‘Wife’, ‘woman’, and ‘companion’: A semantic message for translators of matrimony in the Holy Quran

Abstract

This paper explores the use of three words used for a female spouse in the Holy Quran: wife, woman and companion. Specifically, it seeks to find if there is a semantic difference between these three terms and the characteristics that determine their classification. The data were collected from all the Quranic verses in which these terms appear. The terms themselves were clustered into specific groups and analyzed in their contexts, i.e. the verses themselves or the ones preceding or following them. The findings indicate that “wife” is used to describe the spouse whose relationship with her husband is characterized with physical intimacy, mental compatibility, religious adherence, mutual love, and birth-giving. “Woman” is used to describe a spouse who disagrees with her husband religiously or who is barren. A “companion” is used to describe a female spouse who no longer has any relation with her husband whatsoever or to deny the existence of matrimony altogether. The study provides important implications for translators of the Holy Quran so as to appropriately render the text into the target language.

Keywords:

• wife
• woman
• companion
• semantics
• Holy Quran
• translator
• near-synonyms

1. Introduction

The pre-Islamic era in Arabia was known as Jahiliyyah, a term derived from the Arabic verb جهل / dʒahila/(be without knowledge) and whose equivalent in modern English is “ignorance”. The orientalist Goldziher has remarked that Jahiliyyah refers to the “time of barbaric customs” (1967, p. 202), suggesting that the ignorance branding this period must be understood in terms of barbarism. The prevailing barbarism of this period was particularly derived from tribal law which sanctioned different forms of oppression, injustice, and cruelty. Chief among those affected by the barbaric customs of Jahiliyyah were women, who were mostly viewed as slaves or objects for sale. One striking example of the barbaric practices against women in Arabia before the advent of Islam was that of female infanticide. With virtually no legal status under the customary tribal law, most newborn girls were buried alive out of concern for bringing shame to the clan and for fear of poverty that would result from providing for girls who were viewed as less productive than boys.

Islam, by contrast, emancipated females and regarded them as equal to their male counterparts. It has to be mentioned that the heinous practice of infanticide would not have stopped in Arabia had it not been for the scathing manner of the Quran in severely condemning this sinister act, as Verses 8 and 9 of “Surat At-takweer” (The Overthrowing) read:

“.وإذا الموؤدةُ سُئلت بأيّ ذنبٍ قُتلتْ”

(When the buried infant shall be asked for what sin she was slain.)

The killing of children is also prohibited in Verse 31 of “Surat al-Isra” (The Night Journey), as it reads:

“.وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ نَحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْئًا كَبِيرًا”

(And slay not your children for fear of poverty; We will provide for you and them; surely the slaying of them is a grievous sin.)

Although the latter verse admonishes Arabs against children’s homicide in general, it does, by implication, allude to female infanticide, as daughters were commonly seen as bearers of shame and misfortune.

The coming of Islam, then, abolished such unjust customs and changed the way women were viewed and treated. Women under Islam started to receive respect and be allocated special rights, such as the ones accorded to them in marriage, ownership, and inheritance. Many Quranic verses deal chiefly with the rights of women and testify to the advancing position of women in Islam. Most notable here is the full long chapter “Surat Annisa” (The Women), whose title is derived from the numerous references to women throughout the chapter. Consider Verses 19 and 20 in this Surat, which read:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَن تَرِثُواْ النِّسَاء كَرْهًا وَلاَ تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُواْ بِبَعْضِ مَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلاَّ أَن يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ”

“بالْمَعْرُوفِ فَإِن كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئًا وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا

(O believers, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will; neither debar them, that you may go off with part of what you have given them, except when they commit a flagrant indecency. Consort with them honourably; or if you are averse to them, it is possible you may be averse to a thing, and God set in it much good.)

These verses outlaw the pre-Islamic practice of inheriting women against their will and urge men to treat their wives well. Legally married women, then, are considered equal to their husbands before Islamic law or legislation (Shari’ah).

Regarded as a commendable act of worship, marriage in Islam is accorded a special status, entailing equal, though not identical, rights and responsibilities for both the wife and husband. Besides being a sacrament, “marriage in Islamic law is also considered a legal contract between two parties with the legal capacity to contract” (Samadi, 2021, p. 84). Accordingly, married women in Islam have legal status or laws attached to their matrimonial situation. Reference to married women in the Quran varies, depending on a number of factors, including their religious adherence, matrimonial relationship, fertility, and other personal attributes. In view of that, the Holy Quran uses three distinct terms for a married female—namely wife, woman, and companion—depending on these varying factors. The translation of these terms and their appropriate rendering into the target language, it would follow, must accurately reflect their various connotations and consider the Quranic context in which they are used. The Quranic designations for a female spouse, along with their renderings according to the different attributes of the concerned women and their relations with their husband, constitute the main impetus for this study.

2. Significance of the study

The significance of the study springs from the fact that it clarifies nuanced semantic distinctions among terms that refer to women in the Holy Quran. In fact, when reading chapters or verses from the Holy Quran, whether in its source language (Arabic) or any target language, one comes across words that may appear as synonyms and, usually, loses sight of any slight difference between them. A reader of Arabic does so probably because such words are used interchangeably in spoken Arabic. However, scrutinizing similar words from a semantic perspective reveals the hidden nature of the relationship between the spouses. A denotation of a word refers to its explicit meaning, whereas a connotation of a word refers to the effect or emotion a word may imply, which varies from one language user to another (Kreidler, 1998, p. 45). Consequently, the connotation of similar words is by no means the same.

Terms pertaining to a female spouse in Arabic connote various meanings in Standard Arabic as will be shown by their appearance in the Holy Quran. A number of attributes, emotional and physical, are usually considered in Standard Arabic when referring to a female spouse as a “wife”, “woman” or “companion”. This study seeks to explore the factors that determine whether a certain female spouse is a wife, woman, or companion.

Known for its verbal power and precision of expression, the Quran abounds with similar examples of near-synonyms that testify to its exceptional eloquence and inimitability. Exegetes have strived to reveal how each word or lexeme is deliberately used in the Quran to convey a specific message or hidden meaning. Therefore, translators must also strive to reflect the shades of meaning of the Quranic near-synonyms in their translations. That is not to deny that any translation of the Quran, no matter how immaculate and scholarly, can never be like the original and will always be imperfect and subject to error. In Kidwai’s (1987, p. 67) opinion, “the Muslim Scripture is yet to find a dignified and faithful expression in English language that matches the majesty and grandeur of the original”. However, through awareness of the semantic, lexical, and contextual factors underlying the use of Quranic near-synonyms, the translator can make a better attempt at approximating the original in such a way that comes close to conveying the intended message of the Quran. With this in mind, it is hoped that this study will be useful to translators who encounter the near-synonyms designating female spouse during translation. The three lexemes – زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah/(woman), and صاحبة/s^ʕ aħibah/(companion)—are selected because of their frequency in the Quran. The significance of studying these variations is to gain insight into the Quran’s conception of marriage through its deliberate choice of specific terms that concisely delineate the nature of the marital relationship. Moreover, the three words have been repeated so often in different contexts of the Quran that they would allow for a comprehensive understanding and analysis of their use in different contexts.

