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187
أُحِلَّ لَكُم لَيلَةَ الصِّيامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلىٰ نِسائِكُم ۚ هُنَّ لِباسٌ لَكُم وَأَنتُم لِباسٌ لَهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُم كُنتُم تَختانونَ أَنفُسَكُم فَتابَ عَلَيكُم وَعَفا عَنكُم ۖ فَالآنَ باشِروهُنَّ وَابتَغوا ما كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُم ۚ وَكُلوا وَاشرَبوا حَتّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الخَيطُ الأَبيَضُ مِنَ الخَيطِ الأَسوَدِ مِنَ الفَجرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيامَ إِلَى اللَّيلِ ۚ وَلا تُباشِروهُنَّ وَأَنتُم عاكِفونَ فِي المَساجِدِ ۗ تِلكَ حُدودُ اللَّهِ فَلا تَقرَبوها ۗ كَذٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ آياتِهِ لِلنّاسِ لَعَلَّهُم يَتَّقونَ

Yusuf Ali

Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They are your garments and ye are their garments1. God knoweth what ye used to do secretly among yourselves; but He turned to you and forgave you; so now associate with them, and seek what God Hath ordained for you2, and eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread3; then complete your fast Till the night appears4; but do not associate with your wives while ye are in retreat5 in the mosques. Those are6 Limits (set by) God. Approach not nigh thereto. Thus doth God make clear His Signs to men: that they may learn self-restraint.
  • Men and women are each other’s garments: i.e., they are for mutual support, mutual comfort, and mutual protection, fitting into each other as a garment fits the body. A garment also is both for show and concealment. The question of sex is always delicate to handle: here we are told that even in such matters a clear, open, and honest course is better than fraud or self-deception. The sex instinct is classed with eating and drinking, an animal thing to be restrained, but not to be ashamed of. The three things are prohibited during the fast by day, but permitted after the fast is broken at night till the next fast commences.
  • There is difference of opinion as to the exact meaning of this. I would connect this as a parallel clause with the clause “eat and drink”, which follows, all three being governed by “until the white thread”, etc. That is, all three things must stop when the fast begins again in the early morning. Or it may mean: What is permitted is well enough, but seek the higher things ordained for you.
  • Those in touch with Nature know the beautiful effects of early dawn. First appear thin white indefinable streaks of light in the east; then a dark zone supervenes; followed by a beautiful pinkish white zone clearly defined from the dark; after that the fast begins.
  • Till the night appears: From the actual practice of the Holy Prophet, this is rightly interpreted to mean: “Till sunset”.
  • This verse refers to the known Islamic practice called i’tikaf which means retreating to mosques for devotion and worship. The Prophet (peace be on him) used to retreat to the mosque during the last ten days of Ramadān. [Eds.].
  • I construe these limits as applying to the whole of the regulations about fasts.