Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 4 An-Nisa, Ayat 15-22

وَالّٰتِىۡ يَاۡتِيۡنَ الۡفَاحِشَةَ مِنۡ نِّسَآئِكُمۡ فَاسۡتَشۡهِدُوۡا عَلَيۡهِنَّ اَرۡبَعَةً مِّنۡكُمۡ​ ۚ فَاِنۡ شَهِدُوۡا فَاَمۡسِكُوۡهُنَّ فِى الۡبُيُوۡتِ حَتّٰى يَتَوَفّٰٮهُنَّ الۡمَوۡتُ اَوۡ يَجۡعَلَ اللّٰهُ لَهُنَّ سَبِيۡلًا‏ ﴿4:15﴾ وَالَّذٰنِ يَاۡتِيٰنِهَا مِنۡكُمۡ فَاٰذُوۡهُمَا​ ۚ فَاِنۡ تَابَا وَاَصۡلَحَا فَاَعۡرِضُوۡا عَنۡهُمَا​ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ كَانَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيۡمًا‏ ﴿4:16﴾ اِنَّمَا التَّوۡبَةُ عَلَى اللّٰهِ لِلَّذِيۡنَ يَعۡمَلُوۡنَ السُّوۡٓءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ يَتُوۡبُوۡنَ مِنۡ قَرِيۡبٍ فَاُولٰٓـئِكَ يَتُوۡبُ اللّٰهُ عَلَيۡهِمۡ​ؕ وَكَانَ اللّٰهُ عَلِيۡمًا حَكِيۡمًا‏ ﴿4:17﴾ وَلَيۡسَتِ التَّوۡبَةُ لِلَّذِيۡنَ يَعۡمَلُوۡنَ السَّيِّاٰتِ​ ۚ حَتّٰۤى اِذَا حَضَرَ اَحَدَهُمُ الۡمَوۡتُ قَالَ اِنِّىۡ تُبۡتُ الۡـٰٔنَ وَلَا الَّذِيۡنَ يَمُوۡتُوۡنَ وَهُمۡ كُفَّارٌ ​ؕ اُولٰٓـئِكَ اَعۡتَدۡنَا لَهُمۡ عَذَابًا اَ لِيۡمًا‏ ﴿4:18﴾ يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا لَا يَحِلُّ لَـكُمۡ اَنۡ تَرِثُوا النِّسَآءَ كَرۡهًا​ ؕ وَلَا تَعۡضُلُوۡهُنَّ لِتَذۡهَبُوۡا بِبَعۡضِ مَاۤ اٰتَيۡتُمُوۡهُنَّ اِلَّاۤ اَنۡ يَّاۡتِيۡنَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ​ ۚ وَعَاشِرُوۡهُنَّ بِالۡمَعۡرُوۡفِ​ ۚ فَاِنۡ كَرِهۡتُمُوۡهُنَّ فَعَسٰۤى اَنۡ تَكۡرَهُوۡا شَيۡـئًـا وَّيَجۡعَلَ اللّٰهُ فِيۡهِ خَيۡرًا كَثِيۡرًا‏ ﴿4:19﴾ وَاِنۡ اَرَدتُّمُ اسۡتِبۡدَالَ زَوۡجٍ مَّكَانَ زَوۡجٍ ۙ وَّاٰتَيۡتُمۡ اِحۡدٰٮهُنَّ قِنۡطَارًا فَلَا تَاۡخُذُوۡا مِنۡهُ شَيۡـئًا​ ؕ اَ تَاۡخُذُوۡنَهٗ بُهۡتَانًا وَّاِثۡمًا مُّبِيۡنًا‏ ﴿4:20﴾ وَ كَيۡفَ تَاۡخُذُوۡنَهٗ وَقَدۡ اَفۡضٰى بَعۡضُكُمۡ اِلٰى بَعۡضٍ وَّاَخَذۡنَ مِنۡكُمۡ مِّيۡثَاقًا غَلِيۡظًا‏ ﴿4:21﴾ وَلَا تَنۡكِحُوۡا مَا نَكَحَ اٰبَآؤُكُمۡ مِّنَ النِّسَآءِ اِلَّا مَا قَدۡ سَلَفَ​ ؕ اِنَّهٗ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً وَّمَقۡتًا ؕ وَسَآءَ سَبِيۡلًا‏ ﴿4:22﴾

