al-Isrāʾ 17:34-35

Wa lā taqrabū māla'l-yatīmi illā bi'llatī hiya aḥsanu ḥattā yablugha ashuddahu, wa awfū bi'l-ʿahd, inna'l-ʿahda kāna masʾūlā · Wa awfu'l-kayla idhā kiltum wa zinū bi'l-qisṭāsi'l-mustaqīm, dhālika khayrun wa aḥsanu taʾwīlā

"Do not go near the orphan's property, save in the way that is best, until he reaches his full strength. And fulfil the covenant; for the covenant will be asked about. Give full measure when you measure, and weigh with the true balance. That is better, and better in its outcome."

The thirty-fourth verse uses the same pattern as the thirty-second: lā taqrabū. And the exception here must be recorded: illā bi'llatī hiya aḥsan — "save in the way that is best".

I record this as an observation about the structure: the prohibition is not absolute; it is opened by a qualification. And the qualification is framed not as "what is permissible" but as "what is best" — that is, the highest threshold.

أَشُدّ — root ش-د-د: strength, soundness. The word was treated at 46/15 in al-Aḥqāf (the age at which the strength of body and of mind is complete) and it was recorded there that no ruling on an age limit is issued in this commentary. I rely on that treatment; the same record holds here.

The root و-ف-ي and the word ʿahd were treated at 2/40 in al-Baqara, and it was recorded there: the root is "to complete, to pay in full" (wafāʾ comes from it), and at the core of the root ʿahd lies "to look back again and again" — that is, a covenant is not a word given once and then forgotten but a bond that must be watched over continually. I rely on that treatment.

The addition here must be recorded: inna'l-ʿahda kāna masʾūlā — "the covenant will be asked about."

The lexicographers dwell on whom the word masʾūl refers to here, and two readings are transmitted:

Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. The second reading belongs to the same family as the personification treated at 50/30 in Qāf, and it agrees with the thirteenth verse of this sūra as well: there too the deed was described as a portable object.

And the word masʾūl will come again two verses later: kullu ulāʾika kāna ʿanhu masʾūlā (36). The same word, once for the covenant and once for the senses. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

قِسْطَاس — the balance. That the word passed into Arabic from another language (from Greek dikastes or some similar root) has been discussed in the classical sources; I make no firm claim about its etymology. The word's kinship in sound with qisṭ (justice, a share) is also recorded.

ٱلْمُسْتَقِيم — root ق-و-م, the active participle of Form X: straightened, held upright.

And a weave of roots within the sūra is completed here — I tabulated it at the ninth verse:

The same root in three separate places in the sūra: the direction of the Book, the collapse of the human being, the uprightness of the balance. I record this as my own reading, and its support is the words of the three verses themselves.

The word occurs at 26/182 in al-Shuʿarāʾ as well (wa zinū bi'l-qisṭāsi'l-mustaqīm — as Shuʿayb's word to his people); but since al-Shuʿarāʾ at present covers the range 26/1-82 in the index, that verse has not yet been analysed. The comparison of the two places will be made when its turn comes; for now I record only this: the same sentence is in one place a prophet's word to his people, and here a general command.

And the matter of measure and weight was treated in detail in al-Muṭaffifīn (waylun li'l-muṭaffifīn). I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.

The root أ-و-ل: to return, to come back to the origin. Taʾwīl — the place a thing arrives at, its outcome.

I record this as an observation about the language: the word here is not in the sense of "interpretation" but in the sense of "outcome, the place it comes back to". The verse thus places the requital of weighing truly not in the present but as something to be seen further on.