Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:30
And whoever does that in aggression and injustice - then We will drive him into a Fire. And that, for Allah, is [always] easy.
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: wa-man yafʿal dhālika ʿudwānan wa-ẓulman fa-sawfa nuṣlīhi nāran wa-kāna dhālika ʿalā Allāhi yasīran (30) — (And whoever does that out of enmity and injustice, We shall cause him to burn in a Fire, and that is easy for Allah.) (30)
Abū Jaʿfar [Ṭabarī] said: The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of His word: "and whoever does that out of enmity."
Some of them said: The meaning of it is: and whoever kills himself — in the sense of: and whoever kills his believing brother — "out of enmity and injustice, We shall cause him to burn in a Fire."
Mention of who said that:
9167 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: What is your opinion concerning His word: "and whoever does that out of enmity and injustice, We shall cause him to burn in a Fire" — does that refer to all of this, or to His word: wa-lā taqtulū anfusakum (and do not kill yourselves)? He said: Rather, to His word: wa-lā taqtulū anfusakum (and do not kill yourselves).
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Others said: Rather, the meaning of it is: and whoever does what I have forbidden him from the beginning of this surah up to His word: "and whoever does that" — namely marriage with her with whom marriage is forbidden, the transgressing of His bounds, the wrongful consuming of the property of orphans, and the killing of the soul whose killing is forbidden, wrongfully and without right.
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Others said: Rather, the meaning of it is: and whoever wrongfully consumes the property of his Muslim brother, without his willing consent, and wrongfully kills his believing brother, We shall cause him to burn in a Fire.
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Abū Jaʿfar [Ṭabarī] said: And the correct of what may be said about this is, in my opinion, that one says: Its meaning is: and whoever does what Allah has forbidden him, from His word: yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū lā yaḥillu lakum an tarithū al-nisāʾa karhan (O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will) up to His word: "and whoever does that" — namely marriage with the forbidden [women], the wrongful preventing of the [re]marriage of women whose prevention is forbidden, the consuming of property in an unlawful manner, and the killing of a believer whose killing is forbidden — for all of that is among that for which Allah has promised punishment to those who commit it.
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If someone were to say: What has prevented you from making His word "that" refer to everything for which Allah has announced punishment from the beginning of the surah?
The answer is: What has prevented me from that is that each individual part of it has already been connected with the threat, up to His word: ulāʾika aʿtadnā lahum ʿadhāban alīman (those — We have prepared for them a painful punishment); whereas after that point there is no mention of punishment for what Allah has forbidden in the verses that follow it, up to His word: "We shall cause him to burn in a Fire." Thus it is that His word "and whoever does that" more properly pertains to what we have said — namely that which was not connected with the threat, with the agreement of all that Allah, exalted is He, has threatened concerning all of it — than that it should pertain to that for which the threat had already preceded earlier, connected to the prohibition.
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As for His word "out of enmity": by it He means an overstepping of what Allah has permitted him, towards what He has forbidden him — "and injustice": that is, by his doing that without that for which Allah had given permission, and by his entering into what Allah had forbidden him. And His word: "We shall cause him to burn in a Fire," says: We shall cause him to enter a Fire in which he is burned and in which he burns up — "and that is easy for Allah": that is, the causing of the one who commits that to burn in the Fire and the burning of him therein is light and easy for Allah, for he is not able to resist his Lord against the harm that He wills to do to him. For it is only difficult to carry out the threat against the one whom one threatens when the one threatened — when one attempts to carry it out — is able to escape from it. But for the one who is in the grip of his threatener, it is easy for [that threatener] to carry out his judgment upon him and to fulfill his threat against him; no matter that He intends with him is difficult for Him.