Sūrah An-Nisāʾ The Women
النساء
176 verses, Madanī. One of the major legislative surahs: marriage and its conditions, inheritance law, the rights of orphans, the status of women, treatment of the People of the Book, and the nature of the hypocrites. Ibn Kathīr's commentary is extensive on the inheritance verses.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr
Created from one soul (4:1): The surah opens with the origin of humanity from a single soul (nafs wāḥidah) Ādam ﷺ and from it his mate Ḥawwāʾ. This establishes equality in origin before legislating differences in role.
Inheritance (4:11–12, 4:176): Ibn Kathīr calls the ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ (science of inheritance) half of all knowledge, citing the Prophet's ﷺ ḥadīth. He details the precise shares daughters receive half of sons' shares, the mother's shares, the spouse shares and explains the ʿAwl (proportional reduction) principle.
Obedience within marriage (4:34): Ibn Kathīr addresses qiwāmah the man's role as protector and maintainer and the three-stage process for marital discord: counsel, then separation in bed, then light physical reminder. He notes the Prophet ﷺ never struck a woman.
- The seven prohibited combinations in marriage (4:23): Ibn Kathīr lists the women forbidden to marry: mothers, daughters, sisters, paternal aunts, maternal aunts, nieces, foster mothers, foster sisters, mothers-in-law, stepdaughters, daughters-in-law, and sisters-in-law (simultaneously).
- ʿAdalah between wives (4:3): Marry two, three, or four but if you fear you will not be just, then one. Ibn Kathīr: this verse in fact restricts polygamy (from unlimited pre-Islamic practice) and ties it to a condition of justice.
- The hypocrites (4:88–89): Those who are neither with the believers nor with the disbelievers sitting on the fence. The ruling on them is to take no allies from among them unless they make a clear commitment.
- Shortening prayer in travel and fear (4:101–103): The first explicit Qurʾānic permission for qaṣr shortening the prayer. Fear prayer is also legislated here with one group praying while another guards.
- Obeying leadership (4:59): "O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you." Ibn Kathīr: obedience to leadership is obligatory in matters of obedience to Allah not in sin.