Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la yahillu lakum an tarithoo alnnisaa karhan wala taAAduloohunna litathhaboo bibaAAdi ma ataytumoohunna illa an yateena bifahishatin mubayyinatin waAAashiroohunna bialmaAAroofi fain karihtumoohunna faAAasa an takrahoo shayan wayajAAala Allahu feehi khayran katheeran
English
Ahmed Ali
O believers, you are not allowed to take perforce the women (of dead relatives) into your heritage, or tyrannise over them in order to deprive them of what you have given them, unless they are guilty of open adultery. Live with them with tolerance and justice even if you do not care for them. For it may well be you may not like a thing, yet God may have endued it with much goodness.
19
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (o ye who believe! it is not lawful for you forcibly) coercively (to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen)) the women of your fathers, (nor (that) ye should put constraint upon them) by preventing them from marrying again. this verse was revealed about kabshah bint ma'an al-ansariyyah and muhsin ibn abi qays al-ansari; for before the advent of islam, they used to inherit the women of their fathers (that ye may take away a part of that which ye have given them) take away part of that which your fathers gave them, (unless they be guilty of flagrant lewdness) unless they are guilty of fornication by the testimony of witnesses in which case they should be imprisoned. however, imprisoning fornicators was abrogated by the verse on stoning. in the pre-islamic period, men used to inherit the wives of their fathers in the same way as they inherited their properties. the wife of a deceased father used to be inherited by the eldest son. if the woman was rich and beautiful, the eldest son would marry her without giving her any dowry. if, however, she was neither rich, young nor beautiful, he would not marry her but instead leave her untouched until she ransomed herself with her own money. allah forbade them from indulging in such a practice. then he showed them how one must treat women, saying: (but consort with them) keep their company (in kindness) with beneficence and goodness, (for if ye hate them) i.e. hate their company (it may happen that ye hate a thing) their company (wherein allah hath placed much good) allah may provide you with righteous children from them.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : o you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will (read either karhan or kurhan, as alternative forms) that is to say, coercing them into this. in pre-islamic times, they used to inherit women from their kin, and if they so wished they could marry [a woman] without a dowry, or marry her off and take the dowry for themselves, or prevent her [from marriage] until she gave up what she had inherited, or until she died and they could inherit from her. they were thus forbidden such practices; neither debar them, your [former] wives from marrying others by retaining them while you have no desire for them yourselves, only to harm them; so that you may go off with part of what you have given them, of the dowry, except when they commit flagrant (read mubayyina, ‘making it clear’, or mubayyana, ‘clear’) lewdness, such as adultery or rebellion, then you have the right to coerce them until they redeem themselves to you or forfeit [their dowries]. consort with them in kindness, that is, being decent in speaking [to them], with regard to [their] expenditure and lodging; for if you hate them, then be patient; it may happen that you hate a thing wherein god has set much good, that is to say, perhaps he does this when he provides you with a righteous child through them.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (o ye who believe! it is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen)…) [4:19].
abu bakr al-asfahani informed us> ‘abd allah ibn muhammad al-asfahani> abu yahya> sahl ibn ‘uthman> asbat ibn muhammad> al-shaybani> ‘ikrimah> ibn ‘abbas (abu ishaq al-shaybani mentioned that ‘ata’ ibn al-husayn al-suwa‘i also related this tradition, and i do not think he related it from other than ibn ‘abbas) who said regarding the verse (o ye who believe! it is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen): “it was the habit that, when a man died, his heirs had a better right to his wife, if one of them wished he would marry her, if not they married her off to somebody else or, alternately, leave her unmarried, for they had a better right to her than her own family. this verse was revealed about this issue”. this was related by bukhari in the chapter on tafsir from muhammad ibn muqatil and he also related it in the chapter on coercion from husayn ibn mansur and both his narrators related it from asbat.
the commentators of the qur’an said: “in the pre-islamic and beginning of the islamic eras, if a man died and was survived by his wife, it was the custom that his son from another wife or his relative from his clan would come and throw his cloak on that woman, and this gesture entailed that he had a better right over her than she had on her own person or that anyone else had on her. if he then wished to marry her, he married her without giving her any dowry, except for the dowry which was given to her by her deceased husband. alternately, he could marry her to someone else and take all her dowry, giving her nothing in exchange. or, he could leave her unmarried to hurt her so that she would buy herself from him in exchange for what she inherited from her deceased husband, or wait until she died so that he inherits her. when abu qays ibn al-aslat al-ansari died, he was survived by his wife kubayshah bint ma‘an al-ansariyyah. one of his sons, from another wife, by the name of hisn (muqatil stated that his name was qays ibn abi qays) placed his cloak on her and, thus, inherited the right to her marriage. but then he left her untouched and failed to provide for her. he did this to hurt her in order to drive her to buy herself from him with her money. this led kubayshah to go to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace. she said to him: ‘o messenger of allah! abu qays has died and his son has inherited the right to marry me. but he has harmed me and is taking his time. he has failed to provide for me, to consummate the marriage or to let me go free’. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, said to her: ‘remain in your home until allah reveals something about your matter’. when she left and the women of medina heard of this, they went to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘we are in the same situation as kubayshah except that it is the cousins who had married us instead of the sons’. allah, exalted is he, then revealed this verse”.
