Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:240
And those who are taken in death among you and leave wives behind - for their wives is a bequest: maintenance for one year without turning [them] out. But if they leave [of their own accord], then there is no blame upon you for what they do with themselves in an acceptable way. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا وَصِيَّةً لأَزْوَاجِهِمْ مَتَاعًا إِلَى الْحَوْلِ غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ
(And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by this: "and those of you who die," O you men, "and leave wives behind" — that is: wives who during his lifetime were his women through marriage, not through the possession of the right hand (mulk al-yamīn). Then He turned the discourse away from the mention of the one about whom the discourse originally began to speak — in accordance with what has already preceded in His word: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا [Surah Al-Baqarah: 234] (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these [women] wait by themselves four months and ten [days]) — [thus He turns the discourse] toward the mention of their wives. We have already expounded the manner of that, and we have demonstrated the correctness of the statement concerning it in the like case that preceded it, and that makes repetition in this place unnecessary.
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Then the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: "a testamentary bequest for their wives." The reciters differed concerning its reading: some of them read "waṣiyyatan li-azwājihim," with naṣb (accusative) of "al-waṣiyya," with the meaning: "let them then make a testamentary bequest for their wives," or: "upon them rests [the duty to make a testamentary bequest,] a bequest for their wives."
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Others read "(waṣiyyatun li-azwājihim)" with rafʿ (nominative) of "al-waṣiyya."
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Then the grammarians differed concerning the manner in which "al-waṣiyya" stands in the nominative.
Some of them said: it stands in the nominative with the meaning: "prescribed for them is the testamentary bequest." They argued for this by [the fact] that it occurs thus in the reading of ʿAbdallāh [ibn Masʿūd].
The explanation of the words according to the one who said this is then: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: prescribed for them is a testamentary bequest for their wives" — then the mention of "is prescribed" was omitted, and "al-waṣiyya" was put in the nominative according to that meaning, even though the mention of it was left out.
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Others among them said: no, "al-waṣiyya" stands in the nominative on the basis of His word "for their wives," and they explained it thus: "for their wives there is a testamentary bequest."
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The first statement is more in accordance with what is correct in this matter, namely that "al-waṣiyya," when it stands in the nominative, stands in the nominative with the meaning: "prescribed for you is a testamentary bequest for your wives." For the Arabs, with indefinite nouns, place that which makes it nominative before it when they omit it; but when they explicitly mention it, they begin with it, before the [indefinite word]. Thus they say: "today a man came to me" (jāʾanī rajulun al-yawm). And when they say: "a man came to me today" (rajulun jāʾanī al-yawm), they are accustomed to say that only when the man is present and they point to him with "this" (hādhā), or when he is absent but the one to whom the discourse is addressed already knows his circumstances, or by omission and suppression of "this" — even though they omit it, on account of the listener's familiarity with the speaker's intent. As Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — says: سُورَةٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهَا [Surah An-Nūr: 1] (A surah which We have sent down) and بَرَاءَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ [Surah At-Tawba: 1] (A renouncement from Allah and His Messenger). So it is also in His word: "a testamentary bequest for their wives."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The more fitting of the two readings for correctness, in our view, is the reading of the one who read it in the nominative, on account of the fact that the outward wording of the Qurʾān indicates that the residence of the woman whose husband has died in the house of her deceased husband for a full year was a right belonging to her before the revelation of His word: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا [Surah Al-Baqarah: 234] (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]), and before the revelation of the verse concerning the law of inheritance — and also on account of the abundance of reports from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the sense of that which the outward wording indicates: whether their husbands had bequeathed this to them before their death or had not bequeathed it to them.
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If someone were to say: "And what is the proof of that?"
Then it is answered: Since Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — said: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives," and since the one who makes a testament — there is no doubt about this — disposes only during his lifetime over that whose execution he commands after his death, and it was impossible that he should dispose after his death — while the Exalted — praised be His mention — has established for the wife of the deceased the residence during the year after his death — we know that it is a right belonging to her that became obligatory in his estate without any disposition on his part in her favor, since it was impossible for the deceased that there should be any disposition after his death.
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If the meaning of the words were as the one explained who said: "let him then make a bequest," then the revelation would have read: "And those whose death approaches and who leave wives behind: a bequest for their wives," just as He said: كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ [Surah Al-Baqarah: 180] (Prescribed for you, when death comes to one of you, if he leaves goods behind, is the testamentary bequest).
