4: Women (Al-Nisa)

How the first man was created is not stated either in the Quran or in the Hadith, nor is the Bible statement accepted that Eve was created from a rib of Adam. Muslims do not accept that man was created six thousand years ago. There are traditions stating that there were many Adams, even hundreds of thousands of Adams, before our Adam. Nor do Muslims accept that our world is the only world in this universe; one Imam is reported as saying that in God’s universe there are twelve thousand systems each bigger than our solar system. The words “Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same” only declare the unity of the human race and the equality of the male and the female. Elsewhere we are told that for all of you wives are created from yourselves: “And Allah has made wives for you from among yourselves” (16:72).

The care of the orphan was one of the earliest injunctions that Islam gave, and the Prophet had always shown a deep anxiety for the welfare of the poor and the orphans; see 2:220 and 90:15–16. The subject is here introduced in detail because of the number of orphans having been greatly increased by the war.

This passage permits polygamy under certain circumstances; it does not prescribe it, nor even permit it unconditionally. This chapter was revealed to guide the Muslims under the conditions which followed the battle of Uhud, and the last chapter deals with that battle. Now in that battle 70 men out of 700 Muslims had been killed, and this had greatly decreased the number of males. The number was likely to diminish further still in the battles which had yet to be fought. Thus many orphans would be left in the charge of widows, who would find it difficult to procure the necessary means of support. Hence in the first verse of this chapter Muslims are enjoined to respect ties of relationship. As they all came from a single ancestor, a breadth is introduced into the idea of relationship. In the second verse the care of orphans is particularly stressed. In the third verse we are told that if they could not do justice to the orphans, they might marry the widows, whose children would thus become their own children; and as the number of women was now much greater than the number of men, they were permitted to marry even two or three or four women. The Holy Prophet’s own action in marrying widows corroborates this statement. Marriage with orphan girls is also sanctioned in this passage, for there were the same difficulties in their case as in the case of widows, and the words are general. See also 4:127. It is not only the preponderance of females over males that necessitates polygamy in certain cases, but there is a variety of other circumstances, not only for the moral but also for the physical welfare of society.

It is obligatory in Islam that a “dowry” or nuptial gift should be given by the husband to the wife at the time of marriage, whether she is a free woman, an orphan girl, or a prisoner of war. So every woman begins her married life as the owner of some property, and thus marriage is the means of raising her status. The practice has, however, become more or less general to recognize dowry as a debt which the husband owes to the wife and which she can claim when she likes.

By your property is meant the property of the orphans which is under your control as guardians. This verse requires guardianship in the case of all who are weak of understanding, whether minors or not. While on the one hand the Quran lays stress on the transitoriness of this life, on the other it teaches that wealth is not a thing to be despised or wasted, because it is the means of support.

These words show further that the guardian is not only responsible for the education of the wards but he is also required to examine them and see what progress they have made. According to Abu Hanifah, majority is attained at eighteen years, but if maturity of intellect is not attained at eighteen, the limit may be extended. These words, moreover, show that marriage should be performed at an age after a person has attained majority, not before it, for the age of marriage is spoken of as being the age of attaining majority.

Among the Arabs, women and children had no share in inheritance. Islam introduced a great reform. The principle laid down here is the basis of the Muslim law of inheritance. Children and near relatives, or failing these, distant relatives, whether males or females, are the lawful heirs, and the whole of the property does not go to the eldest son. This is in accordance with the broad principles of democracy and the brotherhood of man which Islam seeks to establish.

That is, distant relatives who for any reason are not entitled to inherit.

By females are here meant the female children. When daughters are the sole heirs they are entitled to a share of two-thirds of the inheritance if there are two or more of them (the words “more than two” include the case of two daughters). If there is only one daughter she is entitled to a half.

The husband or the wife (and surviving parents) take their fixed shares first, and the residue goes to the children. The two-thirds share for two or more daughters can only be given when there are neither parents, nor husband or wife; otherwise they take the residue, as in the case of sons or sons and daughters.

