WalyastaAAfifi allatheena la yajidoona nikahan hatta yughniyahumu Allahu min fadlihi waallatheena yabtaghoona alkitaba mimma malakat aymanukum fakatiboohum in AAalimtum feehim khayran waatoohum min mali Allahi allathee atakum wala tukrihoo fatayatikum AAala albighai in aradna tahassunan litabtaghoo AAarada alhayati alddunya waman yukrihhunna fainna Allaha min baAAdi ikrahihinna ghafoorun raheemun
English
Ahmed Ali
Those who cannot afford to marry should abstain from what is unlawful until God enriches them by His grace. And free those slaves you possess who wish to buy their freedom after a written undertaking, if you know they have some goodness, and give them out of the riches God has given you. Do not force your maids to prostitution if they wish to lead married lives, in order to get the benefits of this world. But if someone forces them, surely God (will forgive them) after their forced helplessness, for He is forgiving and kind.
33
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and let those who cannot find a match) those who are unable to marry (keep chaste till allah give them independence by his grace) until allah gives them sufficiency from his provision. this was revealed about huwaytib ibn 'abd al-'uzza who refused to agree to give one of his slaves a chance to buy out his freedom. (and such of your slaves as seek a writing (of emancipation)) to buy out their freedom, (write it for them if ye are aware of aught of good in them) if you know they are righteous and keep their promise, (and bestow upon them) upon all people (of the wealth of allah which he hath bestowed upon you) so that they can make an agreement for their emancipation; it is also said that here the master is encouraged to forgive a third of what has been agreed upon with his slave who wants to buy out his freedom. then the following was revealed about 'abdullah ibn ubayy and his host because they used to force their female slaves to commit adultery in order to earn money from them and have more slaves as result of the children they bore as a consequence, and so allah forbade them from doing this and made such an act forbidden: (force not your slave girls to whoredom that ye may seek enjoyment of the life of the world) from what they earn from working as prostitutes and also from the children they give birth to, (if they would preserve their chastity) if they want to remain chaste. (and if one force them) and if one force these slave girl to commit adultery, (then (unto them), after their compulsion) and repentance, (lo! allah will be forgiving) he forgives them, (merciful) and he will show mercy towards them after they die.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and let those who cannot find the means to marry be continent, [those who do not have] the bridal money or the means for financial support needed for marriage, [let them restrain themselves] from fornication, until god enriches them, [until] he improves their means, out of his bounty, and they marry. and those who seek a written contract [of emancipation], from among those whom your right hand owns, of male slaves and female slaves, contract with them accordingly, if you know in them any good, such as trustworthiness and the ability to earn [income] in order to fulfil the amount stated in the written contract, which might be worded for example thus: ‘i contract you for [the amount of] two thousand to be paid over a period of two months, at one thousand a month, and if you fulfill this, you are a free man’, and the other would say, ‘i accept’; and give them — this is a command for the [slaves’] owners — out of the wealth of god which he has given you, in the measure that will help them to fulfill their commitment to you (the action of ītā’, ‘giving’, here suggests that some of the amount to which they have committed themselves should be waived). and do not compel your slave-girls, your handmaidens, to prostitution, fornication, when they desire to be chaste, to abstain therefrom (this ‘desire’ is the cause of the [act of] ‘compulsion’, so that the statement is not properly a conditional), that you may seek, through such compulsion, the transient things of the life of this world — this was revealed regarding ‘abd allāh b. ubayy, who used to force his slave-girls to earn money through fornication. and should anyone compel them, then surely god, after their compulsion, will be forgiving, to these [slave-girls], merciful, to them.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (and such of your slaves as seek a writing (of emancipation), write it for them…) [24:33].
this verse was revealed about a slave of huwaytib ibn ‘abd al-‘uzza who was called subayh. the latter asked his master for a writing of emancipation but he refused. when allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse, huwaytib agreed to write a letter of emancipation in exchange for a hundred pieces of gold. out of this sum, he offered him twenty pieces of gold which he paid. but he was killed in war at the battle of hunayn.
(force not your slave-girls to whoredom that ye may seek enjoyment of the life of the world, if they would preserve their chastity) [24:33].
ahmad ibn al-hasan al-qadi informed us> the chamberlain of ahmad al-tusi> muhammad ibn hamdan> abu mu‘awiyah> al-a‘mash> abu sufyan> jabir who said: “‘abd allah ibn ubayy used to say to a slave-girl of his: ‘go and earn something for us from whoring’, and so allah, glorious and majestic is he, revealed (force not your slave-girls to whoredom) up to his words (allah will be forgiving, merciful!)”. narrated by muslim from abu kurayb from abu mu‘awiyah.
al-hasan ibn muhammad al-farisi informed us> muhammad ibn ‘abd allah ibn hamdun> ahmad ibn al-hasan al-hafiz> muhammad ibn yahya> isma‘il ibn abi uways> malik> ibn shihab> ‘umar ibn thabit who related that the verse (force not your slave-girls to whoredom) was revealed about mu‘adhah, the slave-girl of ‘abd allah ibn ubayy ibn salul.
and through this chain of transmission> muhammad ibn yahya> ‘ayyash ibn al-walid> ‘abd al-a‘la> muhammad ibn ishaq> al-zuhri> ‘umar ibn thabit who said: “mu‘adhah was muslim as well as being the slave-girl of ‘abd allah ibn ubayy ibn salul. the latter used to force her to whoredom, and so allah, exalted is he, revealed (force not your slave-girls to whoredom) up to the end of the verse”.
sa‘id ibn muhammad al-mu’adhdhin informed> abu ‘ali al-faqih> abu’l-qasim al-baghawi> dawud ibn ‘amr> mansur ibn abi al-aswad> al-a‘mash> abu nadrah> jabir who said: “‘abd ibn ubayy used to have a slave-girl by the name of musaykah whom he forced to whoredom. and so, allah, glorious and majestic is he, revealed (force not your slave-girls to whoredom) up to the end of the verse”.
the commentators of the qur’an said: “this verse was revealed about mu‘adhah and musaykah, two slave-girls of ‘abd allah ibn ubayy, whom he used to force to whoredom and tax them for it. this was a pre-islamic practice; people used to drive their slave-girls to whoredom and take a certain amount of the money they made from it. upon the advent of islam, mu‘adhah said to musaykah: ‘this business of ours is one of two things: if it is good, we have done plenty of it; and if it is evil, it is high time that we leave it’. and so allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”.
said muqatil: “this verse was revealed about six slave-girls who were owned by ‘abd allah ibn ubayy. the latter forced them to whoredom in order to benefit from the money they earned from selling themselves. these slave-girls were: mu‘adhah, musaykah, umaymah, ‘amrah, arwa and qutaylah. one day, one of them brought back with her one piece of gold while another one brought back with her a stripy garment. he said to them: ‘go back and do more’. they said: ‘by allah, we will not; allah has brought us islam and made adultery forbidden’. they went to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and complained to him. and so, allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”.
al-hakim abu ‘amr muhammad ibn ‘abd al-‘aziz informed us, through that which he wrote to me> ahmad ibn al-fadl al-haddadi> muhammad ibn yahya> ishaq ibn ibrahim> ‘abd al-razzaq> ma‘mar> al-zuhri who related that a man from the quraysh was taken prisoner at the battle of badr. he was the prisoner of ‘abd allah ibn ubayy. the latter had a slave-girl called mu‘adhah. the qurashite prisoner sought to tempt mu‘adhah to sleep with him but she persistently refused because she was muslim. ibn ubayy tried to force her to sleep with the qurashite and hit her to make her comply. he was hoping that she would eventually get pregnant from the qurashite so that he could demand a ransom for his child. however, allah, exalted is he, said: (force not your slave-girls to whoredom) up to his words (allah will be forgiving, merciful!), he says: i will forgive them that which they were forced to do.
