Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)
SÛRAH LVIII
Al-Mujâdilah, “She who disputeth,” takes its name from a word in verse 1.
A woman had complained to the Prophet that her husband had put her away for no good reason by employing an old formula of the pagan Arabs, saying that her back was for him as the back of his mother, and she “disputed” with the Prophet because he would take no action against the man before this revelation came to him. There is a brief reference to the same method of getting rid of wives in Sûrah XXXIII, v. 4. This Sûrah must therefore have been revealed before Sûrah XXXIII.
The date of revelation is the fourth or fifth year of the Hijrah.
She That Disputeth
1. Allah hath heard the saying of her that disputeth with thee (Muhammad) concerning her husband, and complaineth unto Allah. And Allah heareth your colloquy. Lo! Allah is Hearer, Knower.
2. Such, of you as put away your wives (by saying they are as their mothers) — They are not their mothers;1 none are their mothers except those who gave them birth — they indeed utter an ill word and a lie. And lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
3. Those who put away their wives (by saying they are as their mothers)1 and afterward would go back on that which they have said, (the penalty) in that case (is) the
1 XXXIII, 4.
