Inheritance in Islam is explained in details with various aspects and relationships

The share of parents

The text, moving to the share of the parents of the deceased, mentions three states:

Firstly, the deceased may have left behind parents who are still alive, and children too, whether only one boy or girl, in which case, the father and mother will get 116 each. The legacy that remains will go to children, wife or husband. There are circumstances when some of the remainder returns to the father which is in addition to the one-sixth fixed for him. In the terminology of ‘Ilmu’l-Faraid (The Science of the Laws of Inheritance), such entitlement is known as the entitlement of “Ta’sib (Agnatic kinship).
Secondly, under a situation when the deceased has no children, brothers or sisters, but does have parents still living, the mother will get 1/3 of the inherited property while the father will get the remaining two-third. This rule governs a situation when the husband or the wife of the deceased is not alive to share in his inheritance. If the husband or wife is present, their share will be taken out first and from what remains, 1/3 will go to the mother and 2/3 to the father.

Thirdly, under a situation when the deceased has no children but does have brothers and sisters whose number is two, whether two brothers or two sisters, or more than two, then, under that situation, the mother will get one-sixth and, if there are no other heirs, the remaining 5/6 will go to the father. As evident, the presence of brothers and sisters has reduced the share of the mother, but the brothers and sisters will get nothing because the father is nearer as compared to brothers and sisters. What remains will go to the father. In this situation, the share of the mother has come to 1/6 instead of 1/3. In the terminology of ‘Faraid’, this is known as “Hajbal-Nuqsan”. The presence of these brothers and sisters causing reduction in the share of parents, irrespective of whether they are real or whether they are from the same father but different mother or whether from the same mother but different father, under all such conditions, their presence will reduce the share of the mother – subject to their being more than one.

The text, after describing the fixed share, says: It means: ‘These shares for children and parents have been determined by Allah Almighty Himself in His infinite wisdom because He is Wise and He knows everything. The shares fixed have great considerations behind them. If the distribution of inheritance was left to your opinion, you would have made beneficialness the criterion of such distribution. But, who will be the best to receive or deliver real benefit is something which would have been difficult for you to ascertain with any measure of certainty. Therefore, ‘nearness in kinship’ was preferred to ‘being beneficial’ as the criterion of the injunction.

This verse of the Holy Qur’an clearly, declares that the shares of inheritance determined by Allah’ Almighty are settled injunctions from Him. Nobody has any right to enforce opinion or to increase or decrease its stipulations. These should be accepted whole-heartedly this command from everyone’s Creator and Master is based on what is wise and beneficial for human beings. There is no aspect of benefit outside the expanse of His knowledge and there is no command He gives bereft of some or the other element of wisdom. Man cannot, all by himself, recognize his gain and loss in the real sense. If this question of the distribution of inheritance was left to man’s personal opinion, it was certain that man would not have decided correctly because of his limitations in understanding and, as a result of which, lack of moderation and justice would have affected the distribution of inheritance. So, Allah Almighty, in His most exalted majesty, took this responsibility in His hands so that justice and equity reign supreme in the distribution of property and the capital left by the deceased circulates in the hands of competent inheritors in a manner which is just and equitable.

Verse 12…

And for you there is one-half of what your wives left behind, in case they have no child. But, if they have a child, you get one-fourth of what they left, after (settling) the will they might have made, or debt. And for them (the wives) there is one-fourth of what you left, in case you have no child. But, if you have a child, they get one-eighth of what you left, after (settling) the will you might have made, or debt. [12 … ]

Upto this point, the text has described the shares of those competent to inherit, those who had the affinity of lineage and birth with the deceased. The present verse talks about some others who do have the competence but are not related by lineage. Instead, they are related by marriage. Details appear in the Commentary.

Commentary

The share of the husband and the wife

In this part of verse 12, the shares of the husband and the wife have been determined. The share of the husband has been mentioned first, perhaps to show its importance because after the death of the wife, the husband becomes part of some other family. If the wife dies at the home of her parents with her assets too being there, her people may avoid giving the share due to the husband. By describing the right of the husband first, the Holy Qur’an has possibly condemned this practice. To explain in details, it means that in case the deceased wife has left no child behind, the husband will get, after the payment of debt and execution of will, one-half of the total property left by the deceased. Out of the remaining half, other heirs, such as the parents of the deceased, her brothers and sisters, will get their shares according to rules set for them.

