Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:9
And let those [executors and guardians] fear [injustice] as if they [themselves] had left weak offspring behind and feared for them. So let them fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice.
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 saying, the Exalted: وَلْيَخْشَ الَّذِينَ لَوْ تَرَكُوا مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّةً ضِعَافًا خَافُوا عَلَيْهِمْ فَلْيَتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْيَقُولُوا قَوْلا سَدِيدًا (4:9) (And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them; so let them fear Allah and let them speak a fitting, sound word.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes have differed over the explanation of this. Some of them said: "And let them fear" means: let those fear who are present with a person making a will and leaving behind a bequest from his property — let them not urge him to apportion his property as a bequest among those who do not inherit from him, but rather let them command him to preserve his property for his children, just as he, were he himself the testator, would like that whoever is present with him would urge him to retain his property for his children and not leave them destitute, given their weakness and their inability to act and to manage for themselves.
Mention of who said that:
8707 - 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, concerning His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them" — to the end of the verse: this concerns the man who is near death, and one hears him making a will that harms his heirs. Allah, the Exalted, commanded the one who hears it to fear Allah, to guide him aright and direct him to what is correct, and to take care of his heirs as he would wish that one would act toward his own heirs when he feared loss for them.
8708 - ʿAlī related to us, 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 saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them" — that means: the one who is near death, to whom it is said: "Give alms from your property, grant manumission (ʿitq), and give of it in the way of Allah." They were forbidden to command him that — that is: that whoever of you is present with a sick person near death should not command him to spend his property on manumission, alms, or the way of Allah, but should command him to make clear his property and his debts, and to leave a bequest from his property to his relatives who do not inherit, and to leave them a fifth or a fourth. He says: Does not each one of you abhor that he should die while he has weak children — that is: small children — that he should leave them without property so that they become a burden upon the people? It is therefore not fitting that you command him to something that you would not accept for yourselves and your children; so speak the truth concerning that.
8709 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — he said: he says: whoever is present with a dying person, let him command him to justice and beneficence, and forbid him injustice and wrongdoing in his will, and let him fear for that person's family what he would fear for his own family if death were to befall him.
8710 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — he said: when you are present at the will of a dying person, command him to that to which you would command yourself in order to draw near to Allah, and fear thereby what you would fear for the weak ones whom you would leave behind you. He says: so fear Allah and speak a fitting, sound word, if he goes astray.
8711 - 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 let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them; so let them fear Allah and let them speak a fitting, sound word" — it concerns the man who is near death, and the people are present with him at the time of the will. It is not fitting for them to say to him: "Make a bequest of all your property, and send something ahead for yourself, for Allah will provide for your family," and they may not let him bequeath all his property. He says to those who are present: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them." So He says: just as each one of you fears for his family if he were to die — when he leaves them small and weak, possessing nothing — fearing loss for them after him, so let him also fear that for the family of his Muslim brother, and let him speak to him the correct, fitting word.
8712 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb, who said: I and al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba went to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and asked him about His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — the verse. He said: it concerns the man who is near death, and whoever is present with him says to him: "Fear Allah, maintain the ties with them, give them, be good to them." But were they themselves the ones whom he was urging toward the will, they would like to retain something for their own children.
8713 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — he said: the orphans enter upon them and they say: "Fear Allah, maintain the ties with them, and give them." But were it themselves, they would like to retain something for their own children.
8714 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — the verse. He says: when one of you is present with someone who is near death at his will, let him not say: "Grant manumission from your property, and give alms," so that he apportions his property and leaves his family destitute. But rather command him to write down his property and his debts, and to allot from his property to his relatives a fifth of his property, and to leave the rest to his heirs.
8715 - 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 saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them" — the verse. He said: this is someone who apportions the property when it is being divided, and those who are present say: "You have given too little; give so-and-so more." Then Allah, the Exalted, says: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind..." — let them fear, and let them say concerning them what each of them would like to be said concerning his own child, with justice, when he gives too much: "Retain something for your own child."
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And others said: The meaning of it is rather: let those fear who are present with the testator while he makes his will — those who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring and fear loss for them on account of their weakness and their young age — that they should forbid him to leave a bequest to his relatives, and command him to hold onto his property and preserve it for his children, while they, were they themselves among the relatives of the testator, would have found it gladdening that he leave a bequest to them.
Mention of who said that:
8716 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥabīb, who said: I and al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba set out and came to Miqsam and asked him — that is, about His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — the verse. He said: What did Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say? We said: such and such. He said: But it concerns the man who is near death, and whoever is present with him says to him: "Fear Allah and hold onto your property for yourself, for no one has more right to your property than your own child." But were the one making the will a relative of theirs, they would like that he leave a bequest to them.
