His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And give to the orphans their properties and do not exchange the bad for the good, and do not consume their properties into your properties. Indeed, it is a great sin.﴾ ﴿And if you fear that you will not be just to the orphans, then marry those that please you of women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then one or what your right hands possess.﴾

The orphans: is the plural of yatim and yatima. A yatim in the speech of the Arabs is one who has lost his father before reaching maturity. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said, "There is no orphanhood after maturity." And in the case of animals, it is the loss of the mother during infancy. It has been reported that the yatim in humans is in relation to the mother.

Ibn Zayd said: This address is for those whose custom among the Arabs was that the small child does not inherit alongside the older one. They were told: Give them their properties as inheritance, and do not leave, O you elders, your shares as lawful and pure while you take everything unjustly as forbidden and bad. Thus, your action would be an exchange. A group said: This address is for the guardians of the orphans, and the meaning is: when they reach maturity and are seen to be of sound mind. They are called orphans even though they have reached maturity, in consideration of the initial state that was established for them from orphanhood.

﴿And do not exchange﴾ It is said that the intended meaning is what some of them used to do by exchanging a fat sheep from the property of the orphan for a lean one from his own property, and a good dirham for a counterfeit one from his property. This was said by Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Zuhri, al-Suddi, and al-Dahhak. It is said that the intended meaning is: Do not consume their properties as bad, while you leave your properties as good. It is said that its meaning is: Do not hasten to consume the bad from their properties, claiming to wait for the lawful provision from Allah. This was said by Mujahid and Abu Salih. The bad and the good here refer to what is lawful and unlawful.

It has been narrated from Ibn Muhaisin that he read: "And do not exchange" with the merging of the ت, in the ت, and it is permissible in this to combine two consonants, since one of them is a letter of prolongation and softness resembling a vowel.

And His saying: ﴿And do not consume their properties into your properties﴾ applies equally to the orphans in the prohibition of consuming "their properties." They were heirs prohibited from inheritance and restricted, and the verse is a clear statement regarding the intention of the property of the orphan in consumption and acquisition in all its forms. It has been narrated from Mujahid that he said: The verse prohibits mixing in spending, for the Arabs used to mix their spending with that of the orphans, and they were forbidden from that. Then the prohibition was abrogated by His saying: ﴿And if you mix with them, they are your brothers.﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 220] This has been mentioned previously in Surah Al-Baqarah. Ibn Furak said from al-Hasan: The people interpreted this verse as a prohibition against mixing, so they avoided it on their own, and it was alleviated for them in the verse of Al-Baqarah. A group of later scholars said: "into" means "with," and this is not good. It has been narrated from Mujahid that the meaning of the verse is: And do not consume their properties with your properties.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is a clarification of the meaning, not that he intended that the word means something else.

And the skilled ones said:

'To' is at its door and it includes addition. The meaning is: do not add their wealth to your wealth in eating, as Allah, the Most High, said: ﴿Who is my supporter to Allah?﴾ [Al-Imran: 52], meaning: who is added to Allah in my support? And the pronoun in: 'Indeed, it' refers back to the eating which the apparent action includes. And 'the sin' is the wrongdoing, as said by Ibn Abbas, Al-Hasan, and others. You say: the man 'habb' (to sin) if he has sinned, as Umayyah ibn Al-Askar said:

And indeed, two emigrants surrounded him that morning, they certainly erred and sinned.

And Al-Hasan read: 'houban' with a فتح (fatha) on the حاء (ha), which is the language of Banu Tamim. It was said that it is with a فتح (fatha) the source and with a ضم (dhamma) the noun. And a man 'tahawaba' if he casts off the sin from himself. Likewise, he 'tahannatha', 'ta'athama', and 'taharaja'. For these four are different from 'taf'ala' entirely, because 'taf'ala' means: to enter into something like 'ta'abbada' and 'takassaba' and similar. And it is related to these four 'tafakkahuna', in His saying, the Most High: ﴿If We wished, We could make it into debris, and you would remain 'tafakkahuna'﴾ [Al-Waqi'a: 65], meaning: you would throw away the light-heartedness from yourselves, as indicated by His saying after that: ﴿Indeed, we are burdened﴾ [Al-Waqi'a: 66] ﴿Rather, we are deprived﴾ [Al-Waqi'a: 67], meaning: they say that. And His saying: 'a great sin' is a text that eating the wealth of the orphan is among the major sins.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿And if you fear that you will not be just to the orphans﴾ Abu Ubaida said: 'You fear' here means: 'You are certain', and he supported it with the poet's saying:

So I said to them, fear with two thousand armed men...

