﴾ …So with those of whom you have enjoyed sexual relations, give them their Mahr as prescribed; ﴿
[ An-Nisa', 24 ]
They misinterpret the Ayah thinking that "Ajr" (recompense) is an indication to the temporary marriage, whereas "Ajr" is mentioned in six other locations in the Noble Quran to mean dowry:
﴾ …so with those of whom you have enjoyed sexual relations, give them their Mahr as prescribed; ﴿
In another Ayah, Allah says:
﴾ Wed them with the permission of their own folk (guardians, Auliya' or masters) and give them their Mahr according to what is reasonable; they (the above said captive and slave-girls) should be chaste, not adulterous, ﴿
The third Ayah:
﴾ And yours is lawful to them. (Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from the believers and chaste women from those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) before your time, when you have given their due Mahr (bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage), desiring chastity (i.e. taking them in legal wedlock) not committing illegal sexual intercourse, ﴿
The fourth Ayah:
﴾ O Prophet (Muhammad )! Verily, We have made lawful to you your wives, to whom you have paid their Mahr (bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) ﴿
The fifth Ayah:
﴾ And there will be no sin on you to marry them if you have paid their Mahr to them. ﴿
These five Ayaat in the Noble Quran confirm that "Ajr" means dowry. The majority of scholars consider that one of marriage's conditions is to be a life commitment, thus making it temporary is against religion.
As I have just said, "Ajr" means dowry wherever it is mentioned in Quran:
﴾ So with those of whom you have enjoyed sexual relations, give them their Mahr as prescribed; ﴿
It does not refer to a temporary marriage, but rather it means dowry. The strongest evidence to prove this fact is in the following Ayah wherein Allah addressed the Prophet PBUH saying:
﴾ O Prophet (Muhammad )! Verily, We have made lawful to you your wives, to whom you have paid their Mahr (bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) ﴿
"Ajr" here refers to the dowry, and the five aforementioned Ayat stress this meaning.
Among Allah's unchangeable decrees:
1- Leading man to repentance:
Sometimes one of us might ask, "What does Allah want from us?" This is an essential question, and it is answered in so many Ayaat in Quran including Surat An-Nisa':
﴾ Allah wishes to accept your repentance, but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away from the Right Path. ﴿
In this Ayah, Allah tells us that He wants to accept our repentance and wants people to repent. All the adversities that befall man are means to make man repent, because Allah wants to accept man's repentance.
2- Purifying man:
Allah, may His Glory be glorified, wants to purify his servants. Even steadfast people might have flaws, like arrogance and turning away from Allah sometimes, and so Allah, may His Glory be glorified wants to purify us from such spiritual diseases:
﴾ But He wants to purify you, and to complete His Favour on you ﴿
[ Al-Ma'idah, 6
]
Allah blessed us with our existence and sustenance, and completing His favor upon us by guiding us to the right path is what is left.
Each one of us but has flaws in his soul, so be aware that Allah the Almighty takes it upon His Divine Character to purify us from those flaws:
﴾ But He wants to purify you, and to complete His Favour on you ﴿
Allah also says in Surat Al-Mai'dah:
﴾ Then know that Allah’s Will is to punish them for some sins of theirs. ﴿
When man sins, he will be punished for his sins in the Hereafter, however, Allah makes him taste some of that punishment in the worldly life, so that he may turn to Allah with repentance:
﴾ Then know that Allah’s Will is to punish them for some sins of theirs. ﴿
This is another Divine Decree.
3- Enforcing Al-Haqq (The Truth):
The third Decree is mentioned in the Ayah number seven in Surat Al-Anfal:
﴾ …But Allah willed to justify the truth by His Words ﴿
Amongst Allah's Almighty's Beautiful Names is "Al-Haqq", so how does Allah make Al-Haqq apparent? He makes it apparent through His Ayaat, through the Prophetic Sunnah or through His Actions.
One of the Divine Decrees is to make Al-Haqq apparent. Accordingly, let me bring the glad tiding to every oppressed person: Allah will make Al-Haqq apparent, and your innocence, purity and chastity shall be revealed, because revealing Al-Haqq is one of the Divine Decrees.
4- Aiming easiness not hardship:
Amongst Allah's Decrees is referred to in the following Ayah:
﴾ Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. ﴿
Ease is one of Allah's Decrees. This religion is meant to be about easiness rather than unjustified rigidness, difficulty, embracement, stress or tiredness, as these things are not amongst Allah's Decrees:
﴾ Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. ﴿
Among Allah's Decrees is the following:
﴾ Allah wishes to make clear (what is lawful and what is unlawful) to you, and to show you the ways of those before you, and accept your repentance, and Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise. ﴿
Allah makes things clear to us through Quran, Sunnah, the universe and His Actions.
