Verses 11–18
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَاءٌ مِنْ نِسَاءٍ عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِنْهُنَّ ۖ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ ۖ بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ ۚ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ ١١
(49:11) O you who have faith! Let not any people ridicule another people: it may be that they are better than they are; nor let women [ridicule] women: it may be that they are better than they are. And do not defame yourselves, nor insult one another by [calling] nicknames. How evil are profane names subsequent to faith! And whoever is not penitent—such are the wrongdoers.
“Ridicule” (sakhriyyah) means to deride someone by mention of things that belittle or demean them, whether through word, gesture or deeds, imitating them in a way that causes others to laugh. A “people” (qawm) means a group of persons, and this word was originally used exclusively for men because they undertook (qiyām) important matters while women did not. And the word qawm appears in the verse in this sense because it is juxtaposed with “women” (nisāʾ). …it may be that they are better than they are is the wisdom behind these prohibitions.
From the tone of the verse, we understand that the reason for the prohibition is that the person being ridiculed might be superior in God’s eyes than the person doing the ridiculing, whether they are men or women. The prohibition specifically prohibits women from ridiculing women and people from ridiculing people is because this is the usual form of mockery.
And do not defame yourselves…: It has been said that “to defame” (lumz) means to call attention to faults; yourselves (anfusakum) is made the object of defamation to show that they are a single community who belong to one another. This shows that when one of them defames another he is really defaming himself, so he should avoid defaming anyone else in the same way as he would detest for anyone else to defame him. Hence, when God says yourselves, this alludes to the wisdom behind this prohibition.
…nor call one another nicknames. How evil are profane names subsequent to faith! To call (nabz) means to give someone a nickname. However, it appears to be restricted in its meaning to offensive nicknames. So “calling one another nicknames” means calling one another detestable names like “sinner” (fāsiq) or “fool” (safīh), etc.
And “name” (ism) in How evil are profane names… is used for “mention” (dhikr). For example, one might say: “So-and-so’s name for liberality has become widespread!” Therefore, this phrase means: “The worst sort of mention is to mention people—after they have believed—in association with profanity.” For it is fitting that a believer, insofar as he is a believer, to be mentioned in association with good things, not defamed with things that make him appear unpleasant. For example, calling someone an epithet that begins “Son of a…!”.
It is also possible that “name” (ism) here is used to mean “mark” (simah or ʿalāmah), in which case this phrase means: “The worst mark is that a person should be marked with profanity after believing, by being associated with evil qualities.” It would be said to someone who committed a sin then repented: “O sinner of such-and-such.” Alternatively, it could also mean: “The worst name for a person to make a name for himself with profanity by using offensive names for others.” In this latter case, this sentence also alludes to the wisdom behind the prohibition.
And whoever is not penitent—such are the wrongdoers: This means that whoever does not repent for these sins that he commits after God has prohibited them, does not regret them and does not return to God by avoiding them—these people are truly wrongdoers because they see no problem with their deeds, even though God has counted them as sins and forbidden them.
In short And whoever is not penitent… suggests that there were some believers who were committing these sins.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ ۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا ۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَحِيمٌ ١٢
(49:12) O you who have faith! Avoid much suspicion. Indeed some suspicions are sins. And do not spy on or backbite one another. Would any of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it. And be wary of God; indeed God is all-clement, all-merciful.
The kind of suspicion (ẓann) that God commands the faithful to avoid is harbouring ill thoughts of others (ẓann al-sūʾ). After all, thinking well of people (ẓann al-khayr) is a recommended act, as we can glean from the verse: When you [first] heard about it, why did not the faithful, men and women, think well of their folks… ().
Avoiding suspicion means to avoid letting it have an effect. For example, if you have an ill-suspicion towards your believing brother and you accuse him of it, or mention it to someone else, or otherwise allow it to have an effect. As for suspicion itself, insofar as it is a thought in your mind, this is something that occurs spontaneously and without you willing it. This means that the prohibition does not apply to such thoughts, unless of course you are somehow actively entertaining them.