(4:15) As for those of your women who are guilty of immoral conduct, call upon four from amongst you to bear witness against them. And if four men do bear witness, confine those women to their houses until either death takes them away or Allah opens some way for them. (4:16) Punish both of those among you who are guilty of this sin, then if they repent and mend their ways, leave them alone. For Allah is always ready to accept repentance. He is All-Compassionate.26 (4:17) (And remember that) Allah's acceptance of repentance is only for those who commit evil out of ignorance and then soon repent. It is towards such persons that Allah turns graciously. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (4:18) But of no avail is repentance of those who do evil until death approaches any one of them and then he says: 'Now I repent.' Nor is the repentance of those who die in the state of unbelief of any avail to them. For them We have kept in readiness a painful chastisement.27 (4:19) Believers! It is not lawful for you to become heirs to women against their will.28 It is not lawful that you should put constraint upon them that you may take away anything of what you have given them; (you may not put constraint upon them) unless they are guilty of brazenly immoral conduct.29 Live with your wives in a good manner. If you dislike them in any manner, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good for you.30 (4:20) And if you decide to dispense with a wife in order to take another, do not take away anything of what you might have given the first one, even if you had given her a heap of gold. Would you take it back by slandering her and committing a manifest wrong? (4:21) How can you take it away after each one has enjoyed the other, and they have taken a firm covenant from you?31 (4:22) Do not marry the women whom your fathers married, although what is past is past.32 This indeed was a shameful deed, a hateful thing, and an evil way.33

Notes

26. In these two (verses 15-16)the first, preliminary directives for the punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse are stated. The first verse deals with women. The punishment laid down was to confine them until further directives were revealed. The second verse (i.e. 16) relates to both sexes. The injunction lays down that they should be punished - that is, they should be beaten and publicly reproached. Later, another injunction was revealed see (Surah al-Nur 24: 2) which laid down that both the male and female should be given a hundred lashes. These injunctions are necessarily of a preliminary nature since the people of Arabia were neither used to obeying the orders of any established government, the verdicts of any courts of law nor to following any legal code; it would therefore have been unwise to try to force acceptance of a penal code upon them so soon after the establishment of the Islamic state. In due course, the punishments for unlawful sexual intercourse, for slanderous accusations of unchastity against women, and for theft were laid down in their definitive form and served as the basis of that detailed penal code which was enforced by the Prophet (peace be on him) and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.

The apparent difference between the contents of the two verses led al-Suddi to the misconceived belief that the first verse lays down the punishment for married women, and the second that for unmarried men and women. This is a tenuous explanation unsupported by any serious evidence and argument. Even less convincing is the opinion expressed by Abu Muslim al-Isfahani that the first verse relates to lesbian relations between females, and the second to homosexual relations between males. It is strange that al-Isfahani ignored the basic fact that the Qur'an seeks merely to chart a broad code of law and morality and hence deals only with fundamental questions. It is inconsistent with the majestic style of the Qur'an to discuss secondary details which have been left to people to decide through the exercise of their legal judgement. It is for this reason that when the problem of fixing a punishment for sodomy came up for consideration after the time of the Prophet (peace be on him), none of the Companions thought that the above-mentioned verse contained any relevant injunction.

27. The Arabic word tawbah means 'to return, to come back'. A man's tawbah after he has sinned means that God's servant, who had turned away from his Master in disobedience, has repented, and has returned to obedience and service. On the other hand, tawbah on the part of God means that the attention of the Master, which had turned away from His erring servant, has once again turned towards him. In this verse, however, God makes it clear to His servants that tawbah is acceptable only from those who commit errors inadvertently and out of ignorance. Such persons will always find the door of God open for them whenever they turn to Him in repentance.

But this tawbah is not for those who pile sin upon sin throughout their lives in sheer indifference to God and who cry for pardon as soon as they see the angel of death approaching. The Prophet (peace be on him) has warned against this attitude in the following words: 'God accepts the repentance of a slave until the gurgling (of death) begins.' (Tirmidhi, 'Da'wat', 98; Ibn Majah, 'Zuhd', 30; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 2, pp. 132 and 153, and vol. 3, pp. 425 - Ed.) For when the last leaf of a man's book of life has been turned, what opportunity remains for a man to return to righteous conduct? Likewise, if a person spends even the very last moment of his life in a state of disbelief and then on the threshold of the Next Life he comes to discover that the facts are quite contrary to what he had imagined, what sense is there for him to seek forgiveness?

