4. An-Nisaa

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. 4176; 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.

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.