“He Frowned and Turned Away”
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّىٰٓ
(80:1) He frowned and turned away
The question
Who frowned and turned away from the blind man in 80:1 — the Prophet, as the Sunni narrations say, or a man from the Umayyads?
Views answered: the Sunni narrations that it was the Prophet, the view that the third person is used to honour the Prophet, the view that it was no sin as it was not yet forbidden
Al-Mizan's argument
The Sunni narrations say the opening verses rebuke the Prophet for frowning at Ibn Umm Maktūm while he was talking with the chiefs of Quraysh; the Shia narrations say it was a man from the Umayyads. Al-Mizan shows that nothing in the verses names the Prophet, and that the Qur'an rules it out: 68:4, revealed earlier, praises his great character; 26:214–215 and 15:88 had already commanded him to lower his wing to the believers; and preferring the rich over a God-fearing poor man offends basic decency. He rejects the view that the third person is used to honour the Prophet, since the next verses rebuke even more strongly, and the view that it was no sin because it was not yet forbidden. The narrations of Imam al-Ṣādiq name the Umayyad man.
Reading guide
Each part opens the commentary at that point.
- Two accounts of the cause of revelation
- The Umayyad man in the Shia accounts
- The view that the third person honours the Prophet
- Why that view does not fit
- The Sunni narration of Ibn Umm Maktūm
- Nothing in the verses names the Prophet
- 68:4: “You possess a great character”
- 26:214–215: “Lower your wing to the believers”
- 15:88
- A matter of basic decency
- “It was not a sin before it was forbidden”
- Why that view is unacceptable
- Imam al-Ṣādiq: a man from the Umayyads
- “Welcome to one for whom my Lord reprimanded me”