كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ
Kuntum khayra ummatin ukhrijat li'n-nāsi taʾmurūna bi'l-maʿrūfi wa tanhawna ʿani'l-munkari wa tuʾminūna bi'llāh, wa law āmana ahlu'l-kitābi la-kāna khayran lahum, minhumu'l-muʾminūna wa aktharuhumu'l-fāsiqūn
"You have been the best community brought forth for people: you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in God. Had the People of the Book believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers; but most of them have gone out of the way."
Per the method (Method) this verse will be treated in this commentary with great care. The reason is plain: it is one of the verses most used to set up a claim of superiority for a community. And the rule of this commentary was laid down at the head of the sūra — no blanket ruling is made about any group. What I shall show below is that this rule is not a sensitivity brought in from outside but the verse's own word order.
| Element | Wording | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuntum khayra ummatin | The ruling |
| 2 | Ukhrijat li'n-nās | A qualifying clause |
| 3 | Taʾmurūna bi'l-maʿrūf | A verbal sentence |
| 4 | Wa tanhawna ʿani'l-munkar | A verbal sentence |
| 5 | Wa tuʾminūna bi'llāh | A verbal sentence |
In Arabic these three verbal sentences following a nominal sentence are analysed in two ways, and the lexicographers divide here. The disagreement is not to be concealed:
| Reading | What the three verbal sentences are | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ḥāl — the state in which the ruling is laid down | "You have been the best community — while being thus" |
| 2 | The ground of the ruling (an explanatory resumption, istiʾnāf bayānī) | "You are the best, because you do these things" |
| 3 | An explanation of khayra ummatin | "The best community is this: …" |
And what must now be recorded is this, and it is the same on all three readings: on none of the three readings are the attributes separable from the ruling. The ruling is tied to the three verbs — whether as state, as ground, or as explanation. That is, the phrase "best community" does not stand alone in the sentence without the three verbs.
I record this as an observation about the word order, and it can be verified from the wording of the verse: there is no reading of the sentence in which the three verbs can be taken out.
| # | Attribute | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taʾmurūna bi'l-maʿrūf | Outward — to another |
| 2 | Wa tanhawna ʿani'l-munkar | Outward — to another |
| 3 | Wa tuʾminūna bi'llāh | Inward — to oneself |
And that two of the attributes are turned towards people joins with the preceding note (ukhrijat li'n-nās).
أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ — "brought forth for people". The verb is passive: the one who brings forth is not named. And the note li'n-nās states by reference to whom the community is described.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the two notes (li'n-nās and the two outward-facing verbs): the verse describes not a position but a work. The community is named as "brought forth" not for itself but for others. And its quality is measured by two verbs turned towards others.
At 2/143 in al-Baqara ummatan wasaṭan was treated, and I rely on that treatment. What was recorded there:
The root و-س-ط carries two senses at once: middle (between two extremes) and most valuable, choicest (wasaṭu'l-qawm, the best of a people). And the task was defined there not as superiority but as witnessing: shuhadāʾa ʿala'n-nās. And this was recorded: "A community's witness is borne not by what it says but by the state in which it is seen."
| al-Baqara 2/143 | Āl ʿImrān 3/110 | |
|---|---|---|
| The construction | Ummatan wasaṭan | Khayra ummatin |
| The verb | Jaʿalnākum — "We made you", the agent stated | Ukhrijat — passive, the agent not stated |
| By reference to whom | Shuhadāʾa ʿala'n-nās | Ukhrijat li'n-nās |
| The kind of task | Witnessing — being seen | Enjoining and forbidding — speaking |
| The note | Wa yakūna'r-rasūlu ʿalaykum shahīdā — they too are under scrutiny | The three verbs — the attributes are inside the sentence |
| The tense of the sentence | Jaʿalnā — perfect, a thing done | Kuntum — perfect, and the three verbs imperfect |
Kuntum is in the perfect: "you have been / you were". And the three verbs that follow are in the imperfect: taʾmurūna, tanhawna, tuʾminūna — they convey continuance.
| Reading | What kuntum conveys |
|---|---|
| 1 | Kāna redundant / complete — in the sense of "you are"; it conveys no time |
| 2 | An attribute realised in the past — "you became so" |
| 3 | It has been so decreed in God's knowledge / in the Preserved Tablet |
| 4 | A conditioned ruling — valid so long as the attributes continue |
But one datum of the text can be recorded, and I record it: the predicate of the sentence is perfect, and all three of the attributes are imperfect. In Arabic the imperfect conveys continuance and renewal. That is, the attributes are set up not as a completed event but as an ongoing work. This gives an indication in favour of the fourth reading; but I record it as an indication, not as a preference.
Per the method (Method): what the verse does not say
One. No people, race, language or geography is named in the verse. What is named is a community, and the community is described by three verbs. No superiority for any people or group can be drawn from this verse — because the verse names no people.
Two. The ruling cannot be separated from the attributes. It was shown above on all three readings: the three verbs are load-bearing in the sentence. To take the ruling without carrying the attributes requires cutting the sentence in two; and the word order does not allow it.
Three. The verse's own second half prevents its first half from turning into an instrument of blanket ruling. The second half is this: minhumu'l-muʾminūna wa aktharuhumu'l-fāsiqūn. That is, a division is made even for the other side — "among them are believers."
I record this as an observation about the word order: even while passing a ruling about a group, the verse divides that group in two. A blanket ruling is not in the verse's own sentence.
Four. And the sūra will enter this note again and plainly three verses later: laysū sawāʾan (113). In this commentary verse 110 is read together with that note the sūra itself sets down.
Five. Present-day politics and claims of superiority are not entered. This is the rule of Method, and it is recalled here again, because this verse has been used most in that field.
What this verse says to the present runs in exactly the opposite direction from the claim drawn out of it, and this can be shown from the wording of the verse:
The verse looks like a sentence of praise; but every element in it is a burden. Ukhrijat li'n-nās — to be brought forth for others is not a privilege but a duty. Taʾmurūna and tanhawna — both verbs cost labour, and both carry risk. Tuʾminūna bi'llāh — the third is the support of the other two.
I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: to read this verse as a sentence of identity requires cutting the sentence right through the middle. Read whole, the verse is not an attribute but a description of a work.