31. Sūrat Luqmān

34 verses. It is widely transmitted that it was revealed in the Meccan period. It takes its name from Luqmān, who counsels his son in verses 12-19.

The Qurʾān says nothing about who Luqmān was — whether or not he was a prophet has been debated in the classical commentaries, and there is no certain knowledge. The only quality the verse supplies is this: wa laqad ātaynā Luqmāna'l-ḥikma — wisdom was given to him. This commentary does not enter into the tales transmitted about him.

At the centre of the sūra stands a list of counsels, and the list passes between a father and a son. This has a consequence worth recording, and I give it as my own reading: the counsels are delivered not as an oration but as a conversation inside a family. The address is each time yā bunayya — "my dear son" — in the diminutive form, conveying affection.

"Alif-lām-mīm. These are the verses of the Book full of wisdom: a guidance and a mercy for those who do good. They keep up the prayer, they give the alms, and they are certain of the hereafter. Those are upon a guidance from their Lord, and those are the ones who prosper."

The note on the disconnected letters (ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿa) has been entered at many places in this series (al-Baqara, Qāf, al-Aḥqāf): there is no certain knowledge, the classical explanations are transmitted, and no calculation of letters and numbers is entered into. I do not repeat it.

The fifth verse is word for word identical with 2/5 in al-Baqara: ulāʾika ʿalā hudan min rabbihim wa ulāʾika humu'l-mufliḥūn.

The openings of the two sūras can be set side by side, and the difference is worth recording:

The two sūras begin with different attributes and end with the same sentence. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.

And the attribute here is al-muḥsinīn (those who do good) — that is, an attribute of deed. I record this as an observation: the sūra is a sūra built upon wisdom, and already in its first verse it defines the one it addresses not by knowledge but by conduct.

ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْحَكِيم — that the Book is qualified as ḥakīm must be recorded: what is given to Luqmān in the twelfth verse will likewise be ḥikma. The same root, in one place the attribute of a book, in the other something given to a man.

"Among people there is one who buys diverting talk, without knowledge, in order to lead others astray from the way of God, and who takes it in mockery."

A construct made of two words, and both have occurred earlier in this series.

The root ل-ه-و: to be diverted, to be occupied with what holds one back from the real business. The root was treated in al-Ḥadīd, al-Jumuʿa, al-Takāthur and Muḥammad. I do not repeat it.

The word ḥadīth (speech) was treated at 45/6 in al-Jāthiya, at 56/81 in al-Wāqiʿa and at 39/23 in al-Zumar — and what was recorded there is of use here: the Qurʾān names itself ḥadīth as well, indeed it calls itself aḥsanu'l-ḥadīth.

The same word, in two opposed constructs. This is a contrast between sūras that can be verified.

What this construct covers has been debated in the classical commentaries, and the disagreement must not be concealed:

I impose no preference and I issue no legal ruling. The views of the schools of law on this matter differ, and the place of this verse within that debate is itself disputed.

But the qualification the verse itself lays down must be recorded, and this is a datum of the text: li-yuḍilla ʿan sabīli'llāhi bi-ghayri ʿilm — "without knowledge, in order to lead astray from the way of God." That is, the verse qualifies not the kind of speech but the purpose for which it is bought. The sentence contains a statement of purpose (li-yuḍilla), and the ruling is attached to that.

يَشْتَرِى — "buys". The verb is worth recording: a price is being paid. A person does not get diverting speech for nothing — he gives something for it.

"He created the heavens without pillars that you see; He cast firm mountains upon the earth lest it shake with you, and He scattered upon it every kind of living creature… This is God's creation. Show me, then, what those apart from Him have created!"

The lexicographers differ over how the sentence is to be read, and the disagreement must not be concealed:

Both readings are found in the classical commentaries, and the grammar permits both. I impose no preference.

A note, per the method (Method): I draw from this no conclusion about modern astronomy or about gravitation. The function of the verse is plain when it is read together with the sentence that follows: it says that an order visible to the eye stands without any visible support.

رَوَٰسِى — root ر-س-و: to drop anchor, to be held fast. The root was treated at 50/7 in Qāf, and its relation to the anchoring of a ship was recorded there. I do not repeat it.

أَن تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ — mayd: to sway, to be tossed about. The lexicographers use the word especially of seasickness and of the rolling of a ship.

بَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَآبَّةٍ — the roots ب-ث-ث and د-ب-ب were treated at 45/4 in al-Jāthiya (to spread, to scatter; a creature that moves). I do not repeat it.

