Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:19
O you who have believed, it is not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion. And do not make difficulties for them in order to take [back] part of what you gave them unless they commit a clear immorality. And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them - perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good.
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: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَرِثُوا النِّسَاءَ كَرْهًا وَلا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا بِبَعْضِ مَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلا أَنْ يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُبَيِّنَةٍ ("O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them, unless they commit a manifest indecency.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted and Glorified means by His word: "O you who believe," O you who have believed in Allah and His Messenger = "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," He says: it is not lawful for you to inherit marriage over the women of your kinsmen and fathers against their will.
If someone were to say: how then did they inherit them? And what is the basis for prohibiting inheriting them? For you know that women are bequeathers, just as men are bequeathers!
To this it is answered: that does not belong to the meaning of inheriting them when they die and leave behind property. Rather it concerns this: in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) it was the case that, when the husband of one of them died, his son or his kinsman had more right to her than another, and more than she herself. If he wished, he married her; if he wished, he held her by force (ʿaḍala-hā) and kept her from others, and did not give her in marriage until she died. Allah the Exalted has prohibited this to His servants, has prohibited them from marrying the wives of their fathers, and has prohibited them from keeping the women from marriage.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of exegesis have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
8869 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Asbāṭ ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: Abū Isḥāq — that is, al-Shaybānī — related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them," he said: when the man died, his close relatives had more right to his wife: if one of them wished, he married her; if they wished, they gave her in marriage; and if they did not wish, they did not give her in marriage; and they had more right to her than her own family. Concerning that this verse was sent down.
8870 - And Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Faḍīl related to me, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Umāma ibn Sahl ibn Ḥunayf, on the authority of his father, who said: when Abū Qays ibn al-Aslat died, his son wished to marry his wife, and that was customary among them in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya). Then Allah sent down: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will."
8871 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who both said concerning His word: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them, unless they commit a manifest indecency": that was because the man would inherit the wife of his kinsman and hold her by force until she died or returned to him her bride-price (ṣadāq). Allah restrained them from that = that is, Allah has prohibited that to you.
8872 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, concerning His word: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," he said: the Anṣār did that. When the close kinsman of a man died, that man would inherit his wife, and then he had more right to her than her own guardian.
8873 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will" — the verse —, he said: when the father or the close kinsman of a man died, then he had more right to his wife: if he wished, he kept her, or held her captive until she ransomed herself from him with her bride-price, or until she died and he then took her property = Ibn Jurayj said: ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ informed me that the people of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), when a man died and left behind a wife, his family would hold her on behalf of the boy who was among them; then there was sent down: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will" — the verse = Ibn Jurayj said: and Mujāhid said: when the father of a man died, he had more right to his wife: he married her if he wished, provided she was not his mother, or he gave her in marriage if he wished to his brother or his brother's son = Ibn Jurayj said: and ʿIkrima said: it was sent down concerning Kubaysha bint Maʿn ibn ʿĀṣim, of the Aws; Abū Qays ibn al-Aslat had died over her, and his son reached out for her. Then she came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "O prophet of Allah, I have neither inherited my husband, nor have I been set free so that I may marry!" Then this verse was sent down.
8874 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," he said: when the man died, his eldest son had more right to his wife: he married her if he wished, provided she was not his mother, or he gave her in marriage to whomever he wished, his brother or his brother's son.
8875 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, the same statement as that of Mujāhid.
8876 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, he said: I heard ʿAmr ibn Dīnār say the same.
8877 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: as for His word: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) the father, brother, or son of a man would die, and when he died and left behind his wife, then, if the heir of the deceased got to her first and threw his garment over her, he had more right to her, to marry her for the bride-price (mahr) of his predecessor, or he married her off to another and took her bride-price. But if she got ahead of him and went to her family, then they had more right to her own self.
8878 - It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān al-Bāhilī informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will": in Medina, when the close kinsman of a man died and left behind a wife, the man would throw his garment over her, and then he inherited the marriage with her and had more right to her. And that counted among them as a marriage. If he wished, he held her by force until she ransomed herself from him. And this was in the time of polytheism (shirk).
8879 - Yūnus related to us, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," he said: the inheriting was among the people of Yathrib, here in Medina. The man would die, and then his son would inherit the wife of his father, just as he inherited his mother; she could not oppose that. If he wished to take her as his own, he did so, just as his father had taken her as his own; and if he refused, he separated from her. If he was still small, she was held for him until he grew up; and then, if he wished, he had intercourse with her, and if he wished, he separated from her. That is the word of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will."