8717 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, who said: Miqsam said: they are those who say: "Fear Allah and hold onto your property for yourself." But were he a relative of theirs, they would like that he leave a bequest to them.
8718 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of his father, who said: Ḥaḍramī asserted, and he recited: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring" — he said: they said: it is fitting that he command the owner of the will to leave the bequest to those who have a right to it, just as he, were his own offspring in that position, would like that a bequest be left to them; and even if he himself is the heir, that must not prevent him from commanding him to that which is obligatory upon him, for were his own children in that position, he would like that one be urged to that. So let him fear Allah, and let him command him to the bequest, even if he himself is the heir — or something to that effect.
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And others said: The meaning of it is rather a command from Allah to the guardians of the orphans that they watch over them with beneficence toward them, both with respect to their persons and their properties, and that they not consume their properties wastefully and hastily out of fear that they will grow up, and that they be toward them as they themselves would wish that the guardians of their own small children would be toward them after them, with beneficence toward them — were they the ones who died and left their children as small orphans.
Mention of who said that:
8719 - 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 saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them" — he means thereby the man who dies while he has small, weak children, and who fears for them destitution and loss, and who fears after him that whoever exercises guardianship over them will not show them kindness. He says: if anyone exercises guardianship over children who are like these weak orphans, let him show them beneficence, and let him not consume their property wastefully and hastily out of fear that they will grow up; so let them fear Allah and speak a fitting, sound word.
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And others said: The meaning of it is: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them; so let them fear Allah and let them speak a fitting, sound word" — then Allah will take charge for them of the affair of their offspring after them.
Mention of who said that:
8720 - Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAṭiyya ibn Rudayḥ ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, saying: my uncle Muḥammad ibn Rudayḥ related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Saybānī, who said: We were in Constantinople in the days of Maslama ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, and among us were Ibn Muḥayrīz, Ibn al-Daylamī, and Hāniʾ ibn Kulthūm. He said: and we began to remind one another of what would happen at the end of time. He said: and I was distressed by what I heard. He said: and I said to Ibn al-Daylamī: O Abū Bishr, I wish that no child would ever be born to me! He said: and he struck my shoulder with his hand and said: O son of my brother, do not do that, for there is no soul that Allah has decreed will come forth from the loins of a man but it will come forth, whether he wills it or refuses. He said: Shall I not point you to a matter which, if you attain it, Allah will deliver you from it, and if you leave your children after you, Allah will protect them for your sake? He said: I said: Indeed! He said: and he then recited this verse: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them; so let them fear Allah and let them speak a fitting, sound word."
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of the explanations of the verse is the saying of the one who said that the explanation of it is: let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear destitution for them had they apportioned their properties during their lifetime, or had they divided them as a bequest among their relatives and the orphans and the destitute — and who therefore retained their properties for their children, out of fear of destitution for them after them, given their weakness and their inability to pursue their needs. So let them command, with justice, the one whom they find leaving a bequest to his relatives — and to the orphans and the destitute and others — from his property; and let them fear Allah and speak a fitting, sound word, and that is that they make known to him what Allah has permitted him of bequest, and what He has chosen for the testators among those who believe in Allah, His Book, and His Sunna.
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And we have said this only because this explanation of the verse is more fitting than the other explanations, on account of what we have mentioned earlier: that the meaning of His saying وَإِذَا حَضَرَ الْقِسْمَةَ أُولُو الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينُ (And when the relatives, the orphans, and the destitute are present at the division) is: then leave a bequest to them — on the basis of the proofs we have adduced.
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If, then, that is the explanation of His saying وَإِذَا حَضَرَ الْقِسْمَةَ أُولُو الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينُ (And when the relatives, the orphans, and the destitute are present at the division) — the verse — then it is necessary that His saying, exalted be His mention: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind" be an admonition from Him to His servants in the matter of the will, with respect to that in which He has permitted them, since this follows upon the verse before it concerning the ruling of the will. And since the most evident meaning of it is what we have said, connecting its ruling with the ruling of what precedes it is more fitting — given the correspondence of the meanings of both — than directing its ruling toward something else with which it does not correspond.
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And in the sense of what we have said concerning the explanation of His saying "and let them speak a fitting, sound word" spoke also the one whose saying we mentioned at the beginning of the explanation of this verse, and thus Ibn Zayd used to say.
8721 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "And let those fear who, if they were to leave behind weak offspring, would fear for them; so let them fear Allah and let them speak a fitting, sound word" — he said: he speaks a fitting, sound word: he calls this destitute one to mind and is of benefit to him, and he does not wrong this orphan, the heir of the deceased, nor does he cause him harm, for he is small and cannot defend himself; so take care of him as you would take care of your own children were they small.
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And "al-sadīd" (the fitting, sound) in a word is that which is just and correct.
