Bismillāh
وَإِذْ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِي أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ زَوْجَكَ وَاتَّقِ اللَّهَ وَتُخْفِي فِي نَفْسِكَ مَا اللَّهُ مُبْدِيهِ وَتَخْشَى النَّاسَ وَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَن تَخْشَاهُ
When you said to him whom Allah had blessed, and whom you [too] had blessed, ‘Keep your wife for yourself, and be wary of Allah,’ and you concealed within yourself what Allah would reveal, and you feared the people, while Allah has more right that you should fear Him…
Sūrat al-Ahzāb, No. 33, Āyat 37
This verse addresses a sensitive episode in the life of the Messenger of Allah sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa ālih, involving Zayd ibn Hārithah, a man who was favoured both by Allah and His Prophet (s). Allah had guided Zayd to Islam, and the Prophet (s) had freed him from slavery, adopted him as a son, and arranged his marriage to Zaynab bint Jaḥsh, who was the Prophet’s paternal cousin. When tensions arose between Zayd and Zaynab, and Zayd indicated his intention to divorce her, the Prophet (s) advised him as the verse states, “Keep your wife for yourself,” meaning, do not proceed with the divorce.
The verse then continues with a statement that requires careful explanation: “and you concealed within yourself what Allah would reveal, and you feared the people, while Allah has more right that you should fear Him.” ‘Allāmah Tabātabā’ī, in Tafsīr al-Mīzān, explains exactly what this fear means. It could not have been fear for his own personal safety. An upcoming verse of the same sūrah (33:39) describes those who convey Allah’s message as fearing none but Allah, a description that applies first and foremost to the Prophet (s) himself.
Rather, the correct explanation is that Prophet (s) had prior divine knowledge that he would eventually marry Zaynab, and he was apprehensive because he knew that once it became public knowledge that he would marry the divorced wife of his own adopted son, it would unsettle many of the newly converted Muslims. At the time, Arab custom regarded an adopted son as equivalent to a biological son, and consequently, marrying the former wife of one’s adopted son was considered forbidden. The Prophet (s) feared that some believers, unable to reconcile this action with their deeply ingrained customs, might waver in their faith.
Understood in this light, what appears to be a divine rebuke is, in fact, the opposite: it is an expression of divine support and reassurance. Allah is essentially telling His Messenger (s): do not be preoccupied with how the people will react, leave that matter to Me. I am marrying you to Zaynab, and I will support you through whatever difficulty may follow. This is like what Allah said to the Prophet (s) on the day of Ghadīr Khumm:
وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ
and Allah shall protect you from the people (Q 5:67)
It’s worth addressing an unfortunate narration that claims the Prophet (s) had accidentally glimpsed Zaynab and secretly fallen in love with her, concealing this desire in his heart until Allah exposed it in this verse. This account is rejected by Shī‘ah scholars as well as many Sunnī scholars. Beyond the chain-of-transmission problem, the account makes no sense. If the verse were rebuking the Prophet (s) for hiding a desire for another man’s wife, this would mean that he should manifest this desire and not hide it. For a man to openly declare his desire for someone else’s wife would be unthinkable, how much more so from the Prophet of Allah! In a narration from Imam al-Ridā (a), he says:
Allah, mighty and majestic, made known to His Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him and his family) the names of his wives in this world and the names of his wives in the Hereafter, and that they are the Mothers of the Believers. Among those whose name was revealed to him was Zaynab bint Jahsh, who at that time was married to Zayd ibn Hārithah. The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him and his family) kept her name hidden within himself and did not disclose it… (al-Sadūq, Āmālī, v 1, p. 153).
We ask Allah to grant us the insight to see the wisdom behind the actions of His Prophet (s), to increase us in our love and obedience to him.
Sources: ‘Allāmah Muhammad Husayn Tabātabā’ī, Tafsīr al-Mīzān.