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Moreover: if that were obligatory upon them through a bequest of their deceased husbands, then it would not have been a right for them when their husbands had not bequeathed in their favor before their death, and then their heirs would have had the right to expel them [from the house] before the end of the year. But Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — has said: "without expulsion." However, the matter in this case is otherwise than what the one who read "waṣiyyatan li-azwājihim" imagined in his explanation, namely: that Allah the Exalted had commanded their husbands to make a bequest in their favor. Rather, its explanation is: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: Allah has prescribed for their wives upon you a bequest from Himself in their favor, O you believers — that you do not expel them from the dwellings of their husbands for a year" — as the Exalted — praised be His mention — said in Surah An-Nisāʾ: غَيْرَ مُضَارٍّ وَصِيَّةً مِنَ اللَّهِ [Surah An-Nisāʾ: 12] (without harming anyone — a bequest from Allah). Then the mention of "Allah has prescribed" was omitted, since the import of the words indicated it sufficiently, and "al-waṣiyya" was put in the nominative according to the meaning we have mentioned earlier.
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If someone were to say: "Is it permissible to put 'al-waṣiyya' in the naṣb (accusative) [as a ḥāl (circumstantial qualifier), with the meaning: 'bequeathing] in their favor, as a bequest'?"
Then it is answered: no. For that would have been permissible only if something had preceded "al-waṣiyya" in the sentence out of which "al-waṣiyya" could suitably arise. But since nothing has preceded it out of which it would be fitting that it stand in the accusative by arising from it, it is not permissible to put it in the accusative according to that meaning.
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* Mention of some who said: that the residence for a full year was a right belonging to the wives of the deceased after their death — as we have said — whether their husbands had bequeathed this to them or had not bequeathed it to them, and that this was abrogated by what we have mentioned: the four months and ten [days] and the law of inheritance.
5572 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn Minhāl related to us, saying: Hammām ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: I asked Qatāda about His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion," and he said: When the husband of a woman died, she had a right to residence and maintenance for a year from the estate of her husband, as long as she did not depart. Then that was afterward abrogated in Surah An-Nisāʾ, and a fixed share was allotted to her: the eighth part if he had a child, and the fourth part if he had no child, and her waiting period (ʿiddah) became four months and ten [days]. So the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا [Surah Al-Baqarah: 234] (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]). This verse thus abrogated what had preceded it concerning the matter of the year.
5573 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion" — the verse; he said: This was before the verse concerning the law of inheritance was revealed. When the husband of a woman died, she had a right to residence and maintenance for a year, if she so wished. Then that was abrogated in Surah An-Nisāʾ, and a fixed share was allotted to her: the eighth part was allotted to her if he had a child, and if he had no child, then she received the fourth part; and her waiting period was fixed at four months and ten [days]. So He said: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]).
5574 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion"; when a man died and left his wife behind, she kept her waiting period in his house for a year, and her maintenance was provided from his estate. Then Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — afterward revealed: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]). This, then, is the waiting period of her whose husband has died, unless she is pregnant, in which case her waiting period is that she delivers what is in her womb. And He said concerning her share of inheritance: وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ [Surah An-Nisāʾ: 12] (And for them is the fourth part of what you leave, if you have no child; but if you have a child, then for them is the eighth part). Thus Allah clarified the inheritance share of the woman, and left aside the testamentary bequest and the maintenance.
5575 — It was related to us on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: I heard ʿUbaydallāh ibn Sulaymān saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: "a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion": when a man died, maintenance was provided for his wife during his [death] year until the end of the year, and she did not remarry until she had completed the year. And this is abrogated: the fourth and the eighth part of the inheritance abrogated the maintenance for her, and the four months and ten [days] abrogated the year.
5576 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion"; he said: When a man died, maintenance was provided for his wife until the end of the year, and she did not remarry until the year had passed. Then Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — revealed: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]). Thus the [new] term abrogated the year, and the inheritance share — the fourth and the eighth part — abrogated the maintenance.
5577 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: I asked ʿAṭāʾ about His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion"; he said: The inheritance share of the woman from [the estate of] her husband consisted of his dwelling: that she might reside in it if she so wished, from the day her husband died until the end of the year. He says: فَإِنْ خَرَجْنَ فَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ (But if they depart, then there is no sin upon you) — the verse. Then what Allah prescribed concerning the law of inheritance abrogated it. He said: and Mujāhid said: "a testamentary bequest for their wives" — the residence during the year; then the law of inheritance abrogated this verse.
5578 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: The wives of the deceased had, in the time when the testamentary bequest was [in force], a right to a year's maintenance. Then Allah abrogated what He had prescribed for the wife as a year's maintenance, by means of the law of inheritance, and allotted to her the fourth or the eighth part. And concerning His word: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]) he said: this is the abrogating [verse].