Therefore, some forms of suspicion are sinful insofar as they have an effect on your behavior; you might belittle or slander the person who is the target of your suspicions, or there might be some other forbidden thing resulting from these. The phrase “much suspicion” (kathīr min al-ẓann) is left indefinite (nakirah) to stress that it is abundant in its own right rather than in comparison to any other kind of suspicion. This refers to the kind of suspicion which is sinful—so it is abundant in of itself, but only one kind of suspicion or thought. If on the other hand God meant “much suspicion” in general, as if to say that you should avoid much suspicion, whether you know it to be sinful or not, as a matter of precaution, lest you fall into sinfulness thereby.
And do not spy…: “Spy” (tajassus) means to pry into people’s private affairs to try and find out about them. It is similar to “inquire” (taḥassus), except that “spy” carries a negative connotation while “inquire” carries a positive one. That is why some scholars have said this verse means: “Do not seek out the faults of Muslims to pry into matters that people keep private.”
…or backbite one another. Would any of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it: According to Majmaʿ al-Bayān, “backbiting” (ghībah) means to mention faults behind someone’s back in such a way that wisdom does not allow. Other commentaries have defined it both narrowly and broadly, according to the different instances of it we find in jurisprudence. Ultimately, it devolves to a person mentioning something behind someone else’s back that he would not like said about him. Hence it is not considered backbiting to mention what sins an open sinner (mutajāhir bi al-fisq) does publicly.
Backbiting eats away at the fabric of society little by little, and removes the positive effects of social interaction, namely that each person may mingle with his companions safe in the knowledge that he is held in good estimation by them and not disliked or thought base. On the other hand, when he is known by qualities that are disliked or considered shameful, his companions will withdraw from him. It is to the extent of this withdrawal that the social bond is weakened; this is why backbiting is likened to eating a corpse, as backbiting eats away at the society limb by limb until the life itself has gone.
A person will only choose to live in a society in which he has a good social identity or standing, so that others will mingle with him and he will benefit from others and be beneficial to them. Backbiting about him and mentioning his faults to others deprives him of this identity and undermines this standing. This diminishes a good society, and if this process continues by the spread of backbiting, it will reach a point where the goodness of society will be replaced by corruption. At this point, there will be no more mutual safety, familiarity or trust. The medicine will become poison.
So in reality, backbiting represents the destruction of a person’s social identity without his being aware of it or being otherwise able to sense it. If he were aware of this and the dangers it posed, he would take precautions to protect himself from this invasion of his privacy, which is a veil that God has placed over a person’s faults and defects in order that human beings might—as their nature demands—gather in communities and cooperate with one another. And which person is completely without faults?
It is to this reality that God calls attention with the following image: Would any of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it. This is a rhetorical question intended as a negation. God asks if “any of you” (aḥadukum) would love this act rather than “some of you” (baʿḍukum) to make the prohibition as broad as possible. This is why He emphasises it with the words you [pl.] would hate it, meaning that all of you would hate it, rather than just one of you.
In short, this part of the verse compares backbiting about a believer to eating the flesh of his dead brother. The flesh is that of his brother because backbiting about another Muslim means backbiting about another member of the Islamic community that is made up of the faithful, and the faithful are indeed brothers. The brother is described as dead because the object of this backbiting is unaware of what is being said about him behind his back.
Moreover, you would hate it is phrased in the past tense—fa karahtumūhu—rather than in the present—fa takrahūnahu—to show that this aversion is something that is true in all situations. You would always hate to eat their dead brother, so just you hate that, you must hate to backbite your believing brother because this is in the same spirit as one of you eating his dead brother.
And note that when God says Would any of you love to eat…?, this rationale for the prohibition on backbiting applies to spying as well. The other difference between the two is that backbiting means making known the faults of one person to another, or finding out about the faults of one person without him knowing by means of another, whereas spying means finding out about the faults of another person directly. Therefore it is not unlikely that this rationale applies to both sins.
Also note that this statement suggests that it is only forbidden to backbite about Muslims. The contextual indication of this is found in the rationale the flesh of his dead brother as brotherhood only exists amongst the Muslims.
