Ala-Maududi
(33:37) (O Prophet),[67] call to mind when you said to him[68]whom Allahhad favoured and you had favoured: “Cleave to your wife and fear Allah,”[69] and youconcealed within yourself for fear of people what Allah was to reveal, although Allah hasgreater right that you fear Him.[70] So when Zayd had accomplished what he would ofher,[71] We gave her in marriage to you[72] so that there should not beany constraint for the believers regarding the wives of their adopted sons after they hadaccomplished whatever they would of them.[73] And Allah’s command was bound to beaccomplished.
67. The discourse from here to (Surah Al-Ahzab, ayat 48) was sent down after the Prophet (peace be upon him) had marriedZainab, and the hypocrites, the Jews and the mushriks had started a relentless propagandacampaign against him. While studying these verses one should bear in mind the fact that thisdivine discourse was not meant for the instruction of the enemies who were engaged in a willfulcampaign of vilification and slander and falsehood to defame the Prophet (peace be upon him)intentionally and to satisfy their rancor. But its real object was to protect the Muslimsagainst the influence of their campaign and to safeguard them against doubts and suspicions.Evidently, the word of Allah could not satisfy the unbelievers. It could give peace of mind onlyto those who knew and believed it to be Allah’s word. There was a danger that those righteouspeople also might be confused and influenced by the objections that were being raised by theirenemies. Therefore, on the one hand, Allah removed all possible doubts from their minds, and onthe other, taught the Muslims as well as the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself how they shouldconduct themselves under the circumstances.
68. It refers to Zaid as has been mentioned clearly below. In order to understand how Allah andthe Prophet (peace be upon him) had favored him, it is necessary here to relate his storybriefly. He was the son of Harithah bin Shurahbil, a person of the Kalb tribe, and his mother,Suda bint Thalabah, was from the Bani Maan, a branch of the Tay tribe. When he was eight yearsold, she took him along to her parents. There the people of Bani Qain bin Jasr raided theircamp, plundered their goods and took some men prisoners including Zaid. Then they sold Zaid atthe fair of Ukiiz near Taif. His buyer was Hakim bin Hizam, a nephew of Khadijah (may Allah bepleased with her). Hakim brought him to Makkah and presented him to his paternal aunt. When theProphet (peace be upon him) married Khadijah, he found Zaid in her service and was so impressedby his good manners and conduct that he asked her to give Zaid to him. Thus, this fortunate boyentered the service of the best of men, whom Allah, after a few years, was going to appoint aProphet (peace be upon him). Zaid at that time was 15 years old. Afterwards, when his father anduncle came to know that their child was at Makkah, they came to the Prophet (peace be upon him)and requested him to return him in exchange for a payment. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,“I shall call the boy and leave it to him whether he would like to go with you or stay with me.If he chose to go, I would take no payment but would let him go with you. However, if he choseto stay back, I am not the one who would send away a person who would like to stay with me.”They said, “This is perfectly right and just. Please ask the boy.” The Prophet (peace be uponhim) called Zaid and asked him: “Do you know these two gentlemen?” He said, “Yes, this is myfather and this is my uncle.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “Well, you know them aswell as me. You have the choice to go with them, or stay with me if you so desire.” He said, “Ihave no wish to leave you and go with anyone else.” His father and uncle said: “Zaid, will youprefer slavery to freedom, and choose to stay with others in preference to your parents andfamily?” He replied, “After what I have seen of this person, I cannot prefer anything else ofthe world over him.” Hearing this reply, the father and uncle of Zaid were reconciled to hisremaining with the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) set Zaid freeimmediately and proclaimed before a gathering of the Quraish in the Kabah, “Bear witness thathence forth Zaid is my son: he will receive inheritance from me and I from him.” Thereafter, hebegan to be called Zaid bin Muhammad by the people. All this happened before the Prophet’s(peace be upon him) advent as a Prophet. Then, when he was blessed with Prophethood by Allah,there were four persons who accepted his claim to it without a moment’s hesitation as soon asthey heard of it from him. They were Khadijah, Zaid, Ali and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased withthem all). Zaid was 30 years old then, and had already spent 15 years in the Prophet’s (peace beupon him) service. In the fourth year after Hijrah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) married himto his first cousin Zainab, paid her dower on his behalf and provided them with necessaryarticles for setting up the house.
