Quran Universe
4:26

يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمۡ وَيَهۡدِيَكُمۡ سُنَنَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِكُمۡ وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيۡكُمۡۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٞ

Yureedu Allahu liyubayyina lakum wayahdiyakum sunana allatheena min qablikum wayatooba AAalaykum waAllahu AAaleemun hakeemun

Allah wants to make clear to you [the lawful from the unlawful] and guide you to the [good] practices of those before you and to accept your repentance. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.

Word by word
  1. يُرِيدُWishes
  2. ٱللَّهُAllah
  3. لِيُبَيِّنَto make clear
  4. لَكُمۡto you
  5. وَيَهۡدِيَكُمۡand to guide you
  6. سُنَنَ(to) ways
  7. ٱلَّذِينَ(of) those
  8. مِنfrom
  9. قَبۡلِكُمۡbefore you
  10. وَيَتُوبَand (to) accept repentance
  11. عَلَيۡكُمۡۗfrom you
  12. وَٱللَّهُAnd Allah
  13. عَلِيمٌ(is) All-Knowing
  14. حَكِيمٞAll-Wise
An-Nisa · 4:26Madinah

Allah wants to make it clear for you.

The purpose behind all these rulings

What Allah wants for you
to make clearwhat is lawful and not
to guide youways of the righteous before
to forgive youaccept your repentance
How to read the rules
a list of burdensmeant to trap me
clarity and mercyfrom the Knowing, Wise

After many verses of family law, Allah steps back and says why. Ibn Kathir explains: Allah explains what He allowed and prohibited, and shows the righteous ways of those before you. And then: He wants to accept your repentance.

You read the long rules about family and money and feel overwhelmed. It can feel like religion is just a list of things you will get wrong. The verse tells you the intention behind it: clarity, guidance, and a way back when you slip.

Religious rules are mostly about catching me out.

Allah gave me clear guidance because He wants to guide me and forgive me.

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Learn one ruling you are unsure about from a trusted teacher this week.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Allah wishes to make clear (what is lawful and what is unlawful) to you, and to show you the ways of those before you, and accept your repentance, and Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise (26)Allah wishes to accept your repentance, but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away (from the right path (27)Allah wishes to lighten (the burden) for you; and man was created weak (28)

Allah explains to the believers what He has allowed and prohibited for them in this and other Surahs,

وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ سُنَنَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ

(And to show you the ways of those before you,) meaning their righteous ways and how to adhere to the commandments that He likes and is pleased with.

وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ

(and accept your repentance) from sin and error,

وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

(and Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise.) in His commands, decrees, actions and statements. Allah's statement,

وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَن تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا

(but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away from the right path)) indicates that the followers of Shaytan among the Jews, Christians and the adulterous, wish that you would take the horrendous path of falsehood instead of the truth.

يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ

(Allah wishes to lighten (the burden) for you") His legislation, orders, what He prohibits and what He decrees for you. This is why Allah has allowed free men to marry slave girls under certain conditions, as Mujahid and others have stated.

وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا

(and man was created weak.) and this is why it is suitable in his case that the commands are made easy for him, because of his weakness and feebleness. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Tawus said that,

وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا

(and man was created weak), "Concerning women". Waki' said, "Man's mind leaves when women are involved."