Tafsir of Surat al-Nisa, Allah the Exalted said: ((O mankind, fear your Lord who created you from one soul...)).

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, , .
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said: This surah is Surat al-Nisa, and it is Medinan. The Medinan, according to the majority, is what was revealed after the Hijrah, and the Meccan is what was revealed before the Hijrah. So the Medinan is what was revealed after the Hijrah, even if it was not in Medina, and the Meccan is what was revealed before the Hijrah, even if it was not in Mecca. Accordingly, the criterion for determining what is Meccan and what is Medinan is time, not place. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) mentioned criteria for the Meccan and Medinan, and they mentioned known characteristics for the Meccan and Medinan in the science of the principles of tafsir. Among these is that the predominant feature of Meccan verses is brevity and strength, strength of style, and their subject matter is generally tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and what is related to it. As for Medinan verses, the predominant feature is ease and length of verses, and their subject matter is in the branch matters, such as sales, the etiquettes of gatherings, the etiquettes of seeking permission, and others. In the Meccan, the predominant form of address is to the general people because most of those addressed by it are not believers. In the Medinan, it is by this is the predominant form, because those addressed in it are all believers or most of them. This surah is Surat al-Nisa, and it was named this because of the mention of women in it. And as you know, it begins with the origin of the creation of the children of Adam, from where they were created. Then it mentions the kinship ties and what is connected to them, such as inheritance and others. Then it mentions what is related to marriage, because marriage is a bond between people, just as kinship is a bond between people, as Allah the Exalted said: . Then it mentions what is related to addressing the Jews and the hypocrites, and what is related to the circumstances of dispute between spouses, as will pass by us, if Allah wills. And this surah is the third surah after al-Fatihah, al-Baqarah, and Aal 'Imran. It is reported in Sahih Muslim from the hadith of Hudhayfah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited al-Baqarah, then al-Nisa, then Aal 'Imran. And this was in the beginning. Then afterwards, in the final arrangement, it became al-Baqarah, then Aal 'Imran, then al-Nisa. And the mushaf that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) then Uthman ibn 'Affan compiled settled on this. Allah Mighty and Majestic says: . The Basmalah is a distinct verse that is brought at the beginnings of the surahs, except for one surah, which is al-Bara'ah (Tawbah), for which no Basmalah was revealed. If a Basmalah had been revealed for it, it would have been preserved and placed in its place, because Allah the Exalted says: . But the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were confused about whether it was distinct or part of Surat al-Anfal, so they placed a separator between them solely because of the confusion. As for whether there is doubt in the revelation of the Basmalah or not, there is no doubt in this, because if the Basmalah had been revealed, it would have been preserved just as the other verses of the Qur'an are preserved. The correct view is that the Basmalah is not part of the surah before it, nor part of the surah after it, and it is not counted among their verses, neither in al-Fatihah nor in others. This is contrary to the view of some scholars who said that it is a verse of al-Fatihah and not of others. And the printing of the mushafs has proceeded on this basis, as the printing of the mushafs made the Basmalah a verse of al-Fatihah and not of others. And the correct view is that there is no difference, and that the Basmalah is not part of al-Fatihah. The evidence for this is what is established in the authentic hadith of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: قال الله تعالى: قسمت الصلاة بيني وبين عبدي نصفين فإذا قال: الحمد لله رب العالمين قال: حمدني عبدي Allah the Exalted said: I have divided the prayer between Me and My servant into two halves. When he says: All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, He says: My servant has praised Me. and he did not mention the Basmalah. And it also indicates this that if al-Fatihah is between Allah and His servant in two halves, it does not stand that the Basmalah is part of it. Because if we count the verses, we find them as follows: is a verse, is a verse, is a verse, these are three. is a verse, this is the fourth and it is the middle, and it is the one between Allah and the servant in two halves. is a verse, is a verse, is a verse, so the verses are harmonious. And the right of the Creator Mighty and Majestic is three distinct verses, which are the first ones, and the right of the servant is three distinct verses, which are the last verses, and the seventh is between them, its first part following the right of Allah and