At a glance
countedCounts are over the Ḥafṣ/Tanzil text (QAC morphology). The maʿrūf figure is a verse-level co-occurrence statistic — see its block for caveats.
81×
zawj (زوج) — the one word for both spouse and pair
96%
of nakaḥa / nikāḥ (نكاح) is Madanī
maʿrūf
the top companion of both marriage and divorce
Before you scroll
interpreted· aqlA guess-first beat — the distribution chart a few blocks down is the answer key. The count is computed; reading the era-tilt as «law follows community» is interpretation.
Test your reading
The verb nakaḥa — «to marry», the word of the marriage contract — is it mostly Meccan or Medinan vocabulary in the Qurʾān?
The founding sign
interpreted· quran by quranThe verse the whole theme rests on — marriage framed not as a contract but as one of God's signs, its purpose named as tranquillity.
وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦٓ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
The charter verse. Three words carry the whole ideal: sakan (tranquillity), mawadda (affection), raḥma (mercy) — the purpose of marriage stated as rest, not reproduction.
وَمِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
And of all things We created two mates; perhaps you will remember.
Why zawj means both «spouse» and «pair»: the Qurʾān roots marriage in a law running through all creation — everything is made in twos.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَآءً وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.
The opening of the «women's sūrah» grounds the whole law that follows: both partners come from a single soul — a shared origin before any hierarchy of role.
A reading from the tradition
interpreted· Qurʾān Ḥakīm (Makārim ed., «نکات و توضیحات»)One sourced voice on 30:21, translated faithfully from the Persian. A margin-commentary point, not a graded narration.
The Qurʾān Ḥakīm margin-notes catch something easy to miss in 30:21: the verse does not name the goal of marriage as the continuation of the species. It names it as tranquillity. And it reads the pairing of mawadda with raḥma as two different bonds a marriage needs — mawadda is mutual, the reciprocal love by which each spouse serves the other; raḥma is one-sided, the self-giving tenderness that keeps caring for the young, the weak, and the ageing who can no longer give back. A household that ran only on the first, the note observes, would leave its weakest members «forever deprived». Marriage in this reading is the first place a human being learns to give without being repaid.
Where zawj lives in the Qurʾān
countedWord occurrences per sūrah, QAC morphology over the Ḥafṣ/Tanzil text. Revelation order is the traditional chronology, not a computed fact.
ز-و-ج81 occurrences · 43 of 114 sūrahs
Counted from the QAC morphology over the Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim (Tanzil) text — hover a bar for the sūrah. The Makkī/Madanī labels and the revelation ordering follow the traditional chronology: an inherited scholarly ordering, not a computed fact.
Two words, two eras
interpreted· quran by quranThe counts are computed; reading a meaning into the split is interpretation.
The chart above is the pairing word, zawj — and it is scattered right across the muṣḥaf, 52% of it Meccan, because it is doing double duty: a husband or wife, yes, but also the «two mates» of every created thing 51:49, the paired plants of the garden, the ranked pairs of the resurrection. That is Meccan vocabulary — the language of signs. The other marriage word, nakaḥa / nikāḥ — the verb of the actual contract — behaves in the mirror image: 96% Madanī, pooled in the four law-bearing sūrahs. So the Qurʾān gives marriage its metaphysics first, in Mecca, as a sign of God written into creation; and only later, in Medina, its law. The idea precedes the institution.
How to treat one another — the ethic of maʿrūf
interpreted· quran by quranThe Qurʾān's answer to «how should spouses treat each other» is not a duty-list but a governing principle: al-maʿrūf, kindness, and mutuality.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَن تَرِثُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ كَرْهًا وَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا۟ بِبَعْضِ مَآ ءَاتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلَّآ أَن يَأْتِينَ بِفَٰحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ فَإِن كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَىٰٓ أَن تَكْرَهُوا۟ شَيْـًٔا وَيَجْعَلَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا
O you who have believed, it is not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion. And do not make difficulties for them in order to take [back] part of what you gave them unless they commit a clear immorality. And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them - perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good.
«ʿĀshirūhunna bil-maʿrūf» — live with them in kindness — is the core command. Note the reach: even when love has cooled, the ethic still holds, on the chance that God has put good in what you dislike.
