كَلّا لَئِن لَم يَنتَهِ لَنَسفَعًا بِالنّاصِيَةِ
ناصِيَةٍ كاذِبَةٍ خاطِئَةٍ
No indeed! If he does not stop, We shall seize him by the forelock;
a lying, sinful forelock!
EXEGESIS
The imperfect tense verb nasfaʿa has the trilateral s-f-ʿ as its root letters and means to seize something, to grab it firmly, and to drag something along. Hence, the Quran commentators conflate these three meanings by writing that the word means to grab or seize something firmly and to drag it along violently or with force and severity, which in this case would be the forelock. Ṭabarsī writes that if one grasps something and tugs it with severity, one can say safaʿtu bil-shayʾ (I pulled the thing). It can also mean to pull something towards oneself and to crack or break something. Another meaning for it is to taint something or someone black (that is, to blacken it), and with respect to human beings it means to blacken the face, to stamp or mark on it with hot iron or fire, which consequently has the meaning of debasement, humiliation, and degradation. When a person’s face is blackened due to being burnt or scorched slightly by the hot sun or fire, which changes the colour of the face rendering the cheeks black, then it is said safaʿat-hu al-nāru wa al-shamsu (the fire and the sun blackened him) writes Ṭūsī, which renders the face deformed or defaced. Finally it also means to slap, smack, or strike the face or neck with an open hand, or to strike or beat a person with a stick. Thus this term has four basic meanings which are: to seize and drag something or someone violently (towards something), to blacken or mark someone or something (with something), to slap or strike someone or something (with something), and to humiliate, debase, insult, and coerce someone, whereby the last meaning may be considered the cumulative consequence of the first three acts. It is also argued that the essential meaning of the word is a severe seizure while all the other meanings suggested for it are concepts and notions related to the essential meaning.
The word al-nāṣiyah means the place where the hair grows in the forepart of the head and hence it is a reference to the forelock, which is the hair growing above the forehead, just as it could be a reference to the top or apex or forepart of the forehead. It may also mean the forehead itself. Its root letters are n-ṣ-y. The word al-nāṣiyah also refers to something precious or to a valuable part of something. Thus the phrase nāṣiyat al-bayt refers to the best or most valuable part of the house.
EXPOSITION
Verses 15-19 serve as a rejoinder to the previous verses, and again, two major meanings have been suggested for the particle kallā which occurs in verse 15: 1. It suggests rebuke, repudiation, and repulsion. 2. It suggests confirmation and emphasis.
With regards to the meaning of repudiation, at least two interpretations have been suggested which are: that the particle is a rebuke and a rejection of the person described in the previous verses, which is a person who prevents a worshipper from the worship of God (identified in extra-Quranic literature as Abū Jahl), along with a negation of his negative actions, and what he desired instead, which was to stop the worshipper worshipping one God and instead to worship a multitude of gods. Thus the particle could be interpreted as: No! Abū Jahl will never be able to do what he has threatened, (which was to kill the Prophet or to trample on his neck and prevent him from the worship of one God), rather, if he does not desist We shall seize him by his forelock. The other interpretation for it, in the spirit of repudiation, is that it means: No he does not know or recognise that God sees all nor does he testify to that since he does not believe for if he did recognise and believe that God sees all then it would have had an effect on his conscience and he would not have undermined the worship of God. Thus, even if he did know that God sees all it is nevertheless useless since it is knowledge that does not render benefit to the one knowing, and such knowledge is akin to not knowing. Hence if he does not desist We shall seize his forelock. Consequently, this second interpretation of the particle kallā is in the form of a response to the immediately preceding verse.
With regards to the second meaning of this particle, which is that of confirmation and emphasis, it includes an implicit oath. Those who favour this meaning for it interpret the particle as ḥaqqan (truly, indeed). Hence, in this case the verse would mean: Truly, indeed, certainly I swear, if he does not desist from what he is doing then We shall drag him by his forelock, which is the most important part of the human being, and We shall cast him into hell. But perhaps both interpretations can be combined and be considered complimentary to each other with respect to the verse since they do not seem mutually exclusive.
The existence of an implicit oath is also argued as follows. Verse 15 is a conditional sentence. It consists of a protasis – la-in lam yantahī (if he does not stop), and an apodosis – la-nasfaʿan bil-nāṣiyah (We shall seize [his] forelock). It is suggested that the letter lām prefixed to the conditional particle in thereby becoming la-in, suggests an implicit oath. It is known as the lām al-qasam (the letter lām denoting an oath) or the facilitating letter lām which when prefixed to a conditional particle such as in (which forms part of the protasis) indicates that the apodosis is subject to an elided oath, (and in this case the apodosis also serves as the predicate of the elided, implicit oath, which means that one may incline to the first interpretation for the particle kallā and still understand an oath here). This letter lām also has an intensifying or emphatic effect.
