2/282 — The longest verse in the Qurʾān
The verse is the longest in the Qurʾān, and its subject is striking in itself: the recording of a debt transaction.
| Subject | The ruling |
|---|---|
| Writing | A command — fa'ktubūh |
| The writer | Not one of the parties but a scribe between them, with justice |
| The one who dictates | The debtor — wa'l-yumlili'lladhī ʿalayhi'l-ḥaqq |
| Diminishing | Let the debtor diminish nothing of his debt |
| One of limited capacity | Let his guardian dictate with justice |
| Witnesses | Two men; if not available, one man and two women |
| Testimony | Not to be refused when called |
| Small or large | Whatever the amount, let there be no weariness of writing |
| Exception | A transaction on the spot — it may go unwritten |
| Harm | Let neither scribe nor witness be brought to harm |
That the one who dictates should be the debtor is worth recording: the text is drawn up by the one who will pay. The record therefore does not become the creditor's one-sided declaration.
About the regulation of testimony: there is a wide debate over this part of the verse. The ground the verse itself gives is in the text: an taḍilla iḥdāhumā fa-tudhakkira iḥdāhuma'l-ukhrā — that if one of them forgets, the other may remind her. It is transmitted that in the classical commentaries this regulation is connected with the fact that in that period women were mostly not parties to commercial transactions. I transmit these explanations; I establish no ruling, and the debate about the scope of this verse belongs to the field of law and legal method.
وَلَا تَسْـَٔمُوٓا۟ أَن تَكْتُبُوهُ صَغِيرًا أَوْ كَبِيرًا — saʾam: to weary, to find it irksome. The verse does not count the smallness of the transaction a ground.
ذَٰلِكُمْ أَقْسَطُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ وَأَقْوَمُ لِلشَّهَٰدَةِ وَأَدْنَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَرْتَابُوٓا۟ — three grounds are given at once: more just, sounder for testimony, and nearer to your not falling into doubt.
I record this as my own reading: the verse does not leave trust to morals, it ties it to procedure. And its ground is this: the record arises not from a suspicion of the parties' good faith but from the protection of memory and of the relationship. Indeed at verse 283 the situation resting on mutual trust is regulated too: fa-in amina baʿḍukum baʿḍan fa'l-yuʾaddi'lladhi'ʾtumina amānatah.