Loyalty to the Prophet ; and his wives are Mothers of the Believers

Allah tells us how His Messenger is merciful and sincere towards his Ummah, and how he is closer to them than they are to themselves. His judgement or ruling takes precedence over their own choices for themselves, as Allah says:

فَلاَ وَرَبِّكَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لاَ يَجِدُواْ فِى أَنفُسِهِمْ حَرَجاً مِّمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً

Commentary

As stated earlier, most of the subjects in Surah al-Ahzab relate to the reverence of the Holy Prophet t and to the unlawfulness of causing pain to him. After the mention of pains caused to him by disbelievers and hypocrites at the beginning of the Surah, some instructions were given to the Holy Prophet ﷺ following which three customs of the Jahiliyyah were refuted. Out of these, the last custom related to such a pain inflicted on the Holy Prophet ﷺ because the disbelievers had - at the time of the marriage of Sayyidah Zainab ؓ the divorced wife of Sayyidna Zayd, and on the basis of their pagan custom of mutabanna - blamed the Holy Prophet ﷺ of having married the divorced wife of his 'son.' Thus, from the beginning of the Surah up to this point, the subject concerned the pain caused to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . In the present verse (6), it has been stated that the reverence of and the obedience to the Holy Prophet ﷺ more than the whole creation is wajib (necessary in the degree of obligation)