Qur’anic Parables
The Qur'an often makes a truth visible by striking a parable (mathal): a picture drawn from what people can see, such as a fire that goes out, a grain that grows seven ears, a spider's house, or foam on a torrent. This page gathers the parables on which the ʿAllāmah comments, grouped by what they teach. Each gives the picture the verse draws and what it shows as he explains it; follow the link to read his commentary. In the commentary, each of these places is marked Qur'anic parable and links back here.
God and His oneness 10 Faith and disbelief 12 Hypocrisy 4 Truth and falsehood 2 Guidance and the Qur'an 8 Deeds and their fruits 9 Spending in God's way 4 The life of this world 4 The Prophet and his community 1 Examples from history 4
Why the Qur’an strikes parables
The Qur'an marks its parables ()
Rejecting the view that the story in () is only a parable, he notes that the Qur'an has a fixed custom of marking a simile or parable as such, as in (), () and (); a verse that hearers would take as a real event, when it was only a parable, would have no force. → Read in the commentary
How a Qur'anic parable works ()
A parable is an actual or imagined story that closely resembles the subject in some respect and puts a picture in the mind that helps one fully grasp the idea; where only part of the story carries the likeness, the Qur'an mentions only that part, a brevity that surprises the hearer yet fully serves the purpose. The pictured thing need not exist outside the imagination. → Read in the commentary
Why stories and parables ()
Each part of the Qur'an supports another: verses of argument clarify its claims, verses of reward and punishment encourage and warn, and verses of stories and parables reach people's souls and soften their hearts. → Read in the commentary
Events in this world as parables ()
He suggests that "That is how Allah draws comparisons" may refer to the rain, the flood and the froth themselves, so that events in the visible world are examples that guide people of insight to the truths of the unseen; in his words, there is not much difference between the parables God strikes and the signs He sets up. → Read in the commentary
Every kind of similitude ()
A mathal is a description of the intended meaning that illustrates it and brings it near to the mind of the audience; God has repeated every kind of similitude in the Qur'an, in different words and ways, to make clear the true path and the way of faith and gratitude, yet most people consent only to ingratitude. → Read in the commentary
What a parable is ()
A mathal is a description or story that resembles and illustrates something in some aspect, whether a real description or an imaginary one like fables with talking animals; a parable is set forth in order to be pondered, just as a tent is raised in order to be lived in. → Read in the commentary
Grasped only by the knowing ()
The parables of the Qur'an reach all people, but only those with knowledge, who grasp the realities of things and are not caught by appearances, reach their deepest meanings; people receive them according to their levels of understanding, some hearing only the words, others reaching their profound realities. → Read in the commentary
God and His oneness
() Jesus like Adam
Jesus, born without a father, is set beside Adam, whom God created from dust and to whom He said "Be," and he was.
Al-Mizan: The circumstances of Jesus's birth prove only that he was a created man like Adam; the verse holds two proofs against his divinity: he is a creature and so a servant, not a god, and his creation is no greater than Adam's, whom no Christian calls a god. → Read the commentary
() The couple praying for a child
A husband and wife pray to God for a healthy child, promising to be grateful, and once He gives one they ascribe partners to Him in what He gave.
Al-Mizan: He takes the two verses as an analogy for the children of Adam in general: they show how people break a covenant they have made with God and wrong His signs, as parents' love for their child leads them to cling to every means other than God. → Read the commentary
() Stretching hands toward water
A thirsty man far from water stretches out his hands toward it so that it may reach his mouth, but it never does.
Al-Mizan: Those who call on beings other than God have nothing of invocation but its empty form; the ones they call on answer them not at all, just as water never reaches the mouth of one who only reaches toward it from afar. → Read the commentary
() The slave and the free man
A slave who owns nothing and has power over nothing is set beside a man God has given goodly provision, who spends from it secretly and openly, and the question is asked whether they are equal.
Al-Mizan: The parable is about God and the associates the polytheists ascribe to Him: God is the Owner and Provider of everything, while all that is worshipped besides Him owns nothing and can manage nothing, so He alone is Lord. He rejects the view that it contrasts the disbeliever and the believer, as not fitting the context of argument. → Read the commentary
() The mute and the just man
One of two men is mute, powerless and a burden on his master, bringing no good wherever he is sent; the other enjoins justice and is on a straight path.
