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Surah An-Nur, verse 33: meaning and tafsir
وَلْيَسْتَعْفِفِ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَجِدُونَ نِكَاحًا حَتَّىٰ يُغْنِيَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ ۗ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَبْتَغُونَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِمَّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُكُمْ فَكَاتِبُوهُمْ إِنْ عَلِمْتُمْ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا ۖ وَءَاتُوهُم مِّن مَّالِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۚ وَلَا تُكْرِهُوا۟ فَتَيَٰتِكُمْ عَلَى ٱلْبِغَآءِ إِنْ أَرَدْنَ تَحَصُّنًا لِّتَبْتَغُوا۟ عَرَضَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۚ وَمَن يُكْرِههُّنَّ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ إِكْرَٰهِهِنَّ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ٣٣
Let those who cannot afford marriage keep themselves chaste until Allah suffices them from His bounty. If any of your slaves wishes to enter the contract of emancipation[24], make this contract with them, if you find goodness in them, and give them some of the wealth that Allah has given you. Do not compel your slave girls into prostitution – if they wish to keep chaste – seeking the worldly gains of this life[25]. But if anyone compels them, then Allah, after such a compulsion, is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Translation of the meanings: Rowwad Translation Center — version 1.0.19 · QuranEnc.com
[24] i.e., those slaves who want to purchase their freedom for a specific price.
[25] As happened with Abdullah ibn ’Ubayy, the head of the hypocrites, who forced his two slave-girls to commit illegal sexual acts for worldly gains, while they wished to keep chaste.
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Al-Mukhtasar: Abridged Explanation of the Quran
Tafsir Center for Quranic Studies · QuranEnc.com
33. Those who are unable to marry due to their poverty should seek chastity from fornication until Allah makes them wealthy through His vast grace. Those servants who wish to make a contract with their masters, to give money so that they can be free, their masters should accept that of them if they know they have the ability to fulfil and are upright in religion. It is necessary upon them to give them from the wealth Allah has granted them, by discounting them a portion of what they agreed to pay. And do not force your slave girls to fornicate, in pursuit of wealth, as Abdullah ibn Ubayy did with his two slave girls when they requested chastity and staying far from fornication, to seek what she earns through her private parts. Whoever forces them to do that, Allah is Forgiving of their sins after their being forced and Merciful to them, because they are being forced, and the sin is upon the one who forces them.
Quran text: Tanzil Project (Tanzil Quran Text, Uthmani v1.1, CC BY 3.0). The translation and tafsir are quoted word for word, unchanged, from the Noble Quran Encyclopedia, QuranEnc.com, each credited to its source. Details on our sources page. These texts are quoted exactly as published; no answer is written by AI. Quran Chat does not issue fatwas.