Superiority of men over women, Wife’s perverseness and desertion to effect, Duty to God inculcates all the other duties, Niggardliness and hypocrisy condemned

An-Nisa’ Verses 34 – 42

الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَا أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ فَالصَّالِحَاتُ قَانِتَاتٌ حَافِظَاتٌ لِلْغَيْبِ بِمَا حَفِظَ اللَّهُ وَاللَّاتِي تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَاهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِي الْمَضَاجِعِ وَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ فَإِنْ أَطَعْنَكُمْ فَلَا تَبْغُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ سَبِيلًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيًّا كَبِيرًا

“Men have authority over women on account of the qualities with which God hath caused the one of them to excel the other and for what they spend of their property; therefore the righteous women are obedient, guarding the unseen1that which God hath guarded; and as to those whose perverseness ye fear, admonish them and avoid them in beds2and beat3them; and if they obey you, then seek not a way against them; Verily, God is Ever-High, Ever- Great.” (4:34)

وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ شِقَاقَ بَيْنِهِمَا فَابْعَثُوا حَكَمًا مِنْ أَهْلِهِ وَحَكَمًا مِنْ أَهْلِهَا إِنْ يُرِيدَا إِصْلَاحًا يُوَفِّقِ اللَّهُ بَيْنَهُمَا إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا خَبِيرًا

“And if ye fear a breach between the couple, then send an arbitrator (chosen) from his family and an arbitrator (chosen) from her family; if they4both desire compromise, God will affect harmony between the couple; Verily God is All Knowing, All-Aware.” (4:35)

وَاعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَبِذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْجَارِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْجَارِ الْجُنُبِ وَالصَّاحِبِ بِالْجَنْبِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ مَنْ كَانَ مُخْتَالًا فَخُورًا

“Worships5ye God (alone) and associate6not aught with Him, and do good to parents, and to kinsfolk, and to orphans, and to the needy, and neighbour 7close to you and neighbour who is a stranger8, and to a companion by your side and to the wayfarer, and to that which your right hands possess; Verily God loveth not the proud, the boastful.” (4:36)

الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ وَيَكْتُمُونَ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُهِينًا

“Those who are niggardly and bid9people niggardliness, and hide away what God of His bounty hath given them; We have prepared for the disbelievers a torment ignominious.” (4:37)

وَالَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَنْ يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاءَ قَرِينًا

‘And those who spend their property (in alms) to show10to the people and believe not in God and in the Last Day (of Judgment); and he whose companion be Satan, (what) an evil companion then is he!” (4:38)

وَمَاذَا عَلَيْهِمْ لَوْ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَأَنْفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِهِمْ عَلِيمًا

“And what (harm) would it have done them if they had believed in God and the Last Day of (Judgment) and spent (benevolently) of what God hath provided them with; Verily God is (fully) aware of them.” (4:39)

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ وَإِنْ تَكُ حَسَنَةً يُضَاعِفْهَا وَيُؤْتِ مِنْ لَدُنْهُ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

“Verily, God doth not injustice (even) to the weight of an atom, and if there be any good deed he multiplieth11it and giveth of His own accord a great reward.” (4:40)

فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِنْ كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَىٰ هَٰؤُلَاءِ شَهِيدًا

“How will it be (then) when We shall bring forth from every people a witness and when We shall bring thee a witness over those (witnesses)12?” (4:41)

يَوْمَئِذٍ يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَعَصَوُا الرَّسُولَ لَوْ تُسَوَّىٰ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضُ وَلَا يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّهَ حَدِيثًا

“On that day will those who disbelieve and disobey the Prophet13shall wish that the earth were levelled with them, But they shall not hide from God (even) a word.” (4:42)

Commentary

Verse 34

However much it may be resented by the selfish and the false regard to womankind in the name of the modern chivalry, man is unquestionably superior, not only in physique but also in his intellect and natural dominance in many respects of the native endowments, over a woman. The native endowments of strength in man and beauty in a woman respectively decide this universally acknowledged factor of man’s superiority over a woman. The beauty and the delicacy endowed in a woman needs protection and protection can come only from strength which is given to man. Hence a husband is to domineer over his wife and the wife in regard for the protection and the other benefits bestowed upon her by her husband has naturally to be subordinate and obedient to him.