And be wary of God; indeed God is all-clement, all-merciful appears to be semantically connected to Avoid much suspicion… if the meaning of wariness (taqwā) is to avoid these sins which you had been committing by repenting to God. He says indeed God is all-clement, all-merciful to remind people that God accepts repentance abundantly and is excessively merciful to those of His servants who turn to him penitently.
And if it means to avoid them and stay away from them even if you were not already committing them, then when God says indeed God is all-clement, all-merciful this means that God turns abundantly to His servants who are wary (muttaqīn) and grants them guidance, success and protection from the snares of misery, and is excessively merciful to them.
This is because clemency (tawbah) from God can have two meanings; clemency before His servant repents (tawbah), meaning that He turns to them and grants them success (tawfīq) in the form of their repentance, as God says: then He turned clemently toward them so that they might be penitent (); or clemency after their repentance, in which case He turns to them with forgiveness (maghfirah) and accepts their repentance, as He says elsewhere: But whoever repents after his wrongdoing, and reforms, then God shall accept his repentance ().
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ ١٣
(49:13) O mankind! Indeed We created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes that you may identify yourselves with one another. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God is the most Godwary among you. Indeed God is all-knowing, all-aware.
Shuʿūb (“nations”) is the plural of shiʿb and, according to Majmaʿ al-Bayān, refers to a great community of people, such as the Arab tribal confederations of the Rabīʿah and Muḍar. Qabāʾil (“tribes”) is the plural of qabīlah, which is a lesser unit than a nation, such as the Tamīm tribe in relation to the Muḍar nation.
It is said that shuʿūb are lesser units than qabāʾil, and they are called as such because they branch (tashaʿʿub) off from them. Rāghib says:
A shaʿb (“nation”) is a tribe than branches off from a single community, whose plural is shuʿūb—as in the present verse—and a shiʿb is a valley which branches off into multiple ravines at one end, such that if you saw it from the branching side you would imagine it was a single valley branching into many, while if you saw it from the joining side you would imagine it was two valleys merging together. The verb shaʿaba is a contranym, as it can mean either to come together or to split apart.
It is said that shuʿūb (“nations”) are for non-Arabs and qabāʾil (“tribes”) are for Arabs, and it appears that this etymology is derived from one of the above two, and we shall discuss this fully below.
Commentators have said that the tenor of this verse is to negate boasting about one’s lineage. In this reading, a male and a female refers to Adam and Eve. In other words: We created you from one set of parents whom you all share whether you are black or white, Arab or non-Arab. And we did not make you into different nations and tribes to ennoble some of you above others but rather so that you may know one another. And when you know one another you will come together, cooperate and interact. If we imagine that none of the members of the society knew one another, then the very social bond would be broken and humanity would perish. This knowing one another is the goal of making you into tribes and nations, not so that you can vie with one another in vainglorious bragging about your ancestors!
It is said: A male and a female means man and woman in general. The tenor of the verse is to overturn the division of society into different classes, such as white and black, Arab and non-Arab, rich and poor, slave and master, and man and woman. In other words: O people! We created you from a man and a woman. Each and every one of you is a person born to two parents, so you do not differ in this regard. And any difference that has come about through tribes and nations—and this is all according to the Divine Plan—does not signify the superiority of any of you over others, rather it exists only for the purpose of you knowing one another and forming societies.
However, we could object that the tenor of the verse is to negate boasting about one’s lineage and condemning this practice, as God says: and made you nations and tribes that you may identify yourselves one another. It is not clear how this goal is achieved in the second interpretation, although one could argue that the distinction in lineage is just one form of the class-distinctions that exist in society and the verse is intended to overturn all forms of class-distinction, not just those based on lineage. So just as it is possible to reject superiority based on lineage and condemn it based on the fact that all these lineages ultimately return to the same people—Adam and Eve—whom everyone shares as parents, it is equally possible to reject and condemn it based on the fact that every person is born from two parents and all people are equal in this regard.
