Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:25
And whoever among you cannot [find] the means to marry free, believing women, then [he may marry] from those whom your right hands possess of believing slave girls. And Allah is most knowing about your faith. You [believers] are of one another. So marry them with the permission of their people and give them their due compensation according to what is acceptable. [They should be] chaste, neither [of] those who commit unlawful intercourse randomly nor those who take [secret] lovers. But once they are sheltered in marriage, if they should commit adultery, then for them is half the punishment for free [unmarried] women. This [allowance] is for him among you who fears sin, but to be patient is better for you. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
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: أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ("that he marries free, believing women, then (let him marry) from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means thereby: and whoever of you, O people, does not have the means (ṭawl) — He means: from among the free — "to marry the chaste women (an yankiḥa al-muḥṣanāt)," which are the free women — "the believing (al-muʾmināt)," who have affirmed the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) and the truth which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ brought.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning "al-muḥṣanāt" the exegetes have spoken.
*Mention of who said that:
9062 — 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 word: "that he marries the chaste women." He says: that he marries the free women; then let him marry from the slave-girls (imāʾ) of the believers.
9063 — 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 concerning His word: "that he marries the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess." He said: "al-muḥṣanāt" are the free women; then let him marry the believing slave-girl (al-ama).
9064 — 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.
9065 — 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: as for "your young women (fatayātikum)," they are your slave-girls (imāʾ).
9066 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym informed us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "that he marries the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls." He said: whoever does not find that with which he may marry a free woman, let him marry a slave-girl (ama).
9067 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "that he marries the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls." He said: he does not find that with which he may marry a free woman, so he marries this slave-girl and preserves his chastity with her, and her owners are spared her maintenance by him. And Allah has permitted that to no one, except when he does not find that with which he may marry a free woman to provide for her, and it was not permitted to him until he fears fornication (zinā).
9068 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Hishām al-Dastawāʾī, on the authority of ʿĀmir al-Aḥwal, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade that a slave-girl be married in addition to a free woman, or that a free woman be married in addition to a slave-girl; and whoever finds the means for a free woman, let him not marry a slave-girl.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the reciters differed over the reading of it. A group of the reciters of Kūfa and Mecca read it: (an yankiḥa al-muḥṣināt) with a kasra on the "ṣād," together with all their other instances of this in the Qurʾān, except His word: وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ إِلا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 24] ("and the chastely married women, except what your right hands possess"), for in that they opened the "ṣād" (read it with fatḥa), and they directed its interpretation to the meaning that they were made chaste (muḥṣanāt) by their husbands, and that their husbands are the ones who made them chaste. And as for the remaining places in the Qurʾān, there they interpreted, in their kasra on the "ṣād," that the women themselves made themselves chaste through chastity.
* * *
And most of the reciters of Medina and Iraq read all of that with fatḥa, in the meaning that some of them were made chaste by their husbands, and some of them were made chaste by their freedom or their Islam.
* * *
And some of the early scholars read all of that with kasra, in the meaning that they were chaste and made themselves chaste. And this reading — namely with kasra on all of it — is reported on the authority of ʿAlqama, with variation in the transmission from him.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view with us in this matter is that they are two widespread readings among the reciters of the regions, concurring in agreement of meaning. With whichever of the two the reciter reads, he attains what is correct — except in the first word [from Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 24], namely His word: وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ إِلا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ("and the chastely married women, except what your right hands possess"), for in that I do not consider the kasra on the "ṣād" permissible, on account of the agreement of the reading of the regions on the fatḥa of it. And had the reading with kasra of it been as widespread as the reading with fatḥa, then the reading with it would likewise be correct, on account of what we have mentioned concerning the various applications of "iḥṣān" in the meanings which we have set forth. Its meaning would then, if read with kasra, be: and the chaste women are forbidden to you, except what your right hands possess, in the sense that they made themselves chaste through chastity.
* * *
And as for "al-fatayāt," it is the plural of "fatāt," and they are the young women. Then every slave-girl, whether advanced in age or young, is called "fatāt," and the male slave (al-ʿabd) "fatā."