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* Mention of those who said: that this accrued to them through a testamentary bequest of their husbands in their favor:
5579 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind" — the verse; he said: This was before [the verse concerning] the [inheritance] fixed shares. A man used to bequeath in favor of his wife and in favor of whomever he wished. Then that was afterward abrogated, and Allah the Exalted allotted to the holders of inheritance rights their share, and allotted to the woman the eighth part if he had a child, and if he had no child, then she received the fourth part. And maintenance was provided for the woman for a year from the estate of her husband, after which she moved out of his house. Then the waiting period of four months and ten [days] abrogated this, and the fourth or the eighth part abrogated the testamentary bequest in their favor, so that the testamentary bequest [henceforth] accrued to the near kindred who do not inherit.
5580 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives" — up to فِيمَا فَعَلْنَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِنَّ مِنْ مَعْرُوفٍ (concerning what they have done with themselves in a proper manner): on the day this verse was revealed, a man, when he died, would bequeath in favor of his wife concerning her maintenance and her residence for a year, and her waiting period was four months and ten [days]. If, then, she departed once the four months and ten [days] had passed, the maintenance ceased for her — and that is His word: فَإِنْ خَرَجْنَ (But if they depart). This was before the verse concerning the [inheritance] fixed shares was revealed. Then the fourth and the eighth part abrogated it, and she took her share, and she no longer had any right to residence or to maintenance.
5581 — Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard my father saying: Qatāda asserts that a bequest was made in favor of the woman concerning her maintenance until the beginning of the year [i.e. until the year was complete].
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* Mention of those who said: "that what they had of provision until the end of the year was abrogated," without clarifying in what manner that accrued to them:
5582 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His word: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year"; he said: It is abrogated.
5583 — Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Zibriqān related to us, saying: Usāma related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, saying: I heard Ibrāhīm saying — and he mentioned something similar.
5584 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who both said concerning: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion": that this was abrogated by the verse concerning the law of inheritance and by what He allotted to them therein of the fourth and the eighth part; and the term of the year was abrogated by His fixing her term at four months and ten [days].
5585 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he stood up here to address the people, and recited Surah Al-Baqarah to them and expounded to them [the meanings] therein. Then he came to this verse: إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ لِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالأَقْرَبِينَ [Surah Al-Baqarah: 180] (if he leaves goods behind, the testamentary bequest in favor of the parents and the near kindred); he said: this is abrogated. Then he read on until he came to this verse: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind" up to His word: غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ (without expulsion); and he said: this too [is abrogated].
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Others said: the ruling of this verse remains in force, and nothing of it is abrogated.
* Mention of those who said that:
5586 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا [Surah Al-Baqarah: 234] (And those of you who die and leave wives behind: these wait by themselves four months and ten [days]); he said: This concerned the woman who was passing her waiting period — she passed her waiting period with the family of her husband, and that was obligatory for her. Then Allah revealed: "And those of you who die and leave wives behind: a testamentary bequest for their wives — a provision until the end of the year, without expulsion," up to His word: مِنْ مَعْرُوفٍ (in a proper manner). He said: Allah allotted to them the remainder of the year — seven months and twenty nights — as a bequest: if she wished, she resided [in the house] according to her bequest, and if she wished, she departed. And that is the word of Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention: غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ فَإِنْ خَرَجْنَ فَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ (without expulsion; but if they depart, then there is no sin upon you). He said: and the waiting period remains as it is, obligatory.
5587 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
5588 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā = and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us = on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said: This verse abrogated her waiting period with his family; she passes her waiting period wherever she wishes, and that is the word of Allah: غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ (without expulsion). ʿAṭāʾ said: If she wishes, she passes her waiting period with his family and resides [in the house] according to her bequest, and if she wishes, she departs, on account of the word of Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention: فَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا فَعَلْنَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِنَّ (then there is no sin upon you concerning what they have done with themselves). ʿAṭāʾ said: the law of inheritance came with the abrogation of the residence; she passes her waiting period wherever she wishes, and she has no right to residence.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The most fitting of these statements for correctness, in my view, is that one say: that Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — had allotted to the wives of the men who died, after their death, a year's residence in his dwelling, as well as her maintenance from the estate of her deceased husband until the expiry of the year; and that it became obligatory upon the heirs of the deceased that they not expel them from the dwelling she inhabited before the completion of the year; and that, if they gave up their right to it and departed, no blame rested upon the heirs of the deceased on account of their departure. Then Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — abrogated the maintenance by the verse concerning the law of inheritance, and lifted from what He had allotted to them of a year's residence seven months and twenty nights, and brought them back to four months and ten [days], by the tongue of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
5589 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ informed us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAjlān, on the authority of Saʿd ibn Isḥāq ibn Kaʿb ibn ʿUjra, and he informed him on the authority of his aunt Zaynab bint Kaʿb ibn ʿUjra, on the authority of Furayʿa, the sister of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī: that her husband set out in search of a slave of his, and overtook him in a nearby place, and fought with him; slaves who were with him [the one sought] came to his aid, and they killed him. Then she came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: "My husband set out in search of a slave of his, and rough men came upon him and killed him; and I find myself in a place where there is no one but me, and it is my firm intention to move to my family!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to her: "No, remain in your place until the prescribed term reaches its end."