The word “indecency” here signifies immoral conduct short of illicit sexual intercourse, the punishment for which is given in 24:2. Women guilty of immoral conduct are curtailed of their liberty. If they mend their ways, or being unmarried they get married, a way is opened for them by Allah, and they regain their liberty.

The crime spoken of in this verse is the same as that in the previous verse. The committers are two, and though the masculine gender is used, it does not imply that they are both necessarily males. Slight punishment has been explained as meaning reproving with the tongue.

Repentance, according to the Quran, implies an actual change in the course of one’s life, not the mere utterance of words. In fact, the law stated here shows how repentance does away with sins. When the very course of a person’s life is changed in respect of a particular sin, the tendency to that sin is uprooted. But those who continue doing evil until death cannot obtain the benefit of repentance, because there is no time left for them to improve themselves.

Among the pre-Islamic Arabs, when a man died his elder son or other relations had a right to possess his widow or widows, marrying them themselves if they wished, without settling a dowry on them, marrying them to others, or prohibiting them from marriage altogether. This is abolished by these words.

Another social evil was that a husband, wanting to marry another woman instead, would accuse his wife of adultery or other gross immorality, thus compelling her to obtain a divorce by paying a large sum of money.

Marriage is here called a covenant or agreement between the husband and the wife. As there can be no agreement unless both parties give their consent to it, marriage in Islam can only be entered into with the free consent of the husband and wife.

It is thus forbidden to a man to marry a woman who is already married. An exception is made, however, regarding those whom your right hands possess. This expression may here mean those whom you have lawfully taken in marriage, and the meaning would be that all free women are prohibited to you except those whom you have lawfully married. Generally by this expression in the Quran are meant those who are taken prisoners in war. It sometimes happened that such prisoners became converts to Islam, and therefore they could not be sent back. Such women it was lawful to take in marriage, even though they might not have been divorced formally by their former husbands.

There is no verse in the Quran or any instance in the Holy Prophet’s life sanctioning what is called concubinage. Whenever the establishment of conjugal relations with slave-girls or women prisoners of war is mentioned, their taking in marriage is clearly laid down as a condition as in v. 3, v. 24, and this verse. Here marriage with such women is allowed under the following conditions: (1) they should be Muslims; (2) a man has not the means to marry a free woman, and (3) he fears to fall into evil.

In Islam all principles of right action are stated with such completeness, devoid of unnecessary details, that the real burden of man is much lighter than in any other religion. It, moreover, points out the right way for man’s freedom from the bondage of sin, and thus reduces his burden by saving him from falling into evil ways. Man being “created weak” refers to Allah’s great mercy in having shown him the truth and guidance, because he could not chalk out a way for himself which was free from error.

All illegal methods of acquiring property are forbidden. Only the seeking of gain from one another by trading by mutual consent is allowed. The passage is particularly directed to guard women’s right to property, because it was women’s and orphans’ property that was generally swallowed up unjustly.

If a person avoids committing sins, the evil inclinations within him die also. Division of sins into kabīra (major) and ṣaghīra (minor) is baseless.

In pre-Islamic days, people entered into covenants with one another, by which they undertook to defend and inherit one another. Such inheritance was abolished by this verse, and the words give them their due mean the rendering of assistance in general.

Obedience here signifies obedience to Allah. This significance of the word is made clear by a comparison with 33:31, 33:35, and 66:5.

This verse lays down the procedure for divorce. It is not for the husband to put away his wife; it is the business of the judge to decide the case. He is required to appoint two arbiters, one belonging to the wife’s family and the other to the husband’s. These two arbiters will find out the facts, but their objective must be to effect a reconciliation between the parties. If all hopes of reconciliation fail, a divorce is allowed, but the final decision for divorce rests with the judge who is legally entitled to pronounce a divorce. Cases were decided in accordance with these directions in the early days of Islam.