Undoubtedly there are qualities which are the essential requisites to fit a being to maintain and control certain things and situations. Owing to the differences in the quality and the quantity of the native endowments in man and a woman viz. the various faculties of the Mind, Temperament, Sensibilities, Will-power, Emotions, Courage and the various other personality traits, man is naturally more fitted to rule the family and the matters of society, to solve the problems of the nation and the politics of the world, than a woman.

None can deny the functions of nature respectively assigned in the two sexes which determine those differences that justify and establish man, all the world over, to be the protector and the maintainer of his wife. A woman is always justly proud of the strength, power and the authority of her husband while the man rejoices and enjoys the beauty, modesty and dutifulness of his wife, and this is only a relative superiority based upon mutual relations and correct understanding of the truth about the personal position of each one in relation to the other.

The good or the virtuous wives are referred to be ‘Qanitat’, i.e., obedient to her husband but the word used is that of devotion to God, meaning devotion to husband out of piety. And ‘Hafizat lil ghaib’ guarding the unseen, as God has guarded, is a euphemism for guarding the husband’s rights, his interest, his secrets, her chastity and her husband’s property for her protection and her maintenance which has been incumbent upon her husband.

‘Nushuz’, i.e., rising against her husband. The remedy prescribed against any such disobedience on the part of the wife is pointed out three-fold. In the first stage she is to be admonished and if she desists, the evil is mended, but if she persists in the wrong course, the second stage is her bed to be separated. If the woman still persists then the third stage is to chastise her, and not till all of these methods have proved in vain, then the last and the most undesirable recourse to refer to a judge for separation, i.e., to affect a divorce14.

‘Fala tabtaghu alaihinna’- are the words of warning to the husbands not to seek occasions against their wives towards the final stage which should be only an unavoidable recourse most reluctantly resorted to. The Holy Prophet’s declaration has always to be remembered by the husbands- “the best of you is he who is best to his wife.”

Verse 35

When the husband is helpless against the persistent attitude of his wife to any misconduct or misbehaviour and has failed to rectify her, by himself to bring about a reconciliation between himself and his wife, the last course to refer the matter to a just judge, ‘the Qazi’ whose first duty shall be to appoint judges on both sides (as from their relations) to try their best to bring about reconciliation. If even the judges appointed from among the relatives of the parties fail to effect any reconciliation, it is then the ‘Qazi’ to helplessly effect the ‘Talaq’, i.e., (Divorce) separation, liberating each other from the wedlock. FR refers to an instance when Amir Al-Mu’minin ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib in a case of such a breach, commending the husband in plain words that he (the husband) must abide by the decision of the judges appointed under this verse15.

Qummi’s commentary contains ‘Ali’s decision in a case of this sort. (B.H.)

It is noteworthy that what amount of precautions Islam prescribes to guard the interest of women and how far man’s authority over her has been disciplined and controlled.

The Holy Prophet has been reported to have declared that of the things he hated the most, was ‘Talaq’ i.e., divorce.

Verse 36

The concluding words of the verse clearly indicate the kind, or the nature of the charity demanded of the Muslims. Charity must always be done in the spirit of meekness, modesty, humility and with the sense of duty to the poor acknowledging their claim over our wealth and never to pride or to be boastful of what is done.

Verse 37-38-39

Note how miserliness and the charity done merely for the show of it, is condemned. It has been declared as unbelief.

The Holy Prophet gifted a slave to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and told him to maintain him in goodness, to feed him with whatever he eats and to clothe him with whatever clothes he liked for himself. Abu Dharr had a garment, he immediately rendered it into two and gave one to the salve, the Holy Prophet said ‘Excellent’. Abu Dharr brought the slave home and liberated him. The Holy Prophet asked Abu Dharr as to what he did with the slave. Abu Dharr submitted ‘I have liberated him, and he is no more a slave.’ The Holy Prophet told Abu Dharr ‘God will reward thee for it.’

Amir Al-Mu’minin ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib had said that one of the parting advices of the Holy Prophet was to keep up prayer to God and to be kind to the subordinates.

Verse 40

God is not generously rewarded but the reward is multiplied to each man’s account.

