ٱلنِّسَاء : ٤

  • وَءَاتُواْ And give
  • ٱلنِّسَآءَ the women
  • صَدُقَٰتِهِنَّ their dower
  • نِحۡلَةٗۚ graciously
  • فَإِن But if
  • طِبۡنَ they remit
  • لَكُمۡ to you
  • عَن of
  • شَيۡءٖ anything
  • مِّنۡهُ of it
  • نَفۡسٗا (on their) own
  • فَكُلُوهُ then eat it
  • هَنِيٓـٔٗا (in) satisfaction
  • مَّرِيٓـٔٗا (and) ease
And give the women [upon marriage] their [bridal] gifts1 graciously. But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then take it in satisfaction and ease.2
Footnotes
1 The obligatory bridal gift (mahr).
2 Knowing that it is lawful.
And give women their dowries (saduqaat, plural of sudqa), their bridal money (mahr, muhoor), as a free gift (nihlatan, is a verbal noun), a present given out of the kindness of one's heart; but if they are pleased to offer you any of it of their own accord (nafsan, 'of their own accord', is for specification and is taken from the subject of the verb [thus, it refers back to 'they', the women]), meaning, [if] their own selves are pleased that you should have something of the dowry and they give it to you then, consume it with, good, wholesome appetite, a praiseworthy consequence, with no harm therein for you with regard to the Hereafter: this was revealed in response to those who were opposed to this [consumption].