AN ANTHOLOGY OF

Qur’anic
Commentaries
Volume I On the Nature o f the D ivine
1.1)11 I I) in I'l.R \S 11 \ \ 1Z \ \ \ | ) SAJJAD R l/M
\\ m i KAR1IAN \ M n I'.R
 AN ANTHOLOGY OF QUR’ANIC COMMENTARIES
VOLUME I
ON THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE

O n the Nature o f the Divine analyses the works o f twenty selected Sunni, S h n ,
Ibadi, M u‘tazill and Sufi commentators on six Q uranic verses, revealing varied
approaches to the scripture and its meaning. In their attempts to discern God’s
nature, the commentators inevitably introduce their own particular theological
co n cerns into their com m entaries. Contextual introductions and annotated
translations allow the reader to follow the genesis o f key intellectual debates
a n d religio-political attitudes still relevant to the lives o f Muslims today.

Feras Hamza is Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the American

U niversity in Dubai. He was a Research Fellow at The Institute o f Ismaili
Studies from 2003-8 and has translated the Tafsir al-Jaldlayn (2008). He will
co n tin u e as a general editor for future volumes o f the Anthology of Q u ran ic
C om m entaries.

Sajjad Rizvi is Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Institute o f Arab and
Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. The author of Mulla Sadra Shirazi (2007),
he is currently compiling a reader on later Islamic philosophy.

F arh ana Mayer is an editor in the Q ur’anic Studies U nit at The Institute of
Ism aili Studies, London. She has translated the early Tafsir ascribed to Ja'far
al-$adiq (Spiritual Gems o f Jo9fa r al-$ddiq> forthcoming 2009) and is currently
translating the medieval Ta/sfr o f K^shanl.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Q uranic Studies Series, 5

Previously published titles:

Suha Taji-Farouki, editor,

Modem Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur’an
(2004)

Abdullah Saeed, editor,

Approaches to the Qur’an in Contemporary Indonesia
(2005)

Annabel Keeler
Sufi Hermeneutics: The Qur’an Commentary of Rashid al-Din
Maybudi
(2006)

Fahmida Suleman, editor,

Word o f God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions
(2007)
An Anthology of Qur’anic
Commentaries

VOLUME I

On the Nature of the Divine

EDITED BY

Feras Hamza and Sajjad Rizvi,

with Farhana Mayer

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 The Institute of Ism aili Studies

T he i n s t i t u t e of ismaili studi es was established in 1977 with the

objectives o f prom oting scholarship and learning on Islam, in historical as well
as contem porary contexts, and fostering better understanding o f Islam’s rela­
tionship w ith other societies and faiths.

The In stitu te ’s program m es encourage a perspective which is not confined to

the theological and religious heritage of Islam, but seeks to explore the rela­
tionship o f religious ideas to broader dim ensions o f society and culture. The
program m es thus encourage an interdisciplinary approach to Islamic history
and thought. Particular attention is given to the issues o f m odernity that arise
as M uslim s seek to relate their heritage to the contem porary situation.

W ithin th e Islamic tradition, the Institute prom otes research on those areas
which have, to date, received relatively little attention from scholars. These
include th e intellectual and literary expressions o f Shi'ism in general and
Ismailism in particular.

The In stitu te’s objectives are realised through concrete program m es and activ­
ities organised by various departm ents of the Institute, at times in collabora­
tion w ith other institutions of learning. These program m es and activities are
inform ed by the full range o f cultures in which Islam is practised today. From
the M iddle East, South and Central Asia, and Africa to the industrialised soci­
eties in th e W est, they consider the variety o f contexts which shape the ideals,
beliefs a n d practices of the faith.

In facilitating the Q ur’anic Studies Series and other publications, the Institute’s
sole purpose is to encourage original research and analysis o f relevant issues,
which often leads to diverse views and interpretations. W hile every effort is
made to ensure that the publications are of a high academic standard, the opin­
ions expressed in these publications m ust be understood as belonging to their
authors alone.
 QUR ANIC STUDIES SERIES

T he Q u r ’an has been an inexhaustible source o f intellectual and spiritual

reflection in Islamic history, giving rise to ever-proliferating commentaries and
in terp retatio n s. M any of these have rem ained a realm for specialists due to
their scholarly demands. Others, more widely read, remain untranslated from
the p rim ary language of their composition. This series aims to make some of
these m aterials from a broad chronological range - the formative centuries of
Islam to the present day - available to a wider readership through translation
and publication in English, accompanied where necessary by introductory or
explanatory m aterials. The series will also include contextual-analytical and
survey studies of these prim ary materials.

T hroughout this series and others like it which may appear in the future, the
aim is to allow the materials to speak for themselves. N ot surprisingly, in the
M uslim w orld where its scriptural sources continue to com m and passionate
interest a n d com m itm ent, the Q ur’an has been subject to contending, often
antithetical ideas and interpretations. The series takes no sides in these debates.
The aim rather is to place on record the rich diversity and plurality of
approaches and opinions which have appealed to the Q u r’an throughout
history (and even more so today). The breadth o f this range, however partisan
or controversial individual presentations within it may be, is instructive in
itself. W hile there is always room in such m atters for personal preferences,
com m itm ent to particular traditions of belief, and scholarly evaluations, m uch
is to be gained by a simple appreciation, not always evident today, o f the e n o r­
mous w ealth of intellectual effort that has been devoted to the Q ur’an from the
earliest times. It is hoped that through this objective, this series will prove of
use to scholars and students in Q u ran ic Studies as well as other allied and rel­
evant fields.
 Contents

Foreword by Dr Omar Ali-de-Unzaga xi

Acknowledgements xiii
Note on translation and conventions xv
List o f abbreviations xvii

In troduction 1
M ap o f centres of learning in the Islamic world 20
The com m entators and their commentaries 21

1 Seeking the face o f God (Q. 2:115) 67

M uqatil; Hud; QummI; ‘Ayyashi; Tabari; Zamakhshari; TabrisI;
F akhr al-Dln al-Razl; KashanI; Abu Hayyan; Burusawl; Alusi;
M uham m ad ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida; MawdudI; Fadl All&h

2 G od’s throne and the seat o f knowledge (Q. 2:255) 127

M uqatil; Hud; QummI; ‘Ayyashi; Tabari; Abu Hatim al-Razl;
Ja‘far b. M ansur; MaybudI; Zamakhshari; TabrisI; Fakhr al-Dln al-Razl;
KashanI; Abu Hayyan; Sharafi; Burusawl; Alusi; M uham m ad ‘Abduh
and Rashid Rida; MawdudI; Fadl Allah

3 Incum bent mercy (Q. 6:12) 299

M uqatil; Hud; QummI; Tabari; MaybudI; Zamakhshari; TabrisI;
F akhr al-Dln al-Razl; KashanI; Abu Hayyan; Burusawl; Alusi;
M uham m ad ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida; Fadl Allah

4 Light o f the heavens and the earth (Q. 24:35) 347

M uqatil; Hud; QummI; Furat; Tabari; Ja far b. Mansur; MaybudI;
Zam akhshari; TabrisI; Fakhr al-Dln al-Razl; KashanI; Abu Hayyan;
Burusawl; Alusi; MawdudI; Fadl Allah

5 The measure (Q. 54:49) 455

M uqatil; Hud; QummI; Tabari; MaybudI; Zamakhshari; TabrisI;
Fakhr al-Dln al-Razl; Abu Hayyan; Sharafi; Burusawl; Alusi; MawdudI;
Fadl Allah

ix
Contents

6 O neness (Q . 112) 491

Muqatil; Hud; QummI; Furat; Tabari; Abu Hatim al-Razi;
Maybudi; Zamakhshari; Tabrisi; Fakhr al-Din al-RazI;
KashanI; Abu Hayyan; Sharafi; Burusawi; Alusi; Fadl Allah

Prosopographical appendix 577

Bibliography 603
Index 647
Index o fQ u rd n ic citations 667

x
 Foreword

The Anthology of Q uranic Commentaries aims to make the reception and inter­
pretation o f the Q ur’an accessible to anyone interested in cultural and religious
studies, rath er than it rem aining the province o f those specialising in Islamic
studies. W ith this in mind, the main research question underlying the Anthology
is: how do historical, intellectual and social circumstances affect interpretation?
The m ultiple volumes of the Anthology will, collectively, emphasise the his­
toricity o f tafsir, the fact that each com m entator - and com m entary - is a
p ro d u ct o f his own tim e. The volumes are designed as a standard reference
work and textbook for university courses, but they also contribute towards a
‘mapping* o f how ideas, concepts, dogmas and fields o f knowledge have
evolved along a fluid history to the present time. The Anthology is a reflection
o f the plurality o f m eanings that the Q ur’an itself allows for, and which have
produced a vast and venerable tradition of diverse interpretations.
Each volum e in the Anthology o f Q u ran ic C om m entaries will focus on a
group o f Q u r’anic verses organised thematically, and present the commentary
on an d interpretation o f each verse by a selection o f com m entators represent­
ing various schools o f thought. The selected com m entaries will extend across
a broad chronological range, from the first com m entaries to the present day,
and reflect linguistic and cultural variations in the field o f tafsir. The choice of
themes for the volumes is informed by three main concerns: the topics covered
in the Q u r’an itself; the various subjects that have preoccupied com m entators
th rou g h o u t history, w hich change over tim e in a variety o f ways; and those
issues relevant to today’s world and to contem porary scholarly understanding
o f the intellectual history o f Islam and its heritage.
This multi-volume work hopes to add to our understanding o f the evolution­
ary an d context-dependent character of many Islamic religious and theological
concepts, and to the M uslim com m unity’s conception o f its own intellectual
history. Such an approach calls for an exam ination o f Islamic thought as an
evolving phenom enon which responded, and continues to respond, to the cir­
cumstances of each period. This research supports the conception of Islam as a
fluid intellectual civilisation w ith internal variety, in contrast to the view of
Islam as a rigid, monolithic and unchanging com m unity and set o f norms.
O m ar Alf-de-Unzaga
Academic Co-ordinator, Q u r’anic Studies
The Institute of Ismaili Studies

xi
 Acknowledgements

T h is volum e has been several years in the m aking and along the way num er­
o u s scholarly debts have been incurred. W ithout presum ing to repay them ,
w e sh o u ld like to begin by acknow ledging o u r debt to D r Shainool Jiwa,
th ro u g h whose efforts the Q u ran ic Studies U nit took shape and under whose
g u id a n c e th e project was conceived. A fu rth er debt is owed to Professor
A z im N anji, D irector of The Institute o f Ismaili Studies (IIS), for his unfail­
in g su p p o rt and encouragem ent through o u t the p ro ject’s life. D uring the
in itia l stages, various sections were reviewed by Professors Alan Jones,
H e rm a n n Landolt and W ilferd M adelung. S upport an d feedback were
o ffered by Professors Josef van Ess, Abdullah Saeed and Roy M ottahedeh.
W e w ould like to thank D r Farhad Daftary for his support o f the project and
fo r the publication o f this volume.
W hen w ork on the A nthology began, several o f the translations o f the
A rabic com m entaries were commissioned to scholars outside the IIS. In the
tim e since their contributions were submitted, scholarly considerations as well
a s the exigencies of consistency and style have m eant that most, if not all, of
th e ir translations have undergone revisions - in some cases m inor, in others
m ajor. W hile m any o f these scholars may not now recognise their translations,
w e do here acknowledge and thank them for their contributions: M arianna
K lar for Abu Hayy&n al-G ham ati and AIusI; Elizabeth Lee-Hood and Ahmad
A tif A hm ad for their work on the M andr com m entary; A nnabel Keeler for
M aybudI; N ouha Khalifa and Christina Phillips for Fakhr al-Dln al-Razi; and
H elen Blatherwick for Tabari, Zamakhshari, and parts o f Fakhr al-Dln al-Razi.
M any thanks are also due to our colleagues in the Q u r’anic Studies U nit,
w h o never hesitated to offer their time and expertise. W e thank Toby Mayer
for his help on philosophical and theological matters, Karen Bauer for her inci­
sive com m ents on the introduction, and Fahmida Suleman, for her suggestion
o f the cover image. Samir Dawoud and Christina Philips also contributed, as
d id IIS editors Nadia Holmes and W endy Robinson, our patient indexer Peter
A ndrew s, and the talented designer and typesetter, John Saunders. The book
benefited from the attention of Eleanor Kilroy, who came on board during the
final m onths and was an indispensable part o f the editorial team. Omar Ali-
de-U nzaga deserves special m ention, not only for co-ordinating the Q ur’anic
Studies U nit, but also for making this project a priority and for his generosity.
O u r final debt o f gratitude is to a gifted colleague and editor, Nancy Hynes.

xiu
Acknowledgements

W ithout her professionalism , planning and personal enthusiasm for the

project, this volume would not have appeared. Any shortcom ings that persist
- and there will be plenty in a work of this sort - she could not have know n
about.

The Editors

xiv
 Note on translation and conventions

In tran slatin g the prim ary texts, we have attem pted to rem ain as faithful as
p o ssib le to the original Arabic. T hus while the translations will invariably
n o t read like idiom atic English, the student o f Arabic or the interested reader
a rm e d with the Arabic text should be able to follow the original fairly closely.
T h e reader o f the Arabic text will also be aware o f the ubiquitous in terru p ­
tio n s to the flow of the text in the form o f divine eulogies or honorifics for
p ro m in e n t individuals. W e have tried to lim it these parenthetical remarks
in o u r translations; principally, it should be recognised th a t w here the
P ro p h e t’s nam e is m entioned, the standard honorific o f $alld Alldhu 'alayhi
w a sallam or wa 1alayhi al-$aldt w a ’l-salam, which w ould appear in the orig­
in a l texts, has been om itted in the translations for the sake o f brevity and flu­
id ity in English.
Given the voluminous nature o f much of the tafsir material and the obvious
restrictions o f space, a num ber of editorial measures were deemed necessary.
T his is particularly relevant to Tabari’s commentary. The chains o f transm is­
sio n (isnads) in Tabari have been removed from the English translation and
o n ly the crucial transm itter(s) is named: so, al-H asan said, o r Ibn ‘Abbas
s a i d . o r M a'm ar from Qat£da said. The isnad for that report is then provided
in th e footnotes. Reports with identical content have been omitted.
Later com m entators often reproduce exegetical m aterial cited in earlier
com m entaries, and since the later commentaries are extensive, an ellipsis [...]
is used to indicate where the translation has been abridged with the relevant
n o te indicating where it resumes.
G ram m atical discussions occupy a substantial space in m ost o f the classical
co m m entaries and we have om itted a certain am ount o f these. However, it
w ould have been unfaithful to the nature of tafsir works to remove all such dis­
cussions. Indeed, in some instances it is simply not possible, since m any o f the
syntactical discussions have implications for the theological doctrines being
discussed by the com m entator.
The translations o f the Q ur’an were taken from A.J. Arberry, M. Pickthall
a n d ‘All Q ull Q ara’l, with m inor modifications.

Transliteration and dates

T he system o f transliteration used is essentially that of the Encyclopaedia o f Islam,
w ith the exception o f dj and k» which are represented as j and q respectively.

xv
Notes on translations and conventions

Dates are given in both Hijri (AH) and Christian (AD) calendars; if they stand
alone, they are to be read as Christian era dates. Shamsi dates are indicated by sh
and the equivalent Christian era date is given.

References
References to prim ary sources are given in short form throughout; full details
are available in the prim ary sources section o f the bibliography. References to
secondary sources use the author-date system; full details are in the secondary
source section o f the bibliography. All encyclopaedia references are given in
full in the notes.

Citations from the Q u r’an, whether in transliterated Arabic o r in English, are

in italics and are identified by [Q.], followed by the verse and sura num ber.
W here the Q ur’an has been paraphrased or is not an exact citation, the relevant
text is indicated by [cf. Q.].

xvi
 Abbreviations

Please note: PA has been used throughout to refer to the Prosopographical

appendix to this volume.

E IX Encyclopaedia o f Islam, 1st edn, Leiden, 1913-38

El2 Encyclopaedia o f Islam, 2nd edn, Leiden, 1954-2004
Elr Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 1982-
EQ Encyclopaedia o f the Q uran, Leiden, 2001-2006
ER Encyclopaedia o f Religion, 1st edn, New York, 1987
ER2 Encyclopaedia o f Religion, 2nd edn, D etroit, 2005
GAL Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, Leiden, 1898-1949
GAS Geschichte der arabischen Schrifttums, Leiden, 1967-84
GQ Theodor Noldeke, Geschichte des Qorans, 2nd edn, Leipzig, 1909-38
Lex. Edw ard W. Lane, A n Arabic-English Lexicon, London, 1863-93
TD O T Theological Dictionary o f the Old Testament, G rand Rapids, MI, 1995
TG Josef van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert
Hidschra: Eine Geschichte des religiosen Denkens im fruhen Islam,
Berlin, New York, 1991-7

xvu
 Introduction

F rom about the third/ninth century, Q u r’anic exegesis (tafsiral-

Q u r ’dri)1 has constituted an im portant sub-discipline o f a larger scholarly dis­
cipline known as 'ulurn al-Q urdn (literally, the sciences o f the Q ur’an).2 This
scholarly discipline has been responsible for a literary output that has contin­
u e d into the m odern day. Tafsir works have been principally composed in
Arabic, but they also have been written, and continue to be written, in many of
th e languages o f the com m unities where Muslims have lived: Persian, U rdu,
T urkish, Swahili and Malay am ong others. W ith the exception o f recent
attem pts to create new paradigms for approaching and interpreting the Q ur’an,
prim arily by contem porary M uslim intellectuals seeking to find relevances in
th e text to m odem Muslim society,3 there has been a remarkable continuity of
form and m ethod in the production of tafsir works since the beginnings o f the
exegetical enterprise. Such continuity, however, has not m eant a uniformity of
opinions; varied herm eneutical approaches and interpretations have always
found a place within a shared reverence for the divine text. It is hoped that this
anthology of Q u ran ic commentaries will reflect that plurality o f voices within
a shared intellectual heritage. Before discussing the structure o f this volume,
the history and developm ent of Muslim tafsir will be briefly surveyed.

Qur’anic commentary ( tafsir)

The em ergence o f Q u r’anic exegesis as a formal discipline in its own right

rem ains elusive. But from the beginning o f Islam, exegetical activity in a less
form al sense w ould have been prom pted by engagem ent with the scripture.
O n e can safely assume that the earliest manifestations o f exegesis would have
b e en the result o f practical considerations on the part o f members of the early
M uslim com m unity.4 O ut o f a concern for the ‘proper* application o f the
Q u r ’anic text to religious and social life, the earliest exegetical discussions
w o uld have focused on ritual and law.5 A nother significant dim ension to
exegetical activity in the earliest period would have been the contribution made
b y the so-called religious ‘storytellers* (qu$$ds) to the ever-expanding body o f
exegetical narratives.6 The desire and curiosity on the part o f com m on believ­
e rs to hear ‘the tales* about prophets or angels and to know m ore details o f

1
On the Nature of the Divine

other central themes of the Q u ran ic narrative was catered for by these popular
preachers, which in tu rn m eant that ‘narrative exegesis* w ould constitute,
alongside law and ritual, a m ajor aspect o f the earliest exegetical discussions o f
the Q u ra n .
D uring his lifetime, M uham m ad would have been the ultim ate arbiter o f
m eaning and the acknowledged m ediator between the revelation and his
immediate followers, whenever questions were posed about the Q u r’an. After
his death, those who had been closest to the revelation, including his family
and Com panions ($ahdba), would have assumed most o f the responsibility for
the explication of the revelation. W ith the passing o f the first generation o f the
Prophet’s followers, however, the prerogative o f interpreting the scripture
became more widely diffused among a succeeding generation of scholars who
had know n and studied w ith prom inent individuals o f the first generation,
such as Ibn ‘Abbas (d. 68/687), Ibn Mas‘ud (d. 32/652), Ubayy b. Ka‘b (d.
42/662) and the Prophet’s cousin ‘All b. Abl Talib (d. 40/660). It is in this
second generation, know n as that o f‘the Successors’ (fdfri‘wn), that one might
safely look for a probable starting-point for Q u ra n ic exegesis as a scholastic
discipline.7 Indeed the most celebrated and oft-cited authorities o f exegetical
opinions belong to this era: M ujahid b. Jabr (d. 104/722), Q atada b. Di‘ama (d.
118/736), al-Hasan al-Ba$ri (d. 110/728), Sa‘id b. Jubayr (d. 95/714), M uqatil
b. Sulayman (d. 150/767), Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778), Sa‘ld b. al-Musayyab
(d. 94/713), ‘Ikrim a (d. 105/723-4), Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 124/742) and al-
Pafihak b. Muzafiim (d. 105/723), to name but a few, are standard sources for
exegetical narratives in Sunni com m entaries; while individuals like
M ubam m ad al-Baqir (d. 117/735 or earlier) and his son Ja'far al-$adiq (d.
148/765), Zurara b. A‘yan (d. 150/767) and Hariz b. ‘Abd Allah (d. 149/765)
are principal authorities in the parallel Twelver and Isma‘ili Shl‘i works.
A lthough it is possible to postulate the chronology o f the early history of
Q ur’anic exegesis as an activity, one cannot accurately surmise the precise form
which exegetical activity at this stage took. Indeed there is a sustained debate
am ong m odern scholars over issues relating to the m anner in which these
com m entaries were put together, finalised and transm itted: determ ining the
authenticity o f the material that purports to be early tafslr work is what drives
this debate.8 The question of when commentaries on the Q u r’an were first for­
malised and put together as texts is, importantly, closely tied to and dependent
upon the issue o f orality and literacy in early Islam.9 It is generally accepted,
however, that w ritten texts that could be considered the earliest formal com ­
mentaries on the Q u r’an had emerged at the latest by the early second/eighth
century.10 Indeed, that is the period to which the earliest of the commentaries
used in this volume belongs: the Tafsir o f M uqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767).

2
 Introduction

These formal commentaries share a num ber o f features and concerns as well
as a general m ethod, and so they can be justifiably identified as a genre o f
w riting within the larger field of Q u ran ic sciences. Indeed, Q ur’anic exegesis
can be found in m any form s of M uslim w riting and underpins m any of the
intellectual disciplines within Islamic learning, such as philology, rhetoric, the­
ology and philosophy.11The works that concern this anthology, however, con­
stitute a literary sub-genre of Q u r’anic sciences solely concerned w ith the
explication o f the text o f the Q u ra n qua text, as opposed to Q u ran ic interpre­
tation concerned with the elucidation of a specific aspect of law in a jurispru­
dential context, or the use of a Q uranic verse as proof-text in support o f a point
o f theology or gram m ar. A lthough Q u ra n ic com m entaries will invariably
contain theology, law and, to a greater degree, grammatical discussions, these
elements do not constitute the prim ary motivation for the com position of the
com m entary, even though they represent its content substantially. Almost all
o f the works used in this volume are commentaries on the entire narrative of
the Q u r’an an d not just on a single aspect o f it. The earliest example o f a
Q ur’anic com m entary (sc. that o f Muqatil b. Sulaym&n) relies on paraphrase
to explain the text o f the Q ur’an. This approach means that the exegesis phys­
ically sits w ithin the text o f the Q u r’an, the verses separated by the author’s
explanatory glosses, and this in turn means that one is able to read and under­
stand the text of the Q ur’an with minimal disruption to the flow of the narra­
tive.12 Com bined with this paraphrastic m anner of exegesis is a concern with
explaining aspects of the Q ur’an with recourse to narratives derived from the
Jewish and C hristian traditions (referred to as isrd'iliyydt) and events in the
life o f the Prophet (sira material), as well as the pre-Islamic Arabian tradition.13
A nother early type o f com m entary were tafsir works based on philological
interests in the Q ur’an, and the elucidation o f its lexical aspects with reference
to etym ology and syntax. Examples o f these are the M a d n t al-Qur'dn of al-
Farra’ (d. 207/822) and the M ajdz al-Qur'dn o f Abu 'Ubayda (d. 209/824-5).
W ith tim e these com m entaries became m ore elaborate in co n ten t,14 and
Qur anic exegesis began to acquire certain formal features; it is on the basis of
these features that m odem scholars sometimes refer to Q u ran ic exegesis as a
literary genre. C om m entators authored commentaries within parameters that
were im plicitly acknowledged (and expected) by all those involved in the
exegetical profession: knowledge of philology, jurisprudence and theology, as
well as of the huge body of transm itted reports (hadith or athar), constituted
just som e o f the requisite qualifications for authors of Q u ra n ic com m en­
taries.15 The commentaries, in large part, begin from the opening chapter (sura)
of the Q ur’an and work their way through the remaining 113 suras. There are
generally two ways in which the com m entators proceed in term s o f which

3
On the Nature of the Divine

sections or verses o f each sura they comment on. In some of the commentaries,
such as those o f Muq&til, Tabari, Abu Flayyin al-G harnatl (henceforth Abu
Hayyan), almost every verse has some exegetical narrative appended to i t In
other com m entaries, such as those o f H ud, the three early ShlT works of
QummI, Furat and ‘Ayyishl, and that ofK&shinl, for example, the authors are
much more selective in the verses they comment on. In such cases, the selection
is determ ined not by the fact that the relevant exegetical reports or traditions
to those verses, or sections, have been transm itted to that com m entator, but
because the author wishes to represent or voice the exegetical tradition o f his
own school or affiliation (e.g., S h n o r Sufi). Typically, the com m entator will
rehearse previous scholarship on a given verse, reproducing the opinions of
earlier authorities who are generally Com panions or their Successors (or the
imams in the case o f the ShlT com m entaries), but sometimes later experts in
specific fields, and thus cover various aspects o f a particular Q u ran ic passage
(lexical, syntactical and semantic). The authors o f these commentaries will also
add their own voice to the exegetical record by preferring one opinion over
another or by adding to the range o f opinions.16 M odem scholarship generally
agrees that Q uranic com m entary reaches its classical form by the fourth/tenth
century, as exemplified by the great com m entary Jdmt al-baydn ‘art ta'wil ay
al-Q urdn o f Abu Jafar al-Tabari (d. 310/923). Tabari’s tafsir is arguably the
first classical commentary: the com m entaries after Tabari either reproduced
his exhaustive approach, in which all traditions and reports relating to a
Q u ra n ic w ord or verse are included, or modified it by abridging it (cf.
M&wardi’s, d. 450/1058, al-Nukat wa'l-‘uyun). W ith the increasing prolifera­
tion o f exegetical material, individual com m entators, while adhering to the
classical form typified by T abari’s Jdmt al-baydn, could chose to emphasize
their particular interests in their particular commentary. In his tafsir, al-Jdmi
li-ahkdm al-Q urdnt al-Q urtubl (d. 671/1272) brings together a large am ount
o f exegeses that clarify the m eaning and the implication o f the law (shan a). In
his m onum ental M afdtih al-ghaybt Fakhr al-Din al-R&z! (d. 606/1209) inter­
weaves his standard rehearsal o f previous scholarship with extended discus­
sions o f A sh'ari theology and aspects o f Avicennan philosophy. Such tafsir
works should not be seen as exceptions to the classical form of commentary,
but rather as variations within it, and even then variations only in term s of the
degree to which one aspect predom inates over others within the work.
Having surveyed the form and content o f these medieval commentaries, it
is useful to discuss the dynamics of the herm eneutical approach and its prem ­
ises. As m entioned earlier, the genre of writing itself is referred to by the term
tafsir al-Q urdn. It should be noted that this word refers both to the ‘explana­
tion’ - the exegesis - o f a Q u ran ic word, verse or passage (and by extension,

4
 Introduction

th e scholastic discipline) and to an individual work o f exegesis (sc. T abari’s

Tafsir as a reference to his commentary Jdmi‘ al-bayan). The word derives from
th e ro o t/-s-r, and its basic sense is ‘explanation’. Indeed, that is the im port o f
th e term in the context o f its single occurrence in the Q u r’an (at Q. 25:33).17
A n o th er term which appears far m ore frequently in the Q u r’an, with a seem­
ingly sim ilar sense to tafsir , is ta ’wil .18 N o clear-cut distinction between the
tw o term s can be inferred from their use in the Q ur’an. This am biguity is
reflected in the exegetical literature, where the two terms have often been used
synonym ously to refer to the process o f interpreting the scripture. However,
in th e efforts to classify Q u ra n ic exegesis and formalise its m ain features,
attem pts were m ade to create a clear distinction between the two terms; these
efforts became the locus o f an ongoing debate about w hat constituted the
‘proper* hermeneutical approach to the text.
The debate over the emerging distinctions between tafsir and ta 9wil had evi­
d ently n o t been resolved by the fourth/tenth century, as can be seen from the
substantial excursus devoted to it by al-M aturidl in his com m entary Taw ilat
a l-Q u r’drt. 19 O ne distinction that seems to have been sustained was on the
technical level o f how one referred to the genre itself. W hereas tafsir could
d en o te both the process of exegesis and the individual commentaries, ta w tl is
never used to describe Q u ra n ic com m entary as a literary genre.20
The tension between the two term s is reflected in M uqatil’s introduction to
his com m entary (one of the earliest examples o f the genre), where he cites the
following statem ent reported from Ibn ‘Abb&s: ‘The Q u r’an has four aspects:
tafsir, which scholars are able to know; Arabic which Arabs are familiar with;
th e licit and the illicit which no one can afford to be ignorant of; and ta w il
w h ich only G od knows.* W hen Ibn ‘Abbas is asked w hat that ta w il is, he
replies that it is ‘That which will be.’21 H ere we see an attem pt to im pose a
definitive demarcation between tafsir and ta w il22 by identifying the latter with
know ledge of the unseen (ghayb), a purely divine prerogative.23 But this also
suggests that ‘alternative’ m ethods in interpretation were being applied to the
Q u r ’anic text and that these were m et with some hostility by the traditionalist
au thorities.24 W hat these ‘alternative’ approaches may have been is difficult to
say, b u t one can safely surmise that the ‘opinion-based* method of exegesis is
th e target of this criticism. The approach o f exegesis based on reasoned opinion
(ra 9y ) is thus set up in opposition to exegesis based on transm itted statements
(h a d ith ), w hether going back to the Prophet, his C om panions o r their
Successors. In traditional Muslim literature on tafsir, these categories are com ­
m o n ly used to describe various M uslim com m entaries. It is generally con­
ceded, especially by m odern scholarship on tafsir, that these labels do not
co n stitu te categories into which individual commentaries can be placed, but

5
On the Nature of the Divine

are convenient ways of describing the many hermeneutical procedures being

employed by a given commentary. Needless to say, most, if not all, com m en­
taries contain a good measure of both.25
Early M uslim attem pts to classify and delineate the ‘right* herm eneutical
approach to exegesis seem to have coalesced around a key Q u ra n ic passage,
Q. 3:7. This verse became the locus for a debate between Muslim scholars on
the proper classification of Q u ra n ic exegesis. The question turns on where a
recitational pause is effected in the verse, which reads:

He it is W ho revealed to you the Book, wherein are verses [that are] clear
(m uhkam dt) - constituting the essence o f the Book - and others ambiguous
(mutashabihdt). As fo r those in whose hearts there is deviation, they follow
the ambiguous therein, seeking [to cause] dissension by their [very] desire to
interpret it (ta ’wil). But no one knows its [true] interpretation except God
[optional pause] and those firm ly rooted in knowledge, they say: we believe
in it; it is allfrom our Lord [...].

If the pause is om itted, then clearly interpretation (here ta ’wit), hence

knowledge, o f those ‘ambiguous* verses o f the Q ur’an is to be understood as a
prerogative not only o f God but also of certain qualified individuals. This verse
thus establishes the connection between ta'wil and ‘ambiguous’ verses, verses
which exoteric exegesis, or a ‘superficial* reading, is not able to penetrate.26 The
lack of any qualification o f ‘those firmly rooted in knowledge* (al-rdsikhunafi’l-
T/m), other than the possession o f knowledge, provided justification for those
scholars who were defending the validity o f their attem pts at individual, rea­
soned, engagements with the scriptural text against a rising tide of scholars who
insisted that any valid exegesis o f the text would have to be based strictly on
transm itted knowledge (hadith). This seemingly natural phenom enon of schol­
ars seeking to understand the Q ur’an on the basis o f their acquired knowledge
and out o f personal initiative was not limited to the arena of Q u ra n ic exegesis,
but reflected an early tension in Islam between opposing approaches to reli­
gion, one based on transmission (naql) or reports (hadith), the other on reason
('aql) or reasoned opinion (ray).27 It is against this background of the debate
over what constituted valid sources of religious authority that the uneasy rela­
tionship between tafslr and ta’wil should be viewed. More importantly, Q. 3:7
implied that if a Q ur’anic verse could not be understood from its literal, appar­
ent sense (zahir), then a deeper, inner (bdfin) meaning existed and this level, if
it w ere to be accessed, required a knowledge beyond that which could be
applied at the ‘surface’ level of the written word. Early Muslims noted this, and
one finds several hadiths which in effect later served as proof-texts in support
o f esoteric exegesis. The most well-known is the hadith attributed to the famous

6
 Introduction

C om panion Ibn M as'ud,28 where in effect the Q ur’anic text acquires a four-fold
aspect: an apparent sense (zdhir), an inner sense (bafirt), a limit (hadd) and a
m uU ala (a look-out point). Echoing the words o f Ibn M asu d are several other
statem en ts attributed to both ‘All b. Abi Talib and Ja‘far al-$adiq, in which
th e four-dim ensional aspect o f the Q u ra n ic text is reiterated and with it the
n o tio n that different levels o f knowledge can probe different profundities of
m ean in g .29 M oreover, it was clear from Q. 3:7 that a certain am ount o f the
Q u r’an was open to m ore than one level of interpretation.30 For m any early
M uslim s who read Q. 3:7 with the recitational pause in such a way that, after
G od, ‘those firmly rooted in knowledge’ were accorded the privilege o f being
able to tap deeper Q ur’anic significations, the link between ‘ambiguous’ verses
(m utashdbihdt) and ta w il constituted the means by which the scripture could
be engaged in order to vindicate esoteric exegesis that could accom m odate
com peting religio-political ideologies (such as early Shiism ) o r higher dim en­
sions o f reality (Sufism). This in effect explains why the term ta w il is m ore fre­
q u e n tly used w ithin the context o f S h il and Sufi exegesis w hich sought
(esoteric) levels o f meaning beyond the apparent letter o f the Q ur’an. By apply­
ing the term ta w il to that aspect o f their engagement with the scriptural text,
th ey were able to reserve the term tafsir for the traditional (exoteric) sciences
o f th e Q u r’an, at once preserving their attachm ent to the traditional exegetical
en terp rise while moving beyond the traditional hermeneutical paradigm.

An anthology o f Qur’anic commentaries

T his volume, then, is a collection of Muslim exegetical narratives on selected

v erses o f the Q u r’an. These narratives are taken from seventeen works of
Q u r ’anic com m entary (tafsir), two Ism ail! ta’wil works and a Zaydl com pila­
tio n 31 that span thirteen centuries of Islamic history, beginning in the
second/eighth century and extending into the twentieth/fourteenth. The com ­
m entaries are the work o f key representatives o f the principal Muslim religious
d en om inations: Sunnism , S hiism (Twelver, Ism ail! and Zaydl) as well as
Ibadism . In addition some of these commentaries, beyond their particular con­
fessional affiliation o r legal school, are also coloured by theological schools
(A sh cari, Mu'tazill), and philosophical (Aristotelian, Neoplatonic) or mystical
(Sufi) sub-traditions, some of which began to emerge as early as the
second/eighth century.
U ltim ately the aim o f this collection is to dem onstrate the richness o f the
g en re o f Q ur’anic com m entary and the plurality o f interpretative voices that
h av e engaged the text o f the scripture. By draw ing on com m entaries, m any

7
On the Nature of the Divine

well-known but others less so, our purpose has been to present the broadest
possible range of Muslim commentaries on the Q ur’an, from as many perspec­
tives and as m any styles as considered feasible w ithin the covers o f a single
volume. This volume then is intended to make available a representative selec­
tion of this literature in English, but at the same time to be comprehensive in
the treatm ent o f this selection, primarily by translating the text word for word
and by guiding the reader with contextual m aterial in the accom panying
annotation.32

The structure o f the work

Each chapter deals with a single Q u ra n ic verse and presents the com m en­
taries on that particular verse that are available from the twenty works selected
for this anthology. In some o f the chapters, the reader will note the absence
of one or m ore of the twenty commentaries; this is because Muslim com m en­
tators vary in the am ount of Q u ra n ic text which they select for interpretation,
and some are not concerned with providing an exegesis o f every single verse
o f the text.33 All six chapters are structured along the same lines: each begins
with a contextual introduction, situating the im portance o f the verse and
sum m arising the gist o f the com m entaries that will follow. The introductions
focus on the theological implications o f each verse in broad and, where appro­
priate, religio-comparative terms. They also may draw com parisons between
the different com m entaries; highlight general trends or exceptions in the
approaches o f the commentators; and articulate as far as possible the way in
which the exegetical narratives, although drawing on different confessional
traditions, intim ate a common heritage that allows for a plurality o f interpre­
tations to exist under the unifying umbrella o f M uslim tafsir. This last goal is
especially im portant given that the volum e is sam pling some 1,200 years of
tafsir tradition across diverse geographies.

The selection o f verses

The title The Nature o f the Divine seemed a logical starting-point for an anthol­
ogy o f com m entaries on the Quri&n - there simply is no other them e that is
more pivotal than that o f ‘God’. This centrality has been reflected in tafsir lit­
erature over the centuries. Discussions o f the divine nature, divine attributes
and of the relationship between the divine and the hum an (between God and
the world) have consistently held a central position w ithin theological and
philosophical works throughout the various M uslim schools o f thought. In
addition, it will be seen that m any of the issues discussed in the course of the
commentaries presented here are either on-going universal debates or have a
broader relevance extending into contem porary times, and so provide some

8
 Introduction

insight into the depth and breadth of the Islamic intellectual and spiritual her­
itage. The selected them e for volume one is, o f course, crucial to the fields o f
theology, philosophy, history and, by extension, comparative religion, moral
ethics a n d ecumenical dialogue - but it cannot be expected to pertain to ‘sci­
entific’ m atters, which historically were not addressed in the herm eneutical
trad itio n until the present age.34
As for the verses themselves, these were selected on account o f the substan­
tial a ttention accorded to them by the com m entators and, to a certain extent,
o n account o f their prom inence w ithin the M uslim popular consciousness.
Three criteria were thus borne in m ind w hen making this present selection: 1)
the significance of certain verses for devotional purposes; 2) verses used to con­
textualise and place Islam within the overall Abrahamic tradition; and 3) verses
th at play an im portant role in intra-M uslim apologetics.
The following provides brief oudines of the justifications underlying each
o f the six chosen verses:

• Q. 2:115, God’s omnipresence

This verse establishes the relationship in time and place between God and His
servants; it addresses the question o f G od’s om nipresence and the w isdom
b eh ind H is establishing a ‘direction o f prayer* (qibla). Discussions about the
qibla are significant because o f their affirmation o f M uslim identity and
because, together with the profession o f the faith (shahada), the qibla is an
essential symbol o f the faith unifying the range of schools and confessional
g ro ups in Islam: whatever Muslims m ay argue about with one another, they
are u n ited under the banner, self-proclaimed, o f ahl al-qibla.

• Q. 2:255, God’s seat/throne

This verse deals with G od’s attributes, m ore specifically, with His sovereignty,
know ledge, power and management o f creation. The question of God’s attrib­
utes is essential for understanding the disputes among the earliest intellectual
m ovem ents in Islam. Significantly, it is on the basis o f G od’s attributes that
philosophers were able to work out their theories about the process of creation,
G o d ’s relation to it, and its ultim ate destiny - issues that are still debated in
philosophy and theology today. In addition, the com m entaries on this verse
also inform us about the liturgical uses o f this verse in Muslim devotions and
th e verse’s appeal to Muslim consciousness, past and present.

• Q. 6:12, God’s mercy

This verse substantiates a fundamental M uslim teaching, namely that G od has
m a d e it incum bent upon Himself to be merciful, something which has always

9
On the Nature of the Divine

been pitted against G od’s threats o f severe punishm ent for sinners in the
Hereafter; it also provides a starting point for discussions about the nature of
rew ard and punishm ent w ithin the overall divine scheme. This is clearly an
im portant verse given that the question o f the status of sinners was a divisive
issue in early Islam and sometimes constituted the defining stance o f a partic­
ular M uslim sect. Furtherm ore, through the unique form ulation o f the rela­
tionship o f mercy to God, as stated in this verse, God reveals H im self in the
Q u r’an as quintessential^ merciful. This formulation - kataba 'aid nafsihi al-
rahma - may be rendered He has inscribed mercy upon His self, for nafs means
self as well as ‘essence* (dhat), and is used only in relation to m ercy (it is
repeated only once again in the scripture, at Q. 6:54). Am ong the com m en­
taries on this phrase, mercy is related to the perfection of the divine essence
(dhat) and to the very being of existents.

• Q. 24:35, God’s light

For Muslims, this is the most famous simile of God. O f all the Q ur’&nic images,
‘light* is arguably the most significant, since it represents one o f God’s greatest
favours to hum ankind: His guidance. In interpreting it, the com m entaries
discuss the nature of His guidance, through the Q ur’an, the Prophet and, in the
case of S h n commentaries, the imams. For all the different intellectual currents
in Islam, God’s explicit reference to Himself as the light o f the heavens and the
earth was the stimulus for a plethora of interpretations and discussions among
theologians, mystics and philosophers that sought to define the nature of this
fascinating and incontestable link between God and the phenom enon of light.

• Q. 54:49, God’s measure

The com m entaries tell us that, as ‘M aster C reator’, God created everything
according to a precise measure; this is reflected in the world around us (in crea­
tures, nature and the cosmos). M ore significantly, of course, it also raises the
question o f whether in predetermining measures for every thing, God also pre­
ordained the fate and course of life for all His servants. Together with the ques­
tion of the this-worldly status and the other-worldly fate of the M uslim sinner,
the question o f ‘free will* versus predestination constituted one of the earliest
theological dilemmas faced by early Muslims; this question is still debated
today by philosophers and religious scholars all over the world.

• Q. 112, God’s oneness

This sura articulates the fundam ental doctrine of the M uslim faith, belief in
which - and this is possibly the only point upon which Muslims o f all denom ­
inations unequivocally agree - constitutes the m inim al requirem ent for a

10
 Introduction

p erso n to be identified as a Muslim. The im portance o f including this sura is

self-evident. The commentaries will present to the reader the m anner in which
th is foundational concept of their religion has been understood by Muslims.

The selection o f commentators

Needless to say, it is a near impossible task to select the most im portant Muslim
co m m en tato rs while also covering the range o f Sunni, ShlT, Iba<Ji> MuTazill
a n d Sufi sub-traditions, across thirteen centuries of exegetical activity. Some
co m m entators, because o f their prom inence in their own times and beyond,
co n stituted an obvious choice: al-Tabari, al-TabrisI and Fakhr al-Dln al-Razi,
to n am e a few. The choice o f the rem aining authors, however, was dictated by
th e need to avoid including com m entaries which, while not insignificant in
themselves, when grouped with others produced repetitious content. In certain
cases, although it was acknowledged that a tafslr was im portant, it was felt that
th e inclusion o f that com m entary w ould have underm ined the objective o f
offering as varied a range of exegetical styles as possible (particularly medieval
to m o d ern ones). This is exemplified by the decision to include Fa<Jl Allah’s
com m entary instead o f al-Tabataba’I’s M izan. While the latter’s approach to
exegesis, notably his inclusion of the fundamental, the rational and the mysti­
cal elements o f ShiT tafsir, may to a large extent be gleaned from a combination
o f th e com m entaries of al-Q um m i, al-Tabrisi and Burusawl, Fa<Jl Allah’s
approach, idiosyncratic and unique as it is, could not, it was felt, be represented
at all by resorting to any other commentaries.
The selection of com m entators could never reasonably be based on any cri­
te ria such as the ‘best’ com m entaries. Indeed, there are argum ents against
including the com m entaries o f AlusI and Mawdudi. In a similar vein, a recent
m onograph (Saleh 2004,5) has argued that the tafsirof Tha'labl should assume
as privileged a place as, if not replace, that of Tabari in m odern scholarship on
tafsir, but again, the concern was to provide that range which would represent
a plurality of voices and styles.
O n e clarification rem ains regarding three o f the works used here. In our
a tte m p t to be representative of the range of Muslim exegetical activity, it was
felt th at the IsmaTl! contribution to the field could not properly be om itted.
H ow ever, as the reader will note, the two Isma ill works included here do not
conform to the format o f tafsir described above. The reason for this is that the
very doctrinal premise o f Isma Ilism precludes the notion o f a systematic (exo­
teric) com m entary on the Q ur’an, of the sort that are employed in this volume.
This literary lacuna ensues from the general Isma'Ili belief that the literal text
(zahir) o f the Q ur’an, while indispensible, is only symbolic of a deeper inner
tru th (bafin), which can only be accessed and disseminated by the imam, for

11
On the Nature of the Divine

w hom Is claimed the status o f an enunciating word o f God, o r ‘the speaking

Q u r’an’ (Q u r a n ndfiq), as opposed to the ‘silent’ ($dmit) scriptural text
between the covers. However, this does not mean that the Qur’an plays an
insignificant role in Ism alll teachings and writings, nor does it mean that there
is a complete absence o f texts that focus on the Q ur’an o r explain it in order to
justify and elucidate Ism ail! doctrinal positions. The Q u r’an -ta w il works, in
fact, constitute a genre o f Isma ill literature in itself (often taking the form o f
recorded Majdlis).35
Despite these formal differences, the reader will note that a fair am ount o f
what, for example, Abu H atim al-Razi's Kitdb al-Zina offers, has m uch in
com m on with the other tafsirs: grammatical explanations, hadith reports and
so on. Beyond practical considerations, the main reason these particular texts
were chosen was to represent the two traditions: Fatimid Isma'ilism (Ja far b.
Man$ur) and Persian Q arm atism (Abu Hatim al-Razi). The only other
anomaly, in this respect, is the com pilation by al-Sharafi; again, this was
included in order to properly represent the Zaycfi exegetical tradition from the
earliest times, given the lack o f substantial o r extant tafsir works. Detailed
descriptions of these relevant works will be found in the chapter on the com ­
m entators and their commentaries.

Using this work

In the past decade or so a handful of works on the topic o f M uslim tafsir have
been published, but none have drawn on as extensive a range of commentaries,
both confessionally and historically, as this volume. Though the actual contents
of the chapters may serve as an informative them atic study o f M uslim tafsir,
the simple purpose of this otherwise am bitious exercise has been to acquaint
students and interested readers with a wide and varied selection o f com posi­
tions from the huge body o f literature that is Muslim exegesis. It is with this
purpose in m ind that detailed introductions to the com m entators and their
works have been included in a separate section in this volume (see ‘The com ­
mentators and their commentaries’). It is hoped that this section and the proso-
pographical inform ation in the appendix will constitute a valuable source of
reference for students o f Islamic studies, given that the great majority o f these
com m entators are not only little know n by non-specialists or students o f the
field, but also have received scant attention in m odem studies on Muslim tafsir.
A nother key feature o f this volum e is its extensive annotation. It was felt
that the few previously published works on this subject do not provide the sort
of sufficient annotation that would equip the reader with the references neces­
sary to follow up on themes or points of interest. Thus, the extensive annota­
tion that runs right through this work will allow the reader, in m ost cases, to

12
 Introduction

easily find the standard references as well as up-to-date works on a particular

th em e o r idea. In many instances the notes themselves provide occasion for
expanding upon certain debates and allowing for analyses of themes w ithout
in tru d in g on the main text itself.
For teachers one obvious way to use this volume would be to select samples
from fo u r o r five commentaries on the same theme (in other words, from the
sam e chapter) and then present them to students for analysis. The point is then
that th e student should be able to recognise those features that distinguish, say,
a S unni com m entary from a ShlT one. Such features may be im m ediately
noticeable from the isndd (the chain o f names listing the transm itters o f a
rep ort); this, the student can learn to do fairly quickly. M ore often th an not,
how ever, they will need to learn to tease out such distinguishing features
th ro u g h a close reading of the text and an analysis o f its substance as it relates
to th at particular religious affiliation. It is hoped that there is enough material
in this volum e to reflect the different styles in which M uslim com m entaries
have been composed over the centuries, and in particular to provide students
w ith sufficient examples o f what a particular type o f tafsir, for example a Sufi
one, does w ith the Q u ran .

<^>

W hile o u r starting point for this volume was not a ‘thematic* study o f tafsiryit
was immediately obvious that some sort of organising principle was needed to
b rin g such a wide and varied range o f com m entaries together in a single
volum e u nder a single title. O ur choice o f a ‘theme* as an organising principle
is by n o m eans the only or best m ethod of presenting tafsir literature; it is cer­
tainly n o t foolproof. For even within the same theme, different commentaries
m ay select different verses as relevant to their inquiry. Sometimes m ore than
one verse may be traditionally used to express the religio-political sentim ents
o f a given group, so that com m entaries belonging to another confessional
g ro up m ay not have anything to say on those verses, all o f which renders the
task o f bringing together com m entaries from across confessional affiliations
in to o ne volume that more difficult. Moreover, commentaries written during
a particular historical period may share socio-political features and theological
concerns com m on to that era, so that one useful way of bringing confessionally
diverse commentaries into play would be a volume o f commentaries organised
acco rd in g to a historical period. Still anoth er potentially fruitful approach
m ight be to group commentaries according to madhhab or religious denom i­
nation {a volume of Shl‘1commentaries, for example) and to then present their
n arratives on a particular them e com m on to ShiT com m entaries o f all ages
(say, o n the question o f the imamate). In certain cases, tafsirs may be grouped

13
On the Nature of the Divine

according to the topic with which they seem to be m ost concerned (Arabic
gram m ar, for example), and so on and so forth.
In all cases, it is believed that M uslim tafsir may be useful not only as a
reflection of, ultimately, a plurality o f religious discourse within Islam, but also
as source-material for the study of the development o f religious ideas as they
crystallise across time. For Q ur anic com m entary in Islam is not only a cum u­
lative record o f Muslim exegetical w ork since the time o f the Prophet, but also
a repository for theological concepts and religio-political attitudes, a repository
that can be used to chart and even date the development o f these concepts and
attitudes as they re-emerge from one com m entary to the next. For example,
on the Sunni side, one could use the com m entary of M uqatil b. Sulayman (d.
150/767) and com pare or contrast lingering theological issues as they re­
appear in the later Sunni com m entary of Tabari (d. 310/923). Similarly, but
now on the ShiT side, one could take the three early S h fi com m entaries of
Q um m i, ‘Ayyashi and Furat (all fourth /ten th century) and com pare their
stances on particular questions w ith those o f the later ShiT com m entaries of
Tabrisi and Tusi, com m entaries com posed in a distinct socio-political envi­
ronm ent. Thus, even taken chronologically, com m entaries may offer insight
into the developm ent of the very religio-political group or confessional
denom ination to which they belong.36

N O TES
1 No exhaustive survey of the genre can be offered here. However, excellent introductions
to the genre of tafsir, its emergence, development and sub-categories, plus useful bibli­
ographies, can be found principally in the following three encyclopaedia articles: Andrew
Rippin, ‘Tafsir’, ER2, XIII, 8949-57; Andrew Rippin, Tafsir’, El2, X, 83-8; and Claude
Gilliot, ‘Exegesis of the Qur’&n: Classical and Medieval’, EQ, II, 99-124. Bearing in mind
the bibliographies included in the previous articles, further reading on the subject should
begin with Rippin 1988, Hawting and Shareef 1993; Rippin 1999 (a Variorum) conve­
niently brings together in one volume a collection of articles by various experts in the field.
In these three books the specialist will find the necessary references to trace modem schol­
arship on tafsir back to its origins with Goldziher’s pioneering study (1970; now available
in English, Goldziher 2006). The Koran: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies, ed. Turner
(2004), is an alternative source for many of these foundational articles on Muslim exege­
sis.
The field of Islamic studies is now witnessing a surge of monographs focusing on indi­
vidual exegetes. In this respect, the reader is referred to Saleh 2004 on al-Tha'labi (d.
427/1035), and Lane 2006 on the Mutazili, al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144); for Mutazili
exegesis, however, see Gimaret 1996. Studies of Shu exegesis are few and far between, but
the standard reference is Bar-Asher 1999, especially for what concerns the earliest period
of Imam! commentary. The editors of this anthology know of imminent monographs on
each of the two major Twelver Imam! commentators of the later classical period, al-TusI

14
 Introduction

(d. 460/1067) and al-Tabrisi (d. 548/1154). For what concerns Sufi commentary on the
Q u r’an, Sands 2006 is the most recent addition. For a comparative religious look at
medieval exegesis, as it has functioned in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, a useful refer­
ence work is McAuliffe et a i 2003, with several contributions from scholars specialising
in the three fields.
2 Other sub-disciplines of the Quranic sciences are recitation (tildwa), memorisation (hiff),
knowledge of the Qur’an’s lexical content (ma'&nt) its unusual vocabulary (gharib), the
various readings (qird'df), its rhetorical qualities (baydn)> its inimitability (i'jdz), knowl­
edge of its abrogated and abrogating verses (al-ndsikh wa’l-mansukh) and many other cat­
egories. It should be added that some of these categories (like the m adnt) themselves
constituted the earliest examples of tafsir; and certainly most of these categories feature in
varying degrees, depending on the commentator himself, in most of the classical commen­
taries. For a detailed survey, see Claude Gilliot, Traditional Disciplines of Qur'&nic
Studies’, £Q, V, 318.
3 For examples of such reformist endeavours, see the individual chapters on modem
Muslim intellectuals in Taji-Farouki 2004.
4 Many parallels can be drawn with the Jewish and Christian exegetical traditions. McAuliffe
et aL 2003 is one recent, and unique, work that has sought to address possible overlaps and
differences between the Muslim tradition and that of its sister Abrahamic religions.
5 Cf. Versteegh 1993,63-78.
6 Ch. Pellat, ‘Sa$$\ EP, IV, 733; Pedersen 1948 and 1953; ‘Athamina 1992.
7 Note that this generation o f‘the Successors’(tdbi'un) played a seminal role not only in the
early stages of Qur’inic commentary, but also in the early biographical accounts of the
Prophet (maghdzU later sfru), jurisprudence (fiqh) and b*dith: indeed much of the early
exegetical material took the form of hadith. These developments in Islam cannot be sep­
arated and are heavily intertwined. See Susan A. Spectorsky, Tabi'Cm’, EP, X, 28.
8 According to the account of the emergence of exegesis by Muslim tradition, the key figures
in this respect are certain companions like ‘All b. Abl T*lib, Ibn MasQd, Ibn ‘Abbas, Ubayy
b. Ka‘b, Zayd b. Thibit, Abu Musa al-Ash‘arI, Jabir b. ‘Abd Allah and Abu Hurayra.
However, it is really with individuals from the succeeding generation, associated with
some of these companions (principally Ibn ‘Abbas) and the students of these successors,
that tafsir works - as they have come down to us - really emerge.
9 Schoeler 1997 is a significant contribution to this debate. For an overview of the develop­
ment of the genre, see Berg 2000.
10 Many o f these early works have now been published. Principal among them are the tafsin
o f Mujahid b. Jabr (d. 104/722), Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767), Sufyan al-Thawri (d.
161/788) and ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-$an‘ani (d. 211/827). Whether all of these are formal com­
mentaries, penned by the individuals to whom they are attributed, is a concern expressed
by Versteegh (1990,207):'(...) these so-called commentaries are nothing more than a col­
lection of quotations from later commentaries relating to individual verses without any
internal cohesion’. The only exception is Muqatil, whose commentary exhibits sufficient
homogeneity of content, style and theological premises, for it to be considered an authen­
tic transmission of his exegetical work. The tafsir attributed to Ibn ‘Abbas (d. 68/687), and
frequently nowadays published as being so, is in fact a much later product (see Rippin
1994), and the problems associated with such ‘early’ works is dealt with elsewhere by
Rippin 1984.
11 So, for instance, one may find numerous instances of Qur’anic exegesis in early hadith
compilations, or in theological epistles, or in works dealing with the lexicon of the Qur’an

15
On the Nature of the Divine

(respectively, the Mufannaf of'Abd al-Razzaq, or early M uijil and Ibid! epistles, as well
as lexicographical works such as Muqitil b. Sulaymin’s al-Ashbdh wa’l-nazd’ir).
12 The commentary of Muqitil b. Sulaymin (d. 150/767) is representative of this form of
commentary. Note also the much later Tafsir al-Jaldlayn begun by al-Maball! (d. 864/1459)
and completed by his student al-Suyufi (d. 911/1505).
13 Cf. Gilliot 1999,13. This type of exegesis is what John Wansbrough (1977,119) calls hag-
gadic, according to his exegetical typology, and he also suggests that it constituted the ear­
liest type of Qur’inic exegesis (1977,121). Beyond a historical sequence, some scholars
impose the following thematic categorisation upon the earliest, or pre-classical, tafsir
works (those that pre-date, for example, that of al-Tabari): narrative, legal, textual, rhetor­
ical, allegorical. With the emergence of the classical period of tafsir, the content o f ‘ency­
clopaedic* commentaries tends to subsume most, if not all, of these thematic categories
(cf. Rippin, ‘Tafsir’, ER2, XIII, 8952-53).
14 On average, the works of the classical period run into 15 physical volumes in 30 parts,
whereas those of the earlier period are usually 2 or 3 volumes, sometimes just 1.
15 See Calder’s attempt at defining the genre and how the 'game is played’ (1993,101-6).
16 Indeed the very material which the commentator chooses to include or exclude can to a
large extent serve to identify both his exegetical ‘lineage’ and his commentary as distinctive
contributions to the genre: cf. McAuliffe et a i 2003,312.
17 In his famous medieval lexicon of Qur’inic terms, the Mufraddt alf&z al-Qur’dn, al- Raghib
al-l$fahinl (fl. end of third/ninth century), provides the following explanation of the verbal
root f-s-r.
al-fasr is the manifestation of an intelligible meaning [...] al-tafsir is an intensive form
[tafil] of al-fasr, and it refers specifically to individual expressions, including unusual
ones, as well as to ‘interpretation’ [al-ta’wil], which is why they [the Arabs] use both
terms [tafsir and ta’wil) for [the explanation of] dreams. God says, ‘And a better expla­
nation [wa-ahsana tafsiranY [Q. 25:33].
18 On this root, Righib states:
ta’wil is from al-awl, that is, to go back to the origin [of something]. From this derives
the word al-maw’il, which is the place to which one returns. The meaning [of tawil] is
to restore something to that which is its essential purpose, be it knowledge or deed. For
what concerns knowledge, there is [the following verse], But no one knows its interpre­
tation [ta’wtlahu] except God and thosefirmly rooted in knowledge [Q. 3:7); and God’s
saying, Are they simply waiting for its fulfillment (ta’wiluhu)? The day when it [the
Qur’in] is fulfilled ... [Q. 7:53], that is, its exposition which constitutes its ultimate
purpose. As for His saying, That is better and more excellent in interpretation [wa-
ahsanu ta’wilan] [Q. 4:59], means that is the best understanding and interpretation; but
it is also said to mean: that is the best reward in the Hereafter.
The root ’-w-l and the related form ta’wil appear some seventeen times in the Qur’an,
mostly with the meaning o f‘interpretation* in the context of dreams, events and actions:
in this respect it comes close to its primary significance of things returning to their origi­
nal, or ultimate, meaning.
19 Note, of course, the title of this work. On MaturidI and his commentary in this respect, see
Gotz 1999,181-214. This lack of distinction, or refusal to acknowledge it on the part of
traditionalist exegetes, is also evident from the titles of other commentaries: that of Tabari,
Jdmi' al-baydn ‘an taw il dy al-Qur’dn, and that of Baydawi, Anwdr al-tanzil wa asrdr al-
ta’wil.
20 Even when ta’wil was construed as synonymous with tafsir and hence appears in titles (see

16
 Introduction

n. 19), it was never used to refer to an individual’s commentary. All commentaries, regard­
less of the hermeneutical method they employed (including those that resulted in esoteric
exegesis), were referred to as tafsirs.
21 Clearly Ibn ‘Abbas’ response is inspired by a Quranic verse in which ‘interpretation’
(ta'wil) is in fact the unravelling or disclosure of the ‘Book’ by means of its fulfilment in
the future, so that its ultimate significance finally becomes clear Are they simply waiting
for itsfulfilment (ta'wiluhu)? The day when it (the Qur’an] isfulfilled, those who had neg­
lected it will say, *The Messengers of our Lord had indeed brought the truth!' (Q. 7:53].
22 On ta'wil, see Ismail Poonawala, ‘Ta’wil’, £P, X, 390-2. On interpretations of the word
ta'wil in Q. 3:7, and its significance in Qur’anic hermeneutics, see McAuliffe 1988; Kinberg
1988; Lagarde 1985. On Ghazali’s views on metaphorical interpretation see his Ihyd', I,
84-5 (for the English, see Fans 1962,50-2); Aydin 1999; Heer 1993; Goldfeld 1988.
23 It is clear that the attempt to harmonise the two terms from the traditionalist point of view,
to make them synonymous in accordance with what the ahl al-hadith believed Qur’anic
exegesis should constitute, was not immediately successful. In the same section of
Muqatil’s introduction, there is also the following interesting statement attributed to Ibn
‘Abbas: ‘Learn the [proper] interpretation (ta’wiI) of the Qur’an before there come a folk
who will (attempt to] interpret it not in accordance with its (true) interpretation (ta'wil).’
One is given to understand that the traditionalist approach to Qur’anic exegesis, one based
on transmitted reports from authoritative figures (the Prophet and his Companions), was
competing with other approaches to the text, where recourse to such traditional authority
may not have been considered essential. It is likely that the proponents of the latter
approach were using the term ta'wil to describe their engagement with the text, and so the
statement by Ibn ‘Abbas is an attempt by their opponents, the traditionalists, to reclaim
the term ta’wil and restrict it, like tafsir, to exegesis based on tradition.
Versteegh’s (1993,63) rendering of ta'wil in this context as ‘application’ does not con­
tradict this reading, and in any case it does not seem to be the obvious sense of the word
as used in the report
24 The hostility in the statement stems from the traditionists (the ahl al-hadith), the advo­
cates for a tradition-based approach to all aspects of religious life (where authoritative
opinion is only that supported by a tradition going back to the Prophet or a Companion);
this is evident in the ascription of these words to Ibn ‘Abbis, a figure who looms large in
Muslim literature as the father of traditionist exegesis (turjumdn al-Qur’dn) and the source
of a large body of hadith.
25 In effect, the label tafsir bi’l-ra'y was more often used by Muslim scholars to criticise a
commentary, likewise, tafsir bil-ma'thur served to emphasise that a given commentary
was acceptable and adhered to the ‘rules of the game’. The commentaries of al-Tabari and
Fakhr al-Dfn al-R&zi are two good examples of this; the former’s work is considered an
exemplary tafsir bil-ma'thur (even though it obviously contains much ra'y), while the
latter’s was often criticised for containing nothing but ra'y (when R*zl repeatedly opens
his exegetical discussion with ma’thur, ‘transmitted knowledge’); cf. McAuliffe 1988.
26 Cf. Goldfeld 1988; also, Leah Kinberg, ‘Ambiguous’, EQ, 1,70-7.
27 The conflict could be seen in the field of jurisprudence, where schools of law crystallised
around seminal figures of the generation (tdbiun) that succeeded that of the Companions
and where jurisprudence relied on the reasoned opinion (ray) of these individual teachers,
for lack of a fixed or stable body of traditions that could be used to respond to the legal and
ritual requirements of an expanding Muslim community. See Schacht 1950 and 1964 on
the development of Muslim jurisprudence; cf. Hallaq 2005,5,69,74-8.

17
On the Nature of the Divine

28 There are many variations of this hadith and different commentators understand it in dif­
ferent ways, depending on whether they deem ‘esoteric1exegesis as a valid product of the
engagement with the text Sands (2006,8-13) discusses several versions of these in classical
Sufi commentaries, as well as the standard approach of precluding the possibility of
knowing the ‘inner’ sense, as exemplified by Tabari’s comments on the hladith.
29 Sands 2006,12-13. What is interesting about Ja‘far al-$idiq’s statement is that the four
divisions are made to correspond to four groups of individuals: The Book of God contains
four things: [literal] expression (‘ibdra), [symbolic] allusion (ishdra), subtleties (lafd’if)
and [the deepest] realities (haqd’iq). The expression is for the common folk (‘awdmm),
the allusion is for the elite (khawd$$), the subtleties are for the friends [of God] (awliyd’),
and the realities are for the prophets (anbiyd'Y (also in Nwyia 1967,179).
30 The question of which verses were ‘dear’ and which were ‘ambiguous’ is irrelevant, quite
aside from the fact that there was no consensus in either case. Q. 3:7 read in one way makes
it clear that much of the Qur’in was open to interpretation through taw il, which is why
the latter becomes the hermeneutic of choice for Shl'is and Sufis; while tafsir, in the sense
of the use o f‘transmitted’, figures in the exegetical tradition of both groups, it is through
ta’wil, and not tafsir, that Shl'is vindicate the concept of the imam (with all that it entails),
finding references to it in the Qur’an, and it is likewise through ta’wil that the Sufi is able
to align his or her mystical experience with a deeper reality concealed within the text of
the Qur’in. Note that taw il in this sense plays no role in Sunni exegesis: Sunni ta'wil is
largely tafsir, whereas Shi'i and Sufi tafsir, where it matters most, is essentially ta'wil. The
question of whether one can only speak o f ‘esoteric’ exegesis in the context of Shi'i and
Sufi commentaries is another matter altogether.
31 While the two Isma'ili works (Abu Hitim al-Rlzi and Ja'far b. Man$ur) and the Zaydi
compilation by al-Sharafi are not formal tafsir works, the reasons for their indusion are
discussed further on pp. 11-12.
32 English translations of entire tafsirs are now appearing under the aegis of the Royal Aal
al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in conjunction with Fons Vitae (the series entitled
Great Commentaries of the Holy Qur’in); to date four commentaries have been translated
into English in toto (the Jaldlayn of Mafralll and Suyttfr Wibidi’s Asbdb, the tafsir ascribed
to Ibn ‘Abbas and that of the Sufi al-Tustarl), though many more have been commis­
sioned. There is some secondary literature (most at least two decades old, but nonetheless
useful) which contains passages of translated material from tafsir, but these works, with
the exception of one which is an abridged translation, generally have a limited selection.
Mention should be made of the following works: Ayoub 1984-92; Gatje 1976; Cooper
1987, and much more selectively, Wheeler 2002a and 2002b. A recent monograph by
Sands (2006), a welcome addition to secondary studies in the field of tafsir, contains some
translated passages, but is more important for its focus on the hermeneutics that inform
Sufi commentaries on the Qur’an.
33 See the summary of the distribution of the commentaries in relation to the selected verses
provided at the end of this introduction.
34 By ‘scientific’ commentary (tafsir ‘ilmi) is meant those commentaries composed in
modern times and in which the author makes use of the results of modern science to
explain the Qur’inic verses that refer to cosmological and biological themes, most often
as a means of demonstrating the ‘miracle’ of the Qur’an in that its revelations prefigured
modem discoveries: see Rotraud Wielandt, ‘Exegesis of the Qur’an: Early-Modern and
Contemporary’, £Q, II, 124, for examples.
35 Cf. al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirizi’s Majalis, on which category of literature, see Wilferd

18
 Introduction

Madelung, ‘Madjlis: in Ism^Ili Usage’, V, 1031. Further details are provided in the
entries on the two works used here and their authors in the chapter on the commentators.
36 Cf. Rippin (1982, 230): ‘Employing early tafsir texts in a larger framework or to demon­
strate other themes has yet to progress very far [... ] the development of grammar, of theo­
logy, of sectarian trends and of mysticism are all potentially traceable through a close
analysis of these early works.’

19
 The commentators and their
commentaries

T he six chapters of this volum e present the content o f selected

com m entaries on each of the six verses, but only deal with the actual com m en­
tators secondarily. The focus of this introduction, then, is on the authors o f the
tw enty exegetical works used for this anthology. The twenty entries provide
essential prosopographical data on these individuals, the historical and socio­
political context in which they wrote, and the details of their religio-political
affiliations - that is, their ‘exegetical lineage*. It is hoped that this brief in tro ­
d u c tio n to each of the com m entators will provide useful background against
w hich their exegetical comments can be read. Readers might also refer to the
m a p o n p. 20, which features m ajor centres of learning in the Islamic w orld as
well as those cities and villages where the commentators lived and studied.
T w o com m entaries stand out in th at the text they contain is not, strictly
speaking, the work o f a single author. The seventeenth-century commentary by
al-S harafi is a com pilation o f extracts from earlier, mostly no longer-extant,
tafsir works attributed to some six Zaydl imams; hence the need to include sub­
sections on these individuals within the entry on Sharafi. The commentary enti­
tled al-M anar was initiated by M uham m ad ‘Abduh at the turn of the twentieth
cen tu ry , but later expanded and formalised by his student Rashid Ri<Ja. Again,
th e e n try on this commentary is subdivided into two sections that concentrate
on each o f the two authors.
Finally, the reader should note that this introduction is limited to covering
prosopographical information on the authors of the twenty commentaries. For
sim ilar information on all other prom inent figures that appear in this work, the
re a d e r is directed to the Prosopographical Appendix (PA) at the end o f this
volum e.

Muqfttil b. Sulayman al-Balkhi (d. 150/767)

A m aw ld o f the Asad,1 a traditionist and an exegete, AbuT-Hasan Muq&til b.

Sulaym an b. Bashir al-Azdl al-K hurasanl al-Balkhi (d. 150/767) was b o m in
Balkh (in m odem -day Afghanistan) and lived in Marw and Iraq.2 His scholarly
activities took him as far afield as Beirut and Mecca. M uqatil’s case is very

21
On the Nature of the Divine

special within the field of Q u r’&nic tafsir, as his tafsir of the Q u r’an is most likely
the earliest extant com m entary.3 Given the general sensitivity surrounding the
issue o f early Islamic texts, scholars tend to be sceptical about the authenticity
o f early commentaries on the Q ur’an, but they are less so with Muqatil's tafsir*
The case for its authenticity is based on the consistently uniform nature of the
author’s approach in his commentary, and the conformity of these character­
istics to what we know about Muqatil as an exegete and theologian from later
sources that make reference to him. First, he makes fairly abundant use of
Biblical narratives (isrd’iliyydt) for his comments on any Q u r’anic reference to
pre-Islamic Judaeo-Christian figures or events.5 Second, he does not hesitate
to interpret anthropom orphic verses about God literally, so that for him God
has a hand, an eye and sits on a throne, etc.6 Finally, he undoubtedly believed
that all Muslims would attain salvation in the Hereafter, and that even if a
Muslim sinner were to end up in Hell, he would eventually exit from Hell on
the basis of the belief in the oneness of God, that is, the affirmation of Id ildha
illdTldh (there is no god except God), a theological conviction that pervades his
com m entary on eschatological verses in general. These three factors would
make him a M uiji’I traditionist.7 Some studies have suggested, unconvincingly,
that he was a Zaydl theologian;8 it has even been suggested that Muqatil was
politically a Zaydi,9 but this seems improbable and there is certainly no histor­
ical evidence to support either claim for his Zaydism. There is plenty of evi­
dence, however, that he was a Murji’l, at least in terms of theology.10 Consistent
with his traditionalism, he also seems to have held determinist views.11
The exegetical corpus ascribed to him is rarely, if at all, acknowledged in the
works of later Sunni traditionists (a$hdb al-hadith); often exegetical reports are
reproduced without explicit mention o f his name as transm itter or narrator. It
seems likely that this was on account of his disregard for isnads, his perceived
exaggerated dependence on the Biblical israiliyyat material, and his proclivity
to interpret Q u r’anic anthropom orphic verses in a quite literal m anner.12
Despite these ‘blemishes’, and even though he is not explicitly cited by later
commentators such as Tabari, it is clear that his work was always a source for
Q u r’anic exegetical m aterial.13
He is the author of two other works on the Q ur’an: one is the Kitdb Tafsir al-
khams m i'at dya min al-Qur’an al-karim,14 which organises verses under legal
topics and gives basic interpretations of them. The other, called al-Ashbah (or
al-Wujuh) wal-nazd*irfil-Qur’dn al-karim,xs examines Q ur’anic expressions by
providing several meanings for certain words, with a comment on each meaning
and an analogue (na?ir, pi. nazair) where the word is used in the same sense.
O ther Q ur’anic works attributed to him are not extant.16 But a third work, Kitdb
Mutashdbih al-Q urdn, in which he deals with the allegorical interpretation of

22
 The commentators and their commentaries

th e ‘am biguous’ verses in the Q u ra n , is extant in the Sunni work of Abu’l-

H u sayn M uham m ad b. Ahmad al-Malap (d. 377/986) entitled Kitdb al-Tanbih
w a ’l-radd *ala ahl al-ahwd1wa’l-bida' (The Book o f Warning and Refutation o f the
People o f Heresy and Innovation) which attacks groups of heretics, an interesting
fact given his condemnation among Sunn! traditionists.17

H u d b. M uhakkam al-H aw w ari (fl. fo u rth /te n th century)

Little is know n about this Iba<jl thinker and com m entator; even the Ibadi
sources do not tell us very m uch.18 This is partly due to the neglect of the study
o f the Kharijis from whom the m odem -day Ibadiyya are historically descended,
albeit they represent a far more m oderate form of that Kharijism. Hud was of
th e B erber Haww&ra tribe o f Ifrlqiya, who supported the Ibadi im am s of
T ripolitania in N orth Africa, based in Tahart,19 in their struggle against the
Fatim ids.20 His father, Muhakkam (d. c. 258/872) was a judge appointed by the
Ibadi Rustam id Imam al-Aflah b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab b. Rustam (d. 258/872), in
th e Awras m ountains in what is now eastern Algeria.21 It may be that, like his
father, H ud was a judge in the same region. At some stage he seems to have
m oved to study in Qayrawan, where Ibadi scholars lived and studied alongside
M alikls,22 and where he first became acquainted with the tafsir of the Basran
Yahya b. Sallam (d. 200/815).23 His famous Ibadi contemporaries - Ibn Sallam
al-Law ati (d. post 273/886), also a Berber, and his fellow tribesm an Ibn al-
Saghir al-Hawwari24 - make no m ention of him .25 But later authors mention
his fame and knowledge, and especially the importance of his tafsir?*
H u d ’s com m entary is not historical o r legendary as van Ess suggests (based
o n a m anuscript he consulted in M zab),27 but rather one prim arily based on
n a rra tio n s and theological discussions.28 Moreover, it eschews periphrastic
com m ent. In fact, it draws upon the (M urji’I) ta/iir of Yahya b. Sallam, of which
it is a sort o f abridgement.29 The latter had lived and taught in Qayrawan for a
while before moving to Egypt, where he died. He transmitted the commentaries
o f al-H asan al-Ba$ri, al-Sudd! and al-Kalbi.30 His commentary was well known
in Qayrawan and was transm itted both by his son M uhamm ad (d. 262/875)31
a n d , m ore importantly, by Abu Dawud A hm ad b. Musa al-Azdi al-‘A ttar (d.
274/887),32 whose recension was more widely known. O n Ibn Sallam’s author­
ity, H u d quotes a recension of the com m entary by al-Hasan al-Ba$ri.33 If one
com pares the contents o f the two works, as the editor Bi’l-Hajj has, one notices
a great deal o f convergence. However, because Ibn Sallam seems to have been
an a d h e re n t of M uiji’ism,34 whose doctrine of faith conflicted with th at of
K harijism in general and with Ibadism in particular, Hud adds the necessary

23
On the Nature of the Dhrine

Ibadl material to express the ‘correct* teaching on such issues. For example, he
makes it quite clear that one could not be a ‘true* believer merely on account of
faith (imdn) - that which was the classical MurjiT position - but required works
Carnal) in addition to attain salvation in the Hereafter.
The edition used here is based on a single manuscript that is incomplete at
the beginning. As a consequence, the introduction in which Hud may have out­
lined his m ethodology and theological affiliation is not available to us. The
content of the commentary centres on the narrations, most of which go back to
al-Hasan al-Ba$ri, and deals with both the meaning and the sense of the verses,
as well as the context of their revelation. Hud rarely offers his personal opinion;
this gives his w ork a simplicity of style and a succinctness o f expression similar
to that o f other early hadith-based commentaries.

cAli b. Ibrahim a l-Q um m l (ft. fo u rth /te n th century)

AbuT-Hasan ‘All b. Ibrahim b. Hashim al-Q um m l35 was a contem porary of the
eleventh ShlT Ithna ashari (Twelver) imam al-Hasan al-‘Askari (d. 260/874),36
and his tafsir is possibly the earliest Shi‘1commentary extant, at least the earliest
full commentary. He was regarded as a ‘trustw orthy transm itter (thiqa) and of
sound religion ($ahth al-madhhab) by the scholars of the Imami com m unity.37
He was a teacher of M uhammad b. Y aqub al-Kulayn! (d. 329/941),38 author of
al-Kdftf t 'ilm al-dln, one of the ‘Four Books (al-kutub al-arbaa) of the Imami
school com prising the body of canonical narrations, and arguably also the
teacher o f Ibn Babawayh al-Q um m i (d. 381/991),39 author of Man Id yaftdu-
ruhu’l-faqiht another one of the ‘Four Books* mentioned.40
The com m entary in the printed edition41 used here seems to be one recen­
sion by later scholars of a possibly larger ‘p ro to -co m m en tar/ by Q um m i
himself. This, as Bar-Asher has noted, is because the recension contains m ate­
rial transm itted from Q um m i’s father via Ibn Abi ‘Umayr (d. 217/831)42 going
back to the sixth S h n imam Jafar al-$adiq (d. 148/765),43 as well as material
transm itted via AbuT-Jarud Ziyad b. al-M undhir b. Z iyid al-H am adan! al-
Kharifi (d. c. 146/763) going back to the fifth imam M uhamm ad al-Baqir (d. c.
117/735).44 The presence of AbuT-Jarud’s material in Q um m i’s corpus is sig­
nificant not least because Abu’l-jarud later became the founder of a Zaydi sect,
w hich itself has implications for th e relationship between the Twelver Shl’l
com m unity and that of the Zaydls.45 But there is also the fact that the material
from AbuT-Jarud appears both as riwdyat AbiVJdrud fan al-Bdqir - suggesting
an entire, independent, com m entary from which m aterial was incorporated
into the extant recension of Q um m i’s tafsir - and as an isnad for those reports

24
 The commentators and their commentaries

transm itted via Abu 1-jarud that must have belonged to Q um m fs proto-com ­
m entary.46 As for those parts that belong to Q um m fs original tafsir, they are
transm itted on the authority of his student Abu 1-Fa<jl al-'Abb§s b. M uhammad
b. al-Q asim b. H am za b. Musa b. Ja‘far al-$adiq. Al-TihranI suggests that, in
fact, the w ork th at we have was put together by A buV A bbas in Zaydl
T abaristan, hence the inclusion o f so m uch J&rudI m aterial that was n o t in
Q u m m fs original work.47
It w ould appear that the present edition was censored and a considerable
a m o u n t o f early material, available in m anuscripts o f the text, criticising the
com panions o f th e Prophet and the Sunnis was om itted.48 The com m entary
represents Twelver Shi i tafsir bi’l-ma’thur during its early phase, because it nar­
rates reports from the imams that gloss and explain what the verses o f the
Q u r'a n m ean and, m ore im portantly, what they signify for the Shf a.49 But
unlike its near contem porary, the tafsir o f ‘Ayyashi, it evaluates and weighs up
narrations, and includes material which is not only of ShiT provenance. QummI
often just quotes a verse and follows the quotation with an explanation o f what
it m eans w ithout direcdy citing his authority. O f course, it is to be understood
th at he is not expressing his own opinion but an opinion transmitted from the
im am s as authenticated by the chains o f narrations for the tafsir as a whole
(deriving as it does ultimately from al-B iqir and al-$&diq) and by the m ention
o f the imams themselves within many of the parallel exegetical narratives. In
Twelver Imam! sources, Q um m fs tafsir is highly respected as a classical text,
a n d because o f th e proxim ity in time o f the author to the imams, some have
even regarded it as the tafsir of the imams themselves and hence considered all
o f its narrations as ‘sound* (ja/iffi)50 - that, however, is a controversial position.
For w hile the Tafsir 'Ali b. Ibrahim, as it is commonly known, may have been
w idely used and respected, it did suffer from the detractions of its critics within
th e larger ShiT tradition.51

F u r it b. Fur&t al-K ufi (JL late th ir d /n in th century)

Furat b. Furat b. Ibrahim al-Kufi is perhaps the most obscure of the ShiT com­
m entators w hose exegetical works have come down to us.52 Sezgin estimates
his death date to have been around 310/922, but as Bar-Asher has noted, this
is T>y no means definite.53 In any case, if we go by the traditions in which he is
cited as a transm itter, principally those from Abu ‘Abd Allah Jacfar b.
M uham m ad b. M alik al-Fazari (d. c. 300/912)54 and from Husayn b. SaTd al-
Kufi (d. 300/912),55 and on the basis of those instances in which the two
Babawayhs - AbuT-Hasan ‘Ali b. Babawayh (d. 329/940)56 and his son Abu

25
On the Nature of the Divine

Ja‘far M uham m ad b. ‘All b. Babawayh al-Q um m l (known as al-Shaykh al-

$aduq, d. 381/991) - are cited as having transm itted from Furat, we may
suggest, with Bar-Asher, that this Kufan exegete flourished during the second
half of the third/ninth century.57
Furafs commentary, like that of ‘Ayy§shi for example, would be convention­
ally classified as a tafstr bil-m a'thur, that is, one in which the exegesis o f verses
draws on the narrations transmitted from the Prophet and the S h u imams in
association with that particular verse. These traditions mostly either go back to
Ja‘far al-$adiq or to one of ‘All’s close com panions, such as al-A$bagh b.
Nubata;58 at times, however, we find that a tradition goes back to Ibn ‘Abbas.
Furat does not exhaust every single Q u ran ic verse in his commentary and, very
m uch like ‘AyyashI and QummI, the exegesis is a selective one, often designed
to convey a specifically ‘ShiT significance or context. Naturally, Furafs com ­
m entary attempts to extract these ‘ShiT aspects of the Q u r’an - that is to say,
verses which, taken with their associated reports, reflect such fundamental Shi‘l
doctrines as love and obedience to the imam and a recognition of his authority
(walaya/wildya). In the case of the present selection o f verses, the throne verse
(Q. 2:255) and the verses on the oneness of G od (Q. 112:1-2), th e themes
glossed by Furat relate to the special status of the imams as G od’s trustees and
the necessity of affiliating (waldya) to them and dissociating (baraa) from their
enem ies as a prerequisite for salvation in the Hereafter. A nother im portant
aspect of his commentary is the inclusion of accounts of the miracles performed
by the imams as confirmations o f their rank, reflecting the popularisation of
m aterial that disseminated doctrines later regarded as ‘extremist’ {ghuluww),
such as the pre-eternity of the imams and their super-hum an knowledge of the
unseen (‘ilm al-ghayb).59 His style of presentation consists o f a simple listing of
selected narrations on a given topic.

Abu*l-Na4r al-'Ayy&shl {ft. late th ird /n in th century)

The comm entary o f ‘AyyashI is a classical compilation of narrations from the

Shi4! imams on the meanings and implications of Q uranic verses.60 A bul-N adr
M uham m ad b. Mas‘ud al-Sulaml al-Samarqandl al-‘AyyashI, a contem porary
of Kulayn!,61 was a prom inent scholar o f the third—fourth/ninth—tenth cen­
turies, active especially in the Islamic east and in Transoxiana.62 Originally
‘AyyashI had been a Sunni, but he converted in his youth to Shfism and studied
in the Imam! centres o f Baghdad, Kufa and Q um m . His main teachers, al-
Hasan b. ‘All b. Faddal (d. 224/838-9)63 and Abu ‘Abd Allah b. M uham m ad b.
Khalid al-TayalisI al-Tamimi,64 were both Kufan traditionists who had narrated

26
 The commentators and their commentaries

rep o rts from the eighth im am ‘All al-Rida (d. 203/808).65 A prolific author,
*AyyashI was regarded as ‘trustw orthy and was an im portant teacher and tra-
ditionist.66 His m ost significant student was Abu ‘A m r al-Kishshl (d.
340/951),67 who compiled one of the first m ajor Twelver Imam! biographical
(rijdl) dictionaries. ‘AyyashI him self reportedly wrote a biographical diction­
ary,68 but it is not extant. W hether o r not there was any relationship between
th a t work and Kishshi’s dictonary remains a m atter o f speculation.
The extant com m entary is incomplete, extending only until the end o f the
eighteenth sura of the Qur&n, the surat al-Kahf. However, ‘Ayyashl's comments
o n later verses are cited in other Twelver Imam! tafsirs after him, such as the
Majma* al-baydn of AbuT-Fadl al-Tabrisi (d. 548/1154).69 Tbn Tawus (d.
664/1266) attests to having had a copy o f the com plete com m entary in his
library, and he cited it in his works.70 But at some point in the Tlmurid period
parts seem to have been lost, so that by the Safavid period the only portion that
was extant was what is available to us now in the m odern-day editions.
As a traditionist, his com m entary is confined to reports from the imams
explaining the meaning and im port of the verses. Unlike Qum m l, he does not
offer his own opinions on the meanings but rather relies upon the narrations
them selves being self-explanatory. Despite the confusion aroused within the
com m unity by the Occultation of the imam (ghayba), there followed a period
o f intense intellectual foment during which scholars tried to make sense o f the
absence o f their divine guide. Thus Twelver Imam! works o f the period were
often preoccupied with combatting extremist views on the status o f the imams,
as the m ore m oderate m ainstream scholars attem pted to forge a middle path
th at would defend the (Shl‘1) faith both against other groups o f ShTls, including
th e ghuldt ‘extrem ists, and against Sunni detractors in general.71 ‘AyyashI,
therefore, is significant for his narrations which stressed the knowledge o f the
im am , a central issue for Twelver Imamism o f that period. The narrations
refuted four sets of positions held by the opponents of the Twelver Im&miyya.
First, they argued against the literalists - am ong whom stood the ghuldt - for a
m o re rationalist approach to the anthropom orphism s o f the Q u r’an, and by
extension then favouring metaphorical interpretations o f such term s or pas­
sages.72 Second, they justified the doctrine of the ‘impeccability of the prophets’
( ‘ifm at al-anbiyd’) against the M u‘tazilis, who rejected the idea. Third, they
defended the integrity of the Q ur’anic text as present in the ‘Uthmanic recen­
sion against the objections of the gjhulat. Finally, m any o f positions adopted by
th ese ghuldt on the super-existence and cosmic pow er o f the imams were
refuted outright. It seems, in fact, that the threat o f ‘extremism’ (gftu/mw) was
considered param ount to, and even more important than, the perceived 'wrong
b elief o f the Sunnis or the ‘shortcomings of the Zaydls.

