Ma'arif al-Qur'an
Mufti Muhammad Shafi1. The Qur'anic words وَتَرْغَبُونَ أَن تَنكِحُوهُنَّ admit two possible translations: First, and tend to marry them," which refers to the people who, attracted to the beauty of the orphan girls, used to marry them without giving them the due rights- of a wife. The second possible translation is: and you avoid marrying them". It refers to the people who did not marry the orphan girls because of their unattractive features, but at the same time did not let them marry others, because they wanted that their wealth should remain in their hands.
At the beginning of this Surah, particular injunctions relating to orphans and women were mentioned. Also stressed there was the mandatory nature of the need to fulfill their rights. The reason was that, during the days of Jahiliyyah, some people would simply refuse to give any part of the inheritance to them, others would unlawfully eat up what they got in inheritance or through any other alternate source, still others would marry them but avoided paying full dower they were entitled to; these were practices prohibited as stated earlier. This caused different situations to arise. There were those who thought that women and children are not entitled to inherit as a matter of right - may be, this injunction had come as an expedient measure for some people only and it was likely that it will be abrogated later. Some of them even waited for this to happen. But, when there was no abrogation, they decided among themselves that they should go directly to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and ask him. This they did.
According to Ibn Jarir and Ibn al-Mundhir, this very question was the reason behind the revelation of this verse and the verses which followed carried additional rulings relating to women (Bayan al-Qur'an).