Waalmuhsanatu mina alnnisai illa ma malakat aymanukum kitaba Allahi AAalaykum waohilla lakum ma waraa thalikum an tabtaghoo biamwalikum muhsineena ghayra musafiheena fama istamtaAAtum bihi minhunna faatoohunna ojoorahunna fareedatan wala junaha AAalaykum feema taradaytum bihi min baAAdi alfareedati inna Allaha kana AAaleeman hakeeman
English
Ahmed Ali
Also forbidden are married women unless they are captives (of war). Such is the decree of God. Lawful for you are women besides these if you seek them with your wealth for wedlock and not for debauchery. Then give those of these women you have enjoyed, the agreed dower. It will not be sinful if you agree to something (else) by mutual consent after having settled the dowry. God is certainly all-knowing and all-wise.
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and all married women (are forbidden unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess) of captives, even if they have husbands in the abode of war, after ascertaining that they are not pregnant, by waiting for the lapse of one period of menstruation. (it is a decree of allah for you) that which i have mentioned to you is unlawful in allah's book. (lawful unto you are all beyond those mentioned) as unlawful, (so that ye seek them) marry (with your wealth) up to four wives; it is also said that this means: so that you buy with your wealth captives; and it is also said that this means: so that you should seek with your money marrying women for an agreed period of time (zawaj al-mut'ah) but the lawfulness of this practice was later abrogated, (in honest wedlock) he says: be with them as legitimate husbands, (not debauchery) not indulging in adultery without having a proper marriage. (and those of whom) after marriage (ye seek content) from whom you derive benefit, (give unto them their portions) give to them their full dowry (as a duty) as an obligation upon you from allah to give the dowry in full. (and there is no sin for you) there is no harm for you (in what ye do by mutual agreement) in increasing or decreasing the amount of the dowry by mutual agreement (after the duty hath been done) after the first obligation to which you have aspired. (lo! allah is ever knower) in relation to making lawful to you marriage for an agreed, limited period of time, (wise) in later making this practice unlawful; it is also said that this means: allah is ever knower of your compulsion for marriage for an agreed, limited period of time, wise in making such marriage unlawful.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and, forbidden to you are, wedded women, those with spouses, that you should marry them before they have left their spouses, be they muslim free women or not; save what your right hands own, of captured [slave] girls, whom you may have sexual intercourse with, even if they should have spouses among the enemy camp, but only after they have been absolved of the possibility of pregnancy [after the completion of one menstrual cycle]; this is what god has prescribed for you (kitāba is in the accusative because it is the verbal noun). lawful for you (read passive wa-uhilla, or active wa-ahalla), beyond all that, that is, except what he has forbidden you of women, is that you seek, women, using your wealth, by way of a dowry or a price, in wedlock and not, fornicating, in illicitly. such wives as you enjoy thereby, and have had sexual intercourse with, give them their wages, the dowries that you have assigned them, as an obligation; you are not at fault in agreeing together, you and they, after the obligation, is waived, decreased or increased. god is ever knowing, of his creatures, wise, in what he has ordained for them.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (and all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess…) [4:24].
muhammad ibn ‘abd al-rahman al-bunani informed us> muhammad ibn ahmad ibn hamdan> abu ya‘la> ‘amr al-naqid> abu ahmad al-zubayri> sufyan> ‘uthman al-batti> abu’l-khalil> abu sa‘id al-khudri who said: “we had captured female prisoners of war on the day of awtas and because they were already married we disliked having any physical relationship with them. then we asked the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, about them. and the verse (and all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess) was then revealed, as a result of which we consider it lawful to have a physical relationship with them”.
ahmad ibn muhammad ibn ahmad ibn al-harith informed us> ‘abd allah ibn muhammad ibn ja‘far> abu yahya> sahl ibn ‘uthman> ‘abd al-rahim> ash‘ath ibn sawwar> ‘uthman al-batti> abu’l-khalil> abu sa‘id who said: “when the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, captured the people of awtas as prisoners of war we said: ‘o prophet of allah! how can we possibly have physical relationships with women whose lineage and husband we know very well?’ and so this verse was revealed (and all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess)”.
abu bakr muhammad ibn ibrahim al-farisi informed us> muhammad ibn ‘isa ibn ‘amrawayh> ibrahim ibn muhammad ibn sufyan> muslim ibn al-hajjaj> ‘ubayd allah ibn ‘umar al-qawariri> yazid ibn zuray‘> sa‘id ibn abi ‘arubah> qatadah> abu salih abu khalil> abu ‘alqamah al-hashimi> abu sa‘id al-khudri who reported that on the day of hunayn the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, sent an army to awtas. this army met the enemy in a battle, defeated them and captured many female prisoners from them. but some of the companions of the messenger, allah bless him and give him peace, were uncomfortable about having physical relations with these prisoners because they had husbands who were idolaters, and so allah, exalted is he, revealed about this (and all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess).
