بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍۢ وَٰحِدَةٍۢ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًۭا كَثِيرًۭا وَنِسَآءًۭ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًۭا
O mankind! Be wary of your Lord who created you from a single soul, and created its mate from it, and from the two of them scattered numerous men and women. Be wary of Allah, in whose Name you adjure one another and [of severing ties with] blood relations. Indeed Allah is watchful over you.
وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَتَبَدَّلُوا۟ ٱلْخَبِيثَ بِٱلطَّيِّبِ ۖ وَلَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حُوبًۭا كَبِيرًۭا
Give the orphans their property, and do not replace the good with the bad, and do not eat up their property [by mingling it] with your own property, for that is indeed a great sin.
وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تُقْسِطُوا۟ فِى ٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ فَٱنكِحُوا۟ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ مَثْنَىٰ وَثُلَٰثَ وَرُبَٰعَ ۖ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ فَوَٰحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُكُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعُولُوا۟
If you fear that you may not deal justly with the orphans, then marry [other] women that you like, two, three, or four. But if you fear that you may not treat them fairly, then [marry only] one, or [marry from among] your slave-women. That makes it likelier that you will not be unfair.
وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ صَدُقَٰتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةًۭ ۚ فَإِن طِبْنَ لَكُمْ عَن شَىْءٍۢ مِّنْهُ نَفْسًۭا فَكُلُوهُ هَنِيٓـًۭٔا مَّرِيٓـًۭٔا
Give women their dowries, handing it over to them; but if they remit anything of it of their own accord, then consume it as [something] lawful and wholesome.
وَلَا تُؤْتُوا۟ ٱلسُّفَهَآءَ أَمْوَٰلَكُمُ ٱلَّتِى جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ قِيَٰمًۭا وَٱرْزُقُوهُمْ فِيهَا وَٱكْسُوهُمْ وَقُولُوا۟ لَهُمْ قَوْلًۭا مَّعْرُوفًۭا
Do not give the feeble-minded your property, which Allah has assigned you to manage: provide for them out of it and clothe them, and speak to them honourable words.
وَٱبْتَلُوا۟ ٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغُوا۟ ٱلنِّكَاحَ فَإِنْ ءَانَسْتُم مِّنْهُمْ رُشْدًۭا فَٱدْفَعُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِمْ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَأْكُلُوهَآ إِسْرَافًۭا وَبِدَارًا أَن يَكْبَرُوا۟ ۚ وَمَن كَانَ غَنِيًّۭا فَلْيَسْتَعْفِفْ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ فَقِيرًۭا فَلْيَأْكُلْ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ ۚ فَإِذَا دَفَعْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ فَأَشْهِدُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ حَسِيبًۭا
Test the orphans when they reach the age of marriage. Then if you discern in them maturity, deliver to them their property. And do not consume it lavishly and hastily lest they should grow up. As for him who is well-off, let him be abstemious, and as for him who is poor, let him eat in an honourable manner. And when you deliver to them their property, take witnesses over them, and Allah suffices as reckoner.
لِّلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌۭ مِّمَّا تَرَكَ ٱلْوَٰلِدَانِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبُونَ وَلِلنِّسَآءِ نَصِيبٌۭ مِّمَّا تَرَكَ ٱلْوَٰلِدَانِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبُونَ مِمَّا قَلَّ مِنْهُ أَوْ كَثُرَ ۚ نَصِيبًۭا مَّفْرُوضًۭا
Men have a share in the heritage left by parents and near relatives, and women have a share in the heritage left by parents and near relatives, whether it be little or much, a share ordained [by Allah].
وَإِذَا حَضَرَ ٱلْقِسْمَةَ أُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينُ فَٱرْزُقُوهُم مِّنْهُ وَقُولُوا۟ لَهُمْ قَوْلًۭا مَّعْرُوفًۭا
And when the division is attended by relatives, the orphans and the needy, provide for them out of it, and speak to them honourable words.
وَلْيَخْشَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَوْ تَرَكُوا۟ مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّةًۭ ضِعَٰفًا خَافُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ فَلْيَتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَلْيَقُولُوا۟ قَوْلًۭا سَدِيدًا
Let those fear [the result of mistreating orphans] who, were they to leave behind weak offspring, would be concerned on their account. So let them be wary of Allah, and let them speak upright words.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَٰلَ ٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ ظُلْمًا إِنَّمَا يَأْكُلُونَ فِى بُطُونِهِمْ نَارًۭا ۖ وَسَيَصْلَوْنَ سَعِيرًۭا
Indeed those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully, only ingest fire into their bellies, and soon they will enter the Blaze.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Sources triangulated: Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ al-Bayān [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān [tusi_al_tibyan]; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī [qummi]; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]; An Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary]. All six are present (non-silent) for this passage.
