The Ocean of the Quran

A verse by verse explanation of The Ultimate Scripture

Al-Mujādilah – Verse 11

يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا إِذا قيلَ لَكُم تَفَسَّحوا فِي المَجالِسِ فَافسَحوا يَفسَحِ اللَّهُ لَكُم ۖ وَإِذا قيلَ انشُزوا فَانشُزوا يَرفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذينَ آمَنوا مِنكُم وَالَّذينَ أوتُوا العِلمَ دَرَجاتٍ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بِما تَعمَلونَ خَبيرٌ

O you who have faith! When you are told: ‘Make room,’ in sittings, then do make room; Allah will make room for you. And when you are told: ‘Rise up!’ Do rise up. Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in ranks, and Allah is well aware of what you do.

EXEGESIS

This verse contains three verbs from the root letters f-s-ḥ. The first of these verbs is the plural imperative verb tafassaḥū, which occurs in reference to members of Prophet Muhammad’s (s) audience.‎[1] It means: all of you, make room.‎[2] The implication being that there is room for the next person arriving, who can sit there too,‎[3] and the place is not overly crowded.‎[4] The second verb of the root letters f-s-ḥ that occurs in this verse is the plural imperative verb ifsaḥū. It has the same meaning as the verb tafassaḥū,‎[5] and it also occurs in reference to members of the Prophet’s audience. It therefore also means: all of you, make room.‎[6] The third verb of the root letters f-s-ḥ that occurs in this verse is the imperfect tense verb yafsaḥ, in reference to God, and it means: God will make room.‎[7]

The term majālis is the plural noun of majlis.‎[8] The term majlis is a noun of place (ism al-makān).‎[9] This is a noun that expresses the place where the action of the verb, which in this case is jalasa (to sit), is committed.‎[10] It therefore means a sitting place, a place of assembly.‎[11] The plural noun majālis therefore means assemblies, sitting places, gatherings.

This verse contains two instances of the plural imperative verb unshuzū. The imperative verb means to rise up,‎[12] to give up your place.‎[13] It occurs twice in this verse in reference to members of Prophet Muhammad’s (s) audience, and so it means: all of you rise up and give up your place so that another may sit there.‎[14] Its verbal noun is nushūz, which in this context means rising up, going away from something by moving away from it.‎[15]  

EXPOSITION

Muhammad (s), the Messenger of God, was sent forth to perfect human morals and was himself an exemplary human being in terms of good manners (68:4, 33:21), as was his forefather, Prophet Abraham (a) (60:4). The teachings of these verses fall within the purview of his responsibility to teach and perfect human morals.

Thus, after having had forbidden the believers from engaging in a specific kind of secret conversation – one which would cause enmity, disharmony, distance, and suspicion among themselves – God goes on to instruct them in this verse in favour of social etiquettes which would bring about the opposite effect, which is that of an increase in love and affection between them.

Thus this verse contains a specific etiquette from the etiquettes of social intercourse while the context suggests that the Muslims at the time of the Prophet used to attend his assembly and sit close together, in a collected heap so to speak, piling up close to each other‎[16] as they vied with each other in their desire to sit closest to him and listen to him;‎[17] an understanding supported by the historical narrative transmitted in respect of this verse and cited under Insights from Hadith. Consequently, the gathering, more often than not, would get crowded and there would be no room to sit for those who arrived later.‎[18] Those who had come earlier and obtained a place to sit would refuse to accommodate those who came later by making room for them since they did not like to sit in a constrained and tightened position, and the latter would be forced to either leave or participate whilst standing.‎[19]