27
On the Nature of the Divine

Abfi Ja'far al-T abari (<L 310/923)

Abu Jafar M ubamm ad b. Jarir b. Yazid al-Tabari is probably the most famous
classical (Sunni) com m entator on the Q u r’an, an d has been the subject o f a
num ber of academic discussions in both w estern Islamicist73 and traditional
M uslim74 scholarship in the field of tafsir. Bom in Amul in N orthern Iran in
224/839 into a landowning family, he moved to Rayy, near m odem -day Tehran,
in order to pursue his studies. His most im portant teacher in this city was Abu
‘Abd Allah M uham m ad b. H um ayd al-R izi (d. 248/862), who rem ained an
im portant source of authority for him both as a traditionist and as an authorised
transm itter o f the narratives from the ‘military cam paigns’ (maghdzi) of the
Prophet.75 Tabari continued on to Baghdad, Basra and Kufa to study narrations
and to sit at the feet of the major traditionists of his time. He had initially moved
to Baghdad to study with the famous traditionist Afamad b. H anbal (d.
241/855),76 but the latter died before Tabari arrived in the capital Abu Ja‘far
al-Tabari profited most from two traditionists: M uhamm ad b. Bashshar, known
as BundAr, (d. 252/866)77 in Basra, and Abu Kurayb M uhamm ad b. al-‘Ala* (d.
248/862)78 in Kufa.79 Tabari soon established him self in the caliphal capital as
an expert on hadith and commentary as well as on history. He attracted many
students and became tutor to one of the sons of the vizier 'Ubayd Allah b. Yahya
b. Khaq§n, himself a former student of Ibn Hanbal. Tabari even became known
as a jurist, and established a short-lived independent school known as the
Jaririyya, although he had originally been a Shafi‘1. Tabari was accused of
Mu‘tazill and Shi‘1 sympathies by the Hanbalis, b u t there is little evidence to
support these accusations and Tabari was, in fact, careful to distance himself
from Shfism .80 He was known for his precocity; as an old man in his seventies,
he recalled that at the age of seven he knew the Q u r’an by heart, at eight he was
leading the prayer, and at nine he was studying the narrations from the
Prophet.81
Tabari’s tafsir is one of the oldest Q u ran ic commentaries available to us - a
fact that, in itself, makes it invaluable.82 It circulated in complete form some­
tim e between 283/896 and 290/903. However, given Tabari’s m ethod of
working, it is likely that he may have used some o f the material in lectures prior
to completing the commentary; sections of it were almost undoubtedly in cir­
culation well before these dates. Tabari was acknowledged as one of the fore­
m ost scholars o f his day; his tafsir was instantly recognised by his
contemporaries as an im portant work, and it rem ains so today. The tafsir also
provides an interesting com parison with his o th er m ajor work, the world
history entitled Tarikh al-rusul w al-m uluk.s3 The two works share much

28
 The commentators and their commentaries

com m on material, such as the chains of narrations (isnads), the use o f author­
ities (marajif) and the consideration of the historical contexts for the revelation
o f Q u ra n ic verses (asbdb al-nuzul). The Q ur'an com m entary itself is notable
for Tabari’s attem pt to create a comprehensive collection o f traditions in circu­
lation up to his time: it is this aspect of his tafsir (and o f his w ork in general)
w hich is perhaps the most valuable, as his writings comprise the most complete
and singular collection of citations from early authorities and works now largely
lost to us. The com m entary contains a vast body of exegetical material which
he gathered during his travels, material that not only represents ‘orthodox*
Sunni interpretation but also reflects a meticulous concern for the soundness
o f th e narrations.
O ne other distinguishing aspect of Tabari’s approach is his use o f ijtihad
(independent reasoning).84 He often provides his own views on the content of
the various reports, stating which interpretation he considers to be most correct
o r m ost sound, often on the basis of a grammatical or philological argument as
well as points o f theology and dogma. Such instances are frequently prefaced
w ith the phrase ‘Abu Jafar says’ (qala Abu Jafar), to highlight the fact that it is
his opinion, even though he tends to support his opinions by appealing to the
authority o f the ijma (consensus) of previous scholars.
There are then three layers to his commentary. The first layer considers the
relevant narrations on the verse and assesses their appropriateness and sound­
ness; in this section, it is clear that he regards tafsir and ta'vnl as synonyms -
later tradition would assign the latter exclusively for allegorical or allusive com­
m entary associated with ‘esoteric’ exegesis.85 The second layer contains philo­
logical and periphrastic material, where he especially relies on the Basran
gram m arian, Abu ‘Ubayda Ma‘m ar b. M uthanna (d. 209/824-5)86 and the
K ufan gram m arian al-Farra’ (d. 207/822).87 The third layer deals with the
v ariant readings and, given his renown in this discipline, provides us with a
m ajor source on these variants at the time o f the canonisation of the Q uranic
readings into the official seven, a process that sought to delimit the m inor vari­
ants w ithin the text of the scripture.88

A bu H §tim al-R azi (A 322/934-5)

Abu Heitim A hm ad b. Ham dan al-Razi was the Isma‘ili missionary in charge of
th e da'wa in Rayy in northern Iran.89 He succeeded in converting the ruler of
th e city, A hm ad b. ‘All (A 311/924), and was a recipient o f his patronage. After
the Sunni Samanids took Rayy, Abu Hatim fled to Tabaristan to the court of
the DaylamI prince Mardawlj, where he conducted his famous debate with the

29
On the Nature of the Divine

physician-philosopher Abu Bakr Zakariyya al-Razi (Latin, Rhazes, d. post

311/924).90 After Mardawij turned against the Isma'ills, Abu Hatim fled again
to Azerbaijan, where eventually he died in 322/934-5. An early exponent of
Isma4ili Neoplatonism, Abu Hatim wrote works (such as the Kitdb al-iflah)91
on the cosmological and cosmogonic schemes o f Isma4ili philosophy, and also
produced a defence o f prophecy (entitled A 'ld m al-nubuwwa)92 against the
sceptic Abu Bakr al-Razi. In term s o f his allegiance, like m any of the Persian
Isma 111 missionaries in the early period, he did n o t recognise the authority of
the Fatimid caliph-imams, but rem ained a Q arm atl dedicated to the awaited
mahdiy the hidden imam - M ubam m ad b. Isma4!! b. Jafar al-$adiq.93
The Kitdb al-Zina is a large lexicon of theological terms.94 The first volume
considers the significance and origins of language, and the believers need for
understanding the Arabic language and the technical Islamic term s in it. The
second volume focuses on the periphrasis and lexicography of these terms,
beginning with the key Q uranic ‘Most Beautiful Names of God’ (cf Q, 59;24),95
As it stands, the exegesis does not appear to be exclusively Isma'ill, and
although Abu Hatim often quotes the authority o f the sixth Shi4! imam Ja4far al-
$adiq, he equally cites Ibn 4Abbas, Abu 4Ubayda (the expert on periphrasis par
excellence) and others. It may well be that his exegesis was aimed at a general
Muslim audience. The work fits into the wider early Muslim genre of periphras­
tic, gram m atical and lexicographical works that sought to understand and
explain religious language in the Q ur’an and th e narrations (hadiths) of the
Prophet through an analysis and investigation of the Arabic language.

Ja€far b. M ansur al-Yaman (d. ante 346/957)

Ja'far96 was a significant Ism ail! missionary. His father, Abu’l-Qasim al-Hasan
b. Faraj b. Hawshab al-Kufi, known as Ibn Hawshab (A 302/914), was a founder
and leader of the Yemeni Ismail! da'wa and community, hence his title 4Man$ur
al-Yaman* (the Victorious one of Yemen). Ibn Hawshab had been a Twelver Shi4!
notable in Kufa but was deeply disturbed by the occultation (ghayba) of the
twelfth imam in 260/874; an event which, together with the related confusion,
made m any notables of his community receptive to the Ism ail! da'wa. Having
been converted to the cause, and in order to lead and spread the mission, he
moved to Yemen, where his son Jafar was later born. After the death of his
father, J a fa f s brothers apostatised. Facing persecution in Yemen with the mas­
sacre o f m ost of his family, Ja4far fled to the newly founded Fatimid state in
Ifriqiya, in m odern day Tunisia, at the beginning o f the reign of the caliph-
imam a l-Q a im (r. 322-34/934-46). He rem ained a close confidant of the

30
 The commentators and their commentaries

caliph-im am s and was a prolific writer, specialising in the Ism a'ili genre of
ta ’wil works.97 His high rank in the Fatimid state and spiritual hierarchy is indi­
cated in the Sirat al- Ustadh Jawdhar, where it is noted that Ja fa/s house was the
nearest one to the palace of the caliph-imam al-M uizz (r. 341-65/953-75) in
th e new capital o f al-Man$uriyya.98 This suggests th at he may have been the
leader o f the da'wa, and even the one who would conduct the religious m eet­
ings (majdlis) in which the inner meanings o f the faith and key revelational
texts w ere expounded. It appears that he died in the reign o f al-M uizz some
tim e before 346/957, when al-Q&di al-NuTnan's use of the biography of Jafa/s
father, Sirat Ibn Hawshab, indicates that he was no longer alive.
Ja'far authored a num ber o f ta’wil works that sought to elucidate the inner
reality of the faith and to elaborate on the homology between the spiritual hier­
archy o f the d a w a and key Q u ran ic verses and episodes from the lives of past
n ations and prophets.99 For him , theology and sacred history are intimately
linked: the unfolding of hum an history reveals the divine plan and realities to
th e initiated, often through the subversion of a master narrative that is linked
to the developing notion of a normative Sunni conception of the early Muslim
com m unity. The elaborate schema whereby he links the past experience of the
prophets in the Q ur’an to the difficulties faced by the d a w a express the
herm eneutic o f ta’wil as a process o f interpretation em bedded in an account of
counter-history.
The Kitab al-K ashf100 or The Book o f Unveiling, is an attempt at elucidating
th e spiritual meanings of the Q ur'an as justification and corroboration for the
Ism a'llI d a w a and its theology of the Imamate. It exemplifies early Isma'ill
ta ’w ti a herm eneutic for drawing out esoteric and spiritually significant
m eaning from texts, especially the foundational scripture of Islam, as a means
o f initiating adepts into the spiritual community. The pole o f signification,
indeed the herm eneutic of this m ethod of understanding, is the imam himself
an d his teaching. The duty o f the believer is to understand his faith and the
central texts o f his faith and their focus - namely the waldya of the im am s.101
Ta’wil refers back to the original concept and gnosis o f the true nature of things
o r realities (ma'rifat al-haqd’iq) as recognised by a sound m ind and heart (that
recognise the waldya of the imams). These realities are known and disclosed by
th e imam. In its ShlT context, ta’wil describes the systematic esoteric interpre­
tation o f the Q ur'an as expounded by the teachings of the imam, but very few
w orks o f this distinctly exegetical nature from the Isma'ili tradition have sur­
vived.102 The Kitab al-Kashf is thus a privileged m em ber of this small class of
works. In term s of its authorship, it may be the case that, since Ja'far quotes a
variety o f earlier sources and authorities - and as M adelung and Morris have
suggested - it is a compilation and edition of some earlier ta’wil works.103

31
On the Nature of the Divine

R ashid al-D in M aybudi (JL sixth/tw elfth century)

The Kashf al-asrar wa ‘uddat al-abrdr (The Unveiling o f Secrets and the Provision
o f the Righteous)104 is one of the earliest mystical commentaries on the Q ur'an
to have been written in the Persian language.105 Standing at ten volumes in its
published edition, it is also one of the most substantial Persian commentaries,
being second in length only to the commentary of Abu 1-Futub al-RazI (d. m id -
sixth/twelfth century).106 According to its author's introduction, the Kashf al-
asrar was based upon a now no-longer extant commentary by the well-known
Hanball mystic, Khwaja ‘Abd Allah An$ari Harawi (d. 481/1089),107 and over
the centuries it came to be known simply as ‘An$ari*s tafsir. One important, but
by no means unique, feature of the Kashf al-asrar is the fact that it includes both
exoteric and esoteric interpretations of the Qur'&n, as well as a verse-by-verse
translation.
About the life o f Maybudi, we have no inform ation save the date when he
began to write the Kashf al-asrar: 520/1126. Since the commentary appears to
be the work of a person in his mature years, it may be surmised that he was bom
in th e latter part of the fifth/eleventh century and died during the second
quarter of the sixth/twelfth century. The nisba Maybudi indicates that our
author hailed from the small town o f Maybud, some fifty kilometres north-west
of Yazd, while his full name, AbuT-Fa<Jl A bm ad b. Abi Sa'd b. A bm ad b.
M ehrizad,108 links him with one Jamal al-Islam Abu Sa'id M ubam m ad b.
A hm ad b. Mehrizad (d. 480/1087), who may well have been his father.109 Jamal
al-Islam is m entioned in the histories of Yazd as a scholar and mystic o f some
repute.110 He was a Sufi and a theologian who disputed with the leading
mutakallimun of his time such as the Imam al-H aram ayn A buT-M aali al-
Juwayni (d. 478/1085).111
If Maybudi was bom and received his early education in the region of Yazd,
it seems likely that he spent a period o f his life in eastern Iran, possibly even
Herat, where he would have been able to imbibe the teachings of Khwaja ‘Abd
Allah An$ari. Although it is unlikely that he ever met An$ari in person, he cer­
tainly regarded him as his spiritual master. The num erous sayings and mundjdt
of An$&ri, which appear in the Kashf al-asrar, are usually preceded by the words
lPir-i fariqat gufty (the M aster of the Way said), or more respectfully with his
nam e and title, Shaykh al-Isldm Khwaja 'Abd Allah A n$ariguf112 A nother indi­
cation that Maybudi spent some tim e in eastern Iran is the influence o f the doc­
trines and language o f KhurasanI love mysticism, which is so evident in his
work. Apart from his m onum ental commentary on the Q ur'an, we know that
M aybudi composed an arb a in ,113 though no m anuscript of this w ork has as

32
 The commentators and their commentaries

yet com e to light. The only other extant w ork that bears his name, is a short
treatise on the virtues required o f various officials o f state and religion, entitled
th e Kitdb al-Fu$uL114
W hile the text o f the Kashf al-asrdr does not yield any further data about
M ay b u d fs life, it provides substantial information about his doctrines, tastes
a n d interests.115 Like An$ari, MaybudI was both a mystic and an ardent tradi­
tionalist, though he him self never claims any formal allegiance to the Hanball
sch ool so loyally followed by his master. In fiqh he followed the school of al-
ShafiT ( d 204/820), but one should not therefore assume that he was an A shari
in theology, for he was opposed to their doctrine that the Q u ra n is eternal in
m eaning but created in letters.116 Instead, he chose to place him self theologi­
cally under the banner of the ahl al-sunna wa'l-jamd'a (followers o f tradition
a n d the com m unity). He condem ned kaldm (speculative theology),117falsafa
(philosophy) and, in short, all attempts to com prehend God by means of dis­
cursive reasoning. The rational faculty ('aqt) does have a role to play, but only
a t th e service of the sacred law (sharf a). In M aybudfs view, there are only two
w ays to attain true knowledge o f God: outwardly, by m eans o f traditional
know ledge handed down from the Prophet and the ‘(Pious) Predecessors*
(salaf); and inwardly, through the grace of divine unveiling (mukdshafa).
These doctrines are exactly paralleled by M aybudfs herm eneutics o f
Qur*anic interpretation. At the level o f exoteric exegesis, he allows for a certain
am ount of interpretation according to independent, or personal, opinion (tafsir
bil-ra'y), but only w hen this is combined, and in conformity, with interpreta­
tio n according to the body of knowledge transmitted in traditional reports and
hadiths (tafsir bi’l-m a’thur). He does not allow any metaphorical interpretation
o f the anthropom orphic expressions in the Q u ra n , such as the ‘hand* or
‘th ro n e o f G o d .118 These are to be accepted literally, w ithout interpretation,
a n d the understanding o f their true meanings com m itted to G od (tafvid).
W h en it comes to esoteric interpretation, however, the criteria are quite differ­
e n t Here the bonds of literalism can be left behind, for the agent o f interpreta­
tio n is no longer hum an reason but divine inspiration.119
These two quite different approaches to Q u ran ic interpretation are accom­
m o dated w ithin the unusual form at of M aybudfs com m entary, explained in
th e introduction to the Kashf al-asrar. The Q u ra n is first divided into sessions
(majlis-hd) of convenient length. The commentary on each session is then sub­
divided into three nawbats (lit. ‘turns*). Nawbat I consists o f a succinct render­
ing o f the meaning of the verses in Persian. Nawbat II presents the conventional
o r exoteric com m entary and includes, as MaybudI explains, ‘facets of meaning
(wujuh-i m a'am ), the canonically accepted readings (qiradt-i mashhur), cir­
cum stances o f revelation (asbdb al-nuzul), exposition of rulings (baydn-i

33
On the Nature of the Divine

ahkam), relevant hadiths and traditions (akhbdr wa dthdr), aspects [of meaning]
and analogues (wujuh wa nazd'ir) and so o n . Finally, Nawbat III is reserved for
the mystical commentary, which is defined by Maybudi simply as ‘the allegories
of mystics (rumuz-i ‘drifdn), the allusions o f Sufis (ishdrdt-i $ufiyan)> and the
subtle insights o f preachers (lafd'if-i m udhakhran)'.120
The second nawbat (exoteric commentary) consists largely of material drawn
from existing Arabic tafsirs, expanded here and there with M aybudl’s own
explanations and comments. For a Persian commentary, a surprising am ount
of this material was left untranslated from the Arabic. The third nawbat (mys­
tical com m entary), which is almost entirely composed in Persian, is far m ore
original, both in style and in content. The selections presented in this anthology
are extracts from the Nawbat III commentary. Maybudi does not define his
mystical commentary as to/sfr, but as a collection of different kinds of mystical
insights. In fact, the structure of Maybudi*s mystical com m entary is noticeably
broader than that of other Sufi commentaries, such as the Haqa’iq al-tafsir of
Abu 'A bd al-R abm an al-Sulaml (d. 412/1021),121 or the L a ta 'if al-ishdrdt o f
AbuT-Qasim al-Q ushayrl (d. 465/1072).122 The latter follow a conventional
format of a verse, or part of a verse followed by its interpretation, with the occa­
sional citation of poetry relevant to the exegetical discussion. Maybudi,
however, includes a great deal of other m aterial besides the interpretation o f
the verses, including anecdotes, aphorisms, poems, explanations o f Sufi termi
nology and mundjdt. It will be seen in the translated extracts which follow that
much of this m aterial is not related directly to the verses themselves, but to
topics of mystical significance which arise in the course o f the interpretation.
Often it appears that the purpose of M aybudfs mystical commentary is not so
much to explain the Q u ra n ic verses as to explain aspects of the mystical path
through, and in light of, the verses.123 M oreover, it should be added that
Maybudi does not provide a mystical com m entary for every verse.124 Having
covered all the verses in the Nawbat II sections, he apparently felt free in the
Nawbat III sections to include only those verses he was inspired to com m ent
on. A nother way in which M aybudfs com m entary differs from earlier Sufi
commentaries is that its content appears to be m ore accessible. By writing the
Kashf al-asrdr in Persian, Maybudi clearly wished to make his com m entary
available to a wider audience, and the inclusion o f anecdotes, explanations and
poetry would certainly have added to its popular appeal.
Despite the diversity o f its contents, Maybudl’s mystical com m entary is to
some extent unified by its distinctive literary style. Many passages have been
written in rhym ing and m etred prose, and employ a rich language o f
metaphors, particularly those associated with love mysticism. This style o f artis­
tic prose interspersed with poetry, developed by Maybudi in the Nawbat III sec­

34
 The commentators and their commentaries

tio n s o f the K ashf al-asrdr, was to influence a num ber o f later Persian mystical
com m entaries on the Q u ra n .125

Jar All&h al-Z am ak h sh ari (d. 538/1144)

A b u ’l-Q asim J£r Allah Mafomud b. ‘U m ar al-Zam akhshari’s tafsir,126 al-

K ashshdf'an haqaiq al-tanzil wa ‘uyun al-aqawil (7he Unveiling o f the Realities
o f Revelation and Essences o f Divine Sayings), is a major Mu'tazil! Q u ra n com ­
m entary. Popular in both Zaydl and Twelver Imam! circles, it was later con­
d en sed and ‘corrected’ - on the basis of Ash‘ari theology - by ‘Abd Allah b.
‘U m ar al-Baydaw! (d. 1286) in his Anwar al-tanzil.
Zam akhshari’s commentary has, arguably, had an importance second only
to Tabari’s.127 Bom in Khwarazm,128 Zamakhshari trained and taught in Persian
Transoxiana, and travelled widely in search o f grammatical learning and
Q u r’anic commentary. As a theologian, he was influenced by both o f the two
m ajor schools o f Mu‘tazill kxxlam prevalent at this time - the Bahshamiyya asso­
ciated with Abu Hashim al-Jubba’I (A 321/933)129 and that of Abu’l-Husayn al-
Ba$ri (A 436/1044),130 a dissident student o f ‘Abd al-Jabbar (d. 415/1025).131
IndeeA in many ways, he is one of the last major Sunni-Mu‘tazill thinkers.
A significant gram m arian, his com m entary is known for its discussions of
syntax, m orphology and philology rather than for its (Mu‘tazili) theology;132
w hen a later com m entator like RazI needed to quote Mu‘tazill views, he did not
cite Zam akhshari’s Kashshafbut the works of al-Jubba’I, Abu’l-Qasim al-Ka‘bi
al-B alkhi133 and the Kitdb Tanzih al-Qur’dn 'an al-m afain o f al-Qa<j! ‘Abd al-
Jab bar.134 As a gram m atical authority and author of al-Mufa$$al fCl-nahw, a
w o rk that arranges its discussions around the parts of speech, Zam akhshari’s
views and interpretations on the readings of the verses and their grammatical
a n d philological exegesis were considered reliable and were quoted by a range
o f com m entators of different theological persuasions who came after him.
Nevertheless, his Mu‘tazill theological affiliation is quite clear in his interpre­
tation o f key verses dealing with anthropom orphism s (such as Q. 2:255 and Q.
24:35). There he expresses the five principles (al-u$ul al-khamsa) o f Mu‘tazill
theology: the utter transcendent uniqueness o f the O ne G od (tawhid); His
absolute and rational divine justice ( ‘adl); the rationality o f His prom ise and
th reat about an individual’s fate in the afterlife (al-wa'd wa’l-wa'id); the status
o f the grave (M uslim) sinner w ithin the com m unity and in the afterlife (al-
m anzila bayn al-manzilatayn); and the incum bency o f active m oral agency
through com m anding good and forbidding evil (al-amr bVl-ma'ruf wal-nahy
'an al-m unkar).135

35
On the Nature of the Divine

Al-Fa41 b. al-Hasan al-TabrisI (or Jabars!) (d. 548/1154)

Abu 'All al-Fa<Jl b. al-Hasan al-TabrisI136 was an im portant Twelver Imam! tra-
ditionist and scholar, whose theology represents the Twelver Imam! modifica­
tion of M u'tazill kaldm initiated by al-Shaykh al-M ufid (d. 413/1020)137 and
al-Sharif al-M urtada (d. 436/1044).138 He was a student o f ‘Abd al-Jabbar b.
‘Abd Allah al-M uqri’ al-Razi (alive in 503/1109-10), who had him self been a
student of the leader of the Twelver Im im I community in Baghdad, al-Shaykh
Abu Ja'far al-TusI (d. 460/1067). The latter was not only the dom inant tradi-
tionist of his time, collating two of the Four Books of narrations of the classical
Imam! community, but also a com m entator whose al-Txbydn f i tafsir al-Q urdn
prefigures the style,139 structure and theological bent o f Tabrisl’s Majma'.
Having studied with two im portant Sunni com m entators - M ahm ud b. al-
H usayn al-Kirmani (d. c. 500/1106-7) and AbuT-Fatfi ‘Ubayd Allah al-
Qushayri (d. 521/1127), the son o f the famous Sufi com m entator and Ash'ari
theologian ‘Abd al-Karim - TabrisI was familiar with the bi'l-ray, b i’l-ishdra
and b il-m a th u r traditions of com m entary current in Sunni scholarship. Being
M utazill in his theology, like the Baghdadi Twelver Imam! scholars before him,
his com m entary is influenced by that o f Zam akhshari - indeed, he wrote an
abridgement ofZ am akhshans al-Kashshdf entitled al-Kdfi al-shdfi m in kitdb al-
Kashshdf TabrisI also authored another commentary called fawdmx al-jdmx.lA0
Majma al-baydn f i tafsir al-Q urdn, Tabrisfs principal Q ur’an commentary,141
is probably the most widely used and admired Twelver Im&ml tafsir. It includes
narrations (from both Sunni and Shfl narrators), theological discussions, philo­
logical observations and periphrastic remarks.142 The structure of the com m en­
tary is fairly consistent and comprises a comprehensive explanation of all aspects
of the verse, from the formal consideration of the reading, syntax and philology
of the language accompanied with proofs for his positions, to the discussions of
the meaning and the citations of narrations that reveal his acute appreciation of
the theological significance of the verse. After quoting the verse, TabrisI discusses
the reading and provides proofs (hxijja) for them; he analyses the classical lan­
guage and gives copious examples from classical and pre-Islamic poetry; he dis­
cusses the morphology, syntax and philology of the verse again, sometimes
providing proofs for his interpretation; he sometimes considers the ‘occasion for
revelation’ (sabab al-nuzul); and finally, he discusses the meaning o f the verse,
wherein lie the bulk of his theological arguments. All these elements can be
reduced to three aspects, which are universally found throughout his com m en­
tary - namely, discussion of the meaning qua classical language (lugha)yqua syn­
tactical arrangement (xrab), and qua theological significance (ma'nd). Given this

36
 The commentators and their commentaries

framework, one can understand why it was such a successful and influential com­
m entary both in Sunni and Shf i circles and was the basis for the teaching of
Q u r’an exegesis.

Fakhr al-Din al-R izi (d. 606/1209)

A bu ‘Abd Allah M uham m ad b. 'U m ar b. al-Husayn Fakhr al-Din al-Razi was

o n e o f the m ost influential and perhaps the m ost significant Sunni theologians
o f th e medieval period.143 He was sometimes known as Ibn al-Khapb because
his father, Piya al-Din Abu 1-Qasim, had been a preacher (khafib) in his hom e­
tow n. A critically m inded A sh'ari and a philosopher, he studied first in
B aghdad and later in M aragha with the A sh'ari theologian Abu 1-Qasim al-
An$ari, a student of the Im am al-H aram ayn Abu’l-M a'ali al-Juwayni (d.
477/1085),144 and with the philosopher Majd al-Din al-Jili, who was also the
teacher o f luminaries of the period including the martyred philosopher Shihab
al-D in Suhrawardi (exe. 586/1191).145 Razi spent most o f his life in the Islamic
east, teaching and disputing with anthropomorphism and Mu'tazili theologians
in Transoxiana,146 and finally settling in Herat with a large circle o f students.
In the latter period of his life he became known as the ‘elder o f Islam* (Shaykh
al-Isldm ). D uring his illness in 606/1209, he w rote a creedal w ork outlining
S unni beliefs and seemed to abjure the tim e that he had spent in the vain
p u rsu it o f philosophy and philosophical theology. His tom b in Herat became,
an d remains, a place of veneration.
A com m itted and philosophically m inded theologian, he wrote major criti­
cal com m entaries on the work of Ibn Sina (d. 428/1037), including Lubdb al-
Ishdrdt and a gloss on the ‘Uyun al-hikma, a work which was gaining currency
a m o n g rational theologians. In these works he displayed his philosophical
acum en and criticised some of the central doctrines of the Muslim Neoplatonic
philosophers, including that of the eternity o f the universe.147 In his kalam
com pendia, such as al-Mabdhith al-mashriqiyya and al-Mafdlib al-'Aliya,148 he
continued the project of providing a defensible and viable philosophical theol­
ogy that was associated with the Ash'ari school and critical o f the excesses of
th e Avicennan philosophers.149
H is com m entary, Mafdtih al-ghayb (Keys to the Unseen), also known as al-
Tafstr al-kabir (The Great Commentary), is a vast com pendium o f philological,
traditionalist, theological and philosophical comments on, and interpretations
of, th e verses o f the Q u r’a n .150 Despite the problem s associated w ith such
herm eneutical categories, we can actually say that his com m entary is a sub­
stan tial expression o f the m ethod of tafsir bi'l-ra'y in w hich the Q u r’an is

37
On the Nature of the Divine

interpreted through a consideration o f theological and philosophical issues

(masa'il) raised by the verse in question and which are considered carefully
in the m anner o f a kaldm (dialectic theology) text. The com m entary on each
verse is divided into various issues and sub-issues, arguments, sub-argum ents
and counter-argum ents, where various lem m as of discursive reasoning are
considered, evaluated, rejected or proposed. Thus, argument and opinion pre­
dom inate over the consideration o f proof-texts quoted on the authority of the
Prophet and his Com panions. O ften subtle and intricate, it is a scholar s and
a theologians commentary, and possibly the largest com m entary o f the clas­
sical and medieval period. As such, it is a difficult text that presupposes a
detailed understanding of theological argum entation and concepts.

cAbd al-Razz&q a l-K is h in i (d. 736/1336)

The com m entary that has traditionally been attributed to the Andalusian Sufi
Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638/1240)151 is in fact a series of allegorical and mystical inter­
pretations recorded by 'Abd al-Razz^q al-K&sh£ni,152 a student of the school of
Ibn ‘Arab!.153 There is no extant tafsir o f Ibn ‘Arab!, despite the publication of
an anthology taken from his works.154 The actual title of Kash&m s commentary
as attested in its manuscript traditions is al-Ta’wildt.
Kamal al-D in AbuT-Fadl ‘Abd al-Razzaq b. Jamal al-Dln AbiT-Ghan&’im
A hm ad (or Isfiaq) al-Kashani155 was a major Sufi figure - likely to have been
Twelver Imam! in affiliation156 - of the Ilkhanid period in Iran. Although very
little is known about his education and early life, at some stage he turned to the
Sufi path with two masters: A$il al-Dln ‘Abd Allah al-'Alawi (d. 685/1285),157
w ho was also a Twelver Imam! traditionist in Shiraz; and a Sunn! Sufi of the
Suhrawardi tradition, N ur al-D!n ‘Abd al-$amad al-Natanz! (d. 699/1299).158
Kashani mentions the two men in his correspondence with a famous contem ­
porary, ‘Ala* al-Dawla Simnani (d. 736/1336).159 O ther Sufis with w hom he
associated include §adr al-D in b. Fakhr al-D in Ruzbihan-i al*Thani (d.
685/1286), a respected preacher and grandson o f the famous Sufi m aster of
Shiraz, Ruzbihan Baqli (d. 606/1209),160 and N ur al-D in IsfarSyini (d.
717/1317), the master of Simnani.161 Through his later travels, he met Muayyid
al-Din al-Jandi (d. c. 700/1300), w ho was himself a student of $adr al-D ln al-
Qunawi (d. 673/1274),162 Ibn ‘A rabfs son-in-law. Kash&ni’s own commentary
on the seminal Bezels o f Wisdom (Fu$u$ al-Hikam) of Ibn ‘Arab! owes much to
the previous commentaries of Jandl and Qunawi. The significance o f his Shi‘i
Twelver Imami affiliation seems to lie in his influence on the Shi‘i tradition of
the school o f Ibn ‘Arabi, a school that came to prom inence u n d er Sayyid

38
 The commentators and their commentaries

H aydar Amuli (d. post 787/1385); certainly, Kashani is m uch cited in A m ulfs
Compendium o f Mysteries (Jami al-asrar).163
The com m entary with which we are concerned is an allegorical elucidation
a n d interpretation o f the divine word, as its alternative nam e al-Ta’wildt li’l-
Q u ra n cd-Majid164 suggests. It belongs to the genre known as al-tafsir al-ishdriy
o r allusive com m entary.165 In particular, KashanI’s tafsir is largely based on
tafbiq - that is, the regular ‘application* o f macrocosmic references in the
Q u r an to the hum an m icrocosm .166 It is an esoteric and mystical reading o f
scripture that is intended to guide the initiate along the path of spiritual reali­
sation, through subtle, pedagogic allusions to the truth and the inner self. This
process o f herm eneutics, o r fa V i/,167 is a systematic attem pt at locating the
experience of the text in the spiritual self and interiorising the Word and recog­
nising the signs o f G od through His explicit revelation (the Q u r’an) and an
im plicit revelation (the lives of the pious saints and the cosmos).
M uch Sufi teaching about the relationship between the word and the world,
th e inscribed text and the ‘cosmic text*, is predicated upon the metaphysical
notion of the three realities: God, the macrocosmic world and the microcosmic
m a n .168 The ‘text* is a m eans of expressing each o f these realities, realisation
being a herm eneutic o f that text. Thus Sufi tafsir is not just an explanation,
periphrasis or interpretation of the Q ur’an on the linguistic, philosophical, dog­
m atic and textual levels but also expresses an understanding o f reality both
w ithin and w ithout the seif. As such, it differs from both the bi'l-ma'thur and
th e b i’l-ra’y m ethods in that it rarely contains transm itted narrations o r con­
siderations o f different opinions.

A bu Hayy&n al-G h a m afi (d. 745/1344)

A bu Hayyan A thir al-D ln M uham m ad b. Yusuf al-G ham atl (of G ranada)169
h a d a rich and varied career as a linguist, a mufassir and an expert in m any
diverse fields. He was b o m in 654/1256 in G ranada or, according to some, in
th e nearby town of M afakhsharash, and spent his early years (669/1271-
679/1280) studying the usual Islamic disciplines under various teachers, first at
G ranada, then at V&ez-Mdlaga and Almeria. He then travelled wridely, visiting
Tunis, Alexandria, Cairo, Ethiopia, Medina, Mecca and Damascus, and even­
tually returned to C airo ‘a m ature and well-equipped sch o lar.170 After a
sojourn as a hadith teacher at the Man$uriyya and Q ur’an reader at the Aqmar
m osque, he spent the last fifty odd years of his life as professor o f the Q u ran ic
disciplines in the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, dying in that city in 745/1344.
He was reputedly the author o f 65 works, in Arabic and other languages,

39
On the Nature of the Divine

spanning Q u ra n ic studies, hadith,fiqh, history, biography and poetry - fifteen

are still extant. The most im portant of his surviving works are his com m entary
on the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik (d. 672/1274),171 a gram m ar o f the Turkish lan­
guage, and al-Bahr al-muhlU a sizeable commentary on the Q ur’an.172 It is clear
that all com m entators on the Q u r’an required total com petence in Arabic
grammar, but Abu H ayyin was exceptional; the num ber of grammatical issues
he cited in his commentary were so many and so varied that, as scholars have
noted, one could compile a comprehensive gram m ar of the Arabic language
simply by w orking backwards from references in his al-Bahr al-m uhif.173
The fourth/tenth-century scholar ‘All b. Ts& al-Rumm£nI defines the purpose
of grammar as follows in his H udud:174

The object, in grammar, is the distinction (tabyin) between correctness ($awdb)

and error (khafa) of expression, according to the method (madhhab) of the Arabs,
by way of analogy (qiyds).

The science o f Arabic gram m ar is traditionally said to date from th e earliest

centuries after the Hijra, and to have come into being as a result of the corrup­
tion of verses of the Q ur’an by new converts to the faith, w ho were n o t profi­
cient in the Arabic tongue. There would certainly seem to have been a
connection between the early grammarians and the qurrd’Ihuffaz,175 but there
is a substantial gulf between the level of grammatical analysis required for
teaching purposes and the sophisticated science that later evolved, with its
legalistic terminology and rational theorism. Carter argues that the science of
riahw in its m odem sense o f gram m ar did not emerge until aro u n d the
fourth/tenth century, when the ‘way* as expressed by Slbawayhi (d. c.
180/796),176 Greek influences (especially the Isagoge, translated into Arabic by
Abu ‘U thm an al-Dimashqi in the third/ninth century) and the institution of a
m ore formal approach to education under the madrasa system, com bined to
produce a true ‘profession’ ($ind'a).177 The first w ork to show the ‘fusion of
these three elements’ was the Muqaddima of Ibn Babashadh (d. 470/1077), a
w ork which dealt with nahiw so thoroughly that later scholars could only
rearrange his material.178
The schools of gram m ar are traditionally divided into the two rival camps
of Basra and Kufa. Originally merely a geographical divide,179 this division is
somewhat simplistic, yet not inaccurate. The two schools of Basra an d Kufa
did differ in th eir use of gram m atical term inology,180 in the sphere of inflex­
ional endings,181 and in a heavier reliance by the Basrans on analogy (qiyds)
and by the Kufans on the linguistic usage o f the Arabs (kaldm al-drab).
A lthough these broad distinctions were im portant, each o f the early gram ­
m arians, including Slbawayh, al-A khfash (d. c. 221/83 5 ),182 al-Kis&’I (d. c.

40
 The commentators and their commentaries

189/805)183 and al-Farra*, is also said to have had his own ‘school*
(m adhhab).184
In addition to Basra and Kufa, some argue that there was a third school -
that is, that a specifically ‘Andalusian* school began to form in the seventh/thir­
te en th century around scholars like Ibn Malik. However, Sa'Id al-Afghani
argues that the Andalusian educational influence on Ibn Malik, and indeed on
Abu Hayyan, was in fact m inimal, as both left for the Islamic east at an early
age, and that these two ‘figureheads* of the Andalusian school should not have
been given such tides.185
Abu Hayyan did not appear to give his allegiance to any particular gram m at­
ical m adhhab, as is soon evident from his al-Bahr al-muhiU which at tim es
draws on the Basran school of grammatical thought but then cites Kufan schol­
ars like al-Kisa*I, al-Ru’asI,186 al-Farra* and Thaflab (d. 291/904),187 alongside
B aghdadi gram m arians such as Abu ‘All al-FarisI (d. 377/987), Ibn Qutayba,
Ibn al-Sarraj,188 Ibn Jinn! (d. 392/1002)189 and Ibn Kaysan.190 Abu Hayyan was
clearly som ething of a free agent in grammatical term s;191 his competence,
however, in the field of gram m ar is undisputed. In term s of a legal madhhab
meanwhile, Abu Hayyan was Maliki and £ahiri, typical of the Andalusia o f the
p erio d (accordingly, perhaps, his £ahirism changed to Shafi‘ism during his
tim e in C airo).192 This bent expresses itself in the com m entary through Abu
H ayyans relendess refutation o f the Mu'tazila, especially Zamakhshari, whose
com m entary al-Kashshdfhe frequendy derides, even though he actually quotes
from it at length. O ther groups to fall foul of Abu Hayyans pen include the Sufis
(w hom he appears to have disliked even more intensely than the M utazila), the
philosophers, Bafinls,193 Hashwiyya,194 Karramiyya,195 Mujassima and
Mushabbiha ,196 in addition to heretical groups and practitioners of sorcery.197
The Bahr appears to have been extremely well received, as was the al-Nahr
al-m adid m in al-Bahr, a simplified and epitomised version of the full-length
tafsir also produced by Abu Hayyan and sometimes included in the margins of
editions o f the Bahr.198 Later scholars who relied heavily on the Bahr include
A bu Zayd ‘Abdal-Rabm&n b. M uham m adb. M akhlufal-Thaalibi al-Jaza*iri
al-M aghribl al-Malikl (d. 873/1468)199 and Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. M uhamm ad
al-Saftqusi (A 742/1341),200 while it was refuted by Ahmad b. Yusuf b. fAbd al-
D a im b. M uham m ad al-Halabi, known as Ibn Samin (d. 756/1355),201 another
gram m arian o f Cairo.102
In the introduction to the 1993 Beirut edition, the Bahr is described as an
im portant example of the technique of tafsir bi'l-ra'y, albeit one that starts from
a tafsir bi'l-m a’th u r platform .203 Thus Abu H ayyans starting point is always
the ‘Sunna* o f the Prophet, the C om panions and the Successors, yet he does
n o t give the full isrtdds (chains of narrations) typical of the genre o f tafsir bi'l-

41
On the Nature of the Divine

m a th u r, nor does he invariably state the narrator o f a hadith (relying perhaps

on their familiarity to fellow mufassirun and ‘ulam a'), and has been known to
include weak hadith as well as the m ore reliable ones. Moreover, he also dis­
cusses the m anifest and the m ysterious aspects o f a verse (al-jaliyy w a’l-
khafiyy), the unsolved problems of ird b (ghawamid al-i'rdb)> and the science
o f rhetoric (baldgha); all characteristics which would lead us to a classification
o f tafsfr b il-ra y . In matters of periphrastic tafstr and philological comments,
he was influenced by ‘Abd al-H aqq b. ‘Afiyya (d. 481/1088-9).204 In this, he
shows him self to be a m em ber of an A ndalusian school of com m entary and,
faithful to this endeavour, he often quotes the views o f predecessors from
Spain.205 O n other aspects of the m eaning o f the Q u r'an , he followed the
m ethod of Zam akhshari.206
The singular im portance of the al-Bahr al-m uhif lies in its contribution to
language, gram m ar and usage.207 Abu Hayyan approaches each verse first in
term s o f the analysis of individual words and then, where relevant, from the
aspect of asbdb al-nuzuU which can assist in selecting the appropriate nuance
of a particular word, from which he moves on to the interrelation between
phrases and verses (the all-important context o f a term), finally giving a com ­
prehensive list of variant readings.

'All&ma cAbd Allah al-Sharafi (d. 1062/1651)

The collection entitled al-Ma$abih al-sdfi'at al-arrwdr is a m odem edition208 of

a seventeenth-century compilation of the tafsir sayings and works of the Zaydl
imams o f Yemen. The Zaydls were, and are, a branch of the Shi'a through their
insistence on the rightful authority of the progeny of the Prophet. But unlike
the other S hfa (Ism ail! and Twelver), they do not hold that the imam is an
infallible being (rm $ u m ) designated directly by G od through the mediation of
the previous imam; rather, the imam is the m ost suitable candidate from
am ong the descendants o f the Prophet, in term s of his knowledge and piety,
who can enforce his political authority.209 The compiler was the Hasan! Sayyid
and theologian210 ‘Abd Allah b. Abmad b. Ibrahim al-H asani al-Qasimi,
know n as al-Sharafi (d. 1062/1651), who was a renow ned Zaydi scholar in
the tim e of the Yemeni imams al-M an$ur biTlah al-Qasim b. M uham m ad
(d. 1029/1620)211 and his son al-Mutawakkil ‘ala llah Isma‘il (d. 1087/1676), at
their capital Shahara.212 A descendant of Imam al-Hadi, founder of the Zaydi
state in Yemen, al-Qasim was a w arrior-scholar and imam who re-established
Zaydi theology on a radical jarudi213 basis and led the revolt against the
O ttom ans in Yemen, thus establishing the Q asim i Zaydi state. He was also a

42
 The commentators and their commentaries

renow ned teacher and prolific author on jurisprudence and Zaydi doctrine. Al-
Sharafi studied u$ul al-fiqh,fiqh, ta'rikh and kaldm with the Im am al-Qasim
and w ith A hm ad b. M uham m ad al-Sharafi (d. 1055/1645), a famous jurist and
historian associated with the Imam al-Qasim.
The volum es edited so far cover only some of the suras and collate the
sayings o f the following Zaydi imams:214

1. Zayd b. ‘All b. al-Husayn b. ‘All b. Abl Talib (exec 122/740),215 a grandson

o f the martyred ShlT imam a l-y usayn b. ‘All, became himself a martyr follow­
ing his revolt in Iraq against the Umayyads. A periphrastic commentary attrib­
u te d to him, Gharib al-Q ur’dn>216 has been published twice and the present
compilation includes parts of it, based on Yemeni manuscripts, in the footnotes.
A juridicial work, representing the rulings o f Kufa is also attributed to him .217

2. Abu M uhamm ad al-Qasim b. Ib rah im ... b. al-Hasan b. al-Hasan b. ‘Ali b. Abi

T alib al-Rassi (d. 246/860),218 a prolific author and early Zaydi leader from
M edina, was one o f the founders o f Zaydi doctrine and the grandfather of
Im am al-Hadl. He supported the claims o f his brother Abu ‘Abd Allah
M uham m ad b. Ibrahim Tab&taba (d. 199/815) during his rising (led by Abu 1-
Saraya) in Kufa in 199/814 and acted as his agent in Egypt.219 His many theo­
logical works addressed the polemics o f the time and through their
anti-determ inist and anti-anthropom orphist rationalism paved the way for the
acceptance o f M u‘tazill theology among the Zaydis.220 Kitdb al-Mustarshid, an
anti-anthropom orphist work by RassI that touches on tafsir methodology, has
b een edited and published in English.221
Al-Qasim’s m ethod of commentary reconciles a word-by-word paraphrase
a n d literal understanding with a rationalising explanation o f anth ro p o m o r­
phism . W hile preserving the form of the anthropom orphic language o f the
Q u r’an, like other rationalising theologians, al-Qasim insists upon the complete
a n d transcendent otherness of the divine. Thus, anthropom orphism s must be
understood as aspects of figurative and metaphorical language in the Q u r’an
th a t are in accordance with Arabic usage, a point that he illustrates by recourse
to evidence from poetic citations (shawdhid).222 The text itself is divided into
discussions o f certain attributes that are negated of God. First, G od does not
exist n o r inhere in a specific location or space such as heaven. So he explains
the f i (injon) o f wa huwaUahu fil-samdwdti waffl-a rd (He is God in the heavens
and on the earth) [Q 6:3] to mean ‘with’, avoiding the problem of G o d s inhering
in a locus and drawing upon wa huwa ma'akum aynamd kuntum (He is with you
wherever you may be) [Q 57:4].223 Second, the divine self (nafs)224 is quite unlike
any other. Concerning kataba 'aid nafsihil-rahma (He has prescribedfor Himself
mercy) [Q. 6:12], the nafs is not to be understood literally as ‘soul’, but is merely

43
On the Nature of the Divine

self-referential to stress that G od is both the one who ordains m ercy and the
one upon whom it is ordained.225 This section draws heavily on poetic citations
(shawahid). Third, in the context of the light verse, God is not light as we under­
stand and experience light.226 Light is guidance to and illumination o f the truth.
The description of God as the light o f the heavens and the earth indicates both
His guidance and illumination, and highlights the role of the cosmos in teleo­
logical and cosmological proofs for His existence. Fourth, God is n o t a thing
like other determ ined and engendered things.227 He creates all things ex nihilo
(Id min shay') and He has power over all things. Fifth, God is absolutely One
and indivisible and His being One, as in the verses where God is referred to as
being ahad [such as Q. 112:1], should be understood in term s of uniqueness
and not as a num ber in a sequence.228 Finally, the remainder of the treatise, and
the longest section of it, is taken up with the question of the meaning o f the face
(wajh) o f God and the possibility o f seeing G od (ru'yat Allah).229 H e refers to
poetic citations from classical Arabic usage both to deny a literal m eaning of
face, while affirming a m etaphorical sense, and to deny the possibility o f an
ocular vision o f God by man. W hat is d e a r is that the rationalising reading of
the verses accords with the M u'tazili m ethod of commentary, and facilitated
the later, more explicit adoption of M utazili tafsir by the Zaydis.

3. M uhammad b. al-Qasim b. Ibrahim (d. 284/898) was a well travelled theolo­

gian and uncle of al-Hadi, with whom he migrated to Yemen. His extant w rit­
ings focus on Q u ran ic commentary.230

4. Al-Hadi ilaT-Haqq Yabya b. al-ljusayn (d. 298/911),231 effectively the

founder of the Imamate in Yemen in 284/897 with $alda as his capital, was a
pioneering figure in Zaydism. Born in M edina, he first went to spread his
mission among the Zaydis of Amul; failing there due to rival daim ants to the
Imamate, he focused his attention upon Yemen. He established the Zaydi state
on the basis of his personal charisma and standing among the tribesm en of the
highlands. M any o f his theological treatises, reflecting trends am ong the
Baghdadi Mu'tazila, are extant and some have been published.232 By moving
to Yemen and settling there, he was exercising the duty of hijra, of emigrating
from the land o f the unbelievers (Sunni Hijaz in this context) to the land of
faith, that of Zaydism. Protected endaves within tribal territory known as hijras,
negotiated through truces, were set up by al-Husayn and later im am s as van­
guards of the Zaydi faith and centres of learning.233 O n the question of the
status o f the first two caliphs,234 he was a radical JarudI, regarding them as
usurpers 235 As an author his works along with his grandfather's, especially the
A hkdm y al-Mustarshid and al-Muntakhaby are the basis of Zaydi teachings in
doctrine and law in Yemen.

44
 The commentators and their commentaries

5. A l-M ahdl li-Dln Allah al-Husayn b. al-Qasim al-Tyani (d. 404/1013),236 the
son o f the imam al-Man$ur al-Qasim al-Tyani (d. 394/1003) and a descendant
o f al-Q asim al-Rass! but not of al-Hadl, had to struggle with rival claimants to
the Imamate in Yemen and the Ism alli da w a in the Yemeni highlands. His own
knowledge was repeatedly questioned. Part o f his response was to claim that he
was th e messiah, the Mahdt w hom all Muslims awaited, a descendant o f the
Prophet who w ould bring final justice to the world. He was defeated and killed
in battle with tribes who opposed his claims and supported descendants o f al-
H adi, but some o f his followers, w ho became known as the Husayniyya,
believed that he had gone into occultation (ghayba), was alive and would return
(like the Kaysaniyya with respect to M uham m ad b. al-Hanafiyya o r some o f the
Shi'a with respect to Musa b. Jafar al-Ka^im).237

6. A Hasani sayyid from Iran, al-Na$ir li-Dln Allah Abu 1-Fatb al-Na$ir b. al-
H usayn b. M uham m ad al-Daylami (d. 450/1058)238 was a Zaydl claimant who
travelled in the Hijaz and later in Yemen to have his Imamate acknowledged.
W hen he arrived in $a‘da in 437/1045, he claimed the Imamate. However, his
arrival coincided with Isma'lli dom ination of the region under the $ulayhids,
w ho defeated him in battle in 439/1047.239 He wrote a commentary called Tafetr
al-burhdn or al-Burhdn f i tafslr gharib al-Q ur’an, which is quoted in this
collection.

Ism ail Haqqi Burusawi (or Bursawi) (d. 1137/1725)

Shaykh AbuT-Fida* Isma'il b. Mu$tafa Burusawi Uskudari, one of the foremost

O tto m an mystics, poet and erudites, was b o m in Aydos (Aitos, present-day
Bulgaria) near Edirne in 1063/1652.240 After completing his foundational
studies in Edirne, he moved to the capital Istanbul in 1084/1673, where Shaykh
'U th m an Fadli initiated him into the Jilvatiyya Sufi order.241 There he devel­
oped an interest in Persian literature that would m ark his later literary output,
m ost noticeably in his commentary on the Mathnawi o f Rumi entitled Ruh al-
Mathnawi. In 1086/1675, Shaykh ‘Uthman sent him to Skopje (in what was then
Bosnia, now Macedonia) to set up a Jilvatl tekke. Encouraged by his shaykh, he
began com posing serm ons and stayed on preaching for six years. He then
m oved to Bursa w here he rem ained until his death in 1137/1725. A prolific
preacher and w riter (he com posed over a hundred works in Turkish and
Arabic), he was a true O ttom an m an of letters versed in a variety o f disciplines.
Apart from other commentaries on the verses o f the classics o f Persian Sufism,
he w rote a history of his Sufi order, works of homiletics, collections of sermons
and a m ajor work on Sufi metaphysics entitled Kanz-i makhfi ( The Hidden

45
On the Nature of the Divine

Treasure). M any of his works are available in autograph copies in his famous
tekke in Bursa.
His com m entary on the M athnawi aside, his m ost lasting contribution to
scholarship was his major Sufi com m entary in Arabic on the Q ur'an, Ruh al-
baydn242 He claims in his poem (composed in sa f) that his com m entary was
inspired and sustained by the teaching of his shaykh:

the great scholar, the authority of his time and foremost of his age, the proof of
God to His creation through his knowledge and his mystical intuition, the
dawning light of (divine) providence and support, the heir of the mysteries of
realised virtues, the contemplator of the (divine) mystery and the renewer of the
second millennium, treasury of lordly inspiration, the shaykh of noble lineage
named Ibn ‘Affan [‘Uthman] of Constantinople.243

A sustained and original contem plation of the divine discourse, his exegesis is
m arked by the influence o f the school of Ibn ‘Arab! (d. 638/1240) and includes
copious poetic shawahid from the classics of Persian Sufism. His Sufi affiliations
are indicated not only by these verses but also by his recourse to some of the
m ajor Sufi com m entaries and works available to him , such as the Rawh al-
arwah o f Ahmad Sam'anl (d. 534/1140), the al-Maq$ad al-asnd f i maanlasmcC
Allah al-husnd of al-Ghazali (d. 555/1111) on the divine names, and the famous
and as yet still unpublished al-Tawnlat al-Najmiyya, a major com pendium of
commentary from the tradition of the Kubrawiyya Sufi order.244 His Ottoman
context is illustrated through his use of texts commonly used in his tim e such
as the hadith com pendium of al-Sakhawi (d. 902/1497) known as al-Maqd$id
al-hasana ,245 and the Q ur’anic com m entary of the O ttom an jurist Mufiyi al-
D ln Shaykhzada (d. 951/1544), which is a marginalia on the famous Ash'arl
commentary o f Abd Allah b. 'U m ar al-Baydawi (d. 685/1286) known as Anwar
al-tanzil246
As the name indicates, his approach is to elicit the spirit, the essential
message of the Q u ra n and its reality. He describes his m ethod as the drawing
out of meaning and sense from words, particles and letters, and an attem pt to
enunciate the (mystical) wisdom and subtle allusions {m a d rif wa lafd’if) that
he had learnt from his experience.247 The ground o f his interpretations and
herm eneutics o f the text is his ow n mystical experience as a m ajor Jilvati
shaykh. The work has been edited in ten volumes and is mainly composed in
Arabic, with copious quotations o f Persian poetry and prose and some sen­
tences in O ttom an Turkish.

46
 The commentators and their commentaries

Al-AlusI, al-Sayyid Mahmud b. cAbd Allah (d. 1270/1854)

Shihab al-D ln Abu 1-Thana5M ahm ud b. ‘Abd Allah al-AlusI (d. 1270/1854)248
w as a prom inent Arab O ttom an theologian and Hanafi m ufti o f Baghdad, a
th in k er steeped in the theological traditions o f the m ature Ash‘ari school and
influenced both by the philosophy of Avicenna and by the thought o f Sufi meta­
physicians such as Ibn fArabI (d. 638/1240). A scion o f a n o tab le'ulama*family
descended from the Prophet, he was an influential public figure and reformer
at th e time o f m ajor social and political change. His legacy is disputed and con­
troversial, and his relationship both to Sufism and the rising Salafiyya249 move­
m ent is interesting for not being mutually exclusive, at least not in his case.250
The increasing divergence between those two schools, however, is shown in the
respective careers of his two sons: Nu'man Khayr al-Dln (d. 1317/1839) became
a m ajor figure in the Salafiyya movement in the late nineteenth century, while
his b ro th e r4Abd Allah was a theologian with strong links to Sufis, especially
th e Q adiri and Naqshbandi orders.
Through his education, AlusI acquired a firm grounding in traditionalist
scholarship, but this was coloured by Salafi sympathies and Sufi revivalism.
AlusI studied Ash'ari theology with his father and cousin, and hadith with two
figures connected to the circles of Medina and Yemen that have been linked to
th e nascent Salafiyya: tAl&>al-Dln al-Maw$ilI and Shaykh 'All al-Suwaydi (d.
1236/1821). These figures were alleged to have had W ahhabi tendencies, an
accusation that had political repercussions in early nineteenth-century Iraq,
given the threat of the W ahhabi tribes to the south.251 AlusI him self defended
his teacher, Suwaydl, from the charge of Wahhabism. Another major influence
a n d teacher was the N aqshbandi-M ujaddidl Sufi shaykh, M awlana Khalid
Shahrazuri (d. 1241/1826), a figure who was instrum ental in spreading the
In d ian branch o f the Naqshbandiyya in the Arab east and who had strong
revivalist sympathies.252 M awlana Khalid initiated AlusI into the
Naqshbandiyya, and he also instructed him in Ash'ari theology.
A lusi’s com m entary was a massive undertaking, w hich he com pleted in
February 1851 after fifteen years of com position.253 A lthough he had a
com plex and changing relationship with the O ttom an state, he became mufti
o f Baghdad and was engaged in the 1830s and 1840s as a polemicist attacking
Shi'ism , which was on the rise in southern Iraq and the Iranian state.254 The
com m entary was w ritten m ainly during his m ufti-ship o f Baghdad, when he
was firmly com m itted to the ideology of the O ttom an state. A comprehensive
w ork, Ruh a l-m a a n i makes use of three approaches - the Salafi traditionalist
approach, Sufi allegoresis and a rationalist m ethod (tafsir b tl-ra y) drawing on

47
On the Nature of the Divine

A sh'ari theology - as AlusI outlines in his introduction.255 The com m entary

on a verse begins with a consideration of the language and the hadtths from
th e Prophet, followed by an A sh'ari-H anafi exposition o f its theological and
legal m eaning, and concludes with a Sufi interpretation that draws heavily on
the w ork of Ibn ‘Arabl (d. 638/1240) and al-G hazili (d. 505/1 111). However,
the text was composed over a long period, and one notes an increased reliance
upon the authority of the Salafiyya s preceptors, such as Ibn Taymiyya (d.
728/1328), and a decline in his recourse to Sufi interpretation. As such, the
com m entary reflects a growing ‘Salafisation’ o f learning and interpretation
during this period - which in the case o f this prom inent theologian, rooted in
th e traditions of Sufism and A sh'ari theology, may have led to his fall from
grace in O ttom an Baghdad.

Muhammad cAbduh (d. 1323/1905) and Muhammad Rashid Ri<#a

(d. 1354/1935)

The co-authors of the work Tafsir al-Manar, M ubamm ad 'A bduh (d. 1323/
1905)256 and his student, M uhammad Rashid Ri<Ja (d. 1354/1935),257 were asso­
ciated with an organisation and an intellectual movement called al-Martdr (the
guiding light), which is also the name they gave to their Q uranic commentary.258
The Mandr movement emphasised the need to reject differences am ong Sunni
Muslims based on legal doctrinal affiliation (madhhab), to narrow differences
between Sunnis and ShlTs, and to reconcile differences among the followers of
the three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Most importantly,
it attempted to provide a programme of reform and renewal coupled with a m od­
ernising, scientific and rationalising reading of the divine word.259
M ubammad 'Abduh was bom into a peasant family in Lower Egypt in 1849.
He trained at the local Q u r’an school and became associated with the popular
Sufism of the Shadhiliyya order prevalent in the region. Moving to study at the
prem ier traditionalist centre in Cairo, al-Azhar, he gained a solid grounding in
traditional Sunni theology, logic and exegesis. In Cairo, he came into contact
w ith the famous Islamic m odernist and reform er Sayyid Jamal al-D In al-
Afghanl (AsadabadI)260 and espoused a program m e of theological renewal,
fresh revival of legal and ethical norm s, and a rejection of unquestioning imi­
tation o f established conventions (taqtid). Due to his association with political
radicalism, he was exiled between 1882-88, which gave him an opportunity to
travel around the Muslim world and even to Paris. This allowed him tim e to
attem pt a new diagnosis o f what he considered to be a malaise affecting the
M uslim consciousness while living under colonial states. D uring this period,

48
 The commentators and their commentaries

he w rote some im portant works on his philosophy and the technical tools of
th o u g h t that he considered to be im portant for a revival o f Islamic th o u g h t261
M uham m ad ‘Abduh’s m ost im portant theological work was the Risalat al-
taw hid (Epistle on the Divine Unity), of which there were two editions: an earlier
so-called N eo-M u‘tazill262 edition and a later reform ist and revivalist Salafi
one.263 As for the Mandr com m entary, he initiated it with his associate Rida,
w ho joined him in Cairo in 1897, with the purpose of bringing the rationalised
w o rd o f God to believers, thereby creating an impetus to action and reform.
The journal al-Mandr, their main political and social mouthpiece, began pub­
lication in 1898.264 Because o f ‘Abduh’s intellectual leanings toward the opin­
ions o f the M u‘tazila, he was considered an heir to this medieval rationalist
school. Since m ost Muslim theologians have had reservations about the views
o f the M utazila and the language which they use when discussing God, some
m ore traditionally-m inded scholars have regarded this M utazili influence as
an intellectual flaw in ‘Abduh’s philosophy.265
M uham m ad Rashid Rida was bom in Qalamun, near Tripoli in Syria in 1865
to a family that claimed descent from the Prophet M uhammad. Like ‘Abduh
he had an early affiliation with a Sufi order, in his case the Naqshbandiyya, but
later in life he became hostile to and critical o f Sufism. He moved to Cairo to
head the program m e of reform with ‘Abduh,266 and later travelled extensively
in search of support for his attem pt to weld Islam and modernity: he em pha­
sized the need to apply fresh reasoning {ijtihdd) in Islamic law and in the arena
o f socio-political life. After the dissolution of the Ottoman caliphate, he wrote
a sem inal work on leadership in Muslim society, al-Khildfa aw al-imdma al-
'uzm d. In this treatise he proposed the conditions for the rightful leadership of
th e Muslim community, exhibiting biases in favour of the Saudi Wahh&bls and
against the Shi*a; this was a reversal of his earlier conciliatory stance during the
p e rio d o f his association with ‘A bduh.267 A respected exegete and jurist, his
w orks remain popular.268
‘Abduh, as the teacher, contributed to the making of the Mandr commentary
by giving lectures in Q u ran ic exegesis (tafsir). Rida, as his student, organised
these lectures, abridged parts of them , and expanded upon other parts. W hen
‘A bduh passed away before com pleting his lectures on the Q u r’an, Rida
decided that the commentary should finish where his teacher's lectures ended.
Thus, al-Mandr is an incom plete com m entary on the Q u r’an, covering only
two-fifths of the text (the first twelve parts out o f the total thirty) and ending
w ith Q. 12:107. The book appeared in print twenty-six years after ‘Abduh’s
death and was published posthum ously by th e press that carried the same
nam e: al-Mandr. This com m entary remains one o f the most widely read in the
Arab Muslim world.

49
On the Nature of the Divine

From the Mandr perspective, both the divine text and the reality in which
we live are authoritative and harm onious with one another. Although some
people may believe that text and reality contradict each other, such apparent
contradictions can occur only when errors occur in our interpretation of the
text, reality, or both. W hen the text is silent about what we ‘knoW about reality
(through science or intellectual endeavour), we should assume th at such
‘knowledge is approved by the text; when the text speaks about what we cannot
establish through science or the hum an intellect, we should accept what the text
conveys. Once again, only when text and reality seem to be in contradiction
with one another should we distrust our judgm ent about the texf s message or
our understanding of reality. It thus becomes apparent that a hum an being’s
highest goal is to fulfil God’s will by leading an active and engaged life, learning
about the workings of the world, and interpreting His word in the light of such
knowledge and experience. This hum an capacity represents a divine trust,
which, coupled with the freedom that allows us to make choices of belief and
action in this life, constitute the foundation for hum an responsibility.
Overall, two concepts are central in the Mandr commentary: the concept of
divinely-designed cosmological norm s (sunan kawniyya) and the concept of
divinely-designed social norm s (sunan ijtimd'iyya). Divinely-designed cosm o­
logical norm s are the laws by which God has organised the universe (including
all physical laws discemable by hum an beings). Divinely-designed cosmolog­
ical norm s create order and consistency in this life. H um an beings m ust recog­
nise that these cosmological norm s have come from God and assume no
contradiction between them and God’s guidance through His prophets (sc. rev­
elation). Divinely-designed social norm s refer to observed patterns of relation­
ship and behaviour between hum an beings (e.g., social, cultural, and political),
and are a direct result of hum an beings’ application of the freedom o f choice
with which God has endowed them. From the Mandr perspective, this hum an
freedom (regarded as consistent with both hum an autonom y and hum an
responsibility) should neither be exaggerated so as to eclipse its divine origin
(atheism or agnosticism) nor denied (determ inism ). Just as hum ans are per­
mitted to enjoy their freedom, they must use it to choose what will ultimately
be most beneficial for their souls in this life and the next.

Sayyid AbuT-ATi Mawdudi (d. 1399/1979)

‘Mawlana Sayyid AbuT-ATa Mawdudi is arguably one of the m ost significant

theorists of Islamism and the ‘Islamic resurgence’, as its advocates often refer
to it.269 Bom on Septem ber 25,1903, in Awrangabad in the Deccan, he was

50
 The commentators and their commentaries

raised in a scholarly family of Muslim notables associated with the Chishti Sufi
o rder270 and in service to the rulers of Hyderabad. He was educated in the tra­
ditional D eobandl madrasa in the Deccan as well as in Delhi. He became
involved in Muslim politics with the Khilafat movement271 just after the First
W orld War and, through his association with the Jam'iyyat-ifUlam&’-i Hind, he
gained journalistic experience as the editor o f their organ al-Jam'iyyat.
A form idable w riter and advocate, he also founded an Islamist party,
Jama at-i Isldmi in 1941, which continues to have influence across the Indian
Subcontinent.272 As a major political revolutionary calling for an Islamic state
in w hat became Pakistan in 1947, he often found himself at odds with the gov­
ernm ent and spent periods in prison. However, he was instrumental in the pro­
m o tion and prom ulgation of the ‘Objectives Resolution of the C onstituent
Assembly in M arch 1949 that laid down the Islamic principles of the constitu­
tion o f the new state.273 After a long life of activism and influencing generations
of Islamists in the Jama1at, he died on September 27,1979 in Buffalo, New York,
w hile undergoing medical treatment. His funeral in Lahore was attended by
num erous followers and friends.
A prolific writer, he published more than 150 books and pamphlets which
dealt with the social and political problems facing Muslims globally but espe­
cially in the Indian Subcontinent. He understood the Q ur’an as a divine pro­
gram m e for action that needed to be implemented; socio-political reform was
required and the Q ur’an, as the word of God and His guidance in all spheres
including the political, was the blueprint for revolution and a basis for consti­
tu tional upheaval. M awdudi’s main output was the magazine Tarjuman al-
Q ur’an (acquired by him in 1932) and its content makes evident that he saw his
program m e o f reform and renewal as rooted in the Q ur’an’s discourse.
H is tafsir, Tafhim al-Qur’dn, is arguably the most widely read commentary
in U rdu (and perhaps even in English through its translation). He published it
in 1942, after devoting thirty years to its composition.274 The very title o f the
w ork gives away his approach: understanding (tafhim) and internalising, rather
th a n an atomistic and tw o-dim ensional approach that discusses details of
gram m ar, syntax, prosody and contexts which he considered to be alien to the
m o d em believer. MawdudI, like many before him, perceived within the Q ur’an
a dynam ic text that provided the basis for social and political action. If, he
argued, Muslims wished to retain their identity and sense of self-esteem, they
needed to look towards the Word of God wherein lay a manifesto that could
serve them ideologically in the intellectual battles of the twentieth century.
Islam, for MawdudI, was a faith that called to action.

51
On the Nature of the Divine

Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fa<jUAllah (b. 1935-)

A Lebanese ShlT jurist trained in the sem inary o f Najaf, Sayyid M uham m ad
Husayn Fa<Jl A llih was bom in 1935 in Najaf, the son of a seminarian from the
southern Lebanese town o f ‘Ayn§ta, near Bint Jubayl.275 He studied w ith the
foremost ShlT ‘ulam& \including the traditionalist Sayyid Abul-Qasim al-K hul
(d. 1992)276 and the reform ing political thinker and philosopher, Sayyid
M uhamm ad Baqir al-$adr (exec. 1980);277 al-Sadi's ideas on social and intel­
lectual reform , as well as on a program m e for the political reorientation of
Muslim society, were widely influential.278 Once back in Lebanon, Fa<Jl All&h
established him self as a leader-figure in the im poverished S h fi southern
suburbs of Beirut After the Iranian revolution and with the rise of Hizbullah,279
he became a major ShlT figure, especially after Ayatollah Khomeini recognised
him as a marja al-taqlid (source of imitation) in 1986.280
Consonant with much reformist Islamist thinking, his writing appeals to a
broad cross-section of people. He has written apologetic works on jih ad ,281
addressed specific issues of Muslim youth and women, and responded to the
needs of Muslims living in the West through a new genre of writing know n as
fiqh al-mughtaribin (law for those living in the west).282
His commentary originated in study circles (halaqdt) that he gave in Beirut
in the 1970s.283 These were refined and first printed in 1979. Since then he has
supplem ented and edited the work. The latest edition came out in 1998 in
twenty-four volumes.
The commentary is marked by a desire to investigate the existential import
of the divine word and communicate its meaning to Muslims living in m odern-
day Lebanon. Given the communal violence and warfare of recent history, his
discourse is noticeably ecumenical in com parison with other M uslim posi­
tions,284 engaging as it does in a meaningful and substantial dialogue with
Christians, the other major faith com m unity in Lebanon. This dialogue
emerges explicitly in his commentary, especially that on surat Maryam.285 It is
this engagement, along with his apparent liberalism in traditional legal matters,
that explains his position today as one of the foremost Arab ShlT leaders.

52
 The commentators and their commentaries

NOTES
1 Mawid is a multivocal term in Arabic In this context, it denotes a retainer or a tribal client,
someone who attaches himself to a tribe so that he may be recognised within Arab hierar­
chies and genealogical arrangements. See Patricia Crone, ‘Mawla’, EI2yVI, 875.
2 See the brief but useful entry on him by M. Plessner- [A. Rippin], ‘Mufcatil b. Sulaym&ri,
E/2, VII, 508-9; TG, 1,212-13,227; Baghdadi, Tarikh, XIII, 402; Nwyia 1970,25-34. On
the ‘confusion* between him and Muqatil b. Hayyin (cL 135/753), also an exegete and tra-
ditionist from Balkh, see TG, II, 510-17; Crone 1997,238-50.
3 Muqatil*s tafoir is edited and appended with a useful introduction to the exegete and his
work by' Abd Allah Mahmud Shibata; cf. Nwyia, 1970,38-108; on the tafsir and its trans­
mission, see TG, II, 516-28; also relevant are Versteegh 1993; Baalbaki 2004. Wansbrough
1977 uses him extensively, since for him Muq&tiTs tafsir constitutes the earliest phase of
exegesis, that classified by Wansbrough as haggadic (narrative).
4 Even Andrew Rippin, who is generally sceptical of the authenticity of early tafsir texts,
accepts the ascription of this text to Muqitil as ‘fairly safe (Rippin 1984,23).
5 As noted by Ma'rifat 1997-8, II, 189, 192. On the use of such material in exegesis, see
Na‘na‘a 1970; on the material itself, see Georges Vadja, ‘Isrilliyyit*, EI2yIV, 211-12.
6 TG, II, 528-32, IV, 373$ Nwyia 1970,28.
7 The Murjia (upholders of the doctrine of irjd’) were an important early Muslim movement
of the turn of the second/eighth century, whose ideology was adopted by the Hanafi school
at a formative stage, but was later subsumed by the general Sunni community. The principal
ideology of this movement was that all Muslims should suspend judgement (irjd*) on the
rights and wrongs of the leaders of the community at the time of the schisms - namely, on
‘Uthmin b. ‘Aflfcn (r. 24-36/644-56) and ‘All b. Abi T*lib (r. 36-41/656-61), both of whom
were assassinated. The reason for this ideological plea on the part of the M urjia was
because the stance one adopted towards these early leaders determined one's religio-polit-
ical affiliation, and in turn fuelled internal schism. In the volatile context of early Islam, the
Murji’a thought that if they could put an end to the polemical discussions about the first
civil war, then they could also put an end to the schism engendered by it. On the Murjia,
see Wilferd Madelung, ‘Murdji’a, EI2yVII, 605-7, and Madelung 1982; TG, 1,138-9,152—
221, II, 164-86,493-544,659-63; ‘Athimina 1990; Agha 1997; Crone and Zimmermann
2001,219-43.
The grandson o f‘All b. Abi T*lib from his slave-girl wife, al-Hasan b. Muhammad b. al-
Hanafiyya (d. c. 101/719), is supposed to have composed the famous treatise expounding
this doctrine of irja\ For the text of this work, see van Ess 1974,20-52; TG, 1,174-9; TG,
V, 6-12 gives the text itself in German; Cook 1981,27-43. On $iflin and the arbitration
(tahkim), see Michael Lecker, ‘$iffin\ EI2y IX, 552-6; Minqarl, Waqat Tabari-
Hawting 1996; Hinds 1972; Petersen 1963; Petersen 1964; Madelung 1997, 184-257;
Caetani 1972, IX, f 346-85, X, f 4-85.
8 See $awwaf 1969; Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihristy 222. On the Zaydiyya, see the discussion on
Sharafi's tafsir compilation.
9 For example, Nwyia 1970,26.
10 See Gilliot 1991, 39-85. Being from Balkh, Muqdtil’s background predisposed him to
MurjiTsm: see TG, II, 531-2; also Hamza 2002, ch. Ill, 79-89, for specific examples of
Muqatil’s MurjiT theology of the afterlife.
11 A work entitled Kitdb al-Radd ‘altfl-Qadariyya is attributed to him.

53
On the Nature of the Divine

12 TG, II, 529; Ibn Khallikin, Wafaydt, IV, 343; Baghdadi, Ta’rikh, XIII, 162-4; Khayyat,
Intif&r, 54; Ibn Hibban, al-Majruhm, III, 14; DhahabI, Mizdrt, no. 8741; Bukhari, Ta’rikh,
IV, 4.
13 On Taban s use of Muqatil’s biblical material, see Rabf 2000.
14 Edited by Isaiah Goldfeld, see Muqatil, Khams mi’at dya.
15 This work was also edited by ‘Abd Allah Mahmud Shibata, see Muqatil, Ashbdh. Cf. Abbott
1957-72, II, 92-106; Nwyia 1970,109-16.
16 For a list of his works, see Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist, 222.
17 For details of two editions of Malafi*s Tartbih, see primary bibliography. The use of Muqatil
in Malari was noted by Wansbrough 1977,165,211-12.
18 Shammakhi, Siyar, II, 59; Gilliot 1997, especially 179-80; van Ess 1976,42-3; TG, II, 656,
TG, IV, 271, where he inconsistently renders his name; see the comments by Bfl-fclajj, the
editor of Hod’s Tafsir, 1,8-13; Baba'ammI et al. 2000-6, II, 443. There is a recent doctoral
dissertation on his commentary by Shuaily 2001.
19 Mohamed Talbi, ‘Tfchart’, El2, X, 99-101. TShart was conquered by the Ism&llis in 909: see
Abun-Nasr 1987,48.
20 Tadeusz Lewicki, ‘Hawwara’, El2, III, 307. More generally on the Ibadiyya in North Africa,
see Tadeusz Lewicki, ‘al-Ibadiyya’, El2, III, 653-5; Ibn Khaldun, 7bar, VI, 282-91; Bakri,
Mughrib, 50,72,144.
21 Cf. Bi’l-Haj/s note in Hud, Tafsir, 12; Ibn al-$aghir, Akhbdr, 49-50; Baba‘ammi et al. 2000-
6, II, 355; Abun-Nasr 1987,47; Savage 1997,4-7.
22 Again, see Bi’l-Hajj in Hud, Tafsir, 15; Ibn Sallam, Bad' al-Isldm, 158-9.
23 Abu Zakariyya Yabya Ibn Sallam b. Abi Tha laba al-Tayml (d. 200/815) was a Bas ran tra-
ditionist and commentator who moved to Qayrawan in Ifriqiya to teach badith and
Qur’anic commentary. He died in Cairo. See PA for details.
24 Ibn al-$aghir was a third-/ninth-century jurist who served the Rustamids at TOhart and
was a close associate of the Imam Muhammad b. Aflab: see B&b&'ammi et al. 2000-6, II,
236-7.
25 Bi’l-Ijajj in Hud, Tafsir, 18.
26 Shammakhi, Siyar, 381; Darjini, Tabaq&t, II, 395-9. The first mentions of Hud’s tafsir are
in AbO Zakariyyi, Siyar, 359, and in Darjini, Tabaqdt, II, 345.
27 Shammakhi, Siyar, 381.
28 van Ess 1976,43.
29 On this connection, see Gilliot 1997,181, nn. 14-17 for references; Bi’l-Hajj in Hud, Tafsir,
26-32.
30 Bi’l-Ifajj in Hud, Tafsir, 29-30. For details on these individuals, see PA.
31 Abu'l-‘Arab, T^baqdt, 38-9.
32 Abu’l-'Arab, Tabaqdt, 203; Dabbagh, Ma'&lim, II, 288.
33 On al-Hasan al-Ba$ri, his commentary and its transmission, see TG, II, 45,81-3.
34 Bi’l-Hajj in H0d, Tafsir, 34-5; TG, IV, 271.
35 See the pioneering work on early Twelver Imami tafsir by Bar-Asher 1999, especially 33-
56 for QummI; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist (Fltigel), 37; Dodge 1970,81; TusI, Fihrist, 62; Dawudi,
Tabaqdt, I, 385-6; MaTifat 1997-8, II, 325-27; GAL, 1,205; Kohlberg 1992, 347; see also
the recent study by Haydus 1380sh/2001.
36 The eleventh imam of the TVelver Shfls, al-Hasan b. ‘All was known as al-‘Askari because
he lived most of his life in the garrison town o f‘Askar Samarra’. For more details, see PA.
37 Najishl, Rijdl, 260; Ibn Dawud, Rij&l, 135. ‘Sound religion’ means not only that he was a
Twelver Imami, but also that he was not corrupt in his religion (fasid al-madhhaby, that is.

54
 Hie commentators and their commentaries

he was not an extremist (gh&lt) with respect to the status of the imams, a point of contro­
versy within the early Twelver Imimi community. See Modarressi 1993,20-30; Marshall
Hodgson, ‘Ghulaf, EP, II, 1093-5; also Wadid al-Qi^i’s seminal article on the term Ghuldt
in Dietrich 1976,302-9.
38 Najishi, Rijdl, 378; M imaqini, Tarufih, II, 260 (no. 8102); GAL, 1,199; GAS, 1,45; Wilferd
Madelung, ‘al-Kulayn!’, EP, V, 362-3. Qummi figures in the two main groups of narrators
who constitute the first link in the chains of narrations in KulaynTs K&fl\ see GhaffiLr 1995,
482-3; cf. Marcinkowski 2001; Newman 2000,94-112; Ahmad 2002.
39 He is better known as al-Shaykh al-$aduq; see further details in PA.
40 On the authors of these works, see Akhtar 1988; Ahmad 2002. For a different, fiqh-led
approach, see Gleave 2001,350-82.
41 There are two lithographs of Qumml’s Tafsir printed in Iran, one from 1313/1895 and
another from 1315/1897. The latter, though incomplete, has the tafsir attributed to the
eleventh imam al-Hasan al-‘Askari appended to i t see Jalili 1988.
42 See PA for further details on Ibn Abi ‘Umayr, an important ShTi Baghdadi traditionist who
knew the seventh, eighth and ninth Twelver imams.
43 See PA, Jafar al-$idiq.
44 See PA, Mufiammad al-Baqir.
45 See PA, Abul- Jarud.
46 In other words, there was a proto-commentary by Qummi himself that included reports
transmitted via Abu’l-Jirud, and there was an independent commentary by Abu’l-Jirud
from al-Biqir, the present recension of Qumml’s tafsir is a combination of (parts of) the
proto-commentary and the other independent commentary. There are over two hundred
citations of Abu i-Jirtid’s riw&ya in the extant commentary by Qummi: on this material, see
Bar-Asher 1999,48-56. On the tafsir ’an al-Baqir, see Kohlberg 1992, 319. For a Zaydi
recension, see Muridi, Am&li.
47 TihranI, Dhan a, IV, 308; Bar-Asher 1999,55.
48 Amir-Moezzi and Schmidtke 1997,121; Bar-Asher 1999,39-45.
49 On the genres of commentary see. Dhahabi 1976-89,13-23,204-5,288-9; Ma'rifat 1997-
8 ,1 ,13-112; Andrew Rippin, Tafefr, EP, X, 83-8; Norman Caldei's article in Hawting and
Shareef 1993,101-40. On Imimi tafsir, see Mahmoud Ayoub’s contribution in Rippin 1988.
50 See the comment by the Safavid scholar, Mir D im id (d. 1040/1631) in his work on al-Kdfl
and early Imimi narrations, Rawdshih, 1313/1894,87.
51 Modarressi 2003 has questioned the attribution of the authorship to Qummi in his biobib-
liographical survey of early Shil literature.
52 On Furat, see M imaqini, Tarufih, III, 3 (no. 9412); Khwinsiri, Rawtfdt, V, 345; Tihrini,
Dhan a, IV, 298-9; Khul, Mu'jam, XTV, 271, (no. 9324); Turaytu, Mafma, III, 375.
53 GAS, 1,539; Bar-Asher 1999,29.
54 M im aqini, Tarufih, I, 225-6 (no. 1870), where he is described as ‘the most reliable of
people’ and as a traditionist and witness being an important source for the narrative of the
birth of the Twelfth imam. M imaqini notes that Najishi and Ibn al-Ghada’iri regard him
as a liar and fabricator of hadith for his extremist {ghdli) cause, but suggests that their neg­
ative judgement is because of his role in the transmission of the accounts of the ‘marvels
('aj&’ib) and ‘miracles’ (mu'jizdt) of the imams and their supernatural births.
55 M imaqini, Tarufih, 1,328-20, (no. 2922), where he is described as a Kufan thiqa and com­
panion of the later imams - but that would make a death date of around 300/912, as sug­
gested by Bar-Asher, unlikely. More than thirty works are attributed to Furit; along with
his brother, al-Hasan, he was an important Twelver Imimi figure who settled and died in

55
On the Nature of the Divine

Qumm: Tihrinl, Tabaqdt, 113. A Kit&b al-Zuhd is attributed to him, in which he reports
from Hishim b. al-Hakam and Muhammad b. Abl ‘Umayr.
56 TihrinI, JabaqdU 287-8.
57 Bar-Asher 1999,29-32.
58 Al-Asbagh b. NubSta (b. al-Hirith al-Han?ali al-Tamimi) was the head of the shurfa (police
force) o f‘All in Kufsu see PA.
59 The question of the miraculous nature of the knowledge of the imams was a controversial
issue in early Imimi Shl'ism. The unqualified insistence that the imams possessed perfect
knowledge of the unseen, of what has been and of what will be, was associated with the
extremists (ghul&t), although, over time, qualified acceptance of the special knowledge of
the imam became an integral part of Twelver ImimI theology (see Modarressi 1993, ch. 2).
60 Ma'rifat, 1997-8,322-5; Bar-Asher 1999,56-63.
61 See the editors introduction in ‘Ayyashi, Tafsir (new edn), 1,5; Tihrinl, Dharfa, IV, 295.
62 NajSshl, Rij&l, 350; Kishshi, Rij&l, 993; Ibn Shahr&shQb, Ma'&lim, 88-9; Ismail Poonawala,
*al-‘Ayyashi’, Elr, III, 163-4; Bernard Lewis, ‘al-'Ayyishf, E P ,1,794-5; Bar-Asher 1999,
58-62; editor's introduction in 'Ayyashi, Tafsir (new edn), 1,3-6; GAL, 1,704; GAS, 1,42,
where a death date of c. 320/932 is given.
63 See PA, Ibn Fadd&l-
64 See PA, Abu ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Tayalisi.
65 Bernard Lewis, ‘‘All al-Rida\ El2, 1,399-400.
66 See TOsi, Hhrist, 163-5; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 244-6 (=Ramadin, 240-2); Tihrani, Dhan a,
IV, 295; editor's introduction, ‘AyyishI, Tafsir (new edn), 1,40-4.
67 AbO ‘Amr al-Kishshl is also referred to as al-Kashshi: see Wilferd Madelung, ‘al-Kashshi\
EP, IV, 711; Najashi, Rij&l, 372.
68 Cf. editor's comments in introduction of‘Ayyashi, Tafsir (new edn), 1,8.
69 Al-Tabrisi is also often pronounced as ‘al-Tabarsi’: see Bar-Asher (1999, 61) for some
examples of citations. On Tabrisi/Tabarsi, see biographical entry in this chapter.
70 Kohlberg 1992,347-8; editor's introduction to ‘Ayyashi, Tafsir (new edn), 1,47.
71 On the ghul&t, see the references in n. 37.
72 In early Imam! Shi’ism, extremists (ghul&t) held that God had a body (cf. tashbih), amongst
other things, and that he inhered (huliil) in human beings, namely in the imams.
73 Gifford Edmund Bosworth, ‘al-Tabari’, EP, X, 11—15; See Cooper 1987, ix-xxxvi; Tabari-
Rosenthal 1989,5-134; Gilliot 1990.
74 Dhahabf 1976-89,1,205-24; DawQdl, Tabaq&t, II, 106-15; Ma'rifat 1997-8, II, 312-19;
ISESCO 1992;Qasimzadah 1991;Zubayli 1990.
75 The term magh&zi, as the title suggests, dealt mainly with the ‘military campaigns of the
Prophet, in particular those fought against the Meccans after the emigration to Medina.
The earliest such magh&zi work is that of al-W&qidl (d. 208/823). However, some scholars
have argued that magh&zi was the earliest name for the genre dealing with the biography
of the Prophet, and that it became known as sira, as in the case of Simt Ibn Ish&q, only later.
The opposite case has also been made; namely, that sira was the earlier name of this genre.
On the relationship between these distinct bodies of material, see Robinson 2003,24-30,
and the references provided therein.
76 Afimad Ibn Hanbal b. Hilil al-Shaybini al-Marwazi (d. 241/855) was a prominent pietist
and traditionist in Baghdad, who opposed the Mu’tazili consensus especially on the doc­
trine of the createdness of the Q ur’an (khalq al-Qur&n) and was consequently persecuted
during the famous mihna (inquisition) instigated by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun shortly
before his death in 218/833, and which lasted about twenty years. Ibn Hanbal is the pro­

56
 The commentators and their commentaries

genitor and eponym of the i^anbali madhhab, one of the four Sunni schools of law. See PA,
Ibn Hanbal, for more details.
77 Baghdadi, Ta’rikh, II, 101-5; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, V, 47-9 (no. 6678).
78 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, V, 246-7 (no. 7226).
79 For more on Tabari’s teachers, see Gilliot 1990,19-37.
80 The Hanbalis antipathy for Tabari appears to have stemmed from his decision not to
accept Ibn tfanbal’s authority as a jurist, although he recognised him as a great hadith
scholar. This is by no means an opinion in which he was alone. Rosenthal (1989,69-78)
discusses Tabari’s relationship with the Hanbalis; cf. TG, III, 449-51.
81 See Rosenthal (1989,15), citing Yaqut, Udabd’, XVIII, 49.
82 The tafsir is called Jdmi' al-baydn 'an ta’wil dy al-Qur’dn.
83 There is now a complete English translation available, published by the State University of
New York Press in forty volumes as The History of al-Tabari.
84 See Joseph Schacht, ‘Ujtihad’, EP, III, 1026-7; Aron Zysow, ‘Ejtehid’, Elr, VIII, 281-6.
85 See Andrew Rippin, Tafsli', EP, X, 83-8, and Ismail Poonawala, ‘Ta’wil’, EP, X, 390-2.
86 See PA, Abfl‘Ubayda.
87 See PA, al-Farra*.
88 O n the canonisation of the seven readings, see: Ibn Muj&hid, Qird’dt\ Melchert 2000; Rudi
Paret, ‘fciri’a , EP, V, 127-9; Alford Welch, C u r in ’, EP, V, 406-9; Qaba 1999. A com­
pendium of all Qur’inic readings historically recorded has been initiated, see ‘Umar and
Mukarram 1982-.
89 Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist, I, 188-9 (=Ramadin, 236); Idris, 'Uyun al-akhbdr, V, 243-5;
Poonawala 1977,36; GAS, 1,573; GAI-S, 1,323; Hamdani 1960,27-8; Daftary 1990,120-
1; Heinz Halm, ‘Abu Hitem al-R&zf, Elr, 1,315; Samuel M. Stem, ‘Abu H&tim al-RAzf, EP,
1,125. The dawa was the Ismilli mission (or kerygma) in the name of the imam that sought
to win over adherents to the faith away from Sunni and Twelver Shi‘i beliefs. See M.
Canard, 'da‘wa, EP, II, 168-70.
90 See Lenn Goodman, ‘al-R&zi, AbO Bakr', EP, VIII, 474-7.
91 See AbO Hitim al-R&zi, Kitdb al-I$ldh.
92 Sec Abu HStim al-Razi, A'ldm.
93 Daftary, ‘Carmatians, Elr, IV, 823-32; Wilferd Madelung, ‘KarmatC EP, IV, 660-5; also
Madelungfs seminal article on the Qarmatis in Daftary 1996,21-73.
94 For the edition of Abu H&tim al-R&zfs Kitdb al-Zina, see primary bibliography.
95 Q. 59:24, And God’s are the Most Beautiful Names (see also Q. 7:180; 20:8).
96 GAS, 1,578-79; GAI-S, 1,324; Majdu‘, Fahrasa, 134-5,138-9,187-8,190-1,259-60,278,
280; Poonawala 1977,70-5; Heinz Halm, ‘Dja‘far b. Man$ur al-Yaman’, EP suppL Fasc., 3-
4,236-7.
97 One work that exemplifies strong ‘Qur’in ic it/ in its ta’wil method is JaW s (or his fathers)
dialogue Kitdb al-'Alim wal-ghuldm; for edition, see primary bibliography.
98 Jawdhari, Sira, 126-7, quoted by James Morris in his translation of Ja‘far b. Man$u/s Kitdb
al-*Alim (The Master and the Disciple), 51.
99 For more on Ja'far and his ta’wil works, see Hamid Haji’s forthcoming study and translation
of the esoteric commentary on Q. 12 (surat Yusuf).
100 For the edition of Ja‘far b. Mansur's Kitdb al-Kashf see primary bibliography.
101 Kashf 23-5.
102 Ismail Poonawala, T a’wil’, EP, X, 390-1.
103 See Morris’s introduction in his translation of Ja‘far b. Mansur’s Kitdb al-'Alim (The Master
and The Disciple), 26, and also Madelung 1961,52-8.

