- Then the Most High said:
“It has been made lawful for you to have relations with your wives during the nights of fasting. They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. Allah knew that you were betraying yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and pardoned you. Now, therefore, have relations with them and seek what Allah has decreed for you. Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread; then complete the fast until nightfall. But do not have relations with them while you are in retreat in the mosques. These are the limits of Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make His signs clear to people so that they may become mindful of Him.”
When fasting was first prescribed, Muslims were forbidden to eat, drink, or have sexual intercourse at night after sleeping. This caused hardship for some of them, so Allah Most High lightened the matter for them and permitted eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse throughout every night of fasting, whether they had slept or not, for they had been betraying themselves by failing to observe some of what they had been commanded.
Allah “accepted your repentance” by granting you latitude in a matter that, had He not done so, would have entailed sin, “and pardoned you” for the betrayal that had previously occurred.
“Now,” after this dispensation and latitude from Allah, “have relations with them” through intercourse, kissing, touching, and the like.
“And seek what Allah has decreed for you.” That is, when having relations with your wives, intend to draw near to Allah Most High and to attain the foremost purpose of intercourse: having offspring, preserving your own chastity and that of your wife, and fulfilling the purposes of marriage.
Among the things Allah has decreed for you is the Night of Decree, which falls during the nights of fasting in Ramadan. You should therefore not become so preoccupied with this pleasure that you neglect and squander that night. This pleasure may be obtained again, but if the Night of Decree is missed, it cannot be recovered.
“Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread.” This marks the endpoint for eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse. It also indicates that there is no blame upon a person who eats or does something similar while uncertain whether dawn has broken.
It also provides evidence that the predawn meal is recommended, based on the command, and that it is recommended to delay it, as may be inferred from the purpose of Allah’s dispensation and His making matters easy for His servants.
It further proves that dawn may arrive while a person remains in a state of major ritual impurity due to intercourse, before he has bathed, and that his fast remains valid. This is because permitting intercourse until dawn necessarily means that dawn may arrive while he is in a state of major ritual impurity, and whatever necessarily follows from a truth is itself true.
“Then,” once dawn has broken, “complete the fast”—that is, abstain from everything that breaks it—“until nightfall,” which is sunset. Since the permission to engage in intercourse during the nights of fasting was not permission (1) granted universally to everyone, for it is not lawful for one in ritual retreat, Allah made an exception by saying: “But do not have relations with them while you are in retreat in the mosques”; that is, while you are in that state. The verse establishes the legitimacy of ritual retreat, which means remaining in the mosque in obedience to Allah [Most High] and devoting oneself wholly to Him. It also establishes that ritual retreat is valid only in a mosque.
The definite expression “the mosques” indicates that these are the mosques familiar to them, namely those in which the five daily prayers are established.
The verse also indicates that sexual intercourse invalidates ritual retreat.
“These”—the matters just mentioned, namely the prohibition during fasting of eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, and other things that break the fast; the prohibition against breaking the fast for anyone without a valid excuse; the prohibition of sexual intercourse for one in ritual retreat; and similar prohibitions—“are the limits of Allah,” which He has set for His servants and commanded them to avoid. He therefore said: “So do not approach them.” This is more emphatic than saying, “Do not commit them,” because forbidding someone to approach them includes both the prohibition against committing the forbidden deed itself and the prohibition against the means that lead ⦗88⦘ to it.
The servant is commanded to forsake forbidden things, keep as far away from them as possible, and abandon every cause that might lead to them. As for commands, Allah says concerning them: “These are the limits of Allah, so do not transgress them,” thereby prohibiting people from exceeding them.
“Thus”—that is, [Allah] has explained the foregoing rulings to His servants with the fullest explanation and made them perfectly clear.
“Allah makes His signs clear to people so that they may become mindful of Him.” When the truth becomes clear to them, they follow it, and when falsehood becomes clear to them, they avoid it. A person may commit a forbidden act out of ignorance that it is forbidden, whereas, had he known of its prohibition, he would not have committed it. Thus, when Allah makes His signs clear to people, they are left with neither excuse nor argument, and this becomes a means of attaining piety.