Verse 171
Joyful in grace, in the reward, and bounty, in addition to it, from God, and that (read wa-anna as a supplement to ni‘matin, or wa-inna to denote a new clause) God does not let the wage of believers go to waste, but rewards them.
Verse 172
Those who (alladhīna, is the subject) responded to God and the Messenger, [to] his call to set out for battle: when Abū Sufyān and his companions wanted to resume [hostilities] they agreed with the Prophet (s) that the encounter would be at the [annual] market-fair of Badr a year from the date of Uhud; after the wounds had afflicted them, at Uhud — (the predicate of the subject [alladhīna] is [what follows]) for all those who were virtuous, by obeying him, and feared, to disobey him, shall be a great wage, namely, Paradise.
Verse 173
Those to whom (alladhīna, substitutes for the previous alladhīna, ‘those who’, or an adjectival qualification [of it]) people, that is, Nu‘aym b. Mas‘ūd al-Ashja‘ī, said, ‘The people, Abū Sufyān and his companions, have gathered, their multitudes, against you, in order to exterminate you, therefore fear them’, and do not go out to [encounter] them; but that, saying, increased them in faith, in their belief in God and in certainty, and they said, ‘God is sufficient for us, He will deal fully for us with their affair; an excellent Guardian is He’ , the One to whom the matter is entrusted. They thus set out with the Prophet (s) and arrived at the market-fair of Badr, but God had cast terror into the hearts of Abū Sufyān and his followers and so they did not turn up. They [the believers] had merchandise with them, and so they traded and made profits. God, exalted be He, says:
Verse 174
So they returned, from Badr, with grace and bounty from God, safely and with profit, and no evil touched them, from any slaying or wounds; and they followed the beatitude of God, by obeying Him and obeying His Messenger, when they [agreed to] set out [for the battle]; and God is of bounty abounding, for those that obey Him.
Verse 175
That, namely, the one saying to you, ‘The people [have gathered against you]’ to the end [of the verse], is only Satan making, you, fear his friends, the disbelievers, therefore do not fear them; but fear Me, lest you abandon My command, if you are, truly, believers.
Verse 176
Let them not grieve you (read yuhzinka, or yahzunka from [1st form] hazanahu, ‘he made him grieve’, an alternative expression to [4th form] ahzanahu, ‘he made him grieve’) those that vie with one another in unbelief, succumbing to it promptly by supporting it, namely, the Meccans or the hypocrites: in other words, do not be concerned for their unbelief; they will not hurt God at all, by their actions, only hurting themselves. God desires not to assign them any portion, any lot, in the Hereafter, that is, in Paradise, and that is why God forsook them; and theirs is a mighty chastisement, in the Fire.
Verse 177
Those who purchase unbelief at the price of faith, that is, taking it in place of it, they will not hurt God at all, with their unbelief, and there awaits them a painful chastisement (alīm means mu’lim, ‘painful’).
Verse 178
And let not the disbelievers suppose (read lā yahsabanna, ‘let them not suppose’, or lā tahsabanna, ‘do not suppose’) that what We indulge them in, that is, [that] Our indulging [them], in extending their [terms of] life and deferring them [their death], is better for their souls (in the case of the reading yahsabanna, ‘let them [not] suppose’, anna [of anna-mā] and its two operators stand in place of the two objects, but only in place of the second in the case of the other reading [tahsabanna], ‘do [not] suppose’). We grant them indulgence, We give [them] respite, only that they may increase in sinfulness, through frequent disobedience, and theirs is a humbling chastisement, one of humiliation, in the Hereafter.
