Women (Al-Nesaa)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ People, have fear of your Lord who has created you from a single soul. From it He created your spouse and through them He populated the land with many men and women. Have fear of the One by whose Name you swear to settle your differences and have respect for your relatives. God certainly keeps watch over you. 1 Give the orphans the possessions that belong to them, do not exchange good things with bad and do not consume their property, adding it to your own. Surely, this is a great crime. 2 And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course. 3 Pay the women their dowry as though it were a gift. However, if they allow you to keep a part of it as a favor to you, you may spend it with pleasure. 4 And do not give the foolish their wealth which is in your custody – those for whom Allah has put you in charge to maintain (look after) – and feed and clothe them from it, and speak kindly to them. 5 Keep a close check on orphans till they attain the age of marriage; then, if you find them to be mature of mind, hand over their property to them. Do not consume it by wasteful spending, before they come of age. If the guardian is affluent, let him abstain altogether, and if he is poor, let him have for himself what is just and reasonable. When you hand over their property to them, call witnesses in their presence; God is sufficient as a Reckoner. 6 Just as there is a share for men in what their parents and kinsfolk leave behind, so there is a share for women in what their parents and kinsfolk leave behind - be it little or much - a share ordained (by Allah). 7 If other near of kin orphans and needy are pre sent at the time of division of inheritance give them some thing of it and speak to them kindly. 8 And let them stand in awe [of God,] those [legal heirs] - who, if they [themselves] had to leave behind weak offspring, would feel fear on their account - and let them remain conscious of God, and let them speak [to the poor] in a just manner. 9 Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire! 10