Surah 4:23
Show Full Scripture Context (4:23) — 1 Verse
حُرِّمَتۡ عَلَيۡكُمۡ أُمَّهَٰتُكُمۡ وَبَنَاتُكُمۡ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُمۡ وَعَمَّـٰتُكُمۡ وَخَٰلَٰتُكُمۡ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلۡأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلۡأُخۡتِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُكُمُ ٱلَّـٰتِيٓ أَرۡضَعۡنَكُمۡ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُم مِّنَ ٱلرَّضَٰعَةِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُ نِسَآئِكُمۡ وَرَبَـٰٓئِبُكُمُ ٱلَّـٰتِي فِي حُجُورِكُم مِّن نِّسَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّـٰتِي دَخَلۡتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَّمۡ تَكُونُواْ دَخَلۡتُم بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَحَلَـٰٓئِلُ أَبۡنَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِنۡ أَصۡلَٰبِكُمۡ وَأَن تَجۡمَعُواْ بَيۡنَ ٱلۡأُخۡتَيۡنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدۡ سَلَفَۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورٗا رَّحِيمٗا
Forbidden to you are: your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal aunts, your maternal aunts, (your) brothers’ daughters, (your) sisters’ daughters, the mothers who have nursed you, (those who are) your sisters by nursing, your wives’ mothers, and your stepdaughters who are in your care, (born) of wives you have gone into – but if you have not gone into them, (there is) no blame on you – and wives of your sons, those of your own loins, and that you should have two sisters at the same time, unless it is a thing of the past. Surely God is forgiving, compassionate.
Ibn Jurayj said, “I asked ‘Ata’ about Allah’s statement,
He said, “We were told that when the Prophet married the ex-wife of Zayd (who was the Prophet’s adopted son before Islam prohibited this practice), the idolators in Makkah criticized him. Allah sent down the Ayat
nor has He made your adopted sons your real sons.,
and,
Muhammad is not the father of any of your men.”
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Al-Hasan bin Muhammad said, “These Ayat are encompassing,
{the wives of your sons}, and,
This is also the explanation of Tawus, Ibrahim, Az-Zuhri and Makhul. It means that these two Ayat encompass these types of women, whether the marriage was consummated or not, and there is a consensus on this ruling.
A Doubt and Rebuttal
Why is the wife of one’s son from suckling prohibited for him for marriage - that is, if she is no longer married to his son from suckling - as the majority of scholars state, although they are not related by blood? The answer is the Prophet’s statement,
«Suckling prohibits what blood relations prohibit.»
The Prohibition of Taking Two Sisters as Rival Wives
Allah said,
The Ayah commands: you are prohibited to take two sisters as rival wives, or rival female-servants, except for what had happened to you during the time of Jahiliyyah, which We have forgiven and erased. Therefore, no one is allowed to take or keep two sisters as rival wives, according to the consensus of the scholars of the Companions, their followers, and the Imams of old and present. They all stated that taking two sisters as rival wives is prohibited, and that whoever embraces Islam while married to two sisters at the same time is given the choice to keep one of them and divorce the other. Imam Ahmad recorded that Ad-Dahhak bin Fayruz said that his father said, “I embraced Islam while married to two sisters at the same time and the Prophet commanded me to divorce one of them.”
— from Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Vol. 2, Page 420-421)