Verse 179
It is not God’s purpose to leave, to abandon, the believers in the state in which you, O people, are, where the sincere are intermingled with those otherwise, till He shall distinguish (read yamīza or yumayyiza), [till] He separates, the evil one, the hypocrite, from the good, the believer, through the burdensome obligations that will reveal this [distinction] — He did this on the Day of Uhud. And it is not God’s purpose to apprise you of the Unseen, so that you could recognise the hypocrites from the others, before the distinguishing; but God chooses, He selects, of His messengers whom He will, apprising him of [some of] His Unseen, as when He apprised the Prophet (s) of the position of the hypocrites. So believe in God and His messengers; and if you believe and guard against, hypocrisy, then yours shall be a great wage.
Verse 180
Let them not suppose (read lā yahsabanna, ‘let them not suppose’, or lā tahsabanna, ‘do not suppose’) those who are niggardly with what God has given them of His bounty, that is, with His obligatory almsgiving, that it, their niggardliness, is better for them (khayrun lahum, is the second direct object; the pronoun [huwa, ‘[that] it is’] is used to separate [the two statements]; the first [direct object] is bukhlahum ‘their niggardliness’ implicit before the relative clause [alladhīna] in the case of the reading tahsabanna [sc. wa-lā tahsabanna bukhlahum, ‘do not suppose their niggardliness…’], or before the pronoun [huwa, ‘it is’] in the case of the reading yahsabanna [sc. wa-lā yahsabanna lladhīna…bukhlahum huwa khayran lahum, ‘let them not suppose, those who…that their niggardliness is better for them’]); nay, it is worse for them; what they were niggardly with, namely, the obligatory almsgiving of their wealth, they shall have hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection, when he will have a snake around his neck biting viciously at him, as reported in a hadīth; and to God belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth, inheriting them after the annihilation of their inhabitants. And God is aware of what you do (ta‘malūna, also read ya‘malūna, ‘they do’), and will requite you for it.
Verse 181
Verily God has heard the saying of those, namely the Jews, who said, ‘Indeed God is poor, and we are rich’: they said this when the verse, who is he that will lend God a good loan [Q. 2:245] was revealed, adding that, ‘If God were [truly] rich, He would not be asking us for loans’. We shall write down, We shall order that it be written, what they have said, in the scrolls containing their deeds so that they will be requited for it (a variant reading [for active naktubu, ‘We shall write’] has the passive yuktabu, ‘it shall be written’) and, We shall write down, their slaying (read accusative qatlahum or nominative qatluhum) the prophets without right, and We shall say (naqūlu, also read yaqūlu, meaning God [shall say]) to them by the tongue of the angels in the Hereafter, ‘Taste the chastisement of the Burning, the Fire.
Verse 182
When they are thrown into [the Fire], it will be said to them: That, punishment, is for what your hands have sent before: ‘hands’ are used to designate a human being because most actions are performed with them; for God is never unjust towards His servants’, punishing them without them having sinned.
Verse 183
Those (alladhīna, an adjectival qualification of the previous alladhīna, ‘those who’ [Q. 3:181]) same who said, to Muhammad (s), ‘God has already made covenant with us, in the Torah, that we should not believe in any messenger, accepting his truthfulness, until he bring us an offering to be devoured by fire’, and so we will not believe in you until you bring us this [offering], namely, of grazing livestock or other [kind of animal] one offers [in sacrifice] to God. If it is accepted, a white fire will come down from the heaven and consume it, otherwise it will remain as it is. Such a covenant was made with the Children of Israel, but not in the case of Jesus and Muhammad. God, exalted be He, says, Say, to them in rebuke: ‘messengers have come to you before me with clear proofs, with miracles, and with that which you said, [messengers] such as Zachariah and John, but you slew them: the address here is for those living at the time of our Prophet Muhammad (s), even though the deed was their forefathers’, for they [their descendants] are content with it. Why did you slay them, then, if you are truthful?’, about [the fact] that you would believe if it [the offering] were brought [to you].