8880 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to us, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will": that was because some of the men of the people of Medina, when the close kinsman of one of them died, would throw his garment over the deceased's wife, and then he inherited the marriage with her, so that no one else married her, and he held her with himself by force until she ransomed herself from him with a ransom. Then Allah, mighty and exalted, sent down: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will."
8881 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Badhīma, on the authority of Miqsam, who said: when, in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), the husband of a woman died and a man came and threw his garment over her, then he had the most right to her of all people. He said: then this verse was sent down: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will."
Abū Jaʿfar said: the explanation of the verse according to this interpretation is therefore: O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit from your fathers and your kinsmen the marriage with their wives against their will = where the mention of "the fathers," "the kinsmen," and "the marriage" has been omitted, and the statement is directed at the prohibition of inheriting the women, while contenting oneself with the knowledge that those addressed had of the meaning of the statement, since its meaning was comprehensible to them.
And others said: no, the meaning of that is: it is not lawful for you, O people, to inherit the women's estates against their will. He said: and that was said thus because they held their widows by force, while they detested the force, until they died, and they then inherited their properties.
Mention of who said that:
8882 - Al-Muthannā related to me, 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, His word: "O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," he said: when the man died and left behind a young girl (jāriya), his close kinsman would throw his garment over her and keep her from the people. If she was beautiful, he married her; and if she was ugly, he held her by force until she died and he inherited her.
8883 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, concerning His word: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," he said: it was sent down concerning some people of the Anṣār, who, when a man of them died, his guardian had the most right over his wife, and he held her by force until she died and he inherited her. Concerning that it was sent down.
Abū Jaʿfar said: and the most correct of the two statements for the explanation of the verse is the statement we have mentioned on the authority of him who said: its meaning is: "it is not lawful for you to inherit the wives of your kinsmen," because Allah, praised be His praise, has made clear the shares of those entitled to inheritance; that therefore belongs to its rightful claimant, whether the bequeather detests that they inherit what is inherited from him — be it from men or from women — or permits it.
From that it is therefore known that He, praised be His praise, did not prohibit His servants from inheriting the women in what He has assigned to them as inheritance over them, and that He has only prohibited that they be treated as inherited property against their will — in the sense of the prohibition of inheriting the marriage with them — when their deceased whom they inherited held over her the right of disposal in marriage, just as a man holds the usufruct of the houses, lands, and all his other beneficial properties that he has rented.
Thus Allah, praised be His praise, has made clear to His servants that what the man holds of them of the private part (buḍʿ) of his wife has a different meaning than the meaning of what one of them holds of usufructs of other rentable properties. For he who holds the private part of his wife: when he dies, what he held by marriage as possession over his wife does not pass to his heirs after him, as is the case with the things he held by purchase, gift, or rent, which after his death pass to them through their heirs thereof.
As for His word, the Exalted: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them" — concerning that the scholars of exegesis differ over its explanation.
Some said: its explanation is: "nor to put them under pressure" (wa-lā taʿḍulūhunna): that is, do not hold them by force, O company of heirs of the deceased men, namely their wives, in order to prevent them from marrying the men whom they wish to marry, so that they die = "in order to take back a part of what you have given them," that is: so that you take of their properties, when they die, that which your deceased whom you inherited had transferred to them as bride-prices.
Among those who said that is a group of whom we have already mentioned some, including Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, and ʿIkrima.
And others said: no, the meaning of that is: and do not put your wives under pressure, O people, by holding them in a harmful manner while you have no need of them, and thus harming them so that they ransom themselves from you with what you have given them of their bride-prices.
Mention of who said that:
8884 - Al-Muthannā related to me, 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, His word: "nor to put them under pressure," he says: do not subject them by force = "in order to take back a part of what you have given them," he means: the man has a wife, and he detests her company, while she has a bride-price (mahr) owed to her from him, and he harms her so that she ransoms herself.
8885 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "nor to put them under pressure," he says: it is not lawful for you to hold your wife in a harmful manner until she ransoms herself from you = He said: and Maʿmar informed us, he said: Simāk ibn al-Faḍl informed me, on the authority of Ibn al-Baylamānī, he said: these two verses were sent down, the one concerning a matter of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), and the other concerning a matter of Islam.
8886 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, he said: Simāk ibn al-Faḍl informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Baylamānī, concerning His word: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor to put them under pressure," he said: these two verses were sent down: the one concerning the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), and the other concerning a matter of Islam. ʿAbd Allāh said: "it is not lawful for you to inherit women" is about the time of ignorance, and "nor to put them under pressure" is about Islam.