Qatādah is attributed to have said: ‘[The Muslims] used to jostle in rivalry and contend with each other in the Prophet’s gathering (majlis),‎[20] and when they saw a person forthcoming they would begrudge him space in that gathering with the Prophet (s), giving too little, and giving reluctantly.’‎[21] It is also possible that some of the attendees disliked having poor people such as the Ahl al-Ṣuffah (the People of the Veranda) sit next to them or touch them since they were poor and probably smelled.‎[22] Consequently, they were disciplined by these words and instructed to make ample room: O you who have faith! When you are told: ‘Make room,’ in sittings, then do make room.‎[23] This was so that the space becomes wide, spacious, and ample for others.‎[24]

The directive in this verse is understood to be general in import, which is to mean that this teaching is supposed to apply to every gathering even though the initial purport of its descent was the Prophet’s assembly,‎[25] and this is because the identity of the gatherings in this verse has not been circumscribed.

In return, Allah will make room for you. This is understood to mean that God will amplify for those who obediently effectuate this instruction whatever they desire, such as granting them expansive stations in paradise,‎[26] or granting them a spacious house in this world,‎[27] or amplifying their sustenance,‎[28] or their hearts,‎[29] or their graves,‎[30] thereby correlating the nature of the reward with the nature of the deed. This part of the verse is therefore also understood in a general, unrestricted sense because it occurs in an unconditional and un-circumscribed manner.‎[31]

And when you are told: ‘Rise up!’ Do rise up: this is yet another piece of social etiquette and means to give up one’s place in order to honour and respect the newcomers in deference to their merit and excellence.‎[32] Hence, the meaning obtained is: when you are told to rise and give up your place in an assembly so that one who is better than you (in knowledge and piety, for example) may sit there then do so.‎[33] It has been transmitted that the Prophet once asked some members of his audience to get up from their seats so that he could seat in their places those who were superior and more excellent than them. Those in whose favour the instruction was made were Muslims who had valiantly participated in the Battle of Badr. They had arrived to the Prophet’s gathering at a time when his audience was already overcrowded while nobody made room for them, and so they stood there on their feet listening to the Prophet’s speech. On this occasion those asked to rise and vacate their places felt annoyed and offended; an emotion that showed clearly on their faces, whereupon this verse descended. However, after this verse descended they dutifully corrected their behaviour and henceforth began to voluntarily make room for their fellow believers as well as ungrudgingly rise from their seats when asked to.‎[34]

In return, Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in ranks, meaning: whensoever of you do as you are instructed in this verse, God shall raise in rank those of you who believe, and He shall raise in ranks those who are given knowledge, for the latter are most worthy of exaltation.‎[35] The meaning of God raising the status or rank of a servant from His servants means an increase in drawing him closer to Himself,‎[36] and it is logical that the intent of and those who have been given knowledge is a reference to the learned from the believers.‎[37] Thus this verse indicates that the believers are divided into two groups: believers and learned believers.‎[38] The latter are more excellent than the former while God has said: Say: ‘Are those who know equal to those who do not know?’ Only those who possess intellect take admonition (39:9).‎[39] Hence it becomes clear from this verse that the mention of raising in ranks that occurs here is specific to those who are given knowledge while the rest of the believers are raised a rank.‎[40] Therefore the implication is: God shall raise those who believe but who are not learned from among you, a rank, when they rise up and give up their place to another, while He will raise those who are given knowledge from among you (and are both believers and learned), in ranks when they rise and give up their place to another.‎[41]

It is obvious that this verse glorifies and exalts the station of the scholars and raises their worth‎[42] just as it indicates that the deed of a knowledgeable person is more meritorious and has more reward than the deed of one who is not knowledgeable.‎[43] Thereafter, God affirms and emphasises His directives in this verse by closing the verse with a warning: and Allah is well aware of what you do, in terms of making room and rising from your places and other deeds.‎[44] This closing statement is a repetition of the closing statement of verse 3.

This verse also emphasises the true standard for distinction and merit. These standards are faith and knowledge, not wealth or status.

