An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 7 of 176

An-Nisa 4:7

لِّلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا تَرَكَ ٱلْوَٰلِدَانِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبُونَ وَلِلنِّسَآءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا تَرَكَ ٱلْوَٰلِدَانِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبُونَ مِمَّا قَلَّ مِنْهُ أَوْ كَثُرَ ۚ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا

“For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much - an obligatory share.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Where only warriors inherited, one sentence gave women and children a share of their own, little or much, cut and fixed by Allah.

A reflection

No horse, no share

In pre-Islamic Arabia the rule was blunt. The commentators record the saying behind it. No one inherits except the one who rides horses, thrusts the spear, defends the tribe's land and takes the spoils. Women inherited nothing. Neither did children, even boys.

The commentators relate a story about this ayah, through chains the scholars consider of uneven strength. A man of the Ansar died, leaving a widow and daughters. Two cousins took the whole estate. When the widow complained, they answered: her children cannot ride a horse, carry a burden or wound an enemy. The Prophet ﷺ told her to wait until Allah revealed something about it. Then came this ayah.

One classical commentator points out how upside down the old rule was. Young heirs, he says, should have had the stronger claim, because they cannot yet fend for themselves. The custom gave most to those who needed least.

That logic has never quite died. Picture a family business where the younger brother has cerebral palsy. Nobody says it aloud, but he is left out of decisions. He 'doesn't bring anything in'. His place at the table is treated as charity, not right.

The ayah cuts through that thinking with a single word: naṣīb, a share. The lexicons say it is what is set up and marked out for you, like a stone raised as a waymark. A share is not a reward for usefulness. It belongs to you because of who you are to the one who died.

Where in your family or workplace is a person's place measured only by what they bring in?

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.