al-Ḥadīd 57:27

Thumma qaffaynā ʿalā āthārihim bi-rusulinā wa qaffaynā bi-ʿĪsa'bni Maryama wa ātaynāhu'l-Injīla wa jaʿalnā fī qulūbi'lladhīna'ttabaʿūhu raʾfatan wa raḥmah; wa rahbāniyyatani'btadaʿūhā mā katabnāhā ʿalayhim illa'btighāʾa riḍwāni'llāhi fa-mā raʿawhā ḥaqqa riʿāyatihā; fa-ātayna'lladhīna āmanū minhum ajrahum; wa kathīrun minhum fāsiqūn "Then We sent Our messengers one after another upon their traces, and We sent Jesus (ʿĪsā) son of Mary after them and gave him the Injīl. And We placed tenderness and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. As for monasticism: they invented it themselves; We did not prescribe it for them — only the seeking of God's good pleasure. Yet they did not observe it as it should have been observed. So We gave those among them who believed their reward; but many of them are transgressors."

The verse of the sūra that must be read with the greatest care. It is disputed grammatically, and its subject is delicate.

Root: ق-ف-و: to go behind someone, to follow his trace. Its concrete sense is related to the word qafā (the nape): the qafā is the back of the neck — that is, a person's back.

From the same root comes qāfiya (rhyme, the following of one line-end upon another). And iqtifāʾ is to follow someone's trace.

The verb is in Form II: qaffā — to send one after another, to range them in succession.

عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَٰرِهِم — "upon their traces." An athar is a footprint. That is, the messengers go along the trace left by those before them — they do not open a new road.

This is another expression of the idea recorded at al-Baqara 2/4: the text presents itself not as a new religion but as the continuation of a chain that was interrupted.

Both words occurred in verse 9 as raʾūf and raḥīm. It was recorded there: most lexicographers count raʾfa finer and more intense than raḥma.

That these two qualities should be placed in the hearts of those who followed Jesus is the Qurʾān's own statement and is a favourable finding. The verse names it not as a fault but as something given: jaʿalnā — "We placed."

The Qurʾān makes this finding elsewhere as well:

"And you will find the nearest of them in affection to the believers those who say 'we are Christians'. That is because among them there are priests and monks, and because they are not arrogant." (al-Māʾida 5/82)

This verse is important for how al-Ḥadīd 57/27 is read and needs mentioning here. For the same Qurʾān names the word ruhbān in a favourable context in one place.

That is, the matter is not a wholesale assessment of a religious group.

Root: ر-ه-ب: to fear, to be in awe. From the same root come rahba (fear), irhāb (to terrify), rāhib (one who fears; and a monk).

The word راهب (rāhib) means "one who fears God, who holds back", and it was given as a name to the person living the monastic life.

رهبانيّة (rahbāniyya) is the name of that way of life: withdrawal from the world, not marrying, holding no property, retiring into solitude.

Root: ب-د-ع. The word badīʿ was treated at al-Baqara 2/117, and it was recorded there: that which has no precedent, what is done for the first time. And it was noted that from the same root come bidʿa (something brought in later) and ibdāʿ (original production).

I do not repeat it here. What must be recorded is that the root is neutral: badʿ is "to bring forth anew". The value judgement comes from the context. Used of God it is praise (badīʿu's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍ); used of a human being it conveys the bringing into religion of something with no source.

The verb is in the iftiʿāl form: ibtadaʿa — he brought it forth for himself.

This verse is one of the sentences of the Qurʾān whose iʿrāb is most disputed. The knot is where the word rahbāniyyatan attaches and what the exception illā excepts.

There are two main readings:

The first reading is far more widespread and its ground is strong: the clause that comes immediately after, مَا كَتَبْنَٰهَا عَلَيْهِمْ — "We did not prescribe it for them" — makes the second reading difficult.

In this commentary I take the first reading as the basis; this is a preference and it is not binding.

The second knot: إِلَّا ٱبْتِغَآءَ رِضْوَٰنِ ٱللَّهِ

To what does this exception attach? Two readings:

The first reading is the more widespread and accords better with what follows in the verse.

The structure of the verse sets two separate criticisms one after the other. And this is its most striking side:

The first criticism: We did not prescribe it. — A problem of source. This is something added to religion later.

