Surah An-Nisa – Mohamed Shaaban Abu Qarn

An-Nisa, "The Women", is the fourth surah of the Quran. A Medinan surah of 176 verses, it is 92nd in the traditional order of revelation. It sets out the rights of women, orphans and relatives, the rules of marriage and inheritance, and the principles of justice meant to govern the Muslim community, before turning to the hypocrites, the conduct of war and the People of the Book.

Name and context

The surah owes its name to the many rulings on women that it contains, from the dower to their share of inheritance. Ibn Mas'ud called At-Talaq "the shorter surah of women" (al-Bukhari 4532), An-Nisa being the longer one. Aisha said it was revealed while she was living with the Prophet ﷺ in Medina (al-Bukhari 4993). Commentators generally date most of it to the years after the battle of Uhud (3 AH), which left many widows and orphans; al-Bara' ibn Azib reported that its final verse (4:176), on inheritance, was the last verse revealed (al-Bukhari 4605).

Main themes

• Humanity created from a single soul, and the duty to fear God and honour the ties of kinship (4:1).
• The protection of orphans and their property (4:2–10).
• The shares of inheritance (4:11–14, completed by 4:176). Jabir ibn Abdullah related that 4:11 was revealed after he asked the Prophet, during an illness, what to do with his wealth (al-Bukhari 4577).
• Marriage: the dower, the women one may not marry, polygyny limited to four and conditioned on fairness (4:3), and reconciliation between spouses (4:19–35, 4:128–130).
• Justice: "God commands you to render trusts to their owners and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice" (4:58), and "Stand firm for justice, as witnesses for God, even against yourselves" (4:135).
• Obedience to God, the Messenger and those in authority (4:59); the hypocrites; fighting, migration (hijra) and the shortened prayer when travelling or in danger (4:60–104).
• The People of the Book: Jesus was neither killed nor crucified (4:157), and "Do not say 'Three'" (4:171).

Notable verses

Verses 4:48 and 4:116 state that God does not forgive the association of partners with Him but forgives what is less than that to whom He wills. Verse 4:28 recalls that "man was created weak", and 4:43 permits dry ablution (tayammum) when water cannot be used.

At the Prophet's request, Ibn Mas'ud once recited this surah to him. When he reached 4:41, "How will it be when We bring from every nation a witness, and bring you as a witness against these?", the Prophet said "Enough", and his eyes were streaming with tears (al-Bukhari 4582, Muslim 800).

The legislation of An-Nisa continues that of Al-Baqara and is completed in Al-Maeda.