His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And do not approach the wealth of the orphan except in the best way until he reaches maturity. And fulfill the covenant. Indeed, the covenant was a responsibility.﴾ ﴿And give full measure when you measure, and weigh with an even balance. That is better and more favorable in the end.﴾ ﴿And do not follow that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight, and the heart, all of those will be questioned.﴾

The address in this verse is to the guardians who are appointed to manage the wealth of orphans. Then it is for anyone who has taken on something of their affairs without being a guardian. And "the orphan" refers to the individual among children, and "orphanhood" means being alone. It is said: the boy becomes orphaned if he loses his father. Ibn al-Sikkit said: orphanhood in humans is from the father, and in animals, it is from the mother. In the book of al-Mawardi, it is stated that orphanhood in humans is also from the mother. The plural of orphan is "aytam," like "sharif" and "ashraf," and "shahid" and "ashhad." And "yatama" is plural like "asir" and "asari," as if it refers to the disliked matters that come upon a person by force. Ibn Sidah said: Ibn al-A'rabi narrated "yatman" in "yateem," and he recited in that:

I spent the night roasting my child and my wife, Fresh and the wolf's cub is an orphan, hungry.

And it is permissible that "yatama" is the plural of "yatman." And in the hadith: "There is no orphanhood after maturity." And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿except in the best way﴾ means: except in the best conditions.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is for the wealthy guardian, to invest the wealth and protect it, and not to withhold anything from it regarding benefiting from it. This is piety, and it is preferable that he not engage in the wealth of the orphan and be miserly with it. The understanding is that you should assign him a wage. As for the poor guardian who is preoccupied with the wealth of the orphan from his livelihood, people have differed regarding his eating from it justly. How is it? Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: He may take a loan from it, and if he becomes wealthy, he returns it. Ibn al-Musayyib said: He should not drink water from the wealth of the orphan. It was said: What is the meaning of: ﴿So let him eat in a good manner﴾ [An-Nisa: 6]? He said: That is for his service and washing his clothes. Mujahid said: He should not approach except through trade and should not borrow from it. He said: And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So let him eat in a good manner﴾ [An-Nisa: 6] is from his own wealth. Abu Yusuf said: Perhaps His saying: ﴿So let him eat in a good manner﴾ [An-Nisa: 6] is abrogated by His saying: ﴿And do not consume one another's wealth unjustly﴾ [An-Nisa: 29]. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, said: He may eat from it a sip of milk, and a piece of fruit, and similar things that serve him, and he may water the pond, and tend to the palm trees, and search for the lost, so he eats without harming the offspring, nor being excessive in milking. Zayd ibn Aslam said: He eats from it with the tips of his fingers a portion of sustenance through his effort.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is a metaphor for scarcity. Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, and others said: He takes a wage according to his effort. All of this falls under what is better. The complete interpretation of these meanings is in Surah An-Nisa according to the words of those verses. In the report from Qatadah, it is said that when this verse was revealed, it was difficult for the Muslims, and they avoided eating with them in a plate. Then the verse was revealed: "And if you mix with them, they are your brothers, and Allah knows the corruptor from the reformer" [Al-Baqarah: 220].

And His saying, the Exalted: "Until he reaches maturity" is the limit of withholding from the wealth of the orphan. Then what comes after the limit has been legislated by another verse. What comes after these limits is always suspended until there is a legal evidence for it, or it necessitates fairness in the incident. An example of this is the saying of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her: "I untied the necklaces of the sacrificial animals of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, with my own hands, and I sent them, and nothing was forbidden to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, of what Allah has made lawful for him until he slaughtered the sacrificial animal."

And "the maturity" is the plural of (shadd) according to Sibawayh. Abu Ubaidah said: There is no singular for it from its wording. Its meaning is: his strength in intellect, experience, and consideration for himself. This does not occur except with reaching puberty. Thus, the maturity in the view of Malik is the conjunction of puberty with wet dreams or what takes its place according to the disagreement in that, and the maturity in wealth. It has been differed whether there is a condition of that maturity in religion according to two opinions: Ibn al-Qasim does not consider it if he is competent in his wealth, while others from some of Malik's companions consider it. The view of Abu Hanifah is that maturity is only puberty, so there is no restriction upon a mature person unless he is known to have foolishness.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I do not subscribe to this restriction in his saying on certainty.

And Abu Ishaq Al-Zajjaj said: The maturity in his saying is that he reaches eighteen years of age.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: He only meant that this is part of what has been said regarding the limit of puberty for one who does not experience wet dreams. As for being a mature and sane person, his wealth is not to be given to him until he reaches this period, and I do not remember anyone saying this.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And fulfill the covenant" is a general term for every covenant and contract between a person and his Lord, or between him and the creatures in obedience. And His saying: "Indeed, the covenant was questioned" means: it is required from whom it was entrusted to or who was entrusted, whether he fulfilled it or not.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And fulfill the measure when you measure" is the verse. Allah, the Exalted, commanded in this verse the people of trade in weighing and measuring to give the right in their measuring and weighing. It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, that he used to stand in the market and say: O assembly of clients, you have been entrusted with two matters by which the destruction of the people before you occurred: this measure and this scale.