This is to what Allah has alluded in the verse, saying: “Upon whom Allah has bestowed favor, andupon whom you (O Muhammad) have done favor.”
69. These words were said when the relations between Zaid and Zainab had become very strained,and after making repeated complaints Zaid had finally told the Prophet (peace be upon him) thathe intended to divorce her. Although Zainab had accepted to be married to him in obedience toAllah and His Messenger’s command, she could not overcome her feeling that Zaid was a freedslave, who had been brought up by her own family, and she in spite of being the daughter of anoble Arab family, had been wedded to him. Due to this feeling she could never regard Zaid asher equal in matrimonial life, and this caused more and more bitterness between them. Thus aftera little more than a year the marriage ended in divorce.
70. Some people have misconstrued this sentence to mean this: The Prophet (peace be upon him)desired to marry Zainab and wanted that Zaid should divorce her. But when Zaid came to theProphet (peace be upon him) and said that he wanted to divorce his wife, the Prophet (peace beupon him) stopped him from this only half heartedly. At this Allah said: “You were keepinghidden in your heart that which Allah intended to reveal.” The real meaning, however, iscontrary to this. If this the sentence is read with – verses 1, 2, 3 and 7 of this Surah – onecan clearly see that in the very days when bitterness was increasing between Zaid and his wife,Allah had hinted to His Prophet (peace be upon him) that when Zaid had divorced his wife, hewould have to marry the divorced lady. But since the Prophet (peace be upon him) knew what itmeant to marry the divorced wife of the adopted son in the contemporary Arab society, and thattoo at a time when apart from a handful of the Muslims the entire country had become jealous ofhim, he was hesitant to take any step in that direction. That is why when Zaid expressed hisintention to divorce his wife, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him, “Fear Allah and donot divorce your wife.” What he meant by this was that Zaid should not divorce his wife so thathe was saved from facing the trial, otherwise in case the divorce was pronounced he would haveto comply with the command, and thus provoke a severe storm of criticism and vilificationagainst himself. But when the Prophet (peace be upon him) deliberately forbade Zaid to divorcehis wife so that he himself might be saved from what he feared would cause him defamation, Allahfound this below the high position that He wanted His Prophet to enjoy, whereas Allah intendedto effect a great reform through this marriage of the Prophet. The words “And you feared thepeople, while Allah has more right that you should fear Him,” clearly point to the same theme.
The same explanation of this verse has been given by Imam Zain-ul-Aabedin Ali bin Husain (mayAllah be pleased with him). He says, Allah had indicated to His Prophet (peace be upon him) thatZainab would be included among his wives. But when Zaid complained about her to him, the Prophet(peace be upon him) admonished him to fear Allah and keep his wife. At this Allah said to HisProphet, “I had informed you that I would give Zainab you to in marriage. But when you wereforbidding Zaid to divorce his wife, you were hiding that which Allah was going to reveal.” (IbnJarir, Ibn Kathir on the authority of Ibn Abi Hatim).
Allama Alusi in his Ruh-al-Maani has also given the same meaning of it. He says, “This is anexpression of displeasure on abandoning the better course, which was that the Prophet (peace beupon him) should have kept quiet, or should have told Zaid to do as he liked. The displeasureamounted to this: “Why did you tell Zaid to keep his wife, whereas I had informed you beforehandthat Zainab would be included among your wives?”
71. That is, Zaid divorced his wife and her waiting period came to an end. The words “So whenZaid had fulfilled his desire of her” by themselves give the meaning that Zaid was left with nodesire attached to her. And this state of affairs does not appear on mere pronouncement of thedivorce, because even during the waiting period the husband can take his wife back if he has anyinterest in her; and the husband also has this desire left with the divorced wife that it shouldbecome known whether she is pregnant or not. Therefore, the desire of her former husband withthe divorced wife comes to an end only on the expiry of the waiting period.
72. These words are explicit that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had married Zainab not becauseof any personal desire but under the command of Allah.
73. These words clearly indicate that Allah accomplished this social reform through the Prophet(peace be upon him) to effect a great change which could not be enforced by any other means.There was no way to put an end to the wrong customs that had become prevalent in Arabia inrespect of the adopted relations but that Allah’s Messenger himself should take initiative toabolish them. Therefore, Allah arranged this marriage not for the sake of adding a wife to theProphet’s (peace be upon him) household but for enforcing an important social change.