Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:11
Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females. But if there are [only] daughters, two or more, for them is two thirds of one's estate. And if there is only one, for her is half. And for one's parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children. But if he had no children and the parents [alone] inherit from him, then for his mother is one third. And if he had brothers [or sisters], for his mother is a sixth, after any bequest he [may have] made or debt. Your parents or your children - you know not which of them are nearest to you in benefit. [These shares are] an obligation [imposed] by Allah. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing 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 the saying of the Exalted: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الأُنْثَيَيْنِ (Allah enjoins you concerning your children: for the male child a share equal to that of two female children).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His praise — means by His saying "Allah enjoins you": Allah lays upon you as a binding obligation — "concerning your children: for the male child a share equal to that of two female children". He says: your Lord lays upon you as a binding obligation that when the deceased among you dies and leaves behind children, both male and female, then his entire inheritance goes to his children, both the male and the female, divided among them, with the male child receiving a share equal to that of two female children, if he has no heir other than them — equal in this regard the younger and the older children and the female children — in the sense that all of this is divided among them, with the male child receiving a share equal to that of two female children.
He put the word "mithl" (equal to) in the nominative because of the "ṣifa" (the grammatical attribute), namely the "lām" in His saying "lil-dhakar" (for the male child), and not in the accusative because of His saying "Allah enjoins you", because "the injunction" (al-waṣiyya) in this place is a binding obligation and an announcement in the sense of saying, and "saying" does not directly govern the nouns about which the report is made. It is as though it were said: Allah — exalted be His remembrance — says to you: concerning your children, to the male child of them belongs a share equal to that of two female children.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: It has been reported that this verse was sent down upon the Prophet ﷺ as a clarification from Allah of the obligatory ruling in the inheritance of whoever dies and leaves behind heirs, in the manner that He clarified. For the people of the Jāhiliyya did not apportion of the inheritance of the deceased anything to any of his heirs after him, those who did not confront the enemy and did not fight in the wars — among his young children — nor to the women among them. They assigned that exclusively to the warriors, to the exclusion of the offspring. Then Allah — exalted be His praise — made known that what the deceased left behind is divided among those whom He named and to whom He assigned a portion of inheritance in this verse and at the end of this surah. Thus He said concerning the young and older children of the deceased and the female among them: the inheritance of their father belongs to them, if he has no heir other than them, with the male child receiving a share equal to that of two female children.
Mention of who said that:
8725 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Allah enjoins you concerning your children: for the male child a share equal to that of two female children" — the people of the Jāhiliyya did not let the girls and the young boys inherit; a man did not let any of his children inherit except whoever was capable of fighting. Then ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the brother of Ḥassān the poet, died and left behind a wife who was called Umm Kujja, and he left behind five sisters. The heirs came and took his property, and Umm Kujja complained about that to the Prophet ﷺ. Then Allah — blessed and exalted is He — sent down this verse: فَإِنْ كُنَّ نِسَاءً فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةً فَلَهَا النِّصْفُ (If there are women, more than two, then theirs is two-thirds of what he left; and if there is one, then hers is the half). Then He said concerning Umm Kujja: وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ (And theirs is a fourth of what you leave, if you have no child; and if you have a child, then theirs is an eighth).
8726 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Allah enjoins you concerning your children: for the male child a share equal to that of two female children" — and that was because, when the shares of inheritance were sent down in which Allah established for the male and the female child and for the two parents what He established, the people — or some of them — disliked that and said: "The wife is given the fourth and the eighth, and the daughter is given the half, and the young boy is given a share, while none of these fights the people nor acquires the spoils of war! Be silent about this matter, perhaps the Messenger of Allah ﷺ will forget it, or we will address him about it so that he changes it." Some of them said: "O Messenger of Allah, do we give the girl half of what her father left, while she does not ride a horse nor fight the people, and do we give the small child the inheritance while it accomplishes nothing?!" And they used to do that in the Jāhiliyya: they gave the inheritance only to whoever fought; they gave it to the eldest and then the next eldest.