3. Aims and Research questions

Exploring the differences between the three terms chosen for this study sheds light on the precise usage of similar terms in the Holy Quran. Similarly, uncovering the attributes that distinguish one married female from another and utilizing these attributes in classifying female spouses indicate real discrepancies between Arabic and other languages, i.e., English for the purpose of this study. This study is an attempt to answer the two questions:

1. What is the difference between a “wife”, “woman”, and “companion” as found in the Holy Quran?

2. What are the attributes that determine a female spouse as a ‘wife’, ‘woman’, or ‘companion’?

4. Literature Review

The Holy Quran, the sacred book of Islam, is believed to be the word of Allah as revealed to Prophet Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel. The Quran is considered the main source of the Islamic Shari’ah (legislation) which governs all aspects of Muslims’ lives. The language of the Holy Quran is Classical Arabic, which is a form of Arabic used in Arabia at the time. Enshrining the word of Allah, the Quran, as Muslims believe, has no redundancy or repetition and the choice of each word is not without purpose. Therefore, the translation of the Quran is not an easy task. Hassan (2014) notes that one of the main challenges facing translators of the Quran is the issue of synonymy. This study particularly examines words in the Quran referring to a female spouse—namely, زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), and صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah/(companion). These words, at first glance, may seem to be synonymous, but a careful scrutiny of their use shows otherwise.

Yule (2014) defines synonymy as “[t]wo or more words with very closely related meanings” and adds that they “can often, though not always, be substituted for each other in sentences” (p. 113). In the same vein, Al-Omari and Abu-Melhim (2014) studied synonymy in English and Arabic in light of its use in the Quran and found that complete synonymy does not exist and that in the Quran “[w]hat exists is simply near synonymy which appears to be synonymous at first glance but reveals different and distinct semantic meanings upon deeper semantic analysis” (p. 2619). Therefore, Ibrahim et al. (2018) stress the need to investigate the connotations of words that have slightly similar meanings so as to appropriately render the intended meaning into the target language, particularly in religious texts, such as the Quran.

Shiyab (2007) is also of the position that complete synonymy does not exist and that each lexeme has its own semantic value. To support this with examples from the Arabic language, Shiyab (2007) cites the Arabic words that are equivalent to the English word “horse”. In Arabic, حصان / ħis^ʕ aan /, فرس / faras /, جواد / dʒawaad /, and أغر / ʔaʁarr / can all be used by translators to render “horse”. However, Shiyab (2007) argues that although at first glance the four words may appear interchangeable, there are slight differences that make selecting one or the other more acceptable and reflective of the context in which the word is used. For example, / ħis^ʕ aan / is used for the male horse, while / faras / is used for both the male and female. On the other hand, / dʒawaad / and / ʔaʁarr / denote additional characteristics in the horse, viz. speed in the former and the white forehead in the latter (Shiyab, 2007).

Abdelaal and Rashid (2015) investigated how translating religious texts into the second language may affect the intended meaning in the source text. The researchers analyzed the translation of a chapter from the Holy Quran into English using content analysis. They selected verses from the chapter to show the semantic loss that accompanied the translation process. Evaluation of the translation was conducted by two specialists in the Arabic language who are also highly proficient in English. The results “showed frequent partial and complete semantic loss of meanings mostly due to mistranslations, semantic complexity of the vocabularies, and culture” (p. 1).

In a study that aimed to uncover the problems faced by translators of the Holy Quran when rendering near-synonyms into English, Al-Sowaidi (2011) evaluated the translation of four near-synonyms into English by two translators. The pairs included in the study were / ɣajθ / and / matar / ,/ ʔalħalf / and / ʔalqasam /, / baχiil / and / ʃaħiiħ/, and / ʕaqir / and / ʕaqiim /. The results showed that the two translators failed to account for the intended meaning of the Holy Quran. In particular, the study found that although both/ʁajθ/and/mat^ʕ ar / have the meaning of water falling from the sky, they differ in the connotative meaning intended by Allah in the verses of the Quran. Similar nuances were cited for the other three pairs, concluding that a careful reading of the verses of the Quran in light of the interpretations available is needed to avoid mistranslation of the Quran into English.

Al-Abbas and Khanji (2019) explored the strategies which translators use to render a near-synonym from the Holy Quran into English. The selected pair was سنة / sanah / and عام / ʕaam /, both referring to “a year” in English. Their study was also aimed at evaluating two translations of the Quran in reference to the selected words in their contexts. The results showed the untranslatability of some words in the Quran because of the lexical differences which exist between English and Arabic. In particular, the study found that although both words refer to time in some verses, / sanah / is more used in reference to difficult situations and times such as drought. / ʕaam /, on the other hand, was found to be highly related to lunar year and times of goodness. The study concludes that not only exegeses but also the context of the verse should be considered when rendering Quranic verses into English and other languages.

Review of related literature reveals that there is no study in English which tackles the use of all the three words of زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), and صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) combined in the Quran. However, there is a study by al-Ghazălli and al-Musawi about the translation of synonyms in the Holy Quran (Al-Ghazălli & Al-Musawi, 2015) which briefly considered only two of the words examined in our study: namely زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) and امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman); it was found that the two words have two different meanings. The former (i.e., “wife”) “is used in contexts where the spousal relationship is full circle and is characterized by birth-giving between a male and a female”, as well as “a close intimacy between both partners till death” (p.38). The latter (i.e., “woman”), on the other hand, is used to “describe[…] the spousal relationship being characterized by separation and some defects in the sacred link between both partners. (p. 38).

In another relevant study, AL-Tameemi (2017) discussed the difficulties translators face in rendering زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) and امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) into English. Upon analysis of the verses which include the two words, the researcher found that the former (i.e., “wife”) is “used when there is total consistency or when marriage is complete”, while the latter (i.e., “woman”) is used “when there is inconsistency between husband and wife in terms of religion or psychology or sex” (pp. 151–152). The researcher concluded that there are small differences between the two words. These nuances, he argues, are based on the contexts in which the words are used. The study ended with implications for translators and readers of the Quran who are expected to understand the contextual meaning of the word before rendering it into the target language.

It can be noticed that the studies above handle only one entry or two in specific verses and contexts. Therefore, the present study can, still, be deemed original in that it covers the three entries (wife, woman and companion) altogether and comprehensively covers all the Quranic verses in which they appear.

5. Corpus and methodology

The corpus used in this study consists of the Quranic verses that encompass any of the three words زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), and صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah/(companion). These verses are presented in their source language (Arabic IPA) along with their translation into English. The translation adopted throughout the study is taken from The Koran Interpreted by Arberry (1955). The intended meaning of each of the three words above is explained depending on the context of the verse(s) and the story of the female spouse concerned. The particular usage of each word is explained based on the actual relation between the female spouse and her husband, and, in a few cases, on the existence or absence of that relation. Another factor considered in the explanation is whether that female spouse is barren or can give birth. These words together appear 33 times in 32 Quranic verses, and each one of them is analyzed below with the Surat / verse number in both the Arabic text and its English translation as found in The Koran Interpreted by Arberry (1955).

6. Analysis and results

As indicated above, the data are the verses which include any of the three words زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), and صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah/(companion). The analysis shows that the word زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) appears eight times in the Holy Quran in seven verses (see Table 1 below) because it is used twice in Verse 4/20. The word امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) appears 21 times in 20 verses as it is used twice in Verse 66/10. The word صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah/(companion) is found 4 times in the Holy Quran. Below is an analysis of the words’ occurrences in each verse. It is worth mentioning that مريم (Mary), the mother of Jesus, is the only female mentioned by name in the Holy Quran, and this name appears 32 times. An example of this occurs in Verse 34 from “Surat Maryam” (Mary), which is a full chapter named after Mother Mary, which reads:

Table 1. Occurrences of the word زوج/zawdʒ/(wife)

Surat/verse no.	Verse Text	Translation of زوج
4/20	Wa ?in ?aradtum istibdæ la zawd͡ʒin makæna zawd͡ʒin wa ætaytum ?iħdæhunna qintæran falæ tʔaẖuðu minhu ʃay?an ?at?aẖuðuːnahu buhtænan wa ?iθman mubiːnæ	And if you desire to exchange a wife in place of another, and you have given to one a hundredweight, take of it nothing. What, will you take it by way of calumny and manifest sin?
33/37	Wa ?ið taquːlu lillaði ʔanʕama Allæhu alyhi wa ʔanʕamta ʕalayhi ʔamsik ʕalajka zawd͡ʒak wa ittaqi illæh	And when thou saidst to him whom God had blessed and thou hadst favoured, ‘Keep thy wife to thyself, and fear God,’ …
2/35	Wa qulna yæ ædamu uskun ʔanta wa zawd͡ʒuka aljannata wa kula minha raɣadan ħajθu shi’tuma wa læ taqrabæ haðihi ashshajarata fa takuːnæ mina alz^ʕ ælimi:n	And We said, ‘Adam, dwell thou, and thy wife, in the Garden, and eat thereof easefully where you desire; but draw not nigh this tree, lest you be evildoers.’
7/19	Wa jæ ædamu uskun ʔanta wa zawd͡ʒuka aljannata fa kula min ħajθu shi’tumæ wa læ taqrabæ hæðihi ashshad͡ʒarata fa takuːnæ mina alz^ʕ ælimi:n	‘O Adam, inherit, thou and thy wife, the Garden, and eat of where you will, but come not nigh this tree, lest you be of the evildoers.’
20/117	Faqulnæ jæ ædamu ʔinna hæ?a ʕaduwwun laka wa lizawd͡ʒika falæ juẖrid͡ʒanakum minaljannati fatashqa	Then We said, ‘Adam, surely this is an enemy to thee and thy wife. So let him not expel you both from the Garden, so that thou art unprosperous.
21/90	Fa istad͡ʒabna lahu wa wahabna lahu jaħja wa ʔas^ʕ laħna lahu zawd͡ʒahu ʔinnahum kænuː jusæriʕuːn fi alẖayræti wa jadʕuːnana raɣaban wa rahaba	So We answered him, and bestowed on him John, and We set his wife right for him; truly they vied with one another, hastening to good works, and called upon Us out of yearning and awe
2/102	Wa mæ kafara Sulaymænu wa lækinna ashayæti:na kafaruː juʕallimuːna annæsa assiħra wa mæ ʔunzila ala almalakajni bi bæbila hæruːta wa mæruːta wamæ juʕalimmæni min ʔaħadin ħatta jaquːla ʔinnama naħnu fitnatun fa læ takfur fa jatauʕallamuːna minhumæ mæ jufarriquːna bihi bayna almarʔi wa zawd͡ʒihi wa mæ hum bi d^ʕ æri:na bihi min ʔaħadin ʔilla biʔiðn illah	Solomon disbelieved not, but the Satans disbelieved, teaching the people sorcery, and that which was sent down upon Babylon’s two angels, Harut and Marut; they taught not any man, without they said, ‘We are but a temptation; do not disbelieve.’ From them they learned how they might divide a man and his wife, yet they did not hurt any man thereby, save by the leave of God,

“ذلك عيسى ابنُ مريم قولَ الحقّ الذي فيه تمترون”

(That is Jesus, son of Mary, in word of truth, concerning which they are doubting.)

Table 1 shows that Verses 4/20, 33/37 and 2/102, which refer to the married woman as زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), seem to presuppose certain elements for the spousal relationship: namely, mutual love and respect, physical intimacy, shared religious convictions, and (in most of the cases) birth-giving. Most of these aspects are fundamental to ensure the dignity of marriage, considering that the chief purpose of marriage in Islam is to create a marital life in peace, love and compassion, as ordained in Verse 30/21 –

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

(And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.)

The second purpose of marriage, implied in the Quran (Verse 16/72), is the procreative function:

“وَٱللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًۭا وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَزْوَٰجِكُم بَنِينَ وَحَفَدَةًۭ وَرَزَقَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ ۚ أَفَبِٱلْبَٰطِلِ يُؤْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَتِ ٱللَّهِ هُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ”

(God has appointed for you of yourselves wives, and He has appointed for you of your wives sons and grandsons, and He has provided you of the good things. What, do they believe in vanity, and do they disbelieve in God´s blessing?)

It can be inferred from Verses 30/21 and 16/72 taken together that the purpose of marriage in Islam is twofold: First, uniting man and woman in tranquility and compassion, and second, procreation as a natural human need which, when fulfilled, helps support and endorse tranquility. It must be emphasized here that that procreation is not the exclusive goal of marriage in Islam, but is still recognized as an expectation of marriage and one of its fundamental functions. Having said this, while procreation through marriage is considered important for maintaining the human race, it remains auxiliary to the ultimate and overall goal of marriage, namely dwelling in tranquillity—As Omran (1992) puts it “When procreation takes place, however, it should support and endorse tranquillity, rather than disrupt it” (p. 15). It is worth mentioning that the word زوج / zawdʒ / in Arabic, (singular of أَزْوَاجًا / azwājan / mates) refers to both a male and female partner; the translator should, therefore, pay attention to the context to decide the exact meaning.

In fact, the word زوج / zawdʒ / in Arabic connotes homogeneity, correspondence and pairing (Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya, 2020, p. 122). Hence, its being used to refer to a set of two things from the same kind. An example of the occurrence of / zawdʒ / in this sense is found (in plural أزواج / azwāj) in Verses 6/143–144, which refute the ancestral prohibition against using the female offspring of certain kinds of animals by mentioning God’s wisdom in creating a male and female pair (/zawdʒ/) of each kind and making them lawful for human consumption and usage: e.g. “a pair of sheep”, “a pair of goats”, “a pair of camels” and “a pair of oxen”. The Quran abounds with examples where the word زوج / zawdʒ / is used to express the idea of congruity and equality between two things of the same kind. It can be inferred from this that the Quran’s use of the word زوج / zawdʒ / to refer to a female partner is intended to suggest that she is in spiritual, physical, and intellectual agreement with her husband.