57
On the Nature of the Divine

104 For the edition of MaybudTs Kashf\ see primary bibliography.

105 M arifat 1997-8, II, 555-65; Storey 1927-39,1(ii), 1190-1. On the development of Sufi
exegesis see Massignon 1922a; Nwyia 1970; Bdwering 1980. On the writing of Quranic
commentaries in Persian, see Annabel Keeler, ‘Exegesis iii, In Persian’, Elr, IX, Fasc. 2,
119-23.
106 For (Abul-Futub) Razfs work, see primary bibliography.
107 Kashf, 1,1. On the life, works and doctrines of An$irl, see de Beaurecueil 1965.
108 Maybudfs name appears thus in a ninth-/fifteenth-century manuscript belonging to the
Mazar Kathrat al-Anwir in Gizurgih, Herat. A variant, Abtfl-Fadl Abmad b. Abl Sa‘d b.
Mufiammad b. Abmad b. Mehrizad, appears in the colophon of an undated manuscript
belonging to Husayn Miftib- See the editors introduction to the seventh volume of
MaybudTs Kashf
109 See Afshir 1340sh/1962,312. Our commentators connection with Maybudi is further
confirmed by the location of the tomb of his daughter, Fatima bt. al-Imim Sa'id Rashid
al-Din Abl’l-Fadl b. Abi Sad b. Abmad Mehrizad, in the Friday mosque of that town; also
Afshir 1347sh/1969,440.
110 Ja'fari, Tarikh, 120-1; Mustawfi, Jdmi\ 621 -4.
111 See PA, al-Juwayni.
112 The word mundjdt (the third form ma$dar from the verbal root n-j-w) means a secret con­
versation or confidential talk, and is used in religious texts to refer to intimate prayers or
supplications to God. Collections of the Mundjdt of An$ari, which also appear under the
titles Ildhiyydt, Udhindma, and Na$d’ih, form a vast and varied corpus, numbering dozens
of manuscripts and, from the nineteenth century onwards, lithograph editions. The dif­
ficulty of ascertaining the authenticity of these collections has been discussed by Utas
1988. However, it is possible that some of the earlier manuscripts, even though varied in
content, represent genuine mundjdt of An$£ri that were written down by different disci­
ples. Early manuscripts of Maybudfs Kashf al-asrdr may be considered among the most
authentic sources for the mundjdt. Sayings and mundjdt of An$&ri which appear in the
Kashf al-asrdr have been compiled by Sharfat 1976. According to Utas 1988, the nearest
to what might be called a critical edition of Ans&ifs Mundjdt is that published by de
Beaurecueil 1948. De Beaurecueil 1988 has also translated the Ildhi-ndma into French
under the title, Cris de caeur. For other translations of An$iri, see primary bibliography.
113 This arba'in is a collection of forty hadiths with commentary. Maybudi refers to this work
once throughout his commentary, Kashf V, 219.
114 This work survives in only one manuscript, and has been edited by Dinishpazhuh
1348sh/1969.
115 For a study of the doctrines and hermeneutics of Maybudfs Kashf al-asrdr, see Keeler
2006.
116 See Kashf, VIII, 486, where he condemns Ash‘aris along with the Jahmiyya, philosophers
and others in his commentary on those who dispute concerning the signs of God (Q. 40:56).
117 ‘/7m al-kaldm, an Islamic discipline designed to defend articles of faith and beliefs, is often
glossed in English as ‘dogmatic or dialectical theolog/ or even ‘speculative theology*.
Practitioners of this discipline are called mutakallimun (sing., mutakallim); see Louis
Gardet, “Ilm al-kalam’, El2, III, 1141-50; Frank 1992.
118 For the sake of tanzih (maintaining God’s transcendence above any comparison with
creatures) and to avoid anthropomorphism (tashbih), some schools of theology, such as
that of the Mu'tazila, believed that the anthropomorphic verses should be interpreted
metaphorically. Hanbalis and early Ash‘aris rejected this kind of metaphorical interpre­

58
 The commentators and their commentaries

tation, which they considered to be a denial of the divine attributes (ta'fil). They insisted
that such expressions in the Qur’&n and hadlth should be accepted as they stood without
interpretation (for this principle, Ash'arl coined the term bi-la kayf, ‘without [asking]
hoW): see Abrahamov 1995; Abrahamov 1996; Baljon 1988; Gimaret 1997; Williams
2002; Josef van Ess, ‘Tashblh wa-tanzih’, EP, X, 341-4; TG, IV, 373-424; Frank 1991, esp.
155-90.
119 Thus we find the following in Maybudfs mystical interpretation of Q. 7:53, then [He]
presided upon the Throne (istawd ‘aldl-‘arsh): ‘The Throne of God in heaven is known
(malum). His Throne on earth is the hearts of His lovers’, Kashf, III, 639.
120 Kashfy 1, 1.
121 Abu ‘Abd al-Rabmin al-SulamI*s compilation of Sufi exegesis, the Haq&'iq al-tafsir>
includes interpretations of important early mystics such as Ja'far al-$adiq (d. 148/765),
Junayd al-Baghdadi (d. 298/910) and al-Hall&j (d. 309/922). Extracts from Sulami’s
llaq&'iq have been edited and published by Nwyia 1967, Nwyia 1973, and by Massignon
1922b. These extracts have been reprinted in Pouijavady 1369sh/1990. Al-Sulami*s
Haqd'iq has recently been published, but without critical apparatus and with a number of
lacunae. A critical edition of a supplementary compilation of Sufi exegesis made by Sulami
is also available. For details see Sulami, Haqd’iq; Bowering 1995.
122 For details, see Qushayri, Lafd ‘if
123 For this aspect of Maybudfs hermeneutics, see Keeler 1999.
124 This is not to say that all Sufi commentaries comment on every verse; but some, such as
the commentay of Qushayri, certainly provide an interpretation for most of the verses.
Maybudi, however, often covers no more than two or three verses in the Nawbat III sec­
tions of his commentary.
125 Two examples are the to/sfrs of Mu*ln al-Dln Farihi and that of Husayn Wfi'i? Kishifi. For
details/editions, see primary bibliography.
126 For the edition of Zamakhsharf s Kashshdf used throughout, see primary bibliography.
On the commentator and the work itself, see Dhahabi 1976-89,1,429-82; Marifat 1997-
8, II, 480-501; C.H.M. Versteegh, ‘Al-Zamakhsharf, EP> XI, 432-4; Ibn Khallik&n,
Wafaydt, V, 168-74. On the Mu'tazila and tafar, see Sabine Schmidtke, ‘Mutazila, EQ, III,
466-71.
127 Hodgson 1974, II, 308; Saleh 2004 has an altogether different view, see his comments on
the neglected but very important tafsir by al-Tha‘labl (d. 427/1035) of Nishapur.
128 Khwirazm was an ancient and medieval Central Asian state, nowadays in northwestern
Uzbekistan. One of the oldest centres of civilisation in Central Asia, it was conquered by
the Arabs in the first/seventh century. In the following centuries, Khwirazm became
increasingly prosperous and powerful, and by Zamakshan s time, its capital city was a sig­
nificant centre of trade and Arabic learning. The region continued to flourish until the
late eighth/fourteenth century, when Timur destroyed the complex irrigation system that
brought Khwirazm much of its prosperity. See Clifford Edmund Bosworth, ‘Khwirazm’,
EP, IV, 1060-65.
129 See PA, al-Jubbil
130 See PA, AbuTHusayn al-Ba$ri.
131 See PA, ‘Abd al-Jabb&r.
132 For a recent study of this question, see Lane 2006.
133 See PA, al-Ka‘bi.
134 For the edition o f‘Abd al-Jabblr's Tanzih, see primary bibliography; on the work itself,
see Marifat 1997-8, II, 514.

59
On the Nature of the Divine

135 Cf. Daniel Gimaret, ‘M utazila, EP, VII, 783-93; see also the definitive study of the
concept of al-antr btl-ma'rUf wal-nahy *an al-munkar by Cook 2000.
136 Etan Kohlberg, ‘al-Tabrisi’, El2, X, 40-1; ‘Amili, A'ydn, XL11,276-82; Dhahabi 1976-89,
II, 99-144; Qazwini, Naq<j, 1,304; GAL, I, 513-4.
137 SeePA, al-Tusl
138 See PA, al-TusL
139 SeePA,al-Tusi.
140 SeeTabrisI,/flH'dmx\
141 For the edition ofTabrisfs Majma' al-bayan used throughout, see primary bibliography.
142 On the Majma‘ al-baydn, see Dhahabi 1976-89, II, 99-144; Ma'rifat 1997-8, II, 282-9;
Abdul 1977.
143 Cf. Georges C. Anawati, ‘Fakhr al-DIn al-RizI*, El2, II, 751-5; Anawati 1962, 193-234;
Safadi, Wdfi, IV, 248-58; Ibn Khallikin, Wafaydt, 1,600-2; Ibn Ab! U$aybi‘a ,*Uyun, II,
23-30; Qiffi, Ta’rikh, 190-2; Street 1997,135-46. For an introduction to his thought,
focusing on its expression in his tafsir, see Ceylan 1996; Amaldez 1960; Amaldez 1989.
A recent study of his exegetical method and philosophy is Amaldez 2002.
144 For a study of his thought focusing on his theological work Luma' al-adiUa, see Saflo 2000;
cf. his Kitdb al-Irshad on kaldm, rendered magisterially into English by Walker 2000; for
a study of his dogmatic theology, see Klopfer 1958.
145 See Hossein Ziai, ‘al-Suhrawardl, Shihab al-DIn Yafcya’, EP, IX, 782-4.
146 For a study of these disputations and their text, see Kholeif 1966; Kraus 1938; Ma‘$umi
1967; McAuliffe 1990,276-%.
147 Cf. Iskenderoglu 2002.
148 For editions of Razi*s Mabdhith and Mafdlib, see primary bibliography.
149 In addition to Razf s significance for the study of Muslim theological philosophy, his con­
tribution to the field of ethics, a field itself largely unchartered by modem scholarship, has
not been folly appreciated. A principal study in this respect is Shihadeh 2006.
150 For the edition of Razi’s Mafatih al-ghayb, see primary bibliography; Dawudi, Jabaqat, II,
213-17; Dhahabi 1976-89,1,290-6;Marifat 1997-8, II,406-29.
151 Ahmet Ates, ‘Ibn ‘Arabf, EP, III, 707-11; William Chittick, ‘Ebn ‘Arabf, Elr, VII, 664-
70; Safadi, Wdfi, IV, 173-8; Addas 1993; Chittick 1989.
152 For the edition of Kashinf s Qur’an commentary, see primary bibliography. On this com -
mentator, see Duncan MacDonald, “Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashanl’, EP, I, 88-90; Ibn al-
Fuwati, Talkhtf, IV, 180; GAL, II, 201-2, GAL-S, II, 280-1; Hadlzada 1380sh/2000.
153 Dhahabi 1976-89, III, 66-82; Ma nfat 1997-8, II, 569-86; GAL, 1,571, G A LS, 1,791;
Yabya 1964, II, 480,483; Lory 1980.
154 For details, see Ibn ‘Arabi, Rahma; cf. AyazI 1373$h/1994,464-9. More generally on Ibn
‘Arabi’s use of ta’wil, see Abu Zayd 1983.
155 Hadizada 1380sh/2000,28.
156 Tihrani, Tabaqdt, 112-3; ‘Amili, A'ydn, VII, 470; Khalifa, Kashf, 1,336.
157 Hadlzada 1380sh/2000,74-6.
158 Jiml, Nafahdt, 480; Hadizada 1380sh/2000,70-1.
159 Hadlzada 1380sh/2000,28-9; for a discussion of the correspondence, see Landolt 1973.
On SimnanI, see Elias 1995; GAL, II, 263, GALS, II, 281; Fritz Meier, “Ala’ al-Dawla al-
Simnani’, EI2, I, 346-7; Josef van Ess, “Ala’ al-Dawla Semnanf, Elr, I, 774-7; jami,
Nafahdt, 439ft $afadl, Wdfi, VII, 356-7.
160 Hadizada 1380sh/2000,73-4; Ballanfat 1998,87; Ernst 19%, 8-9, especially in the context
of the ‘existence’ of a Ruzbihaniyya Sufi order.

60
 The commentators and their commentaries

161 Hadizada 1380$h/2000,72-3. On Isfaraylnl and his correspondence with Simninl, see
Landolt 1973.
162 William C. Chittick, ‘Sadr al-Din al-ROnawT, EI2, VIII, 753-5; GAL-S, 1,807-8.
163 See Amuli, Jdmi\ 659 inter alia; cf. Corbin 1971-2, III, 149-213.
164 Hadizada 1380sh/2000,170-88; Amuli, Jdmi, 498.
165 More generally on this genre and Sufi tafslr, see the article by Alan Godlas on his website
at http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/suftaf/tafsuftoc.html
166 See Lory 1980,29.
167 Ismail Poonawala, ‘Ta’wiT, EP, X, 390-2.
168 For a discussion of Sufism and the three realities, see Murata 1992.
169 Simon Glazer, ‘AbO Hayyan, El2, 1,126; GAL, II, 109, GAL-S, II, 136; Dhahabi 1976-89,
1,317-21; Khafib 1999.
170 Glazer (ed.) in Abu Hayyan, Manhaj, xx.
171 Abu ‘Abd Allah Jamal al-Din Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah Ibn Malik a l-T ^ al-Jayyani was
born in Ja6n in Andalusia. He was a respected Maliki jurist and grammarian, who trav­
elled to study and teach in Cairo and Damascus, where he died. See Henri Fleisch, ‘Ibn
Malik, al-Djayyam. EP, III, 861-2.
172 For the edition of Abu Hayyan s Bahr used throughout, see primary bibliography.
173 See the editors' introduction in Abu Hayyan, Bahr, 1,61.
174 Cited by G6rard Troupeau, ‘Nafiw*, EP, VII, 913.
175 Versteegh 1980.
176 On this famous grammarian, see PA, Sibawayh.
177 Carter 1985,269; Versteegh 1977; Abed 1991.
178 Carter 1985,270.
179 Bernards 1997,16.
180 For example, ghirr vs kha/4, barf vs addh, muta'addi vs wdqi\ mun$arif vs majri. See
Versteegh 1987,157.
181 G6rard Troupeau, ‘Nabv/, EP, VII, 914.
182 See PA, al-Akhfash.
183 See PA, al-KisaT.
184 Bernards 1997,12,16.
185 Afghani 1970,101. Ibn Hazm, in contrast, never left Andalusia and, Afghani says, can
truly be called an Andalusian figure. Although not known as a grammarian, he definitely
left his mark on this field, especially in his rejection of the use of qiyds (analogy) in
grammar: see Afghani 1970, 103. Versteegh counts qiyds, along with naql, as the most
important criterion in the science of grammar: see Versteegh 1980,19; Versteegh 1987,
158. Hadithi 1966 (314-5) in her work on Abu Hayyan gives grammatical examples of
idiosyncracies specific to the Andalusian school of grammar.
186 See PA, al-Ru'asi.
187 See PA, ThaTab.
188 See PA, Ibn al-Sarraj.
189 See PA, Ibn JinnL
190 See the editors’ comments in Abu Hayyan, Bahr, 63-5. Hadithi 1966 (esp. 285,299,310)
would appear to place more emphasis on Abu Hayyin’s allegiance to the Basran school
than the editors of the Bahr. For Abu Hayyan s linguistic importance see MashannI 1986,
426-81.
191 Glazer (ed.) in his introduction to Abti Hayyan, Manhaj, xxiii, comments: ‘During the
700 years in which this Procrustean adaptation of fact to [grammatical] theory was being

61
On the Nature of the Divine

elaborated, there were very few nonconformists. One of them was Abu Hayy&n, and in
his Manhaj as-Sdlik he displays at times a scientific creed that was as alien to his prede­
cessors and contemporaries as it is familiar to us*
192 See MashannI 1986,105.
193 ‘B&bms* here refers to Ism&'ilis.
194 Hashwiyya is a pejorative term used for the ahl al-hadith (sc the tradibonists) and espe­
cially anthropomorphists: see (ed.) 'Hashwiyya*, El2, III, 269.
195 According to Abu Hayy&n, these Karrimiyya were literalists and anthropomorphists
prevalent in Khurasan who followed the preacher Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b.
Karram (d. 255/869), and as such associated with the mushabbiha (anthropomorphists)
and mujassima (corporealists) - the latter especially because Ibn Karr&m is supposed to
have held that God has a body (jism). However, this ascebc group were attempbng to
forge the middle way between the literalism of the tradibonists {ahl al-hadith) and the
rationalising 'agnosbcism* of the Mu'tazila. See Clifford Edmund Bosworth,
‘Karramiyya’, El2, IV, 667-9; Bosworth 1960; Chabbi 1977; Madelung 1971; Madelung
1988. On their relabons with the Ghaznavid rulers of Khurasan, see Manini, Yamini, II,
241-50, 311-14. For classic heresiographical statements on them, see Shahrast&ni,
Milal, I, 108-13.
1% These are both appellations for anthropomorphists. See Josef van Ess, Tashblh wa tanzih\
El2, X, 341-4; cf. ShahrastanI, Milal, 1,103-8.
197 See Hadlthl 1966,224-33; editors’ comments in Abu Hayyin, Bohr, 54-6; MashannI 1986,
107.
198 See, for instance the following edibon: Abu Hayyin, al-Bahr al-muhif with al-Nahr al-
madid on margins, 8 vols., Cairo, Matbaat al-Saada, 1329/1911.
199 GAL, II, 249.
200 GAL, II, 111 (under Ibn Samin).
201 GAL, 1,409; II, 111.
202 See Hadlthl 1966,235.
203 See editors’ comments in Abu Hayyan, Bohr, 23,60. MashannI (1986,219) categorises the
Bahr as straightforward tafsir bil-ma’thur.
204 ‘Abd al-Haqq b. Ghalib b. ‘Afiyya al-Andalusi was from Abd Hayyin’s hometown of
Ghamata (Granada) and a well-known tradibonist, commentator and litterateur. His own
tafsir, al-Muharrar al-wajizft tafsir ol-Kitab al-'Aziz is admired for its style and choice of
narrabons and for its rejecbon of the isr&'iliyy&t. For edibon, see primary bibliography.
See also M anfat 1997-8, II, 343-4.
205 See MashannI 1986,104-8,219-38,301 -22,426-71.
206 At the very beginning of the commentary, he singles out the two above-menboned com­
mentaries, that of Ibn ‘Abyya and that of Zamakhshari, as the best to follow: see Abu
Hayy&n, Bahr, 1,10.
207 MashannI 1986,426.
208 For details of the edibon Sharafi’s Ma$dbih used here for the translations, see primary bib­
liography.
209 See Wilferd Madelung, ‘Imama, El2, III, 1166-7.
210 That is to say, he was a descendant of the Prophet through his grandson al-Hasan b. ‘All
(d. 49/669-70).
211 J. R. Blackburn, ‘al-Man$ur bi’llah al-K&sim b. Muhammad’, El2, VI, 436-7; Wilferd
Madelung, ‘Zaydiyya*, El2, XI, 480; cf. Maddib 1982.

62
 The commentators and their commentaries

212 On him, see the editors’ introduction to Sharafi, 1,8-11, especially 10-11 for specific,
mainly manuscript references.
213 ‘Jirudf refers to the Kufan Abu’l-Jarud Ziyad b. al-Mundhir al-Hamadani al-Kharifi (d.
c. 146/763), who was a companion of the fifth imam Muhammad al-Baqir (<L c. 117/735):
see PA on both of these individuals. In other words, the theological position was specifi­
cally Shfi and privileged the family of the Prophet, whilst being critical of those who
opposed them. The Jirudi school was known for its condemnation of the first two caliphs
(Abu Bakr and ‘Umar) as usurpers: see Marshall G. S. Hodgson, ‘Ejariidiyya’, EP, II, 485;
van Arendonk 1960, 25-27, 79-80; Shahrast&ni, Milal, 1 ,157-9; Nawbakhti, Firaq, 48;
Qummi, Maqalat, 71-2; TG, II, 253-5; (pseudo-) N&shi\ Mas&'il, 42-5; Madelung in
Morewedge 1979,136-7.
214 As indicated in the introduction of Sharafi, Ma$dbih, 1,69-73.
215 Wilferd Madelung, ‘Zayd b. ‘All\ EPyXI, 473-4; Ibn Sa‘d, TabaqaU V, 239-40; I$fahini,
Maqdtil, 127-51; GAS I, 552-60; Baladhuri, Ansab, II, 520-41; van Arendonk 1960, 28-
31; Subb&ni 1998,57-220.
216 For editions of Zayd b. ‘All’s Gharib, see primary bibliography; Versteegh 1999. Jeffery
wrote two short studies on his readings of the Quranic text: Jeffery 1936 and Jeffery 1940;
cf. Subbani 1998,121-2.
217 Griffini 1919; cf. Wilferd Madelung, ‘Zayd b. ‘All’, EP, XI, 473-4.
218 Wlferd Madelung,‘Zaydiyya,EPt XI,478;Madelung 1965,86-152; Abrahamov 1990,6-
7;Subbani 1998, 393-4.
219 Subbani 1998,363-5,392; also see editor^ introduction to Sharafi, Ma&lbiht 1,12; Wilferd
Madelung, ‘Zaydiyya’, EP, XI, 478; Tabari, Ta’rikh, 1,977-87: for an English translation
of this, see Bosworth 1987, 13-28; Isfahan!, Maqatil, 518-36; H. YOsufi Ashkivari, *Al
Tabataba’, DM/, II, 57-9.
220 However, al-Qasim himself, contrary to AbrahamoVs suggestion, was not a Mu‘tazill: see
Wilferd Madelung 1989,39-48.
221 Abrahamov 1996.
222 Abrahamov 1996,32,37; cf. Boullata in Hallaq and Little 1991,27-40.
223 Abrahamov 19%, 52-4.
224 Abrahamov 19% persistently translates this as ‘soul’.
225 Abrahamov 19%, 57-9.
226 Ibid., 65-73.
227 Ibid., 73-84.
228 Ibid., 85-97.
229 Ibid., 99-145.
230 Editors’ introduction in Sharafi, Mafabth, 1,14.
231 Wilferd Madelung, ‘al-Had! ila’l-Hakk\ EP, suppl. Fasc. 5-6,334-5; Madelung 1%5,86-
173; GAS, 1,563-66; 'Alawi, Sira; editor's comments in the introduction to HadI, Majmu\
28-40; van Arendonk 1960,127-305; Gochenour 1984,46-55.
232 Madelung 1%5,163-8. For example, at the beginning of his treatise on the Mu(tazili inter­
mediate position (al-manzila bayn al-manzilatayn)t he states the five key Mu‘tazili prin­
ciples: see HidI, Majmu\ 152.
233 Madelung 1991,25,29-31; Gochenour 1984,174-7.
234 The Zaydis had a variety of positions on the question of the two caliphs: see Kohlberg
1971,343-53.
235 van Arendonk 1960,254; Kohlberg 1971,347.
236 Gochenour 1984,181; Madelung 1979,69.

63
On the Nature of the Divine

237 The title ‘al-Mahdf was a contested term and used by many rulers in the period: see
Bacharach 1993; Sachedina 1981; Wilferd Madelung, ‘al-Mahdf, EP, V, 1230-8.
238 Gochenour 1984,159; Madelung 1965,205.
239 Madelung 1979,72; Idris, 'Uyun al-akhbdr, 18-19. The §ulaybids ruled Yemen as vassals
of the Fatimids for almost a century, from the victory of *All b. Muhammad al-$ulaybi at
the fortress of Mas&r in 429/1038 until 532/1138 with the death of the Queen al-Malika
al-Sitt, by which time they had lost much ground to other Ismillls as well as to the Zaydis
in the north: see Daftary 1990,208-10.
240 For introductions to his biography, see Tahsin Yaziri, ‘Esm^il Haqqi Borsavf, £/r, VIII,
627; G. Kut, ‘Ismail HaWo, EP, IV, 191-2; Theodor Menzel 1964,1114-5; GAL, 11,440,
GAL-S, II, 652-3; Ayni 1933.
241 Cf. Abdulbaki Golpinarli, ‘Djilwatiyya’, EP> II, 542-3.
242 For the edition of Burusawfs Ruh al-baydn, see primary bibliography.
243 Burusawi, Ruh al-baydn, 1,2.
244 This cycle of commentaries is attributed to Najm al-Din Kubrit (d. 618/1221), Najm al-
Din D iyi RizI (d. 654/1256) and ‘Ala’al-Dawla SimnanI (d. 736/1326): see Meier 1937;
Ate$ 1970; Elias 1995,203-12; Corbin 1978,61-131; Schpall 1981-84.
245 See Sakhawi, Maq&fid.
246 See Shaykhzada, Hdshiya.
247 Burusawi, Ruh al-baydn, 1,2. The remainder of the dib&ja is taken up with an explanation
o f‘seeking refuge in God’ (isti'ddha) and the basmala.
248 See Alusi, ]ald\ 57-59; Katttni, H/xris, 1,139-41; ‘AzzSwi 1958; Athari 1345/1926-27,21-
43; Zirikli, A'idm, VIII, 53; Kahhila 1376-81/1957-61, XII, 175; Nafi 2002; Commins
1990,24; Dhahabi 1976-89, II, 352-62.
249 SeeShahin 1995a; Commins 1990,24.
250 The link between (Neo-)Sufi and Salafi circles and ideas was strong: see Voll 1980,264-73
and Voll 1974. In contrast, the following scholars distinguish Salafi reform from (Neo-)
Sufism: Dallal 1993 and O’Fahey and Radtke 1993.
251 ‘Wahhabi* was a pejorative term of abuse leveled by traditionalists against the ‘puritanical’
literalists of the Najd, who felt that the Islamic tradition had acquired accretions in
thought and practice that could not be justified in terms of the early Islamic community.
On the Wahhabis, especially in this period, see Cook 1992; Cook 2000,165-92; Esther
Peskes, ‘Wahhibiyya’, EP> XI, 39-45.
252 See Hamid Algar, ‘Nakshbandiyya, EP, VII, 935.
253 For the edition of Alusi’s Ruh al-ma'dnl see primary bibliography. On Alusi’s tafsir, see
‘Abd al-Hamid 1968; Ma nfat 1997-8,11,435-7.
254 Cf. Nakash 1994.
255 Alusi, Ruh al-ma‘dni> 1,5-20.
256 Ridi, 'Abduh; Cragg 1995,11-12; Joseph Schacht, ‘Muhammad ‘Abduh’, EP, VII, 418-20.
257 Samarral 1978; Shawabika 1989; Shahin 1995b, 410-12; W. Ende, ‘Rashid RidS\ EP, VIII,
446-8; Zirikli, A'/dm, VI, 361-2; K a b ila 1376-81/1957-61, IX, 310-12.
258 Cf. Rahman 1982, especially ch. 2; Hourani 1983; Commins 1990.
259 On the commentary, see Hourani 1983,222-44; Jomier 1954; Ma‘rifat 1997-8, II, 454-
65.
260 Keddie 1995,23-7; Keddie 1972; Keddie 1968; Mahdawi and Afshar 1342sh/1963.
261 For example, his translation of Afghan?s Risdlafil-radd 'aldl-dahriyyin came out in 1886,
and his philological commentaries on the Nahj al-Baldgha in 1885 and the Maqamdt of
al-Hamadhani in 1889.

64
 The commentators and their commentaries

262 On the concept and construct of Neo-Mu‘tazilI in this context, see Hildebrandt 2002;
Caspar 1957; Khalid 1969.
263 See Mus'ad and Cragg 1966.
264 Cf. Kerr 1966.
265 For general information about the Mutazila and the question of Mutazill affiliation and
interpretation in the modem period, see Martin et al, 1997.
266 On his relations with the movement, see Busool 1976.
267 Laoust 1938; Enayat 1982,69-82.
268 His collected responsa have been published, see Rid*, Fatdwd.
269 There is quite a large body of literature on him. For an introduction, see Nasr 1995,71-
5; also Nasr 1996; Francis C. Robinson, ‘Mawdudf, E/2, VI, 872-4; ‘Abd al-Rabman 1971;
Faruql 1989; Mawdudi in Buhtah 1984.
270 His family claimed descent from the ChishtI Sufi Khw§ja Qufb al-Din Mawdud (d.
577/1181-2), a precursor of the ChishtI shaykhs who migrated to Delhi: see Nasr 1996,
9.
271 See Minault 1982; Minault 1995; A. C. Niemeijer, ‘Khilifa, El2, V, 7.
272 Sec Nasr 1994.
273 Nasr 1995,42; Binder 1961,194-5.
274 For the edition of MawdudTs Tajhim al-Qur’dn, and the English translation in progress,
see primary bibliography.
275 On him, see Carr£ 1995,453-6; Mallat 1993,16-17; Mallat 1988, and also his website
http://www.bayynat.org
276 For brief details on him, see Wiley 1995,423; see Sachedina 1998,3-9.
277 Mallat 1993; tfusaynl 1989; Nu1mini 1997; Ra u f2001; Aziz 1991; Walbridge 2001.
278 Abu-Rabi' 1996,220-47.
279 Saad-Ghorayeb 2002.
280 On this concept, see Calder 1995,45-8; Jean Calmard, ‘Mardja'-i taklid’, Ei2, VI, 548-56
(which provides a useful list of references); Moussavi 1996; Walbridge 2001; cf. Mutahhari
et al. 1962. Specifically on the marjaiyya of Fadl Allah, see Babranl 1998; Sham! 1999;
Aziz 2001.
281 See Fadl Allah Jihdd.
282 See Fadl Allah, Hqh; Fa<Jl Allah, Hijra; Fa^l Allah, Shabdb; Fa<Jl Allah, Mar*a.
283 For the edition of Fadl Allah’s Min Wahy al-Qurdn, see primary bibliography; on Fadl
Allah’s tafoir, see Marifet 1997-8, II, 474-5.
284 Fadl Allah et al., Wahda; Fadl Allah, Qa<jdyd.
285 Fadl Allah, ‘Aldqdt, Fadl Allah, Masih.

65
 1 Seeking the face of God
(Q. 2:115)

A n d to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you turn,
there is the face o f God; God is indeed All-embracing All-knowing.

Wa Ixllahil-mashriqu wal-maghrib; fa-aynam d tuwallu

fa-tham m a wajhulldh; innallaha wdsi'un *alim

A s A t r i p a r t i t e affirmation of the omnipresence of God, this verse

presents three central themes of theology in the Q u r’an and perm its a variety
o f exegetical approaches to each theme. The commentaries range from discus­
sions o f the context, the Sitz-im-Leben or sabab al-nuzul (lit ‘reason for its being
sent down’), to the intertwined attributes of divine omnipresence and om nis­
cience. Some of the commentaries inform us that the occasion for the revelation
of the verse relates to rules concerning the canonical prayer ($aldt)ybe it the
obligatory (far<f) prayer or the supererogatory (nafila) one, and the need for the
praying individual to orient him/herself towards the sanctuary in Mecca. O ther
commentaries, particularly the later commentaries, focus more on the theolog­
ical aspects of the verse and what it says about God, particularly since there is
no explicit mention of prayer in it.
There are three key features to the verse, expressed by the three phrases
which constitute verse 115. The first feature is the ‘spatial’ relationship between
G od and the cosmos; in other words, direction - represented in the verse by
‘the eas i and ‘the wesf - belongs to God, just as possession belongs to its owner
(al-m dlik) and creation belongs to its C reator (al-khdliq). M awdudI, for
example, says: ‘God (...) is the possessor of all places and directions’. The
second feature is the attempt by the com m entators to explain the significance
o f ‘G od’s face’, and consequendy to address controversial notions of anthropo­
m orphism . The third feature is a discussion of divine attributes, rising out of
the question of why the verse concludes with the divine names All-embracing
and All-knowing, and how these two attributes relate to one another.

F eature 1. The comprehensive spatial description implied by ‘the easf and ‘the
wesf is reaffirmed by the use of the verb walla in the phrase fa-aynamd tuwallu
(so whithersoever you turn). For more than one of our commentaries notes that
walla m eans both ‘to turn towards’ and also ‘to turn away from’, and so the verb

67
On the Nature of the Divine

is effectively subsuming all the possibilities of spatial orientation available to an

individual. If we add to this the fact that one signification of the term wajh, with
which the second phrase concludes, is ‘direction, the im port underlying this
polysemy is clear: wherever you m ay turn there will be the direction - the face
- o f God. M any of the com m entaries, especially the earlier ones, relate the
notion o f ‘direction* to the question o f whither to face during the perform ance
of the obligatory, or canonical, prayer. The m ain concern of these com m en­
taries, then, is whether the qibla,1 the direction of prayer, is always a necessary
condition for the validity of prayers ($aldt): what happens if the qibla cannot be
determ ined - is the prayer still valid?
In the Sufi commentaries the east and the west represent, respectively, the
presential manifestation of God and its absence. Ultimately, however, orienta­
tion for prayer and ‘turning towards God become one and the same concern
in the Sufi perception of this verse: although the praying individual seeks out
G od through a ritual and 'directional’ orientation towards the Ka‘ba in Mecca,
the entire earth is in fact a sacred space, a location within which the believer is
able to ‘turn towards* God, regardless o f a specific projection. Such a ‘turning*,
as highlighted by the Sufi com m entaries, evinces a spiritual orientation, a
seeking of solace, refuge and comfort in the omnipresent Creator. Here, the ori­
entation is in essence an intellectual one, insofar as it is contemplative, and not
simply physical, since it is effected towards One who manifests Himself - as per
the language of Sufi metaphysics - within the entire cosmos and within hum an­
ity itself, a notion encapsulated in the Q u ran ic verse: We shall show them Our
signs in the horizons and within themselves (Q. 41:53).

Feature 2. The totality of the cosm os is expressed by the east and the west,
while the totality o f the divine presence is expressed through th e phrase
whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God. The om nipresence of G od is
expressed through the term wajh. The w ord wajh> rendered th ro u g h o u t as
‘face*, means also ‘direction* and, crucially, ‘aspect* or ‘core*. For the com m en­
tators these m eanings are all interrelated. The face, or countenance, is the
crucial visible part of the body, for it is the essential indication of the identity
o f a person; it reveals their identity. Hence in whithersoever you turn, there is
the face o f God, the cosm os may be understood as a revelation, one that
reveals signs of the divine identity. This echoes the Q u ran ic usage o f the term
aydt to refer to creation (as ‘signs* o f God*s power) - and dydt is the same term

1 The qibla is, essentially, the Ka‘ba at Mecca, and hence denotes the direction to face when per­
forming prayer, among other things (supplications, ritual slaughter of animals, reciting the Qur’in
etc.). The term derives from the third form (qdbala) of the verbal root q-b-U 'to stand exactly op­
posite or ‘to face, with the related preposition qibdla ‘opposite. For further references, see n. 6,
this chapter.

68
 Seeking the face of God

u sed to denote the Verses* o f the Q u ra n ic text: thus creation is a book o f

dydt.
Moreover, given that the word wajh also m eans ‘essence*, verse 115 literally
m eans that in whichever direction you turn, you face that most subtle of all sub­
tleties: the essence of God. This is why the Sufi commentaries discuss the earth
- representing the whole physical realm - as a macrocosmic locus for the m an­
ifestation of G od’s qualities in dense matter, just as the hum an being is a micro-
cosm ic locus for theophany. Kashani com m ents that ‘in whichever direction
you turn, outwardly or inwardly, there is the face o f God, that is, the essence
(dhat) of God self-disclosed through the entirety of His attributes*
Tabari, Abu Hayyan and RazI, am ong others, note the wide range of under­
standings and interpretations o f the notion o f the face or countenance of God
(wajh Allah). Tabari glosses wajh Allah as qiblatuhu> ‘His qibla\ while noting
that ‘others have said that the meaning of G od’s words there is the face o f God
is: there is God’; and ‘others have said that by wajh is m eant the One W ho has
a face; those who make this statem ent say that G od’s face is one o f His attrib­
utes*. Zam akhshari, for his part, relates am ong his citations that al-H asan
recited the verse with a fatha over the ta* (tawallu)> m eaning [by this]: ‘In
whichever direction you assign the qibla [there is the face of God]*. R&zi typi­
cally notes several aspects pertinent to the phrase wajh Allah. Abu Hayyan
expresses an antipathy tow ards anthropom orphism in his discussion o f this
phrase, and cites Abu l-'Aliya as taking issue with the unequivocal affirmation
o f an equivocal term as a divine attribute.
Verse 115 is taken by some com m entators - contrary to the prim a facie
m eaning - as a key refutation of anthropom orphism . A num ber o f com m en­
taries on this verse stress the aspect of divine omnipresence, perhaps as a con­
scious discourse and argum ent against some anthropomorphists in early Islam
w ho thought that G od was confined to His heaven and only encompassed the
cosmos through His knowledge, which was om nipresent Parallel to the divine
omnipresence, the second phrase of the verse is interpreted to indicate G od’s
transcendence over that which He possesses. He owns all directions but is con­
tained or confined by none. To complete the citation from M aw dudi’s tafsir
given earlier: ‘He is the possessor of all places and directions but He Himself is
not limited to any particular place or direction.*
Burusaw! links this medial phrase of verse 115 (fa-aynama tuwallu fa-
thamma wajhulldh) to the final phrase of the divine names, with his citation:
*[...] there is His essence [...]; in whatever place you make the orientation [for
prayer] He is present in it and you can reach Him - since He is neither sub­
stance nor accident; for His being in one direction would mean another direc­
tion is empty o f Him.* Then, having explicitly afffirmed the divine

69
On the Nature of the Divine

om nipresence, in the very next sentence, in the same breath so to speak, the
commentary goes on to qualify the omnipresence by relating it to omniscience:
‘In as m uch as it is impossible for H im to be in a place, I mean His knowledge
encompasses what is in all places and domains/ This, in effect, explains to the
reader the reason for the Q ur’an’s juxtaposition of these two particular divine
attributes, All-embracing and All-knowing, in the third phrase of the verse.

Feature 3. The twin facets of His all-comprehensiveness and omniscience are

expressed through the two divine attributes with which the verse concludes:
wasi'un 'alim. Some of the commentaries relate these divine qualities specifi­
cally to G od’s care and com passion for His creation: God seeks to facilitate
matters for His creatures, for instance, through the latitude that He has perm it­
ted in the discharge of their moral and religious duties.2 Others, like Bunisawl,
focus on the m ore ontological/theological aspects of G od’s absolute encom -
passm ent of all things and the presence of His all-encompassing knowledge.
Most of the commentators prefer to say that G od’s omnipresence, indicated by
w&si'un, is through His omniscience; they do not go so far as to say the two
attributes are inseparable - to say the two are inseparable is to say that where
G od is, there is His knowledge, and where His knowledge is, there is He. Such
a phrase would be anathem a to the com m entators, for they steer clear from
words that might seem to confine G od to a spatial locus of any magnitude. Thus
innallaha wasi'un 'alim is often interpreted de facto as innd 'ilmallahi wasi'un
(verily the knowledge of God is all-encompassing). It might be said that, despite
equating the two attributes, the com m entators actually do demarcate between
presence and knowledge, even though the verse clearly links the two attributes
wasi'un 'alim together with the one word Allah.
In addition to these three features, the commentaries demonstrate an inter­
est in the circumstances of the verse’s revelation which direcdy relates to the
legalistic problem of determ ining the correct orientation for prayer. There is,
however, a shift of interest away from the stricdy legalistic question towards the
theological implications of the verse, m ost notably in the tw entieth-century
commentaries but also in some of the Sufi commentaries.
The earlier commentaries, from that of Muqatil up to Zamakhshari, are par­
ticularly concerned with understanding the context of revelation of the verse.
W hat sort o f prayer does it refer to? Is it connected to the change of the direc­
tion o f prayer (qibla)? Is it even connected to the context of the previous verse
that for some denoted Byzantine obstruction to Muslim use of the holy places
2 One of the implications is that it behoves the believers to turn their hearts to, and orient them­
selves towards, the divine in reciprocation of His care for them, His servants - reciprocation through
worship (be that formal or existential) being implicit in the idea of humanity's turning towards
God.

70
 Seeking the face of God

an d their first qibla in Jerusalem?3 Muqatil, the earliest exegete, stresses the
earnest religious intention and piety of the early community. If one was unsure
o f th e direction of prayer, especially w hen the qibla was still Jerusalem, then
any direction was valid since one oriented oneself towards the divine presence.
H ud and Tabari reiterate this opinion.
These latter authors also raise another im portant issue relating to the inter­
pretation of this verse: the change of the qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca. Such
a geographical shift may have signalled a change in relationship between the
early Muslim community and their fellow monotheists. Tabari, Razi and Abu
Hayyan hesitate to embrace the idea that this change o f qibla denoted some sort
o f break with the wider Abrahamic community; they adduce a Prophetic nar­
ration in w hich the M uslim com m unity was urged to pray for the recently
departed soul of the Negus of Abyssinia, who had not prayed towards the same
qibla - and had not therefore been of the ahl al-qibla, namely, a Muslim - but
a fellow monotheist, who had m oreover protected the Muslims at the time of
their first emigration from Mecca.
O ne question that was asked by the early exegetical authorities was whether
the latitude in determ ining o n e s direction in prayer related to compulsory
ritual acts [far<f, pi,furii(f) or supererogatory ones (nafila, pi. nawafil); the ShTl
com m entaries are noteworthy here for their careful insistence that this dispen­
sation did not apply to compulsory prayer. Razi draws attention to the choice
and free will implicit in the option whithersoever you turn, but then proceeds to
lim it it to pertaining in only two cases: with regard to someone on a journey
and with regard to a person who is perform ing voluntary prayers while
m ounted on a riding-anim al. However, by the tim e o f the com m entaries of
Tabrisi and even Razi, the possibility of the latitude for compulsory prayer is
discarded as an option and one notices that the commentaries give greater pri­
ority to understanding the significance o f‘the face o f God* [wajh Allah) as well
as arguing against and dismissing any possible anthropom orphic conceptions.
The Sufi commentaries of Kashani and Burusawi are concerned less with the
occasion of relevation and m ore with the emphasis on the omnipresence of the
divine. For these commentators the totality o f existence constitutes the theo-
phany o f the divine, and the realisation o f this crucial insight is the key to
understanding ones place in existence. G od is omnipresent and all-aware.
The concern with divine om nipresence and the realisation o f the true
oneness o f God through His dom inion and comprehension o f the entirety of
existence are the key concerns o f the later com m entaries o f al-Manar, by
M awdudi and Fa<Jl Allah. The occasion of revelation and the connection of the
verse to prayer are set aside in favour of a more theological reading of the verse,
3 For a discussion of this point, see Bashear 1989.

71
On the Nature of the Divine

one that emphasises certain implications o f the concept o f ‘divine oneness

(tawhid). According to these later commentators, one ought to engage with and
meditate upon the verse as an expression o f divine dom inion over, and knowl­
edge and comprehension of, the totality o f existence.

Ifc.'JJtU* ......... i . .. ;i

M uqatil

MuqatiTs main concern in understanding and explaining the verse lies in his exposition
of the legal precept implicit therein. The narrative force of his commentary reflects the
desire to explain and justify the trials of the nascent Muslim community as a group guided
by a benevolent God who not only recognises them despite their mistakes, but indulges
them and is merciful towards them through His revelation, a revelation which responds
to their needs through the agency and instrument of the Prophet. The context of this verse
as an articulation of the correct nature of belief (imdn) is stressed through the citation at
the end of Muq&tiTs commentary of another verse from the same sura (Q. 2:177) in which
xmdn itself is defined. The use of narrative in the commentary, in the form of an anecdote,
should not be overlooked, because it highlights the significance of salvation history, fun­
damental in any account of the origins of a religious movement. The trajectory of that
religious movement is thus explained in soteriological terms: the early Muslims lived in
the ‘shade of God’ as recipients of His mercy and revelation and through whose guidance,
conveyed by the Prophet, they sought to achieve salvation. In order to achieve their own
salvation and for God's mercy to embrace them, it was necessary to ensure the correct
performance of worship and orientation towards Him not just in prayer, but in their very
existence. The narration also points to the oral nature of the early exegetical tradition, one
in which the ‘Word of God’ was explained and articulated in a contextual manner. The
commentary, as an oral gloss, interweaves the divine dimension, the revealed word, with
the human dimension, namely that o f ‘how it happened’.

And to God belong the east and the west4 [It happened that] a group of believers
were on a journey.5 On a cloudy day, when the time for the [dawn] prayer came,
they were at a loss [as to the direction of the qibla]. Some of them prayed towards
the east, while some of them prayed towards the west - this was before the qibla6
« Tafsir, 1,133.
5 It is, perhaps, no coincidence that in this early work, the Companions of the Prophet (members
of the early community) are defined merely as ‘a group of believers’; after all, the commentary
stresses the importance of belief that is expressed in the verse, and the nascent community needed
to be defined as a religious entity engaged in the quest for salvation as a ‘community of belief. It also
seems that the technical definition of the early community around the Prophet Muhammad as his
‘Companions’ ($ah&ba) was still in the process of being formulated while Muq&til composed his
commentary. See Miklos Muranyi, ‘$ababa, El2, VIII, 827-9; Linda Kern, ‘Companions of the
Prophef, EQ, I, 386-90.
s As mentioned, the qibla constitutes the direction in which Muslims pray, facing towards the
Kaba in Mecca. In mosques this orientation is designated by a niche placed in the wall which the
praying individual(s) face. See A. J. Wensinck - (David A. King), ‘£ibla\ El2, V, 82-3: ‘the adoption
of a kibla is a necessary condition for the validity of a *aldt. Only in great danger and in a voluntary

72
 Seeking the face of God

h ad been changed [from Jerusalem] to the Ka'ba.7 W hen the sun rose, they
realised that they had not prayed in the direction o f the qibla. Upon their arrival
in Medina, they informed the Prophet of this. God then sent down [the following
verse]: A n d to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you turn, [i.e.
whithersoever] you turn your faces during prayer, there is the face ofG ody [i.e.]
there is God. God is indeed All-embracing, in having given them the dispensation
to abandon the qibla when they did not know which way it was; All-bwwingyof
w hat they had intended: [in this respect] God also sent down [the following] It
is not piety that you turn your faces to the east and to the west [to the end o f the
verse, Q. 2:177].8

H ud
Hud, like other early commentators, is interested in how narratives of the p r e - fitm (the
first Muslim civil war) community can construct an account of an ideal Muslim commu­
nity as a paradigm for the believers. His Iba<Ji leanings are not explicit here because there
$atiU on a journey can it be neglected’. See also the important work by King 1999 on how the di­
rection of Mecca was determined particularly in the medieval period from a number of locations.
7 The Ka'ba, also referred to as ‘the House of God’ (bayt Alldh) is a cuboid structure that stands
in the middle of the Meccan sanctuary (haram Makka): see Oleg Grabar, 'al-Masdjid al-Har&m’, El2,
VI, 708-9, i. On the Ka‘ba itself, see Arent Jan Wensinck - [Jacques Jomier), ‘Ka‘ba\ El2, IV, 317—
22; Gerald Hawting, ‘Ka'ba’, EQ, III, 75-80; and Rubin 1986. Located in the IJijiz in the Arabian
Peninsula, Mecca was also the birthplace of Islam, being the hometown of the Prophet Muhammad;
see W. Montgomery Watt, et al, ‘Makka’, EP, VI, 144ff.; J. Chabbi, ‘Mecca’, EQ, III, 337-41. For a
detailed Muslim medieval history focusing on the town and its surroundings from pre-Islamic
times, see Azraqi, Makka-, Peters 1994 is a useful secondary study of the literary material on the site.
On the significance of the Arab sanctuary, see Serjeant 1962. The emergence of Islam, or at least of
its key socio-ethical principles, has been linked by certain Islamicist scholarship (Watt 1953,19f.,
72ff.; Rodinson 1971,36) to Mecca’s economic position vis-i-vis the international trade at the time:
the principles taught by the Qur’an were a reaction to the growing socio-economic malaise. For a
controversial re-evaluation of the importance of Mecca in the international trade of the period and,
crucially, in the transit-trade of caravans travelling between Syria and Yemen along western Arabia,
see Crone 1987, which was heavily criticised in Serjeant’s review 1990. The arguments made by
Crone 1987 are further reinforced in Crone 2005 and 2007, through elaborations on the real nature
of Meccan trade as conducted by its principal tribe the Quraysh. An earlier study on the commercial
activities of Quraysh by Rubin (1984) is also relevant, as is the brief entry by Uri Rubin, ‘Caravan’,
EQ, 1,290-1, and Donner 1977. However, a very important reassessment by Heck (2003) of Hijiz!
trade in the first/seventh century reveals not a primitive economy, as twentieth-century Islamicist
scholarship has it, but a very sophisticated one in which a diverse range of commodities were con­
sumed and exported in and around Mecca, with Quraysh at the head of this economic activity.
8 The rest of Q. 2:177 defines this ‘true’ piety: [True] piety is that of the one who believes in God
and the Last Day and the angels and the Book, and who gives of his substance, however cherished, to
kinsmen and the orphans and the needy and the traveller and the beggars andfor [the manumission of]
slaves, and who observes prayer and pays the aim; and [true piety is that of] those who fulfil their
covenant when they have engaged in a covenant, those who endure withfortitude misfortune, hardship
and peril these are the ones who are sincere [in their piety] and these are the ones who are God-wary.
In other words, the outward matter of the direction one faces in prayer is not a defining quality; it
is inner piety that is of consequence.

73
On the Nature of the Divine

is nothing in the verse that relates to issues on which the Ibatfi school formed distinctive
opinions, such as the nature of sin, its expiation or Hellfire. Nevertheless, we may attribute
his exegesis to very moderate Khariji circles, as highlighted by two facts: first, the ‘mistake*
of praying in the wrong direction in a situation where one cannot ascertain the correct
qibla does not entail a grave sin (kabira) that places one outside the community; second,
some of the narratives explicitly derive from Basran circles, primarily those of al-Hasan
(d. 110/728).9 A famous early ascetic, pietist, thinker and Q ur’an reader, al-Ba$ri fre­
quently delegated the task of giving religious opinions to one J&bir b. Zayd al-Azdi (d. c.
102/720), the first true leader o f Ibadism in Basra.10 ‘Islam’, as Ibadis were concerned to
point out, required a combination o f‘faith’ (imdn), the inner affirmation of belief in God,
and works Carnal): faith cannot be a mere affirmation of the heart. The significance of
belief is central to Hud’s understanding, as is clear from his quotation of the view that the
issue of the qibla, whether one orients oneself to Jerusalem, the first qibla, or Mecca is
irrelevant; what is important, is that one turns towards God in righteousness and correct
belief.

His words,11And to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you turn,
that is, [turn] your faces in the prayer ($aldt), there is the face o f God, that is to
say, there is God. Some have said [that it means]: there is the qibla of God. God
is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing.
Some of the com m entators have said that when the Messenger o f God was
in Mecca, they [the M uslims] used to perform the canonical prayers [facing]
tow ards the Holy H ouse (Bayt al-Maqdis) [sc. Jerusalem ].12 After the
Messenger of God emigrated to Medina, for sixteen m onths he perform ed the
prayer [facing] towards the Holy House [of Jerusalem]. Then G od directed
him, after that [period o f tim e], to [face towards] the Ka ba, the Sacred House
(al-bayt al-hardm). So He said in another verse [Q. 2:144], Turn your face

9 On the figure of al-Hasan al-Ba$ri, see the monograph by Mourad 2005.

10 On J&bir b. Zayd, see Crone and Zimmermann 2001, 301f.
11 Tafsir, 1,138-40.
12 Jerusalem in the Muslim tradition is known as the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis) which de­
notes a temple or a sanctuary (haram), derived from the Hebrew beyt ha-miqddsh. The Hebrew
term is cited in ch. 10 of Midrash Tanhumd: qedoshim, in Buber 1913,1,73, translated in Hertzberg
1961,150. In this sense, Tabari uses the title in his Ta’rikh, 1,2360. Jerusalem was also the first qibla
of Islam. The name al-Quds is a later appellation: see Shlomo Goitein, ‘al-ljCuds, El2, V, 322-39;
Heribert Busse, ‘Jerusalem’, EQ, III, 2-7; Gil 1992,65-9; van Ess 1992, 33-58; and see Elad 1995,
62-5, 147-59 on the sanctuary. The earliest attestation of the term Bayt al-Maqdis in the Arabic
sources is in a poem of al-Mu'alla b. Tarif* a mawld of the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mahdl (r. 775-86),
cited in Ibn Khurradidhbih, Masdlik, VI, 79, and in I$fah&ni, Aghdni, VI, 238. The best modem
study of the early Muslim conception of Jerusalem and the temple is Busse 1991; a collection of ar­
ticles focusing on Bayt al-Maqdis can be consulted in two volumes, Raby and Johns 1993, and
Johns 1999; cf. also Neuwirth 2003. On the relationship of the two sanctuaries of Jerusalem and
Mecca as directions of prayer, see the following works: Busse 1988, Kister 1969, Kister 1996 and
Peters 1986. On the sanctity of Jerusalem, see the important fad&’il (‘merits’ or ‘virtues’) literature
that includes Ibn al-Jawzi, Fadd’ik Mujlr al-Din, Uns; ManinI, I'ldm; Ibn al-Murajja, Fadd’il; Wisip,
Fad&'il. For a discussion of this topic, see Goitein 1966; Meri 2002, ch. 1; Livne-Kafri 2000; Elad
1991.

74
 Seeking the face of God

towards the Holy Mosque (al-masjid al-har&m) and wherever you are, turn your
faces towards it (shafrahu), [where] shafrahu means tilq&’ahu (‘facing if). So
this verse abrogated w hat came before it concerning the m atter o f the qibla,
according to the reports o f some o f them [the com m entators].13 According
to th e account o f others, however, there had never been a [specific] qibla
before this.
They mention that the Messenger of G od was on a journey. They [the trav­
elling party] dism ounted at a stopping place on a dark night and one o f them
set to collecting pebbles [to m ark the direction o f the qibla] and m ade a space
in which to pray (masjid). They then prayed.14 W hen they woke up the [follow­
ing] morning, [they realised that] they were [facing] towards a direction other
than that of the qibla.15 Then G od sent down this verse, A nd to God belong the
east and the west, so whithersoever you turn, that is, [whithersoever you turn] your
faces in the prayer, then there is the face o f God. God is indeed All-embracing,
All-knowing.
Ibn ‘Abbas16 said that the Prophet was on a journey on a cloudy day, and
they perform ed the prayer; [but] some had prayed towards the east and some
h ad prayed towards the west. They m entioned this to the Prophet, and God
sent down this verse.
Some of them said that a band o f com panions of the Prophet set off on a
journey, and that was before the qibla was changed to the Ka‘ba. They became
confused; at that time, the prayer direction had been towards the Holy House
[sc. Jerusalem]. Some of them prayed towards the east and some of them prayed
towards the w est W hen the sun rose, it became clear to them [what the correct
direction of the qibla was]. W hen they went to the M essenger o f God, they
m entioned that to him. Then G od sent down, A nd to God belong the east and
the west; so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God. God is indeed All-
embracing, All-knowing.
They mention that al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] was asked about a man who performs
the prayer and then, upon finishing the prayer, [realises] that he was not facing

13 Naskh or abrogation is the concept that a certain Quranic verse’s period of applicability or rel­
evance (particularly relating to the Law) is rescinded and replaced by another verse or, in some
cases, a hadith See John Burton, ‘Abrogation, EQ, 1,11-19; John Burton, ‘Naskh’ in El2, VII, 1009-
12.
14 The pebbles were used to demarcate the sacred space of the mosque as the ground for the
worship of, and prostration (lit masjid) to, God. See the report in Tabari, this chapter, that clarifies
this.
15 The point being made is that since God is everywhere, then to orient oneself towards Him does
not require a specific prayer direction, especially when the physical conditions and climate do not
allow one to ascertain what the correct prayer direction [towards Mecca] may be. This is not the ju­
ridical position as such on ascertaining the prayer direction, which is one of the preparatory con­
ditions of prayer. Mystical commentaries, as we shall see, take the issue further.
16 Hud quotes this report from Ibn ‘Abb&s on the authority of al-Kalbi.

75
On the Nature of the Divine

the [direction of the] qibla. He [al-Hasan] said: ‘His prayer is valid, for, God
says, so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f G o d .17
They [also] m ention [on the authority of] some o f the [pious] predecessors
(salaf) that he [the Prophet] said that if a person performs the prayer and then
it becomes clear to him that he had prayed [facing in a direction] other than
towards the qibla, his prayer will have been fulfilled (and he need not repeat it];
but if it were to become clear to him after he has prayed one unit (ra/c'a),18 he
should tu rn [his body] to face the [correct] qibla [for the rem ainder of the
prayer],

. . . fc

Q um m I
Qummf’s commentary on this verse is a very brief consideration of the early debate on
how the verse concerns the conditions of prayer, and whether the apparent dispensation
to pray in any direction applies to compulsory or supererogatory prayer. He sides with
the view that it only applies to supererogatory or recommended non-compulsory prayer
and not to the compulsory prayer, thus signaling his dissociation from what he perceived
to be the normative Sunni interpretation.

[As regards] His saying And to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever
you turn, there is the face o f God, this [verse] was sent down concerning the
supererogatory prayer (ndfila): pray it in whichever direction you face when
you are travelling. As for the obligatory prayers (fardi<f)9His saying [Q. 2:144,
150] A n d wherever you may be, turn your faces towards it [applies]. In other
words, you may not perform the obligatory prayers except in the direction of
the qibla.19

17 Hud quotes extensively from al-Hasan through the riwtfya of his tafiir ’an ‘Amr b. ‘Ubayd al-
Ba$ri (d. c. 759) available to him in the recension of Yabya b. Sall&m al-Ba$ri (d. 200/815). On the
former, see Gilliot 1997,182, and TGII, 45-6,298-300; on the latter, see the editors introduction
to Hud, Tafttr, 1,27-31, where the editor also refers to a manuscript of this ta/sfr in the Qarawiyyin
Library in Fez, Morocco. The Basran context of his sources is significant given that the first centre
of Ibadism was second-/eighth-century Basra.
18 Literally, genuflexion. The ritual prayer {$aldt) follows a more or less fixed sequence of move­
ments. Prayers are performed in units (usually 2,3,4 or more) and since each unit consists of only
one genuflexion (rak’a) - as opposed to two prostrations, amongst other movements - a unit of
prayer is equated with a rak’a, 4a genuflexion', and is called by that term. The five canonical prayers
involve 2 units (dawn), 3 (after sunset) or 4 (noon, mid- to late afternoon, and after dark). All
supererogatory (ndfila) or recommended (sunna) prayers involve an unlimited number of 2 units
(minimum 2, or 4, 6, 8 etc.). There are some exceptions, of course, such as the witr prayer, which
consists of only 1 unit (thus, one rak’a), and the prayer for the dead (jandza), which involves no gen­
uflexion or prostration and is performed entirely in a standing position; for further details, see Guy
Monnot, ‘$altf, El2, VIII, 925-34.
19 Tafsir, 1,68.

76
 Seeking the face of God

tb ■ y«sr<*3'* * • ' “ **• • r - * •*- . • *•,

‘AyyashI
‘Ayyashi generally concurs with Qummi’s comments. However, consistent with his own
traditionist method he adduces evidence and authority for these views by quoting the
words of the imams. The commentary demonstrates the recourse to the legal authority of
the imams and represents the key invocation of the authority of the imams al-Baqir and
al-$adiq for correct conformity to the divine law.

[Hadith no. 185/84]20 Hariz <- Abu Ja‘far [M ubammad al-Baqir] said: God sent
down this verse specifically concerning voluntary w orship (tafawwu*).21 So
whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God; God is indeed All-embracing, All­
knowing. The Messenger o f G od prayed while riding on his camel by making
the gestures [of the prayer] in whichever direction his camel happened to point
as he went out to Khaybar,22 and [he also did this] when returning from Mecca,
[even] leaving the Ka‘ba to his back.

[Hadith no. 186/85] Zurara said: I asked Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq], Ts
the [canonical] prayer ($aldt) during travel [to be performed] the same whether
one is on a ship or in a camel-borne litter?' He said,

Supererogatory prayer (n a fila ) is all the same [wherever you happen to be]; you
make the gestures in whichever direction your mount, or your ship, happens to
point. However, you should dismount for the obligatory prayer ( fa r in a ), unless
there is fear [of imminent danger]; if you are in fear, then you make the gestures
[while remaining mounted]. On a ship, you should pray upright [as normal] trying
as best as you can to seek [by ascertaining] the direction of the q ib la . Noah per­
formed the obligatory prayers while on it [i.e. the Ark] upright, facing the direc­
tion of the qibla, even though it was obscured for them.

I asked, ‘How would he have known the direction o f the qibla in order to face
it if it was obscured for them?* He replied, ‘Gabriel used to set him towards it.'
I asked, ‘Should I then [try to] face it every time I make the call [to prayer) with
Alldhu akbar (God is Great)?*23 He said,
20 Tafar, 1,151-2.
21 Al-tafawwu (voluntary acts of worship) encompass all acts of worship that one might perform
in addition to the obligatory duties (fard’id) of the daily canonical prayers, fasting, alms-giving etc.
Any such supererogatory deed is commonly referred to as tidfila (pi. nawdfil), cf. Arcnt Jan
Wensinck, ‘Nifila*, EP, VII, 878-9. Indeed, supererogatory prayer, $alat al-ndfila, is sometimes
called $aldt al-tatawwu': cf. Hindi, Kanz, VII, 77Iff. and VIII, 383ff.
22 The site of a Jewish-owned oasis and fortress complex around 150 km from Medina, the Mus­
lims besieged and captured Khaybar in 7/628. See Laura Veccia Vaglieri, ‘Khaybar\ El2, IV, 1137-
41; and Ibn Hish&m, Sim, 755-81 (for an English translation see Guillaume 1978,510-26). See also
Lings 1991, 263-9 et passim; Bal&dhuri, Futuh, 25-29; Tabari, Ta’rikh, I, 1575-91 (for an English
translation see Fishbein 1997, 116-30).
23 This question seeks to ascertain what should be done if the direction of the camel or ship

77
On the Nature of the Divine

Not in the case of supererogatory prayer, since it is more common [in the nawdfi[\
that [this call of) takbir be made facing [a direction) other than [that of] the qibla.
For the person performing the supererogatory prayer (mutanaffil), all those [direc­
tions] are a [valid] qibla, because He [God] has said: so whithersoever you turn,
there is theface of God; God is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing.

[Ifadith no. 187/86:] <- H am m adb.‘Uthman <- A bu'A bd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq]
said:

1 [Hammad] asked him [al-$adiq] about a person who, whilst mounted on his
riding-animal, recites a [verse at which he is required to make a] prostration.24 He
[al-$adiq] said, ‘He should perform the prostration in whichever direction it [his
ride] is turned towards, for the Messenger of God used to perform supererogatory
prayers on his she-camel, facing towards Medina: God says, so whithersoever you
turn, there is theface of God; God is indeed All-embracing All-knowing.

i .. • :t

T abari
Tabari provides a compendium of accounts about the context and meaning of the verse,
representing the wide range of narratives available to him. While he considers a range of
opinions about the legal and narrative aspects of the verse, his own view is expressed quite
clearly at the outset: the verse affirms the central significance in Islam of the absolute and
complete sovereignty and dominion of God over His creation. His main legal concern lies
in the context of the revelation of the verse and its association with the change of the qibla
from Jerusalem to Mecca, an act that is located within a polemic against the Jews who
were rivals, theologically speaking, of the early Muslims. The verse thus signals the abro­
gation of the qibla of Jerusalem in favour of the qibla of Mecca, an expression of the
increasingly unique cultic practice of early Islam. However, he also considers the opinion
that the context of the verse was a Prophetic endorsement of the validity of the monothe­
istic practice of the Negus of Abyssinia, a Christian ruler. The subtext suggested is that the
Muslims should not associate themselves with the Jews but should emphasise their com­
monality with the Christians (cf. Q. 5:82]. Tabari concludes his commentary with the
divine names to the effect that God encompasses His creation through His compassion
and beneficence; He is All-knowing of, and watchful over, the actions of His creatures.

changes once the takbir (All&hu akbar), denoting the commencement of the prayer, has been made.
The response is that one should not be too concerned about any change in direction when per­
forming the supererogatory prayer (ndfila); one should, however, make all possible effort to face
the direction of the qibla in the case of obligatory (farina) prayers; cf. MajlisI, Bihar, LXXXIV, 90-
100.
14 This is a reference to the sajdat al-tildwa (‘the recital prostration*), a prostration that is per­
formed when the person reciting the Qur’in happens to recite any one of now fifteen verses where
that prostration is required. These ‘prostration verses’ are usually indicated in modern-day copies
of the Qur’an using distinct symbols. The verses are Q. 7:206; 13:15; 16:50; 17:109; 19:58; 22:18,77;
25:60; 27:26; 32:15; 38:24; 41:38; 53:62; 84:21 and 96:19.

78
 Seeking the face of God

A n d to God belong the east and the west means ‘to God belong the dom inion and
m anagem ent of these two*,25 in the same way that it is possible to say, ‘To so-
and-so belongs this house’, by which is meant that it is that person’s possession;
likewise His words: A nd to God belong the east and the west mean that they are
H is possession and creation.26
If someone were to say, ‘W hat, is it only the one east and the one west that
belong to God, such that it needs then to be [explicitly] stated A nd to God belong
the east and the west? O ne would reply,
The meaning of this [phrase] is other than the one you have come to. Rather, the
meaning is that to God belongs the east from which the sun rises every day and
the west in which it sets every day. In that case, the [correct] interpretation would
be that it means: to God belongs that which is between the two regions (qifray) of
the east and the west. For the rising of the sun each day is from a [specific] place
there, one to which it does not return to rise from [again] until the following year,
and the same applies for its setting every day.27

A nd if he were then to say, ‘Even if the [correct] interpretation o f that [verse]

is what you have mentioned, is it not the case that to God belongs everything
other than Him o f [all] creation created by H im ?, one would say, ‘Yes, indeed.’
If he were then to say, ‘So why, in this place, does He single out the easts28 and
th e wests to the exclusion o f all other things, by [giving] inform ation about
them , [namely] that they belong to H im ?, one would state that the com m en­
tators have disagreed about the reason why God has singled out the m ention
of this in the way that He has in this instance.
We shall clarify what the more appropriate interpretation o f the verse is after
we have cited their [the scholars’] reports on this [issue].
Some say: God singles out that [east and west] for inform ation [explicitly]
because the Jews in their prayers used to tu rn their faces towards the Holy
House [of Jerusalem]. The Messenger of God [also] used to do this for a time;
but then they [the early Muslims] turned towards the Ka‘ba. The Jews disap­
proved o f this deed of the Prophet and said, W hat has turned them from the
direction which they used to face in their prayers previously? [Q. 2:142]. God thus
said to them: ‘To Me belong all the easts and the wests, I direct the faces o f My

25 Jami' al-baydn, 1,501-6.

26 In the next two lines Tabari makes a brief grammatical point about the m afil pattern, on
which the term mashriq> as the place from which the sun ‘rises (shuruq) and ‘comes into view*
(ma;/i‘), is based; he draws an analogy with the term masjid, pointing to his discussion of the latter
in the previous verse.
27 The implication being that as the sun rises and sets in different places every day throughout
the year, the verse does not refer to a specific geographical location and that thus there is no bound­
ary to God’s dominion.
28 Mashariq (easts), i.e. all the points of sunrise; and further on in the sentence, maghdrib (wests)
indicates all the points of sunset.

79
On the Nature of the Divine

servants in it [the earth] as I wish. So, wherever you turn, there is the face o f
God*.

An account of those who said this:

Ibn ‘Abbas said,29

The direction of prayer (qibla) was the first thing to be abrogated (nusikha) from
the Qur’an. It was such that when the Messenger of God emigrated to Medina,
where the majority of people were Jews, God commanded him [the Prophet] to
turn towards the Holy House [during prayer]. The Jews were delighted. The
Messenger of God thus turned towards it [during prayer] for some thirteen months
or more.50 The Messenger of God loved the qibla of Abraham,31 and he would
make supplications looking up towards heaven. God then sent down [the verses]:
We have seen you turning your face about in the heaven [Q. 2:144] up to where He
says, turn your faces towards it [Q. 2:150].32 The Jews were disquieted by this and

29 This report bears the following isndd: Muthanni (al-Amuli) 4- Abu $iUib 4- Mu'iwiya b. $4lib
4- ‘All [b. Abi Talba] <■Ibn 'Abbas. An isndd is often taken to be the chain of authoritative trans­
mission, or the guarantee of the reliability and authenticity, of a report from its source. As a literary
device, it may have been borrowed from the rabbinical model of providing chains of authority: see
Ahmad Pikatchi, ‘Isnid’, DMI, VI, 709-11, and Horovitz 1918. This guarantee is based on the no­
tion of the oral transmission of knowledge, and a perceived hostility, which is debatable, towards
written transmission in early Islam. Of course the question of oral and written transmission in early
Islam is critical for the authenticity, and thus reliability, of texts which are preserved, in many cases,
only in later compilations: see Vajda 1975, 2-8, Vajda 1983,1, and for the debate, see Cook 1997.
Important contributions to this debate have been made by Schoeler 1989 and 1997, who has nu-
anced the issue by pointing to the necessary distinction between final form authored works (syn-
gramrm) and notes (hypomnima) made by the author/lecturer as aide-memoires in order to impart
the contents orally to students who would in turn make their own notes (Heck 2002). From a tra­
ditional Sunni position, it has been argued that isndds, as guarantees of reliable transmission, are
not retrojections in the manner argued by Schacht (1950,163) and Cook (1981,106-17), but that
they existed at the time of the Prophet and became increasingly important as the issue of fabrication
arose in the light of the political dissension of the early community: see for example Azami 1978,
212-47, Azami 1977,32-45; Azami 1996; and Siddiqi 1993,76-84. Traditional Muslim scholarship
was atuned to the problem of authenticity and various genres of hadlth criticism existed, such as aJ-
jarh wal-ta'dil: see Hallaq 1999 and Dickinson 2001. For arguments favouring written transmission,
with isndds constituting a sort o f‘critical apparatus for the fradlth reports, see GAS, I, 53,60, and
Abbott 1972, II, 53,80ff. In the Shi‘i context, written transmission was acceptable and a recent work
argues that written transmission was essential for the codification of the Prophetic tradition: see
Jal&ll 1413/1992. Another work, ShahrastinI 1997, lays out the opposition to writing down the
Prophetic tradition in Sunni circles. One further caveat to keep in mind is that, even if the chain is
plausible in terms of space and time and opportunity, this still does not guarantee its reliability. It
was quite possible for the chains to be fabricated, even when the isndd seemed ‘sound’; hence the
whole classical discussion of mawdudt, namely, fabricated narrations. 'Askari 1969 in a famous
(and polemical) study argued about the fabrication of the names of Companions at the head of is­
ndds in many narrations of a historical and political nature.
30 The word bid' is usually taken to mean “between three and nine’.
31 The normative example of Abraham played an important theological role in the early Muslim
consciousness. See Firestone 1990; Reuven Firestone, ‘Abraham’, EQ, I, 5-11; Rubin 1990; Rudi
Paret, ‘Ibrahim’, El2, III, 980-1; Geiger 1898,95ff.; Moubarac 1958; Tabari, Tarikh, 1,252-319, for
the English translation, see Brinner 1987, 48-131; ThaMabi Qifaf, 51-75.
32 This phrase is repeated three times in the sura: first in verse 144, then in 149 and finally in 150.

80
 Seeking the face of God

said, What has turned themfrom the direction which they used toface in their prayers
previously? [Q. 2:142]. God then sent down, Say: to God belong the east and the west
[Q. 2:142] and He also said: so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God [Q.
2:115].

Al-Suddi reported something similar [to that].33

O thers have said, however, that God sent down this verse before m aking it
in cum bent upon His Prophet and the believers to turn and face the Sacred
M osque (al-masjid al-haram), and th a t He only sent it down to inform His
Prophet and his Companions that they could turn their faces in prayer towards
w hichever aspect of the east or west they wished. For whichever direction or
aspect they turned their faces towards, G od w ould be in that direction or
aspect, because the easts and the wests belong to Him, and there is not a [single]
place that is devoid of Him [sc. of His presence]. As G od says, nor [are there)
fewer than that or more but He is with them wherever they may be [Q. 58:7]. They
said, T h e n He abrogated this with the injunction which He placed upon them
to face the direction o f the Sacred Mosque*

An account of those who said this:

S a id [b. Jubayr] reported from Q atada [the following about] G od’s words:
A n d to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you turn, there is the
face o f God, [that] these were later abrogated when He said From whatever place
you issue, turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque [Q. 2:149,150].34
M a‘m ar [b. Rashid] reported from Q atada [the following] about G od’s
words, so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God. He [Qatada] said: ‘That
was the qibla, which was then abrogated by the qibla o f the Sacred Mosque.*35
Yahya [b. Kathlr] said,36

I heard Qatada [say] regarding the words of God so whithersoever you turn, there
is theface of God, ‘They used to pray towards the Holy House [sc. Jerusalem] when
the Messenger of God was in Mecca, before the Emigration (fei/ra),37 and follow-
53 Musi [b. Hirun] <- ‘Amr [b. Hamraad] <- Asbaf [b. Na$r) <- al-Suddi.
34 Bishr b. Mu'idh <- Yazldb. Zuray' <-Said<- Qatada.
55 [Abu Ja‘far al-Tabari] <- al-Hasan <- 'Abd al-Razzaq <- Ma‘mar [b. Rashid) <- Qatada.
36 MuthannS <r al-Hajjaj b. al-Minhil <- Hammam [b. Yaby&] <• Yaby* [b. Abi Kathir].
37 According to Muslim tradition, in the period following the deaths of his wife Khadija and his
unde Abu T^lib, the Prophet's life and the lives of members of the nascent Muslim community
were under threat from the hostile Meccans. Following an invitation to emigrate to Yathrib, the
Prophet left his hometown with his Companions. Yathrib was renamed as ‘the city of the Prophet*
(madinat al-nabi or just al-Madina, Medina). This event is known in Muslim history as the Emigra­
tion (al-hijra) and was later adopted as the point from which the Muslim calendar, known as the
hijri calendar, is calculated. See W. Montgomery Watt, ‘Hidjra’, El2, III, 366-7; M. al-Faruque, ‘Em­
igration’, EQ, II, 18-23; Tabari, Tarikh, 1,1199-55 (for an English translation see Watt and McDon­
ald 1988, 115-61); W. Montgomery Watt, ‘al-Madina: History to 1926’, El2, V, 994-1000. For an
equivalent of AzraqI’s history of Mecca, there is the Muslim historical work on Medina by Ibn
Shabba, Madina.

81
On the Nature of the Divine

ing the Emigration of the Messenger of God [to Medina], he prayed towards the
Holy House [sc. Jerusalem] for sixteen months. After this, he turned towards the
Ka‘ba, the Sacred Mosque, as God made the abrogation [concerning praying
towards Jerusalem] in another verse: [from] now We will surely turn you to a direc­
tion that shall satisfy you [Q. 2:144] until From whatever place you issue, turn your
face towards the Sacred Mosque [Q. 2:150]*. He [Qat&da] said: This verse thus abro­
gated the direction of prayer that was before’38

Ibn Wahb said,

I heard him [Zayd?]39 saying, ‘God said to His Prophet, So whithersoever you turn,
there is the face of God; God is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing [Q. 2:115].* He
continued, ‘And so the Messenger of God said: “These Jews turn their faces
towards one of God’s Houses, so let us turn to face it.” And the Prophet turned to
face it [in prayer] for sixteen months. Then it reached him [the Prophet] that some
Jews were saying, “By God, Muhammad and his companions knew not their direc­
tion of prayer until we guided them.” The Prophet hated this and raised his head
to the sky [in supplication to God], whereupon God said, We have seen you turning
your face about in the heaven [to the end of the verse Q. 2:144].*

Others have said that this verse [Q. 2:115] was sent down to the Prophet as
permission from G od for him to perform the voluntary [or supererogatory]
prayer in whichever direction of the east o r the west he happened to face,
[whether] departing on a journey, in battle, during intense fear, o r when
[enemy] armies happen to be advancing [to battle] during the times of obliga­
tory prayer.40 He [God] made it known to him [Muhammad] that wherever he
turned his face [in prayer] He [God] would be there, by saying, And to God
belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God.

An account o f those who said this:

It was reported from Sa‘id b. Jubayr from ['Abd Allah] Ibn ‘Umar that he
[Ibn ‘Umar] used to pray in whichever direction his riding-anim al happened
to face, m entioning that the Messenger o f God used to do this too, using the
interpretation of this verse, whithersoever you turn, there is the face of God [as
justification o f his practice].41

38 The grammar indicates that Tabari is not only referring to earlier verses on the subject, but
also to previous general practice with regard to prayer.
39 There seems to be a missing link in the line of transmission here, and it is most likely Zayd’s
son transmitting to Ibn Wahb, thus: Yunus [b. 'Abd al-A'U) <- ['Abd Allah] Ibn Wahb (b. Muslim
al-Qurashl) <- [‘Abd Al-Rahmin b. Zayd b. Aslam] <- Zayd (b. Aslam].
40 The prayer ‘during intense fea/, called jotaf al-khawfin the legal manuals, refers to a shortened
form of the usual prayer, performed when there is an imminent threat to human life (cf. Q. 2:239)
or in time of war (cf. Q. 4:102); see Guy Monnot, ‘$alat al-khawf, El2, VIII, 934-5.
41 Abu Kurayb <- Ibn Idris <- ‘Abd al-Malik b. Abi Sulayman Sa'Id b. Jubayr <- Ibn 'Umar.

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 Seeking the face of God

It is [also] reported from S aid b. Jubayr from [‘Abd Allah] Ibn 'U m ar that he
[Ibn ‘Umar] said:42

This verse, whithersoever you turn, there is the face of God was sent down so that
you may perform voluntary prayer in whichever direction your riding-animal
happens to face on a journey. On his return from Mecca the Messenger of God
used to perform voluntary prayers mounted on his riding-animal, making the ges­
tures [of prayer] with his head towards Medina.

O thers have said, on the other hand, that this verse was sent down regarding
a group of people to whom [the direction of] the qibla had become obscured.
T hey did not know its orientation and so they prayed in different directions.
G od then said to them , ‘The easts and the wests belong to Me; whichever way
you turn your faces, My face is there, and that is your qibla y informing them
thereby that their prayers had been completed [correctly].

A n account o f those who said this:

‘Abd Allah b. ‘A m ir b. Rabf a reported from his father that he [his father]
said,43

We were [travelling] with the Messenger of God on a dark and overcast night and
we pitched camp at a stopping place. Each man began collecting stones and
making a place of prayer (masjid) in which to pray. When we awoke the next day,
lo! [we discovered that] we had prayed towards other than the qibla. We then said,
‘O Messenger of God, last night we prayed in a direction other than that of the
qibla! God thereupon sent down, And to God belong the east and the west; so whith­
ersoever you turn, there is theface of God; God is indeed AU-embracing, All-knowing.

H am m ad said,44

I said to [Ibrahim] al-Nakha‘1, ‘I woke up once* - or he said, *1 was woken u p ;

Tabari is not sure [about the precise words] - and there were clouds in the sky. I
prayed towards other than the qibla. He [Ibrahim] said, ‘Your prayer was com­
pleted [correctly], for God says, so whithersoever you turn, there is theface of God!

O thers have said, on the other hand, that this verse was sent down because of
the Negus (al-Najdshi) 45 The Com panions of the Messenger of G od had been

42 Abul-Sa’ib <- Ibn Futfayl ‘Abd al-Malik b. Abi Sulayman <r Sa‘id b. Jubayr <- Ibn 'Umar.
43 Ahmad b. Ishaq <- Abu Ahmad <- Abu’l-Rabi' al-Samm&n <- ‘A$im b. 'Ubayd Allah <- 'Abd
All&h b. 'Amir b. Rabi'a <- his father. Tabari gives an almost identical report from ‘Amir b. Rabi'a,
but with a slightly different isnad: Sufyin b. Walu <- his father (Wakf b. al-Jarrah] <- (Abu 1-Rabi‘]
Ash'ath al-Samman <r ‘A$im b. 'Ubayd Allah <- ‘Abd Allah b. 'Amir b. Rabi'a <- his father.
44 Muthanna al-Hajjaj <- Hammad <r [Ibrahim] al-Nakha‘i.
45 The Negus, al-Najashl, was the name given to the ruler of Abyssinia, being a loan name from
Ethiopia The incident indicated relates to the news of his death and the Prophet's instructions to
mourn him as a faithful believer. See E. van Donzel, ‘al-Nadiashi’, El2, VII, 862-4.

83
On the Nature of the Divine

in dispute over his status, as he had died before praying towards the [Meccan]
qibla. God then said, ‘All the easts and the wests belong to Me. W hoever turns
his face towards any part thereof, desiring Me thereby and seeking through it
obedience to Me, will find me there’, meaning by this that the Negus, although
he had not prayed towards the [Meccan] qibla, used to turn his face towards
certain directions of the east or the west in some way, seeking thereby to please
God in his prayers.

An account of those who said this:

Qatada46 reported that the Prophet said, ‘Your brother the Negus has died,
so pray for him ’. They [the Companions] said, ‘Are we to pray for a m an who
was not a M uslim? He [Qatada] said that [the following verse) A n d some there
are o f the People o f the Book who believe in God, and what has been sent down to
you, and what has been sent down to them, men humble to God [Q. 3:199] was
then sent down. Q atada said: ‘They [the Companions] then said that he [the
Negus] had not prayed towards the [Meccan] qibla, w hereupon G od sent
down, A nd to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you turn, there
is the face o f God; God is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing.
Abu Ja‘far [al-Tabari] says that the correct opinion in this [matter] is that
God, exalted is His m ention, singles out the east and the west for m ention in
this verse in so far as they are both His possession (m ulk) - even though there
is nothing that is not His possession - as a way of informing His believing ser­
vants that He has possession of these two [the east and the west] and possession
of all creation that lies between them; and that it is incumbent upon all o f them,
given that they [humankind] are His possession, to obey Him in what He com ­
mands and forbids them, in the obligations which He has imposed on them and
in turning to face the direction they have been directed to, since obedience to
one’s owner is what it means to be owned (mamalik). Thus, He has expressed
the message through [reference to] the east and the west, intending by it all
creatures who are between them , in the way that I have explained, so that one
should [simply] be satisfied with the inform ation [given], avoiding [delving
unnecessarily into] the reports about the cause of the thing, just as is stated [in
the Q ur’an] And they were made to drink o f the calf in their hearts [Q. 2:93] - and
how similar is [such delving] to [what] this [verse says]!47
46 Ibn Bashshar <- Mu‘adh b. Hishim (incorrectly given in the edition as Hish&m b. Mu‘adh]<-
his father [Hishim b. Abl 'Abd Allah) <r Qatada.
47 Taban s point here is that one should not be overly concerned with the particular way in which
certain messages are expressed in the Qur’an and their exact historical context. Rather the focus
should be on the information and general guidance being given by God through such verses. The
verse he cites (Q. 2:93) is another example of an unexpected choice of graphic words - the Calf being
imbibed by their hearts [sc. the Children of Israel] - and where the literal expression should not de­
tract from the main point being made, which is that unbelief had completely permeated their hearts.

84
 Seeking the face of God

The m eaning of the verse [Q. 2:115] is therefore: To God belongs [all] cre­
ation that is between the east and the west, subjecting them [as He does] to His
service with what He will, and He ordains what He wills concerning them and
they have to obey Him. [He is saying] ‘So tu rn your faces, O believers, towards
My face, because wherever you turn your faces, My face is th e re .
As for statem ents regarding w hether this verse abrogates [another] or is
[itself] abrogated, or w hether it neither abrogates nor is abrogated, the correct
opinion is the one that has it thus: this [verse] has com e [down] in general
terms, but with a specific intention, and that is that His words whithersoever you
turn, there is the face o f God may imply: ‘W herever you tu rn in the course of
your journey, be it in your voluntary prayer, in the course o f fighting your
enemy, in your supererogatory prayer o r in your prescribed (maktub) prayer,
there is the face of God.*48 Ibn ‘U m ar and N akha‘1 said likewise, in addition to
those who also say this from among those whom we have m entioned already.
It is also possible that this [verse] may imply: W herever you may be turning
your faces on G od’s earth, there is G od’s qibla to which you tu rn your faces,
because it is possible for you to turn your face towards the Ka‘ba from [any­
where] there. As reported by Mujahid regarding the words o f God so whither­
soever you turn, there is the face o f God, he [Mujahid] said, ‘[This means] the
qibla o f God, so wherever you might be in the east or the west, then face if; and
[according to Mujahid] ‘W herever you may be, you have a qibla to face’; he also
said, ‘[That qibla is] the K a b a ’49
It could also imply: ‘W herever you turn your faces in your supplications,
there is My face and I will answer your supplications,* as is reported from
M ujahid who said, ‘W hen [the verse] Call upon Me and I will respond to you [Q.
40:60] was sent down, they said “To where [shall we face to make that call]?”,
w hereupon so whithersoever you turn, there is theface o f God was sent down [in
response].’50
If God’s saying whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God has the various
implications we have mentioned, it is not for anyone to claim that it abrogates
o r is abrogated - except by an argum ent to which one would be obliged to
concede - since an abrogating [verse] cannot exist w ithout something having
been abrogated, and no [such] definitive argum ent has been put forth to the
effect that His words so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God would
49 The question of the abrogation of this verse only becomes acute if one holds that it refers to
turning towards the qibla (or not) for the obligatory prayers. Tabari argues that since this is not the
case, the issue is not particularly significant; though as an expert, he does express his opinion.
49 The two reports from Mujahid have the following isrmds respectively: Abu Kurayb <- Wald* <r
Abu Sin&i <- al-Pabbak and al-Nadr b. ‘Arab! Mujahid; and al-Qisim [b. Bishr] <- al-tfusayn [b.
‘All] <- al-PajjJj <- Ibn Jurayj <r Ibr&him f Ibn Abi Bakr <- Mujahid.
50 The isn&d for this report follows the same line of transmission as the previous one, except that
Ibn Jurayj now has it directly from Mujihid (missing out Ibrahim and Ibn Abi Bakr).

85
On the Nature of the Divine

then mean, ‘W herever you turn your faces in your prayers, there is your qibla ;
nor [such] that [it could then be said that] these [words] were sent down when
the Messenger of G od and his C om panions were perform ing their prayers
towards the Holy House [of Jerusalem], as a com m and from God to them that
they should turn [in prayer] towards the K aba, such that it would be possible
therefore to say that this [verse] had abrogated prayer towards the Holy House
[of Jerusalem]: knowledgeable C om panions o f the Messenger of G od and
leading Successors have denied that it was sent down with that meaning; nor
are there any reports from the Messenger of God establishing that it was sent
down concerning this [matter]. Disagreement over this question exists, in the
way that I have described. Nor is it the case that, since it does not abrogate for
the reasons we have described, an argum ent is established [thereby] th at it is
abrogated. For it [the verse] may imply what we have described: that is to say,
it has come for a general [purpose]; or that its im port [applies] in one case to
the exclusion of another, where it is taken to be referring to orientation for the
[canonical] prayer ($alat)\ or [that it applies] in all cases, where it is taken to be
referring to supplication or to other meanings we have mentioned.
We have indicated in our book Kitdb al-Bayan ‘an u$ul al-ahkdm that no
verse of the Q u r’an or report from the M essenger o f G od can be abrogative,
except one that nullifies an established rule (hukm thdbit)y51 and imposes upon
people a legal obligation while not being susceptible to any other m eaning,
either explicitly or implicitly. But where it may contain another [meaning], be
it a proviso, a specification or a general [statement], a summary or an explana­
tion, then it can have nothing to do with the issue o f abrogation (rtasikh wa
mansukh). There can be no abrogation except that [verse or hadith] which has
been nullified, that o f which the rule and legal obligation had previously been
imposed. N either one of the implications can be validated in the case of His
words so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God with an argum ent to
which one would be obliged to concede, such that it could then be said [of this
Q u ran ic statement]: it is abrogative or abrogated.
W ith regard to His saying fa-aynamdythis means haythumd (wherever). As
for His word tuwalluy the most appropriate interpretation o f this is [that it be
understood as] ‘you turn towards if (tuwalluna nahwahu) or ‘to if (ilayhi)yas
when one says, ‘I turned my face towards it’ (shafrahu), or ‘I turned it [my face)
51 This short and introductory treatise on legal principles is often cited in Tabari’s commentary
as it elucidates legal principles through an explanation of some of the key verses of the Qur'an and
an explication of Quranic phenomena such as ‘abrogation (naskh). The text was often subsumed
as the introduction to a larger, detailed work known as al-Laftfmin al-baydn ‘an ahkdm shard’i1al-
Isldm (The Subtle Exposition of the Legal Precepts of Islam) that represents the doctrine of the
school of law established by Tabari. See Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 234; Subki, TabaqdU HI, 121; Rosen­
thal 1989,113-17; Gilliot 1990,39-40. The established rule or precept refers to an established sunna
or 'amal (practice) of the community: see Dutton 1999, ch. 1.

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 Seeking the face of God

to it' (ilayhi), m eaning, ‘I stood facing if (qabaltuhu), o r ‘face to face with if

(wajahtuhu). We only say that this is more appropriate as the [correct] in ter­
pretation o f the verse because there is a unanim ous argum ent in favour o f this
interpretation; the interpretation of those who take it to m ean ‘you turn away
from it and turn your backs to if is a deviant one. For that to which you tu rn is
God's face, meaning God's qibla.
As regards His saying thamma, this means hundlika (there is). Disagreement
exists [among the commentators] regarding the interpretation of His sayingfa-
thamma. Some have said that the interpretation of this is fa-thamma qiblatuTldh
(there is God's qibla), meaning by that His face, towards which He directs them.

An account o f those who said this:

Mujahid is reported to have said that there is theface o f God [means] the qibla
o f God; he is also reported to have said that [it means], ‘W herever you may be,
you have a qibla to face.'52
Others have said that the meaning of God's saying there is the face o f God is:
there is God.
O thers have said that the m eaning o f His saying there is the face o f God is:
there, by orienting yourself to Him, you will attain the pleasure o f God, [Him]
whose is the noble face.
O thers have said that by ‘face’ (wajh) is m eant ‘the O ne who has a face'
(dhul-wajh); those who make this statement say that God's face is one o f His
attributes ($ifa).
If someone were to say, ‘W hat is [the relation of] this verse to the one before
it?*, one would say it is a continuation of it. The m eaning of this is: who does
greater evil than the Christians who have barred G od’s servants from His
mosques lest His name be m entioned in them and have striven to ruin them?
To God belong the east and the west, so wherever you turn your faces, rem em ­
ber Him. For His face will be there, His grace, His earth and His lands will
embrace you. He knows what you do. The destruction o f those who have
destroyed the mosque of the Holy House [of Jerusalem], and their prevention
o f those whom they have prevented from m entioning God therein, should not
prevent you from rem em bering God w herever you may be on God's earth,
seeking His face thereby.

Reports on the interpretation of His words God is indeed All-embracing,

All-knowing.
By saying All-embracing, G od m eans that He embraces the whole of His cre­
ation with sufficiency, bounties, generosity and management. As for His saying
52 The two reports from Mujahid have the following isnads respectively: Abu Kurayb <- Waki' <-
al-Na<fr b. ‘Arab! <- Mujahid; and al-Qasim «- al-tf usayn Hajjaj <- Ibn Jurayj <- Ibrahim <- Mujahid.

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On the Nature of the Divine

All-knowing, this means that He has knowledge of their deeds, not one o f which
is hidden from Him or escapes His knowledge; indeed He has knowledge of
them all.

Z am akhshari
Zamakhshari’s commentary on this verse combines a grammatical explication with a
(Mutazill) concern to preserve God’s transcendence and alterity through a metaphorical
understanding of the ‘face* of God. The dominion and comprehension of the earth
belongs to God and the fact that the whole cosmos manifests the face of God indicates
this. Consonant with other commentators, he considers the context of this verse to be a
concern about determining the qibla in times of confusion about its direction. Thus, the
second part of the verse is about the canonical prayer: how it may be performed and in
which direction?

