1
O Prophet! When you divorce women, divorce them during the term prescribed for them and compute the prescribed time correctly. Fear God, your Lord, and do not expel them from their houses. They themselves should not leave either, unless they are guilty of flagrant indecency. Such are the limits of God, and whoever transgresses the limits of God does wrong to his soul. Perhaps God will give this matter a new turn!
2
When they reach their term, retain them equitably or part with them equitably. Call two just [people] from your midst as witnesses and testify before God. This Admonition is for anyone who believes in God and the Last Day. God will find a way out for the one who fears God,
3
and provide for him from unexpected sources. God is sufficient for any one who trusts Him. Verily, God will fulfill His purpose. Verily, everything has a measure with God!
4
If you have any doubts, the prescribed term is three months for those of your women who have stopped expecting menses, and also for those who have not had their menses yet. For pregnant women, their term is at delivery. God will make his commands easy for the God-fearing.
5
Such is God’s Design, which He has sent down to you. He will free the God-fearing of evil and will increase his reward.
6
Lodge [women during the waiting period] where you live and according to your means. Do not harass them to make their life difficult; if they are pregnant, spend on them until they deliver. If they are breast-feeding your [child], pay them their dues and consult with them in good faith. If you disagree, [leave] breast-feeding to another woman.
7
Let a man of means spend from his wealth and let a man in want spend from what God has given him. God will not burden any soul with more than what He has assigned to her; indeed, soon after hardship God brings you relief.
8
How many towns have rebelled against the commands of their Lord and His Messengers! We called them to strict account and inflicted upon them a severe punishment.
9
They tasted the evil of their deeds, and their deeds led them to losses.
10
God has prepared a harsh punishment for them! O people with sense and faith, fear God! Indeed, God has sent down to you a Reminder
11
and a Messenger who recites to you the clear Verses of God to bring those who believed and did good works out of darkness into the light. And those who believed in God and did good works, He will admit into the Gardens under which the rivers flow to abide in them for ever. What an excellent provision God bestows upon them!
12
God is the One, Who has created seven heavens and the earth in the same number! His commands descend between them to let you know that God has power over everything, and that God’s Knowledge encompasses all things.