* * *
Then the scholars differed over the marrying of the non-believing slave-girls, and whether Allah by His word "namely your believing slave-girls (min fatayātikum al-muʾmināt)" intended the prohibition of what falls outside the believing slave-girls, or whether this is from Allah a form of admonition (taʾdīb) for the believers.
Some of them said: that is from Allah, exalted is His mention, an indication of the prohibition of marrying the slave-girls of the polytheists (al-mushrikīn).
*Mention of who said that:
9069 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "namely your believing slave-girls." He said: it is not fitting that he marry a Christian slave-girl.
9070 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "namely your believing slave-girls." He said: it is not fitting for the free Muslim that he marry a slave-girl from the People of the Book.
9071 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: Al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAmr, and Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and Mālik ibn Anas, and Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Maryam say: it is permitted neither to a free Muslim nor to a Muslim slave to (marry) a Christian slave-girl, because Allah says: "namely your believing slave-girls," by which He means marriage.
* * *
And others said: that is from Allah as guidance and exhortation (irshād wa-nadb), not as prohibition (taḥrīm). And among those who said that is a group of the people of Iraq.
*Mention of who said that:
9072 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mughīra, saying: Abū Maysara said: as for the People of the Book, they have the status of free women.
* * *
And among them are Abū Ḥanīfa and his companions. And they supported their position with the word of Allah: أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ [Sūrat al-Māʾida: 5] ("The good things are made lawful to you, and the food of those who were given the Book is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them; and the chaste women among the believers, and the chaste women among those who were given the Book before you, when you give them their bridal dues"). They said: Allah made the chaste women of the People of the Book lawful in general, so no one has the right to single out from that a slave-girl or a free woman. They said: and the meaning of His word "your believing slave-girls (fatayātikum al-muʾmināt)" is: those other than the polytheist idolatresses.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the two positions in this is the position of him who says: it is an indication of the prohibition of marrying the slave-girls of the People of the Book, for they are not lawful except through what the right hand possesses (mulk al-yamīn). And that is because Allah, exalted is His praise, permitted the marrying of slave-girls under conditions; and as long as the conditions which He has mentioned for them do not come together, it is not permitted to a Muslim to marry them.
* * *
And if someone says: but the verse in "al-Māʾida" indicates their permissibility through marriage?
Then it is said: indeed, that one in "al-Māʾida" — He made clear that its ruling pertains to a specific portion of their chaste women, and that it pertains to their free women and not to their slave-girls, namely through His word "namely your believing slave-girls." And neither of the two verses abrogates the ruling of the other; rather, the one clarifies the ruling of the other. And the one would abrogate the ruling of the other only if it were not permissible that both their rulings be legally valid together. So it is not permissible to judge that the one abrogates the ruling of the other, except with a proof that compels acknowledgment of it, from a transmitted report or an analogy (qiyās). And there is for that neither a transmitted report nor an analogy. And the verse permits what we have said: and the chaste women among the free women of those who were given the Book before you, and not their slave-girls.
* * *
The explanation of His word, exalted is He: وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِكُمْ بَعْضُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْضٍ ("and Allah knows best concerning your faith; you are (descended) from one another").
Abū Jaʿfar said: This belongs to that which is postponed but whose meaning is to be placed forward (al-muʾakhkhar alladhī maʿnāhu al-taqdīm).
* * *
And its interpretation is: وَمَنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ مِنْكُمْ طَوْلا أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ("and whoever of you does not have the means to marry the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls"), then let each of you marry from another — in the meaning: let this (man) marry the young woman of that (man).
* * *
And "al-baʿḍ" (the part, "one another") is in the nominative (marfūʿ) on the basis of the interpretation of the words and their meaning, because His word فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ("then from what your right hands possess") has the interpretation: then let him marry from what your right hands possess; then "baʿḍukum" (some of you) was connected to that meaning, and therefore placed in the nominative.
* * *
Then He, exalted is His praise, said: "and Allah knows best concerning your faith (wa-Llāhu aʿlamu bi-īmānikum)," that is to say: and Allah knows best concerning the faith of whoever of you has believed in Allah and His Messenger and what he brought from Allah, and has affirmed all of that — from among you.