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Others said: No, that was sent down because the property before its sending down belonged to the child, and to the two parents the testamentary bequest. Then Allah — blessed and exalted is He — abrogated that by means of this verse.
Mention of who said that:
8727 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid or ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying "Allah enjoins you concerning your children", he said: the property belonged to the child, and the testamentary bequest to the two parents and the nearest relatives. Then Allah abrogated of that what He willed, and established for the male child a share equal to that of two female children, and established for the two parents, for each of them, the sixth alongside the child, and for the husband the half and the fourth, and for the wife the fourth and the eighth.
8728 - 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: "Allah enjoins you concerning your children: for the male child a share equal to that of two female children", he said: Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: the property belonged [to the child], and the testamentary bequest to the two parents and the nearest relatives. Then Allah — blessed and exalted is He — abrogated of that what He willed, and established for the male child a share equal to that of two female children. Then he mentioned something similar.
8729 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, something similar.
And it has been related on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh what follows hereafter:
* * *
8730 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related it to us, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, he said: I heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came in to me while I was ill. He performed the ritual ablution and sprinkled some of his ablution water over me, whereupon I came to. I said: "O Messenger of Allah, only kalāla (collateral relatives) inherit from me; how then is it with the inheritance?" Then the verse of the shares of inheritance was sent down.
8731 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir related to me, on the authority of Jābir, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abū Bakr — may Allah be pleased with him — visited me among the Banū Salima, going on foot, and they found me unconscious. He asked for water and performed the ritual ablution, and then sprinkled over me, whereupon I came to. I said: "O Messenger of Allah, how should I deal with my property?" Then it was sent down: "Allah enjoins you concerning your children: for the male child a share equal to that of two female children." ...
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَإِنْ كُنَّ نِسَاءً فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ (If there are women, more than two, then theirs is two-thirds of what he left).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His saying "fa-in kunna" (if they are): if those left behind are "women, more than two". And He means by His saying "women": the daughters of the deceased, "more than two", that is to say: greater in number than two — "then theirs is two-thirds of what he left". He says: to his daughters belongs two-thirds of what he left behind of inheritance, to the exclusion of the remaining heirs, if the deceased left no male child alongside them. The linguists have differed concerning the meaning of His saying "fa-in kunna nisāʾan" (if they are women).
* * *
Some grammarians of Basra said something along the lines of what we have said: if those left behind are women — and that is also the saying of some grammarians of Kufa.
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Others among them said: No, the meaning of it is: if the children are women. He said: Allah indeed mentioned the children and said: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ (Allah enjoins you concerning your children), then He divided the injunction and said: "if they are women", and "if the children [are women, and if the children are one]", as a reformulation of it with respect to "the children".
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The first saying, which we have related from those from whom we related it among the Basran scholars, is in my view the most fitting in its correctness. For His saying "wa-in kunna" (and if they are) — if "the children" were meant by it, it would have been said "wa-in kānū" (and if they are, masculine plural form), because "the children" (al-awlād) includes both men and women. And if that is so, then one says "kānū", not "kunna".
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِنْ كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةً فَلَهَا النِّصْفُ وَلأَبَوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ (And if there is one, then hers is the half; and to his two parents, to each of them, the sixth of what he left, if he has a child).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His saying "wa-in kānat" (and if she is): [and if] the one left behind [is] one daughter — "then hers is the half". He says: to that one belongs the half of what the deceased left behind of his inheritance, if there is no other child of the deceased alongside her, neither male nor female.
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If someone says: this then is the share of the single woman and of what is more than two — where then is the share of two?
It is answered: their share has been established by the transmitted Sunna which has been transmitted by the transmission of succession in which no doubt is permitted.
* * *
And as for His saying "wa-li-abawayhi" (and to his two parents), He means: and to the two parents of the deceased — "to each of them the sixth", of his estate and what he left behind of property, equal in this the mother and the father; neither of them receives more than the sixth — "if he has a child", whether that child is male or female, one or several.