The Quranic conception of married life—dwelling in love, mercy, and tranquillity—is embodied in the intimate relationship between Adam and Eve, which justifies reference to her as زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) in Verses 2/35, 7/19 and 20/117. Adam was alone and lonely when God created Eve for him. The couple believed in God and worshipped Him. Before the Fall, they dwelled blissfully together in Paradise where they were allowed to eat whatever they wished, except from the tree of immortality. They also had a common enemy, Satan, who, in the Quran, misguided and tempted both of them—As Fardun Ali Middya (2021) puts it, “Islam in no way indicates that Eve […] tempted Adam to disobey Allah. Eating the fruit of the tree was a mistake committed by both Adam and Eve. They bear equal responsibility” (16). Adam and Eve remained united together even after they were expelled from Paradise and sent down to Earth. In addition to their close intimacy, their spousal relationship was characterized by birth-giving as they had sons (Abel and Cane) and daughters.

Another instance in the Quran where زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) appears in the context of a strong marital bond is found in Verse 2/102, which describes how the Israelites were so engrossed in magic, sorcery, and witchcraft that they resorted to such practices to cause division between a man and his wife. At this stage, the Israelites were misled by the evil ones (Satans), who made them believe that the mighty kingdom and astonishing power of Solomon were merely due to magic and sorcery. The verse confirms, though, that Solomon believed in God, but it was the Satans who disbelieved as they used to teach people sorcery. Using sorcery to separate a husband from his wife implies that the couple to whom the verse refers would originally be in love with each other and that the relationship between them would be so firm and steadfast that it may need sorcery, a strong magic that uses evil spirits, to work well in dividing them. Hence, the use of the word زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) in this verse.

Verse 4/20 from “Surat Annisa” (The Women) asserts wives’ entitlement to her financial rights in the event of divorce. Despite its being concerned with divorce, the verse also uses the word زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) because it seems to presuppose that the relation between husband and wife (before separation) would typically involve intimacy, harmony and love; the married couple would also be compatible in piety, attitudes, and beliefs. If divorce occurs after the consummation of marriage, the wife, according to Islamic doctrine, is entitled to her dowry in its entirety. This is evident in the immediately following verse, (4/21), which reads:

وَكَيْفَ تَأْخُذُونَهُ وَقَدْ أَفْضَىٰ بَعْضُكُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَأَخَذْنَ مِنكُم مِّيثَاقًا غَلِيظًا

How shall you take it, when each of you has been privily with the other, and they have taken from you a solemn compact?)

The “solemn compact” is the marriage itself, which is a pledge of fidelity; it is only because a woman has faith in the firmness of this compact or pledge that she entrusts herself to a man. On this view, Verse 4/20 prohibits the husband from taking anything of the wife’s dowry in the event of divorce, particularly because they have been together in private and wife would have received a solemn pledge (to be treated by their husbands in respect and love).

Another case in the Quran using زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) occurs in Verse 21/90, which cites the story of Prophet Zachariah and how God answered his prayer and bestowed a child, Yaḥyā (John), upon him despite his wife’s advanced age and barrenness. In Verse 3/40, nevertheless, Zachariah referred to his wife as امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) rather than “my wife”, but that was when the marriage was still childless, i.e. before his wife got pregnant: “He said, ‘My Lord, how will I have a boy when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?’ The angel said, ‘Such is Allah; He does what He wills’”. In Verse 21/90, Zachariah’s mate is referred to as “wife” only after God “answered him [Zachariah], and bestowed on him John”, and only after God “set his wife right for him”, i.e., cured her to be fit to bear children. The marriage was not only reproductive, it must be stressed, but also congruent and harmonious in that both Zachariah and his wife, as noted in the verse, were eager to perform good deeds and called upon God in all cases—“ … truly they vied with one another, hastening to good works, and called upon Us out of yearning and awe”. In other words, the couple seemed to be in accord on matters of faith, which further justifies the use of the word زوج / zawdʒ / (wife).

One last instance in the Quran with reference to زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) is in Verse 33/37, where Prophet Mohammad asks Zayd, his adopted son, to firmly keep his wife, Zainab, and fear God by not divorcing her. This marriage was arranged by the Prophet as Zainab was initially reluctant to accept the proposal, given her noble birth compared to Zayd’s status as an enfranchised slave. Since the marriage was decided by God and His Prophet, Zainab eventually accepted the marriage. Years into the marriage, however, Zayd intimated to the Prophet that he wished to divorce Zainab on account of her disobedience to him. The Prophet had already known through divine revelation that Zayd would divorce Zainab and that the Prophet would be replacing him as her husband. The Prophet was worried, though, about society’s discomfort at him taking his foster son’s ex-wife, but God had already decreed this marriage to announce that it is permissible for the adoptive father to wed the foster son’s ex-wife. Despite having foreknowledge of all this, the Prophet desisted from ordering Zayd to divorce Zainab and politely advised him to “Keep thy wife to thyself, and fear God” The imperative verb / أَمسِكْ ʔamsik / (keep), which literally means “catch with your hands”, suggests the request to hold tenaciously onto the marriage as something precious and even sacred, being especially paired with reverence to God. The use of the word زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), then, would befit the context and type of marriage implicated by the Prophet’s counsel to keep the marriage intact, despite his knowledge of the couple’s disagreement. It must be stressed, here, though, that the strife in Zayd and Zainab’s marriage is not triggered by her religious divergence from her husband (as both adhered to Islam); rather, it was her pride and superiority that made it hard for her to obey him.

Table 2 shows that the word امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) appears 21 times in the Holy Quran; twice of which happen to be in Verse 66/10. In their examination of this verse, in particular, Al-Ghazălli and Al-Musawi observe that the noun امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) “describes the spousal relationship being characterized by separation and some defects in the sacred link between both partners” (28). In her seminal study on Quranic inimitability, Bint Al-Shātiʼ (1971), delineates three main cases of impaired matrimony underlying the occurrences of the word امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) in the Quran: betrayal, disagreement over matters of faith, and disrupted procreation. (230–231). Drawing on these observations, it will be revealed how the occurrences of the word امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) in the verses referenced in Table 2 represent distinct cases of inharmonious or defective marital relationship.

