[4:3-4:4] If you fear that you will not act justly towards the orphans, marry such women as seem good to you, two or three or four, but if you fear you will not be equitable, then only one, or what your right hands own; thus, it is likelier that you will not be unjust. * And give women their dowries as a free gift;
God granted free men the right to marry four women at the same time. He mandated justice between them, so the servant must respect what is obligatory. If he knows that in choosing this permitted thing, he would attempt to uphold this obligation but would fall short in it, he should not do it since the obligation is something for which he is responsible.
[4:4 cont'd] but if they are pleased to offer you any of it of their own accord, consume it with wholesome appetite.
This denotes the fact that the food of the chivalrous (fityān) and generous is wholesome because they only feed others from good-heartedness. The food of the miserly is rotten because they look only to themselves and feed others out of obligation not good-heartedness. [The Prophet] (ṣ) said: The food of the generous is a remedy while the food of the miser is a disease.