a story of a Prophet taking another man’s wife. It is a Qur’ānic account of the correction of a deeply established social convention and the implementation of a divinely stated legal principle. May Allāh increase us in knowledge, grant us sound understanding of His Book, and enable us to defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) with truth, wisdom, and sound evidence. Āmīn.