مَّنِ ٱهْتَدَىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِى لِنَفْسِهِۦ … وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا
Mani'htadā fa-innamā yahtadī li-nafsih, wa man ḍalla fa-innamā yaḍillu ʿalayhā, wa lā taziru wāziratun wizra ukhrā, wa mā kunnā muʿadhdhibīna ḥattā nabʿatha rasūlā
"Whoever finds the right way finds it for himself; whoever goes astray goes astray against himself. No bearer of a burden bears the burden of another. And We do not punish until We have sent a messenger."
| No. | Principle | What it states |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mani'htadā … wa man ḍalla | The requital returns to the person |
| 2 | Lā taziru wāziratun wizra ukhrā | The burden cannot be transferred |
| 3 | Wa mā kunnā muʿadhdhibīna ḥattā nabʿatha rasūlā | No ruling until knowledge has arrived |
Together the three build a whole conception of responsibility: who receives the requital, who carries the burden, and when it begins.
This principle has been treated in five places in this commentary, and the root was analysed in detail at 53/38 in al-Najm (a weight carried on the back; wazīr is from the same root — the one who shares the load of a task). It was also recorded there: one can be helped in a task, but not in a reckoning. I do not repeat the root here.
| No. | Place | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | al-Najm 53/38 | The content of the scrolls — allā taziru wāziratun |
| 2 | Fāṭir 35/18 | The principle tested in its hardest case — even if a close relative calls |
| 3 | al-Zumar 39/7 | In the context of ingratitude and thanks |
| 4 | Luqmān 31/33 | Lā yajzī wālidun ʿan waladih — father and son |
| 5 | al-ʿAnkabūt 29/12-13 | The rejection of the offer "we will carry your sins" |
| 6 | al-Isrāʾ 17/15 | In the middle of the trio of principles of responsibility |
And what is peculiar to the sixth link must be recorded: in the other five places the principle came on its own or inside a scene. Here it is set between two other principles — before it, the requital's return to the person; after it, the condition of the messenger.
I give this as my own reading: al-Isrāʾ does not expound the principle — it seats it inside a system. And it does so just eight verses after the two periods of a people have been recounted in the sūra's second block. The sūra thus closes off, with its own hand, the blanket ruling a reader of that account of a people might draw from it.
| Place | Expression | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Fāṭir 35/24 | Wa in min ummatin illā khalā fīhā nadhīr | It states that one has been sent |
| al-Qaṣaṣ 28/59 | Wa mā kāna rabbuka muhlika'l-qurā ḥattā yabʿatha fī ummihā rasūlā | It states that there will be no destruction before one is sent |
| al-Isrāʾ 17/15 | Wa mā kunnā muʿadhdhibīna ḥattā nabʿatha rasūlā | It states the condition of the punishment |
It was recorded at 28/59 in al-Qaṣaṣ that those two verses "state the same principle from two directions"; al-Isrāʾ adds the third direction.
And the difference here is worth recording: in al-Qaṣaṣ the subject is destruction (collective annihilation in this world), here it is punishment — and the verb is kept broad. The same principle occurred at 25/36-40 in al-Furqān as well, in the form "to each of them We gave examples" (wa kullan ḍarabnā lahu'l-amthāl).
I record this as my own reading: the principle is repeated in four sūras with four different words. The common point is always the same: the ruling begins after the knowledge has arrived.