- be they women previously married or virggins. http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.C.010 - - 1
There are several essentially conflicting - and, therefore, in their aggregate,
not very trustworthy - reports as to the exact reason or reasons why, at some
time during the second half of the Medina period, the Prophet declared on oath
that for one month he would have no intercourse with any of his wives. Still,
while the exact reason cannot be established with certainty, it is sufficiently
clear from the above-mentioned ahadith that
this emotional, temporary renunciation of marital life was caused by a display
of mutual jealousy among some of the Prophet's wives. In any case, the purport
of the above Qur'anic allusion to this incident is
not biographical but, rather, intended to bring out a moral lesson applicable
to all human situations: namely, the inadmissibility of regarding as forbidden (haram) anything that God has made lawful (halal), even if such an attitude happens to be motivated
by the desire to please another person or other persons. Apart from this, it
serves to illustrate the fact - repeatedly stressed in the Qur'an
- that the Prophet was but a human being, and therefore subject to human
emotions and even liable to commit an occasional mistake (which in his case,
however, was invariably pointed out to him, and thus rectified, through divine
revelation).
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.002 - -
See 2:224 and the corresponding note 212, which shows that in certain
circumstances an oath should be broken and then atoned for: hence the
above phrase, "God has enjoined upon you the breaking and
expiation" (with the term tahillah comprising
both these concepts).
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.003 - -
See surah 2, note 21.
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.004 - -
Lit., "he turned aside from [or "avoided"] some of it".
There is no reliable Tradition as to the subject of that confidential
information. Some of the early commentators, however, connect it with the
Prophet's veiled prediction that Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab
would succeed him as leaders of the Muslim community; the recipient of the
information is said to have been Hafsah, the daughter
of Umar, and the one to whom she disclosed it, A'ishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr
(Baghawi, on the, authority of Ibn
Abbas and Al-Kalbi; also Zamakhshari). If this interpretation is correct, it would
explain why the Prophet "acquainted [others] with some of it and passed
over some of it": for, once his confidential prediction had been divulged,
he saw no point in withholding it any longer from the community; nevertheless,
he alluded to it in deliberately vague terms- possibly in order not to give to
the succession of Abu Bakr and Umar
the appearance of all "apostolic sanction" but to leave it, rather to
a free decision of the community in pursuance of the Qur'anic
principle amruhum shura
baynahum (see 42:38).
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.005 - -
I.e., that she had broken the Prophet's confidence.
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.006 - -
Although in the sequence the Prophet is referred to in the third person, it is
obvious that it is he who is commanded through revelation to speak thus to his
wives Hafsah and A'ishah
(see note 4); hence my above interpolation.
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.007 - -
Referring to Hafsah, who betrayed the Prophet's
confidence, and to A'ishah, who by listening contributed
to this betrayal (see note 4 above).
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.008 - Lit., "after that", i.e., in consequence of the fact
that God Himself protects him.
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.009 - -
For this rendering of the expression sa'ihat,
see note 147 on 9:112, where the same expression occurs in the masculine
gender relating to both men and women.
http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.CR.010 - -
I.e., like the actual wives of the Prophet, one of whom ("A'ishah) was a virgin when she married him, one (Zaynab bint Jahsh)
had been divorced, while the others were widows. This allusion, together with
the fact that the Prophet did not divorce any of his wives, as well as
the purely hypothetical formulation of this passage, shows that it is meant to
be an indirect admonition to the Prophet's wives, who, despite their occasional
shortcomings - unavoidable in human beings - did possess the virtues referred
to above. On a wider plane, it seems to be an admonition to all believers,
men and women alike: and this explains the subsequent change in the discourse.
the rest can be found http://www.geocities.com/masad02/066.html#066.C.010 - here .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Asad - Muhammad Asad has by far the best translations of the meanings of the Quran and commentary available in the english language, i would recommend that non muslims read this before Yusif Ali or any other version but keep in mind like the authors it also has mistakes or rather the authors personnel views as apposed to those held by the wider community in it, but at least he gives his reasons and the issue isnt left a mystery as to why....The Wiki page sums it up well i think.
-------------
Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.