Qur'ān/Al-Ahzaab/Āyah 5

Al-Ahzaab 33:5

الأَحۡزَابِ
The Clans Medinan Āyah 5 of 73
33:5

ٱدْعُوهُمْ لِءَابَآئِهِمْ هُوَ أَقْسَطُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن لَّمْ تَعْلَمُوٓا۟ ءَابَآءَهُمْ فَإِخْوَٰنُكُمْ فِى ٱلدِّينِ وَمَوَٰلِيكُمْ ۚ وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌۭ فِيمَآ أَخْطَأْتُم بِهِۦ وَلَٰكِن مَّا تَعَمَّدَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًا

Call them by [the names of] their fathers; it is more just in the sight of Allah. But if you do not know their fathers - then they are [still] your brothers in religion and those entrusted to you. And there is no blame upon you for that in which you have erred but [only for] what your hearts intended. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

Translation · Saheeh International

Tafsir

Ibn Kathīr (abridged)

Abolition of Adoption

Before Allah discusses ideas and theoretical matters, He gives tangible examples: one man cannot have two hearts in his body, and a man's wife does not become his mother if he says the words of Zihar to her: "You are to me like the back of my mother." By the same token, an adopted child does not become the son of the man who adopts him and calls him his son. Allah says:

مَّا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لِرَجُلٍ مِّن قَلْبَيْنِ فِى جَوْفِهِ وَمَا جَعَلَ أَزْوَجَكُمُ اللاَّئِى تُظَـهِرُونَ مِنْهُنَّ أُمَّهَـتِكُمْ

(Allah has not made for any man two hearts inside his body. Neither has He made your wives whom you declare to be like your mothers' backs, your real mothers...) This is like the Ayah:

مَّا هُنَّ أُمَّهَـتِهِمْ إِنْ أُمَّهَـتُهُمْ إِلاَّ اللاَّئِى وَلَدْنَهُمْ

(They cannot be their mothers. None can be their mothers except those who gave them birth) (58:2).

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