Verse 184
But if they deny you, so were denied messengers before you who came bearing clear proofs, miracles, and the Scriptures, such as the scrolls of Abraham, and the Illuminating, the lucid, Book, that is, the Torah and the Gospel (a variant reading establishes the [prefixed preposition] bā’ in both [words, sc. bi’l-zubur wa-bi’l-kitāb l-munīr, ‘with the Scriptures and with the Illuminating Book’]), so be patient as they were.
Verse 185
Every soul shall taste of death; you shall surely be paid in full your wages, the requital of your deeds, on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever is moved away, distanced, from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, will have triumphed, he will have attained his ultimate wish. Living in, the life of this world is but the comfort of delusion; of inanity, enjoyed for a little while, then perishing.
Verse 186
You shall surely be tried (la-tublawunna, the [final] nūn nominative indicator has been omitted because two nūn letters [would otherwise] succeed one another, as has been the plural person indicator wāw where two unvocalised consonants have come together), in other words, you shall surely be tested, in your property, through the duties [imposed] thereupon and through the damages that affect them; and in your selves, through [the obligations of] worship and through calamities, and you shall hear from those who were given the Scripture before you, the Jews and the Christians, and from those who are idolaters, from among the Arabs, much hurt, in the way of insult, slander and [their] flirting with your women; but if you are patient, through this, and fear, God — surely that is true resolve, that is, it is one of those things regarding which one must necessarily have firm resolve.
Verse 187
And, mention, when God made covenant with those who had been given the Scripture, that is, the pledge [taken] from them in the Torah, ‘You shall expound it (read tubayyinunnahu, or yubayyinunnahu, ‘they shall expound it’) the Book, to people, and not conceal it’ (read taktumūnahu, ‘you shall not conceal it’, or yaktumūnahu, ‘they shall not conceal it’). But they rejected it, they discarded the covenant, behind their backs, and so they did not act in accordance with it, and bought with it, they took in its place, a small price, of this world from the debased among them, enjoying supremacy over them in knowledge, and they concealed it, lest it [the supremacy] escape them; how evil is what they have bought, [how evil is] this purchase of theirs!
Verse 188
Do not reckon that (lā tahsabanna, or read lā yahsabanna, ‘let them not reckon’) those who rejoice in what they have brought, that is, [in what] they have done by leading people astray, and who love to be praised for what they have not done, in the way of adherence to the truth, being [themselves] misguided — do not reckon them (fa-lā tahsabannahum, is for emphasis [in the case of both readings above]) secure, in a place where they can escape, from the chastisement, in the Hereafter; but instead they shall be in a place of wherein they shall be tortured, and that is Hell; there shall be a painful chastisement for them, in it (alīm means mu’lim, ‘painful’). (If one reads yahsabanna, ‘let them [not] reckon’, the two direct objects of the first h-s-b verb would be indicated by the two direct objects of the second h-s-b verb; but if one reads tahsabanna, ‘do [not] reckon’, then only second direct object would be omitted).
Verse 189
To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth, the storehouses of rain, sustenance, vegetation and so forth, and God has power over all things, including the punishing of disbelievers and the saving of believers.
Verse 190
Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the marvels contained in them, and in the alternation of night and day, coming and going, increasing and diminishing, there are signs, indications of God’s power, for people of pith, for people possessing intellects.
Verse 191
Those who (alladhīna, an adjectival qualification of the preceding [li-ūlī l-albāb, ‘for people of pith’], or a substitution for it) remember God, standing and sitting and on their sides, reclining, that is to say, in all states: [it is reported] from Ibn ‘Abbās that they perform prayer in these ways, [each] according to [his own] capacity; and reflect upon the creation of the heavens and the earth, to deduce therefrom the power of their Creator, saying: ‘Our Lord, You have not created this, creation that we see, in vain (bātilan, a circumstantial qualifier), frivolously, but as a proof of the totality of Your power. Glory be to You!, exalted above any frivolity. So guard us against the chastisement of the Fire.
