Search Results for "وَٱلَّٰتِى"

4:20, 26; 24:20.

Important Words:

الفاحشة (lewdness) is derived from فحش. They say فحش الامر i.e. the matter or the affair or the thing was or became foul, evil, immodest or lewd; or it became excessively foul, etc. فحشت المرأة means, the woman became foul or ugly. فاحشهmeans, he vied with him or strove to surpass him in foul or obscene speech or language, etc. فاحشة therefore means, an excess or enormity or anything exceeding the bounds of rectitude; or a thing excessively and enormously foul, evil, immoral, lewd or obscene; a sin or crime which is excessively foul; adultery or fornication. فحشاءbesides giving the same meaning as فاحشة also signifies avarice or niggardliness in the payment of Zakah or the poor-rate (Lane).

Commentary:

The women referred to in this verse are those guilty of foul or immoral conduct short of adultery. Abu Muslim and Mujahid, among others, have also held this view.

The words, confine them to the houses until death overtake them or Allah open for them a way, mean that they should be prevented from mixing with other women until they reform themselves or get married, marriage being an effective means of weaning people from immoral practices. As the offence mentioned is a serious one, four witnesses are considered necessary in order to prevent injustice being done to women.

Some scholars have sought to interpret the verse in the light of a saying of the Holy Prophet which runs as follows: "Learn from me, Allah has indeed opened for them a way, which is that if an unmarried couple commit fornication with each other they should receive a hundred stripes and should be banished for one year. But if a married man commits adultery with a married woman, then they should receive a hundred stripes each and be stoned to death" (Jarir, iv. 182). These scholars hold that the word فاحشة (fahishah) mentioned in the verse means "adultery" and that this verse prescribed that the women who committed adultery were to be detained in their houses till their death or till the time when God should open a way for them, i.e. reveal the law concerning them; and that the law which was afterwards revealed was to the effect that an unmarried woman committing fornication should receive a hundred stripes and one year’s banishment, while a married woman guilty of adultery should be stoned to death after she had received a hundred stripes. This interpretation, however, is open to many objections:

1. If the words, confine them to the houses until death overtake them or Allah open for them a way, mean that they were to be detained in their houses until God gave His law concerning them, the question is, what hindered God from giving His law at the very time of the revelation of the verse under comment? There is no hint here that the time was not yet ripe for such a law to be revealed. In this case, the only inference will be that God hesitated to give the necessary law at the time when this verse was revealed because He was not yet decided, the matter being still under His consideration. Such a supposition cannot be made about God.

2. The law mentioned in the above-quoted hadith is not found in the Quran.

3. The Holy Prophet’s own practice was against this hadith. No less than four persons were stoned to death for adultery in his lifetime, but none of them was given the punishment of a hundred stripes before being stoned as the above-mentioned hadith prescribes.

It may also be pointed out here that according to the usage of the Quran, the word فاحشة (fahishah) does not always mean "adultery" but as shown under Important Words above, it is also applied to all sorts of excesses or sins or crimes or acts exceeding the bounds of rectitude. For this meaning of the word the reader is referred to 33:31 which says: O wives of the Prophet, if any of you be guilty of فاحشة مبینة (manifestly dishonourable conduct); and 65:2 which says: unless they commit فاحشة مبینة (an act which is manifestly foul); and 7:29 which says: and when they commit فاحشة (a foul deed). In none of these verses does the word فاحشة mean adultery.

2:229.

2:238; 4:33.

Important Words:

قوامون (guardians) is derived from قام i.e. he stood. They say قام علیه i.e. he tended or took care of it or him. قام بالیتم means, he maintained the orphan. قام علی المرأة means, he undertook the maintenance of the woman; he undertook or managed her affairs; he protected her, or became her guardian. قوم الشیء (qawwama) means, he set the thing right, or made it straight or even. قوام therefore means, one who manages affairs well; a ruler or governor; one in a position to issue orders (Lane & Aqrab).

قانتات (obedient) is the plural of قانتة being the active participle from قنت. They say قنت لله i.e. he was obedient to God. امرأة قنوت means, a woman humble, submissive and obedient to her husband (Lane). See also 2:117.

نشوز (disobedience) is the noun-infinitive from نشز i.e. he rose or raised himself. نشزت المرأة علی زوجھا means, the woman rose against, or was disobedient to her husband and exalted herself against him and resisted him and was an evil companion to him. نشز المرء علی زوجته means, the husband treated his wife unjustly and was unkind to her or forsook her or hated her and was an evil companion to her (Lane & Aqrab).

اھجروھن (leave them alone). ھجر means, he cut him off from friendly or loving communion or intercourse; he forsook or abandoned him; he "cut" him, i.e. he boycotted him and ceased to speak to him or to associate with him. ھجر الشیء means, he forsook, or abandoned the thing; he shunned or avoided it. ھجر زوجته means, he separated himself from his wife or kept away from her (Lane & Mufradat).

اضربوھن (chastise them) is derived from ضرب. They say ضربه i.e. he beat, struck, smote or hit him (with hand, stick, etc.); hence, he chastised him.

علیا (High) is derived from علا i.e. he or it was or became high, elevated, lofty or exalted. تعالی means, he was or became high, elevated, exalted or supremely exalted or extolled. علی means high, elevated or lofty in rank, condition or state. العلیwhich is one of the attributive names of God (e.g. 2:256) means, the High; the Most High; He above Whom is nothing. المتعالی is also an attributive name of God (e.g. 13:10) meaning, He Who is Great or Supremely Great, the High or the Most High; One Higher than every other high one. تعال means, come thou, as if said by a man in a high place when calling upon a man in a low place, but is also used generally (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse gives two reasons why man has been made the head of the family: (a) his superior mental and physical powers; (b) his being bread-earner and maintainer of the family. It is natural and fair that he who earns and supplies the money should have the final say in the disposal of affairs.

The word قانتات (obedient) spoken of wives may mean either obedient to God, or to husbands.

The expression, guard the secrets of their husbands, means that when the husbands are at home, they are obedient to them and guard their secrets; and when they are away, they not only guard their secrets but take care of their property and guard their own chastity.

The clause, leave them alone in their beds, may mean: (a) abstention from conjugal relations with them; (b) sleeping in separate beds; or (c) ceasing to talk to them. The use of the word "beds" also incidentally implies that the disobedient wives are to stay at home and are not to be allowed to leave or be turned out of their homes.

The measures mentioned in the verse are not to remain in force for an indefinite period, for wives are not to be left like a thing suspended (4:130). Four months, according to the Quran, is the utmost limit for abstention from conjugal relations, i.e. for practical separation (2:227).

If the husband deems the affair to be sufficiently grave, he will have to observe the conditions mentioned in 4:16.

Regarding "chastisement" mentioned as a last resort in the verse under comment a Companion reports the Holy Prophet to have said that if at all a Muslim has to beat his wife, the beating should not be such as to leave any mark on her body (Tirmidhi, ch. on Rida‘). According to Abu Dawud and Nasa’i, the Holy Prophet forbade the beating of women at all, but when ‘Umar complained that they had become refractory, he gave the permission with the aforementioned condition; but on complaint of ill-treatment of women by their husbands he indignantly said that the husbands who beat their wives were not the best among men (Kathir, iii). On another occasion the Holy Prophet is reported to have said: "The best among you is he who treats his wife best and I am the best of you in this respect" (Tirmidhi).

The Divine attributes of "High and Great" mentioned at the end of the verse are also intended to warn husbands that the chastisement of their wives, if at all resorted to should not be unjust or vindictive or highhanded; for if they are high and great above their wives, there is One Who is High and Great above all and He shall call husbands to account for any improper use of the qualified authority given to them over their wives.

66:13.

Commentary:

The verse refutes the calumnious charges that the Jews had levelled against Mary. It also has a general application and may apply to any person who leads a righteous and upright life. In 66:13 a certain class of righteous believers are likened to Mary. Everyone of such righteous believers is Mary; and when God breathes into him of His spirit he becomes a 'son of Mary'. It is in this sense that the Promised Messiah has been called 'son of Mary' by the Holy Prophet.

Mary and her son were a sign in the sense that the fatherless birth of Jesus implied a warning to the Israelites that on account of their corruption and depravity and their persistent rejection of God’s Messengers they were to be deprived of the gift of prophethood forever. Jesus’ unusual birth marked a transitional stage. He had an Israelite mother but not an Israelite father. The next prophet was not to be from the House of Israel. With him the gift of prophethood, in accordance with the Biblical prophecy (Deut. 18:18), was to be transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael. That Prophet was the Holy Prophet Muhammad. See also Introduction to the chapter 19.

6:61.

Commentary:

It appears from this verse that the soul of man is taken away both at the time of death and in sleep. In the former case, it is kept back and not allowed to return, while in the latter case, it comes back. The verse thus shows that the dead never come back to life. It also has an implied reference to the immortality of the human soul and man’s accountability for his deeds. In v. 41 above it was stated that as a result of the rejection of Divine Message, the disbelievers will suffer disgrace and humiliation in this life and will be subjected to an abiding punishment in the life to come. In the present verse we are told that with his death, man’s soul does not die or disintegrate but is taken away from its mortal habitat and is kept in other regions to account for man’s actions in due course.