This Surah (Revealed) Medinese:
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Ayah consisting of] 176 or 177 verses, revealed after [sūrat]
al-Mumtahana.(An-Nisâ)
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| بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | |
Tafseer
O people, of Mecca, fear your Lord, that is, His punishment by being obedient to
Him, Who created you of a single soul, Adam, and from it created its mate, Eve (Hawwāâ), from one of his
left ribs, and from the pair of them, Adam and Eve, scattered, separated and spread, many men and, many, women;
and fear God by whom you claim [your rights] from one another (tassāâalūna: the original tāâ [of
tatasāâalūna] has been assimilated with the sīn; a variant reading has tasāâalūna), so that one of you
says to the other, âI ask you, 84 by Godââ, or âFor Godâs sakeââ; and, fear, kinship ties, lest you sever them (a
variant reading [of waâlarhāma, âand kinship tiesâ] is waâl-arhāmi, as a supplement to the pronoun contained in
bihi [sc. God]). They used to implore one another by ties of kinship. Surely God has been watchful
over you, heedful of your deeds, for which He will requite you, that is to say, He is ever possessed of
such an attribute.
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Tafseer
The following was revealed regarding an orphan who demanded his property from
his guardian but was refused it: Give the orphans, the under-age ones that have no father, their
property, when they have reached maturity, and do not exchange the evil, the unlawful, for the good, the
lawful, that is, taking the one in place of the other, as you do when you take what is good from the
orphanâs property, and leave him your faulty property instead; and absorb not their property, [by] adding it,
into your property; surely that, the absorbing of it, is a great crime, a serious sin. When this was revealed
they found it difficult to maintain guardianship over orphans, and some of them had ten or eight wives under their
care, and did not treat them all equally, and so the following was revealed:
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Tafseer
If you fear that you will not act justly, [that] you will [not] be equitable,
towards the orphans, and are thus distressed in this matter, then also fear lest you be unjust towards women when
you marry them; marry such (mā means man) women as seem good to you, two or three or four, that is,
[each man may marry] two, or three, or four, but do not exceed this; but if you fear you will not be
equitable, towards them in terms of [their] expenses and [individual] share; then, marry, only one, or,
restrict yourself to, what your right hands own, of slavegirls, since these do not have the same rights as
wives; thus, by that marrying of only four, or only one, or resorting to slavegirls, it is likelier, it is nearer
[in outcome], that you will not be unjust, [that] you will [not] be inequitable.
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Tafseer
And give women their dowries (saduqāt, plural of sudqa), their bridal money
(mahr, muhūr), as a free gift (nihlatan, is a verbal noun), a present given out of the kindness of oneâs
heart; but if they are pleased to offer you any of it of their own accord (nafsan, âof their own accordâ, is for
specification and is taken from the subject of the verb [thus, it refers back to âtheyâ, the women]), meaning,
[if] their own selves are pleased that you should have something of the dowry and they give it to you
then, consume it with, good, wholesome appetite, a praiseworthy consequence, with no harm therein for you
with regard to the Hereafter: this was revealed in response to those who were opposed to this
[consumption].
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Tafseer
But do not, O guardians, give to the foolish, the squanderers from among men,
women and children, your property, that is, the property that is theirs but held by you, which God has
assigned to you as maintenance (qiyāman, âmaintenanceâ, is the verbal noun from qāma; a variant reading has
qiyaman, the plural of qīma, âvalueâ, that is, that with which property is valued), meaning that the property
which sustains your livelihoods and the well-being of your children, lest they expend it improperly;
provide for them thereof, that is, feed them from it, and clothe them, and speak to them decent words, prepare
for them a kind reception, by giving them their property when they reach maturity.
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Tafseer
Try, test, well the orphans, before reaching maturity with regard [the duties
of] religion and [before] they can [legally] manage their own affairs, until they reach the age of marrying,
that is, until they have become eligible for it through puberty or [legal] age, which, according to al-Shāfiâī,
is the completion of fifteen years; then, if you perceive in them maturity, that is, right [judgement] in matters of
religion and their property, deliver their property to them; consume it not, O guardians, wastefully, without
due merit, and in haste, that is, hastening to expend it, fearing, lest they should grow up, and become
mature, at which time you will be obliged to hand it over to them. If any man, who is a guardian, is rich, let him
be abstinent, that is, let him 85 abstain from the orphanâs property and refrain from consuming it; if he is poor,
let him consume, of it, honourably, that is, in line with the wage for his work. And when you deliver to
them, the orphans, their property, take witnesses over them, that they have received it and that you are
absolved [of the obligation], so that if any dispute occurs, you are able to refer to a clear proof: this is a
command [intended] for guidance. God suffices as a reckoner, as a guardian of His creaturesâ deeds and
as a reckoner of these [deeds] (the bāâ [in biâLlāhi] is extra).