The truth is that if and made you nations and tribes that you may identify yourselves is meant to condemn the notion of superiority based on lineage, then the first interpretation is more apposite. Otherwise the second interpretation is better because it is more universal in scope.
Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God is the most Godwary among you: This is obviously a new sentence, as it mentions nobility in the sight of God.
At the beginning of the verse, God spoke about how people, insofar as they are people, are equal with one another without any distinction and no one person is superior to any other. Any distinctions that appear to be conferred by nations and tribes only exist to facilitate people identifying with one another and forming a community together. Without this, people cannot intermingle, cooperate and assist one another. This is why differences were created between people, not so that they can vie with one another in vainglory or declare themselves superior because of the color of their skin, with one group enslaving another on that basis—one human making another a servant, one people claiming supremacy over another—as this can only lead to the spread of corruption on land and sea, the destruction of crop and stock, and the inversion of society’s original purpose.
At the end of the verse, God now calls attention to something different with the sentence Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God is the most Godwary among you. Here, He is speaking about nobility in His sight—the only real nobility anything has.
He does this because it is in the nature of the human being to seek out nobility and dignity to distinguish himself from others and mark him out amongst his peers. Most people, because they are connected to worldly life, think that nobility and dignity can be found in the features of material existence—wealth, beauty, lineage, rank etc. So they give everything in the pursuit of these things and use any means necessary to acquire them, in order that they may vie with others thereby and gain ascendancy over them.
And yet, these features of material existence are illusory. They contain no nobility, no dignity; they merely cast their possessors into perdition. True dignity is that which leads the human being to true happiness, which is the good life that never ends in the vicinity to the Almighty Lord. This nobility and dignity is none other than Godwariness (taqwā)—the only means anyone has to attain felicity in the abode of the Hereafter. Happiness in this world is secondary to this. God says: You desire the transitory gains of this world, while God desires the Hereafter () and And take provision, for indeed the best provision is Godwariness (). And if nobility is Godwariness, then the most noble of people in God’s sight are the most Godwary of them, as He says in this verse.
This is the goal and the prize that God in His infinite knowledge has chosen for mankind. But there is no competition or antagonism between the people who seek this goal—they can all attain it. This is unlike every other goal or honour which people pursue based on their false notions, whether wealth, leadership, fame, lineage or anything else.
Indeed God is all-knowing, all-aware: This emphasizes the contents of this verse and suggests that that which God has chosen as nobility for mankind is true nobility, and He has selected this based on His infinite knowledge and awareness. This is unlike what men choose as honour or dignity for themselves, which are no more than fleeting illusions—the vanities of the life of this world. As God says: The life of this world is nothing but diversion and play, but the abode of the Hereafter is indeed Life, had they known! ()
Moreover, this verse indicates that people should follow the ordinances of their Lord in terms of their life goals and choose what He has chosen for them and guided them towards; and He has chosen Godwariness for them. In the same vein, they must choose for themselves the way of life which He has chosen for them, which is the Religion of Islam.
قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا ۖ قُلْ لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَٰكِنْ قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ ۖ وَإِنْ تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَا يَلِتْكُمْ مِنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ١٤
(49:14) The Bedouins say, “We have faith.” Say, “You do not have faith; rather say, ‘We have embraced Islam,’ for faith has not yet entered your hearts. Yet if you obey God and His Messenger, He will not stint anything of your works. Indeed God is all-forgiving, all-merciful.”
This verse and those that follow of it until the end of the sūrah are concerned with the state of the Bedouins who claim to have faith (īmān) and count their faith as a favor they have done to the Prophet. The tenor with which God relates their words and His command to the Prophet to respond: You do not have faith yet… indicates that this refers to only some of the Bedouins rather than all of them, as God has said elsewhere: Yet among the Bedouins are those who believe in God and the Last Day ().
The Bedouins say, “We have faith.” Say, “You do not have faith….”—This means: “They tell you: ‘We have faith.’ And claim to be faithful. Tell them: ‘You do not have faith’ and deny their claim. Then follow on from that by telling them to say: ‘We have embraced Islam…’”
The phrase …for faith has not yet entered your hearts says that faith has not entered their hearts, but this also signals an anticipation that it will. Hence this is not merely a restatement of You do not have faith.
