وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَـٰتِ مَتَـٰعٌۢ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ ۖ حَقًّا عَلَى ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ
Wa lilmutallaqaati mataa'um bilma'roofi haqqan 'alal muttaqeen
اور مطلقہ عورتوں کو بھی دستور کے مطابق نان و نفقہ دینا چاہیئے پرہیزگاروں پر (یہ بھی) حق ہے
Divorced women are entitled to fair provision — a duty upon those who are mindful of God.
Provision for a divorced woman is stated as a ḥaqq, a due, and then fastened to taqwā rather than to a court, so a judge cannot measure what the verse still calls owed. Whether it binds every divorce or only the case at 2:236, where a marriage ended before consummation, is an old and genuine disagreement among the schools, and 2:242 then remarks that the signs are being made clear.