| An-Nisa (The Women): (176) They ask you for a ruling. Say, "Allah gives you a ruling..."

It is known that the Almighty spoke at the beginning of this Surah concerning the rulings of wealth, and concluded the end of it with the same topic,

so that the end corresponds to the beginning. The middle of the Surah contains the debate with the dissenting sects who oppose the religion.

The scholars have said that Allah Almighty revealed two verses concerning al-Kalālah (one who dies leaving neither ascendants nor descendants): one in winter, which is the one at the beginning of this Surah, and the other in summer, which is this verse. For this reason, this verse is called the "Summer Verse." We have already mentioned that al-Kalālah is a name that applies to the heir or to the deceased whose heirs are neither parent nor child.

Then He said: {If a man dies having no child, but has a sister, hers is half of what he leaves}. The word imru’un (a man) is raised by an implied pronoun that the explicit statement clarifies. The clause {having no child} is in the nominative case as an adjective, meaning: if a man dies without offspring.

Know that the apparent meaning of this verse contains three restrictions:

1. The apparent meaning suggests that the sister takes half only in the absence of a child. This is not the case. Rather, the condition for the sister to take half is that the deceased has no son. If the deceased has a daughter, the sister still takes half.
2. The apparent meaning suggests that if the deceased has no child, the sister takes half. This is not the case. Rather, the condition is that the deceased has neither child nor father, because the sister does not inherit when the father is present, by consensus.
3. The phrase {and he has a sister} refers to a full sister (by father and mother) or a sister by the father only. As for the sister by the mother, Allah has clarified her ruling at the beginning of the Surah, by consensus.

Then the Almighty said: {And he inherits her if she has no child}. This means that the brother inherits the sister's estate entirely if she has no child. However, this brother must be a full brother or a brother by the father only. As for the brother by the mother, he does not inherit the entire estate.

Then the Almighty said: {But if there are two [sisters], theirs shall be two-thirds of what he leaves, and if there are brethren, men and women, then for the male is the share of two females}. This verse indicates that the sister mentioned is not only the sister by the mother. It is narrated that As-Siddiq (Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him) said in his sermon: "The verses Allah revealed in Surah An-Nisa concerning the shares are: the first part concerns children and parents; the second concerns the husband, wife, and brothers by the mother. The verse that concludes Surah An-Nisa was revealed concerning brothers and sisters by father and mother. And the verse that concludes Surah Al-Anfal was revealed concerning Ulu al-Arhām (uterine relatives)."

Then the Almighty said: {Allah makes clear to you lest you go astray}. There are several interpretations for this:

1. The Basrans said: The implied word here is omitted, meaning: Allah makes clear to you, hating that you go astray, but the implied word was omitted, like His saying: {And ask the town} (Joseph: 82).
2. The Kufans said: A negative particle is omitted, meaning: Allah makes clear to you so that you do not go astray. Similar to this is His saying: {Indeed, Allah restrains the heavens and the earth from ceasing to exist} (Fatir: 41), meaning so that they do not cease to exist.
3. Al-Jurjani, the author of An-Nathm, said: Allah makes clear the misguidance to you so that you know it is misguidance and avoid it.

Then the Almighty said: {And Allah is Knowing of all things}, so that His clarification is true and His exposition is sincere.

Know that there is a wonderful subtlety in this Surah: its beginning includes the clarification of the perfection of Allah's power, as He said: {O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul} (An-Nisa: 1). This indicates the vastness of His power. Its end includes the clarification of the perfection of His Knowledge, as He said: {And Allah is Knowing of all things}. These two attributes are what establish Lordship, Divinity, Majesty, and Might. Because of them, the servant must be obedient to the commands and prohibitions and submissive to all obligations.

The author said: I finished the exegesis of this Surah on Tuesday, the twelfth of Jumada al-Akhirah in the year five hundred and ninety-five.