وَيَسْتَفْتُونَكَ فِى ٱلنِّسَآءِ ۖ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِيهِنَّ وَمَا يُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ فِى يَتَٰمَى ٱلنِّسَآءِ ٱلَّٰتِى لَا تُؤْتُونَهُنَّ مَا كُتِبَ لَهُنَّ وَتَرْغَبُونَ أَن تَنكِحُوهُنَّ وَٱلْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ ٱلْوِلْدَٰنِ وَأَن تَقُومُوا۟ لِلْيَتَٰمَىٰ بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۚ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍۢ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِهِۦ عَلِيمًۭا
They seek your ruling concerning women. Say, ‘Allah gives you a ruling concerning them and what is announced to you in the Book concerning girl orphans—whom you do not give what has been prescribed for them, and yet you desire to marry them—and about the weak among children: that you should maintain the orphans with justice, and whatever good you do, indeed Allah knows it well.
وَإِنِ ٱمْرَأَةٌ خَافَتْ مِنۢ بَعْلِهَا نُشُوزًا أَوْ إِعْرَاضًۭا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَآ أَن يُصْلِحَا بَيْنَهُمَا صُلْحًۭا ۚ وَٱلصُّلْحُ خَيْرٌۭ ۗ وَأُحْضِرَتِ ٱلْأَنفُسُ ٱلشُّحَّ ۚ وَإِن تُحْسِنُوا۟ وَتَتَّقُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًۭا
If a woman fears from her husband misconduct or desertion, there is no sin upon the couple if they reach a reconciliation between themselves; and reconcilement is better. The souls are prone to greed; but if you are virtuous and Godwary, Allah is indeed well aware of what you do.
وَلَن تَسْتَطِيعُوٓا۟ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ بَيْنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَمِيلُوا۟ كُلَّ ٱلْمَيْلِ فَتَذَرُوهَا كَٱلْمُعَلَّقَةِ ۚ وَإِن تُصْلِحُوا۟ وَتَتَّقُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا
You will not be able to be fair between wives, even if you are eager to do so. Yet do not turn away from one altogether, leaving her as if in a suspense. But if you are conciliatory and Godwary, Allah is indeed all-forgiving, all-merciful.
وَإِن يَتَفَرَّقَا يُغْنِ ٱللَّهُ كُلًّۭا مِّن سَعَتِهِۦ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعًا حَكِيمًۭا
But if they separate, Allah will suffice each of them out of His bounty, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-wise.
وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَلَقَدْ وَصَّيْنَا ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ أَنِ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ وَإِن تَكْفُرُوا۟ فَإِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَنِيًّا حَمِيدًۭا
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. We have certainly enjoined those who were given the Book before you, and you, that you should be wary of Allah. But if you are faithless, [you should know that] to Allah indeed belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and Allah is all-sufficient, all-laudable.
وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ وَكِيلًا
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and Allah suffices as trustee.
إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ أَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ وَيَأْتِ بِـَٔاخَرِينَ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ قَدِيرًۭا
If He wishes, He will take you away, O mankind, and bring others [in your place]; Allah has the power to do that.
مَّن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ثَوَابَ ٱلدُّنْيَا فَعِندَ ٱللَّهِ ثَوَابُ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْءَاخِرَةِ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ سَمِيعًۢا بَصِيرًۭا
Whoever desires the reward of this world, [should know that] with Allah is the reward of this world and the Hereafter, and Allah is all-hearing, all-seeing.
۞ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ شُهَدَآءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ ٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ ۚ إِن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًۭا فَٱللَّهُ أَوْلَىٰ بِهِمَا ۖ فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلْهَوَىٰٓ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن تَلْوُۥٓا۟ أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًۭا
O you who have faith! Be maintainers of justice and witnesses for the sake of Allah, even if it should be against yourselves or [your] parents and near relatives, and whether it be [someone] rich or poor, for Allah has a greater right over them. So do not follow [your] desires, lest you should be unfair, and if you distort [the testimony] or disregard [it], Allah is indeed well aware of what you do.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ ءَامِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلَّذِى نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِۦ وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ مِن قَبْلُ ۚ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِٱللَّهِ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَرُسُلِهِۦ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَٰلًۢا بَعِيدًا
O you who have faith! Have faith in Allah and His Apostle and the Book that He has sent down to His Apostle and the Book He had sent down earlier. Whoever disbelieves in Allah and His angels, His Books and His apostles and the Last Day, has certainly strayed into far error.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا۟ ثُمَّ ءَامَنُوا۟ ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا۟ ثُمَّ ٱزْدَادُوا۟ كُفْرًۭا لَّمْ يَكُنِ ٱللَّهُ لِيَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ وَلَا لِيَهْدِيَهُمْ سَبِيلًۢا
As for those who believe and then disbelieve, then believe [again] and then disbelieve and then increase in disbelief, Allah shall never forgive them, nor shall He guide them to any way.
بَشِّرِ ٱلْمُنَٰفِقِينَ بِأَنَّ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا
Inform the hypocrites that there is a painful punishment for them
ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَّخِذُونَ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۚ أَيَبْتَغُونَ عِندَهُمُ ٱلْعِزَّةَ فَإِنَّ ٱلْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا
—those who take the faithless for allies instead of the faithful. Do they seek honour with them? [If so,] indeed all honour belongs to Allah.
وَقَدْ نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ أَنْ إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ ءَايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ يُكْفَرُ بِهَا وَيُسْتَهْزَأُ بِهَا فَلَا تَقْعُدُوا۟ مَعَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَخُوضُوا۟ فِى حَدِيثٍ غَيْرِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّكُمْ إِذًۭا مِّثْلُهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ جَامِعُ ٱلْمُنَٰفِقِينَ وَٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ فِى جَهَنَّمَ جَمِيعًا
Certainly He has sent down to you in the Book that when you hear Allah’s signs being disbelieved and derided, do not sit with them until they engage in some other discourse, or else you [too] will be like them. Indeed Allah will gather the hypocrites and the faithless in hell all together
ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَرَبَّصُونَ بِكُمْ فَإِن كَانَ لَكُمْ فَتْحٌۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ قَالُوٓا۟ أَلَمْ نَكُن مَّعَكُمْ وَإِن كَانَ لِلْكَٰفِرِينَ نَصِيبٌۭ قَالُوٓا۟ أَلَمْ نَسْتَحْوِذْ عَلَيْكُمْ وَنَمْنَعْكُم مِّنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۚ فَٱللَّهُ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۗ وَلَن يَجْعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لِلْكَٰفِرِينَ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا
—those who lie in wait for you: if there is a victory for you from Allah, they say, ‘Were we not with you?’ But if the faithless get a share [of victory], they say, ‘Did we not prevail upon you and defend you against the faithful?’ Allah will judge between you on the Day of Resurrection, and Allah will never provide the faithless any way [to prevail] over the faithful.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Sources triangulated: Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan]; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Qummī [qummi]; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]; An Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary]. All six are present (non-silent).
The passage completes the law of women and orphans (v.127), provides for reconciliation when a husband turns away and concedes that perfect equity between wives is beyond reach (vv.128–130), grounds all in God's all-sufficiency and the enjoining of taqwā (vv.131–134), commands unflinching justice in witness even against oneself (v.135), calls to sincere faith (v.136), and closes with a sustained exposure of the serial apostates and the hypocrites who court the disbelievers, mock revelation, and wait to side with the winner (vv.137–141).
1. Marital reconciliation (vv.128–129). All four Arabic sources read v.128 as licensing a wife's concession of some right to keep her marriage when her husband is averse ('settlement is better'), and reconcile 4:129 with 4:3 by the same key — equity is required in MAINTENANCE, impossible in LOVE — al-Qummī and Ṭabarsī both giving the Banū Maslama occasion and the Abū Jaʿfar al-Aḥwal narration. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [qummi] [tabatabai_al_mizan]
2. Witness to justice (v.135). All read the command to be 'upholders of justice, witnesses for God even against yourselves,' impartial to rich and poor; al-Qummī and al-Burhān add al-Ṣādiq's 'speak the truth even against yourself.' [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [qummi] [bahrani_al_burhan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary]
3. The hypocrites' false honour and waiting (vv.139–141). All read the seeking of 'honour' with the disbelievers as folly ('honour belongs entirely to God'), the prohibition of sitting with mockers of revelation, and the double-dealing of those who 'wait,' closing on 'God will never grant the disbelievers a way over the believers.' [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [qummi] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary]
The sectarian recasting of vv.137–140. Here al-Qummī departs sharply from the historical reading: 4:137's serial apostasy is read of those who 'wrote a document never to return the caliphate to the Prophet's House' and broke the covenant taken for ʿAlī; 4:139's seekers of 'honour with the disbelievers' are the Banū Umayya 'who agreed not to return the matter to the Banū Hāshim'; and 4:140's 'verses of God' are glossed as the IMĀMS — all echoed by al-Burhān. [qummi] [bahrani_al_burhan] Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī, al-Mīzān and the Enlightening Commentary keep the historical sense (serial apostates among the Scriptuaries or hypocrites; the Medinan hypocrites courting the Jews and mocking the Qurʾān). [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary] These Imāmī readings are recorded here as what the sources transmit, not as endorsed interpretation. On v.141's 'no way over the believers,' Ṭabarsī canvasses the senses (proof / the Hereafter / no decisive God-sanctioned mastery), a reading later much used in juristic argument. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]