In this verse God has negated faith from them and clarified this by saying that it has not yet entered their hearts while affirming that they have embraced Islam. The difference between faith and Islam appears to be that faith is something that abides in the heart in the form of conviction (iʿtiqād) while Islam is something that abides upon the tongue and in the limbs; Islam is submission with one’s tongue and body by verbally testifying to Divine Unity (tawḥīd) and prophethood (nubuwwah) and acting outwardly in accordance with this profession, regardless of whether one has conviction in what he has professed or not. It is by mere profession of the two testimonies of faith (shahādatayn) that life is sanctified and marriage and inheritance are conducted.
Yet if you obey God and His Messenger, He will not stint anything of your works—līt (“stint”) means to diminish; obey means to do so sincerely with your thoughts matching your actions without hypocrisy (nifāq). Obeying God means responding to the beliefs and practices He summons you toward. Obeying His Messenger means believing him and following his commands in those affairs of the Ummah he has authority over. Works (aʿmāl) here means the recompense (jazāʾ) thereof; therefore, to stint someone of their works means to diminish their reward for them.
In other words: But if you obey God’s command to follow His religion with conviction and obey the commands of His messenger, then He will not reduce anything from the reward of your actions. Indeed God is all-forgiving, all-merciful explains why God will not reduce the reward of your deeds if you obey Him and His Messenger.
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنْفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ ١٥
(49:15) The faithful are only those who have attained faith in God and His Messenger and then have never doubted, and who wage jihad with their possessions and their persons in the way of God. It is they who are the truthful.
This verse provides a detailed description of the faithful (muʾminūn), which follows from the general description given above, namely that they are those whom faith has entered their hearts, which is entailed by the phrases You do not have faith and for faith has not yet entered your hearts.
The faithful are only those who have attained faith in God and His Messenger…: This restricts the category of the faithful to those who have faith in God and His Messenger and so on. In other words, this marks out the description of the faithful in this verse as a complete definition of them—namely a definition that perfectly includes all the members of a category and excludes everything else (jāmiʿ māniʿ)—so whoever has these qualities is truly faithful and anyone who lacks any of these qualities is not truly faithful.
Attaining faith in God and His Messenger means having conviction in one’s heart (ʿaqd al-qalb) about God’s unity (tawḥīd), the truth of what His Messenger has brought and the veracity of His messengership, and following the commands of the Messenger.
…and then have never doubted… meaning they have not doubted the truth of what they have faith in; their faith is firmly rooted and not shaken by any doubt. It has been said that using the conjunction and then (thumma) rather than and (wa) signifies that the absence of any doubt is a continuous state. It is as if their faith is always fresh—as firm and unshakable as when they first found it. Had God said: “And then not doubted” (wa lam yartābū), it would have included those who initially have faith without any doubt, without saying anything about their state afterwards.
…and who wage jihad with their possessions and their persons in the way of God…: “To wage jihad” (mujāhadah) means to expend effort and exertion; the way of God (sabīl allāh) means His religion. To wage jihad with your wealth and person means to do whatever you can and do your utmost in your monetary duties, such as paying zakāt and other obligatory payments, and your bodily duties, such as prayer, fasting and pilgrimage.
In short, this means: “Who strive to perform their monetary and bodily duties while they and their actions are in the way of God and for the sake of His religion.”
It is they who are the truthful: Namely they are the ones who are truthful in their claim to have faith if they have the aforementioned qualities.
قُلْ أَتُعَلِّمُونَ اللَّهَ بِدِينِكُمْ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِۚ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ١٦
(49:16) Say, “Will you inform God about your faith while God knows whatever there is in the heavens and whatever there is in the earth, and God has knowledge of all things?”
This is a rebuke to the Bedouins who said: “We have faith” and then insisted that they do have faith and are being truthful in their claim. It is said that when the previous verse came down, the Bedouins swore that they were truly faithful, so God sent the verse “Say, ‘Will you inform God about your faith…?’” And the meaning of this verse is clear.
يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ أَسْلَمُوا ۖ قُلْ لَا تَمُنُّوا عَلَيَّ إِسْلَامَكُمْ ۖ بَلِ اللَّهُ يَمُنُّ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ هَدَاكُمْ لِلْإِيمَانِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ١٧
(49:17) They count it as a favor to you that they have embraced Islam. Say, “Do not count it as a favor to me your embracing of Islam. Rather it is God who has done you a favor in that He has guided you to faith, should you be truthful.”
In other words they act as though their embrace of Islam is something you should be grateful for. However, in counting this as a favor they have erred from two aspects: Firstly, the real favor is to have faith (īmān), which is the key to human happiness in this world and the Hereafter, rather than embracing Islam which has formal benefits such as rendering one’s life inviolable and allowing them to marry and inherit. Secondly, the religion has nothing to do with the Prophet; he is just a messenger who has been charged with delivering a message to mankind, so embracing Islam is no favor to him.
If they wanted to count themselves as doing a favor to anyone, they should count themselves as doing a favor to God, because it is His religion after all. But even then, no one can count embracing Islam as a favor to God because the ones who benefit from the religion in this World and the Hereafter are the faithful, not God, who is utterly needless. In fact, it is God who has done them the favor by guiding them to the true religion.
Also notice that God says that He has done them a favor by guiding them to faith (īmān) rather than Islam. This is because it is faith which is the true favor, while Islam only benefits them outwardly.
Say, “Do not count it as a favor to me your embracing of Islam. Rather it is God who has done you a favor…”—This highlights their error from both angles; first, that they think they have done the Prophet a favor when he is just a messenger and has nothing to do with the matter (Do not count it as a favor to me your embracing of Islam) and secondly, that it is faith rather than Islam that should be counted as a favor (if there is a favor at all), as we said above.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ ١٨
(49:18) Indeed God knows the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, and God sees best what you do.
This represents the conclusion of the sūrah. It affirms and provides the ultimate rationale for all of the commands and prohibitions it contains, the realities it describes and its reports about the faith of one group of people and the lack of faith of another. This verse provides a rationale for all of that.
The Unseen of the heavens and the earth means the unseen things they contain or possibly even those that are beyond them as well.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr it is narrated from Ibn Abī Ḥātim, from Maqātil about the verse O you who have faith! Let not any people ridicule another people ():
This was revealed about a group of the Banū Tamīm who mocked Bilāl, Salmān, ʿAmmār, Khabbāb, Ṣuhayb, Ibn Fahīrah, and Sālim the servant of Abū Hudhayfah.
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
Let not any people ridicule another people was revealed about Thābit b. Qays b. Shammās who had a blockage in his ear. When he entered the mosque people would make way for him so he could sit close to the Prophet and hear what he was saying. One day he entered the mosque when people had just finished the prayer and taken their places. He began stepping over people and saying: “Make way, make way,” until he reached a man who [did not move but] said to him: “You found somewhere to sit, so sit!” So he sat behind this man, irritated.
When the gloom brightened, he asked: “Who is this?”
The man told him: “I am so-and-so.”
So Thābit said to him: “Son of such-and-such a woman.” He called him by his mother’s name, which was a form of insult during the Age of Ignorance. Then the verse was revealed.
- In the same source, it is related from Ibn ʿAbbās:
The phrase nor let women [ridicule] women was revealed about the wives of the Prophet who mocked Umm Salamah.
- It is related from Anas:
She had girded her loins with a subaybah, which was a white robe, and allowed its two sides to hang down behind her, so that she was pulling them. ʿĀʾishah said to Ḥafṣah: “Look at that dragging behind her like a dog’s tongue!” And this was their joke.
It is also said that they would mock her for being short and make gestures indicating her shortness. This is from al-Ḥasan.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is narrated from Abu Jubayrah b. al-Ḍaḥḥāk:
About us concerning the Banū Salamah came the verse: nor call one another nicknames. God’s Messenger came to Medina and there was no man amongst us save that he had two or three names. So when one person called another with one of those names, they would say: “O God’s Messenger, he does not like this name.” It was then that God sent down the words nor call one another nicknames.
