يَسْتَفْتُ

4:4.

Important Words:

یستفتونك (they seek of thee the decision of the Law) and یفتیکم (gives you His decision) are both derived from فتو or فتی i.e.he was or became youthful, or he was in the prime of life. فتا الرجل means, he surpassed the man in فتوة i.e. in generosity. افتاه فی الامر means, he made known or explained to him the decision of the Shari‘ah respecting the matter; or he gave him an answer stating the decision of the Law respecting a question. استفتیت الفقیه فی الامر means, I asked or sought of the jurist or the lawyer or the learned man the decision of the Shari‘ah respecting the matter. فتوی therefore means, an explanation or notification or pronouncement of the decision of the Law in some dubious or difficult matter given by a jurist or a lawyer or a man learned in religious Law. استفتاء means, asking or seeking of a jurist or a lawyer or a learned man the decision of the Law (Shari‘ah) in a certain dubious or difficult matter (Lane & Aqrab). The expression إفتا rendered in the verse as gives you the decision, is also sometimes used in the sense of permitting or giving permission, as in the well-known hadith الاثم ماحك فی صدرك وان افتاك الناس i.e. a sin is that which pricks in thy mind even if people should say that it is permissible (Lisan). In this case the Quranic clause الله یفتیکم rendered as, Allah gives you His decision, may also be translated as "Allah gives you permission".

Commentary:

The verse which has been differently translated is considered to be a rather difficult one. The decision spoken of in the clause, Allah gives you His decision, refers to what follows in the succeeding verses, i.e. 4:129-131.

The allusion in the words, that which is recited to you in the Book, is to verse 4:4 in the beginning of the present Surah. It was prohibited to Muslims to marry those orphan girls whose rights they could not adequately discharge. ‘Umar, the Holy Prophet’s Second Successor, would not allow the guardians of wealthy and handsome orphan girls to marry them but would insist on better husbands being found for them. On the other hand, if they were not so wealthy or handsome, he recommended them to their guardians for marriage so that, being acquainted with their defects and weaknesses, they might overlook their shortcomings and deal kindly with them. For further instructions about good treatment of orphans; see 4: 6, 7.

Generally speaking the clause, Allah gives you His decision regarding them (women) and so does that which is recited to you in the Book concerning the orphan girls, means that some instructions about women have already been given in the Quran and other instructions follow.

4:13.

4:12.

4:27.

Important Words:

For the meaning of the word کلالة see 4:13.

Commentary:

ولد (child) means, child or children whether male or female, but as کلالة (kalalah) means, one having no child and no parent, the words ولا والد (and neither parent) may be taken as being understood after the words لیس له ولد. The word اثنتین (lit. two) here means two or more sisters. This meaning is supported by a verdict of the Holy Prophet in which he applied this verse to the case of Jabir who died, leaving seven sisters (Jarir, vi. 24). The word اخوة (brethren) here includes sisters and brothers both, as the words رجالا و نساء (both men and women), forming case in apposition with اخوة indicate.

This verse, placed as it is in between the verses dealing with the Christians and their false doctrines, appears to be rather misplaced. But as the following note will show, it is very fittingly placed here, furnishing a striking proof of the Quran as well as its present arrangement being the work of God.

In 4:13 mention was made of one kind of Kalalah (one who leaves behind neither a parent nor an offspring) who had brothers and sisters from the side of his mother only. The present verse refers to a Kalalah who has brothers and sisters from both his parents, or from the side of his father only. By comparing the verse under comment with 4:13 it becomes clear that for obvious reasons the share allotted to the former class of brothers and sisters is less than that allotted to those of the latter class.

This part of the law of inheritance has been purposely treated separately from the main portion of the law dealt with in 4:12, 13 in the beginning of the Surah. The object in doing so is not far to seek. After dealing at some length with the charges levelled against Jesus by the Jews and clearing his position, the Quran reverts to the subject of Kalalah at the end of the Surah, thus seeking (beside completing the law relating to Kalalah) to draw, by a most fitting parable, our attention to the spiritual heirlessness of Jesus who, in a sense, was also a Kalalah. He was born without the agency of a father, and he left behind no spiritual successor to succeed him in his prophetic office, which was, after his death, inherited by the Ishmaelites. In this case the words, If a man dies, leaving no child, may also signify that Jesus was a Kalalah, not in the sense that spiritually speaking he had neither parents nor child, but in the restricted sense that he had no child. See 4:13 under Important Words where Ibn ‘Abbas defines a Kalalah as simply one who leaves no child. Thus Jesus was spiritually a Kalalah in the sense that he left behind no spiritual successor. Compare also the prophecy, "I will raise them a prophet from among their brethren" (Deut. 18:18).