This challenge occurred in almost the same words at 46/4 in al-Aḥqāf (arūnī mādhā khalaqū mina'l-arḍ), and there the two kinds of demand for proof (observation and transmission) were set out in a table. I rely on that treatment.

The difference here must be recorded: the demand comes after a list has been read out. Heavens, mountains, living creatures, rain, plants are enumerated; then the question is put — "what have you made?" That is, a scale for the comparison is set up first.

"Truly We gave Luqmān wisdom: 'Be grateful to God. Whoever is grateful is grateful for his own sake.' And when Luqmān said to his son, counselling him: 'My dear son! Do not associate anything with God; associating is indeed a great wrong.'"

The root ح-ك-م was analysed at 2/269 in al-Baqara: to restrain, to make firm; ḥakama — the bit that turns an animal's head. I do not repeat it.

What belongs here is this: the verse says that wisdom was given, and immediately afterwards gives its content: ani'shkur li'llāh. That is, wisdom is set out not as a heap of knowledge but as a bearing.

And the return for gratitude is stated in the same sentence: wa man yashkur fa-innamā yashkuru li-nafsih — gratitude comes back to the one who is grateful.

Bunayy is the diminutive (taṣghīr) form of ibn (son). And in Arabic the diminutive is not always a belittling; it also conveys love and tenderness. The lexicographers call this taṣghīr al-tarkhīm.

The address occurs three times in the sūra (13, 16, 17) and each time it opens a new counsel. This is a pattern that can be verified from the text.

The first of the counsels is a prohibition, and its ground is a definition: associating is named ẓulm.

The root ظ-ل-م: the core sense the lexicographers give is to put a thing somewhere other than its own place. Ẓalama'l-biʾr — he dug the well where its place was not.

This description explains the ruling of the sentence, and I record this as my own reading: by the description of the root, associating is a placing that is out of place — an ascription set where nothing deserves it. That is, "wrong" here is not a metaphor but the direct application of the word's lexical sense.

"We enjoined upon man care for his parents: his mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is within two years. 'Be grateful to Me and to your parents.' And if they press you to associate with Me something of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them; but keep company with them in this world in what is right."

These two verses come into the middle of Luqmān's speech. The thirteenth verse was Luqmān's counsel; the sixteenth verse will continue again with yā bunayya. Between them stand these two verses, and the speaker is not Luqmān.

I record this as an observation about the word order: the list of counsels is cut off exactly at the subject of parents, and a general ruling comes in between. That is, into the middle of a conversation between father and son, the ruling on the right of parents has been set.

The same injunction occurred in almost the same words at 46/15 in al-Aḥqāf, and it was treated there in detail. The two verses can be set side by side:

There is a difference at all three points, and the direction of the differences is worth recording:

Al-Aḥqāf speaks of hardship (kurh), Luqmān of weakness (wahn). The root و-ه-ن: the loosening of strength, the lessening of capacity. The root was treated at 47/35 in Muḥammad and in al-Ḥāqqa.

And the construct must be recorded: wahnan ʿalā wahn — "weakness upon weakness". The same word twice, with ʿalā (upon) between them. That is, not a single weakness but an exhaustion laid one layer over another.

The difference in duration is a datum of the text as well: al-Aḥqāf says thirty months (bearing + weaning), Luqmān says two years (weaning alone). In al-Aḥqāf the legal inference drawn from these two figures was transmitted, and the note was entered that "the verse does not make this calculation itself". I keep the same note here.

Two commands, one after the other, and each draws the other's limit:

I record this as my own reading, and its support is that both commands stand in the same verse: the verse does not extend a disagreement over one matter to the whole of the relationship. Obedience is refused, companionship (muṣāḥaba) is maintained.

And the subject of the pressure must be recorded: mā laysa laka bihi ʿilm — "that of which you have no knowledge". The measure is once again tied to knowledge.

"My dear son! Though the deed be the weight of a mustard seed and lie inside a rock, or in the heavens, or in the earth, God will bring it forth."

The verse enumerates three places of hiding, and all three are of a different kind:

That is, concealment can be established for three separate reasons: enclosure, distance, depth. The verse names all three.

خَرْدَل — the mustard seed. The word occurs in two places in the Qurʾān, and in both it is used as a unit of measure.

The choice of the measure is worth recording, and I give this as an observation: the mustard seed is one of the smallest grains known in the kitchen of that day. That is, the measure is taken from something the listener could handle. The same logic of measure holds for mithqāla dharra in Sabaʾ.

