The name "she who disputes" refers to the woman who petitioned Muhammad about the unjustness of this method, and the chapter's first verses outlaw it and prescribe how to deal with past cases of zihar.

[3] After the revelation, Muhammad clarified that if freeing a slave was not possible, someone who committed zihar could also perform fasting (sawm) for two months, or feed sixty poor people.

While in principle all individuals are free to participate in such assemblies, the verses maintain the importance of contributions from experts ("those who are possessed of knowledge").

[8] The chapter is the first of ten Medinan suras which addresses legal issues in the nascent state led by Muhammad in Medina.

[5][10] Khaula considered this practice unfair to woman and petitioned Muhammad, as ruler and judge in Medina, to revoke the divorce, using moral and legal arguments.

Muhammad initially declined to rule in her favor, citing the existing social custom and the lack of Quranic revelation to the contrary.

[5] It is alternatively called Al-Mujadalah, a related word meaning "the dialogue", referring to the use of discourse and the dialectical method that is an important theme in the chapter.