But it is essential to point out here that although this verse teaches that it is Islamic etiquette and an Islamic duty that a seated person rises from his seat and offers it to one who arrives subsequent to him and who is superior to him, yet it is not Islamic etiquette that the person arriving, however meritorious and superior he may be, should consider it his right that the person sitting rise from his seat so that he could sit in his place, or that the person arriving should force the person sitting to rise from his seat.‎[45] This is because the person seated and the person arriving has his specific and individual duty. The person seated has his duty outlined in this verse, and the person arriving has his specific duty too, which is to sit wherever he finds a place. Thus Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) is attributed to have related: ‘When the Messenger of God (s) would enter a place, he would sit at the nearest empty space he found.’‎[46] Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) is also attributed to have related that: ‘The Messenger of God (s) instructed: “Whenever one of you arrives at a gathering then let him sit where the last line of seated attendees has reached.”’‎[47] Imam al-ʿAskarī (a) is attributed to have said: ‘Whoever is content not to be treated with special grace and favour in an assembly, has God and His angels continue to bless him till he rises [from that assembly].’‎[48] ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb relates that the Messenger of God said: ‘A man should not raise another man from his seat so that he may sit in the latter’s place; rather you should all make ample room for each other (tafassaḥū), and make extensive space for each other (tawassaʿū).’‎[49]  

Similarly, if the host of the assembly asks one of those seated to rise and give his place to another then it is incumbent for the latter to obey the host, however it is not fitting for the host to make such a demand save for a very good reason such as if the seated attendee is transgressing propriety or if the one arriving has a merit that renders him superior to the one seated, in God’s estimation.‎[50]

