At-Talaq · Madani · ayah 6 of 12

At-Talaq 65:6

أَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنتُم مِّن وُجْدِكُمْ وَلَا تُضَآرُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا۟ عَلَيْهِنَّ ۚ وَإِن كُنَّ أُو۟لَـٰتِ حَمْلٍ فَأَنفِقُوا۟ عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتَّىٰ يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ۚ فَإِنْ أَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَـَٔاتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ ۖ وَأْتَمِرُوا۟ بَيْنَكُم بِمَعْرُوفٍ ۖ وَإِن تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُۥٓ أُخْرَىٰ

“Lodge them[1701] [in a section] of where you dwell out of your means and do not harm them in order to oppress them.[1702] And if they should be pregnant, then spend on them until they give birth. And if they breastfeed for you, then give them their payment and confer among yourselves in the acceptable way; but if you are in discord, then there may breastfeed for him [i.e., the father] another woman.[1703]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Taqwa in a separation gets an address: share your home by your means, never squeeze, pay the nursing mother, keep talking for the child.

A reflection

Taqwa gets an address

The ayat before this one said three times: whoever is mindful of Allah. A way out, ease, sins covered. A listener might fairly ask what that mindfulness looks like on a Tuesday, in a house where a marriage is ending.

Two classical commentaries read this ayah as the answer to exactly that question. It is as if someone asked: how do we practise taqwa with women in their waiting period? And the reply came: lodge them where you yourselves live.

Then the answer keeps going, in plain household terms. According to your means. Do not harm them to make things narrow for them. If they are pregnant, spend on them until they give birth. If they nurse your child, give them their wages. Consult together in what is right. If you make things hard for one another, another woman will nurse the child for him.

There is nothing abstract left. Taqwa has a room, a budget, a feeding schedule and a conversation.

This matters because people often imagine taqwa as an inner glow, a feeling of closeness in prayer. That is part of it. But At-Talaq insists that taqwa is also an address. It shows in where someone sleeps, what money moves, whether a child is fed, and how two tired people speak.

If you want to know whether your mindfulness of Allah is real, the surah suggests a simple test. Look at how you treat the person you have least reason to treat well, in the season you are most hurt.

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.