وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِۦ عِلْمٌ إِنَّ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْبَصَرَ وَٱلْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْـُٔولًا
Wa lā taqfu mā laysa laka bihi ʿilm, inna'l-samʿa wa'l-baṣara wa'l-fuʾāda kullu ulāʾika kāna ʿanhu masʾūlā
"Do not fall in behind what you have no knowledge of. For hearing, sight and the heart — all of these are answerable for it."
- Qafā — the nape, the back.
- Qāfiya — the end of a line in poetry; it means "what comes behind".
- Qaffā — to send one after another (at al-Baqara 2/87, wa qaffaynā min baʿdihi bi'l-rusul).
The concrete picture of the verb must be recorded, and I give this as an observation about the language: the word describes walking behind someone. The verse thus does not say "do not speak of what you do not know"; it says "do not fall in behind what you do not know".
And the difference matters: what is forbidden is not a speaking but a following. To fall in behind something involves accepting it, building a judgement on it, and acting by it.
| Explanation | Scope |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bearing false witness |
| 2 | Judging on supposition |
| 3 | Slander, passing on gossip |
| 4 | Speaking of what one does not know — general |
All four are transmitted and all four fit within the general sense of the verb; I do not impose a preference.
This trio has been treated in five places in this commentary, and the sixth is now added. But what must really be recorded is that the context here is different.
| No. | Place | The trio | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | al-Sajda 32/9 | Al-samʿa wa'l-abṣāra wa'l-afʾida | Being given — qalīlan mā tashkurūn |
| 2 | al-Muʾminūn 23/78 (al-Muʾminūn at present covers 23/1-9; the verse has not yet been analysed) | Al-samʿa wa'l-abṣāra wa'l-afʾida | Being given — qalīlan mā tashkurūn |
| 3 | al-Aḥqāf 46/26 | Samʿan wa abṣāran wa afʾidah | Given, and of no use |
| 4 | al-Jāthiya 45/23 | Samʿihi wa qalbihi … baṣarihi | Being sealed |
| 5 | Fuṣṣilat 41/20 | Ear · eye · skin | Bearing witness |
| 6 | al-Isrāʾ 17/36 | Al-samʿa wa'l-baṣara wa'l-fuʾāda | RESPONSIBILITY |
And I record the difference as my own reading; its support is the verbs of the six verses themselves:
In all five verses the trio occurs inside a statement that is being made — it was given, it was of no use, it was sealed, it bore witness. In al-Isrāʾ, by contrast, it occurs as the ground of a command instead. The sentence begins with inna and gives the reason for the prohibition just before it.
In five sūras, then, the senses were the thing described; in al-Isrāʾ they are the thing called to account.
And the "skin" difference recorded at 41/20 in Fuṣṣilat works here too: in Fuṣṣilat, in the scene of witness, the organ that touches the outside had been chosen; in al-Isrāʾ, in the scene of responsibility, the innermost organ (fuʾād) is kept.
أَفْـِٔدَة / فُؤَاد — root ف-ء-د: the burning of an ember. Fuʾād is the kindling, moving aspect of the heart. It was treated at 46/26 in al-Aḥqāf and in al-Wāqiʿa and al-Najm. I do not repeat it here.
The singularity here is worth recording, and this is an observation about the structure: all three words come in the singular (al-samʿ, al-baṣar, al-fuʾād) — not in the plural. In the other five verses at least one was plural. The singular is read in Arabic as a generic noun: hearing, seeing, grasping — faculties, not organs.
A grammatical point must be recorded, and the lexicographers dwell on it: the demonstrative ulāʾika is normally used in Arabic for rational beings.
Here it is used of three faculties. The lexicographers explain this in two ways, and I transmit them:
| Explanation | Ground |
|---|---|
| 1 | Because they are held responsible, they are treated as rational beings |
| 2 | The word can be used of non-rational things as well; the usage is broad |
Both explanations are transmitted. But the first is consistent with the verse's own sentence, and I record this as an observation: all three are named masʾūl (responsible, asked about). And responsibility is a category belonging to rational beings.
I record this as my own reading: falling in behind an unverified report is the exact counterpart of the verse's verb (qafā — to follow a track). And the verse holds three faculties responsible: what you heard, what you saw, and what you accepted. All three are enumerated separately — that is, saying "I heard it" does not lift the responsibility.