33:39 says that believing women should cover themselves properly so as not to be ”[sexually] abused”.
The immediate cause (asbāb al-nuzūl) was that some women in Medina were being harassed at night; this verse was to help them distinguish themselves as “free women” from slave women, so that they would be left alone.
My point is that in the Quranic translations of this verse, the word “abuse” has disappeared. The Arabic word يُؤْذَيْنَ ( yu’dhayna ) in Surah 33:59 has been replaced by “bother” or “annoy.”
The crucial passage is:
… so that they may be known and not be harmed …
li-yu’rafna fa-lā yu’dhayna “so that they are recognized and not yu’dhayna .”
The word yu’dhayna comes from the root ʾadhā (أذى) — a verb which has a very broad meaning in Arabic :
“to hurt”, “to injure”, “to cause a nuisance”, “to torment”, “to damage”, “to abuse”, depending on the context.
How classical scholars explained it
In tafsīr literature (such as al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr) yu’dhayna is usually explained as:
To expose them to evil, verbal
abuse, or harm.
This could refer to:
verbal harassment, sexual harassment, physical abuse.
In other words, in Classical Arabic, ʾadhā could indeed also include sexual or physical harm — abuse in the modern sense is thus within its semantic range.
How translators deal with it
Translators must always choose between:
-
a soft translation (“to bother, to irritate”),
-
or a heavier, more direct one (“to abuse, to misuse”).
Over time, this has changed:
| Period | Translation | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Older (e.g. J.M. Rodwell, Pickthall, some early online versions) | “…so that they may not be molested.” | “Molested” then meant “assaulted or abused” (in older English), but later came to be considered too strong. |
| Yusuf Ali (1934) | “…that they should be known (as such) and not molested.” | Same nuance; “molested” at the time meant sexual harassment . |
| More modern translations (e.g. Abdel Haleem, Asad, Sahih International) | “…that they may be recognized and not harassed.” | Softer, more neutral; “harassed” ≈ “harassed”. |
| Dutch translations (old online sites) | “…so that they are recognized and not abused .” | Literal, but harsh rendering. |
| New translations (such as Leemhuis, or modern-online) | “…so that they are recognized and not bothered .” | Linguistically milder, more in line with contemporary sensitive language use. |
Google Translate and the literal level:
When you enter the verse word-for-word into Google Translate, the system recognizes the modern meanings of “ʾadhā,” including “abuse,” because it is trained on contemporary linguistics. Google Translate returns a rougher, more literal translation that is closer to the older meaning of ʾadhā than many modern, polished translations.
Summary:
Arabic word يُؤْذَيْنَ (yu’dhayna) = harm, pain, torment, inconvenience, abuse.
Older translations used “molested” or “abused” — stronger and more concrete.
Newer translations are “to bother” or “to be hurt,” and are softer, more neutral.
Reason for this shift : theological sensitivity, apologetic strategy.
In short:
The word “abuse” was included in older translations because it did justice to the Arabic word ʾadhā .
But for political, apologetic, and stylistic reasons, the word has been replaced in many modern translations with milder terms like “bother” or “annoy.”
The original Arabic still allows for the more serious meaning.