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ — laṭīf: root ل-ط-ف, to penetrate to the fineness of a thing, to reach the finest place. The attribute overlaps exactly with the subject of the verse: the one who reaches the smallest.

"My dear son! Keep up the prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and endure what befalls you. Surely these are among the matters that require resolve."

The sequence is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading: the fourth command meets the natural consequence of the second and the third. That is, the list itself grants that saying something to people has a price. Endurance is set beside the counsel not as an ornament but as necessary equipment.

عَزْمِ ٱلْأُمُور — ʿazm: root ع-ز-م, firm resolve; the sense "to cut off" is recorded in the root as well. Ulu'l-ʿazmi mina'r-rusul was treated at 46/35 in al-Aḥqāf; I rely on that treatment. The same root, in one place an attribute of prophets, here an attribute of matters.

"Do not turn your cheek away from people, do not walk the earth in self-display… Be measured in your walk and lower your voice. The ugliest of voices is surely the voice of donkeys."

The root is analysed here for the first time in this series.

The concrete sense the lexicographers give is striking: ṣaʿar is a disease found in camels that leaves the neck bent to one side. From this comes the sense to turn the face away in pride, to turn one's cheek aside.

That is, the verse names a piece of conduct by the name of an animal disease. I record this as an observation: the proud bearing is described as a crookedness in need of correction — before any moral failing, a picture of a physical deformity is set up.

The root م-ر-ح was analysed at 40/75 in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) (joy that passes the measure, walking with a swagger). I do not repeat it.

ٱقْصِدْ — root ق-ص-د: to head for a goal; and to hold the middle way between excess and deficiency. The root was treated at 35/32 in Fāṭir (muqtaṣid — one who holds the middle way); I rely on that treatment.

The opposition of the two commands must be recorded: lā tamshi maraḥan (do not walk in self-display) / waqṣid fī mashyik (be measured in your walk). The same verb (to walk), twice over, once as a prohibition and once as a command.

The root غ-ض-ض: to reduce, to lower, to bring down.

And the particle is worth recording: ighḍuḍ min ṣawtik — "lower something of your voice". Min here is partitive (a part of it). That is, the verse asks not for silence but for the lowering of a part of the voice.

The question of the voice was treated in detail at 49/2-3 in al-Ḥujurāt (lā tarfaʿū aṣwātakum, yaghuḍḍūna aṣwātahum). I rely on that treatment, and I record the difference here: in al-Ḥujurāt the voice was lowered in the presence of the Prophet; in Luqmān the voice is tied to a measure for the whole of daily life.

The list of counsels closes with a comparison.

أَنكَر — root ن-ك-ر: to go unrecognised, to be found strange. Ankar is an elative: "the most jarring, the ugliest". The root had already occurred in the seventeenth verse: wa'nha ʿani'l-munkar. The same root two verses apart, once for a deed and once for a sound. This is a repetition that can be verified from the text.

The harshness of the comparison is worth recording, and I give this as an observation: measured language has been used throughout the list; at the close an animal's voice is named outright. And the sound chosen is one that everyone in that setting heard every day. That is, the counsel is sealed not with an abstract description of good manners but with an example the ear recognises at once.

"Have you not seen that God has put at your service whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth, and that He has poured His favours upon you in abundance, outward and inward? And when they are told, 'follow what God has sent down', they say, 'No, we follow what we found our fathers upon.'"

أَسْبَغَ — root س-ب-غ — it occurs here for the first time in this series. The sense the lexicographers give: to make a thing ample and complete, to cover it without a gap. Dirʿun sābigha — a coat of mail that covers the body entirely.

The picture in the word is worth recording: favour is described not as a heap to be counted but as something that covers.

ظَٰهِرَةً وَبَاطِنَة — "outward and inward". The pair lies on the same axis as wa mā tukhfi'ṣ-ṣudūr, treated at 40/19 in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin): the seen and the unseen. Here the same distinction is used of favour.

And the argument from the fathers: bal nattabiʿu mā wajadnā ʿalayhi ābāʾanā.

This argument was treated in detail at 43/22-23 in al-Zukhruf (innā wajadnā ābāʾanā ʿalā ummatin), and what was recorded there holds here as well: the objection rests not on the content of what is proposed but on the newness of its source. I rely on that treatment.