- In the same source it is narrated from Ibn Abī Ḥātim from al-Sudday:
Salmān al-Fārisī was travelling with two men on a journey, serving them and partaking of their food. Salmān slept for a while and his companions could not find him, so they pitched the tents themselves and said: “All Salmān wants is to come and find the food ready and the tents prepared!”
So when Salmān came, they sent him to God’s Messenger to ask for food, so he went to him and said: “O Messenger of God! My companions have sent me to bring them some food, if you have any.”
He asked: “What will your companions do with food when they have already eaten?”
Salmān went back and informed them of what had happened, so they came to God’s Messenger and said: “By He who sent you with truth, we have not found food since we made camp.”
He said: “The two of you ate Salmān with your words.” Then the verse came down: Would any of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother? ()
- In the same source, al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdasī narrates from Anas:
The Arabs used to serve one another on their travels, and with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar was a man who served them. Once they slept and awoke to find that he had not prepared any food for them. They said: “This one is a slugabed!” So they woke him up saying: “Go to God’s Messenger and tell him that Abū Bakr and ʿUmar send their greetings and ask you for food.”
He told him: “They have eaten already.”
So they went to him and said: “O Messenger of God! What have we eaten?”
He said: “The flesh of your brother. By He in whose hand is my soul, I see morsels of it between your teeth.”
They said: “Ask forgiveness for us, God’s Messenger!”
He said: “Rather tell him to ask forgiveness for you both.”
Author’s comments: It appears that the story in these two accounts is one and the same story; the two men mentioned in the first story are Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and the man mentioned in the second story is Salmān.
- This is supported by what is narrated in Jawāmiʿ al-Jāmīʿ, where we read:
Abū Bakr and ʿUmar sent Salmān to God’s Messenger to bring them some food. So he sent him to Usāmah b. Zayd, who looked after God’s Messenger’s possessions while he was travelling. He told Salmān: “I don’t have anything.”
So he went back to the two of them and they said: “Usāmah is being stingy. If we sent Salmān to an overflowing well, its water would dry up!” Then they went to God’s Messenger and he told them: “Why is it I see morsels of putrid flesh in your mouths?” They said: “O Messenger of God! We haven’t eaten any meat today!”
He said: “You have done wrong by eating the flesh of Salmān and Usāmah.” Then the verse was revealed.
- In ʿUyūn, it is narrated from Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā b. Abī ʿIbād, from his uncle, who said:
One day I heard al-Riḍā reciting poetry. Some of it went like this:
“We all wish to put-off the hour / but fate is ever the bane of hope
Let not ambition’s vanities deceive you / stay the course and speak no pleas
This world is but a fleeting shadow / the rider alights beneath on his way.”
I asked him: “God give you strength, whose are these?”
He said: “An Iraqi of yours.”
I said: “The dimwit recited them to me for himself.”
He said: “Say his name; don’t use language like that. God says: …nor call one another nicknames (). Perhaps he wouldn’t like you calling him that!”
- And in al-Kāfī, it is narrated from Ḥusayn b. Mukhtār from Abū ʿAbd Allāh:
The Commander of the Faithful said: “Put your brother’s affairs in the best light until he does something to turn you away from him. Do not think something bad of what he has said while you can yet find a good meaning for it.”
- And in Nahj al-Balāghah he says:
When righteousness prevails over a time and its people, and one man thinks badly of another without cause, he has sinned. But when corruption prevails over a time and its people then one man thinks good of another, he is deluded.
Author’s comments: These two narrations are not contradictory. The second one concerns the thought (ẓann) itself, while the first one looks at that thought having an effect on a person’s behavior.
- In al-Khiṣāl, it is narrated from Asbāṭ b. Muḥammad who narrates via a chain going back to the Prophet:
The Prophet said: “Backbiting is worse than fornication.”
Someone said: “O Messenger of God! Why is that?”