The sūra of Women opens by grounding all social ethics in a single root: humankind from 'one soul,' a command of God-consciousness (taqwā) joined to reverence for the wombs of kinship (v.1). From this it turns directly to the most vulnerable dependents — orphans: restoring their property, not swapping the good for the bad (v.2); the rule of conditional polygamy framed by fear of injustice to orphan wards (v.3); dowers as the women's own right (v.4); withholding wealth from the 'foolish' (v.5); testing orphans and the guardian's strict duty over their estate (v.6); fixed inheritance shares for men and women (v.7); courtesy-gifts at the division (v.8); fear for one's own weak offspring (v.9); and the fire-filled bellies of those who devour orphans' wealth (v.10).
1. 'A single soul' is Adam; his mate is Ḥawwāʾ. All four Arabic sources and the two English ones agree the nafs wāḥida is Adam (the feminine grammar notwithstanding) and that 'its mate' is Ḥawwāʾ. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [qummi] On her creation the sources diverge in tone (below), but Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī and al-Qummī all transmit al-Bāqir's gentler report that she was made 'from the surplus of Adam's clay,' set beside the widespread rib-tradition. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [qummi] [bahrani_al_burhan]
2. 'And the wombs' (wa-l-arḥām) = the obligation of kinship. Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī report the chosen accusative reading and gloss it 'fear the wombs lest you sever them' (from al-Bāqir), reinforced by the ḥadīth qudsī that God split the womb's name (al-raḥim) from His own (al-Raḥmān). [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] al-Burhān massively documents the same with Imāmī narrations — kinship suspended from the Throne calling 'join him who joins me' — and adds the ahl-al-bayt application (Ibn ʿAbbās/al-Kalbī: every tie is severed on Judgment Day except the Prophet's). [bahrani_al_burhan] al-Qummī ties it to the Day of questioning. [qummi]
3. The guardian of orphans: strict duty, narrow license. All sources read v.2, v.5 and v.6 together as a single régime: hand over property at maturity once rushd (sound judgment) is perceived; never swap the orphan's choice goods for inferior ones; the rich guardian abstains entirely, the poor one may take 'fittingly.' Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī canvass the spectrum — loan-and-repay (from al-Bāqir) versus bare subsistence — while the Imāmī apparent rule is wages-in-kind (ujrat al-mithl). [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] al-Burhān and al-Qummī supply the concrete tests of maturity (iḥtilām, bodily signs) and the threat-tradition of fire-filled bellies. [bahrani_al_burhan] [qummi]
4. Polygamy is capped and conditioned (v.3). All four Arabic sources read 'two, three, four' distributively (never summing to nine) and tie the license to the fear of injustice. al-Burhān and al-Mīzān preserve the classic reconciliation of 4:3 with 4:129: required justice is in MAINTENANCE (within power), the impossible justice is in LOVE (mawadda). [bahrani_al_burhan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī and the Enlightening Commentary array the six occasions of revelation, favouring the orphan-ward reading and the link to 4:127. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [enlightening_commentary]
Who are 'the foolish' (v.5)? The exegetes split: women-and-children (Ibn ʿAbbās, from al-Bāqir), women specifically (Mujāhid), or — preferred by both Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī — anyone of unsound judgment. al-Burhān heavily privileges al-Ṣādiq's reading that the paradigm fool is the WINE-DRINKER, with a chain of cautionary traditions (and Ibn Bābawayh's inference against making a woman an executrix). [bahrani_al_burhan] [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan]
Abrogation of vv.7–8. al-Qummī flatly states that 4:7 and 4:8 are abrogated by the inheritance verse 4:11. [qummi] Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī report this only as a minority position and side with the majority that v.8 is decisive (muḥkam) and its courtesy-gift merely recommended. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan]
A doctrinal signature (v.7). Ṭabarsī and especially Ṭūsī turn the inheritance verse against two Sunnī positions: the ʿaṣaba (agnatic exclusion of women) is refuted by the verse's explicit share 'for women,' and the prophets ARE inherited from — Ṭūsī directly rebutting the report 'we prophets are not inherited from, what we leave is alms.' [tusi_al_tibyan] [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] The two English sources treat the verse as straightforward inheritance reform without this polemic. [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary]
On the creation of Ḥawwāʾ, al-Burhān is alone in preserving Zurāra's long tradition in which al-Ṣādiq vehemently rejects both the left-rib origin and any brother-sister marriage in Adam's line, insisting the elect prophetic line came through heavenly spouses — a markedly different register from the matter-of-fact rib-report the other sources merely cite. [bahrani_al_burhan]