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Tafseer
The following was revealed as a repudiation of pre-Islamic practices in which
women and children were not given any inheritance: To the men, young ones and kin, belongs a share, a
portion, of what, deceased, parents and kinsmen leave, and to the women belongs a share of what parents and
kinsmen leave, whether it, the property, be little or much. God has made it, an obligatory share,
apportioned, to be given to them.
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Tafseer
And when the division, of the inheritance, is attended by kinsmen, those of
kinship who cannot inherit, and orphans and the poor, grant them, something, out of it, before the division [is
effected]; and, if the inheritors are young, speak to them, O guardians, honourable words, kindly, by
apologising to them that it is not your possession [to divide as you wish], but that it is for the young
[inheritors]. Some say that this [stipulation] was abrogated; others say that it was not, only that people were
all too readily neglecting it, since it was encouraged [but not prescribed]. According to Ibn âAbbās, however,
it is a duty.
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Tafseer
And let them fear, let them be concerned for the orphans, those who, if they,
are about to, leave behind them, that is, after their death, weak offspring, young children, would be
afraid for them; that they be ruined; let them fear God, in the matter concerning orphans, and let them give
what they would love for their own offspring after their death; and speak, to the one approached by
death, pertinent words, the right [words], by enjoining him to give as voluntary almsgiving no more than the third
[of the inheritance], and leave the remainder for the ones inheriting, so that they do not end up as
dependants.
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Tafseer
Those who consume the property of orphans unjustly, without any right, are only
consuming, the whole of it as, fire in their bellies, because that is where such [action] leads, and they
shall be exposed to (read active yaslawna, or passive yuslawna), that is, they shall enter, a blaze, an intense
fire, in which they shall burn.
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Tafseer
God charges you, He commands you, concerning, the matter of, your children, with
what He will mention: to the male, of them, the equivalent of the portion, the lot, of two females, if
there are two [women] with him, so that half the property is his, and the other half is theirs; if there is only
one female with him, then she has a third, and he receives two thirds; if he is the only one, he takes it all; and
if they, the offspring, be, only, women more than two, then for them two-thirds of what he, the deceased, leaves;
likewise if they be two women, since in the case of two sisters, more deserving of such a share, God
says, They shall receive twothirds of what he leaves [Q. 4:176]; and since a female is entitled to a third with a
male, she is all the more deserving [of the same share] with a female. It is said that fawq, âmore thanâ,
introduces a relative clause; it is also said to guard against the wrong impression that the greater the number
[of females] the greater the portion [they are entitled to], since, it is [mistakenly] thought that the
entitlement of two females to twothirds derives from the fact that a female is entitled to one third when with a male;
but if she, the daughter, be one (wāhidatan, is also read wāhidatun, making the kāna [construction]
syntactically complete) then to her a half; and to his parents, the deceasedâs, to each one of the two (li-kulli
wāhidin minhumā, substitutes for the previous li-abawayhi, âto his parentsâ) the sixth of what he leaves, if
he has a child, male or female: the point of the substitution is to show that they do not share the sixth [but
receive one each]. [The term] âchildâ (walad) also applies to a grandchild, and likewise âparentâ (abb) to a
grandparent; but if he has no 86 child, and his heirs are his parents, alone or along with a spouse, then to his
mother (read li-ummihi; also read, in both places [here and further down], li-immihi in order to avoid the
cumbersome transition from a damma [âuâ] to a kasra [âIâ]) a third, of the property, or what remains after
the spouse, the rest being for the father; or, if he has siblings, two or more, males or females, to his mother a
sixth, and the rest for the father, and nothing for the siblings. The inheritance stipulated for those
mentioned shall take place, after, the fulfilment of, any bequest that he may bequeath (read active yūsī, or
passive yūsā), or, the repayment of, any debt, that he may owe. âBequestâ comes before âdebtâ, even though it
should only be fulfilled after the latter [has been repayed], to show that it should be taken seriously. Your
parents and children (ābāâukum wa-abnāâukum, is the subject, its predicate being [what follows]) â
you know not which of them is nearer in benefit to you, in this world and the Hereafter. It may be that one
supposes his son to be beneficial to him, leaves him an inheritance, and then it turns out that the
father had been the more beneficial [of the two], and vice versa. The only One with knowledge of this
[reality] is God, and for this reason He has prescribed for you inheritance: a prescription from God; surely
God is ever Knowing, of His creation, Wise, in what He has ordained for them, that is to say, He is ever
possessed of such attributes.