Table 2. Occurrences of the word امرأة/ʔimraʔah/(woman)

Surat/verse no.	Surat Text	Translation of امرأة
11/81	Qælu: jæ luːt^ʕ u ʔinna rusulu rabbika lan jas^ʕ iluː ʔilayka fa ʔasri bi ʔahlika bi qitaʕin mina allayli wa læ jaltafit minkum ʔaħadun illa imra’ataka ʔinnahu musi:buha mæ ʔas^ʕ æbahum ʔinna mawaʕ’idahum as^ʕ s^ʕ ubħu ʔalajsa as^ʕ s^ʕ abħu bi qari:b	They said, ‘Lot, we are messengers of thy Lord. They shall not reach thee; so set forth, thou with thy family, in a watch of the night, and let not any one of you turn round, excepting thy wife; surely she shall be smitten by that which smites them. Their promised time is the morning; is the morning not nigh?’
29/33	Wa lamma ?an d͡ʒæ?at rusuluna luːt^ʕ an si:ʔa bihim wa d^ʕ æqa bihim ðarʕ’an wa qæluː læ taẖaf wa læ taħzan ʔinnæ munad͡ʒuːka wa ʔahlaka illæ imraʔataka kænat mina alɣæbiri:n	When that Our messengers came to Lot he was troubled on their account and distressed for them; but they said, ‘Fear not, neither sorrow, for surely we shall deliver thee and thy family, except thy wife; she has become of those that tarry.
7/83	Faʔand͡ʒajnæhu wa ʔahlahu ʔillæ amraʔatahu kænat mina alɣæbiri:n	So We delivered him and his family, except his wife; she was one of those that tarried.
15/60	ʔillæ imraʔatahu qaddarnæ ʔinnahæ lamina alɣæbiri:n	all together, excepting his wife – we have decreed, she shall surely be of those that tarry.’
27/57	Faʔan d͡ʒajnæhu wa ʔahlahu illæ imraʔatahu qaddarnæha mina alɣæbiri:n	So We delivered him and his family, except his wife; We decreed she should be of those that tarried.
29/32	Qæla ʔinna fiha luːt^ʕ an qælo naħnu ʔaʕlamu biman fiha la nunad͡ʒijanahu wa ʔahlahu ʔillæ imraʔatahu kænat mina alɣæbiri:n	He said, ‘Lot is in it.’ They said, ‘We know very well who is in it; assuredly We shall deliver him and his family, except his wife; she has become of those that tarry.’
11/71	Wa imrʔatahu qæ?imatan fa d^ʕ aħikat fa bashsharnæha bi ʔiisħæqa wa min waræ?i ʔisħæqa jaʕquːb	And his wife was standing by; she laughed, therefore We gave her the glad tidings of Isaac, and, after Isaac, of Jacob
51/29	Faʔaqbalat imraʔatuhu fi s^ʕ arratin fa sakkat wad͡ʒhaha wa qælat ʕajuːzun ʕaqi:m	Then came forward his wife, clamouring, and she smote her face, and said, ‘An old woman, barren!’
111/4	Tabbat yadæ abi lahabin watabb mæ aɣna ʕanhu mæluhu wamæ kasab sayjas^ʕ la naːran thæta lahab Wa imraʔatuhu ħammælat alħat^ʕ ab fi: ji:diha ħablun min masad	Perish the two hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he! His substance availed him not, nor that which he earned. Anon he shall roast into Fire having flame. And his wife also: the firewood carrier; On her neck shall be a cord of twisted fibre.
12/21	Wa qæla alla?i ishtræhu min mis^ʕ ra li imraʔatihi ʔakrimi maθwahu ʕasa ʔan janfaʕanæ aw nattaẖiðahu waladæ	He that bought him, being of Egypt, said to his wife, ‘Give him goodly lodging, and it may be that he will profit us, or we may take him for our own son.’
3/40	Qæla rabbi ʔanna jakuːnu li ghulæmun wa qad balaɣani alkibru wa ʔimra’ti ʕæqirun qæla kaðælika allæhu jafʕalu mæ jashæ?	‘Lord,’ said Zachariah, ‘how shall I have a son, seeing I am an old man and my wife is barren?’ ‘Even so,’ God said, ‘God does what He will.’
19/5	Wa ʔinni ẖiftu almawæliya win waræ?i: wa kænat imraʔati ʕæqiran fa hab li min ladunka walijjæ	And now I fear my kinsfolk after I am gone; and my wife is barren. So give me, from Thee, a kinsman.
19/8	Qæla rabbi ʔanna jakuːnu li ɣulæmun wa kænat imraʔati ʕæqiran wa qad balaɣtu mina alkibari ʕitijja	He said, ‘O my Lord, how shall I have a son, seeing my wife is barren, and I have attained to the declining of old age?’
66/10	d^ʕ araba allæhu maθalan li allathina kafaruː imraʔata nuːħin wa imra’ta luːt^ʕ in kænatæ taħta ʕabdajni min ʕibædinæ s^ʕ æliħayni fa ẖænatahumæ fa lam juɣniyæ ʕanhumæ mina ællahi shayʔan wa qila udẖulæ annæra maʕ addæẖili:n	God has struck a similitude for the unbelievers – the wife of Noah, and the wife of Lot; for they were under two of Our righteous servants, but they betrayed them, so they availed them nothing whatsoever against God; so it was said, ‘Enter, you two, the Fire with those who enter.’
66/11	Wa d^ʕ araba allahu maθalan lillathina æmanu imraʔata firʕawna i? qælat rabbi ibni li ʕindaka baytan fi ald͡ʒannah wa nad͡ʒini min firʕawana wa ʕamilihi wa najd͡ʒni mina alqawm athælimi:n	God has struck a similitude for the believers – the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, ‘My Lord, build for me a house in Paradise, in Thy presence, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his work, and do Thou deliver me from the people of the evildoers.’
3/35	ʔið qælat imraʔatu ʕimræna rabbi inni naðartu laka mæ fi bat^ʕ ni muħarraran fataqqabal minni ʔinnaka ʔanta assami:ʕu alʕali:m	When the wife of Imran said, ‘Lord, I have vowed to Thee, in dedication, what is within my womb. Receive Thou this from me; Thou hearest, and knowest.’
12/30	Wa qæla niswatun fi almadinati imraʔatu alʕazizi turæwid fatæha ‘an nafsihi qad shaɣafahæ ħubban ʔinnæ lanaræhæ fi d^ʕ alælin mubi:n	Certain women that were in the city said, ‘The Governor’s wife has been soliciting her page; he smote her heart with love; we see her in manifest error.
12/51	Qæla mæ ẖat^ʕ bukkuna I?ð ræwadtunna juːsufa ʕan nafsihi qulna ħæsha lillæhi mæ ʕalimnæ ʕalayhi min su:ʔin qælat imraʔatu alʕazizi al?æna ħas^ʕ ħas^ʕ a al ħaqqu ʔanæ ræwadtuhu an nafsihi wa ʔinnahu la mina as^ʕ s^ʕ ædiqi:n	‘What was your business, women,’ he said, ‘when you solicited Joseph?’ ‘God save us!’ they said. ‘We know no evil against him.’ The Governor’s wife said, ‘Now the truth is at last discovered; I solicited him; he is a truthful man.
28/9	Wa qælat imraʔatu firʕawna qurratu ʕajnin li wa lak læ taqtulohu ʕasæ ʔan janfaʕanæ ʔaw nattaẖiðahu waladan wa hum læ jashʕuruːn	Said Pharaoh’s wife, ‘He will be a comfort to me and thee. Slay him not; perchance he will profit us, or we will take him for a son.’ And they were not aware.
4/128	Wa ʔin imraʔatun ẖæfat min baʕliha nushuːzan ʔaw iʕræ d^ʕ an falæ d͡ʒunæħa ʕalajhimæ ʔan jus^ʕ liħæ baynahumæ s^ʕ ulħan wa as^ʕ s^ʕ ulħu ẖayr wa ʔuħd^ʕ irat alʔanfussu ashshuħu wa ʔin tuħsinuː wa tattaquː fa ʔinna allæha kæna bimæ taʕmaluːna ẖabi:ra	If a woman fears rebelliousness or aversion in her husband, there is no fault in them if the couple set things right between them; right settlement is better; and souls are very prone to avarice. If you do good and are Godfearing, surely God is aware of the things you do.