He said: “The fornicator can repent and God forgives him. While the backbiter can repent, but God will not forgive him until his target excuses him.”
- And in al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is narrated from Ibn Mardawayh, from Abū Saʿīd and Jābir:
The Prophet said: “Backbiting is worse than fornication.”
They asked: “O Messenger of God! How is backbiting worse than fornication?”
He said: “A man might fornicate, but he can repent and God will forgive him, while the backbiter will not be forgiven until his target forgives him.”
- In al-Kāfī, it is narrated from al-Sukūnī from Abū ʿAbd Allāh that God’s Messenger said:
Backbiting spoils a man’s religion faster than a morsel reaches his stomach.
- In the same source it is narrated from Ḥafṣ b. ʿUmar from Abū ʿAbd Allāh:
Someone asked the Prophet: “What is the expiation (kaffārah) for backbiting?”
He said: “To pray for the forgiveness of the one he spoke against just as he mentioned him.”
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, about the verse …and made you nations and tribes… (), we read:
“Nations” are the non-Arabs, and “tribes” are the Arabs.
Author’s comments: Majmaʿ al-Bayān attributes this to Imām al-Ṣādiq.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is narrated from Ibn Mardawayh and Bayhaqī from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh:
During the days of tashrīq, God’s Messenger addressed us with his Farewell Speech. He said: “O people! Lo! Indeed your Lord is One. Lo! Indeed your parents are one. Lo! An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab, nor black over red, nor red over black, except by Godwariness! Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God is the most Godwary among you. Lo! Have I not conveyed my message?”
They said: “Yes, O Messenger of God!”
He said: “Then let those who are present convey it to those who are absent.”
- And in al-Kāfī, it is narrated from Abū Bakr al-Ḥaḍramī from Abū ʿAbd Allāh:
God’s Messenger married Miqdād b. al-Aswad to Ḍabāʿah, the daughter of Zubayr b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. He did this to set a precedent so that others would follow his example and know that the noblest of them in the sight of God was the most Godwary amongst them.
- In the Rawḍa of al-Kāfī, it is narrated from Yūnus b. Yaʿqūb from Abū ʿAbd Allāh:
Islam is prior to faith (īmān). It is on the basis of Islam that you inherit from one another and on its basis that you marry one another. However, it is on the basis of faith that you are rewarded by God.
- In al-Khiṣāl, it is narrated from al-Aʿmash from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad:
Islam is not the same as faith (īmān). Whoever is a faithful person (muʾmin) is a Muslim, but not every Muslim is one of the faithful.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, about the verse The Bedouins say, “We have faith”:
It is narrated from Ibn Jarīr, from Qatādah: “It was revealed about the Banū Asad tribe.”
Author’s comments: And this is also narrated from Mujāhid and other authorities.
- In the same source it is narrated from Ibn Mājah, Ibn Mardawayh, Ṭabarānī, Bayhaqī in Shuʿub al-Īmān, from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, from God’s Messenger:
Faith (īmān) is knowing with one’s heart, affirmation with one’s tongue and acting upon the pillars [of faith].
- In the same source it is narrated from Nasāʾī, Ibn Bazzāaz and Ibn Mardawayh from Ibn ʿAbbās:
The Banū Asad came to God’s Messenger and said: “O Messenger of God, we have embraced Islam while the Arabs fought you, but we did not fight you.” Then the verse was revealed: They count it as a favor to you that they have embraced Islam ().
Author’s comments: There are other narrations with the same meaning.
Contranym is a word with two opposite meanings. [Ed.] ↩︎
It is narrated from Aḥmad, ʿAbd b. Hamīd, Bukhārī in Adab, Abū Dāwūd, Tirmidhī, Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, Abū Yaʿlā, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Mundhir, Baghawī in his Muʿjam, Ibn Ḥabbān, Shīrāzī in Alqāb, Ṭabarānī, Ibn al-Sunnī in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Layla, and Ḥākim (who declared it authentic), Ibn Mardawayh, and Bayhaqī in Shuʿub al-Īmān. ↩︎