Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:26-28

{يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ} Its original form is yurīdu Allāhu an yubayyina lakum (God wants to clarify for you). The lam (in li-yubayyina) is added to emphasize the intent of clarification, just as it is added in the phrase lā abā laka (may you have no father) to emphasize the attribution of the father. The meaning is: God wants to clarify for you what is hidden from you regarding your interests and superior deeds, and to guide you to the paths of those who came before you—the prophets and the righteous—and the ways they followed in their religion, so that you may emulate them.

{وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ} He guides you to acts of obedience which, if you perform them, serve as expiations for your sins, so He turns to you in forgiveness and covers your faults.

{وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَن يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ} That you may do that which makes you deserving of His turning to you in forgiveness.

{وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَن تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا} "The followers of desires" are the immoral ones. "A great inclination" is the deviation from moderation and truth; there is no inclination greater than that which occurs by assisting and agreeing with them in following desires.

It is said they are the Jews, and it is said they are the Magians, who used to permit marriage to sisters from the father’s side, and daughters of brothers and sisters. When God forbade these, they said: "You permit the daughter of the maternal aunt and the paternal aunt, yet the paternal and maternal aunts are forbidden to you; so marry the daughters of brothers and sisters." Thus, this was revealed. God Almighty is saying: They want you to be fornicators like them.

{يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ} By permitting the marriage of slave women and other concessions.

{وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا} He cannot endure being without desires, nor can he endure the hardships of acts of obedience.

Sa’id ibn al-Musayyib said: "Satan has never despaired of the children of Adam except that he approaches them through women. Eighty years have passed for me, one of my eyes has gone, and I see poorly with the other, yet the thing I fear most for myself is the temptation of women."

• It is recited as an yamīlū (that they may incline) with a ya, where the pronoun refers to "those who follow desires."
• Ibn Abbas recited wa khalaqa al-insānu (and man created [the weak one]), in the active voice, with al-insāna in the accusative case.
• He (Ibn Abbas) also said: "There are eight verses in Surah an-Nisa that are better for this nation than everything upon which the sun rises and sets":
  1. {يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ}
  2. {وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَن يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ}
  3. {يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ}
  4. {إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ} (4:31)
  5. {إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ} (4:48)
  6. {إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ} (4:40)
  7. {وَمَن يَعْمَلْ سُوءًا أَوْ يَظْلِمْ نَفْسَهُ} (4:110)
  8. {مَّا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ} (4:147)