In case of adultery, punishment doubled for wives of the Prophet

[Zainab_M]

 


O ye wives of the Prophet! Whosoever of you committeth manifest lewdness, the punishment for her will be doubled, and that is easy for Allah. (33:30) Al-Ahzab

And whosoever of you is submissive unto Allah and His messenger and doeth right, We shall give her her reward twice over, and We have prepared for her a rich provision.
(33:31)  Al-Ahzab

Verse 33:30 of Surah Al-Ahzab is generally taken my interpreters as a worldly punishment.  But in my humble opinion, I think this refers to the punishment in the Hereafter. 

Most interpreters in their tafsirs explain Verse 33:30 as --

Punishment for adultery is 100 lashes (2:24 Surah An-Nur).  So, accordingly they interpret the double of that to be 200 lashes.  But if you carefully concentrate on the last line of Verse 33:30 that says "and that is easy for Allah" is an expression that indicates punishment carried out in the Hereafter on the orders of Allah.  My opinion is further strengthened by the following Verse 33:31 of Surah Al-Ahzab. This Verse mentions of rich provision and the reward being doubled for the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) who adhere to righteous conduct.  Verse 33:31 definitely refers to the Hereafter because according to the rules of Allah as elucidated in the Glorious Quraan, He would not guarantee such a reward to anyone in this earthly world. 

Thus, just as reward for the humble and righteous will be doubled in the next world, the punishment for unrighteous will be doubled too. 

And just as it's not possible for us to describe what that beautiful reward in Paradise would be, it's also impossible for us to know the description of that double punishment.  All that is known to Allah only.

Therefore, as an earthly penalty for adultery, I think that the punishment for the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) would probably be the same as for others, provided of course a convincing evidence is found.  But in any case, it would surely be doubled in the next world as per my reading of Verse 33:30. 

And only Allah knows best the exact interpretations of all verses of the Glorious Quraan. 

[Heba E. Husseyn]

MaashAllah, thank u for this very thought provoking piece, sister zeynab.  Somehow uptil now I hadn't focused on this verse too intently and so I also carried the opinion that in case of proven adultery, punishment for the Prophet's (pbuh) wives would be 200 lashes.  But u r right, a more careful reading of verses 33:30-31 does bring a somewhat different meaning.  It also makes me think that if v.33:30 meant an earthly double punishment of 200 lashes, Almighty Allah would have clarified it as such by connecting its contents (directly or indirectly) with the contents of v. 24:2 as we see with many verses of the Noble Quran with similar topics.  But unlike v. 24:2, v. 33:30 only speaks of punishment and not the mode of punishment at all.  It could very well refer to retribution in afterlife. 

Thanks again sis.  Assalam alaykum and peace.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Hmmm, very thoughtful point ....

[AceOfHearts]

O ye wives of the Prophet! Whosoever of you committeth manifest lewdness, the punishment for her will be doubled, and that is easy for Allah. (33:30) Al-Ahzab

And whosoever of you is submissive unto Allah and His messenger and doeth right, We shall give her her reward twice over, and We have prepared for her a rich provision.
(33:31)  Al-Ahzab

Verse 33:30 of Surah Al-Ahzab is generally taken my interpreters as a worldly punishment.  But in my humble opinion, I think this refers to the punishment in the Hereafter. 

Most interpreters in their tafsirs explain Verse 33:30 as --

Punishment for adultery is 100 lashes (2:24 Surah An-Nur).  So, accordingly they interpret the double of that to be 200 lashes.  But if you carefully concentrate on the last line of Verse 33:30 that says "and that is easy for Allah" is an expression that indicates punishment carried out in the Hereafter on the orders of Allah.  My opinion is further strengthened by the following Verse 33:31 of Surah Al-Ahzab. This Verse mentions of rich provision and the reward being doubled for the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) who adhere to righteous conduct.  Verse 33:31 definitely refers to the Hereafter because according to the rules of Allah as elucidated in the Glorious Quraan, He would not guarantee such a reward to anyone in this earthly world. 

Thus, just as reward for the humble and righteous will be doubled in the next world, the punishment for unrighteous will be doubled too. 

And just as it's not possible for us to describe what that beautiful reward in Paradise would be, it's also impossible for us to know the description of that double punishment.  All that is known to Allah only.