* * *
If someone says: if the explanation is so, then it necessarily follows that the father, alongside the single daughter, receives no more than the sixth of his inheritance from his deceased child. But that — if you say it — is a statement that contradicts that upon which the community is in agreement, namely that they assign the remainder of the estate of the deceased — alongside the single daughter, after she has taken her share from it — entirely to his father!
It is answered: the matter therein is not as you supposed. To each of the two parents of the deceased belongs only the sixth of his estate alongside his child, whether that child is male or female, one or several — a portion named by Allah for him. As for what is then added above that from the remainder of the half alongside the single daughter, when there is no other alongside him and alongside one daughter of the deceased, that is added to him secondly because of the nearness of the ʿaṣaba (agnatic relatives) of the deceased to him. For the rule concerning everything that the shares of the fixed portions leave over is that it belongs to the nearest ʿaṣaba of the deceased and the closest to him — by virtue of the ruling about that on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And the father was the nearest ʿaṣaba of his child and the most entitled to that, when his deceased child had no son.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَوَرِثَهُ أَبَوَاهُ فَلأُمِّهِ الثُّلُثُ (And if he has no child and his two parents inherit from him, then his mother is entitled to the third).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His praise — means by His saying "fa-in lam yakun lahu" (and if he has not): and if the deceased has no "child", neither male nor female, "and his two parents inherit from him", without another inheriting child alongside them — "then his mother is entitled to the third". He says: to his mother belongs of his estate and what he left behind, a third of that whole.
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If someone says: who then is the one to whom the other two-thirds belong?
It is said to him: the father.
If he says: by what? I say: by virtue of his being the nearest of the relatives of the deceased to him. Therefore He omitted the mention of naming the one to whom the remaining two-thirds belong, because He had already clarified to His servants, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that of every deceased person the nearest of his ʿaṣaba to him is the most entitled to his inheritance, after giving to the possessors of the fixed shares their shares from his inheritance.
And this is the same reason why for the mother was named what was named for her, when the deceased left no heir other than his two parents, because the mother is in no case an ʿaṣaba for the deceased. Thus Allah — exalted be His praise — clarified to His servants what He established for her of the inheritance of her deceased child, and omitted the mention of the one to whom the remaining two-thirds belong alongside her, because He had already made known to them in the totality of His clarification to them to whom the remainders of the estates of property belong, after the taking by the possessors of the shares of their shares. And that clarification of His exempted them from His repeating His ruling for everyone to whom He apportioned a right from the inheritance of a deceased person and for whom He named a share thereof.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ (And if he has brothers, then his mother is entitled to the sixth).
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone says: what is the reason why He mentioned the ruling concerning the two parents alongside the brothers, but omitted the mention of their ruling alongside the single brother?
I say: the difference of their ruling alongside several brothers and alongside the single brother. For in Allah's — exalted be His praise — clarification to His servants of their ruling concerning what they inherit from their deceased child alongside his brothers, there is sufficiency and adequacy to demonstrate that their ruling concerning what they inherit from him is unchanged from what belonged to them when the deceased had no brother and no heir other than them. For it was known among them that everyone who merits a right by virtue of Allah's decree thereof for him, his right — which his Lord, exalted be His praise, decreed for him — does not pass from that which He decreed for him to another, except by Allah's transfer of it from him to the one to whom He transfers it among His creatures. Thus in His establishment — exalted be His remembrance — for the mother of what He established, when her deceased child had no heir other than her and his father, and no brother, there was the clear indication to the creatures that that established portion — namely a third of the property of her deceased child — is an obligatory right for her, until that obligatory portion is changed by the One who established it for her. And when He — exalted be His remembrance — changed what He established for her of that alongside several brothers, but omitted changing it alongside the single brother, it was known thereby that her established portion is unchanged from what was established for her, except in the case in which the One whose obedience is obligatory upon the servants changed it, and not in cases other than that.
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Then the exegetes differed concerning the number of brothers that Allah — exalted be His remembrance — meant by His saying "if he has brothers".
