According to the Islamic tradition, the chapter was revealed during the
Medinan period of Muhammad's prophethood, therefore, a
Medinan sura. A minority opinion says that only the first ten verses were from the Medinan period, and the rest were from the
Meccan period. Another minority opinion says that verse 9 was from the Meccan period, and the rest Medinan. Both traditional and modern scholars of the Quran date the revelation of the chapter to between 4
AH to 7 AH (roughly 625–628 CE), likely after the
Battle of the Trench. The Muslim community was in Medina under the leadership of Muhammad, under threat from the
Quraysh tribe in Mecca and from the intrigues of "the hypocrites" (
munafiqun, those who were outwardly Muslim but secretly opposed the Muslims) and the Jewish tribes in Medina. The
Constitution of Medina acts as a constitution for this community, and the Quran—regarded as divine revelations by the Muslims—provided the law, and Muhammad acts as the final authority in interpreting the law and adjudicating disputes among the members of the community. The chapter is the first of ten Medinan suras which addresses legal issues in the nascent state led by Muhammad in Medina. The traditional
Egyptian chronology puts the chapter as the 105th chapter by the order of revelation (after
Al-Munafiqun), while the
Nöldeke Chronology (by the
orientalist Theodor Nöldeke) puts it as the 106th.
"She who disputes" The first section (verses 1 to 6) was revealed in response to a juridical petition by a Muslim woman named
Khaula bint Tha'laba, whom the chapter name refers to. Her husband, a Muslim man named
Aws ibn al-Samit, divorced her using the pre-Islamic Arabian custom of
zihar. According to the custom, when a husband invoked the declaration "You are to me as my mother's back", the husband would be free to remarry and released from his obligation towards his wife, while the wife could not remarry. This practice was not isolated and many new converts to Islam used it in
Medina. Khaula considered this practice unfair to woman and petitioned Muhammad, as ruler and judge in Medina, to revoke the divorce, using moral and legal arguments. Muhammad initially declined to rule in her favor, citing the existing social custom and the lack of Quranic revelation to the contrary. According to the Islamic tradition, Khaula prayed to God about her predicament, and then God revealed the first six verses of
Al-Mujadila to Muhammad, stating that her prayer was heard, overruling Muhammad and effectively outlawing the practice of
zihar. == Name ==