al-Nūr 24:60

Wa'l-qawāʿidu mina'l-nisāʾi'llātī lā yarjūna nikāḥan fa-laysa ʿalayhinna junāḥun an yaḍaʿna thiyābahunna ghayra mutabarrijātin bi-zīna, wa an yastaʿfifna khayrun lahunn, wa'llāhu samīʿun ʿalīm

"And as for women advanced in years who have no expectation of marriage, there is no fault in their laying aside their outer garments, so long as they do not display adornment. Yet to keep themselves modest is better for them. God is hearing, knowing."

Root: ق-ع-د. Its concrete sense is to sit. Qaʿada — he sat; qāʿid — one who sits; maqʿad — a place to sit; qawāʿid — foundations (the place upon which a building sits).

And the sense of the word in this context is a usage the lexicographers record: women advanced in years, who have now sat down from marriage and from bearing.

The word, by its root sense, conveys a stillness. And the verse names this not as a lack but as a condition.

And the verse adds an explanation to the word: allātī lā yarjūna nikāḥan — "those who have no expectation of marriage".

رَجَا — root ر-ج-و: to hope, to expect. And another sense of the word: the edge, the brink of a thing (arjāʾ).

The verse, that is, takes not age but expectation as its measure. This is read from the wording of the text.

Root: ب-ر-ج. Its concrete sense is to be seen, to come out, to appear. Burj — a tower, a watch-place (a structure seen from afar). And tabarruj: to show a thing, to display it openly.

The picture in the root of the word is worth noting: a burj is a structure made in order to be seen from afar. And a mutabarrija: one who behaves in order to be seen.

And the work of the qualification is this: the verse brings in an ease, and immediately after limits the purpose of that ease. The dispensation, that is, cannot be turned into a purpose of display.

This does the same work as the qualification lā yaḍribna bi-arjulihinna in the thirty-first verse:

Both qualifications look at a purpose. I record this as my own reading.

The last clause of the verse, having given a dispensation, states a preference: "yet … is better".

And this shows a distinction within the Qurʾān's language of ruling:

The two do not conflict: a thing may be permitted and yet something else may be better.

This distinction occurred in many places in the long legislative sections of al-Baqara — especially in the rulings on divorce and on suckling: a permission is given, and then it is said, "such-and-such is better."

ٱسْتَعَفَّ — root ع-ف-ف; analysed at the thirty-third verse. That the word occurs twice in the sūra, for two different groups, is worth noting:

The same command, to two groups at the two ends. I record this as an observation about the word order.