وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَتَبَدَّلُوا۟ ٱلْخَبِيثَ بِٱلطَّيِّبِ ۖ وَلَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حُوبًا كَبِيرًا
“Give the orphans their wealth, and do not substitute what is bad for what is good, and do not eat up their property along with your own. It is, surely, a great sin.” (Surah Nisaa v2)
The previous verse stressed on the care and concern for family and emphasized the importance of fulfilling their rights. This verse contains the commandment of protecting the wealth of the orphan and prohibits any misappropriation therein. Since the guardian of the orphaned child is usually one of his relatives, this verse is linked and is an extension of the previous verse.
If an orphan has any wealth, either gifted to him or received through inheritance, then the responsibility of protecting this property, as well as the orphan himself, falls on the shoulders of the guardian. It is part of the guardian’s duty to cover all costs incurred on the maintenance of the orphan from the orphan’s wealth. However, he should not give the orphan what he owns before he has reached the age of maturity because, being an immature minor, he may squander it.
Therefore, the meaning of “give the orphans their wealth” is that the wealth of the orphans should be given to them after the guardian is certain that they have become mature and have the ability to distinguish between what is good for them and what is not, as is explained after a few verses.
The second part of this verse prohibits the substitution of bad things for the good ones. There were people who would let the number of things owned by the orphan stay unaltered, but would take something good from the orphan’s wealth and substitute it with something inferior. For example, swapping a lean goat for a healthy one, etc. Since this too is a breach of trust in respect of the property of the orphan, and perhaps someone driven by greed will come up with the excuse that he has not ‘taken’ what belonged to the orphan but has rather ‘exchanged’ it; therefore, the Quraan Majeed has forbidden it explicitly. Moreover, this prohibition not only covers the substitution of one’s bad things for the orphan’s good things, but it also covers any attempt by the guardian to enter into any deal with some other person which results in a loss for the orphaned child.
The third part of this verse forbids the guardian from eating up the orphan’s property through impermissible methods, whether it is consumed from the jointly-owned property of the guardian and the orphan, or it is kept separately but the guardian consumes from it for his personal needs.
Generally, what happens is that the guardian keeps the orphan’s wealth together with his and consumes from it himself and lets the orphan do the same. However, since no separate accounting is involved here, even a religiously observing Muslim may fall into thinking that there was no sin in doing so. It was for this particular reason that the prohibition of consuming what belongs to the orphan by pooling it with one’s own was mentioned here. A warning was also given to either keep the property of the orphan completely separate and spend from it separately so that there remains no danger of any excess; or if one wishes to have a joint-expense system, then the accounts maintained should be so clear that one can be sure of not having spent anything belonging to the orphan for his personal needs.
This verse ends with an admonition explaining that any unlawful appropriation or use of the orphan’s property, be it because of lack of supervision, substitution of something inferior for something superior, or because of consuming the orphan’s assets which is mixed up with one’s own, is a great sin after all.
(Adapted from Ma‘aariful Quraan vol. 2, pg. 282)
This highlights the beauty of our Deen and the Quraan Majeed, that it has laid so much emphasis on fulfilling the rights of every person; male or female, young or old, and has explained every detail regarding it.