If the deceased wife has left children – one or two or more, whether male or female, either from the same husband, or from some previous husband, then, the present husband will get, after the payment of debt and execution of will, one-fourth of the total property left by the deceased woman. Shares from the remaining three-fourth will go to other heirs.

If it is the husband who dies leaving his wife behind and leaves no children, the wife will get, after the payment of debt and the execution of will, one-fourth of the total property left by the deceased. And if he has left a child – either from the present wife or from some other wife – she will get, after the settlement of debt and will, a one-eight share. And if the deceased husband had more than one wife, all alive at the time of his death, the attending details shall remain the same, however, the share prescribed for the ‘wife’ (i.e. 114 or 118) shall be divided equally between all the wives. In other words, every woman will not get a share of one-fourth and one-eighth. Instead, all wives will share the one-fourth or one-eight equally. Then, under both these conditions, the inheritance which remains after settling the share of the husband/ wife will be distributed among other heirs left by them.

Ruling

It must be ascertained before the’ distribution of inheritance that the mahr(dower) of the wife has been paid. If the deceased has not paid the mahr of his wife, this will be taken as debt, and will have to be paid first from the total property, like all other debts. The inheritance will be distributed only after that. It should be noted that the woman, after having received her mahr, shall go on to receive her fixed share in the inheritance as a competent inheritor. And in case, the property left by the deceased is not more than the value of dower, and nothing remains after it is paid, the entire property will be given to the woman against her debt of mahr very much like other debts and, as a result, no heir will receive any share from the inheritance thus used UP.

… Verse 12

And if the man being inherited, or the woman, is Kalalah(having no father or son to inherit) and he has a brother or a sister, then, for each of them there is one-sixth. And if they are more than that, they shall be sharers in one-third, after (settling) the will that might have been made, or debt, causing no damage. All this is prescribed by Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, Forbearing. [. ..I2] After having made a brief mention of rights of relations emerging from lineage and marriage, the text now introduces the injunction which covers the inheritance of a particular deceased who has left no children or parents, details of which appear below.

The inheritance of Kalalah

This later part of verse 12 describes the injunction relating to the inheritance of Kalalah. There have been &any definitions of Kalalah. Al-Qurtubi reports these in his Tafsir. According to the most well known definition, ‘A person who dies leaving no ascendants and descendants is Kalalah. ”Allamah al-Alusi, the author of Ruhal-Ma’ani says that Kalalah is really a verbal noun used in the sense of Kala’ meaning ‘to become exhausted’ which denotes ‘weakness’. The name Kalalah has been applied to every relationship other than that of father and son because that relationship is weak as compared to the relationship of father and son.

Moreover, the word, Kalalah has also been applied to the deceased who left no son or father to inherit, as well as to the inheritor who is neither the son nor the father of the deceased. The lexical derivation requires that the word, dhu, should be deemed as understood though not expressed explicitly. Thus Kalalah will be taken in the sense of Dhu Kalalah, meaning ‘one having weak relation’. Later on, the word also came to be applied to the property left as inheritance by a deceased having no son and father.

In gist, if a person, man or woman, dies and leaves behind neither father nor grandfather nor children, but does leave a brother or sister from the same mother and different father, the brother will get 1/6 and, if there is none, the sister will get 116. However, if they are more than one (for example, there may be one brother and one sister, or two brothers and two sisters) then, they all will share one-third of the entire property of the deceased. Here, the male will not get twice that of the female. ‘Allamah al-Qurtubi says:

The share of the brother and sister

Let it be clear that this verse refers to the share of Akhyafi brothers and sisters (i.e. from the same mother and different fathers; also referred to as half-brothers and half-sisters). Though, this restriction has not been mentioned in the present verse, but consensus holds it as creditable. The Qiraah or rendition of SayyidnaSa’dibn Abi WaqqasJin this verse is (and he has a brother orsister from his mother) as has been reported by al-Qurtubi, al-Alusi, al-Jassas and others. Although this rendition has not come to us through tawatur (a consistent narration of a very large number of persons in all ages) but because of the consensus of the entire Muslim ummah, it is worth practicing. Another clear proof is that Allah Almighty mentions the inheritance of Kalalah at the end of Surah Al-Nisa’ as well. If, it has been said there, there is one sister, she will get half. And if there is one brother, he will inherit the entire property of his sister. And if there are two sisters, they will get 2/3. And if there are several brothers and sisters, the male will be given twice that of the female. This injunction appearing at the end of the Surah refers to ‘Aini(rea1and full) brothers and sisters, and to ‘Allati(from the same father and different mothers) brothers and sisters. If ‘Allatiand ‘Ainibrothers and sisters were to be included here, it will cause a contradiction in injunctions.

