The first regulation concerns the divorce itself: فَطَلِّقُوهُنَّ لِعِدَّتِهِنَّ وَاَحْصُوا الْعِدَّةَ. For a wife who menstruates and whose marriage has been consummated, divorce is to be pronounced during a period of purity in which intercourse has not occurred. The waiting period must then be counted accurately. Al-Baqarah gives its measure in three menstrual periods; the present surah will specify other cases. This is not a general waiting requirement imposed on every marriage: elsewhere divorce before consummation carries no such period. Here the law prevents an impulsive act from prolonging a woman’s waiting and requires those involved to know when its obligations end.

Before the housing command comes وَاتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ رَبَّكُمْ—fear God, your Lord. Then departure is restricted from both sides: لَا تُخْرِجُوهُنَّ مِنْ بُيُوتِهِنَّ وَلَا يَخْرُجْنَ. Husbands must not expel the women during their waiting period, nor are the women to move out at will. The residences are called بُيُوتِهِنَّ, “their houses,” because their right to live there remains. The stated exception, اِلَّٓا اَنْ يَأْت۪ينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُبَيِّنَةٍ, concerns manifest indecency, here understood to include grossly abusive conduct toward the husband or his household. Ordinary dislike is not a license to remove her. Elsewhere coercing women to recover what has been given them is forbidden. The house must not become the first weapon of separation.

These commands are God’s limits: وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللّٰهِۜ وَمَنْ يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللّٰهِ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ. The person who crosses them wrongs his own self. Harm inflicted upon another also exposes its author to harm and accountability. Al-Baqarah places the same boundary-language within divorce and repeats this judgment when a husband takes his wife back merely to injure her. The power to retain or release does not make either act morally his to use as he pleases.

Then the verse gives a reason not to destroy the possibility of return: لَا تَدْر۪ي لَعَلَّ اللّٰهَ يُحْدِثُ بَعْدَ ذٰلِكَ اَمْرًا. You do not know: God may bring about a new situation after this. The husband’s aversion may change to renewed affection and a desire to restore the marriage. Rashly crossing the limits may destroy an opportunity he will later wish he had preserved. Al-Baqarah likewise closes a command against obstructing remarriage with the reminder that God knows and human beings do not. Present anger does not give a person knowledge of his future heart.

As the women approach the end of their waiting period, the choice must be made: فَاَمْسِكُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ اَوْ فَارِقُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ. In a revocable divorce, take them back honorably before the term expires, or allow the separation to be completed honorably. Good treatment belongs to both possibilities. A return means renewed companionship and appropriate maintenance; a separation means discharging rights without prolonging harm. Al-Baqarah explicitly forbids taking a woman back merely to extend her waiting and injure her. Neither remaining together nor parting permits that abuse.

The verse calls for two just witnesses from the believers to the return or separation: وَاَشْهِدُوا ذَوَيْ عَدْلٍ مِنْكُمْ. Witnessing protects the decision from later denial and dispute. Then the charge turns to the witnesses: وَاَق۪يمُوا الشَّهَادَةَ لِلّٰهِ—give testimony for God. Their account must not be bent toward the stronger party, family loyalty, or resentment. Elsewhere witnesses are to stand for justice even against themselves and those nearest to them. Here that same fidelity enters the dissolving household. These instructions admonish those who believe in God and the Last Day: their conduct answers to the judgment they believe awaits them.

Amid these duties comes the promise: وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللّٰهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًاۙ وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ. Whoever fears God, He makes a way out for that person and provides from an unexpected source. The promise extends beyond divorce to those who observe His commands, in the difficulties of this life and the next. Its place here nevertheless matters: neither spouse may seek relief by violating the other’s rights. Al-Nisāʾ also speaks of separation and promises that God will enrich each from His abundance. Neither spouse’s provision is confined to what the other can give.

Reliance accompanies the duties already given: وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللّٰهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ. Whoever relies on God, He is sufficient for that person. Counting, restraint, good treatment, and truthful testimony remain in place; trust does not replace them. اِنَّ اللّٰهَ بَالِغُ اَمْرِه۪ۜ قَدْ جَعَلَ اللّٰهُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدْرًا: God accomplishes His purpose and has appointed a measure for everything. The story of Yusuf likewise declares that He prevails over His purpose, while another passage joins His knowledge of every pregnancy with the measure appointed to all things. The outcome is not beyond His power because it lies beyond the parties’ foresight.

The opening prohibition against expulsion now becomes an affirmative duty: اَسْكِنُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ سَكَنْتُمْ مِنْ وُجْدِكُمْ. House them where you live, according to your means. Then the surah names the abuse it forbids: وَلَا تُضَٓارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ. Do not harm them to make their lives difficult. The purpose clause exposes calculated pressure—making residence unbearable, narrowing resources, or inflicting hardship so that the woman will surrender what the law preserves. The contrast is sharp: God promises a way out and ease after hardship; the husbands must not use the women’s need for housing and provision to make their lives harder.

