suspicious thoughts concerning them.
It is an established principle in legal theory that a legal rationale (ʿillah) may extend its ruling to all cases that share it. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Akhḍarī alludes to this in his didactic poem Maraqī al-Suʿūd when he says:
At times it is restricted, at times it is made to spread;
Its root remains intact—never is it overthrown.
God willing, a full treatment of the question of ḥijāb will appear under Sūrat al-Aḥzāb.
Another illustration is the statement of some scholars that his—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—wives are not included among the People of the Household in the verse, “Allah only wishes to remove impurity from you, O People of the Household” (33:33). The context plainly affirms their inclusion, for Allah first says, “O Prophet, say to your wives: If you desire…” (33:28), then—addressing the same persons—He declares, “Allah only wishes to remove impurity from you, O People of the Household” (33:33), and immediately afterwards adds, “And remember what is recited in your homes of Allah’s revelations and wisdom” (33:34).
The great majority of scholars of uṣūl hold that the specific situation that occasioned a revelation is definitively included in the verse, so it cannot be excluded by any other qualifier. It is reported from Mālik (d. 179 AH) that such inclusion is only presumptive. Maraqī al-Suʿūd hints at both views:
Be certain that those who occasioned the cause are embraced,
Yet relate from the Imām that the matter is but presumed.
The correct view, therefore, is that the wives are encompassed by the verse, and—God willing—you will see the detailed proof of this in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb.
Among the Qur’an’s modes of clarification is to mention the occurrence of an event in one place and explain, elsewhere, how it happened. Thus He, Exalted is He, says: “And when We appointed for Moses forty nights, then you took the calf after him…” (2:51). Here the manner in which the forty nights were set—whether consecutive or divided—is left unstated. That detail appears in al-Aʿrāf: “We appointed for Moses thirty nights and completed them with ten, so the term of forty nights was fulfilled” (7:142).