The issues regarding will (Wasiyyah)

The shares of inheritance have been described thrice in this section and it has been said that this distribution of shares comes after the execution of will and the payment of debt. As it has been stated earlier, one-third of what remains of the property, after taking care of the cost of the funeral for the deceased, and payment of debts, shall be applied to the execution of the will. If the will exceeds the extent of one-third, it is not legally enforceable. According to the rule of Shari’ah, the payment of debt comes before the execution of will. If the entire property is used up in paying debts, there will be no will to execute and no property to distribute. At all the three places where ‘will’ has been mentioned, ‘it’ appears before ‘debt’. As obvious, this gives the impression that the right of ‘will’ precedes ‘debt’. Removing this misunderstanding, Sayyidna’Ali said: (You recite the verse: that is, ‘after settling the will they might have made or debt’ [where ‘will’ comes first] but [practically] the Holy Prophet, may peace be upon him, has settled, ‘debt’ before ‘will’). Still, we have to know the point as to why will follows debt ‘practically’ while, in words, i t has been mentioned earlier. In this connection, the author of Ruh al-Ma’ani has this to say:

It means that the mention of will before debt in this verse is to emphasize upon the enforcement of the wills. Since the beneficiary of a will deserves it without any price paid by him, and often without having a kinship with the testator, it was likely that the inheritors ignore to enforce it or, at least, may cause unnecessary delay in its execution, because they may have not liked to see the property that was to be inherited by them. going to somebody else. So, it was to keep up the importance of will that it was mentioned before debt. Then, it is also not necessary that every person incurs a debt, and if a person incurs it during his life-time, it is not necessary, that the said debt remains unpaid upto the time of his death. And even if the debt was due to be paid at the time of death, even then, since the claim of debt comes from the debtors to which the inheritors cannot say no, the likelihood of any shortcoming in this respect is slim. This is contrary to the case of will in which the deceased, when he bequeaths part of his property, earnestly desires that he should invest it in something good which serves as ongoing charity on his behalf. Since, there is no chance of a claim on this bequeathed property from any side, there was a possibility that the inheritors themselves might fall into some sort of shortcoming, so, it was to offset this likelihood that the ‘will’ has been mentioned first everywhere as a special measure.

Rulings

If there is no debt and no will, the entire property, after taking care of the funeral expenses, will be distributed over the inheritors.

Making a will in favour of a heir is not lawful. If someone makes a will in favour of his son, daughter, husband or wife, or for someone else who is going to get a share in his inheritance, then, this will is not enforceable. The inheritors will get what is coming to them as their share in the inheritance. They are not entitled to more than that. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w) said in his famous address on the occasion of his last Hajj: (Surely, Allah has given every person his (or her) right. So, there is no will for an inheritor.) (Mishkat with reference to Abu Dawud, p. 265)

However, should other inheritors permit, the will made in favour of a particular inheritor, may be executed first and, then, the rest of the property may be distributed in accordance with the method laid down by the Shariah, in which the particular inheritor will also get his fixed share from the inheritance. Some hadith narrations do carry the exception of (unless inheritors wish). (as in al-Hidayah). The words (causing no damage) appearing after the rules of inheritance of KaLaLah have a special significance.

They are to warn that even though the execution of the will and paying off the debts have precedence over the shares of the heirs, yet this rule should not be misused to cause harm to the genuine inheritors. If anyone makes a will or makes a false admission of indebtedness so as to deprive inheritors, then, he is doing something strictly forbidden and is committing a major sin. There are many ways damage can be done through debt and will. For example, one may deliberately lie that he is in debt, just to let that be given to a friend or somebody else. Or, he may show something special which he owns personally as something he holds in trust for somebody so that it can stay out of the total inheritable property. Or, one may make a will for property beyond the extent of one-third. Or, he lies about an unpaid loan he gave to somebody and says that the debt was paid off so that it does not pass on to the inheritors. Or, one may, during his illness culminating in, make a gift of more than one-third in the name of somebody.