The neighbour of kin may mean a neighbour who is a relative or a Muslim neighbour, and the alien neighbour is either a neighbour not related or a neighbour of an alien religion. Thus the charity of Islam is not limited to one’s own people or one’s own co-religionists, but is extended to others also. (Editor’s Note: The companion in a journey or the traveller, mentioned after neighbours, could belong to any people or any religion. Indeed, the parents, near of kin, orphans and needy mentioned at the beginning could also be non-Muslims and it would be a Muslim’s duty to do good to them regardless of their religion.)

Such is the ever-recurring description of the preponderance of mercy in Divine nature: good done is always multiplied and evil nullified by God.

The prophet sent to a people is frequently spoken of as being a witness in respect of them, and by these are here meant the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. It appears that the people spoken of here are Muslims who disobey the Prophet, and hence the Prophet’s anxiety for the later generations of his followers. This is made clear in the verse that follows in the words those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger. Disobedience amounts to disbelief in practice.

The prohibition against praying when intoxicated was a step towards the total prohibition of drink, for the necessity of going to prayer five times a day would leave little opportunity for indulgence in drink. The verse also makes it clear that one must know the meaning of what one says when praying to God.

The corruption of the previous books is constantly referred to in the Quran, and, as the words clearly show, it implies a corruption of the text as well as a false rendering of it.

The verification referred to here and elsewhere implies only a verification of the general principles and the prophecies contained in the earlier books.

Shirk or setting up partners with Allah is spoken of as the gravest sin. Wrong belief in false deities lowers the dignity of man. Man is made to rule nature itself and all creatures, but when he lowers himself before creatures lower than himself, he sets at naught the very purpose of his creation. It should be noted that shirk or setting up gods with God also includes blind obedience rendered to leaders; see 9:31 and also the next footnote. It should also be noted that if a person guilty of shirk repents of it before his death then all his sins including shirk are forgiven because he gives a new turn to his life. Even those who die while guilty of shirk will, after suffering the consequences of their deeds in the after life, be received into the mercy of God.

These are the priests, doctors of law and monks who demanded blind obedience from their followers, and include such ulama, shaikhs and pirs among the Muslims as well.

These words seem to refer to the general debasement of the Jews, who believed in all kinds of enchantment, divination, and sorcery, and had long bidden farewell in practice to the pure monotheism of Moses.

This shows that a temporal or worldly kingdom cannot be granted to a nation which would not deal liberally with others.

By the people are meant the Arabs. The promised kingdom was still in Abraham’s seed, but was now transferred from the descendants of Israel to those of Ishmael, in accordance with the covenant made with Abraham.

By “him” is meant the Holy Prophet Muhammad, who was now the true exponent of Abraham’s religion.

Muslims, having been granted worldly rule, are here told to entrust the affairs of State to people who are worthy of this responsibility, while the authorities and judges so entrusted are required to judge with justice.

This verse lays down three important rules in matters relating to the welfare of the Muslim community and to affairs of State. These are obedience to God and His Messenger in the first place; secondly, obedience to those in authority from among the Muslims; and thirdly, referring matters to God and His Messenger in cases of dispute with those in authority. God and His Messenger are thus the final authority. It is especially in matters religious that differences would arise, in which case it would be necessary to refer the matter to God and His Messenger; in other words to the Quran and Hadith. In case of Muslims living under non-Muslim authority, Islam requires them to abide by the laws of the land.

The Companions of the Holy Prophet had to lay down their lives in defence of their faith, and had to leave their homes for the sake of their religion. But the hypocrites at Madinah were too weak of heart to undergo such hardships. They were only required to contribute to the struggle which was being carried on for national defence and to obey the Prophet’s orders which was a far easier task, but they did not do even this.

Those upon whom Allah has bestowed favours are spoken of as belonging to four classes: (1) the prophets; (2) the truthful — those who are true in their sayings and their belief, and confirm their truth by their deeds or acting; (3) the faithful — those who bear witness to the truth both by words and deeds, and one slain in defence of his religion is included because he too gives evidence of the truth of religion by laying down his life; (4) the righteous or those who stick to the right course in all their deeds, come what may. Those who obey Allah and the Messenger are here told that they are with the perfect ones who belong to these four classes. Thus this verse promises to those who have not attained to perfection the company, in the life to come, of those who have attained to perfection when the former have done their best to obey God and His Messenger. It may be added that no one can become a prophet by obeying the Holy Prophet. If this were true, not only would all the truthful and the faithful and the righteous be prophets, because they perfectly obeyed Allah and His Messenger, but even all those who tried to follow them would also be prophets which is absurd.