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

  1. It is related that the Prophet was once seated at the veranda (al-ṣuffah) of his mosque in Medina (where the impoverished Muslims lived), and with him were his companions. At that moment a group of the veterans of the Battle of Badr arrived, among whom was Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās al-Anṣārī (who was not a Badr veteran but had participated in the Battle of Uḥud and in the battles subsequent to Badr). The arriving party greeted the Prophet and he replied to their greeting. Thereafter they greeted the Prophet’s companions who were with him, and the latter replied to the former’s greeting. Then they stood there waiting for the Prophet’s companions to make room for them but none did so. So they remained standing. This proved painful for the Prophet to bear. He used to honour the veterans of the Battle of Badr. That day was a Friday. So the Prophet asked a number of those seated to rise; a number equal to the number of the veterans of the Battle of Badr who were standing. Those asked to rise were not veterans of the Battle of Badr. Those asked to rise complied but the Prophet could see clear signs of dislike and indignance on their faces, and so he said: ‘May God have mercy on a person who makes ample room for his brother.’ Consequently, they (the companions) would rise for them (the veterans of the Battle of Badr) after that. So the hypocrites taunted the Muslims: ‘Do you claim that your companion [meaning the Prophet] does justice between people? By God! He has not been just to these. A group preceded others to the Prophet’s assembly and took their seats [for] they loved to be near him yet he asked them to give up their places and seated in their stead those who had arrived late to goodness! So, by God, the behaviour of your companion, in its entirety, is confused!’ This is when God revealed, O you who have faith! When you are told: ‘Make room,’ in sittings, then do make room.‎[51]
  2. Imam al-ʿAskarī (a) said: ‘It was communicated to Abū al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-ʿAskarī (a) [Imam Ali al-Naqī (a)] that a man from the Shia scholars had had a conversation with a person who was openly hostile to Imam Ali and the family of the Prophet. The former was able to prevail over the latter with his proofs, such that the latter drew away from his hostility. Once, this Shia scholar came to visit Imam Ali ibn Muhammad (a). At the head of the Imam’s gathering was placed a magnificent, grand pillow, while the Imam was seated beyond the pillow. Present before the Imam was a gathering of Alids and Hashimites. The Imam called the Shia scholar forward and continued to draw him forward till he seated him on that magnificent, grand pillow at the head of the gathering, and repositioned himself such that he was facing him! This behaviour of the Imam proved difficult for those nobles present there to bear. As for the Alids, they put off reprimanding him, but as for the Hashimites, their leader addressed the Imam, saying: “Son of the Messenger of God, is this how you favour and show preference to an ordinary person over the nobles of the Hashimites from among the Ṭālibids and the Abbasids?!” The Imam responded: “Beware that you should be from those about whom God the exalted said: Have you not regarded those who were given a share of the book, who are summoned to the book of Allah in order that it may judge between them, whereat a part of them refuse to comply and they are disregardful? (3:23). Are you willing to consider the book of God as an arbiter?” They replied in the affirmative, whereupon the Imam said: “Does He not say, O you who have faith! When you are told: ‘Make room,’ in sittings, then do make room; Allah will make room for you. And when you are told: ‘Rise up!’ Do rise up. Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in ranks, and Allah is well aware of what you do? So God was not satisfied for a learned believer but that He should raise him in status over a believer who was not learned, just as He was not satisfied for a believer but that He should raise him in status over one who was not a believer. Tell me about the following speech of God; did He say, Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in ranks … or did He say: Allah will raise those who are granted noble lineage, in ranks? Has not God asked rhetorically, Say: ‘Are those who know equal to those who do not know?’ [39:9]. So then how do you negate and protest my raising this person for what God has raised him? Indeed, this man’s prevailing over that wretched person by means of God’s proofs, which He taught him, is superior for him than any noble lineage!”’‎[52]
  3. The Prophet’s companion ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Masʿūd used to say the following when he recited this verse: ‘O people! Understand this verse so that it may encourage you in favour of knowledge!’‎[53]
  4. The Prophet said: ‘There is a distance of a hundred stations between the [station of a] scholar (ʿālim) and the [station of a] devout worshipper (ʿābid). The distance between every two [of these] stations is what would take a horse specially prepared for raids and competitions seventy years to traverse!’‎[54]
  5. The Prophet said: ‘The merit of the scholar over the devout worshipper is as the merit of the full moon over all the stars.’‎[55]
  6. Imam al-Bāqir (a) said: ‘A scholar who utilises his knowledge is superior to 70,000 devout worshippers.’‎[56]
  7. The Prophet said: ‘Three [classes of people] shall intercede on the Day of Resurrection: the prophets, then the scholars, and then the martyrs.’‎[57]
  8. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘When the Day of Resurrection shall arrive, God shall gather together mankind on one single plain. Then the scales will be installed and the blood of the martyrs will be weighed against the ink of the scholars, and the ink of the scholars shall outweigh the blood of the martyrs.’‎[58]
  9. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Whoever has death come upon him while seeking knowledge shall have [only] one station separating him and the prophets.’‎[59]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

This verse consists of two specific instructions and the Quran commentary literature provides additional meanings for both instructions.

The first instruction is encapsulated in O you who have faith! When you are told: ‘Make room,’ in sittings, then do make room; Allah will make room for you. The additional meaning for this instruction appears to be an extension of the more apparent and favoured interpretation for this instruction outlined earlier, or an instance of applying its more apparent interpretation to other similar instances.

This additional meaning is that this part of the verse is instructing the Muslims to make ample room for each other when they are gathered in gatherings or assemblies preparing to engage the enemy in battle (majālis al-qitāl).‎[60] So the plural noun majālis in this verse is understood, in light of this interpretation, to refer to the places where Muslims are gathered to engage in a military encounter.‎[61] It is said that a fighter would eagerly make his way to the very first line or rank of fighters and ask his compatriots to make room for him but they would refuse to do so due to their heightened desire for martyrdom.‎[62] This meaning for the verse is attributed to the Prophet’s junior companion and cousin Ibn Abbas,‎[63] and Hasan al-Baṣrī.‎[64]

