The Holy Quran 33:51 — Surah Al-Ahzab

Arabic text

۞ تُرْجِى مَن تَشَآءُ مِنْهُنَّ وَتُـْٔوِىٓ إِلَيْكَ مَن تَشَآءُ ۖ وَمَنِ ٱبْتَغَيْتَ مِمَّنْ عَزَلْتَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكَ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَن تَقَرَّ أَعْيُنُهُنَّ وَلَا يَحْزَنَّ وَيَرْضَيْنَ بِمَآ ءَاتَيْتَهُنَّ كُلُّهُنَّ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِى قُلُوبِكُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَلِيمًا

Translation

(O Rasulullaah!) You may suspend (your visits to) those (of your wives) whom you please and you may accommodate those of them whom you please. There will be no sin on you if you (afterwards) seek (to accommodate) those whom (whose turns to be with you) you had already suspended. This (giving all of them equal turns to be with you) is best so that their eyes are cooled (they remain happy), they do not grieve, and (it is best) so that they are all pleased with what you give them. Allaah knows what is within your hearts (that you instinctively have more love for some of your wives). Allaah is All Knowing, Tolerant (He knows that no man has control over his instinctive feelings.) (Although Rasulullaah ﷺ had the option of excluding some of his wives from the turns he allocated to spend time with each of them, he never exercised this option).

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

The number of the pure wives and the wisdom behind it: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spent his life up to the age of twenty-five — the very days of youthful passions — in complete celibacy. Then, at the insistence of his relatives and at the request of the other party, he married Khadijah ﵂ (who was past her youth and had twice been widowed).

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