An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 156 of 176

An-Nisa 4:156

وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَـٰنًا عَظِيمًا

“And [We cursed them] for their disbelief and their saying against Mary a great slander[232]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah Himself names the slander against Mary for what it was, a lie so monstrous it stuns, and stands as the defender of her honour.

A reflection

When Allah defends a woman's name

The ayah is short, and its subject is one woman. Mary, mother of Jesus.

The commentaries explain the 'great slander' plainly. Those who said it accused her of unchastity, without proof, when she was entirely innocent. The Quran does not soften the charge or leave it unanswered. It names it buhtān ʿaẓīm, a monstrous slander, and places it in a list of grave wrongs.

Think about whose honour is being defended here. A whole surah of the Quran carries her name. Elsewhere the angels tell her: Allah has chosen you, purified you, and chosen you above the women of the worlds (3:42). The same Book that honours her so highly now stands between her and those who tried to stain her.

The commentaries attribute this slander to particular people of that time, people who rejected her son. It is the Quran's account of a specific historical wrong. It is not a description of anyone living today, and it should never be used as one.

What it does describe, for every age, is how vulnerable a woman's good name can be. One sentence can be thrown, and a lifetime of purity has to answer it.

Picture a young widow who runs a small café on a busy road. She is kind to a delivery driver who has just lost his mother. A regular customer makes a joke about the two of them. Within a week, the joke has become a story told as fact.

No one in that café is Mary. But the ayah tells her, and every woman like her, that Allah sees slander for exactly what it is.

And it tells the rest of us something too. Every customer who repeated that joke had a choice to make. So do we, every time a story about someone's honour reaches our ears.

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.