Verse. 515

'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī

تفسير : he said: (and marry not those women whom your fathers married, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past) in the pre-islamic era. (lo! it) i.e. marrying the wives of one's father (was ever lewdness) a transgression (and abomination) antagonism, (and an evil way) the worst way to follow. this was revealed about muhsin ibn abi qays al-ansari. allah then showed them the women who are unlawful for them to marry.

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī

تفسير : and do not marry women whom (mā means man) your fathers married, unless it be a thing of the past, which is forgiven you; surely that, marrying them, is obscene, vile, and abominable (maqtan, means it results in maqt, ‘severe hate’, from god), an evil way, [an evil] path is this.

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi

تفسير : (and marry not those women whom your fathers married…) [4:22]. this was revealed about hisn ibn abi al-qays who married the wife of his father kubayshah bint ma’an, al-aswad ibn khalaf who married the wife of his father, safwan ibn umayyah who married his father’s wife fakhitah bint al-aswad ibn al-muttalib and also about manzur ibn zabban who married the wife of his father mulaykah bint kharijah. said ash‘at ibn sawwar: “when abu qays who was one of the righteous people of medina died, his son qays proposed to the wife of his father. she said to him: ‘but i consider you like my son. i will consult the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, to see what he commands’. when she went and informed him, allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”.