Description
We start our Academic year of tafsir with Surah al-Mujādalah, The Dispute. The 58th chapter of the Qur’an comprises 22 verses.
Qur’an commentators have given different opinions when discussing the surah’s revelatory period. Some consider only the first ten verses Madinan and the remainder Makkan, with some maintaining the entire surah is Madinan except verse 9. The surah is named after a woman named Khawlah bint Thaʿlabah, whose husband, Aws ibn al-Ṣāmit, divorced her using the pre-Islamic custom of ẓihār. This custom allowed a man to renounce his wife by saying, “You are to me as my mother’s back.” The surah is also known as al-Ẓihār as it addresses this issue. It was customary to invoke ẓihār to free the husband from his duties towards his wife while preventing the wife from leaving her husband and marrying another. Khawlah appealed for justice to the Prophet (may God’s peace and blessings be upon him) and God, and her plea was answered when God provided a means for her and her husband to reconcile.
Surah Al-Mujādalah is the initial surah in a sequence of ten Madinan surahs that deal with legal matters within the Muslim community. This surah illustrates God’s immediate involvement and omniscience, especially in response to a plea made by a Muslim woman.
The beginning verses 1 – 4 address the issue of ẓihār. Verses 5 – 6 introduce the discussion of those who oppose God and His Messenger, which is the central theme of the rest of the surah. Verses 7 – 10 discuss the secret conversations of those who oppose and deride the Prophet and the proper manner of holding private discourse. Verses 11 – 13 initially enjoin Muslims to offer alms before conversing with the Prophet and then lighten this injunction. The most extended section, verses 14 – 21, addresses the nature of the hypocrites and their opposition to the Prophet. The surah concludes with a long verse regarding God’s rewards to those who believe in God and the Last Day.