As for His word: "a provision (matāʿan)," its meaning is: He has made that a provision for them — that is: the testamentary bequest which Allah has prescribed for them.
"Al-matāʿ" stands in the accusative only because in His word "a testamentary bequest for their wives" lies the meaning of "Allah has given them a provision." Therefore "matāʿan" was said, as a maṣdar (verbal noun) derived from its meaning, not from its wording.
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And His word: غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ (without expulsion) — its meaning is that Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — has made what He has allotted to them of a testamentary bequest a provision from Himself for them until the end of the year, not as an expulsion from the dwelling of her husband — that is: without any expulsion from it taking place, until the year expires. "Ghayr" stands in the accusative as an appositive qualifier (naʿt) to "al-matāʿ," as when one says: "this is a standing, not a sitting" (hādhā qiyāmun ghayru quʿūdin), with the meaning: this is a standing with which no sitting is joined, or: in which there is no sitting.
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Some have asserted that it stands in the accusative with the meaning: "do not expel them, by way of expulsion." But that is an incorrect statement. For if it stands in the accusative according to this explanation, then its accusative would arise from words other than the preceding ones, whereas in reality it stands in the accusative for the same reason that "al-matāʿ" stands in the accusative, namely as an appositive qualifier to it.
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The explanation of His word: فَإِنْ خَرَجْنَ فَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا فَعَلْنَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِنَّ مِنْ مَعْرُوفٍ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ (240)
(But if they depart, then there is no sin upon you concerning what they have done with themselves in a proper manner. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.) (240)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by this: that the provision which Allah has allotted to them until the end of the year from the estate of their husbands after their death and in their dwellings — while He forbade his heirs to expel them — holds for them only as long as they remain in the dwellings of their husbands; and that their rights to it lapse by their departure, if they depart of their own accord from the dwellings of their husbands before the year [has expired], without expulsion by the heirs of the deceased.
Then the Exalted — praised be His mention — declared that there rests upon the kindred of the deceased no blame concerning their departure and the leaving aside of the mourning (ḥidād) for their husbands. For the staying for a year in the houses of their husbands and the mourning for him for a full year was not obligatory for them; it was only a permission from Allah — the Exalted, praised be His mention — for them, if they remain in mourning the full year. But if they depart, then there is no sin upon the kindred of the deceased nor upon herself concerning what they have done with themselves in a proper manner — and that is the leaving aside of the mourning. He says: there is thus no blame upon you concerning the adorning [of herself], if they adorn themselves and perfume themselves and marry, for that is permitted to them.
We have said only: "there is no blame upon them concerning their departure," even though the Exalted — praised be His mention — has said only: "then there is no sin upon you," because if there were a sin upon them therein, there would also be a sin upon the kindred of the man for letting them depart, despite their ability to prevent them from that. But since there is no sin upon them concerning their departure and the leaving aside of the mourning, the blame was removed both from the kindred of the deceased and from others concerning what they have done in a proper manner, and that pertains to themselves.
The transmission of the scholars of exegesis with that which we have said concerning it has already preceded.
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As for His word: وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ (And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise) — He — the Exalted, praised be His mention — means: "And Allah is Almighty (ʿazīz)" in His requital of whoever transgresses His command and His prohibition and oversteps His bounds, among the men and the women: thus against whoever among the men withholds from their women and wives what He has prescribed for them as a charge upon them in the preceding verses — of the provision (mutʿa), the bride-price (ṣadāq), and the testamentary bequest — and [against whoever] expels them before the expiry of the year, and neglects the observance of the prayers and their [appointed] times; and against whoever among the women [He sets requital] who neglected what Allah has imposed upon them concerning the waiting at the time of the death of their husbands, with regard to the [new] husbands, and transgressed His command concerning the observance of the times of the prayers. "All-Wise (ḥakīm)" in that which He has decreed among His servants, in His decrees that have preceded in the verses before His word: "And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise," and in others of His judgments and decrees.
