Euphemism in the Qur’an: A Case Study of

Marital Relations as Depicted in Q. 2:222–3

M.A.S. Abdel Haleem
SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

They ask you [Prophet] about menstruation. Say, ‘Menstruation is a

painful condition, so keep away from women during it. Do not
approach them until they are cleansed and when they are cleansed,
you may approach them as God has directed you. God loves those who
come back to Him and He loves those who keep themselves clean. Your
wives are [like] your fields, so go into your fields whichever way you
like and send forward [good deeds] for yourselves. Be mindful of God:
remember that you will meet Him.’ [Prophet,] give good news to those
who do good (Q. 2:222–3).

Q. 2:222–31 is a passage which is often cited as evidence that the Qur’anic attitude
towards women is degrading, primarily because it contains the much-quoted phrase
your women are [like] your fields. This makes it a suitable example through which to
illustrate some of the mechanisms which have contributed to the misrepresentation
and misinterpretation of the ways in which the Qur’an addresses issues relating to
women’s status. In the present context, this is primarily done by way of three
mechanisms: (i) wrenching a short statement out of its textual context; (ii) cutting
a statement off from its social and cultural context; and (iii) lack of regard for the
style of the Qur’an in treating various subjects. In discussing this last issue of
Qur’anic style, this short piece will also be useful in understanding how Qur’anic
discourse deals with intimate subjects through the use of euphemism at a more general
level.

Q. 2:222–3 as a whole deals with the issue of menstruation and legitimate sexual
practice. It may well be asked, ‘Why should the Qur’an speak about personal issues
such as menstruation?’ The obvious answer here is that some of the men around the
Prophet raised this with him, as part of a series of six questions put to Muḥammad
starting with verse 215, they ask you [Prophet] what they should give. Say, ‘Whatever

Journal of Qur’anic Studies 13.1 (2011): 125–131

Edinburgh University Press
DOI: 10.3366/jqs.2011.0010
# Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS
www.eupjournals.com/jqs
126 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

good things you give should be for parents, close relatives, orphans, the needy, and
travellers. God is well aware of what you do’. The questions pertained to fighting,
spending money, wine and gambling, the property of orphans and marriage, and then
the issue of menstruation. The question was not about menstruation in itself but
whether sexual intercourse between husband and wife is permissible at such times.
This is clear from the reply the Qur’an offers, and also from the way it posed the
previous question in Q. 2:219–21.2 The Qur’an has to answer such questions,
especially when they touch on areas which have such far-reaching effects on people’s
lives. To begin with, the Qur’an gently directs men that menstruation is adhā
(‘a painful condition’, also interpreted as ‘a messy condition’ or ‘a pollution’).
Husbands therefore should keep away (iʿtazilū) from women during it. This phrase is
then contextualised by the use of lā taqrabūhunna (do not approach them), a
recognised euphemism for sexual intercourse with women. The next part of this verse,
when they are cleansed you may approach them as God has directed you. God
loves those who come back to Him, and He loves those who keep themselves
clean, reinforces the instruction for abstinence from intercourse during menstruation.
Then we come to the crucial statement, your wives are [like] your fields. The use of
the image of fields here further reinforces the instruction to abstain during
menstruation, as it is not a time for sowing or casting seeds to grow. It is also, as
is clear from the rest of the verse and from the ḥadīth literature, a prohibition of
sodomy.3 Thus, the single image of women as ḥarth (‘fields’) to be planted has the
double effect of forbidding two practices. This, as we will see later, is an example of
one facet of Qur’anic style, the use of euphemism to gently touch on such intimate
matters.

The following phrase, so go into your fields whichever way you like is an allusion
to cultural and social preferences with regard to sexual activity in Medinan
society. When the Meccan Muslims emigrated to Medina and intermarried there,
they discovered various differences in cultural habits. The Meccans, we are told in
the traditional literature, were used to being more open in their sexual practice.4
The native Medinan women were more shy and modest and raised objections,
leading to discussion as to what was appropriate in such matters. The Meccan
men also learned that the Jewish community in Medina held that a child born from
a woman approached from behind would have a squint.5 The Prophet was asked
about this,6 and in response the Qur’an tells husbands that approaching one’s wife
is like going to one’s field to sow it, annā shiʾtum, from whatever direction/way
you like, provided that the seed is sown where it can grow, and provided it is not
abusive.

