the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Abu al-As remained in Mecca as a polytheist, then came to Medina and accepted Islam; thereupon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, restored her to him. (1)

“And ask,” O believers, “for what you have spent”: that is, if one of your wives joins the polytheists as an apostate, ask for the dowry you spent when they prevent her from marrying one of their men. “And let them ask”—meaning the polytheists whose wives have joined you—“for what they have spent” of dowry from the one among you who marries her. “That is the judgement of Allah; He judges between you. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

Al-Zuhri said: Had it not been for the truce and treaty between the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and Quraysh on the day of al-Hudaybiyyah, he would have retained the women and would not have returned the dowries. This is how he had dealt with the Muslim women who came to him before the treaty. (2) When this verse was revealed, the believers accepted the judgement of Allah, Most High, and paid what they had been commanded to pay of the expenditures made by the polytheists on their wives. But the polytheists refused to accept the judgement of Allah regarding what they had been commanded to pay of the expenditures made by the Muslims [on their wives]. (3) So Allah, Most High, revealed: “And if any of your wives should desert you...”

“And if any of your wives should desert you to the disbelievers, and you then gain victory, give those whose wives have gone the equivalent of what they spent. And fear Allah, in whom you are believers.” (11)

“And if any of your wives should desert you to the disbelievers”—that is, they join them as apostates—“and you then gain victory.” The exegetes said: Its meaning is that you acquire spoils of war; that is, you fight the disbelievers and gain from them compensation, namely, the spoils of war. It has also been said that it means: you prevail and the outcome is in your favor. And it has been said: you inflict punishment upon them in battle until you acquire spoils.

Humayd al-A'raj recited it as fa'aqqabtum, with consonantal doubling. Al-Zuhri recited fa'aqabtum, without consonantal doubling and without an alif. Mujahid recited fa-a'qabtum, meaning: you dealt with them as they dealt with you. All of these are dialectal variants with one meaning. One may say aaqaba, aqqaba, aqaba, a'qaba, ta'aqqaba, ta'aqaba, and i'taqaba, in the sense of acquiring spoils. It has also been said that ta'qib means one military expedition following another.

“Give those among you whose wives have gone to the disbelievers the equivalent of what they spent” on them, from the spoils that have come into your possession from the wealth of the disbelievers. It has also been said that the meaning is: you punish the apostate woman by killing her.

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that six women among the believing and emigrant women joined the polytheists: Umm al-Hakam, daughter of Abu Sufyan, who was married to Iyad ibn Shaddad al-Fihri; and Fatimah, daughter of Abu Umayyah