* * *
He says: let whoever of you does not have the means for a free woman marry from your believing slave-girls. Let this poor man who does not find the means for a free woman marry from this well-off man his believing young woman who has shown and made known faith; and leave their inner reality to Allah, for the knowledge of that belongs to Allah and not to you, and Allah knows best concerning your inner reality and their inner reality.
* * *
The explanation of His word: فَانْكِحُوهُنَّ بِإِذْنِ أَهْلِهِنَّ وَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ("so marry them with the permission of their owners and give them their bridal dues according to what is customary").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His word, exalted is His praise, "so marry them (fa-nkiḥūhunna)": so take them as wives; and by His word "with the permission of their owners (bi-idhni ahlihinna)": with the permission of their masters and their charge to you to marry them, and their consent. And He means by His word "and give them their bridal dues (wa-ātūhunna ujūrahunna)": and give them their bridal dues (muhūr), as in:
9073 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "and give them their bridal dues." He said: the bridal gift (al-ṣadāq).
* * *
And He means by His word "according to what is customary (bi-l-maʿrūf)": in accordance with what you have agreed upon, from what Allah has permitted you and made lawful for you to make as bridal dues for them.
* * *
The explanation of His word: مُحْصَنَاتٍ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحَاتٍ وَلا مُتَّخِذَاتِ أَخْدَانٍ ("as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication, nor as those who take lovers").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His word "muḥṣanāt": chaste women — "ghayr musāfiḥāt": not as those who commit fornication (zinā) — "wa-lā muttakhidhāti akhdān." He says: and not as those who take lovers for fornication (sifāḥ).
* * *
And it is reported that this was said because "the adulteresses (al-zawānī)" in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya) among the Arabs were those who openly committed fornication (zinā), while "those who take lovers (al-muttakhidhāt al-akhdān)" were those who had bound themselves to a beloved and friend, in order to commit fornication with her in secret without making it open.
*Mention of who said that:
9074 — Al-Muthannā related to us, 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 word: "as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication, nor as those who take lovers." He means: you marry them as chaste women, not as adulteresses in secret nor in the open — "nor as those who take lovers," He means: beloveds.
9075 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, 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 concerning His word: "not as those who commit fornication," the "musāfiḥāt" are those who commit fornication (zinā) openly — "nor as those who take lovers," the one with a single beloved. He said: The people of the jāhiliyya forbade open fornication and deemed hidden fornication permissible; they said: "what of it is open, that is base, and what of it is hidden, there is no harm in it." Then Allah, blessed and exalted, revealed: وَلا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ [Sūrat al-Anʿām: 151] ("and do not approach the gross indecencies, neither what of them is open, nor what is hidden").
9076 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard Dāwūd relate, on the authority of ʿĀmir, saying: Fornication is of two kinds: she fornicates with the lover but does not fornicate with another, and the woman is offered indiscriminately (sawm). Then he recited: "as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication, nor as those who take lovers."
9077 — 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: as for "al-muḥṣanāt," they are the chaste women; so let the slave-girl (al-ama) be married with the permission of her owners as a chaste one — and "al-muḥṣanāt" are the chaste ones — "ghayr musāfiḥa" (not fornicating), and "al-musāfiḥa" is she who commits fornication openly — "and not one who takes a friend."
9078 — 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 word: "nor as those who take lovers." He said: the mistress whom the man takes, and the woman who takes the lover.
9079 — 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.
9080 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication, nor as those who take lovers." "al-musāfiḥa" is the harlot who hires herself out to whoever offers himself to her. And "dhāt al-khidn" is the one with a single beloved. So Allah forbade them the marrying of both together.
9081 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim say concerning His word: "as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication, nor as those who take lovers": as for "al-muḥṣanāt," they are the free women; he says: marry a free woman. And as for "al-musāfiḥāt," they are those who give themselves openly without a bridal gift. And as for "muttakhidhāt akhdān," that is the one with a single beloved, in secret with him. Allah forbade that.
9082 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, saying: Fornication has two repugnant forms, one of which is more loathsome than the other. As for the more loathsome of the two: that is the "musāfaḥa," she who commits fornication with whoever comes to her. And as for the other: that is the one with a lover (dhāt al-khidn).