Verse 41

A proper and an intelligent study of the matter of this verse guides the reader to a very important factor of knowledge about the personality of the Holy Prophet. The word ‘Shaheed’ means a witness.

When ‘Shaheed’ is followed by ‘Ala’ it means a ‘Raqeeb’ or ‘Mohaimin’ meaning a close watcher, a careful observer and a witness in the pure and the most perfect sense as used in 2:143, 22:17 and 5:117. The address in the verse is to the Holy Prophet. The question arises can anyone who was not present on any event bear witness over the situation. The verse says that a witness will be called of every people of every age and the Holy Prophet would be called to bear witness over all those witnesses. This statement of the Holy Qur’an clearly indicates that the Holy Prophet was essentially present with every prophet in every part of the earth and in all times.

And according to 2:143 he remains similarly present with every Holy Imam until the Day of Judgment to bear witness over them all. It is a serious matter for an intelligent study of the personality of the Holy Prophet, that when the Word of God so strongly establishes the spiritual or the essential existence of his presence during all times and in all places, wherever the heavenly messengers or the divinely commissioned guides played their respective roles in guiding the human race towards the right thinking and the proper or the correct walk of the practical life on earth, could such a divinely selected being be so ignorant not even to recognize the Messenger Angel ‘Gabriel’ when he first appeared to him to give the signal to him to start his mission of his ministry openly.

In view of the disclosure of the essential or the spiritual aspect of the personality of the Holy Prophet declared by the Holy Qur’an, would not, all the cock and bull stories about the conduct of the Holy Prophet at the first sight of ‘Gabriel’, be nothing but a blasphemous fabrication? To establish and to declare the falsehood in the story of the Holy Prophet getting terrified at the sight of the Messenger Angel and his returning home frightened and being consoled by his wife Lady Khadija, and his being informed by Waraqa Ibn Naufil that he was the Apostle of God, there is the saying of the Holy Prophet:

“Kunto Nabiyyan wa Adama bainal Ma’ wattin’’

I was a Prophet when Adam was still in water and clay, i.e., I existed as the Apostle of God even before Adam was yet to be created.

The essential existence of the Holy Prophet with all apostles and in all times, has been referred to in 2:143, 16:84, 16:89.

Verse 42

The fate of those who disobeyed the Holy Prophet is to be the same as the infidels. It is to be considered as to how far the words ‘Those who disobeyed the Holy Prophet’ imply and who all come under this classification or category. The question may arise whether those tyrants who killed the Holy Lady Fatimah, the beloved daughter of the Holy Prophet, by their tortures and tyrannic conduct towards her, and those who deprived ‘Ali of his legitimate rights and caused miseries to the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt, behaved in obedience to the Holy Prophet’s command or in contradiction to what he had bequeathed about them. Do not all those who behaved contrary to the declared will of the Holy Prophet about his Ahl Al-Bayt, come under the category of those mentioned in this Verse?

• 1. In manner, by law.
• 2. Leave her-by turning your back to her (5th Holy Imam).
• 3. Mildly not causing any injury or deformity.
• 4. The Arbitrators or the Couple.
• 5. Absolute submission to God’s will and Sovereignty.
• 6. In authority.
• 7. Either in blood or in faith.
• 8. Lacking relationship in blood or in faith the Holy Prophet said: ‘Neighbours are of three kinds: 1) Who has three rights a) of neighbourhood b) of relationship c) of faith 2) The one with two rights: a) neighbourhood b) faith 3) The one who has the only right of neighbourhood i.e. a non-Muslim who is not hostile to Islam (AP)
• 9. Command.
• 10. However much the charity be, if done merely for show, for fame and name, is no charity. Intention must be to please the Lord-A well intentioned charity is a goodly loan to God. It is repaid in multiples. Refer to Verses 4:40, 3:92, 2:261, 64:17, 57:11, 57:18.
• 11. Refer to Verses 4:38, 57:11, 57:18, 64:17.
• 12. Refer to Verses 2:143, 11:18, 16:84, 16:89, 24:24, 36:65.
• 13. The Holy Prophet Muhammad.
• 14. Refer to ‘Fiqh’.
• 15. Refer to ‘Fiqh’.