The collective companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Successors who followed them in goodness, and those who came after them among the scholars of Islam in every age, said: Allah — exalted be His praise — meant by His saying "if he has brothers, then his mother is entitled to the sixth": two brothers or more, whether they were two women or several women, or two men or several men, or whether one was male and the other female. Many of those who said that reasoned that the community said it on the basis of Allah's — exalted be His praise — clarification on the authority of His Messenger ﷺ, and that the community of His Prophet transmitted it by a widespread transmission, the arrival of which cut off every excuse and dispelled doubt about it from the hearts of the creatures upon its entry.
* * *
And it has been related from Ibn ʿAbbās — may Allah be pleased with both — that he used to say: No, Allah — exalted be His praise — meant by His saying "if he has brothers": a group whose minimum is three. And he refused to accept that Allah — exalted be His praise — would have excluded the mother from her third alongside the father with fewer than three brothers. Thus he used to say concerning two parents and two brothers: to the mother belongs the third, and what remains is for the father, just as the people of knowledge said concerning two parents and one brother.
Mention of the transmission from him about that:
8732 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Ibn Abī Fudayk related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to me, on the authority of Shuʿba, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he entered upon ʿUthmān — may Allah be pleased with him — and said: "Why do the two brothers reduce the mother to the sixth, while Allah only said 'if he has brothers', and two brothers in the language of your people and the speech of your people are not 'brothers'?" ʿUthmān — may Allah have mercy on him — said: "Can I undo a matter that existed before me, which the people have inherited and which has run its course in the lands?"
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct of the sayings about that, in my view, is that by His saying "if he has brothers" is meant: two brothers of the deceased or more, in accordance with what the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, and not what Ibn ʿAbbās — may Allah be pleased with both — said, because of the transmission by the community, by way of succession, of the correctness of what they said about that on the basis of the proof, and their rejection of what Ibn ʿAbbās said about it.
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If someone says: and how were the two brothers called "brothers", when you know that "the two brothers" in the speech of the Arabs have a form that does not resemble the form of "the brothers" in their speech?
It is answered: even if that is so, it belongs to their custom to join together two phrases whose meanings are near to each other, even if they differ in some of their aspects. And since that is so, and since it was widespread in their speech, current and used in their language: "ḍarabtu min ʿAbd Allāh wa-ʿAmr ruʾūsahumā" (I struck of ʿAbd Allāh and ʿAmr their heads) and "awjaʿtu minhumā ẓuhūrahumā" (I caused pain to them both in their backs) — and that was more widespread in their speech than that it would be said "awjaʿtu minhumā ẓahrayhimā" (in the dual form), although it is also said "awjaʿtu ẓahrayhimā" — as al-Farazdaq said:
With what is in our two hearts of longing and passion, so that the broken-hearted, consumed by love, may be healed.
— except that, although this is said, more eloquent than it is: "bi-mā fī afʾidatinā" (with what is in our hearts), as the Exalted — exalted be His praise — said: إِنْ تَتُوبَا إِلَى اللَّهِ فَقَدْ صَغَتْ قُلُوبُكُمَا (If you two repent to Allah — for your hearts have inclined) [Surah Al-Taḥrīm: 4].
And since what I have described — namely the expressing of everything that occurs singly in a human being, when it is joined together with the corresponding singular of another human being so that they become two from two, with the plural form — is more eloquent in their speech and better known in their language, and since "the two brothers" are two persons, each of them distinct from his companion, from two different souls, their meaning resembled the meaning of what occurs singly in a human being of his organs without a second, so their pair was expressed with the plural form of the two organs that I have described. Thus "brothers" (ikhwa) was said in the meaning of "the two brothers", just as "backs" (ẓuhūr) was said in the meaning of "the two backs", and "mouths" (afwāh) in the meaning of "two mouths", and "hearts" (qulūb) in the meaning of "two hearts".