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Tafseer
And for you a half of what your wives leave, if they have no children, from you
or from another; but if they have children, then for you a fourth of what they leave, after any bequest they
may bequeath, or any debt: the consensus is that the grandchild in this case is like the child. And for
them, the wives, whether one or more, a fourth of what you leave, if you have no children; but if you have
children, from them or from others, then for them an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you may
bequeath, or any debt; again the consensus is that the grandchild is as the child. If it be a man leaving an
inheritance (yūrathu, âbeing inherited fromâ, is an adjectival qualification, the predicate of which is [the
following kalālatan, âwithout direct heirâ]) and not having a direct heir, that is, [having] neither a parent nor
child, or it be a woman, leaving an inheritance and having no direct heir, but it be that such, a man leaving an
inheritance with no direct heir, has a brother or a sister, from the same mother, as read by Ibn Masâūd and
others, then to each of the two a sixth, of what he leaves; but if they, the siblings from the same mother, be
more than that, that is, [more] than one, then they share a third, the male and female equally, after any
bequest to be bequeathed or any debt without prejudice (ghayra mudārrin, is a circumstantial qualifier referring
to the person governing [the verb] yūsā, âto be bequeathedâ) in other words, without causing any prejudice to
the inheritors by bequeathing more than the third); a charge (wasiyyatan, a verbal noun
reaffirming [the import of] yūsīkum, âHe charges youâ [of the beginning of the previous verse]) from God. God is
Knowing, of the obligations which He has ordained for His creatures, Forbearing, in deferring the punishment
of those that disobey Him. The Sunna specifies that the individuals mentioned may receive the relevant
inheritance provided that they are not barred from it on account of their having committed murder, or [their
belonging to] a different religion or being slaves.
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Tafseer
Those, rulings mentioned with respect to orphans and what followed, are Godâs
bounds, His laws, which He has delimited for His servants, so that they may act in accordance with them and
not infringe them. Whoever obeys God and His Messenger, in what He has ruled, He will admit him
(yudkhilhu, or, as a shift [to the first person plural] read nudkhilhu, âWe will admit himâ) to Gardens
underneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; that is the great triumph.
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Tafseer
But whoever disobeys God, and His Messenger; and transgresses His bounds, him He
will admit ([read] in both ways [as above, yudkhilhu and nudkhilhu]) to a Fire, abiding therein, and
for him, in it, there shall be a humbling chastisement, one of humiliation. (In both [of the last] verses, the
[singular] person [of the suffixed pronouns and the verbs] accords with the [singular] form of [the
particle] man, âwhoeverâ, while [the plural person in] khālidīn, âabidingâ, accords with its [general plural]
import.)
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Tafseer
87 As for those of your women who commit lewdness, adultery, call four, Muslim men,
of you to witness against them; and if they witness, against them such [lewdness], then detain
them in their houses, and prevent them from mixing with people, until, the angels of, death take them or,
until, God appoints for them a way, out of it. This was stipulated for them at the very beginning of Islam,
but then a way out was appointed for them through [the stipulation] that the virgin should receive a
hundred lashes and be banished for a year, and the married woman be stoned. The prescribed punishment
was explained thus in the hadīth, âCome listen to me! Come listen to me! God has now made a way out
for themâ, as reported by Muslim.
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Tafseer
And when two of you (read waâlladhāni or waâlladhānni) men, commit it, that is,
a lewd act, adultery or homosexual intercourse, punish them both, with insults and beatings with
sandals; but if they repent, of this [lewd act], and make amends, through [good] action, then leave them be, and do
not harm them. God ever turns [relenting], to those who repent, and is Merciful, to them. This [verse]
is abrogated by the prescribed punishment if adultery is meant [by the lewd act], and similarly if homosexual
intercourse is meant, according to al-Shāfiâī; but according to him, the person who is the object of
the [penetrative] act is not stoned, even if he be married; rather, he is flogged and banished. Judging by
the dual person pronoun, it seems more obvious that homosexual fornication is meant [by this verse], even
though the former [sc. alShāfiâī] was of the opinion that it referred to an adulterer and an adulteress; but this
[opinion of his] may be countered by the fact that [the reference to] the two [men] becomes clear on
account of the particle min being attached to a masculine pronoun [minkum, âof youâ], and by the fact that
they suffer the same punishment, [both effect the action of] repentance and [are both granted] that
they be left alone [thereafter], [all of] which applies specifically to men, given that for women
detention is stipulated, as was stated before.
