Surah At-Tahrim

At-Tahrim ("The Prohibition") is the 66th surah of the Quran and closes the 28th juz. It is a Medinan surah of 12 verses, 107th in the traditional order of revelation, after Al-Hujurat. Starting from an episode in the Prophet's household, it calls believers to sincere repentance and to protect their families, and ends with four women as examples of disbelief and of faith.

The name comes from the first verse, in which God asks the Prophet ﷺ why he forbids himself what God has made lawful for him, seeking to please his wives (66:1). Al-Bukhari and Muslim report from Aisha that he used to drink honey at the house of Zaynab bint Jahsh; Aisha and Hafsa agreed to tell him they smelled maghafir, a pungent gum, on him, and he swore not to drink it again. An-Nasa'i reports from Anas, with an authentic chain, that the verses concerned a slave woman he had forbidden himself; some commentators hold that both events are meant.

Verses 3 to 5 mention a confidence that one wife disclosed to another, and call the two to repent. Umar told Ibn Abbas that they were Hafsa and Aisha (al-Bukhari, Muslim).

The address then turns to all believers: protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones (66:6), and turn to God in sincere repentance (tawba nasuha), on a Day when the believers' light will run before them (66:8).

The surah closes with four examples. The wives of Noah and Lot were not saved by their marriage to righteous men (66:10). The wife of Pharaoh asked her Lord for a house near Him in Paradise (66:11), and Maryam, daughter of Imran, guarded her chastity and believed in her Lord's words (66:12). In a hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ names these two among the women who attained perfection. See also Al-Ahzab, which addresses the Prophet's wives, and Maryam.