# How does the rule that a clear verse overrides an ambiguous one apply to Quran 65:4?

*The usuli principle: the clear term 'women' overrides the ambiguous phrase*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t-x4lyns2ve/s/10/
- Date: 2019-07-25 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: A Reply to Abdullah Sameer's Allegation: The Quran Teaches Paedophilia | Mufti Abu Layth (29:58–32:36)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-X4Lyns2vE&t=1798s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t-x4lyns2ve/

**Topics:** Legal theory and method; How to read the Quran; Contested verses

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** By a principle of usul the ambiguous phrase 'those who have not menstruated' is read in the light of the clear opening term women, which cancels any reading that includes girls. The Quran could have said fatayat but addressed them as nisa.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that by the usuli principle that a clear text governs an ambiguous one, the opening term nisa in Surah al-Talaq cancels any reading of 'those who have not menstruated' that would include girls.

**Evidence, his words at 31:15:** “whenever there's a slight challenge between something that may go one of two ways it has some let's say let's let's say there's some level of ambiguity right and there's something clear the clear always overrides” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-X4Lyns2vE&t=1875s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth notes that the Quran could have said fatayat, young women, which can include girls in their late teens, but addressed them as women, and that Arabic does not call little girls women any more than it calls little boys men. He then applies a principle of usul: the phrase 'those who have not menstruated' is mutashabih, open to more than one direction, and its apparent sense when heard is a woman with some abnormality, not a seven-year-old, though one could extract the meaning that underage girls also lack cycles. Whenever such an ambiguous phrase meets a clear one, the clear overrides, and here the passage opens with the clear term women and sets its tone with divorce, counting the iddah, lodging and reconciliation. He allows that someone taking the phrase in isolation could include young girls, but says that understanding is cancelled by the opening word nisa.

## Sources and names cited

- Quran 65:1 (when you divorce women, divorce them for their iddah; do not expel them from their homes): https://quran.com/65/1
- Quran 65:4 (those who have despaired of menstruation, if you are in doubt, their iddah is three months, and those who have not menstruated; the pregnant until they give birth): https://quran.com/65/4
- nisa (women)
- mutashabih (ambiguous text)
- fatayat (young women)
- usul al-fiqh
- a clear text overrides an ambiguous one

## Transcript (machine tier, 29:58–32:36)

[29:18] about oh it's about illness people that don't get and Meza fee quotes him as well on sorry Lucy also calls manga but yes just because scholars have said things like that wherever they've been wrong will accept that they were wrong but that is not Allah and it is not his messenger and that is men and their opinions who was subject and influenced by they day and age so I hope that shed some light the Quran categorically addresses the wives here divorce as women because they are women at that stage right it does not say but not it

[29:57] does not say you know Fateh yet even in this it could have said Fatiha to be fair because what the earth can still be girls in their late teens and things like this but here it actually addressed them as women okay so and you definitely in Arabic do not refer to little girls as women just as you do not refer to little boys Oh lad as a region right so I hope that sheds enough light so we you've got and there's a no Sully principle that we something has is Matta shabbiha so you've got this verse here saying and those who do not have their

[30:36] cycle now one apparent reason if you said that somebody you'd think oh abnormality you know like if I said all right so there's this girl she doesn't have her menstrual cycle the first thing that would come to your mind is are okay like some abnormal you wouldn't first of all think like if I said that to you now you wouldn't think oh a seven-year-old like unit you want to think I'd be saying that because that's a stupid but now so the apparent would be oh so some abnormality now you could extract a meaning from that by saying oh and and I guess underage girls also don't have mental cycles which is true they don't as well

[31:15] so you've got a mutter sharp is something that can have can go in multiple directions whenever that clashes with something that is sorry that is very clear the clear thing so the beginning of the verse begins with women and it sets the tone that when you divorce women then divorce them for the AIDA count the AIDA measure it make sure they you cannot throw them out their homes if you reconcile once they're 8 days up do this to that it begins with women which is clear so whenever there's a slight challenge between something that may go

[31:53] one of two ways it has some let's say let's let's say there's some level of ambiguity right and there's something clear the clear always overrides that's a clear or suli principle so here the term lisa is clear it is sorry this is not something that is you know in any way ambiguous the other verse although it's clear personally it's clear to me is probably clear to many people but I can accept that okay fine if you just took that as an isolated understanding you could say yeah well young girls

[32:31] don't also have the menstrual cycle so we're going to include them but then that's clearly canceled out that understanding is by the beginning of the verse Nissa women I hope this makes sense to you guys I hope it's shed some light I want you to explain that as a I felt a duty because you know there were many Muslims or I'm sure there are many who may now be confused if they've come across certain people saying that the Quran allows pedophilia it does not okay so I hope that's of some help guys let's

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment T-X4Lyns2vE/s/10. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t-x4lyns2ve/s/10/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.