The Ocean of the Quran

A verse by verse explanation of The Ultimate Scripture

Luqmān – Verse 15

وَإِن جاهَداكَ عَلىٰ أَن تُشرِكَ بي ما لَيسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلمٌ فَلا تُطِعهُما ۖ وَصاحِبهُما فِي الدُّنيا مَعروفًا ۖ وَاتَّبِع سَبيلَ مَن أَنابَ إِلَيَّ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرجِعُكُم فَأُنَبِّئُكُم بِما كُنتُم تَعمَلونَ

But if they strive to make you ascribe a partner to Me about which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them. Keep their company honourably in this world and follow the way of him who turns to Me penitently. Then to Me will be your return, whereat I will inform you concerning what you used to do.

EXPOSITION

The previous verse proves that from the obligations of the human being is to be grateful to parents. Similarly, in this verse another obligation is mentioned: Keep their company honourably in this world. This will be in light of what convention and faith dictate regarding honourable association and assistance to parents.‎[1]

In case a person imagines that the obligation to please, satisfy, and obey one’s parents is absolute even if it entails going against the intellect and the teachings of the faith, the Quranic address quickly adds, in clarification and in emphasis, that obedience to parents is circumscribed by a condition, which is that they do not ask the child to deviate from the path of monotheism in favour of polytheism. The Prophet is attributed to have explicitly stated: ‘The creation is not to be obeyed when it entails disobeying the Creator.’‎[2] Both this part of the verse and the Prophet’s statement hearken clearly to verse 13. The negative imperative may be interpreted to imply that the default case is to obey parents in all matters save where it is contrary to God’s teachings.

Nevertheless, Keep their company honourably in this world by being good, kind, and gentle to them in worldly matters to the exclusion of religious matters, due to their disbelief.‎[3] Lower your voice when talking to them, interact with them in a pleasant manner, and endeavour to fulfil their needs.‎[4] Do not let disobeying them in ascribing others to God become an excuse for you to behave harshly with them.‎[5] The instruction of according honourable companionship to parents accords with the instruction to be grateful to them. Tabatabai writes that a person must patiently bear the difficulties he faces on account of keeping their company honourably, for this world is but a fleeting number of days. This helps mitigate the difficulty and bitterness.‎[6]

Although this verse should be understood as a general address to all human beings, it is suggested that this and the preceding verse were revealed in connection with the conversion of the prominent companion of the Prophet, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ. When he embraced Islam, his mother asked him to leave the faith, swearing that if he did not do so she would refuse to eat or drink until she died. But after three days she gave up her hunger strike when she realised that her hunger strike had no effect on him.‎[7]

Thereafter, while God prohibits a child from obeying parents in favour of polytheism, He instructs him/her to follow the one who returns to God with obedience, and the one who prefers His satisfaction, saying, and follow the way of him who turns to Me penitently,‎[8] which instruction dovetails with both the initial part of this verse and verse 13. This is the path of the prophets,‎[9] the chosen ones,‎[10] the believers,‎[11] and the virtuous.‎[12] Both Imam al-Bāqir (a)‎[13] and his younger contemporary Ibn Jurayj‎[14] are attributed to have explained this part of the verse to mean: ‘Follow the path of Muhammad (s).’‎[15] This may include the path of the parents if they turn penitently to God, otherwise not,‎[16] and it is not limited to or specific to polytheism; rather, the crux of the matter is God’s disobedience.‎[17] Hence, nobody’s obedience is permitted, not even that of the parents, when the truth is transgressed or God’s teachings are transgressed, as the prophetic report maintains: ‘There is no obedience for the creation when it entails disobeying the Creator.’‎[18] This means that although the initial part of this verse asks children not to obey their parents when it comes to associating a partner with God, the subsequent part of this verse broadens the scope of the prohibition to include any demand made by them or others that involves contradicting God’s teachings. Indeed, obeying anyone in disobedience to God is like rendering a peer for God.

Then God informs of the return of all to Him after death, as He says, Then to Me will be your return, which reflects the terminal part of verse 14, whereat I will inform you concerning what you used to do, meaning of deeds in the worldly life, whereupon He shall recompense all on the basis of their deeds‎[19] (5:14, 5:105, 6:60, 6:108, 6:159, 9:94, 9:105, 10:23, 24:64, 29:8, 31:23, 39:7, 41:50, 58:6-7, 62:8, 64:7, 75:13); a warning and a threat to both parents and children.‎[20]

This verse brings about equilibrium between the intellect and emotional sentiments. The emotional element is in the imperative to honour parents, but when their instructions go contrary to the truth then the intellect judges that they not be followed. However, the intellect does not stop children from taking care of their parents and expressing kindness, tenderness, and affection to them, and interacting with them nicely.‎[21]

This verse, if it demonstrates anything, is that the Muslim faith asks the responsible agent to hold fast to beliefs that arise from knowledge, and instructs him/her to refrain from beliefs that are based on doubt or ignorance, as the Quran says, Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed the hearing, the eyesight, and the heart – all of these are accountable (17:36).‎[22]