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ ٱلصِّيَامِ ٱلرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَآئِكُمْ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَّهُنَّ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ فَٱلْـَٰٔنَ بَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ ٱلْخَيْطُ ٱلْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْطِ ٱلْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا۟ ٱلصِّيَامَ إِلَى ٱلَّيْلِ وَلَا تُبَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَٰكِفُونَ فِى ٱلْمَسَٰجِدِ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous.
The Qurʾān's own image of the marriage bond: «they are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them» — mutual, identical, protective, intimate. The metaphor grants each spouse the very same thing.
وَٱلْمُطَلَّقَٰتُ يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنفُسِهِنَّ ثَلَٰثَةَ قُرُوٓءٍ وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَهُنَّ أَن يَكْتُمْنَ مَا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ فِىٓ أَرْحَامِهِنَّ إِن كُنَّ يُؤْمِنَّ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَبُعُولَتُهُنَّ أَحَقُّ بِرَدِّهِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ إِنْ أَرَادُوٓا۟ إِصْلَٰحًا وَلَهُنَّ مِثْلُ ٱلَّذِى عَلَيْهِنَّ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَلِلرِّجَالِ عَلَيْهِنَّ دَرَجَةٌ وَٱللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
Divorced women remain in waiting for three periods, and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs if they believe in Allah and the Last Day. And their husbands have more right to take them back in this [period] if they want reconciliation. And due to the wives is similar to what is expected of them, according to what is reasonable. But the men have a degree over them [in responsibility and authority]. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
«Lahunna mithlu alladhī ʿalayhinna» — women have rights like the duties upon them: a stated reciprocity. The closing «darajah» (a degree for men) is read across a real range — from a rank of authority to the extra burden of the maintenance and the power to initiate divorce; the atlas records it as a fork, not a verdict.
The bond and the parting — one word governs both
interpreted· quran by quranNot a good-versus-evil contrast: the Qurʾān permits divorce. The insight is that the same ethic — maʿrūf / iḥsān — is commanded on both sides, in the union and in its ending. ʿ-r-f is the top verse-level statistical companion of the divorce root.
The bond
مَوَدَّة وَرَحْمَةMarriage as sakan — a dwelling-place of affection and mercy, a garment each wears for the other.
The parting
الطَّلَاقDivorce is permitted, not condemned — but hedged with waiting, witnesses, and the command to part beautifully.
The waiting periods — a reckoner
countedEach period shown is the one the text itself states (2:228, 2:234, 65:4, 33:49). Where the tradition disputes the unit — qurūʾ as menses or purity — the widget names the fork rather than resolving it.
The marriage ended by
Is she pregnant?
Was the marriage consummated?
Does she still menstruate?
The waiting period the Qurʾān states
three qurūʾ
Qurūʾ is read by some jurists as three menstruations (Ḥanafī) and by others as three intervals of purity (Shāfiʿī, Mālikī, Jaʿfarī) — the same word, two counts. The Qurʾān states the number; the tradition disputes the unit.
Every span above is the text's own — four months and ten days, three qurūʾ, three months, or the birth of a child. What the widget will not do is settle the fork inside qurūʾ, or tell you how a given school applies the period — that is fiqh, not arithmetic. A map of the Qurʾān's waiting periods, not a fatwā.
The contested passage — discord and its remedy
interpreted· quran by quran4:34, 4:35 and 4:128 form one passage on marital discord (nushūz). It is among the most debated in the Qurʾān; the atlas presents the reading-range in the next block and crowns no interpretation.
ٱلرِّجَالُ قَوَّٰمُونَ عَلَى ٱلنِّسَآءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ مِنْ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ فَٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتُ قَٰنِتَٰتٌ حَٰفِظَٰتٌ لِّلْغَيْبِ بِمَا حَفِظَ ٱللَّهُ وَٱلَّٰتِى تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَٱهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِى ٱلْمَضَاجِعِ وَٱضْرِبُوهُنَّ فَإِنْ أَطَعْنَكُمْ فَلَا تَبْغُوا۟ عَلَيْهِنَّ سَبِيلًا إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيًّا كَبِيرًا
Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.
