al-Nūr 24:33

Wa'l-yastaʿfifi'lladhīna lā yajidūna nikāḥan ḥattā yughniyahumu'llāhu min faḍlih, wa'lladhīna yabtaghūna'l-kitāba mimmā malakat aymānukum fa-kātibūhum in ʿalimtum fīhim khayrā, wa ātūhum min māli'llāhi'lladhī ātākum, wa lā tukrihū fatayātikum ʿala'l-bighāʾi in aradna taḥaṣṣunan li-tabtaghū ʿaraḍa'l-ḥayāti'l-dunyā, wa man yukrihhunna fa-inna'llāha min baʿdi ikrāhihinna ghafūrun raḥīm

"And let those who find no means of marriage keep themselves chaste until God enriches them of His bounty. And if any of those your right hands possess seek a deed of manumission, make that deed with them if you know some good in them, and give them of the wealth of God that He has given you. And do not compel your slave-girls to prostitution, when they desire to keep chaste, in order to seek the passing goods of the life of this world. And whoever compels them — God, after their being compelled, is forgiving, merciful."

The long verse takes up three distinct subjects, and all three look at a situation of impossibility:

What the three have in common: all are about people in a position where they cannot change their own condition by themselves.

Root: ع-ف-ف. The sense the lexicographers record: to withdraw one's hand from a thing, to keep away from it; to hold oneself back. ʿIffa is from the same root.

The form: Form X — istaʿaffa: to strive to be chaste, to make an effort to hold oneself back.

And the choice of the form is worth noting: Form X conveys the seeking of a thing and the effort made for it. The verse does not say "be chaste"; it says "strive to stay chaste". The verb conveys an effort.

And the word will return in the sixtieth verse: wa an yastaʿfifna khayrun lahunn.

This is a place among the Qurʾān's social provisions that needs recording separately.

Kitāba (كِتَابَة) is the name of an institution in classical jurisprudence: a written contract made by a person of slave status with his owner, by which he gains his freedom in return for paying a fixed price.

And what the verse establishes has three stages:

The third stage is worth recording and draws attention: the person is not only granted the right to a deed; it is also commanded that property be given him so that he may pay the price of the deed.

The provision, that is, does not merely open the door of exit — it takes upon itself part of the cost of passing through the door.

I record this as an observation about the word order; the three stages are in the wording of the text.

And the expression min māli'llāhi'lladhī ātākum is worth noting: the property to be given is named not "your property" but "the wealth of God that He has given you". The source of ownership is called to mind.

Over the juristic details — the binding force of the deed, whether the command conveys obligation or recommendation, the amount of property to be given — there is disagreement among the schools. In this section no preference is made and none is binding.

And a historical note may be entered: in a world in which it found the institution of slavery already in place, the Qurʾān framed its provisions concerning it always in the direction of exit — the freeing of a slave in expiations, fi'l-riqāb among the categories of alms, and here kitāba. This is an observation that can be read from the text about the direction of the verses, and I record it as an observation; I do not present it as a historical assessment.

The verse's third provision is the most concrete and the sternest.

أَكْرَهَ — root ك-ر-ه: to dislike; in Form IV: to make someone do what he dislikes, to compel. The root was analysed at al-Baqara, 2/256 (lā ikrāha fi'l-dīn); I rely on that treatment.

بِغَاء — root ب-غ-ي: the primary sense of the root is to want, to seek; and to overstep the bound. The root was analysed at al-Ḥujurāt, 49/9 (baghat iḥdāhumā).

And the sentence the verse builds must be read with care.

The qualification in aradna taḥaṣṣunan — "when they desire to keep chaste" — has been explained in the classical commentaries, and the explanation transmitted is this: the qualification is not a condition of the prohibition; it is a qualification describing the actual situation of that period. It does not mean "if they do not desire it, they may be compelled".

Two things are given as grounds, and both can be read from the text:

One. The logic of the sentence. Compulsion (ikrāh), by its very definition, can be applied only to someone who does not want. One does not "compel" a person who wants. To understand the qualification as a condition, then, contradicts the sentence's own word.

Two. The end of the sentence. Wa man yukrihhunna fa-inna'llāha min baʿdi ikrāhihinna ghafūrun raḥīm. The verse names the condition of the one compelled with forgiveness — that is, the compelled party is not held responsible for the act.

I transmit this explanation as one widely transmitted in the classical commentaries; and I record that both grounds can be read from the text.

تَحَصُّن — root ح-ص-ن: the same root as muḥṣanāt in the fourth verse. Protection like a fortress. That the word returns in the sūra is worth noting: in the fourth verse an attribute, here a will.

عَرَض — root ع-ر-ض: breadth, width; and what does not last, what comes and goes. In the language of philosophy ʿaraḍ (accident) is the opposite of jawhar (substance): what cannot stand on its own, what is transient.

And the choice of the word carries a judgement: the gain that is the cause of the compulsion is named what does not last. What is got in return for what a person is subjected to is named ʿaraḍ.

I record this as an observation about the word.

Whom the verse-ending is directed at has been debated in the classical commentaries; but the explanation widely transmitted is that it is directed at the party compelled.

And the arrangement of the sentence supports this: min baʿdi ikrāhihinna — "after their being compelled". The pronoun is feminine, and the expression states the condition of the party compelled.

And the sense of "covering" in the root gh-f-r shows its work here again. In the fifth verse too the same pair of names came after a matter of laying something bare.