The Women
4. An-Nisā’
النساء

Al Nisā’ (The Women)

ٱلنِّسَاء

4:25
4:25

wa-man lam yastaṭiʿ minkum ṭawlan ʾan yankiḥa l-muḥṣanāti l-muʾmināti fa-min malakat ʾaymānukum min fatayātikumu l-muʾmināti wa-llāhu ʾaʿlamu bi-ʾīmānikum baʿḍukum min baʿḍin fa-nkiḥūhunna bi-ʾidhni ʾahlihinna wa-ʾātūhunna ʾujūrahunna bi-l-maʿrūfi muḥṣanātin ghayra musāfiḥātin wa-lā muttakhidhāti ʾakhdānin fa-ʾidhā ʾuḥṣinna fa-ʾin ʾatayna bi-fāḥishatin fa-ʿalayhinna niṣfu ʿalā l-muḥṣanāti mina l-ʿadhābi dhālika li-man khashiya l-ʿanata minkum wa-ʾan taṣbirū khayrun lakum wa-llāhu ghafūrun raḥīmun

As for those of you who cannot afford to marry faithful free women, then [let them marry] from what you own, from among your faithful slave-women. Your faith is best known [only] to Allah; you are all [on a] similar [footing]. So marry them with their masters’ permission, and give them their dowries in an honourable manner—[such of them] as are chaste women, not licentious ones or those who take paramours. But should they commit an indecent act on marrying, there shall be for them [only] half the punishment for free women. This is for those of you who fear falling into fornication; but it is better that you be continent, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

Ali Quli Qarai