Surah At-Talaq – Mohamed Seddik El Menchaoui

At-Talaq ("Divorce") is the 65th surah of the Quran, in the 28th juz. It is a Medinan surah of 12 verses, 99th in the traditional order of revelation, coming after Al-Insan. It sets out how a divorce is to be carried out (timing, waiting period, housing and support) and ties every ruling to God-consciousness and trust in God.

The surah is named after its opening verse: when you divorce women, divorce them with regard to their waiting period (65:1). Abdullah ibn Mas'ud called it "the shorter surah of women" (al-Bukhari). According to Sahih Muslim, when Abdullah ibn Umar divorced his wife during her menses, the Prophet ﷺ told him to take her back until she was pure, and recited this verse.

The first seven verses complete the rulings of Al-Baqara. The waiting period ('idda) is to be counted and the wife is not put out of her home during it; at its end she is kept or released on fair terms, before two just witnesses (65:2). Women who no longer menstruate, or have not yet begun, wait three months; for a pregnant woman the term ends with childbirth (65:4). She is housed and provided for according to the husband's means, and a nursing mother is paid (65:6-7).

Woven into these rulings are some of the most quoted promises of the Quran: whoever is mindful of God, He will make a way out for him and provide for him from where he does not expect; whoever relies on God, He is sufficient for him (65:2-3); and God will bring ease after hardship (65:7).

The closing verses recall towns that defied their Lord, and the Messenger ﷺ reciting clear verses to bring believers out of darkness into light (65:10-11). The surah ends with the seven heavens and "of the earth the like of them" (65:12). It is followed by At-Tahrim, which also concerns family life.