* * *
And some grammarians have said: "brothers" was said only because the minimum of the plural is two. And that is because this is the joining of a thing to a thing, so that together they become two after having been two separate ones; thus they were put in the plural so that it would be known that two is a plural.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: Although this is so in meaning, it is not a reason that indicates the permissibility of expressing that for which the speech upon the tongues of the Arabs has run, current and widespread, for its pair — with a form and shape different from the form of three or more thereof and their shape — in a different way. For whoever says "achwāka qāmā" (your two brothers, they both stood up), with him there is no doubt that he knows that each of "the two brothers" is a single one, of which the one is joined to the other so that they became together after having been separate. But the matter — although that is so — the Arabs do not permit in their speech that it be said "achwāka qāmū" (your two brothers, they stood up, with plural form), whereby their saying "qāmū", which is a word-form for the report about a plural, would become a report about "the two brothers" while these stand in the dual form. For everything for which the speech has run upon their tongues in a manner known among them with a form and shape, when someone changes it from what they know thereof, they regard it as strange. So too "the two brothers": although they are joined together, the one joined to the other, they have a form in speech and a shape that is different from the form of three or more of them and their shape. It is thus not permissible that the one be changed to the other except with a comprehensible meaning. And since that is so, no saying is more correct than what we have said earlier.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone says: and why was the mother diminished from her third by the presence of the brothers of the deceased alongside her, being two or more?
It is answered: the scholars differed about that.
Some of them said: the mother was diminished therein, not the father, because upon the father rests their maintenance, not upon their mother.
Mention of who said that:
8733 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "and if he has no child and his two parents inherit from him, then his mother is entitled to the third; and if he has brothers, then his mother is entitled to the sixth" — they harmed the mother while they themselves do not inherit; and the single brother does not exclude her from the third, but what is more than that excludes her. And the people of knowledge were of the view that they excluded their mother from the third only because their father manages their marriage and the maintenance over them, not their mother.
* * *
Others said: No, the mother was diminished by the sixth and restricted to a single sixth, as assistance to the brothers of the deceased with the sixth of which they excluded their mother.
Mention of who said that:
8734 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the sixth of which the brothers excluded the mother is for them; they excluded their mother from it only so that it would be for them instead of for their mother.
* * *
And there has been related from Ibn ʿAbbās the opposite of this saying, and that is what follows:
8735 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the kalāla is the one who has no child and no parent.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of that in correctness is that one says about it: Allah — exalted be His remembrance — established for the mother alongside the brothers the sixth, because of what He knows better of the welfare of His creatures. And it may be that that was because of what He made obligatory upon the fathers for their children, and it may be that that was for something else. That does not belong to that of which the knowledge is imposed upon us; we are only commanded to act according to what we know.
* * *
And as for what has been related from Ṭāwūs on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that is a saying that contradicts that upon which the community is in agreement. For there is no disagreement among anyone: that there is no inheritance for the brother of a deceased person alongside his father. Their consensus upon the opposite of it is sufficient as testimony to its invalidity.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ (After a testamentary bequest he bequeaths, or a debt).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His praise — means by His saying "after a testamentary bequest he bequeaths, or a debt", that what Allah — blessed and exalted is He — apportioned to the child of the deceased, the male and the female among them, and to his two parents, from his estate after his death, He divides among them only as He apportioned it to them in this verse, after the settling of the debt of the deceased which rested upon him when he died, from his estate, and after the carrying out of his testamentary bequest in its proper place, after the settling of his entire debt. Thus He — exalted be His remembrance — established for none of the heirs of the deceased, nor for anyone to whom he had bequeathed something, [anything] except after the settling of his debt from his entire estate, even if that swallows up the whole of it. Then He made the legatees, after the settling of his debt, partners of his heirs in what remains, for what was bequeathed to them, as long as that is no more than a third thereof. If that is more than a third thereof, He gave the choice to the heirs in permitting what exceeds the third thereof, or rejecting it: if they wish they permit the addition over the third thereof, and if they wish they reject it. What of that falls within the third, that is binding upon them.
And about all that we have said of that, the community is in agreement. And there has been related from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about that a transmission, and that is what follows:
8736 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḥārith al-Aʿwar, on the authority of ʿAlī — may Allah be pleased with him — he said: You recite this verse: "after a testamentary bequest he bequeaths, or a debt", but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ruled that the debt comes before the testamentary bequest.