8887 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd: "nor to put them under pressure," he said: do not hold them by force.
8888 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them," as for "putting them under pressure," he says: you harm them so that they ransom themselves from you.
8889 - It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "nor to put them under pressure," he said: "putting under pressure" (al-ʿaḍl) is that the man detests his wife and harms her until she ransoms herself from him. Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, said: وَكَيْفَ تَأْخُذُونَهُ وَقَدْ أَفْضَى بَعْضُكُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ [Sūra al-Nisāʾ: 21] ("And how would you take it back, when you have gone in unto one another?").
And others said: those who are intended in this verse by the prohibition of putting the women under pressure are their guardians.
Mention of who said that:
8890 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them," namely that they marry their husbands, like the "putting under pressure" (al-ʿaḍl) in "Sūra al-Baqara."
8891 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
And others said: no, the one to whom that is prohibited is the husband of the woman after he has separated from her. And they said: that belonged to the custom of the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), and it was prohibited to them in Islam.
Mention of who said that:
8892 - Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: putting under pressure (al-ʿaḍl) occurred among Quraysh in Mecca: a man would marry a woman of standing, and it might be that she did not please him, and then he would separate from her on the condition that she would not marry except with his permission. Then he would bring witnesses and have that recorded and confirmed against her. Then, when a suitor sought her hand, he would, if she gave him something and satisfied him, grant her his permission, and if not, then he put her under pressure. He said: that is the word of Allah: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them" — the verse.
Abū Jaʿfar said: we have already explained earlier the meaning of "putting under pressure" (al-ʿaḍl) and its origin, with the proofs for that from the indications.
And the most correct of these statements we have mentioned as to correctness in the explanation of His word: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them," is the statement of him who said: Allah, praised be His praise, has prohibited the husband of the woman from constraining and harming her, while he detests her company and desires separation from her, so that she ransoms herself from him with a part of the bride-price (ṣadāq) that he has given her.
We have only said that this is the most correct, because there is no way for anyone to put a woman under pressure, except for one of two men: either for her husband, by constraining her and holding her for himself while he detests her, thereby harming her, so that he may take back from her what he has given her, by her ransoming herself thereby from him = or for her guardian to whom it belongs to give her in marriage.
And since there is no way for anyone other than these two to put her under pressure, and since it is known of the guardian that he is not among those who have given her anything, such that, if he prevents her from marriage, it would be said of him: "he has put her under pressure in order to take back a part of what he has given her," thus it is known that the one whom Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, intended by His prohibition of putting her under pressure is her husband, who has the way to put her under pressure and to harm her so that she ransoms herself from him.
And when that is established = and it is known that Allah, whose mention is exalted, has not made for anyone a way over his wife after his separation from her and her definitive separation from him, such that he would have a way to put her under pressure so that she ransoms herself from him from his putting her under pressure — whether she has committed an indecency or not = and since Allah, praised be His praise, has permitted the husbands to put them under pressure when they commit a manifest indecency, until they ransom themselves from him = thus thereby the incorrectness becomes clear of the interpretation that Ibn Zayd gave, and of the interpretation of him who said: "by the prohibition of putting under pressure in this verse the guardians of the widows are intended," = and the correctness of what we have said about it.
[His word]: "nor to put them under pressure" stands in the case position of the accusative (naṣb), as a coordination upon His word: "to inherit women against their will." And the meaning of it is: it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor to put them under pressure.
And so it is also in what is mentioned in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd.
And if it were said: it stands in the case position of the jussive (jazm) in the form of a prohibition, then that would not be incorrect.
The explanation of His word: إِلا أَنْ يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُبَيِّنَةٍ ("unless they commit a manifest indecency")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, praised be His praise, means by that: it is not lawful for you, O believers, to put your wives under pressure by harming them, while you detest their company and they are obedient to you, in order to take back a part of what you have given them of bride-prices = "unless they commit a manifest indecency"; then at that moment it is indeed lawful for you to harm them so that they ransom themselves from you.
Then the scholars of exegesis differ over the meaning of "the indecency" (al-fāḥisha) that Allah, praised be His praise, has mentioned in this place.
Some said: its meaning is fornication (zinā), and he said: when the wife of the man commits fornication, it is lawful for him to put her under pressure and harm her, so that she ransoms herself from him with the bride-price that he has given her.