These are forms of causing damage. Every legator who is going to bid farewell to this mortal world should do his best to stay away from causing such damages during the last moments of his life. It should be noticed that although the words ‘causing no damage’ have appeared only with the rules relating to Kalalah, however, the rule laid down by them is general and is also understood at two previous places where the precedence of will and debt has been mentioned in these verses. Therefore, it is not the KalaLaho nly who should refrain from causing harm to his inheritors, but the same rule applies to all persons who wish to make a will.

The emphasis on distribution according to fixed shares

Towards the end of the verse, after the shares of inheritance have been described, Allah Almighty has said: (All this is prescribed by Allah). It means that it is imperative to act upon whatever has been prescribed in relation to shares as fixed and the payment of debt and the execution of will as emphasized. Being a mandate and injunction of supreme significance, one should $0 nothing to contravene it. Then, as additional warning it was said: And Allah is All-Knowing, Forbearing). I t means that Allah knows everything and He has apportioned these shares knowing everybody’s true state of being as in His knowledge. Whoever obeys and acts in accordance with these injunctions, this good deed of his shall not remain outside the reach of His knowledge. And whoever contravenes these injunctions, this evil conduct of his shall certainly appear as it is in the knowledge of Allah for which he shall be held accountable.

In addition to that, if a deceased person has caused damage to his heirs through debt or will, Allah knows that as well. So, one should never be fearless from Allah’s punishment. However, it is quite possible that Allah Almighty may not punish a person right here in this mortal world, because He is Forbearing. But, the one who disobeys and acts in contravention should better not deceive himself by thinking that he really got away.

Verses 13 – 14

These are the limits set by Allah. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, He will admit him to gardens beneath which rivers flow, remaining there forever. And that is a great success. [Is] And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and crosses the limits set by Him, He shall admit him to the Fire, remaining there forever. And for him there is a humiliating punishment. [I41

Commentary

It is the consistent style of the Holy Qur’in that whenever it has described the beliefs and injunctions prescribed by Allah, it is followed by promises of reward or warnings of punishment. surah Al-Nisa’ 4 :13-14

This is what has been done here in these two verses after mentioning the rules of inheritance. The purpose is to stress upon Muslims to obey these injunctions.

SOME ADDITIONAL RULES OF INHERITANCE

A Muslim cannot inherit from a Kafir

Although, the distribution of inheritance is based on nearness of kinship, but there are certain exceptions to this rule. First of all, the deceased and his inheritor should not be from two different religions. Therefore, a Muslim will not inherit from any Kafir and no Kafir from a Muslim, no matter what lineal relationship they may have between them. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) said: (The Muslim does not inherit the Kafir, nor does the Kafir (Inherit) the Muslim.) (Mishkat, p. 263)

This rule relates to a situation when a person is a Muslim or a Kafir by birth. But, if a person who was first a Muslim, turned away from Islam and became an apostate and died or was killed in that state of apostasy, all his earnings while being a Muslim shall go to his Muslim inheritors, and whatever he may have earned after his apostasy shall be deposited in the Bayt al-Mil (Public Exchequer).

But, if a woman becomes an apostate, all her property, whether acquired during her days of Islam or during apostasy, shall go to her Muslim inheritors. However, an apostate as such, man or woman, shall not inherit from any Muslim nor from any other apostate.

The inheritance of the killer

If someone kills a person from whose property he was entitled to receive a share, he shall no longer remain his inheritor and shall be excluded from the inheritance of the person whom he has killed.

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) said: (The killer shall not inherit.) (Mishkat, p. 263) However, some forms of Qatl al Khata (accidental or unintended homicide) are excepted from this rule, details of which appear in books of Fiqh.

The inheritance of the unborn child

If a person leaves some children and his wife is pregnant, then this unborn child will also be counted among inheritors. But, since it is either difficult or uncertain to determine the sex or the number of children in the mother’s womb, it would be appropriate to postpone the distribution of inheritance until the birth of the child. If, the distribution of property has to be made necessarily, then, as an expedient measure, one must suppose two situations in terms of a boy or a girl and distribute to the inheritors the lesser portion coming out of the two situations. The remaining should be held for the child-to-be-born.

