(4–5) “Allah has not placed two hearts within any man’s breast. Nor has He made your wives whom you declare to be like your mothers truly your mothers, nor has He made your adopted sons truly your sons. Those are merely words you utter with your mouths, whereas Allah speaks the truth and guides to the right way. * Call them by their fathers’ names; that is more just in the sight of Allah. But if you do not know their fathers, then they are your brothers in faith and your allies. You incur no sin for mistakes you make in this regard, but only for what your hearts deliberately intend. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
He, Exalted is He, reproaches [His servants] (1) for uttering statements that have no basis in reality and that Allah has not made as they claim. Such statements are lies and falsehoods on your part and lead to practices condemned by the revealed law. This is a general rule governing speech about anything and the assertion that something has occurred or exists when Allah has not made it so.
He singled out these particular matters because they had occurred and there was a pressing need to clarify them. He therefore said: “Allah has not placed two hearts within any man’s breast.” Such a thing does not exist, so beware of saying that someone has two hearts within his breast, for then you would be lying about Allah’s creation.
“Nor has He made your wives whom you declare to be like your mothers”—by one of you saying to his wife, “You are to me like my mother’s back, or like my mother”—Allah has not made them “your mothers.” Your mother is the woman who gave birth to you and who, among all women, is entitled to the greatest reverence from you and is most inviolably forbidden to you, whereas your wife is the most lawful of women to you. How, then, can one of two opposites be likened to the other?
This is impermissible, as Allah, Exalted is He, said: “Those among you who declare their wives to be like their mothers—such women are not their mothers. Their mothers are only those who gave birth to them. What they say is indeed reprehensible and false.”
“Nor has He made your adopted sons truly your sons.” An adopted son was a child whom a man claimed as his own although he was not, or who was attributed to him because he had adopted him, as was the practice during the Age of Ignorance and the early period of Islam.
Allah, Exalted is He, willed to abolish and eradicate this practice. He therefore first explained its ugliness and that it was false and a lie. Falsehood and lies have no place in Allah’s law, nor are Allah’s servants characterized by them.
Thus Allah, Exalted is He, says that He has not made those whom you claim as sons, or who are attributed to you, your actual sons. Your true sons are those whom you have begotten and who are of you, whereas these adopted sons come from others. Allah has not made the one like the other.
“That” refers to what you say of an adopted son: “He is the son of so-and-so,” meaning the man who claimed him, or, “So-and-so is his father.” It is merely “words from your mouths”—that is, a statement with neither reality nor substance.
“Whereas Allah speaks the truth”—that is, what is certain and true. He has therefore commanded you to follow His word and His law. His word is truth and His law is truth. False statements and deeds cannot be attributed to Him in any way and are not part of His guidance, for He guides only to the straight path and ways of truth.
Even though such things occur by His will, His will encompasses everything that exists, both good and evil.
Then He expressly commanded them to abandon the former practice, which entailed a false statement, saying: “Call them”—meaning the adopted sons—“by their fathers’ names,” those who begot them. “That is more just in the sight of Allah”—that is, more equitable, upright, and rightly guided.
“But if you do not know their true fathers, then they are your brothers in faith and your allies”—that is, your brothers in Allah’s religion and your allies therein. Call them in terms of genuine brotherhood in faith and the corresponding bond of allegiance. It is obligatory to stop attributing them to those who adopted them; doing so is impermissible.
As for calling them by their fathers’ names, if their fathers are known, they should be called after them. If they are not known, one must limit oneself to what is known about them: brotherhood [in faith] (2) and mutual allegiance. Do not suppose that your lack of knowledge of their fathers excuses attributing them to those who adopted them, for the prohibited element is not removed by that.
“There is no sin upon you for what you do by mistake”—such as when one of you inadvertently refers to a person as the son of the man who adopted him; he is not held accountable for that. Or when his father is known according to outward appearances and [you call him by that father’s name] (3), though in reality that man is not his father; there is (4) no blame upon you for that if it was a mistake. ⦗659⦘ “But” He holds you accountable “for what your hearts deliberately intend” by uttering what is impermissible. “Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” He forgave you and had mercy upon you: He did not punish you for what occurred in the past, pardoned your mistakes, and showed you mercy by explaining the rulings that set right your religious and worldly affairs. To Him, Exalted is He, belongs all praise.