The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 668
PT. 22 AL-AHZAB CH. 33 وط أَيْمَانُهُمْ لِكَيْلَا يَكُونَ عَلَيْكَ حَرَج to the Prophet provided the Prophet desires to marry her; this provision is only for thee, as against other believers-We have already made known what We have enjoined on them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that there may be no difficulty for thee in the discharge of thy work. And Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful. 3111 3111. Commentary: This verse should be read along with vv. 29 and 30 above. In those verses the wives of the Holy Prophet were offered a choice between the companionship of the Holy Prophet and the material benefits and comforts of life, but they preferred the Prophet's company. The present verse by implication refers to that reply of the Prophet's consorts which is recorded in the books of history but expressly nowhere in the Quran. Till they gave their reply, the marital relations between them and the Holy Prophet remained, as it were, in a state of suspension. The verse shows that while the wives of the Holy Prophet preferred his company to material goods and amenities of life, he too had great consideration for their feelings, and though he was given the choice to retain such of them as he liked (v. 52) he did not exercise the choice and in deference to his wishes God 2582 وَكَانَ اللهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا permitted him in the present verse to retain all his wives. The verse refers to three kinds of women whom the Holy Prophet could marry in addition to his already wedded wives: (1) Women who were taken prisoner in wars against Islam; (2) women who had migrated to Medina with the Holy Prophet, and (3) a woman who should offer herself for marriage to him. This shows that the Holy Prophet's marriages were motivated by considerations other than sensuous gratification as his ignorant and mischievous critics try to depict. Those who had left their hearths and homes for the sake of Islam and those whose husbands had been killed in wars fighting in defence of Islam had special claim on the Holy Prophet's consideration. It is in view of these considerations that he married most of his wives. He married Hafsah whose husband was killed in the Battle of Badr; Zainab bint Khuzaimah