A nd to God belong the east and the west,53 that is, the lands of the east and o f
the west, and the entire earth belong to God. H e is th eir ow ner and ruler
(m utaw alli). So whithersoever you turn [means] in w hichever place you
perform the act o f turning tow ards (tawliya), m eaning the tu rning o f your
faces in th e direction of the qibla,54 as indicated by the words o f God: Turn
your face towards the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you are, turn your faces
towards it [Q. 2:144,149,150] - there is the face o f God, that is, His direction,
the one that He has ordained and with which He is pleased.55 The meaning
[of this] is: if you are prevented from praying in the Sacred M osque [of
Mecca] o r in the Holy House [of Jerusalem], th en the earth [itself] has been
appointed for you as a place for prayer, so pray in whichever o f its spots you
want, and perform the act of turning [towards the qibla] in that place, because
the act o f turning is possible in every place [on earth]; the possibility [of per­
form ing it] is not exclusively assigned to any one m osque over [another]
mosque, nor to any one place over [another] place. God is indeed All-embrac­
ing in [His] mercy, desiring to grant latitude to His servants and make

53 Kashsh&f, I, 306-7.
54 On qibla, see nn. 1 and 6, this chapter.
55 Zamakhshari’s metaphorical interpretation of the phrase'face of God demonstrates the Mu‘*
tazili doctrine of tanzih, which is critical of an anthropomorphic understanding of God. According
to the Mu'tazila, God's transcendence entails that He is pure, invisible, intangible and cannot have
human attributes; thus any reference to Him having human attributes must be read as metaphor and
interpreted accordingly. For a general introduction to Mutazill beliefs in English, see Daniel Gi-
maret ‘Mu'tazila’, El2, VII, 783-93; Sabine Schmidtke, ‘Mu'tazila’, EQ, III, 466-71; Josef van Ess,
‘Mu'tazilah’, ER, X, 220-9; TG, II, 233-342 (on the early Mu'tazila); TG, III, 31-92,209-445 (on sys­
tematic Mu tazili thought); and TG, IV, 1-121 (on the Mu'tazila and the imposition of the doctrine
of the created Qur’in); also Pines 1970, II, 787-94.

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 Seeking the face of God

[matters] easy for them ,56 All-knowing as to [what constitutes] th eir welfare.
[It is related] from [‘Abd Allah] Ibn ‘Umar that this [verse] was sent down
with regard to the prayer of one travelling on camel-back, [permitting him to
pray] in whichever direction [his mount] faced.
[It is related] from ‘Ata* that [this verse was revealed because] the qibla had
become obscured for [a group of] people and, consequendy, they prayed [the
dawn prayer] in different directions. W hen they entered the [light of] morning,
they realised their mistake. They were [thus] absolved [from it].
It is [also] said that the meaning [of this verse] is whithersoever you turn for
[the purposes of] supplication and remembrance [of G od]’, and that He does
n ot mean, ‘[whithersoever you turn for] canonical prayed. Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri]
read [the verse] fa-aynam d tawallu with a fa th a on the to! from al-tawalli,
meaning [by this], ‘in whichever direction you assign the qibla [there is theface
o f God]9.57

JabrisI
Tabrisfs commentary is the first detailed interpretation in this volume. His exhaustive
consideration of the verse includes the meaning of its language, its syntactical arrange­
ment, its grammar, the question of the context and event of its revelation, and finally what
it means in theological terms. He also makes a key link with the previous verse, as one
aspect of his method is to indicate how a verse fits within its immediate textual context.
Since the preceding verse concerns the attempt of the unbelievers to impede devotion to
God by destroying designated places of worship, the injunction to turn in any direction
to seek God and not to require any specific locale is presented as a response to such
impediment.

Language (lugha)58
The nouns mashriq and sharq both refer to the rising o f the sun and the moon:
sharaqat al-shams is used to mean that ‘it [the sun] has come up, it has risen and
given lighf. There is also a popular expression that says la a f alu dhalika ma
dharra shdriq, which means ‘I shall not do that while the sun rises [i.e. never]*.

56 This interpretation reflects the Mutazill doctrine that God is subject to the same boundaries
of good’ and ‘evil’ as His creation, and that because He is just, He only does that which is good and
in the best interests of His creation. Zamakhsharf s commentary also touches on the concept of
human free will and responsibility for actions when he writes that God ‘desires’ or ‘intends’reprieve
and facilitation for His creation - the implication being that He has their best interests at heart, but
the individual is in control of choosing the path they take through life. In this comment, Za-
makhshari combines two Mutazill concerns: the rational justice of God, and man’s responsibility
and control over his actions. See ‘Abd al-Jabber, MughnU VI, i, 3-7.
57 In other words, Hasan is reading the fifth form {tawallA) of the verb w-l-y as opposed to the
more common reading of the second form (wall*i).
M Majma al-baydn, 1,190-2.

89
On the Nature of the Divine

Ayydm al-tashriq are the days on which m eat is dried out in the sun.5960In the
hadith it is said: ‘It is forbidden to perform tashriq except in a garrison town
(mi$r)*° or in a great mosque (masjid jdm i‘)’; that is to say, there can be no ‘id
prayer because the time [to pray it] is after sunrise.61 Al-maghrib and al-maghib
are synonyms, denoting the place where it [the sun] sets. One says gharabat, or
taghrubu, al-shams to m ean that it has become absent (ghdbat). The original
sense of [the word] gharb is hadd (extremity) or taba'ud (mutual remoteness);
gharbat al-nawd is the distance o f the place th at is far;62 gharb al-sayf is the
‘cutting edge (hadd) of a sword'; it is thus called on account o f it going forth
and not returning and [this sense] is derived from [that of] distances (ab'dd);
al-wdsi‘ (the All-embracing) is al-gjhani (the All-sufficient); [He] is thus called
on account of the extent o f His powers and also, it is said, because He is most
merciful; al-sa'a and al-fusha (ample space) correspond in this sense and the
opposite of al-sa'a is al-diq (narrowness). O ne says wasi'a and yasa'u sa atari
and awsa a al-rajul to mean ‘he has acquired ample m eans’

Syntax ( i'rdb)
The Idm where He says wa-lfllah al-mashriq wal-maghrib is the lam o f posses­
sion. He uses the singular mashriq and maghrib respectively because He is using
them in the generic sense, through which is indicated the plural, like when they
say ahlakal-ndsa al-dinaru wal-dirhamu (The d in ar and the dirham have
brought perdition upon men).63 Ayna (where, whither) is invariable because it
is a particle, and it ends in a fatha because of the confluence of two unvowelled
consonants (sdkinayn); moreover, it contains a conditional meaning, and so
tuwallu (you turn your faces) is apocopated (m ajzum ) because o f that condi­
tional (sharf), and the apodosis (jawdb) is fa-tham m a wajhulldh (there is the
face of G od). The absence of the [final] nun from tuwallu (-n) indicates the
apocopation; ayna occupies an accusative (na$b) position because it is the
adverb o f place (zarf) for tuwallu; the md o f ayna-ma is [the particle] that
requires the apocopation (jazm) of the verb [that follows]. That is why idh or
hayth cannot be used [in a conditional] unless md is added to them, so that one
would say haythuma takun akun (wherever you may be I will be) o r idh-ma

59 The term tashriq was a special name for the last three days of the Muslim hajj, during which
the pilgrims have to throw the seven stones at Mina. In pre-Islamic times, the name was given to a
$aldt, which was performed on the morning of the tenth day of Dhul-tfijja. The reference to ‘meat-
drying is doubtful, and it is more likely to be a survival from the pre-Islamic period referring to rit­
ualistic practices around the sanctuary: see Rudi Paret- [William A. Graham], ‘Tashrik’, El2, X,
356-7.
60 On the garrison town in early Islam, see Clifford E. Bosworth, ,Mi$r', El2, VII, 146.
61 On these festivals, see Eugen Mittwoch, “Id*, El2, III, 1007; von Grunebaum 1951, chs. 2,3.
62 See Lex. VI, 2241 (col. b).
63 In other words, the pursuit of'dirhams and dinars (sc. money) ruins people.

90
 Seeking the face of God

t a f al a f al (as soon as you act, I act); one cannot say haythu takun akun o r idh
ta f al a f al. In the case o f ayna, however, apocopation is possible w ithout the
mdt as the poet says:
ayna tadrib binal-'udata tajidna
na$riful-(Jsa nahwahd li’l-tal&ql

W herever the enemy strikes at us, you will find us directing

O u r white camels towards them for the encounter.

Tham m a (there) occupies the accusative (na$b) position because it is an

adverb o f place (zarfm akdn), and it ends in fatha because o f the confluence of
tw o unvowelled consonants (sakinayn). It has an invariable ending (mabni)
because it is in fact a definite noun (ma'rifa) and the definite noun should be
identifiable by means of a particle, and so it became invariable because it implic­
itly contains that particle, through which definition and familiarity is indicated.
Have you not noticed that in speech thamma is only used when the person you
are using it with knows, and is familiar with, the place you are referring to?

The [occasions of] revelation (asbdb al-nuzul)

T here is disagreem ent as to the circum stances in which this verse was sent
dow n. It is said by some that the Jews rejected [the validity of] the change of
qibla from the Holy House [of Jerusalem] to the Ka'ba, and so the verse was sent
dow n in response to them, [as reported] from Ibn ‘Abbas, and this was the pre­
ferred [opinion] of al-Jubba’i w ho adds: ‘God thus made it clear that He is not
in any direction to the exclusion of another, as the corporealists (mujassima)
are wont to assert’64
It is also said that the Muslims were free to face any direction they chose in
prayer, and it was regarding this that the verse was sent down; but that this was
later abrogated by His saying, Turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque [Q.
2:149,150], [as reported] from Qatada, who also said: ‘The Prophet had chosen
to face the Holy House [of Jerusalem] even though he was free to face any direc­
tion he wished.’
It is also said that it [the verse] was sent down concerning voluntary prayers
on animal-back, [prayer] which you may perform in whatever direction you
M See Josef van Ess, ‘Tashbih wa-tamlh’, El2, X, 341-4; Richard C. Martin, ‘Anthropomorphism’,
EQ, I, 103-7. These two terms of Islamic theology are used in reference to different discourses
about God: tashbih denotes ‘anthropomorphism’, and usually has negative connotations, as it was
used to refer to those who attributed human-like aspects to God; tanah, denoting God’s transcen­
dentalism, was a positive term; ta'fil referred to divesting God of His attributes; jism, denoting
‘bod/, was used to describe God in different ways. Some insisted that He had a body (mujassima),
most famously the early theologian Hisham b. al-Hakam (d. 179/795), a Kufan Shi'i, on whom see
TG, I, 349-76; TG, V, 70-100. Other Muslim thinkers asserted that He was a sort of perfect form
of light: cf. TG, III, 143ff.

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On the Nature of the Divine

happen to face while you are on a journey. As for obligatory prayers, however,
then His saying [applies]: A nd wherever you m ay be turn your faces towards it
[sc. the Sacred Mosque], which means that you can only [validly] perform the
obligatory prayers facing the qibla. That is what has been related to us from our
imams, who state that the Messenger o f God perform ed the gestures of prayer
while riding his animal, facing whichever way it happened to point him; [such
was the case] when he went out to Khaybar and when he returned from Mecca,
[even] leaving the K aba to his back.65 It is reported from Jabir [b. ‘Abd Allah]
that:

The Messenger of God sent out a raiding party, and I was among them. Darkness
fell upon us and we did not know [the direction of] the qibla. Some of us said: ‘We
know where the qibla is, it is right here towards the north’, so they prayed and
marked out the lines [for prayer]. Others said, ‘[No], the qibla is over here towards
the south’, so then they [prayed and] marked out the lines. When they woke up
the [following] morning, and the sun had risen, it turned out that the lines were
not [pointing] towards the qibla. When we returned from our journey, we asked
the Prophet about this matter, and he was silent. God then sent down this verse.

Meaning (mn'rtf)
By And to God belong the east and the west, He means that the east and west are
God’s [in term s of] possession; but it is also said that He m eans ‘He is their
creator and maker'; or it is said to mean that He takes charge of the rising o f the
sun from its rising-place (mashriq) and its setting in its setting-place (maghrib).
So whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God means whithersoever you turn
your faces*, the said direct object [wujuhakum o f the verb tuwallu] having been
omitted; fa-tham m a, that is,fa-hunak (there) is the face o f God, in other words,
the qibla of God, as reported by al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri], Mujahid and Qatada; wajhy
jiha, similar [in paradigm] to wazn> zina and wijha> [all] m ean qibla. The Arabs
call a ‘goal’ (qa$d), that to which they may be heading, a wajh. The poet says:

astaghfirulldha dhanban lastu mufoiyahu

rabbal-'ibadi ilayhfl-wajhu waH-'amalu

I ask God forgiveness for sins that I cannot count,

[God] the Lord of servants, to Him is the orienting
And [for His sake] the deeds [are performed].

The m eaning [of these lines] is that He is the object o f worship.

It is also said that it [ fa-tham m a wajhulldh, there is the face o f God] means
‘there is God, knowing and seeing [all]*, so supplicate to Him in whichever

65 Cf. the reports in QummI and ‘AyyashI, this chapter.

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 Seeking the face of God

direction you happen to face; similar to w here G od says, They desire His face
(yuriduna wajhahu) [in Q. 6:52 and Q. 18:28], that is to say, they have Him in
m ind w hen supplicating. O ne says hund to denote a place that is near, and
thamma or hundk for that which is at a distance. As regards His saying All things
perish except His face [Q. 28:88], this means ‘except Him*; yet there will remain
die face o f your Lord [wa-yabqd wajhu rabbik, Q. 55:27] means that your Lord
shall remain*, [as reported] from al-Kalbi. It is also said that the meaning [of
wajhulldhy the face o f God] is ‘there is the satisfaction of God* (ridwdn Allah),
th at is, the way (wajh) that leads to His satisfaction, similar to when it is said
‘this is the right w a / (wajh al-$awab)> [as reported] from Abu ‘All [al-F&risi] and
al-Rummanl. God is indeed All-embracing (wdsi‘) means [that He is] All-suffi­
cient (ghant), [as reported] from Abu ‘Ubayda, the implied meaning being that
He has no need o f (ghani ‘an) your obedience, but desires it for your own
benefit. It is also said to mean that He is All-embracing in mercy, which is why
He has granted dispensations in the Law (shan a), [as reported] from al-Zajj&j;66
it [the phrase inndllaha wdsi‘un, God is indeed All-embracing] is also said to
m ean that He is o f all-embracing power (wdsi* al-maqdiir), doing what He wills;
All-knowing m eans that He has knowledge of all aspects o f [true] wisdom, so
apply yourselves to w hat He has com m anded o f you; it is also said that He is
‘All-knowing of where to deposit His mercy in accordance with the exigencies
o f wisdom; it is also said that He is ‘All-knowing* o f your intentions whenever
you pray or supplicate.

Arrangement (ttapn)
This verse is [coherently] connected to the preceding one by the [following]
implied meaning: The actions of those who have destroyed m osques should
not prevent you from rem em bering Him w herever you m ight be upon His
earth, for to G od belong the east and the west and all directions, as reported by
‘All b. ‘Isa [al-Rummanl]. It is also said that having already m entioned prayers
and mosques, God followed it by mentioning and clarifying [the m atter of] the
qibla.

ft.

R azi
Rizfs commentary signals the shift away from interpreting the verse purely in the context
of whether it relates to commands concerning prayer. He divides his scholastic glosses
upon the verse by considering two opinions: first, that it relates to prayer, and second, that
it does not, which requires that the scholar search for an alternative theological explana­

66 ZajjSj, MadnU 1,198.

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On the Nature of the Dhine

tion. On the first point, he asserts that the significance of the qib la lies in the fact that it is
the orientation appointed by God; in itself, the qibla has no significance. The cosmos is
‘annexed’to God, and divine wisdom and concern for creation suggest that God’s choice,
reflected in the command for human beings, is the best course for humanity to follow.
On the second point, he provides theological and rational arguments for the omnipres­
ence of God, and for the refutation of anthropomorphists and those who insist that God
is a body (jis m ). The divine names, thus, are not ascriptions of human attributes to the
divine but are familiar names ascribed to God in a sense that utterly transcends any
human notion of that name or attribute. So God’s encompassing creation is not a physical
‘covering of the cosmos, nor is His knowledge like that of humans, such that He
‘rationally’ knows creation. Razi, however, does not repeat the standard Ash‘ari notion
that one ought to understand the names and attributes of God on their own terms without
asking or reflecting upon how they are meant to be understood; he asks, in what sense
can one understand God as encompassing the cosmos or knowing everything? The fact
that God encompasses everything means that He knows everything in the individuality
and particularity of each entity, which is an implicit criticism of the perceived philosoph­
ical doctrine that God only knows particular entities ‘in a universal sense’.

Know that there are several issues in this verse.67

I. First issue. They [the commentators] differed about the reason for the rev­
elation o f this verse. Generally, most [commentators] claimed that it was sent
down concerning a m atter specifically to do with prayer ($alat). Some of them,
however, claimed that it was sent down concerning a m atter not to do with
prayer.
As for the first opinion [in this first issue], it is stronger for two reasons.68
First of all, it is that [opinion] which is transm itted on the authority of all the
Companions and the Successors; and their opinions constitute an authoritative
proof (hujja). Second, the apparent meaning of His words fa-aynamd tuwallu
suggests the turning to the qibla for [the perform ance of] prayer, which is why
no other meaning can be understood from His words fa-wallu wujuhakum, turn
your faces towards [Q. 2:144,150]. If this is established, then we [may] say that
those who hold such an opinion disagree in several respects:

a) The first [respect]: that God intended by it [the verse] to make the believers
turn from facing Jerusalem to the K aba. Thus God made it clear that the
east, the west and all directions and regions belong to Him and are created
by Him. Thus, whichever place God orders you to turn your faces towards,
then that is the qibla; for the qibla is not a qibla o f itself but because God
has made it a qibla. And so if God makes the K aba a qibla then do not deny
it, for God m anages ( tadbir) His servants however He will. He is All­

67 Mafdtih al-ghayb, IV, 18-22.

68 The second opinion in this first issue is dealt with after a lengthy discussion of the first opinion,
and appears on p. 98.

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 Seeking the face of God

em bracing and All-knowing of their best welfare. It is as though G od m en­

tioned this to make clear the possibility o f abrogating (naskh)69 the qibla,
[changing it] from one side to another [direction]. Thus, this would
becom e a prelude to the abrogation o f the qibla intended by God.
b) The second [respect]: that when the qibla was changed from Jerusalem, the
Jews rejected this and so the verse was sent dow n in response to them; this
[last] is the opinion of Ibn ‘Abbas and it [Q. 2:115] is analogous to His
saying Say: God's is the east and the west; He guides whom He wills onto a
straight path [Q. 2:142].
c) The third [respect]: this is the opinion of Abu Muslim, that each of the Jews
and the Christians said that Paradise belonged to them to the exclusion of
any other. God then refuted them with this verse. For the Jews used to face
Jerusalem, because they believed that God had ascended to the heaven from
the Rock.70 The Christians faced the east because Jesus was b om there, in
accordance with what God recounts in His saying, and mention in the Book
Mary, when she withdrew from her people to an eastern place [Q. 19:16]. Each
o f these two groups described the O ne they w orshipped as inhering in
places (hulul);71 and [yet] one who is like this is a creature, not a Creator.
So how can Paradise be purely for them alone w hen they cannot even dis­
tinguish between creature and Creator?72
d ) The fourth [respect]: some [scholars] said that in this verse God replaced
Jerusalem [as the qibla], by the choice o f [facing] whichever direction one
wished. Thus the Muslims had the free choice to turn towards whichever
direction they wished during the $alat. The Prophet, however, chose to face
tow ards Jerusalem, even though he was free to turn towards whichever
direction he wanted. But then God abrogated that by designating the Ka‘ba
[as the qibla]; this is the opinion of Qatada and Ibn Zayd.
e) The fifth [respect]: that what is meant by this verse is that whoever is actu­
ally looking at the Ka‘ba [by virtue of being present at the Ka‘ba] has the
choice to turn towards it from any direction he desires or wills.

69 On naskh, see n. 13, this chapter.

70 The Rock slightly protrudes from the ground and is directly below the Dome, inside the Dome
of the Rock building, which was commissioned in 72/691-2 by the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik
b. Marwan (r. 65-86/685-705). On the building, see Oleg Grabar, ‘Kubbat al-sakhra, EP, V, 298-
9; Blair 1993; Raby and Johns 1993; Nuseibeh and Grabar 1996.
71 Hulul, ‘inherence: a term used in philosophy in different senses: (1) the substantial union of
the body and soul; (2) the indwelling of the divine spirit in man; (3) the inherence of an accident
in its substance; (4) hylomorphism, i.e. the union of form ($ura) with matter (hayula); (5) the rela­
tion between a body and its place; see Louis Massignon-[Georges C. Anawati], ‘Hulul’, EPt III,
570-1; Tahinawl, ItfilAh&t, 1,706-9 (s.v. £-/-/); Jurjini, Ta'rifiit, 105-6.
72 The polemical context of this verse is significant and reveals the development of commentary
within the framework of inter-religious debate and polemic. For related discussions see the work
of Rubin 1999.

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On the Nature of the Divine

0 The sixth [respect]: that which ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Amir b. Rabl‘a narrated. He
said:

We were with the Messenger of God among a raiding party on a pitch-black

night. We did not know [which way was] the qibla and so each one of us
marked his place of prostration with some stones positioned in front of him.
We then prayed. In the morning, we realised that we had been facing [a direc­
tion] other than [that of] the qibla. We mentioned this to the Messenger of God
and God sent down this verse.

This [last] hadith indicates that they [the Muslims] had by that tim e been
turning [in prayer] towards the Ka‘ba, for, fighting was prescribed after the
hijra, after the abrogation of the qibla of the Holy House in Jerusalem.

g) The seventh [respect]: that the verse was sent down concerning a travelling
person, who may perform the supererogatory prayers (nawdfil) in
whichever direction his riding-animal happens to face when he is riding it.
[It is reported] on the authority of Sa‘Id b. Jubayr from [‘Abd Allah] Ibn
‘Umar that he said, ‘This verse was sent down so that the person on a
journey may pray in whichever direction his riding-animal happens to face.
W henever he [the Prophet] returned from Mecca, he would perform vol­
untary prayers (tafawwu'an) while on his riding-animal, motioning with his
head towards Medina.* Thus the meaning of the verse is: whithersoever you
turn for your supererogatory prayers during your travels, there is the face o f
God, you will have accom plished what is required. God is indeed All-
embracing in grace and All-sufficient; it is from the abundance of His grace
and His all-sufficiency that He has granted you latitude in this [matter]. For,
had He required of you to turn towards the qibla in such circum stances,
then one of two kinds o f detrim ent would necessarily have ensued: either
the abandoning of the supererogatory prayers, or the dismounting from the
riding-animal and remaining behind the company [of other travellers]. In
contrast, the obligatory prayers are prayers o f a set num ber and are delim ­
ited [by specific tim es o f the day], and so imposing the legal obligation
( taklif)73 to dism ount from the riding-anim al when perform ing these
[obligatory prayers] and to turn towards the qibla would not lead to any dif­
ficulty; that is in contrast to the supererogatory prayers, w hich are not
73 Taklif is a requirement or constraint that is held to be a legal necessity. In the Qur’in, the vert)
is used seven times in several forms to express the concept that God does not require of a person
what is beyond their capacity [cf. Q. 2:286]. Technically, it indicates that God’s creatures must act
according to what He has revealed to them. It is therefore defined legally (by the majority of author­
ities) as the requiring (ilzant) of an action which is intrinsically difficult and troublesome. By this
definition, it applies only to those things which are necessary requisites or outright prohibitions of
the Law. Sec Daniel Gimaret, Taklif, El2, X, 138-9; Schacht 1964,124.

96
 Seeking the face of God

confined [to any specific time of the day] and so the imposition [in this case]
of an obligation to turn towards [the K aba] would lead to some difficulty.

If it is said: which of these opinions is closest to what is correct? We say: His

saying whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God suggests freedom o f choice,
and freedom of choice can only be established in two cases. One is when [per­
forming] voluntary prayers while m ounted on a riding-animal, and the other
is when on a journey, where it is difficult to m ake an independent judgem ent
[to ascertain the direction of the qibla] either because it is dark o r for some
o th er reason. In both of these two cases, the person perform ing prayer has
freedom o f choice; in other than these two cases, there is no choice. As for the
opinion of those w ho say that in this verse G od has given freedom o f choice to
those legally competent (mukallafun)74 to turn towards any direction they wish,
and that they used to choose Jerusalem not because it was a requirem ent, but
because of its greater merit and its being worthier, this [opinion] is far removed
[from correctness]. For there is no disagreement over the fact that Jerusalem,
even before the change [of qibla] to the K aba, had a special status w ithin the
Law (sharta). If the case were as they say, then this special status could not have
been established. In addition, it should have been said that Jerusalem h ad been
abrogated by the Ka‘ba. Such an indication (dalala) requires that the verse be
understood in the third or fourth respects [mentioned previously].
As for those who understand the verse in the first respect, they may righdy
say that when the qibla was changed [from Jerusalem to the Ka'ba], the Jews
spoke [raising the issue] about the prayers o f the Messenger of God, and the
prayers o f the believers, towards Jerusalem. Thus, in this verse, God clarified
that turning towards that qibla [the Holy House in Jerusalem] was right at that
tim e and that turning now towards the K aba is right at this time. He [God] also
clarified that whichever of these two qiblas they turned to [in prayer] in the way
permitted, then there is the face o f God. They said: understanding the words [of
the verse] in this respect is more appropriate as it would include every praying
individual. But, if it is understood in the first respect, it would not include
everyone, because it would then be taken as referring to voluntary prayer to the
exclusion of the obligatory one, and [to be referring] to travel under particular
circumstances, to the exclusion of staying put. W hen it is possible to apply a
generally w orded phrase in accordance with its general [principle] then this is
m ore appropriate than [to follow] a restricted application.75 The most that can
be said on this subject is that such an interpretation also necessarily requires a
74 Mukallafun are those subject to the religious law, being of legal age and in full mental health.
75 Takhftf: the juristic method of applying a legal rule or requirement in a restricted capacity; for
instance, confining its application to a particular historical event or to a particular group rather
than applying it universally.

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On the Nature of the Divine

kind of limitative qualification. That is to say, whithersoever you turn, ‘o f the

directions [Muslims are] com m anded [to turn to ]\ then there is the face o f God.
Such an ellipsis (idmar) is necessary here in any case because it is inconceivable
that G od w ould say whithersoever you turn, ‘according to the inclinations of
your selves, then there is the face o f God. There is no avoiding the ellipsis we
have m entioned; if this is so, then the [option entailing the possibility of]
freedom of choice no longer exists. An analogy for it is [the following situation]:
if one o f us approached his son and com m anded him to do a num ber of
assigned things and then said to him , whichever way you act you will have
abided by what contents me. This must be understood [as meaning that the son
will act] according to what he [the father] com m anded him, in the way that he
[the father] ordered concerning restriction or choice [i.e. the son will act within
the bounds set by the father], and must not be understood as absolute freedom
of choice. The same applies here [in the previous case].
The second opinion [in this first issue] is that o f those who claim that this
verse was sent down concerning a m atter other than prayer. They also have
several points of view:

a) The first of these [views] is that the meaning would be that

those who did wrong by preventing the mention of My name in My mosques
and sought to destroy them, they will get such and such [in requital]. Moreover,
whithersoever they turn fleeing from Me and from My authority ( s u lta n ), My
authority will pursue them closely and My power (q u d r a ) will overtake them;
I am All-knowing of them and their whereabouts cannot be hidden from Me.
Herein is a warning against acts of disobedience and a rebuke against com ­
mitting them . G od's saying, God is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing is
similar to His saying, I f you are able to pass through the confines o f heaven
and earth, pass through them! You shall not pass through, except with an
authority [Q. 55:33]. O n the basis of that, its intended im port would be the
[infinite] extent of [God's] knowledge, this being analogous to [God's
saying], He is with you wherever you may be [Q. 57:4], and to His saying,
Three men conspire not secretly together, but He is thefourth o f them [Q. 58:7],
and [similar] to His saying, 'Our Lord, You embrace every thing in mercy and
knowledge [Q. 40:7], and His saying, [He] Who in His knowledge embraces
every thing [Q. 20:98]; that is to say, He subsumes every thing in His knowl­
edge and His managem ent [of that thing], and by His encompassing it, and
His being exalted above it.
b) The second [view]: Q atada said that the Prophet said, ‘Your brother, the
Negus76 has died, so do the prayer for him ’. They then said, ‘Should we
76 On the Negus, see n. 45, this chapter.

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 Seeking the face of God

perform prayers for a m an who is not a M uslim ? G od’s words were then
sent down A nd there are some from among the People o f the Book who believe
in God, and what has been sent down to you, and what has been sent down to
them, men humble to God, not selling the signs o f God fo r a small price; those
- their wage is with their Lord; God is swift at the reckoning [Q. 3:199]. They
then said, ‘But he used to pray towards other than the qiblaf W hereupon
God sent down, And to God belong the east and the west; so whithersoever you
turn, there is theface o f God: this means that ‘all the directions, whether east,
west o r what is between them , towards which the people o f the different
religious com m unities turn to [in prayer] are all for Me. Thus, whoever
turns his face towards any of these [directions] regarding a matter,
having Me in m ind, seeking to obey Me, he will find Me there, i.e., he will
find My reward’. In this [last] then there was an absolution for the Negus
and his companions who had died having always faced towards the east;77
and this is similar to His saying, But God would never leave your faith to
waste [Q. 2:143].
c) The third [view]: when God sent down His words, Call upon Me and I will
respond to you [Q. 40:60], they asked, ‘In which direction should we make
our supplication to H im ? W hereupon this verse was sent down; and this is
the opinion o f al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri], Muj&hid and al-Pafiliak.
d ) The fourth [view] is that this was an address for the Muslims, meaning that
the act of those who destroyed God’s mosques should not prevent you from
remembering His name wherever you may be upon His earth. Thus, To God
belong the east and the west and all directions; this is the opinion o f ‘All b.
‘Isa [al-Rummani].
e) The fifth [view]: some people claim that it was sent down concerning people
who exercise their personal judgement [in legal matters] (mujtahidun) and
who fulfil the conditions for such personal judgem ent (ijtihdd), whether it
be with regard to prayer or other [matters]. The intended meaning then is
that if the mujtahid reaches a judgement in accordance with the conditions
o f ijtihdd, then he is right.

II. Second issue. If we interpret this verse as indicating that it is permissible to

turn towards any direction desired, then the verse is abrogated. However, if we
interpret it as indicating the abrogation of the qibla from Jerusalem to the Ka'ba
then the verse abrogates [the turning towards Jerusalem]. But if we interpret it
in any of the other respects [mentioned previously], then it neither abrogates
nor is abrogated.

77 As opposed lo the north, which is roughly the direction in which Mecca lies in relation to
Abyssinia.

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On the Nature of the Divine

III. Third issue. In God’s saying ITHdhTl-mashriqu wal-maghrib, the lam [of li
in Ixlldhi) denotes exclusivity (ikhti$a$); that is to say, He is [exclusively] their
C reator and Owner, which is like His saying Lord o f the two easts, Lord o f the
two wests [Q. 55:17], His saying by the Lord o f the easts and the wests [Q. 70:40],
[and like His saying] Lord o f the east and the west [Q. 73:9]. Moreover, God, by
mentioning them, refers to all the creatures that exist between them, as He says,
Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke and said to it and to the earth,
‘Come, willingly or unwillingly!* They said, ‘We come willingly*[Q. 41:11].

IV. Fourth issue. The verse is one of the strongest proofs for refuting corpore-
alism (tajstm)7* and affirming [God’s] transcendence (tanzih).787980This is made
clear in two ways:

a) First: God says A nd to God belong the east and the west. He makes it clear
that these two directions belong to Him. This is so because direction is
som ething that in the imagination (wahm)M extends in length, width and
depth. Everything that is so consists o f divided parts and everything that is
divided is composite and compound, and everything that is so must neces­
sarily have a creator and an originator. This proof is a general one concern­
ing all directions, [by which] I mean, what is above and what is beneath; by
this, it is proved that G od is the C reator (khdliq) o f all directions and a
creator necessarily precedes creation. The C reator (bdri’) therefore, before
the creation of the world, transcended (kdna munazzahan) all direction and
[spatial] spheres (ahyaz); and it is inevitably necessary that He rem ain thus
after the creation of the world, since it is impossible for realities (h a q a iq )
and essences (mahiyydt) to change.81
b) Second: God says whithersoever you turn, there is theface o f God. If God were
a physical body and had a corporeal face, then His face would have been
specified by a certain side and a certain direction, in which case His saying
whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God would not have been true.

78 See n. 64 on tajsim.
79 On tashbih wa tanzih, see n. 64, this chapter.
80 Wahm, ‘imagination’: this refers to the estimation of the meanings of sensible objects, a kind
of cognitive experience which is also available to animals, and one on the basis of which they are
enabled to draw inferences for their physical well-being and safety: sec Ian R. Netton, 'Wahm', El2,
XI, 98-9.
81 The mdhiyya is the essence of a thing or its ‘quiddity^, as opposed to its anniyya (or inni)ya)
which is its actual existence (anna or inna, ‘that [it is]’); its 'ayniyya is its specific identity as an in­
dividual existent ('ayn). The essence of a thing is the reason why it is or what it is; existence is the
actualisation of essence. According to Avicenna, there is one Being alone whose essence is His very
existence and that is God, the Necessary Being (wajib al-wujud). The essence of beings does not nec­
essarily imply their existence, for it is possible to think of the essence of a (created) thing without
knowing whether it exists or not: see Roger Amaldez, ‘Mahiyya, El2, V, 1261-3.

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 Seeking the face of God

A nd as G od specifies this [by explicitly mentioning it], we know that He tra n ­

scends corporeality.

O pponents use the verse as an argument [for corporeality] in two ways:

i) First: the verse indicates that God has a [corporeal] face, and a face can
only belong to one that has a body (jism).82
ii) Second: G od describes H im self as being A ll-em bracing (wdsi€) and
‘em bracing is an attribute of bodies.

T he answer to the first (i) is that even though ‘face properly speaking denotes
a specific part [of the body], we have already explained that if we understood
it [the face] here to mean the bodily part, then it w ould belie G od’s saying
whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God. Because if a face were facing the
east then it would be impossible for it to face the west at the same time.
Therefore, interpretation [in the case of this verse] is necessary, and [such inter­
pretation] has different aspects.

a) First aspect: the genitive annexation [ujdfa construction ] wajh Allah (God’s
face) is similar to that of bayt Allah (God’s house) and ndqat AUdh (God’s
she-camel). W hat is meant by these [constructions] is annexation [to God]
through [being His] creation and being brought into existence [by Him], as
a way o f conferring honour [upon these things]. Thus, His saying There is
the face o f God means, there is His face, the one to which He has directed
you, for, both the east and the west belong to H im in their aspects. Thus,
that which is m eant by the qibla is a qibla only because God has appointed
it [to be that]. Thus any aspect of the world annexed to Him through [being
His] creation and being brought into existence [by Him], and which He has
appointed [as such] and specified [to be so] is a qibla.
b) Second aspect: what is m eant by ‘face’ (wajh) is purpose and intention, as
the poet says [...].83 Analogous to that are God’s words, I have turned my face
to Him Who originated the heavens and the earth [Q. 6:79].

82 Jism: a body composed of the four elements (al-'andfir al-arba'a) in various proportions; a
body therefore is composite and divisible. According to the philosophers, a body is composed es­
sentially of matter (hayuld) and form ($ura) both of which, in themselves, are imperceptible and in­
divisible, following Aristotelian natural philosophy. A distinction must be made between the two
cognate terms jism and jirm: the former refers to sub-lunary bodies (see Tah&nawi, Itfilahat, 1,561-
6) and the latter to supra-lunary bodies (see Tahinawi, Itfil&hdt, I, 557). While sub-lunary bodies
are made of four earthly elements, the supra-lunary bodies are made of a single element, the celestial
quintessence; the supra-lunary bodies thus are simpler (basif) than sub-lunary bodies. See T. de
Boer, ‘Ejism*, EP, II, 553-5.
83 Here Riz! cites the same line of verse as the one cited by Tabrisi on the same point; however,
in Tabrisi the citation has muhfiyahu while the citation in Rizi has uhfiyahu. Ibn Jinni in his book
al-Kha$d’i$ dtes this verse but without giving the name of the poet; he only mentions that the verse
was cited by Slbawayh. See Ibn Jinni, Khafd’if, III, 247.

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On the Nature of the Divine

c) T hird aspect: the meaning of this [verse] is ‘there is the satisfaction (marda)
of G o d \ similar to His saying, We feed you only fo r the face o f God [Q. 76:9]
meaning ‘[only] for God's satisfaction (ridw anf. [Similar to this also is] His
saying All things perish except His face [Q. 28:88], m eaning [except] that
which was [intended] for the satisfaction (ridd*) o f God. The purport of the
m etaphor (istifdra) is that w hen a person desires to go to [meet] another
person, he will approach his face, from the front. Likewise when a person
seeks the satisfaction of another, he does n o t cease to draw close to his sat-
isfacion [i.e., he works ceaselessly to draw close to what satisfies him], and
that is why seeking satisfaction is expressed as seeking the ‘face.
d) Fourth aspect: wajh is in fact a relative clause ($ila)> like where He says All
things perish except His face [Q. 28:88]. People say, ‘Here is the wajh of a
matted meaning nothing else but it [the m atter]. W hat they mean by this is
that it is from ‘this poinf that one should deal with that matter. You should
know that although this explanation is grammatically sound, [further] dis­
cussion remains. For, it could be said to the one who says this,84 so what is
the meaning of God’s saying there is the face o f God despite [the fact that] it
is impossible for Him [to be] in a space (m akdn)? Thus, inevitably there has
to be an interpretation [of the phrase] as having the [following] intended
meaning: ‘There is His qibla through which He is worshipped’; or ‘there is
His mercy, His beneficence, the path to His reward and the acquisition of
His satisfaction.

This is a response to the second (ii),85 which is that He describes H im self as

A ll-em bracing. Now, it is undoubtedly im possible to u nderstand this in
keeping with its literal sense (zahir) or else He w ould consist o f divisible parts
and portions and would thus require a creator. Rather, it is necessary to con­
strue the meaning [of the All-embracing] as denoting the range of power and
sovereignty; or that He is All-embracing in giving and in mercy; o r that He is
A ll-em bracing in His bounty for m aking clear w hat is in the interest o f
servants, so that they m ight attain His satisfaction. Perhaps this [last] aspect
is the m ost appropriate in the [context of the present] discussion; it [certainly]
cannot be understood as meaning the ‘A ll-em bracing in terms o f knowledge,
or else the m ention of ‘All-knowing' after it w ould be a [superfluous]
repetition.
As regards His saying ‘al\m, All-knowing, in this instance, it is like a threat,
so th at the one perform ing the canonical prayer will be cautious of being

M That is, one who says that wajh Alldh is to be taken as synonymous with Allah, since wajh in­
dicates the very thing itself.
The second argument in favour of a corporeal conception of God.

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 Seeking the face of God

negligent, envisaging that God knows what he is hiding and what he is m ani­
festing. A nd since, From God nothing whatsoever can be hidden [Q. 14:38], that
person will be cautious o f being remiss. It is also possible that God’s saying All-
embracing, All-knowing means that G od is All-embracing in His power to fulfil
the reward of the person who performs the canonical prayer in accordance with
its provisions, and to discharge the punishm ent for the one who is too idle to
perform it.

V. Fifth issue. [The term] walla means ‘he drew neat', and it means ‘he turned
aw ay. It is one o f those words with two opposite m eanings here, it
m eans ‘drawing neat'. Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] read fa-aynamd tawaUuywith a fatha
on the td \ derived from [the infinitive] al-tawalli, meaning, ‘whichever direc­
tion you appoint as the qibla\

Kashani
Kashani’s commentary focuses upon an important feature of the metaphysics and cos­
mology of the school of Ibn ‘Arab!, namely the key homologies between the ‘three realities’
of God: the cosmos as the macrocosmic manifestation of Him, and the humanity which
is not only the microcosmic face of God in the cosmos and the face of the cosmos oriented
towards God, but also the mesocosmic reality (barzakh in the technical language of Ibn
‘Arab!) that mediates between cosmos and God. Significantly, his commentary also
reflects a key method of ta’wil, of elucidating the spiritually transformative sense of the
text that can guide the Sufi initiate along the path to spiritual realisation. Consistent with
this method is the desire to discern complete pairings between, on the one hand, the
explicit words and exoteric sense and, on the other, the implicit and esoteric meaning
behind it (sc. tafbiq). Thus the east must correspond exactly with the ‘Paradise of
Christians’and the physical orientation towards the qibla must correspond to the spiritual
and esoteric turning of the believer towards God.

A n d to God belong[s] the east,86 that is, the realm o f light and manifestation,
which is the paradise of the C hristians and th eir prayer direction, and is, in
reality, His esoteric aspect (bdfinuhu); and the west, that is the realm of darkness
and concealm ent, which is the paradise o f the Jews and their direction of
prayer, and is, in reality, His exoteric aspect (zahiruhu).87

86 Tafsir, 1,79-80.
87 Cf. Mayer 2006:
The Qur’inic reference here [in Kashani’s commentary on Q. 2:115] is to [another Quranic]
verse: Huwal-awwaiu wal-dkhiru wal-fM m wal-bdfinu (He is thefirst and the last, the manifest
and the hidden) [Q. 57:3]. The terms z&hir and bdfin could also be translated as "outward" and
“inward”, but are also rendered as “exoteric” and “esoteric” respectively.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Whithersoever you turn, that is, in whichever direction you turn outw ardly
and inwardly, then there is the face o/G od,88 that is, the essence (dhat) o f God
self-disclosed (mutajalliya) through the totality (ja m i) o f His attributes.89 O r
[it means] to G od belongs the illum ination (ishrdq) o f your hearts by [His]
manifestation in them and [His] self-disclosure to them through th e attribute
o f His beauty in the state of your presential vision [of G od’s beauty]
(shuhudikum )90 and your annihilation [in it] (fan&’ikum ); and [that to G od
belongs] the alienation (ghurub) in them [the hearts] through His self-con-
cealm ent and His self-veiling in their [the hearts’] form s and essences, and
through His concealm ent through the attribute o f His majesty in th e state o f
your subsistence (b a q a ik u m ) after annihilation (/and’).91 Thus, in w hich­
ever direction you turn, then there is His face, no thing can be except He
alone.92

M Zayd b. ‘All (exec. 122/740) comments that this means the (prayer) direction towards God
(Gharib, 136). Ibn 'Arab! mentions that what this phrase signifies is that all, regardless of their actual
religious affiliation, seek God; all are in His presence because He is omnipresent. However, this
does not mean that one adopts any qibla one wishes; in prayer, one still has to orient oneself to the
qibla ordained: see Ibn ’Arab!, Futuhat, IV, 106, 424. In various instances, he also stresses that the
wajh is the essence of the thing, its reality and also the mode in which it presents itself and through
which it is known; significantly, the wajh is the mode in which the divine discloses itself. See Ibn
‘Arab!, Futuhdt, !, 83,405, IV, 212.
w In the thought of Ibn ‘Arabi, the face of God refers to His manifestation and to the modes of
self-disclosure by which the divine reality unfolds itself in the cosmos. The cosmos as the face of
God is His unveiling, and everywhere that one turns in the cosmos one encounters the unveiling
of the divine essence and attributes: see Chittick 1989,18-20; Izutsu 1983,99-107. More specifically,
Ibn ‘Arab! says that the face of something is its essence, and the face of God is the divine essence:
see Ibn 'Arabi, Futuhdt, III, 306, II, 3; cf. Chittick 1989,122,277.
90 In this respect cf. the following comment by Mayer 2006:
In his Itfilahdt al-$ufiyya, Kishini defines shuhud as: ru’yat al-haqq bil-haqq, that is, the vision
of (God) the Real through [God) the Real. He mentions fond* in the entry on al-fath al-muflaq,
‘the absolute victory’: al-istighraqfi'ayn al-jam' bi-fand’al-rusum al-khalqiyya: ‘immersion in the
very essence of union through the extinction of all traces of createdness. There is an equation here
between shuhud (presential vision) and fand‘ (effacement), because to witness God truly is to be
effaced in Him, to the extent that God unveils Himself to a soul, the soul is both illumined and
consumed - just as when a light is lit within a glass container, the container is full of that light
and ceases to be anything apart from a passage-way for the light; or as when a fire is struck in a
piece of wood, the wood bums brightly but the wood that is actually burning is no longer any­
thing save food for the fire. The greater a soul’s reception of the Divine Unveiling, the greater its
effacement in It and the greater the passage of the Divine through that soul.
91 Cf. Mayer 2006:
Here the equation is between the Divine self-veiling and the continuity of the creature. Because
of His Majesty, He must veil Himself in His manifestation, for otherwise creation could not subsist
in the face of God totally unveiled. He veils Himself and then discloses Himself through the veils
of creation. Thus the essences and forms of hearts are revealing veils of God; He conceals Himself
in them that they might exist and that He be manifested.
92 The paradox of a manifest non-entity is expounded in Ibn ‘Arabi’s cosmology of beings. In his
Mashdhid, he presents a theomorphic discussion with God in which he asserts his ‘manifest non-
entit/ (al-'adam al-$dhir): see edition and translation by Ruspoli 1999, 3-4,52.

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 Seeking the face of God

God is indeed All-embracing, of the totality o f existence, encompassing all direc­

tions and all existents,93 All-knowing, of all knowledge and knowables.94

Abu Hayydn
Abu Hayyin commences his discussion of To G o d belong the east a n d w est with a broad
introduction to the various reasons for the revelation of the verse, ultimately choosing to
look to the context of the verse that immediately precedes verse 115 in order to determine
the lattei's relevance and meaning. He then moves to a grammatical and semantic analysis
of the clauses that make up the verse. Although Abu Hayyin touches on the legal impli­
cations of the verse, grammar remains his main concern, as is reflected by his detailed dis­
cussion of God s juxtaposition to east and west and of the significance of the repeated use
of the explicit noun in the verse. His antipathy towards anthropomorphism and, more
specifically, his animosity towards the Karramiyya,95 is expressed with reference to the
phrase the fa c e o f G o d .

A l-H asan [al-Ba$ri] and Q atada say: ‘In the beginning, He m ade it perm issi­
ble for them to pray in w hichever direction they wished, but then abrogated
th a t:96
M ujahid and al-P ahhak say: ‘Its m eaning refers to the Ka'ba, that is to say,
“wherever you may be in the east or the west, you are able to face the Ka‘ba”; in
this way it abrogates the Holy House [of Jerusalem as a qibla].’

93 Kish ini follows Ibn 'Arab! in associating God’s knowledge with His comprehensive being, a
relationship that equates His knowledge and existence: see Ibn ‘Arab!, Futub&t, II, 370, cf. Chittick
1989,320. Ibn 'Arab! notes that these two divine names are often paired because they express the
idea that divine knowledge is all-encompassing: see Futuhdt, II, 84.
94 The attribute of God’s knowledge emerges from the epistemic status of all things that are
knowable, a class that comprehends all things that exist here and now and more. Unlike some of
the theologians who insisted that a thing is something knowable, Ibn ‘Arabi’s doctrine insists upon
the plenitude and potentiality of what comes into being and the immanent entities that exist as
knowables in the mind of God. The divine attribute of omniscience is intelligible because there are
things that are knowable. See Ibn 'Arabi, 1,188-90. On these two names, Zayd comments that
they mean generous and gracious (jawddun karim): see Gharib, 136.
95 See n. 195, in 'The commentators and their commentaries’, on AbO Hayyskn and the
Karrimiyya.
96 Babr, 1,529-32. In a prefatory gloss (at 525) on the language of the verse, Abu Hayyin com­
ments on the meaning and forms mashriq and maghrib. He says that they denote the place from
which the sun rises and sets, respectively, and that both forms are based on the maf il pattern, which,
he adds, is an irregular form of maf al. Abu Hayyin then discusses the particle ayna, stating that it
is an adverbial particle indicating place. He says that it may have a particle appended to it (such as
the md) when it forms the first part of a conditional sentence; but it need not always have one so
appended, as is shown by the line of verse (also adduced by Tabris!) which Abu Hayyin cites. He
adds that tharrma is also an adverbial particle indicating location, and that it is frequently miscon­
strued as a direct object where it appears in Q. 76:26: wa idha ra'ayta thamma raayta na'iman; i.e.,
it is taken to mean ‘when you see that place rather than ‘when you see in that place. His last com­
ment bears on wdsi‘, as being an active participle from the verbal root w-s-\ which may be transitive,
following the form fit1il.

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On the Nature of the Divine

A buV A liya and Ibn Zayd say: ‘It was sent down in response to those among
the lews who had condem ned the change of qibla from the Holy House to the
K aba:
Ibn ‘Umar says: ‘It was sent down regarding the prayer of a traveller, and [his
being perm itted to perform it] in whichever direction his riding-anim al
happens to point him*
It is also said that it was [sent down as] a response to those who had asked:
‘Is our Lord near so that we should whisper to Him, or far so that we should
call out [loudly] to H im ? Sa‘ld b. Jubayr said this.
It is also said that it was [sent down] regarding [funeral] prayers for the
Negus of Abyssinia, when they [the Companions] had said: ‘[But] he [the
Negus] did not pray to our qiblat97
It is also said that it was [sent down] regarding those in whose case the
[direction of the] qibla was unclear on an overcast night, and in an effort to
ascertain [the actual direction] they ended up praying in various directions; it
was narrated in a hadith from Jabir [b. ‘Abd Allah] that this had taken place in
the case of one raiding party.
[According to a report] from ‘A m ir b. Rab‘la, this had happened to the
Prophet on one journey; but if this were true, one would [need] not digress to
these various other conflicting reports.
Nakha'l says that the verse is general [in its application]: ‘W hithersoever you
turn in your comings and goings and in your endeavours.
It is also said that it was sent down when the Prophet was prevented from
approaching the [Sacred] House [of Mecca].
These are m any reports on the occasion of the revelation o f this verse. They
would appear to be mutually contradictory and only the sound ones ought to
be accepted. Com m entators have filled up their books transmitting these. Al-
W ahidl com piled a book on this [subject], but seldom is that which is in it
sound: he should have occupied him self with transm itting only the sound
ones.98
The coherence of this verse with respect to what comes before it, namely the
m ention of the forbidding of G od’s rem em brance in mosques and th e active
effort to destroy them , is made evident by His pointing out that such [acts]
should not prevent the perform ance o f prayer or the rem em brance of G od
since the east and the west belong to God.99 Thus, in whatever direction you

97 This is reported on the authority of ‘Ala’ in Wabidi, Asb&b, 24.

98 Abu Hayy&n seems to be implying Wabidi’s Asb&b (at 23-24), but all the reports there are
duplicated in Abu Hayy&ns Bahr. Still it was common for the ‘defenders' of Sunni 'orthodoxy to at­
tack Wahidi as an unreliable storyteller and fabricator of accounts.
99 See Abu Hayyin, Bahr, 1,526-9, for the discussion on the previous verse, in which those who
forbid the remembrance and recitation of God’s name in places of worship are condemned as

106
 Seeking the face of God

perform worship, it is to God and He will give a reward for it, and the place in
w hich it is perform ed is not lim ited to the m osque. The meaning: to God
belong the lands of the east and the west and what lies between them, so that it
[the sentence] is to be understood as [containing] an elided annexation
(m tufdfi.100
Or, the m eaning [of this passage] could be: to G od belong the east and the
west and w hat lies between them, so that it [the sentence] is to be understood
as [containing] an elided appositional phrase (ma'pufl.101 O r [it could be that]
He m entions only them in order to exalt them by their being annexed (idqfa)
to [the nam e of] God - even though all things belong to God - in the same way
that the Sacred House [of Mecca] and other places have been exalted by being
annexed to [the name of] God. But all of this is based on the assumption that
mashriq and maghrib are nouns of place. Some com m entators hold that they
are verbal nouns (ma$dar), such that the m eaning is [as follows): to God
belongs the control of the sun’s rise from its place o f rising, and its setting from
its place o f setting, in which case they would have the meaning o f ‘the rising
(shuruq) and ‘the setting’ {ghurub); but His following words whithersoever you
turn, there is the face o f God render such an opinion unlikely.
A singular [implication in the case of] mashriq an d maghrib is (explained]
on account of the [single] direction [in both cases], o r on account of the verbal
noun that occurs in [the case of] each direction; as for the plural [implication],
th at is [explained] on account of the varying locations o f the setting and the
rising [sun] each day; a dual [implication], however, is [explained] on account
o f the two points of sunrise and sunset of winter and summer.
The m eaning of tawliya is to turn towards som ething with the face [i.e. ‘to
turn to face’] (istaqbala); but it is also said to mean ‘to turn one’s back [to some­
thing]’ (istadbara), like when you say wallaytu ‘an fu ld n to m ean that ‘you
turned y our back on him* (istadbartuhu). The implied meaning [in this latter
case] would be ‘whatever direction you turn away from in order to face another,
there is the face of God*.
It is said that this [verse] does not concern prayer, but that it in fact addresses
those who destroy mosques, that is to say: ‘W herever they turn, fleeing from
Me, I observe them*. This [last sense] is strengthened by al-Hasan’s reading of

unrighteous. Abu Hayyan cites two referents for this: first, a certain Roman governor who destroyed
the temple in Jerusalem; and second, the Meccans who denied the Muslims the right to worship in
their way in the Ka'ba precinct. The point is that places of worship are, obviously, defined by wor­
ship which consists of the remembrance of God; thus it is worship that defines the place of worship
and not the place that defines worship.
100 The annexation (rmujldf) being an implicit ‘and what lies between them’ (wa-ma baynahumd).
101 In other words, the implicit wa-md baynahumd is not an annexation (muijdf) to wa lilldhi al-
mashriq wal-maghrib, but in apposition, or coordination ('atf), to it.

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On the Nature of the Divine

tawallu,102 making it third person, in agreement with [the third person in] His
saying lahum fil-dunya khizyun [for them in this world there will be degradation,
Q. 2:114] and wa-qdlu ittakhadhalldhu waladan [And they say ‘God has taken to
Himself a son\ Q. 2:116], so that the personal pronouns follow one arrangement.
Zam akhshari says:103 ‘[It means] in whatever place you make that turning,
meaning, the turning of your faces toward the qibla, as is indicated by His
saying, Turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you may be, turn
your faces towards it [Q. 2:150]*; so that he has qualified the ‘tu rn in g [meant]
in a general sense here as [specifically] turning towards the qibla, which is the
opinion of al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri].
A certain commentator, with regard to His saying to God belong the east and
the west, mentions issues whose subject m atter is the science offiqh .104 Among
such [issues] is the case of one who prays in a particular direction in darkness
having made the effort [to face the right direction], but it thereafter becomes
clear that he prayed towards other than the qibla; also, the issue o f one who
peforms the prayer while m ounted on animal-back [either] because o f illness
or as supererogatory prayers;105 and the issue of prayer for the absent dead, if
we were to say that it [the verse] was revealed with reference to the Negus o f
Abyssinia. [That certain commentator] has filled his book [of tafsir] with the
citation of such cases and of the differences [of opinion] regarding them and
some o f the proofs for them; such subject matter, however, as we have m en­
tioned, is [properly] the realm of the science offiqh.
There is the face o f God: this is the response to the conditional [sentence]
while being itself a nominal sentence. It is said to mean: ‘There is G od's qibla',
so that wajh (face) means jiha (direction), and this is adjoined to [the Name of]
God as He has commanded that one turn to face it, for it constitutes the direc­
tion in which G od's satisfaction lies; al-Hasan, Mujahid, Qatada and Muqatil
have [all] said this.
It is also said that wajh here is a $ila, the meaning being ‘there is God', that is
to say, His knowledge and His decree (hukm ). It is reported from Ibn ‘Abbas and
Muqatil: ‘Or, [it could be that] by means of wajh He is referring to His [very]
essence {dhat)ylike where He says, Yet there shall remain the face o f your Lord [Q.
55:27] and All things perish except His Face [Q. 28:88]. It is [also] said that the
meaning is that works [should be] performed for God’s sake; al-Farra said this.106
102 R§zi and Zamakhshari have already noted this variant. One suspects that AbO Hayyin’s
source for the variant is indeed Zamakhshari, given his extensive citation and use of that literary and
linguistic commentary, the Kashsh&f.
103 See Zamakhsharis commentary, this chapter.
104 Most probably these are commentaries that focus on legal questions, such as Qurtubi's }&mi \
cf. Ignaz Goldziher -(Joseph Schacht), ‘Fifeh'* El2, II, 886-7.
105 See Qaffal, flilya> 1 76ff.
106 Abu Hayyan adduces the same verse as Tabrisi for this sense of wajh.

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 Seeking the face of God

It is also said that wajh here may signify ‘high rank" (/d/i), like when it is said
that so-and-so is wajh al-qawm (lit. ‘the face o f the people’), that is to say, the
locus of their honour; or that so-and-so enjoys wajh am ong people, meaning,
high rank and honour. The im plied m eaning is therefore: ‘There is God’s
majesty and grandeur’; Abu M an$ur says this in al-Muqni*.107 Since (the word]
wajh (face) is annexed to [the Name] A M h (‘God’), then it must have an [alter­
native] significance according to the Arab tongue, since it is an expression
which is used in several senses and cannot possibly be understood to be [refer­
ring to] the bodily part [in G od’s case], even if this [sense] happens to be the
one in which it is m ore widely understood.
Some people, through aural transmission, hold the opinion that this [‘face’]
is an immutable attribute of God’s, exceeding the attributes o f the Eternal O ne
that reason turns to. Abu’l-‘Aliya and others deem this opinion weak, because
it involves the unequivocal affirmation o f an attribute for G od by means o f a
term that is equivocal. [In addition,] this [‘face’] is an attribute th at is not
known, nor is its m eaning comprehensible in the Arab tongue. It is therefore
necessary to reject this opinion and rely on what constitutes an admissible
m eaning according to the Arab tongue, for the term [wajh] may indicate [an
element of] corporealism. Thus, where it [the term] is equivocal [and suscep­
tible of m ore than one meaning] (mushtarik) we should understand it accord­
ing to the essential sense o f which it admits and which may validly be ascribed
to God; or [we should understand it] metaphorically, where it is not equivocal.
M etaphor in the speech o f the Arabs is m ore plentiful ‘than the sands of
Yabrin’108 and ‘the waters o f Palestine’. To stick to the outw ard [sc. the literal
form of the] term, one indicating corporealism, is foolishness and ignorance o f
the Arab tongue, of its [different] aspects and spoken applications, and [igno­
rance] of the rational proofs, to which the correlation of ambiguous terms must
resort. God forbid that we should be like the Karramiyya or those who have fol­
lowed their course in affirming corporealism and ascribing bodily parts to God.
God be exalted high above what those who fabricate falsehoods say.109

107 This is most probably Abu Mansur al-AyyObi, properly, Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Abi Ayyub
al'Nays&bttri (d. 421/1030). He is known to have been the most astute Ash'ari mutakallim of his age:
see Dhahabi, Siyar, XVII, 573. Madelung identifies him in his role as one of the principal Ash’ari
polemicists in Transoxiana against the Maturidi school and its theological doctrines: see Madelung
2000, 318-30.
108 This is a proverbial expression denoting sand and desert as far as the eye can see. See Yaqut,
Mu'jam, V, 427. Abu Hayyin is purposely using metaphor to emphasise the widespread use of
metaphor in Arabic.
109 It is quite common for the mature Ash'ari school to allow for some metaphor in the Qur'an
and to attack anthropomorphism, as represented by the Karramiyya. See, for example, Shahrastanl,
Nihdya, in Guillaume 1934,103-22 (Arabic text), 43-50 (English). The same is true of the Hanballs,
who are often accused of anthropomorphism; for a later Hanbali use of metaphor and rational ex­
planation, see Swartz 2002.

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On the Nature of the Divine

His saying, Whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God> constitutes a
response to those who say that He is in a space (bayyiz) or a direction (jiha). For
when He gave the choice to turn and face any direction, He indicated that He
is not in any one direction or space. Had He been in a space, th en turning
towards and facing it, rather than than all [other] places (mak&n), w ould be
most correct. But since He does not specify a place, we know that He is neither
in a direction, nor in a space. Rather, all directions are w ithin His dom inion
and under His rule, and so to whichever direction we turn, to face H im in sub­
mission, we will be glorifying Him and obeying His com m and
God is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing. God describes Himself with the
attribute al-wasi' (All-embracing): it is said that this is because of the extent (si'a)
of His forgiveness. It is m entioned [in the Q ur’an] thatyourLordisAll-embrac-
ing in forgiveness [Q. 53:32] and this is the meaning of Kalbfs statement that ‘No
sin is too great for Him*. It is also said that He is All-embracing in [terms of]
gift, which is the meaning of Abu ‘Ubayda’s statement [that He is] All-sufficient
(ghani) and Farrars statement [that He is] munificent (jawad). It [wdsi‘] is also
said to mean that He is All-knowing, as [suggested) in His saying His seat (kursi)
embraces the heavens and the earth [Q. 2:255], according to one o f the com m en­
taries, and He has combined it [wdst] with ‘altm for the purposes o f emphasis.
It is also said to m ean [that He is] All-embracing in [His] power. It is further
said to mean that He grants His servants latitude in [His] prescriptions, His reli­
gion being one of ease.
All-knowing ('atim): that is to say, [All-knowing] of their welfare, or of the inten­
tions of [their] hearts, which are the foundation of deeds, even if their outward
appearances should differ regarding the direction o f prayer (qibla) and otherwise.
These explanations are in keeping with the opinion o f those who say that the
verse was sent down concerning the m atter o f the qibla. Al-Qaffal says,
however, that it does not contain any m ention of the qibla or prayer; rather,
G od is inform ing them o f His knowledge o f them , and the capacity of His
authority over them, for they are as [described] in His saying: I f you are able ...
to the end of the verse [Q. 55:33] and [Three men] conspire not secretly together
... to the end o f the verse [Q. 58:7].110 Therefore, this [verse] would constitute
a threat against those who prevent God’s name from being invoked in mosques
and who strive to destroy them , to the effect that they cannot escape or flee
from God, as G od says: Whither to flee? No indeed, there is no refuge! Upon that
day the recourse shall be to your Lord [Q. 75:10-12].111 For as the poet says:

110 The two verses adduced emphasise God’s transcendence and omniscience. The first describes
humans as utterly incapable of reaching God’s realm, while the second states that God knows the
words and deeds, public and private, of all human beings.
111 Abu Hayy&n cites the lines of verse that follow to reiterate the point he has just made about
man’s inability to elude God.

110
 Seeking the face of God

fa-innaka ka'l-layli’lladhihuwa mudriki

wa-in khiltu annal-munta’d ‘anka wdsi'u

You are like the night that is ever on my heels,

Even though I believe that my distance from you is vast.
And;
wa-lam yakunfl-mughtarru billdhi idh sard
li-ya'jaza wal-mughtarru billdhi fdlibuhu

If he bedazzled by God were to set out by night, he would not be

frustrated,
For the one bedazzled is seeking [none other than] God.

And:
aynal-mafarru wa-ld mafarra li-hdribin
wa-lahul-basifani: al-thara wal-ma’u

Whither to flee? There is no escape for a fugitive,

When His are the two worlds of earth and water.

In this way, the message becomes a general one, subsuming those who prevent
rem em brance [of God's name] in the mosques and other [issues].
This [last] sentence [innallaha w dsi'unca, im ) is emphasised by [the insertion
o f the particle] inna (truly) with the explicit m ention therein o f G od’s nam e
[Allah], indicating the [syntactical] independence [of the sentence]. We have
already m entioned [a similar syntactical structure to] this with regard to His
saying, tajiduhu ‘indallah ( You shallfin d it with God) [Q. 73:20] and His saying,
wa’staghfiru lldha innalldha ghafurun rahim (And ask Gods forgiveness; truly God
is AU-forgiving All-compassionate) [Q. 73:20], which is grander and m ore elo­
quent than [merely using] the personal pronoun, because the personal pronoun
suggests a strong dependence, whereas the overt noun suggests independence.
Do you not see that you can begin a sentence with it [an overt noun] w ithout
noticing what might have preceded it, in contrast to [the case with] a personal
pronoun, which connects the sentence in which it appears to the preceding
one? D o you not see that most of what is mentioned o f this sort in the Q u r’an
is expressed using the overt noun as in the examples we have given, and similar
to His saying, aqimul-$aldta innal-$aldta kdn a t... [Perform the prayer; surely the
prayer is ... Q. 4:103] and, wa-law shd’a’llahu la-dhahaba bi-sam ihim wa-
abfdrihim innalldha... [Had God willed, He would have taken away their hearing
and their sight. Truly God is ... Q. 2:20] and [the poet says]:112

1,2 From a verse by Aba Zubayd al-T^X mawld of Caliph H&rQn al-Rashid; see I$fahani, Aghdni,
V, 138; Sirift, Shark, II, 211; Ibn Qutayba, S/ii'r, 31.

Ill
On the Nature of the Divine

layta shi'ri wa-ayna minni layta

inna laytan wa-inna lawwan 'ana'u

If only! How can I cope with ‘if only?

Truly, ‘if o n l/ and ‘if it were are a great burden!

Burusawi
Burusawi focuses upon the meaning of the verse as an exhortation to recognising the
omnipresence and transcendence of God. God does not inhere in a certain space; so when
one directs oneself in prayer in a specific orientation or raises one’s hands in supplication
that does not entail God’s inherence in that direction or space. His commentary also illus­
trates three common aspects of his exegetical method, all of which are key features of his
Sufi tafsir. First, whenever a divine name or attribute requires discussion, he turns to the
famous theological commentary on the divine names by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.
505/1 111) entitled al-M a q $ a d al-a sn a f i m a 'd n t a sm A ' A lla h a l-h u sn d (The Ultimate Goal
on the Meanings of the Most Beautiful Names of God). Second, he often demonstrates
ideas through recourse to didactic poetry, in most cases from the tales in the M a th n a w i
of Jal&l al-Din Rum! (d. 672/1273), the pre-eminent Persian Sufi poet. Third, he considers
the act of commentary as didactic practice and hence interspersed within his explanations
are stories of famous scholars in his tradition, whether they are theological progenitors
like the famous Ash'ari theologian al-Juwaynl, in this passage, or famous Sufis in his order.

O God, place us am ong those who are busy with You.113 To God belong the east
and the west: what is meant by these two [directions] are the ends of the earth,
since there is no sense in the meaning being the two places of the rising and the
setting [of the sun] specifically; that is, it [the phrase] means ‘the whole of the
earth* [belongs to Him]. It is not that any one place in it is designated specifi­
cally for His dom inion and control, or as a locus for worshipping Him, to the
exclusion of another place. So if you are prevented from praying in the Sacred
Mosque (al-masjid al-hardm), o r in the Furtherm ost M osque (al-masjid al-
aq$d)t114 then [know that] the [entire] earth has been made a place of worship
{maspd) for you.

113 Ru/i al-bay&n, 1,210-11.

114 The Furthermost Mosque is the mosque sanctuary referred to in Q. 17:1, which in early ex­
egesis and qi$a$ narratives was associated with the sacred precinct at the ancient site of the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem, to which the Prophet is said to have made his famous night Journey (isrd')
from Mecca. This sacred precinct has been the focus of Muslim veneration since the arrival of the
second caliph ‘Umar b. al-Khaftab (r. 634-644) in 16-17/638 as part of the general conquest of
Greater Syria. The Aq$a Mosque, which stands on what is now called al-haram al-sharif (the Noble
Sanctuary), went through phases of construction beginning with the Marw&nids, the caliph 'Abd
al-Malik and later his son al-Walld. See Oleg Grabar, ‘al-Masdjid al-Ak$a\ El2, VI, 707-8; N. J.
Johnson, ‘Aq$a Mosque, EQ, I, 125-7; Guillaume 1953; Stem 1963.

112
 Seeking the face of God

So whithersoever you turn, that is, to whichever place you orient your faces
[for prayer], that is the [direction o f the] qibla.115
The Im am [al-Sakhawi] said ‘Walla is ‘to tu rn tow ards, but walla [also
means] ‘to turn awa/ : it is one of those words which have opposite meanings
[sc. enantiosema]; but what is m eant in this place is ‘to turn towards*. There is
the face o f God, that is, there is the direction to which He has com m anded [you
to turn] and with which He is pleased as a qibla [for you]. So, the place in which
the ‘turning [for prayer]’ is made is not specific to one mosque to the exclusion
o f another, n o r to one location to the exclusion o f another. O r [the words
mean] ‘there is His essence, in the sense of the presence o f [His] knowledge, in
which case, wajh (face) becomes a trope of the type whereby the nam e o f a part
is applied to the whole. Then the meaning is that in whatever place you make
the orientation [for prayer], He is present in it and you can reach Him - since
He is neither substance nor accident,116 for His being in one direction would
m ean another direction is empty o f Him. In as much as it is impossible for Him
to be in a place, I m ean that His knowledge encompasses what is in all places
and dom ains, and thus He knows w hat is done there and He rewards you
accordingly. In the hadith [it is reported that]: ‘If you cast down a rope to the
lowest earth, then it would “fall on” God.’117 The meaning [of this hadith] is that
the knowledge of God comprises all areas, so the implication is that ‘it would
descend on the knowledge o f God*; G od Most High is far transcendent above
inhering in places because He was before He originated places. So it is
[reported] in al-Maqd$idal~hasana.xl8
Know that the ayna (where/whithersoever) is the conditional clause of loca­
tion; here it is the object of tuwallu; and the md [in aynamd] is for emphasis.
Thamma is the adverb of location, of the same status as hundka, ‘there*. To indi­
cate a place close [to you], you say kuna (here), and [to indicate] a place that is
far, thamma and hundka (there). Thus the phrase is a preceding predicate, and
the ‘face o f God* is the subject. The sentence is in the state o f an apocopation as
it is the apodosis of the conditional clause (jawab al-sharf).

1.5 This comment contains a double confirmation: 1) you may pray in any place on earth; and
2) in whichever direction you orient yourself in prayer, it will be acceptable as a valid direction.
1.6 In the terminology of philosophical theology, all things that exist are either a substance
ijawhar) ~ meaning, in the Aristotelian sense, that they exist in themselves in a certain space and
time - or an accident (‘arad), which can be considered to be a property that inheres within a certain
substance. God cannot be an accident because He cannot inhere within any particular substrate
(and this is partly the Islamic argument against incarnation), nor can He be confined by space and
time as a substance. He is self-sufficient and transcendent above the ontology of the phenomenal
world; see Simon van den Bergh, ‘Bjawhai', El2, II, 493; Fazlur Rahman, “Arad’, El2, 1,603. For a
philosophical expression of God’s transcending cosmic ontology, see Ibn Sina, Shifa : ilahiyydt, I,
37-40.
117 TirraidhI, Sunart, III, hadith no. 3352.
118 Sakhawi, Maqfyid, 342 (hadith no. 886).

113
On the Nature of the Divine

God is indeed All-embracing, through His encompassing all things as [His)

possession and [His] creation. This [phrase] is appended to His saying, To God
belong the east and the west. Similarly, if the extent (sa'a) is interpreted as the
extent of mercy, then His saying, To God belong the east and the west, would
include the meaning that we have given it, namely that worship and prayer are
not designated for only some mosques [above others] ; rather, the whole earth
is a mosque for you, so pray in any part (buq'a) 119 o f it you wish. It is un d er­
stood from this that He is all-encom passing in the Law through perm itting
concessions and latitude for His servants in th eir religion, and not obliging
them [to do] what they cannot perform . The intention is to provide latitude
for His servants and facilitation for them in all that they have need for, and the
latitude concerning the m atter o f the qibla enters this [general latitude and
facilitation) as a priority. This generalisation is inferred from the application
of ‘All-encompassingf such that it is not confined to one thing rath er than
another. In his com m entary on the m ost beautiful nam es [of G o d ],120 Al-
Ghazali said:

[The word] All-encompassing is derived from s a 'a (extent). Now s a 'a is some­
times related to knowledge when it is broad and encompasses many known things,
while [at other] times it is related to goodness and the expansive bestowal of bless­
ings. But however it is determined and whatever it is sent down upon, the absolute
All-encompassing one is God for if one contemplates His knowledge, there is no
shore to the ocean of the things He knows, rather the oceans would be spent if
they were ink for His words,121 and if one contemplates His goodness and boons,
there is no limit to the things He determines. Every expanse, however great it is,
comes ultimately to an end but the one who does not come to [any] end is the
most worthy of the noun of‘expanse’ (s a 'a ). Thus God is the absolute All-encom­
passing one because every encompassing thing is narrower in relation to what is
more encompassing than it, and every expanse ends at a limit as one can conceive
of more than it. But no increase may be imagined for that which has no end or
limit. The expanse of the servant is in his knowledge or his character. If his knowl­
edge is much, he is encompassing (w a s i'u n ) to the extent of his knowledge; if his
character expands to the point that it is not oppressed by fear of poverty or the
burning of envy or the dominance of greed, or other reprehensible attributes, then
he is encompassing. But all of that has limits; only God is truly all-encompassing.

119 This term has the connotation - at least by the time of Burusawi - of a sacred place, maybe
even a tomb. So the point being made might be that whilst shrines and tombs are sacred spaces, they
are not exclusively so, insofar as the whole earth is a sacred space for Muslims. See Clifford E.
Bosworth, ‘Buk‘a\ El2 suppl. Fasc. 1,154.
120 Ghazali, Asmd\ 129-30 (for an English translation see Burrell and Daher 1992,116).
121 This is a paraphrase of Q. 18:109: If the sea were inkfor the words of my Lord the sea would be
spent before the words of my Lord are spent.

114
 Seeking the face of God

He [Rumi]122 said in the Mathnawi:

Ay sag-i gurgin-i zisht az hir$ ojush
Pustin-i shir-rd bar khwud mapush
Ghurra-yi shirat bi-khwahad imtihdn
Naqsh-i shir u dngdh akhldq-i sagan
O foul mangy dog, through an exuberant insolence
Do not clothe yourself in the lions skin;
The roar of the lion will demand from you the test (of sincerity)
The figure of a lion, and the disposition of dogs.123

All-knowing o f all their [His servants] best interests and actions. This
includes the benefit o f a warning to the praying individual to beware of negli­
gence and carelessness, just as it comprises the [promise of] fulfilment of reward
for praying individuals in all places. So it is clear that this verse is related
[directly] to and who does greater evil than he who bars Gods places o f worship
[Q. 2:114]. The meaning is that ‘O believers, G od’s earth is vast for you, so do
not be barred [from the canonical prayers] by the destruction of the mosques
o f God, but turn yourselves towards the qibla o f God wherever you are on His
earth*. Mujahid and al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] said that when your Lord has said: Gall
upon Me and I will respond to you [Q. 40:60] was revealed, they [the
Com panions of the Prophet] said, ‘W here shall we call upon H im ? Then God
sent down To God belong the east and the west. Whithersoever you turn, there is
the face o f God, w ithout [any specification of] direction or location.
If it is said, what can it mean to raise one*s hands to the heavens in supplica­
tion as God is above being in a certain direction or place, then we say that the
prophets and the saints one and all did so; not in the sense that G od is in a
certain place but because His exalted treasures are in the heavens, as He says:
A nd in heaven is your provision and what you have been promised [Q. 51:22] and
naught is there but its treasures (khaza’inuhu) are with Ust and We sent it not
down but in a known measure [Q. 15:21].
The throne (‘arsh) is the locus for the establishment of the attribute of mercy
(istiwd*al-$ifa al-rahmaniyya), so the raising o f the hands to the heavens and
looking towards them during supplication is the equivalent o f the supplicant
indicating the imperial treasury, then requesting from the Sovereign that He
bestow upon him a gift from that treasury.
122 Jal&l aJ-Dln Rumi Balkhi (d. 672/1273), popularly known as Mawlana (Our Master), perhaps
the greatest Persian Sufi poet. See Alessandro Bausani, ‘I2jal4l al-Din Rumi*, EP, II, 393-7; Lewis
2000; Schimmel 1978. The Mathnawi is a didactic ‘epic’ divided into six books (daftar). The text was
edited and published in 1925-40 in six volumes in twelve parts, along with an English translation
by Nicholson; for this and the newer 1990 edition, see Rumi in the bibliography, primary sources.
123 Rumi. Mathnawi, in Nicholson 1925-40, III, verses 188-9, IV, verse 146, on the claims of
Pharoah to divinity that resemble the wolf pretending to be a lion.

115
On the Nature of the Divine

It is reported that Imam al-Haramayn [al-Juwaynl] was a guest with one o f the
great notables, and scholars and notables gathered to meet him. One of those in
the meeting rose and said, ‘W hat is the proof (dalil) that God transcends space
when He has said, the Compassionate One (al-rahmdn) presided upon the throne
[Q. 20:5]? He said, ‘The proof for this is the saying o f Jonah, when he was in the
belly of the whale: there is no god except You, glory be to You! I have indeed been
one o f the wrongdoers [Q. 21:87]* The audience were amazed and the host asked
him for an explanation. The imam said, ‘Here is a poor m an who has a debt of
one thousand dinars; pay his debt for him and I will explain [my statement] *The
host accepted [to take on] the [poor man's] debt and the imam said, ‘When the
Messenger of God went on the heavenly ascension (mi'r&j) to the high point God
wished, he said, “I cannot enumerate Your praise as You have praised Yourself?124
W hen Jonah suffered in the darknesses of the depths of the ocean in the belly of
the whale, he said, there is no god except You, glory be to You! I have indeed been
one o f the wrongdoers. Both of them addressed Him by saying “You” which is the
[form of] address to one who is present, so if He were in one place [only], then
that would not be valid. That then, indicates that He is not in a place.'

Alusi
Alusfs concern in this verse is to counter the anthropomorphist notion that God is con­
fined to a certain space or that there are certain exclusively sacred spaces devoted to the
worship of God. Rather, the whole cosmos is the locus of the worship of God since God
is omnipresent in the cosmos, a point Alusi reiterates with implicit reference to the Sufi
commentary of Kashanl. He understands the divine names as reflecting this omnipres­
ence as nothing is hidden from Him. At the same time, since the names reflect both God’s
beauty and His majesty, God’s encompassing the cosmos is an expression of His latitude
with regard to His creatures in the performing of their duties, while His knowledge is a
reminder to His creatures that nothing is hidden from Him, so latitude does not mean
that the failure to perform those duties is acceptable.

A nd to God belong the east and the west,125 that is to say, the two known extrem­
ities that lie next to the point where the sun rises and sets; [God's] sovereignty
over the entire earth is alluded to [implicitly] by means of the [explicit reference
to His] sovereignty over these two [directions]. Some hold the opinion that
since the earth is spherical, any point that is eastern in one respect would be
western in another respect, relatively speaking, the whole earth being thus, and
so there is no need even to suggest the indirect allusion. [The verse] also

124 Muslim, $ahih, I, htdb IV: al-$aldt, bdb 42 fil-ruku‘ w a V s u ju d , hadith no. 222; Nasa’i, Suttan,
I, kitdb al-fahdra: bdb tark al-wudu.

116
 Seeking the face of God

contains [the following words] so whithersoever you turn, which means: in what­
ever place you turn to face the qibla. Al-tfasan [understood] that tuwallu (you
turn) referred to [a situation where the qibla could not be discerned]. There is
the face o f God: i.e. there is His direction which you have been com m anded [to
tu rn towards]. Thus, the place in which one turns [to God] is not restricted to
any one mosque to the exclusion o f another, or any particular place to the
exclusion of another; aynamd (whithersoever) is an adverb (zarf) that, by cir­
cum stantial necessity, implies a condition; (aynamd) is not the direct object of
the verb tuwallu. In morphological terms (bi ma'nd al-$arf), this tawliya [i.e. the
verb tuwallu] is in the position of an intransitive verb.125126 There (thamma) is a
demonstrative noun (ism ishdra), especially used when the place referred to is
distant, and ends indeclinably in a fatha; it cannot be declined except with a
[preceding] min. M any m isconstrue it as a direct object where G od says: wa
idhd raayta thamma raayta na'iman (and when you shall see, there you will see)
[Q. 76:20],127 whereas in fact it is a preceding predicate and what comes after
it is the subject,128 this [whole] clause (i.e. thamma raayta na'iman) being the
apodosis o f the conditional clause (wa idhd raayta). The wajh (face) [m en­
tioned in the verse] is ‘direction (jiha), much like [the pattern of] warn and zina
(weight). The specification (wajh Allah, the face o f God) through the construct
o f possession (iddfa) is in consideration of it being what has been commanded
[by God] and in which lies His pleasure. This is the opinion o f al-Hasan [al-
Ba$ri], Muqatil [b. Sulayman], Mujahid [b. Jabr] and Q atada [b. Di‘ama].
It is also said that wajh (face) stands for [God’s] essence (dhdt), analogous to
His saying kullu shay in hdlikun ilia wajhahu [All things perish except His face,
Q. 28:88], except that here (in 2:115) it is an expression o f His knowledge and
awareness o f what is being done [in any given place]. Abu Man$ur says that it
represents [His] glory (jdh), and [refers] to [His] majesty and greatness.129
According to this [reading], the phrase is m eant to console believers that
rem em brance of God and prayer can be made anywhere, and not exclusively
in mosques. A sound hadith relates, ‘I have m ade the earth a clean place for
prostration to Me.*130 Perhaps others before the Prophet were not allowed to

125 Ruh al-ma'dni, I ,365-6.

126 That is to say, a verb which does not take a direct object.
127 In other words, it is not to be understood - as some modem translations (Arberry) erro­
neously have it - as, ‘And when you see them then, you [shall] sec bliss*, but as ‘And when you
shall see, there you shall see bliss’ (cf. Pickthall). The better translation is that of Qaril: 'As you
look, you will see there bliss*. Alternatively, Abdel Haleem’s translation subsumes the thamma with
the verb (‘look around’): ‘And if you were to look around, you would see'.
128 In other words, the word order would normally be wa-idhd raayta ra’ayta thamma na’iman.
129 This is very likely the same Abu Man$ur cited by Abu Hayyan (see n. 107, this chapter).
130 This is a well-attested hadith, see for example Bukhari, $ahih: kitdb al-Tayammum (no. 7), ch.
1: no. 335 and Kitdb al-faldt (no. 8), ch. 56: no. 438.

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On the Nature of the Divine

pray in any place other than in churches or synagogues. As for Jesus, his prayers
in other than these places when he was travelling were out of necessity, and so
there is no need for the opinion [that this indicated] total concession. It is pos­
sible for aynamd to be the direct object o f tuwallu if it signifies ‘a direction,
since aynamd tawajjahu (whithersoever you direct yourselves) is com m only
used to mean ‘to whichever direction you turn*. This is based on what has been
reported from [‘Abd Allah] Ibn ‘Umar, namely, that the verse was sent down
regarding prayers during travel and supererogatory ones on camel-back; and
based also on w hat has been reported from Jabir [b. ‘Abd Allah], namely, that
it was sent down regarding some people he was with who could not make out
the direction o f the qibla, while they were away on a raid. Some prayed towards
the south, others towards the north. The following m orning they realized that
they had prayed in the wrong directions.
But it is also possible, according to these two reports, th at aynamd is as
[stated] in the first instance, with the m eaning being ‘in whatever place you
choose to make the turn [towards God]’, since the elision o f a direct object indi­
cates a generalisation. Some confine themselves to this last opinion, claiming
that no expert of the Arabic language has ever argued for the other opinion.
Some have said that this verse was a preface to the abrogation of the [earlier]
qibla and a declaration that the W orshipped One is free of [being confined to]
a space or direction,131 for otherwise it would be more correct to face that direc­
tion; and [these also say] that this verse is to be interpreted [as applying] gen­
erally and not restricted to cases of travel or cases [where one needs to seek out
the qibla]. So, w hat is meant by aynamd is ‘any direction, and [what is meant]
by wajh is [God’s] essence (dhdt). In this case then, the m anner of connection
is that because ‘mosques have just been m entioned,132 He almost immediately
thereafter, sets forth the regulation regarding the qibla, by way o f rejoinder:
some take this to be the soundest of opinions; but it is debatable.
God is All-embracing (wdsi'), i.e., He encompasses all things in His dominion
(and) with His mercy. Hence, He has made the matter of the qibla easy for you
(wassaca ), and does not restrict you. [He is] All-knowing (‘allm) with regard to
the interests o f [His] servants and their actions wherever these be. According
to the first [opinion], this phrase {inrux llaha wdsi'un ralim) follows on from To
God belong the east and the west; or according to the second [opinion], it follows
on from His saying whithersoever you turn. An uncom m on opinion has it that
the phrase is a threat against those who bar God’s places o f worship [Q. 2:114],
and the preceding address [i.e., the rest o f Q. 2:115] is also [made to apply] to

131 This would counter any anthropomorphic suggestions that God is confined to a space or di­
rection.
132 In the preceding verse Q. 2:114.

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 Seeking the face of God

them . The meaning then is that there can be no escape from God for tyrants
and no flight [from Him] for aggressors, since the sphere o f His authority sur­
rounds all directions, and the power of His knowledge encompasses the celes­
tial spheres:133

aynal-mafarru wa-la mafarra li-hdribin

wa-lahul-basifani: al-thara wal-md'u

Whither the escape: there is no escape for one in flight

When His are the two planes, the earth and the sea.

A ccording to allusive com m entary [...]134 to God belongs all that: whichever
way a person turns outwardly and inwardly, then there is the face o f God, m an­
ifest with the totality o f His attributes and self-disclosed in w hat He wishes,
transcending directions. The poet says:

w a - m d ’l-w a jh u ilia w a h id u n g h a y r a a n n a h u
id h a a n ta ‘a d d a d ta l- m a r d y d t a a d d a d u

There is only one countenance, but if you multiply the reflections,

They [the countenances] too will multiply.

God is indeed All-embracing: nothing is outside His grasp (ihdfa); A ll­

knowing nothing o f the circumstances of His creation or o f the manifestations
o f His attributes is hidden from Him.

i r «. I ‘ f

M anor
The M a n d r commentary includes major continuities with the classical tradition but also
indicates new directions in the interpretation of the Word of God For traditional author­
ity it refers back to the popular commentary al-Jaldlayn , composed in sixteenth-century
Egypt and completed by the famed polymath Jal&l al-Din al-Suyufi (d. 911/1505).
However, after the initial concern with the question of whether the verse explicates the
conditions for prayer and the qibla, the commentators turn to the question of the signif­
icance of the verse in its Quranic context, and an analysis of figurative language in the
Qur’an. Reflecting neo-Mu‘tazili hermeneutics, the M a n d r commentary attempts to
explain the use of terms such as ‘the face of God* and ‘turning towards’ Him, that sound
like clear anthropomorphisms, as instances of figurative language in the Qur’an. In fact,
they argue that the Quranic text indicates the importance of tropes and non-literal forms
of expression that enrich language and discourse, and they suggest that Arabic stylists,
thinkers and literary figures ought to follow its example. ‘Abduh was very interested in
the poetics of Arabic language and composition, and a key feature of the M a n d r ‘project’
133 Literally, 'the orbiting celestial bodies’.
134 Min bdb al-ishdra, which refers to ‘allusive (Sufi) commentary; in this instance, he quotes
directly from Kashinl.

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On the Nature of the Divine

was to rediscover the canon of the Arabic heritage that lay in Islamic texts, not least in the
Word of God. From an analysis and understanding of these texts, they hoped to learn
lessons to apply to modern, even S a la fi modes of thought, expressing the needs of
Muslims in a modem age.

God has said,135 to God belong the east and the west. The com m entator Jalal al-
D in136 held that what is m eant by ‘the east* and ‘the west* is the entire earth,
since they are its two limits. He [Jalal al-Dln] also said, regarding His [God’s]
saying, so whithersoever you turn, there is the face o f God, that whichever spatial
location you face during your obligatory prayer ($alat) [may serve as] the direc­
tion of the qibla toward which God has enjoined [the believers] to direct them ­
selves [during obligatory prayers]. The teacher, the imam (al-ustadh
al-imdm),137 explained this [Jalal al-Din’s point] by saying: ‘It is proper that the
w orshipper turn towards the W orshipped One, and since G od transcends
m atter and [spatial] direction, and since facing Him in this sense is therefore
impossible, people were enjoined to face a specific place during their worship
of God, and [God] made the facing of that place like facing His countenance.’
Then the teacher said:138 ‘This verse is related to the previous verse, that is, His
saying, and who does greater evil than he who bars God’s places o f worship [so that
His name be not rehearsed in them, Q. 2:114].’
Contrary to what Jal&l al-Din said in his explanation of'the east and the west\
the majority of Q uranic commentators say that God specifically m entions the
two directions because they are the two directions known to everyone. This,
then, is similar to His saying, Lord o f the two easts and the two wests [Q. 55:17].
W hat Jalal al-Dln said [in fact] follows from this, since what is m eant, in any
case, is that whatever direction you face and look toward in your prayer, you
are facing God because all directions are His. God is All-embracing, i.e., He
cannot be confined or limited, and it is therefore valid to face H im in every
place. [He is] All-knowing, i.e., [aware of] the one who directs themselves
towards Him, wherever they may be. Hence, worship God wherever you are,
turn to face toward Him wherever you alight [in a journey], and do not restrict
135 Manfir, 1,352-4.
136 Jalal al-Dln’ refers to either Jalal al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Maballl (d. 864/1459) or,
more likely, Jalal al-Dln ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Bakr al-Suyutl (d. 911/1505), who completed a
commentary on the Qur’an which the former, his teacher, began. The commentary came to be
known as Tafsir al-Jaldlayn (The Commentary of the two Jalals). See PA, Suyuti, for details.
137 Al-ust&dh al-imdm (the teacher, the imam) is the deferential way in which Rashid Rida fre­
quently refers to Muhammad ‘Abduh.
138 Rida’s style of quoting ‘Abduh in many cases does not provide a clear indication as to where
‘Abduh’s statements end and his (Rida’s) own begin. As has been noted by those who have studied
both the authors and the Mandr commentary, the fact that Rida does not explicitly tell us whether
he is conveying his teacher's statements or expanding upon them with his own ideas compounds
the difficulty of identifying the originator of the various ideas and opinions presented in the com­
mentary.

