Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:12
And for you is half of what your wives leave if they have no child. But if they have a child, for you is one fourth of what they leave, after any bequest they [may have] made or debt. And for the wives is one fourth if you leave no child. But if you leave a child, then for them is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt. And if a man or woman leaves neither ascendants nor descendants but has a brother or a sister, then for each one of them is a sixth. But if they are more than two, they share a third, after any bequest which was made or debt, as long as there is no detriment [caused]. [This is] an ordinance from Allah, and Allah is Knowing and Forbearing.
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 discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ أَزْوَاجُكُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَلَكُمُ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْنَ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِينَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ("And for you is half of what your wives leave behind, if they have no child. But if they have a child, then for you is a fourth of what they leave, after a bequest they have made or a debt").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by this: "and for you," O people, = "is half of what your wives leave behind," after their death, of property and inheritance, = "if they have no child" on the day death befalls them, neither male nor female, = "but if they have a child," that is to say: if your wives, on the day death befalls them, have a child, male or female, = "then for you is a fourth of what they leave" of property and inheritance, as a portion of inheritance for you from her, = "after a bequest they have made or a debt." He says: that is for you as a portion of inheritance from her, out of that which remains of her estates and properties, after the discharge of her debts with which they die and which rest upon her, and after the carrying out of her valid bequests, if they have made any.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ تُوصُونَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ("And for them is a fourth of what you leave, if you have no child. But if you have a child, then for them is an eighth of what you leave, after a bequest you make or a debt").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His saying: "and for them is a fourth of what you leave if you have no child" — and for your wives, O people, is a fourth of what you leave behind after your death, of property and inheritance, if the event of death befalls one of you and he has no child, neither male nor female, = "but if you have a child," he says: if the event of death befalls one of you and he has a child, male or female, whether the child is one or a group, = "then for them is an eighth of what you leave," he says: then for your wives at that time, out of your properties and your estates which you leave behind after your death, is the eighth, after the discharge of your debts with which the event of death befalls you and which rest upon you, and after the carrying out of your valid bequests which you make.
* * *
And it was only said: "after a bequest made therewith or a debt," with the mention of the bequest placed before the mention of the debt, because the meaning of the wording is: indeed, that which I have prescribed for whomever of you I have prescribed it in these verses, that is for him only after the setting aside of whichever of these two matters was in the possession of the deceased among you, whether of a bequest or of a debt. Therefore it is the same whether the mention of the bequest is placed before the mention of the debt, or the mention of the debt before the mention of the bequest. For nothing else was intended by its meaning than the setting aside of the two matters, "the debt and the bequest," from his property, so that the mention of the debt would have more right to be begun with than the mention of the bequest.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلالَةً أَوِ امْرَأَةٌ ("And if a man who is inherited from in the collateral line (kalāla), or a woman...").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by this: and if a man or a woman is inherited from in the collateral line (kalāla).
Then the readers differed in the reading of it.
* * *
The generality of the readers among the people of Islam read it: ( وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلالَةً ) ("and if a man is inherited from as kalāla"), that is to say: and if a man is inherited from whose kinship wreathes itself (collaterally) (mutakallil al-nasab).
* * *
"Al-kalāla," according to this saying, is a verbal noun (maṣdar) of their saying: "takallalahu al-nasab takallulan wa-kalālatan," with the meaning: the kinship curved itself (collaterally) around him.
* * *
And some of them read it: ( وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورِثُ كَلالَةً ) ("and if a man bequeaths to as kalāla"), with the meaning: and if a man makes one inherit who wreathes himself (collaterally) around him, that is to say: whoever curves himself with his kinship around him, of a brother or a sister.
* * *
And the exegetes differed concerning "al-kalāla."
Some of them said: it is the one who has no parent and no child.
* Mention of who said that:
8745 — Al-Walīd ibn Shujāʿ al-Sakūnī related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Mushir related to me, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, saying: Abū Bakr, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: I have indeed formed an opinion concerning the kalāla — if it is correct, then it is from Allah alone, He has no partner; and if it is wrong, then it is from me and from Satan, and Allah is free of it —: that the kalāla is that which excludes the child and the parent. And when ʿUmar, may Allah have mercy upon him, was appointed as successor, he said: Indeed, I am ashamed before Allah, blessed and exalted is He, to contradict Abū Bakr in an opinion he has formed.
8746 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal informed us, saying: al-Shaʿbī related to us: that Abū Bakr, may Allah have mercy upon him, said concerning the kalāla: I give my opinion concerning it; if it is correct, then it is from Allah: it is that which is below (= apart from) the child and the parent. He said: And when it came to ʿUmar, may Allah have mercy upon him, he said: Indeed, I am ashamed before Allah to contradict Abū Bakr.