And the verse adds a question: a-wa-law kāna'sh-shayṭānu yadʿūhum ilā ʿadhābi's-saʿīr — "even if Satan were calling them to the punishment of the blaze?" That is, the open place in the objection is pointed out: how is it known that everything that comes from the fathers is right?

"Whoever surrenders his face to God while doing good has taken hold of the firmest handle."

The construct al-ʿurwa al-wuthqā was analysed in detail at 2/256 in al-Baqara: ʿurwa — the part of a vessel or a garment by which it is held; wuthqā — the firmest. And what was recorded there can be carried over here: what is taken as decisive is not the strength of the one who holds on but the firmness of the handle. I do not repeat it.

The conditions in the two verses differ, and the difference must be recorded:

In al-Baqara two acts of belief; in Luqmān a surrender and a deed. I record this as my own reading: the same result is reached by two separate paths, and the two complete one another.

يُسْلِمْ وَجْهَهُ — "to surrender one's face". In Arabic the face is used for the person himself and for the direction he turns towards. The same construct occurred at 2/112 in al-Baqara; I rely on that treatment.

"Whoever disbelieves, let his disbelief not grieve you. To Us is their return; We shall inform them of what they did… We let them enjoy a little, then We drive them to a heavy punishment."

فَلَا يَحْزُنكَ كُفْرُهُ — This limit has been treated at several places in this series, and each time with a different word:

Five sūras, five separate words, one limit. This is a weave that can be verified from the text.

And the difference here is worth recording: the others were limiting authority; this verse takes up the feeling. Ḥuzn — a grief that closes inward.

نُمَتِّعُهُمْ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ نَضْطَرُّهُمْ — iḍṭirār: root ض-ر-ر, Form VIII: to leave without recourse and so to compel.

The opposition between the two verbs must be recorded: numattiʿuhum (We let them enjoy) — freedom; naḍṭarruhum (We compel them) — the absence of recourse. And between them stands thumma: the particle that marks an interval.

"If you ask them, 'who created the heavens and the earth?', they will certainly say, 'God'."

The verse records an admission, and the same structure was treated at 43/9 in al-Zukhruf: the other side is brought into contradiction by its own answer. I rely on that treatment.

ٱلْغَنِىُّ ٱلْحَمِيد — these two names were treated together at 35/15 in Fāṭir (antumu'l-fuqarāʾu ila'llāhi wa'llāhu huwa'l-ghaniyyu'l-ḥamīd). What was recorded there holds here too: to be free of need could by itself convey a distance; the attribute of praiseworthiness keeps the relation open.

"Were all the trees on earth pens, and were the sea — with seven more seas added to it — ink, still the words of God would not run out."

The verse sets up a reckoning, and the material of the reckoning is worth recording:

And the lexicographers dwell on the number sabʿa (seven): in Arabic this number most often conveys not a definite count but multiplicity. I transmit this explanation as it has been transmitted.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the structure of the sentence: the verse does not state inexhaustibility as an attribute and pass on — it shows how exhaustion would be measured and then reports that the measure does not suffice. That is, an abstract claim is built out of countable material.

كَلِمَٰتُ ٱللَّه — "the words of God". What this construct covers has been debated in the classical commentaries: His knowledge, His decrees, His commands of creation, or all of them. I transmit the disagreement and impose no preference.

"Your creation and your resurrection are but as those of a single soul."

The sentence reports that number is no cause of difficulty.

And this is the shortest expression of a line of proof treated at several places in this series: 46/33 in al-Aḥqāf (lam yaʿya bi-khalqihinna), 40/57 in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) (la-khalqu's-samāwāti … akbaru min khalqi'n-nās), 2/255 in al-Baqara (wa lā yaʾūduhu ḥifẓuhumā). All of them say the same thing: multitude and magnitude constitute no burden there.

I record this as an observation: this verse is the densest and shortest link in that line — in nine words it covers both creation and resurrection.

"Have you not seen that God makes the night pass into the day and the day pass into the night, and that He has put the sun and the moon at your service? Each runs on to an appointed term."

يُولِجُ — root و-ل-ج: to go into the inside of a thing, to be inserted. Wulūj — entry. The root was treated at 57/6 in al-Ḥadīd (yūliju'l-layla fi'n-nahār). I do not repeat it.

And the same event was described with another root at 39/5 in al-Zumar: yukawwiru'l-layla ʿala'n-nahār — to wind around.

The same fact, in two separate pictures. I record this as an observation: one is a winding from outside, the other an entering within; both carry the point that there is no sharp boundary between night and day.

