“Remain in your homes, and do not display yourselves as women did in the former age of ignorance. Establish prayer, give zakah, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah intends only to remove from you all impurity, O People of the Household, and to purify you completely.” (33)

“Remain in your homes.” The Medinan reciters and Asim read waqarna, with the qaf vowelled with fatḥah (the a-vowel), while the others read it with kasrah (the i-vowel). According to the reading with fatḥah, it means: remain—that is, stay in your homes. It derives from the expression meaning, “I remained in a place.” One may say qarartu aqarru or qarartu aqirru; both are dialectal forms. The first of the two ras, which is the second root consonant, was omitted because the doubled consonant was burdensome, and its vowel was transferred to the qaf, just as ẓaliltu is contracted to ẓaltu. Allah Most High says: “Then you would remain in wonder” (al-Waqi‘ah 56:65), and, “and you remained devoted to it” (Taha 20:97).

As for the reading with kasrah on the qaf, it has been said that it likewise derives from the verb meaning “to remain,” its sense being: remain, with kasrah on the ra. The first ra was omitted and its vowel transferred to the qaf, as mentioned above. It has also been said—and this is the sounder view—that it is an imperative derived from waqar (dignity and composure), just as idna means “make promises,” derived from wa‘d (promise), and silna means “maintain ties,” derived from wasl (connection). That is: be women of dignity and tranquillity. It derives from the verb waqara, used of one who becomes still and settled.

“And do not display yourselves.” Mujahid and Qatadah said: Such display consists in swaying and coquettish mannerisms. Ibn Abi Najih said: It is strutting. It was also said to mean displaying one’s adornments and exposing one’s charms to men. “As women did in the former age of ignorance.” [They differed concerning the former age of ignorance.] (1)

Al-Sha‘bi said: It was the period between Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. (2)

Abu al-‘Aliyah said: It was in the time of David and Solomon, peace be upon them. A woman would wear a shirt made of pearls, unsewn at the sides, through which her body could be seen. (3)

Al-Kalbi said: This was in the time of Nimrod the tyrant. A woman would make herself a coat of mail from pearls, wear it, and walk in the middle of the road with nothing else upon her, offering herself to men. (4)

It is related from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas, that he said: The former age of ignorance was the period between Noah and Idris, and it lasted a thousand years. Two groups among the descendants of Adam lived then: one lived on the plain, while the other lived in the mountains. The mountain men were handsome, but their women were unattractive; while the women of the plain were beautiful, but their men were unattractive. Iblis came to a man