The following phrase, send forward [good deeds] for yourselves, can also be read as
an example of euphemistic usage in the Qur’an. On one level, it means that by
obeying God’s commands so far mentioned people are storing up good rewards for
 Euphemism in the Qur’an 127

their next life. However, it can also be interpreted as ‘make preparation for yourselves
beforehand’, suggesting that husbands should be gentle and careful with their wives
and prepare them psychologically and physically.7 This is in keeping with the
Prophet’s instructions in such matters. For example, there is the well-known ḥadīth
that says, ‘Let a man not fall on his wife like a donkey. Let him send a messenger
beforehand’. When he was asked what sort of messenger, he said ‘A kiss, for
instance’.8 Likewise, in another he instructs: ‘When one of you has intercourse with
his wife, he should truly love her, and if he finishes before her, he should not hurry her
until she has gained her satisfaction’.9

The verse continues, be mindful of God: remember that you will meet Him. [Prophet,]
give good news to those who do good. This reinforces abstinence from disobedience,
and obedience to the teaching, including proper conduct towards one’s wife in such an
intimate situation. All this is part of the verse that begins with, your wives are [like]
your fields. As can now be seen, those who wrench the initial statement from its
context are not aware of how the Qur’an develops a whole web of instructions on
cleanliness, proper conduct and decency in the treatment of one’s wife, making all this
part of being aware of God and respecting His teachings. It reminds husbands, even in
this context, that they will meet God and will have to account for their treatment of
their wives, so they should place themselves in a position to receive good news in this
life and the next.

Thus, in plain terms, these two, interconnected verses do no more than answer two
questions raised by people in Medina over fourteen centuries ago: first, whether they
were permitted to have intercourse with their wives during menstruation, and second
whether they were permitted to practice sodomy with their wives – the answer to both
being that no, they should not. However, in answering this question the Qur’an gives
respect to women and their physical needs and functions. It counsels that men should
be considerate and should not be governed merely by indiscriminate sexual urges.
Thus, the status of women in the Qur’an – in the context of these verses – should be
derived from the entire passage (Q. 2:222–3), wherein we find its response to the
above two questions and not by way of isolating the short statement of your wives are
[like] your tilth out of its context, and cutting it off from the extended teachings given
in the two verses.

As has been demonstrated above, in contrast to, for example, the allegations made by
detractors of Islam in Medieval Europe, who said that the Qur’an was obscene since it
used such words as ‘coitus’,10 the style of the Qur’an in dealing with such sensitive
matters is euphemistic and relies mainly on imagery, in this case the field where seeds
are sown, of fertility and productivity. This rich image reminds men that their children
are their own seeds, grown into a new life. Such linguistic devices are seen in other
parts of the Qur’an. In relaxing the regulations to allow intercourse between spouses
128 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

on the nights of the fast, the Qur’an intimates the need they have for each other using,
in Q. 2:187, the image of ‘garments’ (libās) to express the need for protection,
covering and comfort which each spouse derives from the other: [your wives] are
[close] as garments to you, as you are to them.11 It is significant that the Qur’an here
reminds men first that they need the comfort and protection of women, pointing out
that their wives are as garments to you, before saying that the women are in need of
them.

The Qur’anic vocabulary used in these contexts is expressive: faʾtūhunna (‘come to

them’) and taqrabūhunna (lit. ‘come near to them’) are both euphemisms for
sexual intercourse. When prohibiting intercourse during menstruation the Qur’an
uses iʿtazilū (lit. ‘keep away’) but it is clear from the ḥadīth and exegetical and
legal texts that this does not mean isolating themselves completely from women
(as was the habit in some cultures and as some Arab men understood until the
Prophet corrected their misunderstanding).12 The Qur’anic text only means ‘refrain
from intercourse’. Similarly, the expression for abstaining from illicit intercourse
is expressed by the short, comprehensive, and euphemistic expression al-ḥāfizūna
furūjahum (‘guarding’, ‘protecting’, ‘preserving’, or ‘controlling’ ‘their private
parts’), a phrase which is used frequently to describe how believers should behave.13
The Qur’an also describes these parts as ʿawra, something vulnerable to exposure and
invasion, which needs to be protected, again an expressive image which reinforces all
the other images and terms used in the Qur’an’s discussion of this whole, delicate side
of human life.

