Surat Nisa (Arabic: ٱلنِّسَاء, An-Nisāʾ; meaning: The Women) is the fourth chapter (sūrah) of the Quran, with 176 verses (āyāt). The title derives from the numerous references to women throughout the chapter, including verse 34 and verses 127-130.
Classification
Regarding the timing and contextual background of the believed revelation (Asbāb al-nuzūl), it is a Medinan surah as confirmed by Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i, who states that the sura must have been revealed after the hijrah based on the subject matter.
Although an-Nisā typically appears as the fourth surah, according to the Nöldeke classification of surahs, based on Islamic traditions, “The Women” was approximately revealed as the hundredth surah. Amir-Ali places it as the 94th surah, while Hz. Osman and Ibn`Abbas believe it is the 92nd. Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq places it as the 91st surah revealed. Based on the legislation concerning orphans, the surah was most likely revealed after many Muslims were killed at the Battle of Uhud, leaving numerous dependants in the new Muslim community. The revelation, therefore, began around year three, according to the Islamic calendar, but was not completed until year eight. Consequently, parts of this surah, the second-longest in the Quran, were revealed concurrently with portions of “The Examined Woman,” sura 60. However, the surah shows some thematic coherence, despite its disjointed and ongoing revelation.
Furthermore, as relates to the placement of this surah within the Quran as a whole, Neal Robinson notes what he refers to as the “dovetailing” of surahs. Based on this idea of structure, one surah ends with a topic that is immediately picked up in the next surah. The Family of ‘Imran, surah 3, includes a discussion of male and female near the end of the surah (3.195). This theme continues at the beginning of surah 4: “People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them spread countless men and women far and wide; be mindful of God, in whose name you make requests of one another.” This dovetailing may indicate a complex editorial process involved in ordering the surahs.
Al Quran 