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 Seeking the face of God

yourself to [particular] places [for w orshipping God], since your W orshipped

O ne is not so confined. I would say: Indeed, He is above everything and does
n o t mingle with anything.
To this I would add that some transm itters o f the narrations have said that
th is verse was revealed before [the revelation of] the order to face a specific
qibla during prayer. Others have said that it [the verse] was revealed concerning
the change o f the qibla from the Holy House (bayt al-maqdis) [sc. Jerusalem]
to the Ka'ba [in Mecca). However, there are detailed verses concerning this
[issue] at the beginning o f the second j u z \ 139 in this [same] sura.139140
O ther [commentators and jurists] have said that it [this verse] was revealed
w ith regard to voluntary prayer during travel, where it is not required that one
face the direction of the qibla. Yet others have said that it [the verse] concerns
those who make efforts to determ ine the p roper direction [but arrive at an
incorrect conclusion] - their prayer is valid, because the requirem ent of facing
a particular direction was of com m unal significance with regard to the prayer
and the unity of the [Muslim] com m unity in [performing] it. The [underlying]
basis [of the argument that ones direction during the prayer may be immate­
rial] is valid according to any o f these opinions. W hatever direction the one
perform ing the canonical prayer faces in his lawful prayer, he is directed toward
G od, seeking only H im in his prayer; G od is also directed tow ard141 the one
praying and is content with him.
It is known that the people of the book are obliged to face a certain direction
in their prayer, like [for example] the Christian obligation to face the east. Since
M uslims face the Ka'ba, the [Muslim] inhabitants of each country face one out
o f the four directions [during prayer]; [the M uslim com m unity as a whole]
therefore prays toward all of the directions, but this does not contradict their
facing God. [The word] wajh here means direction (jiha); this is valid from the
p oint o f view of m orphology, and means that there is a direction of prayer
(qibla) which He [God] approves for you [given your geographical location]. It
is said that this [verse] is analogous to [the verse], three men conspire not secretly
together, but He is the fourth o f them [Q. 58:7].142
The relevance and connection between this verse [so whithersoever you turn,

139 Beyond the sura divisions (that is, the separate chapters), the Qur’an is also divided, as a con­
tinuous running text, into 30 juz's, each of which contains 2 hizbs. These divisions were intended
to facilitate memorisation and recital: for example, in the fasting month of Ramadin, during which
recital of the Qur’an is particularly recommended, the thirty parts are managed as 1juz’ per day,
so that the entire text is read in the one month.
140 Obviously a sura such as al-Baqara is disproportionately long in comparison to other chapters
and actually continues into the third juz\ For the verses relevant to Rid&’s statement, see where the
second juz’ begins, at Q. 2:143.
141 Muqbilun 'akyhi has also the meanings of‘is attentive to him’, ‘draws close to him’, or ‘turns
to [face] him’.

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On the Nature of the Divine

there is the face o f God] and the previous one [and who does greater evil than he
who bars God’s places o f worship so that His name be not mentioned in them] is
apparent in light o f this explanation - for [in th e form er verse] there is an
invalidation of the belief, held by the followers o f previous religions, that the
w orship of G od is not permissible except in a specific temple or house of
worship. In the invalidation o f this [restriction], there is the elim ination o f
w hat m ight be incorrectly assum ed from the th reat [contained in the latter
verse against] he who bars God’s place o f worship so that His name be not men­
tioned in them - for this is a warning against the thw arting o f worship in spec­
ified places. [The incorrect assum ption w ould be that such a thw arting of
w orship in designated places o f worship] w ould be a complete thw arting of
the worship of God since such [worship] is only permissible [according to this
opinion], in the designated places.142143 Thus the [former] verse refutes this false
notion in a way whereby a m ost im portant credal rule is established for us,
which is that G od cannot be limited by directions o r confined to locations.
Nor is He drawn near to at [specific] sites or where certain religious covenants
may have taken place. Nor can worshipping Him be restricted to temples and
mosques. The w arning [in the latter verse] then is directed at violations of
what G od has made sacred and at the destruction o f a type o f worship o f Him,
namely, the social ritual in which people gather at the most honourable of sites
in order to perform the best of deeds, which purify their souls and improve
their character.
This type of expression [i.e., the subtle connection between the two verses
to make an additional point] distinguishes the Q ur'an from all other types of
speech. In the Q ur'an, you find various types of rectifications (istidrdk) and pre­
cautions (ihtirds) mentioned in the course of a narrative or within the context
o f a legal ruling. You read a verse addressing a legal issue, an exhortation or a
historical event in which there is an admonitory lesson that you may regard as
independently meaningful; yet, in fact, it has [also] dispelled a false impression
or completed a legal ruling [which is incomplete] by virtue of its connection to
what was stated before.144 Scholars of the Arabic language should have em u­
lated these types of expression and so expanded [their] linguistic styles, for the

142 That is, both verses imply a condition: in the first case, that wherever you turn, the face of God
is present; in the second case, that whenever three men conspire, God is with them as a fourth; and
by extension, that whenever there is any secret talk between any number of people, and even just
within the one person, God is there.
143 In other words, Q. 2:115 redresses the following two beliefs: 1) that the worship of God is per­
missible only in restricted designated places of worship; and 2) that those referred to in the preced­
ing verse, Q. 2:114, could possibly thwart the worship of God in its entirety by debarring worship
in the designated places.
144 In other words, such formulations are multi-faceted jewels, and typical of the way in which
the Quranic text works, whereby through one sentence several matters are dealt with.

122
 Seeking the face of God

Q u r’an liberated the language from its chains for them, teaching lofty styles [of
expression] that delight the taste, affect the heart, move the soul deeply and
stim ulate alacrity. Instead, however, [these scholars] have not appropriated
these new m odes o f expression [in their writing]. Nonetheless, their capacity
for articulate expression was elevated after the revelation o f the Q u r’an. The
teacher said: ‘We shall give this point its due explanation on an occasion when
its relevance is stronger than it is here.’

Mawdudi
Mawdudfs commentary on this verse does not focus on the meaning of the w ajh A lld h ,
nor does it discuss the medieval juristic reading of the verse in terms of the prayer-direc­
tion and its rules. Rather, his (limited) concern is with the omnipotence and dominance
of God. God cannot be confined or reduced to certain (even sanctified) loci. For man to
turn to God and His authority and the divine realm thus requires an internal orientation
and trend within the human soul, an internal reform. Consonant with the methods of
modem commentary, Mawdudi’s reading of the verse addresses the believer's immediate
need to understand and internalise the import of the divine discourse. The medieval
atomistic approach that spilt so much ink on the precise S itz -im -L e b e n of the verse and
the problem of the qibla change is discarded as petty squabbling that is not worthy of a
true understanding of the verse.

So whithersoever you turn , there is the face o f God .145 God is neither eastern nor
western. He is the possessor o f all places and directions but He H im self is not
lim ited to any particular place or direction.146 Hence, to allocate a direction
o r place for His worship does not mean that G od dwells in this or that direc­
tio n .147 Nor is it a m atter w orthy o f argum entation or debate to say ‘At first
you used to pray in this or that direction, why have you now changed that
direction?’148
God is indeed All-embracing, All-knowing. That is, G od is neither limited nor
m ean, neither narrow -m inded n o r poor in resources as you people, likening
H im to yourselves, have thought Him to be. G od’s divinity is boundless and so

145 Tafltlm al-Qur’drt, 1,105.

146 This gloss stresses the omnipresent dominance of God and rejects a partial ‘orientation, that
may be read in a political sense.
147 The denial of a specific cultic sanctity to a sacred space is a feature of much rationalising
modernist thought. Whilst it may be read to affirm the universality of sacred space, here the issue
of the qibla is determined in a conventional sense as obeying the divine command to orient oneself
in a particular direction and the virtue of the qibla as prescribed and set by God.
,4* Mawdudi attempts to shift the focus onto the existential import of the verse as a turning of
man’s attention and heart and loyalty to God; it is a critique of what is reported of the Jewish reaction
to the change of the qibla, rather than a critique of classical commentary which sought to explain
the asbdb al-nuzul.

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On the Nature of the Divine

is His com prehensive vision and His all-encircling benevolence and mercy.
M oreover, He knows which o f His people is rem em bering Him, as well as
where, when and with what intention [each person does that].149

Fa^l Allah
Fa<Jl Allah’s discussion of this verse, whilst briefly considering the issue of its context in
the order of revelation, focuses upon the affirmation of divine unity. The verse is thus not
about the qibla, the change of the qibla or how one orients oneself in prayer. Rather the
verse deals with what he calls the central reality of monotheism and affirms the oneness
of the godhead as indicated by His omnipresence and omniscience. Fa<Jl Allah’s method
is to elucidate the meaning of the Word of God with the immediate concern of effecting
a transformation in humanity's consciousness and awareness of itself as morally obliged
agents and servants of God.

This verse expresses a monotheistic truth (haqtqa tawhidiyya),15015which is that

God is not a body (jism) such that He m ight exist in a particular space as
opposed to any other space, as other bodies do.lsI He is above space and time,
Possessor and Creator of everything, so that no specific place or direction con­
fines H im . To Him belong the east and the west, and whithersoever you turn
your faces, you will find G od before you, ‘displayed* in His creation through
the fact that the greatness of the C reator is indicated by His creation. G od is
A ll-em bracing in His sovereignty and His power, All-knowing of what is in
your hearts when they turn in prayer and sincere devotion [to Him].
That is the general context suggested by the verse, but what lies behind this
and what are the limits of its scope? Was it sent down with regard to hum ans
turning [their faces] in prayer, so that it is mentioned in the place where the cir­
cum spection o f the qibla is m entioned, as has been transm itted from Ibn
‘Abbas, since it is reported from Ibn ‘Abbas that it was sent down regarding the
Jews w ho denied [the validity] of the transfer of the qibla from Jerusalem (bayt
al-maqdis) to the Ka‘ba?152 O r was it sent dow n regarding voluntary prayer
whilst on a journey, as is reported from the imams of the Family of the Prophet

149 Divine knowledge is here being related to divine ‘watchfulness’. God surveys and notes the
actions and thoughts of man, since it is only through a thorough surveillance such as this that He
judges fairly man’s outcome. The sentence also slights hypocrisy. God knows why a person carries
out a certain action, and if his prayer, for example, is merely an act of conformity or an attempt at
currying favour, He knows, and hence the hypocrite better beware. Attacking hypocrisy is a major
theme of modernist and reformist writing, along with the encouragement to ‘wear one’s religion’
openly.
150 A truth regarding the oneness, or unicity (or unity), of God.
151 Min wahy al-Qur’&n, II, 184-5.
152 As reported in most of the preceding commentaries presented in this chapter.

124
 Seeking the face of God

(ahl al-bayt)V53 O r was it sent down regarding cases o f ignorance or doubt

experienced by people turning in prayer other than in the direction of the qibla,
thinking that it is the qibla, as is reported from Jabir [b. ‘Abd Allah] in an inci­
dent th at took place in the lifetime of the Prophet M uham m ad?153154
N othing in the verse indicates that it is concerned specifically w ith cases
involving prayer, or a particular form of prayer, although its general context
does suggest this and that there was a discussion between M uslims [on this
subject], and so this verse came to subsume the issue within its natural b o u n d ­
aries and eliminate the basis for any disagreement. Thus if God wanted us to
tu rn towards a particular direction at a given time, it is within His capacity to
m ake us turn towards a different direction at a different time, since the form er
direction was not legally prescribed on account o f it being the place where God
is located, but on account of the wisdom He knows [such a choice] entails: there
is nothing to prevent there being further wisdom involved in [choosing]
an o th er direction. As for the case of [the verse] being specifically concerned
with a particular type of prayer, this is subject to a close comparison between
the [Q uranic] verses and the [narrated] reports that are set forth for th e legis­
lation of cases of total [applicability] and restricted [application of the regula­
tions] concerning the qibla,155 in the detailed discussions in jurisprudential
treatises. Perhaps we should note in passing that the verse generally permits the
tu rning towards G od in any place [in any direction] wherever the context
requires that a person turns towards God, except where a proof indicates that
a specific direction is required, such as [in the case of] the obligatory prayer
(farida). For the remainder, such as voluntary prayers, they are unrestricted; in
this way the reports cited regarding it [the verse] are explained as [references
to) voluntary prayer or cases of doubt [concerning the direction of the qibla].
In any case, this does not prevent us from emphasising what we pointed out
at the beginning of this discussion, namely that the verse is m entioned as the
expression of a universal m onotheistic truth and as the establishment [of the
qibla], according to the unrestrictedness [implied] in this verse with regard to
the situation of practical legal obligations’156

153 See the narrations in Qumml and 'Ayyftshl

154 See the narration in Hud; cf. Waljidi, AsbOb, 28-9, where also Ibn ‘Abbis is reported as hold­
ing that the verse was abrogated by verse 150 of the same surat al-Baqara.
155 That is to say, when it is and when it is not necessary to turn towards the qibla.
156 The unrestrictedness expressed in this verse should be taken as the establishing-point with
regard to practical legal obligations. In other words, the practical matters of establishing either the
direction of the qibla, or whether one is obliged to be facing the qibla in a particular prayer, should
be established in accordance with the unrestrictedness mentioned in Q. 2:115, thus taking into ac­
count the situation of a person on a journey - that is, whether one is able to ascertain the direction
of the qibla, or whether the prayer being performed is a canonical obligation or supererogatory
worship.

125
 2 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge
(Q. 2:255)

God, there is no god except Him, the Living the Eternal Sustainer [or the
Ever-watchjul].1 Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep; to Him belongs
all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is there that shall intercede
with H im except by His permission? He knows what lies before them and
what is after them; and they encompass nothing o f His knowledge except
such as He wills. His seat2 embraces the heavens and the earth; and the
preserving o f them wearies Him not. For He is the High, the Tremendous.

Alldhu la ildha ilia huwal-hayyul-qayyum ; Id ta k h u d h u h u sinatun

wa Id nawm; lahu md f i ’l-samdwdti wa md ffl-a rd ; man dha’lladhi
yashfa'u Undahu ilia bi-idhnih; y a la m u md bayna aydxhim wa md
khalfahum; wa layuhifuna bi-shay in min cilmihi Hid bi-md shd’; w asia
kursiyyuhul-sam dwdti wal-ard; wa Id ya 'uduhu h iftuhum d; wa
huwal- 'aliyyu 7- ‘azim

T commonly referred to as the dyat al-kursi,3 is one of the

h is v e r s e ,

better known and m ore prom inent verses of the Q ur’an. W ithin the M uslim
intellectual tradition, it is the focus of many works on the virtues o f the Q u r’an
(fadayil al-Qur*an),4 and a key point of discussion and contention in theology;
but it is also an ubiquitous elem ent o f Muslim devotions and popular piety,
w here the recitation o f this verse is recom m ended for its great ‘talism anic’
value.
Before considering the them atic content of the verse and how it relates to
various theological and devotional concerns, as elaborated in the com m en­
taries, there are three issues of translation and appellation that require clarifi­
cation: the commonly used appellation ‘throne verse; the alternative renditions
o f the divine nam e al-qayyum; and the translation o f the phrase md bayna
aydihim wa-md khalfahum.

1 Sec discussion of the divine name al-qayyum in the section on translation.

2 See discussion regarding the appellation of this verse, pp. 128-9.
3 Cf. Clement Huart [-Joseph Sadan], ‘Kursi’, El2, V, 509; cf. Wensinck 1932, 67, 90, 93, 116,
147-8; also, Jamal J. Elias, Throne of God’, £Q V, 276-8.
4 This category,fa<jiail al-Qur’drt, is almost a sub-genre and is found in sections within works
dealing with the devotional aspects of the Qur’in (so one finds it in hadith compilations, in religious
treatises such as GhazAli’s Ihy&\ and in common prayer-manuals); alternatively the category may
constitute the subject of an entire work (cf. Ibn Kathir's Fa^ail al-Qur&rt).

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On the Nature of the Divine

1. The 'kursl verse’: ‘throne’ or ‘seaf ?

We have refrained from using the appellation ‘the throne verse’, which is com-
monly used w hen discussing this verse in English (and a few other European
languages). It is unfortunate that in m odem scholarship the verse has come to
be known by this name, because such an appellation blurs the distinction
between the Q u ra n ic terms kursl and ‘arsh (also translated as ‘throne’) which
is particularly misleading in a work like this volume, where a key issue for the
commentators is how G od’s kursl relates to His 'arsh, both in terms o f dim en­
sions and (cosmic) function.5 Admittedly, the com m entators themselves are
not always certain about this relationship and there are frequent statements to
the effect that the two are in fact one and the same - indeed, it was this uncer­
tainty itself that gave rise to the conflation o f the two terms in m odem English
translations o f the Q ur’an, where kursl is almost always rendered ‘throne’, and
yet so is 'arsh: thus Arberry, Pickthall, Yusuf Ali, N. J. Dawood and recently
Abdel Haleem.
We have thus dispensed with the appellation ‘the throne verse’ altogether and
refer to this verse by retaining the Arabic term, as ‘the kursl verse’. W herever the
English word ‘throne appears it will stand for the Arabic term 'arsh. Most o f the
time the two terms will be discussed in the English translation as kursl and 'arsh,
but where we translate the term s they will be ‘seaf and ‘throne’, respectively.
Some English translations of the Q ur’an do give alternative renditions o f the
term kursl, but such renditions as ‘chaif or ‘footstool’ we deem unsatisfactory.6
Among the Muslim commentaries discussed here, there is a clear preference,
based on philological considerations, for taking kursl as denoting ‘knowledge’
and 'arsh as ‘kingdom’ or ‘dominion’, and certainly these are never understood
the other way round {'arsh is never understood as denoting knowledge).
Given the figurative associations of the term kursl, English ‘seat’ suggests
itself as an obvious translation for the word, especially since it too lends itself
easily to figurative expressions: ‘seat of knowledge*, ‘seat of pow ef, ‘seat o f w af,
or ‘seat o f wisdom’ (cf. Latin sedes potentiae, sedes belli, sedes sapientiae, etc.).
However, a contention78then might be that to make a distinction between seat
and throne is gratuitous, given that the term kursl also appears in the narrative
about Solomon in Q. 38:34, obviously in reference to something resembling a
throne. This, however, is the only other instance in the Q ur’an where the term
kursl is used, and the reason for the use o f kursl here and not 'arsh is surely to
echo the Old Testamenf s use of kisse Dawid8 - that is, the kursl o f David, which

5 Cf. Lane’s discussion of the root /c-r-s, in Lex., II, 2000.

6 Qara’i 2004, however, uses ‘seat* for Q. 2:255, but defaults to ‘throne in Q. 38:34.
7 Cf. O’Shaughnessy 1973,206.
8 For all occurrences of this phrase in the Old Testament, see TDOT, VII, 245-6.

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Solom on inherits. Moreover, in those passages in which the Hebrew kisse*

appears, it symbolises ‘the divinely established kingship o f David and the
Davidic line in Jerusalem \9 The symbolic use o f the term kisse' in the Old
Testament, as opposed to its denoting a physical throne, is paralleled in the
Q u r’anic allusions to specific aspects of Solom ons ‘office (viz. his wisdom,
knowledge, his capacity as judge, and his hosts of men, jinn and birds, etc.), and
that it seems is why the term kursi is used.10

2. The divine name al-qayyum

A nother issue concerning the English translation o f this verse is the divine
nam e al-qayyum. We have adopted two alternative renditions because the
com m entators frequently discuss two equally valid senses o f the verbal root
o f this nam e, q-w-m. The root itself essentially denotes ‘becom ing upright", as
in standing up or getting up, as well as ‘m aking som ething upright", and this
provides the prim ary sense from which is derived the signification that God
is ‘the eternal sustained, for He provides the qawdmy the ‘upright - and hence
the proper - condition for all creatures; however, by sustaining all creatures
the com m entators understand that God m ust then be ‘the self-subsistent",
which is another possible rendition. In addition, that basic sense o f ‘standing"
o r ‘getting up’ allows for another signification, which expressed in the in ten ­
sive form qayyum suggests a repeated action: ‘one who is [constantly] getting
up [to attend to som ething]’. From this last sense then derives the meaning of
‘ever-watchful". Some o f the early authorities on whose opinions the com m en­
tators depend supported this interpretation o f the term on the basis o f Q.
13:33, where the phrase al-qd’im 'aid (the O ne who stands [or watches] over)
is used. Since the two senses cannot be sim ultaneously rendered by a single
English word, we will retain ‘Eternal Sustained unless the gloss discusses the
o ther sense, ‘Ever-watchful", in which case we will default to the latter.

9 TDOTy VII, 246.

10 In the case of the Queen of Sheba (Q. 27:2338), however, the purpose seems to be to evoke the
grandeur of her kingdom and her retinue, as opposed to a seat of judgement or knowledge, which
is why the term ‘arsh is used; this use of 'arsh in the case of Sheba is analogous to those instances in
which God’s 'arsh appears (this too has a retinue of throne-bearers, the angels; cf. Q. 40:7). Another
important instance is Q. 12:100, which says that Joseph raised his parents to the *arsh whereupon
they prostrated to him. Thus the 'arsh cannot simply be the physical seat, that is the throne, but
seems to denote the entire structure: the elevated platform or estrade upon which the throne sits as
well as any other accessories, such as a dais or a footstool; this suggests that the concept of God’s
celestial 'arsh in the Qur’in is akin to that of the empyrean as understood by early Christians.

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3. The phrase md bayna aydihim wa-md khalfahum

The third and final issue bearing on translation concerns the phrase md bayna
aydihim wa md khalfahum,u regarding which the commentators have differing
and sometimes contradictory understandings. Literally, md bayna aydihim
means ‘what lies between their han d s, m eaning ‘what is before them* in the
sense o f in front, or ahead, of them , spatially and temporally. However, some
interpreters, such as Q ummI, cite com m ents that clearly take the phrase as
meaning ‘what was prior to them’. On the other hand, wa md khalfahum means
‘what is behind them* or ‘what is after them’. Temporally, this may be taken in
the sense of what has already come to pass either before them or earlier in their
own lives, or what is yet to come after them, e.g. the future generations or later
in their own life, be it in the world or in the Hereafter. Thus, md bayna aydihim
wa md khalfahum has been understood as either ‘what is ahead of them and
what is behind them* or ‘what is prior to them and what is after them*.

4. Thematic concerns o f the commentaries

We will now turn to the main themes of the verse and briefly discuss how these
are treated by the commentaries. The main themes include the notion o f God’s
seat, the divine names and attributes, the universe and creation, intercession
and angels, and devotional uses of the verse.

G od’s seat
Concerning the context of G od’s ‘seaf (kursi) within the verse, the term kursi
concludes the im port of the preceding clauses by epitomising G od’s absolute
power over and all-encompassing knowledge o f everything. Thus, the central
im portance of the kursi lends its nam e to the verse (dyat al-kursi).12 O n a
m undane level, the word kursi simply denotes ‘seat’, ‘chair or ‘footstool’, but
11 For a further discussion on this phrase, md bayna aydihim wa md khalfahum, sec also Asad
1984, 57, n. 47.
12 The suras, or chapters, of the Quran were named after a word, or a prominent theme, that
occurs once in that sura. The numbering of verses and chapters is a very recent innovation, and
usually only relevant for modem editions of works or in non-Muslim scholarship. Some suras have
more than one formal name (e.g., Q. 9 is known as surat al-Tawba or siirat Bard’a), but generally one
name has predominated in the Muslim literary tradition - the names of the 114 chapters in modem
copies of the text are more or less fixed. Similarly, certain verses which were prominent either on
account of their content or their relevance to theological and jurisprudential discussions, were
named for ease of reference (Q. 2:282 is referred to as dyat al-dayn, 'debt verse’, as it discusses the
requirements for contracting a debt; Q. 24:31 as dyat al-hijdb, 'veil verse’; and Q. 9:5 as dyat al-sayf,
'sword verse’). In Western scholarship on Islam, the only verse whose Arabic appellation has been
translated and used frequently is dyat al-kursi, known in English as ‘the throne verse’ (cf. French
‘verset du trdne’, Spanish ‘versiculo del trono’ or Italian ‘versetto del trono’). It is arguably the only
verse of the Qur’an that is easily recognisable from its non-Arabic title; but for the problematic
nature of this appellation, see the discussion in the introduction to this chapter.

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most theologians were, not surprisingly, uncomfortable with the anthropom or­
phic implications of ascribing a ‘seat* (kurst,), or indeed a ‘throne {'arsh), to God,
and they sought to explain the two relevant Q u ra n ic terms, ‘arsh and kurst, in
m etaphoric ways.
The term ‘arsh appears twenty-six times in the Q ur'an (twenty-one times in
reference to God, four to the Queen of Sheba, and once to the prophet Joseph),
while kurst, w ith the exception of Solom ons kurst in Q. 38:34, appears only
once, here at Q. 2:255. A lthough Prophetic traditions are adduced to explain
the difference, prim arily one of immensity, between farsh and kurst, at times
som e com m entators seem to resign themselves to the idea that these two
expressions might in fact represent the same thing, as for example in Tabari. In
general, there is a m arked preference for understanding kurst as signifying
G od's ‘knowledge’ and ‘dom inion: num erous poetic attestations are provided
in support of such an interpretation. Some interpretors have taken kurst to be
a reference to the footstool13 of G od while the 'arsh o f God is immeasurable
and unimaginable. O ther reports, as for instance in ‘Ayy&shI, indicate that the
kurst is greater than the ‘arsh; while Tabari has a citation stating that the ‘arsh
is superior to the kurst. By most, the kurst, whether taken literally or purely sym­
bolically, is understood as signifying God's sovereignty and authority: it is
God's seat ‘ovef His creation.

Divine names and attributes

The divine names used in this verse are not unrelated to the matter of the divine
seat (kurst). The verse begins with an affirmation o f G od's absolute oneness:
God, there is no god except Him, thus no m atter w hat names o f His or what
aspects of H im are mentioned, they all pertain to th e One God. The verse then
goes on to describe God as the Living, the Eternal Sustainer (al-hayy al-qayyum).
The two term s are intrinsically related for the com m entators, since it is pre­
cisely because God is ‘the eternally living' that He becomes ‘the eternal sus­
tained of His creation. Similarly, for those narratives in which the term qayyum
is understood in the alternative way, that is, as a paraphrase of al-q&’im ‘aid (the
one who stands [in watch] over [something]), G od is the ‘Ever-watchful' pre­
cisely because He is ‘the Ever-living. Indeed, this alternative meaning is con­
firmed for those commentaries that prefer it by the clause that follows, where
it is said o f God that He, unlike hum an beings, is not affected by the phenom ­
enon of somnolence: Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep. Some of the com ­
mentaries provide an interesting gloss on the logic o f the negatory sequence of
13 Cf. instances of the Hebrew kissi’in the Old Testament, e.g., Isaiah 66:1, where it denotes the
'throne-seat’, while a different Hebrew term is used to denote the footstool (see TDOT, VII, 232-
59) - the Arabic k-r-s is clearly related to the Hebrew root of the same word (see k-r-s in Jeffery 1938;
Fraenkel 1886).

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this clause: a person might not succumb to slumber or sleepiness but will even­
tually succumb to sleep, whereas one (viz. God) who does not succumb to sleep
will never succumb to slumber.
Amongst other things, then, the verse proclaims that the divine being is not
ham pered by fundam ental hum an and corporeal weaknesses (the com m en­
taries cite the story of how two angels teach Moses this lesson). G od does not
sleep, nor will He ever fall into somnolence; He manages and sustains the whole
of the heavens and the earth; God has absolute sovereignty in all matters, since
there exists no one that can mediate His decrees, unless He so wishes; He is
omniscient and imparts knowledge to His creatures from this omniscience as
He sees fit; the heavens and the earth form only a limited part of His dom inion
(kurst) of knowledge and power, and nothing relating to their managem ent or
preservation can ever burden Him. The verse thus suggests that while hum an
beings may come to know certain things about God, perhaps even about certain
aspects of the universe and the Hereafter, this is the result o f a divine favour
from God, which He grants as He wills to w hom He wills: A nd they [can]
encompass nothing o f His knowledge except such as He wills. Thus His m ainte­
nance of creation includes the expansion of hum an knowledge as G od in His
omniscience sees fit, even as it includes the power o f intercession for His crea­
tures, allocated by His wise permission. In effect, for the com m entators most
of the verse becomes an elaboration of how God is al-hayy al-qayyum.
If the verse starts with these two divine names which pertain to G od’s inti­
mate and vital relationship with His creation, the verse ends with th e affirma­
tion of the divine exalted transcendence: For He is the High, the Tremendous. As
'High’ ('aliyy) and 'Tremendous (‘a p m ), God encompasses and yet transcends
His creation.

The universe and creation

The phrase the heavens and the earth itself provides a point o f expansion in the
commentaries which state that these can be understood as the subtle and dense
realms respectively, or the spiritual and physical realms. The multiplicity indi­
cated by the num ber seven, a quantity m entioned with regard to this phrase in
more than one commentary, is m eant as a reference to ‘all the heavens and all
the earths’ of which our universe consists. The heavens and the earth are m en­
tioned twice in the verse: to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth,
and His seat embraces the heavens and the earth. The first m ention pertains to
God as O w ner and Master of all creatures, and leads to the phrases that elabo­
rate on this. The second m ention reiterates the relationship of the (knowable)
God to His creation, but at the same time paves the way for the emphatic affir­
mation that G od is the High, the Tremendous.

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Intercession and angels

W ith regard to the m atter o f intercession (shafaa) before God by any being,
th e verse posits a significant qualification to the notion o f intercession by
leaving the possibility open.14 Indeed, the key arguments between those who
favoured the doctrine o f intercession and those who found it incompatible with
the notion of divine justice Cadi), or indeed with G od’s om nipotence and
omniscience, centres on their understanding o f the phrase Who is there that
shall intercede with Him except by His permission. This problem’ is resolved by
the Q ur’an itself in 39:44, where it is stated Say to God belongs all [power of]
intercession, which in turn is confirmed by Q. 2:255, in as m uch as others can
intercede only by His permission. Thus there may be intercession by other than
G od but only as He wills: He grants intercession to whom He pleases fo r whom
He pleases.
The m ention o f intercession in this verse gives rise to the subject of angels,
who in the late-antique Judaeo-Christian tradition were frequently identified
as intercessors before G od.15 The association o f angels with the privilege of
intercession also comes directly from the Q u r’an itself, m ost notably Q. 40:7
and Q. 42:5.16 This may be the reason why a num ber of the commentaries, such
as those of QummI and Muqatil, include the tradition about the four angels rep­
resenting four species of creation, in which each angel asks God to give suste­
nance to the particular species it represents.17 Sharafi's com m entary in this
chapter, citing Q. 40:7, states how the angels who circumam bulate the divine
throne do their utm ost in manifesting love, and seeking help, for the believers.
One o f the explicit interpretations concerning who is perm itted to intercede
(other than the angels) is given in ‘Ayyashfs commentary, where JaTar al-$adiq
is cited as saying: ‘We [the imams] are those intercessors’ Tabari cites a report
to the effect that intercession will be granted to G od’s prophets, His ‘friends’

14 The concept o f‘intercession’ (shaft'a) was a contentious issue in early Islamic theology (see
Hamza 2002, and n. 31 for further references), and the classical doctrine emerged only after much
controversy and debate between two opposing schools of thought - the proponents of hadith (ahl
al-hadith, or ‘traditionalists’) on the one hand and the scripturalists and rationalists on the other.
For more details, see nn. 52,55.
15 On the 'intercessory office’ of angels in this respect, see Johansson 1940; Hawting 1999,53; for
the late-antique context, see MacMullen 1997,125ff., 137; Andrea Piras, ‘Angels’, ER2, 1, 343-9;
angels present prayers to God in the apocrypha, Tobit 12:15, of the archangel Raphael; and Enoch
40:6.6
16 Q. 40:7, The ones who bear the throne f arsh) and those around it glorify with praise of their Lord
and believe in Him and askforgivenessfor those who believe, (saying) 'Our Lord, You embrace all things
in (Your) mercy and knowledge, soforgive those who repent andfollow Your way, and shield themfrom
the chastisement of Hellfire\ Q. 42:5, And the angels glorify with praise of their Lord and askforgiveness
for those on earth. Also, see Q. 33:43,39:75 and 69:17.
17 It is significant in this respect that the isrd’iliyydt literature is used not just by Muqitil but also
by other early exegetes (e.g. Qummi), which confirms the ‘haggadic tendency of the earliest phase
of tafsir composition (cf. Wansbrough 1977,121).

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and ‘obedient servants. Burusawl, am ong others, cites an interpretation

according to w hich that the one to whom G od allows intercession will be the
Prophet. M awdudl, like ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida in the Mandr com m entary,
focuses on the fact that only the one(s) w hom G od perm its may speak on
behalf o f any creature. The most elaborate discussion o f the m atter, am ong
o u r com m entators, is that given by Fadl Allah, w ho takes his cue on
the subject from the famous com m entary know n as al-M izdn, by the
great scholar and philosopher ‘Allama M uham m ad H usayn al-T abataba’l
(d. 1981).

Devotional use of the verse

Beyond their them atic observations, the com m entaries discuss the liturgical
and devotional use of the verse in Muslim everyday practice.18 As shall be seen,
a num ber of narrations and texts are adduced to stress the efficacy o f reciting
and pondering this verse for the purpose of well-being and safety in both the
physical and the spiritual realms. Thus the merits o f its recitation are extolled:
for example, the person who recites the verse after each obligatory prayer
(farida) is guaranteed Paradise in the Hereafter; even a single recitation o f it
shall shield the reciter from one thousand adversities in this world and another
thousand after death.19 Zamakhshari, for one, notes the potency of the kursi-
Yerse in giving protection against evil, especially that arising from ethereal
beings such as the jinn.

■** . i

M uqatil
The most salient feature of Muqatil’s commentary here, as is typical of his approach in
general, is his reliance on the biblical isr&’iliyyat material. In this section, the isrd’iliyydt
provides those elements which might be typical of a storytellers narrative {q a fa $ )t
intended to explain elusive Quranic passages. It is interesting to note that while most of
Muqatil’s Tafsir consists of paraphrase and no more, key verses of the Qur’an, such as this
one, will inevitably have some ‘haggadic’ elements appended to the glosses.20These ele­
ments are perhaps intended as an explanation of the prominence associated with such
principal Qur’anic verses, and their inclusion is justified by the fact that such key verses

18 For more on this devotional aspect, see Padwick 1961,115.

19 Thus ‘Ayyashi, Tafsir (old edn), I, 136 (no. 451); Tafsir (new edn) 1,257 (no. 454/555); also
Tabrisi in his preface to the verse, Majma4al-baydn, 1,360-1. Translations of both of these sections
are found in this chapter under the respective commentator.
20 We borrow the term ‘haggadic’ from Wansbrough (1977,119-122) and his analysis of early
Muslim commentaries. The advantage, one assumes, of this periphrastic style, and the reason why
commentaries of this kind were popular (cf. the much later Tafsir al-Jaldlaytt in Hamza 2008), is that
while the Qur’anic narrative is explained, the reader is not distracted from the flow of this narrative
by lengthy exegetical excursuses.

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m erit more than just a simple glossing of the narrative. Accordingly, Muqatil informs us
o f the physical magnitude of the kursi in relation to the seven earths and the seven
heavens, and the peculiar nature of the four angels that bear this ‘seaf, angels who provide
cosmic archetypal forms for four categories of creatures: humans, birds, beasts of flock,
and the beasts of prey (cf. the four angels who bear Yahweh’s throne-chariot in Ezk.
10:14). The reader will note the recurrence of these reports throughout this chapter. It
may be surmised in this respect that the reason why early Muslim commentaries chose
to include the tradition about the four angels, even though eight angels are said to bear
the divine throne ('arsh) in Q. 69:17, is that the four angels were associated with the kursi
(seat), while the eight angels of Q. 69:17 carried the ‘arsh (throne).

God, there is no god except Him, the Living,21 who does not die, the Ever-watchful
(qayyum), the one who watches over (q a im ‘aid) every soul [cf. 13:33]; slumber
seizes Him not: this [slumber] is a light wind from the direction of the head that
overwhelms the eyes, so that a person is som nolent (wasndn), between being
asleep (nd’im) and being alert (yaqzdn). God then says, slumber seizes Him not,
neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth, in the way
o f creatures, [they are all] His servants and His possession, [including] the
angels, Ezra, Jesus son of Mary, and others who are worshipped [instead of
G od]. Who is there that shall intercede with Him, of the angels, except by His per­
mission, He means ‘except by His com m and’, which is the same as His saying,
glory be to Him: and they do not intercede except fo r whom He is satisfied with
[Q. 21:28]. He knows what lies before them and what lies after them, God is
saying: what was before the creation of the angels, and what was after their cre­
ation.22 G od then says: and they do not encompass, meaning the angels, anything
o f His knowledge except such as He wills, [He] the Lord, W ho then informs them
[what He wills).23 God then inform s of the greatness of [Himself] the Lord,
sublime is His majesty, and says: His seat embraces the heavens and the earth, all
o f them. Each leg of the seat (kursi) is the length o f the seven heavens, and the
seven earths beneath the seat are in [their] smallness [to the seat] as a ring
[sitting] in an open desert. He then inform s [His servants] of His power and
21 Tafsir, 1,212-3.
22 In his comments on the Quranic words to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth
up to and induding He knows what lies before them and what lies behind them, Muqatil seems to have
in mind verses 19-22,24,26,28 of Q. 21. There it is mentioned that those who are chosen as gods
instead of God, Lord of the throne, are false; that the prophets who are called sons of God are but
‘honoured slaves' who act by His command; that they cannot intercede except for him whom God is
pleased with; and that He knows what is before them and what is behind them. Here, as it were in
continuation of the same theme, Muqatil refers both intercession and God’s knowledge of what is
before and what behind, to the angels. Thus he reads the Qur’inic words in both suras as together
constituting a comprehensive rebuttal of the worship of angels or prophets by pointing out that they
all belong to God, that their intercession is dependent on God’s permission, and that God’s knowl­
edge encircles their existence.
23 Perhaps Muqatil had in mind Q. 2:32: qdlu subhdnaka, Id 'ilma land ilia md 'allamtand /.../,
They [the angels] said. Glory be to You! We have no knowledge exceptfor what You have taught us [...].

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says: the preserving o f them wearies Him not, meaning that it is neither an effort
nor a burden for Him to bear them. For He is the High, the Tremendous, that is,
the Lofty O ne (rafi*) above all His creation, the Almighty, mightier than whom
is nothing.
Four angels (amldk) bear the seat (kursi). Each angel (malak) has four faces;
their feet stand below the rock that is beneath the lowest earth, the distance of
five hundred-years journey;24 between each earth is the distance of a hundred-
years journey. The face (wajh) of one angel has the form o f a hum an being,
which is the master of all forms, and this [angel] requests provision (rizq) for
m ankind (adamiyyun). The face of another angel has the form o f master of the
grazing beasts (an'dm ), the bull, and this [angel] requests provision for
quadrupeds (bahlma). There is still som ething of disgrace on the face o f the
angel in the form of a bull, ever since the calf was w orshipped instead of
the Compassionate One, Mighty and Majestic.25 The face o f a [third] angel has
the form of the master of the birds, the eagle, and this [angel] asks G od provi­
sion for the birds. A [fourth] angel has the form of the master o f the beasts of
prey (sib a )ythe lion, and he requests provision for the beasts o f prey.26

H ud
Hud’s exegetical comments, drawn almost exclusively from al-Hasan al-Ba$ri (d.
110/728), deal with the meaning of the verse and the great merit of its recitation. The one
point that reflects his Ibadi concerns is his understanding of Who is there who shall inter­
cede with Him except by His permission. Hud takes this as a rejection of the widely accepted
doctrine of intercession (shafaa), a privilege and capacity which most Muslim theologians
held to be the prerogative of God’s chosen servants and friends (awliyd*), especially the
prophets. The doctrine of intercession, as it developed during the second/eighth century,
was a controversial issue in early Islam; it was seen by those who opposed it to give hope
to Muslim grave sinners that through the intercession of the Prophet they would eventu­
ally attain salvation in the Hereafter after a purgative stay in Hell, when no such hope was
explicit in the scripture.27 So for the Ibadls, as for M utazilis and rationalists in general,

24 Such descriptions of length as ‘the journey of 500 years’ arc commonly found in depictions of
the physical forms of angels in Jewish tradition.
25 This is a reference to Q. 2:51,54,92, where the Israelites are rebuked for fashioning and wor­
shipping a golden calf during Moses' absence on the mount (cf. Exodus 32).
26 This tradition is almost identical with Ezekiel 1:4-26, where ‘four living creatures' are
described. It is interesting that this tradition is adduced on the commentary of Q. 2:255, since at verse
26 of Ezekiel 1, these angels are said to be standing below a throne which in the Hebrew is repre­
sented by the root k-s-s (see n. 13); the four angels also carry Yahweh’s chariot-throne, the merkavah,
which image became central for the formation of the Jewish mystical movement of the same name
(see Neusner 1971).
27 The development of the concept of intercession among the emergent Sunni and Shi‘I commu­
nities reflected different perspectives on the ‘criterion for salvation'. For Sunnis, the Prophet's inter­
cession in the Hereafter was God’s favour to the charismatic community^ which would encompass

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one’s moral agency in this world entirely determ ined one’s outcome in the Hereafter
without the need for intercession, unless one had already repented of one’s grave sins in
this life.2*

God, there is no god except H im, the Living, the Ever-watchjul:29 al-Hasan [al-
Ba$ri] said that Allah (God) and al-Rahimdn (the Compassionate One) are two
exclusive names (m am nudn), [names] which no creature is able to assume.
The Living, the Ever-watchful (al-qayyum), that is, the O ne who watches
over (q a im ‘aid) every soul. A l-H asan said th at [it means] the O ne who
watches over every soul with regard to its acquisition [of m erit or dem erit]
[cf. Q. 13:33], keeping [a record of] its deeds until He requites them for these
[deeds in the Hereafter].
They m ention in a report that ‘Abd Allah b. M as'ud used to vocalise the
letters [of the second word] in the following way: al-hayy al-qayyam, which
[latter word] belongs to the [grammatical] paradigm offay ah while qayyum is
that off a y u l
[As regards] His words la takhudhuhu sinatun (slumber seizes Him not),
some of them takes this [sina] to mean ‘indolence (kasal); others state that it
means ‘languor’ (fatra). Neither sleep: al-Hasan said that sina is sleepiness, while
nawm is overwhelming sleep.30
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is there who shall
intercede with Him except by His permission? In other words, no one [can inter­
cede],31 which is akin to [the im port of] His words: they do not intercede except

all Muslims. For Shils, the Prophet’s intercession prefigured and justified the individual intercessory
powers of the imams: the charisma becomes that of the individual, the imam, who then is the key
to salvation, since without devotion and allegiance to the imam, there can be no salvation: cf. Watt
1973, esp. 34-7.
23 Ibadis, like Mu'tazills, accepted the Prophet’s eschatological intercession for minor (faghd’ir)
but not major sins (kab&’ir) that had not been repented for - the distinction being between dying
with minor sins and dying with major sins (Q. 4:31, If you avoid the grave sins that areforbidden you,
We will absolve you of your misdeeds and admit you [into Paradise] by an honourable entrance); and
they rejected the idea of a soul being able to leave Hellfire. For the Ibidl position and its relationship
to Mu'tazills, see Ennami 1971,202ff; see Feras Hamza, ‘Afterlife: Islamic Concepts’, ER2, 1,159-63,
for an overview of the history of this debate about ‘grave sins’, the development of the concept of a
temporary Hellfire (a Muslim purgatory) and the relationship to these of the notion of the Prophet’s
intercession (shaft'a) in early Islam; a more detailed development can be consulted in Hamza 2002.
29 Tafsir, 1,238-40.
30 Cf. the commentary as reported by ‘Abd al-Razz&q in his Tafsir, 1,113. In this commentary,
another important report that ‘Abd al-Razzaq quotes through his usual source Ma'mar back to
‘Ikrima is a story about Moses asking the angels whether God sleeps and their response.
31 In Islamicist scholarship it is taken that ‘intercession’ (shaft’a), in the context of the Day of
Resurrection, is generally denied by the Qur’an; those verses which seem to concede some possibility
of intercession merely reflect the fact that the concept was only rejected gradually and in stages,
given the widespread belief in intercessors and the efficacy of intercession in what, some have
argued, was a ‘semi-monotheistic’ (as opposed to a purely polytheistic) Arabian milieu (see Hawting
1999), where local idol-gods or goddesses had the power to intercede with the high-god ‘Allah’ (cf.

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On the Nature of the Divine

fo r whom He is satisfied with [Q. 21:28], and His words: there is no intercessor
[that can intercede] except after His permission [Q. 10:3].
[As regards] His words He knows what lies before them and what is after them,
al-Hasan said: ‘[This refers to] their earlier deeds and their last deeds/ Some of
them said: ‘[It means] what is facing them of the Hereafter, and what is [now]
behind them of this world, namely when they are already in the Hereafter*
[As regards] His words and they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge
except such as He wills, that is, [except] what He has made know n to the
prophets through revelation (wahy).
His seat embraces the heavens and the earth: some m ention that the ‘seat*
(kursi) is the ‘support for a thing and what keeps it upright. But no one knows
the [true] extent o f the throne (rarsh) except the One who created it. Some have
claimed that His seat (kursi) embraces the heavens and the earth means that His
seat (kursi) fills the heavens and the earth.32
[As regards] His words and the preserving o f them wearies Him not, Mujahid
said: ‘[It means] preserving them [the heavens and the earth] does n o t place a
burden on H im /33 For He is the High: al-Hasan said that there is nothing higher
than Him; the Tremendous: the O ne who has no end nor extent nor limit.
They mention [in a report] from al-Hasan that said: ‘The Messenger of God
said, “Do not reflect upon God but reflect upon what He has created”.*34

henotheism, and Watt 1970,1971 and 1979). This gradual hardening of the Qur’an’s attitude towards
intercession is interpreted as a reflection of the increasingly assertive character of the new religion
of isldm against the waning opposition of the pagan Meccans. In part such view is not unfounded.
However, one should also bear in mind that when the Qur’an takes issue with ‘intercession’, the
primary motive is to assert God’s absolute sovereignty - that is, God allows intercession how He
wills - as opposed to the denial of any possibility of intercession. Thus intercession is not really
denied but limited and seems to be possible given certain conditions. For the history of this concept,
see Hamza 2002; a brief survey is given by Arent Jan Wensinck [-Daniel Gimaret], 'Shaft'a\ JET2, IX,
177-9; TG, IV, 543ff. The Prophet’s special status with God guaranteed him a particular distinction
in the eyes of many of his followers, and, as early first/seventh-century poems attest, he was often
eulogised as ‘the successful intercessor' {al-shafi al-mushajfa). With the growth of hadith, numerous
reports began to circulate to the effect that the only certain (privilege of) intercession on the Day of
Resurrection would be that by Muhammad for his community (later refined as for the grave sinners
of his community), thus ensuring that no Muslim sinner would remain in Hell forever.
32 It is reported from Said b. Jubayr (d. 95/714, see PA), in the commentary of Sufyan b. Said al-
Thawri (d. 161/778), that the ‘seaf {kursi) symbolises divine knowledge. Jubayr was a prominent
scholar of the second generation, that of the Successors (tdbi'un). This report is an important early
indication of a rationalising approach to apparently anthropomorphic verses (see Thawri, Tafsir,
71). In the tafsir attributed to the Zaydi imam Yahya al-Hadi ilal-Haqq (d. 298/911), the ‘seat’ {kursi)
is interpreted metaphorically alongside a range of other words as ‘similitudes’ (amthdl); in this par­
ticular case, it is a similitude that indicates the comprehensive nature and greatness of God. See also
Sharafi, Mafabih, III, 270-6, and Kitdb tafsir al-Kursi in Hadi, Majmu, 207-8.
33 The edition by al-Surtt uses the words ‘preserving them does not harm or trouble him’: see
Mujihid, Tafsir, 1,115. Cf. ‘Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir, 1,113.
34 See Ibn al-Athir, Nihdya, 1,63. This famous saying has profound implications for theological
debates about the extent of human knowledge and ability to comprehend the divine. For references

138
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

It is m entioned [in a report] from al-Hasan that he said:

The Messenger of God said to his Companions one day, ‘What [part] of the Q uran
is the greatest (a%am)V They said, ‘God and His Messenger know best!’ He said,
‘Surat al-Baqara [is the greatest]'. Then he said, ‘Do you know which [part] of it is
the greatest?' They said, ‘God and His Messenger know best!' He said, ‘God, there is
no god except Him, the Living, the Eternal Sustainer [...]' to the end of the verse.

It is m entioned from Ibn ‘Abbas35 that he said: ‘The most noble sura o f the
Q u r a n is the surat al-Baqara.y He was then asked, ‘W hich [part] o f it is the
greatest?* to which he replied, ‘The verse of the kursi (dyat al-kursiy.

Q um m i
Q um m l's comments mainly concern the cosmological function of the divine kursi.
Another significant feature, in terms of his S h u approach in general, is to relate a Q uranic
verse to fundamental Shl‘i doctrines of the imamate and the succession of the imams.
Particularly interesting in this case is his use o f the standard narrative about the four angels
that bear the kursi (cf. the four angels who bear Yahweh's throne-chariot in Ezk. 10:14) as
a vindication of the central Shu dogma regarding ‘AlTs right - and that of the imams there­
after - to the leadership of the community after the Prophet's death. He makes the point
that those who reject the truth of the ‘testaments' (wa$iyya, pi. wa$dya), which established
the rightful claim of the imams to succeed the Prophet, should fear a punishm ent from
God just as the ‘bull-angel’ (cf., as mentioned, the angel with the face of an ox in Ezekiel’s
vision, Ezk. 10:14) feared a punishment when the Israelites took to worshipping the calf,
and just as the trees feared a punishment when a son was attributed to God. In this, there
seems to be an indication that a rejection of a wa$iyya is tantamount to shirk (polytheism).

As regards the kurst-verse , 3 6 my father [relating] from al-H usayn b.

to this narration, see Warjalani, Jdmi\ III, 22 (hadlth no. 827). This work is an important Ibadi
collection from Basra that would have been a major source of narrations for Hud. For more on this
collection, see Wilkinson 1985.
35 Ibn ‘Abbas is quoted as an authority by almost all commentators regardless of their confes­
sional affiliation. In the context of Hud’s commentary, the corpus was probably mediated by some
of the early Basran Ibadi leaders who were students (direct or indirect) of Ibn ‘Abbas, such as jabir
b. Zayd al-Azdi (d. c. 93/712) and al-Rabl* b. Habib al-Azdi (d. 170/788), the author of a Musnad.
On jabir, see Khulayftt 1978,86ff; al-$awafi 1981; Bakkush 1984; Bakkush 1986; ShammakhI, Siyar,
70-7; Roberto Rubinacci, ‘Djabir b. Zayd’, EP, II, 359; Gilliot 1997,208; TG, II, 190-2; Crone and
Zimmermann 2001, 301-3; Wilkinson 1987,149,152-3,165. On al-Rabl‘, see ShammakhI, Siyar,
104; Kashif 1986,423; GAL, 1,156; Crone and Zimmermann 2001, 305-8; TG, II, 198; Wilkinson
1987,152,164-65; Tadeusz Lewicki, ‘al-Ibadiyya, EP, III, 651.
36 Tafsir, 1,84-6. The citation of the dyat al-kurst adduced here by Qummi and ascribed to ‘All
al-Rida contains Quranic passages from elsewhere in the Qur’an (identified by the references within
square brackets). For Qummi, importantly, this is precisely the ‘original’ arrangement of the dyat al-
fcwrri; as he states, ‘thus was it sent down’ (kadhd nazalat (or] nuzzilat). For the significance of this,
or lack of, see n. 39.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Kh&lid37 said th a t A bu’l-H a sa n al-Ri<Ja re c ite d :38 alifldm m im [Q. 2:1]; God
there is no god except Him, the Living, the Eternal Sustained Slumber seizes Him
not, neither sleep [Q. 2:255]; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth
[Q. 2:255 a n d Q. 20:6] and what is in between them and what is beneath the soil
[Q. 20:6] ;39 Knower o f the unseen and the visible [He is] the Compassionate, the
Merciful [Q. 59:22]; who is there that shall intercede with Him except by His per­
mission? He knows what lies before them and what is after them [Q. 2:255]. H e
[‘All al-Ri<J§] said:

W hat lies before them , refers to the affairs of the [past] prophets and what has
[already] happened, and what lies after them means that which has not yet come
to pass. His saying except such as He wills means that which He reveals (yuht) to
them, and the preserving o f them wearies Him not means that the preservation of
what is in the heavens and the earth does not burden Him.40 His words, No com­
pulsion is there in religion [Q. 2:256], [mean] namely, no one should be compelled
to his religion except after rectitude has become clear to him from error [Q.
2:256];4Xthen he who rejects the idols [Q. 2:256], they [the idols (tdghut)] being
those who have unlawfully deprived the family of Muhammad of their rights,
[such a person] will have laid hold o f the most firm handle [Q. 2:256], that means
[he holds onto] the loyalty ( waldya ),42 for which there is ‘no breaking (Id infi$dm

37 On al-Husayn b. Kh&lid, see PA.

38 O n ‘All al-Ri(U, see PA.
39 The passage lahu md fi’l-samdwdti wa md fil-artfi appears in Q. 2:255 and also in Q. 20:6, but
in the latter it is followed by wa md baynahumd wa md tahtal-thard. ‘All al-Rid*, in prefacing the
verse with the letters with which the surat al-Baqara begins and in reciting other passages from the
Qur’in in the middle of Q. 2:255, may simply have felt that these other passages were relevant and
added to the content of this verse, of which he is about to give an exegesis. Such 'exegetical glossing
by incorporating verses from other parts of the Qur’in is frequently done, especially in ‘homiletic’
sermons or explanations of the scripture. However, some early Twelver Shl'i exegetes used such
instances to prove their doctrine of tahrif, i.e. that the Qur’inic text as it stands in the codices is not
the full (or ‘correct one). Needless to say, many Twelver Shfls of the period rejected such a notion,
which in any case by the time of classical post -ghayba Shi'ism (epitomised by the works of al-Shaykh
al-Mufid, TusI and Tabrisi) was deemed ‘heretical’ within Twelver Sh!*f writing. On this issue, see
Kohlberg 1972; Bar-Asher 1999. For a modem Twelver Shi*i denial of tahrif, see al-Khul, Baydn,
196-234; al-Hakim, ‘lHum, 108-14.
40 The emphasis placed on the principle that nothing can burden or weary God is clearly intended
to underline God’s absolute and total power He alone is omnipotent. It is also taken by some schol­
ars as a reflection of much older debates about the strengths of rival gods, as existed prior to Islam:
cf. Michiko Yusa, ‘Henotheism’, ER, VI, 266-7.
41 This compulsion proceeds from the very rectitude that is perceived dearly; that is to say, the
person is compelled by the truth that is now dear to him.
42 The concept of waldya (or wildya) with its sense of ‘guardianship’ is fundamental to Shi‘ism,
since it is on the basis of this special rapport that ‘All is considered the legitimate and designated
heir to the Prophet: for all Shfis, denying ‘All’s waldya is tantamount to unbelief (kufr). The proper
shahada or profession of faith is then: Id ildha illallah Muhammadun rasululldh ‘Alt waliyyu’lldh.
After ‘All, the wildya resided in the imams and was passed down through the line of succession. The
term with a slightly different vocalisation, waldya, came to denote the devotion, loyalty and support
due to the imam from his followers. This doctrine became one of the pillars of Sh!‘i faith and is enu­
merated as the fifth pillar, next to prayer, fasting, alms-giving and pilgrimage, by Kulayni in his Kdfi\

140
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

laha) [Q. 2:256], that is to say, a rope which is never severed; that is [a reference
to] the Commander of the Believers [‘All b. Abl Talib] and the imams after him,
peace be upon them.
God is the protector of those who believe [Q. 2:257] and they are those who follow
the family of Muhammad (Al Muhammad), peace be upon them; He brings them
forth from the shadows into the light; and the unbelievers - their protectors are the
idols [Q. 2:257]: they are those who oppress the family of Muhammad and those
who follow the ones who deprive them [of their right to leadership], they bring
them forth from the light into the shadows; those are die inhabitants of the Fire, therein
they shall abide [Q. 2:257]; and praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. Thus was it [this
verse] sent down.

Zurara [b. A yan] reported from Abu ‘Abd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq],43 regard­
ing His words His seat embraces the heavens and the earth: I asked him which of
the two is ampler, the seat or the heavens and the earth. He said, ‘Nay, rather,
it is the seat (kurst) that embraces the heavens and the earth; everything that
G od created is inside the seat (kurst).*
Al-A$bagh b. Nubata44 reported that ‘All was asked about G od’s saying His
seat embraces the heavens and the earth, to which he responded:

The heavens and the earth and every creature in them is inside the seat (/zjawfal-
kursi), which is carried by four angels by God’s permission. As for the first angel,
it is in the form of a human (ft $urat al-ddamiyyin), the most noble of forms [in the
eyes] of God, and he supplicates God, imploring Him and seeking intercession
(shafd'a) for humans, asking for sustenance (rizq) for the Children of Adam. The
second angel is in the form of a bull, being master of the grazing beasts; he suppli­
cates and implores God, and seeks intercession and sustenance for all grazing
beasts. The third angel is in the form of an eagle, being master of the birds, and he
supplicates and implores God, and seeks intercession and sustenance for all birds;
the fourth angel is in the shape of a lion, being master of the beasts of prey, he
requests God and seeks intercession and sustenance for all beasts of prey.
Among these forms, there was no finer nor more erect shape than that of the
bull, until the company from among the Children of Israel took the calf as a god.
When they devoted themselves to it and worshipped it instead of God, the angel
with the form of a bull lowered his head, ashamed in front of God that something
that looked like him was worshipped instead of God, and he feared that punish­
ment would befall him.

the Ismail! al-Q&di al-Nu'man even accords it priority over other pillars of the faith, cf. Paul Walker,
‘Wiliya\El2t Xl, 208-9.
43 Qummi reports this from his father with the following isnad: my father <- al-Nadr b. Suwayd
<- Musib. Bakr<- Zur&raf Jafaral-$adiq.
44 The full isn&d is ’All b. Ibrahim al-Qumml <- his father <- Ishaq b. al-Haytham <- Sad b. £urayf
al-Asbagh (b. Nubata].

141
On the Nature of the Divine

He then said,

All trees were fruit-bearing until a son was attributed to the Compassionate One,
may the Compassionate One be magnified and exalted above that He should have
a son. The heavens were wellnigh rent and the earth split asunder, and the moun­
tains wellnigh fell down crashing. Thereupon the trees dried up and developed
thorns for fear of [an impending] punishment;45 so what of a people who have
changed the sunna of the Messenger of God and deviated from his testament
(wa$iyya) concerning the rights of *All and the imams,46 not fearing that any pun­
ishment should befall them?

He then recited the following verse, [Have you not considered) those who
exchanged the favour o f God with ingratitude, and [thereby] caused their people
to become residents in the Abode o f Ruin? [Q. 14:28]. He then said, ‘By God, we
are the favour of G od which He has granted to His servants, and it is through
us that the trium phant ones will triu m p h /47

cAyyashI
'Ayy&shfs commentary here focuses on two aspects: the liturgical value of the verse and
its cosmological significance. The majority of the reports cited by1Ayyashi centre on the

45 The imagery and language being used here by ‘All is taken from Q. 19:88-92.
46 The allusion here is to the fact that the Prophet, on a number of occasions, had made ‘All his
watf (legatee/trustee). For instance, after God revealed Q. 26:214, And warn your clan, your nearest
kin, the Prophet summoned the Banu Hashim and asked who wanted to be his wa$i: only ‘All
responded affirmatively, and at Ghadir Khumm, the site between Mecca and Medina, the Prophet
stopped on his return from the farewell pilgrimage and famously made statements in favour of'AIL
This event is not disputed by Muslims, but whereas for the Sunnis it merely reaffirmed the Prophet*s
affection and closeness to ‘All, according to the Shfa, it amounted to a clear ‘testament’ ( wafiyya)
that ‘Ali was the most worthy of succeeding the Prophet; ‘All thereby became the inheritor of the
Prophet’s worldly possessions and of his political and spiritual authority. According to Shfl doctrine,
this inheritance passed on to al-Hasan b. ‘All and, upon his death, to the latter's brother al-Husayn
(who was famously slaughtered along with his family and relatives in a notorious encounter with
Umayyad forces at Karbala’ in Iraq in the year 61/680). Thereafter the imamate remained in the
patrilineal progeny of al-Husayn right through Ja'far al-$adiq, at which point the Ismatlis followed
Ja‘far's son Ism§‘il, while the rest of the Shi’a followed the latter’s brother, Musa, with whom the
Twelver line continues up to the year 260/874 when the eleventh Twelver imam al-Hasan al-‘Askari
dies; his son Muhammad disappears in the same year, but is communicated with and represented
by four ‘ambassadors {safir, pi. sufara) during this period (of the ‘lesser occultation) until the year
329/941, when the twelfth imam Muhammad al-mahdt (rightly-guided) goes into ‘occultation
{ghayba) indefinitely to return at the end of time. All of these imams, beginning with ‘All, are ‘lega­
tees’ (aw$iyd'). The Twelver and the Isms'll! Shi‘ls also hold that there have been ‘legatees’ from the
beginning of human history and that the earth can never be without one; see Etan Kohlberg, *Wa$i\
EPt XI, 161-2; Kulayni, Kdji, 1,221-7,231-2; Qummi (al-$afftr), Batf'ir, 90-4,134-8,219-22,465-
71; Ibn Babawayh (al-Awwal), Tabfira, 21-5; Amir-Moezzi 1994,34,41,67,151,159; Newman 2000,
151,167,179; Rubin 1979; for the Ismailis, see Daftary 2007,97.
47 The expression ‘triumph’ [fawz) is taken from the Qur’an where it occurs frequently, referring
to the success of those who attain Paradise in the Hereafter, see Q. 85:11 for one example.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

physical dimensions and enormity of the seat (kursi) and how it relates to the throne
0 arsh).** An important statement is made by ‘Ayy&shl with regard to the authority of the
imams: it is they who are privileged by God’s permission to intercede, on the Day of
Resurrection, as Ja'far al-$adiq is reported to have said.

Ja‘far [al-$adiq] said49 that the jinn say [or ‘that I said to al-H asan]:50
‘Everything has a pinnacle and the pinnacle of the Q u r’an is the “fcursf-verseV
[W hen questioned by Ibn ‘A m m ar about the phrase] Who is there that shall
intercede with Him except by His permission, Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq]
said:51 ‘We are those intercessors/52 Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq] said:53

[They say]54 that every thing has a pinnacle, and that of the Qur’an is the kursi-
verse. God shall shield whoever recites it once, from one thousand adversities of
this world and another thousand of those of the next: the slightest of this world’s
adversities is poverty, and the slightest of those of the next is the punishment of
the grave.55 Indeed, I read it to assist me in rising a grade.
48 See the discussion of this issue in the introduction to this chapter.
49 'Ayyishi, Tafsir, 1,256-7 (=old edn, 1,136). This statement is reported from Ja‘far al-$ddiq by
‘Abd al-Hamid b. Farqad (hadith no. 452/553; =old edn no. 449).
50 Both editions o f Ayyishi have this reading qdlat al-jinn (the jinn say); however, in the new
edition a footnote points out that in one of the MS used for the edition an alternative reading exists:
qultu lil-tfasan (1 said to al-Hasan). It is not inconceivable that a report containing ‘the jinn sa/
should have been left to stand, as the contents of the report are not fantastical and the jinn have
always been considered a sort of parallel species with mankind. The jinn, as a community, also
contain believers and unbelievers, all of whom will face the same judgement at the Resurrection as
humankind, with some ending up in Hell, others in Paradise; the Qur’&n makes frequent reference
to these beings, most famously in the surat al-Jinrt (Q. 72); see P. Voohoeve, ‘I)jinn’, EPt II, 546-50.
51 This statement is reported by Mu'&wiya b. ‘AmmAr (hadith no. 453/554; =old edn no. 450).
52 As already noted, the concept of the Prophet*s intercession (shaft’a) on the Day of Resurrection
was acknowledged from very early on and, though initially controversial, it came to be accepted by
most traditionalist scholars (a$hdb al-hadith; on which concept, see Crone 2004, 125), with the
exception of certain ‘scripturalisf elements who either preferred the authority of the Qur’in, reading
its verses literally, or were simply concerned about the authoritativeness to be accorded the mass of
hadith reports circulating as early as the second/eighth century).
53 This is reported by ‘Abd Allah b. Sinin (hadith no. 454/555; =old edn no. 451).
54 As with the earlier report, another oddity occurs in this report. This time the Arabic has ‘the
devils say (innal-shayUfin yaqulun); again, the new edition of‘AyyishTs commentary points out that
this does not appear in two of the MSS used for the edition. One wonders whether ‘the devils sa/
has its origin in intra-confessional polemic.
ss Arent Jan Wensinck [-A. S. Tritton], “Adhab al-kabr*, EPt 1,186-7, where it is suggested -
somewhat unconvincingly - that the idea of a ‘punishment of the tomb’ came into Islam through its
interaction with Jewish practices and beliefs. This punishment is considered by some Muslims to be
a necessary purgation that will befall the majority of the dead before the Resurrection, but in various
degrees of severity. Other Muslims, however, understood the period in the grave as a sort of
extended preview of one’s afterlife predicament, so that the ‘good’ would glimpse their abodes in
the Gardens from a window in the grave, while the ‘evil’ would be flown around Hellfire as a foretaste
of their impending everlasting punishment. Indeed, not all Muslims accepted the ‘punishment of
the tomb’, probably because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Qur’an (although Q. 8:50 and Q.
47:27 could be imagined as an allusion to such); it makes its appearance only in hadith, yet - and
this is important - it does so from very early on, and so we hear that Kh&rijis rejected the idea (as
did, it seems, certain Shi‘i groups and the Mu'tazilis). Again, here we see an example of the tension

143
On the Nature of the Divine

Hammad said:561 saw him [Jafar al-$adiq] sitting supporting one leg on the
thigh (of the other].57 A m an with him then said, ‘May I be made thy ransom,
is this sitting position not reprehensible?*58 He said, ‘No. Indeed, the Jews said
that when the Lord had finished creating the heavens and the earth, He sat
upon the seat (kursi) in this way so that He might rest, w hereupon G od sent
down God there is no god except Him, the Living, the Eternal Sustainer; slumber
seizes Him not, neither sleep: thus God was not sitting in the way it was [alleged].*

W ith regard to God*s saying His seat embraces the heavens and the earth: Abu
‘Abd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq] said:59 ‘The heavens and the earth and all that God
created is in the kursi *

Zurara said:601 asked Abu ‘Abd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq] about God*s saying
His seat embraces the heavens and earth: ‘Is it that the kursi embraces the heavens
and earth or is it that the heavens and earth encompass His kursi? and he
replied, ‘Everything is in the kursi.

Abu ‘Abd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq] reported61 th at Abu D harr said: ‘O

Messenger of God, what is the best of that which has been sent down to you?
He replied: ‘The kursi-verse; the seven heavens and the seven earths in the kursi
are like a ring throw n in an open desert, and its superiority over the 'arsh is as
[great as] the superiority of the desert to the ring.

Zurara said: I asked Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq] about God*s saying, His
seat embraces the heavens and the earth, ‘Is it the heavens and the earth that
encompass the kursi, or is it the kursi that embraces the heavens and the earth?*
He replied, ‘No. It is the kursi that embraces the heavens and the earth.
Moreover, the €arsh and all that God created are also in the kursi!62

in the early period between what we might call 'scripturalists, who refused to accept the authority
of hadith wholesale, and the ‘traditionalists’ who subscribed to it and at times gave it precedence over
the word of the scripture.
56 This report is hadith no. 455/556.
57 That is to say, with one leg crossed over the other.
58 The term makruh (reprehensible) is the fourth of five juridical qualifications of human actions
according to the shana (Islamic law), the fifth being hardm (prohibited); makruh denotes a practice
that is best avoided since it is disapproved of. See Norman Calder, ‘Sharia, 3. in Muslim literature,
El2, IX, 324; Schacht 1964,121.
59 Hadith no. 456/557, reported by Zur&ra b. A‘yan.
60 Hadith no. 457/558. A report to the same effect is given by Zurara from Ja‘far al-$adiq again
in hadith no. 459/560.
61 Hadith no. 458/559: the report is transmitted by one Mubsin al-Muthanni (read: al-
Maythaml?] from someone from Ja‘far al-$adiq. The link between the narrator and the imam is
missing, and this raises questions about the reliability of the report. However, since Mubsin is known
to have directly narrated from the imam, the following questions might arise: is there actually a link,
why is it mentioned, who might it be, or did the compiler merely forget the name?
62 Hadith no. 460/561.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

Al-A$bagh b. Nubata reported63 that the C om m ander o f the Believers [‘All]

was asked about G od’s saying His seat embraces the heavens and earth, and so
he said: ‘T he heavens and the earth and all that is in them in the form of
creation are inside the kursi, which is carried by four angels, by G od’s
perm ission’64

Tabari
Tabari begins his commentary on the kursi-verse by explaining the purpose behind it:
God is informing the Prophet and the believers that He leads whom He will to the truth
and that His power is eternal and absolute. He then cites various traditions on the epithets
al-hayy and al-qayyum and discusses the different interpretations of these as transmitted
in hadith reports. Next he discusses the meaning of the phrase slumber seizes Him not,
neither sleep and cites a number of traditions. His discussion focuses primarily on the
shades of meaning of the words sina, w asan and n a w m (various states of somnolence or
drowsiness). He goes on to give his own interpretation of the phrase and relates two
variant traditions of a story in which God demonstrates to Moses why He does not sleep.
Tabari proceeds to focus on the interpretation of to Him belongs all that is in the heavens
and the earth. Who is there that shall intercede with him except by His permission? He again
begins by explaining, in his own language, the message which he believes God is commu­
nicating and then moves on to provide traditions on the subject. He repeats this process
for the phrase and they do not encompass anything ofHis knowledge except such as He wills.
Following this he cites at length varying traditions on His seat embraces the heavens and
the earth and on the remaining clauses of the verse.
The majority of the discussion relates to whether the kursi referred to in the Qur’an is
a metaphor for God’s knowledge, refers to His seat, or refers to the ‘seaf below the throne
(‘arsh). Tabari appends the relevant traditions on this last with his own opinion, stating
that the correct interpretation is the one reported from the Prophet - that the kursi is in
fact the throne ( ‘arsh) - and citing a number of traditions in support of this interpretation.
Finally, he gives a number of traditions signifying that the Qur’an itself indicates that the
throne should be interpreted as a metaphor for God’s divine knowledge.

We have furnished proofs for the interpretation of His saying Allah, previously
in this com m entary.65 As for the interpretation o f His declaration there is no

63 Hadith no. 46MS62.

64 The discussion of those significant angels who bear the ‘seaf (kursi) and are thus privileged
creatures in the most intimate presence of the divine has yielded interesting interpretations on the
part of more mystically inclined Muslim thinkers. Mulla $adra (d. 1050/1641), the Safavid mystic
and philosopher, describes the role of the four prime bearers and their relationship to four realms
or levels of existence: Gabriel is associated with the human realm, Michael with the spirit and the
agency of revelation, Seraphiel with the higher world of intelligences, and Azrael with the realm of
the souls, as he is entrusted with extracting the souls from dead bodies. See Mulla $adra, Masha'ir,
167; Corbin 1986,26-29. For a general introduction to dasses of angels, see Duncan B. MacDonald,
‘Mali’ika’, El2, VI, 216-9; Gisela Webb, ‘Angels’, EQ, 1.83-90.
65 Jimi' al-baydn, III, 4-13. Tabari is here referring to his commentary on the basmala.

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On the Nature of the Divine

god except H im , its m eaning is the prohibition o f worshipping anything other

than God, the Living, the Eternal Sustainer - whose attribute [s] are what He has
ascribed to Himself in this verse. He is saying ‘God, to whom is due the worship
of [all] creation, is the Living, the Eternal Sustainer. There is no god except H im ,
no godhead [to be worshipped] except Him. That means: do not pray to any­
thing except Him the Living, the Eternal Sustainer w hom ‘slum ber seizes not,
neither sleep, He whose attribute is what is described in this verse. This verse
is an elucidation from God for those who believe in Him and in His Messenger,
of what was in the testimonies of those who disagreed concerning [God’s] clear
proofs after [His] messengers [had come to them ]66 - o f w hom G od has
informed us that He set some above others 67 They disagreed over Him 68 and
fought with each other about Him, some disbelieving in Him and others having
faith in Him; then praise be to God who has guided us to belief in Him and has
given us success in in affirming [the truth of] Him.
W ith regard to His w ord, the Living (al-hayy), it means: the One to whom
belongs eternal life and perm anence {baqd*)ywhich has no defining beginning
nor limiting end - for everything other than Him, even if it lives, has a defined
beginning and a fixed end to its life; and at the cessation o f its allocated time, it
is cut short; at the com pletion of its purpose it comes to an end. A group of
commentators have said w hat we have about this [subject].

An account of those who said this:

Al-Rabf [b. Anas] said that His w ord the Living [means] He lives and will
not die.69 However, scholars have differed on the interpretation o f this
[epithet]. Some of them say, ‘G od nam ed him self the Living (al-hayy) due to
His directing of matters to their courses and His ordainm ent of the measure of
things; thus He is Living with regard to the m anagement o f creation, but is not
Living in term s o f [literally] being alive.’ O thers say, ‘Rather, He is Living in
[terms of literally having] a life which is an attribute of His.’ Others say, ‘Rather,
this is one of the names by which He calls Himself, and we say it assenting to
His order.’
[...]70 As regards G od’s saying the Ever-watchful (qayyum), M ujahid said:

66 A reference to Q. 2:253: Had God willed, those who came after them would not havefought with
one another after the clearproofs had come to them; but they disagreed, among them some believed and
among them some disbelieved. See also Q. 5:32: And indeed. Our messengers came to them with clear
proofs.
67 See Q. 2:253: Those messengers of whom We set some above others.
68 The ‘Him’ from here to the end of the passage could as easily be understood as ‘him’ - in other
words, referring to the Prophet.
69 Two reports are transmitted from al-Rabi‘, with identical content but different isnads.
70 At this point in the Arabic text there is a technical discussion of the morphological form
qayyum and its semantic import; this has been excluded from the translation.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

‘[He is) the watcher over (qd’im fala) everything* A l-Rabf said, ‘[It means] He
is the C ustodian (qayyim) of all things, guarding [them ], providing for them
(rizq) and preserves them* Al-Suddi said: ‘[It m eans that] He is the M anager
(q a im ) /
[As regards the words] the Living, the Eternal Sustainer, al-Pahfrak said:
‘[These mean] the Manager, the Everlasting (al-daJim )!

Reports on the interpretation of His words: Slumber seizes Him not, neither
sleep (Id ta’khudhuhu sinatun wa Id nawm). G od m eans by His words la
ta k h u d h u h u sinatun, that drow siness (n u d s ) does not affect Him th at He
m ight feel sleepy (yan'as), nor does sleepiness (nawm) [affect Him] that He
m ight th e n be burdened by sleep (nawm); wasan is the heaviness o f sleep
[...].71 The commentators have said the like of w hat we have on this [subject].

An account of those who have said this:

As regards G od's words la ta’khudhuhu sinatun, Ibn ‘Abbas said:72 'Sina
means drowsiness (n u d s) and nawm m eans sleep.* Qatada and al-Hasan [al-
Ba$ri] said,73 ‘The two of them said [sina means] somnolence (na'sa)!
As regards His words Id ta’khudhuhu sinatun wa Id nawmun, al-Pafrbak said:
'Sina m eans ‘dozing* (wasana). This is different from [actual] sleep (nawm).
Nawm m eans the state of being weighed down (istithqdl) [by deep sleep] ’
Al-Suddi said, ‘W ith regard to [the meaning of] sina, it is the breath of sleep
which blows on the face and makes a person sleepy* A l-Rabf [b. Anas] said,
‘Sina is the drowsy state (wasndn) between being asleep (nd’im) and being
awake (yaq^dn)!
[Regarding the words] la takhudhuhu sinatun, Yabya b. Rafi‘ said: '[Sina
means] drowsiness (nuds)!
As regards His words Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep, Ibn Zayd said:
'Al-wasndn is [for example], he who rises from sleep, not yet in full command
o f his senses, [confused] to the extent that he m ight even brandish his sword
against his own family.* By His words slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep, God
means: no harm or hurt befalls Him, nor do disabilities or diseases trouble Him.

71 The following discussion (not included in the text of the translation) of the use of the word
sina centres on the concept that sina means the state which occurs when one is between waking and
sleeping (or vice versa), rather than sleep itself. This translation follows Arberry in translating it as
‘slumbei', but there is not really an adequate word in the English language for the state that Tabari
is trying to describe.
72 A similar report from Ibn ‘Abbas is transmitted by the famous Ibn Sad, author of the well-
known biographical dictionary al-Jabaqdt, with the standard ‘family isndd through Ibn Sa‘d’s father.
73 The middle three transmitters, ‘Abd al-RazzAq, Mamar b. R&shid and Qat&da, constitute an
important early chain in hadith, especially in a famous early compilation, the Muwnnaf of‘Abd al-
Razzaq al -$an‘anl (d. 212/827), on which see Motzki 1991.

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On the Nature of the Divine

That is, [the words] sina and nawm have two meanings: [first,] they overwhelm
the [faculty of] comprehension of one who is [otherwise] possessed o f com pre­
hension, and [second,] they put an end to the state in which the one w hom they
afflict was prior to their afflicting him*74
If the matter is as we have described it, the interpretation of the words is as
follows: There is no G od but God, the Living O ne who will never die, the
Eternal W atcher who guards everything beneath Him with provision (rizq),
protection (b la ) and regulation (tadbtr), and the altering [of affairs] from one
state (hdl) to another. Slumber does not seize H im , nor sleep. The changing of
states (ahw&t) and the alteration of night and day do not remove Him from that
[state] wherein He always is.75 Rather, He is the O ne who is eternally in one
state (hal) and the Everlasting Protector of all mankind. If He were to sleep, He
would be defeated, subjugated, because sleep is the victor over the sleeper, the
conqueror thereof. If He were to slumber, the heavens and the earth and every­
thing in them would be destroyed because the subsistence o f all o f these is
through His regulation and power (qudra): sleep distracts the ‘managed from
regulation and drowsiness prevents, on account o f slum ber (wasan), the one
who ordains (muqaddir) from ordaining.
As regards His words Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep, it is reported from
Tkrima, mawld of Ibn ‘Abbas that Moses [on one occasion] asked th e angels,
‘Does God sleep?, and God revealed to the angels an order for them to prevent
him [Moses] from sleeping three times [in a row] and not allow him to sleep.
They did so. Then they gave him two long-necked bottles and restrained him
[from falling sleep).76 Then after warning him that he would break them , they
left him. He [Tkrima] continues: ‘He began to feel drowsy, while th e two
[bottles] were still in his hands, one in each* [He went on] ‘He began to feel
drowsy, but regained consciousness; [again] he felt drowsy but woke up, until
he fell into a doze and one [of the bottles] hit the other, and they both broke*
M a'm ar said: ‘This was a similitude made by God to state that, in the same way,
the heavens and the earth are in His hands* f...].77

74 That is, God who is the Immutable cannot be affected or touched by slumber or sleep, which
alter the state of the one they afflict.
75 LA yualuhu 'artmA lam yazil ‘alayhi, i.e. they do not cause Him to cease being as He always is.
76 The Arabic has amsakuhu (they restrained him) without specifying ‘from sleep, but given the
context it seems that what is meant is that the angels prevented Moses from sleeping. Thus when
they left him (as stated in the next sentence), it was up to him to ward off sleep, which he would not
have been able to do. That is why they warned him that he would break the bottles.
77 Another very similar version of the story from the Prophet is also here reported by Tabari; the
Prophet is said to have told this story during a mosque sermon.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

Reports concerning the interpretation of His words: to Him belongs all that
is in the heavens and die earth. Who is there who shall intercede with Him
except by His permission ? By His words to Him belongs all that is in the heavens
and the earth, God means that He is king over all of that w ithout a p artner or
rival. He is the Creator o f it all, not any other god or deity. He m eans by this
that the worship of anything other than Him is not appropriate because he who
is owned is obedient only to the hand of his master, and has no obedience to
other than him except by his order. He is thus saying: everything in the heavens
and the earth are My possession and creation and it is not appropriate for
anyone to worship anything in My creation other than Me as I am its ruler,
because it is not seemly for a servant to serve anyone other than their master,
n or to obey anyone but their Lord (mawld).
As for His words Who is there that shall intercede with Him except by His per­
mission? He means by this: W ho is there who shall intercede for His servants if
He wants to punish them, unless He allows him and permits him intercession on
their behalf. God says this because the idolaters [had] said, ‘We do not serve these
idols of ours except to bring us closer to God.’ In response, God said to them:

To Me belongs that which is in the heavens and that which is on the earth, together
with the heavens and earth, as My property. Therefore the worship of anything
other than Me is inappropriate; so do not worship the idols which you claim bring
you closer to Me, for they will not be of use to you with Me; they will avail you
nothing. No one [and no thing] will intercede with Me for anyone without My
permitting them to do so. Intercession is [allowed] in the case of one who is inter­
ceded for by My prophets, My friends70 and by those who are obedient to Me.79

Statements concerning the interpretation of His words: He knows what lies

before diem and what is after them and they do not encompass anything o f His
knowledge except such as He wills. God means by this that He encompasses in
[His] knowledge everything that has been and everything that exists - nothing
is hidden from Him. The commentators have said the like of what we have on
this subject.

An account of those who said this: [...].80

W ith regard to His words And they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge
except such as He wills, God means that He is the All-knowing from W hom
78 Awtiyd’ (sing. walt)ylit ‘friends’, is the Muslim equivalent of‘saints’.
79 That is to say, God grants permission to intercede to the prophets, to the saints and to those
who are obedient to Him.
90 At this point, Tabari cites narrations reported from al-Hakam, Mujihid, Ibn Jurayj and al-
Suddi to the effect that He knows what lies before them refers to this world (durryd), either in its
entirety or in that which has already passed of it; while and what is after them refers to the Hereafter
(dkhira) or to what will happen after them both in this world and the Hereafter.

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On the Nature of the Divine

nothing is hidden, encompassing all [things]. He, and none other from all the rest
who are beneath Him, is able to reckon the number [of all things). No one apart
from Him knows a single thing except that which He wishes them to know, if He
so desires, He gives them knowledge [of a thing). By that, He means to say that
worship should not be offered to those who are ignorant {jdhil) of things. So how
should a graven image or an idol that is conscious of nothing be worshipped?
G od is saying: ‘Dedicate your worship solely to the One who encompasses all
things and knows them, neither the small thing being hidden from Him nor the
large\ The commentators said the like of what we have on this subject.

An account of those who said this:

As regards A nd they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge, al-Suddl
said: ‘They do n ot know a single thing of His knowledge except for that which
He teaches them ’.

Reports on the interpretation of God’s words: His seat embraces (be heavens
and earth. Commentators have differed with regard to the meaning of the kursi
(seat) about which God says in this verse that it embraces the heavens and the
earth. Some of them say that it denotes G od’s ‘knowledge {film):
Said b. Jubayr reported that Ibn ‘Abbas said with regard to His seat embraces:
‘His kursi is His knowledge (fi7m)\ adding [in a second version of this report],
‘Do you not see [this from] His words the preserving o f them wearies H im not?
Others said th at the kursi is the place of the two feet.

An account of those who said this:

Abu Musa [al-Ash‘ari] said, ‘The kursi is the place o f the two feet, and it
creaks like a new camel saddle’
W ith regard to His seat embraces the heavens and earthy al-Suddl said: ‘The
heavens and the earth are inside the kursi. The kursi is in front o f the ‘arsh, and
is the place where His feet resf ;81 while al-Pafrhak said: ‘His kursi is that which
is placed at the foot of the ‘arsh, that which kings place their feet upon ’ Muslim
al-Batin said: ‘The kursi is the place for the feet’
W ith regard to His seat embraces the heavens and earthy al-Rabl‘ [b. Anas]
said: ‘The C om panions of the Prophet said, “O Messenger of God, this kursi
embraces the heavens and the earth, then how must the *arsh be?” In response,
God sent down [the verse]: And they did not gauge God by His true measure to
where He says glory be to Him! And exalted be He above what they associate [with
Him]!' [Q. 39:67].82
81 Cf. Isa. 66:1, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool’.
82 The entire verse reads as follows: And they did not gauge God by His true measure. And the entire
earth will be in His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be rolled up in His right hand.
Glory be to Him! And exalted be He above that they associate [with Him]!

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

As regards God’s words His seat embraces the heavens and earth, Ibn Zayd’s
father said: ‘The Messenger of God said, “The seven heavens in proportion to
His seat (kursi) are as seven dirham s lying upon a metal shield”.’ Also, Abu
D harr said: T heard the Messenger of God saying, “The kurst compared to the
*arsh is as a metal ring flung in the midst of an open deserf.*
O thers said that the seat (kursi) is the [very] throne (carsh) itself.

An account of those who said this:

Al-I?afihak said: ‘Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] used to say that the seat (kursi) is [the
same thing as] the throne ('arsh) \ Abu Jafar [al-Tabari himself] says:

Each of these accounts has its perspective and teaching. However, that which has
come [to us] in a report from the Messenger of God constitutes the most suitable
interpretation of this verse. It is the one that ‘Abd Allah b. Abi Ziyad al-Qatawinl
related to me, namely that ‘Abd Allah b. Khalifa said: ‘A woman approached the
Prophet and said, “Pray to God that He admits me into Paradise”, whereupon
the Prophet exalted the Lord and said, “His seat (kursi) embraces the heavens and
the earth. He sits on it, and what is left over of it is as the measure of four fingers.”
Then he said, with his fingers joined together, “It has a creak like the creak of a
new camel saddle due to its load when it is ridden.”’83

As for the [opinion] of which the soundness is indicated by the literal text
(zahir) o f the Q ur’an, it is the report from Ibn ‘Abbas:

It [the kursi] is His knowledge. There is an indication in God’s words the preserving
of them wearies Him not that this is the case. [In these words of His], He informed
[us] that the preservation of what He knows and encompasses, of what is in the
heavens and the earth, does not weary Him - even as He informed [us] about His
angels, that they say in their prayers to Him Our Lord, You embrace all things in
mercy and knowledge [Q. 40:7].84 Thus God informed [us] that His knowledge
encompasses everything; even so are His words His seat embraces the heavens and
earth. The essential meaning of kursi then is ‘knowledge’ (‘i/m); from this derives
the term kurrdsa for a quire of paper on which there is written knowledge [...].85

[In the same way,] it is said of the ‘ulamd ’ that they are the kardsiyy because
they are the ones on whom one supports oneself.86 Likewise, it is said [of them
83 Three chains of transmission with slight variations in the names of transmitters are given for
this report
84 This is an example of intra-textual interpretation, i.e. the interpretation of the Qur'an by the
Qur’in (tafsir al-Qur'&n bil-Qur’an), which is a fundamental method of scriptural exegesis; see
Claude Gilliot, ‘Exegesis of the Qur’an: Classical and Medieval’, £Q, II, 99-124; Gatje 1971,30-41;
Esack 2002, 121-45; for a traditional Muslim analysis of tafsir genres, see Dhahabl 1961— 2.
85 Here, we omit a line of anonymous poetry that explains the sense of‘knowledge’expressed by
the root k-r-s.
w KarOsiyy is the plural of kursi and is used to mean ‘learned folk. There is paronomasia here,
for the term kursi can also denote a ‘prop’ or ‘support of a wall’. See Lex.VII, 2605-6 (k-r-s).

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On the Nature of the Divine

that they are) 'the tent-pegs of the earth’, meaning that it is through them that
the earth thrives. It is in this sense that the poet says:

yahuffu bihim bidul-wujuhi wa-‘u$batun

kardsiyyu bfl-ahd&thi hina tanubu

All around them are seated noble-faced ones -

A company of men knowledgeable (kardsiyyu) in events
As they unfold time and again.

By which he [the poet) means that they are knowledgeable in the vicissitudes
of events and the tribulations thereof. The Arabs use the term kirs for the origin
o f any thing. It is said, for example, that so-and-so is karim al-kirs, meaning ‘he
is o f noble origin [...].87

Reports on the interpretation o f God’s words: a n d the preserving o f them

wearies H im not. H e is die High, the Tremendous. By His words the preserving
o f them wearies Him not, God means that it is not troublesom e for Him and
does not burden Him [...).88 The commentators have said the like o f what we
have on this.

An account of those who said this:

Ibn ‘Abbas [and others] said, 'The preserving o f them wearies Him not: He says
it is not burdensome for him.’89
Abu Jafar [al-Tabari] says, ‘The h a , the mim and the alif[ i.e. the dual verb
ending: humd] in His word hifzuhumd (the preserving o f [the two of] them) refer
to the m ention of “the heavens and the earth”; thus the interpretation o f the
words is: His seat embraces the heavens and the earth and the protection o f the
heavens and the earth does not burden Him.’
W ith regard to the interpretation of His words wa-huwal-'aliyyu, He is the
Higjh: this means God is the High. A l-aliyy [follows the word pattern) al-faxl,
as when one says ‘a ld ,y a lu , 'uluwwan to mean [that the person] became [or
went] higher (irtafa'a), and so he is *&lin or ‘aliyyun. Al-'aliyy [is He who] pos­
sesses ‘uluww (height, exaltedness) and irtifd‘ (elevation) over His creation
(khalq) through His power (qudra). Likewise His word, Al-'azim (the
Tremendous) [means] the possessor of 'azama (majesty, magnificence), He
87 We have omitted a poetic citation that is adduced as evidence for this meaning.
88 Tabari proceeds to give some examples of the root a-w-d: adani (it burdened me), which are
not included in the text of the translation.
89 Tabari lists twelve reports to the same effect. Three are transmitted from Ibn ‘Abbis with dif­
ferent isn&ds. Two reports are transmitted from Qatida, the second of which is shared by al-Hasan
al-Ba$ri. Two reports come from al-pabhik. One report comes from Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-
Mudayni. Another report comes from Mujihid. One report is from al-Suddi. One from al-Rabi' b.
Anas. And finally, there is a report from Ibn Zayd.