Another expressive term the Qur’an uses in its discussions of human sexuality is zīna,
the first meaning of which is ‘ornament’. After telling believing men to restrain their
glances, the Qur’an uses zīna also to express the attractions of women’s bodies that
should not be flaunted. It also tells the believing women that they should lower their
eyes, guard their private parts, and not display (yubdīna) their charms (zīna), beyond
what [it is acceptable] to reveal; they should draw their coverings over their necklines
(juyūbihinna) and not reveal their charms except to their husbands, their fathers …
(Q. 24:31). It recognises that women’s bodies are attractive and should not be exposed
to any strange (and potentially dangerous) men by flaunting them, beyond what [it is
acceptable] to reveal.14 The word zīna, one short word, here provides an expressive
metaphor. For ‘flaunting and exposing’ the Qur’an uses yubdīna, a verb which
expresses the deliberate intention of uncovering and showing; to express ‘covering the
breast area’, it uses the euphemism of making women’s scarves cover their necklines
(juyūbihinna), the neck-openings of their shirts. It is clear that the Qur’an uses
imagery and not exact expressions of measurements: it makes a general point but does
not go into details, which explains how some interpret these instructions with what
can be seen as excessive restriction while others are more liberal.
 Euphemism in the Qur’an 129

This passage on covering (Q. 24:31) should be read in parallel with Q. 33:59, Prophet,
tell your wives, your daughters, and women believers to make their outer garments
hang low over them, so as to be recognised and not insulted. The Arabic used here,
yudnīna ʿalayhinna, is an expression that can be translated as ‘lengthening the
garments so that the legs are not exposed’. Although this is a recognised idiom, most
English translators take it to mean ‘draw their garments close around them’. However,
this latter interpretation would involve making the garments tighter, potentially
exposing the shape beneath, which contravenes the juristic opinion that women’s
garments should not be transparent or chosen deliberately to reveal the shape. The
interpretation of ‘lengthening the garments’ is supported by the end of Q. 24:31,
which says that women should ‘not swing their legs when walking so that the
attractions they conceal become known’. Zīna here, therefore, does not refer simply to
ornaments, and yadribna does not just mean ‘they stamp their feet’: arjūlihinna can
mean ‘their feet’, but also ‘their legs’ (lexically, rijl can mean foot or leg, from the hip
to the foot).

In keeping with its euphemistic style, the Qur’an also uses the verbs lāmasa
(‘reciprocal touching’, Q. 5:6) and bāshara (‘reciprocal skin-to-skin touching’,
Q. 2:187) for sexual intercourse. The disapproving word rafath is used for sexual
intercourse when it is forbidden, for instance during the Ḥajj pilgrimage (Q. 2:197).
Fāḥisha/fawāḥish (lit. ‘breaking the bounds’, i.e. ‘gross indecency’, ‘foul deed’ or
‘abomination’) is used for an illicit sexual act:15 do not kill your children, fearing
poverty – We will provide for you and for them – stay well away from committing
fawāḥish, whether openly or in secret; do not take life … (Q. 6:151).

So far it has been seen that the Qur’an never uses basic, crude or even objective
Arabic terms either for licit or illicit sex: when it is lawful and desirable, sex is
described in appealing terms, but when it is forbidden the words used imply strong
disapproval. This highlights another important feature of the Qur’an in dealing with
this subject, the use of persuasion and dissuasion: in trying to divert men from having
intercourse during menstruation it starts by saying that it is a painful or messy
condition but when women have been cleansed, they can come to them. God loves
those who come back to Him (having stopped doing something blameworthy) and
those who seek cleanliness. In directing men to have intercourse in the appropriate
manner the Qur’an uses the imagery of a field, evoking, thereby, the imagery of
sowing, planting, harvest and plenty. It reminds those who disobey, in a warning tone:
be mindful of God, remember that you will meet Him, and then says, give good news
to those who do good. In relaxing the regulation for sexual conduct during the night of
the fast, it reminds men that God was aware that you were betraying yourselves
(by infringing the regulations), so he turned to you in mercy and pardoned you: so
now you can lie with them – seek what God has ordained for you – eat and drink
until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black, then fast until nightfall
130 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