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Tafseer
The repentance that God accepts, that is, the one which He has prescribed for
Himself to accept, out of His bounty, is only of those who do evil, an act of disobedience, in ignorance
(bi-jahālatin, a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, âthey are ignorantâ while they are disobeying their
Lord); then repent shortly thereafter, before the last gasps of death; God will relent to those, He will
accept their repentance. And God is ever Knowing, of His creatures, Wise, in what He does with them.
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Tafseer
Repentance is not for those who do evil deeds, sins, until, when death
approaches one of them, and the pangs of death begin, he says, upon witnessing his predicament: âIndeed now I
repentâ, for this would not avail him and would not be accepted from him; neither for those who die
disbelieving, if they repent in the Hereafter upon seeing the chastisement: it will not be accepted from them. Those
â We have prepared for them a painful chastisement.
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Tafseer
O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will
(read either karhan or kurhan, as alternative forms) that is to say, coercing them into this. In pre-Islamic
times, they used to inherit women from their kin, and if they so wished they could marry [a woman] without a
dowry, or marry her off and take the dowry for themselves, or prevent her [from marriage] until she gave up what
she had inherited, or until she died and they could inherit from her. They were thus forbidden such
practices; neither debar them, your [former] wives from marrying others by retaining them while you have no desire
for them yourselves, only to harm them; so that you may go off with part of what you have given them, of
the dowry, except when they commit flagrant (read mubayyina, âmaking it clearâ, or mubayyana, âclearâ)
lewdness, such as adultery or rebellion, then you have the right to coerce them until they redeem
themselves to you or forfeit [their dowries]. Consort with them in kindness, that is, being decent in speaking [to
them], with regard to [their] expenditure and lodging; for if you hate them, then be patient; it may happen
that you hate a thing wherein God has set much good, that is to say, perhaps He does this when He provides you
with a righteous child 88 through them.
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Tafseer
And if you desire to exchange a wife in place of another, by divorcing the one,
and you have given to one, of the spouses, a hundredweight, that is, a large sum as dowry, take of it
nothing. Would you take it by way of calumny, injustice, and manifest sin? (buhtānan, âcalumnyâ, and ithman,
âsinâ, end in the accusative because they are circumstantial qualifiers); the interrogative here is meant as
a rebuke, and as a disavowal where He says:
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Tafseer
How shall you take it, that is, by what right, when each of you has been privily
with the other, through sexual intercourse, which validates the dowry, and they have taken from you a
solemn covenant, a binding pledge, and that is what God commanded, namely, that they should be retained
honourably or set free virtuously.
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Tafseer
And do not marry women whom (mā means man) your fathers married, unless it be a
thing of the past, which is forgiven you; surely that, marrying them, is obscene, vile, and
abominable (maqtan, means it results in maqt, âsevere hateâ, from God), an evil way, [an evil] path is this.
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Tafseer
Forbidden to you are your mothers, in marriage, and this includes the paternal
and maternal grandmothers; and daughters, including their children, if they should lower themselves [to
such standards]; your sisters, from your fathers and mothers; your paternal aunts, that is, the sisters of your
fathers and grandfathers; and maternal aunts, that is, the sisters of your mothers and grandmothers; your
brotherâs daughters, your sisterâs daughters, including the children of these daughters; your foster
mothers who have given you milk, five times within the first two years, as pointed out in a hadīth; your foster
sisters, and, according to the Sunna, the daughters of these; and these foster-sisters include those suckled by
a woman with whom the man has had intercourse, those suckled by the manâs paternal aunts, or maternal
aunts, or those suckled by his brotherâs daughters, or his sisterâs daughters, on account of the
[Prophetâs] hadīth that, âWhat kinship makes unlawful suckling also makes unlawfulâ, as reported by al-Bukhārī and
Muslim; your mothers-in-law, your step-daughters (rabāâib, plural of rabība, the daughter of oneâs wife from
another husband), who are, being brought up, in your care (allātī fī hujūrikum is an adjectival qualifier,
reiterating the obvious, without any additional import); being born of your wives you have been in to, in sexual
intercourse â but if you have not yet been in to them you are not at fault, if you leave them, to then
marry their daughters â and the spouses of your sons who are of your loins, as opposed to those whom you
have adopted, whose spouses, in contrast, you may marry; and that you should take to you, in
marriage, two sisters together, [sisters] by kinship or by suckling: the Sunna adds that you may not marry her
together with her paternal or maternal aunt; it is permissible to marry each of these separately or to own
them [as handmaidens] together, but only have sexual intercourse with one of them; unless it be a
thing of the past, from preIslamic times, when you may have married in one of the ways mentioned: you are not at
fault. God is ever Forgiving, of what you have done in the past, prior to this prohibition,
Merciful, to you in this matter.
