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Allah al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Hamawayh al-Harawi> ‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-
Khuza‘i> Abu’l-Yaman al-Hakam ibn Nafi‘> Shu‘ayb ibn Abi Hamzah> al-Zuhri> Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyab who 
said: “The verse (And unto each We have appointed heirs) was revealed about those who used to adopt 
men who were not their natural sons and then make them inherit from them. Allah, exalted is He, revealed 
about them that something should be apportioned for them in the bequest while the division of estate He 
specifically allocated for the heirs who were immediate family relatives or close relatives. He denied a share 
of the estate to those who were adopted and, instead, allowed them to have a portion of the bequest”.  
 
[4:34]
 
 
(Men are in charge of women…) [4:34]. Said Muqatil: “This verse (Men are in charge of women…) was 
revealed about Sa‘d ibn al-Rabi‘, who was one of the leaders of the Helpers (nuqaba’), and his wife Habibah 
bint Zayd ibn Abi Zuhayr, both of whom from the Helpers. It happened Sa‘d hit his wife on the face because 
she rebelled against him. Then her father went with her to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him 
peace. He said to him: ‘I gave him my daughter in marriage and he slapped her’. The Prophet, Allah bless 
him and give him peace, said: ‘Let her have retaliation against her husband’. As she was leaving with her 
father to execute retaliation, the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, called them and said: ‘Come 
back; Gabriel has come to me’, and Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse. The Messenger of Allah, Allah 
bless him and give him peace, said: ‘We wanted something while Allah wanted something else, and that 
which Allah wants is good’. Retaliation was then suspended”. Sa‘id ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Zahid 
informed us> Zahir ibn Ahmad> Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Junayd> Ziyad ibn Ayyub> Hushaym> Yunus ibn 
al-Hasan who reported that a man slapped his wife and she complained about him to the Prophet, Allah 
bless him and give him peace. Her family who went with her said: “O Messenger of Allah! So-and-so has 
slapped our girl”. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, kept saying: “Retaliation! Retaliation! 
And there is no other judgement to be held”. But then this verse (Men are in charge of women…) was 
revealed and the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: “We wanted something and Allah 
wanted something else”. Abu Bakr al-Harithi informed us> Abu’l-Shaykh al-Hafiz> Abu Yahya al-Razi> Sahl 
al-‘Askari> ‘Ali ibn Hashim> Isma‘il> al-Hasan who said: “Around the time when the verse on retaliation was 
revealed amongst the Muslims, a man had slapped his wife. She went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and 
give him peace and said: ‘My husband has slapped me and I want retaliation’. So he said: ‘Let there be 
retaliation’. As he was still dealing with her, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Men are in charge of women, 
because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other…). Upon which the Prophet, Allah bless him 

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and give him peace, said: ‘We wanted something and my Lord wanted something different. O man, take 
your wife by the hand’ ”.  
 
[4:37]
 
 
(Who hoard their wealth and enjoin avarice on others…) [4:37]. Most Qur’anic exegetes said: “This was 
revealed about the Jews when they concealed the description of Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him 
peace, and did not reveal it to people despite the fact that they had it written in their Scriptures”. And al-
Kalbi said: “This refers to the Jews; they failed to be truthful to those who came to them with regard to the 
description of Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace, despite the fact that they had it written 
down in their Scriptures”. Said Mujahid: “The three verses up to His saying (…when Allah is ever Aware of 
them) [4:39] were revealed about the Jews”. And Ibn ‘Abbas and Ibn Zayd said: “This was revealed about a 
group of Jews who used to go to some men from the Helpers, mixing with them and giving them advice. 
They used to say to them: ‘Do not spend your wealth for we fear poverty for you’, and so Allah, exalted is 
He, revealed (Who hoard their wealth and enjoin avarice on others)”.  
 