its second part following the right of the servant. And by this it is known that the Basmalah is not part of al-Fatihah. We have passed through its grammatical analysis. In what is the preposition and its object attached? There is what is better. According to the context, what is the context? I mean according to what it began with or what it was named after. If it is the Basmalah, the preposition and its object are attached to an omitted word, and this omitted word is a delayed verb estimated according to what it is named after. So if I want to read, the estimation is: In the name of Allah I read. If I want to slaughter: In the name of Allah I slaughter. If I want to perform wudu: In the name of Allah I perform wudu, and so on. And it was chosen that the verb be delayed for the sake of auspiciousness in beginning with "In the name of Allah" from one aspect, and to convey restriction from another aspect, because bringing forward what is due to be delayed conveys restriction. So it is as if you say: I do not read except in the name of Allah. And it was chosen to be a verb and not a noun — meaning we do not estimate: In the name of Allah is my reading, or In the name of Allah is my beginning — because the original in actions are verbs, not nouns. And therefore you do not find a noun that acts except with conditions, unlike verbs. And it was estimated to be appropriate to what it is named after because it is more appropriate, and because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: He said: Let him slaughter in the name of Allah. So a specific verb, which is slaughter, was estimated. As for the Glorious Name (al-Lafdh al-Jalla), it is a proper name specific to Allah Mighty and Majestic alone, and no other is named by it by consensus. And as for , it is also a proper name specific to Allah, and no other is named by it. And as for , it is a name for Allah Mighty and Majestic, a name from the names of Allah, a proper name for Him, but others are described with it, as He the Exalted said regarding the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . How do the people of the Sunnah interpret ? They interpret as the Possessor of Mercy, the Possessor of Mercy, which is an essential attribute related to the essence of Allah Mighty and Majestic, and among its effects are bestowing and doing good. And the people of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes) interpret it as doing good, saying: The Most Merciful is the one who does good, the one who bestows, or as the intention of doing good or bestowing, meaning the one who intends to do good or the one who intends to bestow, because they do not describe Allah with the attribute of mercy. And the same is said regarding . If someone asks: Are synonyms? The answer is: If one of them is mentioned alone without the other, it includes the other. And if both are mentioned together, al-Rahman is in terms of the attribute and al-Rahim is in terms of the action. Because al-Rahman is a form of intensive participle (fa'lan) that indicates the attribute, like ghadhaban (angry), sakran (drunk), nashwan (intoxicated), and the like. And al-Rahim indicates the action. So al-Rahman is in terms of the attribute of Allah Mighty and Majestic with mercy, and al-Rahim is in terms of His action, meaning in terms of His mercy for whom He shows mercy. Allah the Exalted said: .
He said: This sentence is a vocative phrase beginning with the letter yā, and the vocative is "ay", which is built on dammah in the position of accusative, and the hā' is for pointing out, and is an attribute of "ay" or an explanatory apposition, so it is built on dammah in the position of accusative. The address of "O people" is to all people, even though the surah is Medinan, to clarify that the message of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is general for all people. It is said that the original of "al-nās" (people) is "anās", and its hamzah was deleted for lightness due to frequent usage, just as the hamzah was deleted from "sharr" (evil) and "khayr" (good), whose original is "asharr" and "akhayr". You say: "This is better than this," meaning "akhayr" (better) than it; "This is worse than this," meaning "asharr" (worse) than it. But the hamzah was deleted from them for lightness due to frequent usage. The word is derived from "anās" (affinity), because humans, as it is said, are naturally civilized and need to feel affinity with one another. For this reason, you will not find anyone who loves seclusion except for a reason external to what Allah has created people with. Taqwa (piety) is from protection; it is that a person takes protection from the punishment of Allah by doing His commands and avoiding His prohibitions. "Rabb" (Lord) in His saying is the Creator, the Owner, and the Manager. So it includes these three meanings: Creator, meaning the One who brings into existence from nothing; second, Owner, in whose ownership no one shares with Him; and third, Manager of affairs according to what His wisdom requires. is an attribute of "Rabb," but it is a revealing attribute. The meaning of our saying "revealing" is clarifying, clarifying this Lordship or some of