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Ayah
Word by Word
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا
O
ٱلنَّاسُ
mankind
ٱتَّقُواْ
Fear
رَبَّكُمُ
your Lord
ٱلَّذِي
the One Who
خَلَقَكُم
created you
مِّن
from
نَّفۡسٖ
a soul
وَٰحِدَةٖ
single
وَخَلَقَ
and created
مِنۡهَا
from it
زَوۡجَهَا
its mate
وَبَثَّ
and dispersed
مِنۡهُمَا
from both of them
رِجَالٗا
men
كَثِيرٗا
many
وَنِسَآءٗۚ
and women
وَٱتَّقُواْ
And fear
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
ٱلَّذِي
(through) Whom
تَسَآءَلُونَ
you ask
بِهِۦ
[with it]
وَٱلۡأَرۡحَامَۚ
and the wombs
إِنَّ
Indeed
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
كَانَ
is
عَلَيۡكُمۡ
over you
رَقِيبٗا
Ever-Watchful
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا
O
ٱلنَّاسُ
mankind
ٱتَّقُواْ
Fear
رَبَّكُمُ
your Lord
ٱلَّذِي
the One Who
خَلَقَكُم
created you
مِّن
from
نَّفۡسٖ
a soul
وَٰحِدَةٖ
single
وَخَلَقَ
and created
مِنۡهَا
from it
زَوۡجَهَا
its mate
وَبَثَّ
and dispersed
مِنۡهُمَا
from both of them
رِجَالٗا
men
كَثِيرٗا
many
وَنِسَآءٗۚ
and women
وَٱتَّقُواْ
And fear
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
ٱلَّذِي
(through) Whom
تَسَآءَلُونَ
you ask
بِهِۦ
[with it]
وَٱلۡأَرۡحَامَۚ
and the wombs
إِنَّ
Indeed
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
كَانَ
is
عَلَيۡكُمۡ
over you
رَقِيبٗا
Ever-Watchful
Translation
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.5
Footnotes
1 In whose name.
2 i.e., request favors and demand rights.
3 i.e., fear Allāh in regard to relations of kinship.
4 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."
5 Ever-present and taking account of everything.
Tafsir
An-Nisaa' (the Women)
Medinese: [consisting of] 176 or 177 verses, revealed after [soorat] al-Mumtahana.
O people, of Mecca, fear your Lord, that is, His punishment by being obedient to Him, Who created you of a single soul, Adam, and from it created its mate, Eve (Hawwaa'), from one of his left ribs, and from the pair of them, Adam and Eve, scattered, separated and spread, many men and, many, women; and fear God by whom you claim [your rights] from one another (tassaa'aloona: the original taa' [of tatasaa'aloona] has been assimilated with the seen; a variant reading has tasaa'aloona), so that one of you says to the other, 'I ask you, by God.', or 'For God's sake.'; and, fear, kinship ties, lest you sever them (a variant reading [of wa'larhaama, 'and kinship ties'] is wa'l-arhaami, as a supplement to the pronoun contained in bihi [sc. God]). They used to implore one another by ties of kinship. Surely God has been watchful over you, heedful of your deeds, for which He will requite you, that is to say, He is ever possessed of such an attribute.
"Tafsir of Surah An-Nisa
The Command to have Taqwa, a Reminder about Creation, and Being Kind to Relatives
Allah says;
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ
O mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, Who created you from a single person,
Allah commands His creatures to have Taqwa of Him by worshipping Him Alone without partners.
He also reminds to them of His ability, in that He created them all from a single person, Adam, peace be unto him.
وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا
And from him He created his wife,
Hawwa' (Eve), who was created from Adam's left rib, from his back while he was sleeping. When Adam woke up and ﷺ Hawwa', he liked her and had affection for her, and she felt the same toward him.
An authentic Hadith states,
إِنَّ الْمَرْأَةَ خُلِقَتْ مِنْنِضلَعٍ وَإِنَّ أَعْوَجَ شَيْءٍ فِي الضِّلَعِ أَعْلَهُ فَإِنْ ذَهَبْتَ تُقِيمُهُ كَسَرْتَهُ وَإِنِ اسْتَمْتَعْتَ بِهَا اسْتَمْتَعْتَ بِهَا وَفِيهَا عِوَج
Woman was created from a rib. Verily, the most curved portion of the rib is its upper part, so, if you should try to straighten it, you will break it, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked.
Allah's statement,
وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالاً كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاء
And from them both He created many men and women;
means, Allah created from Adam and Hawwa' many men and women and distributed them throughout the world in various shapes, characteristics, colors and languages. In the end, their gathering and return will be to Allah.
Allah then said,
وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءلُونَ بِهِ وَالَارْحَامَ
And have Taqwa of Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights) and revere the wombs,
protect yourself from Allah by your acts of obedience to Him.
Allah's statement,
الَّذِي تَسَاءلُونَ بِهِ
(through Whom you demand your mutual (rights)),
According to Ibrahim, Mujahid and Al-Hasan,
is in reference to when some people say, ""I ask you by Allah, and then by the relation of the Rahim (the womb, i.e. my relationship to you).""
Ad-Dahhak said;
""Fear Allah Whom you invoke when you conduct transactions and contracts.""
Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Ad-Dahhak, Ar-Rabi, and others have stated,
""And revere the womb by not cutting the relations of the womb, but keep and honor them.
Allah's statement,
إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
Surely, Allah is always watching over you.
means, He watches all your deeds and sees your every circumstance.
In another Ayah, Allah said;
وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
And Allah is Witness over all things. (58:6)
An authentic Hadith states,
اعْبُدِاللهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاك
Worship Allah as if you see Him, for even though you cannot see Him, He sees you.
This part of the Ayah encourages having a sense of certainty that Allah is always watching, in a complete and perfect manner.
Allah mentioned that He has created mankind from a single father and a single mother, so that they feel compassion for each other and are kind to the weaker among them.
In his Sahih, Muslim recorded that Jarir bin Abdullah Al-Bajali said that;
a delegation from Mudar came to the Messenger of Allah, and he ﷺ their state, wearing striped woolen clothes due to poverty. After the Zuhr prayer, the Messenger of Allah stood up and gave a speech in which he recited,
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ
(O mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, Who created you from a single person), until the end of the Ayah. He also recited,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ امَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ
(O you who believe! Have Taqwa of Allah. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the tomorrow). (59:18)
He also encouraged them to give charity, saying,
تَصَدَّقَ رَجُلٌ مِنْ دِينَارِهِ مِنْ دِرْهَمِهِ مِنْ صَاعِ بُرِّهِ مِنْ صَاعِ تَمْرِه
A man gave Sadaqah from his Dinar, from his Dirham, from his Sa` of wheat, from his Sa` of dates... until the end of the Hadith.
This narration was also collected by Ahmad and the Sunan compilers from Ibn Mas`ud."
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