Hikma › Qur'an › Surah An-Nisa › Verse 19

Surah An-Nisa — 4:19

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَن تَرِثُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ كَرْهًا ۖ وَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا۟ بِبَعْضِ مَآ ءَاتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلَّآ أَن يَأْتِينَ بِفَـٰحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ ۚ وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ ۚ فَإِن كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَىٰٓ أَن تَكْرَهُوا۟ شَيْـًٔا وَيَجْعَلَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا

Yaaa aiyuhal lazeena aamanoo laa yahillu lakum an tarisun nisaaa'a karhan wa laa ta'duloohunna litazhaboo biba'di maaa aataitumoohunna illaaa ai yaateena bifaahishatim bubaiyinah; wa 'aashiroo hunna bilma'roof; fa in karihtumoohunna fa'asaaa an takrahoo shai'anw wa yaj'alal laahu feehi khairan kaseeraa

You who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor to pressure them so as to take back part of what you have given them — unless they commit a clear indecency. Live with them in kindness; for if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which God has placed much good.

Reflection

The verb ʿāshirū is reciprocal in form, the pattern Arabic reserves for what two people do with one another, so the standard set here is a shared life measured by maʿrūf: what a community recognizes as decent. That replaces the custom the verse opens by abolishing, in which a widow passed to the heirs along with the rest of the estate. The closing clause asks for patience with aversion itself.

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