al-Nisāʾ 4:135

Yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū kūnū qawwāmīna bi'l-qisṭi shuhadāʾa li'llāhi wa law ʿalā anfusikum awi'l-wālidayni wa'l-aqrabīn, in yakun ghaniyyan aw faqīran fa'llāhu awlā bihimā, fa-lā tattabiʿu'l-hawā an taʿdilū, wa in talwū aw tuʿriḍū fa-inna'llāha kāna bimā taʿmalūna Khabīrā

"O you who believe! Be upholders of equity, witnesses for God, even against yourselves or your parents and near kin. Whether a man be rich or poor, God is closer to them both. So do not follow desire, and so swerve from justice. And if you twist your words or turn away, God is aware of what you do."

This verse opens the sūra's thirteenth block and is the sharpest sentence in the sūra's discussion of justice.

The word qawwām and the فَعَّال pattern were set out in a table in the discussion of the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth verses, resting on al-Māʾida 5/8. I rely on that and do not repeat it.

The record made there must be carried over here:

"That is, a qawwām is not 'one who acts justly on one occasion' but one who makes it his business to keep justice standing. The command asks not for a behaviour but for a character. And the verb's coming as kūnū (be) supports this: not 'do' but 'be'."

The root ق-س-ط was treated in detail at al-Ḥujurāt 49/9 and summarised at al-Māʾida 5/8. The records made there:

"Its primary sense is a portion, a share; and from there, giving a portion in full. Qisṭ — a share; muqsiṭ — one who gives shares rightly. The interesting side of the root: in Form IV (aqsaṭa) it conveys acting justly, while in its bare form (qasaṭa) it conveys acting wrongfully — it is one of the instances of aḍdād."

"ʿAdl is the picture of scales and looks to the whole; qisṭ is the picture of a share and looks to a party."

I rely on those treatments.

And the occurrences of the word qisṭ in this sūra must be recorded:

The same root in three verses, and the first two concern orphans. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra, and I record it as my own reading: the sūra uses the word for justice first for the most unprotected group, then generalises it.

There is another, very similar form of this command in the Qurʾān, and when the two sentences are set side by side an exchange of places becomes visible. This comparison was made at al-Māʾida 5/8, and I carry it over here.

The two phrases have changed places: bi'l-qisṭ and li'llāh have taken one another's position. This is a countable fact.

Two explanations of this difference were set out in a table at al-Māʾida 5/8, and I carry them over as they stand:

As there, so here I impose no preference. And the record entered there holds here too: that the second explanation is the safer of the two so far as the text goes was added as my own reading; its ground is that the same four elements are present in both verses.

And the continuations of the two verses must be compared too, because the ground of the explanations lies there:

And it must be recorded that the closings are almost identical: both verses end with an attribute from the root خ-ب-ر. At al-Māʾida 5/8 it was recorded of this root: "The root خ-ب-ر conveys knowing the inside of a thing, its hidden side; khabīr is one who knows not the outside but the inside." I rely on that treatment.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the table above: the two verses close off the two opposite directions in which justice breaks down, and both end with the same attribute — because in both the breaking down takes place inside.

The verse counts three items, and the order must be recorded:

And the order is the reverse of the list in the thirty-sixth verse. There the list began with the parents and widened outward; here it begins with oneself and widens outward — but this time against.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the comparison of the two lists: the sūra counts out the same circles of closeness twice — once as the address of kindness, once as the place where justice will be tested.

And the word al-arḥām should be recalled: the sūra's first verse set the tie of kinship beside mindfulness of God. The hundred and thirty-fifth verse says that this tie cannot take precedence over justice.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the word the two verses share (al-aqrabīn / al-arḥām): the sūra both keeps the tie and limits it — the tie it asks to be kept is not a reason for favour in testimony.

The verse closes off a second cause of swerving too: the material condition of the parties.

And the form of the sentence must be recorded: both possibilities are counted — ghaniyyan aw faqīrā.

I record this as an observation about word order: the verse takes in not only currying favour with the rich but bending out of pity for the poor. Both directions in a single sentence.

And the ground must be recorded: fa'llāhu awlā bihimā — "God is closer to them both". Neither the power of the rich nor the condition of the poor, that is, counts as information that should determine the judgement.

The sentence is this: fa-lā tattabiʿu'l-hawā an taʿdilū.

Two readings of this construction are transmitted in the classical commentaries:

Both readings are transmitted; I impose no preference. And both arrive at the same place: following desire breaks justice.

Hawā — root ه-و-ي: to fall, to come down; and from there, to incline, to want. At the root of the word there is a going downward, and this is worth recording as a matter of word choice.

The verse counts two ways in which justice breaks down, and both are verbs:

The root ل-و-ي occurs for the second time in this sūra: in the forty-sixth verse there was layyan bi-alsinatihim, and it was treated there. I rely on that treatment.

The root ع-ر-ض also occurs several times in the sūra (16, 63, 81, 94, 128). In the hundred and twenty-eighth verse iʿrāḍ stated a turning away from a relationship.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the standing of the two verbs side by side: the verse describes the breaking down of testimony in two separate ways — saying it wrongly and not saying it at all. The second is counted as plainly as the first.

One. The verse counts three causes that break justice, and all three produce partiality: closeness, material condition and desire. And against all three the same thing is set: shuhadāʾa li'llāh.

Two. The qualification wa law ʿalā anfusikum stands first in the list. The verse begins from the nearest possibility of favour.

Three. That keeping silent is counted as a form of breaking down too (aw tuʿriḍū) sets testimony up as an obligation. The same field was treated at al-Baqara 2/283 as well (wa lā taktumu'l-shahāda). I rely on that treatment.