(Your women are a tilth for you…) [2:223].
Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Qadi informed us> Hajib ibn Ahmad> 'Abd al-Rahim ibn Munib> Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah> Ibn al-Munkadir that he heard Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah say: “The Jews used to say that whoever penetrates the vagina of his wife from a back position, the child born as a result of this intercourse will be cross-eyed. To deny this, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will)”. This was narrated by Bukhari from Abu Nu'aym and by Muslim from Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, and Abu Nu'aym and Abu Bakr related it from Sufyan.
Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> Abu Sa'id Isma'il ibn Ahmad al-Khalali> 'Abd Allah ibn Zayd al-Bajali> Abu Kurayb> al-Muharibi> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> Aban ibn Muslim> Mujahid who said: “I read the Qur'an out of memory, from beginning to end, under Ibn 'Abbas' supervision three times, stopping at each verse to ask him about its meaning until he got to this verse (Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will). He said: 'The men of this part of Quraysh used to have sexual intercourse with their wives while the latter lay down on their front. They enjoyed their wives from the front and back positions. When they migrated to Medina and married the women of the Helpers, they tried to do with them what they were in the habit of doing in Mecca. But the women of the Helpers objected, saying: 'This is something that we did not do before'. The talk spread until it reached the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will). He said: If you want you can penetrate your wives from a back position or from a front position, or if you want from a kneeling down position. He meant by this, penetrating their women's vaginas from any of these positions. He said: go to your tilth as you will' ”. This was narrated by al-Hakim Abu 'Abd Allah in his Sahih from Abu Zakariyya al-'Anbari from Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Salam from Ishaq ibn Ibrahim from al-Muharibi.
Sa'id ibn Muhammad al-Hayyani informed us> Abu 'Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Faqih> Abu'l-Qasim al-Baghawi> 'Ali ibn Ja'd> Shu'bah> Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir who heard Jabir saying: “the Jews said: 'If a man has sex with his wife when she is in a kneeling down position, any child born as a result of this intercourse will be cross-eyed'. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed this verses (Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will)”.
Sa'id ibn Muhammad al-Hayyani informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Hamdun> Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Sharafi> Abu'l-Azhar> Wahb ibn Jarir> Abu Kurayb who is reported to have heard al-Nu'man ibn Rashid narrate from al-Zuhri from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir from Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah who said: “The Jews said: 'When a man has sexual intercourse with his wife while she is in a kneeling down position, any child born to them as a result of this will be cross-eyed'. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will), i.e. if you want [you can have intercourse with them] in a kneeling down position or if you want in a different position, as long as the penetration happens in the vagina”. This was narrated by Muslim from Harun ibn Ma'ruf from Wahb ibn Jarir. The Shaykh Abu Hamid ibn al-Sharqi said: “This is a great hadith which equals one hundred hadiths; only al-Nu'man ibn Rashid related it from al-Zuhri”.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mutawwi'i informed us> Abu 'Amr ibn Hamdan> Abu 'Ali> Zuhayr> Yunus ibn Muhammad> Ya'qub al-Qummi> Ja'far> Sa'id ibn Jubayr> Ibn 'Abbas who said: “ 'Umar ibn al-Khattab went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said to him: 'I have perished!' The Prophet exclaimed: 'And what is the reason of your peril?' He said: 'I turned over the carriage of my camel'. He said: 'The Prophet did not answer him. But then this verse (Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will) was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace'. Meaning: penetrate your wives from the front and from the back, but avoid penetrating them in the anus or during their menstruation”.
Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Asfahani informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Hafiz> Abu Yahya al-Razi> Sahl ibn 'Uthman> al-Muharibi> Layth> Abu Salih> Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab who was asked about the saying of Allah (… so go to your tilth as ye will) and he said: “This was revealed about coitus interruptus”.
And in the report of al-Kalbi, Ibn 'Abbas said: “This was revealed about the Emigrants after they settled in Medina. They mentioned having sex with their wives from the front and back positions and did not see any harm in doing so as long as the penetration was done in the women's sexual organ. The Helpers and Jews who were present condemned this and mentioned that the only lawful way of sleeping with one's wife is to do it from the front position. The Jews also mentioned that they find in the Torah that it is filth in the sight of Allah to sleep with one's wife in any other position than when the wife is lying on her back, and failing to do so is the cause why children are born cross-eyed or mentally disturbed. The Muslims mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, saying: 'In the pre-Islamic period and after we embraced Islam we always had sex with our wives in any position we liked. The Jews have condemned us for doing so and, further, claimed this and that'. And so Allah, exalted is He, gave the lie to the Jews and revealed this verse to give dispensation (… so go to your tilth as ye will.) He says: the sexual organ of the wife is the plantation where the child grows (… so go to your tilth as ye will), meaning: from in front of her and from behind her as long as the penetration is done in her sexual organ”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou