(32–33) “Marry off the unmarried among you, as well as the righteous among your male and female slaves. If they are poor, Allah will enrich them from His bounty. Allah is All-Bountiful, All-Knowing. Those who lack the means to marry should remain chaste until Allah enriches them from His bounty. As for those in your possession who seek a contract of emancipation, enter into such a contract with them if you know there is good in them, and give them from the wealth of Allah that He has given you. Do not force your slave women into prostitution, if they desire chastity, in pursuit of the fleeting gains of worldly life. If anyone forces them, then after they have been forced, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Allah Most High commands guardians and masters to arrange marriages for the unmarried under their authority—that is, all those without spouses, whether men or women, previously married or virgins. A relative or the guardian of an orphan must therefore arrange a marriage for anyone under his financial care who needs to marry. Since they are commanded to arrange marriages for those under their authority, the command that they themselves marry applies all the more strongly.
“As well as the righteous among your male and female slaves.” “Righteous” may refer to religious uprightness. In that case, the master is commanded to arrange a marriage for an upright male or female slave—one who is neither immoral nor a fornicator—as a reward for that person’s righteousness and an encouragement to persist in it. Moreover, one corrupted by fornication may not be married. This supports what was mentioned at the beginning of the surah: marriage to a male or female fornicator is prohibited until that person repents. Righteousness would then be specified for slaves rather than free people because such immorality was commonly found among slaves. Alternatively, “righteous” may mean those male and female slaves who are fit for marriage and need it (1). This interpretation is supported by the fact that a master is not commanded to arrange a marriage for his slave before the slave needs to marry. It is also quite possible that both meanings are intended. Allah knows best.
His words, “If they are poor”—meaning the prospective spouses—“Allah will enrich them from His bounty.” Thus, do not be deterred by the fear that marriage will impoverish someone because of a large family or the like. This encourages marriage and promises that those who marry will be enriched after poverty. “Allah is All-Bountiful,” abundant in goodness and immense in grace, and “All-Knowing” of who deserves His religious and worldly favor, or either one of them, and who does not. He therefore gives each person as His knowledge and wisdom dictate.
“Those who lack the means to marry should remain chaste until Allah enriches them from His bounty.” This is the ruling for one who is unable to marry. Allah commands him to remain chaste: to refrain from what is prohibited and to adopt the means that will restrain him from it, including diverting his heart from thoughts that might prompt him to fall into it. He should also do as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “O young men, whoever among you has the means to marry should do so. Whoever is unable should fast, for fasting will restrain his desire.”
His words, “Those who lack the means to marry,” mean those who are unable to marry, whether because of their own poverty, the poverty of their guardians or masters, or the refusal of those guardians or masters to arrange their marriages, while [they have no] (2) ability to compel them to do so. This interpretation is better than that of those who understood the words to mean, “those who cannot find a marriage dowry,” taking the possessive complement as standing in place of the omitted noun. That interpretation entails two difficulties. First, it assumes an omission in the wording, whereas the basic presumption is that nothing has been omitted.
Second, it restricts the meaning to someone who may be in either of two conditions: possessing wealth or lacking it. This excludes male and female slaves, as well as anyone whose marriage is the responsibility of a guardian, as we have explained.
“Until Allah enriches them from His bounty.” This is a promise ⦗568⦘ to the one who remains chaste that Allah will enrich him and facilitate his affairs. It also commands him to await relief so that his present condition does not become too burdensome for him.
His words, “As for those in your possession who seek a contract of emancipation, enter into such a contract with them if you know there is good in them,” mean that if any of your male or female slaves seeks such a contract and asks to purchase his or her freedom, then grant the request and conclude the contract. “If you know there is good in them”—that is, in those seeking emancipation—means an ability to earn and uprightness in religion. Such a contract secures two benefits: the benefit of emancipation and freedom, and the benefit of the payment offered to redeem oneself. The slave may strive diligently and earn for the master during the term of the contract more than would have been gained while the slave remained in bondage. The master therefore suffers no harm from concluding the contract, while the slave obtains an immense benefit. For this reason, Allah’s command to enter into such a contract is one of obligation, as the apparent meaning indicates—or one of recommendation, according to the other view.
Allah also commanded that they be assisted in fulfilling their contracts because they are in need and possess no wealth. He therefore said, “And give them from the wealth of Allah that He has given you.” This includes commanding the master who concluded the contract to contribute toward its payment or remit part of the amount, as well as commanding other people to assist them.
For this reason, Allah allocated a share of zakat to those under contracts of emancipation and encouraged giving to them by saying, “from the wealth of Allah that He has given you.” In other words, just as all wealth belongs to Allah and whatever is in your hands is a gift and pure favor from Him, show kindness to Allah’s servants just as Allah has shown kindness to you.
The implication of this noble verse is that if a slave does not request a contract of emancipation, the master is not commanded to initiate one. Likewise, if the master does not know there to be good in the slave but knows the opposite—either that the slave has no ability to earn and would consequently become a burden on others and be left destitute, or that, once emancipated and free, the slave might become capable of spreading corruption—the master is not commanded to conclude such a contract. Rather, he is prohibited from doing so because of the harm just mentioned.
Allah Most High then said, “Do not force your slave women”—meaning your female slaves—“into prostitution,” meaning to become fornicators, “if they desire chastity,” because coercion can only be conceived when they desire to remain chaste. If a slave woman does not desire chastity, she is herself a prostitute, and her master must prevent her from engaging in it. This prohibition was issued because, during the time of ignorance, masters would force their slave women into prostitution so that they could take their earnings. Allah therefore said, “in pursuit of the fleeting gains of worldly life.” It is not fitting that your slave women should be better than you and more averse to fornication while you subject them to it for the sake of worldly gain—a paltry benefit that appears briefly and then vanishes.
The honor, purity, and dignity you gain—even apart from the reward and punishment of the Hereafter—are better than the paltry worldly gain that earns you only depravity and baseness.
Allah then called anyone who had perpetrated such coercion to repent, saying, “If anyone forces them, then after they have been forced, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” Let him therefore repent to Allah and desist from what he has done that incurs His wrath. If he does so, Allah will forgive his sins and show him mercy, just as he has shown mercy to himself by freeing it from punishment and shown mercy to his slave woman by no longer forcing her to do what harms her.