'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : allah then exposited the share of the male and female in inheritance, saying: (allah chargeth you) allah expounds to you (concerning your children) concerning the inheritance of your children after you die: (to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females) the share of two females, (and if there be women) blood daughters (more than two) two or more daughters, (then theirs is two-thirds of the inheritance, and if there be one) daughter ((only) then the half) of the inheritance. (and to his parents a sixth of the inheritance, if he) the deceased person (have a son) or daughter; (and if he) the deceased person (have no son) or daughter (and his parents are his heirs, then to his mother appertaineth the third) and the reminder is the share of the father; (and if he) the deceased person (have brethren) full brothers or half brothers from either the father or the mother, (then to his mother appertaineth the sixth, after any legacy he may have bequeathed, or debt (hath been paid)) after paying the debt of the deceased and extracting any bequest which does not exceed a third of the inheritance. (your parents or your children: ye know not) in this world (which of them is nearer unto you in usefulness) in the hereafter in terms of rank; it is also said that this means: you do not know which of them is nearer in usefulness in this world with regard to inheritance. (it is an injunction from allah) upon you that you divide the estates. (lo! allah is knower) in relation to the division of inheritance, (wise) in relation to the difference between the shares of the male and female.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : god charges you, he commands you, concerning, the matter of, your children, with what he will mention: to the male, of them, the equivalent of the portion, the lot, of two females, if there are two [women] with him, so that half the property is his, and the other half is theirs; if there is only one female with him, then she has a third, and he receives two thirds; if he is the only one, he takes it all; and if they, the offspring, be, only, women more than two, then for them two-thirds of what he, the deceased, leaves; likewise if they be two women, since in the case of two sisters, more deserving of such a share, god says, they shall receive two-thirds of what he leaves [q. 4:176]; and since a female is entitled to a third with a male, she is all the more deserving [of the same share] with a female. it is said that fawq, ‘more than’, introduces a relative clause; it is also said to guard against the wrong impression that the greater the number [of females] the greater the portion [they are entitled to], since, it is [mistakenly] thought that the entitlement of two females to two-thirds derives from the fact that a female is entitled to one third when with a male; but if she, the daughter, be one (wāhidatan, is also read wāhidatun, making the kāna [construction] syntactically complete) then to her a half; and to his parents, the deceased’s, to each one of the two (li-kulli wāhidin minhumā, substitutes for the previous li-abawayhi, ‘to his parents’) the sixth of what he leaves, if he has a child, male or female: the point of the substitution is to show that they do not share the sixth [but receive one each]. [the term] ‘child’ (walad) also applies to a grandchild, and likewise ‘parent’ (abb) to a grandparent; but if he has no child, and his heirs are his parents, alone or along with a spouse, then to his mother (read li-ummihi; also read, in both places [here and further down], li-immihi in order to avoid the cumbersome transition from a damma [‘u’] to a kasra [‘i’]) a third, of the property, or what remains after the spouse, the rest being for the father; or, if he has siblings, two or more, males or females, to his mother a sixth, and the rest for the father, and nothing for the siblings. the inheritance stipulated for those mentioned shall take place, after, the fulfilment of, any bequest that he may bequeath (read active yūsī, or passive yūsā), or, the repayment of, any debt, that he may owe. ‘bequest’ comes before ‘debt’, even though it should only be fulfilled after the latter [has been repayed], to show that it should be taken seriously. your parents and children (ābā’ukum wa-abnā’ukum, is the subject, its predicate being [what follows]) — you know not which of them is nearer in benefit to you, in this world and the hereafter. it may be that one supposes his son to be beneficial to him, leaves him an inheritance, and then it turns out that the father had been the more beneficial [of the two], and vice versa. the only one with knowledge of this [reality] is god, and for this reason he has prescribed for you inheritance: a prescription from god; surely god is ever knowing, of his creation, wise, in what he has ordained for them, that is to say, he is ever possessed of such attributes.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (allah chargeth you concerning (the provision for) your children…) [4:11].
ahmad ibn muhammad ibn ahmad ibn ja'far informed us> al-hasan ibn ahmad al-makhladi> al-mu'ammil ibn al-hasan ibn 'isa> al-hasan ibn muhammad ibn al-sabbah> hajjaj> ibn jurayj> ibn al-munkadir> jabir who said: “the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and abu bakr came on foot to visit me at banu salamah when i was sick. he found me unconscious. he asked for some water, performed minor ritual ablution and then sprinkled some of the water on me and i woke up. i said: 'o messenger of allah! what shall i do with my wealth?' and so the verse (allah chargeth you concerning (the provision for) your children: to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females…)”. this was narrated by bukhari> ibrahim ibn musa> hisham, and also by muslim> muhammad ibn hatim> hajjaj; and both hisham and hajjaj related this tradition from ibn jurayj.
abu mansur muhammad ibn muhammad al-mansuri informed us> 'ali ibn 'umar ibn mahdi> yahya ibn sa'id>> ahmad ibn al-miqdam> bishr ibn al-mufaddal> 'abd allah ibn muhammad ibn 'aqil> jabir ibn 'abd allah who said: “a woman came to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, with her two daughters and said: 'o messenger of allah! these are the daughters of thabit ibn qays, or perhaps she said sa'd ibn al-rabi', who was killed fighting on your side at the battle of uhud. their uncle has taken possession of their fortune and inheritance and did not leave anything belonging to them except that he took it to himself, so what do you think, o messenger of allah? for by allah, they will never get married unless they have some money'. the messenger of allah said to her: 'allah will judge for you concerning this'. and so surah al-nisa' was revealed which contains (allah chargeth you concerning (the provision for) your children: to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females…). the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, then said to me: 'summon for me the woman and her adversary'. he said to the uncle of the girls: 'give the girls two third of the fortune, their mother one eighth and keep the remainder' ”.
