وَإِذ قالَ لُقمانُ لِابنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ يا بُنَيَّ لا تُشرِك بِاللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ الشِّركَ لَظُلمٌ عَظيمٌ
And when Luqmān said to his son, as he advised him: ‘O my son! Do not ascribe any partners to Allah. Polytheism is indeed a great injustice.’
EXPOSITION
The initial part of this verse begins with the phrase And when. This is understood to contain an assumed elision, which is: Remember, O Muhammad, when …
Luqmān advised his son in the spirit of compassion, care, attention, and kindness to him. This is demonstrated by the manner of his address to him, which is by means of the diminutive noun bunayya, which literally translates as ‘my little son’, denoting compassion, care, affection, and endearment as is well known.
Luqmān began the education of his son by the best and loftiest of teachings, which is God’s knowledge, as he said, Do not ascribe any partners to Allah, meaning: do not render associates for God in His godhead, lordship, and worship. Thereafter, he explained the justification for that by saying emphatically, Polytheism is indeed a great injustice. The emphasis is borne out in that this part of the verse, which is in the form of a nominal sentence, contains two particles of emphasis. These are the emphatic particle inna (ḥarf taḥqīq wa al-taʾkīd), meaning: certainly, surely, indeed, and the intensifying emphatic prefix particle la (lām al-tawkīd), also meaning: indeed, surely, certainly, and prefixed to ẓulm, and serving as the predicate of inna. And finally, the sense of emphasis is bolstered by the adjective aẓīm (great) which qualifies the word ẓulm. Taken literally, this would read: Surely polytheism is indeed a great injustice.
Injustice (ẓulm) means transgressing the rights of others, rendering something deficient, and rejecting what is essential and necessary. What transgression is greater than transgressing the rights of God and rendering Him deficient by equating Him with His creatures, which is to equate one who is the sole and independent source of all blessings imaginable with one who has no blessings at all save what it is granted by God? And in the case of idolatry, it is to equate the best and noblest of existents with the basest of creation, which are the idols. Furthermore, whoever associates another being with God and directs his worship to other than God, has in fact rejected what God has rendered essential and necessary on him regarding His worship as a means of human perfection.
Injustice is also defined as placing something where it does not belong. Ascribing partners to God and worshipping them as one worships the one true God is tantamount to misplacing the act of worship. This therefore is injustice, while the significance of every deed is in light of the significance of its consequences, and the seriousness of disobedience is in light of the one disobeyed, for the punishment and reproach of the great is concomitantly great. The greatest disobedience is God’s disobedience. This is because His greatness and magnificence are beyond every greatness and magnificence, for He is Allah. There is no partner for Him, and the greatest disobedience of God is to disobey Him with regards to this particular teaching of His, which is that He has no associate.
Undoubtedly, every human being is created with a monotheistic nature in the sense of having innate knowledge of a creator. However, perhaps a person’s original, monotheistic nature may become unbalanced and incline away from monotheism to polytheism due to corrupt teachings arising from a corrupt soul, corrupt individuals, or a corrupt environment. Thus, perhaps he may imagine that the Creator, due to being invisible, cannot be worshipped or invoked. Such a person, consequently, brings intermediaries into God’s worship in the guise of saintly people and worships them, claiming that worshipping them as intermediaries to God brings him closer to God. Such an understanding on the part of the polytheists is reflected in 39:3. This is as if they imagine that God has veiled Himself from them and so He cannot be worshipped or invoked, and consequently there is no alternative to worshipping intermediaries. This is despite God refuting such a belief, which He does for example in 50:16, 58:7, and 57:5. These verses emphasise God’s intimate proximity to mankind, which is a proximity of constant benefaction and sustenance of His creatures, including protecting and guarding them, such that a creature is constantly sustained in existence by God by means of a constant exuberance of life and benefaction flowing forth from God to the creatures, moment by moment.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Ḥammād relates that Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said the following to him with respect to this verse: ‘Luqmān advised his son with signs [and examples] to the extent of cleaving and splitting them [to reveal the minutest details thereof]. From what he advised his son, O Ḥammād, was that he said: “My dear son, from the moment you came into this world you began a journey away from it and have faced the hereafter. Thus the abode you are moving to is closer to you than the abode from which you are moving away. My dear son, sit with the scholars, visit them frequently, and be close to them. Do not argue or dispute with them for then they may preclude you [from knowledge]. Take from the world that which suffices/reaches you, and do not reject it entirely, lest you become dependent on the people, however do not get embroiled with the world such that it harms your hereafter. Fast the kind of fast that cuts off your desires but do not fast the kind of fast that prevents you from the ritual prayer, for the ritual prayer is dearer to God than fasting. My dear son, the world is a deep ocean wherein a large number have perished, so render faith (īmān) as your ship in it, reliance [on God] (tawakkul) as its sail, and God-consciousness (taqwā) as your provision in it. If you survive then it will be due to God’s mercy, but if you perish then it will be due to your sins … My dear son, allocate a share for acquiring knowledge during your days, nights, and hours, for you shall never experience loss more severe than abandoning it. Do not dispute in it [i.e. in the brief time you have in this world] with an obstinate person. Do not ever dispute a learned person nor ever be hostile to a king. Do not ever be willing to please or agree with a despot nor ever befriend him. Never, ever fraternise with an immoral person or ever befriend a suspect. Treasure your knowledge as you treasure wealth. My dear son! Fear God the mighty and majestic such that were you to arrive on the Day of Resurrection with the virtues of all the humans and the jinn, you would still fear He would punish you. On the other hand, have hope in God’s mercy such that were you to arrive on the Day of Resurrection burdened with the sins of all the humans and the jinn, you would still hope that God shall forgive you.” His son protested, saying: “Dear father, how can I do that when I have just one heart!” Luqmān responded: “My dear son, if the heart of the believer were to be extracted, two lights would be found in it. A light for fear and a light for hope. If we were to then weigh them, none of them would outweigh the other even by the weight of an atom. … My dear son! Do not rely on the world nor occupy your heart with it for God has not created a creature more contemptible to Him than it. Do you not see that He has not made its comforts and blessings a reward for the obedient nor made its afflictions and hardships a punishment for the disobedient?”’
- Yaḥyā ibn ʿUqbah al-Azdī relates from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a), who said: ‘From what Luqmān exhorted his son was that he said to him: “My dear son, people before you amassed wealth for their children, however neither what they had amassed nor the one for whom they had amassed remained. You are surely a servant hired [by God]. You have been instructed to do [good] deeds and have been promised a reward for that. So carry out your deed and take your reward in full. Do not be in this world like a sheep that finds itself on a verdant farm and so eats till it grows fat when its death [by slaughter] will be when it is fat! Rather, treat the world like a bridge over a river which you have crossed, and so have left behind and shall not return to it ever. Leave it, and do not build it, for you were surely not instructed to build it. Know that you shall be asked questions on the morrow about four things when you stand before God, the mighty and the majestic. These questions are the period of your youth – what [activities] did you spend it in? Your life – what did you spend it in? Your wealth – with what did you acquire it? And in what did you spend it? So prepare yourself for that and prepare an answer for that. Do not grieve for what has passed you by of the world for the little of the world is not immortal, while its abundance does not safeguard from its tribulation. So be careful! Be diligent in your matter, remove the veil from your face, apply yourself to the goodness of your Lord, repent continuously in your heart, and exhaust yourself for your departure [from this world] before death arrives, and your judgement passes and comes in between you and what you want.”’
- Imam al-Bāqir (a) said: ‘Injustice is of three types. An injustice that God shall forgive; an injustice that God shall not forgive; and an injustice that God shall not leave off. As for the injustice that God shall not forgive, that is the injustice of associating another being with Him. As for the injustice that God shall forgive, that is the injustice of a person being unjust to himself regarding what is between him and God. As for the injustice that God shall not leave off, that is the injustice relating to debts between the people.’