The qiwāma verse. Its three terms — qawwāmūn, nushūz, and the disputed waḍribūhunna — carry a wide range of scholarly readings; see the fork below. The passage names a graded, de-escalating sequence, ending the moment the discord ends.
وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ شِقَاقَ بَيْنِهِمَا فَٱبْعَثُوا۟ حَكَمًا مِّنْ أَهْلِهِۦ وَحَكَمًا مِّنْ أَهْلِهَآ إِن يُرِيدَآ إِصْلَٰحًا يُوَفِّقِ ٱللَّهُ بَيْنَهُمَآ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا خَبِيرًا
And if you fear dissension between the two, send an arbitrator from his people and an arbitrator from her people. If they both desire reconciliation, Allah will cause it between them. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Acquainted [with all things].
The very next verse moves the conflict out of the couple's hands into arbitration — one advocate from each family. The trajectory of the passage is toward reconciliation, not punishment.
وَإِنِ ٱمْرَأَةٌ خَافَتْ مِنۢ بَعْلِهَا نُشُوزًا أَوْ إِعْرَاضًا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَآ أَن يُصْلِحَا بَيْنَهُمَا صُلْحًا وَٱلصُّلْحُ خَيْرٌ وَأُحْضِرَتِ ٱلْأَنفُسُ ٱلشُّحَّ وَإِن تُحْسِنُوا۟ وَتَتَّقُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا
And if a woman fears from her husband contempt or evasion, there is no sin upon them if they make terms of settlement between them - and settlement is best. And present in [human] souls is stinginess. But if you do good and fear Allah - then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.
The Qurʾān explaining the Qurʾān: nushūz is not a fault of wives only. Here it is the husband's, and the remedy is the same word — ṣulḥ, reconciliation, «and reconciliation is best». Read together, 4:34 and 4:128 make discord a two-sided problem with a two-sided cure.
The fork on 4:34 — read fairly, settled by none
interpreted· aqlThe atlas records the interpretive range with its sources; it does not adjudicate. Presenting forks fairly is the project's standing rule.
Three words in 4:34 are read across a genuine range, and honesty means laying the range out rather than flattening it. Qawwāmūn. The classical reading is «maintainers / those in charge». Ṭabāṭabāʾī (al-Mīzān) constrains it sharply: qiwāma here is a functional responsibility tied to the maintenance the same verse mentions (bimā anfaqū) — a duty of provision and management, not a claim that men are worth more; the Qurʾān has already grounded both partners in «one soul» 4:1 and given wives rights «like» their duties 2:228. Many jurists and modern readers extend this: qiwāma is role, not rank. Nushūz. Rendered here «arrogance». Crucially the Qurʾān uses the same word for the husband in 4:128 — so whatever nushūz is, it is not a female failing but a marital breakdown either party can cause. Waḍribūhunna. The dominant lexical sense is «strike», but the tradition immediately hedged it almost out of existence: narrations restrict it to something ghayr mubarriḥ — non-injurious, leaving no mark, with a folded cloth or a siwāk-twig — and many jurists read it as a last, near-symbolic gesture within an already de-escalating sequence that 4:35 then lifts into family arbitration. A stream of contemporary scholars reads ḍaraba differently again — «to separate / turn away», or as a permission the Prophet's own practice discouraged («the best of you will not strike»). The atlas does not choose among these. It records that the sequence is graded and terminating («if they obey you, seek no way against them»), that the passage's own next verse steers toward reconciliation, and that 4:128 makes the remedy for discord, on either side, ṣulḥ — «and reconciliation is best».
Waḍribūhunna — does 4:34 command a physical strike?
interpreted· quran by quranThe prose above ranges all three disputed words; this isolates the sharpest of them and holds the two dominant readings side by side. The atlas crowns neither.
In the graded sequence of 4:34 — advise, forsake in bed, then waḍribūhunna — is the third step a physical strike, or something else?
Reading AA hedged physical strike
الضرب غير المبرّحThe dominant lexical sense of ḍaraba is «to strike». The tradition hedged it almost out of existence — restricting it to ghayr mubarriḥ (non-injurious, leaving no mark, a folded cloth or siwāk-twig) as a last, near-symbolic gesture in an already de-escalating, terminating sequence («if they obey you, seek no way against them»).