The second criticism: they did not observe it as it should have been observed. — A problem of practice. They were not faithful even to what they themselves had laid down.

That the two criticisms should come together is logically interesting. For if the first is granted, the second looks unnecessary: since it was not an obligation, what harm in not keeping to it?

The answer is in the note in the middle of the verse: ٱبْتِغَآءَ رِضْوَٰنِ ٱللَّهِ — "to seek God's good pleasure."

That is, the intention is legitimate and the verse records it. And once a thing has been taken on, what it requires follows.

This is the same as the Qurʾān's position on the vow (nadhr): a vow is not an obligation; but once vowed it must be fulfilled. "And let them fulfil their vows" (al-Ḥajj 22/29).

So the matter is this: an obligation taken upon oneself does not cease to be an obligation.

رعى — root ر-ع-ي. Its concrete sense: to herd, to pasture animals. From the same root come rāʿī (a shepherd), raʿiyya (the flock that is herded; and a populace), marʿā (pasture — it occurs at al-Aʿlā 87/4), riʿāya.

The choice of the word is instructive. It does not say "they did not keep to it"; it says "they did not shepherd it."

Shepherding is not a one-off task. It is a continuous, daily, wearying care. The flock keeps scattering, keeps being gathered. Left for a day it is lost.

That is, riʿāya differs from keeping to a rule: it is holding up something that needs continual tending.

And this is directly connected with verse 16 of the sūra. What was described there was the cooling that comes with duration: fa-ṭāla ʿalayhimu'l-amadu fa-qasat qulūbuhum.

Here the same phenomenon is told with a different word: something was taken on, but its continual tending was not done. And the addressee of the verse is again "those who were given the Book before" — the same group as in verse 16.

That is, the sūra makes the same diagnosis twice: the initial state is not maintained.

حَقَّ رِعَايَتِهَا — "the due of its observance." In Arabic this construction means "as it ought to be, giving it its due". The same structure occurs elsewhere in the Qurʾān: "They did not esteem God as He should be esteemed" (al-Anʿām 6/91), "Fear God as He should be feared" (Āl ʿImrān 3/102).

Care is needed in this matter, and the measure Method sets down is especially important here.

What the verse says:

1. Monasticism is not an obligation laid down by revelation. 2. The intention of those who instituted it was — in the verse's own words — to seek God's good pleasure. 3. What was instituted was not given its due. 4. Those among them who believed were given their reward. 5. Many of them are transgressors.

What the verse does not say:

1. A wholesale verdict on a religious community. The verse says "many" three times and once says "those among them who believed". 2. That asceticism and keeping away from the world are in themselves forbidden. What is criticised is their being set up as a religious obligation. 3. That tenderness and mercy are a fault. On the contrary, the verse counts them among the things God placed there.

And one further note: the verse does not define what monasticism is. The scope of the word — not marrying, solitude, holding no property — is not specified in the text. Different descriptions are given in the classical commentaries. I do not close this indefiniteness.

The place of this verse within the whole of the sūra is meaningful and establishes a balance.

In verse 20 the sūra described the life of this world with five words — play, amusement, adornment, boasting, rivalry in multitude. That is a strong criticism of the world.

And in verse 27 it criticises withdrawal from the world.

The distance between the two verses shows the place the sūra holds: neither burial in the world nor withdrawal from it.

And the sūra's commands stand at that middle point: spend (7), race (21), uphold justice (25). All of these are things done in the world, within the world.

The Qurʾān sets up this balance plainly elsewhere:

"You who believe! Do not forbid the good things God has made lawful for you, and do not transgress." (al-Māʾida 5/87)

And: "Seek the abode of the hereafter in what God has given you; but do not forget your share of this world." (al-Qaṣaṣ 28/77)

These two verses are the background of al-Ḥadīd 57/27. The Qurʾān does not set up renunciation of the world as a virtue; it sets up the world as an instrument.

The two verses carry the same structure, and set side by side they bring one idea of the sūra into focus:

In verse 16 this description was used as a warning to those who believe: "do not be like them."

In verse 27 the same description is repeated, and this time the warning is not made explicitly — but once the link within the sūra is made, the warning is already there.

And the idea common to the two verses is: beginning a thing and keeping it up are separate works. To be given a Book is a beginning; to take on monasticism is a beginning. In both, the problem arises afterwards.