The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 360
CH. 24 AN-NÜR PT. 18 اللهَ مِنْ بَعْدِ اِكْرَاهِهِنَّ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمُ by keeping them unmarried if they desire to keep chaste, in order that you may seek the gain of the present life. But if any one forces them, then after their compulsion Allah will be Forgiving and Merciful to them. 2616 2616. Important Words: (write it for them). 56 (kātaba) is derived from (kataba) which means, he wrote; he made a thing obligatory; or he prescribed a ie Allah has. كتب الله لاغلبن انا ورسلى. law decreed or has made it obligatory upon Himself that He and His Messengers will prevail (58:22). ☑6 means, he made a written contract with the slave that the latter shall pay a certain sum as the price of his emancipation and then he shall earn his freedom (Lane & Aqrab). This civil written contract by means of which a slave can earn his manumission is called ask (mukātabat). (keeping chaste) is derived from meaning, he or it was or became inaccessible, fortified or حصنت المرأة. protected against attack means, the woman was chaste i. e. protected herself against moral or means, the أحصنت المرأة sexual sinfulness woman got married or she was chaste. (taḥassana) means, he fortified himself or he entered the i. e. fortress; or he protected himself by it; he guarded or protected himself in any way. means, she was chaste (Lane & Aqrab). See also 4:25. The expression (if you 2274 know any good in them) may mean (1) if you know that they are fit to work and earn their living; (2) if you know that after their manumission they will become useful members of the society. Commentary: We maintain that of all Divine Messengers and Prophets of God, of all Founders of different creeds, Faiths and religious systems, of all social reformers and philanthropists and of all those teachers and leaders of men, who, at any time, in any land and in any form, contributed to the social uplift and moral and spiritual regeneration of humanity, the share of Muḥammad, the Holy Prophet of Islam, was by far the largest. And one of the greatest services to mankind of this greatest and noblest of men was his unequivocal and emphatic condemnation of, and the effective measures he took to abolish those social injustices that were practised by one section of humanity against another. His mind rebelled and revolted against the then prevalent idea that man could be bought, sold and treated by man like chattels. His ideal of human brotherhood and the inborn and inherent equality of all