An-Nisa 24: And married women are forbidden to you, except those whom your right hands possess (as captives of war). This is the commandment of Allah for you. Aside from these (women that were mentioned), it is permissible for you to seek (marriage) with your wealth (with a marriage gift) provided you are chaste and do not seek adultery. In return for benefiting from them, give them their determined marriage gift. After the marriage gift is determined, there is no sin upon you if you come to a mutual agreement (for a decrease of the amount). Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing (Aleem) and All-Wise (Hakeem).

Now we come to a subject people ask about a lot, one they cannot get their heads around. Except the slave women you own as prisoners of war. Now we have come to slave women. (?) people ask about these, you know. Except the slave women you own as prisoners of war. Married women, too, are forbidden to you, it says.

What was it? Prisoner of war. Pay close attention to the verse. What does it say? Except the slave women you own as prisoners of war. Married women, too, are forbidden to you. The meaning here: a slave woman who is a prisoner of war may be married. But you have taken her captive, and because you took her captive, you may have her as your own wife. Yes. But from the same nation, or a free woman, a free woman, marrying women who are married is forbidden. Our religion has forbidden this. We will call this a free woman.

"This is Allah's command to you," it says. How beautiful. It is definite, then. What does our Lord say? This is Allah's command to you. Fine. If so, since against the power of Allah, who created the worlds, the whole universe, even if it united, could do no harm, then when our Lord here says, "This is Allah's command to you," you definitely cannot step outside it. Other than these, seeking women by giving their mahr from your wealth, being chaste and not committing fornication, is made lawful to you. Fine, you want to marry, fine; even if your wife does not want it, rather than falling into sin, a second wife you may take, but do not abandon the first, do not wrong her, do not victimize her, do not try to take back the mahr you gave her.

Even if she does not want you, this time the woman, your wife, your first wife may not want it. Well, in these cases, in these cases our Lord's command is very much in force, of course. Although it tells you to marry, it says: for those who seek good, the good is in one. What does it say? For those who seek good, the good is in one. Yes, in return for the benefit you have from them, give them their agreed mahr. After the mahr is set, if you mutually agree on some reduction, there is no sin on you. The mahr was set: I am to pay twenty thousand lira.

When paying, between them, he says, "Look, my means only go this far." If he says, "Let me give you this much," and she says, "All right, give that much," there is no (?). But if she says, "No, I want my money," he will give it.

In your mutual agreement there is no sin on you, it says anyway. See how beautifully it puts it. "Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise," it says. Say a man loved a woman and is going to marry her. And they set the mahr a bit high. He has no money. But the man said okay. He said okay. Or he has the money but will put it into business. What does he do? "Look, I would give you this much (?)." (?) "(?) I am going to invest the money." Or: "I don't have this money. Don't put me in debt." Let him not say that, either. There is no harm in a mutual agreement between the two sides. Even if he does have the money, there is no harm in bargaining.

Women whose husbands have died, who because of the war have lost those who were captured, lost their relatives, who are left widowed; and in wartime, when a town is taken, its men withdrawn from that town, its families taken as prisoners of war, those women may be taken as slave women and married. Yes. All the questions you will ask about these slave women are made clear in this verse, very plainly. We are explaining fiqh and Allah's religious rulings. But a woman who is married and whose husband is alive cannot be married. What was it? A woman who is married and whose husband is alive cannot be married.

The woman is married. Her husband left 10 years ago, 12 years, 15 years, 8 years, 5 years. No news. Is he alive or not? They search. It is not known. And the woman wants to marry. A suitor has come forward. The husband is alive, but maybe he is alive but does not stand by his wife. In this case the verse of Allah Almighty applies. What does it say? If your women do not want to stay in marriage with you, do not hold them. So the woman turns to divorce. She applies to the court. The court issues a summons. If the husband does not appear at two or three hearings, it divorces her.

Yes. Our religion says the same.

The religious ruling made known by Allah Almighty, and the divine command according to this verse, is this: such women are forbidden to people. That is, married women whose husbands are alive cannot be married. For example, the woman's husband is working in another country or another city and the woman is in marriage with that working man. This woman cannot be married. Even if her husband has been away for 10 or 15 years, if he is alive and sends her some allowance or money, she cannot be married. But the woman applies to the court and says, "My husband has been away a long time, I want to divorce him." Even though the man, between the two of them, does not divorce, even if he does not divorce, according to the verse that says do not keep women in marriage by force, this woman has the right to divorce, and she divorces.

