Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim.
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All the praises and thanks be to Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn . The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray .
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4: (Al-Nisa')- Women
Number of Rukus-24
Number of verses-176
This Surah, was revealed in Medina.
Its contents invite to Faith, justice, taking examples from the nations of the past, breaking the ties of friendship with the enemies of Allah, and supporting the orphans.
In this Surah there are subjects such as marriage, equitable distribution of property after death, the necessity of obeying the divine leader, immigration, Holy War in the way of Allah, and so on.
This Surah is entitled An-Nisa, (the women), since the first thirty five verses of it are about women and family affairs.
The Virtue of Studying This Surah
According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam (S) said:
"Whoever recites Surah An-Nisa, as if this person has spent property in the path of Allah as much as any Muslim inherits by virtue of the purport of this Surah, and also, a similar reward of a person who has freed a slave, will be given to him".
It is evident that the purpose in this tradition, and all of the similar traditions, is not a bare recitation of the verses, but recitation is a preparation for comprehension, the which is, in its turn, a preparation for action and behaving accordingly in personal and social life.
Thus, it is certain that if Muslims take lessons from the contents of the verses of this Surah and apply them in their own lives, besides their worldly advantages, they will enjoy of all these rewards in the Hereafter.
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Benefits
In 'tafseer al-burhan' it is written that Imam Ali (a.s.) has said that whoever recites this surah on every Friday, he will remain safe from the squeezing in the grave ('fishare qabr').
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Consolidation of the Islamic Community
The main object of this Surah is to teach the Muslims the ways that unite a people and make them firm and strong. Introductions for the stability of family, which is the nucleus of community have been given. Then they have been urged to prepare themselves for defense. Side by side with these, they have been taught the importance of the propagation of Islam. Above all, the importance of the highest moral character in the scheme of consolidation of the Community has been impressed.
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Ayath-
•O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;- reverence Allah, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights), and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you): for Allah ever watches over you.
•To orphans restore their property (When they reach their age), nor substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by mixing it up) with your own. For this is indeed a great sin.
•If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.
•And give the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, Take it and enjoy it with right good cheer.
•To those weak of understanding Make not over your property, which Allah hath made a means of support for you, but feed and clothe them therewith, and speak to them words of kindness and justice.
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Lessons
– Everything that the Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam taught is guidance for us.We cannot say it was only relevant for those times. It's still valid today.
– If a person makes an incorrect judgment or goes against Shari'ah due to lack of knowledge then he is not blameworthy as compared to the one who possesses knowledge yet opposes the teachings of Rasoolullah sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam. For example, shirk. Grave worshiping is shirk. Many people do it out of ignorance. They don't have the knowledge that the Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam never taught us to seek help from dead saints. No one has corrected them ever. If people are doing something wrong out of ignorance or lack of knowledge, we cannot call them mushrik or kafir because the condition is min baAAdi ma tabayyana lahu alhuda i.e. after guidance has become evident to him.
But if a person after learning the truth still persists in following the wrong path because it was their forefathers' way then this is deliberate opposition to the Message of Rasoolullah sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam.
Our duty is not to pass judgment or declare fatwas of kufr on others but to politely guide them to the correct way. The way of the Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam and the way his Companions understood and practiced.
– The words waman yushaqiqi alrasoola teach us the obligation of obeying the Messenger sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam. Many people say that Qur'an is sufficient and there's no need to follow the Sunnah. But when they say this, they are opposing this very ayah.
– When a person leaves the way of the Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam and the way of believers, he is not on the deen of Islam anymore. Anything that we do in our deen is from the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the way the Companions practiced it. There are people who proof the continuity of Messengers after Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam when the Prophet himself certified there is no Messenger after him. These people argue leave the Sunnah whereas the sahabahs fought those people who claimed continuity of Prophethood. These people are not only contradicting the Qur'an, opposing teachings of Rasoolullah sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam, deviating from the practice of sahabah radhiAllahu anhum but worshiping their own whims and desires. It's an innovation in deen and not the Islam that the Prophet of Allah brought to us. Anything that you term as deen has to have evidence from the Qur'an, the Sunnah or the way of the Sahabahs.
– The way of the believers is the way of the Sahabahs and the Salaf. We cannot innovate things in our deen. We have to see how our predecessors practiced it, the ones who learned first-hand from the Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam himself. This is true for every single thing that we do. For example, the issue of hijab. Some people argue it only means wearing modest clothes, or modesty is in the eyes and you don't have to hide your hair or cover up properly. This is an incorrect interpretation. Surah Nur properly explains what hijab means.
