Urwa reported that he asked Ayesha about the saying of Allah Most High, "And if you fear that you will not be just toward the orphans" [Nisa 4:3].She said, "Son of my sister, this refers to an orphan girl who is under the care of her guardian, sharing with him in his wealth, and her wealth and beauty please him. So her guardian wishes to marry her without being just regarding her dowry, meaning he does not give her what someone else would give her. They were therefore forbidden from marrying such girls unless they dealt justly with them and gave them the highest dowry customary for their like. They were instructed instead to marry whatever other women were lawful and pleasing to them."Urwa said, Ayesha said, "Then people sought a ruling from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after this verse was revealed, so Allah revealed, "And they ask you for a ruling concerning women" [Nisa 4:127]."Ayesha said, "And the saying of Allah Most High in another verse, "while you desire to marry them" [Nisa 4:127], refers to one of you turning away from his orphan ward when she has little wealth or beauty. So they were forbidden from marrying those orphan girls whose wealth and beauty they desired except with justice, precisely because they would otherwise turn away from them when they had little wealth or beauty."
أنه سأل عائشة عن قول الله تعالى: {وإن خفتم ألا تقسطوا في اليتامى} فقالت: يا ابن أختي، هذه اليتيمة تكون في حجر وليها تشركه في ماله، ويعجبه مالها وجمالها، فيريد وليها أن يتزوجها بغير أن يقسط في صداقها، فيعطيها مثل ما يعطيها غيره، فنهوا عن أن ينكحوهن إلا أن يقسطوا لهن، ويبلغوا لهن أعلى سنتهن في الصداق، فأمروا أن ينكحوا ما طاب لهم من النساء سواهن. قال عروة: قالت عائشة: وإن الناس استفتوا رسول الله ﷺ بعد هذه الآية، فأنزل الله: {ويستفتونك في النساء} [النساء: ١٢٧]. قالت عائشة: وقول الله تعالى في آية أخرى: {وترغبون أن تنكحوهن} [النساء: ١٢٧] رغبة أحدكم عن يتيمته، حين تكون قليلة المال والجمال، قالت: فنهوا أن ينكحوا عن من رغبوا في ماله وجماله في يتامى النساء إلا بالقسط، من أجل رغبتهم عنهن إذا كن قليلات المال والجمال.
Bukhari narrated it in the tafsir (4574) and Muslim in the tafsir (3018), both through the route of Ibrahim bin Saad, from Salih bin Kaysan, from Ibn Shihab, who said, "Urwa bin Zubayr informed me," and then he related it. The wording given is Bukhari's, and Muslim did not present his own wording for this chain, but instead referred back to the wording of the hadith before it.As for the words "two, three, or four" [Nisa 4:3], the meaning is, marry two, or three, or four, and if you fear that you will not deal justly, then content yourselves with one.The scholars of Islam have agreed that it is not permissible for a Muslim to marry more than four, except for what has been related from a certain faction of the Shia, who hold that it is permissible to combine more than four up to nine, and some of them said there is no limit at all. All of this contradicts the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ, for exceeding four wives is one of the special privileges of the Prophet ﷺ.