- Reads ḍaraba in its most common Qurʾānic sense.
- Narrations restrict it to something that leaves no mark; the Prophet «did not strike».
- Bounded by the verse's own off-ramp and by 4:35's turn to family arbitration.
Reading BSeparate / turn away — not a blow
الإعراض لا الضربA stream of readers takes ḍaraba here in another of its attested senses — «to separate / turn away from» (as ḍaraba is used elsewhere for setting apart) — so the third step is estrangement, not a blow, continuous with the reconciliation the passage steers toward and with 4:128's ruling that «reconciliation is best».
- ḍaraba carries a «separate / part from» sense elsewhere in usage.
- Keeps the sequence non-violent and aimed at ṣulḥ, matching 4:35 and 4:128.
- Reads the passage against the Qurʾān's own «one soul» 4:1 and «rights like duties» 2:228.
The atlas records the fork — it crowns no reading.
The bounds of intimacy
interpreted· quran by quranThe Qurʾān addresses marital intimacy directly but briefly — two verses in Al-Baqara. Both frame it within respect (the ḥarth is to be tended, «put forth for yourselves») and a single restriction (menstruation).
وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْمَحِيضِ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى فَٱعْتَزِلُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فِى ٱلْمَحِيضِ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّىٰ يَطْهُرْنَ فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّٰبِينَ وَيُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ
And they ask you about menstruation. Say, "It is harm, so keep away from wives during menstruation. And do not approach them until they are pure. And when they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has ordained for you. Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves."
The one stated restriction on marital intimacy, and it is framed as consideration («it is harm»), not taboo — abstention during menstruation, and no more than that. Classical tafsīr reads it as correcting harsher pre-Islamic customs that shunned the menstruating woman entirely.
نِسَآؤُكُمْ حَرْثٌ لَّكُمْ فَأْتُوا۟ حَرْثَكُمْ أَنَّىٰ شِئْتُمْ وَقَدِّمُوا۟ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّكُم مُّلَٰقُوهُ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Your wives are a place of sowing of seed for you, so come to your place of cultivation however you wish and put forth [righteousness] for yourselves. And fear Allah and know that you will meet Him. And give good tidings to the believers.
The ḥarth (tilth) image. Occasion-of-revelation reports say it answered a rumour about permitted positions — its «however you wish» loosens, not restricts. «Put forth for yourselves» adds the note the metaphor implies: intimacy is not only appetite but a sowing, tended with taqwā.
What the covenant is meant to grow
interpreted· quran by quranThe outcomes the Qurʾān itself attaches to marriage, each anchored to its verse.
Nikāḥ — a solemn covenant
«mīthāqan ghalīẓan», the same phrase used for God's covenant with the prophets [[4:21]]
What the law actually regulates
interpreted· quran by quranThe Medinan legislation on marriage clusters into a few concerns — the entry, the plurality-and-justice question, and the exit. The distinctions are the text's; the grouping is editorial.
The entry — gift and covenant
الصَّدَاق والميثاقMarriage begins with the mahr — the bride's own gift, hers to keep 4:4 — and is sealed as a «solemn covenant», mīthāqan ghalīẓan 4:21; want of means is no reason to defer it 24:32.
Plurality, bounded by a justice the text doubts you can reach
العدل بين النساءUp to four is permitted «if you fear you cannot be just, then one» 4:3 — then 4:129 warns you «will never be able» to be perfectly just. The permission and its own brake sit in the same sūrah.
The law in the text's own words
interpreted· quran by quranThe load-bearing legal verses, gathered.
وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ صَدُقَٰتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةً فَإِن طِبْنَ لَكُمْ عَن شَىْءٍ مِّنْهُ نَفْسًا فَكُلُوهُ هَنِيٓـًٔا مَّرِيٓـًٔا
And give the women [upon marriage] their [bridal] gifts graciously. But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then take it in satisfaction and ease.
The mahr is a niḥla — a free gift to the wife herself, hers to keep or to remit; not a price paid to her family.
وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تُقْسِطُوا۟ فِى ٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ فَٱنكِحُوا۟ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ مَثْنَىٰ وَثُلَٰثَ وَرُبَٰعَ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ فَوَٰحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُكُمْ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعُولُوا۟
And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one or those your right hand possesses. That is more suitable that you may not incline [to injustice].
The plurality verse — introduced in the context of orphans' welfare, and immediately conditioned on justice: «if you fear you cannot be just, then one».
وَلَن تَسْتَطِيعُوٓا۟ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ بَيْنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتُمْ فَلَا تَمِيلُوا۟ كُلَّ ٱلْمَيْلِ فَتَذَرُوهَا كَٱلْمُعَلَّقَةِ وَإِن تُصْلِحُوا۟ وَتَتَّقُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
And you will never be able to be equal [in feeling] between wives, even if you should strive [to do so]. So do not incline completely [toward one] and leave another hanging. And if you amend [your affairs] and fear Allah - then indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.
The counterweight to 4:3, from the same sūrah: perfect fairness between wives is beyond human reach — so at least do not leave one «hanging».
وَأَنكِحُوا۟ ٱلْأَيَٰمَىٰ مِنكُمْ وَٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ مِنْ عِبَادِكُمْ وَإِمَآئِكُمْ إِن يَكُونُوا۟ فُقَرَآءَ يُغْنِهِمُ ٱللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male slaves and female slaves. If they should be poor, Allah will enrich them from His bounty, and Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.
Marriage is encouraged, not deferred for want of means — «if they are poor, Allah will enrich them». Poverty is not a reason to keep people single.
وَلَا تَنكِحُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكَٰتِ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنَّ وَلَأَمَةٌ مُّؤْمِنَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكَةٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ وَلَا تُنكِحُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ وَلَعَبْدٌ مُّؤْمِنٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكُمْ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى ٱلنَّارِ وَٱللَّهُ يَدْعُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱلْجَنَّةِ وَٱلْمَغْفِرَةِ بِإِذْنِهِۦ وَيُبَيِّنُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
And do not marry polytheistic women until they believe. And a believing slave woman is better than a polytheist, even though she might please you. And do not marry polytheistic men [to your women] until they believe. And a believing slave is better than a polytheist, even though he might please you. Those invite [you] to the Fire, but Allah invites to Paradise and to forgiveness, by His permission. And He makes clear His verses to the people that perhaps they may remember.
The criterion for a partner is shared faith over every worldly appeal — and the verse states it symmetrically, for choosing a wife and for giving a woman in marriage alike.
ٱلْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتُ وَطَعَامُ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ وَٱلْمُحْصَنَٰتُ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنَٰتِ وَٱلْمُحْصَنَٰتُ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ إِذَآ ءَاتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ مُحْصِنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَٰفِحِينَ وَلَا مُتَّخِذِىٓ أَخْدَانٍ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُۥ وَهُوَ فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ مِنَ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ
This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you, when you have given them their due compensation, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse or taking [secret] lovers. And whoever denies the faith - his work has become worthless, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.
The verse that permits marriage to «the chaste women of those given the Scripture before you» — read against 2:221's ban on marrying a mushrik, it opens one of fiqh's oldest forks. The fork below holds both readings.
ٱلطَّلَٰقُ مَرَّتَانِ فَإِمْسَاكٌۢ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ تَسْرِيحٌۢ بِإِحْسَٰنٍ وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَن تَأْخُذُوا۟ مِمَّآ ءَاتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ شَيْـًٔا إِلَّآ أَن يَخَافَآ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا فِيمَا ٱفْتَدَتْ بِهِۦ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَعْتَدُوهَا وَمَن يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ
Divorce is twice. Then, either keep [her] in an acceptable manner or release [her] with good treatment. And it is not lawful for you to take anything of what you have given them unless both fear that they will not be able to keep [within] the limits of Allah. But if you fear that they will not keep [within] the limits of Allah, then there is no blame upon either of them concerning that by which she ransoms herself. These are the limits of Allah, so do not transgress them. And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah - it is those who are the wrongdoers.
The governing rule of divorce, and the source of the page's thesis: «fa-imsākun bi-maʿrūfin aw tasrīḥun bi-iḥsān» — keep in kindness or release with grace. Even the ending is bound to beauty.