[4:43]
 
 
(O ye who believe! Draw not near unto prayer when ye are drunken…) [4:43]. This was revealed about 
some people who were Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. They 
were in the habit of drinking wine and then going to pray while still drunk. Because of this they did not know 
how many units of prayer they performed or what they said in their prayers. Abu Bakr al-Asfahani informed 
us> Abu’l-Shaykh al-Hafiz> Abu Yahya> Sahl Ibn ‘Uthman> Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Afriqi> ‘Ata’> Abu ‘Abd 
al-Rahman who said: “One day, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf prepared food and invited some Companions of the 
Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They ate and drank and when the time for the Maghrib prayer 
was due they stood up to pray. One of them stepped forward to lead the prayer. He recited (Say: O 
disbelievers…) [Surah 109] but did not recite correctly, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (O ye who 
believe! Draw not near unto prayer when ye are drunken, till ye know that which ye utter…)”. (…and if ye 
find not water, then go to high clean soil…) [4:43]. Abu ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Ishaq informed us> Abu ‘Amr ibn 
Matar> Ibrahim ibn ‘Ali al-Dhuhli> Yahya ibn Yahya> Malik ibn Anas> ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim> his 
father> ‘A’ishah who said: “We travelled with the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, in 
one of his travels and when we reached al-Bayda’ or Dhat al-Jaysh I dropped my necklace and so the 
Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give peace, set camp to look for it and people camped with him too, 
except that that area did not have water and they did not carry water with them either. So people went to 
Abu Bakr and said: ‘Did you see what ‘A’ishah has done? She made the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him 
and give him peace, camp along with people when they have no water with them and this area does not 
have any water?’ And so Abu Bakr came. He found the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him 
peace, sleeping with his head on my thigh. He said: ‘You have held back the Messenger of Allah and people 
with him when this area has no water and people have no water with them either’. Abu Bakr kept rebuking 
me, saying whatever Allah willed him to say all while poking me with his hand in my waist. The only thing 
that prevented me from moving was the head of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him 
peace, on my thigh. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, slept until dawn and when 
he woke up, he had no water. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed the verse on dry ablution (Tayammum). 
Usayd ibn Huday, who was one of the leaders, said then: ‘This is not your first blessing, O household of Abu 
Bakr’. When the camel which I was riding was made to rise, we found my necklace beneath it”. This was 
narrated by al-Bukhari from Isma‘il ibn Abi Uways and also by Muslim from Yahya ibn Yahya, and both Ibn 
Abi Uways and Ibn Yahya related it from Malik. Abu Muhammad al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd 
Allah ibn al-Fadl> Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Hafiz> Muhammad ibn Yahya> Ya‘qub ibn Ibrahim 
ibn Sa‘d> his father> Abu Salih> Ibn Shihab> ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Utbah> Ibn ‘Abbas> ‘Ammar 
ibn Yasir who said: “The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, camped once in Dhat al-
Jaysh. He had with him then ‘A’ishah his wife who dropped a necklace made of gems from Dhafar and so he 
held back people to look for it and they remained there until dawn. Because people did not have water with 
them, Abu Bakr got very angry with her. Then Allah, exalted is He, revealed to his Messenger, Allah bless 
him and give him peace, the story of purifying oneself with clean soil. The Muslims got up, struck the soil 
with their hands and then lifted them up without retaining any soil on them and wiped their faces and hands 
up to the shoulders as well as the palms of their hands up to the armpits”. Said al-Zuhri: “We heard that Abu 

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Bakr then said to ‘A’ishah: ‘By Allah, I know that you are blessed’ ”. 
 
[4:49]
 
 
(Hast thou not seen those who praise themselves for purity?) [4:49]. Said al-Kalbi: “This was revealed about 
a group of Jewish men who went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: 
‘O Muhammad! Do these children of ours incur any sins?’ ‘No!’ he replied. They said: ‘By Him by means of 
Whom we swear, we are just like them; there is no sin that we commit during the day except that it is 
expiated comes the night, and there is no sin that we commit at night except that it is expiated comes the 
day’. This is how they praised themselves for purity”.  
 
[4:51]
 
 
(Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols 
and false deities…) [4:51]. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> his father> 
Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Thaqafi> 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-'Ala'> Sufyan> 'Amr>> 'Ikrimah who said: “When 
Huyayy ibn Akhtab and Ka'b al-Ashraf went to the people of Mecca they were asked: 'You are people of 
Scripture and ancient knowledge, so tell us about us and Muhammad?' 'What do you have to do with 
Muhammad?' he said. They said: 'We slaughter high-humped camels, give milk on top of water for others to 
drink, we assist those who are wronged, we do not severe ties of kinship and give water to the pilgrims and 
our religion is ancient while Muhammad's religion is new'. The Jews said: 'Rather, you are better than him 
and more guided in your way'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom a 
portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities) up to His words, exalted 
is He, (… and he whom Allah hath cursed, thou (O Muhammad) wilt find for him no helper) [4:52]”. The 
commentators of the Qur'an said: “After the Battle of Uhud, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf went to Mecca, accompanied 
by seventy riders, in order to ally themselves with Quraysh against the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him 
and give him peace, and break the covenant which they had with Allah's Messenger, Allah bless him and 
give him peace. Ka'b was the guest of Abu Sufyan while the other Jews were accommodated in the houses 
of Quraysh. The people of Mecca said: 'Your are people of Scripture and Muhammad has a Scripture and we 
are not completely sure that this is a scheme that you devised. So if you want us to go along with you, you 
have to prostrate to these two idols and believe in them', hence Allah's saying (they believe in idols and false 
deities). Ka'b then said to the people of Mecca: 'Let there be thirty of us and thirty of you; we shall all go to 
the Ka'bah and cling to it and promise the Lord of the House that we will do our best to fight Muhammad'. 
When they finished doing that, Abu Sufyan asked Ka'b: 'You are a man who reads the Scripture and has 
knowledge while we are unlettered people who have no knowledge. Tell me: who is more guided in his way 
and closer to the truth, is it us or Muhammad?' Ka'b said: 'Tell me about your religion'. Abu Sufyan said: 'We 
slaughter high-humped camels for the benefit of pilgrims, we give them water to drink, we welcome the 
guest, assist the wronged, keep our ties of kinship un-severed, populate the House of our Lord, 
circumambulate around it, and we are the inhabitants of the Sacred Precinct. Muhammad, on the other 
hand, is someone who has left the religion of his forefathers, severed his ties of kinship and went away from 
the Sacred Precinct. Moreover, our religion is ancient while his is new'. Ka'b said: 'By Allah, you are more 
guided in your way than he is'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom a 
portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities), meaning Ka'b an his 
companions”. 
 
[4:52]
 
 
(and he whom Allah hath cursed, thou (O Muhammad) wilt find for him no helper…) [4:52]. Ahmad ibn 
Ibrahim al-Muqri' informed us> Sufyan ibn Muhammad> Makki ibn 'Abdan> Abu'l-Azhar> Rawh> Sa'id>> 
Qatadah who said: “This verse was revealed about Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf and Huyayy ibn Akhtab, two Jews from 
Banu'l-Nadir, who met the people of Quraysh in the season of pilgrimage and were asked by the idolaters: 
'Who is more guided to the way of the truth us or Muhammad? For we are the custodians of the Sacred 
Precinct, we provide water for the pilgrims and we are the inhabitants of the Sacred Precinct'. They said: 'No 
indeed, you are more guided than Muhammad'. They said this while knowing very well they were lying. And 
so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Those are they whom Allah hath cursed, and he whom Allah hath cursed, 
thou (O Muhammad) wilt find for him no helper). When they went back to their people, the latter told them: 

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'Muhammad claims that such-and-such was revealed about you'. They said: 'He has said the truth. By Allah, 
the hatred and resentful envy that we have for him drove us to do so' ”. 
 
[4:58]
 
 
(Lo! Allah commandeth you that ye restore deposits to their owners…) [4:58]. This verse was revealed 
about ‘Uthman ibn Talhah al-Hajabi, from the Banu ‘Abd al-Dar. This man was the caretaker of the Ka‘bah. 
When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, entered Mecca upon its conquest. 
‘Uthman rushed to lock the door of the Sacred House and climbed up to its roof. When the Messenger of 
Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked for the key, he was told that ‘Uthman had it. And when he 
asked him for it, ‘Uthman refused to give him the key, saying: “If I knew that he was the Messenger of 
Allah, I would not refuse to give him the key”. ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib then twisted the hand of ‘Uthman and took 
the key from him and opened the door of the Ka‘bah. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him 
peace, entered the House and performed inside it two units of prayers. When he came out, al-‘Abbas asked 
for the key of the Ka‘bah, so that he could combine the duty of giving water to the pilgrims and that of 
caretaker of the Sacred House. But Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse, and the Messenger of Allah, 
Allah bless him and give him peace, commanded ‘Ali to give the key back to ‘Uthman and apologize to him, 
and so he did. ‘Uthman said to him: “O ‘Ali, you forced and hurt me, and now you come to apologize”. ‘Ali 
said to him: “Allah, exalted is He, has revealed this verse about you”, and he recited it to him. Upon hearing, 
‘Uthman said: “I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”. Gabriel, peace be upon him, then 
came and said: “As long as this House stands, its key and the duty of taking care of it will stay in the 
progeny of ‘Uthman”, and so it is up to this day. Abu Hassan al-Muzakki informed us> Harun ibn Muhammad 
al-Istrabadhi> Abu Muhammad al-Khuza‘i> Abu’l-Walid al-Azraqi> his grandfather> Sufyan> Sa‘id ibn 
Salim> Ibn Jurayj> Mujahid regarding the words of Allah, exalted is He (Lo! Allah commandeth you that ye 
restore deposits to their owners…): “This verse was revealed about ‘Uthman ibn Talhah. The Prophet, Allah 
bless him and give him peace, collected from him the key of the Ka‘bah upon the conquest of Mecca. He 
entered inside it and then came out reciting this verse. He then called ‘Uthman and handed the key over to 
him. He said to him: ‘Take the key, O household of Talhah, a trust from Allah, none but transgressor will 
take it from you’ ”. Abu’l-Nasr al-Mihrajani informed us> ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Zahid> Abu’l-Qasim 
al-Muqri’> Ahmad ibn Zuhayr> Mus‘ab> Shaybah ibn ‘Uthman ibn Abi Talhah who said: “The Prophet, Allah 
bless him and give him peace, gave the key of the Ka‘bah to me and ‘Uthman and said: ‘Take it, O children 
of Abu Talhah, to be eternally kept among your offspring, and none shall take it from you except a 
transgressor’. Thus, the Banu Talhah who are the caretaker of the Ka‘bah belong to Banu ‘Abd al-Dar”. 
 
[4:59]
 
 
(O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority…) [4:59]. 
Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Hamid al-‘Adl informed us> Abu Bakr ibn Abi Zakariyya al-Hafiz> Abu Hamid 
ibn al-Sharqi> Muhammad ibn Yahya> Hajjaj ibn Muhammad> Ibn Jurayj> Ya‘la ibn Muslim> Sa‘id ibn 
Jubayr> Ibn ‘Abbas that he said regarding the saying of Allah, exalted is He, (O ye who believe! Obey Allah, 
and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority): “It was revealed about Hudhafah ibn Qays 
ibn ‘Adiyy who was sent by the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, in a military 
expedition”. This was narrated by Bukhari from Sadaqah ibn al-Fadl and also by Muslim from Zuhayr ibn 
Harb and both transmitter related it from Hajjaj. Said Ibn ‘Abbas, according to the narration of Badhan: “The 
Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent Khalid ibn al-Walid in a military expedition to 
one of the Arab clans. He was accompanied in this expedition by ‘Ammar ibn Yasir. When he drew closer to 
them at night, he stopped to camp in order to try to conquer them the following morning. Meanwhile this 
clan was warned about the approaching military expedition which made them flee the area, except for one 
man who was a Muslim. This man asked his family to get ready to move and then he went to the camp of 
Khalid and entered in on ‘Ammar. He said to him: ‘O Abu’l-Yaqzan! I am one of you. But my people ran 
away when they heard you were coming. I stayed because I am Muslim. Is this of any benefit to me, or shall 
I flee as my people did?’ ‘Ammar said: ‘Stay, for it is beneficial to you’. The man returned to his family and 
told them to stay. The following morning, Khalid invaded the clan but found no one except this man, and so 
he imprisoned him and seized his property. ‘Ammar went to him and said: ‘Let the man go, for he is a 
Muslim and I have already given him amnesty and told him to stay’. Khalid said: ‘You give protection from 
me to others while I am the leader!’ Ammar said: ‘Yes, I give protection from you to others while you are 

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the leader’. And they exchanged angry words. Then they both went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give 
him peace, and informed him about the man. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, gave the 
man amnesty, sanctioned the amnesty that ‘Ammar had given to the man and then forbade him from giving 
amnesty to anyone in the future without the express permission of his leader. ‘Ammar and Khalid insulted 
each other in the presence of Allah’s Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace, and when ‘Ammar 
spoke very rudely to Khalid, the latter became very angry and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, will you allow this 
slave to insult me? By Allah, if it were not for you, he would not insult me’. ‘Ammar, by the way, was a client 
of Hashim ibn al-Mughirah. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘O Khalid, 
leave ‘Ammar alone, for whoever insults ‘Ammar, Allah will insult him, and whoever hates ‘Ammar, Allah will 
hate him’. Upon which ‘Ammar left. Khalid followed him, and held him by his cloak and asked him to forgive 
him, which he did. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed this verse, enjoining obedience to those who are in 
authority”.  
 
[4:60]
 
 
(Hast thou not seen those who pretend that they believe in that which is revealed unto thee and that which 
was revealed before thee, how they would go for judgment (in their disputes) to false deities when they 
have been ordered to abjure them?) [4:60]. Sa'id ibn Muhammad al-'Adl informed us> Abu 'Amr ibn 
Hamdan> al-Hasan ibn Sufyan> Ibrahim ibn Sa'd al-Jawhari> Abu'l-Yaman> Safwan ibn 'Amr>> 'Ikrimah> 
Ibn 'Abbas who said: “Abu Burdah al-Aslami was a soothsayer who used to settle the disputes that the Jews 
had amongst themselves. When a group of people from Aslam took their dispute to him, Allah, exalted is He, 
revealed (Hast thou not seen those who pretend…) up to his saying (… were seeking naught but harmony 
and kindness) [4:62]”. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim> Abu Salih Shu'ayb ibn Muhammad> Abu Hatim 
al-Tamimi> Abu'l-Azhar> Ruwaym> Sa'id ibn Qatadah who said: “We were told that this verse was revealed 
about a dispute regarding a certain property in which were involved a man from the Helpers called Qays and 
a Jewish man. They took their dispute to a soothsayer in Medina to judge between them while leaving the 
Prophet of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. Allah, exalted is He, rebuked them for doing so. In fact 
the Jew was urging the Muslim to take their dispute to the Prophet of Allah, because he knew he will not 
wrong him. But the Helper refused to, even though he was a Muslim, and insisted to go to the soothsayer. 
And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse censoring the person who was pretending to be Muslim as 
well as the Jew who belonged to the people of the Book, saying (Hast thou not seen those who pretend that 
they believe in that which is revealed unto thee…) up to His words (… thou seest the hypocrites turn from 
thee with aversion) [4:61]”. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Marwazi informed us in writing> Muhammad ibn 
al-Husayn> Muhammad ibn Yahya> Ishaq al-Hanzali> al-Mu'ammil> Yazid ibn Zuray'> Dawud> al-Sha'bi 
who said: “One certain hypocrite had a dispute with a Jewish man. The Jew invited the hypocrite to take 
their dispute to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, because he knew that he did not accept 
bribery. The hypocrite, on the other hand, called the Jewish man to take their dispute to their own arbiters 
because he knew that they took bribery for the judgments they issued. When they both rejected each 
other's choice, they made a compromise and decided to take their dispute to a soothsayer in Juhaynah. And 
so Allah, exalted is He, revealed about this (Hast thou not seen those who pretend that they believe in that 
which is revealed unto thee) referring to the hypocrite (and that which was revealed before thee) in 
reference to the Jew (how they would go for judgment (in their disputes) to false deities) up to his saying 
(… and submit with full submission) [4:65]”. Al-Kalbi reported from Abu Salih that Ibn 'Abbas reported that 
this verse was revealed about a hypocrite who had a dispute with a Jewish man. The Jew said to him: “Let 
us go to Muhammad [to settle our dispute]”. The hypocrite said: “Rather, let us go to Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf 
(whom Allah described as a false deity) to settle our dispute”. The Jew insisted that their dispute should be