Surah Al-Baqarah — 2:187
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أُحِلَّ لَكُمۡ لَيۡلَةَ ٱلصِّيَامِ ٱلرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَآئِكُمۡۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٞ لَّكُمۡ وَأَنتُمۡ لِبَاسٞ لَّهُنَّۗ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمۡ كُنتُمۡ تَخۡتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمۡ فَتَابَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَعَفَا عَنكُمۡۖ فَٱلۡـَٰٔنَ بَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَٱبۡتَغُواْ مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمۡۚ وَكُلُواْ وَٱشۡرَبُواْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ ٱلۡخَيۡطُ ٱلۡأَبۡيَضُ مِنَ ٱلۡخَيۡطِ ٱلۡأَسۡوَدِ مِنَ ٱلۡفَجۡرِۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّواْ ٱلصِّيَامَ إِلَى ٱلَّيۡلِۚ وَلَا تُبَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمۡ عَٰكِفُونَ فِي ٱلۡمَسَٰجِدِۗ تِلۡكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَقۡرَبُوهَاۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَتَّقُونَ
It has been made permissible for you to be intimate with your wives during the nights preceding the fast. Your spouses are a garment for you as you are for them. Allah knows that you were deceiving yourselves. So He has accepted your repentance and pardoned you. So now you may be intimate with them and seek what Allah has prescribed for you. ˹You may˺ eat and drink until you see the light of dawn breaking the darkness of night, then complete the fast until nightfall. Do not be intimate with your spouses while you are meditating in the mosques. These are the limits set by Allah, so do not exceed them. This is how Allah makes His revelations clear to people, so they may become mindful ˹of Him˺.
Commentary
At first it was not allowed for a man, if he had gone to sleep on the night of the fast and then woke up before dawn, to eat or drink, or approach his wife. Allah replaced this ruling, allowing you, O believers, to have relations with your wives during the nights of fasting. They are a protection for you, keeping you pure, and you are a cover for them, keeping them pure. You both need each other. Allah knew that you were betraying yourselves by doing what you were not allowed to, so He had mercy on you, turning to you when you asked for forgiveness, and made things easier for you. So, have relations with them, and seek the children Allah has decreed you, and eat and drink during the whole of the night, until the break of true dawn is clear to you. Then complete your fast, not consuming anything from the break of dawn until sunset. But do not have relations with your wives when you are in spiritual retreat in the mosques, because that invalidates the retreat. These laws are the limits of Allah: between what is allowed and what is forbidden– so do not go near them. Whoever goes near the limits of Allah is close to falling into what is prohibited. By clearly setting out such laws, Allah makes His signs obvious to people so that they may be mindful of Him, and do what He instructs and leave what He has prohibited.