Calls to Faith and the Prohibition of Inheriting Women

Occasion: A transcription of a lecture (the Isha lesson) delivered at AIA on July 14, 2026 Source: A transcription of a video lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The transcript begins at the close of a supplication the speaker was making: «…نا بالقولِ الثابت في الحياة الدنيا وفي الآخرة» (…us with the firm word in this worldly life and in the Hereafter), "and on the day the witnesses stand," then: «ربنا اغفر لنا ذنوبنا وإسرافنا في أمرنا، وثبّت اللهم على الحق أقدامنا، واهدنا سبلنا، وأجرنا من خزي الدنيا وعذاب الآخرة، يا رب العالمين» (Our Lord, forgive us our sins and our excess in our affairs, make our feet firm, O Allah, upon the truth, guide us to our paths, and protect us from disgrace in this world and the punishment of the Hereafter, O Lord of the worlds).^[1]

A Tour of the Calls

Then he praised Allah and moved on to the subject of the lesson: Allah's call to the believers with the words «يا أيها الذين آمنوا» (O you who believe). Then he mentioned some numbers that are unclear in the transcript, and apologized for one number he had said and found odd.^[2]

From Sūrat al-Baqarah he cited the words of the Exalted: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا﴾ (O you who believe, do not say "Rā'inā," but say "Unẓurnā") [al-Baqarah: 104].

In Sūrat Āl ʿImrān he mentioned the account of the wife of ʿImrān: ﴿إِذْ قَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ عِمْرَانَ رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي …﴾ (When the wife of ʿImrān said, "My Lord, I have vowed to You what is in my womb …") [Āl ʿImrān], and he mentioned Mary and Jesus, peace be upon him, and the words: ﴿إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ﴾ (when He wills a thing, He only says to it, "Be," and it is).^[3] Then the two calls: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ * وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾ (O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims. And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided, and remember the favor of Allah upon you) [Āl ʿImrān: 102-103], and ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, be patient, persevere, stand firm, and fear Allah, that you may succeed) [Āl ʿImrān: 200].

He moved on to Sūrat al-Nisāʾ and recited its opening: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا﴾ (O people, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and spread from them both many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever, over you, an Observer) [al-Nisāʾ: 1]. He repeated the name of the sūrah, and in between came the words "offspring" and "ʿaṣabiyyah" (clannishness), though their context is not clear.^[4]

The Call on Inheriting Women

Then he paused at the call with which he had begun: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَن تَرِثُوا النِّسَاءَ كَرْهًا ۖ وَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا بِبَعْضِ مَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلَّا أَن يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ ۚ وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ﴾ (O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will. And do not constrain them in order to take away part of what you gave them, unless they commit a clear immorality. And live with them in kindness) [al-Nisāʾ: 19]. And he repeated "it is not lawful for you" several times.

At this point he said something in declaring Allah's transcendence: "Exalted is Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, far above what they say," though its relevance is not clear in the transcript. Then he addressed the one who does such a thing in a colloquial tone: "My dear, you can't do that," then returned to "it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will," then to the phrase "and do not constrain them" and repeated "constraint" (al-ʿaḍl), stressing that this is legislation from Allah, glory be to Him, the Exalted.

He explained the transformation that the legislation brought, saying in effect: they had been part of the inheritance and became heirs; she had been part of the inheritance, she used to be distributed, and she used to be given to another person who controlled her with everything he had.

Then he said that this is a matter of inheritance law, and he mentioned the wife, and the transcript has «مثل حد الانثيين» ("like the limit of the two females") in garbled form, and at this point the transcript breaks off.^[5]

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The transcript begins in the middle of the supplication with a truncated word, "…nā," so the first sentence was not completed and was not attributed to a verse. The phrase "and on the day the witnesses stand" appears in the transcript as recorded. The beginning of the supplication after it resembles Āl ʿImrān: 147 (attribution by the editor); in the transcript it came joined to what follows with the wording "make our feet firm, O Allah, upon the truth," so it was recorded in the speaker's wording and not restored to the wording of the verse. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The transcript has "seh 6 baqara ʿimran 24," which are garbled numbers and so were not recorded. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: It is not clear from the transcript how this passage connects to the calls, so it was recorded as mentioned. The phrase "when He wills a thing, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is" is close to Yā Sīn: 82 ﴿إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ﴾, and therefore was not attributed with a number. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The words "offspring" and "ʿaṣabiyyah" appear in the transcript between the recitation of the opening of al-Nisāʾ and his return to the call on inheritance, and the transcript shows some disorder before them ("sūrat al-Baqarhān sūrat al-Nisāʾ") which was not carried over. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The phrase «مثل حد الانثيين» ("like the limit of the two females") is garbled, and it is most likely a reference to ﴿لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنثَيَيْنِ﴾ (to the male, the equivalent of the share of two females) [al-Nisāʾ: 11]; the attribution is the editor's. Regarding the occasion of revelation of al-Nisāʾ: 19, al-Bukhārī narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) that in the Jāhiliyyah the guardians of a deceased man had a greater claim to his wife; this is from the editor's knowledge and not from the transcript.