Al-Mizan: The idols, unable to guide themselves or others, are not equal to God, who is on a straight path in His essence and guides others by sending messengers and laws; the purpose is an argument for monotheism with a hint toward prophethood and legislation. He grants that the wording could fit a believer and a disbeliever, but holds that in context the subject is God and what is worshipped besides Him. → Read the commentary
() Falling from the sky
One who associates others with God is like a man who falls from the sky and is snatched by birds, or blown by the wind to a far-off place.
Al-Mizan: Whoever associates others with God falls from the highest degrees of humanity to the lowest pits of error, where the Devil hunts and snatches him; the wind carrying him off is another similitude for the distance and separation that associating others with God causes. → Read the commentary
() The fly
Those whom people call on besides God could not create a fly even if they all gathered for it, and if a fly snatched something from them they could not take it back.
Al-Mizan: The parable exposes the powerlessness of the gods worshipped besides God, who cannot create even the weakest of animals or recover what it takes; they are weaker than the fly, so there is no justification for calling on them. → Read the commentary
() The spider's house
A spider takes for itself a house, and the frailest of houses is the house of the spider.
Al-Mizan: Taking guardians besides God is like a spider taking a home that is a home in name only, keeping out neither heat nor cold and protecting no one; so too the guardianship of their gods is in name alone, for they bring neither benefit nor harm. He adds that the similitude is no mere poetic image but rests on a logical argument and verified reality. → Read the commentary
() Slaves as partners in wealth
God asks whether any of us would make our own slaves equal partners in the wealth He gave us, fearing to use it without their permission as we would fear free partners of our own rank.
Al-Mizan: God strikes this parable to show the falsity of the claim that some of His creatures share His divinity and lordship: no master makes his slave a partner in his wealth, so how can they allow that His servants, such as the angels or jinn, have a share in His domain as gods or lords? → Read the commentary
() The man with quarreling masters
One man is jointly owned by several masters who quarrel over him, while another belongs entirely to a single master.
Al-Mizan: The first man is the idolater, pulled between many lords who each claim him and give conflicting commands; the second is the monotheist, who serves one master without dispute, and he is clearly better off. It is a simple parable anyone can grasp, but it also hints at the argument of () against a multiplicity of gods. → Read the commentary
Faith and disbelief
() The one who shouts to cattle
A shepherd calls out to animals that hear nothing but a call and a cry, and understand none of what is said.
Al-Mizan: As he explains it (adding "God knows better"), it is the Prophet calling the unbelievers who is like the shepherd, and they are deaf, dumb and blind to anything that would benefit them; the parable is credited to the disbelievers, in a kind of reversal, because those three traits are theirs. → Read the commentary
() The dead man brought to life
A man who was dead is brought to life and given a light to walk by among people, while another is trapped in darkness with no way out.
Al-Mizan: Before God's guidance a person is like a corpse; faith brings him to life and gives him a light to tell good from evil, while the disbeliever is trapped in darkness. On deeper reflection he holds that the believers' life and light are not merely metaphorical but real, in the most literal sense. → Read the commentary
() The dog that pants
The man who was given God's signs but clung to the earth is like a dog that lolls out its tongue whether you chase it or leave it alone.
Al-Mizan: Panting is the dog's fixed trait, whether you forbid it or leave it be, and denying God's signs is likewise an evil quality rooted deep in the souls of such people, so the more signs they meet the more they deny. → Read the commentary
() The two parties, blind and seeing
Two parties are compared: one is like a man who is blind and deaf, the other like one who sees and hears.
Al-Mizan: The two parties are those described in the preceding verses, people with insight from God and those who could neither hear nor see; he notes that a mathal serves to make abstract ideas clear to the listener through tangible examples. → Read the commentary
() The blind and the seer
The blind and the seeing are set side by side, and darkness beside light, and the question is asked whether they are equal.
Al-Mizan: The disbeliever who remains unyielding before clear proofs is like the blind, wrapped in the darkness of disbelief, while the believer is like one who sees, perceiving the truth by the light of faith; no rational person could think the two states alike. → Read the commentary
() The good tree and the bad tree
A good word is like a good tree whose roots are firm and whose branches reach the sky, giving fruit every season, and a bad word is like a bad tree uprooted from the ground, with no stability.