– The obligation of adhering to the jama'at, the congregation and not splitting from them.
– The importance of ijma i.e. the consensus among the scholars of Ummah. When we cannot find an instruction about a matter in the Qur'an, we refer the Sunnah. When we cannot find it in Sunnah either, we study the lives of the Sahabah, how they acted in such a situation. If there is no instruction there as well, then the scholars give their opinions. There are certain matters on which all scholars do not agree, but there are some where they do agree. This agreement of scholars about a particular matter is known as ijma and if the scholars agree on it, then being the followers of Rasoolullah, we accept what the scholars agree upon. It's an obligation on us.
There is an incident related to Imam Shaf'ai where he was asked, "Can the validity of the consensus of Muslim Ummah be proved from the Qur'an?" The Imam dedicated three days to the study of Qur'an where he completed three recitals each during the day and night. Finally, the proof he came up with was this ayah [4:115]. When he cited it before scholars, they all agreed this to be a proof sufficient to confirm the authority of ijima.
Moreover, the Prophet sallAllahu aalyhi wa sallam said,
"Allah will never unite my Ummah on misguidance."
– Leaving the Sunnah means a person has invented his own way. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have sent the Book by itself, but He chose to send a Prophet to teach us. The Prophet taught the Book to the Sahabahs, the Salaf learned from the Sahabahs and passed it on to the other people. Then some people started following their whims and vain desires and invented things on their own. The ayah teaches us that a person who chooses misguidance over guidance will never be guided. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will keep him in his deviated path unless he seeks guidance. The deviated path will be made enticing for him and then one day he will be thrown into the hellfire. What an evil destination indeed!
– This ayah also highlights the importance of studying deen and seeking right guidance.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keep us on the straight path, aameen. Ya muqallib al-qaloobi thabbit qalbi ala dinik "O Controller of hearts! Make my heart firm on Your deen." [Tirmidhi]
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•Women in Islam:
Women are often too shy to demand for it themselves; therefore Allah (swt) has made it a duty of the husbands to gift it to them. In Islam, a woman is a queen. When she is small she is looked after by the father. As she grows up and is married off, it becomes the duty of the husband to look after her needs. In absence of a father and a husband, the closest Mahram relations look after her. Allah (swt) gives women rights so that she is not treated as a commodity; as it used to happen in the ignorant days. In the pagan days, the male relatives would inherit the woman along with all her wealth. Allah (swt) says what belongs to woman remains with her.
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•Dignity of a woman:
In order to know how to treat someone, we first need to learn about their status. The woman needs to know where she stands in the Sight of her Creator. She needs to know how to carry herself without compromising on her values. She cannot give in to peer pressure and go against the commands of Allah (swt). She must live such a life that her living confirms that she is a gift from Allah (swt).
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•Rights of orphans:
After honouring women, Allah (swt) talks about another stratum of the society which is weak, but its status before Allah (swt) is really high. These are the orphans. Allah (swt) chose for his Last Messenger to be an orphan, and throughout the Quran we find many verses that remind us to be kind to this weak stratum of society and give them their rights.
In our society, when the father passes away, others relatives come and take charge over the wealth of the orphan children. While they are to act as custodians until the children attain the age of maturity, the guardians do not return them their wealth or they cheat them by understating their property. Allah (swt) says, "Verily, those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, they eat up only a fire into their bellies, and they will be burnt in the blazing Fire!" (An-Nisa 4:10). The wealth of this world is not worth trading our peace and contentment for it. A person who cheats others cannot live a peaceful life.
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•Rights of women:
There's another type of cheating that is done at the time of marriage. Men don't give their brides the bridal gift known as Mahr. Allah (swt) says, "And give to the women (whom you marry) their Mahr (obligatory bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) with a good heart..." (An-Nisa 4:4).
Women are often too shy to demand for it themselves; therefore Allah (swt) has made it a duty of the husbands to gift it to them. In Islam, a woman is a queen. When she is small she is looked after by the father. As she grows up and is married off, it becomes the duty of the husband to look after her needs. In absence of a father and a husband, the closest Mahram relations look after her. Allah (swt) gives women rights so that she is not treated as a commodity; as it used to happen in the ignorant days. In the pagan days, the male relatives would inherit the woman along with all her wealth. Allah (swt) says what belongs to woman remains with her.
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•Islamic law of inheritance:
In verses 11 and 12, Allah (swt) informs us about the exact proportions of inheritance to be distributed among heirs. Some people say in Islam women are oppressed, they get less of what men receive.
