Al-Qur'an Surah An-Nisa Verse 2

Mufti Taqi Usmani

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. It is, surely, a great sin.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Give orphans their wealth ˹when they reach maturity˺, and do not exchange your worthless possessions for their valuables, nor cheat them by mixing their wealth with your own. For this would indeed be a great sin.

Ruwwad Translation Center

Give orphans their wealth, and do not exchange your bad possessions for their good ones, nor consume their wealth by mixing it with your own; for this is indeed a great sin.

A. J. Arberry

Give the orphans their property, and do not exchange the corrupt for the good; and devour not their property with your property; surely that is a great crime.

Abdul Haleem

Give orphans their property, do not replace [their] good things with bad, and do not consume their property with your own- a great sin.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And give unto the orphans their substance, and substitute not the bad for the good; and devour not their substance by adding it to your substance; verily that is a great crime.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

To orphans restore their property (When they reach their age), nor substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by mixing it up) with your own. For this is indeed a great sin.

Abul Ala Maududi

Give orphans their property, and do not exchange the bad for the good, and do not eat up their property by mixing it with your own. This surely is a mighty sin.

Ahmed Ali

Give to the orphans their possessions, and do not replace things of your own which are bad with things which are good among theirs, and do not intermix their goods with your own and make use of them, for this is a grievous crime.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And give the orphans their wealth and do not exchange the pure for the foul; and do not devour (or use up) their wealth, mixing it with your own; this is indeed a great sin.

Ali Quli Qarai

Give the orphans their property, and do not replace the good with the bad, and do not eat up their property [by mingling it] with your own property, for that is indeed a great sin.

Ali Ünal

Restore their property to the orphans (in your custody, when they come of age), and do not exchange the corrupt for the good (the unlawful for the lawful), nor consume their property by mixing it up with your own. For doing that would be a great crime (whereby you risk the spiritual reward you hope for by caring for them).

Amatul Rahman Omar

And give the orphans their property and substitute not (your) worthless things for (their) good ones, nor consume their property mingling it along with your own property, for this indeed is a great sin.

English Literal

And give the orphans their properties , and do not exchange/replace/substitute the bad/spoiled with the good/beautiful , and do not eat their properties to your properties , that it was a great/large sin/crime .

Faridul Haque

And give the orphans their wealth and do not exchange the pure for the foul; and do not devour (or use up) their wealth, mixing it with your own; this is indeed a great sin.

Hamid S. Aziz

And give women their dowries freely; and if they of their own will remit any of it, then accept and enjoy it with good cheer.

Hilali & Khan

And give unto orphans their property and do not exchange (your) bad things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by adding it) to your substance. Surely, this is a great sin.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

O people, keep your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind), and spread from these two many men and women. And keep your duty to Allah, by Whom you demand one of another (your rights), and (to) the ties of relationship. Surely Allah is ever a Watcher over you.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And give to the orphans their property, and do not substitute worthless (things) for (their) good (ones), and do not devour their property (as an addition) to your own property; this is surely a great crime.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Give unto orphans their wealth. Exchange not the good for the bad (in your management thereof) nor absorb their wealth into your own wealth. Lo! that would be a great sin.

Muhammad Sarwar

Give to the orphans their property. Do not exchange the pure for the filthy and do not spend the property of orphans along with your own; this would be a great sin.

Qaribullah & Darwish

Give the orphans their wealth. Do not exchange the evil for the good, nor consume their wealth with your wealth. Surely, that is a great sin.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And give unto orphans their property and do not exchange (your) bad things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by adding it) to your substance. Surely, this is a great sin.

Wahiduddin Khan

Give the orphans the possessions that belong to them, do not exchange good things with bad and do not consume their property, adding it to your own. Surely, this is a great crime.

Talal Itani

And give orphans their properties, and do not substitute the bad for the good. And do not consume their properties by combining them with yours, for that would be a serious sin.

Tafsir jalalayn

The following was revealed regarding an orphan who demanded his property from his guardian but was refused it; Give the orphans, the under-age ones that have no father, their property, when they have reached maturity, and do not exchange the evil, the unlawful, for the good, the lawful, that is, taking the one in place of the other, as you do when you take what is good from the orphan's property, and leave him your faulty property instead; and absorb not their property, [by] adding it, into your property; surely that, the absorbing of it, is a great crime, a serious sin. When this was revealed they found it difficult to maintain guardianship over orphans, and some of them had ten or eight wives under their care, and did not treat them all equally, and so the following was revealed;

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Protecting the Property of the Orphans

Allah says;

وَاتُواْ الْيَتَامَى أَمْوَالَهُمْ


And give unto orphans their property

Allah commands that the property of the orphans be surrendered to them in full when they reach the age of adolescence, and He forbids using or confiscating any part of it.

So He said;

وَلَا تَتَبَدَّلُواْ الْخَبِيثَ بِالطَّيِّبِ

and do not exchange (your) bad things for (their) good ones;

Sa`id bin Al-Musayyib and Az-Zuhri commented,

"Do not substitute a weak animal of yours for a fat animal (of the orphans)."

Ibrahim An-Nakhai and Ad-Dahhak commented,

"Do not give something of bad quality for something of good quality."

As-Suddi said,

"One of them (caretakers of orphans) would take a fat sheep from the orphan's property and put in its place, a weak sheep of his, saying, `A sheep for a sheep.' He would also take a good Dirham and exchange it for a fake Dirham, saying, `A Dirham for a Dirham."'

Allah's statement,

وَلَا تَأْكُلُواْ أَمْوَالَهُمْ إِلَى أَمْوَالِكُمْ

and devour not their substance to your substance.

Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Muqatil bin Hayyan, As-Suddi and Sufyan bin Hassin stated,

means, do not mix them together so that you eat up both.

Allah said,

إِنَّهُ كَانَ حُوبًا كَبِيرًا



Surely, this is a great sin.

According to Ibn Abbas,

a major and substantial sin.

This was also reported from Mujahid, Ikrimah, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Al-Hasan, Ibn Sirin, Qatadah, Muqatil bin Hayyan, Ad-Dahhak, Abu Malik, Zayd bin Aslam and Abu Sinan.

The meaning above is;

adding their property to your property is a grave sin and a major mistake, so avoid it.
The Prohibition of Marrying Female Orphans Without Giving a Dowry

Allah said