Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:28
And Allah wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak.
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: يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا (Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you, and man was created weak) (28).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word: "Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you" — Allah wishes to make it easy for you, by permitting you to marry believing slave-women (slave-girls) when you do not have the means to marry a free woman — "and man was created weak," that is to say: He has made this easy for you when you do not have the means to marry free women, because you were created weak, unable to refrain from sexual intercourse with women, having little patience to abstain from that. For this reason He has permitted you to marry your believing slave-women when you fear for yourselves unlawful intercourse (ʿanat) and you do not find the means to marry a free woman, so that you would not commit fornication (zinā) on account of your scant patience in refraining from sexual intercourse with women.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
9135 - 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: "Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you" — concerning the marrying of the slave-woman (ama), and in everything in which there is lightening.
9136 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "and man was created weak," he said: in the matter of sexual intercourse.
9137 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "and man was created weak," he said: in the matter of women.
9138 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "and man was created weak," he said: in the matters of women. Man is weaker in nothing than in the case of women.
9139 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you," he said: He gave you permission to marry these slave-women (imāʾ) when you were compelled to it — "and man was created weak," he said: Had He not given him permission therein, there would have been only the first ruling, namely when he does not find a free woman.
