التحريم
At Tahrim
Verses
12
Revelation
Madani
Period
Madinan
Surah No.
66 / 114
At-Tahrim opens with a gentle rebuke of the Prophet for prohibiting something lawful to himself – generally understood to relate to honey or a particular matter with one of his wives – to please his wives, and then reveals that two of his wives disclosed a secret. The surah calls for repentance and commands the Prophet and believers to guard themselves and their families from the Fire. It concludes with four examples of women as moral paradigms: the wives of Nuh and Lut (warning), and Maryam and the wife of Pharaoh (models of faith).
أسباب النزول
The opening was revealed in response to an incident involving the Prophet and his wives – either his vow to avoid honey at Hafsah's request or a more complex matter narrated differently by scholars. Two wives – identified in most narrations as Hafsah and A'ishah – were involved in a private matter that became known. The concluding verses about exemplary women were revealed to establish that righteousness is individual and not inherited from one's spouse, whether pious or wicked.
“O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire.”
The Quranic basis for the Islamic concept of family religious education – parents bear a spiritual responsibility not merely for their own souls but for the spiritual formation of those in their care.
“And Allah presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharaoh.”
Asiyah bint Muzahim, wife of the greatest tyrant in the Quran, is upheld as a supreme model of faith – demonstrating that proximity to evil does not prevent salvation, only one's own choices matter.