This explains what is meant by fighting in the way of Allah. While most of the believers who had the means had escaped from Makkah, there remained those who were weak and unable to undertake a journey. These were still persecuted and oppressed at Makkah. Fighting to deliver them from the persecution of their oppressors was really fighting in the way of Allah.

Had there been any hope of plunder to animate the ranks of Muslims, those who loved this world most, who are here called the hypocrites, would have been foremost in fighting; but as they knew that they were fighting against odds, they considered acting on this order as equivalent to courting death, and requested to be granted a respite until they died a natural death.

Good and evil, or benefits and misfortunes, proceed from Allah; but while He sends benefits from Himself, i.e. out of His beneficence, no evil or misfortune afflicts a man unless his own hands have called for it. The previous verse states that the hypocrites attributed their misfortunes to the Prophet; they are told, in the words “All is from Allah”, that misfortunes were sent by Allah. This verse tells them that, though sent by Allah, the immediate cause of these misfortunes was to be found in their own doings.

The Quran was not written out and given on one occasion, but it continued to be delivered in small portions during twenty-three years under the most varying circumstances. But what is striking throughout the entire revelation is that it keeps up one and the same strain — absolute submission to Allah, entire trust in Him, perfect confidence of future success, a liberal view of humanity, an attitude of charity towards all nations and religions, and goodness to all alike. The spirit of the revelations to the solitary, persecuted, and rejected preacher of Makkah does not differ in these and a hundred other particulars from the spirit of the revelations to the sole temporal and spiritual monarch of Arabia.

The primary duty to defend Islam lay on the Holy Prophet alone, as against all the forces of Arabia. This shows that he never put any trust in the prowess of his followers, and his confidence was based solely on Divine help.

The meaning is that he who joins himself to another and assists him, and becomes to him as one of a pair or an intercessor in doing good or evil, and thus aids him and strengthens him, partakes with him the benefit or the harm of it. Interceding here also implies that one institutes for another a way of good or a way of evil which the other imitates, and thus becomes to him as one of a pair. The connection is clear; the Prophet made himself an example of good for others to imitate or to aid him. For the meaning of intercession see 2:255 footnote 1.

A greeting is a prayer for the good of another; taḥiyyah, the word used for it here, meaning originally a prayer for one’s long life. The minimum requirement is that a greeting must be returned in the same words. What is really aimed at is that a Muslim should always wish good for, or do good to, his brother, and the other is required to do greater good in return.

This shows clearly that even waverers were not to be killed or fought against if they refrained from fighting, though they may have gone over to disbelief after accepting Islam. The persons referred to in this verse were disbelievers and not Muslims. Note also that we have here the clear injunction that if any people offered peace, they were not to be fought against.

Editor’s Note: The meaning of the words “then seize them and kill them wherever you find them” is clearly shown by the preceding text: “So if they do not withdraw from you, nor offer you peace and restrain their hands”. Those enemies are meant who themselves attacked the Muslims first. The words “kill them wherever you find them” also occur in 2:190–191, preceded by: “And fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you but do not be aggressive”.

The man who killed a believer intentionally could not be a believer. Disbelievers often made use of ruses, professing belief in Islam and thus tempting Muslims to go over to them as religious teachers, and afterwards murdering them.

The commentators are agreed that this verse speaks of a disbeliever who murders a believer. In fact, the word intentionally stands here for murdering a man because he is a believer, as this was what the disbelievers often did.

