| الممتحنة Al-Mumtaḥanah She That is to be Examined | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Medinan |
| Other names | Al-Imtihan ("The Examining"),Al-Mawaddah ("The Affection") |
| Position | Juzʼ 28 |
| No. ofverses | 13 |
| No. ofRukus | 2 |
| Quran |
|---|
Al-Mumtaḥanah (Arabic:الممتحنة, translated "She That Is To Be Examined", "Examining Her") is the 60th chapter (sura) of theQuran, aMedinan sura with 13verses.
The first verse warns Muslims not to make alliance with the enemies of God.[1] Verses 4–6 provideAbraham as a model for this, as he distanced himself from the pagans of his own tribe, including his own father.[1][2] Verses 7 to 9 declare the possibility that Muslims and their erstwhile enemy might have better relations ("It may be that God will forge affection between you and those of them with whom you are in enmity")[3] if the former enemy stops fighting the Muslims.[1] These verses provide basis for the relations of Muslims and non-Muslims according to the Quran: the basic relation is peace unless the Muslims are attacked, or when war is justified to stop injustice or protect the religion.[4]
The next following verses (10–12) address some matters of Islamic law.[1] They declare marriages between Muslims andpolytheists to be no longer valid,[1] and instruct Muslims on how to resolve the question ofmahr when dissolving such marriages.[5] The status of inter-religious marriages was very relevant at the time of the revelation of these verses, a time when multiple women from Mecca converted to Islam while their husbands did not, or vice versa.[1]
According to the Islamic tradition, Al-Mumtahanah is aMedinan sura, that is a chapter that is revealed after Muhammad'shijra toMedina. According toThe Study Quran, the revelation likely took place at some point after the 6th yearafter the hijra (AH) or 628 CE. According to some commentators, the first verse was revealed during theconquest of Mecca in 8 AH (January 630 CE).[1] Various of scholars of Islam, includedIbn Taymiyyah and Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Ashqar, tafsir expert fromIslamic University of Madinah, has issuedfatwa based onHadith Qudse fromHatib ibn Abi Balta'ah and the revelation of first verse of Al-Mumtahanah, that everyCompanions of the Prophet who attended ofbattle of Badr has been elevated to the saints status byAllah Himself.[8][9]
The traditional Egyptian chronology puts the chapter as the 91st chapter by the order of revelation (afterAl-Tur), while theNöldeke Chronology (by theorientalistTheodor Nöldeke) puts it as the 110th.[10]
Quranic commentatorsMahmud al-Alusi (d. 1854) andAbu 'Abdullah Al-Qurtubi (d. 1273) mentioned that this refers toUmm Kulthum bint Uqbah who was the subject of several of its verses.[1] The chapter is also calledal-Imtihan ("The Examining"): according to Al-Qurtubi, this is because the chapter examines the fault of mankind. It is also calledal-Mawaddah ("The Affection"), because the first verse includes the phrase "you offer them affection", and the seventh includes "God will forge affection", and because affection of the Muslims is one of the themes in the chapter.[1] In the 1730s,George Sale opines in his translation footnotes "this chapter bears this title because it directs the women who desert and come over from theinfidels to the Moslems to be examined, and tried whether they be sincere in their profession of the faith."[11]
Works related toThe Holy Qur'an (Maulana Muhammad Ali)/60. The Woman Who is Examined at Wikisource
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