9083 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication, nor as those who take lovers." He said: "al-musāfiḥ" is the one who meets the woman and commits fornication with her and then departs, and she departs (too). And "al-mukhādin" is the one who abides with her in disobedience to Allah, and she abides with him; that is "al-akhdān."
* * *
The explanation of His word: فَإِذَا أُحْصِنَّ ("and when they are made chaste").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed over the reading of it.
Some of them read it: (fa-idhā aḥṣanna) with fatḥa on the "alif," in the meaning: when they embrace Islam, so that they are protected by Islam against what is forbidden concerning their private parts.
* * *
And others read it: (fa-idhā uḥṣinna) in the meaning: when they are married, so that they are protected by the husbands against what is forbidden concerning their private parts.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct position in this is in my view that they are two well-known, widespread readings in the regions of Islam; with whichever of the two the reciter reads, he attains what is correct in his reading.
* * *
And if someone thinks that what we have said about this is not permissible — since the two (readings) differ in meaning, and reading with the two forms is permitted only in that over which the meanings concur — then he has erred.
And that is because the two meanings of it, even though they differ, the one does not abrogate the other. For Allah has, upon the slave-girl (al-ama), whether she adheres to Islam or not, imposed by the tongue of His Messenger ﷺ the prescribed punishment (al-ḥadd).
9084 — For he ﷺ said: "When the slave-girl of one of you commits fornication, let him flog her — (as) the Book of Allah (commands) — and let him not reproach her. Then if she repeats, let him strike her — (as) the Book of Allah (commands) — and let him not reproach her. Then if she repeats, let him strike her — (as) the Book of Allah (commands) — and let him not reproach her. Then if she commits fornication for the fourth time, let him strike her — (as) the Book of Allah (commands) — and let him sell her, even were it for a rope of hers."
9085 — And he ﷺ said: "Carry out the prescribed punishments (al-ḥudūd) upon what your right hands possess."
* * *
So he made no distinction therein between a married and an unmarried one among them. The prescribed punishments are thus obligatory: it is for the masters of the slave-girls to carry them out upon them when they commit fornication, by virtue of the Book of Allah and the command of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* * *
And if someone says: what then do you say concerning what has been transmitted to them, namely:
9086 — Ibn Bashshār, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Anas related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Abū Hurayra and Zayd ibn Khālid: that the Prophet ﷺ was questioned about the slave-girl who commits fornication while she has not been made chaste (lam tuḥṣan). He said: "Flog her; and if she fornicates, then flog her; and if she fornicates, then flog her" — and he said at the third or the fourth time — "then sell her, even were it for a plaited rope (ḍafīr)." And "al-ḍafīr" is the hair.
9087 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Abū Hurayra and Zayd ibn Khālid: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was questioned — and he mentioned something similar.
So he made clear that the prescribed punishment which is to be carried out upon the slave-girls according to the sunna of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is that which takes place before their being made chaste (iḥṣān). But as for that which is obligatory upon them by virtue of the Book, that is after their being made chaste?
It is said to him: We have already clarified that one of the meanings of "iḥṣān" is Islam, and that the other of them is marriage, and that "iḥṣān" is a word that encompasses several meanings. And in none of the transmissions of those who transmit from the Prophet ﷺ that he was questioned "about the slave-girl who commits fornication before she is made chaste" is there a clarification that she about whom the Prophet ﷺ was questioned is the one who commits fornication before marriage — such that that would be a proof for whoever argues that the "iḥṣān" by which he ﷺ established the prescribed punishment for the slave-girls upon fornication is Islam and not marriage, nor that it is marriage and not Islam.
And since there is in it no clarification, the correct position is: that every slave-girl who commits fornication, it is obligatory for her master to carry out the prescribed punishment upon her, whether she is married or not married, on account of the outward (meaning) of the Book of Allah and what is established from the sunna of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — except whoever of them is excepted, by something that compels acknowledgment, from the obligation of the prescribed punishment upon him.
And since that is so, there appears from it the correctness of what we have chosen as the reading in His word: "fa-idhā uḥṣinna."