We must acknowledge that the system of Allah (swt) is based on justice, as He says, "These are the limits (set by) Allah (or ordainments as regards laws of inheritance), and whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad (as)) will be admitted to Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise), to abide therein, and that will be the great success.." (An-Nisa 4:13)
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•Share of a woman:
To briefly touch up on the share a woman gets, let's look at what Allah (swt) says, "...if (there are) only daughters, two or more, their share is two thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is half." (An-Nisa 4:11) No male takes this much percentage of wealth. Before we use our tongues to declare something ordained by Allah (swt), we must understand the Shariah. How can something that has been decided by Allah (swt) be wrong? The problem is that we value human opinions more than what Allah (swt) tells us. And this is the reason to why we have lost our peace.
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Hadiths
•To the category of forged traditions encouraging women to be obedient to their husbands may safely be relegated the hadith in which the Prophet is reported to have said: "If I were to order anyone to prostrate himself before another, I would order a woman to prostrate herself before her husband" (Tirmidhi, Ahmad). This hadith stands in marked contrast to the whole of the Qur'an and most other ahadith. To be sure the Qur'an and Hadith recognize that in the marriage relationship men have greater responsibilities and therefore also a degree of greater rights, but they do not see this degree in terms that can translate into the kind of subservience of women to their husbands implied in this particular hadith. In fact, masters have greater rights over their slaves than husbands over their wives, as also parents (especially mothers) over their children and yet the Qur'an and Hadith nowhere say that masters or parents are like majazi (figurative, metaphorical) Gods for their slaves or children. How then can husbands be majazi Gods for their wives?
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•A hadith which talks about the obedience of the husband by the wife and against whose authenticity there seems to be no strong arguments is quoted by Nasa'i and Bayhaqi on the authority of Abu Hurayra. It reads:
"The best wife is the one who pleases (her husband) when he looks at her, obeys him when he gives a command, and does not go against his wishes regarding her person or property by doing anything of which he disapproves."
Notice that this hadith is consistent with the Qur'an in that it does not command women to be obedient to their husbands but simply considers such obedience a desirable quality of a wife.
When a husband dislikes something about the wife without the wife having any nushuz or ill-will towards him, he should continue the marriage relationship in a maruf way as far as possible, remembering that
"if you dislike them (i.e. your wives), it may be that you dislike something and God brings about through it a great deal of good." (4:19)
The Prophet said: "(How odd it is that) one of you should whip his wife as a slave is whipped and then sleep with her at the end of the day". (Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of 'Abdallah bin Zam'a)
•In movies, for example, one often sees the following type of scene: a man and a woman love each other but in some matter the woman simply does not want to listen to the man even though she realizes deep down that he is thinking for the good of both of them. The man tries all the tender ways to bring the woman around to his point of view without any success. Frustrated, the man at last bursts into anger and gives the woman a slap. This shakes the woman out of her mood and she falls on his shoulders, with both happier than before. Of course, movies are no guide for us but sometimes they do represent human nature and life as it is.
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•Whoever Obeys Allah and His Messenger will Be Honored By Allah
In the ayaat appearing immediately earlier, the promise of a great reward was made to special addressees. What appears in the present ayaat is a universal promise that those who obey Allah and His Messenger shall be rewarded as a standing rule.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, "And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, then they will be with those on whom Allah has bestowed His favor – the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous....."
Consequently, whosoever implements what Allah and His Messenger have commanded him and avoids what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, then Allah will grant him a dwelling in the Residence of Honor. There, Allah will place him in the company of the Prophets, and those who are lesser in grade, the true believers, then the martyrs and then the righteous, who are righteous inwardly and outwardly. Allah then praised this company, "And excellent are those as companions."
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•Al-Bukhari recorded that Aisha radhiAllahu anha said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah saying, 'Every Prophet who falls ill is given the choice between this life and the Hereafter.'
During the illness that preceded his death, his voice became weak and I heard him saying,"...with those on whom Allah has bestowed His favor – the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous..." I knew then that he was being given the choice." Muslim recorded this Hadith. This Hadith explains the meaning of another Hadith; the Prophet said before his death, "O Allah! In the Most High Company" three times, and he then died, may Allah's best blessings be upon him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says in ayah 70,
"That is the Bounty of Allah" meaning, from Allah by His mercy, for it is He who made them suitable for this, not their good deeds."and Allah is sufficient as All-Knower"He knows those who deserve guidance and success.
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