—do not marry polytheist women who are not from the People of the Book before you until they believe.

He said, “And who are the muḥṣanāt?”

I replied, “The chaste women.”

He retorted, “Rather, they are the married women.”

I said, “In Arabic, iḥṣān means safeguarding. Whoever secures something has thereby protected it. Manumission safeguards a slave, for it shields him from what befalls slaves; marriage safeguards the private parts because it protects them from being freely available; and chastity likewise safeguards the private parts.”

He said, “To me, iḥṣān is nothing but marriage.”

I answered, “The Revealer of the Quran rejects that. He says, ‘And Mary, daughter of ʿImrān, who guarded her chastity’ (al-Taḥrīm 66:12)—that is, she kept it chaste. And He says, ‘being muḥṣanāt, not promiscuous’ (al-Nisāʾ 4:25)—meaning chaste women.”

He said, “But regarding slave-girls He says, ‘When they become muḥṣanāt’ (al-Nisāʾ 4:25), whereas according to you they may already be chaste.”

I replied, “He described them by their prior iḥṣān before their fornication. The Exalted also says, ‘And you have half of what your wives leave behind’ (al-Nisāʾ 4:12), even though the marital bond is severed by death—that is, those who had been your wives.”

He said, “Shaykh, you are dodging.”

I responded, “I am not dodging; I am answering you, whereas you keep taking refuge in another question.” Then I cried out, “Is there no one writing down what I say and what you say?”

He said, “And Allah spared us from his evil.”

He went on, “It is as though you are claiming: ‘I am the most knowledgeable of people.’”

I said, “With regard to my religion, yes.”

He asked, “So you need no further increase in it?”

I answered, “None.”

He said, “Then you are more knowledgeable than Moses, who said, ‘May I follow you so that you teach me…’ (al-Kahf 18:66).”

I replied, “That is an affront to Moses’s prophethood. Moses had no need of him in matters of his religion—never! The knowledge that al-Khiḍr possessed was worldly: a boat he scuttled, a boy he killed, a wall he repaired—none of that added anything to Moses’s religion.”

He said, “Then let me ask you.”

I said, “Pose your question; upon me is to answer with the truth, without equivocation (1).”

He asked, “What is the meaning of the name ‘Allah’?”

I replied, “The One possessed of godhood.”

He said, “And what is godhood?”

I said, “Lordship.”

He asked, “And what is lordship?”

I replied, “Being the owner of all things.”