1S2
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

w hom everything is beneath and greater than whom is nothing. As Ibn ‘Abbas
said, 'The Tremendous is He who is perfect in His majesty*
Expert scholars (ahl al-bahth) differ on the meaning o f His words He is the
High. Some of them have said, ‘He m eans by this that He is the exalted above
[having) an equal or similar*. They say that it does not m ean that H e is the
highest in [physical] location (m akdn). They say, ‘It is unthinkable th a t any
place be without Him and it is meaningless to ascribe to Him a spatial “high­
ness” ('uluww al-makdn), as this implies that He is in one [particular] place and
not in another*
O thers have said, ‘The meaning o f this is: He is the High over His creation,
in [terms of] the elevation (irtifd') of His place (makdn) above the places occu­
pied by His creation, because He is above (fawqa) His entire creation, and His
creation is below (duna) Him. Since H e Himself has described Himself as being
upon the throne ('aid al-arsh), then by that He is [situated] higher th an [His
creation].*
Likewise [commentators] differ on the meaning o f His words al-'azim, the
Tremendous. Some say, ‘The meaning of al-'aztm in this passage is al-m uazzam
I...].*90 They say, ‘The meaning of His words al-'aztm is a l-m u a zza m , whose
creation glorifies, honours and fears Him.* They say, ‘The only possibility is
[what is stated in] the words of those w ho say that huwal-'a&m has one o f two
meanings. The first o f these is that which we have [already] described, that it
m eans “the glorified” (m u'a& am ), and the other is that He is great in [terms
of] size and weight* They say, ‘The soundness of the opinion which we hold lies
in the invalidity o f the opinion that [posits] the meaning of that [phrase] to be
that He is great in respect of size and weight.*
O thers maintain: ‘Rather, the interpretation of His words the Tremendous is
that He possesses majesty (‘azama) which is one of His attributes* And they say,
‘We do not ascribe His majesty by way of resemblance,91 but we attribute it to

90 We have omitted a line of poetry which explains how the intensive form mufa,,alt and thus the
term mu'a&am, can denote the same meaning as the form fa% and thus 'azim.
91 The expression bi-kayfiyya, lit. ‘through how-ness*. Within the theological debate on anthro­
pomorphism, the related phrase bi-ld kayf (without how) was used by Ibn Hanbal to indicate that
God's descriptions of Himself in the Qur’an should be accepted without any further questioning.
Thus when God speaks of His hand, His hand is His hand, and that is that. Later adherents of the
Hanbali school, including Ibn Hanbal’s own son, were more anthropomorphist than Ibn Hanbal,
even bordering on corporealism. With Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari (d. 324/935-6), the word kayfiyya
(modality) became synonymous with tashbih (anthropomorphism), while bi-ld kayf{lit. ‘without
hoV) meant ithbdt bi-ghayr tashbih (affirming [things] without [meaning] anthropomorphism).
Thus the attributes of God, though sharing the same name as attributes in humans, are not similar
to the same-named attributes of human beings. When God speaks of His hand, He means His hand,
which is not like the human hand. Thus God’s having a hand is affirmed; but only God knows what
His hand is. To say that the divine attributes (ji/df) are similar to human attributes (tashbih) is to
ascribe anthropomorphic elements to God. So bi-ld kayfhere means to affirm the attributes God has
ascribed to Himself in the Qur’in, but not to liken them to the similarly named human attributes.

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Him by way of affirmation (ithbdt); and we negate from the [divine] attribute
that it should be of a m eaning that resembles the greatness ( ‘izam ) known
among His slaves - for that w ould be to liken Him to His creation and [the
reality) is not so! These [people] deny what the commentators have said, which
we have mentioned above, and maintain: Tf the meaning o f this were that He
is ‘glorified’ (m u'azzam ) [by creation], it w ould necessitate that He had not
been glorious before He created creation. Furtherm ore this meaning [of His
being glorified by creation] w ould become untenable upon the extinction of
creation, because in these circumstances [i.e. pre- and post-creation) He has no
[creature] to glorify Him*
O thers say: rather, [through] His utterance that He is the Tremendous, He
attributes to Himself greatness (‘izam); and they say, ‘Everything that is beneath
H im in His creation has the m eaning of fighar (insignificance, smallness)
because of their insignificance in the face of His greatness.’

Abu Hatim
Although Abu Hatim was an Isma'ill missionary, his philological glosses on the meanings
of the key names of God within the /curst-verse do not reveal a particular Isma 111inter­
pretation. Rather, his commentary is illustrative of much early philological and lexico­
graphical interpretation of the Qur’an, and reveals the relationship between philology and
ta fsir in the early classical period and a particular concern to juxtapose the Qur’inic
doctrine of God and His attributes with the pre-Islamic religion of the Arabs, whether
polytheistic or henotheistic (where a supreme god is recognised above a panoply of
others).

W hat has been said concerning [the name] Allah.92

His exclusive possession of the name All&h

Some scholars have said: His nam e is Allah, because He alone possesses it, thus
nothing in creation is named with this name, nor is this name found for any
thing [other than Him]. We find that the other most beautiful names o f His are
characteristics and attributes for this one name. It is only permissible to call
them names, though they are attributes and characteristics, because a charac­
teristic takes the place of the name, and is a substitute for it, as when it is said
‘Zayd the intelligent stood’, or “Amr the sensible stood’. So Zayd is the name
Thus, this group whom Tabari is citing - keen to stress that they are affirming God’s attribute
without falling into tashbih - are precursors of the attitude that later was associated with Ash’ari.
Very important here is Ghazili’s Fay$al al-tafriqa, for which see Jackson 2002.
92 Abu H§tim, Kitdb al-Zina, II, 12-13.

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an d ‘the intelligent is his characteristic. Then you discard the nam e Zayd and
you say, ‘the intelligent [one] stood*, or ‘the sensible [one] stood*, so ‘th e intel­
ligent* and ‘the sensible* are substitutes for what has been discarded. ‘The intel­
lig en t in this context is a nam e since an attribute now belongs to it. So this
nam e, I mean ‘Allah*, possesses all the names, and to it are attributed all the
names. God said, to God belong the Most Beautiful Names [Q. 7:179], so all the
names derive from this [name]. The pious one and the transgressor b oth yield
to Him through this name, willingly or unwillingly.93 People are called by the
rest of the [most beautiful] names, but they are not called by this one name,
which is Allah.
Those who associate [partners with Him] in their worship o f H im and
worship other than Him, derive names for [the others] from His name. So they
nam e their idols dliha (gods). As for themselves, they do not perm it that [i.e. to
use the name €ildh*for themselves]. They are nam ed the mighty (aW aziz), the
compeller (al-jabbdr), the king (al-malik)ythe merciful (al-rahtm), the trem en­
dous (al-'a&m) and the rest of the [most beautiful] names, but this nam e
[Allah] is for H im alone, being forbidden to all creation. God said: Do you know
o f anyone [or thing] that shares His name? [Q. 19:65]. One of the commentators
- [interpreting Q. 19:65] - has said: ‘Do you know anyone who resembles Him?*
Others have said: ‘None other than Him is called by this name.* He said:94 T h is
name is not derived from a characteristic (na't), like al-qadir (all-powerful) is
derived from qudra (power), and al-rdhiim (merciful) from rahma (mercy), and
al-'alim (all-knowing) from film (knowledge). It is solely a nam e [and] is not
combined with an attribute ($(/»).* We said they named their idols dliha (gods)
and the singular of dliha is ildh (a god). Thus they say, hddhd ilahu bani fuldn
(this is the god o f the Banu so-and-so [tribe]), for what they used to make out
o f wood or stone and so forth.95 It (ildh) is an indefinite noun (nakxra), [denot­
ing thus] as it were ‘a god from among the gods*. Then when the alif-ldm [i.e.,
the definite article] is added, it [the word] is said al-ildh (the god).96 But it is not
used as a definite (ta'rifl for anything other than Allah, and it (ildh) cannot be
used [in the definite singular] for other than Allah except in a genitive construe -

93 This is an allusion to Q. 3:83: What! Do they desire other than God's religion, when to Him has
submitted whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and to Him they shall be
returned?
94 This ‘he said’ (qdla) indicates that the words which follow are a continuation of the comments
by the commentators who have just been cited. Abu Hdtim resumes his commentary with the words
‘we have said’ (qulnd).
95 The pre-Islamic pantheon comprised a range of tribal gods, or deities whose cult was specific
to a certain tribe, clan or locale. See Ibn al-Kalbi’s Kitdb al-A$ndm in Fans 1952. For the problem of
accepting the traditional picture of pre-Islamic idolatry as presented in the Muslim sources, see
Hawting 1999.
96 Thus the word/name ‘Allah’ is formed; see Fahd 1968,41-4.

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On the Nature of the Divine

tion (i<fdfa):97 so they say: ildhu bam fuldtt (the god of the Banu so-and-so
[tribe]).9®

The word Alldh

As for ‘Allah*, it is al-ildh (the god) rendered definite by the alif-lam. The alif
[of ildh] is from the root (sinkh) of the word because in its original form (a$l) it
is ildh [alif-ldm-hd*]. A nd [another] a lif is introduced into it [the word] with
the 1dm [of the definite article, al\ to render the word definite. W hen the alif of
the definite article is introduced into it, the original a lif drops out, and the
hamza is dropped because o f the frequent way in which they pronounce it
[without this hamza). The lam of the definite article is assimilated to the Idm
(of ildh) that it meets, and it is pronounced emphatically and the vowel elon­
gated until the tongue is covered by the palate, for the magnificence o f His
m ention,99 Then the alif-ldm [of the definite article] in this [name] become as
though they are part of the root of the word, so that it is said: Allah. The name
is [therefore] specific to Him.
The Arabs derived from [the word] Allah a name, and they called some o f
their idols al-Lat. Ibn Jurayj said: al-Lat is derived from Allah, and al-'Uzza from
al-‘Az!z (the All-m ighty).100 Al-Lat was a stone idol [kept] in the Ka‘ba. The
Prophet later smashed it [...].101

On al-hayy al-qayyum 102

Among His attributes are al-hayy al-qayyum, ‘the Living, ‘the Eternal Sustained.
Al-hayy and al-tahiyya are from al-hayat: al-hayy (the Living) [is] from hayat
(life), that is to say, He is the perm anent [being] who does not cease to exist (la

97 That is to say, apart from in the name Allah, the word ildh may only be constructed as definite
in a genitive construct, without the definite article, such as in the phrase ‘the god of the Banu so and
$o\ ildh bardfuldtt - which does not contain the definite singular form of al-ildh.
98 Cf. Fahd 1968,249-52.
99 Abu Hatim engages here in a word play: fukhkhimat (pronounced emphatically) is a passive
of the second form from the verbal root f-kh-m; and fakhdma (magnificence) is from the first form
of this verbal root,fakhuma. The implication is that the divine name is thus pronounced emphati­
cally in keeping with the eminence of the divine mention.
100 These two deities along with Manat comprised the triad of the ancient Arabian pantheon
which were considered to be the daughters of the ‘supreme god’ Allah; see Hawting 1999,130-49.
The cult of al-'Uzza was the most significant in the immediate context of the rise of Islam, and was
part of the Near Eastern and Semitic cult of the virgin mother-goddess (Venus/Aphrodite) Cybele-
Astarta (Ishtar). On pre-Islamic religion in general, see Joseph Henninger's article in Swartz 1981,
3-22; Wellhausen 1927; Fahd 1968,111-20,163-82; Khoury 1972; further bibliographical references
can be found in Michael C. A. MacDonald and Laila Nehmi, ‘al-'Uzza’, El2, X, 967-8; Toufic Fahd,
‘Manif, EP, VI, 373-4; Toufic Fahd, ‘al-Ut\ El2, V, 692-3.
101 This subsection concludes with an alternative derivation of the name al*Lat.
102 Abu Hatim, Kitdb al-Zina, II, 94-6.

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 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

yafnd), the Living who does not die. The tahiyya (salutation) is derived from
haydt (life). In the [prayer] testimony (tashahhud),103 [there is the phrase] al-
tahiyydtu lilldhi, salutations belong to God, that is, al-baydt (life) belongs to God;
it [tahiyya] is based on the verbal paradigm ta f ila. It means that eternal life
(baqa ) and perm anence (dawam) belong to Him. It is reported from al-Hasan
al-Ba$ri that he said:

The people of the age of ignorance (jdhiliyya) had small idols, whose faces they
would stroke, while saying, ‘permanent, eternal life belongs to you’. So the
Muslims were commanded to say, ‘al-tahiyydtu lilldhi >that is, eternal life (baqd')
belongs [truly only] to God and not to any other than Him. God says about the
People of the Garden: tahiyydtuhum fihd saldm (their salutation therein shall be:
'Peace!*) [Q. 10:10].

This is because they have been granted eternal life and made safe from afflic­
tions, so when one of them meets another they gladden each other by announc­
ing [this good news] in their words saldman, saldman (Peace, peace!) [Q. 56:26],
that is, *We have been made safe from the afflictions of the world and from the
punishm ent of the afterlife, and have been granted eternal life.’ Because o f that,
it [the w ord ‘peace*] is repeated twice [in the Q u ran ic verse].

Al-qayyum and al-qayydm

Al-qayyum: Abu ‘Ubayda said that al-qayyum means al-qd’im (the existing), that
He is the perm anent (da’im) who never ceases to exist and it [the noun] is
[based on the paradigm of] fay*ul It is reported from Ibn ‘Abbas about His
saying, God, there is no god except Him, the Living (al-hayy), the Ever-watchful
[Q. 2:255], that al-hayy means: the Living before every living thing, and the
Living before every thing, W ho does not die, and W hom the ages do not extin­
guish, and W hom the changes in affairs do not alter. He said: *Al-qayyum,
means that He is the Watcher over the affairs of [His] servants104 [i.e. m ankind
and all creatures], regarding their actions, their sustenance and their life-spans
UK105
Thus He is al-hayy, the Living One, who possesses eternal life, W ho never
ceased to be living and W ho will never cease to be living; al-qayyum who is the
one who watches over every soul [to see] what it has earned [cf. Q. 13:33]; the

103 This refers to the final testimony in the ritual prayer ($aldt). See Nu‘min, Da'd’im, 1,205-15
on fi/dt al-$aldt, for an English translation see Fyzee 2002,1,206-7.
104 Al-q&’im ' alal-'ibad. While al-qa’im on its own means, among other things, ‘the existing, as
rendered here, the verb qdma 'aid means ‘to tend to, take care of, stand over, watch over, be mindful
of, preserve, maintain, to control, to be in charge of, which is clearly the sense in which it is being
used here.
105 What follows is further philological material on the term and its root.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Perm anent (al-da’im ); al-qawwdm, who takes upon Himself the m anagement
o f His handiw ork unto the end of its tim e (intihd' muddatiha); He is in charge
o f its requital for what it has earned. Blessed is God, the Living, the Ever-watch-
fill!

On al-Kursi106
'All that God created is inside the “se a f (kursi) ’
It is reported from Abu ‘Abd Allah Jafar b. M uhammad [al-$idiq], peace be
upon him, that he said: The throne ('arsh) and the heavens and the earth and
all that G od created is inside the seat {kursi), like a ring you have tossed in a
desert. That is [to be seen from] His saying, His seat (kursi) comprises the heavens
and the earth [Q. 2:255] - do you not see that the action belongs to th e kursi
while the heavens and the earth are passive, since it is the kursi that comprises
them both? It is written in the Gospel (al-Injil): ‘Do not swear by heaven (al-
samd 0 because it is the seat {kursi) of God, nor by the earth because it is the base
under His feet, n o r by Jerusalem {Orishalam) because it is the city o f the great
monarchy, nor by your head since you cannot increase even a hair o f it,
whether black o r white.’
The interpretation of kursi as [denoting) ‘knowledge’ {*ilm): Ibn Qutayba
said:

A group [of commentators] have interpreted it [the kursi] according to their

knowledge. A group of them [have said] about His saying, His seat comprises the
heavens and the earth [Q. 2:255], that [the kursi] is His knowledge. [In support of
that] they present an anonymous poetic citation, namely, the [following] words
of a poet:

Wa-ld yukarsi’u ilmalldhi makhluqu

Nor can a creature lknoW {yukarsi’u) the knowledge of God.

It is as though, according to them [the meaning of this line] is: And no creature
‘knows’ the knowledge of God.107 But the word kursi does not have a hamza, while
yukarsi’u does have a hamza. They are averse - they claim - to attributing to God
a kursi (seat) or an 'arsh (throne) or a sarir (elevated seat). [It was] Muhammad b.
Na$r al-Paymari [sic.] who recited this stanza to me in Baghdad; he was one of the
shaykhs of the Mu‘tazila and a reliable person [at that]. He mentioned that he
related [the poetry] from their shaykhs:

md li bi-'ilmika kursiyyun ukdtimuhu

wa halyukarsi’u 'ilmalldhi makhluqu
106 Abu Hitim, Kitdb a l-Z in a , II, 150-2.
107 By identifying the third-person imperfect verb yukarsi’u with ‘know', the assumption is that
kursi then means ‘knowledge.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

O f Your knowledge I have no ‘knowledge! ?]>(kursf) which I might conceal,

For can any creature ‘have knowledge of[?]*(yukarsi’u) the knowledge of God?

And he recited again to me: wa halyukarsi’u ‘ilm al-ghayb makhluq (Can any crea­
ture have knowledge of the knowledge of the unseen?). He said: [God’s] kurst is
knowledge; and he adduced the stanza in support of this [assertion]. This is the
view of the Mu‘tazila; through it they desire to negate anthropomorphism (nafy
al-tashbih) (...].108

Jacfar b. M ansur
Ja‘far's esoteric understanding of this verse is indicative of his style of ta’wil.109 His main
interest lies in cosmological homologies: the hierarchy and structure of the cosmos as mir­
rored in the spiritual hierarchy of the Ismaili mission, which in turn is to be seen in an
esoteric understanding of the hierarchy and ranking of the Arabic alphabet. This interest
in the hidden meanings of letters is a key aspect of esoteric interpretation in Islam,110in
which the word is a transformative and magical entity that expresses higher realities.

,
Slumber seizes Him not neither sleep. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens
and in the earth [Q. 2:255],*11and all that is between them and all that is under­
neath the soil [Q. 20:6]:*12 these are the portals (abwab) o f the attributes and
they are the portals of His knowledge, which no one and nothing encompasses
in its full scope. His seat comprises the heavens and the earthy the kursi is the
portal o f the knowledge o f the hidden things that are appearing from [the realm
of] the Unseen things; it is the portal of inscribing ( raqm).113 His saying, His
108 This is followed by a discussion of some poetic shawdhid for the origin of the word kurst and the
root k-r-s, amongst them the one already mentioned in the commentary of Tabari. One opinion given
is that a kurrdsa is a ‘book (kitdb) and it is so-named because knowledge and wisdom are brought
together within it. The rest of this section is taken up with the discussion of the meaning of the relevant
forms of k-r-s as ‘origin’ and as 'paper' or as anything which is piled up one on top of the other.
109 It should be noted that Ja‘far b. Mansur's ia’wil work does not deal with the Qur’anic verses
systematically or in any order; rather, phrases from different places in the Qur’an are taken and
grouped together and then commented on. So here, for instance, wa Id ta'khudhuhu sinatun wa Id
nawm from Q. 2:255, lahu md fH-samdwdti wa rrxdfil-ard from both Q. 2:255 and Q. 20:6, and wa
md bayruthumd wa md tahtal-thard (And what is between them and what is under the soil) from Q.
20:6, are all commented on together in one paragraph. It is to be noted that the same process can be
discerned in the commentary ascribed to 'All al-Rida in Qummi, where the passages from different
suras are interwoven; Ja‘far b. Mansur was, of course, a ShTl and his source may have been the same
as that used by Qummi, so that the order of the verses reflect a ‘non-standard’ sequence (see nn. 36,
39).
110 The science oijafr, which deals with the symbolic significance of the letters of the Arabic
alphabet, is mostly associated with the figure of Ja‘far al-§adiq (d. 148/765); for more details on the
history and development ofjafr> see the detailed article by Toufic Fahd, ‘£)jafi', EP, II, 375-7.
111 Ja'far b. Mansur, Kitdb al-Kashf\ 42.
112 Cf. Qummfs similar citation in his commentary, this chapter.
1,3 The verb raqama (of which raqm is the verbal noun) means ‘to write’, ‘impress’, ‘print*, or
‘mark with diacritical points’, as well as ‘to distinguish something through marking if and ‘to

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On the Nature of the Divine

seat embraces, [means that] in that portal114 [is] the knowledge o f the heavens
and the earth.
God says:115 His seat embraces the heavens and the earth; the preserving o f them
wearies Him not. He is High, Tremendous [Q. 2:255]. God thus fixed His [delim­
iting] lim it (hadd),116 the one that runs along the larsh-portal,117 as a pole
(qufb),U8 and set up upon this [pole] all that He has generated (inshd') in the
farsh. Then He gave these [generated things] leave, w hereupon the pole p ro ­
ceeded with them to the second portal which is nam ed the kursi, wherein is
contained the knowledge of all things that are existent and not unseen, [and] it
is in here that all things are preserved. Now, when their [the generated exis-
tents] pole proceeded to the portal of the kursi, God made these [existents] into
twenty-eight letters (harfan) in seven limits (hudud).n 9

numbed. See Lex., Ill, 1138-40 (r-q-m). Further along in his commentary, when comparing the fcurtf
and the 'arsh (which he defines as the inner portal, al-bdb al-bafin), Ja'far b Man$ur states; ‘The kursi
is the outer/visible portal of the invisible’ (al-kursi huwa al-bdb al-zdhir min al-ghayb). He goes on
to describe the kursi-portal as:'[...] that through which appear originated things (mubda'dt) and the
principle (mabda') of all things and (...) the knowledge of words and vowels and the utterance
thereof [...)* (Kitdb al-Kashf, 43); hence, bdb al-raqm as ‘the gate of inscribing.
114 The word ‘bdb’ covers a number of positions in the Ism&lli da'wa hierarchy, most importantly
that of the dd'i al-du'dt (chief dd'i) who is directly under the imam. However, it does not seem as
though this is the rank which is being viewed as corresponding to the celestial portal under discus­
sion at this point.
115 Jafar b. Mansur, Kitdb al-Kashf, 48-50 (being the next place where this Quranic phrase is
discussed).
116 In other words, that which limits all that is other than God from God, for God is utterly tran­
scendent and His being cannot be conceived of, much less known (cf. Poonawala 1988, 202). The
first realm of ‘knowables’ then begins at this portal {bdb), or gate, that is the 'arsh, after - or below
- which comes the /cursi-portal. The terms used here by the commentary to describe the cosmic hier­
archy simultaneously reflect the hierarchy of the da'wa on the ‘mundane’, or human, plane. These
higher spiritual ranks correspond to the ranks of the da'wa (mardtib al-da'wa), also known as the
hudud (sing, hadd) al-din, ‘the limits of the faith’. There are ten such ‘limits’ (hudud), the top three
of which are the enunciator (al-ndfiq), the trustee/founding imam (wafi/asds), and the present
imam; cf. Daftary 1990,227-9; for the cosmological framework, see Corbin 1983,84-103.
117 That is to say, in the ‘arsh which is the first portal. In the section just before this one, Ja‘far
states that the ‘arsh is the first of two particular portals and is ‘unseen, beyond being perceived by
the mind or the senses {ghayb ghd’ib)', while the second portal is the kursi ‘in which He concealed
the knowledge of the visible {‘ilm al-zdhir)' (Kitdb al-Kashf, 48).
118 The term qufb has numerous meanings among them ‘pivot*, ‘pole’, ‘polar star* and ‘the chief
or head of a people’; in esoteric and mystical language it signifies the holder of a pre-eminent position
of authority upon whom matters depend. In the context of this commentary, the hadd al-jdri is the
pivotal axis of the ‘arsh portal upon whom the matters pertaining to this portal depend.
119 Although Ja‘far came later, his system of jafr as witnessed here, with its frequent reference to
the number seven, is very reminiscent of aspects of early Ismail! thought in which the concept of
heptads is prominent. For instance, the early Isma‘ilis viewed human history in terms of seven
periods of differing lengths, each period being inaugurated by a nd(iq (enunciator) who brings a rev­
elation containing an exoteric law. Each ndfiq is followed by a wa$i ([spiritual] legatee) also called
an asds (foundation) who interprets the inner aspect (bdfin) of the revealed message. In turn each
waft is followed by seven imams also called atimmd’ (completors), who protect both the zdhir and
bdfin in the Laws and in the true meaning of the scriptures. The seventh imam of each prophetic era
(with the exception of the present Muhammadan era, the sixth era) was held to become the ndfiq of

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Then God nam ed these twenty-eight letters with their names; He nam ed the
first limit of them, alif then b a \ then ta \ then th a \ then jfrn, then h d \ then khd\
So He named these letters with these name; thus He appointed from the twenty-
eight [letters] seven portals (abwdb)120 and called them ‘signs (simdt) and gath­
ered together in them sixteen letters. Those seven are the foundations
(um m ahdt); am ong them are the limits, that is, the letters with diacritical
dots.121 Those seven [foundational letters] are: alif\ b d \ td \ th d \jim , h d \ khd*.
W hen spelt out, their spelling constitutes sixteen letters.122 As for the siny it is
the name (ism) o f the kurstyand the shin is the name o f the 'arsh. He also made
seven letters which bring together the remaining letters, apart from sin and shin
and what was already included in the previous sixteen letters. These remaining
[letters] are twelve: daly dhdly rd\ z d \ $dd, dad, fd \ %d\ *aynyghaynyf d \ 123 qdfy
k d f These letters [which govern the rem aining twelve] are m arked by seven
signs [simat],124 and they are the ‘ajamiyydt - which carry diacritical points
(m u ja m d t) - am ong these [twelve rem aining letters]. These [seven dots] are
an allusion to the seven letters which bring together what [letters] rem ain after
the foremost seven and the [letters] they com bine [in their full spellings]. In
these twelve [remaining] letters there is not the increase o f a letter since [the

the following era; he would abrogate the religious law of the previous era and introduce a new one.
Muhammad b. IsmiTl was the seventh imam of the sixth era and would become the seventh ndfiq
and the QS’ira or the Mahdi and inaugurate the final era of human history, for he would unite within
himself the functions of both ndfiq and wa$i. He would abrogate the Islamic religious law but would
not bring a new law, rather he would reveal the esoteric truths within all the preceding revelations
(see Daftary 1990,139-40). It is conceivable that the unstated seventh governing letter (see n. 119)
is a reference to the Q&’im.
120 Bdb (pi. abwdb) is also a technical term for the chief missionary of the dawa.
121 Simdt'ajamiyydt. the editor of the Arabic text notes that he could not find the w ord fajamiyydt
in the dictionaries. Further on in this passage, Ja‘far states: wa hiya al-’ajamiyydt allati *alayhd di-
mu'jamdt (and they are the ’ajamiyydt over/on which are the mujamdt). Now the mu’jamdt, if taken
as the plural of hurufat-mu’jam, would be the letters which have the diacritical points (see Lex., V,
1968 (col. a) under j-m, where it is stated that ‘the meaning of huruf al-mujam is the letters of
which a property is being dotted’); so it would seem that Ja'far is using 'ajamiyydt to mean letters
with diacritical points, albeit this is an unusual usage of the word. The point being made is that the
hudud which have diacritical dots - which could be labelled al-hudud al-'ajamiyydt - are found
among the seven foundational letters, which could be labelled al-hudud al-ummahdt. That would
make the bd\ td\ thd’, jim, and khd* the hudud al-’ajamiyydt.
122 T hese sixteen , in clu d in g th e ummahdt, are: 1 - alif; 2 - Idm; 3 - fd ‘; 4 - b d 5 - hamza; 6 - td’;
7 - hamza-, 8 - thd’; 9 - hamza; 10 -jim ; 11- yd; 12 - mlm; 13 - /id'; 14 - hamza; 15 - khd’; 16 -
hamza. O f these, th e non-ummahdt le tters are: ldm,fd\ yd* a n d mim.
123 The fd* has obviously been erroneously included in Arabic text, as it falls within the first set
of sixteen. Moreover, Ja'far says these letters here are twelve in number, and so they are without
counting the fd '; if the fa is counted here they become thirteen.
124 The simdt here are clearly the seven dots which go with the letters dhdl (one dot), zd‘ (one
dot), z&‘(one dot), d&d (one do\),ghayn (one dot), qdf (two dots). The seven dots are an allusion to
the seven letters which govern the remaining twelve letters mentioned. The six dotted letters are
the 'ajamiyydt among the remaining letters - but Ja'far does not state what the seventh governing
letter is.

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On the Nature of the Divine

extra letters that are] in their spelling, when they are spelt out, are already
present in the spelling of the foremost seven, in the num ber o f the sixteen [Le.
among the set of the sixteen spelt out letters]. As for the nun and waw, they are
in the spelling of the sin and the shin and in the spelling of their [own] letters
[respectively]125 - so these two are in their group.
The ha alone [then] rem ains and it is in the nam e ‘Allah*; when a person
mentions Allah, it cannot be known that he means ‘Allah* unless he m entions
the ha - if he does not mention the h d \ it is not known that he means the name
‘Allah*. It (the hdy] is the ultimate (ghdya) of the letters of the name Allah; and
Allah is the ultim ate (ghdya)126 of what His creation knows and w hat they
acknowledge from all that is created. Thus the hd*is an indication (ishdra) of
Him, blessed be His nam e and exalted be His magnificence. The first seven
letters are an indication (daldla) of the seven enunciators (nufaqd*),127 and the
last seven letters are an indication o f the seven imams because they comprise
the completion of the letters. The imams undertake the completion o f all the
affairs of the messengers (rusul), blessings o f God be upon them all.128
Thus the num bers o f sixteen and twelve total up to twenty-eight letters
together with the indication to the 'arsh and the kursi and to Allah, who created
everything.129130

M aybudi
NawbatllV™
Much of M aybudf $ commentary on this verse consists of an encomium to God, and
several of its passages have been composed in rhyming prose (sa/).131 Notwithstanding

125 As the editor of the Arabic text points out, the letter nun is present in the spellings of the letters
sin and shin, while the letter waw is present in the spellings of nun and waw.
126 The paronomasia here is on the significations of the word ghdya, which means ‘ultimate' in
the sense of ‘limit', ‘final’, ‘end’ and ‘goal’ or ‘objective.
127 Namely, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mubammad and the Mahdi.
126 See nn. 116,119.
129 Taking the letters in the order with which they were dealt: the first set of sixteen (in which
certain letters are repeated) comprises the seven ummahdt (alif, bd‘, td\ thd\jim, ha, khd‘) plus the
four extra letters, from their full spellings, of lam ,fd\ yd‘ and mint, which is equivalent to eleven
letters. Add to these the sin and shin and that gives thirteen, which in addition to the remaining
twelve (ddl, dhdl, ra, zd\ fad, dad, (a, za , *ayn, yjhayn, qdf, kdf) is equivalent to twenty-five, and with
the nun and the waw and finally the hd' come to twenty-eight. This commentary also reveals the
influence of the sort of gnostic letter mysticism and significance that was found in the Umm al-Kitdb,
on which see Daftary 1990, 88-9,101.
130 Kashf, 1,697-700.
131 In the Arabic language saj' goes back to pre-Islamic times, when it was mostly associated with
soothsayers (kuhhdn, sing, kdhin). The earliest extant examples of saj' in Persian date from the late
fifth/eleventh century, though again, it may well have existed earlier in oral form. Its introduction
into Persian literature is attributed to 'Abd Allah An$ari, who composed many of his Mundjdt in saj\

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

the metaphysical nature of this verse, our commentator soon finds occasion to introduce
a couplet of love poetry, and from then on until his discussion of the word kursi, the whole
comm entary is infused with the language and doctrines of mystical love. The mention of
the word y&dgar (keepsake or memento), which occurs as part of MaybudTs eulogy, allows
him to digress briefly to the theme of the remembrance of God, and to include a saying
o f Junayd on that subject later, the observation that there are people who live solely by
God’s remembrance provides him with the context for a saying from Shibli. I n
Maybudi’s discussion of God’s kursi, we encounter the more dogmatic side of his mystical
commentary. Somewhat unusally, given that Sufi exegesis embraces the use of metaphor,
he gives vent to his fervently held belief that the word ‘kursi should not be subjected to
metaphorical interpretation ( ta'wil) but accepted in its literal meaning.

God, there is no god except Him

Alldh [is the One] W ho possesses [all] divinity (uluhiyya) and lordship
(rububiyya), the One to W hom belongs oneness (ahadiyya) and [the quality of]
being the eternal refuge ($amadiyya).132 [...] A llah,133 the nam e o f th e God
W hose essence is infinite and W hose attributes are eternal. His subsisting has
no beginning (azali) and His magnificence, no end (abadi). His beauty is ever­
lasting (qayyumi) and His majesty, eternal (daymumt). Illustrious is His renown.
Great in magnitude, and great in act, great in name and great in speech, He sur­
passes [all] understanding, eludes all estimation and transcends all measure. A
majestic Lord, W ho is maker and artist par excellence; creator o f the universe
and protector of creatures, the keeper o f enemies and helper of friends.134 He
it is W ho realises [our] hopes without delay,135 and Who reliably honours guar­
antees. He accepts the actions o f all [His] adversaries, and forgives every sin.

From the sixth/twefth centuries onwards, the use of saj1in Persian became established not only in
mystical works but in many other genres of literature. One famous exponent of saj was Sa'di Shlrazi
(d. 691/1292) who employed saj‘ in the Gulist&n. For an analysis of the formal conventions of saj‘,
and a discussion of saj in the Quran, see Stewart 1990; on saj*in Arabic, see various authors, ‘Sadf’,
EP, VIII, 732-8; Rowson 1997. On saj4in Persian, see Bahar 1337sh/1958, II, 240ff (under An$4ri)
and III, 125ff. (underSadi).
132 The various meanings of God’s attribute al-samad are discussed in Maybudi’s commentary
on surat al-Ikhlds in ch. 6, this volume. No one word in English suffices as a translation, for the word
includes God’s eternity, transcendence, self-sufficiency and His being the ultimate resort and refuge
for all creatures.
133 In this Persian text, two words are used to mean God: the Arabic AUdh and the Persian Khudd.
In this translation, an attempt is made to reflect the usage of these two words by leaving the former
as Allah, and translating the latter as ‘God’.
134 This is probably an allusion to a traditional interpretation of Q. 1:2, where God as the
Compassionate One (al-rahm&n) extends His goodness and mercy to all creatures, good and bad,
whilst as the Merciful (al-rahtm), His mercy is directed specifically towards the believers. See Tabari,
Jdmi’ al-baydn, 1,149, for the English translation of which see Cooper 1987,55-7; MaybudI, Kashf,
1, 7.
135 Lit, He is the ‘cash in hand’ (naqd) as opposed to credit for our hopes.

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On the Nature of the Divine

He is the qibla of the aspirant and the keepsake (yadgar) o f the m ystics heart
(dil-i ‘arif).136

bar137ydd-i tu bl tu ruzgdri ddram

dar dida zi $uratat nigdri ddram

[Even] without You I have a [good] time with Your memory,138

In my eye I have the image of Your face.

Allah is the keepsake o f [His] lovers hearts. Allah is the Loved O ne of the
souls of mystics. Allah is a banquet in the secrets139 of those who are m ad with
[His] love. Allah is a cure for hearts that are sick [with His love], Allah is the
lamp in the breasts o f those who realise His oneness. Allah is the light in the
hearts of those who are acquainted with Him. Allah is a salve for the pain o f
those who bum [in longing for Him].

andar dil-i man ‘ishq-i tu chun nur-iyaqin ast

bar dida-yi man ndm-i tu chun naqsh-i nagin ast
dar fab'-i man u himmat-i man td ba-qiydmat
mihr-i tu chu jan-ast u wafa-yi tu chu din ast

In my heart my love for You is like the light of certainty,

In my eye Your name is as the imprint on a bezel;140
In my nature and my aspiration until the Day of Resurrection,
Love of You is my life and faithfulness to You my religion.

The Master of the Way, Junayd, said: ‘W hoever recites the name “Allah” with
his tongue, taking pleasure in the remembrance of that name, and th en occu­
pies his heart with the love of other than Him, by His majesty and glory, at the
resurrection that person will receive the whip of God’s rebuke in the station of
punishm ent and G od will be his enemy.’141 O n the night o f the Ascension
(laylat al-mi'raj) 142 G od said to our Lord [M uhammad], ‘O M uhamm ad! I

136 The word 'drifis commonly translated as ‘gnostic’. However, because of the association which
this word has with gnosticism, it has been translated here as ‘mystic’, i.e. a person who has experi­
enced mystical or divinely inspired knowledge.
137 Thus in the published edition.
138 The poem simply has ruzgdri, ‘a time’, but since Maybudi is using the poem metaphorically
to allude to the remembrance of God, one assumes it to be ‘a good time. See also where An$4ri says:
‘In union with You there can be no grief, with Your memory no sadness.’
139 By ‘secret" (sirr) is meant the innermost consciousness of the human being.
140 That is to say, ‘inscribed forever'.
14* This is Maybudi*s Persian version of Junayd’s saying; but he precedes it with a less elaborate
and probably more authentic version in Arabic, the translation of which reads: ‘Whoever pro­
nounces the name “Allah” with his tongue and has other than God in his heart, will have God as his
enemy in the two worlds’, meaning this world and that of the Hereafter.
142 This is a reference to the night journey (isrd’) and heavenly ascension (mi’rdj) of the Prophet.
Muslims understand the Q. 17:1 and Q. 53:7-18, respectively, as allusions to these events. Among
the accounts of this experience attributed to the Prophet, one of the best known is that included in

164
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

w onder how someone can believe in Me and then place their trust in other than
Me. O Muhammad! If they looked at the subtleties o f My beneficence and the
w onders of My creation, then they would not w orship other than Me. How
strange that a person should find Me and then seek another! How could one
w ho has come to know Me have anything to do with another?

chashm-i ki tu-rd did shud az dard ma'dfi

jdn-i ki tu-rd ydft shud az marg musallam

The eye that sees You becomes immune from harm,

The soul that finds You becomes free from death

The Master of the W ay143 said:

O You Who are fittingly generous (sazd-yi karam),144 and the cherisher145of the
world. In union with You there can be no grief, and with Your memory, no
sadness. You are both adversary and intercessor, witness and judge. May our every
breath be with the love of You, free from the shackles of being and non-existence,
forever at the assembly of intimacy, the cup of joy in our hand.

There is no god except Him

T he God other than W hom there is none worthy of worship. In the two worlds
who else is fit for lordship? W hat other help is there for those who suffer except
the insignia of His beauty and grace? W hat other care for orphans except the
m andate of His generosity? [He is] the God to W hom lovers hearts are tied by
the tether o f faithfulness. The souls of those who yearn for Him are desirous of
meeting Him, the spirits o f lovers drunk from the cup o f affliction from Him.
T he peace o f those who are w ounded [by His love] lies in His nam e and His
sign, the joy o f mystics is in His remembrance and His message. That desperate
[lover] o f our time spoke well when he said:

kay khandad andar ru-yi man bakht-i man az mayddn-i tu?

kay khayma az $ahrd-yi jdn-am bar kanad hijrd-yi tu?
drdm-i man payghdm-i tu \?in pd-yi man dar ddm-i tu
bustdn shuda az ndm-i tu bar jdn-i man zindan-i tu

Ibn Isbiq account of the Prophet’s life, for which see Ibn Hishim, Sira, and Guillaume 1955 for the
English. On the mi’rdj, see Amir-Moezzi 1996; B. Schnieke-[J. Horovitz) and J. E. Bencheikh,
‘Mi'radj. El2, VII, 97-103; Michael Sells, ‘Ascension’, £Q, 1,176-80.
143 Here, the eponym ‘Master of the Wa/ (pir-i fariqat) refers to Khwija 'Abd Allah An$ari. On
MaybudTs inclusion of the sayings of An$ari, see ‘The Commentators and their Commentaries’, s.v.
MaybudL
144 Lit., ‘worthy of generosit/. This is typical of Annin’s pithy style. What is meant is that God’s
generosity is vast in a way that befits Him.
145 Navdzanda, lit. 'one who caresses and soothes.

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On the Nature of the Divine

When will luck smile at me from Your [royal] parade ground?

When will separation strike its tent from the desert of my soul?
My peace is held in a word from You. My foot is held in Your snare;
Through Your name,146 Your prison147 became a garden in my soul.

[On] al-hayy al-qayyum

God, the Living, the Enduring, is the Sustainer and Cherisher, the One who for­
gives and covers over [sins], the Knower o f all that is and will be. He is the One
who can encompass the power and understanding o f anything, the Lord of
every person, and the One who brings forth all that has the potential to exist.
Those who are acquainted with His love [have] the light of His name and the
light o f His message,148 in their hearts is pleasing refreshm ent and in their
secret (sirr), tranquility. Bravo! those noble ones who have an understanding
o f this m atter, who have attained the mystery o f this salver o f Grace, so that
while others live by food and drink, they live by the nam e and sign o f that
Beloved and take their ease in remembrance of Him.
Shibll was asked, ‘W hence is your food and drink?" He answered, ‘The
remembrance of my Lord is the food of my soul, the praise of my Lord its cloth­
ing, and shame before my Lord the drink of my soul. My soul is ransomed to
my heart, my heart to my spirit, and my spirit to my Lord."

nur-i chashm-am khdk-i qadam-ha-yi tu bad

jdni daram fidd-yi gham-hd-yi tu bad

May the light of my eye be the dust beneath Your feet,

May my life be ransomed to spare You sorrow.

Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep

These words are [intended] to m aintain the sanctity (taqdis) o f the divine
essence, and to hold it above (tanzih) all com parison with created things.149
For, He is immune from all ills and sanctified above all imperfections. Sleep is
a state which is concomitant with change, and G od is unaffected by the state o f
changing or becoming, far removed from decrease or increase. Sleep is an
imperfection, and G od is free of all imperfections. Sleep is unawareness, and
God is exalted above all weaknesses and lapses o f awareness. Sleep is a changing

146 In other words, by remembering Your name.

147 That is to say, the prison of loving You.
148 There appears to be a lacuna in the text here.
149 Tanzih (de-anthropomorphism) denotes the attitude that is the opposite of tashbih (anthro­
pomorphism): see n. 64 in ch. 1; also n. 109, ch. 1.

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 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

state, and G od is not susceptible to change either in His state or in Himself.

Sleep is akin to death, and God is the Living, the Enduring, the Subsistent.

qadirun ‘dlimun hayyun muridun

sami un mubfirun labasa’l-jaldla
taqaddasa an yakuna lahu sharikun
ta did an yazunna wa-an yuqdld

He is the All-powerful, the All-knowing, the Living, the One who wills,
The All-hearing, All-seeing, arrayed in His Majesty,
Sanctified above having any partner,
Exalted is He above being imagined or spoken of!

The God W ho in His essence has no partner, in His attributes no like, and
in His power no equal.

dar dhdt-i lafif-i tu hayrdn shudafikrat-hd

bar ‘ilm-i qadim-i tu paydd shuda pinhdn-hd
dar bahr-i kamdl-i tu ndqif shuda kamil-ha
dar 'ayn-i qabul-i tu kdmil shuda nuq$dn-hd

At Your subtle essence minds become perplexed,

In Your eternal knowledge [all] that is hidden becomes manifest,
In the ocean of Your perfection [all] perfections became deficient,
In the spring of Your acceptance [all] defects became perfect.

To H im belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth

Existent things and engendered beings on earth and in heaven are all His cre­
ation and all [under His] dom inion. No one can contend with Him nor can any
other gain ascendancy over H im. [For] His com m and prevails over any such
[contender], and His knowledge penetrates him. That ones power exists [only]
by G od’s help, and whatever he possesses is only through G od’s preserving [it
for him]. It is related that Ibn ‘Abbas said: ‘The earth rests upon the ox, the ox
is part of a chain, the chain [rests] upon the fin of a fish, and the fish is in the
hand of the Compassionate One, glory be to Him.’150

Who is there that shall intercede with H im except by His permission ?

W ho imagines that he can carry out any task w ithout G od’s willing, or even
breathe one breath without His knowledge, [let alone] reach Him without Him?

150 Sec, on similar traditions with parts of this narration, AbO'l-Shaykh, ‘Azama, II, 426; SuyutI,
Durr, III, 23, V, 254; Alusi, Rub al-ma'&ni, XXXI, 98; Muniwi, Fayd, III, no. 2817.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Indeed anyone who supposes such a thing will be unsuccessful and all his
efforts will come to nothing.
The Master of the Way151 said,

O God! Those who were favoured [by You]152 sought You through You and were
united with You. Those who did not have [Your] favour sought You by themselves
and were cut off. The one who attained union did n ot do so because of his appre­
ciation [of G od], no r did the one who did not attain it fail because o f his sh o rt­
com ing.153 O You W ho bring about [our] annihilation from self, and cause us to
attain [union with You], Make m e reach [union], for no one attained it by their
own efforts.

ay rah-i tu-ra dalil dard-i

fardi tu u dshn&tfardi

O You, the way to W hom is m arked by pain -

You are Alone and the one who knows You [should] have aloneness.154

He knows what lies before them and what is after them

W hatever person or thing exists in heaven o r earth, the C reator knows its
movement and its stillness. He is appraised of every thought that passes through
[the] minds [of His creatures]. He sees their coming and going and their agita­
tion, and He understands the reality of it all, for everything comes about by His
power, and moves by His wisdom. He knows because it is He W ho drives
[everything]. He sees because it is He W ho does everything. He closes because
it is He W ho opens. Thus He alone is the One worthy to be G od because He
neither tires, nor lacks nor is helpless. He knows that which is concealed. No
task confounds Him; [indeed] He has accomplished everything and completed
all that is to be done except that which is for m an to accomplish. M inds are
blunted by the attem pt to understand His work; imaginations tied down by
Him. Knowledge and intellect become lost in His magnitude.

151 In this case MaybudI is referring to Khwija ‘Abd Allah An$ArI.

152 'Pasandidagdri, those who are approved by God, i.e. those who are destined to be successful.
The doctrine that there are some who are pre-ordained for salvation and others for damnation is
discussed in the commentary on Q. 54:49, ch. 5, this volume.
153 In other words, it is all a matter of divine pre-ordaining.
1M In his introduction to the Mandzil al-sd 'irin, An$ari quotes the following hadith of the Prophet
concerning isolation or solitude for God: ‘Journey! (siru), [for] those who are isolated [for God] (al-
mufarradun) will arrive first.’ When asked the meaning of al-mufarradun, the Prophet replied, ‘They
are those who tremble in the remembrance of God. [That] remembrance removes from them their
burdens so that they come light [in load] to the resurrection.’ Though An$dri quotes this hadith to
explain the first stage of determining to embark upon the spiritual path, he places tafiid third to last
in the order of the waystations (see An$4ri, Mandzil, 108).

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 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

They do not encompass anything o f His knowledge except such as He wills. His seat
embraces the heavens and earth
This is the text of the Q ur’an, and [these words] imply direction and place. The
kursi is not knowledge. That [kind of interpretation] is the way o f those who
are misguided. It is the metaphorical interpretation (ta'w il)155 o f the ignorant.
We know kursi to mean ‘throne’ and that is the doctrine o f the Sunnis,156 who
have taken hold of [these words] and accepted them with their souls without
interpreting them metaphorically or changing their meaning.
Moreover, He placed a seal upon the verse by mentioning His majesty and
greatness, gloriousness and exaltedness when He said He is the High, the
Tremendous.157 It is related that the Prophet said: ‘Am ong the ways in which
th e angels glorify God are these words, “The highest heavens glorify the One
possessed o f awesomeness (mahdba) and elevation Culd)n; and “Glory be to the
H igh the Highest (al-aliyy al-a ld )”; and “Glory to Him, be He exalted (subhd-
nahu wa t a ' d l d G od’s exaltedness and elevation have two aspects: one is
exaltedness and elevation of attribute, and the other is exaltedness and elevation
o f act. That which is of attribute is eternal: the One w ho never ceases to be is
exalted beyond everything,15* High. He is, and always will be, above all things
in His greatness (kibriya ), above all signs in His m agnitude (qadr), above all
m easure in His glory. That which is [elevation] o f act is exaltedness o f essence
(dhat) and o f place (makdn). He Himself acted [thus] and He himself indicated
it, after He had created heaven and earth by His will (irddat), not through any
need Htdjat).159 For everything that God does, He does o f His volition, not of
necessity, because He has no need of anyone or anything, and has no associate
o r partner. O God! Keep our hearts pure of innovation (bid'at),160 and from
going astray. By Thy grace and favour, keep them free o f all agitation (shur) and
perplexity (hayrat).161

155 On ta’wil, see the general introduction to this volume.

156 On the associated appellation of ahl al-sunna wal-jamA'a, see Melchert 2002,426.
157 Maybudi is using the word ‘seal* here to argue that God both sealed and fixed the meaning of
direction and place, at the same time upholding His own transcendence by mentioning His attributes
of exaltation and sublimity.
154 Lit.,‘stripped’, ‘free of everything ( ‘driyan).
159 Maybudi is probably here referring to (Q. 7:54), Surely your lord is God who created the heavens
and the earth in six days, then He presided upon the throne, and also to Q. 10:4; Q. 13:2; Q. 25:59; Q.
32:4; and Q. 57:4.
160 The word bid'at is specifically used by traditionalists for innovative doctrines that they con­
sider to be aberrant or heretical.
161 In other words, mental agitation, and the doubts and confusion that might ensue from it.

169
On the Nature of the Divine

*, r

Zamakhshari
Zamakhshari recounts some of the traditional reports already encountered in a number
of the previous commentaries. However, with regard to the nature of the kursi, he prefers
a rationalist approach, insisting that the kursi image is purely a metaphor expressing
the majesty of God. Zamakhshari cites Q. 39:67 to show that people cannot do justice
to the true nature of His greatness and power and that it is totally inadequate to transpose
the hum an notions of ‘seat* or ‘sitting* onto this aspect of the verse. In two instances,
Zamakhshari points out the high esteem in which God holds those of judicious minds
and those referred to as the ahl al-'adl wal-tawhid - a reference to the Mutazila, in whose
theological doctrines ‘reason (’aql) and the affirmation o f God’s justice Cadi) and unity
(tawhid) are fundamental principles - thereby confirming the M utazili character of the
entire commentary.

The Living (al-hayy), [is]162 the Ever-enduring (al-bdqi) unto whom extinction
has no access. In the term inology o f the theologians (m utakallim un), He
(al-hayy) is the O ne who truly has knowledge and truly possesses power. Al-
qayyum [means] the constant executor o f the m anagement of creation and its
preservation. [The word] al-qayyum can also be read as either al-qayydm or al-
qayyim; sina (slumber) is the state of languor that precedes sleep, which is also
known as n u d s (drowsiness) [...].■163 In other words, drowsiness (n u d s) does
not overtake Him, nor sleep, and it is a confirmation of [His being] al-qayyum,
because it is inconceivable that one who can be overcome in this way [by sleep]
be eternally watchful. There is a Moses narrative pertaining to this [subject]
u .164
[The phrase] Who is there that shall intercede with Him? is a declaration o f His
sovereignty (malakut) and greatness (kibriyd,) and [a declaration] that none will
have the power to speak on the Day of Judgement except for when He permits
them speech,165 as [stated] in His words: They shall speak not, except him to
whom the Compassionate One has given permission [Q. 78:38].166 He knows what
162 Kashsh&f, 1,384-7.
163 Zamakhshari here cites a line of poetry which Tabrisi also has. See first poetic citation in
Jabrisfs commentary, this chapter.
164 There follows a version of the report in which God demonstrates his constant vigilance and
wakefulness to Moses in answer to the question he put to the angels, namely ‘Does God sleep?1An
account o f the story, with minor variations, can be found in Tabari’s commentary on this verse, for
which, see Tabari, Jdmi‘ al-baydn, III, 8.
165 Zamakhshari, like other Mutazili theologians, recognises the validity of the intercession of
the prophets, as intercession plays a central role in the sinner's repentance and redemption and his
salvation from the fire that his sin may have confined him to in the absence of repentance.
166 The reference in this Qur'anic verse is to the angels and the Spirit, the full verse being: On the
day when the Spirit and the angels stand in ranks they shall not speak, except him to whom the
Compassionate One has given permission. Once again, as in Muqatil’s commentary, intercession is
seen, through intra-textual exegesis, to be a prerogative granted by God, as He wills, to whom He
wills.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

lies before them and what is after them, [that is] what has been before them and
w hat will be after them .167 The [suffixed] personal pronoun [-him/-hum (them)
in the phrases aydihim and khalfahum] refers to whatsoever is in the heavens
an d the earth because these include rational [beings] Cuqald'), or [it may be a
reference] to the angels and prophets indicated by the man dha [in the phrase
man dhalladhiyashfau, who is there who will intercede);168 [the words] o f His
knowledge, [mean] of what is known to Him, except such as He wills, [meaning]
except that which He teaches.
The kurst is what is sat upon and is no more than the seat o f the one who is
sitting. There are four meanings in His words His seat comprises: One o f them
is that His seat (kurst), because of its expanse and spaciousness, is not narrower
than the heavens and the earth; nor is it anything but an imaginal portrayal of
His Majesty ('azama) and is only [linguistic] imagery: there is no [actual] chair,
no act o f sitting and no sitter, as in the case of His words: They do not gauge God
with His true measure. A nd the entire earth will be in His grasp on the Day o f
Resurrection, and the heavens will be rolled up in His right hand [Q. 39:67] where
‘grasp, ‘rolling-up and ‘right hand* are not to be conceived o f [literally].169
Rather it is only an image of the majesty o f His status and a sensory represen­
tation of it. Indeed, do you not consider His saying, They do not gauge God with
His true measure [Q. 6:91 and Q. 39:67].
The second [meaning] is: His Knowledge (Him) embraces [the heavens and
the earth] and knowledge is given the nam e kursi, as a designation o f its status,
which is that it is the kursi (seat) o f a learned one.
The third [meaning] is: His dominion (mulk) embraces [the heavens and the
earth], designated according to its status, which is that it is the seat (kurst) o f a
king.170
The fourth [meaning] is what has been reported, namely, that He created a
‘seaf kursi which is [positioned] in front of the ‘throne (‘arsh), beneath which
are the heavens and the earth, and it [the seat] is the most insignificant of things

167 Thus Zamakshari interprets bayna aydihim as meaning ‘that which has come to pass before
them’ rather than ‘what is yet ahead of them’, and khalfahum as ‘what is yet to come after them’ rather
than ‘what is behind them’ in the sense o f‘what has come to pass already. See the discussion in the
introduction.
168 In other words God knows what is before those angels and prophets who have been granted
permission to intercede, and what is after them. This comment of Zamakhsharl’s suggests the
ambivalent attitude of the Mu'tazila towards the concept of intercession, since it played a function
in their theory of redemption but in itself was not a doctrine which they felt could be ‘rationally
inferred. See Zamakhshari, Minh&j, in Schmidtke 1997,43-4.
169 The Mu’tazilis were opposed to a literal understanding of the anthropomorphic passages in
the Qur’&n. They preferred to view such concepts and words as metaphors (majdz).
170 The throne of a king therefore is a metaphor for the totality of his domain. The King, al-Malik,
is one of God’s names. See Ghazali, Maq$ad (where the reference to the English translation is given).

171
On the Nature of the Divine

in comparison to the throne (farsh).171 According to al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri], the

seat (kursi) is [in fact the same as] the throne (‘arsh).
[As regards] The preserving o f them: the preserving o f the heavens and the
earth wearies Him n o t it does not burden Him and is not troublesome for him.
He is the High, in status, the Tremendous, in sovereignty and om nipotence
(qudra). If you were to say, ‘How are the clauses in this verse arranged without
[coordinating] conjunctions? I would say, ‘There is not a single clause therein
but is m entioned clearly because of the way in which it is arranged: clarity is
united with the clear, and if a conjunction stood between the two o f them it
would be, as the Arabs say, “between the stick and its bark**172
The first [part of the verse] is an elucidation of His execution of the manage­
ment of creation and of His being [absolute and closely watching] guardian over
it, never inattentive to it; the second, of His being the King over that which He
manages; the third of the greatness (kibriyd ’) of His rank; the fourth, of His com­
prehension (ihdfa) of the states [and circumstances] of creation and His knowl­
edge of those among them [whom He has] approved of - those who will be
granted [the power of] intercession - and those not approved of, the fifth is [an
explanation] of the breadth o f His knowledge and its connection to all known
things; or of His sublime majesty and the magnitude of His decree (qadar).
If you were to say ‘Why was this verse given such preference that what was
said about its superiority [in hadith reports] was said, am ong such [reports]
being [the following]: The Prophet said [to ‘All], “W henever I have read this
verse in a house, devils have abandoned it for thirty days and no sorcerer or sor­
ceress can enter it for forty nights. O ‘All, teach it to your children, your family
and your neighbours; no verse greater than this has been sent down”.’173 It is
reported from ‘All:

I heard your Prophet saying, when he was on the pulpit, ‘N othing will prevent one
who recites the kursi-verse a t the end o f every prescribed ritual prayer (salat)174
from entering Paradise but [the advent o f their] death; only the veracious or the
adoring worshipper devote themselves to it assiduously. G od will render him who
recites it w hen he lays dow n to sleep, free from fear with regard to himself, his
neighbour, his neighbour's neighbour and [all] the houses around him ’.175

171 This refers to the reading according to which kursi refers not to the throne itself, but to the
‘footstool’ in front of the greater throne ('arsh). Tabari also cites similar interpretations in his com­
mentary on this verse. Tabari, Jami' al-baydn, III, 10; see also the introduction to this chapter.
172 Regarding the first sentence of this paragraph, the Arabic has wearies Him not and the
comment that follows it, first, before the preserving of them and the comment on that. In the trans­
lation we have reversed the order to facilitate the flow of the English text.
173 Cf. Suyutf, Jdmi\ II, no. 1289; Bukhari, II, no. 2187, III, no. 4723; Tlrmidhi, Sunan, IV,
no. 3040.
174 Hindi, Kanz, I, no. 2534; MunAwi, Fay4, VI, no. 8926.
175 Tabarini, Mu'jam, III, 84.

172
 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

T he Com panions were discussing which was the most excellent [verse] in the
Q u ra n , and ‘All said, ‘W hy do you go far from the kursi-verse? Then he [‘All]
said, T lie Prophet of God said “O ‘All, the best of hum ankind is Adam, the best
o f the Arabs is M uham m ad, w ithout boasting, the best o f the Persians is
Salmon, the best of the Byzantines is $uhayb, the best of the Ethiopians is Bilal,
the best of mountains is a/-7ur,176 the best of the days o f the week is Friday, the
best speech is the Q u ra n , the best of the Q ur'an is [surat] al-Baqara, and the
best o f al-Baqara is the kwrsi-verse” ’177
[If som eone were to say all this to me] I would say: For the [same] reason
that surat al-Ikhld$ [Q. 112] has been favoured, [namely] because o f its contain­
ing [the declaration of] the oneness of G od (tawhid), and His exaltation
(ta'ztm ), His glorification (tamjid), a nd His greatest attributes; for there is no
greater mentionable than the Lord of M ight, and that which is a rem em brance
o f H im is m ore excellent than all other invocations. Through this it is know n
that the most noble kind o f knowledge and the highest in rank with G od is the
knowledge of the people of justice and unity (ahl al-'adl wal-tawhid),178 so do
not let the multitude of its enemies delude (yaghurranna)179 you from it:

fa-innal-'ar&nina talqahd muhsadatun

wa-la tard li-li’dmil-ndsi hussadan

For you will always find the noble ones the object o f [people s] envy,
W hereas, you will never find anyone envious of evil people!

T ab risi
With Tabrisi we are presented with a large amount of hadtth reports, induding material
from Sunni sources, such as Tabari. Whereas the early tradition is primarily interested in
the anecdotal (or ‘haggadic) aspects of the verse in question, or its implications for ritual
practice, classical tafsir is also concerned with grammatical questions. Thus, we find that
Tabrisi, as is his usual m ethod of exegesis, subdivides his commentary on a particular
verse into several sections that deal with the following grammatical points: 1) the meaning
of the verse ( mand ), including any variant readings known to him; 2) the specific lan-

176 The term in its basic sense denotes a ‘mountain1, but here it is referring to the mountain where
God spoke to Moses (sc. Mount Sinai), mentioned frequently in the Qur’an (Q. 4:153; 23:20; 95:2);
see E. Honigmann |-C. E. Bosworth), ‘al-T^f»El2, X, 663-5.
177 Suyuti, al-Jdmi, IV, no. 4754; Hindi, Kanz, XI, nos. 32270,35344; Munawi, Fay<t, IV, 4754;
Tirmidhl, Surtax, IV, no. 3038.
178 This is a common name for the Mu'tazila. The addressee in the sentence is being urged not
to ignore or dismiss Mu'tazill views just because of the cacophony of attacks upon it (by Ash'aris and
others), since it remains the honourable truth in the eyes of God. Indeed, those who attack the
Mutazila attack the true way of knowing God and hence are His enemies, since they obstruct the
path to knowledge for His creatures.
179 Q u rinic idiom is being used here, cf. Q. 3rl96, among others.

173
On the Nature of the Divine

guage used in the verse (lugha ), with the purpose of explaining the choice of words used
by the Qur’an, and citing proof-texts from poetry (sh a w a h id ) in support of the etymolo­
gies that he proposes for certain words; and 3) the syntactical structure (i'r&b) of the verse,
in which points regarding declension, inflection and word order are analysed and
explained. In addition to grammatical questions, Tabrisi also tends to supplement his exe­
gesis of a verse with a section on the ‘occasion of revelation (sabab a l-n u zu l) and another
explaining the internal logic of the Quranic verse order (n a z m ) , that is to say, why God
chooses to introduce a given topic at a given point, and why He reiterates certain points
in the same su ra , and the relation of a given verse to the one that precedes it. For Tabrisi,
the verse establishes unequivocally God’s supreme power, His ability to manage the
entirety of creation, His absolute sovereignty in all affairs, and His unlimited knowledge:
God is beyond any comparisons and without like or rival.

[This passage is] two verses according to the Bas ran [reading], but a single verse
according to others. [Al-Hasan] al-Ba$ri counted [from Alldhu Id ildha ilia
huwa] to al-hayyul-qayyum as one verse.
[As regards] the merits of this verse: Ibn Anjawayh [sic.] al-Fasaw!180 in
his Kitdb al-Targhib reports by way of an unbroken chain [of transm ission]181
from Ubayy b. Ka‘b that the Messenger of God said, ‘O A bul-M undhir, which
is the greatest verse in the Book of G od? I said, ‘God there is no god except Him,
the Living, the Eternal Sustained. He then patted me on my chest and said, ‘May
this knowledge bring you delight; by Him in W hose hand [the fate of]
Mufiammad’s soul is,182 this verse has a tongue and two lips with which it glo­
rifies the King at the leg of the throne (‘arsh).*
It is related by al-Tha‘labl by means of [a report with] an isndd from ‘Abd
Allah b. ‘Umar that the Prophet said, ‘W hoever recites the kursi-werse after
every obligatory prayer, will have the Majestic and Munificent One Himself in
charge o f receiving his soul [upon death] and such [a person] will be equal to
those who fought alongside the prophets of God until they attained martyrdom
(istishhdd) \ A nd in [al-Tha‘labfs report by way of] an isndd from ‘All [b. Ab!
Talib]: ‘I heard your Prophet, while standing on the pulpit [...]V83 and from
him [‘All]: ‘I heard the Messenger of God say, “O ‘All, the best o f hum ankind
is Adam [...] and the best of all trees is al-Sidr,184 and the best o f all m onths are

180 Possibly a misprint, see PA for discussion.

181 Mutta$il is one of the technical terms used in the science of hadith to distinguish the various
ways in which traditions were transmitted, heard or came to be recorded; see J. Robson, ‘Hadith’,
El2, III, 23-28; G. H. A. Juynboll, ‘MursaT, El2, VII, 631; Burton 1994,11 Iff.
182 This is a common formulation of an oath: waVadhi nafsi bi-yadihi, *by Him in Whose hand is
[the fate of] my soul'.
183 This is the same report as in the commentary of Zamakhshari.
On the botanical species, its importance in pre-Islamic Arabia and its special qualities, see
Remke Kruk, *Sidr\ El2, IX, 549; on a related matter, that of the lote tree (sidrat al-muntaha), where,
according to a number of interpretations of Q. 53:14, the Prophet saw Gabriel for the second time,
see Andrew Rippin, ‘Sidrat al-muntaha, El2, IX, 550.

174
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

the sacred m onths,185 (...) O cAll, in it [i.e. the kursi-verse] there are fifty words,
in each word, fifty blessings (baraka)”.’186
It has also been related from ‘Abd Allah b. Mas ud that he said: ‘W hoever
recites ten verses from the surat al-Baqara every night in a house, then no devil
shall enter that house until sunrise, [the ten verses being]: four verses from the
beginning [of al-Baqara), the kursi-ve rse, two verses after [this kurst-verse] and
its closing [three] verses'
It has been related from Abu Ja‘far [M uhammad] al-Baqir th at he said:
4W hoever reads the kursi-ve rse once, then God shall shield him from one thou­
sand adversities in this world and another thousand in the next, the least adver­
sity of this world being poverty and the least o f that o f the Hereafter, the
punishm ent in the grave.'
It has been related from Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq] that he said:
‘Everything has a pinnacle and the pinnacle of the Q ur'an is the kursi-verse!

Language (lugha)

A ‘living one (hayy) is one who is in possession of an attribute in combination

with which it is not impossible for him to also possess capacity and knowledge.
O r if you wish, you may say that such is one who is in possession of an attribute
on account o f which he has to perceive perceptible objects where they exist.
[...]187 Sina is ‘light sleep' or ‘sleepiness'. [The poet] ‘Udayy b. al-Raqqa‘ said:

w a s n a n u a q $ a d a h u l- n u a s u fa - r a n n a q a t
f l ‘a y n ih i s in a tu n w a -la y sa b i- n a ’im i

Somnolent he was, sleepiness had struck him,

And though drowsiness held sway over his eyes, still he was not asleep.

[Sina] is the infinitive noun (ma$dar) from the verb wasina, yusinu, [with the
verbal nouns] wasnati and sinatan. Al-Mufa<J<Jal [al-Qabbl] said: sina is in the
head and nawm is in the heart; nawm is the opposite o fyaqa?a (alertness); one
says ndma nawman (literally, ‘he slept a sleep’, i.e. deeply) and istanama ilayhi
(he trusted to him ), that is, istanasa ilayhi (he enjoyed his company) and
ifm a’anna ila nahiyatihi (he felt reassured with him). Al-Layth [b. al-Mu?affar]
said: when any person has achieved som ething or his knowledge [of it] has
reached its [full] extent, one says ahdfa bihi (lit. ‘he has surrounded if). One
says of someone wasi'a shay’an (he has encompassed som ething) or yasxahu

185 Cf. Q. 9:36. According to Muslim commentators these four months are Dhu’l-Qada, Dhu’l-
H ijja, Mubarram and Rajab; on this issue, see M. Plessner, ‘Muban-am’, El2, VII, 464.
186 Most of this narration is identical to the one cited in the commentary of Zamakhshari. The
parts not found in Zamakhshari’s citation have been included here.
187 Tabrisi provides the standard etymological analysis of qayyum.

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On the Nature of the Divine

sa‘atari, if that person can sustain that thing and bear it and is able to manage
it; it is also said Id yasa'uka hddhd to mean ‘you are not able to bear [or sustain]
this>. Kurst is any prop against which you are able to support yourself. The poet
said:

tahiffu bihim bt<iul-wujuhi wa-'u$batun

kardsiyyu biVahdathi htna tanubu

Noble-faced ones encircle them, a company of men

Knowledgeable in events as they unfold time and again.
That is to say, they are knowledgeable in the vicissitudes of events.
Another [poet] said:

nahnul-karasiyy Id ta'uddu Hawazinu

a f dlund fil-n d ’ibdti wa-ld Asadu

We are the men of learning, whose exploits during the vicissitudes

[Of life or battle] neither Haw&zin nor Asad can know.
And another [poet] said:

ma-li bi amrika kursiyyun ukdtimuhu

wa-hal bi kursiyyi ‘ilmil-ghaybi makhluqu188

I have no knowledge of your affair that I should keep secret:

What creature can have knowledge of the unknown?
Everything that may be [described as] tardkaba (piled one on top o f the other)
may be [equally described as] takdrasa (com pacted and com pressed), from
which [we have] kurrdsa (notebook), because the papers are piled one on top
of the next; a m an who is karrus has a large head; it is also said the kurst o f a king
is [something that extends] from such [a place] to such [a place], that is to say,
his kingdom is likened to a kursi [...]. [One says] adahu y a u d u h u awdan if
something becomes too heavy for someone (athqalahu) and becomes a strain
on him [...]. AWaliyy is derived from culuww (height), and He, glory be to Him,
is supreme in power (‘aliyyun bil-iqtidar) and [in] the execution o f [His]
authority. O ne does not say suprem e in power by using rafi'un bi9l-iqtidary
because r if a (height or elevation) is used in reference to a [physical] place,
whereas ‘uluww is transferred to the sense o f power: one says o f someone ‘aid
[verb] ‘aid [preposition] qimihi (he has vanquished his opponent), [the im per­
fect o f the verb and the verbal noun being] y a lu ‘uluwwan so that he is ‘dlin,
and ‘ala m eans iqtadara (he has acquired the power); but one cannot use
188 Cf. the discussion of the almost identical citation of this line in Abu H&tims commentary. The
difference pertains to the words bi-kursiyyi and yukarsi’u, the presence/absence of the hamza being
significant.

176
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

irtafaa 'alayhi to m ean the same thing. For the same reason, one says ista'ld
‘alayhi bil-hujja to mean ‘he overcame him with an argument1and not irtafaa
'alayhi bil-hujja. 'Ilw or ‘ulw is the opposite o f sufl (the lowest or the bottom );
'ala JH-ardi 'uluwwan means that he has become haughty, (tajabbara), as [in]
His saying, innd Firawna 'aid ftl-ard> Pharaoh has aggrandised himself in the
land [Q. 28:4], that is, he has become haughty like a tyrant (tajabbara). G od is
the High and Exalted one (al-'dli al-muta'dli), that is, He is All-powerful (aZ-
muqtadir) and the Vanquisher (al-qdhir), nothing escapes Him; [if it said of]
som eone [that he is] min 'uliyyat al-nds, that m eans ‘he is from am ong their
nobles'. Al-'aztm (the Tremendous) m eans that He has great standing. It is also
said al-'a&m means al-mu'azzam [of the m ufa'al paradigm] (glorified, exalted)
like when they say of al-khamr al-'atiq (old wine) al-mu'attaqa (the one made
old); but the former [interpretation] is the more solid one.

Meaning (ma^nd)
Having first presented an account of the [various] nations and their different
responses to their prophets with regard to [their belief in God's] oneness
(tawhid) and other [m atters],189 He followed it with an account o f tawhid,
saying: Allah, that is, the O ne who is deserving o f worship on account o f His
power to originate favours. We have already discussed the different reports con­
cerning the root and meaning of His nam e {Allah) in the beginning section of
surat al-Fatiha. La ilaha ilia huwa {there is no god except Him), that is, no one
other than H im is deserving of being w orshipped or deserving o f divinity
(ildhiyya). Al-hayy {the Living): we have [already] m entioned its meaning. AZ-
qayyum: that is the One who manages [all aspects of] His creation, from their
origination (inshd') in the beginning {ibtidaan) to ensuring that their suste­
nance reaches them , as He says And there is not a creature on earth but the sus­
tenance thereof lies with God [Q. 11:6], [as reported] from Qatada. It is [also]
said, al-qayyum is the one who knows m atters, [as indicated by] their saying
hadhd yaqumu bi-hddhdl-kitab, that is, he ‘knows what is in this [book]. It is
also said that it means al-daim al-wujud (the eternally existent), [as reported]
from Sa‘Id b. Jubayr and al-Pabhak. It is [also] said that it means: the O ne Who
stands over every soul fo r what it has earned {al-qaim u 'aid kulli nafsin bi-md
kasabat) [Q. 13:33], so that He may recompense it according to His knowledge
o f it, [as reported] from al-H asan [al-Ba$ri]. In any case, the expression
[qayyum] allows for all of these senses.
Slumber {sina) seizes Him not, m eaning ‘somnolence {nu'ds) [seizes Him

189 Daniel Gimaret, Tawfrid’, El2, X, 389: the act of believing and affirming that God is one (ahad)
and unique (wdhid); see chapter 6 for a development of this theme.

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On the Nature of the Divine

not]; neither sleep (nawm), th at is heavy and saps [one’s] strength; it is said that
[the sentence] means that He does not neglect His creation or fall into inatten­
tiveness in the way that is said o f the person who is ghdfil (inattentive): you are
na'im (asleep) or you are wasndn (drowsy).
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth, means that the sover­
eignty over all that is in them is His and He has the [absolute] right o f disposal
concerning them; who is there that shall intercede with Him except by His per-
mission?, is an interrogative sentence (istifhdm) implying rejection (inkdr) and
negation (najy), that is, no one intercedes for anyone on the Day o f
Resurrection except by His perm ission (idhn) and com m and (amr). And that
is because [the verse was revealed regarding] the polytheists (mushrikun) who
used to claim that their idols (afnam) would intercede for them , and so G od
informed them that no intercessor can intercede except after God has perm it­
ted him and com m anded him to do so.190
He knows what lies before them and what is after them. There are several opin­
ions regarding this [phrase]:
1) [As reported] from Mujahid and al-Suddl, He knows what lies before them,
meaning all that has taken place in this world, and what is after themymeaning
with regard to the Hereafter;
2) [As reported] from Ibn Jurayj, He knows the Unseen (ghayb) that has pre­
ceded them, as when you say bayna yadayhi (between his hands) to mean ‘in
front of him’ (quddam ahu): what has passed is in front o f [in the sense of
‘before] a thing, and this is the sense in which it is to be understood and it is
not that the expression concerns [something in] the past; what is after them
means the Unseen (gfiayb) that will come after them;
3) [As reported] from al-Pahhak, what lies before them is an expression o f
that which has not yet arrived, as when one says ramadan bayna aydind [to
mean that the Ramadan will soon be upon us, i.e. we are not yet in the m onth
of Ramadan]; and what is after them is an expression of that which has passed,
as one says when one is in the m onth of Shawwal qad khalafna ramadan (we
have left behind the m onth o f Ramadan).
A nd they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge, that is, of all that is
known to Him (nuTlumihi), as one says Allahumma ighfir land 'ilmaka fin d , that
is, ma'lumakafindy ‘O God spare us [the consequences of] that which You know
of us [i.e. from sins that we are yet to commit and their due punishm ent]. It is
said, if a sign (aya) appears, ‘this is G od’s power (qudrat A lldh)\ that is, what
God has decreed (maqdur Allah). ‘To encompass something in knowledge (al-
190 Tabrisi makes two points about intercession here: first, he locates a rejection of the doctrine
in the immediate context of the polemic against the polytheists (and perhaps other monotheists such
as the Jews and Christians); and second, he allows for some possibility of intercession, a doctrine
firmly adhered to by Shi‘is, who affirm the privilege for the imams.

178
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

ihdfa bi-shay in ‘ilman) is to know a thing as it really is; except such as He wiUst
i.e., that which He has desired to make known to them and give them knowl­
edge of,
[As regards] His seat embraces the heavens and the earthy there are differing
opinions concerning [the meaning of] this:
1) [As reported] from Ibn ‘Abbas and M ujahid, and this is w hat has been
related from Abu Ja far [al-Baqir] and Abu ‘Abd Allah [al-$adiq]: ‘It means His
knowledge (sc. kursi) embraces the heavens and the earth>; scholars (€ulamd*)
are sometimes called kardsiyyy or awtad al-ard (tent-pegs of the earth), because
it is through them that religion and the life o f this world remains upright (bihim
qawdm al-din wal-dunya);
2) [As reported] from al-Hasan, w hat is m eant here by kursi is the ‘arsh
(throne), and it is called kursi because it is structured in layers;
3) that w hat is m eant by kursi here is kingdom (mulk)> dom inion ($ultdn)
and power (qudra)yas one says ‘make for this wall a kurst t i.e. a support (‘imdd)y
so that it should not collapse or buckle; the m eaning would thus be that His
power surrounds the heavens and the earth and all that is in them;
4) that the kursi is a bedstead (sflffr), quite distinct from the ‘throne (‘arsh)
itself; it has been related from Abu ‘Abd Allah [al-$adiq],191 and som ething
very sim ilar from ‘A{a\ that the heavens and the earth in com parison to the
kursi are like the size of a ring to a vast open space, and the kursi in comparison
to the ‘arsh is also like a ring in com parison to a vast open space. There are
those who say that the heavens and the earth are all on top of the kursit and that
the kursi lies beneath the ‘arshy in the same way as the ‘arsh is on top o f the
heaven [s].
Al-A$bagh b. Nubata reported that ‘All related [...].192
The preserving of them wearies Him noty that is, the preserving of the heavens
and the earth does not oppress or burden God; it is said that the ha* [sc. the
pronom inal suffix] o f ya u d u -h u refers back to the kursi:193 this is according to
the opinion of those who say that the heavens and the earth are [located] on the
kursi.
For He is the Highyabove any com parison by way o f similitudes (ashbah)y
contraries (adddd)yanalogies (amthdl)y rivalries (andad)y and above [having]
any signs of deficiency (imdrdt al-naq$) or indications of created beings (daldlat
al-hadath); it is also said that the ‘uluww (sublimity) [m eant here] is that o f
pow er (qudra), dom inion ($ultdn)y kingship (m ulk)t exaltedness o f nature

191 Cf. the narration under ‘Ayyashl

192 The narration of the four angels is given here, as reported in QummI and 'Ayy&shi.
193 In other words, that the preservation of the heavens and the earth does not burden the kursi,
as opposed to God.

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(‘uluww al-shan ), vanquishing force (qahr), ascension [of the Sovereign]

(i ' t i l a majesty (jaldl) and superiority (kibriya ).
77ie Tremendous, that is, the Tremendous in nature, the All-powerful whom
nothing weakens, the All-knowing from whom nothing is hidden, and whose
abilities (maqdurdt) are infinite and whose knowledge (maHumdt) is w ithout
end. 'All b. Ibrahim [al-Q um m i]194 related from his father - al-H usayn b.
Khalid - that Abu 1-Hasan [‘All] al-Ri<Ja read [...].195

iff

Razi
Beyond the traditional reports regarding the merits of the kursi-verse, which Razi repro­
duces as an affirmation of traditionalist exegesis and its concern with transmitting reports
from the pious predecessors (sola/ ), his own exegesis begins with a systematic philosoph­
ical discussion on the nature of existence. The verses affirmation that God is ‘the Living,
‘the Eternal sustainer of the cosmos, provides the context for an examination - as well as
a confirmation - of Ibn Sink’s theory of the Necessary Existent (wdjib al-wujud). R azi elab­
orates further on the nature of God, and principally on what He cannot be. Thus God is
not an accident, is without form and is not in any space. This reveals the influence of
philosophical discourse on his commentary. His dialectical manner of considering the
issues is clear in his assessment of the question of divine knowledge and intercession,
further issues raised by the verse and taken up by the commentary.

Know that in this glorious Book,196 it is the habit of the Glorified and Exalted
that He mixes these three types of knowledge (Him) with each other,197 namely,
inform ation (Him) regarding tawhid-, inform ation (Him) regarding legal pre­
cepts (ahkdm) and information (Him) through narratives (qa$a$). The intention
in mentioning the narratives is either to establish proofs (d a la il) for tawhid, or
to emphasise legal precepts and [moral] obligations (takdlif). This m ethod is
the best one, as opposed to restricting a person to just the one type [of knowl­
edge], which would cause boredom [to that person]. However, when He moves
from one type o f knowledge to another, then it is as though [through that
variety], the breast is dilated and the heart is gladdened. It is as if the person
[reading the text] journeys from one country to another or moves from one
garden to another; or as if he has exchanged eating one sort of delicious food
for another, which thereby will undoubtedly be more delicious and appetising.
Having mentioned in the preceding [verses] what He saw to be of benefit in the
194 On ‘All b. Ibrahim al-Qummi, see the introduction to the commentators.
195 Tabrisi here reproduces the verse as recited by ‘All al-Rida with the ‘exegetical glosses’: see
the notes on this in Qummi's commentary, this chapter.
196 Razi, Mafdtih al-ghayb, VII, 2 - 13.
197 The term 'i/m can denote more than just knowledge, including ‘science’, ‘perception’, ‘lore’
and so on.

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way of information ('ilm ) about legal precepts and information through narra­
tives, He now m entions what is relates to the knowledge {‘ilm) o f tawhiid. Thus
G od says, God, there is no god except Him, the Living, the Eternal Sustainer. There
are several issues concerning the verse.

I. First issue. Regarding the virtues of this verse [...].198 [It is reported] from
‘All that he said: ‘W hile engaged in combat during the battle o f Badr, I [retired
briefly and] went to the Messenger of God to see what he was doing’ He [‘All]
continues: ‘I arrived to find him prostrating, simply saying yd hayyu yd qayyumu
(O Living One, O Eternal Sustainer) and nothing else. I returned to the fighting
and then came back to see him saying the same thing. I kept going back and
forth, looking at him [every time]. Still he was not saying any m ore than that
[invocation], until [eventually] G od granted him victory.’199
Know that invocation (dhikr) and knowledge {‘ilm) are concomitant of what
is invoked and what is known [respectively]. W henever the invoked and the
subject of knowledge are nobler, the invocation and knowledge become nobler.
The most noble o f those invoked and known is God. Indeed, He is exalted
above that it should be said [of Him) that He is nobler than anything else,
because that presupposes some sort of homogeneity {mujdnasa)200 and sim i­
larity {mushdkala).201 He, however, is too holy to be hom ogeneous with any­
thing else. For this reason, all speech that includes descriptions o f His majesty
(jaldl) and the attributes of His superiority {kibriya) is [to be understood as
denoting] the ultimate in majesty and nobility. Since this verse is so, there can
be no doubt that this verse attains the ultim ate limits and utm ost degrees o f
nobility.

II. The second [issue]. Know that the explanation {tafsir) of the word Allah has
already been m entioned at the beginning of this book, and the explanation of
His words Id ildha ilia huwa {there is no god except Him) has already been m en­
tioned in [the explanation of] His words wa ildhukum ilahun wahidun, la ildha
ilia huwa {andyour God is One God: there is no god except Him) [Q. 2:163].
So it rem ains for us here to discuss the explanation {tafsir) o f His saying
al-hayyu al-qayyum {the Living, the Eternal Sustainer). [It is reported] from Ibn
198 At this point, RJzi quotes some of the narrations already cited in the commentary of
Zamakhshail.
199 For references on this narration in the collections, see Hindi, Kanz, X, hadith no. 29951;
Hilrim, Mustadrak, I, kitdb al-faldt, hadith no. 809; Ibn Hajar, Fath, VII, Kitdb al-maghdzi: bob Badr.
200 Mujdnasa is a relationship of similarity between two or more objects or individuals belonging
to the same genus (jins), e.g. the relationship between man and horse subsumed under the genus
‘animal’. See Juij&ni, Ta'rifdt, 217.
201 Mushdkala, the relationship of similarity between objects having a common property (pro-
prium), e.g. the relationship between triangles of different kinds in respect of their common property
that the sum of two of their sides in each case is greater than the third side. See Jurj&nl, Ta'rifdt, 228.

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'Abbas that he used to say: ‘The greatest names of God are al-hayy al-qayyum.
W hat we have related [above], that he [the Prophet], in prostration on the day
of [the battle of] Badr, did not add anything else to his invocation [sc. al-hayy
al-qayyum] proves the greatness (‘azama) of this name;202 rational proofs also
demonstrate and affirm the validity of this [greatness]. And from God issues
all success!*
There is no doubt about the existence o f existents (wujud al-mawjudat).203
These [existents] are either entirely contingent (mumkina), or entirely necessary
(wajiba)yor that they are contingent in part and necessary in part. It is not pos­
sible for them all to be contingent, because every aggregate (m a jm u ) is in need
of each one of its components [to be whole] and each single component of this
aggregate is contingent, and that which requires a contingent is a fortiori subject
to contingency (imkdn). Thus this aggregate is contingent in itself (mumkin bi-
dhatih) and each one o f its com ponents is contingent because its existence
cannot preponderate over its non-existence except by a preponderating factor
that is unlike it. Thus this aggregate - in accordance with its being an aggregate
and in accordance with each one o f its com ponents [being contingent] -
requires a preponderating factor which is unlike itself.204 W hatever is other
than all contingents cannot be contingent. Thus, there exists an existent which
is not contingent, and hence the opinion that every existent is contingent is
invalid.
As for the second classification, to wit, that existents, one and all, are
necessary, this is also invalid, because if there were two beings, each being nec­
essary of itself (li-dhatihi), then both of them would share [the state of being]
‘necessary through itself (al-wujub bil-dhdt), yet they w ould be different to
each other by [the rule of] negation. A shared [property] is unlike a distinguish­
ing [property]. Thus each one of them would be composite (murakkab) having,
[on the one hand, the quality of] being necessary, which quality they share, and
[on the other hand] a distinct alterity. Every composite requires both its [own]
component and the component of something other than itself; thus every com ­
posite requires something other than itself; and everything that requires some­
thing other than itself is, of itself, contingent. Thus, if there were more than one
necessary existent, then nothing [i.e. no part] o f them would be necessary of
existence, and that is absurd.
As these two classifications are invalid, then it is established that among the

202 The two divine names, al-hayy and al-qayyum, are treated as one name.
203 What follows is a paraphrase of Ibn Sink’s famous argument for the Necessary Existent, his
ontological/cosmological proof for the existence of God. See Ibn Sina, Najtit, II, 89, and in his Ish&r&t,
III, 18ff.
204 Preponderation (tarjih) is a technical philosophical term that explains why something is rather
than is not. Sec Abmadnagar! 1975,1,197.

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totality of existents, there is one existent that is necessary of itself (wdjib al-wujud
li-dhdtihi),205 and that everything with the exception of that [one existent] is con­
tingent of itself, existing through existentiation (ijdd) by that existent that is the
necessary existent of itself. As these two [previous] classifications are invalid, then
the ‘necessary of itself exists because o f itself (li-dhdtihi) and in itself (bi-dhatihi)
and, for its existence, has no need o f anything other than itself. As for everything
else, in its existence and quiddity,206 it requires existentiation by ‘the necessary
o f itself (al-wdjib li-datihi). The necessary o f itself is self-subsistent (q a im bi-
dhatihi) and is the cause for the subsistence (taqawwum) o f every other being,
both in its quiddity and existence. Thus He is al-qayyum al-hayy in relation to all
existents. So al-qayyum is the O ne who subsists in Himself (al-mutaqawwim hi-
dhatihi) and W ho sustains every other being in its quiddity and existence. As He
is the Necessary Existent of Himself, He is the true Self-subsistent (qayyum) in
relation to totality (kull). Then, in as much as He effects another, it is either by
way of necessary causation (al-'illiyya wal-tjdb) or by way of agency and choice
(al-fi'l wal-ikhtiydr); the delusion (wahm) of His being effective through neces­
sary causation ceases with His saying al-hayy al-qayyum.207 Al-hayy is the active
(fa “dl), the acutely perceiving (darrak), and hence in His saying the Living He
indicates that He is knowing (‘dlim) and powerful and able (qadir), and in His
saying the Eternal Sustainer He indicates that He is self-existent and the sustainer
of all that is other than Him. From these two principles, all the other considered
issues of the knowledge of tawhid branch out.208

205 Wdjib al-wujud is variously rendered by scholars by phrases such as ‘the necessary existent’ or
‘the necessary of existence. It refers to that which must exist. To the phrase are added the words bi-
dhdtihu meaning ‘in itself, through its essence, because of itself, in other words 'uncaused by
anothef. Rizi uses both wdjib al-wujud li-dhdtihi and wdjib al-wujud bi-dhdtihi.This could be taken
as synonymy; and indeed, from the point of view meaning, it is synonymous. However, the use of
li- and bi- has been reflected in the translation by a difference in wording, li-dhdtihi being rendered
‘because of itself or ‘of itself and bi-dhdtihi being rendered as 'in itself.
206 Mdhiyya is the philosophical term for the quiddity, the ‘what-ness’ of a thing, that is, the
description of its essence. Thus humanity is the quiddity of man, a concept that is composed of the
notions of‘animality, ‘rationality and so forth. This emerges from the Aristotelian theory of essences
as concepts. Sec Roger Amaldez, ‘Mihiyya’, EPt V, 1261-3. The statement implies a central
Avicennan doctrine concerning the nature of the contingent, namely that all contingents are com­
posed notionally of existence (that they are) and essence (what they are). In the medieval period,
this doctrine was famous as the esse-essentia (existence-essence) distinction. See Rahman 1958;
Rahman 1981; Burrell 1986; Rizvi 2000.
207 By juxtaposing two modalities of causation, Razi is comparing emanation and creation as
causal explanations for the existence of the cosmos. The emanative scheme seems to describe a
cosmos that comes about as a necessary, instrumental result of the superabundant overflowing good­
ness of the One, whilst creationist schemes insist that God chooses to create and is not compelled
by His nature or instrumentality of His essence to create. So here we see Rizi using a philosophical
argument for the existence to God to criticise what is often seen as a philosophical argument for cos­
mogony.
208 Rizi here suggests that the cornerstone of the theology of monotheism as expressed in this
verse is the phrase al-hayyu al-qayyum.