Therefore, as an earthly penalty for adultery, I think that the punishment for the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) would probably be the same as for others, provided of course a convincing evidence is found.  But in any case, it would surely be doubled in the next world as per my reading of Verse 33:30. 

And only Allah knows best the exact interpretations of all verses of the Glorious Quraan. 

Dear Sister Zeynab,

Im sorry to take this long to reply. I absolutely agree with everything you said and have only little to add.

You are right when you say that when the Verse says "that is easy for Allah" that it is most probably refering to the Hereafter. In Arabic, this bit is in the pastence, literally in English its "and that was easy for Allah". In arabic "....و كان الله" "Wa kaana Allah" "and Allah was/and was for Allah" (followed by the remaining).

This expression I feel is important because I have noticed other Verses which has endings like this "Wa kaana Allah...(followed by attribute or way of Allah) and they are refering to the Hereafter. I have one reference at hand: 4:96 "and Allah was Forgiving and Merciful":"و كان الله غفور رحيما" refering to the Hereafter, I am sure of other Verses like this but cant recall any more specific references at the moment. This supports what you are saying that the Verse 33:30 refers to the Hereafter.

Another argument which supports our interpretation is that there is a Verse where Allah tells us of a dialogue between two dwellers of Hell. I am recalling occurances stated in the Verses from the top of my head, but one of the evildoers asks Allah for the other to have double punishment, and Allah says that both of them will have double, but they do not know this. This gives further weight to our interpretation because double punishment is no longer an uncommon thing for the Hereafter. My dear sister, you are very right that we do not know what this double punishment translate to for sure, we can certainly think over it. So to conclude, the punishment in this world for adultary/fornication for the wives of the Prophet are as for ordinary women.

Together with all that you have stated my sister and what I have stated, I am very certain of the interpration of 33:30 we hold. The traditional inteprations are as with all their other intepretations, devoid of thinking or wisdom. Its always just taking out a Verse at face value, then process it using Hadiths without ever using any Quranic wisdom (ie. understanding of the Qur'an as a whole).

Take care of yourself my sister.
Assalamu alaikum

[Zainab_M]

Thank you so much dear brother for further clarifying this Verse with direct references to Quraanic Arabic.  Yes, I too recall that the term "double torment" is mentioned in a few other verses as well.  And there are several future occurences or possible occurences (including Allah's decisions in the Hereafter) that are often in the past tense. 

Most people seem to overlook this point and refer to Verse 33:30 as worldly penalty.  Even Mohammad Asadi, who generally has a good insight of the Quraan, probably wasn't able to perceive this verse accurately.  In his detailed article titled Hadith conspiracy and distortion of Islam, which is really a very wonderful piece, the following underlined words in which he has obviously referred to Verse 33:30 sound like worldy punishment.   I suppose that's because he hasn't concentrated carefully on V.33.30.

"14. The Koran mentions with absolutely no ambiguity that the punishment of adultery or fornication is 100 lashes (Koran 24:1-3); which is half in the case of slave girls (50 lashes) and double in the case of the wives of the prophet (200 lashes) if they were to become guilty. The Hadith, contrary to this mention "stoning to death," as being the punishment of adultery in the case of married couples. This is completely against the commandment of Allah in the Koran, which makes no distinction between married or unmarried in the case of adultery."

Half punishment for slaves as mentioned in 4:25 (Surah An-Nur) highlighted in Asadi's article does sound like earthly penalty, I agree with that, but not the double punishment for wives of Prophet as stated in V.33:30.  This is apparently in the Hereafter and like you said, we cannot be sure of the nature of this double punishment.  Only Allah knows it best.

"And whoso is not able to afford to marry free, believing women, let them marry from the believing maids whom your right hands possess. Allah knoweth best (concerning) your faith. Ye (proceed) one from another; so wed them by permission of their folk, and give unto them their portions in kindness, they being honest, not debauched nor of loose conduct. And if when they are honourably married they commit lewdness they shall incur the half of the punishment (prescribed) for free women (in that case). This is for him among you who feareth to commit sin. But to have patience would be better for you. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." 4:25 (An-Nur)

Thank you again dear brother for your very helpful explanation.  Salaam Alaikum and peace.

[Zainab_M]

  But unlike v. 24:2, v. 33:30 only speaks of punishment and not the mode of punishment at all.  It could very well refer to retribution in afterlife. 

Yes, exactly sister ..