وَاِنْ كُنَّ اُو۬لَاتِ حَمْلٍ فَاَنْفِقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ حَتّٰى يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ requires maintenance for pregnant divorcees until delivery, including when the divorce cannot be revoked. The child’s birth ends their waiting period, but it does not end every responsibility. If the mother nurses the child after the marital bond has ended, فَاِنْ اَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَاٰتُوهُنَّ اُجُورَهُنَّ requires payment for her nursing. Al-Baqarah likewise joins nursing to provision, consultation, payment, and the prohibition against either parent being harmed through the child.

وَأْتَمِرُوا بَيْنَكُمْ بِمَعْرُوفٍ calls upon the parents to reach a fair arrangement together about nursing and its payment. Neither the father's unwillingness to pay fairly nor the mother's excessive demand should frustrate the child's care. If they cannot agree and the child can be nursed by someone else, فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُٓ اُخْرٰى provides for another woman to nurse the child for him. Their disagreement does not end the responsibility to secure the child’s care.

Expenditure is proportioned to means: لِيُنْفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِنْ سَعَتِه۪ۜ وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنْفِقْ مِمَّٓا اٰتٰيهُ اللّٰهُ. A father with ample means spends accordingly; one whose provision is restricted spends from what God has given him. The two situations do not carry identical financial demands. Al-Baqarah likewise distinguishes abundance from restricted means in the parting gift owed after certain divorces, and ties nursing provision to capacity. The duty is real, but so is the limit of what can be given.

They rebelled against اَمْرِ رَبِّهَا, their Lord’s command, and فَذَاقَتْ وَبَالَ اَمْرِهَا وَكَانَ عَاقِبَةُ اَمْرِهَا خُسْرًا: they taste the consequence of their own rebellion, whose outcome is loss. The repeated word now distinguishes God’s command from the affair they made for themselves by resisting it. Earlier He promised ease and reward to those who fear Him; here defiance ends in the opposite.

اَعَدَّ اللّٰهُ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا شَد۪يدًا confirms that severe punishment is prepared for them. Then the warning reaches the present believers: فَاتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ يَٓا اُو۬لِي الْاَلْبَابِۚۛ اَلَّذ۪ينَ اٰمَنُوا. Fear God, people of understanding who have believed. Their understanding should make the consequence of defiance a reason to obey. Elsewhere, the declaration of God’s limits likewise leads into the contrast between obedience and transgression. The limits announced in the home belong within this larger accountability.

The purpose is لِيُخْرِجَ الَّذ۪ينَ اٰمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ اِلَى النُّورِ: to bring those who believe and do good from darknesses into light. The believers are named here by the faith and righteous deeds to which revelation has brought them. Elsewhere God sends down clear verses for this purpose, and the Messenger is given a Book through which to bring people out by their Lord’s permission. Here, too, God brings them into guidance through the Messenger’s recitation. Obeying the revealed duties of care and restraint is part of living in that light.

The language of bringing out now gives the surah a pointed contrast. At the opening, لَا تُخْرِجُوهُنَّ forbids expelling the women; then God promises مَخْرَجًا, a way out; now the Messenger's recitation serves لِيُخْرِجَ, to bring people from darkness into light. Wrongful expulsion harms; the way out God promises relieves; revealed guidance brings out of straying. A husband cannot treat wrongful expulsion as the way out God promises.

The destination is not merely survival after a crisis: وَمَنْ يُؤْمِنْ بِاللّٰهِ وَيَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا يُدْخِلْهُ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْر۪ي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْاَنْهَارُ خَالِد۪ينَ ف۪يهَٓا اَبَدًا. God will admit whoever believes in Him and does good into gardens beneath which rivers flow, to remain forever. قَدْ اَحْسَنَ اللّٰهُ لَهُ رِزْقًا declares the excellence of God’s provision there. The same surah promises provision from an unexpected source and requires the person of restricted means to spend what he can. It now names the excellent provision of the Garden. Present scarcity is not the final measure of what God gives.

The final verse turns to creation: اَللّٰهُ الَّذ۪ي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْاَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ. God created seven heavens and earths like them in number. The One who appoints the waiting period is the Creator of this far greater order. Elsewhere the creation of seven heavens likewise concludes with His knowledge of everything.

يَتَنَزَّلُ الْاَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ speaks of God’s decree carried out among them: His governance of creation, life, death, and provision. Earlier اَمْرُ اللّٰهِ named the revealed regulations sent to the people. The uses are related without being identical. The Lord whose decree governs creation is the Lord whose instruction governs the divorce; obeying that instruction is the human response within a world already under His rule.

The surah began with وَاَحْصُوا الْعِدَّةَ, count the waiting period, and ends with God’s knowledge encompassing everything. Human beings must count the term entrusted to them and calculate what is owed. Their knowledge is limited, but the duty to act accurately remains. Elsewhere God’s encompassing knowledge is joined to His counting of everything. The careful human count belongs within, and can never exhaust, His knowledge.

The final purpose answers the opening limitation: لِتَعْلَمُٓوا اَنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَد۪يرٌۙ وَاَنَّ اللّٰهَ قَدْ اَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا. The surah moves from لَا تَدْر۪ي, “you do not know,” to لِتَعْلَمُٓوا, “so that you may know.” What is made known is not the concealed outcome of one marriage, but the power and knowledge of God. The reader can leave the hidden future with Him while becoming exact, restrained, truthful, and generous in the present.