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The first [of these sub-issues] is that the Necessary Existent is one, meaning
that His quiddity (mdhiyya) is not composed o f parts.209 The proof (burhdn )210
o f this is that every composite thing requires - in order to be actualised
(tahaqquq) - the actualisation of each one of its parts, and its part[s] are [con­
sidered to be] other than it. Every composite subsists through another, and
what subsists through another cannot subsist in itself, and hence it cannot be
‘self-subsistenf (qayyum). We have explained through demonstrating the proof
that He is ‘Self-subsistenf (qayyum). If it is proved that God in Himself is One,
then this principle has two concomitants (lim m ). The first is that the Necessary
Existent is one, m eaning that there are not in existence two things both o f
which are necessary in themselves. For if that were supposed, then both would
share in necessity yet differ from each other in [their] particularisation (ta'ytn).
That by which there is similarity is other than that by which there is differenti­
ation. This entails that each of them, in itself, is composed o f two parts; we have
already explained that this is impossible. The second concomitant is that, as it
is impossible for His reality to be composed of two parts, so it is impossible for
Him to be confined to a space (mutafrayyiz), because every being that is con­
fined to a space is divisible (munqassim). It has been proven that being com ­
posed (tarkib) [of more than one component] is impossible in His case. If it is
proven that it is impossible for Him to be confined to a space, then it is also
impossible for Him to be [localised] in a direction, because being confined to
a space simply means that what is in a given place can be indicated by sensory
means (ishdra hissiyya). If it is proven that He is not contained in a space nor
localised in a direction, then it is impossible for H im to possess m em bers
(a (fa*) or movement (haraka) or stillness (sukun).211
The second [sub-issue] is that since He is al-qayyum, then He is subsistent
in Himself and, being subsistent in Himself, necessitates several matters. The
first concomitant [for the q a im bi-dhatihi] is that He must not, in any way, be
an accident (‘aratf)212 in a substrate (m aw du'), a form (jura)213 in m atter
209 Philosophers do not usually talk about the divine quiddity because the notion of quiddity is
a composite notion. Here, R&zi means very literally the divine essence or what He is. In philosophical
works within the Islamic tradition, one often finds the phrase ‘His quiddity is the fact that He is
(mdhiyyatuhu inniyatuh)', because contrary to contingents which are notionally comprised of exis­
tence and essence, God is pure existence and His essence is identical to His existence.
2,0 Burhdn is used in philosophy to denote a mode of argumentation (a type of apodeictic syllo­
gism), the argument itself, or the manifest evidence or proof of a convincing argument - in this last
sense, the term is also used in theQur’in [Q. 4:174; Q. 12:24). See Louis Gardet, 'Burhan, El2, 1,
1326-7; Jurjini, Ta'rifdt, 58-9.
211 In Aristotelian science, motion and rest are properties of engendered beings and cannot apply
to the principle that provides motion, who in Himself is known as the Unmoved Mover. See
Aristotle, Physics, VII; cf. Sorabji 1988,219ff.
2,2 ‘Arad, ‘accident*. An accident is a property that inheres in a subject/substrate in the category
theory of Aristotelian science. According to the Peripatetics (al-mashshd’un), accidents may change,
disappear, or be added, while substances (jawdhir) remain the same. An accident, thus, has no inde-

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(m adda), or a state (hdl) in a locus (mahall), since a state [of being] requires a
locus, and what requires som ething other than itself cannot be subsistent in
itself. The second concom itant is, as one scholar said, that knowledge has no
m eaning except the presence ( j[jutfur) of the reality (baqiqa) o f the known
[object] for the knowing [subject].214 Thus, if He is al-qayyum, m eaning sub­
sistent in H im self (q a im a n bi-nafsih) and not by another, then His reality is
present with His essence Cinda dhatih). If knowledge has no o ther m eaning
except this presence, then His reality must be known to His essence. Therefore,
His essence is known to Himself215 and everything else exists through His effect
(ta’thir), because we have explained that He is al-qayyum, in the sense that He
makes all others subsist (muqawwim). If that effect were out o f choice, then [His
being] the choosing agent, and that He be aware of His action, is inevitable; but
if it were by necessity, then it would necessarily follow that He know all others,
because His essence necessitates all others. We have proved that His being sub­
sistent in Himself by Himself entails that He knows Himself. The knowledge of
the cause Cilia) is a cause o f knowledge of the effect (m a'lul). Thus, all things
considered, being self-subsistent (qayyum) entails th at He knows all known
things.
The third [sub-issue] is that, since He makes everything other than Him
subsist, then everything other th an H im is incipient (m uhdath),216 because
His effect in m aking that o th er subsist m eans it is impossible for th at other
[to already possess] a state o f subsistence (baqd’); for it is impossible to cause

pendent existence, but exists only in another being, a substance or another accident According to
the theologians, more particularly the Ash'aris, however, an accident cannot exist in another acci­
dent but only in a substance. But no substance can ever exist apart from its qualities or accidents.
Hence, the substance being inseparable from its accidents, like the latter, is also merely transitory,
Le. has only a momentary existence. Everything that exists, thus, consists of mere transitory units
(sc. atoms) having only a moment's duration and needs must, therefore, be perpetually re-created
by the will of God. This is the occasionalism inherent in Ash'ari ontology. See Fazlur Rahman,
“Arad’, El2,1, 603; Jurjftni, Ta'rif&t, 163; Ahmadnagari 1975, II, 226-7.
213 $ura is the ‘form’ of a thing that in union with matter constitutes a particular thing; it is, in
fact, the principle that determines the matter to be actually such and such a body; without either
matter or form, however, there would be no concrete thing at all. This theory of entities is known as
hyiomorphism. See Louis Gardet, ‘Hayula, E/2, III, 328-30.

2,4 This is the notion of presential knowledge ('ilm htuluri) associated especially with Shihab al-
Din Suhrawardi (exec. 1191), the philosopher-martyr who may have been a co-student with R&zi in
Baghdad. See Hossein Ziai, ‘Shihab al-Din Suhrawardf, E/2, IX, 782-4; Yazdi 1992; see Suhrawardl’s
Hikmat al-Ishr&q in Ziai and Walbridge 1999,80; Ahmadnagari 1975, II, 248-60.
2,s Dhdtuhu mdlumatun li-dhdtihi, which could also be rendered: ‘His essence is known to His
essence’.
216 There are two types of incipience (buduth), coming into being after not being. The first is
essential incipience, in which something coming into existence means that it depends on another
for its existence, which is basically the view of most Muslim philosophers concerning the nature of
the cosmos. The second type is temporal incipience, in which something comes into existence ex
nihilo and in time, a view held commonly by Ash'ari and other theologians. See Jurjini,Ta‘rf/<Jf, 96.

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som ething to happen afresh when it is already occurring.217 It is either in a

state of its non-existence ( ‘adam ih), or it is in a state of its incipience
(huduthih). In either case, it is necessary that totality [everything else other
than God] be incipient.
The fourth [sub-issue] is that, since He makes all contingents subsist, then
all contingents rely on Him with or without an intermediary (wdsifa). In either
case, the doctrine of the divine determinative decree and predestination (qatfa*
wa qadar) is true; this is part of what we have elaborated upon and clarified in
this book with regard to many [Q uranic] verses.218 Thus, if divinely-conferred
success helps you, and you contem plate these problems which we have m en­
tioned, then you will know that there is no way to comprehend any of the issues
concerning ‘o n to -th eo lo g /219 except through the means (wdsifa) o f G od’s
being al-hayyu al-qayyum. Thus, surely it is not unlikely that the greatest name
is this one. As for the rest of the verses pertaining to God (ayat ildhiyya), such
as His saying wa ildhukum ilahun wahidun la ildha ilia huwa (and your God is
One God: there is no god except Him [Q. 2:163]) and His saying shahida'lldhu
annahu Id ildha ilia huwa (God bears witness that there is no god except Him [Q.
3:18]), in these verses there is a declaration (bayan) of tawhid, in the sense of
the negation of any contrary (didd)220 or peer (nidd) [of God]. As for His words
qul huwallahu ahad (Say: He is God, One [Q. 112:1]), therein is a declaration of
tawhid in the sense of the negation o f any contrary or peer, but [also] with the
meaning that His reality (haqiqa) is not composed o f parts.221 As for His saying
inna rabbakumulldhu alladhi khalaqal-samdwdti wal-artfa (verily your Lord is
God who created the heavens and the earth [Q. 7:54 and 10:3]), it is a declaration
of the attribute of divine lordship ($ifat al-rububiyya) but it does not contain a
declaration of the oneness (wahda) of reality (haqiqa). But His saying the Living

217 If something is already in a state of subsistence, then it cannot be made to start to subsist, as
one cannot make something start to exist when it already does exist.
2,# For instance, see his commentary on Q. 5:49 in ch. 5.
219 Al-'ilm al-ildhi, which might also be rendered as ‘metaphysics' or simply ‘God-knowledge’,
meaning knowledge of God.
220 The word didd denotes two contraries like ‘black and white; two contrary states or qualities
cannot be true of one and the same thing/individual at the same time and in the same respect; didd
is to be distinguished from two contradictories (naqtddn): while the two contradictories are mutually
exclusive (mam at al-jam') as well as totally exhaustive {mam at al-khtduww), two contraries are only
mutually exclusive.
It is interesting to note that both didd and nidd may be applied to mean either ‘opposite or ‘like*.
Nidd is the like of something ‘by participation of substance or ‘a thing which does, or may, supply
the place of another' or ‘a like that is contrary or opposed to another thing [...] that it opposes' (nidd
in Lex., s.v. n-d-d)\ didd is primarily the contrary or opposite of a thing, being inconsistent with it;
but it can also mean the like or equal of a thing (see didd in Lex., s.v. d-d-d).
221 Thus, through the exclusion of anything that might be similar, equal or different to God, this
declaration of tawhid amounts to an affirmation of His being ‘the Only\ while through the negation
of His being composite it is an affirmation of his being ‘One’: it is thus a comprehensive statement
of the divine oneness and uniqueness.

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the Eternal Sustainer signifies the whole (kull) because His being qayyum entails
that He be self-existent and that He make what is other than Him subsist. His
being self-existent entails oneness, meaning the negation o f multiplicity in His
reality. This entails oneness, meaning the negation o f the contrary and the peer,
and entails the negation of His being confined in a space; and by means o f that,
it entails negating His being localised in a direction. M oreover, His being
qayyum, in the sense of His making what is other than H im subsist, entails the
incipience of everything else, w hether it is a body or a spirit, an intellect or a
soul. This also entails that everything is founded on Him and the entirety of
causes (asbdb) and effects (musabbabdt) culm inate in Him, which in turn
requires that one affirm the doctrine of divinely-decreed fate and predestina­
tion (qada wa qadar). Hence it is evident that these two words [al-hayy al-
qayyum] are as two oceans encompassing all the themes o f ‘o n to -th eo lo g /.
T here is no doubt then that this verse attains to the highest significance of
nobility and entitles it [al-hayy al-qayyum) to be the greatest name am ong the
names of God.
Once God explained that He is the Living, Eternal Sustainer, He confirmed
it with His words slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep. The meaning is that He does
not neglect the management of His creation; because if the guardian o f a child
becomes inattentive for a short period of time, then the child’s affair w ould be
compromised. He is the custodian o f incipients (muhdathat) and the O ne who
makes all contingents (m umkindt) subsist. Thus, it is impossible for H im to be
inattentive in managing them, so His saying slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep is
an emphasis of the explanation that He is watchful (qd'im ). It is as though it
were said to one who ruins [something] and neglects [it]: indeed, you are slum­
bering and asleep!
Moreover, when God declared that He is the Eternal Sustainer (qayyum), in
the sense of His being subsistent by Himself (qa’im bi-dhatih) and the one who
makes other than Himself subsist, He [also] set forth a consequential principle
(hukm ),222 which is His saying to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the
earth; because, since the quiddity of everything other than Him is m ade to
subsist, and everything other than Him attains its existence through His sub­
sistence, His engendering (takwin)223 and His creation, then, it necessarily
follows that everything other than Him is His possession (milk) and un d er His
sovereignty (mulk). This is what is intended by His words to Him belongs all that

222 In addition to ‘principle’, hukm means ‘judgement’and ‘rule’; each of these renditions has been
utilised in this passage where deemed appropriate.
223 Takwin is engendering and creating natural and material beings that are subject to corruption
(fasad) and decay in this phenomenal world. It is an act of creation which is through the interme­
diary of matter, time and motion, and one which presupposes casual priority. See Jurj&ni, Tarifiit,
79; Abmadnagari 1975,225.

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is in the heavens and the earth. Moreover, since it has been proven that H e is the
King (malik) and the Master (mdlik) of all that is other than Him, it is proven
that His rule (hukm ) over everything is continuous, perm anent and no one has
authority over anything except by His permission and command. This is what
is intended by His words who is there that shall intercede with Him except by His
permission?
Hence when He announced that the consequence of His being the one who
possesses everything is that in His kingdom no one other than Him has the right
to dispose of affairs in any aspect whatsoever, He also announced [at the same
time] that the consequence of His being knowledgeable of everything and all
others not being knowledgeable of everything is that in His kingdom no one else
but Him has the right to dispose of affairs in any aspect whatsoever, except with
His permission. This [announcement) is His saying He knows what lies before
them and what is after them, and it is an indication of His knowing everything.224
Then He says they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge, indicating
that [those who are] other than Him are not knowledgeable about all known
things (ma'lum&t). Then when He had announced the perfection o f His
kingdom and rule in the heavens and on earth, He announced th at His
kingdom regarding what is beyond the heavens and the earth is greater and
m ore exalted, and that it is part of what cannot be reached by the conjectures
(awhdm) of those who speculate; and the imaginations of those who [seek to]
imagine [it] are cut short from ascending to the lowest o f its degrees. Thus He
says, His seat embraces the heavens and the earth.
Then He explained th at the im plem entation o f His rule {hukm ) and
sovereignty (m ulk) upon totality is o f one description (na't) and o ne form
($ura). Thus He says the preserving o f them wearies Him not. Then, w hen He
had explained that He is qayyum in the sense o f His being the one w ho makes
all incipients, contingents and creatures subsist, He explained His being
qayyum in the sense that He is existent in H im self and in His essence, [and
that He is] transcendent {m unazzah) above being in need o f any oth er
than H im self in any m atter. Thus He is exalted above being confined in a
space such th at He w ould require a location (m akdn)t and above being
changeable such that He would require a time (zam an).
Thus He [God] says For He is the High, the Tremendous: and what is intended
by this is transcendence and might, meaning that He does not need any other
than Himself in any matter and nothing other than Him can be referred to con­
cerning any quality or any description.225 So He says He is the High, the

224 Al-kull = totality.

225 Inasmuch as all is His and from Him, only He is; cf. the relevant section in KishinI, this
chapter.

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Tremendous, alluding to w hat He began the verse with, namely, His being
qayyum, in the sense of being self-subsistent in His essence and being the One
that makes others subsist. He whose intellect understands what we have m en­
tioned, knows that the hum an intellect does no t find in ‘onto -th eo lo g / more
perfect speech or clearer evidence than what these verses contain.
Now that you know these mysteries (asrar), let us return to the exoteric
(zdhir) [aspect] o f the commentary.
There are two issues in His words God, there is no god except Him. The first
issue: [the word] Allah is the subject o f a nom inal sentence and what follows is
its predicate. The second issue: someone has said that a god (ildh) is that which
is worshipped (m a'bud), but this is a mistake for two reasons. First of all, He
was God in pre-eternity (azal),226 but He was not worshipped [then]. Second,
G od mentions in the Q u r’an entities that are worshipped other than Himself,
as in His saying surely, you and what you worshipped apartfrom God [Q. 21:98].
Rather, ‘iid/i* (god) is what has the power to do that which, when He does it,
entitles Him to be worshipped.
As for His words al-hayy, the Living, there are several issues concerning it.
The first issue: [...].227 The second issue: the theologians said that hayy (living)
is every essence (dhat) of which it is true that it knows and has power. But they
differed about w hether this concept is an existent attribute ($ifa mawjuda) or
not. Some o f them claim that it [the Living] is the expression of an entity being
such that it is not impossible for it to know and have power; but the absence
o f impossibility cannot be an existent attribute. Those who looked into this
m atter in depth (muhaqqiqun) m aintain that since life consists of the absence
o f impossibility, and it has been established th at impossibility is som ething
non-existent ({adami) - because if it were an existent attribute, then the attrib­
uted entity w ould be existent, and hence the impossible existent would have
existed, which is impossible - and it is established that impossibility is n o n ­
existent and it is established that life is the absence of this impossibility, and it
is established that the absence of non-existence is existence, then [all this)
entails that what should be understood from the concept of life (haydt) is an
existent attribute; and this is what is sought.228
The third issue. If it is said: when the meaning of al-hayy is ‘the one o f whom
it is true that he knows and has power’, and this power befalls all living crea­
tures, then how should it be seemly that God praise Himself with an attribute
which the lowest creatures share with Him?

226 Azal, eternal without beginning or a parte ante as opposed to abad, eternal a parte post or
without end.
227 Here Razi cites a view about the lexical derivation of the word hayy, quoting the authority of
Ibn al-Anbiri.
2241Cf. TusI, Talkhif, 152-4; tf illi, Kashf, 287-8.

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On the Nature of the Divine

My view on this matter is that al-hayy in the original classical language is not
an expression of this truth. Rather, everything that is perfect in its genus
{jins)229 is called liv in g . Do you not see how the restoration of devastated land
is called ‘revivifying the wasteland* (ihyd' al-mawdt)7. God says Fa'nzur ild dthdri
rahmatilldhi kayfa yuhyi'l-arda ba da mawtiha (So behold the marks o f God's
mercy, how He revives the earth after its death) [Q. 30:50]. He also says [fa
suqndhu) ila baladin mayyitinfa-ahyaynd bi-hil-arda b a d a mawtiha [then We
drive it] (to a dead land and therewith revive the earth after its death) [Q. 35:9].
This designated attribute in the convention of theologians (mutakallimun)
is called /wyaf (life) only because the perfection o f the body's state is that it be
characterised by that attribute. There is no doubt, then, that this attribute is
called haydt. The perfection of the state o f trees is for the trees to be leafy and
green and, hence, there is no doubt that such a state is called haydt The perfec­
tion of the earth is to be inhabited and, hence, there is no doubt that such a state
is called haydt It has been proven thus that the original concept of the term ‘the
Living is its being [and] occurring in the most perfect of its states and attributes.
If this is so, then the ambiguity ceases, because what is understood by ‘the
Living is ‘the perfect*. Since that [concept] is not limited to His being perfect
with regard to one thing but not another, this signifies that He is the Absolutely
Perfect (kdmil ‘ala al-i(ldq). Thus His saying the Living means His being the
Absolutely Perfect. The Perfect is the one who does not admit of non-existence:
neither in His essence, nor in His true [essential] attributes, nor in His relative
(nisbiyya) and additional (idafiyya) attributes.
Given this, if we restrict [the meaning of] al-qayyum to His being a reason
for the subsistence of other than Him, then the ambiguity ceases, because His
being a reason for the subsistence of others signifies His being Subsistent in
Himself, and His being Self-Subsistent signifies His being the one who makes
others subsist. If we take al-qayyum as a name which indicates that His being
encompasses the meaning o f ‘subsistent in Himself and ‘making others subsis­
t e d , then the term al-qayyum has the benefit and advantage of the term al-hayy
and more. This is my opinion on the matter, but G od knows best.
As for His saying the Eternal Sustainer, there are several issues concerning it:
[...].230 The second issue: the explanations of the com m entators differ on this.
M ujahid said that al-qayyum is the O ne who m aintains everything and the
interpretation [of this name] is that G od attends to the m anagem ent o f the
affairs o f creatures with regard to their existentiation (ijdd) and their suste-

229 finsygenus, is the first of the five predicables (al-alfaz al-khamsa)\ a jins is predicated of many
things differing in species {naw')t Lc. it is a wider class which includes within it narrower sub-classes
called species. See Jurjani, Tarifit, repr., 92; Tahiknawi, Itfilahdt, 1,594-7.
230 The first issue relates to the derivation and semantic field of the term al-qayyum, presented
on p. 129.

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 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

nance. Similar verses to this are those where God says: He who stands over every
soulfor what it has earned [Q. 13:33]; God bears witness that there is no god except
H im [Q. 3:18]; God holds together the heavens and the earth, lest they disappear;
and were they to disappear, there is none to hold them after Him [Q. 35:41].
The substance of this opinion [of Mujahid] goes back to His [God's] being
the one w ho makes others exist. A l-Pafihak said that al-qayyum is the
Permanent Existent in whose case cannot any change (taghayyur) is impossible.
I say that the im port of this last opinion derives from His being subsistent by
Himself, in His essence and in His existence. Some have said that al-qayyum is
Syriac meaning the One who never sleeps. This latter opinion is unlikely to be
correct because it (al-qayyum) leads to His statem ent Slumber seizes Him not,
nor sleep [which would then be superfluous].
As for G o d s saying Slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep, there are several issues
relating to it. The first issue: sina (slumber) is the languor, which is called
drowsiness, that precedes [sleep proper]. If it is said that since slum ber is the
first phase of sleep, then when He says Slumber seizes Him not, this signifies a
priori that sleep does not seize Him, and hence the m ention o f sleep would be
a [superfluous] repetition - [if this is said] we say that the implied im port of the
verse is that ‘slumber does not seize Him, let alone sleep'.
The second issue: rational proof (dalil ‘aqli)231 demonstrates that sleep, dis­
traction and negligence are impossible in G od’s case, because these things
denote either the absence of knowledge or the opposites of knowledge. In both
cases, the possibility of their occurrence requires the possibility of a cessation
of God’s knowledge. If this were so, then the essence of God would be such that
it would be permissible for Him to be knowledgeable, but it would also be per­
missible for Him not to be knowledgeable, in which case, the occurrence o f the
attribute of knowledge in Him would require an agent. The argument is like the
former; but an infinite regress (tasalsul)232 is impossible, and it is inescapable
that [the chain] culminate in One whose knowledge is an attribute that is nec­
essarily constant and that cannot possibly cease to be. If this is so, then sleep,
distraction and negligence are impossible for Him.
The third issue: it is transm itted from the Messenger o f G od that it was
related about Moses, that the following [question] occurred to him: does God

231 Dalil, a word of common use in philosophical discourse but bearing different meanings,
including the following: (1) indication by which a sign ‘leads’ to another sign or thing; (2) proof in
a general sense to be distinguished ffom a proof in the strict sense, i.e. from the syllogistic proof {al-
burh&n al-mutlaq) or al-burhdn al-qdpi1in deductive logic, by which the particular is deduced from
the universal; (3) more specifically the proof by which the cause is inferred from the effect or uni­
versal from the particular. See Jurj&ni, Tarifdt, 116.
232 Tasalsul, an infinite succession of events or an infinite regress of cause, both of which, according
to Muslim philosophers, are logically inadmissible. Sometimes the term is used to denote the infinite
succession or regress in an argument which brings it to a logical impasse (Jurj&n!, Ta'rifikt, 71).

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On the Nature of the Divine

sleep or not? [...].233 So God gave him [Moses] this example to make it clear [to
him] that if He were to sleep, then He would not be able to preserve the heavens
and the earth.
Know that the attribution of such a story to Moses cannot be possible,
because whoever allows for sleep to be attributed to God or entertains the pos­
sibility of its attribution to God, is an unbeliever. Then, how is it possible to
attribute this story to Moses? If the narration is taken to be reliable, then this
question should be attributed to the ignorant among his people [and not Moses
himself].
W ith regard to G od’s saying to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the
earthy the intention in this attribution is [to show] the apposition o f creation
and possession.234 It implies what we have already m entioned - namely, that
since the Necessary Being is One, then everything other than Him is contingent
in itself and every contingent has an effective (m uaththir) [agent]. Everything
that has an effective agent is incepted. Therefore everything other than Him is
incepted through His effectuation (ihddth) [of it) and originated though His
origination (ibdd*) [of it].235 Thus, this attribution [of the words to Him belongs)
is that of possession (mulk) and existentiation (ijdd).236
If it is said: W hy did He say To Him belongs all that (md) is in the heavens? but
not ‘to H im belong all who are (man) in the heavens? We say that since the
intention is to attribute to Him everything other than Himself through the rela­
tionship of its being created [by Him], and what is dom inant [in His creation]
is what is not rational, He treats the dom inant as denoting the whole of His cre­
ation, and hence refers to them by the particle md.237 Moreover these things are
attributed to Him in that they are created and because they are created, not
because they are rational. Thus He designates them by the article md in order
to indicate that the meaning of this attribution to Him is in this sense.
Know that [our] companions (a$hdb) put forward this verse as a proof that
the actions of hum ankind238 are created by God. They claimed that because

233 Razi here provides a summary of the Moses narrative quoted in the commentary of Tabari.
234 In other words, to show the equation: what is created = God s possession.
235 In the Avicennan cosmogony that Rizi on the whole seems to accept, there are two stages in
the creation of the cosmos: an act of creation that occurs at the supralunary level at which intellects
and immaterial substances unhindered by space and time come about, a process known as ibdi5‘;
and a sublunary sphere of creation in this world of generation and corruption that is known as takwin
(Jurjani, Ta'rifat, 26).
236 In this paragraph it is clear that RizI treats creation (khalq) and existentiation (ij&d) as syn­
onyms.
237 The particle man (who) refers to animates while md (what) usually refers to inanimates. Razi
argues that since there are more entities in the cosmos that are inanimate and irrational, the majority
determines the particle used. Hence, the md includes animates and inanimates, minerals, animals
and humans, etc.
238 'Ibad, slaves (of God); in a general sense, as in the commentary, it is used to refer to humankind

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His statem ent to Him belong all that is in the heavens and the earth includes all
that is in the heavens and the earth, and the actions o f hum ankind are p art of
what is in the heavens and the earth, hence it is incum bent that they belong to
G od as [His] possession and creation. Just as the phrase indicates this meaning,
reason (raqt) also affirms it. For everything other than Him is contingent/pos-
sible in itself and [the existence of] the contingent in itself cannot preponderate
except through [being caused by] the Existent that is necessary o f itself, o r else
it w ould entail the preponderance of the contingent without a preponderating
factor, which is impossible.
There are two issues concerning H is saying who is there that shall intercede
with H im except by His permission?
The first issue: His saying who is there is a question the meaning of which is
denial and negation, i.e., no one can intercede with Him except by His
com m and. That is because the polytheists used to claim that their idols inter­
ceded for them: God relates about them that they said We only serve them that
they may bring us near to God [Q. 39:3], and their saying These are our interces­
sors with God [Q. 10:18]. God, then, m ade clear that they do not obtain this
desire, [when] He said, And they worship; apartfrom God, what can neither harm
them nor profit them [Q. 10:18]. So G od informs that there is no intercession
(sh a fa a ) with H im by anyone except whomever G od excludes [from this
proviso] in His saying except by His permission. Similar to this is G od’s saying
Upon the day when the Spirit and the angels stand in ranks: they shall not speak
except him to whom the Compassionate One has given permission and who speaks
what is arigfit [Q. 78:38].
The second issue: al-Qaffal239 said that God does not perm it those w ho are
n o t obedient to Him to intercede, since His wisdom would not allow the obe­
dient and the sinful to be treated equally; he [al-Qaffal] argues extensively [on
this subject].
I say: al-Qaffal had a great passion for the [school o f the] M utazila and gives
credence to their doctrines. However, he had little understanding of their prin­
ciples. For, the Basran Mu tazila believe that the pardoning of one who commits
a grave sin (kabira) is rationally sound, and yet what has been heard (al-sam‘)
indicates that this will not happen.240 If that were so [i.e. if it were as the Basran
M u'tazila believe], then the rational p ro o f (istidlal)241 for the prevention of

239 Sec PA, al-Qaffol.

240 There is no iyadith report that actually states that the a$hab al-kabair, the grave sinners, will
be pardoned, but there are traditions in which the Prophet proclaims that he will use his (granted)
intercession (shaft'a) to ask for the acquittal of the grave sinners of his community (ahl al-kab&’ir
min ummati).
241 Istidldl, reasoning in general but more specifically the mode of reasoning in which one pro­
ceeds from the given facts or effects to the inference of their causes (JuijanI, Ta'rifUt, 35).

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On the Nature of the Divine

intercession regarding sinners is an error according to their doctrine. However,

according to the opinion o f al-Ka*bI,242 the pardoning o f grave sins is anathema
to reason. If al-Qaffal was followingal-Ka'bi’s opinion, then this reasoning is
correct. However, the answer to this [claim of his] refutes it in more than one
way:
- [first o f all, the meting out of] punishm ent is God's right, but it is the pre­
rogative of the one who has a right to waive that right, whereas in the case o f
reward, that is the right of the servant and it does not behoove God to cancel
it. This distinction was mentioned by the Basran Mu‘tazila in response to the
ambiguity (shubha) raised by al-Kabl;
- second, [concerning] his saying that an equal treatm ent of the obedient
and the sinner is not possible. If he m eant by this that equal treatm ent of them
is not possible in any matter, then this is ignorance, since God treats them as
equal in creation, life, sustenance, feeding them with good things, and enabling
them to do what they want. But if he meant that equal treatm ent of them is not
possible in all matters [although it is possible in some matters], then we accord
with this: how can one say otherwise w hen the obedient person suffers no
anxiety and does not fear punishm ent while the sinner is in utm ost fear and
may very well enter Hell and suffer for a period o f time, before G od delivers
him from that chastisement through the intercession of the Messenger o f God.
Know that al-Qaffal was sound in speaking on commentary (;tafsir) and was
scrupulous in the interpretations of words. However, he exaggerated greatly in
affirming the doctrine o f the Mu'tazila, even though he could grasp only a
portion of the science of theology (‘ilm al-kaldm) and enjoyed little understand­
ing of the theology of the Mu'tazila.
[As regards] He knows what lies before them and what is after them, there are
two [relevant] issues.
The first issue: the author o f Kashshaf stated [...].243
The second issue: there are several aspects to the phrase.244 First o f all,
Mujahid, ‘A ta’ and al-Suddl said ma bayna aydihim [refers to] what worldly
matters occurred before their time, and wa ma khalfahum [refers to] what will
happen after them concerning the m atter o f the Hereafter. Second, al-Pafifiak
and al-Kalbl said ya la m u ma bayna aydihim (He knows what lies before them)
means the Hereafter because they are approaching it, wa ma khalfahum (and
what is after them) means this world because they will leave it behind. Third,
cAta' said, reporting from Ibn ‘Abbas, ya'lam u ma bayna aydihim (He knows

242 Sec PA, al-Ka'bi.

243 R&zi here is referring to Zamakhshari; for this section, see the latter’s commentary in this
chapter.
244 Aya usually refers to a defined verse of the Qur’an, but may also be used to refer to a particular
Qur’anic word or phrase, as is the case here.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

w hat lies before them) means from the heavens to the earth, wa ma khalfahum
m eans what is in the heavens. Fourth, y a la m u ma bayrta aydthim (He knows
what lies before them), that is, after the expiry of their terms [of life), wa ma khal­
fa h u m means what was before He created them. Fifth, it means the good and
b ad that they have already done and what they will do after that.
Know that w hat is m eant by this statem ent is that G od knows the state o f
th e one who intercedes and the one who is interceded for with respect to the
entitlem ent of punishm ent and reward, because He knows all known matters
an d no secret thing is hidden from Him. Those who intercede do not know
ab out themselves that they possess the [necessary) obedience by which they
w ould deserve this great status from God. Nor do they know whether G od has
granted them permission for that intercession, or w hether they deserve to be
shunned or reprim anded for that. This proves that no creature has the right
to attem pt [any] intercession, except with the permission o f God.
The third issue is that it is possible that those who are m entioned in this
verse are the angels and the rest o f those who intercede on the day of
Judgement, such as the prophets (nabiyyin), the truthful ($iddiqin), the martyrs
(shuhada1) and the righteous ($alihin).245
There are several issues concerning His saying they do not encompass any­
thing o f His knowledge except such as He wills.
The first issue: what is m eant by Him (knowledge) here is that which is
known (m a lu m ), similar [in context] to when it is said: ‘O God pardon us [for]
what You know (Him) of us’, meaning, for what you know (m a lu m ) [about us).
[Similarly] when a great sign appears, it is said, ‘This is the power o f God
(qudrat A lldh)\ i.e. what He is capable of (maqduruh). Hence, the meaning [of
the Q u ran ic phrase] is that no one encompasses what God knows.
The second issue: some of our com panions [sc. the A s ia n s ] advance this
verse as evidence for the affirmation that God possesses the attribute of knowl­
edge. This [opinion] is weak for several reasons. First of all: the word min (of)
indicates division into parts and it pertains here to knowledge. Thus, if what is
m eant by knowledge is the same attribute, then it entails that division into parts
is applicable to an attribute of God, which is impossible. Second: His saying such
as He wills does not relate to knowledge but to the object o f knowledge. Third:
th e statement in this place relates only to known things (m alum dt) and means
that God knows all known things and creatures do not know all that is know-
able, indeed they know but little of [the known things].
The third issue: al-Layth [b. al-Mu?affar] said that it is said of one who
achieves som ething or whose knowledge [of something] has reached its full
extent that ‘he has encompassed if (qad ahdfa bihi). That is so because such [a
245 See Q. 4:69 for the Quranic source of this list

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On the Nature of the Divine

person] knows the alpha and the omega about that thing completely, it is as if
that [persons] knowledge encompasses it.
There are two opinions concerning His saying except such as He wills. One
o f them is that they do not know anything o f the things He knows except for
what He wishes to teach them, just as it is related of them [i.e. o f the angels, in
the Q ur’an, that they said]: id €ilma land Hid md 'allamtand, we know not except
what You have taught us [Q. 2:32]. The second opinion is that they do not know
the Unseen except when God acquaints some of His prophets with some of the
Unseen, as in where He says He is Knower o f the Unseen, and He discloses not
His unseen to anyone except to such a Messenger as He is well-pleased with [Q.
72:26-27].
As for God’s saying wasi'a kursiyyuhul-samdwdti waVar4> His seat embraces
the heavens and die earth, know that it is said ‘so-and-so wasi1a al-shay’yasa'uhu
sa'atan’ (so and so encompasses something, he has the capability for it), when
he has the capacity and ability for it; whereas [the expression] Id yasi'uka hddha
(you do not encompass this) means ‘you are not able to bear it nor have you the
capacity for if. Similar to this statement is the saying of the Prophet: ‘If Moses
were alive, nothing would have sufficed (wasi'a) him except to follow me’, i.e.,
he would not have been able to bear [doing] anything other than th a t [...]246
Commentators have four different opinions [concerning the word kursi],
1. The first [opinion] is that it is a great body, which contains the heavens
and the earth. However, they disagreed over [its nature]. Al-Hasan said that the
kursi is the 'arsh itself because ‘an elevated bench’ (sarir)247 can be described as
an ‘arsh or as a kursiy for both of them are such that one is able to be firmly
seated on them. However, some [commentators] said that the kursi is different
from the 'arsh; but again they varied in opinion [with regard to this]. Some o f
them said that it [the kursi] is below the 'arsh and above the seventh heaven;
while others said that it is beneath the earth. This [latter opinion] is transmitted
from al-Suddl.
Know that the term kursi [as opposed to 'arsh] is [the word] mentioned in
this verse; and in authentic reports it is said that it [the kursi] is a tremendous
body beneath the 'arsh and above the seventh heaven. There is no denying this
report and hence it is obligatory to follow it. As for what was transm itted by
Said b. Jubayr from Ibn ‘Abbas that it is the place for the feet, it is most unlikely
that Ibn ‘Abbas w ould have said, ‘It is the place for G od’s feet’, when G od is
exalted above having limbs and organs. We have m entioned m any proofs in
several places of this book refuting God’s having a body (nafi al-jismiyya). Thus

246 At this point, Rizi provides explanations regarding the derivation of the term kursi, which
may be found in the commentaries of Tabari and Tabrisi, this chapter.
247 Sarir (pi. asirra, surur, sardyir) can denote ‘throne*, ‘elevated seat*, ‘bedstead* or ‘bed*.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

it is obligatory to refute this narration or to take it as meaning that the kursi is

th e place for the feet of the greatest spirit (al-ruh al-a'zam ) or another angel
w ho has a great rank with God.
2. The second opinion is that what is m eant by kursi is ‘authority*, ‘power*
an d ‘sovereignty*. Sometimes it is said that divinity comes about through power,
creation, and existentiation. The Arabs use kursi to denote the origin of any
[particular] thing. At others times, ‘sovereignty* (m ulk) is called ‘a seat [of
authority] * (kursi) because a sovereign (m alik) sits upon ‘a seat* (kursi), and
h en ce sovereignty (mulk) comes to be designated by the nam e o f the place of
th e sovereign (malik).
3. The third opinion is that [the word] kursi is ‘knowledge because knowl­
edge is the rank of the knowledgeable one and hence it is [his] seat (kursi). Thus
th e attribute of a thing is designated by the nam e of the place o f that thing
metaphorically. For knowledge is the matter on which one depends and kursi
is the thing on which one supports oneself. From this derives [the fact that]
scholars are called kardsiyy, because they are the ones on whom others support
themselves, in the same way that it is said of them that they are ‘the pegs of the
earth*.
4. The fourth opinion is the one chosen by al-Qaffal, namely that the inten­
tion of this statement is to illustrate the tremendousness and greatness o f God.
His [al-QaffaTs] account is that when God addresses His creatures by making
know n His essence and attributes, He does so with that which they
[humankind] recognise from their kings and notables. For example, He made
th e Ka ba a house of His, around which people circum am bulate, just as they
circumambulate the houses o f their kings, and He ordered people to visit it [His
house] just as people visit the houses of their kings. He related o f the Black
Stone that it is the right hand of God on His earth, and then He appointed it a
place to be kissed, just as people kiss the hands of their kings. Likewise is [the
case with] what He mentions about the accounting o f [His] servants ('ibad) on
the Day o f Judgement, [things such as] the presence of the angels, prophets and
martyrs and the setting up of the scales. According to this analogy, God estab­
lishes a throne (‘arsh) for Himself, for He says the Compassionate One presided
upon the throne (‘arsh) [Q. 20:5]. Then He describes His throne (‘arsh) and says
and His throne (‘arsh) was upon the waters [Q. 11:7]. Then He says, and you shall
see the angels encircling about the throne, proclaiming the praise o f their Lord [Q.
39:75]. He also says, and upon that day eight shall carry above them the throne o f
your Lord [Q. 69:17]. He also says, Those who bear the throne, and those around
it [Q. 40:7]. Then He established a ‘seaf (kursi) for Himself and said, His seat
(kursi) embraces the heavens and the earth.
24a Sec the definition of this term in the translation of Razfs commentary on Q. 2:115.

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W hen you have understood this, we say that for all o f the terms which seem
to be anthropom orphic (tashbih)248 [and which have been] m entioned with
regard to the throne (*arsh) and the seat (kursi), terms similar to them, indeed
even stronger than them, are m entioned concerning the Ka'ba, circumambu-
lation and kissing the stone. Since we accept here [regarding these last men-
tioned things] that the intention is to make known the greatness and majesty
of G od while m aintaining the reservation that He transcends the Ka'ba [and
what is associated with it], then even so is the mode of expression regarding the
throne and the seat. This is a clear answer. However, the first opinion is the one
that should be adopted, because to disregard the apparent meaning w ithout
proof is not permissible; but God knows best.249
As for God’s saying the preserving o f them wearies Him not, know that if one
says adahu, y a u d u h u , this m eans ‘[a thing] overburdened and strained him’;
and adta a l-u d a awadan (you burdened the stick so that it became bent)
meaning you leaned on it heavily such that you bent if. Thus, the meaning [of
the dya] is that their upholding, meaning the upholding of the heavens and the
earth, does not burden Him and is not difficult for Him.
Then God says For He is the Hig]h, the Tremendous. Know that it is not pos­
sible that what is meant by this be height in [the sense of spatial] direction. We
have already proven that in several ways. Here we will add two more ways. First,
if His elevation was by means of space, then the [following two options cannot
be disregarded]: either He is finite in a direction upwards, or infinite in that
direction. The first [option] is invalid, because should He be finite in a certain
direction upward, then the part which must necessarily be above Him would
be higher than Him. Thus He would not be higher than all that is other than
Him, rather what is other than Him would be higher than Him. However,
should He be infinite [in an upward direction] then this is impossible, because
the opinion that affirms an infinite dim ension is proved to be false by in d u ­
bitable proofs (al-bardhin al-yaqiniyya).250
Moreover, if we assume [the existence of] an infinite dim ension, then it
would have to be assumed that in that dimension there are infinite points, in
which case, there would be two options: either that there will be, among those
points, one point above which no other point is assumed [to exist], or that there
will not be such [a point]. If it is as the first [assumption], then such a point

249 This is Razi’s Ash'arism in evidence: he affirms the literal wording of the Qur’an, while at the
same time holding back all anthropomorphisms from God.
250 Al-barahin al-yaqiniyya, certain or self-evident data or premises, i.e. propositions whose truth
is open to direct inspection and requires no appeal to other evidence, like the statement that ‘two
contradictories cannot be predicated of the same object at the same time* or that ‘a part is less than
the whole of which it is the part\ In Aristotelian science adopted in Islamic philosophy, an actual
occurrent infinite is considered to be an impossibility.

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w ould be a limit of that dimension and, hence, that dimension would be finite,
and since we have stipulated that [the dimension] is infinite, this is a contradic­
tion (khulj).251 And if it is such that am ong [those points] there are only points
which have another point above them, then each one of those assumed points,
in that dimension, would be lower [than another point]. Thus, there w ould be
absolutely nothing [i.e. no point] am ong them that is [purely] ‘above', and
therefore, nothing [i.e. no point] at all am ong those assumed points in that
dim ension would possess absolute height; and that negates the attribute of
being uppermost.
The second proof: the world is a sphere (kura). W henever a thing is thus,
every side supposes a ‘height* in relation to one of the two surfaces of the earth
that is [at the same time] a lowness in relation to the other surface. Thus, the
utm ost height [a propos one side] becomes the utmost low [a propos the other
side].
The third proof: that the durability (thubut) of every property (wa$f) is, for
the first of two things, in itself, and for the other thing [the durability o f the
property] is as a subsequent to the p rio r [existent]. This principle is m ore
com plete and perfect with regard to the essential, while regarding the acci­
dental it is lesser and weaker.252 Thus, if the height of G od were due to space,
then the height of space, which [is supposed) to be the reason for the o ccu r­
rence o f this highness of God, would be an essential attribute ($ifa dhatiyya);
and the occurrence of this height for G od would be an occurrence subsequent
to its occurrence in space253 and hence the height o f the space would be m ore
complete and perfect than the height o f the essence of God. Thus, the height
o f G od would be im perfect and the height o f other than H im w ould be
perfect, which is impossible. These points constitute conclusive [evidence)
that it is impossible for the height o f G od to be in a [spatial] direction.
The best opinion is what Abu Muslim b. Bahr al-l$fahinl254 said regarding
the interpretation (tafsir) of His saying Say: To whom belongs what is in the
heavens and in the earth?Say: It is God’s [Q. 6:12]. He said that this signifies that
Space and all [aspects of all] spatiality are [part of] God’s possessions and His
kingdom. Then He said, and to Him belongs whatsoever inhabits the night and
the day [Q. 6:13]. This signifies that tim e and all things temporal are [part of]
G od's possessions and His kingdom. Exalted and holy is He above His height

251 See Dughaym 2001,305,946.

252 A thing has both essential (dhati) properties that are always true of it and indicative of its
essence, and accidental (‘aradO properties that are not necessary to its essence.
253 In other words, if God’s elevation were due to spatial elevation, then height would occur
essentially for space; thereafter, it would occur for God; thus elevation would be an essential property
of space but only a subsequential property of God’s.
2M See PA, Abu Muslim al-Isfahan!.

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being due to space. As for His exaltedness, it too is through awesomeness, force
and greatness. It is impossible for it to be due to quantity and volume, because
it is impossible that He be infinite in all directions or [even] some directions,
as the non-existence o f evidence for infinite dimensions has been established
through conclusive proofs. If He were finite in all directions, then the domains
that encompass that finitude would be greater than it, so the like o f this thing
would not be great at all. Thus the truth is that He, glorified and exalted be He,
is higher and greater than being of the same genus (jins) as substances and
bodies. Exalted be He greatly above what the insolent claim.

K ashani
Kashmiri’s mystical interpretation of this verse expounds some of the key doctrines and
arguments of the school of Ibn ‘Arab!. First, he suggests that the affirmation of monothe­
ism is in fact an affirmation of the uniqueness of existence ( w a h d a t a l-w u ju d ) that is God.
Second, since God is the only goal and intention of worship and indeed only He can be
worshipped, then the myriad religious practices and forms of worship that one perceives
all have a single reference in Him —which makes for an interesting doctrine of the unity
of all religions. The all-encompassing seat of God is associated by Kashani with His com­
prehensive mercy that is both ontological and emancipatory for all His creatures.

God, there is no god except H im y255 in existence. So no m atter what is w or­

shipped other than Him, the worship that takes place is o f Him alone,256
whether knowingly or unknowingly, since there is no worshipped [being] nor
existent except He. The Livingf whose life is the essence (‘ayn) of His self (dhat).
All that is living lives only through His life.
The Eternal Sustainer, is the one who subsists in Himself, and all that subsists
does so through Him; were it not for His subsistence, nothing in existence
would subsist. Seizes Him not, slumber and lethargy [seize Him not], as befalls
the living without their intending [it] - for that can only be for one whose life
is accidental (haydtuhu 'dritfa) so that nature (fabi'a) overwhelms him with an
essential state (hdl dhati) of seeking calm and rest and a replacement for the dis­
persion (tahlfl) of the waking [state].

255 Tafsirlbn *Arabi, 1,142-3.

256 Cf. Ibn ‘Arabi, Fufiif, 192, 275 (cf. ed.’s comment here), in the chapter on Aaron and the
worship of the golden calf and its ultimate reference to God since only God is worshipped. Man pro­
duces as many forms of the deity for his own understanding of the divine and each form is a theo-
phanic representation of the divine, but not the divine as such. The whole chapter deals with the
relationship between worship and divinity and distinguishes the gods of religion (al-ildh al-maj'ul)
from God as such (al-ildh al-muflaq), who is totally ineffable. See also Ibn 'Arabi, Futuhdt, IV, 62,
for an English translation see Chittick 1998,274-5.

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But as for Him whose life is identical to His essence, that [state] is not pos­
sible for Him. In His words, nor sleep, He has made clear that His life is not acci­
dental, for sleep is incompatible with essential life, in that it is the thing that
m ost resembles death; this is why it is said that sleep is the brother o f death. He
w ho has no sleep on account o f His essence - because o f its incompatibility
[otherwise it would entail that His] life be other th an His essence - has no
slumber, since slumber is one of its [sleep's] beginnings and effects. As you say:
‘He has no laughter and no wondez'. So His w ords, Slumber seizes Him not,
neither sleepy is an explanation of His everlastingness.
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth: their forelocks are in
His hand; He does with them as He pleases. Who is there who shall intercede with
H im except by His permission? Since everything belongs to Him and it is
through H im that the one who speaks through H im speaks, and with His
speech, so how can they speak without His permission and His will? He knowsy
what is before them and what is after them, so how can He [not know] about
them and th eir state? That is, His knowledge encompasses all tim e and all
people and all their states, so He knows who is w orthy o f intercession and who
is not worthy of it.
A nd they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge except such as He willsy
that is [except for] what His will (m ashia) has required that He teach them. So
the knowledge of everyone who has knowledge is something of His knowledge
which manifested in that locus (mazhar), even as the angels said, We do not have
any knowledge except that which you have made us know [Q. 2:32]. His seat
embraces the heavens and the earthy that is His knowledge, since the kurst is the
locus of knowledge that is the heart (qalb)y as Abu Yazld Basfaml said: ‘If the
world and everything in it a thousand thousand tim es over, were located in
some com er of the heart of the gnostic (€drift, he w ould not notice it due to the
vast extent o f his [the heart's] scope.’
Because of this, al-Hasan said that His seat (kurst) is His throne (‘ars/i),
drawing upon his [the Prophet’s] saying: ‘The heart o f the believer comes from
the throne ( ‘arsh) o f G od’. [The term] kursfy in the classical language, is a small
‘arshy not m ore than the seat of the one who sits [on it]; the heart is likened to
it for the purpose of imagery and for the im agination, given its [the (arsWs\
greatness and extent.
As for the greater, glorious throne ( ‘arsh), it is th e First Spirit {al-Ruh al-
Awwal). The representation of both (the (arsh and the kurst) and their image in
the present [seen world] (shahid) are [respectively] the greatest sphere (alfalak
al-azam ) and the eighth [sphere] which encompasses the seven heavens and
whatever is in them. [It] wearies Him notythat is, the preservation o f them does
not weigh him down, because they do not exist w ithout Him such that the

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bearing of them [should] weary Him. Rather, the whole o f the essential realm
(al-cdam a l-m a n a m ) is His esoteric aspect and the formal [realm] (al-'alam
al-$uwari) is His exoteric aspect.257 They have no existence except through Him
and the two [realms] are not other than Him. He is the High, in rank, whom
nothing surpasses and who surpasses everything and overwhelms it through
[its] annihilation (farm*); the Tremendous, the very essence of whose greatness
(kutih ‘azamatihi) cannot be conceived. Every greatness that can be conceived
for som ething is a percolation of His greatness. Every great thing is so [only]
through a participation in His greatness; a share in [that greatness] is [some­
thing] trem endous.258 Absolute greatness belongs exclusively to Him; indeed
all greatness belongs to Him and no other has any share in it.259 This [verse] is
the greatest verse in the Q u ra n because of the magnitude of what it proves.260

Abu Hayyan
The commentary here, a l-B a h r a l-m u h iU is an example of how the distinction between
reasoned exegesis (ta fsir b i t - r a y ) and that based on transmitted reports (ta fsir b il-
m a th u r ) is not always so clear, and as such it seems that this hermeneutical taxonomy is
not a useful one.261Thus Abu Hayyans starting point is always the Sunna and the reports
from the Companions and the Followers. However, he does not give the full chains of
transmission (isnads) typical of the traditional method of exegesis (tafsir b it-m a 'th u r ), nor
does he invariably state the narrator of a tradition (/uuftth), relying perhaps on their famil­
iarity to fellow commentators and h a d ith -s c h o lz r s . Abu Hayyin also includes what,
according to the rigorous criteria of medieval Muslim h a d ith analysis, would be deemed
'weak’ h a d ith s (those with problematic chains of transmission) as well as reliable ones.
The signal importance of a l-B a h r a l-tn u h if lies in its contribution to language, grammar

257 The essential or spiritual realm is the reality that underlies the phenomenal cosmos and is not
immediately perceptible to us. The formal or visible or phenomenal realm is that which we perceive
directly by our senses. Thus in a sense, the former is the esoteric aspect of the cosmos that pertains
to the esoteric aspect of God, whilst the latter is the exoteric aspect of the cosmos that pertains to
the exoteric aspect of God.
258 ‘This is to read the Arabic as: wa hi$$atun tnitiha taking the ha as referring to God’s
'aiama. However the Arabic could be read taking hif$a in apposition to na$tb (which is governed
by the bi) and taking 'atfmah as an adjective of hi$$a instead of as its khabar, in which case the trans­
lation would be: “every glorious thing is so through a participation in His glory and through a
tremendous share in it".’ (Mayer 2006, on Q. 2:255).
259 ‘The point here is as follows: prima facie a mighty creature has a share of God’s glory, but the
reality is that wherever it may be witnessed, glory is His alone, and it is a mistake to ascribe it to the
creature who is but a conduit of the divine glory. Just as knowledge is seen to belong totally to God,
even so with glory. This understanding reflects the doctrine of the barzakh which Ibn 'Arab!
espoused.’ (Mayer 2006, at Q. 2:255).
240 This is a reference to the many Prophetic narrations about the greatness and glory of this verse
as mentioned in the other commentaries in this chapter.
261 Abu Hayyan’s commentary reflects both elements; cf. editors introduction to Abu Hayyan,
Bahr, 1,23,60. Mashanni (1986,219) categorises the Bahr as straight tafsir bi’l-ma’thur.

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and usage.262Abu Hayyan approaches each verse first in terms of the analysis of individ­
ual words, then, where relevant, from the aspect of asbab a l-n u zu U which can assist in
selecting the appropriate nuance of a particular word, from which he moves on to the
interrelation between phrases and verses (the all-important context of a term), finally
giving a comprehensive list of variant readings. This technique is palpable throughout the
commentary on the k u rsi-v erse, which moreover is given an in-depth introduction and
an epitomising conclusion reflecting the significance of this verse.
Another point worthy of note is that Abu Hayyan takes advantage of several opportuni­
ties in his commentary on the verse to stress his ideological loyalties. He frequently criticises
Zamakhshari for his pronounced Mutazilism, and also derides certain Sunni anthropo-
morphists (H ashw iyya ) for their acceptance, and literal interpretation, of such h a d ith s.
Indeed, Abu Hayyfcns anti-Mu‘tazilI and anti-Hashwi stance is plainly apparent from his
commentary here. As both these standpoints may be in line with Zahirism,263 this can be
taken as a manifestation of the specifically Andalusian side of Abu Hayyans character.

This verse is called the dyat al-kursi264 because it [the word kursi] is mentioned
in it. It is established in the $abib of Muslim, from a hadlth o f Ubayy, that it is
the greatest verse, and in the $ahih of Bukhari, from a hadlth o f Abu Hurayra,
that the one who recites it when he goes to his bed will have a guardian [sent] by
God [guarding him] ceaselessly [through the night], and that no devil (shayfdn)
will come near him until he awakens [in the m orning]. It is m entioned [in
hadlth]: ‘It [the dyat al-kursi] is equivalent to one third o f the Q u ra n . It is also
mentioned: ‘W henever it is recited in a house, the devils abandon it for thirty
days and no sorcerer or sorceress enters it for forty days*. It is also mentioned:
‘God will protect the one who recites it when that person retires to bed, and his
neighbour, and his neighbours neighbour, and the families around him.' It is
said:265 T h e Q ur’an is the master-speech, [the surat] al-Baqara the master [-sura]
o f the Q ur’an, and the kursi-ve rse the master[-verse] of al-Baqara'. It was given
this high esteem on account o f what it includes regarding the unity of God, His
glorification and the m ention of His highest attributes. There is no object of
m ention [or ‘rem em brance] (dhikr) mightier than God; the mention [or
‘rem em brance] o f God is more excellent than that of anything else.
Zamakhshari says:266 ‘Through this, it is known that the most noble kind of
knowledge, and the highest in rank with God, is the knowledge of justice and
unity.267 Do not let the multitude of its enemies frighten you away from it, for

262 Mashanni 1986,426.

263 Abdel-MagidT\irki,‘al-Zahiriyya,El2, XI,394-6.
264 Bohr, II, 286-91.
265 Cf. Abu Dawud, Sunan, 72, (hadith no. 1460); Tabrisi, Majma' al-bayan, 1,360-1.
266 Zamakhshari, Kashshdf 1,300.
267 This generic term used in connection with the Mutazila reflects their emphasis on God's unity
and justice, the first two principles of Abti’l-Hudhayl’s five basic principles of Mu'tazilism. Abu 1-
Hudhayl was the first speculative theologian of the Mutazila (d. 226/840-1). On the Mutazilis, see
Daniel Gimaret, ‘Mutazila’, EP, VII, 783-93.

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the disdainful [only] discard it out of e n v /. (End o f quote.)268269The ‘people of

justness and u n it/ (ahl al-tawhid) to whom he alludes are the Mu'tazila: they
call themselves by this [appellation]. One of their poets has said:

an an$uraVtawhida wal-'adla fi
kulli maq&min badhilan jahdt

That I may help protect the divine unity and divine justice
In every place, expending my [every] effort [to this end].

Zam akhshan, on account o f his excessive attachment to his theological doc­

trine, brings it into virtually everything he discusses, even when it is not [the
appropriate] place (for it).
The relevance of this verse to what precedes it is that, after G od m en ­
tioned [in Q. 2:253] that He gave some o f the prophets precedence over others
and that among them is one to whom He spoke - this is interpreted as Moses -
and some He raised in rank - this is interpreted as M ubamm ad and specified as
Jesus, the high estate of the subsequent being understood from the high estate
of the former - [and after He mentioned that] the Jews and the Christians estab­
lished innovations in their religions and creeds after their Prophet[s], and
linked God to unsanctioned things, [so that] G od’s messenger was sent to the
people one and all, among them the Arabs who had taken gods other than God
and were polytheists - thus all people to w hom the Prophet was sent had
become corrupted in their laws and creeds - and after God m entioned that and
the unbelievers: they are the evildoers [Q. 2:254) and they are the authors o f the
m isplacem ent o f things, [after He had m entioned all that] He brought this
trem endous verse demonstrating the uniqueness of God through [His] exclu­
sive oneness and containing His highest attributes, from life, His absolute pos­
session of sovereignty, the absurdity of His being the [spatial] locus of temporal
events, His sovereignty over what is in the heavens and earth, the impossibility
of intercession with Him except by His permission, the vastness o f His knowl­
edge, that no one can encompass anything of His knowledge except by His will,
the dazzling vastness of the ‘great seaf (kursi cazim ) He created, and His
description as the utmost in loftiness and greatness; to the rest of His beautiful
names and highest attributes that [the verse] contains, through which He
instructs them [mankind] in the correct creed, which is pure monotheism, and
in the repudiation of any other [creed].

268 Compare with Zamakhshari’s text, noting the following small differences:
1. Zamakhshan has film ahl al-'adl wal-tawhid, whereas Abu Hayy&n has 'ilm al-'adl wa1-tawhid\
2. Zamakhshan has yaghurranaka (delude you), but Abu Hayyan has yunaffiraka (repel you); 3. Abu
Hayyin, without marking it clearly as a poetical citation, gives only the hemistich of the verse which
Zamakhshan cites at this point.
269 Tabari, Jdmi al-bay&n, V, 386.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

The term Allah has already been discussed, and concerning His saying there
is no god except H im , there is no need to repeat it [here].
Al-hayy. [the word is] an adjective; its verb is hayiya. It is said: Its root is /w*-
ya*- waw, but the waw radical became a ya because of the kasra [belonging to]
what precedes it, then it assimilated to the [preceding] ya radical. It is said that
its underlying form is [on the pattern of] fa y il, but then it was pronounced
w ithout tashdid, like mayt for mayyit and layn for layyin. It is an adjective
[describing] someone in whom life exists. W ith regard to God, this is one of
the attributes of the essence: living, with life that does not come to an end nor
is extinguished. It is interpreted here as ‘the Eternal Sustainer*[...] Tabari
reports269 from some people that it is said: [He is] hayy, living just as He
described Himself, that [being] accepted without [any] speculation concerning
it. But he also reports from some people: He is living [but] not with life. That is
the opinion o f the Mu‘tazila, which is why Zamakhshari says:270 ‘The Living is
the Ever-enduring (al-baqi) unto whom extinction has no access. In the term i­
nology of the theologians, He (al-hayy) is the One who truly has knowledge and
truly possesses pow er/ By the mutakallimun he means the theologians o f his
doctrinal school [namely, the M u‘tazila].271 The discussion about the attribu­
tion o f life to G od is m entioned in books on the principles o f jurisprudence
(u$id al-din).
The meaning (of al-qayyum) is that He watches over everything for what is
due to it, and this is how M ujahid, al-RabI‘272 and al-Q abbak interpret it.
[Sa‘Id] Ibn fubayr273 says: ‘[al-qayyum means] the perm anent being.* Ibn
‘Abbas says [it m eans]:274 ‘He who does not come to an end n o r change.*
Q atada says [it means] : ‘The executor of the m anagem ent o f His creation.’
Hasan says [it means]:275 T h e One who watches over every soul [to see] what
it has earned.* It is said that [it means]: ‘The Knower of affairs, from their
saying ‘ful&n yaqum u bi-hadhal-kitab, so-and-so concerns him self with this
book*, i.e. he knows what is in it. It is said: It is a derivative of istiqdma. Abu
Rawq says: [It means] ‘He who does not deteriorate*. Zam akhshari says [it
m eans]:276 ‘The constant executor of the m anagem ent of creation and its
preservation* These reports approximate one another.

270 Zamakhshari, Kashshdf 1,299.

271 Kalam is a method of theology based on systematic rational argumentation concerning the
nature of God, His attributes and works and the central doctrines of the faith. See Louis Gardet, “Ilm
al-kalim’, EP, III, 1147-50.
272 Cf. the commentary ascribed to Ibn ‘Abb&s, in Firuz&badi, Tanwir, 36; Tabari, Tafsir, V, 388;
Baghawi, Ma'&lim, 1,238.
273 On Said b. Jubayr, see PA.
274 Baghawi, Ma'dlim, 1,238, Qurtubl, Jdmi\ III, 177.
275 Ibid.
276 Zamakhshari, Kashshdj\ 1,300.

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Slumber (sina) seizes Him not, neither sleep [....].277 The meaning is: He does
not neglect the paltry nor the significant. Inattentiveness (ghafla) is expressed
through that, because it (sina) is the cause o f it (ghafla), and so the name o f the
cause [slumber] is applied to the effect [sc. inattentiveness]. Ibn Jarir278 says: It
means that disabilities and defects, which would distract [Him] from preserv­
ing [His] creatures, do not befall Him. The afore-mentioned ‘disabilities [i.e.
sleep and slumber] are used as substitutes for all [such] ‘disability" and this is
the meaning of the speech, just as God's saying Id taqul la-humd uff(Say not to
them 'Fie') [Q. 17:23].279 It is said: He declares Himself (nazzaha nafsahu) to be
above slum ber and sleep, because of the repose they contain. Weariness and
rest are not conceivable for Him. It is said: The meaning is that nothing over­
whelms Him, nor defeats H im , [not even sleep, o f which it is said] in the
proverbs ‘sleep is king’.
Zamakhshari says:280 ‘It is a confirmation of the Eternal Sustained because it
is inconceivable that one w ho can be overcome by [sleep] be eternal. There is
a Mosaic narrative pertaining to this [subject] where he asked the angels, and
that was from his people like the seeking of the visual beholding [of God]
(ruya) [...]\281 Zam akhshari cited this tradition thus, and it includes that ‘he
asked the angels, and that", i.e. the question, ‘was from his people, like the
seeking of the visual beholding [of G o d ]\ He means that in his opinion the
seeking of the visual beholding [of God] belongs to the category o f the im pos­
sible just as sleep is an impossibility with regard to God: this is his wont, in his
support of his school, m entioning [its doctrines] even where the verse does not
go into this issue.282
O thers beside him supply this report (khabar); for instance [it is related]
from Abu Hurayra: ‘I heard G od’s Messenger talking about Moses on the
pulpit, saying, “It occurred to Moses, “Does G od sleep?" - and he cites the
report, d o se in meaning to what Zam akhshari m entioned. Some o f our

277 A grammatical note on wasina, the verbal form from sina.

278 Possibly a reference to Tabari.
279 The point being made is that the specific ‘disabilities’of sina and nawm are used to represent
any such disablement, just as in Q. 17:23 the word uff, which is a specific expression of displeasure
or annoyance, is used to designate all such displeasure and annoyance; so the general meaning of Q.
17:23 is: ‘Be patient with your parents when they attain old age and do not be irritable with them’
280 Zamakhshari, Kashshdf, 1,300.
281 For the narrative see the commentary of Tabari in this chapter. Ruya refers to occular sight,
hence the translation ‘visual beholding, to be distinguished from ru’yd which refers to a vision that
is not perceived by the physical eye, but rather by the spiritual eye.
282 The Mu'tazila rejected the notion that a physical vision of God (ru’yat Alldh) would be pos­
sible in the Hereafter. The notion, though controversial in theology, was a popular one as evidenced
by the number of early hadiths in which, in response to their questions about the possibility thereof,
the Prophet reassures those questioning him that they will indeed see their Lord in the Hereafter,
as easily as they are able to see the full moon in all its brightness; see Daniel Gimaret, ‘Ru’yat Allah’,
EP, VIII, 649; TG, IV, 411-5; further discussion and reference is given in n. 333.

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contem poraries say: ‘This is a hadith fabricated by the Hashwiyya283 - it is pre­

posterous that Moses would ask this, [prompted] by his soul or by his people,
because the believer does not question w hether God sleeps or does not sleep,
so how could the messenger?* [End of his quote].284
The benefit of repeating the (negative particle), la, in His saying wa Id nawm,
{neither sleep) is the absence of both (states) in every circumstance. If the Id
were eliminated, it would imply their absence [but] through the bond o f con­
junction - you say, ‘Zayd and ‘A m r did not stand, rather [just] one o f them
[stood]*; but it is not said, ‘Zayd did not stand, neither ‘Amr, rather [just] one
o f them [stood]*.285 The opinion of those who make this clause a predicate of
His word al-hayy, provided that al-hayy is the subject o f a nominal clause, has
already been presented; but it is possible that it is a predicate for Allah, and that
He made it {al-hayy) an indirect predicate after it (i.e after the word Allah),286
according to the school of those who allow this.287 Abu*l-Baqa* allows that the
clause {Id ta'khudhuhu sinatun wa Id nawm) is in the position o f a circum stan­
tial phrase, to the personal pronoun concealed in al-qayyum, i.e. ‘ever-watchful
o f the m atter of creation, not negligent*.
[The clause] lahu m affl-sam dwdti wa m dfi'l-ard {to Him belongs all that is
in the heavens and the earth) can correctly be a predicate following [another]
predicate, or it can correctly be the resum ption o f a predicate, as could be
admissibly applied to the preceding clause. Md refers to the generality, includ­
ing every existent, and the lam [in la-hu] indicates possession. God advises that
the contents of the heavens and earth are His property, and He repeats the md
for emphasis. The contents are m entioned here w ithout m ention o f the con­
tainer, because what is intended is to negate divinity from anything other than
God, and that it is improper that other than Him be worshipped, because what
is worshipped other than God - the shining bodies in the sky like the sun,
moon, Sirius (the Dog Star), and earthly characters like the idols and some men
- all of these are the possessions o f God, controlled and created. It has already 234567

233 ‘Hashwiyya’ is a contemptuous term used to describe bad scholars, and used by the Mu'tazila
for the majority of a$hdb al-hadith on account of their acceptance of anthropomorphic expressions;
see ‘Hashwiyya»El2, III* 269.
234 See the commentary of Rizi, this chapter, where he states that Moses could not possibly have
entertained the notion of God being affected by slumber or sleep, and that ‘if the narration is taken
to be reliable, then this question should be attributed to the ignorant among his people’.
235 Thus the repeated negative particle ensures that there is no implication that one of the states
maybe present.
236 Fayakunu qad akhbarahu badahu ikhbdran. Since the pronoun is hu and not ha the referent
cannot be Id ta’khudhuhu sinatun wa Id nawm, which Abu Hayyan refers to as the jumla. Thus the
direct predicate is Id ta’khudhuhu sinatun wa Id nawm and the indirect predicate is al-hayy.
237 The suggestion here is that the two phrases are both predicative cases for the subject'Alldh’.
Thus the word Alldh here has two predicates: 1) al-hayy and al-qayyum\ and 2) the one is who is not
affected by either sleep or slumber.

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been m entioned that He is creator of the heavens and earth, and He does not
mention [here] His being the master of these both, sufficing with what has pre­
ceded.
Man dhalladhi yashfa u 'indahu ilia bi-idhnihi {Who is there that shall inter­
cede with Him except by His permission)? The polytheists used to claim that the
idols would intercede for them with God, and used to say, We only serve them
that they may bring us near to God [Q. 39:3].288 In this verse is a most glorious
indication of God’s sovereignty and the glory o f His greatness, [which is] such
that no one is able to set forward to intercede with Him except with permission
from Him. As God states, Id yatakallamuna ilia man idhina lahu'l-rahmdnu
{they shall speak notf except to whom the Compassionate One has given
permission) [Q. 78:38].
The verse indicates the existence of intercession by G od’s perm ission
{idhn).289 Idhn here means amr (command) - for instance ‘intercede and you
will be granted intercession - or ‘ilm (knowledge), or tamkin (investiture), if
someone intercedes without command. Man {who) is nominative on account
of its being the subject - it is a question to be understood as a denial, which is
why ilia {except) is included in His saying ilia bi-idhnihi {except by His permis­
sion) [...].290
‘Indahu {with Him) is governed by yashfa u {shall intercede). It is said: It could
be a circumstantial clause for the pronoun in yashfa'u, the implied sense being,
‘those who reside with Him shall intercede. This [explanation] is weak because
the sense is in the m anner o f ‘shall intercede with Him’; [but] it is said, the cir­
cumstantial phrase [explanation] is stronger because if those who are with Him
and close to Him cannot intercede, then the intercession of others is less likely.
Bi-idhnihi {by His permission) is connected to yashfa'u. The bd* [in bi] is o f
adjunction {mu$dhaba)> [the adjunct] being that which is designated by ‘a cir­
cumstantial clause’. That is to say: No one shall intercede with Him except he
who is permitted to do so.
Ya'lamu md bayna aydihim wa md khalfahum {He knows what lies before
them and what is after them). The personal pronoun [-him/-hum] refers back
to md [all; in the phrase la-hu md fil-samdwati wa md fil-ard]: they [-hum] are
‘creation’ - those with reason predom inating. It is said: The two pronouns
[-him/-hum] in aydihim {before them) and khalfahum {after them) refer to all
who are endowed with reason among those included in His saying to Him
belongs all that is in the heaven and the earth. Ibn ‘Atiyya says this. Ibn ‘Afryya

288 See Zajjaj, Ma'&ni, 1,334; Naysiburi, Ghar&’ib, III, 17.

289This extended discussion of intercession shows how controversial a concept it was in theology;
Abu Hayyin attempts to resolve it by recourse to grammatical and syntactical exegesis.
290 The following grammatical discussion of dhd is left out as it is not relevant to the theological
themes of this verse.

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[also] allows that it [the personal pronoun could] refer to the angels and
prophets indicated by man dha (who is there). It is said: [it refers] to the angels.
M uqatil says this. M d bayna aydxhim (what lies before them) is th at which
concerns the H ereafter, and md khalfahum (what is after them) is that
which concerns this world - Ibn ‘Abbas291 and Q atada say this; or [it is said it
means] the reverse - M ujahid, Ibn Jurayj, al-H akam b. ‘Utba, Sudd! and his
teachers say this. O r what lies before them is w hat was before th eir creation,
and what is after them is what is after their creation. O r what lies before them is
w hat they reveal, and what is after them is what they conceal - Mawardi says
this. Or what lies before them is from the sky to the earth, and what is after them
is what is in the heavens. O r what lies before them is their present deeds and
circum stances - and what is after them is w hat will be; or the reverse. These
two accounts are m entioned by Taj al-Q urra in his commentary. O r what lies
before the angels in the m atter o f intercession and what is after them in the
m atter o f this world; or the reverse. Mujahid says this. O r what they have done
and what they will do. Muqatil says this.
It becomes apparent that this is a m etonym ical allusion292 to the encir­
clem ent, from all directions, o f all created beings by G od’s knowledge:
through these two directions, all [the rem aining] directions are alluded to,
w ith respect to His knowledge encompassing [a thing] - like you say, ‘Zayd
struck the back and the stomach’, when you mean thereby his entire body. The
directions are used m etaphorically for all the states o f knowledge. So the
m eaning is: God is aware of all the circum stances o f created beings and
nothing escapes Him . Thus no single designated thing is intended by the
[phrases] what lies before them and what is after them, unlike what they believe
[who hold that opinion].
Wa Id yuhifuna bi-shay in min ‘ilmihi, (and they do not encompass anything
o f His knowledge). ‘Comprehension (ihd(a) requires encompassing and enfold­
ing som ething in all its aspects. Knowledge (‘ilm ) here is ‘the know n fact’
(m a‘lum), because God’s knowledge, which is a characteristic o f His essence, is
not divisible, as it was said in the story concerning Moses and al-Khidr:293 my
knowledge and your knowledge fall short of His knowledge, as this sparrow
falls short of the sea. The exception (ilia bi-ma shd’a, except such as He wills)
indicates that what is intended by ‘ilm (knowledge) is m a'lum dt (known
things). They say: ‘O God! Forgive us what You know (‘ilm) o f us!’ i.e., Your
‘known facf [i.e., the thing(s) You know about us]. The m eaning is: They do
not know anything about the Unseen, which is known to God, except for that
291 See QurtubI, J&mi\ III, 179; Tabari, Jdmi al-baydn, V, 376; Baghawi, Ma'dlim, 1,239.
292 Kindya is, literally, metonymy. See Ch. Pellat, 'Kinaya,El2, V, 116-18.
293 QurtubI, Jdmi\ III, 179. This is a reference to the Quranic encounter of the two in Q. 18:60-
82.

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of which G od chooses to inform them. Kalbl says this. Zajjaj says, ‘Except for
that which He imparts to the prophets, confirming their prophethood.’294
Bi-shay*in (anything) and bi-md did*a (except by His permission) are both con­
nected to yuhifuna (they encompass), and it becomes the connection o f two
prepositions of a single category to a single causative agent, because that is in
accordance with the m ethod of substitution (badal), similar to your saying ‘that
is no ones business but Zayd’s*. It is more likely that the object o f He wills
(shaa) is implied - that they encompass it (an yuhifu bi-hi), as is indicated by
His saying *wa Id yuhifuna (they encompass not).
His seat embraces the heavens and earth. The generality read this as wasi‘a
with an T vowel for the sin, though it can exceptionally be read with no vowel
[on the sin], and it can also exceptionally be read as w isu ywith no vowel (on
the sin) and a ‘u’ vowel on the fayn: [wis'u kursiyyihi] al-samawdtu w al-ardu,
with pronunciation of the final consonant with ‘u , which makes [wis'u kursiyy­
ihi] subject and [al-samdwdtu wa'l-ar^u] predicate.295
The ‘seaf (kursi) is a great body that comprises the heavens and earth. It is
said that it is the same as the ‘throne’ (farsh) - al-Hasan says this.296 O thers say.
‘It is lower than the throne Carsh) but higher than the seventh heaven.’ It is also
said: ‘[It is] below the earth, just as the throne ('arsh) is above the heaven - [that
is reported] from al-Suddl. It is said: ‘The seat (kursi) is the site o f the two
feet of the Greatest Spirit (rub)* - 297298or another Angel of mighty scale. It is said
that it denotes ‘authority and ‘pow ei\ The Arabs call the basis of all things the
kursi, and the king is designated as ‘the kursi, because the king sits upon one
on the occasion [of passing] judgement, decree and interdiction, and so he is
called, metaphorically, by the nam e of his seat [...].
It is said: The seat (kursi) is ‘knowledge’ (‘i/m), because the place o f the
‘knower (rdlim)29S is the kurst, and the characteristic of the thing is m etaphor­
ically called by the name of its seat; thus the ‘ulamd*are called kardsiy because

294 Zajjaj, Ma'ani, 1,337.

295 This would render the verse thus: the ampleness of His kursi is [that of] the heavens and the
earth.
296 Qurtubl, fdmi\ III, 180; Baghawi, Ma’dlim, 1,239; Tabari, Jami' al-baydn, V, 397-9.
297 Kashani (in his l^filahdt) gives a simple definition of the ruh al-'azam: al-'aql al-awwal, the
primary intellect. The ruh is identified sometimes with the Archangel Gabriel (especially as ruh al-
qudus) and sometimes with the Qur’an. In Q. 97, the Ruh is described as descending to earth with
the angels on the laylat al-qadr, ‘the night of power [or ordainmentj’. Pickthall’s translation has the
note that the ruh refers to ‘Gabriel or, as some commentators think, a general term for angels of the
highest rank’; see his translation of the Qur’an, 814. Al-Ruii is also described as an angel (or associate
of angels) and at other times as the agency of revelation. See E. Calverley, ‘Nafs, El2, VII, 880; G.
Webb, ‘Angel’, EQ, 1,87.
298 This term ‘alim (pi. ‘ulamd’) has been translated literally in this instance, in order to retain,
for the reader, the etymological comparison made in the Arabic ('i/m, ‘dlim); it simply means
‘schola/ (sc. ulema).

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o n e supports oneself on them , just as it is said [of them that they are j, ‘the pegs
o f the earth’[...].299
It is said: The kursi is one of the angels, filling the heavens and earth. It is said
[that it means]: G od’s power (qudra). It is [also] said [that it means]: G od’s
m anagem ent (tadbir). Both of these were related by Mawardl. He says: It is the
foundation (things) are supported on [...J.300
Zamakhshari says: There are four meanings in His words His seat comprises.
O ne of them is that His kurst, because of its expanse and spaciousness, is not
narrower than the heavens and the earth; nor is it anything but an imaginal por­
trayal of His Majesty {‘azama) and is only [linguistic] imagery - there is no
[actual] chair, no act of sitting and no sitter - as in the case of His words: They
do not gauge God with His true measure. The earth shall be in His grasp on the
Day o f Resurrection and the heavens shall be rolled up in His right hand [Q.
39:67] where ‘grasp’, ‘rolling-up and ‘right hand’ are not to be conceived o f [lit­
erally] . Rather it is only an image of the majesty of His status and a sensory rep­
resentation of it. Indeed, do you not consider His saying, They do not gauge God
with His true measure [Q. 6:91; 39:67]. [This is] the end [of the quotation] of
what he says about this [first] meaning. Al-Qaffal choses his [Zamakhshari’s]
meaning, saying: W hat is intended by this statem ent is a depiction o f the
majesty of G od and His greatness, and an honouring of Him. He addresses
m ankind to make known His essence, using terms with which they are familiar
from their kings and leaders.
It is said: ‘[The kursi is] a pearl seat, its legs 700-years [journey] high, and
the seat itself is of a height which hum an beings cannot conceive of. Ibn
‘Asakir, in his history, m entions this from ‘All b. Abl T^lib,301 that G od’s
Messenger said this. Ibn ‘Afiyya says: ‘W hat the hadiths imply is that the seat
{kurst) is an im m ense creature302 {makhluq) that [lies] in front o f the throne
(‘arsh), and the throne {(arsh) is [even] greater than it.’ G od’s Messenger says:
‘The seven heavens com pared to the seat {kurst) are as seven dirham s cast
upon a shield.’ Abu D harr states that he heard G od’s Messenger saying: ‘The
kursi compared to the ‘arsh is like a steel ring thrown in an open desert’303 This

299 Much of the discussion here concerning the kursi is very similar to some of the material that
R&zl presents. This passage is followed by two poetic citations which have not been included; the
first is also cited by TabrisI and Tabari, and the second (cited by Abu Hayyin, to support the defini­
tion of kursi as sirr) is also given by TabrisI, but with one variation: instead of 'ilm al-ghayb in the
second hemistich, as cited by TabrisI, Abii Hayy&n’s citation has T7mAlldh.
300 Here follows a short discussion of takarrasa and tardkaba as contained in TabrisI s commen­
tary, in this chapter.
301 See Qurfubi, /dm/', III, 180. This work is part of Ibn 'Asakii's monumental ‘History of
Damascus City (Tarikh Madinat Dimashq): see Ibn ‘Asikir, Tarjama.
302 Lit., makhluq is ‘a created thin£, regardless of whether it is animate or inanimate, so 'creature
in the generic sense.
303 Cf. the narrations given in the commentaries by ‘Ayyishl and Tabari, this chapter.

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verse inform s o f the m agnitude of G od's creation. [Here is) the end o f his
statement.
Wa la ya'uduhu hifruhumd, the preserving o f them wearies Him not [...], i.e.
‘it does not trouble Him nor burden Him’; Ibn ‘Abbas, Hasan, Q atada and
others say this. A bin b. Taghlib says: Preserving them does not weigh heavily
on Him. It is said: Preserving the heavens does not distract Him from preserv­
ing the earths, nor preserving the earths from preserving the heavens. The ha'
radical [i.e. the hu in ya'uduhu] refers to God, [though) it is [also) said that it
may be referring to the seat. The more apparent [interpretation) is the former,
because then the personal pronouns correspond to one [entity] and are not at
variance, and because of the unlikelihood of attributing ‘[an act of] preserva­
tion’ to the [inanimate] ‘seaf (kursi).
For He is the High, the Tremendous: High in His majesty; Tremendous in His
dom inion (sultan). Ibn ‘Abb&s says: He who is complete in His greatness. It is
said: The Tremendous is the glorified [...). But I dispute this on account of the
[corresponding] cessation of this characteristic, before creation and after their
extinction, when there would be none to glorify Him so this statem ent is not
permissible. It is said: The [correct] answer is that it is a characteristic o f activity,
like creation and the provision of livelihood, [but] what they say is n o t neces­
sarily so. It is said: The High is the elevated above His creation, the exalted above
equals or rivals. It is said; al-'&li, ‘the Sublime derives from [the verbs] ‘aldya'lu
‘to be elevated’ and irtafaa ‘to ascend’. That is to say: [He is] the Sublime over
His creation through His power. The Tremendous is the possessor o f glory
beneath W hom everything [else] is. Nothing is m ore glorious th an Him.
Al-MawardI says: There are two viewpoints to the distinction between al-aliyy
and al-'dli,304 One of them is that al-'dli is the one who exists in the location o f
height, while al-'aliyy is the one deserving of height. The second is that a l-d ll
is the one whom it is permitted to share in, while al-aliyy is the one it is not per­
m itted to share in. Therefore, according to this viewpoint, it is perm itted to
describe God as al-'aliyy, but not as al-'dli, while according to the first it is p er­
mitted to describe [Him] as either.
It is said: The High is the conqueror, the victor o f all things. The Arabs say,
‘So-and-so became higher than so-and-so’, meaning ‘he was victorious over
him and conquered him’ [...].
[An example of the usage o f'a la are His words] inna Fir'awna 'aid fil-a rd
(Pharaoh exalted himself in the land) [Q. 28:4]. Zamakhshari says:305 '[He is the
High, the Tremendous is to be understood as] the High in status, the Tremendous
in sovereignty and omnipotence (qudra)’. Some people say: The High above His

304 Both words essentially mean ‘high’, ‘lofty or ‘exalted’.

305 Zamakhshari, K a sh sh 6 fy 1,301.

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creation, through the elevation of His position over the positions o f His creation.
I b n ‘Afiyya says: This is a statement made by ignorant corporealists, and a view­
point that should not be related. He also says: ‘W hat is meant by the High is the
height of rank and degree, not spatial height, because God is free o f confines.*
Zam akhshari says:306

If you say, ‘How are the clauses in the /curn-verse arranged without [coordinating]
conjunctions?* I say, ‘There is not a single clause therein but is mentioned in a clear
way because of how it is arranged: clarity is united with the clear, and if a conjunc­
tion stood between the two of them it would be, as the Arabs say, “between the
stick and its bark**.* The first (part of the verse] is an elucidation of His execution
of the management of creation, and His being guardian over it, never inattentive
to it; the second of His being the King of what He manages; the third of the great­
ness of His rank; the fourth of His comprehension (ihdfa) of the states [and cir­
cumstances] of creation and His knowledge of those among them [whom He has]
endorsed - those who merit intercession - and those not endorsed; the fifth is [an
explanation] of the breadth of His knowledge and its connection to all known
things, or of His sublime majesty and His mighty (‘azxm) decree (qadar).307

This noble verse contains the attributes of the essence, among them: [God’s]
oneliness - through His saying there is no god except H im ; life which denotes
eternity - through His saying the Living; and power - through His saying the
Eternal Sustainer. He proceeds from the etem ality to the absence of anything
attributable to weakness, i.e., whatever inattentiveness and misfortune befalls
those, other than Him, who possess power, thereby negating their description
as ‘possessing power'. He proceeds from the everlastingness indicating power
to His sovereignty, His force and His supremacy over what is in the heavens
and earth: sovereignty is [one of the] effects o f power, since the O w ner has the
right of disposal over the owned. W hat is intended by His statem ent Who is
there that shall intercede with Him except by His permission is an indication of
[God’s] choice and will; and [God’s] knowledge [is the content of] His state­
m ent He knows what lies before them and what is after them; then He strips them
o f knowledge except for what He informs them of. Then, when [the m ention
of] the attributes of the sublime essence is completed, in which is included
something of the attributes of action, and it is negated of Him that He is a locus
for events, this is [all] sealed with [the statem ent of] His being the High in
degree, the Tremendous in rank.

306 Ibid.
307 A comparison with the relevant section in Zamakhsharis commentary reveals two small dif­
ferences, which are likely to be no more than typographical errors: 1) instead of lih&’ihd in the Arab
saying *between the stick and its bark, Abu Hayyan has mahaihd; and 2) instead of 'uzm qadarihi
at the end, Abu Jiayyin has 'azirrt qadarihi. The second discrepency has been reflected in the trans­
lation, while the first has been ignored since mahaihd makes no sense.

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Sharafi
This verse was extensively glossed and discussed because of its role in the arguments
about metaphor and anthropomorphism in the Qur’an. Among the Zaydis, the most well-
known discussions on this subject are the treatises and glosses ofal-Hadl ilal-Haqq Yafcya
b. al-fjusayn found in the Ma$abih as well as the M a j m u , a collection of his theological
treatises. As the specific commentary on this verse is not currently available in Ma$dbth,
so relevant glosses from other exegetical sections have been collated for this section. The
focus of these exegetical comments is upon the meaning of al-hayy\ the L iving and what
sort of analogy it may possess as a term with many different referents, and the meaning
of kurst, what it is and, perhaps more importantly, what it is not, reflecting the key anti-
anthropomorphism feature of Zaydl theology (k a ld m ).

An explanation of the meaning of (God’s) word al-hayy, the Living:308 [...] or if

a questioner asked about the meaning of al-hayy,309 it would be said to him: al-
hayy may be explained in three senses.310
Am ong these [explanations] is that it is som ething that can move, from
among those who possess the known senses, such as the angels, jinn, m en and
other known and unknow n creatures [of God] that possess spirits [which are]
im prisoned in the bodies created by G od for them , in which they dwell. As
God said: God has created every beast o f water, and some o f them go upon their
bellies, and some o f them go upon two feet, and some o f them go upon four; God
creates whatever He will; God is powerful over everything [Q. 24:45]. All these
are living as long as their spirit is in them, when their spirit departs, their death
and demise descends upon them. God, Glorified is He, is exempt from all that
and He is sanctified and exalted above any corporeality or [possibility of]
extinction.
The second sense is [that al-hayy refers to] that which He has given life to
and brought into existence for all creatures such as that which He creates and

308 HSdl, Majmu a (kitdb al-Mustarshid) 207-8. Al-Mustarshid is an early kaldm work that shares
with its namesake, authored by al-Qisim b. Ibrahim, a concern to refute the gross miscomprehen­
sion of anthropomorphism.
309 Zayd b. ‘All b. (exe. 122/740) comments that this means the Eternal (al-Bdqi), in his
Gharib, 151.
310 In this commentary, the Zaydl imam is keen to stress the utter contingency of all creatures
and the lack of analogy between the divine attribute of life and the property of life that applies to
other things. Although the word is commonly applied, it is purely homonymous and devoid of any
meaningful analogy. This is a position that is common to most early theologians whether Ash'ari or
Mu'tazill. However, the Muslim philosophers and the Twelver Shi'i theologians in the classical
period felt that meaningful theology required there to be some analogy between ‘living applied to
all its referents, since human language, whilst limited in its capability to grasp the divine, was still
the medium of divine communication, and the divine attributes depended upon analogy to convey
meaning to those receiving the revelation. See the work of the Twelver Shi'i theologian Hilli, Kashf,
24-28,287.

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brings forth for [His] slaves, through blessed water, in the earth, the very same
place of rest,311 such as the palm tree - both fruit-bearing and non-fruit
bearing, possessing slender spadices - and other sustenance from the One, the
Noble, such as plants and fruits and trees that sprout forth and are given life by
the rains that G od sends down upon them. As God, possessor o f munificence,
the All-preserver, the All-compeller, said: O f water [We] fashioned every living
thing will they not believe? [Q. 21:30]. He, Glorified is He, said: A nd thou behold-
est the earth blackened, then, when We send down water upon it, it quivers, and
swells, and puts forth herbs o f every joyous kind [Q. 22:5]. He, whose glory is far
beyond words clasping it [in description] or reaching it, also said about that:
We sent down from heaven pure water so that We might revive a dead land, and
give to drink o f it, o f that We created, cattle and men a many. We have indeed
turned it about amongst them, so that they may remember, yet most men refuse all
but unbelief [Q. 25:48-50].
There are many, not few, [instances] similar to this, in d e ar [passages] in the
revelation that G od has sent down, where God has m entioned that He gives
something [that can be] seen with the eyes, life through water. These bodies
that are given life by water do not possess spirits that dwell in those bodies, like
the spirits that dwell in the animals, rodents and reptiles that God has created.
Their life is in their becom ing green [and bearing fruit] and w ater being in
them and irrigating them . God has nam ed hayy that which is thus, as He has
mentioned in His Book; and even so the Arabs say of trees when they are thus
‘this palm tree is alive (hayya)\ since it is green and irrigated. God, Glorified is
He, is untouched by this sense [of the word hayy] and being similar to anything.
The third sense is the only one that it is permissible to apply to God, posses­
sor o f authority (sultan), possessor of might (jabarut) and compassion (rafa)
and beneficence (ihsdn). [This third meaning] is Living in the sense that the
Living is the one of whom act and disposal (of affairs) are conceivable and pos­
sible, and that is God, the Living, the perm anent, the Subtle (al-lafif), the All-
aware (al-khabtr).312

[On Q. 40:7 on those who bear the farsh]:313

Now know, when He had made clear that the disbelievers do their utm ost in
manifesting hatred towards the believers, He made clear that the most noble
stratum of creatures - they being the angels who are the ones who carry the
311 Place of rest for all physical things when they perish and die.
312 This last sense of life is exclusive to God and retains His alterity to His creation; it subtly jux­
taposes a metaphorical understanding of a commonly applied term with an affirmation of some of
the key, and contrasting, attributes of God that relate to anthropomorphic features, such as aware­
ness and perception, while negating their anthropomorphism. God is significantly both impercep­
tible, beyond the sight and ken of human beings, and also entirely aware of their actions.
3,3 Sharafi, Mafdbih, III, 270-6.