8737 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿAlī — may Allah's pleasure be upon him — on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, something similar.
8738 - Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth related to us, saying: Ashʿath related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, something similar.
8739 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn ibn al-Mughīra related to us, on the authority of Ibn Mujāhid, on the authority of his father: "after a testamentary bequest he bequeaths, or a debt", he said: one begins with the debt before the testamentary bequest.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed about the recitation thereof. The generality of the reciters of the people of Medina and Iraq recited it: ( يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ) (yūṣī bihā — in the active form: which he bequeaths).
* * *
And some people of Mecca, Syria and Kufa recited it ( يُوصَى بِهَا ) (yūṣā bihā — in the passive form: which is bequeathed), in the meaning of that of which the agent is not named.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of the two recitations in correctness is the recitation of whoever recited it as ( مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ) according to the method of that of which the agent is named, because the entire verse is a report about whom the agent is named. Do you not see that He says: وَلأَبَوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ (and to his two parents, to each of them, the sixth of what he left, if he has a child)? So too the most fitting for His saying "which he bequeaths, or a debt" is that it be a report about whom the agent is named, because the explanation of the words is: and to his two parents, to each of them the sixth of what he left, if he has a child — after a testamentary bequest which he bequeaths, or a debt — which is settled for him.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: آبَاؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَاؤُكُمْ لا تَدْرُونَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ لَكُمْ نَفْعًا (Your fathers and your sons — you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His praise — means by His saying "your fathers and your sons": these, concerning whom Allah has enjoined you — regarding the division of the inheritance of your deceased among them, in the manner named for you and which He clarified in this verse — "your fathers and your sons — you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit". Give them their rights from the inheritance of your deceased which I have enjoined you to give them, for you do not know which of them is the closest and the most beneficial to you in your present world and your future Hereafter.
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The exegetes differed about the explanation of His saying "you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit".
Some of them said: by it is meant: which of them is nearer to you in benefit in the Hereafter.
Mention of who said that:
8740 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh 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 saying: "your fathers and your sons — you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit", he says: the most obedient of you to Allah among the fathers and the sons, is the highest of you in rank on the Day of Resurrection, because Allah — glorified be He — lets the believers intercede for one another.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of it is: you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit in this world.
Mention of who said that:
8741 - 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 His saying: "which of them is nearer to you in benefit", in this world.
8742 - 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.
8743 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His saying: "you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit", he said: some of them said: in the benefit of the Hereafter, and some of them said: in the benefit of this world.
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And others said about it what we have said.
Mention of who said that:
8744 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "you do not know which of them is nearer to you in benefit", he said: which of them is better for you in religion and world, the father or the child whom you inherit, without another than them entering in upon you. He established for them the inheritances, and brought no others to make them partners in your properties.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَرِيضَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا (As a fixed portion from Allah; truly, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise) (11).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His saying — exalted be His praise — "as a fixed portion from Allah", [in connection with] "and if he has brothers, then his mother is entitled to the sixth": as a fixed portion (farīḍa). He says: known, fixed shares which Allah clarified for them.
* * *
He put His saying "farīḍatan" in the accusative as a maṣdar (verbal noun) derived from His saying: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الأُنْثَيَيْنِ — "farīḍatan", thus He took "farīḍa" from the meaning of the words, since the meaning of it was what I have described.
And it is possible that its accusative is as a ḥāl (circumstantial qualifier) derived from His saying: فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ — "farīḍatan". Thus "al-farīḍa" is put in the accusative as a ḥāl derived from His saying: فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ , as you say: "it is for you as a gift", and "it is for you as a charity from me to you".
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And as for His saying "truly, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise", He means — exalted be His praise —: truly, Allah has always had knowledge of what is beneficial for His creatures, O people, so hold fast to what He commands you; it sets your affairs right for you. "All-Wise", He says: He has always possessed wisdom in His governance, and so He is also in what He apportions for some of you from the inheritance of others, and in what He decides among you of rulings — no defect nor error enters His ruling, because it is the decree of the One from whom the places of welfare in the beginning and the end are not hidden.
