At-Tahrim · Madani · ayah 2 of 12

At-Tahrim 66:2

قَدْ فَرَضَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ تَحِلَّةَ أَيْمَـٰنِكُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ مَوْلَىٰكُمْ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

“Allāh has already ordained for you [Muslims] the dissolution of your oaths.[1707] And Allāh is your protector, and He is the Knowing, the Wise.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Right after being corrected, the Prophet ﷺ is called Allah's charge — and shown that every regretted vow already has a legislated way out.

A reflection

A knot Allah already taught you to untie

The root behind taḥilla pictures a traveller arriving at camp. He has carried his load tied tight all day; now he stops, and unties it. That same untying gives Arabic its word for what is permitted, ḥalāl: a knot released, a load set down. Here the word takes a narrower, almost tender shape. Taḥilla is release specifically from an oath — the one place in the whole Quran this exact form appears.

Notice the tense. Qad faraḍa, Allah has already legislated this. Not after the Prophet's vow became a problem, and not as a hasty patch once ayah 66:1 had been revealed. The way out was written into the design before this particular knot was ever tied. That is worth sitting with. A person who promises, in one furious evening, never to speak to a sibling again, often discovers months later that the vow has become its own small prison — not because breaking it would be wrong, but because keeping it now feels like the only proof the anger was ever justified.

This ayah removes that trap before it can close. An oath taken in haste, in hurt, or in a moment of wanting to please someone, is not a life sentence. There is a dignified, legislated door back out, built in advance, for exactly this kind of regret. The traveller does not have to keep carrying the load simply because he once tied it himself.

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.