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And if someone thinks that in the word of Allah, exalted is His mention: وَمَنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ مِنْكُمْ طَوْلا أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ("and whoever of you does not have the means to marry the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls") there is an indication that His word "fa-idhā aḥṣanna" means: they married — since He mentioned that after their description with faith by His word مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ("namely your believing slave-girls") — and supposes that this can bear no meaning other than that of marriage, given the preceding description of them with faith, then he has supposed erroneously.
And that is because it is not impossible in the language that its meaning be: وَمَنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ مِنْكُمْ طَوْلا أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ("and whoever of you does not have the means to marry the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls"), and when they have then believed, فَإِنْ أَتَيْنَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ فَعَلَيْهِنَّ نِصْفُ مَا عَلَى الْمُحْصَنَاتِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ ("then if they commit a gross indecency, upon them is half of the punishment that is upon the free/chaste women"). The report would then make a new beginning concerning what is obligatory upon them as prescribed punishment when they commit a gross indecency after their faith, after the clarification concerning what is not permitted for the believers who marry them to marry, and concerning who of them it is permitted for him to marry.
And since that is not impossible in the language, it is not permitted to anyone to direct its meaning to marriage and not to Islam, on account of Allah's preceding description of them with faith.
* * *
However, what we prefer for whoever reads مُحْصَنَاتٍ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحَاتٍ ("as chaste women, not as those who commit fornication") with fatḥa on the "ṣād" in this place, is that he read: فَإِذَا أُحْصِنَّ فَإِنْ أَتَيْنَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ with ḍamma on the "alif" (uḥṣinna). And for whoever reads "muḥṣināt" with kasra on the "ṣād" therein, that he read: (fa-idhā aḥṣanna) with fatḥa on the "alif," so that the reading of the reciter coincide upon one meaning and one connection, on account of the proximity of His word "muḥṣināt" to His word "fa-idhā aḥṣanna." And even were he to deviate from that, it would be no linguistic error (laḥn), except that the correct manner of reading is what I have described.
* * *
And the exegetes differed over the interpretation of it, according to the difference of the reciters in the reading of it. Some of them said: the meaning of His word "fa-idhā aḥṣanna" is: when they embrace Islam.
*Mention of who said that:
9088 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bazīʿ related to me, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that Ibn Masʿūd said: her Islam is her being made chaste (iḥṣān).
9089 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim informed me: that Sulaymān ibn Mihrān told him, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Hammām ibn al-Ḥārith: that al-Nuʿmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muqarrin asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd and said: my slave-girl has committed fornication? He said: flog her fifty lashes. He said: but she has not been made chaste (lam tuḥṣin)! Then Ibn Masʿūd said: her being made chaste is her Islam.
9090 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that al-Nuʿmān ibn Muqarrin asked Ibn Masʿūd about a slave-girl who had committed fornication and had no husband. He said: her Islam is her being made chaste.
9091 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that al-Nuʿmān said: I said to Ibn Masʿūd: my slave-girl has committed fornication? He said: flog her. I said: but she has not been made chaste! He said: her being made chaste is her Islam.
9092 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, saying: ʿAbd Allāh used to say: her being made chaste is her Islam.
9093 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: that he recited this verse: "fa-idhā aḥṣanna," he said: He says: when they embrace Islam.
9094 — Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, saying: ʿAbd Allāh said: the slave-girl — her being made chaste is her Islam.
9095 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Mughīra (said), he informed us on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that he used to say: "fa-idhā aḥṣanna," he says: when they embrace Islam.
9096 — Abū Hishām related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, saying: the being made chaste is Islam.
9097 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Burd ibn Sinān, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, saying: ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, flogged virgin slave-girls from among the slave-girls of the administration (for) fornication.
9098 — 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: "fa-idhā aḥṣanna," he says: when they embrace Islam.
9099 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Sālim and al-Qāsim, the two of them said: her being made chaste is her Islam and her chastity, in His word: "fa-idhā aḥṣanna."
* * *
And others said: the meaning of His word "fa-idhā aḥṣanna" is: when they marry.
*Mention of who said that:
9100 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: "fa-idhā uḥṣinna," he means: when they marry a free man.
9101 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he used to read: (fa-idhā uḥṣinna). He says: when they marry.
9102 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of ʿIkrima: that Ibn ʿAbbās used to read: "fa-idhā uḥṣinna," he says: they married.