كُلٌّ يَجْرِىٓ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى — "each runs on to a term that has been named."

The construct ajalin musammā was treated at 46/3 in al-Aḥqāf, at 39/42 in al-Zumar and at 35/45 in Fāṭir. In all four places the same thing is said: the term is determinate, it has been named, but the one who names it is not man.

The difference here must be recorded: the construct is used not of man or of the universe — but of the sun and the moon. That is, a term has been set for the order itself as well.

ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْحَقُّ وَأَنَّ مَا يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِ ٱلْبَٰطِلُ — and the block closes by setting two words face to face: al-ḥaqq and al-bāṭil.

"Have you not seen that the ships run upon the sea by the favour of God?… When a wave like canopies covers them over, they call upon God, making their religion sincerely His alone. And when He has brought them safe to land, some of them keep to the middle way."

The verse uses the word ikhlāṣ at a moment of danger: mukhliṣīna lahu'd-dīn.

The root خ-ل-ص and the concept of ikhlāṣ were analysed in detail at 39/2-3 in al-Zumar (to separate out from a mixture, to filter). I do not repeat it.

The usage here is worth recording, and I give it as my own reading: in al-Zumar sincerity was a bearing that was commanded; here it is described as a state that arises of itself. The danger sifts out the mixture on its own. The sūra's question, though, has to do with what comes after: what happens once they reach land?

كَٱلظُّلَل — "like canopies". The word was used of fire at 39/16 in al-Zumar (ẓulalun mina'n-nār). Here it is used for the size of the wave: the wave is as high as a canopy spread over them.

For the state after the rescue a single word is given: muqtaṣid.

The root ق-ص-د had occurred in the nineteenth verse of this sūra: waqṣid fī mashyik — "be measured in your walk". And at 35/32 in Fāṭir the same word was the name of the middle one of the three groups that inherit the Book.

Three occurrences, the same root. This is a weave that can be verified from the text, and within the sūra it is the meeting of a counsel (19) with an outcome (32). I record this as my own reading.

And the side of the sentence that is left incomplete must be recorded: fa-minhum muqtaṣid — "some of them keep to the middle way." What the rest do is not said. The verse names the positive case and leaves the other in silence.

"O people! Guard yourselves against your Lord, and fear a day on which no father can pay anything on behalf of his child, nor any child pay anything on behalf of his father."

The second block of the sūra was a conversation between a father and a son. The thirty-third verse takes up the same relationship on the day of reckoning — and it names both directions separately.

The word order must be recorded: the sentence names the father first, then the child, and each direction is given with its own verb. In the second half the emphasis is heightened by the use of huwa jāzin (an active participle).

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the structure of the sūra: Luqmān had counselled his son — that is, the father had done what lay within his power. This verse states the limit of what lay within his power: counsel can be given, a burden cannot be carried.

And this overlaps exactly with the principle treated at 35/18 in Fāṭir: there too it was said that the burden will not be carried, and the qualification "even if he be a near relative" was entered. The two sūras build the same principle upon two different relationships: Fāṭir upon kinship in general, Luqmān directly upon father and son.

فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِٱللَّهِ ٱلْغَرُورُ — this sentence is word for word identical with 35/5 in Fāṭir and was treated there (the three uses of the root غ-ر-ر; the work done by the particle bi'llāhi). I do not repeat it.

That the same sentence is found in two sūras is a fact that can be verified from the text.

"The knowledge of the Hour is with God. He sends down the rain, and He knows what is in the wombs. No one knows what he will earn tomorrow; no one knows in what land he will die."

The verse enumerates five things, but the five are not built in the same way:

The first three are affirmative, the last two negative. And the subject of the last two is nafs — that is, man.

I record this as an observation about the word order, and from it I draw a limit: the verse does not set up a list of the form "these five things are the unseen and nothing else can be known." What it says is that these five domains belong to God's knowledge, and that in the last two man's knowledge is absent.

One further note, per the method (Method): the existence of things that can be measured today about the sending down of rain and about formation in the womb does not contradict this verse — because the verse speaks not of measurement but of knowledge — and in the fourth and fifth items it ties the negation explicitly to man. To read this verse as a claim of scientific impossibility runs against the word order of the text itself. I record this as my own reading.

And the choice of the last two items is worth recording: mādhā taksibu ghadā (what you will earn tomorrow) and bi-ayyi arḍin tamūt (where you will die). One is the nearest future, the other the most certain end. That is, what man does not know is not the most distant thing — it is the nearest.