Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:14
And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses His limits - He will put him into the Fire to abide eternally therein, and he will have a humiliating punishment.
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 statement: وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُ يُدْخِلْهُ نَارًا خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَلَهُ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ (14) (And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger ﷺ and transgresses His limits, He will admit him into the Fire, abiding therein eternally, and for him there is a humiliating punishment (ʿadhāb) (14).)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means thereby: "and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger ﷺ" in acting upon what They both have commanded him concerning the distribution of the inheritance-shares (mīrāth), in accordance with the manner in which They have commanded him to distribute it among them, and concerning other of the obligations (farāʾiḍ) of Allah, while he opposes Their command and turns to that which They have forbidden him. = "and transgresses His limits (ḥudūd)": He says: and he oversteps the dividing-lines of His obedience, which the Exalted has set as a boundary between that obedience and disobedience toward Him, (49) toward that which He has forbidden him, namely the distribution of the estates of their deceased among their heirs, and other of His limits (ḥudūd). (50) = "He will admit him into the Fire, abiding therein eternally": He says: remaining therein forever, he does not die nor does he ever come out of it. = "and for him there is a humiliating punishment (ʿadhāb)": He means: and for him there is a humiliating punishment, which disgraces whoever is punished with it. (51)
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And in the manner of what we have said concerning its explanation, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
8794 — Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger ﷺ and transgresses His limits", the āyah, concerns the matter of the inheritance-shares (mīrāth) that was mentioned previously. = Ibn Jurayj said concerning "and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger ﷺ": he said: it concerns whoever commits, of the sins, that for which Allah punishes him.
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And if someone were to say: Will then whoever has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger ﷺ in the distribution of the inheritance-shares be kept forever in the Fire (jahannam)? (52) then it is answered: Yes, when he, along with his disobedience toward Them both therein, adds doubt concerning the fact that Allah has imposed upon him what He has imposed upon His servants in these two āyāt, or when he knows that and then opposes Allah and His Messenger ﷺ concerning Their command — in accordance with what Ibn ʿAbbās has related of the statement of the one who said, when there was sent down to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the statement of Allah — blessed and exalted is He: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الأُنْثَيَيْنِ (Allah enjoins you concerning your children: for the male a share equal to that of two females), up to the end of the two āyāt: "Shall then one who does not ride the horse, does not fight the enemy, and acquires no war-booty (ghanīmah) inherit half of the wealth or the entire wealth?" (53) — by way of disapproval on their part of Allah's apportionment of what He has allotted to the young children of the deceased, his wives, and his female children. = (54) Whoever deviates from Allah's apportionment of what He has allotted from the inheritance of those entitled to inherit among them, in accordance with how He apportioned it in His Book, and who opposes His ruling therein and the ruling of His Messenger, out of disapproval on his part of Their ruling — like those who disapproved, whose matter Ibn ʿAbbās has mentioned, namely those who were among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, belonging to the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) concerning whom, and concerning their like, this āyah was sent down — (55) such a one belongs to the people of eternal abiding in the Fire, for by his disapproval of Allah's ruling therein he becomes a disbeliever (kāfir) toward Allah, and he departs from the religious community of Islam.
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The footnotes (hawāmish):
(49) See the explanation of "al-ḥudūd" in what shortly preceded, p. 68, and the annotation: 3.
(50) In the printed edition it reads "among his heir" in the singular; the correct reading is what comes from the manuscript.
(51) See the explanation of "muhīn" in what has preceded, 2: 347, 348 / 7: 423. Annotation: 1.
(52) In the printed edition it reads "or will he be kept forever" as a verb; I have established the correct reading from the manuscript.
(53) By this is meant the report of Ibn ʿAbbās which preceded previously under number: 8726; he has conveyed its purport, not its literal wording.
(54) His statement "Whoever deviates from Allah's apportionment" connects to his earlier statement: "and who opposes Allah and His Messenger concerning Their command…"; and what lies between them is an insertion which I have placed between the two dashes.
(55) The connected sense of all these passages is: "Yes, when he, along with his disobedience toward Them both therein, adds doubt concerning the fact that Allah has imposed upon him what He has imposed upon His servants in these two āyāt, or when he knows that and then opposes Allah and His Messenger concerning Their command… whoever deviates from Allah's apportionment of what He has allotted from the inheritance of those entitled to inherit… such a one belongs to the people of eternal abiding in the Fire".