9103 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: the being made chaste of the slave-girl is that a free man marries her, and the being made chaste of the male slave (al-ʿabd) is that he marries a free woman.
9104 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra: that he heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: the slave-girl is not struck when she commits fornication, as long as she has not married.
9105 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His word: "fa-idhā aḥṣanna." He said: the husbands made them chaste.
9106 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "fa-idhā aḥṣanna," he said: the husbands made them chaste.
9107 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed me, on the authority of Abū al-Zinād: that al-Shaʿbī informed him, that Ibn ʿAbbās informed him: that he approached a slave-girl of his who had committed fornication, and he said: I have made her chaste.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And this interpretation is according to the reading of whoever reads: (fa-idhā uḥṣinna) with ḍamma on the "alif," and according to the interpretation of whoever reads: (fa-idhā aḥṣanna) with fatḥa on it. And we have already clarified the correct position and the reading in it with us.
* * *
The explanation of His word: فَإِنْ أَتَيْنَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ فَعَلَيْهِنَّ نِصْفُ مَا عَلَى الْمُحْصَنَاتِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ ("then if they commit a gross indecency, upon them is half of the punishment that is upon the chaste/free women").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His word "then if they commit a gross indecency (fa-in atayna bi-fāḥisha)": then if your young women — and they are your slave-girls — after they have been made chaste by Islam, or made chaste by marriage — commit "a gross indecency (bi-fāḥisha)," which is fornication (zinā) — "fa-ʿalayhinna niṣfu mā ʿalā al-muḥṣanāti mina al-ʿadhāb," He says: then upon them is half of what is upon the free women as prescribed punishment (ḥadd) when they commit fornication before being made chaste by husbands.
* * *
And "al-ʿadhāb" (the punishment) which Allah, blessed and exalted, mentions in this place, is the prescribed punishment (al-ḥadd). And that half which Allah has made the punishment for whoever of the slave-girls commits a gross indecency when they have been made chaste is fifty lashes and banishment of six months — and that is half a year. For what is obligatory upon the free woman, when she commits a gross indecency before being made chaste by a husband, is one hundred lashes and banishment of a year. So half of that is fifty lashes and banishment of half a year. And that is what Allah has made the punishment for the slave-girls who have been made chaste when they commit a gross indecency, as in:
9108 — 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: "then upon them is half of the punishment that is upon the chaste women" ........... [the report is here cut off in the source].
9109 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: "then if they commit a gross indecency, upon them is half of the punishment that is upon the chaste women": fifty lashes, no banishment and no stoning (rajm).
* * *
And if someone says: how is it [said] "then upon them is half of the punishment that is upon the chaste women"? Can the flogging rest upon someone (in parts)?
It is said to him: the meaning of it is: it is obligatory upon their body that it be flogged with half of what is obligatory upon the bodies of the chaste women. Just as one says: "ʿalayya ṣalātu yawm" (upon me is the prayer of a day), in the meaning: it is obligatory upon me that I perform the prayer of a day — and "upon me is the pilgrimage (al-ḥajj) and the fasting (al-ṣiyām)," likewise. And likewise: "upon him is the prescribed punishment (al-ḥadd)," in the meaning: it is obligatory upon him to make himself available for the prescribed punishment so that it be carried out upon him.
* * *
The explanation of His word: ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ الْعَنَتَ مِنْكُمْ ("that is for whoever of you fears hardship/sin (al-ʿanat)").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, means by His word "that (dhālika)": this which I have permitted — O people — of marrying your believing young women for whoever of you does not have the means for marrying the chaste, believing women — I have permitted it for whoever of you fears hardship (al-ʿanat), and not for others who do not fear hardship.
* * *
And the exegetes differed over this place.
Some of them said: that is fornication (al-zinā).
*Mention of who said that:
9110 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His word: "for whoever of you fears hardship." He said: fornication.
9111 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAwwām, from someone who related to him, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he said: he who marries a slave-girl has remained only a little removed from fornication.
9112 — 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, saying: "al-ʿanat" is fornication.
9113 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿUbayd ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: "al-ʿanat" is fornication.