The inheritance of a woman in the period of ‘iddah

In case a person divorces his wife and the divorce is revocable, and this person dies before the revocation of the divorce and the expiry of his wife’s waiting period, then this woman will get a share in the inheritance, for the marriage is in force. If a person divorces his wife during his sickness culminating in his death, even though the divorce is irrevocable or pronounced thrice, and he died before the expiry of the waiting period, even then, this woman will get a share in the inheritance. And in order to make her inherit, the longer of the two waiting periods shall be taken as operative in the following manner The waiting period following a divorce is three menstrual periods and the waiting period following the death of the husband is four (lunar) months and ten days. The waiting period out of the two which lasts longer shall be prescribed as the waiting period for the aforesaid woman so that the woman may get a share in the inheritance as far as possible. And if a person divorces his wife, irrevocably or by pronouncing it thrice, prior to any sickness culminating in his death and, a few days later he passes away during the period of his wife’s waiting period, then, she will not get a share in the inheritance under this situation. However, if the divorce given was revocable, she will inherit

Ruling:

If a’ wife secures a separation from the husband at her own instance (Khul) within the period of his sickness which culminates in his death, then, she will not be an inheritor, even though her husband may die during her waiting period.

The inheritance of ‘asbat’

There are twelve heirs for whom specified shares have been settled and fixed by the Shari’ah known as Faraid. These heirs are called ashabul-furud, that is, ‘the possessors of obligatory shares in inheritance as determined in the Holy Qur’an.’ These have been explained earlier. If there is no heir from the category of ashabul-furud or there remains some property after shares have been given to ashabul-furud, this remainder or residue is given to ‘asbah (agnatic heir, or residuary). There are times when one person alone inherits in both capacities. There are other situations when the children of the deceased and his father too become ‘asbah and so do the offspring of the father, that is, the brother.

There are several kinds of ‘asbat or agnates, details of which appear in the books of Faraid. To illustrate, here is an example: Zayd died leaving behind four heirs – wife, daughter, mother and uncle. Zayd’s property will be divided into a total of twenty four shares. Half of these, that is, twelve shares will go to the daughter, three shares to the wife against her 118, four shares to the mother against her 116, and the residue of five shares will go the uncle in the capacity of his being ‘asbah, the nearest male agnate.

Rulings

If there are no ‘asbat (agnatic hens) the residue of the property following the distribution of shares t,o ashabul-furud, is also given to them. In the terminology of ‘Ilmul-faraid, this is known as the principle of Radd or Return since the residue ‘returns’ to them in proportion to their shares. However, the husband or the wife is not entitled to this ‘return’ and they are not given any more than their specified shares.

If there is no one from ashabul-furud and no one from ‘asbat either, the inheritance goes to Dhawil-Arham (maternal kinsmen). There is a large list of Dhawil-Arham which includes maternal grandsons and grand daughters, offspring of sisters, paternal aunts, maternal uncles, and aunts. Since the subject has lot more details which cannot be taken up in the present context, it is hoped that comments already offered will be sufficient.

Verses 15-16

And those of your women who commit the shameful act, then have four witnesses from among you. So, if they do testify, then confine those women to their homes until death overcomes them or Allah prescribes a way for them. [I5] And those two of you who commit it, torture them both. But if they repent and amend, turn away from them. Surely, Allah is Most-Relenting, Very-Merciful. [6]

Sequence

In previous verses, the objective was to correct the malpractices of the days of ignorance committed about orphans and inheritances. The people of jahiliyyah also used to subject women to cruel treatment. They had certain other evil customs also, such as marrying prohibited women. The present verses are meant to correct such customs, however, it has been permitted that if a woman commits a proven guilt, she can be punished. This subject of correcting the evil customs will continue through the next two or three sections

Commentary

These verses prescribe punishments for men and women who commit zina (adultery or fornication). If this comes from women, the first verse requires the presence of four male witnesses to prove it. It means that the executive authority before which the case goes should call for four qualified witnesses to prove zina Then, it is necessary that all the witnesses are male. The testimony of women in this connection is not valid. Since the guilt of zina of extremely grave nature which not only Violate honour and modesty, but also brings bad name to the family, Islam has taken very strict attitude while setting the standard of to prove this guilt. Firstly, there came the condition that witnesses have to be men; the evidence of women was not considered valid. Secondly, the number of the required witnesses is raised to four. As obvious, this condition is very hard to meet. It is something which can very seldom take place. This strict approach was taken so that the husband of the woman, his mother or (another) wife or sister do not level undue accusations against her out of personal spite. It was also to check that other ill-wishing people do not get any chance to release their personal hostility by accusing her falsely. Testimony to zina by less than four individuals renders their evidence invalid in which case the complainant and the witnesses may all be charged as liars and the Hadd of Qadhf (punishment for false accusation) becomes operative against them for having falsely accused a Muslim.