TOPICAL ARTICLES
The Responsibility of Fathers Towards Their Children
This verse draws attention to several important teachings, one of which is that the upbringing of children is from the responsibilities of parents, and in this particular case, the fathers. Just as fathers bear the responsibility for the expenses of their children and the responsibility to provide the necessities of life for them till they reach maturity and are able to look after themselves, so similarly the responsibility of an ethical upbringing rests on the shoulders of fathers without there being any distinction between teaching them correct theological teachings or cultivating in them the spiritual and ethical values which the Prophet taught. Imam Ali (a) is attributed to have said the following to his son, Imam al-Hasan (a): ‘I found you to be a part of me, nay, rather I found you to be the entirety of me, so that it was as if anything that were to afflict you afflicted me. And it was as if death, were it to come to you came to me. So your affairs concern me just as my affairs concern me.’ There is nothing more excellent than good manners that a father can teach and inculcate in his children. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘A father has not gifted a child a gift better than good manners.’ Consequently, we observe Imam al-Sajjād (a) demonstrating the significance of educating children in one of his supplications where he asks God to grant him success in this important endeavour. He prays: ‘And help me in rearing them, educating and refining them, and devotion to them.’
This is not but for the fact that a child, at the early stages of its life, is ready and prepared to accept every trait that it is taught. Its example is like virgin land which accepts every seed cast into it. Imam Ali (a) is attributed to have said: ‘The heart of the young child is like virgin land. Whatever is cast into it is [readily] accepted by it.’ Therefore it is essential for fathers to hasten in their attempt to guide, educate, and refine their children before corrupt people, having corrupt ideas, beat them to it, for if that were to happen then substituting Islamic teachings in place of the corrupt ones becomes difficult, akin to changing an already sculpted marble sculpture into a different form. This is impossible unless it is broken or ruined.
The best way to be successful in rearing children is to treat them with respect, dignity, and affection, and to talk to them based on this principle so that the child feels that s/he has honour, respect, and affection near his/her father. This is the path that Imam al-Hasan (a) took as exemplified in the following report. He once called his sons and the sons of his brother, saying to them: ‘You all are young members of a community; however, you are all on the cusp of becoming the elders of others, so acquire knowledge. Whoever among you is unable to relate it or memorise it, let him write it down and keep it in his house.’ It can be seen how the Imam addressed them with speech with which he inspired them to realise that they were created for a different era in which they would be in charge of great tasks, and therefore it was imperative on them to prepare provisions for its accomplishment, by means of learning and knowledge.
[1] Tibyan, 8/275; Tabrisi, 8/494; Munyah, 21/133.
[2] Munyah, 21/133.
[3] Tabrisi, 8/499; Safi, 4/143; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 116; Lane, 2/261.
[4] Munyah, 21/133.
[5] Munyah, 21/133.
[6] Amthal, 13/36; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 59.
[7] Amthal, 13/36; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829.
[8] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 585; Munyah, 21/133.
[9] Tabrisi, 8/494; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 585.
[10] Tabrisi, 8/494; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 585.
[11] Safi, 4/143.
[12] Irshād al-Adhhān, p. 417.
[13] Tabrisi, 8/494; Munyah, 21/133.
[14] Razi, 25/120; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 585.
[15] Razi, 25/120.
[16] Mizan, 16/215.
[17] Munyah, 21/134.
[18] Qummi, 2/161-165; Safi, 4/146-148.
[19] Mizan, 16/225.
[20] Safi, 4/143.
[21] Munyah, 21/133.
[22] Munyah, 21/133.
[23] Kashif, 6/161.
[24] Munyah, 21/133.
[25] Munyah, 21/133.
[26] Munyah, 21/133.
[27] Munyah, 21/133.
[28] Munyah, 21/133.
[29] Munyah, 21/133.
[30] Munyah, 21/133.