The aspect of similarity between a gathering where people are gathered and seated to listen to a sermon (sing: majlis, pl: majālis) and a gathering of soldiers readying themselves to fight, where they would be expected to be standing upright and alert rather than sitting down, is suggested to lie in 3:121.‎[65] This verse reads: When you left your family at dawn to settle the faithful in their positions for battle – and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing (3:121). The phrase positions for battle in this verse occurs in Arabic as maqāʿida lil-qitāl. The word maqāʿid (sing: maqʿad) means seats and sitting places,‎[66] is synonymous to the term majālis. The term maqāʿid and maqʿad have been used in the meaning of sitting places and seat in 72:9 and 54:55, respectively. However, when the noun maqāʿid is used in relation to the battlefield and warfare it gets a nuanced modified meaning, to mean stations and positions,‎[67] which is how it has been used in 3:121.

Leading on from this, it has been argued that it is unnecessary to limit the significance of the instruction in the first half of verse 11 to mean making space in a gathering; rather, just as the instruction in this verse was applied by some early students of the Quran to battle positions where fighters had gathered for combat, to mean that some of them should make space for the comfort of others, so likewise it may be extended to mean that this verse applies to every act of goodness, comfort, and happiness by a person in favour of God’s creatures which extends their scope of comfort and well-being just as the Messenger of God is attributed to have said: ‘God continues to assist and grant succour to His servant so long as the latter continues to aid his brother Muslim.’‎[68] While the moral teaching enunciated in this paragraph is valid in and of itself, extending this verse’s meaning to it appears a little stretched since the literary context of the verse is clear in that it relates to gatherings, while other verses more directly relevant to this moral teaching could be cited in its favour. This is while the extension of this part of the verse to battle positions has some literary and Quranic basis.

The second instruction in this verse is encapsulated in And when you are told: ‘Rise up!’ Do rise up. Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in ranks, and just as the first instruction of the verse has additional meanings understood for it so does this second instruction: 1. To rise up for the ritual prayers, or for fighting the enemies, or for good deeds when asked to do so, and not to fall short or lag behind in carrying out the instruction,‎[69] an opinion attributed to Mujāhid,‎[70] Qatādah, and al-Ḍaḥḥāk.‎[71] 2. To rise up for the ritual prayers when called to the ritual prayer, and this is because there were some men who used to be sluggish in rising for the ritual prayers,‎[72] an opinion attributed to ʿIkramah,‎[73] al-Ḍaḥḥāk,‎[74] and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd.‎[75] 3. That there was a group of people who used to prolong their meeting with the Messenger of God when visiting him, each person in the group desiring to be the last person to leave the Prophet’s presence, and hence this part of the verse asks them to rise and leave when asked to do so‎[76] and not to lengthen their conversation;‎[77] an opinion attributed to Zajjāj‎[78] and one which resembles the teaching of 33:53.

It is argued that these additional meanings for this part of the verse are not farfetched, and that is because the imperative to rise up when asked to do so is general and un-circumscribed in nature,‎[79] in which case these additional meanings may perhaps be understood to be extensions of the apparent and favoured meaning, or instances of application of the apparent meaning to similar cases if the latter are understood relevant to gatherings, even though that would render the verse’s understanding to be rather atomistic. Admittedly, the third meaning is probably more consonant with the preferred interpretation than the other two meanings.

Several additional understandings have also been suggested for Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in ranks. Some have understood it to mean the raising of ranks or stations in paradise,‎[80] or an increase in divine reward,‎[81] or a raising in God’s pleasure,‎[82] and even to mean a raising in rank in the Prophet’s assembly‎[83] such as the obligation to make room for them in gatherings and to rise and give up one’s place for them. This thus means that the raising in ranks could pertain to this world and to the hereafter, since the relevant part of this verse is un-circumscribed and general and would include the explanation offered by Tabatabai, mentioned earlier.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