Al-Mizan: The good word is firm, true belief, above all the word of monotheism held with steadfastness, from which true beliefs, pure morals and righteous deeds branch out; the bad word is the word of polytheism, without root or stability, whose only effects are harm and evil. → Read the commentary
() The sweet and salty seas
Two bodies of water, one sweet and pure, the other salty and bitter, lie side by side with a barrier between them that keeps them apart.
Al-Mizan: This is an analogy for the religious message, which makes believers and disbelievers distinct: though they live in the same land and mingle with one another, they remain separate from each other. → Read the commentary
() The living and the dead
The blind and the seeing, darkness and light, shade and heat, and the living and the dead are not alike.
Al-Mizan: These four verses are metaphors for believers and those who reject the truth, and for the consequences of their deeds, showing that the two groups are not the same. The dead 'in the grave' whom the Prophet cannot make hear are the rejecters whose hearts are sealed. → Read the commentary
() The earth revived after death
God brings the earth back to life after it has died.
Al-Mizan: Having reproached the faithful for the hardness of their hearts, God presents this similitude to strengthen their resolve and move them to humility once more. He suggests the reproach may also announce that, as hearts harden, God brings new hearts alive with humility to worship Him as He wishes, so the verse is in the same vein as (). → Read the commentary
() The wives of Noah and Lot
The wives of two righteous prophets, Noah and Lot, betrayed their husbands and were told to enter the Fire with those who enter it.
Al-Mizan: Being married to prophets did them no good; they perished with the rest. Ties to the righteous are of no benefit to those who disbelieve, and through this simile God sends a severe message to the wives of the Prophet who betrayed him and revealed his secret. → Read the commentary
() Pharaoh's wife and Mary
Pharaoh's wife prays for a house near God in the garden and to be saved from Pharaoh, and Mary, daughter of ʿImrān, guards her chastity and believes in her Lord's words.
Al-Mizan: Pharaoh's wife believed with pure faith, so being married to someone like Pharaoh did her no harm and God saved her; Mary was honored by God. Ties to God's enemies do not harm the faithful, for the measure of honor with God is God-consciousness (taqwā). → Read the commentary
() Walking prone or upright
One person goes along fallen on his face, unable to see the path, while another walks upright on a straight path.
Al-Mizan: It is a general parable of the stubborn, ignorant disbeliever who persists in his ignorance, closing his eyes to what he should know and do, and the discerning believer who seeks the truth and walks the road of life upright and safe. → Read the commentary
Hypocrisy
() The one who kindled a fire
A man in thick darkness kindles a fire, and just as it lights up everything around him God puts it out, leaving him in darkness again.
Al-Mizan: The hypocrite professes Islam and gains some worldly benefits by it, but when death comes, the moment its real benefits should appear, God takes the light away, voids his deeds, and leaves him between two darknesses: his original one and the one his dark deeds added. → Read the commentary
() The rainstorm with thunder and lightning
A man caught in a downpour in the dark, terrified by thunder and lightning, walks a few steps whenever the lightning flashes and stops when the darkness returns.
Al-Mizan: The hypocrite dislikes Islam but has to profess it; since his words do not reach his heart, his path is never properly lit, so he gropes about, walking a little and then stopping, and had God wished He could have taken his hearing and sight on the very first day. → Read the commentary
() The building on a crumbling bank
One man builds on fear of God and His pleasure; another builds on the edge of a crumbling bank that collapses with him into the fire of hell.
Al-Mizan: It is a metaphor for the life and religion of the believers and of the hypocrites: the believer's religion rests on wariness of God and seeking His pleasure, based on certainty, while the hypocrite's rests on doubt and hesitation, and he and his building fall together into hell. → Read the commentary
() Satan who disowns man
Satan urges man to disbelieve, and once he does, Satan says he is free of him and fears God.
Al-Mizan: The example is for the hypocrites: they urged Banū al-Naḍīr to defy the Prophet with promises of support, then betrayed them when help was needed, just as Satan lures humans into disbelief with false promises and disowns them at the moment they most need help. → Read the commentary
Truth and falsehood
() The bad and the good
The bad and the good are declared unequal, however much the abundance of the bad may impress.
