Al-Mumtahanah · Madani · ayah 10 of 13

Al-Mumtahanah 60:10

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا جَآءَكُمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتُ مُهَـٰجِرَٰتٍ فَٱمْتَحِنُوهُنَّ ۖ ٱللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَـٰنِهِنَّ ۖ فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَـٰتٍ فَلَا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى ٱلْكُفَّارِ ۖ لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ ۖ وَءَاتُوهُم مَّآ أَنفَقُوا۟ ۚ وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ أَن تَنكِحُوهُنَّ إِذَآ ءَاتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ۚ وَلَا تُمْسِكُوا۟ بِعِصَمِ ٱلْكَوَافِرِ وَسْـَٔلُوا۟ مَآ أَنفَقْتُمْ وَلْيَسْـَٔلُوا۟ مَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ حُكْمُ ٱللَّهِ ۖ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

“O you who have believed, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, examine [i.e., test] them. Allāh is most knowing as to their faith. And if you know them to be believers, then do not return them to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful [husbands] for them. But give them [i.e., the disbelievers] what they have spent.[1676] And there is no blame upon you if you marry them when you have given them their due compensation [i.e., mahr]. And hold not to marriage bonds with disbelieving women, but ask for what you have spent and let them [i.e., the disbelievers] ask for what they have spent.[1677] That is the judgement of Allāh; He judges between you. And Allāh is Knowing and Wise.”

Saheeh International

Essence

You are asked to test what you can see, while Allah alone holds final knowledge of what no test can ever fully reach.

A reflection

A test that admits its own limit

The ayah instructs the believers to test these women, famtaḥinūhunna, and then, in the very next breath, states that Allah knows best their faith. The instruction and the admission sit side by side without embarrassment: examine what can be examined, and remember that the examination was never going to reach everything.

The root behind imtiḥān pictures silver held in a flame until only the pure metal remains, a test that refines rather than merely checks a box. The believers were asked to apply real scrutiny, reportedly through direct questions about why each woman had actually come. And yet the ayah refuses to let that scrutiny be mistaken for certainty. A test, however carefully conducted, sees only what a person is willing or able to show. What is actually happening in someone's heart remains, finally, Allah's to know.

This is a rare and honest posture to model. Most human systems that assess sincerity, whether a hiring interview, a citizenship interview, or a friend quietly weighing whether to trust someone new, tend to behave as though a good enough process could achieve full certainty if only it were rigorous enough. The ayah suggests otherwise from the outset: do the reasonable work of discernment, and then let go of the demand for a certainty that was never available to begin with.

This is not an excuse for carelessness. It is permission to stop treating every incomplete answer as a personal failure of judgement.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.