The fork — marrying People of the Book
interpreted· quran by quranA question the atlas holds open, not settles. 2:221 forbids marrying a mushrik; 5:5 permits marrying chaste women «of those given the Scripture before you». Whether the second qualifies the first — and whether the permission is permanent or only temporary — has divided the schools since the first century. The two readings are set side by side; no winner is crowned.
May a Muslim man marry a chaste woman of the People of the Book — a Jew or a Christian?
Reading APermitted
الجواز5:5 states it in plain words: the chaste women «of those who were given the Scripture before you» are lawful in marriage, once their due gift is given. Most Sunnī jurists, and a stream of Shīʿī jurists for temporary marriage, read the permission as standing.
- The permission is explicit and late — 5:5 sits in al-Māʾida, among the last-revealed sūrahs
- The mushrik forbidden in 2:221 is read as the idolater, a narrower class than the People of the Book
- The one stated condition is chastity and the mahr, «desiring chastity, not fornication» — not conversion 5:5
Reading BProhibited or restricted
المنع أو التقييد2:221's ban on marrying a mushrik is read to reach the People of the Book too, and 60:10's «hold not to the bonds of disbelieving women» as a general bar. Many Shīʿī jurists allow it only in temporary (mutʿa) marriage, and some disallow permanent marriage to a kitābiyya entirely.
- «Do not marry the mushrik women until they believe» read to include the People of the Book 2:221
- «Hold not to the marriage-bonds of disbelieving women» — wa-lā tumsikū bi-ʿiṣam al-kawāfir 60:10
- A common Shīʿī ruling limits it to mutʿa (temporary) marriage, or bars permanent marriage to a kitābiyya
The atlas records the fork — it crowns no reading.
What the Qurʾān leaves unmeasured
interpreted· quran by quranThe absence is checkable over the corpus; reading meaning into it is interpretation.
For a subject this legislated, the Qurʾān is strikingly silent on the details one might expect. It commands the mahr but never fixes its amount 4:4 — it can be substantial or, in the sunnah, a ring of iron or teaching a chapter. It says «live with them in kindness» but never enumerates the duties — no chore-list, no schedule; the standard is a principle, maʿrūf, calibrated to «what is recognized as good» in each time and place. It measures the waiting periods in months and cycles, yet leaves the ordinary rhythm of a marriage entirely to the couple. The pattern is deliberate: where the Qurʾān legislates hard — inheritance fractions, the waiting terms — it is exact; where it addresses the life of the bond, it gives an ethic and trusts it. The atlas notes the seam rather than filling it in.
The covenant and the prayer
interpreted· quran by quranThe reader leaves holding scripture: what marriage is called, and what the believers are taught to ask of it.
وَكَيْفَ تَأْخُذُونَهُۥ وَقَدْ أَفْضَىٰ بَعْضُكُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَأَخَذْنَ مِنكُم مِّيثَٰقًا غَلِيظًا
And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?
The Qurʾān's own name for the marriage bond: mīthāqan ghalīẓan — a «solemn covenant», the exact phrase it uses for God's covenant with the prophets 33:7 and with Banī Isrāʾīl 4:154. Marriage is placed in that company.
وَٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَٰجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّٰتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَٱجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا
And those who say, "Our Lord, grant us from among our wives and offspring comfort to our eyes and make us an example for the righteous."
The prayer that closes the portrait of «the servants of the Most Merciful»: not for wealth or ease first, but for a spouse and children who are a coolness of the eyes.
The neighbourhood of marriage
interpreted· quran by quranThe concepts marriage sits among, with the edges the text draws — its ideal, its ethic, its opposite pole, and the institutions that frame it.
Where the map ends
interpreted· quran by quranThe atlas can count where marriage is legislated and where it is left open. It can lay the disputed verses side by side — the reading-range of 4:34, the old fork between 2:221 and 5:5 — and refuse to crown one. What it cannot do is tell you how to live inside a bond. That the Qurʾān hands to a single word, maʿrūf, and trusts you to know it in your own time and place. So the last word here is not a ruling but an image: mates created «that you may find tranquillity in them», and set between them «affection and mercy» 30:21. The form is mappable; the tenderness is not.