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lā yaḥillu laka n-nisāʾu min baʿdu wa-lā ʾan tabaddala bihinna min ʾazwājin wa-law ʾaʿjabaka ḥusnuhunna ʾillā mā malakat yamīnuka wa-kāna llāhu ʿalā kulli shayʾin raqīban
Beyond that, women are not lawful for you, nor that you should change them for other wives even though their beauty should impress you, except those whom your right hand owns. Allah is watchful over all things.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-’Ahzab – Verse 52
52. “Thereafter women are not lawful to you, neither for you to take other wives in exchange for them, though their beauty may charm you, except what your right hand possesses, and Allah is watchful over all things.”
Some tribes of Arab put the holy Prophet (S) under pressure to take a wife from them so that they boasted that the Messenger of Allah was their bridegroom. According to some expediencies, the holy Prophet (S) married with a few women, but this verse hindered the continuation of this action. It says:
The commentators of the Holy Qur’an and the Islamic jurisprudents have delivered many various explanations upon the commentary of this verse and there have also been recorded many different narrations in the Islamic sources upon this matter. At first, without regarding the commentators’ statements, we mention whatever is meant from the apparent of the verse and in relation with the before and later verses, then we will refer to other matters. The apparent meaning of the Arabic phrase /min ba‘du/ (thereafter) is that ‘thereafter new marriages are unlawful for you’. Therefore, the Arabic word /ba‘du/ means either the length of time, that is, after this time do not choose any more wife.
Or after that, according to the command of Allah in previous verses, you told your wives to choose to have a simple life in your house or to be divorced, and they willingly preferred to continue their matrimonial life with you, you should not marry any other woman thereafter. And also, you can not divorce some of them and take other wives in exchange for them. In other words, you can neither increase them nor can you change the existing ones.
The commentators have taken the Qur’anic sentence: /walau ’a‘jabaka husnuhunna/ (though their beauty may charm you) as an evidence for the famous ordinance which is also referred to in some Islamic narrations saying that: the one who wants to marry a lady, he can have a look at her before, a looking that makes her situation, feature, and body distinguish for him. The philosophy of this ordinance is that man may choose his wife with a complete distinction and it might prevent the later regret, which can put the marriage agreement in danger.
An Islamic tradition indicates that the Prophet (S) told one of his companions who wanted to marry a woman:
“Look at her (previously) and this causes that the affection between you will endure.” 24
In another tradition, Imam Sadiq (as) in answer to this question that whether, at the time of deciding to marry a lady, man can look at her carefully and sees her face and her back, the Imam (as) said:
“Yes, it does not matter that when man wants to marry a lady he looks at her back and her face.” 25
There are, of course, a lot of traditions in this regard, but some of them explicitly denote that this look at this time should not be done by the man lustfully and with the intention of pleasure. This is also clear that this ordinance is specialized for the instances that the one really intends to study about a woman to understand that if she has the conditions he desires to marry her; but the one who has not decided to marry and that he will probably marry later, or as a mere study, he is not allowed to look at women.
Footnotes