The original word for salutation is salām (meaning peace). The first word of the Muslim salutation stands therefore for the Muslim salutation. The Muslims were surrounded by enemies on all sides, yet they were told not to presume that every Arab tribe belonged to the enemy camp but were to make an investigation first. Even when a man belonging to an enemy tribe offered the Muslim salutation, to show that he was a Muslim, he was to be taken as a brother Muslim and could not be dealt with as an enemy. Incidentally, it lays down the principle that no Muslim can be called a kāfir, not even the man whose claim to Islam is borne out only by offering the Muslim salutation.

By those who were unjust to themselves are meant persons who were convinced of the truth of Islam, but chose to remain among the disbelievers, who did not allow them to give expression to their beliefs, despite having the means to join the Muslims and avow Islam openly.

The prayer service on a journey is shorter than the ordinary prayer service in the ẓuhr (midday), ‘aṣr (afternoon) and ‘ishā’ (night) prayers but the shortening of prayer as mentioned in this verse is quite different from the ordinary shorter service of the journey, and its details are given in the next verse.

This verse and the previous one show the importance of prayer and of offering prayer in congregation in Islam, which could not be neglected even on the field of battle.

The hours of prayer were fixed by the Prophet under Divine guidance, and the observance of the hours of prayer is an essential part of the due observance of prayer. It is this feature of the Islamic prayer which makes it a unique force in the unification of the human race.

The occasion of the revelation of these verses was a dispute between a Muslim and a Jew, in which judgment was given by the Prophet against the Muslim. It was a time when every Muslim hand was sorely needed for the defence of Islam, and a verdict against a man supported by his whole tribe meant the loss of that tribe. But such considerations did not carry any weight with the Prophet. Thus these verses lay down the broad principle that dishonesty must be punished, and the balance of justice must be held equal between Muslims and non-Muslims and between friends and foes.

The injunction in this as well as the previous verse is meant for every Muslim who is called upon to act as a judge. He must be strictly just as between his own people and aliens, and must further ask the protection of Allah from being guilty of an act of injustice, even unknowingly.

Those who supported the guilty man are condemned here as hypocrites. The same subject is continued in the verses that follow.

This verse clearly speaks of the hypocrites, who followed a way other than the way of the believers. Only a distortion of the words could make them signify that it was a sin to differ with the majority of the Muslims on any question of religion.

The word translated here as “female divinities” can signify inanimate things, such as trees and stones and wood, which they worshipped, as well as idols because they named the idols as females.

The practice of slitting or cutting off the ear of certain animals was a prevalent form of polytheism in Arabia, for such an animal was looked upon as devoted to certain idols.

Editor’s Note: Divine reward is not bestowed upon anyone in accordance with their vain desires, whether they are Muslims or Jews or Christians. People are judged by their deeds, and rewarded or punished accordingly.

It is stated here that a decision regarding the doing of good to women, to weak children and to orphans has already been given (see 4:1–10). The words “and what is recited to you in the Book is concerning widowed women, whom you do not give what is appointed for them while you are not inclined to marry them” refer to 4:3. The meaning is that the order given in 4:3 in the words “if you fear that you cannot do justice to orphans marry such women as seem good to you” relates to orphans of the women (or to widows) whom their share in inheritance was denied, both their share and the share of their orphan children, nor were people inclined to marry them owing to the burden which they brought with them in the shape of their children. So the permission was given that they may marry such women, even up to four. Widows and their orphaned children used to receive no share of inheritance. The Quran brought about a great change: it required the giving of inheritance both to women and their orphaned children, and it also recommended that such women should be taken in marriage.

“Allah has a better right over them” means that they should be dealt with justly. Thus, neither ties of kinship and love nor considerations of fear, favour, or compassion should make one swerve a hair’s breadth from the truth.

Allah’s not guiding them is the consequence of their own actions. They wavered first but in the end became firm in disbelief.

See 6:68 which was revealed at Makkah. Muslims are told to leave the assembly where truth is derided. Criticism is quite a different thing and a Muslim should always be ready to meet any criticism of his religion. (Editor’s Note: Thus the response when faced with mere ridicule of Islam is to withdraw, temporarily, from that company of people and rejoin them later when they stop their mocking. It is therefore entirely wrong to believe that Muslims are required to attack physically, still less kill, those who deride their religion.)