To start with, the particular woman mentioned in Verse 66/10, along with Verses 11/81, 29/33, 7/83, 15/60, 27/57, and 29/32, is Lot’s wife. Lot, of course, was a prophet, whereas his wife was a disbeliever, a fact that implies that their marital relationship was characterized by spiritual discord. As the story goes, Lot’s wife was responsible for disclosing to her lewd townspeople that Lot was secretly hosting three handsome youths. The guests, of course, were angels in guise of men, sent by God to deliver Lot and his family, except his wife, from the punishment that would befall their cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) for their transgressions—As Verse 11/82 reads:

فَلَمّا جاءَ أَمرُنا جَعَلنا عالِيَها سافِلَها وَأَمطَرنا عَلَيها حِجارَةً مِن سِجّيلٍ مَنضودٍ

(So when Our command came, We turned it uppermost nethermost, and rained on it stones of baked clay, one on another.)

The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah received this punishment for sexually preferring men to women, which is regarded as a sin in the Quran, as Verse 7/81 indicates:

إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ ٱلرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةًۭ مِّن دُونِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌۭ مُّسْرِفُونَ

(See, you approach men lustfully instead of women; no, you are a people that do exceed.)

As for Lot’s wife, like her townspeople, she is smitten with a rain of brimstone that fell upon her and is condemned to Hellfire.

Verse 66/10 makes reference to yet another woman, besides the wife of Lot, who did not heed her husband’s advice despite her being wedded to a prophet: namely, the wife of Noah. Although they were wives of prophets, both women were disbelievers and betrayed their husbands, i.e., did not follow their doctrine. Consequently, both women, as declared in the Quran, will enter Hellfire—As Stewart (2000) notes: “The wives of Noah and Lot are held up as examples of bad women who suffered damnation for their evil behaviour despite their close connection with men of God. The marriage bond was not enough to save them from punishment” (42).

Another example of defective matrimony as a result of betrayal is found in Verses 12/21, 12/30, and 12/51, which tend to Zuleikha, the governor’s wife. Serving as an exemplar of both marital infidelity and barrenness, Zuleikha, also known as “Wife of Aziz”, is referred to as امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) in these verses. As stated in verse 12/21, Zuleikha was barren when the governor bought Joseph (Yousef) as a slave and asked her to treat him well in hopes of taking him as son one day. Joseph found favour with the governor and moved into high position in the household. When Joseph grew into a handsome man, Zuleikha fell in love with him and attempted to approach him. Verse 12/30 indicates how she is rumoured to be seeking to seduce her page, Joseph, being in clear error for doing this. In a private encounter, Zuleikha is said to have ripped the back of his shirt while she raced after him to the door where her husband was waiting. At that point she attempted to blame Joseph, suggesting that he had attacked her. Joseph, however, said that it was Zuleikha who had attempted to seduce him and his account was confirmed since his shirt was torn on the back. In Verse 12/51, Zuleikha confessed that Joseph had told the truth about their story and that it was she who had solicited him.

Perhaps the most curious use of امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) occurs in verse 111/4, which refers to the wife of Abu Lahab, a leading figure of disbelievers and uncle of Prophet Mohammad. Her given name is Arwa Bint Harb Ibn Umayyah and is mostly known by her nickname, Umm Jamil. She happens to be a disbeliever and supports her husband in his persecution of Prophet Mohammed (Kathir, 1998, p. 270). Verse 111/4 – “وَّامۡرَاَتُهٗ حَمَّالَةَ الۡحَطَبِ” (and his wife, the carrier of the firewood)—can be better understood when taken together with the verse immediately preceding it, which reads: “سَيَصۡلٰى نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ” (He shall roast at a flaming fire) (Verse 111/3). In view of this, Verse 111/4 can be interpreted as “and his wife, the carrier of the firewood”, shall roast at a flaming fire, too (Ibn Ashoor, 1984, p. 606).

Abu Lahab’s wife is believed to be called “the carrier of the firewood” for two reasons: she is known to have carried information (tell-tale) about the Prophet and his companions to slander them and ignite conflict (Al-‘Adawi, p. 5), and she literally used to carry thorny branches from the jungle and place them in the path of the Prophet to harm him (Ibn Kathir, p. 271). Commenting on the double interpretation of “the carrier of the firewood”, Islam writes (Islam, 2016):

Some scholars explain that just as she [Abu Lahab’s wife] used to help her husband in this world promote disbelief and tyranny and to assist him in harming the Messenger of Allah […], she will add to the torment of her husband in the Hereafter. She will collect the branches of zaqqum and other trees and add them as fuel to the fire of Hell in which her husband would be roasting. (97)

It can be concluded from this that Abu Lahab’s wife does not only agree with her husband on obstinacy, disbelief, and wrongdoing but also “share[s] his punishment in the Hell-fire” (Ibn Kathir, p. 270).

For all their agreement on evildoing and rejection of the Prophet, Abu Lahab and his wife’s union, it can be argued, does not achieve the primary objectives of marriage in that it is not premised on emotional harmony and spiritual rest. To explain, if the married couple happen to be united in sin rather than virtue and piety, it is not likely that their marriage fosters the elements of sakeenah (tranquillity), mawaddah (love), and Rahmah (mercy) mentioned in Verse 30/21. Csányi and Szabina (2021) point out the irreconcilability between dwelling in Sakeena through marriage and living in sin:

Islam highlights that the purpose of marriage is to form a united sakeenah family based on mawaddah and Rahmah. Sakeena is the purpose of marriage which means to achieve peace, tranquillity and calmness … . The physical and spiritual state of fear associated with sin when not yet married can be changed into a calm and peaceful feeling after marriage. (337)

Based on this Islamic conception of marriage, the marital relationship between Abu Lahab and his wife, it can be argued, does not achieve the chief purpose of marriage—namely the sakeena of the soul which is mutually exclusive of the idea of living in unrest through sin.