Verse 192
Our Lord, whomever You admit into the Fire, to abide therein, You will have abased, You will have humiliated, and the evildoers, the disbelievers therein, shall have no helpers, to protect them from God’s chastisement, exalted be He (the overt noun [‘the evildoers’] has replaced the pronominalisation [‘whomever’] in order to inform that the [punishment of] abasement is specifically theirs; the min of [min ansār, ‘helpers’] is extra).
Verse 193
Our Lord, we have heard a caller calling, summoning people, to belief (li’l-īmān means ilā l-īmān) and this is Muhammad (s), or [summoning them] to the Qur’ān, saying, that, “Believe in your Lord!” And we believed, in Him. So, our Lord, forgive us our sins and absolve us of, conceal, our evil deeds, and so do not make them manifest by punishing us for them, and take us [in death], receive our spirits together, with the pious, the prophets and the righteous.
Verse 194
Our Lord, grant us what You have promised us through, the tongues of, Your messengers, in the way of mercy and favour: they are asking Him that they be made among those that deserve such a promise, for, God’s promise is fufilled regardless, but they are not certain that they are among those who deserve it. The repetition of the phrase, our Lord, is out of extreme humility; and abase us not on the Day of Resurrection. You will not fail the tryst’, the promise of Resurrection and Requital.
Verse 195
And their Lord answers them, their supplication, by saying that, ‘I do not let the labour of any labourer among you go to waste, be you male or female — the one of you is as the other (this statement is a reaffirmation of the previous one): that is, they are both equal when it comes to recompensing them for their deeds and for not neglecting them. When Umm Salama asked, ‘O Messenger of God, why is there no mention of women when it comes to the Emigration (hijra)?’, the following was revealed: and those who emigrated, from Mecca to Medina, and were expelled from their habitations, those who suffered hurt in My way, for My religion, and fought, the disbelievers, and were slain (read qutilū or quttilū) — them I shall surely absolve of their evil deeds, concealing these with forgiveness, and I shall admit them to Gardens underneath which river flow’. A reward (thawāban is a verbal noun reaffirming the import of la-ukaffiranna) from God! (there is a shift of person here). And God — with Him is the fairest reward, [the fairest] requital.
Verse 196
When the Muslims began to say, ‘Look at the enemies of God, how comfortable they are, while we are struggling!’, the following was revealed: Let it not delude you, that the disbelievers go to and fro in the land, engaging in commerce and acquiring profit:
Verse 197
That is [but], a little enjoyment, which they enjoy for a short while in this world and then perishes; then their abode is Hell — an evil cradling, [an evil] resting place it is!
Verse 198
But those who fear their Lord — for them shall be Gardens underneath which rivers flow, abiding, that is, it is decreed for them to abide, therein; a hospitality (nuzul is what is prepared for a guest; it is in the accusative [nuzulan] because it is a circumstantial qualifier referring to jannāt, ‘gardens’, and its operator is the import of the adverbial phrase) from God Himself. That which is with God, in the way of reward, is better for the pious, than the enjoyment of this world.
Verse 199
Verily, there are some among the People of the Scripture who believe in God, like ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām and his companions and the Negus, and what has been revealed to you, that is, the Qur’ān, and what has been revealed to them, that is, the Torah and the Gospel, humble before God (khāshi‘īn is a circumstantial qualification of the person of [the verb] yu’min, ‘who believe’, and takes into account the [potentially plural] sense of man, ‘who’), not purchasing with the verses of God, which they have before them in the Torah and the Gospel pertaining to the descriptions of the Prophet (s), a small price, of this world, by concealing them for fear of losing their supremacy, as others, like the Jews, have done. Those — their wage, the reward for their deeds, is with their Lord, [a reward] which they will be given twice over, as [stated] in the sūrat al-Qasas [Q. 28:54]. God is swift at reckoning, reckoning with the whole of creation in about half a day of the days of this world.