Al-Mizan: He calls it a universal parable: religious laws rest on the real goodness or badness of things, which does not change with numbers, so the good stays good though it is little and the bad stays bad though it is plentiful, and the person of understanding should not be swayed by the multitude. → Read the commentary
() The foam on the torrent
Rain floods the valleys, each according to its capacity, and the torrent carries a swelling scum, as does metal smelted in the fire; the scum passes away while what benefits people remains in the earth.
Al-Mizan: He says this is a single example broken into parts: truth, which is from God and benefits people, is lasting like the water and the pure metal, while falsehood is fleeting like the froth that vanishes. The same holds in beliefs: true belief in the believer is like the water that revives hearts, and false belief in the disbeliever is like froth that soon dissipates. → Read the commentary
Guidance and the Qur'an
() The gnat
God says He is not ashamed to strike a parable of a gnat, one of the smallest creatures the eye can see, or of anything above it.
Al-Mizan: He notes the gnat is one of the smallest creatures the naked eye can see; the straying the parable brings afflicts only the transgressors, and he stresses that they transgressed first, and only then did God make them go astray. → Read the commentary
() The niche and the lamp
A lamp in a glass shining like a brilliant star, set in a niche and lit from the pure oil of a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western: light upon light.
Al-Mizan: What is compared is not God Himself but His light, the light of faith and knowledge of Him that He gives to the true believers and that lights their way to Him; the whole image shows that light focused, pure and at the utmost strength. He holds that this light is not the Qur'an, since it is a quality of all believers before and after its revelation. → Read the commentary
() The spreading shade and the sun
God stretches out the shade (had He wished He could have made it stand still), makes the sun a guide to it, and then draws it back to Himself little by little.
Al-Mizan: Error spreads over those who stray as the shade spreads, and the calls of the prophets remove it as the sun removes the shade; he calls this a general analogy for a universal custom by which God extends His mercy, and says the verses show that guidance belongs to God alone, not to the Prophet. → Read the commentary
() Rain on a dead land
God sends the winds as good news and pure water from the sky, giving life to a dead land and drink to cattle and many people.
Al-Mizan: He says this is again like the analogy of the shade: just as God sends pure water to revive a dead land and give drink to its cattle and people, He lifts the error of those who stray, as He wills, by sending a messenger with the call to the truth. → Read the commentary
() Called from a distant place
Those who reject the Qur'an are like people called from so far away that they neither hear the voice nor see the caller.
Al-Mizan: It is a parable drawn for their state: they pay no attention to admonitions and give no thought to arguments, as if the call reached them from too far away to be heard. → Read the commentary
() The mountain humbled by the Qur'an
If the Qur'an were sent down on a mountain, the mountain would be humbled and split apart in fear of God.
Al-Mizan: It shows the greatness of the Qur'an as God's word, full of knowledge, law, and admonition: if a solid, enduring mountain would be so moved, people should be even more humble when they recite or hear it, and it is astonishing that the defiant remain untouched. → Read the commentary
() The donkey carrying books
A donkey carries a load of books but knows nothing of what is in them and gains nothing but fatigue from their weight.
Al-Mizan: The Jews were charged with the Torah but did not act on it, so they are like a donkey carrying books. In this sūrah the simile warns the Muslims, who had neglected the Friday prayer, to honor their Prophet's teachings and not become like them. → Read the commentary
() The asses fleeing a lion
The disbelievers turning away from the reminder are like terrified wild asses stampeding away from a lion.
Al-Mizan: It is an analogy for the polytheists' aversion to the Qur'an's reminder: they flee from it as wild asses flee from a lion or a hunter. He adds that their aversion is not only fear and panic, since each of them wants a scripture sent to him personally. → Read the commentary
Deeds and their fruits
() The one confounded by Satan's touch
Those who consume interest stand like someone whom Satan has thrown into confusion by his touch.
Al-Mizan: The interest-taker manages his life like a madman: taking interest turns his reason upside down, so he sees no difference between the normal and the abnormal and says trade is only like interest; he rejects the view that the verse is about the Day of Resurrection, and takes the verse as hinting that some cases of madness come from Satan's touch. → Read the commentary
() The icy wind on the crop
A wind of bitter cold strikes the crops of a people who have wronged themselves and destroys them.
