Translation:
For the divorced women, appropriate provision is due. This is an obligation for those who are mindful of their responsibility (to God and to their fellow men).126 This is how God makes His messages clear to you so that you may understand (and learn to reason).127
Interpretation:
126 This summarizes the treatment of women in divorce. Just as one is expected to treat his wife with respect and kindness and take care of her needs as well as those of the family, one has to attend to similar needs when one undergoes a divorce.
The woman is entitled to being taken care of with respect to property rights, rights to children, etc. based on mutual agreement and the principles of fairness and compassion and not on tribal rules and injustice. The Qur’an does not go into detail about how to estimate and arrange for such provision, but it does provide an oppor- tunity and a challenge to create an equitable allocation and ways to implement it so
it benefits both parties. We are responsible for not only what we do but also what we fail to do. Too many of us fail to understand this distinction, as we seem to be too preoccupied with what we should not do. For example, corruption and lawlessness in societies are bigger menaces than say, drunkenness. Yet most people will refrain from drinking (which is a good thing) rather than feel they have a serious obligation to create civil societies and establish a rule of law.
Regarding the issue of divorced women, God also makes clearer that the compas- sionate treatment of divorced women is not an option but an obligation. Islam is a religion and a way of life that calls for people to lead lives of responsibility—respon- sibility to God, to family, to neighbors, to society, to nature, and to the provisions that God has bestowed on us. This is why Islam regards disbelief not only as wrong or unjust but also as an act of irresponsibility.
127 This verse is repeated in the Qur’an many times to bring home the point that God has been very patient and diligent in explaining to us our responsibilities and obliga- tions in a simple, coherent, and consistent manner so that we do not have the excuse of not knowing what to do or how to do it. Also, God has given us flexibility, and He recognizes individual differences in health, wealth, and conditions and, therefore, provides exceptions to or variations of His guidelines to suit our individual and collective needs. But the principles of fairness, truth, and compassion remain the same, along with the need to be patient, to be forgiving, and to treat someone as you would like to be treated, all of which are ever present in the teachings of God and
the prophets.
Reflection:
These two verses, in a way, summarize two important issues: (1) In the case of divorced women, fairness and goodness need to prevail and are not options but obligations for anyone who wishes to be considered by God as responsible, and (2) God has made His message simple and comprehensive so that everyone can understand and follow it and has left enough flexibility for our societies to adapt and adopt based on a set of principles that safeguard our senses of fairness and dignity. Here again our societies have split into two extremes: (1) Those who say that unless information is explicitly included in the Qur’an or in the hadith we cannot use our God-given intellect or acquired knowledge (which again is a gift from God) to extract that information, and, hence, it is okay to do nothing about it, and (2) Those who feel that the Qur’an and the hadith have no relevance in our modern lives and, as such, can be ignored in their totality.
Action:
The fundamental question is, are we committed to following those instructions, which are for our own good? Having knowledge and reasoning does not necessarily result in action, dedication, motivation, and a sense of responsibility, which are critical in leading to any action. Let us focus on what we do in light of what we know intuitively and what has been transmitted to us through revealed texts, through prophetic teachings and examples, and through the evolution of our collective wisdom in various branches of human knowledge (e.g., science and humanities), which are again gifts from God for all of humanity and not just for one group or another.