Furthermore, the visual description of the couple’s punishment in the afterlife annuls the presence of spiritual harmony and rest in their relationship. Described as “carrier of the fire wood”, the wife of Abu Lahab does not only “share[…] her husband’s punishment in Hell-fire” but participates in preparing it as “she carries the wood to feed the flames which have been prepared for him” (Ibn Kathir, p. 270). Besides joining him in Hell-fire, Abu Lahab’s wife is especially prescribed another punishment, namely having a twisted cord of burning fibre around her neck to which is tied the bundle of wood she carries to ignite flames over her husband (Ibn Ashoor, p. 606). In fact, her punishment particularly stems from the kind of misdeeds she used to perform in her life: supporting her husband in harming the prophet by gathering thorns and placing them on his pathway, as well as igniting the fires of discord and enmity between people through gossip, exactly as one would gather firewood to kindle the fire. (Al-‘Adawi, p. 5). One may ask here: Would a woman worthy of being called “wife” get involved in tormenting her husband whom she is supposed to honour and love? The cord of burning fibre around the neck of Abu Lahab’s wife, it can be argued, is less intended as a physical punishment than a psychological one, which is exclusively designed for her, i.e. participating in the punishment of her husband and being a reason for his humiliation and torture (Ibn Ashoor, 1984, p. 606). It is also worthy to note that the image of putting a cord of fibre around her neck tied to a bundle of wood is meant to belittle and humiliate Abu Lahab’s wife in that she is reported to have been meaning to use her valuable necklace to fund her enmity with the prophet (Al-Alosi, 2023). Also, the visual image of her punishment compares her to a menial labourer carrying wood with a rope tied around her neck, which does not befit her or her husband’s status, both coming from one of the most leading, honourable, and wealthiest families of Quraish.

In Short, the above discrepancies (a woman contributing to the punishment and disgrace of her husband; a marital cooperation based on evildoing and igniting enmity rather than righteousness) make it more becoming to refer to Abu Lahab’s spouse as امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) rather than / zawdʒ / (wife). The use of امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) in Verses 4 and 5 may, at first flance, be misinterpreted as a case of Quranic inconsistency, given that Abu Lahab and his spouse are generally known to be in agreement; however, a closer examination of the dynamic of their relationship—their agreement being merely centered on Shirk (the sin of idolatry or polytheism)—may suggest that the Quran deliberately uses امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) in this context to expose the unstated or secret aspect of their spousal relationship, i.e the possibility of undeclared marital strife or absence of genuine harmony between them.

Against the model of disbelieving, unfaithful or disloyal wives, the Quran lists examples of wives who agreed with their husbands in righteousness, but were infertile, at least within the time frame referenced in the verse. Verses 3/40, 19/5, and 19/8, for example, handle the righteous, yet barren, wife of Prophet Zachariah. This woman, as noted above, was old and barren long before God gave her a son, named Yahya (John), who was also a prophet. Similarly, Verses 11/71 and 51/29 mention Abraham’s wife, who was also old and barren, when she conceived their son (Prophet Isaac). The reference to the barren but righteous wife also occurs in Verse 3/35 which particularly cites Imran’s wife and how she became surprisingly pregnant with Maryam (the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus) and subsequently dedicated her unborn child to the service of God. In all these cases, the Quran employs the word امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) to denote a devout woman who is in spiritual accord with her husband, yet long deprived of the quality of birth-giving, at least before God bestowed upon her the gift of bearing a child.

Based on the notion that the Quran might be lexically hinting at hidden aspects of the marital relationship, it can be argued that the use of امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) to refer to childless spouses of prophets may allude to the possibility of their experiencing psychological strain triggered by their childlessness. While the Quran, by no means, devalues childless marriages, it does seem to presuppose the idea that reproduction is a basic spousal right and a natural outcome of marriage—As stated in Verse 25/74:

وَٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَٰجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّـٰتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍۢ وَٱجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا

(who say, ´Our Lord, give us refreshment of our wives and seed, and make us a model to the godfearing.)

It is for this reason that two important Islamic prophets have the burden of their wives’ infertility shown in the Quran (Verse 21/89 and Verses 37/100–101) as they beseech God to grant them offspring. In Abraham’s case, his wife, Sarah, resigned to her childlessness, arranges that her maiden, Hajar, be married to him so that she begets him children (Al-Khatib, 2006, p. 220). It can be inferred from this arrangement that Sarah has long struggled with misplaced guilt and anxiety over depriving her husband of his reproductive rights. Prophet Zachariah, also, seems to be overwhelmed with anxiety about being childless, so he prays to God for a pure child to succeed him. God responds to Zachariah’s prayer by saying, “We set his wife right for him” (Verse 21/90). The use of “set right” has been interpreted as “having cured his wife of her infertility”, but it can also signify having his impaired matrimony corrected through the divine bounty of his child, Yaḥyā (John) (Madani, 2020, p. 47).

Infertility, according to Bint al-Shātiʼ, prevents the fulfilment of one of the most important purposes of marriage, namely procreation which ensures the continuity and preservation of life. (p. 231). The Quran, Bint al-Shātiʼ notes, especially uses the word / zawdʒ / (and its various derivatives) when expressing the idea of reproductive pairing or mating with reference not only to human beings but also to every kind of creation, including animals and plants, as in Surat Ani-sa (The Women)1, Hud 40, Al-Shuraa (The Counsel) 11, Ya-Sin 36, Adh-Dhariyat (The Scatterers) 49, etc (Bint al-Shātiʼ, p. 230). The goal behind matrimony in the Quranic sense, it must be added, is not merely to provide the legitimate means for preserving the human race; but rather “to produce righteous children who will be obedient to Allah and who will be a source of reward for their parents after they die” (Dogarawa, 2009, p. 2). This insightful remark helps explain why it would be more befitting in the Quran to refer to a childless female spouse as “woman” or /ʔimraʔah/ rather than “wife” or zawja given that the procreational function of matrimony is not achieved.

The examples of the righteous and barren women in the Quran are not limited to prophets’ wives for there are also references to virtuous, yet childless, women married to disbelieving men. The most notable example of this category is Pharaoh’s wife, Asiya, whose righteousness, as presented in Verses 66/11 and 28/9, contrasts with her husband’s evil doing. In Verse 66/11, Asiya requests God to build her a house in Paradise and save her from her husband and his people’s evil work by keeping her faith strong. Osman (2015, p. 63) remarks that Asiya’s supplication parallels Pharaoh’s request to Haman in Verses 40/36–7 to build him a tower in heaven that he may go there and check if Moses’ God really exists. Osman further points out that “these verses not only show Asiya’s faith, but the contrast with the silliness of Pharaoh’s words reveal a disparity in their understanding of Moses message” (63). Asiya’s strong faith, as opposed to her husband’s faithlessness, is manifested in the scene referred to in Verse 28/9 where she prevented Pharaoh from killing Moses and expressed her wish to take him as son. And it is particularly due to the double factors of her barrenness as well as her departure from her husband’s faithlessness that Asiya is referred to as امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman).

Verse 4/128 cited last in Table 2 also uses امرأة / ʔimraʔah/(woman), but it does not seem to refer to any particular woman. The verse, however, does seem to refer to a scenario of marital conflict in that it addresses women who fear neglect, indifference or ill-treatment from their husbands and advises them to try and arrive at a fair settlement or compromise to prevent divorce. It can be concluded from this that the advised women are not already in accord with their husbands, but they may rather be seeking to set things right in their marriage for nothing but the need for financial support.

It is noticeable that, in all the 20 verses recorded in Table 2, none of the women is mentioned by her name; rather, they are attributed to their husbands. It is also clear that this husband is either a prophet (Lot, Noah, Zachariah, Abraham, and Imran), or a man of high position (governor of Egypt, Pharaoh, and Abu Lahab). In view of this, for all of these cases, albeit in Verse 4/128, which concerns women in general, the word “consort” may be proposed as a more suitable rendering for امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman)”. One must also note that by using امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), the Quran identifies the sex of these partners (i.e., their femaleness) as their most prominent attribute, rather than their wifehood, in that their union with their male counterparts is suggested to be no more than a physical relationship or legal partnership between man and woman.