Mention of who said that:
8893 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, he said: Ashʿath informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — concerning the virgin who commits debauchery (fujūr) — he said: she is given a hundred (lashes), banished for a year, and she returns to her husband what she took from him. And he explained this verse thus: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them, unless they commit a manifest indecency."
8894 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī — concerning the man whose wife commits an indecency —: he takes back what he transferred to her and puts her out. But that was abrogated (nusikha) by the prescribed punishments (ḥudūd).
8895 - Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Abū Qilāba, who said: when a man sees an indecency in his wife, then there is no objection to his harming her and making it hard for her until she releases herself from him by divorce against ransom (khulʿ).
8896 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed me, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Abū Qilāba — concerning the man who discovers an indecency in his wife — and he mentioned something similar.
8897 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," that is fornication (zinā); when they do that, then take their bride-prices (muhūr).
8898 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAbd al-Karīm informed me that he heard al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī say about "unless they commit an indecency," he said: fornication (zinā). He said: and I heard al-Ḥasan and Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ say: if she does that, it is lawful for her husband that it be he who asks her for the divorce against ransom (khulʿ), whereby she ransoms herself.
And others said: "the manifest indecency" is in this place insubordination (al-nushūz).
Mention of who said that:
8899 - Al-Muthannā related to me, 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: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," that is the aversion and the insubordination (al-nushūz); when she does that, then the ransom from her is lawful for him.
8900 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, he said: ʿAnbasa related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Badhīma, on the authority of Miqsam, concerning His word: (nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them, unless they commit an indecency) in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd. He said: when she disobeys you and hurts you, then it is lawful for you to take back what she took from you.
8901 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Muṭarrif ibn Ṭarīf, on the authority of Khālid, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," he said: the indecency here is insubordination (al-nushūz). When she is insubordinate, it is lawful for him to take from her her divorce-ransom (khulʿ).
8902 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," he said: that is the insubordination (al-nushūz).
8903 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ said: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," if they do that: if you wish, you keep them; and if you wish, you send them away.
8904 - It was related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim say concerning His word: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," he said: our Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, has judged justly, and He turned to the women and said: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," and "the indecency" is the disobedience and the insubordination (al-nushūz). When that comes from her side, then Allah has commanded him to strike her, and has commanded him to shun (her bed). And if she does not give up the disobedience and the insubordination, then after all that there is no blame upon him that he takes the ransom from her.
Abū Jaʿfar said: and the most correct of what has been said about the explanation of His word: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," is that by it every "indecency" is intended: from coarseness of tongue against her husband, hurting him, and fornication (zinā) with her private part. That is because Allah, praised be His praise, by His word: "unless they commit a manifest indecency," has encompassed every clearly manifested, overt indecency. So every husband of a woman who commits an indecency — of the indecencies that are fornication (zinā) or insubordination (nushūz) — has the right to put her under pressure, in accordance with what Allah has set forth in His Book, and to constrain her until she ransoms herself from him, with whichever of the meanings of the indecencies she has come, provided it is overt and clearly manifested = by virtue of the clear text of the Book of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, and the reliability of the narration of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, such as the following:
8905 - Yūnus ibn Sulaymān al-Baṣrī related to me, he said: Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, he said: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Jābir: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Fear Allah concerning the women, for you have taken them with the surety of Allah (amāna), and you have made their private parts lawful with the word of Allah. And you have the right over them that they not let anyone whom you detest tread upon your beds; if they do that, strike them with a striking that causes no injury; and they have over you the right to their food and their clothing in the customary manner (bi-l-maʿrūf)."
8906 - Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to us, he said: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb related to us, he said: Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda al-Rabadhī related to us, he said: Ṣadaqa ibn Yasār related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O people, the women are with you like captives (ʿawān); you have taken them with the surety of Allah (amāna), and you have made their private parts lawful with the word of Allah. You have rights over them, and they have rights over you. Among your rights over them is that they not let anyone tread upon your beds, and that they not disobey you in what is fitting (maʿrūf); if they do that, then they have the right to their food and their clothing in the customary manner (bi-l-maʿrūf)."
= Thus he ﷺ informed that among the rights of the husband over the woman is that she not let anyone tread upon his bed and that she not disobey him in what is fitting, and that what is obligatory for her of food and clothing rests upon him, and that this is only obligatory upon him when she gives him what is obligatory for her of right, by her refraining from letting another tread upon his bed and by her not disobeying him in what is fitting.
And it is known that the meaning of the word of the Prophet ﷺ: "among your rights over them is that they not let anyone tread upon your beds," is only that they not admit anyone besides you to themselves.
