| Number: | 66 |
| Number-3: | 066 |
| At-Taḥrīm | |
| Name-Ar: | التحريم |
| Name-En: | The Banning |
| Prev Sura: | Quran 65 |
| Next Sura: | Quran 67 |
| Classification: | Medinan |
| Othernames: | The Prohibition, The Forbidding |
| Juz: | 28 |
| Rukus: | 2 |
| Verses: | 12 |
| Audio: | Chapter 66, At-Tahrim (Mujawwad) - Recitation of the Holy Qur'an.mp3 |
At-Taḥrīm (Arabic: التحريم, "Banning, Prohibition") is the 66th Surah or chapter of the Quran and contains 12 verses (ayah).[1] This Surah deals with questions regarding Muhammad's wives.[2] [3]
The Surah's name is derived from the words lima tuharrimu of the first verse. This is not a title of its subject matter, but the name implies that it is the Surah in which the incident of tahrim (prohibition, forbiddance) has been mentioned.[4]
In connection with the incident of Tahrim referred to in this Surah, the traditions of the Hadith mentions the affair regarding the three ladies who were among the wives of Muhammad at that time; Safiyya bint Huyayy, Zainab Bint Jahsh and Maria al-Qibtiyya. The former (i. e. Safiyyah) was taken to wife by Muhammad after the conquest of Khaiber, and Khaiber was conquered, as has been unanimously reported, in A. H. 7. The other lady, Mariyah, had been presented to Muhammad by Al-Muqawqis, the ruler of Egypt, in A. H. 7, whom Muhammed had known to freed and married her according to Ibn Kathir and had borne him his son, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, in Dhu al-Hijjah, A. H. 8. Another Hadith tradition mentions about the honey incident which have been known to take place in A. H. 8. These historical events almost precisely determine that this Surah was sent down some time during A. H. 7[7] or A. H .8.[8] [9]
Asbāb al-nuzūl, an Arabic term meaning "occasions/circumstances of revelation", is a secondary genre of Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) directed at establishing the context in which specific verses of the Qur'an were revealed. Though of some use in reconstructing the Qur'an's historicity, asbāb is by nature an exegetical rather than a historiographical genre, and as such usually associates the verses it explicates with general situations rather than specific events. According to Sale, the occasion of this chapter was as follows: "There are some who suppose this passage to have been occasioned by Muhammad’s protesting never to eat honey any more, because, having once eaten some in the apartment of Hafsa bint Umar or of Zaynab bint Jahsh, three other of his wives, namely, Aisha, Sawda bint Zamʿa, and Safiyya bint Huyayy, all told him they smelt he had been eating of the juice which distils from certain shrubs in those parts, and resembles honey in taste and consistency, but is of a very strong savour, and which the Prophet had a great aversion to."[10] Muhammad al-Bukhari recorded that Aisha narrated:
The idea of textual relation between the verses of a chapter has been discussed under various titles such as nazm and munasabah in non-English literature and coherence, text relations, intertextuality, and unity in English literature. Hamiduddin Farahi, an Islamic scholar of the Indian subcontinent, is known for his work on the concept of nazm, or coherence, in the Quran. Fakhruddin al-Razi (died 1209 CE), Zarkashi (died 1392) and several other classical as well as contemporary Quranic scholars have contributed to the studies.[12]