Table 3 shows that Verses 70/12 and 80/36, as well as each of the verses preceding them, relate to scenes from the Judgment Day; they can be better interpreted when considered together. Verse 70/11 reads:

يبصّرونهم يَوَدُّ المجرمُ لو يفتدي من عذابِ يومئذٍ ببنيه

(as they are given sight of them. The sinner will wish that he might ransom himself from the chastisement of that day even by his sons.)

Table 3. Occurrences of the word صاحبة/s^ʕ aħibah/(companion)

Surat/verse no.	Surat Text	Translation of صاحبة
70/12	Wa s^ʕ æħibatihi wa ʔaẖ i:h	his companion wife, his brother,
80/36	Wa s^ʕ æ ħibatihi wa bani:h	his consort, his sons,
72/3	wa ʔanahu taʕæ la d͡ʒaddu rabbina ma Ittaẖa?a s^ʕ æħibatan walæ waladæ	He – exalted be our Lord’s majesty! has not taken to Himself either consort or a son.
6/101	Badi:ʕu assumæ wæ ti wa lʔard^ʕ ʔannæ jakuːnu lahu waladun wa lam takun lahu s^ʕ æħabatun wa ẖalaqa kulla shayʔin wa huwa bi kulli shayʔin ʕali:m	The Creator of the heavens and the earth – how should He have a son, seeing that He has no consort, and He created all things, and He has knowledge of everything?

And Verse 7/12 confirms:

“وَصَـٰحِبَتِهِۦ وَأَخِيهِ”

(and his companion wife, his brother).

The Judgment Day, of course, comes after death, which means at a time when the marital relationship between the spouses no longer exists, as marriage in Islam dissolves either with divorce or the death of either spouse. On this view, the word صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) should be more accurately rendered into “previous wife” or “wife in life span”. This also applies to Verses 80/34, 80/35, and 80/36 which together read:

“يومَ يَفِرُّ المرءُ من أخيه، وأُمِّهِ وأبيه، وصاحبتهِ وبنيه”

(upon the day when a man shall flee from his brother; his mother and his father; and his consort and his sons), where “consort” again means “wife in life span”. The use of صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) here can be attributed to the fact that the horrors of the Resurrection Day lead to the disruption of any physical, intellectual or emotional relation between husband and wife (Madani, p. 47). Verses 72/3 and 6/101, on the other hand, assertively declare that God did not have a wife. The Holy Quran in these two situations in particular uses the word صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) rather than زوجة (wife) or امرأة (woman) to confirm that God never had a wife and never had a relationship with any female and, consequently, had no son.

It can be concluded from these various instances that the word the word صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) is used in the context of complete separation or absence of the martial relationship.

7. Conclusion

The present study has analyzed the appearance of three semantically similar words used for a female spouse in the Holy Quran. These words are زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), and صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion). The study has revealed a number of differences between the three entries although they are used almost interchangeably in spoken Arabic. The first of these – زوج / zawdʒ / (wife)—was found to refer to the female whose relationship with her husband is built on compatibility, love, piety, and birth-giving. The second – امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman)—however, refers to the female who contradicts her husband in religion, and/or who is sterile. The third – صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah/(companion)—refers to the female who no longer has a marital relationship with her man by virtue of divorce or death, or who never had one.

It can also be concluded from this that the designation “wife” in the Quran is not simply used to refer generically to a female spouse; rather it is particularly used to refer to a married woman existing in a prototypical kind of Islamic marriage: ensuring the sanctity and honour of matrimony through having a partner in whom one would find comfort, mercy and compassion (Verse 30/21), combined with the fulfilment of its other natural outcome, namely, procreation (Verse 16/72). It must be noted here that procreation is not viewed in the Quran as the sole or even ultimate goal of marriage; however, producing offspring is stated as an instinctual need that can only be legitimately met through marriage. While the term امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) is used when the dignity of marriage and/or its procreative function are missing, the other term صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) is employed to imply the absence or cessation of the marital relationship

The Quranic distinction between these three lexemes, it must be emphasized, does not indicate any differential respect to the women they describe; rather it is merely intended to expose the nature of the marital relationship these women have with their husbands. To explain, by using the lexeme امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), the Quran, by no means, equates the religious standing of the spouses of Abu Lahab, Lot, Noah, or Al-Aziz with those of Zachariah, Abraham, Imran, or Pharaoh. Some of these women are promised severe retribution, while others are promised eternal life in Paradise. Differently put, when the Quran uses امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), it does not intend to denigrate the woman to whom it refers; rather, it simply alludes to whether the marital relationship the woman has with her husband qualifies as marriage in the Quranic sense. By calling them امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), the Quran does not so much point to a fault in these women as suggest a defect in their marital union.

The significance of this distinction lies in that the translator should find equivalent words in the target language that signify the exact type of marital relationship suggested by the Quran. It is important here to underline the verbal and contextual specificity of Quranic expression, which should be treated as distinct from our everyday modern life. With this mind, the same standpoint about the use of these three near-synonyms, it must be emphasized, should not be extended to translators of common texts to avoid confusion or extraneous negative connotations of these words, when applied to contemporary contexts.

Differently put, the findings show that the words selected for this study cannot be considered synonyms, and, therefore, should not be used interchangeably, especially in Fusha (classical) Arabic. The use of these words in spoken Arabic is also not that simple. While the two words زوج / zawdʒ / (wife) and امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman) are, in fact, used interchangeably; the word صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion) is different in that it is used for a girlfriend or a female friend, rather than for a wife, which makes it an inappropriate and, to a certain extent, offensive term in conservative communities.

In conclusion, while the three words زوج / zawdʒ / (wife), امرأة / ʔimraʔah / (woman), and صاحبة / s^ʕ aħibah / (companion), in most cases, convey the meaning of “wife”, each one involves a hidden message and specifically helps in identifying the exact nature of the marital relationship indicated in the Quranic verses, which would otherwise remain disclosed to readers of the Ouran. Differently put, there are slight differences in the meanings of the Quranic designations for the word “female spouse” that should be adequately rendered by attending to the nuances of meaning suggested by the context.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Notes on contributors

Mohd Nour Al Salem

Mohd Nour Al Salem is an associate Professor of Translation at the University of Jordan. He got his PhD from the University of Leeds, UK. His research interests focus on Quranic translation, translation of figures of speech, and translation ideology.

Mohammad Alaghawat

Mohammad Alaghawat is an assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics at the University of Jordan. He got his Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics, University of Seville. His research interests focus on socio-linguistics

Ghadeer Alhasan

Ghadeer Alhasan is an assistant professor of English Literature at the University of Jordan. She obtained her PhD from Lancaster University in 2018. Here research interests focus on modern and contemporary drama, literary theory, and comparative studies.