Al-Mizan: Whatever the disbelievers spend in this life, cut off from the hereafter, brings them only misery and destroys the very thing they hoped would make them happy, because they wronged themselves and an evil deed can bring only evil results. → Read the commentary
() The good land and the bad
Good land brings forth its plants by its Lord's leave, while bad land yields only a meager growth.
Al-Mizan: On its own the verse resembles proverbs saying good results come from good sources and evil ones from evil sources; in its context it means that people receive different shares of mercy because of a difference on their side, while God's mercy is universal and unqualified. → Read the commentary
() Deeds like ashes in the wind
The deeds of those who defy their Lord are like ashes over which the wind blows hard on a stormy day.
Al-Mizan: The deeds of the disbelievers are in vain, having no effect toward happiness or salvation; like particles of ash scattered by a violent wind, they leave nothing behind (compare ). → Read the commentary
() The woman who unravels her yarn
A woman spins her yarn with effort and then undoes it, breaking it up after it was strong.
Al-Mizan: Breaking oaths after pledging them solemnly is compared to a woman who spins yarn with effort and then undoes it, leaving it useless and unstructured. → Read the commentary
() The town that was secure
A town lived secure and at peace, its provision coming abundantly from every place, but it was ungrateful for God's blessings, so God made it taste the garb of hunger and fear.
Al-Mizan: The parable warns against ingratitude for God's blessings and disbelief in His signs after they come: the town received every material blessing and a messenger, denied him, and had its blessings replaced with punishment. Some identify the town as Mecca; he says the example fits, but the context suggests a general parable introducing the rulings that follow. → Read the commentary
() The mirage in the desert
A thirsty man sees a mirage on level desert ground, thinks it is water and hurries to it, but when he reaches it he finds nothing, and finds God there, who pays him his account in full.
Al-Mizan: The disbelievers' acts of worship, by which they seek nearness to other gods, are empty and fruitless like a mirage; they spend their lives chasing them until death, when they find none of the good they hoped for and meet only God, who gives them their full reckoning. He adds that it also applies to anyone who denies the Creator and seeks happiness in other sources. → Read the commentary
() Darkness upon darkness in the sea
Layers of darkness in a deep, stormy sea, wave above wave and cloud above that, so dark that a man can hardly see his own hand.
Al-Mizan: This is a second analogy for the disbelievers' deeds: they are like dense veils covering their hearts from the light of divine knowledge, not merely empty of light but blocking it; and one to whom God gives no light has no light at all. → Read the commentary
() The similitude of paradise
The paradise promised to the Godwary has streams of fresh water, milk, delicious wine, and pure honey, every fruit, and forgiveness; is it like the lot of those in the Fire who drink boiling water?
Al-Mizan: Some say 'similitude' here simply means description; the ʿAllāmah suggests it may also be read in its usual sense, meaning paradise is too lofty for any human description, so these similitudes only help our limited minds reach an approximate understanding of it. → Read the commentary
Spending in God's way
() The grain that grows seven ears
A single grain sprouts seven ears, each ear holding a hundred grains.
Al-Mizan: Spending in God's way grows in God's hands seven hundredfold, and God gives more than that to whom He pleases, since nothing can limit His grace; he holds that this multiplied return applies in this world as well as in the hereafter. → Read the commentary
() The smooth rock with soil
Soil lies on a smooth rock; a heavy rain strikes it and leaves the rock bare.
Al-Mizan: Rain and soil are the strongest causes of growth, yet on a rock they produce nothing; likewise one who spends to be seen by people gets nothing for his deed, because his heart, like the rock, cannot receive God's mercy, which shows that a deed is accepted only with a sincere intention of seeking God's pleasure. → Read the commentary
() The garden on high ground
A garden on good, high ground is watered by heavy rain and gives double its fruit, and even a drizzle is enough for it.