The reference in “that and this” is to belief and disbelief.

The word shākir, usually meaning thankful, when used as an attribute of the Divine Being signifies One Who multiplies rewards to His servants.

The use of defamatory speech of every kind regarding others is strictly forbidden, but justification for it may exist in case a person has in some way been wronged.

If you pardon the evil which anyone has done to you, Allah will pardon your evils, and grant you even good reward; He is not only Pardoning, but also Powerful to grant good reward.

To make distinction between Allah and His messengers means to believe in one and not in the other. Islam requires the acceptance of all prophets who were raised for the regeneration of mankind, and hence a denial of any one of the prophets named in the Quran takes a person out of the category of believers and places him among the disbelievers.

The incidents referred to in verses 153–155 have been mentioned in detail in 2:51–71; see the footnotes there.

The slander referred to was that Mary was guilty of fornication.

The words used here do not negative that Jesus was nailed to the cross; they negative his having expired on the cross as a result of being nailed to it. That Jesus died a natural death is plainly stated in 5:117. The Gospels contain clear testimony showing that Jesus Christ escaped death on the cross. For example, Jesus remained on the cross for a few hours only (Mark 15:25, John 19:14) but death by crucifixion was always slow. When the side of Jesus was pierced, blood rushed out and this was a certain sign of life (John 19:34). Jesus was not buried but was given into the charge of a wealthy disciple of his, who lavished care on him and put him in a spacious tomb hewn in the side of a rock (Mark 15:46). When the tomb was seen on the third day, the stone was found to have been removed from its mouth (Mark 16:4), which would not have been the case if there had been a supernatural rising. Jesus Christ prayed the whole night before his arrest to be saved from the accursed death on the cross, and he also asked his disciples to pray for him. He seems to have even received a promise from God to be saved, and it was to this promise that he referred when he cried out on the cross: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” The statements made in the Quran corroborate the testimony found in the Gospels. Jesus did not die on the cross, nor was he killed as were the two thieves who were crucified with him, but to people he appeared as if he were dead.

For “exaltation” see 3:55 footnote 2. Being exalted in the Divine presence was opposed to being killed on the cross. Deuteronomy 21:23 explains this, for there we have, he who is hanged is accursed of God. If Jesus had died on the cross he would have been accursed; hence the statement made here — he was not killed on the cross and accursed but he was exalted in the Divine presence.

Both Jews and Christians necessarily believe in the death of Jesus on the cross, while according to the Quran they have really no sure knowledge of it. The belief of the Jews is that since Jesus died on the cross he was accursed of God, and hence he cannot be a prophet. Following quite a different line of argument, Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross and was accursed, but that unless Jesus were accursed he could not take away the sins of those that believe in him. Hence the belief of both Jews and Christians is that Jesus died on the cross, and the meaning of the verse is clear, i.e., every Jew and Christian, despite having no sure knowledge at all, must believe before his death that Jesus died on the cross.

The good news which these messengers brought relates as much to the peace and happiness which is granted to the righteous as to the advent of one who, coming at the end, should unite the qualifications of all the prophets in his own person, and accordingly make the nations of the earth as one nation.

Kalima, or word, is here equivalent to prophecy, in which sense it is frequently used in the Quran. Jesus is called a prophecy because he was born in accordance with a prophecy from God.

The rule given here supplements the law of inheritance as given at the commencement of this chapter. Here there are neither children nor parents and therefore the whole of the inheritance goes to the brothers and the sisters. Reversion to the law of inheritance just after speaking of Jesus has perhaps a deeper meaning. It is a fact that no prophet appeared among the Israelites after Jesus, and therefore his death really left Israel without a spiritual head who should rise to the eminence of prophethood. The spiritual kingdom which was promised to Abraham, and which hitherto remained in the house of Israel, was now taken from the Israelites and made over to the brother nation, the Ishmaelites. This would also explain the words addressed to Moses: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren” (Deuteronomy, 18:15).