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Tafseer
And, forbidden to you are, wedded women, those with spouses, that you should
marry them before they have left their spouses, be they Muslim free women or not; save what your right
hands own, of captured [slave] girls, whom you may have sexual intercourse with, even if they should
have spouses among the enemy camp, but only after they have been absolved of the possibility of
pregnancy [after the completion of one menstrual cycle]; this is what God has prescribed for you (kitāba is in the
accusative because it is the verbal noun). Lawful for you (read passive wa-uhilla, or active wa-ahalla),
beyond all that, that is, except what He has forbidden you of women, is that you seek, women, using your wealth,
by way of a dowry or a 89 price, in wedlock and not, fornicating, in illicitly. Such wives as you enjoy
thereby, and have had sexual intercourse with, give them their wages, the dowries that you have assigned
them, as an obligation; you are not at fault in agreeing together, you and they, after the obligation, is
waived, decreased or increased. God is ever Knowing, of His creatures, Wise, in what He has ordained for them.
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Tafseer
And whoever has not the means wherewith, [whoever] is not wealthy enough, to be
able to marry believing (al-muâmināt, âbelievingâ, is in accordance with the prevalent practice, and
does not add to the import), free, women in wedlock, let him take, in marriage, believing maids whom your right
hands own. God knows very well your faith, so suffice yourself with its outward manifestation and leave
the innermost matters to Him, for He is the One to know her [true] merit: many a slavegirl may be more
excellent [in faith] than a free woman, and this is meant to encourage marriage with slavegirls; the one of you
is as the other, being equal in religion, so do not disdain to marry with them. So marry them, with the
permission of their folk, their guardians, and give them their wages, their dowries, honourably, without
procrastination or diminution, as women in wedlock (muhsanāt, a circumstantial qualifier), in decency, not
illicitly, openly fornicating, or taking lovers, companions fornicating in secret. But when they are given in
wedlock, [when] they are married off (a variant reading [for the passive uhsinna, âthey are given in
wedlockâ] has the active ahsanna, âthey enter into wedlockâ), if they commit lewdness, such as adultery, they
shall be liable to half the chastisement, the legal punishment, of married, free, virgin, women, who commit
adultery, and are thus given fifty lashes and banished for half a year; [male] slaves by analogy are
liable to the same punishment. Here, God has not made wedlock the precondition for the prescribed punishment to
show that stoning does not apply in their case [sc. slavegirls]. That, marrying of slavegirls on
account of insufficient means, is for those of you who fear the distress of sin, fornication (al-âanat originally
means distress, but is used to mean zinā, âfornicationâ, because of the distress that it causes in the way of the
punishment in this world and in the Hereafter), as opposed to those of you who might not have such a fear [of
distress] with regard to their free women and for whom it is unlawful to marry her [the slavegirl]; likewise
for one who has sufficient means to marry a free woman [it is unlawful for him to marry a slavegirl
instead]: this is the opinion of alShāfiâī. Moreover, Godâs words âbelieving maidsâ precludes unbelieving women, whom it is
unlawful to marry, even if one should find no believing women and fear [the distress of
fornication]; yet it is better for you to be patient, and abstain from marrying slavegirls, lest the child should become
enslaved also. God is Forgiving, Merciful, by allowing room for manoeuvre in these matters.
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Tafseer
God desires to make clear to you, the laws of your religion and what is in your
best interests, and to guide you in the ways, the paths, of those, prophets, before you, in the way of what
is lawful and what is unlawful, so that you might follow them, and to turn [in forgiveness] towards
you, bringing you back from the disobedience which you practised, to obedience to Him; God is Knowing, of
you, Wise, in what He has ordained for you.
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Tafseer
And God desires to turn [forgivingly] towards you (He repeats this in order to
expand upon it), but those who follow their passions, the Jews and Christians, or the Magians and
adulterers, desire that you deviate with a terrible deviation, transgressing what is right by committing what has
been forbidden you, so that you might be like them.
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