But this verse is yet loaded with additional emphases. The letter lām prefixed to the verb nasfaʿa is also identified as an intensifying or emphatic particle. Hence both the protasis and the apodosis of this conditional verse have the intensifying or emphatic letter lām to them, but even more significantly the verb nasfaʿa occurs in this verse suffixed with the nūn of the energetic kind (albeit of the weaker or quiescent kind) which renders the verb further emphatic.
Hence, this verse contains at least three pieces of emphasis which serve to heighten the threat in it to a high level indeed, and therefore the verse says: Truly, indeed, certainly I swear (which is the elided or implicit oath), if he does not desist (from what he is doing) then We shall surely seize (his) forelock (and drag him to the fire)! Such a seizure not only denotes insult and humiliation for the person thus seized but it also means that such a person in unable to flee and escape indicating complete and total control over him. This is while Rāzī opines that the first person plural pronoun ‘we’ inherent to the verb nasfaʿa refers to God and His angels.
Iṣlāḥī makes an apt observation here. He writes that the greatest honour for a forehead is that it has the mark of prostration stamped on it. If a person is so callous that not only does he himself not prostrate to God but also stops others from prostrating before Him then such a wretched person is worthy of being grabbed by the forelock and thrown into hell.
This particular forelock is described as a lying one (kādhibah) and an erroneous, sinful one (khāṭiʾah); lying in speech and erroneous and sinful in actions. The second adjective with which it is described (khāṭiʾah) is the feminine active participle of the first form of Arabic verbal forms and is defined as referring to one who sins purposely in contrast to the active participle of the fourth form of Arabic verbal forms which is mukhṭiʾah, which refers to one who sins inadvertently, without intent. The term’s trilateral root letters are kh-ṭ-ʾ. These essentially mean to miss the target, to veer away from the correct path, to err, to commit a crime, and to sin.
However, in light of the multiple meanings suggested for the verb nasfaʿa, verse 15 could also be understood to mean: Certainly by God, if he does not desist (from what he is doing) then We shall surely blacken or mark (his) forehead (by fire on the Day of Judgement). This appears to be Ṭūsī’s preferred reading who cites as evidence the Arabic quote: safaʿat-hu al-nāru wa al-shamsu (the fire and the sun blackened him), although he also gives the more well-known meaning for the verse which identifies the verb nasfaʿa to mean to seize and drag violently (to hell). In addition, verse 15 could also be rendered as: Certainly by God, if he does not desist (from what he is doing) then We shall surely slap or strike (his) forehead. This would agree with 8:50 and 47:27, but these two verses describe the angels striking the sinners, while in the verse under discussion the first person plural pronoun inherent to the verb nasfaʿa is understood to refer to God. Nevertheless it may be argued that the seizing ascribed to God will be carried out by His angels and at His behest which, it may be argued, is suggested in the immediately next verse. Nonetheless, the first interpretation above which identifies the verb to mean ‘to seize and drag violently’ is more favoured by the Quran commentators and translators and that may be due to a couple of corroborating Quranic verses such as 55:41 which al-Farrāʾ, Ṭabarsī, and Rāzī among others observe is similar to the verse under discussion. Other relevant verses are 54:48, 70:15-16, 11:56, 25:34, 40:71, and 44:47. A very plausible resolution is that all these acts of punishment (seizing and dragging, blackening or marking, and striking) shall be meted out on the Day of Judgement at various stages.
Therefore, this verse threatens a rebellious person (identified in extra-Quranic literature as Abū Jahl) in that if he did not stop his nefarious activity of preventing a servant of God from worshipping Him then his forelock would be firmly seized and he would be hauled away violently by it; a forelock described as a lying, sinful, erroneous one; a description that relates to the owner of such a forelock. This means that the forelock in these two verses occurs as synecdoche for the self. A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa and its utility in literature is that it adds to the visual imagery of the passage where it is used, and enhances the reader or listener’s experience. The Shāfiʿī scholar Māwardī explains the forelock in his commentary on the Quran, al-Nukat wa al-ʿUyūn, as follows: ‘The forelock is the hair of the front of the head; it is [also] sometimes used to refer to the whole person, as one says, “this is a blessed forelock”, referring to the whole person.’ This idea is repeated, for instance, in the Quran commentary of Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, who explains the idiom imraʾatun mashʾūmat al-nāṣiyah which translates as ‘a woman of unfortunate forelock’ to mean simply ‘an unfortunate woman’, while the saying mubārak al-nāṣiyah (possessing a blessed forelock) means its opposite, which is ‘a fortunate person’.
