فَأَلهَمَها فُجورَها وَتَقواها

And inspired it with [discernment between] its vices and virtues.

EXEGESIS

Alhamahā (inspired it) comes from ilhām, which means to cast something onto one’s heart or inner being. According to Tabatabai, it refers to God’s casting of images of conceptions and affirmations onto the soul.^{‎[1]Mizan, 20/297.} The word ilhām originally meant to swallow, and then later on came to mean God’s casting of messages in one’s soul, as if man swallows those messages and becomes one with them.^{‎[2]Amthal, 20/235.}

Some have said that ilhām means revelation (waḥy) with the only difference being that in ilhām one is not aware of the origin or source of the message that he receives, whereas with waḥy, one knows the communication is from God.^{‎[3]Amthal, 20/235.}

Fujūr (vices) originally means to rupture a veil and by extension to break norms of decency. A prohibition from God can be considered a veil between man and the vices, and committing them would be like splitting or rupturing that veil.^{‎[4]Mizan, 20/297.} Daybreak is also called fajr because in one sense the brightness of the morning is rupturing the veil of the night’s darkness.^{‎[5]Amthal, 20/236.}

Taqwā (virtue) is to make the soul protected from that which is feared and, in this context, due to its contrast with fujūr, it means to remain aloof from vices and abstain from that which has been prohibited.^{‎[6]Mizan, 20/297.}

EXPOSITION

Inspired it (alhamahā) has been understood as either giving the soul the knowledge to be able to distinguish between virtue and vice, or encouraging the soul towards virtue and discouraging it from vice.^{‎[7]Tabrisi, 10/755.} This is similar to how in other verses (for example, 90:10 and 76:3), one of the blessings of God that is mentioned is His guidance to man towards the two paths of evil and goodness.

According to Tabatabai, the inspiration that is mentioned in this verse refers to the practical intellect which is considered a completion of the balanced soul, and thus is a characteristic of its creation, as is indicated in 30:30.^{‎[8]Mizan, 20/298.}

The verse first mentions vices and then virtues. Perhaps this ordering can be explained by arguing that the soul first comes to know about the needs of the body and desire for its fulfilment by any means, which may lead to perdition and destruction, and then later comes to know the methods of safeguarding oneself from such destruction. It is noteworthy that most of the obligatory instructions and prohibitions of Islam are a means of safeguarding one from harms.^{‎[9]Mudarrisi, 18/136.}

Another possibility that has been suggested for why vices is mentioned before virtues is due to the circumstances of the audience at the time of revelation. Since the intended audience were polytheists who were mostly engaged in vicious actions and only rarely engaged in virtuous deeds, the verse gave mention first of vices and then virtues.^{‎[10]Ibn Ashur, 30/326.}

Yet another possibility is that the kind of inspiration mentioned in the verse is an awareness about vices, which is from amongst the causes of man abstaining from evil, which leads to man purifying his soul from these vices (takhliyah). In the field of Islamic ethics, takhliyah is prioritised over taḥliyah (adorning the soul with positive attributes). In other words, since it is necessary for man to first clear his soul of negative attributes before adorning positive attributes, the verse first mentions vices and then virtues, for it is by way of our knowledge of what constitutes vices that we can carry out takhliyah.^{‎[11]Alusi, 15/360.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. It has been reported from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘And inspired it with [discernment between] its vices and virtues … clarified for it that which it should do and that which it should abandon.’^{‎[12]Kafi, 1/3, h. 3; with a different chain of narrators, Tabrisi, 5/498.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Some exegetes have pointed to this verse as proof of man’s free will in choosing between virtue and vice.^{‎[13]Zamakhshari, 4/759.} Since man’s soul is aware of both virtue and vice, it is only through one’s personal choice and decision that either is preferred over the other.^{‎[14]Fadlallah, 24/283.}

Ironically, a group of Asharite exegetes, such as Rāzī, have used the same verse to argue for predestination. For them, the verse is not stating that every soul has been shown virtue and vice, but rather the souls of the pious have been shown virtue and the souls of the disbelievers have been shown vice. It is attributed to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr that he interpreted ilhām here as ‘made it incumbent’. Similarly, Wāqidī says that ilhām does not mean mere teaching or inspiring discernment, but rather it means God places something in the soul of man such that he has no option but to comply with it.^{‎[15]Razi, 31/177.}

For most Asharite theologians, this verse is as an indication that God decrees all things for each human being and thus man has no choice. They support this argument with the following narration attributed to the Holy Prophet, when a man asked him: ‘O Messenger of God! Do you consider the actions of mankind and their struggles to be something ordained (qaḍāʾ) for them and coming to pass from a previous measuring out (qadar), or something written for them only after the message came to them from their Prophet, when there will be a clear proof against them?’ To which he replied: ‘Rather, it is ordained for them.’ So the man said: ‘Then what is the point of our actions?’ The Prophet replied: ‘Whosoever God created for one of the two positions [paradise or hell], He makes it easy for him [to attain]. The proof of that is in the book of God: By the soul and Him who fashioned it, And inspired it with [discernment between] its vices and virtues.’^{‎[16]Ibn Kathir, 8/400.} A similar narration has been reported by Ibn Abī Ḥātim from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn Abbas, from the Holy Prophet.^{‎[17]Suyuti, 6/357.}

Other Sunni exegetes have responded to this by rejecting this narration and this interpretation as a whole. Firstly, it seems to be against the style of the Quran as can be seen in 87:14: Felicitous is he who purifies himself, and 80:3: And how do you know, maybe he would purify himself. In both these verses, adoption of purity is an act directly attributed to man. Furthermore, the verses that mention this life as being a test only make sense in light of man’s free will (see 76:2 and 67:2).

As for the second narration, it is not considered authentic due to the presence of Juwaybir in its chain of narrators as well as the fact that al-Ḍaḥḥāk is reporting it from Ibn Abbas, whilst the two never met.^{‎[18]Maududi; Ibn Kathir, 8/400-401.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.^{‎[19]Romans 2:15.}

[1] Mizan, 20/297.
[2] Amthal, 20/235.
[3] Amthal, 20/235.
[4] Mizan, 20/297.
[5] Amthal, 20/236.
[6] Mizan, 20/297.
[7] Tabrisi, 10/755.
[8] Mizan, 20/298.
[9] Mudarrisi, 18/136.
[10] Ibn Ashur, 30/326.
[11] Alusi, 15/360.
[12] Kafi, 1/3, h. 3; with a different chain of narrators, Tabrisi, 5/498.
[13] Zamakhshari, 4/759.
[14] Fadlallah, 24/283.
[15] Razi, 31/177.
[16] Ibn Kathir, 8/400.
[17] Suyuti, 6/357.
[18] Maududi; Ibn Kathir, 8/400-401.
[19] Romans 2:15.