ويستفتونك في النساء قل الله يفتيكم فيهن وما يتلى عليكم في الكتاب في يتامى النساء اللاتي لا تؤتونهن ما كتب لهن وترغبون أن تنكحوهن والمستضعفين من الولدان وأن تقوموا لليتامى بالقسط
Wa yastaftūnaka fi'l-nisāʾ, quli'llāhu yuftīkum fīhinna wa mā yutlā ʿalaykum fi'l-kitābi fī yatāma'l-nisāʾi'llātī lā tuʾtūnahunna mā kutiba lahunna wa targhabūna an tankiḥūhunna wa'l-mustaḍʿafīna mina'l-wildāni wa an taqūmū li'l-yatāmā bi'l-qisṭ
"They ask you for a ruling concerning women. Say: God gives you a ruling concerning them — and so does what is recited to you in the Book: concerning the orphan girls to whom you do not give what has been prescribed for them and whom you desire to marry, concerning the children who have been made weak, and concerning your standing by the orphans in equity."
This verse returns to the second and third verses of the sūra, and this was recorded in the introductory section. I rely on that.
And the detail of the return must be recorded: the verse counts three items, and all three come from the sūra's first block.
| Item | Wording | Its counterpart in the first block |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yatāma'l-nisāʾ … lā tuʾtūnahunna mā kutiba lahunn | 4/2-3 — the property and marriage of orphan girls |
| 2 | Al-mustaḍʿafīna mina'l-wildān | 4/9 — dhurriyyatan ḍiʿāfan |
| 3 | An taqūmū li'l-yatāmā bi'l-qisṭ | 4/3 — allā tuqsiṭū fi'l-yatāmā |
Three items, tied back to three separate verses. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.
The word occurs for the third time in this sūra: at the seventy-fifth, ninety-eighth and hundred and twenty-seventh verses.
| Verse | Who is counted | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 75 | Al-rijāl, al-nisāʾ, al-wildān | The ground for war |
| 98 | Al-rijāl, al-nisāʾ, al-wildān | The acceptance of an excuse |
| 127 | Only al-wildān | A ruling |
And it must be recorded that in the third occurrence the list narrows: only children are named. This is a countable fact.
أَن تَقُومُوا۟ لِلْيَتَٰمَىٰ بِٱلْقِسْطِ — and the preparation for the hundred and thirty-fifth verse
And the last clause of the verse must be recorded, because it carries the words of a sentence that will come eight verses later.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the words the two verses share: the sūra builds the same command first for orphans and then for everyone. The hundred and thirty-fifth verse is the generalised form of the sentence in the hundred and twenty-seventh.