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Chapter 4

Womenal-Nisāʾ ( النساء )

176 verses • revealed at Medinan

»The surah that enshrines the spiritual-, property-, lineage-, and marriage-rights and obligations of Women. It makes frequent reference to matters concerning women (nisāʾ), hence its name. The surah gives a number of instructions, urging justice to children and orphans, and mentioning inheritance and marriage laws. In the first and last verses of the surah, it gives rulings on property and inheritance. The surah also talks of the tensions between the Muslim community in Medina and some of the People of the Book (verse 44 and verse 61), moving into a general discussion of war: it warns the Muslims to be cautious and to defend the weak and helpless (verse 71 ff.). Another similar theme is the intrigues of the hypocrites (verse 88 ff. and verse 138 ff.).«

The surah is also known as The Woman

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

(Saheeh International): In the name of Allāh, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

1
يا أَيُّهَا النّاسُ اتَّقوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذي خَلَقَكُم مِن نَفسٍ واحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنها زَوجَها وَبَثَّ مِنهُما رِجالًا كَثيرًا وَنِساءً ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذي تَساءَلونَ بِهِ وَالأَرحامَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ عَلَيكُم رَقيبًا

(Saheeh International)

An-Nisā’: The Women.
O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allāh, through whom1 you ask one another,2 and the wombs.3 Indeed Allāh is ever,4 over you, an Observer.
  • In whose name.
  • i.e., request favors and demand rights.
  • i.e., fear Allāh in regard to relations of kinship.
  • When used in conjunction with Allāh's attributes, the word "ever" (occurring repeatedly throughout this sūrah and elsewhere, such as in Sūrah al-Aḥzāb) is quite inadequate in imparting the sense of continuation expressed by the word "kāna" in Arabic, which indicates "always was, is, and always will be."