Even if her husband is alive, she can then marry someone else.

For example, the woman's husband is working in another country or another city. And the woman is in marriage with that working man. This woman cannot be married. Only when that woman divorces her husband can she be married.

Nor may one lure away a woman living with her husband and, through that plague called living as lovers, have a relationship with her. Nor can one marry her secretly between themselves. Therefore such relationships are forbidden to those who have believed and have faith. Its punishment, as we will explain in later verses, for free and married men is rajm. That is, death by stoning. This is Allah's divine command to those who believe and have faith.

Yes. Women other than these married women, on condition of chastity, that is, being Muslim or of the People of the Book, not a mushrik, an idolater who ascribes partners to Allah, and at the same time with a chaste person, without fornication, without meeting secretly and having relations, on condition of giving her mahr, asking for them and marrying them is lawful for people.

When you want to marry this woman you like, whatever was agreed with the consent of both sides, that is, whatever was agreed as mahr, give them their mahr without fail. While the mahr is being set, reducing the requested mahr somewhat with the consent of both sides is made lawful to people. That is: "You are asking for this much property or this much money, but I can give you this much property or money," and so on. An agreement can be made with the consent of both sides. Mahr has been misunderstood in Islam; it has been turned into bride price. Whereas mahr is a command of Allah upon people, as the woman's right for her chastity.

Women's mahr right is at least ten dirhams of silver, ten dirhams of silver. This, this has no ceiling amount among people. That is, ten dirhams of silver; a dirham is worth two, is it two-tenths, or what: twenty-four grams of silver. What does twenty-four grams of silver come to today? A gram of silver is what, let's say five hundred lira, a thousand lira. That is the floor, the floor. Why does Allah Almighty keep it this small, keep it small? The reason: to those who cannot marry He grants the right to marry, to those whose means do not allow it. But it has no floor. Its floor: it can be fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, even a trillion.

Some, some weigh the bride they take in gold. In gold. Yes. She weighs sixty kilos, they give sixty kilos of gold.

So these have no ceiling. With no ceiling, (?). If you have the money, give however much you give. And saying, "I gave her this much money," when (?), you cannot take it. You cannot take back what you gave her. We said, even if it is (?), it is hers.

People settle this amount among themselves according to their own region and customs. How well we put it. According to their own region and customs. According to their means. If men had paid their wives this sum that is their mahr right, then, with today's selfish behaviour, a man could not say to his wife whenever he liked, "Come on, off to your father's house," or "I'm divorcing you." Because wealth is a chip off a person's soul. With this wealth a man gives his wife, he sees his wife as a wife, his wife as a wife; even if he does not value her, for the sake of his money he cannot treat and behave toward his wife as he pleases.

Moreover, in Islam women's worth, compared with the worth of women in other nations, is of a much more different and much higher value. Compared with other women. Compared with women outside the religion of Islam. When Jews marry off their daughters, they pay the groom's side a sum in goods or in money. They call this drahoma. He both gives his daughter and pays the money. Drahoma. Whereas in Islam men give women mahr. Look at the value.

Plus, of the women living outside Islam, many, from the concept called family, are far removed. The woman goes travelling whenever she likes, lies down with whomever she pleases. The man too lies with whomever he pleases, then they come together again. Or women, without marrying, get to know men, today with one, tomorrow with another, they keep roaming.

These are sweepings, filth.

Woman cannot be understood in that sense, impossible. Islam has given woman the value she deserves. They are the crown on men's heads. They are far from that filth. Except those who envy that filth. Whoever envies them is like them, says Allah Almighty. Thus in other countries, women, not with money but with their own person, go to men. Therefore in Islam women are the crown on men's heads. They protect and look after them. In other nations this is the complete opposite of Islamic morals. Everyone, by their own understanding, sleeps with whomever they like and satisfies their selfish desires and lusts.

Therefore, these people being the mates of their nafs, and Allah's command upon them weighing heavy on their nafs, they have turned their faces from Allah and not accepted the religion of Islam. To such people Allah Almighty, in His verse, "Have you not seen him who his nafs (?)," He says. So, in their selfish desires, they both live without peace and, wronging their own souls, are struck by punishment in the hereafter. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. Indeed Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. His every work and every command to people is in their favour and for their good. But people cannot understand.