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

  1. It is related that one day, Imam al-Husayn (a) passed by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. The latter said: ‘Whoever wishes to look at the inhabitant of the earth most beloved to the inhabitants of the heavens, should look at this person passing by. I have not spoken to him since the nights of [the Battle of] Ṣiffīn.’ Then the Prophet’s companion, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, brought him to Imam al-Husayn (a) whereupon Imam al-Husayn (a) asked ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ rhetorically: ‘Do you know that I am the most beloved inhabitant of the earth to the inhabitants of the heavens? And yet you fought me and my father in Ṣiffīn! This is while I swear by God that my father is better than me.’ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān sought to excuse himself and said: ‘The Prophet (s) told me: “Obey your father.”’ At this, Imam al-Husayn (a) retorted: ‘Have you not heard the speech of God, the mighty and majestic, But if they strive to make you ascribe a partner to Me about which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them? And the Messenger of God (s) said: “Surely obedience is for good things.” And he (s) said: “The creation is not to be obeyed when it involves disobeying the Creator.”?’‎[23]
  2. From among the Prophet’s pithy pronouncements is his instruction: ‘There is no obedience to creation when it entails disobeying the Creator.’‎[24]
  3. Imam al-Riḍā (a) was asked by a person: ‘Can I pray for my parents even if they did not use to know the truth [when alive]?’ He replied in the affirmative, saying: ‘Pray for them and give charity on their behalf. If they are alive but are ignorant of the truth then attend to them and treat them with gentleness, for the Messenger of God (s) said: “Surely, God sent me with mercy and not with disobedience.”’‎[25]
  4. Imam al-Riḍā (a) said: ‘Honouring parents by being dutiful and good to them is obligatory even if they were polytheists, [however,] they or anybody else are not to be obeyed if that entails disobeying the Creator, for surely there is no obedience to creation when it involves disobeying the Creator.’‎[26]
  5. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) is attributed to have said: ‘Honouring parents by being dutiful and good to them stems from God’s servant’s good knowledge of God. This is because there is no act of worship which brings the person performing it more quickly to the pleasure of God than being dutiful to believing parents for the sake of God. This is because the right of parents is derived from the right of God, so long as they are both on the path of faith and the practice of the Prophet and do not prevent the child from obeying God in favour of disobeying Him, or move him from certainty towards doubt, or from abstinence to the desires of this world, or call him to anything which is contrary to that. But if they are like that then disobeying them is obedience [to God] and obeying them is disobedience [to God]. God said: But if they strive to make you ascribe a partner to Me about which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them. As far as companionship is concerned, attend to them and treat them with gentleness. Endure their hardship as they endured you when you were young, and do not withhold from them what God has made plentiful for you in the way of food and clothes. Do not turn your face away from them nor raise your voice above theirs. To respect them is from God’s instructions. Speak to them in the best possible way and be kind to them, for God does not let the reward of those who do good go to waste.’‎[27]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

At the beginning of the Exposition of verse 14, the matter of the supposed thematic digression of the Luqmān narrative by the interposition of verses 14-15 was noted. There it was pointed out that, on reflection, no thematic digression has actually occurred and the ensuing notes attempted to show the close thematic bond between verses 14-15 and verses 12-13. However, the remark of the Safavid era Quran commentator Fayḍ Kāshānī regarding this supposed thematic digression is well worth noting here. He writes that the core message of verses 12-13 is monotheism and the negation of polytheism personified by the imperative to be grateful to God and not to associate anything with Him.‎[28] He then writes that verses 14-15, supposedly interposing into the narrative, actually occur in order to affirm the same two things that the previous two verses stress, especially what verse 13 stresses of monotheism (personified in verses 14-15 by imperatives such as Give thanks to Me, the imperative follow the way of him who turns to Me penitently, the statement To Me is the return, and the statement Then to Me will be your return, whereat I will inform you concerning what you used to do), and the negation of polytheism (embodied in But if they strive to make you ascribe a partner to Me … then do not obey them);‎[29] an observation also made by Ṭabrisī.‎[30] This is while the mention of parents is to exaggerate monotheism in that although the father and the mother come second to God in deserving exaltation, gratitude, and obedience, and are the closest and most beloved and compassionate of people to a person, yet even they do not deserve to be obeyed when it comes to ascribing a partner to God, let alone someone other than them!‎[31] Interestingly, the surah closes with a warning that neither parent nor child can help one another on the Day of Judgement (verse 33).

[1] Munyah, 21/135.
[2] Kashif, 6/161.
[3] Mizan, 16/216; Tabrisi, 8/495; Munyah, 21/135.
[4] Kashif, 6/161.
[5] Munyah, 21/135.
[6] Mizan, 16/217.
[7] Tibyan, 8/276; Suyuti, 5/165. The association of this verse’s descent with the conversion of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ may need to be investigated for its credulity. This is because Sūrat Luqmān is chronologically the fifty-seventh surah to be revealed in Mecca from a total of eighty-six Meccan surahs. Its contents demonstrate that it was revealed after the public summons to the Muslim faith had been made, which resulted in hostilities and opposition to it. The surah’s contents describe it as responding to resistance to the faith. This is while Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ is credited to have been an early convert to the Muslim faith, probably converting around the time of the invitation to the near kin and prior to the onset of the public summons.
[8] Munyah, 21/135.
[9] Tabrisi, 8/495; Tibyan; Munyah, 21/135.
[10] Munyah, 21/135.
[11] Tabrisi, 8/495; Tibyan.
[12] Munyah, 21/135.
[13] Qummi, 2/165; Safi, 4/145.
[14] Suyuti, 5/166.
[15] Qummi, 2/165; Safi, 4/145; Suyuti, 5/166; Razi, 25/120.
[16] Mizan, 16/217.
[17] Munyah, 21/135.
[18] Munyah, 21/135.
[19] Tibyan, 8/276; Tabrisi, 8/495; Munyah, 21/136.
[20] Tabrisi.J, 3/280.
[21] Munyah, 21/136.
[22] Munyah, 21/136.
[23] Cited in Mizan, 16/220.
[24] Mizan, 16/220.
[25] Safi, 4/145.
[26] Safi, 4/145.
[27] Safi, 4/145.
[28] Safi, 4/145.
[29] Safi, 4/145.
[30] Tabrisi.J, 3/280.
[31] Safi, 4/145.