(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.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
