An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 2 of 176

An-Nisa 4:2

وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلْيَتَـٰمَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَتَبَدَّلُوا۟ ٱلْخَبِيثَ بِٱلطَّيِّبِ ۖ وَلَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حُوبًا كَبِيرًا

“And give to the orphans their properties and do not substitute the defective [of your own] for the good [of theirs]. And do not consume their properties into your own. Indeed, that is ever a great sin.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Hand the orphan what is theirs, whole, without quiet swaps or blurring it into your own money: that wrong has a face.

A reflection

A sheep for a sheep

A man's brother dies and leaves a teenage son. The uncle manages things until the boy comes of age. Among them is the father's car, almost new. The uncle sells it and hands the nephew his own ageing estate car, freshly valeted. 'A car is a car,' he says. He means it.

The commentators describe exactly this move in old Arabia. A guardian would take the fat ewe from the orphan's flock and put a thin one in its place. He would take the good silver coin and leave a counterfeit. Then he would say: a sheep for a sheep, a dirham for a dirham. One commentary records the phrase they used: a name for a name, a head for a head.

The ledger balanced. One animal out, one animal in. Nobody could say he had stolen. That is what makes the ayah so sharp. It does not only forbid taking. It forbids tabaddul, the swap. The quiet exchange that looks like fairness on paper and is theft in substance.

This is the version of wrongdoing most decent people actually commit. We rarely take outright. We substitute. The better room for us, the worse for the lodger. The good shift for our friend, the night shift for the new starter. The 'equivalent' that nobody would choose if the roles were reversed.

The ayah asks one hard question of every exchange you make on someone else's behalf. If you were the orphan, would you call this a sheep for a sheep? If the honest answer is no, the counting does not matter.

What you hold for someone who cannot check, hand back as good as it came to you.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.