559 Page Notes

65 Surah At-Talaq (continued)

Page 559 - Related Hadith/Sunnah

Translation of the meaning by Sahih International.

Page 559 - Related Hadiths and Sunnah

Page 559 of the Quran contains the second half and conclusion of Surah At-Talaq (Chapter 65), verses 6 through 12.

This page completes the detailed legal and financial obligations a man owes to his divorced wife, explicitly focusing on shelter, pregnancy support, and suckling fees. It then shifts focus from micro-family laws to micro-cosmic history, warning mankind of the physical destruction that befell previous civilizations who rejected God's commands, concluding with a profound reminder of God's absolute knowledge over the seven heavens and earth.

The Sunnah and canonical Hadiths provide crucial, multi-layered legal precedents (Fiqh) regarding these financial rights and clarify the precise prophetic applications of page 559.

1. Verse 6: The Famous Legal Debate of Lodging and Maintenance

"Lodge them [in a section] of where you dwell according to your means and do not harm them in order to straiten them. And if they should be pregnant, then spend on them until they give birth..." (Quran 65:6)

The Case of Fatima bint Qais: Revocable vs. Irrevocable Divorce

This verse generated one of the most famous legal debates among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. The Sunnah records a vital distinction between a woman who is revocably divorced (where the husband can take her back during the `Iddah) and one who is irrevocably divorced (three final pronouncements).

Fatima bint Qais (ra) came to the Prophet ﷺ and stated that her husband had divorced her definitively (the third time) while he was away from home, and his family refused to provide her with housing or financial maintenance. The Prophet ﷺ ruled that since her marriage tie was completely severed and he had no right to return to her, she was not legally tied to his house. He told her: "There is no lodging or maintenance allowance for you." He then commanded her to spend her waiting period safely at the home of the blind companion, Ibn Umm Maktum.

Source: Sahih Muslim (Hadith 1480).

The Stance of Umar ibn Al-Khattab

When this ruling reached the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra), he fiercely cross-referenced it with verse 6 on page 559 to ensure people did not misunderstand the baseline rights of women.

Umar (ra) said: "We cannot abandon the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ on the strength of the report of a single woman, when we do not know if she remembered it perfectly or forgot it! Allah has said: 'Lodge them where you yourselves live.' Therefore, a divorced woman has a full right to lodging and maintenance."

Source: Sahih Muslim (Hadith 1481) and Jami` at-Tirmidhi.

The Fiqh Reconciliation: The scholars of the Sunnah unified these reports: A revocably divorced woman receives housing and full financial maintenance. An irrevocably divorced woman receives safe housing but no maintenance unless she is pregnant—in which case, verse 6 explicitly states the husband must pay for everything until the child is born.

2. Verse 7: Financial Limits and "Ease After Hardship"

"Let a man of wealth spend from his wealth, and he whose provision is restricted - let him spend from what Allah has given him... Allah will bring about ease after hardship." (Quran 65:7)

Prophetic Reassurance in Times of Poverty

The Sunnah applies the ending of verse 7 as an absolute psychological and economic law. The Prophet ﷺ taught his followers that clinging tightly to faith during extreme financial restriction is the exact mechanism that triggers divine relief.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Indeed, relief comes with distress, and indeed, with hardship comes ease."

Source: Musnad Ahmad and 40 Hadith An-Nawawi (Hadith 19).

Tafsir Connection: When implementing the suckling fees and maintenance rules on this page, the companions were told that no matter how low their current net worth, they must pay fairly according to their current scale, trusting that God alters economic situations dynamically.

3. Verses 8–11: The Destruction of Defiant Towns

"And how many a town was insolent toward the command of its Lord and His messengers, so We took it to a severe account and punished it with a terrible punishment..." (Quran 65:8)

The Consequences of Violating Social Justice

The Prophet ﷺ explicitly linked the physical ruin of past societies (mentioned on this page) to their internal corruption and failure to establish the laws of financial and social fairness.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O people, beware of greed and injustice, for greed destroyed those who came before you. It commanded them to cut family ties, so they cut them; it commanded them to be miserable, so they hoarded; and it commanded them to commit wickedness, so they did."

Source: Sunan Abi Dawud (Hadith 1698).

4. Verse 12: The Structure of the Seven Earths

"It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them. His command descends among them so you may know that Allah is over all things competent..." (Quran 65:12)

This concluding verse of the Surah contains a rare cosmological disclosure—that just as there are seven atmospheric layers or heavens, there are matching layers or structural counterparts to the earth. The Sunnah provides an incredibly severe warning against land theft by invoking this verse.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever takes a single span of land unjustly, his neck will be encircled by its depth down through seven earths on the Day of Resurrection."

Source: Sahih al-Bukhari (Hadith 3198) and Sahih Muslim.