2. Al-Baqara

(They question thee (O Muhammad) concerning menstruation�.) [2:222]. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ja'far informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya> Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Daghuli> Muhammad ibn Mishkan> Hayyan> Hammad> Thabit> Anas who said: �The Jews used to banish women in their menstruation out of the house and refrain from eating, drinking and having sex with them. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was asked about this, and as a response Allah, exalted is He, revealed (They question thee (O Muhammad) concerning menstruation. Say: It is an illness, so let women alone at such times and go not in unto them till they are cleansed�)�. This was narrated by Muslim from Zuhayr ibn Harb from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi from Hammad. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Khashshab informed us> Abu 'Amr ibn Hamdan> Abu 'Imran Musa ibn al-'Abbas al-Juwayni> Muhammad ibn 'Ubayd Allah ibn Yazid al-Qarduwani al-Harrani> his father> Sabiq ibn 'Abd Allah al-Raqqi> Khusayf> Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir> Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah> the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, that he said regarding (They question thee (O Muhammad) concerning menstruation): �The Jews used to say: 'Whoever penetrates his wife from a back position, the child born to them as a result of this intercourse would be born cross-eyed'. Because of this, the women of the Helpers did not let their husbands penetrate them from a back position. A group of them went to see the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and asked him about having sex with their wives while in their period of menstruation and also about the claim of the Jews. Allah, glorious and exalted is He, revealed therefore (They question thee (O Muhammad) concerning menstruation. Say: It is an illness, so let women alone at such times and go not in unto them till they are cleansed. And when they have purified themselves�), i.e. by performing a major ritual ablution (And when they have purified themselves, then go in unto them as Allah hath enjoined upon you) i.e. from the front (Truly Allah loveth those who turn unto Him, and loveth those who have a care for cleanness. Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will�) because it is in the tilth that the child will grow and it is from there that it will come out�.

Your women are your tillage, so come to your tillage as you like. The servant has a soul and a heart. The soul is from the low world, and its root is water and dust. The heart is from the high world, that is, the lordly subtlety, and its foundation is pure light. The soul's station is absence, and the heart's station is witnessing. MuṣṬafā alluded to this with his words, “There is no heart that is not between two fingers of God.” God gave the soul, which stays absent, the same living quarters as its similars, and He made this a favor. He said, “Your women are your tillage, so come to your tillage as you like.” In another place He said, “Marry the women who seem goodly to you” [4:3]. In another place He said, “That you may rest in them, and He placed between you love and mercy” [30:21]. Finding one's own shares and inclining toward similars in this manner is the portion of the soul, which remains in the lowland of jealousy. As for the heart, it has the station of contemplation, so it is forbidden to incline toward any others or to come down to any creature. Until it cuts itself off from creation and makes its own secret core pure of other than the Real, it will not come under these words: “He loves those who make themselves pure” [2:222]. The Lord of the Worlds loves those who are pure in this manner. He calls them men when He says, “In it are men who love to make themselves pure, and God loves those who make themselves pure” [9:108]. Know also that in this house of the decree, vile things are of two sorts. One is vileness of entity, which can never become pure by washing. If you put a corpse into the ocean a thousand times, it will never become pure, for the impurity belongs to its own entity. The other is vileness of attribute. At root something is pure, but an impurity has reached it. If you wash it, it becomes pure. This impurity, however, is of two sorts. One is flimsy, so it becomes pure with a single water. The other is heavy, so it must be washed with water and dust to become pure.

(And make not Allah, by your oaths, a hindrance to your being righteous�) [2:224]. Said al-Kalbi: �This was revealed about �Abd Allah ibn Rawahah to warn him against boycotting the husband of his sister, Bashir ibn al-Nu�man. �Abd Allah ibn Rawahah had sworn that he will never visit him, speak to him or reconcile between him and his sister. He said: �I swore by Allah that I will not do any of these and it is forbidden for me not to honour my oath�. Allah then revealed this verse�.

For those who forswear their women, a wait of four months. But if they revert, God is forgiving, ever-merciful. In terms of allusion, these verses contain an eloquent admonition and complete advice concern- ing the observation of the rightful dues of the Real: God gives so much weight and gravity to the rightful due of the people that He sends a decisive command concerning it and instills dread into those who put it aside. Hence it is even more appropriate to preserve the rightful due of God and to dread putting it aside. In one of the reports it is mentioned that tomorrow at the resurrection a youth will be brought who had neglected the rightful dues of God. In the attribute of awe and exaltedness the Exalted Lord will address him: “Had you no shame? Had you no fear of My anger and harshness such that you neglected My rightful due and you paid it no reverence and respect? Take him to hell, for he is worthy of fire, and fire is worthy of him.” Ibn ʿAbbās narrated that the Prophet said, “God says, 'I will not look after the rightful due of My servant until the servant looks after My rightful due.'” In the scriptures has come, “I honor those who honor Me and I scorn those who scorn My command.” Look at the vengeance He takes from the servant because of His rightful due, even though His rightful due is built on leniency, and He passes over most of it. As for the rightful dues of created things, in these no leniency is shown, so God's vengeance in them is more. So much is this so that it is said that if someone has the reward of seventy prophets but has one plaintiff whom he has cheated of half a penny, he will not enter paradise until that plaintiff is satisfied with him. So, the rightful dues of the creatures must be preserved, and one must strive mightily to observe them, especially the rightful dues of women and spouses, on whose behalf the Lord of the Worlds acts as deputy in this verse, requesting their husbands to take care of them. MuṣṬafā said, “The best of you is the best of you to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wife.

Divorce is twice, then retention with honor or setting free with beautiful doing. This is a recommendation to spread out the divorce so that they will not hurry to complete sepa- ration.19 Spreading out the divorce is recommended because the reality of separation is reprehen- sible. Although divorce is permitted in the Shariah, God hates it, for it is the cause of separating and of cutting the ties of familiarity and union. God's Messenger said, “The most hateful of per- mitted things to me is divorce.” The exalted Qur'an praises people who do not cut bonds and do not seek for separation. It says, “Those who join what God has commanded to be joined and fear their Lord” [13:21]. In the Highest Dominion, He created angels who are half snow and half fire. Through His own power He brought these two opposites together and kept them that way. Their glorification is this: “Glory be to Him who makes fire familiar with snow! O Lord, make the hearts of your faithful servants familiar with each other!” A pir of the Sufis said, “I was walking in the desert. I saw a person I did not recognize, water standing before him, and plants growing from the water. I asked him who he was and he said that he was Abū Murra [the Father of Bitterness].20 I asked him what the water was. He said, 'It is my tears, and these green things and plants are growing up from my tears.' I asked him why he was weeping. He said, 'I weep in the days of separation for the days of union. In the days of separation the murmur of union is the ease of the hearts of the deprived. Leave me to weep for myself, for there is no one in the world more miserable than I.'” I said, “My heart wants to be Your comrade, so I will be worthy of thanks and applause.” By God, I did not think, O Spirit of the world, that all my hopes would come to this. Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī had a wife whom he divorced. Her dower was 40,000 dirhams, so he sent it to her so that her heart would be happy. She put that wealth in front her and began to weep: “'Paltry goods from a departed lover!' What use to me are the goods of the world when my companion is not at my side and my friend is tired of me!” When a viper strikes someone's liver they give him the antidote, not candy.