its meanings. We used the word "revealing" to avoid it being a restrictive attribute, because if we made it restrictive, there would be two Lords: a Lord who created us from one soul, and a Lord who did not create us from one soul. That is not the case. Rather, the One who created us from one soul is one Lord, so the attribute here is a revealing attribute, meaning it clarifies the meaning of Lordship or some of its meanings. "He created you" Does this soul refer to a specific soul, or is the soul meant as a genus? The apparent meaning is the first, that the soul refers to a specific soul, which is Adam (peace be upon him), the father of mankind. Allah the Exalted created him with His noble hand from clay and taught him the names of everything he needs, because he was created without anyone there to teach him language, so Allah the Exalted taught him the languages he needs. So the meaning of His saying is "from what he needs." And His saying means He created her spouse from this soul. It has come in the athar (narrations) that she was created from his right rib—Allah knows best—but it is established in the Sunnah that the woman was created from a rib. He did not say "his wives" because in eloquent language, "zawj" (spouse) is used for both the man and the woman. Its origin is the opposite of "odd" (witr), because when the wife joins her husband, she becomes a pair for him after he was alone. For this reason, it is said that the wife is a partner to her husband in life, because one joined the other. It means by this, or it is intended to mean, Eve. means He spread and brought forth from the soul and her spouse. These two categories do not exclude the children of Adam. As for the hermaphrodite, the hermaphrodite is either male or female or a combination of both, but it does not go beyond maleness or femaleness. And His saying He did not say "many women" because multiplicity in men is a source of pride, unlike multiplicity in women. Even though the reality is that women among the children of Adam are more numerous than men, as the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) deduced from the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): This is the reality. But multiplicity in men is a source of pride, and people boast of it, unlike women, for whom multiplicity is a burden, toil, and hardship. . The command to fear Him, Mighty and Majestic, was repeated because of its importance, because if a person is guided to the piety of Allah, his religious and worldly affairs will be rectified. And His saying in has two readings. The first is: as in the Mushaf, and the second is: The original of is "tatasā'alūna" (you ask one another), "tatasā'alūna bihi wa al-rahām" (you ask one another by it and by kinship), meaning some of you ask some of you by it for protection, saying: "I ask you by Allah to protect me," "I ask you by Allah not to harm me," "I ask you by Allah such and such" of what is asked. So Allah the Exalted is the One by whom people ask one another. And His saying has two readings: with kasrah (genitive) and with fathah (nominative). If it is with fathah, it is conjoined to His saying: meaning "and fear kinship, do not neglect them, do not fail in their rights." "Al-rahām" is the plural of "rahm" (womb) and means relatives. So in the verse there is a command to maintain kinship ties and fulfill their rights. As for the reading with kasrah , it is conjoined to the pronoun in "bihi" (by it), meaning: "You ask one another by it and by kinship." How do they ask by kinship? Asking by kinship is what was customary among the Arabs, where one says: "I ask you by Allah and by the womb," or he says: "I ask you by the womb between you and me." And because of their tribalism, they estimate the womb with great estimation and respect it and see its protection. For this reason, Allah the Exalted mentioned them with it and said: "And fear Allah by whom you ask one another and by kinship." If someone asks: Is there a contradiction between the two readings ? The answer is: No. And the two readings in reality turn the word into two words. Either the reading is an explanation of one of the readings, meaning each reading explains the other, or the second reading came with a new meaning. Here, the two readings: is one explaining the other, or did each come with a new meaning? Each came with a new meaning. The reading with nashb (accusative) contains the command to fear kinship, meaning to avoid failing in their rights. And the second verse contains the reminder that people ask one another by kinship, and they did not ask by it except because of the greatness of its right between them. When He commanded to fear Him, Mighty and Majestic, twice in the verse, He said: meaning He watches you in all your states. Have you feared Allah or not? Have you feared kinship and fulfilled their duty or not? This is the meaning of His saying: And He concluded the verse with this phrase to intend a threat of disobedience, just as if you said to one of your children: "Do such and such, and I am watching you." This means that you are threatening him not to disobey, and that if he disobeys, he will find his punishment.