Surah At-Tahrim, Ayah 4

Which was revealed in Al-Madinah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

(In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Allah censures His Prophet for Prohibiting Himself from what He has allowed for Him In the Book

Al-Bukhari recorded that `Ubayd bin `Umayr said that he heard `A'ishah claiming that Allah's Messenger ﷺ used to stay for a period in the house of Zaynab bint Jahsh and drink honey in her house. (She said) "Hafsah and I decided that when the Prophet entered upon either of us, we would say, `I smell Maghafir on you. Have you eaten Maghafir' When he entered upon one of us, she said that to him. He replied (to her),

«لَا، بَلْ شَرِبْتُ عَسَلًا عِنْدَ زَيْنَبَ بِنْتِ جَحْشٍ وَلَنْ أَعُودَ لَه»

(No, but I drank honey in the house of Zaynab bint Jahsh, and I will never drink it again.)" Then the following was revealed;

إِن تَتُوبَا إِلَى اللَّـهِ فَقَدْ صَغَتْ قُلُوبُكُمَا [ 0 two wives of the Prophet,] If both of you repent to Allah, then [ your conduct calls for it, because ] your hearts have diverted....66:4). The reference here is made to two of his blessed wives who, as mentioned above in brief, contrived to draw the Holy Prophet ﷺ into swearing an oath and making the aforementioned promise to abstain from honey. Who are they? Bukhari and other collections of Traditions record a lengthy Tradition about this on the authority of Ibn ` Abbas ؓ who narrates that he was always on the look-out to enquire of Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ as to who were the two wives to whom reference had been made in the above verse. So, when Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ was on his way to pilgrimage, the former joined him. One day, in the course of the journey, the latter went to answer the call of nature. When he returned, the former had arranged water for the latter's ablution. He poured water on his hands. Whilst pouring the water for ablution, he enquired as to who were the two wives to whom reference is made in the dual verb اِن تَتُوبَآ (If both of you repent) Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ asked him in surprise: 'Do you not know who they were?' Ibn ` Abbas ؓ said: 'No!' Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ said they were Hafsah and 'A'ishah ؓ and then proceeded to recount a lengthy story related to this incident which also contained some incidents that took place earlier. The details of the incident are available in Tafsir Mazhari. This verse addresses the two blessed wives of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and requires them to turn to Allah as their hearts have deviated, albeit what they did, stem from their love for the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، but in the process they, in consultation with one another, adopted a way that hurt the Holy Prophet ﷺ . This is a sin for which repentance was necessary.

وَإِن تَظَاهَرَ‌ا عَلَيْهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّـهَ هُوَ مَوْلَاهُ وَجِبْرِ‌يلُ (And if you back each other against him [ the Prophet ﷺ ], then Allah is his supporter, and Jibra'l (علیہ السلام) and righteous believers and, after all that, angels are his helpers....66:4). The current verse warns the wives that if they do not repent and please the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ، they will not cause any loss to him, because Allah is his Protector, and so are Jibril, every right-acting believer and, furthermore, the other angels too will come to his support, and it will be the wives themselves who will suffer loss.

Due to some domestic problems created by his wives, the Prophet vowed that he would not take honey. But, a prophet’s actions become examples for his followers. Therefore, God commanded the Prophet to pay expiation, the penalty prescribed by the Islamic law, and free himself from the his vow not to take honey, so that in future, his followers should not take it as a symbol of piety and stop taking honey.