Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 236 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:236

لَّا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِن طَلَّقْتُمُ ٱلنِّسَآءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا۟ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً ۚ وَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ عَلَى ٱلْمُوسِعِ قَدَرُهُۥ وَعَلَى ٱلْمُقْتِرِ قَدَرُهُۥ مَتَـٰعًۢا بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ ۖ حَقًّا عَلَى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ

“There is no blame upon you if you divorce women you have not touched[94] nor specified for them an obligation.[95] But give them [a gift of] compensation - the wealthy according to his capability and the poor according to his capability - a provision according to what is acceptable, a duty upon the doers of good.”

Saheeh International

Essence

A marriage that ends before it begins still deserves a parting gift to mend the hurt, each giving by his means.

A reflection

A gift for the one who was let down

The marriage contract was signed in the spring. The wedding party was set for autumn. In July, he called it off. Her family had to ring two hundred guests. He sent a generous gift and a letter that took all the blame on himself. Her mother said later that the letter mattered more than the gift.

The ayah covers exactly this: a marriage that ends before it has begun. First it lifts a fear. 'There is no blame on you'. A classical commentator notes that people had felt such a parting must be sinful, since marriage aims at permanence. The ayah removes that blame when the intention was sound.

Then it asks for something. 'Give them provision'. Why, when nothing was consummated and no gift named? A classical commentator answers: because it breaks her heart. Two modern commentaries explain the provision as mending her broken spirit, easing the desolation of the parting, and preventing bitterness.

The word matāʿ once meant the bundle of provisions for a journey. A traveller would ask for a mutʿa, a little to live on. The parting gift is provision for the road ahead.

The ayah calls it 'a right upon the muḥsinīn', those who do things with excellence. Allah needs none of this; He is the Free of need (35:15). The gift does something for the giver too. It turns an ending he caused into an act of goodness.

Many people today end things with a text and silence. The ayah asks for more. When you let someone down, mend what you can, generously.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.