The name of this surah is al-Nisa because it delves into the issues of women’s rights, their societal role, and household management. The detail with which affairs connected with household management are described in this section are not met with in the same detail in any other surah. The emphasis put on women’s right in the Quran is so great that by comparison not even a fraction of it is found in any other scripture. This surah has 24 sections and 176 verses.
Summary of chapter topics: There are three main topics in this chapter, namely the rights of orphans and women and relationship with them, hypocrites, and Jews. The key to the mutual relationship between these three is found in the closing part of the last surah where the battle of Uhad is discussed. The major issues that arose because of the battle were: First a number of Muslims were martyred and left behind many orphans and widows, and this gave rise to the necessity to discuss their rights. Second, the hypocrites chose not to participate in the battle. Brief reference is made to hypocrites in the discussion of the battle in the previous surah, but this chapter goes into much greater detail about them. Third, this battle manifested the hidden wickedness and enmity of the Jews. Although a brief reference is made to them towards the end of Surah Aal-Imran, in this surah there is a much more open discussion of their malice, and it is revealed that the Jews historically have made mischief for the righteous. In the same context, mention is made of how they treated the Messiah and against this background the surah mentions in the end how the Christians are guilty of exaggerating the Messiah’s status.
Summary of Sections: For greater detail, sectional summaries follow: The first section gives the rights of orphans and the responsibilities of the guardians and in the same context some attention is drawn towards the rights of women because being the weaker and frailer sex their rights, like the rights of orphans, were frequently trampled under the feet. The law of inheritance is discussed in detail in the second section and inheritance shares are fixed for children, parents, husband and wife and kinsfolk. The third section mentions how women should be treated. The fourth section lists those women with whom marriage is permissible. In the fifth section, after some general advice, and prohibiting the appropriation of property belonging to others, as was commonly done with the property of women and orphans in Arabia, the principle is laid down that women have the same rights to their property as men have to theirs. In the sixth section, the issue of discord between husband and wife is discussed and an attitude of forgiveness and kindness is recommended for resolution. Further, niggardliness is denounced, unity is emphasized, and people are cautioned against disobeying the prophet. The seventh section draws attention to the real purpose, that is the cleansing of the soul, and since prayer is the most efficacious way for purifying the soul, certain commands are given with regard to prayer, ablution and dry ablution ( تیمّم). A warning is given to the Muslims citing the example of Jews who had become divorced from the Source of Purity, that is the Being of Allah, and thrown far away from Him because of indulging in impurities. Instructions are also given for protection against the dangerous effects of polytheism. The eighth section relates how the Jews deviated from the commandments of God and followed the devil. Muslims are instructed not to hand over their affairs to incompetent persons and to obey Allah, His Messenger and those in charge of affairs. If there is a disagreement with those who are in charge of affairs, then they should obey Allah and His Messenger. The nineth section informs that those who do not obey the Messenger and do not implement his commands are hypocrites while those who obey Allah and His Messenger will receive great reward and join the company of the truthful and faithful and martyrs. The tenth section narrates that fighting has become necessary for defensive purpose, but the hypocrites do not participate in fighting as they prefer their ease and comfort even though many defenseless men, women and children are suffering from the abuses of the unbelievers. The eleventh section states that to avoid difficulties, the hypocrites make excuses not to participate in battles, and conspire against the Holy Prophet, and seek to spread confusion among the Muslims. The twelfth section informs how to deal with the hypocrites. The thirteenth section spells out the punishment for killing a believer and the believers are advised not to consider every individual as their enemy. There is nevertheless a need to conduct jihad in the way of Allah and the status of an Islamic warrior is far higher than one who sits at home and does not fight. The fourteenth section mentions those weak folks who had not ben able to migrate. The fifteenth section states that although there will be a need to fight battles, but prayer (which is the real purpose) must not be missed and should be offered in congregation even during a battle. The sixteenth and seventeenth sections mention the secret counsels of the hypocrites. The eighteenth section emphasizes the need for protection from every aspect of polytheism. The nineteenth section reiterates the good treatment of orphans and women. The twentieth section emphasizes doing justice with all whether kith and kin or strangers. It also mentions that those who believe and then become unbelievers, that is hypocrites, will never succeed. The twenty-first section mentions the punishment of hypocrites. The twenty-second section draws attention to the errors and mischief of Jews and states how they falsely accused a pious woman Mary and tried to get her son, the Messiah, punished by crucifixion to prove him accursed, but God saved that pious person from death by crucifixion and elevated him to the status of being near to Him. Their other acts of mischief are also mentioned. The twenty-third section draws attention to the truthfulness of the Holy Prophet and that Allah has communicated in the same way with all His prophets. Just as He made people aware by communicating the way of His approval and pleasure to previous prophets, He has now opened the way to His approval and pleasure through the Holy Prophet. The Ahle Kitab are told that the Jews stand guilty of torturing the Messiah, the Christians are guilty of exaggerating the status of the Messiah and elevating a man to the status of God. The twenty-fourth section states that the Messiah was a human and in this is his majesty. The chapter is ended with another issue of inheritance, whose purport is to show that the inheritance of prophethood has now passed from Bani Israel to Bani Ishmael.