And since what we have transmitted about that is reliable on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, thus it is clear that the husband of the woman, when his wife has admitted another to herself and has made it possible for another than him to have intercourse with her, has the right to withhold from her the clothing and the food in the customary manner, just as it is his right to withhold that from her when she disobeys him in what is fitting. And since that belongs to him, it is known that he — by withholding from her what it is his right to withhold from her — withholds from her no right that belongs to her and that is obligatory upon him. And since that is so, it is clear that she, when she ransoms herself at that moment from her husband and her husband takes from her what she has given him, he has not taken it on the basis of a prohibited putting under pressure, but rather that he has taken what he has taken on the basis of a putting under pressure permitted to him. And since that is so, it is clear that he falls under the exception that Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has made to those who put under pressure, with His word: "nor to put them under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them, unless they commit a manifest indecency." And since that is established, the incorrectness becomes clear of the statement of him who said: "unless they commit a manifest indecency" is abrogated (mansūkh) by the prescribed punishments (ḥudūd), because the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) is a right of Allah, praised be His praise, over the one who commits the indecency that is fornication (zinā). As for the putting under pressure so that the woman ransoms herself from the husband with what he has given her or a part thereof, that is a right of her husband = just as his putting under pressure and constraining her, when she is insubordinate toward him, so that she ransoms herself from him, is his right. And the ruling of the one does not invalidate the ruling of the other.
Abū Jaʿfar said: the meaning of the verse is therefore: and it is not lawful for you, O you who believe, to put your wives under pressure by constraining them and withholding from them their food and clothing in the customary manner, in order to take back a part of what you have given them of bride-prices, unless they commit an indecency — of fornication (zinā) or coarseness against you, and opposition to you in that which is obligatory for them toward you — that is clearly manifested and overt; then at that moment it is lawful for you to put them under pressure and to constrain them, in order to take back a part of what you have given them of bride-price (ṣadāq), if they ransom themselves thereby from you.
And the reciters differ in the reading of His word: "mubayyina" (manifest).
Some read it: "mubayyana" with fatḥa on the "yāʾ," in the meaning that it is made clear, made public, and made visible to you.
And some read it: "mubayyina" with kasra on the "yāʾ," in the meaning that it is overt and clear to the people that it is an indecency.
And they are two widespread readings among the reciters of the regions of Islam, and with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has attained what is correct in his recitation, for the indecency, when its perpetrator makes it public, is overt and clear; and when it has become public, it has become public through its being made public by its perpetrator. Thus it is not overt and clear except that it is made clear, nor made clear except that it is making clear. Therefore I deemed the recitation correct with whichever of the two the reciter recites.
The explanation of His word: وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ("and consort with them in the customary manner")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, praised be His praise, means by His word: "and consort with them in the customary manner": and associate, O men, with your wives and keep their company = "in the customary manner (bi-l-maʿrūf)," that is: in the manner of association that I have commanded you, and that is: retaining them by fulfilling their rights that Allah, praised be His praise, has imposed for them upon you, or sending them away from you in a proper manner, such as:
8907 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and consort with them in the customary manner," he says: and mingle with them.
= Thus Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn said, but it is rather "associate with them (khāliqūhunna)," derived from "al-ʿishra," that is keeping company.
The explanation of His word: فَإِنْ كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَى أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا (19) ("And if you detest them — it may be that you detest something in which Allah places much good.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, whose mention is exalted, means by that: do not put your wives under pressure in order to take back a part of what you have given them, without there having been from their side a suspicion or insubordination, but consort with them in the customary manner, even if you detest them; for it may be that you detest them and yet retain them, and that Allah then places for you = in your retaining them despite your aversion to them = much good, in the form of a child that He grants you through them, or your affection toward them after your aversion to them, such as:
8908 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "And if you detest them — it may be that you detest something in which Allah places much good," he says: it may be that Allah places in the aversion much good.
8909 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
8910 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to me, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: "in which Allah places much good," he said: the child.
8911 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "in which Allah places much good," and the much good is: that he conceives affection for her, and that the man is favored with her child, and that Allah places in her child much good.
And "the hāʾ" (the pronominal suffix) in His word: "in which Allah places much good," is, according to the statement of Mujāhid that we have mentioned, a reference to the verbal noun of "detesting" (takrahū), as if the meaning of the statement with him is: and if you detest them, then it may be that you detest something in the aversion to which Allah places much good.
And if the explanation of the statement were: then it may be that you detest something in which — in that thing that you detest — Allah places much good, then that would be permissible and correct.