This verse necessitates that the measurement is upon the seller; for the buyer is not told, "Fulfill the measurement." This is the apparent meaning of the wording and its preceding context. Al-‘Qistas, Al-Hasan said, is the scale, and it is also said to be Al-Qaffan, which refers to those who measure. It is also said to be Al-Qartasun. It was said that Al-Qistas is the balance, whether it is small or large. Mujahid said: Al-Qistas means justice, and he used to say: It is a Roman language, as if the people were told: Weigh with fairness in your measurements. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, Ibn 'Amir, and 'Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - read: "Al-Qistas" with a Dhamma on the Qaf. Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Hafs from 'Asim read: "Al-Qistas" with a Kasra, and these are two dialects. The wording of it is for exaggeration from Al-Qist, and what is meant by it in the verse is the type of just scales, regardless of their description.

Abu Hatim said: "Only the people of Kufa read with a Kasra on the Qaf, and any reading that does not go beyond Kufa to the two Sacred Places and Basra, read it differently." A group read: "With Al-Qisṭās" with a Sad.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Mujahid's view in this and in the balance of the Day of Resurrection, and all of that, is that they are metaphors for justice. His saying: "The balance of the Day of Resurrection" is rejected, and the belief of the people of Sunnah is that it is a balance that has a pole and two pans. I heard my father, may Allah be pleased with him, say: I saw the preacher Abu al-Fadl al-Jawhari in the mosque of 'Amr ibn al-'As preaching to the people about weighing, and he said in the midst of his speech: The form of the hand with the balance is a lesson, and that is because the fingers come from it the shape of the written: Alif and Lam and Ha, so it is as if the balance says: Allah, Allah.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is a beautiful admonition.

And the "interpretation" in this verse is the outcome, as said by Qatadah. It is possible that "interpretation" is the source of Ta'awwala, meaning: Goodness will be interpreted for you in all your affairs if you are good in measurement and weighing.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The purpose of measurement and weighing is to seek the truth. If a person is overcome after seeking something trivial from rare cheating, which he did not intend, then that is a minor matter for which his sin is lifted, and that is what cannot be avoided within one's capacity.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And do not follow" means: Do not say and do not follow.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: But it is a term used in accusation and admonition, and from it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "We are the sons of Al-Nadr; we do not follow our mother nor deny our father." And you say: So-and-so is my Qifwati, meaning: the place of my accusation. And you say: "Perhaps the listener of my excuse has not heard my Qifwat," meaning: what I threw at him. And this is a metaphor for one who divulges his secret and excuses himself from a sin that the one to whom he is apologizing has not heard. Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, also said, and Mujahid: "And do not follow" means: Do not throw. And from this wording is the saying of the poet:

And like the dolls, the shameless ones are settled, With them, modesty does not shine.

The origin of this word is from following the trace. You say: I followed the trace. It resembles that this is from 'the back', and from it is the rhyme of poetry because it follows the verse. You say: 'I followed the trace', and from this is the follower. You say: 'I surpassed the trace' by placing the letter 'fa' before 'qaf'. It resembles that this may be from the playfulness of the Arabs with some words, as they said: 'Ramalī' instead of 'La'mrī'. Al-Tabarī reported from a group that they said: 'Qafa' and 'Qaf', similar to 'ʿatā' and 'ʿāt'. So the meaning of the verse is: And do not follow your tongue in saying what you have no knowledge of. Al-Mundhir ibn Saʿīd went to say that 'Qafa' and 'Qaf' are like 'Jadhaba' and 'Jabadha'. Thus, this verse generally prohibits false speech and slander and similar kinds of false and vile sayings.

The majority read: 'And do not follow', while some people - as reported by Al-Kisāʾī - read: 'And do not stop' with a damm on the 'qaf' and a sukoon on the 'fa'.

Al-Jarrah read: 'And the heart' with a fatha on the 'fa', which is a dialect, and Abu Ḥātim and others denied it. He expressed 'hearing, sight, and heart' with 'those' because they are senses that have perception. He made them in this verse accountable, as they are the state of one who understands. Therefore, he expressed it with 'those'. Sibawayh, may Allah have mercy on him, said regarding His saying: 'I saw them prostrating' [Yusuf: 4]: He only said: 'I saw them' in plural because when he described them with prostration, which is an act of one who understands, he expressed it with a metaphor of one who understands. Al-Zajjāj reported that the Arabs express what can be understood and what cannot be understood with perception. He and Al-Tabarī recited:

'Condemned are the abodes after the abode of Al-Luwa, and life after those days.'

As for the narration of Abu Ishaq regarding the language, it is a matter to be paused at. As for the verse, the narration is 'the peoples', and the pronoun in 'about which he has no knowledge' returns to what a person has no knowledge of. The meaning is that Allah, the Exalted, will ask the hearing of a person, his sight, and his heart about what he said of which he has no knowledge. Thus, his denial will occur from his limbs, and that is the ultimate disgrace. It is possible that the pronoun in 'about which' returns to 'all' which is for hearing, sight, and heart. The meaning is that Allah, the Exalted, will ask the person about what his hearing, sight, and heart encompassed. It is as if He said: All of these were the person accountable for, meaning for what occurred to them from perceptions and what resulted from them of sins. The estimation is 'about their deeds accountable', thus it is on the omission of a genitive.