It has been very clearly said in Surah An-Nur:

which means that those who cannot produce four witnesses are liars. Some revered elders, describing the wisdom behind the need to have four witnesses, have said that since this case involves two individuals, man and woman, this one single case comes, so to speak, under the purview of one rule for two cases. Since each case requires two witnesses, so four witnesses will be necessary in this case.

Towards the end of the verse, it is said that should they both repent and correct themselves, then, leave them. It means that, in case they have repented after punishment, they should not be disgraced and punished any more. It does not mean that the act of repentance has absolved them of the punishment because this repentance has been mentioned after punishment as obvious from the ramification of the letter fa” (literally, “then, turn away”, which has been left as understood in the present translation). However, in case repentance has not been made, reproach is in order even after punishment.

No definite Hadd (punishment) has been described in these two verses of the Holy Qur’an. What has been said here is limited to “torture them” and “confine the fornicating women to their homes”. No particular method of such “torture” has been described either, and this has been left to the discretion of the authorities. Sayyidna Ibn ‘Abbas (R.A) says that torture here means that they should be verbally reproached and put to shame, as well as, given physical punishment such as hitting with hands and shoes… This statement reported from Sayyidna Ibn ‘Abbas (R.A) appears to be illustrative. The fact of the matter is that this whole thing has been left to the discretion of the authorities.

In the order of revelation, the injunction ‘to torture’ the adulterers came first, and it was later that the women guilty of adultery were ordered to be ‘confined to their homes’. While giving this command, the Holy Qur’an has mentioned two limits for the period of their confinement. The words used are: “Confine those women to their homes until death overcomes them or Allah prescribes a way for them”. It means that such women shall be confined to their homes till their death, however, if Allah prescribes some. other punishment for them while they are still alive, then that punishment will replace the punishment of confinement. That new (expected) punishment has been referred to in this verse as ‘a way’ prescribed by Allah. Later this ‘way’ as promised in this verse was prescribed and was revealed. Interpreting the word ‘way’ used in this verse, Sayyidna Ibn Abbas (R.A) (that is, stoning to death, for the married and lashing for the unmarried.) (al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Tafsir, v.2, p. 657)

This “way” stands proved through clear statements of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) himself where the relevant injunctions for the married and the unmarried have been described separately. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w) the had pronounced the Hadd punishment of zina in the case of Sayyidni Ma’iz ibn Malik (R.a) and a woman from the tribe of Azd. Since both of them were married, they were stoned to death. In addition to that, a couple from among the Jews of Madinah was also stoned to death because of zina and this judgment against them was pronounced on the authority of an injunction of Torah.

The injunction relating to the unmarried offender is mentioned in Surah al-Nur of the Holy Qur’an itself:

(The fornicator, woman or man, administer each one of them – a hundred lashes.) – (24:2)

A verse of the Holy Qur’an was also revealed earlier to cover the injunction of rajm (stoning to death), but its recitation was later on abrogated. However, the injunction itself was retained as operative.

Sayyidna ‘Umar (R.a) has said:

(Surely, Allah sent Muhammad (s.a.w) with the truth and sent down to him the Book. Then, in what was revealed by Allah Almighty there was the verse of Rajm. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w) stoned and we stoned after him and the revealed injunction of Rajm stands proved against every one who commits zina despite being married, whether man or woman.) (al-Bukhari, Muslim, as in Mishkat, p. 309)

To sum up, the injunction of ‘torturing’ and ‘confining to homes’ which appears in these verses was abrogated after the subsequent revelation of the legal Hadd punishment of zina, that is, one hundred lashes or Rajm will be mandatory. More details in this connection will, God willing, appear in the commentary on Surah al-Nur