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(by compromising on their rights),83 for reconciliation is better. Man is prone to selfish- ness, but if you do good and are God-fearing, then surely Allah is aware of the things you do. (129) You will not be able to treat your wives with (absolute) justice not even if you keenly desire to do so. (It suffices in order to follow the Law of Allah that) you do not wholly incline to one, leaving the other in suspense.84 If you act rightly and remain God- fearing, surely Allah is All- Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (130) But if the two separate, out of His plenty Allah will make each dispense with the other. Indeed Allah is Most Bounteous, Most Wise. ▶
83 It is better for the spouses to come to a mutual understanding so that the wife may remain with the same man with whom she has already spent a part of her life.
84 Some people point out that the Qur’an in one breath stipulates justice as the necessary condition for plurality of wives and in the next declares it to be impossible. On this basis they conclude that the Qur’an has itself revoked the permission to marry more than one wife. There is, therefore, absolutely no justification for having a plurality of wives. Such an inference would have been justified had the Qur’an merely said that “You will not be able to treat your wives with (absolute) justice.” But the Qur’anic statement is followed by the direction: “… do not wholly incline to one, leaving the other in suspense.” This leaves no grounds at all for the blind followers of Christian Europe to force an interpretation of their liking on the verse.
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 131–5
(131) All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth belongs to Allah. We enjoined upon those who were given the Book before you, and also yourselves, to have fear of Allah. But if you disbelieve, then bear in mind that all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth belongs to Allah. Allah is Self-Sufficient, Most Praiseworthy. (132) To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; and Allah suffices for help and protection. (133) If He wills, He has full power to remove you, O mankind, and bring in others in your place. (134) He who desires the reward of this world, let him know that with Allah is the reward of this world and also of the World to Come. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.
(135) Believers! Be upholders of justice, and bearers of witness to Truth for the sake of Allah, even though it may be against yourselves or against your parents and kinsmen, or the rich or the poor, for Allah is more concerned with their well-being than you are. ▶
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 136–7
Do not, then, follow your own desires lest you keep away from justice. If you twist or turn away from (the Truth), know that Allah is well aware of all that you do.
(136) Believers! Believe in Allah and His Messenger and in the Book He has revealed to His Messenger, and in the Book He revealed before.85 And whoever disbelieves in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Messengers and in the Last Day,86 has indeed strayed far away. (137) Allah will neither forgive nor show the Right Way to those who believed, and then disbelieved, then believed, and again disbelieved, and thence- forth became ever more intense in their disbelief. ▶
85 To ask the believers to “believe” might at first sight seem strange. The fact is, however, that belief as used here has two meanings. In the first instance, belief denotes that a man has preferred to acknowledge the soundness of God’s true guidance, to distance himself from the fold of those who disbelieve, and to join the camp of the believers. In the second instance, however, belief denotes firm faith, a man’s believing in the Truth with all his heart, with full earnestness and sincerity. This verse is addressed to all those who are “believers” in the first sense of the term, and they are asked to transform themselves into true believers, i.e. believers in the second sense.
86 Kufr has two meanings. One signifies categorical rejection. The other signifies that pretence of belief even when one’s heart is not fully convinced or one’s conduct is flagrantly opposed to the demands of one’s belief.
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 138–42
(138) Give tidings of painful chastisement to the hypocrites (139) who take the unbelievers for their allies in preference to the believers. Do they seek honour from them whereas honour altogether belongs to Allah alone? (140) Allah has enjoined upon you in the Book that when you hear the Signs of Allah being rejected and scoffed at, you will not sit with them until they engage in some other talk, or else you will become like them. Know well, Allah will gather the hypocrites and the unbelievers in Hell – all together. (141) These hypocrites watch you closely: if victory is granted to you by Allah, they will say: “Were we not with you?” And were the unbelievers to gain the upper hand, they will say: “Did we not have mastery over you, and yet we protected you from the believers?” It is Allah Who will judge between you on the Day of Resurrection, and He will not allow the un- believers, in any way, to gain advantage over the believers.
(142) Behold, the hypocrites seek to delude Allah, but it is He Who has subjected them to delusion. ▶
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 143–6
When they rise to Prayer, they rise reluctantly, and only to be seen by people. They re- member Allah but little. (143) They dangle between the one and the other (that is, faith and unbelief), and belong fully neither to these nor to those. And he whom Allah lets go astray, for him you can find no way.87
(144) Believers! Do not take the unbelievers as your allies in preference to the believers. Do you wish to offer Allah a clear proof of guilt against yourselves? (145) Surely the hypocrites shall be in the lowest depth of the Fire and you shall find none to come to their help, (146) except those who repent and mend their ways and hold fast to Allah and devote their faith exclusively to Allah. ▶
87 Here an important fact has been stated about the person who has remained undirected to the Truth despite his acquaintance with the Book of God and the life of the Prophet (peace be on him). His case is of a person who was so averse to the Truth and so infatuated with error that even God let him go forth along the same erroneous direction that he had chosen for himself, a person on whom the door of true guidance was shut and the way towards error was made smooth and easy by God. It is virtually beyond the