SURAH AN-NISA (WOMEN): 1-2

TRANSLATION:

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful. 

[4:1]
O men, fear your Lord who created you from a single soul, and from it created its match, and spread many men and women from the two. Fear Allah in whose name you ask each other (for your rights) {1}, and fear (the violation of the rights of) the womb-relations. Surely, Allah is watchful over you.

[4:2]
Give the orphans their property, and do not substitute what is bad for what is good, and do not eat up their property along with your own. {2}
It is, surely, a great sin.

INTERPRETATION:

{1} When people demand their rights from each other they often say, “In the name of Allah please give me my rights”. This verse means that when you invoke Allah’s name asking other people to give you your rights, then you should also fear Allah in giving other people their rights, and give people their full rights.

{2} When a person dies, their minor children also have a claim to their parents’ inheritance. However, because of their young age, their assets are given in trust to a guardian e.g. an uncle or an elder brother, till they reach adulthood. In this verse, such guardians have been given three instructions; first, that when the children become adults and wise they should handover all their property honestly to them, second, they should not be dishonest in that they keep the good stuff from inheritance themselves and replace it with bad stuff when handing over the inheritance, and third, they should not mix the minors’ assets with their own assets and consume their assets either deliberately or in error.