Relationship with prior surahs: The real purport of Surah Bakarah and Surah Aal-Imran is to inform how the Muslims can become a successful and living nation. It is necessary after this to give advice on internal national affairs. Because the foundation of national life rests on the relationship between husband and wife, it became necessary in the arrangement of the Quran after the first two chapters to give instructions on the subject that is mentioned in this chapter, that is Surah al-Nisa. The correct principles of societal roles is very important in national life and world events bear testimony to this because in the overall organizational system of a nation, the household is the basic unit. The Holy Prophet has also drawn attention to this when he said: خیر کم خیر کم لا ھله and in this way he communicated that the best among the Muslims are those who are best in their household relationships, that is, in how they treat their wives, and the manners they exhibit in their homes becomes a measure of the manner in which they treat others in their various relationships. There is also another way this surah relates to the previous one. Towards the end of the last surah, there was a description of the events of the battle of Uhad and this surah delves into the fallout of the battle as is mentioned in the summary of this surah at the start of the introduction. The natural sequence, therefore, is to keep Surah al-Nisa after Surah Aal-Imran.
Period of revelation: As is clear from the introductory notes, the revelation of this surah was after the Battle of Uhad and most of the surah was revealed in the fourth year of hijra but some verses seem to have been revealed at a later date.
A narration by Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, in Bukhari states that Surah al-Nisa was revealed when she was married to the Holy Prophet. There is no doubt, therefore that its revelation took place in Madinah. There is one verse about which it can be said that it was revealed in Makkah, namely: إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأمُرُكُم أَن تُؤَدُّوا الأَماناتِ إِلىٰ أَهلِها (Surely Allah commands you to make over trusts to those worthy of them) (4:58). The occasion of the revelation of the verse is the event of the key of Kabbah that is, the return of the key of Kabbah to Usman, the original trustee of the key, at the time of the conquest of Makkah. Even if it is accepted that the revelation of this verse is in Makkah and took place on the day of the conquest of the city, in the conventional phraseology, it will not be considered Makkan because everything that was revealed after hijra belongs to the Madinah period even if the revelation took place in Makkah. The real division is prior to hijra and post hijra because there seems to be a clear distinction between the revelation of the two periods. Prior to hijra, the revelation focuses on principles, such as discussion of unity of Allah, prophethood etcetera while post hijra the emphasis is mostly on shariah because the need for details of shariah arose after hijra when the Muslims started living separately with the coloring of a nation. It is however correct that the revelation of the long surahs took place over an extended period of time, and this is particularly true of the Madinah revelations because the details of shariah were revealed at different times. It is entirely conceivable, as is the case with Surah Bakarah which was mostly revealed in the first year after hijra, that there are some verses belonging to a much later period, as for example the verse about usury in Surah Bakarah. Similarly, in this surah there may be some verses of a much later period. The verses in surah Ahzab in which mention is made about the marriages of the Holy Prophet when read with the verses about polygamy in this surah shows that the verses about polygamy are from a later period, that is of a period close to the conquest of Makkah. A detailed discussion on this is given in another place.
Bayan-ul-Quran 