Tafsir of Surah An-Najm - Verse 32

Allah knows Every Matter, whether Small or Big, and He rewards Each according to His or Her Deeds

Allah asserts that He is the King and Owner of the heavens and earth and that He is independent of the need for anyone. He is the authority over His creation and rules them with justice. He created the creation in truth,

لِيَجْزِىَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاءُواْ بِمَا عَمِلُواْ وَيِجْزِى الَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُواْ بِالْحُسْنَى

(that He may requite those who do evil with that which they have done, and reward those who do good, with what is best.) He recompenses each according to his or her deeds, good for good and evil for evil.

Qualities of the Good-doers; Allah forgives the Small Faults

Allah stated that the gooddoers are those who avoid major sins and immoral sins. They sometimes commit minor sins, but they will be forgiven these minor sins and covered from exposure, as Allah mentioned in another Ayah;

إِن تَجْتَنِبُواْ كَبَآئِرَ مَا تُنهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَـتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُّدْخَلاً كَرِيماً

(If you avoid the great sins which you are forbidden to do, We shall expiate from you your (small) sins, and admit you to a Noble Entrance.)(4:31) Allah said here,

الَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَـئِرَ الإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَحِشَ إِلاَّ اللَّمَمَ

(Those who avoid great sins and Al-Fawahish (immoral sins) except Al-Lamam), Al-Lamam means, small faults and minor errors. Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "I have not seen anything that resembles Al-Lamam better than the Hadith that Abu Hurayrah narrated from the Prophet ,

«إِنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى كَتَبَ عَلَى ابْنِ آدَمَ حَظَّهُ مِنَ الزِّنَا، أَدْرَكَ ذلِكَ لَا مَحَالَةَ، فَزِنَا الْعَيْنِ النَّظَرُ، وَزِنَا اللِّسَانِ النُّطْقُ، وَالنَّفْسُ تَتَمَنَّى وَتَشْتَهِي، وَالْفَرْجُ يُصِدِّقُ ذلِكَ أَوْ يُكَذِّبُه»

(Verily, Allah the Exalted has decreed for the Son of Adam his share of Zina and he will certainly earn his share. The Zina of the eye is by looking, the Zina of the tongue is by talking and the heart wishes and lusts, but the sexual organ either substantiates all this or not.)" This Hadith is recorded in the Two Sahihs. Ibn Jarir recorded that Ibn Mas`ud said, "The eyes commit Zina by looking, the lips by kissing, the hands by transgressing, the feet by walking, and the sexual organ either materializes all of this or not. When one commits sexual intercourse, he will be someone who committed Zina. Otherwise, it is Al-Lamam." Masruq and Ash-Sha`bi also held the same view. `Abdur-Rahman bin Nafi`, who is also known as Ibn Lubabah At-Ta'ifi, said, "I asked Abu Hurayrah about Allah's statement,

إِلاَّ اللَّمَمَ

(except the Lamam), and he said, `It pertains to kissing, winking one's eye, looking and embracing. When the sexual organ meets the sexual organ in intercourse then Ghusl is obligatory, and that is Zina."

Encouraging Repentance and forbidding Claims of Purity for Oneself

Allah's statement,

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَسِعُ الْمَغْفِرَةِ

(verily, your Lord is of vast forgiveness.) asserts that His Mercy encompasses everything, and His forgiveness entails every type of sin, if one repents,

قُلْ يعِبَادِىَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُواْ عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لاَ تَقْنَطُواْ مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعاً إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

(Say: "O My servants who have transgressed against them- selves! Despair not of the mercy of Allah: verily, Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.") (39:53) Allah said,

هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُمْ مِّنَ الاٌّرْضِ

(He knows you well when He created you from the earth,) Allah says, `He was and still is the All-Knowing Whose knowledge encompasses your affairs, statements and all of the actions that will be committed by you, even when He created your father `Adam from the earth and took his offspring from his loin, as small as ants. He then divided them into two groups, a group destined for Paradise and a group to Hellfire,'

وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِى بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـتِكُمْ

(and when you were fetuses in your mothers' wombs.) when He commanded the angel to record one's provisions, age, actions and if he would be among the miserable or the happy. Allah said,

فَلاَ تُزَكُّواْ أَنفُسَكُمْ

(So, ascribe not purity to yourselves.) forbidding one from ascribing purity and praising himself and thinking highly of his actions,

هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَى

(He knows best him who has Taqwa.) Allah said in another Ayah,

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنفُسَهُمْ بَلِ اللَّهُ يُزَكِّى مَن يَشَآءُ وَلاَ يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلاً

(Have you not seen those who claim sanctity for themselves. Nay, but Allah sanctifies whom He wills, and they will not be dealt with unjustly, even equal to the extent of a Fatil.) (4:49) In his Sahih, Muslim recorded that Muhammad bin `Amr bin `Ata said, "I called my daughter, Barrah (the pious one), and Zaynab bint Abu Salamah said to me, `The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade using this name. I was originally called Barrah and he said,

«لَا تُزَكُّوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ، إِنَّ اللهَ أَعْلَمُ بِأَهْلِ الْبِرِّ مِنْكُم»

(Do not ascribe purity to yourselves; Allah knows best who the pious people among you are)' They said, `What should we call her' He said,

«سَمُّوهَا زَيْنَب»

(Call her Zaynab.)" Imam Ahmad recorded a Hadith from `Abdur-Rahman bin Abi Bakrah, from his father who said, "A man praised another man before the Prophet . The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«وَيْلَكَ قَطَعْتَ عُنُقَ صَاحِبِكَ مرارًا إِذَا كَانَ أَحَدُكُمْ مَادِحًا صَاحِبَهُ لَا مَحَالَةَ، فَلْيَقُلْ: أَحْسِبُ فُلَانًا وَاللهُ حَسِيبُهُ، وَلَا أُزَكِّي عَلَى اللهِ أَحَدًا، أَحْسِبُهُ كَذَا وَكَذَا، إِنْ كَانَ يَعْلَمُ ذلِك»

