Translation:
O believers! It is not permissible for you to inherit women against their will7 or mistreat them to make them return some of the dowry ˹as a ransom for divorce˺—unless they are found guilty of adultery.7 Treat them fairly. If you happen to dislike them, you may hate something which Allah turns into a great blessing.
O believers! It is not permissible for you to inherit women against their will7 or mistreat them to make them return some of the dowry ˹as a ransom for divorce˺—unless they are found guilty of adultery.7 Treat them fairly. If you happen to dislike them, you may hate something which Allah turns into a great blessing.
Translation:
O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. 527 Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may Take away part of the dower 528 you have given them,-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them it may be that you dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.
O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. 527 Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may Take away part of the dower 528 you have given them,-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them it may be that you dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.
Commentary:
527 Among many nations, including Arabs in the Days of Ignorance, a step-son or brother took possession of a dead man's widow or widows along with his goods and chattels. This shameful custom is forbidden. See also 4:22 below.
528 Another trick, to detract from the freedom of married women was to treat them badly and force them to sue for a Khul'divorce (see 2:229, n. 258) or its equivalent in pre-Islamic custom, when the dower could be claimed back. This is also forbidden. Or the harshness may be exercised in another way; a divorced woman may be prevented by those who have control of her, from re-marrying unless she remits her dower. All kinds of harshness are forbidden.
Translation:
O YOU who have attained to faith! It is not lawful for you to [try to] become heirs to your wives [by holding onto them] against their will; 17 and neither shall you keep them under constraint with a view to taking away anything of what you may have given them, unless it be that they have become guilty, in an obvious manner, of immoral conduct. 18 And consort with your wives 19 in a goodly manner; for if you dislike them, it may well be that you dislike something which God might yet make a source of 20 abundant good.
O YOU who have attained to faith! It is not lawful for you to [try to] become heirs to your wives [by holding onto them] against their will; 17 and neither shall you keep them under constraint with a view to taking away anything of what you may have given them, unless it be that they have become guilty, in an obvious manner, of immoral conduct. 18 And consort with your wives 19 in a goodly manner; for if you dislike them, it may well be that you dislike something which God might yet make a source of 20 abundant good.
Commentary:
17 According to one of the interpretations advanced by Zamakhshari, this refers to a man's forcibly keeping an unloved wife - and thus preventing her from marrying another man - in the hope of inheriting her property under the provisions specified in the first sentence of verse 12 above. Some authorities, however, are of the opinion that the meaning is: "It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will"- thus expressing a prohibition of the pre-Islamic custom of inheriting the wives of deceased near relatives. But in view of the fact that Islam does not permit the "inheriting" of women under any circumstances (and not only "against their will"), the former interpretation is infinitely more plausible.
18 In the event that a wife's immoral conduct has been proved by the direct evidence of four witnesses, as stipulated in verse 15 above, the husband has the right, on divorcing her, to demand the return of the whole or of part of the dower which he gave her at the time when the marriage was contracted. If - as is permissible under Islamic Law - the dower has not been actually handed over to the bride at the time of marriage but has taken the form of a legal obligation on the part of the husband, he is absolved of this obligation in the case of proven immoral conduct on the part of his wife.
19 Lit., "with them".
20 Lit., "and God might place in it".
17 According to one of the interpretations advanced by Zamakhshari, this refers to a man's forcibly keeping an unloved wife - and thus preventing her from marrying another man - in the hope of inheriting her property under the provisions specified in the first sentence of verse 12 above. Some authorities, however, are of the opinion that the meaning is: "It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will"- thus expressing a prohibition of the pre-Islamic custom of inheriting the wives of deceased near relatives. But in view of the fact that Islam does not permit the "inheriting" of women under any circumstances (and not only "against their will"), the former interpretation is infinitely more plausible.
18 In the event that a wife's immoral conduct has been proved by the direct evidence of four witnesses, as stipulated in verse 15 above, the husband has the right, on divorcing her, to demand the return of the whole or of part of the dower which he gave her at the time when the marriage was contracted. If - as is permissible under Islamic Law - the dower has not been actually handed over to the bride at the time of marriage but has taken the form of a legal obligation on the part of the husband, he is absolved of this obligation in the case of proven immoral conduct on the part of his wife.
19 Lit., "with them".
20 Lit., "and God might place in it".
7 For example, a man would prevent a female relative (such as his sister or mother) from getting married so he can secure her estate for himself.