(Q. 2:187). In asking women to cover their legs, it gives them a reason for this, so that
they can be recognised and not insulted or molested, and then it goes on to say that
God is most forgiving, most merciful (Q. 33:59), forgiving any previous misbehaviour.

In contrast to the impression that can be created by wrenching statements such as your
wives are [like] your fields out of context, it has, hopefully, been demonstrated in the
discussion above that the physical relationship between husband and wife is described
in appealing terms in the Qur’an, due largely to its use of euphemism, and is shown as
part of God’s grace: Seek what God has ordained for you (Q. 2:187) … one of His
signs is that He created spouses from among yourselves, for you to live with them in
tranquillity. He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in this
for those who reflect (Q. 30:21).

NOTES
1 This, and all other quotations in this article, are taken from M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The
Qur’an: English Translation and Parallel Arabic Text (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2010), with some modification.
2 Similarly in Q. 8:1 they are asking not just about war-gains but about the distribution of
them.
3 Wizārat al-awqāf wa’l-shuʾūn al-Islāmiyya, al-Mawsūʿa al-fiqhiyya (45 vols, Kuwait:
Kuwait Ministry of Awqaf, 2006) vol. 35, p. 340.
4 for example we are told they would approach them ‘from behind … from the front’.
Al-Dārimī, Sunan, Nikāḥ, 45.
5 Al-Rāzī, Tafsīr (32 vols, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.), vol. 6, pp. 71–2.
6 Al-Rāzī, Tafsīr. See also al-Bayḍāwī Tafsīr (2 vols, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1988),
vol. 1, p. 120.
7 Wizārat al-awqāf, al-Mawsūʿa al-fiqhiyya, vol. 44, p. 15.
8 See al-Daylamī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, Musnad al-Firdaws 2/55. On returning with Muslim
men from a long journey, reaching the outskirts of Medina at nightfall, the Prophet decided
to camp outside the city for the night, sending messengers to announce that they were all
back, expressly intending that men should not surprise their wives, who might not be prepared
for them or might be in a state in which they would not wish to be seen (al-Bukhārī, Nikaḥ,
121, in Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl al-Shaykh, al-Kutub al-sitta (Riyadh: Dār al-Salam, 1999).
See also A.M. al-ʿAqqād, ʿAbqariyyat Muḥammad (Beirut: al-Maktabat al-ʿAṣriyya, 2008),
p. 94).
9 Wizārat al-awqāf, al-Mawsūʿa al-fiqhiyya, vol. 44, pp. 16–7; see also al-ʿAqqād ʿAbqariyyat,
p. 94.
10 Norman Daniel, Islam and the West (Oxford: Oneworld, 1993), p. 78.
11 Some exegetes take the word libās to mean not ‘garment’ but an active participle meaning
mulābisāt, i.e. ‘in close contact’, which fits the context showing that they are close to each
other, and not ‘out of sight, out of mind’. See Tammām Hassan, al-Bayān fī rawāʾiʿ al-Qurʾān
(Cairo: ʿAlam al-Kutub, 1993), p. 37.
12 See al-Rāzī, Tafsīr, vol. 6, pp. 68–74.
13 Q. 23:5, Q. 24:30–1, Q. 33:35 and Q. 70:29.
 Euphemism in the Qur’an 131

14 This is interpreted in one ḥadīth to show that covering the face and hands is not necessary.
15 As a way of avoiding fawāḥish the Prophet advised the men in his community, ‘If any
one of you sees a woman and is attracted to her, he should rush to his wife because she has
the same as the other has’ (Hadīth Tirmidhī, Riḍāʿ 9, cited in Āl al-Shaykh, al-Kutub al-sitta
p. 1,765).