Verse 200
O you who believe, be patient, in [performing] acts of obedience, in the face of afflictions and in refraining from acts of disobedience, and vie in patience, with the disbelievers, lest they be more patient than you; be steadfast, persist in the struggle; fear God, in all of your circumstances, so that you will prosper, [so that] you will win [admittance to] Paradise and be delivered from the Fire.
Verse 1
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 (Hawwā’), 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 (tassā’alūna: the original tā’ [of tatasā’alūna] has been assimilated with the sīn; a variant reading has tasā’alūna), so that one of you says to the other, ‘I ask you, by God…’, or ‘For God’s sake…’; and, fear, kinship ties, lest you sever them (a variant reading [of wa’l-arhāma, ‘and kinship ties’] is wa’l-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.
Verse 2
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 orphan’s 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:
Verse 3
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.
Verse 4
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 one’s heart; but if they are pleased to offer you any of it of their own accord (nafsan, ‘of their own accord’, is for specification and is taken from the subject of the verb [thus, it refers back to ‘they’, 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].
Verse 5
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, ‘maintenance’, is the verbal noun from qāma; a variant reading has qiyaman, the plural of qīma, ‘value’, 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.
Verse 6
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-Shāfi‘ī, 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 abstain from the orphan’s 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 creatures’ deeds and as a reckoner of these [deeds] (the bā’ [in bi’Llāhi] is extra).
Verse 7
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.
Verse 8
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 ‘Abbās, however, it is a duty.
Verse 9
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.
Verse 10
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.
Verse 11
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 two-thirds 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, ‘more than’, 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 two-thirds 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 deceased’s, to each one of the two (li-kulli wāhidin minhumā, substitutes for the previous li-abawayhi, ‘to his parents’) 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] ‘child’ (walad) also applies to a grandchild, and likewise ‘parent’ (abb) to a grandparent; but if he has no 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 [‘u’] to a kasra [‘I’]) 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. ‘Bequest’ comes before ‘debt’, 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 (ābā’ukum wa-abnā’ukum, is the subject, its predicate being [what follows]) — 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.
Verse 12
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, ‘being inherited from’, is an adjectival qualification, the predicate of which is [the following kalālatan, ‘without direct heir’]) 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 Mas‘ūd 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, ‘to be bequeathed’) 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, ‘He charges you’ [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.
Verse 13
Those, rulings mentioned with respect to orphans and what followed, are God’s 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, ‘We will admit him’) to Gardens underneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; that is the great triumph.
Verse 14
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, ‘whoever’, while [the plural person in] khālidīn, ‘abiding’, accords with its [general plural] import.)
Verse 15
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, ‘Come listen to me! Come listen to me! God has now made a way out for them’, as reported by Muslim.
Verse 16
And when two of you (read wa’lladhāni or wa’lladhānni) 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-Shāfi‘ī; 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. al-Shāfi‘ī] 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, ‘of you’], 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.
Verse 17
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, ‘they are ignorant’ 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.
Verse 18
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: ‘Indeed now I repent’, 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 — We have prepared for them a painful chastisement.
Verse 19
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, ‘making it clear’, or mubayyana, ‘clear’) 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 through them.
Verse 20
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, ‘calumny’, and ithman, ‘sin’, end in the accusative because they are circumstantial qualifiers); the interrogative here is meant as a rebuke, and as a disavowal where He says:
Verse 21
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.
Verse 22
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, ‘severe hate’, from God), an evil way, [an evil] path is this.
Verse 23
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 brother’s daughters, your sister’s 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 man’s paternal aunts, or maternal aunts, or those suckled by his brother’s daughters, or his sister’s daughters, on account of the [Prophet’s] hadīth that, ‘What kinship makes unlawful suckling also makes unlawful’, as reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim; your mothers-in-law, your step-daughters (rabā’ib, plural of rabība, the daughter of one’s 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 — but if you have not yet been in to them you are not at fault, if you leave them, to then marry their daughters — 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 pre-Islamic 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.