  1. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be raised up.‎[84] 
[1] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Tabrisi, 9/379.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 709; Munyah, 28/68; Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/493.
[3] Munyah, 28/68.
[4] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/493.
[5] Mizan, 19/188; Tibyan, 9/550; Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 708. A possible difference suggested to exist between these two verbs, apart from belonging to two different verbal forms, is that the verb tafassaḥū has the quality of reluctance and unwillingness to it whereby the person carrying out the act does so as if forcing himself to do it, thereby rendering the act unnatural, affected, and artificial, while this quality is absent from the verb ifsaḥū (Amthal, 18/126).
[6] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 708.
[7] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 709.
[8] Mizan, 19/188; Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 168.
[9] Mizan, 19/188; Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 168.
[10] A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language, p. 338.
[11] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 168.
[12] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 940; Tabrisi, 9/379.
[13] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 940.
[14] Mizan, 19/188.
[15] Mizan, 19/188; Tibyan, 9/551; Munyah, 28/68.
[16] Mizan, 19/188; Razi, 29/493.
[17] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/493.
[18] Kashif, 7/271.
[19] Kashif, 7/271.
[20] Tibyan, 9/550; Tabrisi, 9/378.
[21] Tabrisi, 9/378.
[22] Razi, 29/493.
[23] Mizan, 19/188; Tibyan, 9/550; Kashif, 7/271; Tabrisi, 9/378.
[24] Mizan, 19/188.
[25] Mizan, 19/188.
[26] Mizan, 19/188; Kashif, 7/271; Tabrisi, 9/379; Razi, 29/494.
[27] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Daqaiq, 13/137; Razi, 29/494.
[28] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Daqaiq, 13/137; Razi, 29/494.
[29] Daqaiq, 13/137; Razi, 29/494.
[30] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/494.
[31] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/494.
[32] Mizan, 19/188.
[33] Mizan, 19/188.
[34] Kashif, 7/271-272.
[35] Tibyan, 9/551.
[36] Mizan, 19/188.
[37] Mizan, 19/188.
[38] Mizan, 19/188.
[39] Mizan, 19/188.
[40] Mizan, 19/188.
[41] Mizan, 19/188; Tabrisi, 9/379; Razi, 29/494.
[42] Mizan, 19/188; Tabrisi, 9/379.
[43] Tibyan, 9/551.
[44] Mizan, 19/188; Tibyan, 9/551.
[45] Furqan, 28/207; Munyah, 28/70.
[46] Makarim, p. 26.
[47] Makarim, p. 26.
[48] Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/396.
[49] Suyuti, 6/185.
[50] Kashif, 7/272.
[51] Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/262; Tabrisi, 9/379-380; Razi, 29/493; Suyuti, 6/185.
[52] Daqaiq, 13/137-138.
[53] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Zamakhshari, 4/492.
[54] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Zamakhshari, 4/492.
[55] Tabrisi.J, 4/261; Zamakhshari, 4/492.
[56] Tabrisi.J, 4/261.
[57] Tabrisi.J, 4/261; Zamakhshari, 4/493.
[58] Tabrisi.J, 4/261.
[59] Tabrisi, 9/380.
[60] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/493.
[61] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Tibyan, 9/550.
[62] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/493.
[63] Tibyan, 9/551.
[64] Razi, 29/493.
[65] Tabrisi.J, 4/260; Razi, 29/493.
[66] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 769.
[67] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 769.
[68] Razi, 29/494.
[69] Tabrisi, 9/379; Tibyan, 9/551; Razi, 29/494.
[70] Tabrisi, 9/379; Tibyan, 9/551.
[71] Tibyan, 9/551.
[72] Tabrisi, 9/379.
[73] Tabrisi, 9/379.
[74] Tabrisi, 9/379; Razi, 29/494.
[75] Razi, 29/494.
[76] Tabrisi, 9/379; Razi, 29/494.
[77] Razi, 29/494.
[78] Razi, 29/494.
[79] Kashif, 7/271.
[80] Tabrisi, 9/379.
[81] Razi, 29/494.
[82] Razi, 29/494.
[83] Tabrisi, 9/379; Razi, 29/494.
[84] Luke 14:11.