Exegesis of the statement: "And if you wish to replace one wife with another"
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The second question of Fatwa No. ( 5276 )
Q2:[An-Nisa 4:20] I hope you will explain these two verses .
A2: After Allah commanded husbands to treat their wives well and encouraged them to maintain the marital relationship, and warned them against mistreating or harming them in order to take back some of what they had given them as a bridal gift, He then prohibited them, if they wished to divorce in order to marry others in their place, from taking anything from what they had given them as a bridal gift, even if what they had given them at the time of marriage was very large. Then He affirmed His prohibition of that by His Exalted rebuking them for taking anything from it,
and they had entered into marriage with them and some of them had taken pleasure in some of them, and they had taken a great covenant from them to establish justice, preserve rights, treat them with kindness, and avoid sin and slander. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q2:
But if you want to replace one wife with another and you have given one of them a great amount [in gifts], do not take [back] from it anything
وَإِنْ أَرَدْتُمُ اسْتِبْدَالَ زَوْجٍ مَكَانَ زَوْجٍ وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُنَّ قِنْطَارًا فَلا تَأْخُذُوا مِنْهُ شَيْئًاA2: After Allah commanded husbands to treat their wives well and encouraged them to maintain the marital relationship, and warned them against mistreating or harming them in order to take back some of what they had given them as a bridal gift, He then prohibited them, if they wished to divorce in order to marry others in their place, from taking anything from what they had given them as a bridal gift, even if what they had given them at the time of marriage was very large. Then He affirmed His prohibition of that by His Exalted rebuking them for taking anything from it,
and they had entered into marriage with them and some of them had taken pleasure in some of them, and they had taken a great covenant from them to establish justice, preserve rights, treat them with kindness, and avoid sin and slander. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.