﴾ Allah wishes to lighten (the burden) for you; and man was created weak (cannot be patient to leave sexual intercourse with woman). ﴿
Man sometimes burdens himself beyond his scope in order to earn more money, and he does so through Haram ways, and as a result he will be veiled from Allah the Almighty. When man chooses to disobey Allah, he actually severs his connection with Him.
Unlike man, who burdens himself beyond his scope, Allah the Almighty wants to lighten the burden on us. Man out of poor judgment burdens himself when he overeats, causing himself diseases, and only then he will come to his senses. Ailing due to overeating obliges the person to be put on a diet and to eat moderately.
Keep in mind that Allah the Almighty wants to lighten the burden on us, wants to make things clear to us and wants for us ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for us. These Divine Decrees are unchangeable.
5- Removing Ar-Rijs from the members of the family of the Prophet PBUH
Here is another unchangeable Divine Decree:
﴾ Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins, etc.) from you, O members of the family (of the Prophet) ﴿
The members of the family of the Prophet PBUH are part of his Da'wah (calling people to believe in Allah), so if his household were out of balance, Da'wah would be negatively influenced. Thus, Allah the Almighty took it upon His Character to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins, etc.) from the members of the family of the Prophet PBUH:
﴾ Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins, etc.) from you, O members of the family (of the Prophet PBUH), and to purify you with a thorough purification. ﴿
6- Acquitting Allah of oppression:
Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ And Allah wills no injustice for (His) slaves. ﴿
Man should acquit Allah of any kind of injustice or oppression, because Allah wills no injustice to people. We long for the worldly life, for wealth, for a spacious house, for a good wife and for a prominent position. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ You desire the good of this world (i.e. the money of ransom for freeing the captives), but Allah desires (for you) the Hereafter. ﴿
[ Al-Anfal, 67
]
You want to achieve your ambitions in this short life, while Allah created you for an everlasting happiness, so when you long for the worldly life, you should know that Allah intends for you an eternal happiness in the Hereafter.
Sometimes you are not satisfied with the way things happen, but be aware that Allah pushes you to the Hereafter not to the worldly life by managing matters in ways that do not satisfy you.
A summary of what Allah wants from man:
Pay attention to the following Ayaat in which Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ And Allah wills no injustice for (His) slaves. ﴿
﴾ But Allah desires (for you) the Hereafter. ﴿
﴾ Allah wishes to accept your repentance, ﴿
﴾ And Allah wills no injustice to the ‘Alamin (mankind and jinns). ﴿
Allah wills no injustice not only to His worshipping servants, but to all mankind and Jinns.
﴾ Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins, etc.) from you, O members of the family (of the Prophet ), and to purify you with a thorough purification. ﴿
﴾ Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. ﴿
﴾ Allah wishes to make clear (what is lawful and what is unlawful) to you, ﴿
﴾ Allah wishes to lighten (the burden) for you; ﴿
These, dear brothers, are some of the unchangeable Divine Decrees:
﴾ But He wants to purify you, and to complete His Favour on you. ﴿
﴾ Then know that Allah’s Will is to punish them for some sins of theirs. ﴿
﴾ But Allah willed to justify the truth by His Words ﴿
Again, amongst Allah's Decrees that are mentioned in Quran is to guide us, to complete His favor upon us, to make us repent, to lighten the burden on us, to make things easy for us and to treat us justly. Therefore, man should not ask what Allah wants from us, because the answer is very clear in Quran as I have already mentioned.
The wisdom behind distributing privileges among people in varying degrees:
Dear brothers, Allah also says in Surat An-Nisa':
﴾ And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men there is reward for what they have earned, (and likewise) for women there is reward for what they have earned, and ask Allah of His Bounty. Surely, Allah is Ever All-Knower of everything. ﴿
Allah has distributed privileges, like money, beauty, smartness or power among people in the worldly life in varying degrees. . Due to such unequal distribution of these matters, some of us are better than others in the worldly life:
﴾ And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men there is reward for what they have earned, (and likewise) for women there is reward for what they have earned, ﴿
This means that had we been able to know the unseen, we would have found that making someone better than you in something is due to profound wisdom, and the same goes for making you better than someone.
Allah's Actions are absolutely wise, so instead of wishing to have what others have, let us learn a moral lesson from the following Ayah:
﴾ And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men there is reward for what they have earned, (and likewise) for women there is reward for what they have earned, and ask Allah of His Bounty. Surely, Allah is Ever All-Knower of everything. ﴿
You should not envy someone for what he owns:
When The King of Kings endows upon someone
Allah gives whoever He wants
So stay within the limits of politeness
When someone sees a blessing his brother has, and wishes to have one like it, and then asks Allah the Almighty to give him as He gives his brother, he will be on the safe side. However, if he wishes that this blessing is taken away from his brother and be given to him instead, then this is envy itself. If he wishes that the blessing is taken away from his brother without even asking to be given to him instead, this will be a wrongdoing, and it is a greater sin than envy. In case he struggles to make this blessing taken away from his brother by plotting and slandering, then this becomes a crime. My advice is: Do not wish to own something your brother has, for what you have been given is the best you would have gotten for your own best interest, and there is profound wisdom behind it.
Every person is given a set of circumstances such like his physical capabilities, skills, place of birth, family and the like, which form his own reality. The believer on one hand is satisfied with what he is given by Allah, and when he does, Allah will facilitate to him something that would never occur to his mind. On the other hand, the one who resents what he is given and undermines even the valuable things he owns will be deprived of the benefit of those things, because he is indignant with whatever Allah gives him.
Reasons behind giving man extra degree of leverage over the woman:
Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ And by the Mercy of Allah, you dealt with them gently. ﴿
In another Ayah Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity, their husband's property, etc.). As to those women on whose part you see ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great. ﴿
﴾ Men are the protectors and maintainers of women ﴿
The extra degree man is given over his wife is not something he uses to own her, to control her, or to guide her as he wishes. This degree of leverage has two main reasons:
﴾ ...Because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, ﴿
It is a decree of leverage due to owning more knowledge, exalted morals and open mind and to be the breadwinner:
﴾ …Because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. ﴿
These are the two reasons behind this extra degree a man has over his wife. If the husband is in need of his wife's salary or heritage, and he bothers her to get some of her money, or if he is less religious than her, in this case, she is the one who has the extra degree on him for she controls her husband and not the opposite. Hence, man should be more religious than his wife and must be the breadwinner in order to gain this degree of leverage over his wife.
Believers are one integral unite:
The last Ayah for our discussion today goes as follows:
﴾ And eat up not one another's property unjustly (in any illegal way e.g. stealing, robbing, deceiving, etc.) ﴿
The most beautiful thing about this Ayah is that Allah the Almighty refers to your brother's money as yours in the sense of having you a guardian on his money as if it is yours. Namely, if someone borrows something he should say to himself: I should look after this thing as if it is mine.
Allah the Almighty has made believers one integral unite, so if they strengthen each other, the outcome shall be good for sure:
﴾ And eat up not one another's property unjustly (in any illegal way e.g. stealing, robbing, deceiving, etc.) ﴿
He who eats his brother's property unjustly is weakening his brother, and if his brother becomes weak, he will become weak himself. The second aspect about looking after your brother's money as if it is yours is that you should prevent him from eating ill-gotten money.
The other point the Ayah refers to is that this mass of currency should circulate among people from all walks of life, so it should not become a fortune used by only the rich, because this will disturb the society and put it in troubles.
Knowing what Allah wants from man is part of Aqidah:
Dear brothers, it is part of your Aqidah (ideology) as a Muslim to know what Allah the Almighty wants from you and from all mankind. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ Except him on whom your Lord has bestowed His Mercy (the follower of truth – Islamic Monotheism) and for that did He create them. ﴿
When you believe beyond doubt that Allah the Almighty has created us to have mercy on us, to accept our repentance, to make things clear to us, to take away the burden off our shoulders, to purify us and to grant us happiness, you will love Him, and you will turn to His Path and consider His Commands a guarantee for your safety not a restraint to your freedom. There is a substantial difference between considering Allah's Commands restrictions, restraints and obstacles and considering them a guarantee for your safety in the worldly life and the Hereafter.
Whoever regards Allah too exalted for whatever that does not befit Him knows Allah:
Dear brothers, there are so many Ayaat in Surat An-Nisa' that indicates Divine Laws with which we should deal and consider as foundations of our Aqidah. Some people wrongly say, "Allah has created us to torture us", which is a shallow perspective. Those people look at things from a pessimistic angle when they see others suffer poverty and diseases, lack financial means and have hardships, as if this worldly life is everything, it is the end of all hopes, and it is the only abode. Well, let those people pay attention to Allah's Actions and to His unchangeable Decrees that are mentioned in this Surat, particularly, in these three successive Ayaat:
﴾ Allah wishes to accept your repentance, but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away from the Right Path. ﴿
﴾ Allah wishes to lighten (the burden) for you ﴿
Dear brothers, thinking positively of Allah is priceless. When you exalt Allah above whatever hat does not befit His Divine Character, you will become someone who knows Him. This exaltedness you do will push you to obey Him and to become satisfied with His Qada' and Qadar (Qadar is the result of Allah's knowledge and Qada' is the manifestation of Allah's Power).
Finally, it is important for you to exalt Allah above everything else, and be aware that Allah, in His own Words which are Qat'i Ad-Dalalah (definitive), has exalted His Divine Character above whatever that does not befit Him.