28. This means that the relatives of the husband should not treat the widow of the deceased as if she were a part of the inheritance and begin imposing their will on her. Upon the death of her husband a woman becomes independent. As soon as her legally-prescribed period of waiting ends, she is free to go to wherever she likes and to marry anyone she wishes.

29. This permission is intended not in order to provide them with an excuse to misappropriate her property but to exercise a restraint on her conduct and prevent her from lewdness.

30. This means that if the wife is either not beautiful or has some shortcoming because of which she does not seem attractive enough to her husband, the latter should not suddenly decide, in a fit of rage and disgust, to part with her. Rather he should act with patience and forbearance. It often happens that a woman lacks physical attraction but has other qualities which are of much greater value for the success of married life. Hence if such a woman finds the opportunity to express her qualities, the same husband who initially felt revulsion towards her becomes captivated by her attractive conduct and character. Sometimes in the early stages of married life a husband dislikes certain things in his wife, and this initial dislike may even grow to revulsion. Were a man to be patient and allow all the potentialities of the woman to be realized, it would become evident to him that her merits outweighed her weaknesses. Hence a man's haste in taking the decision to rupture the matrimonial bond is not praiseworthy. Repudiation of marriage should be a man's last resort, a resort towards which he should turn only in unavoidable circumstances. The Prophet (peace be on him) has said: For God, divorce is the most reprehensible of all lawful things.' (Abu Da'ud, Talaq', 3; Ibn Majah, 'Talaq', 1 - Ed.) In another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said: 'Marry and do not go about divorcing. For God does not like men and women who keep on changing partners merely for a change of taste.' (al-Tabrani, cited by 'Ajluni in Kashf al-Khifa. vol. 1, p. 304 - Ed.)

31. The 'firm covenant' in this verse refers to marriage. For marriage is a firm covenant of fidelity. It is only because a woman has faith in the firmness of this covenant that she entrusts herself to a man. If a man decides of his own will to break it, he has no right to withdraw the amount he offered his wife by way of bridal-due at the time of entering into that covenant. (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I,( Surah 2, n. 251)

32. The Qur'an rounds off all statements prohibiting the objectionable features of the social life of the Jahiliyah period by condoning violations of those prohibitions prior to their revelation: 'What is past is past.' This has two meanings. First, that those concerned would not be punished for mistakes committed in their state of Ignorance, providing they rectified their conduct after the prohibitory injunction had been revealed. Second, that the prohibition of any ancient custom, usage and law did not mean that all acts which took place in the past would be nullified, and that all the consequences of those acts would be deemed void, and people absolved of all the obligations which ensued from them. If marriage with the step-mother, for instance, was prohibited it did not necessarily follow that the children of all such marriages which had been contracted in the past were to be reckoned illegitimate, and that the offspring from such marriages would be disinherited. Similarly, if a certain transaction was declared unlawful it did not mean that all such transactions which had taken place prior to the prohibition should be deemed void and that all the earnings of people accumulated through those transactions would be either seized or declared illegitimate property.

33. In Islamic law marrying women who fall in the prohibited degrees of marriage is a recognized criminal offence. According to traditions in the Hadith collections of Abu Da'ud, Nasa'i and Ahmad b. Hanbal, people guilty of this offence were punished by the Prophet (peace be on him) with death and confiscation of property. It appears from the tradition related by Ibn 'Abbas (found in the collection of Ibn Majah), that the Prophet (peace be on him) had devised the following general rule: 'Kill whosoever commits sexual intercourse with a woman forbidden to him' (Ibn Majah; 'Hudud', 13, 35; also Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 1, p. 300 - Ed.) There is some disagreement, however, among jurists on this question. Ahmad b. Hanbal is of the opinion that the convicted person should be put to death and his property confiscated. Abu Hanifah, Malik and Shafi'i are of the opinion that if a person commits sexual intercourse with a woman within the prohibited degrees he should be punished for adultery; and if he merely marries (but has not actually had sexual intercourse - Ed.) he should be subjected to severe punishment.