ٱلْبَقَرَة : ٢٣٦

  • لَّا (There is) no
  • جُنَاحَ blame
  • عَلَيۡكُمۡ upon you
  • إِن if
  • طَلَّقۡتُمُ you divorce
  • ٱلنِّسَآءَ [the] women
  • مَا whom
  • لَمۡ not
  • تَمَسُّوهُنَّ you have touched
  • أَوۡ nor
  • تَفۡرِضُواْ you specified
  • لَهُنَّ for them
  • فَرِيضَةٗۚ an obligation (dower)
  • وَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ And make provision for them
  • عَلَى upon
  • ٱلۡمُوسِعِ the wealthy
  • قَدَرُهُۥ according to his means
  • وَعَلَى and upon
  • ٱلۡمُقۡتِرِ the poor
  • قَدَرُهُۥ according to his means
  • مَتَٰعَۢا a provision
  • بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِۖ in a fair manner
  • حَقًّا a duty
  • عَلَى upon
  • ٱلۡمُحۡسِنِينَ the good-doers
There is no blame upon you if you divorce women you have not touched1 nor specified for them an obligation.2 But give them [a gift of] compensation - the wealthy according to his capability and the poor according to his capability - a provision according to what is acceptable, a duty upon the doers of good.
Footnotes
1 The marriage has not been consummated.
2 Required bridal gift (mahr) .
You would not be at fault if you divorce women while you have not touched them (tamassoohunna: also read tumaassoohunna), that is, [while] you have not had sexual intercourse with them, nor appointed any obligation, dowry, for them (the particle maa, 'while', relates to the verbal action and is also adverbial) that is to say, there are no sinful consequences for divorcing them if you have not copulated with them or assigned them a dowry, so divorce them; yet make provision of comforts for them honourably, that is, in accordance with the Law (bi'l-ma'roof, 'honourably', is an adjectival qualification of mataa'an, 'comforts'), giving them what they can enjoy, the one of ample means, the affluent among you, according to his means, and the needy man, of restricted income, according to his means - an obligation (haqqan, 'obligation', is either a second qualifier of mataa'an, 'comforts', or an emphatic verbal noun), on the virtuous, the obedient ones.