This paper examines the nature of commands in the Qur’an and the question of whether there is continuity between Meccan and Medinan commands. Scholars have long posited that there is a substantial change between Meccan and Medinan content in the Qur’an, with the most obvious example being the call to active militancy in Medinan suras. Scholars such as Fred Donner, David Marshall, Nicolai Sinai, and others all argue for an ‘activist’ trend in Medinan suras; scholars such as Mark Durie and Walid Saleh take this argument further to claim that the theology of the Qur’an changed substantially to a theology of violence or warfare in the Medinan period. Scholars such as Durie, Saleh, and Sinai have all used language implying that the religion itself changed in Medina. In making such assertions, none of these scholars have delved into the implications of the Qur’an’s focus on communal propriety and the household sphere. This paper focuses on the specific terminology as well as the content of verses on modesty, sexual propriety and slander, which shows substantial agreement between Meccan and Medinan content, although the form and level of detail varies. Therefore, while a Meccan story might allude to the moral dangers of slander in one brief verse, Medinan suras spell out those dangers at great length, and prescribes punishment for infractions. The examples given in this paper show not only that there is continuity between Meccan and Medinan suras, but also that rulings on the household sphere and personal propriety are important in the Qur’an’s overall moral trajectory, its theology and its law. However, these examples also call into question what counts as ‘law’ in the Qur’an. Is law all commands, and are there different levels of command? The paper suggests that what might broadly be characterized as Qur’anic law operates in different ways: some verses enforce boundaries that must not be crossed (for instance, slander or improper treatment of the wife in marriage or divorce), and others outline minimal limits of action that must be taken and which may lead to ever-increasing states of purity.