| Answer: In my view, the correct translation and
explanation of this verse is as follows:
Your wives are as a cultivated land to you. So come to
your cultivated land in whatever manner you want to and extend forward for
yourself, and keep fearing Allah, and you should know that you are to meet Him
[one day], and give glad tidings to the believers. (2:223)
The context of this verse must be understood first to
grasp its meanings. The preceding verse is:
They ask you concerning women’s courses. Tell them: They
are an impurity. So keep away from women in their courses, and do not approach
them until they are clean. And when they have purified themselves, approach them
in the manner the Almighty has directed you [through your instincts] -- for
Allah loves those who constantly repent and keep themselves clean. (2:222)
With reference to this context, the metaphor of cultivated
land used for wives seems to imply the following: Just as seeds should be sown
in a land at the proper time in the proper season and not be wasted by throwing
them outside, similarly wives should not be approached for sexual intercourse
from the anal side or during their menstrual cycles since this is not the right
place or time to approach them. The period of menses is a time during which
women are sexually cold and not inclined, while anal intercourse is against
natural human nature. Every person should therefore avoid these. Viewed thus,
this initial portion of the verse is a further explanation of the preceding
verse. The next portion of the verse: ‘So come to your cultivated land in
whatever manner you want to’ on the one hand refers to the liberty, freedom and
a free manner with which a farmer approaches his land, and on the other hand
refers to the responsibility, caution and care which he must exercise in
approaching his land. Every one knows that the real bliss of married life is the
freedom a person has in intimate affairs barring a few broad restrictions. The
feeling of this freedom has a great amount of euphoria around it. When a person
is with his wife in intimate moments, Divine will seems to be that that he
should be overcome with emotions but at the same time it is pointed out to him
that he has come into a field and an orchard; it is no wasteland or a forest. He
may come to it in whatever manner and in whatever way whenever he pleases, but
he must not forget that he has landed in his orchard -- something which has
delicate roses in it.
The next potion of the verse: ‘and extend forward for
yourself’ means that just as cultivable land provides a living for a person, a
wife is a means to preserve the breed of humanity. These words show that the
real objective in having intercourse with one’s wife is this preservation of
man’s progeny; pleasure is just a secondary benefit, though by no means a
trivial one. The other thing which these words refer to is the reward parents
keep getting if the children they raise turn out to be pious because of the
training and education they gave them.
The rest of the verse seems to require no explanation.
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