And what others said is not correct, and fear cannot mean certainty in any way. Rather, it is among the actions of expectation, except that the suspicion may lean in it to one of the two sides. As for reaching the level of certainty, that is not so. And 'you will be just' means you will be fair. It is said: a man 'aqsata' if he was just, and 'qasata' if he was unjust. Ibn Wathab and Al-Nakha'i read: 'that you do not be unjust' with a فتح (fatha) on the تاء (ta) of 'qasata' on the assumption of the addition of 'no', as if he said: 'And if you fear that you will be unjust'.

There is a difference in the interpretation of the verse. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: It was revealed about the guardians of the orphans who are pleased with the beauty of their wards, so they want to undervalue them in the dowry due to their guardianship over them. They were told: Be just in their dowries. So whoever fears that he will not be just, let him marry what pleases him from the foreign women who are fair in their rights. And this was said by Rabi'a.

And Ikrimah said: It was revealed about Quraysh, because a man among them would marry ten or more or less. So if his wealth became tight, he would lean on the wealth of his orphan and marry from it. They were told: If you fear the inadequacy of your wealth until you are unjust to the orphans, then limit yourselves.

Said Ibn Jubair, Al-Suddi, Qatadah, and Ibn Abbas said: The Arabs used to be cautious regarding the wealth of orphans, but they were not cautious in being fair among women. They would marry ten or more. The verse was revealed regarding that, meaning: just as you fear that you will not be just with the orphans, so be cautious with women, and marry within this limit that is far from injustice.

Mujahid said: The verse is a warning against zina and a deterrent from it, meaning: just as you are cautious regarding the wealth of orphans, so be cautious from zina, and marry according to what has been prescribed for you. Al-Hasan, Abu Malik, and Said Ibn Jubair said: What is good means: what is lawful.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Because the prohibited women are many.

Ibn Abi Abla read, "Whoever is good" in reference to those who have understanding. Some people have narrated that "what" in this verse is adverbial, meaning: as long as you find marriage pleasing.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In this interpretation, there is weakness: and he said: "what" and did not say "who" because he did not intend to specify who has understanding, but rather he intended the type that is good in terms of permissibility, as if he said: so marry what is good. This command regarding marriage is an encouragement for some and a permissibility for others according to the circumstances of the person. Marriage in general is mostly encouraged. He, peace be upon him, said: "Whoever among you is able to marry, let him marry."

"Two, three, or four": its grammatical position is accusative as a substitute for what is good, and they are indefinite nouns that do not decline because they are modified and descriptive. Abu Ali said this. Others said: they are modified in wording and meaning, and also they are modified and plural, and also they are modified and feminine. Al-Tabari said: they are known because the definite article does not enter them, and Al-Zajjaj criticized this statement. They are modified from two, three, and four, except that they imply repetition of the number up to the limit of what is counted. Al-Zajjaj recited for a poet:

But my family is in a valley whose companions are wolves, They seek people in pairs and alone.

Thus, its meaning is: two by two, and one by one, and likewise your saying: the men came in pairs and threes, thus its meaning is: two by two, and three by three.

Yahya Ibn Thawbah and Ibrahim Al-Nakha'i read: "and four" without the alif, and that is a language aimed at simplification as the poet said: on the tongue of the lizard:

I do not desire to arrive, Except to a place that is pleasant.

And his saying, glorified and exalted is He: "So if you fear that you will not be just, then one or what your right hands possess." Al-Dahhak and others said: The meaning is that you will not be just in inclination, love, intimacy, and companionship among the four, or the three, or the two. It is directed at the saying of those who said: It was revealed regarding those who fear that they will spend the wealth of orphans on their marriages, that the meaning is: do not be just in marrying the four and the three until you spend your wealth on your orphans, meaning: so marry one with your wealth, or take concubines from them.

And 'one' is established by implying a verb, the meaning of which is: so marry one. And 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz and al-Hasan read: 'and one' in the nominative as a beginning, and the meaning of the news is: 'one is sufficient' or something similar. This reading was narrated from Abu Amr.

And 'what your right hands possess' refers to the female slaves, and the meaning is: if he fears that he will not be just in the companionship of one, then what his right hand possesses. He attributed ownership to the right hand because it is a description of praise, and the right hand is associated with good qualities due to its strength. Do you not see that it is the spending hand, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'so that his left hand does not know what his right hand spends'? And it is the hand of covenant and pledge, and by it the thigh is called a right hand, and it is the receiver of the book of salvation and the banners of glory. And he, blessings and peace be upon him, prohibited its use in cleaning oneself and commanded a person to eat with it.