4. An-Nisaa

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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: