Verse. 497

٤ - ٱلنِّسَاء

4 - An-Nisa

وَاٰتُوا النِّسَاۗءَ صَدُقٰتِہِنَّ نِحْلَۃٍ۝۰ۭ فَاِنْ طِبْنَ لَكُمْ عَنْ شَيْءٍ مِّنْہُ نَفْسًا فَكُلُوْہُ ہَنِيْۗـــــًٔـا مَّرِيْۗــــــًٔـا۝۴
Waatoo alnnisaa saduqatihinna nihlatan fain tibna lakum AAan shayin minhu nafsan fakuloohu haneean mareean

English

Ahmed Ali

Give to women their dowers willingly, but if they forego part of it themselves, then use it to your advantage.

4

Tafseer

'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī

تفسير : (and give unto the women, (whom ye marry) free gift) as an obligation from allah upon you (of their marriage portions) their dowries; (but if they of their own accord remit unto you a part thereof) if they make lawful for you to take some of the dowry, (then ye are welcome to absorb it (in your wealth)) there is no blame or sin on you if you do so. before islam, men used to marry without giving any dowry to their wives.

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī

تفسير : and give women their dowries (saduqāt, plural of sudqa), their bridal money (mahr, muhūr), as a free gift (nihlatan, is a verbal noun), a present given out of the kindness of one’s heart; but if they are pleased to offer you any of it of their own accord (nafsan, ‘of their own accord’, is for specification and is taken from the subject of the verb [thus, it refers back to ‘they’, the women]), meaning, [if] their own selves are pleased that you should have something of the dowry and they give it to you then, consume it with, good, wholesome appetite, a praiseworthy consequence, with no harm therein for you with regard to the hereafter: this was revealed in response to those who were opposed to this [consumption].

Sahl al-Tustari

تفسير : and give women their dowries as a free gift…he said:it means, give them the dowry (ṣadāq) as a gift to them from god, mighty and majestic is he. indeed dowry (niḥla) is religion (diyāna). he continued:the prophet <img border="0" src="images/salatonmassenger.jpg" width="24" height="22"> said: ‘the basest of sins before god, exalted is he, is to prevent a worker from being paid, and to stop a woman receiving her dowry (mahr).’ his words, exalted is he: