The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 199
PT. 5 AN-NISA' means, tears began to flow. Thus the word is both transitive and intransitive. a means, he vied with the other party in shedding blood; he committed fornication. fornicator and fornicatress (Lane & Aqrab). مسافحة means, a means, a CH. 4 means women prisoners only. The term has been used by the Quran in preference to or (slaves and bondwomen) to point to just and rightful possession, the word (right hands) also pointing to the same fact. اجر dowries) is the plural of) اجور which means, reward or wages. means, dowry of a woman (Tāj). Also, in 33:51 the word has been used in the sense of dowry. the benefit you receive) is) استمتعتم. i. e متعها بكذا They say متع formed from he gave her (his wife) such a thing. means, he benefited by the تمتع بالمرأة woman temporarily means, he benefited by it for a long time. The Arabic idiom does not countenance the use of with regard to a woman in the sense of temporary connection (Lisān). It must also be noted that whenever the noun (tamattu') is used to temporary connection with a woman, it is followed by the preposition (bā) put before the word standing for the woman, as in the above example. denote to فما استمتعم به منهن But in the expression pronoun referring to women is preceded by the preposition. (what your right hands possess). The Arabs says i. e. he or it is in the possession of my right hand, meaning, he or it is in my possession and I can deal with him or it as I like (Lisān & Aqrab). The expression generally signifies, men or women taken prisoner in war and being in the custody and control of their Muslim captors. In this verse, the expression 639 Commentary: The expression, such as your right hands possess, has been used in the Quran with regard to those men or women who took part in aggressive wars against Islam and fell prisoners into the hands of Muslims. The context, however, shows that the expression used in the present verse means female prisoners of war. Islam does not allow women taken prisoner in ordinary wars to be taken as wives. This exceptional injunction becomes operative only when a hostile nation wages a religious war against Islam with a view to extirpating it and compelling Muslims to abandon their religion at the point of the sword, and treats their prisoners as slaves, as was done in the days of the Holy Prophet when the enemy took away Muslim women as prisoners and treated them as slaves. The Islamic injunction was thus only a retaliatory measure and also served the additional purpose of protecting the morals of captive women who were generally in large numbers and whom war separated from their kith and kin. A people who seek to compel others to forsake their religion at the point of the sword and reduce them to slavery are mere brutes and not respectable human beings. They must be paid back in