9114 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, saying: he who marries a slave-girl has remained only a little removed from fornication: "that is for whoever of you fears hardship."
9115 — Abū Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, something similar.
9116 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya concerning His word: "that is for whoever of you fears hardship." He said: fornication.
9117 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, saying: Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī, something similar.
9118 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His word: "for whoever of you fears hardship." He said: fornication.
9119 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿUbayda informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī — and Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk — the two of them said: "al-ʿanat" is fornication.
9120 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: "that is for whoever of you fears hardship." He said: "al-ʿanat" is fornication.
* * *
And others said: the meaning of it is: the punishment that brings him into hardship (tuʿnituhu), and that is the prescribed punishment (al-ḥadd).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct position concerning His word "that is for whoever of you fears hardship" is: that is for whoever of you fears harm in his religion and his body.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And that is because "al-ʿanat" is that which harms the human being. One says of this: "qad ʿanita fulān fa-huwa yaʿnatu ʿanatan" (so-and-so has fallen into hardship, and he falls into hardship), when he commits something that harms him in religion or worldly matters. And to that belongs the word of Allah, blessed and exalted: وَدُّوا مَا عَنِتُّمْ [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 118] ("they wished for that which brings you into hardship"). And one says: "qad aʿnatanī fulān fa-huwa yuʿnitunī" (so-and-so has brought me into hardship, and he brings me into hardship), when he inflicts harm upon me. And it has been said: "al-ʿanat" is ruin (al-halāk).
* * *
Those who directed the interpretation of it to fornication said: fornication is a harm in religion, and it belongs to "al-ʿanat."
And those who directed it to sin said: the sins are all a harm in religion, and they belong to "al-ʿanat."
And those who directed it to the punishment that brings him into hardship in his body through the prescribed punishment, they said: the prescribed punishment is a harm to the body of him upon whom it is carried out in his worldly life, and it belongs to "al-ʿanat."
And Allah by His word "for whoever of you fears hardship" has encompassed all the meanings of "al-ʿanat." And fornication encompasses all of that, because it makes obligatory the punishment for its perpetrator in this world by which his body is brought into hardship, and he acquires thereby sin and harm in his religion and his worldly life. And the exegetes who are qualified for that are in agreement that that is the meaning of it. For even though there is in it (fornication) in itself pleasure and gratification of desire, yet — through its leading to hardship (ʿanat) — it is attributed to that and characterized by it, if it is a cause of the hardship.
* * *
The explanation of His word: وَأَنْ تَصْبِرُوا خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (25) ("and that you practice patience is better for you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful" (4:25)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means thereby: "and that you practice patience (wa-an taṣbirū)," O people, regarding the marrying of the slave-girls — "is better for you (khayrun lakum)" — "and Allah is Forgiving (wa-Llāhu ghafūr)" toward you concerning the marrying of the slave-girls, that you marry them in the manner which He has permitted you and made lawful for you, and (forgiving) concerning what has passed of you in this, if you set right the affairs of yourselves in what is between you and Allah — "Merciful (raḥīm)" toward you, since He has permitted you to marry them in case of need and the lack of means for a free woman.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes have spoken.
*Mention of who said that:
9121 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He said: regarding the marrying of the slave-girl.
9122 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He said: regarding the marrying of the slave-girls.
9123 — 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: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He says: and that you practice patience and do not marry the slave-girl, so that your children become slaves (mamlūkīn) — that is better for you.
9124 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He says: and that you practice patience regarding the marrying of the slave-girls is better for you, although it is lawful (ḥall).
9125 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He says: and that you practice patience regarding the marrying of them — He means the marrying of the slave-girls — is better for you.
9126 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya concerning His word: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He said: that you practice patience regarding the marrying of the slave-girls is better for you.
9127 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, saying: Ibn Ṭāwūs informed us, on the authority of his father: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He said: that you practice patience regarding the marrying of the slave-girl is better for you.
9128 — ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd 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: "and that you practice patience is better for you." He said: and that you practice patience regarding the slave-girl is better for you.
* * *
And "an" in His word "wa-an taṣbirū" is in the position of the nominative through "khayrun," in the meaning: and practicing patience regarding the marrying of the slave-girls is better for you.