The seizure described in this verse, which is that of the forelock, is total and complete, such that it renders the one seized incapable of movement in any direction and incapable of thinking about its affairs. This is because such a being is vanquished and subjugated under the power of the Restrainer and the All-Powerful One. At an abstract level, the forehead is the place of perception, thought, and reflection, and when it is seized by the invisible, powerful hand of God it becomes constrained and condemned which is a painful punishment indeed.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
Muqātil writes that Abū Jahl had said to the Prophet: ‘If you did not stop and I saw you here I shall drag you by your forelock,’ intending thereby to insult the Prophet, at which God revealed verses 15-16 in order to insult Abū Jahl. God intended to threaten him by saying: If he did not leave you alone and if he did not desist from his polytheistic statements then We shall seize him by the forelock; a lying, sinful forelock! He also relates that the Messenger of God said: ‘I saw Abū Jahl in a sea of fire. He was being dragged on his face into the fire of hell over mountains of burning coal embers and then he was cast into its depths, while he was saying “may my father and mother be sacrificed for Muhammad, he intended to counsel me and wished me well however I was evil to my soul and wished him evil. My Lord, return me to my tribe so that I may believe in him and order my tribe of Banī Makhzūm to believe in him too.”’
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 439; Lane, p. 1372; Mubin, 1/864-865; Kashif, 7/585.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 439; Lane, p. 1372; Mubin, 1/864-865; Kashif, 7/585.
[3] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 439; Tibyan, 10/382; Lane, p. 1372.
[4] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279; Tabrisi.J, 4/515; Tabrisi, 10/778; Zamakhshari, 4/778; Razi, 32/224; al-Aṣfā fī al-Tafsīr, 2/1460; Amthal, 20/331-332; Lane, p. 1372.
[5] Tabrisi, 10/778.
[6] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279.
[7] Lane, p. 1372; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 439.
[8] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279; Tabari, 30/165; Razi, 32/224; Amthal, 20/331-332.
[9] Tabari, 30/165; Amthal, 20/331-332; Lane, p. 1372.
[10] Lane, p. 1372.
[11] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279; Amthal, 20/331-332.
[12] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279; Razi, 32/224; Amthal, 20/331-332.
[13] Amthal, 20/331-332.
[14] Tabrisi, 10/778; Razi, 32/224; Lane, p. 1372.
[15] Razi, 32/224.
[16] Tibyan, 10/382.
[17] Razi, 32/224; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 439; Lane, p. 1372.
[18] Lane, p. 1372.
[19] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 439; Lane, p. 1372.
[20] Lane, p. 1372.
[21] Tahqiq, 5/140.
[22] Lane, p. 3033.
[23] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 945; Tibyan, 10/382; Kashif, 7/589; Amthal, 20/333; Lane, p. 3033.
[24] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279.
[25] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 945.
[26] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 945.
[27] Amthal, 20/333.
[28] Karbāsī, Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān, 8/670; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 817.
[29] Zamakhshari, 4/778; Tabrisi.J, 4/515; Razi, 32/224.
[30] Razi, 32/224.
[31] Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603; al-Aṣfā fī al-Tafsīr, 2/1460; al-Tafsīr al-Qurʾānī lil-Qurʾān, 14/1630.
[32] Razi, 32/224.
[33] Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603; al-Aṣfā fī al-Tafsīr, 2/1460; al-Tafsīr al-Qurʾānī lil-Qurʾān, 14/1630.
[34] Mizan, 20/327.
[35] Samarqandi, 3/599.
[36] Mizan, 20/327.
[37] Al-Balāgh fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bil-Qurʾān, 1/597; Gunabadi, 4/266.
[38] Qummi, 2/431.
[39] Jalalayn, 1/601; Karbāsī, Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān, 8/670.
[40] Jalalayn, 1/601.
[41] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829.
[42] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829; Karbāsī, Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān, 8/670.
[43] Munyat al-Ṭālibīn fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Mubīn, 30/515; Karbāsī, Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān, 8/670.
[44] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829.
[45] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829.
[46] Karbāsī, Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān, 8/670.
[47] Zamakhshari, 4/778.
[48] Razi, 32/224.
[49] http://www.al-mawrid.org/index.php/articles/view/suurah-alaq.
[50] Munyat al-Ṭālibīn fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Mubīn, 30/516.
[51] Kitāb al-Tashīl li-ʿUlūm al-Tanzīl, 2/498.
[52] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 269.
[53] Tabrisi, 10/783.
[54] Tibyan, 10/382.
[55] Tibyan, 10/382.
[56] Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 3/279.
[57] Tabrisi, 10, 783.
[58] Razi, 32/224.
[59] Amthal, 20/331; Munyat al-Ṭālibīn fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Mubīn, 30/516.
[60] The Shearing of the Forelock as a Penitentiary Rite, p. 196.
[61] Cited in The Shearing of the Forelock as a Penitentiary Rite, p. 196.
[62] Cited in The Shearing of the Forelock as a Penitentiary Rite, p. 196.
[63] Tahqiq, 5/141.
[64] Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/763.
[65] Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/763-764.