8747 — [Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā] related to us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: that Abū Bakr and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: the kalāla is whoever has no child and no parent.
8748 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr, on the authority of al-Sumayṭ, saying: ʿUmar was a man who worked with his left hand (aysar). One day he went out while doing thus with his hand — he turned it around —, except that he said: A time has come over me in which I do not know what the kalāla is; indeed, the kalāla is that which excludes the child and the parent.
8749 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Abū Bakr, saying: the kalāla is that which excludes the child and the parent.
8750 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the kalāla is whoever has no child and no parent.
8751 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I heard Ibn Jurayj narrate, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the kalāla is whoever has no child and no parent.
8752 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyya, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the kalāla is that which excludes the child and the parent.
8753 — Ibn Bashshār and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
8754 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd al-Salūlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the kalāla is that which excludes the child and the parent.
8755 — 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, his saying: "and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, or a woman," he said: the kalāla is whoever leaves behind no child and no parent.
8756 — Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd, saying: I did not see them otherwise than that they agreed that whoever died and left behind no child and no parent is kalāla.
8757 — Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd, saying: I did not see them otherwise than that they were unanimously agreed that the kalāla is the one who has no child and no parent.
8758 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd, saying: the kalāla is that which excludes the child and the parent.
8759 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd, saying: I found them while they were saying: when a man leaves behind no child and no parent, he is inherited from in the kalāla.
8760 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, or a woman" — and the kalāla is the one who has no child and no parent, no father and no grandfather, no son and no daughter; these (the heirs) are then the maternal brothers.
8761 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, saying concerning the kalāla: that which is below (= apart from) the child and the parent.
8762 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: the kalāla is everyone who inherits no parent and no child, and everyone who has no child and no parent is inherited from as kalāla, among their men and their women.
8763 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, al-Zuhrī and Abū Isḥāq, saying: the kalāla is whoever has no child and no parent.
8764 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, Qatāda and Abū Isḥāq, the like of it.
* * *
And others said: "the kalāla is that which is below (= apart from) the child." This is a saying narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās, and it is the narration that we have mentioned earlier through the narration of Ṭāwūs from him: that he assigned to the maternal brothers a sixth together with the parents.
* * *
And others said: the kalāla is that which excludes the father.
* Mention of who said that:
8765 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Sahl ibn Yūsuf related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, saying: I asked al-Ḥakam concerning the kalāla. He said: it is that which is below (= apart from) the father.
* * *
And the grammarians differed concerning that which puts "kalāla" in the accusative.
Some of the Baṣrans said: if you wish, you put "kalāla" in the accusative as the predicate (khabar) of "kāna" (was), and you make "yūrathu" (is inherited from) an attribute of "al-rajul" (the man). And if you wish, you make "kāna" self-sufficient without a predicate, like "waqaʿa" (occurred), and you put the accusative of "kalāla" as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl), that is to say: he is inherited from in the state of kalāla, as one says: "yaḍribu qāʾiman" (he strikes standing).
* * *
And some of them said: His saying "kalāla" is the predicate of "kāna"; the one inherited from is not the kalāla, but rather the heir is the kalāla.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view concerning this, according to me, is that "al-kalāla" is in the accusative as an issuing forth (khurūj) from His saying "yūrathu," and the predicate of "kāna" is "yūrathu." And "al-kalāla," even though it is in the accusative by issuing forth from "yūrathu," is not in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier, but rather as a verbal noun (maṣdar) from the meaning of the wording. For the meaning of the wording is: and if a man is inherited from while his kinship wreathes itself (collaterally) around him, as kalāla = then the mention of "mutakallil" (wreathing itself) was omitted, deemed sufficient by the indication of His saying "yūrathu" upon it.
* * *
And the people of knowledge differed concerning the one who is called "kalāla."
Some of them said: "al-kalāla" is the one inherited from, and that is the deceased himself; he is so called when one other than his parent and his child inherits from him.
* Mention of who said that:
8766 — 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, his saying concerning the kalāla, he said: it is the one who leaves behind no parent and no child.
8767 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Aḥwal, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: I was the last of the people to meet ʿUmar, may Allah have mercy upon him. I heard him say: The correct view is that which I have said. I said: And what have you said? He said: the kalāla is whoever has no child.
8768 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Sulaym ibn ʿAbd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the kalāla is whoever has no child and no parent.
And others said: "al-kalāla" are the heirs who inherit from the deceased, whether they are brothers or sisters or others, when they are neither a child nor a parent, in accordance with that which we have mentioned of their disagreement concerning it.
