al-Nisāʾ 4:6

Wa'btalu'l-yatāmā ḥattā idhā balaghu'l-nikāḥ, fa-in ānastum minhum rushdan fa'dfaʿū ilayhim amwālahum, wa lā taʾkulūhā isrāfan wa bidāran an yakbarū, wa man kāna ghaniyyan fa'l-yastaʿfif wa man kāna faqīran fa'l-yaʾkul bi'l-maʿrūf, fa-idhā dafaʿtum ilayhim amwālahum fa-ashhidū ʿalayhim, wa kafā bi'llāhi ḥasībā

"Test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage. If you perceive in them a soundness of judgement, hand over their property to them. Do not consume it wastefully, in haste before they grow up. Let the one who is rich abstain; let the one who is poor consume in the recognised measure. When you hand over their property to them, call witnesses. God suffices as a reckoner."

The fifth verse forbade handing over the property. The sixth verse regulates when the prohibition ends. Read apart, the fifth verse looks like a permanent restriction; read together with the sixth, it is seen to be the regulation of a period of transition.

The sequence the verse establishes is this, and it can be verified:

Of the five steps, two are measures, one is an act, two are procedures. And the two measures are set together: age alone is not enough, and soundness alone is not named either.

The concrete sense of the root: to wear something out by using it. To wear out a garment by wearing it. And from there comes the sense of testing: what a thing is comes out only when it is used.

The root was treated at al-Baqara 2/155 and at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/2; I rely on those treatments.

And the placing of the root here is worth recording: the verse does not say "look", "ask", "observe" — it says "test". Soundness is established not by opinion but by trial.

How the testing is to be done is not written in the verse. In classical jurisprudence there are detailed views on this (having them make small purchases, giving them responsibility for spending); those details are not entered into in this section, and no ruling is issued.

Root أ-ن-س: to notice something with familiarity, from close at hand. Uns — closeness, familiarity; insān — is connected with this root (in al-Aḥzāb it was recorded that nothing definite is said about the root of the word; I keep the same record here).

The root was treated at al-Nūr 24/27 (ḥattā tastaʾnisū); I rely on that treatment.

And the choice of verb is worth recording: the verse does not say raʾaytum (you saw) or ʿalimtum (you knew). Ānastum — you noticed, you sensed. The word states recognition rather than certain knowledge.

The Qurʾān uses the same verb for Moses's (Mūsā's) noticing the fire (innī ānastu nāran — Ṭāhā 20/10; treated in Ṭāhā). In both places there is the sensing of a sign from a distance.

Root ر-ش-د: that a road be straight, that it lead to the goal. Rāshid — one on the right road; irshād — showing the way. The opposite of the word is ghayy (losing one's way).

And there is a classical disagreement over what rushd is here:

This disagreement produced a wide discussion in classical jurisprudence, and its consequences differ among the schools of law. I do not impose a preference, I issue no legal ruling, and none of them is binding.

What follows from the wording of the verse and is not in dispute is this: the word comes indefinite (rushdan — "a soundness"), that is, what is sought is not a complete and flawless maturity but a soundness that can be perceived.

Two verbal nouns come side by side, and both describe the manner in which the consuming is done:

The concrete sense of the root ب-د-ر is worth recording: badr — the full moon. The lexicographers explain this by the root's sense of "to get ahead, to arrive first". Bādara — to hasten to a task.

And the picture in the expression bidāran an yakbarū must be recorded: "racing against their growing up". The orphan will grow and ask for his property; the guardian moves before that. The verse describes a race run against time.

This matches the concrete sense of the word exactly, and I record it as an observation about a word.

فَلْيَسْتَعْفِفْ — root ع-ف-ف, Form X. ʿIffa — to hold oneself back, to keep away. Form X here states keeping away deliberately and with effort.

What the sentence does must be recorded: where the guardian is wealthy, no prohibition is laid down — he is asked to hold himself back. The ruling, that is, varies with the person's own circumstances.

And there is a classical disagreement over the scope of this clause:

This disagreement is real in classical jurisprudence, and the schools divide. I do not impose a preference, I issue no legal ruling, and none of them is binding.

The qualification the verse itself lays down must be recorded: bi'l-maʿrūf. The root ع-ر-ف — known, recognised, accepted by custom. The amount, that is, is not fixed; the measure is the measure known in that community.

The word occurs very frequently in this sūra (5, 6, 8, 19, 25, 114) and almost every time it draws the limit of a ruling. This is a countable fact.

The verse ties the handing over to a procedure: the calling of witnesses.

And the logic of this runs in two directions, and I record it as my own reading: the witness protects both the one who receives the property and the one who hands it over. The orphan cannot say "it was never given to me", nor is the guardian left without proof of his claim "I gave it". Witnessing, that is, is not an act of mistrust but a way of protecting the relationship from a future dispute.

The same logic was treated in detail at al-Baqara 2/282 (the writing down of a debt); I rely on that treatment.

حَسِيب — root ح-س-ب: to count, to reckon. Ḥisāb — a reckoning; ḥasb — sufficiency ("this is enough for me"). The two senses of the root — to count and to suffice — meet in one place: what is counted becomes sufficient when it is complete.

And the pattern of the verse-ending must be recorded: kafā bi'llāhi … — "God suffices as …". This pattern recurs several times in this sūra (6, 45, 70, 79, 81, 132, 166, 171) and six different attributes follow it: ḥasībā, waliyyan, naṣīrā, ʿalīmā, wakīlā, shahīdā.

This is an observation about style, and the places of the words can be counted. Having laid down the obligation, the sūra points again and again to the same place.