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And to them belongs a fourth of what you leave behind, if you die childless; and if you have any child then to them belongs one eighth13 of what you have left behind, after the payment of the bequest you might have made or any debts outstanding against you.
And if the man or woman (whose inheritance is to be distributed) has no heir in the direct line, but has a brother or sister, then each of these shall inherit one-sixth; but if their number is more than that then all of them shall be entitled to one- third of the inheritance,14 after the payment of the bequest that might have been made or any debts outstanding against the deceased, providing that the bequest causes no injury.15 ▶
13 Whether a man has one wife or several wives the share of the wife/wives is one-eighth of the inheritance when the deceased has any issue, and one-fourth when he has no issue. The share of the wives, whether one-fourth or one-eighth, will be distributed equally among them.
14 Qur’anic commentators are agreed that the sisters and brothers mentioned here mean half-brothers and half-sisters, i.e. those who have kinship with the deceased on the mother’s side. Injunctions affecting full brothers and sisters, and half-brothers and half-sisters on the father’s side are mentioned towards the end of the present surah. (See verse 176 below. Ed.)
15 Bequests which cause injury are those that entail depriving the deserving kins of their legitimate rights. Similarly, the debt which causes injury is the fake debt which one falsely admits to owing, or any other device to which one resorts merely to deprive the rightful heirs of their shares in inheritance.
152
Al-Nisa’ 4: 13–16
This is a commandment from Allah; Allah is All-Knowing, All-Forbearing.
(13) These are the bounds set by Allah. Allah will make him who obeys Allah and His Messenger enter the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. He will abide there for ever. That is the mighty triumph. (14) And he who disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses the bounds set by Him – him shall Allah cause to enter the Fire. There he will abide. A humiliating chastise- ment awaits him.
(15) As for those of your women who are guilty of immoral conduct, call upon four from among you to bear witness against them. And if four men do bear witness, confine those women to their houses until either death takes them away or Allah opens some way for them. (16) Punish both of those among you who are guilty of this sin, then if they repent and mend their ways, leave them alone. ▶
153
Al-Nisa’ 4: 17–19
For Allah is ever ready to accept repentance, is All- Compassionate.16
(17) (And remember that) Allah’s acceptance of repent- ance is only for those who commit evil out of ignorance and then soon repent. It is towards such persons that Allah turns graciously. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (18) But of no avail is the repentance of those who do evil until death approaches any of them and then he says: “Now I repent.” Nor is the repentance of those who die in the state of unbelief of any avail to them. For them We have kept in readiness a painful chastisement.
(19) Believers! It is not lawful for you to become heirs to women against their will.17 ▶
16 In these two verses (15-16) the first, preliminary directives regarding punishment of unlawful sexual intercourse are stated. Later, another injunction was revealed (see Surah al-Nur 24: 2) which laid down that both the male and female involved in this act should be given a hundred lashes.
17 This means that the relatives of the husband should not treat the widow of the deceased as if she were a part of the inheritance and begin imposing their will on her. Upon the death of her husband a woman becomes independent. As soon as her legally-prescribed period of waiting ends, she is free to go wherever she likes and to marry anyone she wishes to.
154
Al-Nisa’ 4: 20–1
It is not lawful that you should put constraint upon them so that you may take away anything of what you have given them; (you may not put constraint upon them)18 unless they are guilty of brazenly immoral conduct. Live with your wives gracefully. If you dislike them in any manner, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good for you. (20) And if you decide to dispense with a wife in order to take another, do not take away anything of what you might have given the first one, even if you had given her a heap of gold. Would you take it back by slandering her and com- mitting a manifest wrong? (21) How can you take it away after each one has enjoyed the other, and they have taken a firm covenant from you?
18 This injunction is not meant to provide people with an excuse to grab the property of their wives; instead, the purpose is to enable them to put constraint upon them if they are guilty of brazenly immoral conduct.
155
Al-Nisa’ 4: 22–3
(22) Do not marry the women whom your fathers married, although what is past is past.19 This indeed was a shameful deed, a hateful thing, and an evil way.20
(23) Forbidden to you are your mothers,21 your daugh- ters,22 your sisters,23 your father’s sisters and your mother’s sisters, your brother’s daughters and your sister’s daughters,24 your milk-mothers, your milk-sisters,25 ▶
19 It does not mean that if a man had married his step-mother during the days of Ignorance he can maintain the matrimonial relationship with her even after the revelation of this prohibitory injunction. What it rather means is that the children born of such previously contracted marriage will not be considered illegitimate after the promulgation of this injunction and will not be disinherited.
20 In Islamic law marrying women who fall in the prohibited degrees of marriage is a recognized criminal offence.
21 The word “mother” applies to one’s step-mother as well as to one’s real mother. Hence the prohibition extends to both. This injunction also includes prohibition of the grandmother, both paternal and maternal.
22 The injunction with regard to daughters also applies to grand-daughters on both the paternal and maternal sides.
23 This applies to full sisters as well as to half-sisters.
24 In all these relationships, no distinction is made between the full and step- relationships.
25 There is consensus among Muslims that if a boy or girl is breast-fed by a woman, that woman attains the status of mother, and her husband the status of father. It is forbidden to marry relatives through milk-feeding in the same way as marriage is forbidden with relatives through one’s real mother and real father. Not only is the foster mother’s child, who has taken suck along with the foster child, forbidden for him but all the children of the foster mother are just like real brothers and sisters and their children are for him just like his real nephews.
156
Al-Nisa’ 4: 23