* * *
And others said: no, "al-kalāla" is the deceased and the living together.
* Mention of who said that:
8769 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: the kalāla is the deceased who has no child and no parent = or the living; all of them are "kalāla": this one inherits by means of the kalāla, and this one is inherited from by means of the kalāla.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view concerning this, according to me, is that which these (last) said, namely that "al-kalāla" are those who inherit from the deceased, apart from his child and his parent. That is on account of the soundness of the narration which we have mentioned from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, that he said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, none inherit from me except (relatives in) the kalāla, so how is the matter of the inheritance? And on account of that which:
8770 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd, saying: We were with Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān at the slave market (sūq al-raqīq). He rose from among us and then returned, and said: These are the last three of the Banū Saʿd who related to me this report; they said: Saʿd fell gravely ill in Mecca. He said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to him to visit him. He (Saʿd) said: O Messenger of Allah, I have much property, and I have no heir except (relatives in) the kalāla; shall I then make a bequest of all my property? He said: No.
8771 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Suwayd related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Ziyād, saying: An old man came to ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: I am an old man, and I have no heir except (relatives in) the kalāla, Bedouins with a distant kinship; shall I then make a bequest of a third of my property? He said: No.
* * *
= These reports have thus reported the soundness of that which we have said concerning the meaning of "al-kalāla," namely that it is the heirs of the deceased, to the exclusion of the deceased, among those who are apart from his parent and his child.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَلَهُ أَخٌ أَوْ أُخْتٌ فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ فَإِنْ كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ فَهُمْ شُرَكَاءُ فِي الثُّلُثِ ("and he has a brother or a sister, then for each of the two is the sixth. But if they are more than that, then they are partners in the third").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His saying: "and he has a brother or a sister" — and the man who is inherited from in the kalāla has a brother or a sister, that is to say: a brother or a sister from his mother's side, as:
8772 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of Saʿd, that he used to read: "and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, or a woman, and he has a brother or a sister," Saʿd said: from his mother's side.
8773 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, saying: I heard al-Qāsim ibn Rabīʿa say: I recited to Saʿd: "and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, or a woman, and he has a brother or a sister," Saʿd said: from his mother's side.
8774 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Rabīʿa ibn Qānif, saying: I recited to Saʿd, and he mentioned the like of it.
8775 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym informed us, saying: Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ informed us, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Rabīʿa, saying: I heard Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ read: "and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, and he has a brother or a sister from his mother's side".
8776 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "and he has a brother or a sister" — these are the maternal brothers: if it is one, then for him is the sixth, and if they are more than that, then they are partners in the third; their male and their female (heirs) are equal therein.
8778 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, or a woman, and he has a brother or a sister" — these are the maternal brothers; they are partners in the third, the male and the female equal.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And His saying: "then for each of the two is the sixth" — when the brother alone, or the sister alone, stands by himself, and there is no other brother or sister than he or she from his mother's side, then for him is the sixth from the portion of his maternal brother. And if a brother and a sister come together, or two brothers without a third with them from their mother's side, or two sisters in that manner, or a brother and a sister without there being another with them from their mother's side = then for each of the two is the sixth from the portion of their maternal brother = "but if they are more than that," that is to say: if the brothers and sisters of the mother of the deceased who is inherited from as kalāla are more than two = "then they are partners in the third," he says: then the third which I have prescribed for the two of them, if there is no other than the two of them from their mother's side, is as a portion of inheritance for the two of them from their deceased brother who is inherited from as kalāla, a common share among them, when they are more than two, to whatever number they reach, according to the number of their heads; no male among them is given preference over a female therein, but it is (divided) among them in equality.
* * *
And if a questioner says: and how was it said: "and he has a brother or a sister," and it was not said: "the two of them have a brother or a sister," while before it "a man or a woman" had already been mentioned, so that it was said: وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلالَةً أَوِ امْرَأَةٌ ("and if a man who is inherited from in the kalāla, or a woman")? Then it is said: it belongs to the custom of the Arabs that, when they place the mention of two nouns before the predicate and they join the one to the other with "or," and then they come with the predicate, they sometimes ascribe the predicate to both, and sometimes to one of the two. And when they ascribe it to one of the two, it is the same with them to direct that ascription to whichever of the two mentioned nouns. Thus they say: "whoever owns a slave-boy (ghulām) or a slave-girl (jāriya), let him be good toward him," that is to say: let him be good toward the slave-boy — and "let him be good toward her," that is to say: let him be good toward the slave-girl — and "let him be good toward the two of them."
