1. O Prophet, meaning here his community in relation to what follows; or it may be that “Say” is elided – when any of you – want to – divorce women, divorce them during their period of purity and calculate their ‘idda carefully. Divorce should be pronounced when the woman is pure and not menstruating and the husband has not had intercourse with her since she became pure, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained and as is related by both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Count the ‘idda carefully since a wife can be taken back before it ends. And have taqwa of Allah, your Lord, and obey Him in respect of His commands and prohibitions. Do not evict them from their homes, nor should they leave their homes until they have finished their ‘idda, unless they commit an outright (read as mubayyina and mubayyana) indecency – meaning here illicit sexual intercourse, in which case they are brought out to receive the Hadd punishment. Those are Allah’s limits, and anyone who oversteps Allah’s limits has wronged himself. You never know, it may well be that after that divorce Allah will cause a new situation to develop – meaning possible reconciliation if there has only been a single or double pronouncement of divorce.

2. Then when they have reached the end of their ‘idda – or are close to the end of it – either retain them and take them back with correctness and courtesy – without harming them – or part from them and leave them to finish their ‘idda with correctness and courtesy; and do not harm them by taking them back. Call two upright men from among yourselves as witnesses when you take back your wives or divorce them; and they (the witnesses) should carry out the witnessing for the sake of Allah – not for the sake of the person against or for whom he testifies. This is an admonishment for all who believe in Allah and the Last Day. Whoever is fearful of Allah, He will give him a way out of the grief of this world and the Next –

3. …and provide for him from where he does not expect. Whoever puts his trust in Allah regarding his affairs, He will be enough for him. Allah always achieves His aim (read as balighu amrihi and balighun amrahu). Allah has appointed a measure for all things – an allotted time for ease and an allotted time for hardship.

4. In the case of those of your wives who are past the age of menstruation, if you have any doubt about their ‘idda, their ‘idda should be three months, and that also applies to those who have not yet menstruated because of their youth. The two cases here refer to divorce, not to when a woman is widowed. The ‘idda of a widowed woman is always as in the ayat: “Those of you who die leaving wives: they should wait by themselves for four months and ten nights.” (2:234). The time for women who are pregnant is when they give birth. The ‘idda of a pregnant woman who is divorced or widowed, however, lasts until she gives birth. Whoever is fearful of Allah, He will make matters easy for him in this world and the Next World.

5. That is Allah’s command about the ‘idda which He has sent down to you. Whoever is fearful of Allah, He will erase his bad actions from his record and greatly increase his reward.

6. Let them (divorced women) live where you live – in one of your houses – according to your financial means. Do not put pressure on them – do not constrict their living circumstances so that they need to go out, or their maintenance so that they are forced to ransom themselves from you – in order to harass them. If they are pregnant, maintain them until they give birth. If they are suckling for you, give them their wages for breast-feeding and consult together with correctness and courtesy about the children so that they agree to a stated wage for breast-feeding. But if you make things difficult for one another – cause difficulties for one another in that, and the father refuses to pay and the mother refuses to do it – another woman should do the suckling for you: then the father should find another woman and not force the mother to breast-feed the child.

7. He who has plenty should spend – on his divorced wife and women who are breastfeeding for him – from his plenty; but he whose provision is restricted should spend from what Allah has given him. Allah does not demand from any self more than He has given it. Allah will appoint after difficulty, ease – by conquest.

8. How many of the inhabitants of cities spurned their Lord’s command and His Messengers and disobeyed them! And so We called them harshly to account in the Next World and punished them with a terrible (read as nukran and nukuran) punishment (the Fire).

9. They tasted the evil consequences of – meaning the penalty for – what they did and the end of their affair was total loss and destruction.

10. Allah has prepared a terrible punishment for them. The mention of the punishment is repeated to intensify the threat. So be fearful of Allah, people of intelligence – those who believe: Allah has sent down a reminder (the Qur’an) to you,

11. … and sent a Messenger, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reciting Allah’s Clear Signs (read as mubayyinat and mubayyanaat) to you to bring those who believe and do right actions – after the Reminder and the Messenger has come – out of the darkness of unbelief which they were in into the Light of faith which they have after having been unbelievers. Whoever believes in Allah and acts rightly, He will admit (read as yudkhil and nudkhil, “We will admit”) him into Gardens with rivers flowing under them. to remain in them timelessly, for ever and ever. Allah has provided for him excellently by giving him Paradise whose bliss will never be cut off.

12. It is Allah who created the seven heavens, and of the earth the same number – seven, the Command (Revelation) descending down through all of them – between the heavens and the earth, as Jibril brings it down from the seventh heaven to the seventh earth – so that by that creation and descent you might know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge. Allah informs you that He has power and knowledge of all things.