(Woe to you, you have cut off the neck of your friend! (He repeated this) If one of you must praise a friend of his, let him say, "I think that so-and-so is this and that; Allah knows best about him and I will never purify anyone before Allah," if he knows his friend to be as he is describing him.)" Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah collected this Hadith. Imam Ahmad recorded that Hammam bin Al-Harith said, "A man came before `Uthman bin `Affan and praised him. Al-Miqdad bin Al-Aswad started throwing sand in the face of that man, saying, `The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered us to throw sand in their faces when we see those who praise."' Muslim and Abu Dawud also collected this Hadith.

Allah Forgives the Small Faults, Al-Lamam

الَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَائِرَ‌ الْإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَاحِشَ إِلَّا اللَّمَمَ (those who abstain from the major sins and from shameful acts, except minor involvements....53:32) The preceding verse praises those who follow the right guidance of Allah and do good deeds. In the present verse, it is stated that the good-doers are those who avoid major sins and, especially immoral sins and shameful deeds. There is one exception made by the expression lamam [ which will be elaborated upon later ].It means that they sometimes do commit minor sins [ lamam ] but that does not exclude them from the category of being muhsinin [ good-doers ].

The Companions and their followers interpret the word لَمَم lamam in two different ways:

[ 1] Some commentators are of the view that it refers to small faults and minor errors which in Surah An-Nisa' has been described as sayyi'at: إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ‌ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ‌ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ " (if you abstain from the major (sins) out of what you have been forbidden from We shall write off your minor sins - 4:31". Ibn-Kathir has reported this from Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas and Abu Hurairah ؓ

[ 2] Some other scholars have held that lamam means, a sin that a person commits incidentally and then repents. After repentance, he never repeats it. Ibn Kathir has reported a narration from Ibn Jarir, first through Sayyidna Mujahid, and again through Sayyidna ` Ata', from Ibn ` Abbas ؓ and through Hasan Basri (رح) from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ . The gist of that narration too is that even if a person were to commit a major sin incidentally and repents, he will not be excluded from the ranks of the God-fearing people. Verse [ 135] of Surah 'Al-` Imran:

[ 3]

وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُ‌وا اللَّـهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُ‌وا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَن يَغْفِرُ‌ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّـهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّ‌وا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُوا وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿135﴾

And those who, when they happen to commit a shameful act or wrong themselves, remember Allah, then, seek forgiveness for their sins - and who is there to forgive sins except Allah? - and do not persist in what they have done, knowingly. [ 3:135]

It should be noted that overwhelming majority of scholars concur that if a person persists in a minor sin and continues to do it in a determined way so that it becomes a habit, it will no longer be a minor sin, but will turn into a major sin. Therefore, Maulana Ashraf ` Ali Thanawi (رح) has explained the word lamam as those small sins in which the doer does not persist.

Definition of Major and Minor Sins

This subject is taken up in full detail in Surah An-Nisa' in this book Vol. 2/pp 404-410, under verse [ 31] إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ‌ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ "If you abstain from major [ sins ] out of what you have been forbidden from, We shall write off your minor sins..." , [ q.v.].

هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْ‌ضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ (He knows you more than anyone else [ from a time ] when He created you from the earth and when you were embryos in the wombs of your mothers...53:32) The word ajinnatun is the plural of janin which means embryo or foetus. This verse purports to say that man does not have knowledge of himself as much as Allah knows him. When he went through the various phases of his creation in his mother's womb, he did not have any knowledge or sense. But his Creator knows fully well how wisely He was creating him. Thus he is made aware of his inability and lack of sufficient knowledge. Having said this, he is further made aware of the fact that any good he does is not his personal accomplishment. The ultimate source of his achievement is Allah: It is Allah who has given him limbs, organs and other parts of the body to perform the righteous deeds; it is He who has equipped him with the ability to move his limbs; then He has created the urge, will and determination to perform righteous actions. Hence, not even the greatest righteous, pious and God-fearing person has the right to pride upon his works and behave arrogantly. Besides, no one yet knows what the end result of his activities will be. Yet the end result is the most important factor in our life. Therefore, pride and arrogance is meaningless.

The concluding part of the verse puts it thus:

فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ

So, do not claim purity [ from faults ] for your selves. He knows best who is God-fearing... (53:32).

In other words, the merit of a person lies not only in his outer actions, but in taqwa in one's heart and in his inner moral excellence and uprightness which endures till his death. Only Allah knows who is perfect in this quality.

Sayyidah Zainab bint Abi Salamah ؓ was named by her parents as Barrah which means 'righteous or upright'. The Holy Prophet ﷺ recited the concluding part of this verse فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ (Do not claim purity for your selves.) and suggested the name be changed. Therefore, they changed her name to 'Zainab'. Imam Ahmad records on the authority of ` Abdur-Rahman Ibn Abi Bakrah ؓ that a person praised another person in the presence of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He stopped him and said "If you have to praise a person, then say, 'according to my knowledge the person appears to be upright and God-fearing وَلَا اُزَکِّی عَلَی اللہِ - and I cannot say that he is so` in the sight of Allah as well'.

Man has been created with human weaknesses. So, it is not required that he be as pure as the angels. Almighty God has given full guidance to man as to what he should do and what he should not. However, man may be pardoned in the case of lesser offences (lamam), i.e. indulging in some mischief because of fleeting emotion, on the condition that he should immediately realise his lapse and, being ashamed of it, seek pardon of his Lord.