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187
أُحِلَّ لَكُم لَيلَةَ الصِّيامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلىٰ نِسائِكُم ۚ هُنَّ لِباسٌ لَكُم وَأَنتُم لِباسٌ لَهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُم كُنتُم تَختانونَ أَنفُسَكُم فَتابَ عَلَيكُم وَعَفا عَنكُم ۖ فَالآنَ باشِروهُنَّ وَابتَغوا ما كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُم ۚ وَكُلوا وَاشرَبوا حَتّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الخَيطُ الأَبيَضُ مِنَ الخَيطِ الأَسوَدِ مِنَ الفَجرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيامَ إِلَى اللَّيلِ ۚ وَلا تُباشِروهُنَّ وَأَنتُم عاكِفونَ فِي المَساجِدِ ۗ تِلكَ حُدودُ اللَّهِ فَلا تَقرَبوها ۗ كَذٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ آياتِهِ لِلنّاسِ لَعَلَّهُم يَتَّقونَ

Muhammad Asad

IT IS lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the [day's] fast: they are as a garment for you, and you are as a garment for them. God is aware that you would have deprived yourselves of this right,1 and so He has turned unto you in His mercy and removed this hardship from you. Now, then, you may lie with them skin to skin, and avail yourselves of that which God has ordained for you,2 and eat and drink until you can discern the white streak of dawn against the blackness of night,3 and then resume fasting until nightfall; but do not lie with them skin to skin when you are about to abide in meditation in houses of worship.4 These are the bounds set by God: do not, then, offend against them - [for] it is thus that God makes clear His messages unto mankind, so that they might remain conscious of Him.
  • Lit., "deceived" of "defrauded yourselves [in this respect]": an allusion to the idea prevalent among the early Muslims, before the revelation of this verse, that during the period of fasting all sexual intercourse should be avoided, even at night-time, when eating and drinking are allowed (Razi). The above verse removed this misconception.
  • Lit., "and seek that which God has ordained for you": an obvious stress on the God-willed nature of sexual life.
  • Lit., "the white line of dawn from the black line [of night]". According to all Arab philologists, the "black line" (al-khayt al'-aswad) signifies "the blackness of night" (Lane II, 831); and the expression al-khaytan ("the two lines" or "streaks") denotes "day and night" (Lisan al-'Arab).
  • It was the practice of the Prophet to spend several days and nights during Ramadan - and occasionally also at other times - in the mosque, devoting himself to prayer and meditation to the exclusion of all worldly activities; and since he advised his followers as well to do this from time to time, seclusion in a mosque for the sake of meditation, called i'tikaf, has become a recognized though optional - mode of devotion among Muslims, especially during the last ten days of Ramadan.