* * *
And as for His saying: "then for each of the two is the sixth," while the mention of the brother and the sister has already preceded with the joining of the one to the other, and the indication that by the meaning of the wording one of the two is intended in His saying: "and he has a brother or a sister" — that is only permissible because the meaning of the wording is: then for each of the ones mentioned is the sixth.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَى بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ غَيْرَ مُضَارٍّ وَصِيَّةً مِنَ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ (12) ("after a bequest made therewith or a debt, without (anyone) being harmed — an injunction from Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, Forbearing").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His saying: "after a bequest made therewith," that is to say: this which I have prescribed for the brother of the deceased who is inherited from as kalāla, and his sister or his brothers and sisters, out of his portion and his estate, that is for them only after the discharge of the debt of the deceased which rested upon him on the day the event of death befell him, out of his estate, and after the carrying out of his valid bequests which he makes during his life for whomever he has made a bequest in their favor after his death, as:
8779 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "after a bequest made therewith or a debt" — and the debt is the most rightful with which a beginning is made out of the entire property, so that the entrusted obligation of the deceased is discharged; then the bequest, and then the people of the inheritance divide their portion.
* * *
And as for His saying: "without (anyone) being harmed," then He, exalted is His mention, means: after a bequest which he makes, without harming his heirs in their portion of inheritance from him, as:
8780 — 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: "without (anyone) being harmed," he said: in the portion of inheritance of his family.
8781 — Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, his saying: "without (anyone) being harmed," he said: in the portion of inheritance of his family.
8782 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "without being harmed — an injunction from Allah" — and indeed Allah, blessed and exalted is He, abhorred the inflicting of harm in life and at death, and forbade it and gave an injunction concerning it; thus no inflicting of harm is fitting, neither in life nor in death.
8783 — Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī related to me, saying: ʿUbayda ibn Ḥumayd related to us = and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us = both, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning this verse: "without being harmed — an injunction from Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, Forbearing," he said: the inflicting of harm in the bequest is among the major sins (kabāʾir).
8784 — Ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the inflicting of harm in the bequest is among the major sins.
8785 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
8786 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the injustice (ḥayf) in the bequest is among the major sins.
8787 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī and ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, both of them saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: the inflicting of harm and the injustice in the bequest are among the major sins.
8788 — Mūsā ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm Abū al-Naḍr related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn al-Mughīra related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "the inflicting of harm in the bequest is among the major sins".
8789 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū ʿAmr al-Taymī informed us, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, saying: I entered with Masrūq upon a sick man, and behold, he was making a bequest. He said: Masrūq said to him: Be just, do not stray.
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And "ghayra muḍārr" (without being harmed) is in the accusative as an issuing forth from His saying "yūṣā bihā" (made therewith).
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And as for His saying "waṣiyyatan" (an injunction), then its accusative is from His saying يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الأُنْثَيَيْنِ ("Allah enjoins upon you concerning your children: for the male (child) a share equal to that of two females"), and the rest of what He has enjoined concerning the two (categories); then He said: "an injunction from Allah," as a verbal noun (maṣdar) of His saying "yūṣīkum" (He enjoins upon you).
* * *
And some grammarians have said: that is in the accusative from His saying فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ ("then for each of the two is the sixth") = "an injunction from Allah," and he said: it is like your saying: "for you are two dirhams, as maintenance (nafaqatan) for your family."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And that which we have said is more in accordance with correctness, because Allah, exalted is His praise, opened the mention of the division of the inheritances in these two verses with His saying: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ ("Allah enjoins upon you"), and then closed it with His saying: "an injunction from Allah," by which He informed that all of this is an injunction from Him to His servants thereby. Thus the accusative of His saying "waṣiyyatan" as a verbal noun of His saying "yūṣīkum" is more preferable than its accusative as a specification (tamyīz) of His saying: فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ ("then for each of the two is the sixth"), for what we have mentioned.
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And He, exalted is His mention, means by His saying: "an injunction from Allah," a covenant from Allah to you concerning that which comes to you of inheritance from whoever among you dies = "and Allah is All-Knowing," he says: and Allah is possessor of knowledge of the interests of His creatures and of that which harms them, and of who deserves to be given out of the inheritance of the kindred and blood-relatives of whoever among you dies, and of who is withheld from it among them, and of the measure of that which each one who deserves a share among them deserves, and other affairs of His servants and their interests = "Forbearing," he says: possessor of forbearance toward His creatures, and possessor of patience in His leaving off hastening to punish them for the injustice which some of them did to one another by giving the inheritance to the strong and powerful among the children of the deceased, and to the wealthy and mighty among them, to the exclusion of the weak and incapable among his small children and his female (children).