Al-Mizan: Spending done to seek God's pleasure cannot fail to bear fruit, because its tie to God remains and His care makes it grow; the yield varies with the purity of the intention and the firmness of the soul, and God never confuses one person's reward with another's. → Read the commentary
() The garden burnt by a whirlwind
An old man with weak children owns a garden of palms and vines with streams below it, and a fiery whirlwind strikes it and burns it up.
Al-Mizan: It pictures those who spend and then follow it with reproach and injury: their deed is voided with no way to restore it, just as the old man and his weak offspring have no means left to replant the garden; God wants such people to reflect on their state. → Read the commentary
The life of this world
() Rain and the adorned earth
Rain falls and mingles with the earth's plants, the earth puts on its finery and its owners think they control it, and then God's command strikes it and leaves it as if it had never flourished.
Al-Mizan: Having spoken of worldly enjoyment, God gives a parable to show its reality to those who reflect; he notes it is a representation of the whole scene rather than a one-to-one comparison with the water, a style common in the Qur'an's parables. → Read the commentary
() The two gardens
One of two men is given two gardens of vines ringed with palms and fields between them; proud of his wealth, he forgets his Lord, until his garden is destroyed.
Al-Mizan: The parable is set forth for those infatuated with the adornment of worldly life who turn from remembering God, to show them they are clinging to an illusion or a mirage with no reality: wealth and children quickly vanish, leaving nothing but the like of a dream. → Read the commentary
() Rain, plants and scattered chaff
Rain comes down and the plants of the earth grow thick with it, then become dry broken stalks that the winds scatter.
Al-Mizan: This is the second parable of the life of this world and its quickly vanishing adornment: what shines with bloom and beauty soon becomes broken and is blown away, so that wealth and children, to which hearts cling, slip away without bringing what was hoped from them. → Read the commentary
() Rain and the withering crop
Rain makes plants flourish to the delight of the farmers, then they turn yellow, wither, and crumble into chaff.
Al-Mizan: It is a parable for the trinkets of this world that people become attached to and are deceived by, though these do not stay with them long before they must give them up: the world's delight is captivating but fleeting. → Read the commentary
The Prophet and his community
() The sprouting tillage
A sown field sends out fresh shoots, strengthens them until they grow thick and stand firm on their stalks, and delights the sowers.
Al-Mizan: It alludes to the faithful with the Prophet growing day by day more numerous, more powerful, and more prepared, which is why the verse adds 'so that He may enrage the faithless by them.' → Read the commentary
Examples from history
() The trials of earlier believers
The believers are reminded that the like of what came upon earlier nations has not yet come to them: distress and affliction struck those nations, and they were violently shaken.
Al-Mizan: He takes mathal here as an illustrative story that brings the meaning to mind, explained by the words that follow: anyone who hopes to enter the Garden must expect to be tried as the earlier believers were tried. → Read the commentary
() The people of the town
Messengers come to a town, two and then a third to strengthen them, and the people reject them, though a man comes running from the edge of the city urging them to follow the messengers.
Al-Mizan: The passage is a parable of warning and glad tidings that God sets forth to all people: forgiveness and a great reward for whoever believes, follows the reminder, and fears the Merciful unseen, and severe punishment for those who reject it. It also speaks of God's oneness and the return of all people to Him. → Read the commentary
() Pharaoh's people put to the test
A noble messenger, Moses, comes to the people of Pharaoh, who deny him and are drowned, while the Children of Israel are delivered.
Al-Mizan: After threatening those who persist in doubting the Qur'an with punishment in this world and on the Day of Resurrection, the sūrah strikes a parable with the story of Moses and the people of Pharaoh, who denied him and drowned; he says the story hints that God will save the Prophet and the believers from the obstinate Quraysh by bringing them out of Mecca before destroying the Quraysh leaders who pursued them. → Read the commentary
() Those who tasted the consequences
They are like those shortly before them who tasted the evil outcome of their conduct and face a painful punishment.
Al-Mizan: The comparison likens Banū al-Naḍīr, who broke their covenant and were expelled despite the hypocrites' promises, to Banū Qaynuqāʿ, who broke their treaty after Badr and were exiled though the hypocrites had promised to intercede for them and prevent their exile. Some say those 'before them' are the Meccans at Badr, but he finds the first view closer to the context; the example is aimed at Banū al-Naḍīr, not the hypocrites. → Read the commentary