Ala-Maududi
(4:19) Believers! It is not lawful for you to become heirs to women against their
will.[28] It is not lawful that you should put constraint upon them that you may take
away anything of what you have given them; (you may not put constraint upon them) unless they
are guilty of brazenly immoral conduct.[29] Live with your wives in a good manner. If
you dislike them in any manner, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed
much good for you.[30]
28. This means that the relatives of the husband should not treat the widow of the deceased as if
she were a part of the inheritance and begin imposing their will on her. Upon the death of her
husband a woman becomes independent. As soon as her legally-prescribed period of waiting ends,
she is free to go to wherever she likes and to marry anyone she wishes.
29. This permission is intended not in order to provide them with an excuse to misappropriate her
property but to exercise a restraint on her conduct and prevent her from lewdness.
30. This means that if the wife is either not beautiful or has some shortcoming because of which
she does not seem attractive enough to her husband, the latter should not suddenly decide, in a
fit of rage and disgust, to part with her. Rather he should act with patience and forbearance.
It often happens that a woman lacks physical attraction but has other qualities which are of
much greater value for the success of married life. Hence if such a woman finds the opportunity
to express her qualities, the same husband who initially felt revulsion towards her becomes
captivated by her attractive conduct and character. Sometimes in the early stages of married
life a husband dislikes certain things in his wife, and this initial dislike may even grow to
revulsion. Were a man to be patient and allow all the potentialities of the woman to be
realized, it would become evident to him that her merits outweighed her weaknesses. Hence a
man’s haste in taking the decision to rupture the matrimonial bond is not praiseworthy.
Repudiation of marriage should be a man’s last resort, a resort towards which he should turn
only in unavoidable circumstances. The Prophet (peace be on him) has said: For God, divorce is
the most reprehensible of all lawful things.’ (Abu Da’ud, Talaq’, 3; Ibn Majah, ‘Talaq’, 1 –
Ed.) In another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said: ‘Marry and do not go about
divorcing. For God does not like men and women who keep on changing partners merely for a change
of taste.’ (al-Tabrani, cited by ‘Ajluni in Kashf al-Khifa. vol. 1, p. 304 – Ed.)
