Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
As for those of you who [henceforth] separate themselves from their wives by saying, “Thou art as unlawful to me as my mother”, [let them bear in mind that] they can never be [as] their mothers: none are their mothers save those who gave them birth: and so, behold, they but utter a saying that runs counter to reason, and is [therefore] false. But, behold, God is indeed an absolver of sins, much-forgiving
Arthur John Arberry
Those of you who say, regarding their wives, 'Be as my mother's back,' they are not truly their mothers; their mothers are only those who gave them birth, and they are surely saying a dishonourable saying, and a falsehood. Yet surely God is All-pardoning, All-forgiving
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
If any men among you divorce their wives by Zihar (calling them mothers), they cannot be their mothers: None can be their mothers except those who gave them birth. And in fact they use words (both) iniquitous and false: but truly Allah is one that blots out (sins), and forgives (again and again)
Arabic
ٱلَّذِینَ یُظَـٰهِرُونَ مِنكُم مِّن نِّسَاۤىِٕهِم مَّا هُنَّ أُمَّهَـٰتِهِمۡۖ إِنۡ أُمَّهَـٰتُهُمۡ إِلَّا ٱلَّـٰۤءِی وَلَدۡنَهُمۡۚ وَإِنَّهُمۡ لَیَقُولُونَ مُنكَرࣰا مِّنَ ٱلۡقَوۡلِ وَزُورࣰاۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورࣱ ٢
Transliteration (2021)
alladhīna yuẓāhirūna minkum min nisāihim mā hunna ummahātihim in ummahātuhum illā allāī waladnahum wa-innahum layaqūlūna munkaran mina l-qawli wazūran wa-inna l-laha laʿafuwwun ghafūru