Exegesis of the verse: ((And if you wish to replace one wife with another, even if you have given one of them a qintar...))

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said:

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. Would you take it in injustice and manifest sin?

وَإِنْ أَرَدتُّمُ اسْتِبْدَالَ زَوْجٍ مَّكَانَ زَوْجٍ وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُنَّ قِنطَاراً فَلاَ تَأْخُذُواْ مِنْهُ شَيْئاً أَتَأْخُذُونَهُ بُهْتَاناً وَإِثْماً مُّبِيناً

[An-Nisa 4:20]

If you wish

إن أردتم

means you have chosen; here, the intention refers to will and choice. And His saying:

To replace one wife

استبدال زوج

means taking a wife in place of a wife; that is, you wished to seek a first wife and take a new wife in her place.

And you have given one of them a qintar

وآتيتم إحداهن قنطارا

One of them

إحداهن

the first or the second? One of them. The verse is ambiguous, but since the matter involves a replacement, the one being replaced is the first wife; that is, you gave one of them, and she is the first wife. However, it is also valid that it refers to the second wife, in the case where a man marries a second wife but does not desire her and wishes to divorce her, so the verse is general for this and that. And His saying:

You have given

آتيتم

with the alif elongated.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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