the man to his wife: 'You are to me as the back of my mother,' she does not become like his mother in terms of prohibition ever, but he is obligated to perform the expiation for dhihar. 'Nor has He made your adopted sons your [true] sons.' In the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (Jahiliyyah), a man would be base and lowly, so he would come to a man of strength and honor and say: 'I am your son,' and the man would say: 'Yes.' Once he accepted him and took him as a son, he would become the most honored of his family. Zayd ibn Harithah was one of them; the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had adopted him at that time according to what was done in the Jahiliyyah, and he was a freedman (mawla) of the Messenger of Allah. When Islam came, Allah commanded them to attribute them back to their fathers. He said: 'That is merely your saying with your mouths,' meaning: their claiming of these individuals, and the saying of a man to his wife: 'You are to me as the back of my mother.'
الرَّجُلُ لِامْرَأَتِهِ: أَنْتِ عَلَيَّ كَظَهْرِ أُمِّي، لَمْ تَكُنْ مِثْلَ أُمِّهِ فِي الْتَحْرِيمِ أَبَدًا، وَلَكِنْ عَلَيْهِ كَفَّارَةُ الظِّهَارِ ﴿وَمَا جَعَلَ أَدْعِيَاءَكُمْ أبناءكم﴾ وَكَانَ الرَّجُلُ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَكُونُ ذَلِيلًا فَيَأْتِي الرَّجُلَ ذَا الْقُوَّةِ وَالشَّرَفِ فَيَقُولُ: أَنَا ابْنُكَ، فَيَقُولُ: نَعَمْ، فَإِذَا قَبِلَهُ وَاتَّخَذَهُ ابْنًا أَصْبَحَ أَعَزَّ أَهْلِهِ؛ وَكَانَ زَيْدُ بْنُ حَارِثَةَ مِنْهُمْ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ تَبَنَّاهُ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَلَى مَا كَانَ يُصْنَعُ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ، وَكَانَ مَوْلًى لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ؛ فَلَمَّا جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ أَمَرَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُلْحِقُوهُمْ بِآبَائِهِمْ؛ فَقَالَ: ﴿وَمَا جعل أدعياءكم ذَلِكُم قَوْلكُم بأفواهكم﴾ يَعْنِي: ادِّعَاءَهُمْ هَؤْلَاءِ، وَقَوْلُ الرَّجُلِ لِامْرَأَتِهِ: أَنْتِ عَلَيَّ كَظَهْرِ أُمِّي.
