Surah Al-Nisâ’ 4:19

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَن تَرِثُوا النِّسَاءَ كَرْهًا ۖ وَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا بِبَعْضِ مَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلَّا أَن يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ ۚ وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۚ فَإِن كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا

4:19 To treat women as inherited property is an abominable practice still existing in different guises in many societies. The relatives of the deceased husband of a widow may perhaps prevent her from taking another husband, force her to marry someone from among themselves, or marry her to another against her will (Bukhârî 4/6). They may sometimes take away her property by force and deprive her of her right of inheritance. In other cases, a man may treat his wife harshly without divorcing her, because he hopes to obtain her property after her death; or he compels her by ill-treatment to obtain “separation” (khul‘a خُلع divorce at the demand of the wife) from him by surrendering the whole or a part of her dower or of her other property. The Qur’ânic injunctions in this verse in this regard are clear and need no further interpretation.

The phrase Fâhishat mubayyanahفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ  meaning “except that they commit flagrant indecency,” indicates two things: first, the relatives of the deceased cannot prevent the widow from contracting a new marriage, unless the widow engages in severely immoral conduct; second, if the wife seeks separation (khul‘a - divorce at the demand of the wife), the husband cannot prevent her from doing so. This permission is immediately followed by the injunction ‘Âshirû-hunna bil-Ma‘rûfعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ , “consort with them in peace”. ‘Âshirû عَاشِرُو is from ‘ashara عَاشِر meaning to consort, live in a cultivated way, or be peaceful. ‘Ashîratun عشيرة is kinsfolk. Ma‘rûf مَعْرُوفِ means befitting, good, fair, kind, or learned. Its opposite is munkar مُنكر. In the words that follow, “If you dislike them,” Allâh Himself argues and pleads for women and makes a recommendation with the words, “It may be that Allâh has placed a good deal of good in them (what you do not know)”.