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‘arsh and who circle around the throne (‘arsh) - do their utm ost in manifesting
love and help for the believers. Thus He said: Those who bear the throne and
those around it sing the praises o f their Lord and believe in Him and seek forgive­
ness for those who believe. The 'arsh is: the [divine] dom inion (m ulk); their
bearing of the dominion [Le. the bearing of the dominion by the angels] is: their
accomplishing therein the com m ands of G od which they are com m issioned
with.
He said in al-Tajrid:314 W ith regard to t h e farsh, its essence is unfathomable
but God has described it as great, gracious and glorious. It is said that G od
created the 'arsh from a green gem, and a swift bird takes eighty thousand years
to fly between two of its pillars. The ‘arsh is attired every day with seventy th o u ­
sand vestments of light; none of God’s creation can look upon it. All things are
in the 'arsh like a ring in a desert land.
As for its bearers, it is said that the bearers o f the 'arsh are four angels. O n
the Day of Judgment, they are provided with four m ore thus becoming eight
[in all]; other things they have said in description o f it and of its bearers [are
mentioned in the Tajrid]. Tha'labl has m entioned this; and that is how it is in
the Kashshdf315
Al-Qasim b. Ibrahim has a straightforward com m ent concerning what they
say about the description o f the 'arsh in which he m entions the invalidity of
what they claim about its reality (haqlqatihi); he does not affirm anything o f
what they relate in description of it.316 The 'arsh in his view, and in the view of
our ancient imams, is only an expression of the might o f God and His dom in­
ion, and the m eaning o f the angels bearing it is th at they carry out the com ­
mands of God, Glorified is He, in His creation - what He wishes and how He
wishes, concerning reckoning and punishing and other [matters].317
Al-HadI ilal-H aqq Yahya b. al-Husayn said:318 The 'arshy the k u rs tf19 the

3.4 Kitdb al-Tajrid is a major theological work authored by Imam al-Mu’ayyad Abu’l-Husayn
Abmad b. al*Husayn al-Hirunl al-Daylaml (d. 411/1020) explaining the teachings of Imams al-Hadi
and al-Q&sim b. Ibrahim; see the entry on him in Husayni (Ahmad) 1413/1992-3. Thanks are due
to Dr Bernard Haykel of New York University for this identification.
3.5 Zamakshari’s Kashshdf, as a Mu'tazili work, was popular among the Zaydis who were, at least
from the eleventh century onwards, Mu'tazili in their theology.
316 See his Kitdb al-Mustarshid in Abrahamov 1996,99-145.
3.7 Al-Qasim’s metaphorical interpretation is designed to question the very reality of the throne
as a physical thing; rather since it refers to God’s dominion and realm of creation, then it makes little
sense to consider angels as actual bearers of a physical object. Instead, they 'bear' and carry out God’s
commands in His dominion. TabrisI, Majma' al-baydn, VIII, 427, in similar vein considers the
‘bearing of the throne’ to mean the worship of God in His dominion and the acquiescence to His
commands, but he also allows for the literal sense of a spiritual existent that is the throne and whose
bearers are the foremost angels (sddat al-mald’ika) and select cherubim {karrubiyyun).
3.8 Kitdb al-'Arsh wal-Kursi in Hadi, Majmu'a, 229-32.
3.9 Zayd b. ‘All comments that this means knowledge and cites Ibn ‘Abbas as the authority on it;
furthermore, the kursi is the place of the *arsh: Zayd b. ‘All, Gharib, 151.

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grasp (qabfa)*20 assault (bafsh), the coming and the bringing forth (ityan wa
m ap*), the bridge the book (kitdb), the balance (mizdn), the uncovering
o f the shin (kashf'an sdq), the two hands (yaddn), grasping (qabtf), spreading
out (basf), the face (wajh), the veil (hijdb),321 these are all m etaphors (amthdl)
- none o f w hich are related to hum an attributes, and whoever relates any of
them to hum an attributes has disbelieved.322 These attributes are only
m etaphors of the Q u ra n , as in His saying, and those similitudes (amthdl) (We
strike them fo r people, but none understands them except those who know [Q.
29:43]). God has mentioned metaphors in much o f the Q ur'an. We say that the
significance o f 'arsh, kursi, wajh, is the same, there is no difference between
them two [sic.323] - the meaning in them is one. It is not (that) we say there is
a created 'arsh, nor [do we say that there is] a created kursi, nor a created wajh.
None of these three metaphors, th e ‘arsh, the kursi and the wajh exists at all, not
in any description nor by any [explanatory] manoeuvre.
If someone said: W hat is the meaning o f the ‘arsh that God m entioned in
His Book? We would say to him: It is a nam e indicating God in His transcen­
dence and exaltation above His creatures, be they from among the inhabitants
o f His heavens or His earth. If he said to us: what is the kursi that G od m en­
tioned in His Book? We would say to him: it is a nam e that speaks of the attrib­
utes of God in His essence (fi dhdtihi).
If he said: How are the attributes of G od in His essence? We w ould say to
him: The kursi indicates God, it is one of the names o f His sovereignty, there is
nothing there but God. The meaning of His seat comprises the heavens and the
earth is that He embraces the heavens and the earth in His kursi, and the
m eaning o f 'H e embraces the heavens and the earth in His kursi is th at He
embraces the heavens and the earth in His exaltation and His omnipotence. Do
you not listen to His word: the preserving o f them wearies Him not, [by that] He,
320 Instances of pertinent Qur’inic references for these terms are as follows: qabfa in Q. 39:67
refers to His grasp; bafsh, Q. 85:12, refers to God’s assault, the firdt is the bridge that must be crossed
by ail souls on the Day of Judgement, beneath which lies the abyss of Hell; itydn wa maji refer to the
coming of God and the angels (Q. 16:32), and the bringing forth of the prophets and the martyrs/wit-
nesses to testify with regard to people (Q. 39:69); the mizdn is the balance in which the deeds of crea­
tures are weighed up (Q. 42:17); the kashf'an sdq idiom used in Q. 68:42 is a reference to the Day of
Judgement as a day of distress; yaddn and bast refer to God’s hands spread wide in giving (Q. 5:64);
Q. 2:115 speaks of God’s wajh (face/countenance/essence); Q. 42:51 mentions that God communi­
cates with men either through revelation or from behind a veil (hijdb) or through a messenger [such
as an angel].
321 Hadi identifies metaphor as the correct hermeneutic for understanding Qur’inic terms such
as these, some of which are anthropomorphic and are used in reference to God. In this way, the utter
transcendence and alterity of God is preserved whilst making Him accessible to human understand­
ing through the use of metaphor in the revelation, since the very fact of a communicated and
revealed text's comprehensibility is predicated upon its use of human language.
322 The section between the dash and the full-stop is in the edition of the Majmu\ but not in the
quotation in the Mafdbih.
323 This is most likely a reference to the kursi and the ‘arsh.

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Glorified is He, means that the heavens and the earth do not contain Him; He
inform s [us] that they do not restrain Him. A nd how could they restrain or
contain Him since He informs [us] that He is beyond them both, encompassing
their outer edges, reaching from beyond them and beyond what is beyond
them unto that which only He may reach. The Prophet said to Abu Dharr:324
‘O Abu Dharr, the heavens and the earth are in the kursl just as a ring that is
cast down on the earth’ - [by which] he was saying: ‘The heavens and the earth,
with their edges beyond them - from that which is wider than them o f the
[outer] limit of their edges to that which is infinite - are but as a ring cast down
on the earth’.
He [the Prophet] thus informed [us] - by means o f [referring to] their [the
heavens and the earth’s] greatness and corporeality - that they are inside the
‘seat* like a ring is inside the earth. W hat then is the position of the ring vis-&-
vis the earth? Is it not just like [how] what is beyond the ring - from the edges
of the earth to its [very] limits and its m ountains and trees and what is above
it and under it - is wider, greater and m ore spacious than [the bit] o f the
heavens and the earth [that] circles the ring? The ring is the smallest thing [in
the earth]; and [similarly] what G od encompasses and surrounds [i.e. the
heavens and the earth] is little, small, miserable, paltry [compared to the torsi].
He [God] inform s us that it is He w ho encompasses and surrounds the two
[i.e. the heavens and the earth], so that, despite their greatness and bigness
they become encompassed within His knowledge, as the ring cast down on the
earth.
The meaning of my statement325 ‘encompassed within His knowledge
is ‘encompassed w ithin H im self’, because He has no knowledge other than
Himself.326 So God embraces the heavens and the earth just as the earth
encompasses the ring throw n inside it. A nd here, by God, intellects are p er­
plexed, and imaginings327 err, and speculation about God is cut off. In the Book
of God there is a verification of this narration from the Prophet. Thus whoever
says ‘God has an ‘arsh in heaven which encompasses Him’, has alleged that the
‘arsh is wider and greater and stronger and bigger than Him; such [a person]
has alleged that it is the 'arsh, not God, that encompasses things, and that it is
the 'arsh, not God, that is All-encompassing (wdsf), and that it is the 'arsh, not
God, that is the Strong (qawt); [such a person] alleges through his claim that

324 Cf. a similar report in the commentary by' Ayyishl, this chapter.
325 Ft ihdfati'ilmihi, lit. ‘within the comprehension of His knowledge’, but meaning ‘comprised/
contained/ understood/comprehended within His knowledge’.
326 Ld ‘ilma lahu ghayruhu, ‘He knows only Himself; i.e. all that God knows is Himself, and He
knows everything; so everything is in Him; and the heavens and the earth are in Him as the ring is
in the desert.
327 Ahldm, lit. ‘dreams’.

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G od is smaller than the 'arsh since He is, according to his claim, inside the €arsh
an d the f,arsh comprises Him, encompassing Him. Thus the 4arsh becomes
[such a persons] Lord, and he claims that the ‘arsh is the All-encompassing,
the All-knowing (al-wasi' al-'alim) since he claims that it is wider than G od the
Almighty, the All-wise.
To his [al-Hadi ikfl-Haqqs] words: It is only a metaphor that God has coined
for His servants that through it He may indicate His greatness and His vastness
over all things and His encompassing of them . Among the evidence for [the
view] that by m entioning the *arsh and the kursi God intended to make known
to His servants the greatness of His scope and His encompassing o f [all] things
are His words: That you may know that God is powerful over all things and that
God encompasses all things in knowledge [Q. 65:12]; and God is behind them,
encompassing [Q. 85:20].
His son, al-Murta<Ja said in [his work called] al-I(lcib:328 ‘Do you ask about
the 'arsh7. A nd [about] what was said about it, namely that the angels circum ­
ambulate it in heaven? He [al-Murta<Ja] said:

Only the ignorant one who does not know the language [of classical Arabic]
asserts that, and then does not present any evidence for it. The 'arsh is only the
dominion, and God is the King of what is in the heavens and the earth. There is
not any ars/j-object there, as the ignorant claim; He [God] only meant His domin­
ion, and His potency (maqdira) over all He has created.329 [This] has been estab­
lished for you in the commentary on the *arsh by my grandfather al-Qasim b.
Ibrahim, and al-Hadi ila’l-Haqq has two books in which there is a commentary on
that330Thus, since it is so [that these are with you], we have no need to repeat it
in our letter to you.
Imam al-Hadi ila 1-Haqq Yabya b. al-Husayn said:331

[...] I shall mention to you some information about the deviant folk, namely the
anthropomorphists, the curse of God be upon them, and relate to you the way

32* This theological text entitled al-ltfdh mimmd sa1ala *anhu al- Tabariyyun was composed by the
imam al-Murtada; see tfusaynl (Ahmad) 1413/1992-3.
329 The text says khalaqa wa bora' a; both of these verbs may be rendered as ‘He created’, as their
roots provide us with two divine names al-khdliq and al-bdri\ It could be that, consonant with Arabic
prose style, the author is merely stressing the action by doubling two verbs with approximately the
same meaning, or it could be that he recognises the different nuances of the two verbs. One possi­
bility, given that the context refers to God as King and Creator of both heavens and earth, is that one
verb refers to His creative activity in the heavens, that is in the supralunary world, and the other to
His creation in this world, that is in the sublunary world. Certainly, Avicenna makes such a distinc­
tion between modes of creation by differentiating between ibdd, which is creation devoid of time
and not ex nihilo, and khaUj and tahvin, which are modes of creation of the physical and material,
not least in this world. See Ibn Slni, Ishdr&t, III, 120-2.
330 These two works are Kitdb Tafsir al-Kursi and Kitdb al-'Arsh wal-Kursi, in Hid!, Majmua,
223-36.
331 Kitdb Tafsir al-Kurst, in Had!, Majmua, 223-8.

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On the Nature of the Divine

of their straying away from guidance and how they have erred and become
blind.
Know, may God bless you, that there was a group of anthropomorphists in the
time of the Messenger of God, and also in the time o f‘AIL God mentioned those
who were in the time of His Prophet in verses of the Scripture that He sent down.
He, glorified is He, said: They say: ' We will not believe you until you make a spring
gushforth from the earthfor us, or until you possess a garden of palms and vines, and
you make rivers to gush forth abundantly all amongst it, or until you make heaven
fall, as you assert, upon us infragments, or you bring God and the angels as a surety
[Q. 17:90-92). About them, He, Glorified is He, also says: Why have angels not been
sent down on us, or why see we not our Lord? Waxed proud they have within them,
and become greatly disdainful. Upon the day that they see the angels, no good tidings
that dayfor the sinners; they shall say, ‘A ban forbidden!' We shall advance upon what
work they have done, and make it a scattered dust [Q. 25:21-23). So He denounces
their unbelief [as expressed) in their doctrine of anthropomorphism (tashbih) with
regard to God, and because of that, He makes their path [one] to Hellfire. Even so
[is the case] with these heretics (mulbidun); they are [also) along this path and
believe in it [anthropomorphism], and it is from them and their partisans that
people transmit these [anthropomorphist] reports.

A sect of them claimed: God created Adam according to His own

character,332 and that He laughs until His molars show.
Another sect claimed that He is a light among other lights, from whom the
gaze fades and sight fails to reach. They claim in their claim that God has an
'arsh that contains Him and that the Prophet journeyed to heaven with it, and
he reached God and felt the cold o f His fingertips on his body, and that he
heard God W ho was saying: ‘Be and it is.
Another sect claimed that God will be manifest on the day of resurrection and
will be seen by the eyes,333 and that on the day of resurrection He will be sitting
upon the 'arsh, with His legs on the 'arsh, and that He will reveal His shins to
them. But He will be veiled from the unbelievers so they will not see Him.
Thus they dim inish God - glory to Him, majestic is His praise! - with

332 The narration that God created Adam in His image ('ala $uratihi) is commonly found in
hadith collections. See Muslim, $ahih: kitdb al-birr waVfila wal-dddb, III, 115; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad:
musnad Abi Hurayra. Here the wording is ‘ala khulqi naftihi.
333 The theological problem of whether God may be seen by the eye and when this may happen,
often known as the problem of The vision' (ru'ya), is central to early disagreements between anthro­
pomorphists, Ash'aris, Mu‘tazilis and rationalists (see Daniel Gimaret, ‘Ru’yat Allah', EP, VIII, 649).
All Sunnis held that God could be seen with the eye at some point. The Ash'aris held that the vision
would occur at Resurrection and later in the Hereafter, though this vision would be denied to unbe­
lievers (see Ash'ari, Maqdldt, I, 213-17, 292; Ash'ari, Ibana, 31-50; Juwayni, Irshdd, 166-86, all
drawing upon a range of Qur’anic verses including Q. 83:15); cf. Gimaret 1990, 329-44. The
Mu'tazilis, Zaydis and Ithna'ashari Shi'a denied any possibility of seeing God, adducing Q. 6:103 as
justification: see ‘Abd al-Jabbar, Mughni, IV, 33-240; Minkdim, Sharh, 232-77; Vajda 1970.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

extreme dim inution. They ignore God’s words: Wa lldhu wdsi'un ‘alimun (and
God is All-embracing, All-knowing) [2:248] and other (verses).
We say to them: Verily you folk! you are ignorant o f God and do not know
Him; you have associated a partner with Him and do not affirm His unity. For
G od has described Himself quite differently from how you describe Him and
He has negated o f Himself that which you have ascribed to Him.
So listen to what we say [...]. W hat we m ention to you and adduce as proof
against you is that which God has mentioned in this [following] verse from His
words: His seat embraces the heavens and the earth and the preserving o f them
wearies Him not. He is the High, the Tremendous.3*4 Thus God informs [us] that
His kursi embraces the heavens and the earth [by which] He m eans that this
kursi comprises the seven heavens and surrounds their every region; and like­
wise it comprises the lowest earths and surrounds their every region too. Thus
the kursi becomes the container of the seven heavens, high above them, encom­
passing them. That which encompasses a thing is what spreads above it such
that it contains i t Thus the heavens and the earth are narrow er than the kursi,
while the kursi is wider than them.
[Furthermore] we say that the kursi contains the heavens and the earth such
that it [also] surrounds that which is [both] above and beneath them as well as
all their regions. Thus the heavens and the earth are within the kursi. And so
the m etaphor of the kursi - due to its surrounding the heavens and the earth -
is like that o f an egg which comprises a young bird within it. Now the egg con­
tains that bird within it such that it coheres with it, w ithout there being any rift
o r gap [in the egg]; nor does that which is within the egg have any exit from it,
until God permits that which is within it to emerge. Now this kursi also contains
this earth and this heaven, as that egg contains that bird, because it [i.e. the
kursi] surrounds [all] the regions of the heaven and [all] the regions of the earth;
all o f what G od has created in the heavens and the earth is inside this kursi and
nothing whatsoever of what God has created emerges from this kursi. There is
no end or limit beyond this kursi. So recognise this kursi for what it [actually]
is. It has been established, then, that this kursi is what surrounds334335 all things,
encompassing them. The kursi [remains] outside them, and is external to them
b u t is [also] intrinsically within them: external to them because it surrounds
them, internal within them because of their being inside it. Nor are these things

334 Clearly ’arsh and kursi are being treated by the author as practically synonymous, and the
author is using his commentary on the kursi against the corporealists comment on the *arsh, which
he has just cited, in order to preserve God from any anthropomorphism.
335 Huwal-mubif bi-kullil-ashyd *, literally 'it is the encompassing/surrounding around all things’.
At this point the metaphor is made explicit with the use of the divine name al-muhit\ that is to say,
the kursi represents the divine attribute expressed in the name al-mubit, the All-encompassing -
only God is al-muhit bi kullfl-ashyH\

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On the Nature of the Divine

within this kursi a mixture for it, for they are the smallest thing in its encom-
passment.336
Concerning the encompassment of the kursi around things, I shall m ention
to you a report cited from the Prophet. It is m entioned from Abu D harr al-
Ghafari that he said [to the Prophet]: ‘O Messenger o f God, which verse that
G od has sent down upon you is the most tremendous?* He [the Prophet] said:
‘The verse of the kursi*. Then he said: ‘O Abu Dharr, compared to the kursi, the
heavens and the earth are but as a ring cast upon a [large] expanse of land’.337
Look then, to the view that the Prophet held; he m eant that the kursi contains
the heavens and the earth as the earth contains the ring cast down inside it. The
heavens and the earth are w ithin the kursi as the ring is in the earth [...]. N o
farsh nor creature, no heaven nor earth, no Paradise nor Hell, no jinn n o r
hum an nor angel, no wind n o r anything o f what God creates is left out - they
are all within this kursi because of His words: His seat embraces the heavens and
the earth. Everything of what God has created is encompassed by the heavens
and the earth and what is between them; and this kursi embraces the heavens
and the earth and all that is in them.
So perceive this kursi with perfect gnosis; contemplate it and regard it with
purified vision; for I have described it for you repeatedly so that you will ponder
it and recognise it for what it is; and grasp what I have said to you in describing
it and know it for certain. Then when you have recognised it and understood it
exactly in accordance with how I have described it for you, then look to the view
that I hold and what I mean when I mention this kursi. Know that this kursi is a
metaphor that God has struck for His servants, that thereby they may be guided
to infer God’s greatness, His encirclement of, and encompassing of, all things.
This kursi is a metaphor that G od relates - there is nothing there except for God,
and this encompassing of all things is G o d s encompassing o f them; there is no
created ‘seaf there, nor anything except for the Creator; He encompasses all that
He creates. There is nothing from among what He has created that He does not
encompass; nor is there anything from among what He has created that encom ­
passes Him, for everything [that He has created] is smaller and lower than that
[capacity], and were anything to encompass God - exalted be He [high above
that]! - it would have to be more capacious and bigger than Him.
[ ...F 8
336 Ihafa, much used in this section of the commentary, denotes encirclement but also, signifi­
cantly, knowledge.
337 A slightly longer version of the report from Abu Dharr al-Ghaferi is given in ‘Ayyishi; but
compare also the report cited from Abu Dharr in Tabari. The difference concerns whether the kursi
is greater than the 'arsh (as stated by the author here and by 'AyyishI) or whether the 'anh is superior
(as mentioned in Abu DhaiVs report as cited by Tabari).
338 There follow a couple of paragraphs in which the author states how the corporealists are igno­
rant of God and are the least of the least, the most contemptible.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

If, however, you know God and ascribe to Him this encompassing which I
have m entioned to you, then you know Him with true gnosis. Do you not hear
G od’s words: A nd the preserving o f them wearies Him not. For He is the High, the
Tremendous. He [God] notifies that He is the Most High, the Most Tremendous,
[far] beyond being retained by the heavens and the earth. We say that verily it
is G od who is the retainer of heaven and earth.339340

fi ~

Burusaw!
Burusawfs commentary on this key verse illustrates the multiple levels of meaning of the
Quranic text. Not only does he provide profound mystical explanations of the meaning of
the verse, but he also alludes to the significance of the talismanic power of the verse focus­
ing on the ‘greatest name’of God that lies within it. The Qur’an as a recitation has a power
that is deployed in Muslim devotions, including d h ik r (invocation, remembrance) that is
essential to the contemplative and spiritual life of Islam. Burusaw! attempts to teach the
reader about the spiritual states that arise from the ‘practice’of this verse and helps to attune
the initiate’s psychology to the grades of spiritual perfection. The commentary is a rich
source of Sufi teaching, juxtaposing the mystical theology of Ghazali with the verses of the
Persian Sufi poets Rum! and Jam!. The subject of the Prophet Muhammad as universal
intercessor, and the key to all intercession on the Day of Judgement, is taken up in the
middle of the commentary, including an affirmation of the Prophet’s intercession for
sinners on that day. The Ottoman context of the learned Sufism (mingled with philosophy
and theology) espoused in the commentary is demonstrated through citations of the works
of Ibn Hamza al-Fanari (d. 834/1431), the first chiefjudge of the Ottoman state, and the
renowned Kubrawi corpus of tafsir, al-Ta wildt al-Najmiyya. Furthermore, the commentary
on the second half of the verse seems to be strongly influenced by the commentary of Razi.

Alldhy340 this name is the greatest of the ninety-nine names341 because it indi­
cates the essence (dhat) that comprises all the divine attributes (fifdt) such that

339 The rest of this section is taken up with, first, a report from the Prophet in which he states that
there is the distance of 150 years between each of the seven heavens and each of the seven earths;
see Q. 65:12 for the scriptural na# for the seven heavens and the seven earths. The author then shows
how this is all next to naught beside God, citing the Qur’&nic verse 39:67: The earth altogether shall
be His handful on the day ofjudgement and the heavens shall be rolled up in His right hand. He further
cites ‘All b. Abl T*hb to the effect that were one of God’s archangels to alight upon the earth it could
not contain him.
340 Burusaw!, Ruh al-bayan, 1,397-406.
341 Traditionally, Muslims hold that there are ninety-nine names of God in the scriptures and
these names are uttered and invoked in various liturgical and commemorative practices. See Louis
Gardet, ‘al-Asma’ al-busni’, £P, 1,714-17; cf. Ghazali, Nfaq$ad\ Gimaret 1988. For Sufis such as
Burusaw! and Kishinl, the ism al-a'zam (or the greatest name) is ‘Allah’, being the comprehensive
name that encapsulates the meanings and potencies of all the other divine names: see K&shani,
Itfilahat, 8-9; Jurjani, Ta'rif&t, 40-1. However, as seen in the other commentaries, such as Tabrisi
and Razi, the double-name al-hayy al-qayyum is considered to be the ism al-a'zam, since it contains
tremendous spiritual and talismanic power.

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On the Nature of the Divine

nothing of them is outside [of the name Allah]; [as for] the remaining names,
each single one of them indicates only a single unit o f m eaning [such as] of
knowledge, power or action and so forth. And [it is the greatest name] because
it is the most specific of names since it cannot be applied to anyone other than
Him neither in reality (haqiqqtan) nor as a trope (majdzan), while others can
be called by the remaining names such as the powerful one (qddir), the knowing
one Caltm), the merciful one (rahim) and so forth. It is appropriate that the
servant's share in this name be theosis (ta'alluh),342 by which I m ean that he
should be such that his heart and his spiritual energy (himma)343 are immersed
in G od so he sees naught but Him344 and he turns to none other than Him and
he hopes345 from none other than Him nor does he fear other than Him. How
should it not be like that, when it is understood from this nam e that He is the
real being/existent, the Truth (al-mawjud al-haqtqi al-haqq)y346 and all else is

342 Taalluh is not about *becoming God’, rather it is about becoming no hinderance to the divine,
no obstacle in the path of God’s radiance - by cultivating the soul such that the divine qualities
(wisdom, mercy, beauty, love, compassion, generosity etc.) can radiate through it unhindered; and
by excising from the soul all unholy qualities such as tyranny, aggression, hatred, greed, selfishness,
etc. which would obstruct the flow of the divine qualities through the soul; and by submitting the
will to God’s will, so that the acts of the human are in keeping with the divine will; and by knowing
the truths of God, recognising Him for what He is, acknowledging and affirming Him as should be.
Theosis then, is to realise and actualise, existentially, our nothingness in the face of God, so that the
soul is a pure channel for the divine spirit, as a clean pane of glass is for sunlight; or as the shuhudis
would prefer to phrase it, so that the creature is a perfectly clean mirror for the divine. See Burusawi*s
discussion of the shahdda, n. 373.
343 This is a technical Sufi term used to describe the complete attention of the heart directed
towards God. Himma is to strive and expend one’s every effort in the spiritual way. It may be applied
at different levels: it is to cultivate the soul, assiduously weeding out the undesirable elements so that
the holy may have unobstructed access through the soul; it is to purify the heart, which is, as
Burusawi states, the microcosmic 'arsh for the divine attribute of infinite graciousness (al-fifo al-
rahm&niyya)]; it is to devote the heart’s attention entirely to God. See Jurjani, Ta'rif&t, 258; K&sh&ni
(attr.), Lat&’if, 577-8.
344 Since the name Allah comprises all the other divine names, and creation is woven of the divine
qualities which manifest these divine names, and since Allah is the sole being, all existents must bear
within them something of God otherwise they would not be. Indeed, so long as they exist, they
always carry within them the divine command '/cun’ (be) or else they would cease to be/exist.
345 For he knows that all that comes to him is with the permission of God; and because the Sufi’s
dealings are all with God no matter who/what the creaturely form in-between is. The complemen­
tarity of rajd’ (hope) and khawf (fear) is an important theme in Sufism, as in most forms of spiritu­
ality. It pertains to a level of the soul, lower than that of qabd (constriction) and bast (expansion)
which in turn are lower than hayba (awe) and uns (intimacy). See Qushayri, Risdla, 1,251-66; Jurj&ni,
Ta‘rifat, 114,121.
346 This is a technical appellation for God, used in the metaphysics of the school of Ibn *Arabi:
see his Futuhdt, II, 313,379. God is the sole true existent, and the sole true reality, which none can
deny: see the definitions of al-haqq and al-mawjud in Jurjani, Tarif&t, 102,246. The uniqueness of
the divine name Allah indicates that He is the sole reality, the One who brings everything into the
domain of relational existence and sustains their existence through His own necessary existence: all
else is transient, dependent and contingent being. The discussion is also used in the commentary
on the basmala by an earlier philosopher-mystic Mulla $adra Shir§zi (d. 1050/1641) to prove that
all else is vain, transient and but a shadow in the face of the eternal existing truth of God: see Mulla
$adra, Tafsir, 1,34ff. See also RizI’s commentary on this verse.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

transient and perishing and unreal (bdtil),347 except through Him. So one sees
oneself as the first to perish and as naught,348 as saw the M essenger of God
w hen he said, ‘the truest verse an Arab spoke was the saying of Labld’:349

a-ld kullu shay'in md khald'lldhi bdfilun

Is not everything save God false?

There are properties in this word [Allah] that are not found in others, since if
a letter is dropped from any word, the meaning is impaired, unlike [with] this
(word); for if you drop the a lif it becomes lill&h [and] He says: To God (lilldh)
belongs everything that is in the heavens and the earth [Q. 10:55].350 Then if you
drop the first /dm, w hat rem ains is lahu (to H im belongs), [and] He says: To
Him (la-hu) belongs the kingdom o f the heavens and o f the earth [Q. 9:116].351 If
you also drop the second lam, [the letter] hd is left, which is the pronoun that
refers to G od,352 [and] He says: He (huwa) is God; there is no god except Him
(huwa) [Q. 59:22].353 So the names, especially the word of majesty [i.e. the name
Allah], possess a profound effect.
His eminence the shaykh known as Effendi Uftada said:354

347 The word bdtil, which Burusawf uses frequently, is the opposite of haqq. This opposition is to
be found in the Qur’in itself (Q. 17:81), and is much used by the wujQdi Sufis to emphasise the
absolute reality of God, the consequential utter dependence of everything on Him for its being, and
the falsity of other than God. The term bdfil may be rendered in many ways: ‘false’, ‘untrue’, ‘unreal’,
‘naught’, ‘vain’, ‘void’ or ‘invalid’. Rather than insisting on one consistent rendition, it has been
thought more suitable to use different English words appropriate to the immediate context
348 Indicating that it is vanity indeed that gives man the audacity to claim to be existent, to stand
forth as an independent being. But once one realises that it is only God who truly exists, then the
pretence of human existence as an entity in itself must be surrendered.
349 For a discussion of Labld’s muallaqa, see Stetkevych 1993, 5-54. This hemistisch is part of
verse 9 of a poem lamenting the death of the Lakhmid king al-Nu‘min b. al-Mundhir (d. c. 602) -
the verse continues ‘and must not every happiness come to an end?, see Brockelmann and Huber
1891, no. 41, or Montgomery 1997,254.
350This phrase is found, with slight variations, at numerous places in the Qur’in such as Q. 2:284
and Q. 3:109.
351 This phrase also occurs repeatedly in the Qur’in.
352 The letter ha' on its own is used as the pronominal suffix hu which means ‘he’; in its full nom­
inative form the pronoun is huwa but is often pronounced hu, e.g. at the end of a sentence, as in the
Qur’in citation given by Burusawl.
353 This is another key phrase that is repeated in the Qur’in. All of these examples are taken
together to demonstrate the uniqueness of ‘Allih’as a reality and a name, underlining God’s utter
sovereignty and dominion over all existence, in keeping with the tenor of the dyat al-kursi.
354 This is the famous Jilwatl Sufi master Muhammad MubylTDln of Bursa, known as Pir-i
Uftidc (d. 988/1580), whose disciples included ‘Aziz Mahmud Hudayi (d. 1038/1628-9) and our
commentator, Burusawi. See Kitdb-i silsile-yi Shaykh-i Isma'il Haqqi bi-fariq-i Jalwatiyya, Istanbul,
1291/1874,78; http: //www. ismailhakki.org/ uftade.html. His Ottoman Turkish Divan of poetry has
been edited by Mustafa Bahadiroglu as Celvetiyye’nin piri Hz. Vfidde ve dlvdrii, Bursa 2000, and trans­
lated by Balanfat 2002. His major work, Vdqidt-i Uftdda, a collection of autobiographical observa­
tions about Sufi practice and the functioning of the Jilwatiyya order, is being edited by Mustafa
Bahadiroglu and Paul BallanfaL

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On the Nature of the Divine

When Mulla ‘Ala* al-Din al-Khalwatl came to Bursa, he ascended the pulpit to
preach in the Great Mosque [where] a large group had gathered to hear his speech.
He said once ‘O God (yd Alldh)' and a state seized the gathering so that they
danced and were almost unable to recover from [the] crying and [the] dread
[which befell them]. And it is also said that when the Sultan of the time died, a
group of people decided to kill the vizier. He came to the house of shaykh Wafe*
in Constantinople, and asked him for help. The shaykh admitted him to his house.
The crowd attacked the house of the shaykh, who went out and said once, ‘O God
(yd Allah)' and they all fled. Notice how when they mention [the name of] God,
marvellous effects are manifest, but when we mention that very same name, it has
no [such] effect. That is because they had purified themselves and transformed
their character; as for us, it is not in us nor [have we] the aptitude for that. Yet
[such abundant] grace355 is only from God.356

Hafi? said [metre: ramal]:357358

Fay4-i ruh al-quds or bdz madad farmdyad

Digardn ham bi-kunand dnchih masihd mi-kard368

Were the Holy Spirit to favour us once more with his grace,
Others too will perform all the works of Christ359

There is no god except H im, this phrase is the predicate for the subject [that
is the name of God] and it means that only He is worthy of worship and none
other. It is related that the glorification [of God] used by the Great Pole (Qufb
al-aqfab) [Baha* al-Din N aqshband]360 (was) >d huwa (O He) and yd man
huwa huwa (O He who is He) and yd man Id ilaha ilia huwa (O He other than
whom there is no god)*. And when he said this in a mystical state, he would be

355 Eayd means ‘abundance, ‘overflow, or ‘inundation’; here, it refers to God’s ‘overflowing grace.
356 Burusawi seems to be lamenting the social age in which he lives, one of increasing materiality
and lack of spirituality. The saints of the past were truly great and effective; they had the wherewithal!
to purify their souls such that they presented no obstacle in the path of the divine and thus the name
of God could manifest its effects through them. Whereas in this (his) day, people are far removed
from the spiritual requisites enjoyed by the saintly figures of the past. Interestingly, Burflsawfs
comment is not empty of hope, since he goes on to state that such effective purity of soul is a grace
from God, and as such may be granted at any time.
357 Hafi?, Diwdn, 288, penultimate verse ofghazal 136.
358 The text says kand.
359 Thanks are due to Dr Leonard Lewisohn for providing this translation. On the association of
Jesus with the Holy Spirit in Sufism, see his article: Lewisohn 2001,139.
360 Although Burusawi was not a Naqshbandl Sufi, it is significant that he refers to the eponymous
founder of that order as the greatest ‘Pole’, which perhaps signals the importance of that order in his
time and its relations to the Jilvati order of Burusawi. Baha* al-Din Muhammad ‘Naqshband’ (d.
791/1389) was an influential Central Asian Sufi master whose spiritual guidance of many significant
Sufis and Sufi orders led to his fame as the vali-tardsh (saint-maker): see Hamid Algar, ‘Baha’al-Din
Naqshband’, El2, VII, 933-4; Jimi, Nafahat, 384-8. Many miraculous stories are related about him
not least concerning the effect of his dhikr, as mentioned here in BurusawTs commentary.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

capable of acts of spiritual power (ta$arrufat).361 There are three degrees to the
declaration of divine unity. The declaration of divine unity of the beginners is
‘there is no god but G od\ The declaration of divine unity o f the intermediates
is ‘there is no god but You\ because they are in the station o f contem plation
(shuhud) which requires speech. But as for the perfect ones,362 they hear the
declaration of divine unity from the One who is declared One (muwahhad) [i.e.
from God Himself], ‘there is no god but M e\ because they are in the station of
complete annihilation (fand’ kulli) and so nothing at all issues from them.363
Shaykhzada, in his Marginalia [on the Tafstr of al-Bay<Jawi] on surat al-Ikhla$
[Q. 112] said: ‘The word “He” is an allusion to the station o f the close ones
(muqarrabunJ364 who contemplate the quiddities (mdhiydt) o f things and their
realities (haq a iq ) “as they truly are”.365 Consequently, o f course they do not
see any existent except God, because the Truth (al-haqq) is the one whose exis­
tence is necessary of itself. As for all else, it is contingent; and the contingent
when considered qua itself is non-existent.366 Thus these (muqarrabun) see no
existent except for the ‘Truth’, al-haqq, glory be to Him. The word ‘he’, even
though it is the absolute allusion, is in one aspect, dependent - for the specifi­
cation of what is meant by it - on what was mentioned before [it], o r on being
explained by what follows it; however they (the muqarrabun) allude to the

361 Cf. JimI, Nafahdt, 392-3: ta$arruf is ‘to act as one pleases' or ‘to have free disposal'; see Lex.,
II, 1681.
362 There is an allusion here to the Sufi doctrine of al-insdn al-kamil, ‘the perfect man': see Roger
Amaldez, 'al-Insin al-kimiT, EPt III, 1239-41. A treatise by the Muslim mystic ‘Abd al-Karim al-
JUi (d. c. 832/1428), dedicated to this topic, is now published and available; al-fili, who was influ­
enced by the thought of Ibn 'Arab!, was a descendant of the famous Hanball theologian and Sufi
‘Abd al-Qidir al-jUani (d. 561/1166), eponym of the Qadiriyya order; on al-Jili, see Helmut Ritter,
“Abd al-Karim al-I^Ill’, EP, 1,71.
363 This is the maqdm of the likes of Abu Yazid al-Bastaml and FJalUj. There are two well-known
hddiths popular amongst Sufis which articulate a metaphysical mono-realism. The Prophet is said
to have said: ‘Imbue yourselves with the character of God’ (takhallaqu bi-akhldq Alldh), similar to
the theosis enjoined in Plato’s Theaetetus. Another text that confirms the unimpeded flow of divine
attributes in the servant loved by God is a fradith qudsi [a divine saying uttered through the Prophet
but not part of the Qur’&nic scripture] of which the relevant section is as follows:
My servant draws not near to Me with a thing more loved by Me than what I have enjoined upon
him; and My servant ceases not to draw near unto Me through supererogatory things until I love
him. Then when I love him I am His hearing with which he hears and His sight with which he
sees and His hand with which he strikes and His foot with which he walks [...).
For the full hadith with translation, refer to Nawawi, Arba'un, where details are given for Ibrahim
and Johnson-Davies 1980 (hadith no. 25), 104-5.
364 “Those who are brought near to God’. The word occurs in its nominative form in the Qur’an
in 56:11 and is a definition of'the foremost* {sdbiqun). Of the sdbiqun al-muqarrabun the Qur'&n
goes on to say that there were plenty of them in the days of old but only a few in the latter times [Q.
56:13-14] - which is one of the points to which Burusawi draws attention in his citation of the Mull&
Khalwati anecdote.
365 Min haythu hiya Ydya, which is huwiyya (haecceity), a technical philosophical term, which may
also be rendered ‘as they are in themselves.
366 Cf. Rizfs commentary for a full discussion of this.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Truth, glory be to Him, and they do not depend in that allusion on that which
distinguishes the intended essence from other than it, because dependence
upon a distinguishing [element] only transpires where ambiguity occurs on
account of there being several [things] that might admissibly be what is alluded
to. But we have explained that, with the eyes of their intellects, they witness only
the One alone. For this reason, the word ‘he* is enough for them to attain perfect
[gnostic] knowledge (‘irfan).’ I have only mentioned this here as a proof against
those who oppose the community of Sufis, holding the view that it is (only)
a pronoun and that there is no benefit in using it in invocations.367
My Shaykh and support, who is like the spirit in my body said that, accord­
ing to the knowers of God,368 the invocation with [the formula] ‘Id ildha
illd'lldh (there is no god but God)* is more excellent than the invocation with
the word ‘Allah, Allah (God)* or 'huwa, huwa (He)’, because it combines [both]
the negation (Id ildha) and the affirmation (illdlldh) and contains an increase
in knowledge (Ulm) and gnosis (ma'rifa). So one who negates the essence/sub-
stance of creation with ‘there is no god’, sapientially not through externally
acquired knowledge,369 affirms the being of the Truth both sapientially and in
external knowledge.
He also helped me [to understand] that if you say ‘there is no god but G o d \
then one witnesses, through a veridical viewing [of things],370 the extinction
(J a m ) of the actions of creation and their characteristics and essences, in the
acts of the Truth and in His attributes and essence.371 This is required by union
367 Burusawi may be alluding to the conflict (mainly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries)
between the 'shari a-minded’ preachers (known as the kadizadeliler) - who condemned what they
saw as decadence and impropriety in Sufi practices and hermeneutics - and the Sufis among the
major Ottoman ‘ulamd’, who defended the spiritual practices of Sufism and importantly the practice
of dhikr or invocation; see Faroqhi 2000,65-8. In general, dhikr is the remembrance of God, what­
ever the cause of it and whatever the expression of it. The Qur’an is called ‘the dhikr (Q. 68:51 and
52; the word dhikr in verse 52 could refer to the Prophet or to the Qur’an] and one of the names of
the Prophet is dhikr Allah. The Sufi practice usually takes the specific form of invoking repeatedly
- either aloud or in the heart - one or more of the divine names, or a holy formula such as the
shahada, or, among some Sufis, such as those referred to in Burusawfs text, of the word huwa (= He)
being used as a divine name. The purpose of dhikr is to focus the heart, mind and soul of the person
invoking, on God, through emptying them of all except the Invoked.
** The phrase is, somewhat unexpectedly, al-'ulamd*bflldhi rather than al-'urajd’ bflldhi. The
term al-'drifbflldh is often used for Sufi masters, while ‘dlim is reserved for one who is learned in
the exoteric sciences.
369 Hukman Id ‘ilman. It would seem that here Burusawi is using hukman as a synonym for frifc-
matan: ‘Knowledge of the true natures of things and action according to the requirements thereof
I...J intellectual and practical’. This is contrasted with ‘i/m, i.e. externally acquired or theoretical or
exoteric knowledge. The former is a mode of certain knowledge and realisation that is conferred
through the transformative practices of dhikr and the contemplative life, whereby the perspective
from which all things are viewed is that of the Truth. Here Kilm denotes knowledge that does not
pertain to this perspective.
370 Shdhada bfl-shuhudfl-haqqdnv, haqqdni means pertaining to the truth; thus it is to see things
through the perspective of the truth, al-haqq, Himself.
371 The gist of the comment is this: to see the nothingness of creation vis-i-vis the absolute

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 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

(jam ') and ‘u n ic it/ (ahadiyya). This phrase (kalima)372 is thus, in reality, an
allusion to this stage. W hen you say ‘M uham m ad is the M essenger o f God*,
then one witnesses, again through a veridical viewing [of things], the subsis­
tence (baqd*) o f their [i.e. creatures] actions and attributes and essences
through God’s actions and His attributes and essence. This is required by sep­
aration (farq) and singularity (wdhidiyya).373 That phrase is also an allusion to
this stage; thus, when the slave’s declaration of the divine unity is according to
this witnessing (mushdhadah)ythen verily, his monotheism is worthy [of being
called monotheism] and is veridical, not formalistic and [just] mental.

Mulla Jam! said:

Gar chih la dasht tiragi-yi ‘adam

Darad iliafurugh-i nur-i qidam
Gar chih Id bud kdn kufr ojahud
Hast ilia kalid-i ganj-i shuhud
Chun kunad Id bisdf-i kathrat \ayy
Dihad ilia zi-jdm-i vahdat may
An rahanad zi-naqsh-i bish o kam-at
v-tn rasdnad ba-vahdat-i qidam-at
1a nasdzx hijdb-i kathrat dur
Nadihad dftdb-i vahdat nur

‘all-ness’ of the Creator. Therefore wherever there is life, ability/power/strength, reality, it all belongs
to God and not, as creatures mistakenly think, to the creature.
372 Kalima is often used with reference to specifically sacred formulae such as the shahadatayn
in Islam (see n. 373) or, in Judaism and Christianity, the ten commandments.
373 The two phrases Id ildha illd’lldh and Muhammadun rasul Alldh are called the shahddatayn
(the two testifications) and comprise the full Islamic declaration of faith. Burusawi quotes his spiri­
tual master as teaching that the invocation of these two formulae effects in the soul of the disciple a
realisation of ultimate reality and the true ontological nature of monotheism. The perfection of the
complete formula plays on the complementarity of union and separation. As cited here by Burusawi,
the first shahdda (Id ildha illd’lldh) pertains to the non-separate, non differentiated oneness and total­
ity of being in the state of union, jam'; at this stage of ahadiyya there is no differentiation, being is
‘all together'; it is the realm of absolute total union. The second shahdda (Muhammadun rasul Alldh)
pertains to the realm of multiplicity and separation, which are prerequisites for risdla (divine
message) and rusuliyya (messengership), for were there no differentiation or separation there would
be no need for a messenger or a message. Yet at the same time the second shahdda enunciates the
oneness of God (wdhidiyya) through multiplicity: for the multiple is but the expression of the One.
This is in keeping with the Akbarian teachings on these matters: ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-K£shini, in his
Iftildhdt al-$ufiyya, defines jam' as 'seeing al-haqq (the truth) without khalq (creation)’, and farq as
‘seeing creation subsisting through al-haqq’. Concerning ahadiyya, he says that it is ‘to regard the
(divine) essence without (anything else)’; while wdhidiyya is ‘to regard the essence with respect to
the effusion of the (divine) names from it and its oneness in them together with their multiplicity
through the attributes’. These two aspects may thus be described as the experience of 'the unity of
the one’ and the ‘unity of the man/. Sec also Ibn 'Arab!, Futuhdt, It, 289, IV, 176; cf. Chittick 1998,
167-70.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Dd’im an dftdb tdbdn-ast

Az hijdb-i tu az tu pinhdn-ast
Gar birun a ia z hijdb-i tu'i
Murtafa gardadazmiydnadux
Darzamin-i zamdn u kawn-i makan
Hama u binx dshkdr o nihan

Although W possesses the gloom of non-existence,

‘Excepf has the splendour of the light of eternity.
Although ‘no* is the mine of infidelity s rejection,
‘Excepf is the key to the treasure of contemplation.
‘No’ folds up the horizon of multiplicity,
‘Except* bestows wine from the goblet of unity.
The former frees you from the image of profit and loss to the self,
The latter takes you to the unity of eternity.
As long as you do not cast far off the veil of multiplicity,
The sun of unity shall not give you any light.
The sun is continuously shining,
But because of your selfhood’s veil, it is concealed from you.
If you come forth from the veil of your self,
Duality will be dissolved from in between;
In space and time, in being and place,
You will see that ‘All is He, revealed and concealed.374

O God, make us attain union (jamr) and the very essence (€ayn) and certainty
(yaqin).
Al-hayy, the Living, is two predicates. In classical language it [means] ‘one
who has life; it is an attribute that is opposed to death and inanim acy and it
requires sense perception and volitional m otion. The m ost noble thing th at
m ankind is characterised by is eternal life in the realm o f graciousness [sc. the
Afterlife]. W hen the Creator is described by it and it is said that He is Living,
that means [He is] the Permanent (al-dd’im)> the Eternal (al-bdqi) unto w hom
neither death nor annihilation has access. For He is characterised by pre-eternal
(azaliyya) and sempiternal (abadiyya) life. In his commentary on the most beau­
tiful names [of God], Imam al-Ghazali said:375

Al-hayy, the Living, is the active (fa“dl) and the acutely perceiving (darrdk),376 so
much so that one who has no action or perception at all is dead. The lowest degree
of perception is that the perceiver be conscious of himself, so what is not conscious
of itself is inanimate and dead. But the perfect and absolute living thing is the one

374 We acknowledge here the kind assistance given by Dr Leonard Lewisohn in these translations.
375 Ghazali, Maq$ad, 142 (see biblio for the English translation of Burrell and Daher, 129).
376 Cf. the discussion of'al-qayyum' in Razi’s commentary, this chapter.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

under whose perception all perceived things are classified, [as are] all existing
things under its activity so that no perceived thing is outside its knowledge and
no action outside its activity - and that is God, for He is the absolute Living One.
As for every living thing other than He, its life is commensurate with its perception
and its activity and all of that is circumscribed in His word [al-hayy].

Al-qayyum, the Eternal Sustained executes a m atter when He decides upon

it; [qayyum] is the intensive form of qd*im, for G od is unceasingly sustaining
everything through the m anagem ent of its affair - in originating it, providing
its sustenance and making it attain its perfection that is appropriate to it and in
its preservation. Ghazall said:

Know that things are divided into what requires a locus (maball)377 [for inher­
ence] such as accidents (a'rdtf) and properties {aw$df)t of which it is said that they
do not subsist in themselves, and into what does not378 need a locus, of which it
is said that it subsists in itself, such as substances (jawdhir). Yet although a sub­
stance subsists in itself, having no need of a locus in which to subsist, it neverthe­
less remains in need of things necessary for its existence and which are conditions
for its existence. So it is not [really] subsistent in itself, since, for its [own] subsis­
tence it needs the existence of another, even if it does not need a locus. If there
were in existence an existent whose essence is sufficient in itself, who has no
support other than itself, and whose continued existence is not conditional upon
the existence of another, then it would be the absolutely self-subsistent. If at the
same time, every existent subsisted through it, such that the [initial] existence and
continued existence of things would be inconceivable except through it, then that
would be the qayyum since its own subsistence is through itself and the subsistence
of everything is through it. That is none other than God. A persons access379 to
this attribute is in proportion to their ‘self-sufficiency (istighna’) [with regard to]
what is other than God.

It is said that al-hayy al-qayyum (the Living, the Eternal Sustainer) is the great­
est name of God. W hen Jesus wished to revive the dead, he would pray with
this invocation, 'Yd hayyu yd qayyum (0 Living, O Eternal Sustainer!)*. It is also
said that the supplication o f the seafarers when they fear drow ning is *Yd hayyu
yd qayyumu. [It is related] from ‘All b. Abl Talib that during the battle of Badr
[...].380 This indicates the greatness of this name.

377 In other words, a substratum (maw^u).

378 The Arabic text has been amended to include the negatory particle Id in the second clause
which seems to have been omitted: al-ashyd’u tamjasimu ild mdyaftaqiru ild mahallin kal-a'r&d [...]
wa ild maid yahtdju ild mahallin ka'l-jawdhir.
379 Lit., 'the servant's entry. The Arabic word *abd literally means ‘slave or ‘servant*, and is a ref­
erence to ‘a person, in that all people are Gods slaves/servants.
380 At this point, Buriisawi quotes the narration, already cited in the commentary of Razi, about
the Prophet’s invocation of the divine names while performing the prostration in the ritual prayer,
during the battle of Badr.

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On the Nature of the Divine

In al-Ta'mldt al-Najmiyyay [it is related]:

Indeed, there is an allusion to these two names, the Living and the Eternal
Sustainer, in the meaning of the greatest name, because His name al-hayy (the
Living) comprises all His names and attributes as it is among the concomitants of
the Living that He be powerful, hearing, seeing, speaking, willing and eternal. His
name the Eternal Sustainer comprises the [absolute] need of Him that all creatures
have. So when God manifests Himself to the servant through these two attributes,
the servant uncovers in the manifestation of the attribute of the Living, the mean­
ings of all His names and attributes, and in the manifestation of the attribute of the
Eternal Sustainer, he witnesses the annihilation of all creatures, since their subsis­
tence is through the subsistence of the Truth (haqq) and not by themselves - for
when the Truth comes, the unreal (bdfU) vanishes.381
Thus one sees only the Living, the Eternal Sustainer in existence as the Living
[subsumes] all the names of God and the Eternal Sustainer negates the subsistence
of all creatures; thus the duality between the two is lifted. When the multiple is
effaced and unity remains the two names become a [single] great name for the one
to whom they are manifested - thus he invokes it witnessing the greatness of the
[divine] oneliness (wahddniyya) in the language of those who see the [divine] soli­
tude (fardaniyya) and not in the language of human explanation. He has invoked
Him by His greatest name which [is such that] when He is invoked by it He
answers and when He is petitioned by it He grants. As for the one invoking inat­
tentively,382 whichever name he invokes Him by it is not the greatest name in pro­
portion to the state of his absence, whereas with the witnessing of the [divine]
greatness, whichever name he invokes by, that is the greatest name383 - as when
Abu Yazid al-Basfaml384 was asked about the greatest name and said, ‘The name
has no fixed definition; rather, free your heart for His oneness, then when you are
like that invoke Him with any name you wish.*385

Know that the greatest name is an expression for the M uhammadan reality
(al-haqiqa al-Muhammadiyya), so whoever knows this [Muhammadan reality]
381 This is an allusion to a prominent Qur anic statement: The Truth has come andfalsehood has
vanished away; trulyfalsehood is ever bound to vanish [Q. 17:81].
582 Ghayb literally means ‘absence'; here clearly indicating a person who invokes while not being
present to the presence of God, i.e. without God-awareness.
383 Since absence (ghayb) means inefficacy but witnessing or seeing (shuhud) the divine greatness
means efficacy, the critical factor is 'being present, that is to say that man must be aware of God’s
presence. Indeed, the word shuhud denotes a seeing or witnessing through ‘being present*. Thus that
invocation which is in His presence is the invocation which has the powerful efficacy of the greatest
name to the extent of the invoker's emptiness for God.
384 See PA, al-Bastiml.
385 The potency of the invocation lies in its absolute purity - only God is in the heart of the one
invoking. Thus whichever of His names God is invoked by, so long as there is a sincere and total
emptiness for and effacement in Him, that name has the power of the greatest name of God. So to
invoke the greatest name for the sake of acquiring its power is a self-defeating exercise, since the
very act of seeking to acquire it for oneself means that the requisite sincerity, emptiness and efface­
ment are not present.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

knows it [sc. the greatest nam e], for it [the M uham m adan reality] is the form
o f the all-comprehensive divine name. This [all-comprehensive divine name]
is the Lord [of the M uham m adan reality]; from this [divine name] grace over­
flows.386 So know and gain a m ost perfect destiny.
Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep. Slumber is the heaviness of drowsiness,
and the listlessness that descends on the physical constitution before sleep. It is
not part of the definition of sleep, but drowsiness is the first stage of sleep. Sleep
is a state that befalls animals through the slackening o f the nerves of the brain
because of the hum idity o f rising vapours whereby the external senses are
immediately held back from sensation. Slumber precedes this even though the
syllogism of hyperbole inverts this according to the sequence of extra-mental
existence (wujud khariji).3*7 But of the two the first to exist is slumber, and sleep
descends after i t The placement of the term Id ‘n o f [in the phrase wa Id nawm)
in the middle is to specify explicitly that the negation applies comprehensively
to both (sleep and slumber). The intention is to make clear that the absence of
any trace of these two (states) befalling G od is because o f their non-being vis-
&-vis Himself.
The lack of occurrence and befalling is expressed through the ‘lack o f being
seized* with regard to the actuality, since the descent of slumber and sleep on
the one afflicted by them is by way o f their being seized and overwhelmed [by
them]. The phrase is then a negation of anthropom orphism and an emphasis
o f His being Living, Eternal Sustainer, for, the one whom sleep or slumber seize
is as one whose life has been struck [a severe blow], and he falls short in [the
matters of] preservation and management. The meaning is that forgetfulness,
negligence, restlessness and lassitude in preservation o f what He is in charge of
preserving does not befall Him like it befalls creatures. Tiredness requiring rest
does not befall Him such that He needs to rest by sleeping and slumber because
sleep is the ‘brother of death* and death is the opposite of life, and He is the
Truly Living (al-hayy al-haqiqt). The opposite o f life cannot be predicated of
Him as He is characterised by the attributes o f perfection. So He transcends all
attributes of imperfection.

It is reported that Moses [...].388

366 See Jurj&ni, Ta'rifdt, 37; Chittick 1989,239-42.

387 Sleepiness precedes this slackening and consequent loss of external sensation, although it
might seem that one feels sleepy as a result of this slackening. At least from the time of Na$ir al-Dln
al-TfisI (d. 672/1274), philosophers in the Islamic tradition have considered there to be two modes
of existence that complement each other: a mental mode of existence that is the ground for epistemic
processes, and an extra-mental mode of existence that exists independently of the mind and is onto-
logically prior to mental existence. See in Ibn Sin*, Ishdrat, 1,21; cf. Mulli $adra, Asfilr, 1,261 ff.
388 Here Burusawi quotes from Zamakhshari’s Kashshdfthe narration concerning Moses and the
angels, which is also quoted in Tabari.

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On the Nature of the Divine

The Messenger of God said, ‘God does not sleep nor does it behove H im to
sleep.1Ibn al-Malik said, ‘This explains the impossibility of sleep befalling H im ,
for it is a weakness and God is far exalted above it* The servant*s portion in this
[divine] attribute is that he forsake sleep - for although God permits the servant
sleep, it is but a grace from Him. Excessive sleep, however, is idleness and G od
does not love the idle one. Abu Yazid al-Bastaml said, ‘Nothing was disclosed
to m e until I turned nights into days*

Sa di said:389

Sar-i angah ba-bdlin nihad hushmartd

Kih khwabash ba-qahr avarad dar kamand

Only then does the wise man place his head on the pillow,
When sleep catches him by force.

It is said that there was a m an who had two disciples who differed about it. One
of the two said, ‘Sleep is good because humans cannot sin in that state* The other
said, ‘Wakefulness is good because one can recognise God in that state* They took
the adjudication to the shaykh. The shaykh said, ‘As for you who spoke o f the
excellence of wakefulness, life is best for you* It is said that a man bought a slave
girl W hen night came, he said, ‘Prepare the bedding. The slave girl asked, ‘O lord,
do you have a Lord? He said, ‘Yes’ She said, ‘Does your Lord sleep? He said, ‘No*.
She said, ‘Are you not ashamed to sleep when your Lord does not sleep?
Among the verses that Bil&l the Ethiopian would recall at the time of the pre­
dawn (sahar) are:

Yd dhalladhiistaghraqafi nawmihi, ma nawmu ‘abdin rabbahu Idyandmu

A-hal taqulu itinani mudhnibun, mushtagilul-layli bi-tayyibil-mandmi

O one who is drowned in sleep, the slave does not sleep whose Master does
not sleep -
Or do you admit that you are culpable, occupied through the night with the
deepest sleep.

To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. This is a reaffirmation
of God’s everlastingness and an argument in support of [the fact] that He alone
is divine. For God created them both [the heavens and the earth] and also what
is in them. Association/partnership (musharaka) occurs only between what is
in them both; while partnership with Him - to whom belongs what is in them
both - is impossible.390 Everyone and everything that is in the heavens and the

389 This verse by the famous Persian poet Sharaf al-Din Sa'di of Shiraz is from his Bustan.
390 This is an affirmation of the sole status of God as God through a denial of any possible part­
nership with Him which would be tantamount to shirk.

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earth is His possession; no-one has any partnership with Him in this [owner­
ship]; nor has anyone any authority over this [possession o f His]. So it is not
permissible that anyone other than He should be worshipped just as it is not up
to the slave of anyone of you to serve another without [his masters] permission.
W hat is meant by what is in them both is: that which is more comprehensive
than a) the parts thereof [sc. o f the heavens and th e earth] which fall within
them; and b) matters external to them [the heavens and the earth] but which
are firmly established in them , such as rational beings, etc. So it [md fi*l-
samdwdti wa md Jfl-artfl is more eloquent than if it were said lahu al-samawdti
wal-ar&a wa md fihinna (to Him belongs the heavens and the earth and what
is in them ), because His saying wa md fihinna (and what is in them ) after m en­
tioning the heavens and the earth would include only matters external to them
[the heavens and the earth] but which are firmly established in them - since if
by the phrase [to Him belong the heavens and the earth] were meant that which
includes both m atters w ithin [the heavens and the earth] as well as matters
external to them, then the m ention o f that [phrase] would dispense with the
need to m ention the two [by a phrase such as fihinna, ‘in the two of them*].391
Man dhdVadhi yashfau findahu Hid bi-idhnihi ( Who is there who shall inter­
cede with Him except by His permission?): man is the subject and dha is its pred­
icate and alladhi is [either] the relative clause for dha or a [grammatical]
substitute for it. A lthough the word man is an interrogative particle, the
meaning o f which is negation and because o f that ilia is included in His saying
ilia bi-idhnihi. There are two senses to (indahu: one is that it relates to yashfa'u
and the second is that it relates to an elided term in place of the circumstantial
clause for the pronoun in yashfau, that is, no one well-established with Him
intercedes except by His permission. This [second] sense is stronger in as much
as if one w ho is well-established with Him and close to Him cannot intercede
[without His permission], then [how much] more remote is the intercession of
others. [As for] ilia bi-idhnihi, this is related to an ellipsis because it is the cir­
cum stantial clause [describing the state] of the agent who intercedes; it is an
exhaustive exception (istithnd*). The ba [in bi-idhnihi] is for accompaniment.
The meaning is that no one can intercede with H im in any state except in the
state of his being perm itted by Him [to do so], or [that] no one can intercede
with H im in any m atter except with His perm ission. The ba is [meant to
391 Burusawi’s rather scholastic and grammatical point seeks to distinguish between the actual
verse and a theoretical alternative, with a view to showing how the literal wording of the Quranic
phrase expresses the all-encompassing nature of divine sovereignty in the most eloquent manner
possible. He draws attention to the difference between the heavens and the earth on the one hand,
and the inhabitants who reside or are ‘firmly established* therein on the other. He then shows how
the Quranic phrase succinctly comprises both these categories within its formulation through the
use of md in the clauses md ffl-samdwdti and md JH-artT - whereas the alternative wording would
require a separate statement for both categories.

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On the Nature of the Divine

denote] ‘utilisation* just as in [the phrase] ‘he struck with his sword* (bi-sayfihi),
and so it is an operator of obliqueness and the oblique element in the place o f
the direct object.
The polytheists used to say, ‘O ur idols are the associates o f God and are o u r
intercessors with Him*, but God declared Himself unique through the negation
and the affirmation [i.e. the shahdda: Id ildha iUdlldh] so that the meaning [of
this phrase] should be the consolidation o f m onotheism and the negation o f
polytheism. That is to say, it is not for anyone to intercede with Him for anyone
except with His permission. It has already been m entioned that He does not
perm it intercession for the unbelievers. [This phrase) is a refutation o f the
Mu‘tazila who do not accept intercession at all, but God affirms it [here] for
some in His saying except by His permission.392
In al-Ta'wildt al-Najmiyya, [it is said]: ‘This exception refers to the Prophet
because God has promised him a praiseworthy rank, that is intercession, so the
meaning is Who is there who shall intercede with Him on the Day o f Judgement
except His servant M uhamm ad who is permitted [that] and was promised [it].
The prophets [themselves] designate him for intercession.*

Gham na-khwurad dn-kih shaft-ash tu’i

Pdya-yi dah qadar raft-ash tu’i
Hdfilt ar nist zi-faat tnard
Hast umidt ba-shafd'at mard

He cannot grieve whose intercessor you are -

He is given a valuable rank whom you elevate.
If I do not gain it from my obedience [to God],
I will still hope for intercession.

The Messenger of God said: ‘An angel393 from my Lord came to me and gave
me a choice between [on the one hand] admitting half of my community into
Paradise and [on the other] intercession, and I have chosen intercession.*394 It
is reported that the prophets will designate our prophet for intercession on the

392 Intercession is one of the most important themes of this verse. Burusawf relates the negation
and affirmation implicit in this phrase (no intercession/ except with His permission) with the nega­
tion and affirmation of the declaration of faith (no god/ except God). Intercession is affirmed but
with restriction. In the context of the verse, one sees a polemic against those polytheists (and
henotheists) among the contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad who regarded their deities as
intercessors with the supreme God As with other Sufis and thinkers who affirm the reality of inter­
cession, often citing this very verse, Burusawi attacks the Mu’tazila for denying the traditional posi­
tion on intercession. On the Mu'tazili position that intercession only applies to repentant sinners
(as opposed to the position in Ash’ari and other theological schools that the Prophet can intercede
for grave sinners among his community), see Hamza 2002; Feras Hamza, ‘Afterlife: Islamic
Concepts’, ER 2,1, 159-63.
393 Atin is ‘one who comes, an angel. See Lex., 1,17 (a-t-y).
394 Tirmidhl, Sutmn, IV, bdb 11 (hadith no. 2558).

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Day o f Judgement, and people will come to him and he will say, 'I have if, it
being the praiseworthy station on the Day o f Judgement prom ised to him by
God. So he will come, and prostrate to God and praise G od with praises that
G od inspires him with at that time, and which he did not know before that
[moment]. Then he will intercede with his Lord to open the gate of intercession
for creation. So God will open that gate and He will perm it intercession to the
angels and the messengers and the prophets and the believers. Because o f this,
he is the Lord (sayyid) o f hum ankind on the Day of Judgement as he intercedes
with God, that the angels and the messengers may intercede and with this he
[the Prophet] sets the example.
He said, ‘I am the Lord (sayyid) of humankind*, but he did not say the Lord
(sayyid) o f creation, which would include the angels, even though his authority
is manifest on that day over everyone. That is [because] he combines in himself
the stations of all the prophets; but [the rank] over the angels that was made
manifest for Adam through his being selected for the knowledge of the names
of all things was not manifest [for the Prophet]. But then, on that Day [of judge­
ment] all the angels and all hum ankind, from Adam to those after him, will be
in need of him [the Prophet], for the opening of the gate o f intercession and the
manifestation of the [honourable] rank that he has with God - for the divine
invincibility and awesome omnipotence will have reduced everyone to silence.
So his [the Prophefs] trem endous standing is indicated when, despite this
attribute o f divine wrath, he went forward to speak intimately with the Truth
concerning what he requested Him for [intercession] and the Truth responded
to him. Thus it is, in the commentary on the Fatiha of Mulla Fanari.
Know that the Messenger of God is the first to open the gate o f intercession
and he will intercede for creation, then the prophets, the saints and the believ­
ers and the final one to intercede will be the Most Merciful o f the Merciful.
The Compassionate One (al-rahmdn) will not intercede with the Avenger (al-
muntaqim) for those afflicted except after the intercession o f the intercessors,
whose intercession will not appear until after the intercession o f the seal of the
messengers [i.e. Prophet M uhammad] for them th at they may intercede. The
meaning o f the intercession of God, Glorified is He, is that if there does not
rem ain in the Hellfire a true law-abiding believer, God will extract from it a
people who knew monotheism through rational proofs and did not associate
anything with God but did not have the faith of a revealed law, and did not do
good works at all insofar as they did not follow one o f the prophets in doing
so, and they did not have an atom’s worth o f belief, and yet the Most Merciful
o f the Merciful will extract them [from Hellfire]. Know this, for it is one of the
strange things that my shaykh bestowed upon me through a bestowal of dis­
closure, and I also came across it in the com m entary on the Fatiha of Mulla al-

237
On the Nature of the Divine

Fanari. O God forgive me and have mercy upon me, You are the Most Merciful
of the Merciful.
Yalam u md bayna aydihim wa md khalfahum (He knows what lies before them
and what is after them), is another resum ption of the explanation that H is
knowledge encompasses all the states o f His creation, which necessitates His
knowledge of who deserves intercession and who does not deserve it. That is,
He knows what was before them in worldly matters and what will be after them
in otherworldly matters. O r md bayna aydihim means the afterlife because they
progress towards it, and md khalfahum [literally, ‘behind their backs] is this
world because they leave it behind them. O r md bayna aydihim means from the
heavens to the earth and md khalfahum means what is in the heavens. O r md
bayna aydihim means after the term ination o f their lifespan and md khalfahum
m eans what was before He created them; or [the phrases refer to] w hat they
have done, both the good and the evil of it, and what they have sent ahead [in
the way of deeds] and what they will do after that. The objective o f this sentence
is to explain that He knows the states of the intercessor and the one interceded
for, with regard to worthiness o f rew ard and punishm ent. The [suffixed]
pronoun [him/hum in the phrases aydihim and khalfahum] refers to all that is
in the heavens and the earth because among them are rational beings, and the
rational being predominates over others. O r the pronoun refers to those angels
and prophets indicated by the man dhd; so it is specific to rational beings.
A nd they do not encompass, that is they do not know, meaning the angels and
the prophets and others, anything o f His knowledge, that is, of what He knows,
except such as He wills, that they should know and what He apprises them of,
such as the communications of the messengers. None comes to know about His
unseen except a messenger with w hom He is pleased. We have glossed knowl­
edge film ) as ‘what is known* (ma(lum ) because God’s knowledge, which is an
attribute that subsists permanently in His holy essence, is indivisible. So we have
considered it in the sense o f ‘what is known* so that it is permissible to make
divisions and exceptions to it.
In al'Ta’wildt al-Najmiyya, [it is said that]:

H e know smeans Muhammad [knows], w h a t lies before th e m , of the primal matters

before God created creatures, as per his words, ‘the first thing that God created
was my light*; a n d w h a t is a fte r t h e m , from among the horrors of the Day of
Judgement and the terror of creatures and the wrath of their Lord and the demand
for intercession from the prophets, and their saying, ‘Myself, myself!*,395 and the
confused beseeching of creatures one of another until of necessity they will turn
to the Prophet because he has been specifically chosen for interceding. A n d th e y

395 Bukhari, $ a h il i, II, kitd b

a l-a n b iy a ’, b d b 5 (h a d ith no. 3162); Muslim, $ a h ih , 1, k itd b al-im & n,
bdb 84 (h a d ith no. 327); Tirmidhi, S u n a n t IV, b d b 10 (h a d ith no. 2251).

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

do not encompass anything o f his knowledge, it is conceivable that the hd! [the
pronominal suffix ‘his’ in the phrase " ilmihi (his knowledge)’] is an allusion to him
[the Prophet], meaning that he sees their states knowing what lies before them in
their life-journeys and their dealings and their stories and what lies after them of
the matters of the afterlife and the states of the people of Paradise and of Heilfire,
yet they do not know anything of what he knows, except such as he wills, to inform
them about.

O u r Shaykh the most learned scholar, m ay G od m aintain him in well-being,

said in al-Risala al-rahmaniyya f i baydn al-kalima aWirfdniyya, ‘The know l­
edge o f the saints vis-i-vis the knowledge o f the prophets is like a drop from
seven oceans and the knowledge of the prophets vis-i-vis the knowledge of
o u r Prophet M uham m ad is in the sam e proportion and the know ledge of
th e Prophet vis-i-vis the knowledge o f the Truth [i.e. God] is in the same
proportion.’

In the Ode of the Mantle (al-qa$\da al-burdiyya)t it is said:396

wa kulluhum min rasulilldhi multamisun

gharfan mina*l-bahri aw rashfan minal-diyami
wa wdqifuna ladayhi (inda haddihim
min nuqtatil-'ilmi aw min shaklatfl-hikami

All of them beseech the Messenger of God

For a palmful from his ocean or a draught from his incessant rain.
They stand before him at their ranks,
Like dots of his knowledge and vowel-symbols of his wisdom.
The result is that the sciences of the cosmos, even though they be many, are in
relationship to the knowledge of God, as a dot o r a vowel-symbol, and their
drinking place is a spiritual ocean that is M uhammad. Every prophet, messen­
ger and saint draws from it according to the measure o f their capacity
(qdbiliyya) to receive and their predisposition (isti'dad) to take from what he
has. No one can oppose him or precede him. As for his [the poef s] saying nuqfa
(dot), that is [based on the paradigm] fa 'la , as in naqqaftu al-kitdba nuqafan (I
have dotted the [words of the] book), the meaning of which is what has been
said; al-shakla vowelled thus is [also based on the paradigm] fa'la, as in
shakkaltu al-kitdba (I have inflected the [words o f the] book), meaning, I have
defined it by [inserting] inflections.
His seat (kursi) embraces the heavens and the earth: a kurst is what is sat upon,

396 These axe verses 39-40 of the famous ode in praise of the Prophet composed by Sharaf al-
Dln Abu 'Abd Allah al-Busin (d. 695/1296) (see the text in the commentary of Ibn 'Allan, Dhukhr,
307).

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On the Nature of the Divine

a thing made of pieces of wood placed one on top of the other and is nothing
more than the seat of the one who sits on it [... ].397 That is, His kursi is not n ar­
rower than the heavens and the earth in its spread and expanse. [However], it
is only an image for His greatness and a mere m etaphor as there is n o ‘seaf in
reality, nor one sitting [upon it]. The statement is [made in this way] because
G od addresses His creation, describing His essence and His attributes with
[terms] which they are accustomed [to use] for their kings and notables, just as
He appointed the Ka‘ba a ‘house' of His, around which people circumam bulate
just as they circumam bulate the houses o f their kings, and He ordered people
to visit it just as people visit the houses of their kings. It is m entioned concern­
ing the Black Stone that it is the ‘right hand' of God on His earth, then He made
it a place of kissing just as people kiss the hands o f their kings. Similarly it is
m entioned concerning the accounting of people on the Day of Judgement in
the presence of the angels and the prophets and the martyrs, and the balance
being placed, and in keeping with this analogy, He established for H im self a
‘throne (‘arsh); thus He said, al-rahmdn 'aldVarsh istawd (the Compassionate
One presided upon the throne) [Q. 20:5]. Then He established for Himself a kursi,
as He said, His seat (kurst) embraces the heavens and the earth.
The result is that [for] all the phrases, which are mistakenly imagined to be
anthropom orphism s, that have been m entioned concerning the carsh and the
kursi, the like of them, indeed stronger terms than them, have been m entioned
concerning the Ka'ba and the circumambulation and the kissing of the stone;
and since the community have agreed, concerning the later terms, that the inten­
tion is to m ake known God's tremendousness and His greatness, with the
proviso that He is exalted above there being in the Ka‘ba what those terms might
seemingly imply, that is [also the case with] the words about the ‘arsh and the
kursi. W hat is reliable, as the imam said, is that the kurst is a body (jism) in front
of the 'arsh which encompasses the seven heavens because the earth is a sphere
and the sky o f this world surrounds it [the earth] like the egg white surrounds
the yolk from all sides. The second heaven surrounds [the sky of] the world and
so forth up to the 'arsh, [which] surrounds everything. He [the Prophet] said:
‘The seven heavens and the seven earths compared to the kursi are but as a ring
thrown in a desert land and the superiority of the ‘arsh over the kursi is as the
superiority o f that desert over that ring ' 398 Perhaps it [the kursi) is the eighth
sphere, which is known as the sphere of the constellations (burn}).399
397 Burusawi expands on the basic sense of kirs, persented in the previous commentaries, such as
that of Tabrisi.
398 Cf. the hadith no. 458/559 in the commentary of‘Ayyashi, which is very similar but with the
significant difference that *Ayyashfs citation states that the kursi is superior to the ‘arsh as the desert
is to the ring.
399 The singular of buruj is burj, which is defined variously as ‘a sign of the zodiac; the mansions
of the moon; the stars or asterisms or constellations; the gates of heaven {Lex., 1,180, b-r-j).

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

Muqatil said:

The length of every leg of the kursi is like the seven heavens and the seven earths.
It is in front of the *ar$h. Four angels bear the kursi; each angel has four faces and
their feet are upon a rock which is under the lowest - seventh - earth, the distance
of 500 years. [The appearance of] one angel conforms to the form of the master-
human, Adam; he [the angel] requests sustenance and rain for humankind, from
year to year. [Another] angel conforms to the form of the master-grazing beast,
the bull; this [angel] requests sustenance for grazing beasts, from year to year.
[The third] angel conforms to the form of the master-beast of prey, the lion; he
requests sustenance for the beasts of prey, from year to year. [The fourth] angel
conforms to the form of the master-bird, the eagle; he requests sustenance for the
birds, from year to year.400

In al-Tawilat al-Najmiyya> [it is said];

As for the statements on the meaning of the kursiyknow that the requirement of
the faith and of religion is that the Muslim should not interpret any of the entities,
about which the Qur’an and hadiths speak, in [terms of] essential meanings
(ma'dflf), but only in [terms of] their forms, as related [in the Qur’an and hadiths]
and commented upon by the Prophet and the Companions and the learned
among the pious predecessors (al-salaf al-$dlih) - unless it be a realised person
whom God has chosen for the disclosure of realities and meanings and secrets and
the allusions in the Revelation and the precise verification of interpretation. If a
specific meaning or an allusion or a precise verification is disclosed, that meaning
is appointed without invalidating the form of the entities, like Paradise, Hellfire,
the balance, the bridge, and the houris, castles, rivers, trees, fruits in Paradise, and
other than them, the kursi and the *arsh> and the sun and the moon, the day and
the night. None of these are interpreted solely according to the meanings, invali­
dating their form; rather, those entities are affirmed as they are mentioned [in the
Qur’an and hadiths] and [at the same time] the realities of their meanings are
understood through them.
God did not create anything in the world of form [this phenomenal world]
which does not have its equivalent in the world of meaning, and He did not create
anything in the world of meaning, which is the afterlife, which does not have a
reality in the world of the Truth (al-haqq), that is the unseen of the unseen, so with
all earnestness, understand.401 Nor has He created anything in the worlds which
does not have an equal (mithdl) and example (unmudhaj) in the world of man
400 A comparison between MuqdtiTs tafsir, as presented in this chapter, and Burusawfs citation
of it reveals differences that indicate either that Burusawi was citing the commentary from a different
source altogether or that perhaps Burusawi was paraphrasing Muq&til and possibly even supplying
his own glosses.
401 Many Sufi works assume a Platonic hierarchy of the cosmos in which there are three realms
or worlds of existence - a phenomenal or human realm, a realm of archetypes and forms and then
a ‘divine realm - and in each of these, the entities that exist have a homologue in the other realms.

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( in sd n ).402 If you have recognised this, then know that the equal of the 'a r s h
in the
world of man is his heart since it is the locus for the settling of the Spirit (r u h ) in
him. The equal of the k u r s i is the secret (sirr) of man.403 The most marvellous
thing is that, although the 'a rsh is ascribed to the resting of the Compassionate
One [on it], it is said that it is like a ring thrown between the heavens and the earth
in relation to the expanse of the heart of the believer.404

In the Mathnawi, [it is said]:

Guft paygambar kih haqqfarmuda ast

Man na-gunjam hich dar bald o past
Darzamin o a s a m a n o ‘arsh niz
Man na-gunjam in yaqin dan ay ‘aziz
Dar dil-i mu min bi-gunjam ay 'ajab
Gar mara j u i dar an dil-hd falab
Khwud buzurgi ‘arsh bashad bos madid
Layk $urat Id-st chun ma'na rasid

The Prophet said that God has said,

I am not contained in the jar of high or low
I am not contained in earth or heaven or even in the throne -
Know this for certain, O friend -
But I am contained in the heart of the believer O how wonderful!
If you seek me, search in those hearts.

Wa laya’uduhu (wearies Him not)9it is said that something wearies one (ado,
y a u d u ) w hen it burdens one and one meets with hardship through i t It [the
verb] is derived from awada (to ‘bend* or ‘curve or ‘weigh dow n’) with a fatha
on the waw, w hich is like 'awija (to be crooked), and that is com pared to a
heavy burden. This [meaning then] is that the preserving o f them (hifzuhum d),
does not burden Him [God] nor does it trouble Him, that is, the preservation
of the heavens and the earth, as near and far, few and many are the same for
Him. How could He be troubled by the creation o f an atom when the totality
of being is the same for Him?405 The littleness of something does not make it
402 Clearly, the ‘world of man' indicates the microcosmic status of insdn. This correspondence
(tafbiq) between the macrocosmic and the microcosmic is part of the Sufi hermeneutic (Lory 1980).
403 In Kubrawi terminology, the secret {sirr) is a level in the spiritual hierarchy within a person.
It is a spiritual substance, the fifth of seven that receive inspiration from God and are focused upon
Him. These substances are like operators of the divine and facilitators of spiritual growth within
humanity see Elias 1995,79-99; Kashin! (attr.), Lafa’if, 319-20.
404 Thus, as stated in this section, the superiority of the ’arsh over the kursi is as the superiority
of the desert over the ring cast in it. But the superiority of the believer's heart, which is the micro­
cosmic ‘arsh, over the macrocosmic ‘arsh, is as the superiority of the heavens and the earth over a
ring thrown therein.
405 In other words, for God the creation of the universe is as effortless as the creation of an atom.
In effect nothing can burden him.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

easy for H im nor is anything much difficult for Him; His command, when He
desires a thing, is to say to it 'Be and it is. [Q. 36:82]. He does not go into m en­
tioning all that is in them [sc. the heavens and the earth] because hifyuhuma
entails that He preserves [every single thing in the heavens and the earth].
For He is the High, that is, [He is] the exalted in His essence above any simi­
larity or peer. The Tremendous, in relation to W hom all else is contemptible.
The m eaning of highness is the highness of value and of rank and not of place
because G od is far above being confined to a place. Similarly His greatness is
through awesomeness, vanquishing and majesty; it is out o f the question that
it should be in terms of measure and size, for His rank is too exalted for Him
to be of the genus of substance or body. The Glorious among [His] servants are
the prophets, saints and the scholars (culam d*); w hen a rational individual
recognises something of their attributes, his breast fills with awe, and his heart
is filled with longing in awe until there is no space left in it.
The Prophet is glorious with respect to his community, the shaykh is glori­
ous with respect to his disciple, the teacher with respect to his student, the more
so if his [i.e the student’s] intellect is incapable o f com prehending the true
nature of his [the teacher’s] qualities; but if he is equal to him or surpasses him,
then he is not glorious with respect to him.406 This gracious verse contains, as
you can see, the principal divine issues relating to the transcendent essence and
the lofty attributes; for it [the verse] enunciates that God exists, alone in pos­
sessing divinity, characterised by [the attribute of] life, necessarily existent of
Himself, the O ne who brings into existence all others in that He is the Eternal
Sustainer w ho is self-subsistent and makes other subsist, transcendent above
being confined in space or inhering in it, free of transformation or languishing.
There is no comparison between Him and bodily forms (ashbdh). That which
afflicts souls and spirits (arwah) does not afflict Him , possessor o f the kingdom
and dominion, originator of the principles and branches [of the faith], the pos­
sessor of a great grasp, no one can intercede with Him except one who is per­
mitted to by Him.
He alone knows all things apparent and hidden, universal and particular.
[He is] the one who encompasses the kingdom and power over all that can be
encompassed and be overpowered. No hardship afflicts Him and no one matter
occupies H im from another matter. He transcends what imaginations can grasp
o f Him; He is Tremendous, He whom the m ind cannot encompass. [It is]
because o f [all] this that the Prophet said: ‘The m ost glorious verse in the

406 Glory or greatness is here considered as a comparative attribute that affirms the superiority
of one over another and establishes an intellectual, spiritual or other hierarchy. With regard to the
teacher—student relationship, the point is that if a teacher's knowledge is the same or less than a
student’s, then that teacher does not have superiority, advantage or status above the student in terms
of his greatness or glory.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Q ur’an is the kursi-verse; for one who recites it, God sends forth an angel who
records his good deeds and erases his bad deeds until that same tim e the next
d a /.407 This means that the kursi-verse became the most glorious verse because
of the magnitude and grandeur of its necessary implications; for a thing is noble
only because of its essence, w hat it necessitates and what is attendant on its
authority. In fifty letters, the kursi-ve rse necessarily implies the affirmation o f
the divine unity; surat al-Ikhl&$ [Q. 112] does so in fifteen letters.

Imam [Jalal al-Din] al-Suyu(i said in Itqdn,*08

The kursi-verse comprises what no other verse does concerning the names of God,
and that is, that it contains the name of God in seventeen places, explicitly in some
[places] and implicitly in others. These [references to God] are: God, He [is], the
Living, the Eternal Sustainer, the pronouns in does not seize Him, to Him, with Him,
with His permission and He knows. His knowledge, He wills, His seat, wearies Him
not, and the pronoun in the preservation o f them is hidden, being that He is the
agent of the verbal noun [i.e the preservation of them is His preservation of them],
and He, the High, the Tremendous. It is enough that it [simply] contains al-hayy al-
qayyum (the Living, the Eternal Sustainer) which is the greatest name, to merit it
being the best verse, as reported from the Prophet when the Companions asked
him what was the most excellent verse in the Qur’an. He, the Messenger of God
said: ‘O ‘All, the best of humankind is Adam [...].>409

It is also reported from ‘All that the Prophet said: ‘You have but to recite this
verse at home and devils will flee from it for thirty days and no sorcerer, male
or female, will enter it for forty days. O ‘All, teach it to your children and your
wife and your neighbours as no verse was sent down more glorious than it.’410
It is also reported from ‘All that the Prophet said, ‘God will render him who
recites it when he lays down to sleep [,..].MI 1
M uham m ad b. Ubayy b. Ka‘b [reported] from his father that the latter’s
father told him that he had a basin in which were vegetables; he used to come
to it frequently; then he found it chipped. So he watched it that same night and
a beast, resembling an adolescent boy appeared beside it. [Ubayy] said:

It greeted me and I returned the greeting and asked, ‘Are you human or jinn?*412
It answered, ‘Jinn.11said, ‘Show me your hands’ It showed them to me and they
407 Mun&wi, Fayd, II, hadith no. 1188.
409 Suyuti, Itqdn, II, 347 (chapter 73: fi afdal al-Qur’dn wa-fad&’ilih).
409 See the narration in the commentary of Zamakhshari, this chapter.
4,0 This narration makes clear the talismanic importance and use of this verse and reveals a
concern in classical Islam with the evil effects of witchcraft.
411 The same narration concerning the protective power of the kursi-verse is mentioned in the
commentary of Zamakhshari.
412 The jinn are creatures of God who inhabit this earth alongside humanity but remain imper­
ceptible (usually) and are said to possess special powers (see n. 50).

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

were the hands of a dog with the hair of a dog. I said, ‘That is indeed how jinn are/
It said, There are jinn greater than me/1 said, ‘Why have you done what you have
done?* It said, ‘[News] reached me that you are a man who likes to give charity
($ a d a q a ), so we wanted to partake of your food/ My father said to it, ‘What can
protect us from you?’ It said, ‘This verse from the s u r a t a l-B a q a ra [Q. 2], G o d th ere
is n o g o d e x c e p t H im [...]; if one recites it in the morning, he is protected until the
evening and if he recites it in the evening, he is protected until the next morning/
In the morning, he [Ubayy] went to the Prophet and informed him about it, and
the Prophet said, ‘The foul thing told the truth/

It is reported that a m an passed a tree or a palm and heard a noise in it. He

spoke b u t none replied. So he recited the kursi-verse and a devil came down.
He said, ‘We have a patient, with what should we treat him ? He [the devil] said,
‘W ith that by which you m ade m e come down from the tre e /413
Zayd b. T hibit went out to his wall and heard a tum ultuous noise in it. He
said, ‘W hat is this? A man from among the jinn said, ‘Tongues have afflicted
us, and we wished to have some of your fruits, have you ripened them ? He said,
‘Yes/ Zayd said to him, ‘Will you not tell me what gives us refuge from you? He
said, ‘The kursi-verse!
In sum, the kursi-verse is among the greatest things that help against the jinn.
Those w ho have put it to the test - and they are so m any as to be beyond reck­
oning - have found that it is has a trem endous efficacy for dispelling devils
from a persons soul, from the demented and from those afflicted by the evil-
eye of devils such as the wanton, the music-lovers, the oppressors and wrathful,
if it is recited over them with sincerity.
As it is said in Akdm al-marjdnfi ahkdm al-jann:414

D i l - i p u r -d a r d -r d d a v d Q u r d n
J d n - i m a jr u h -r d sh ifa Q u r a n
H a r -c h ih j u i z i - n a ^ - i Q u r a n j u
K ih b u v a d g a n j- i 'ilm - h a Q u r a n

The heart is full of pain, its medicine the Q uran

The soul is injured, its cure the Qur’an
Whatever you seek, seek it in the text of the Qur’an
That it may become the store of knowledge, the Qur’an.

413 The jinn have special powers, including those of healing. This particular narrative indicates
both the healing efficacy of the kursi-verse and its authority over demons. There is a vast popular
literature on such stories.
414 This is a work by Badr ai-Din Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah al-Shibli al-Hanafi
(dL 769/1367).

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On the Nature of the Divine

He (Rum!) said in the Mathnawi:415

Hast tasbihat bukhdr-i db o gil

Murgh-i jannat shud zi-najkh-i $idq-i dil

Your exaltation [of God] is the exhalation of water and clay,

It became the bird of Paradise from the breath of your heart's sincerity.

W hatever occurs through a [spiritual) state is found to have an efficacy unlike

that which occurs through discourse alone. That is why you see most people
deprived [of such efficacy], though they supplicate Him with the greatest name.
‘O God, provide my soul with its piety and purify it, You are the best o f those
who purify it*

Alusi
Interspersed with prolix grammatical discussions, Alusl’s commentary on this verse
reiterates key issues regarding God’s absolute and unique divinity, His management of
the cosmos, His necessary existence as the only possible necessary existence and the
active nature of His attributes. Worthy of note is Alusl’s repeated affirmation of loyalty
to the views of the predecessors (salaf) on problematic theological questions, such as the
understanding of God’s attributes. These attributes must not be interpreted metaphori­
cally, something to which many have resorted as a way of avoiding troubling conceptions
inherent in anthropomorphism and corporealism, but must be understood absolutely:
God is ‘Living’not as humans are alive, but as an eternal perfect being, the source of all
life. Alusi concludes with Sufi ‘allusions’(ishdrdt) bearing on mystical interpretations of
certain aspects of the kursf-verse, principally on the nature and purpose of the kurst
itself.

God, there is no god except H im [is m ade up of] a subject and a predicate, the
intended m eaning being simply that He is the One worthy o f w orship
(fubudiyya).416 It is said: with regard to reading as nominative the free-standing
pronoun [huwa, ‘He*), or the glorious name [Allah, ‘God*] should it stand in its
place,417 people hold five opinions.
Two of these are valid, and three cannot be relied upon. As for the two valid
opinions: one of these two has the nominative reading on the basis of it [the
pronoun] being a substitution [for Alldhu], while the other has it [as nom ina­
tive] on the basis of it [the pronoun) being a predicate. The former of these [two
opinions] is the more com m on one among Arab morphologists, and it is the

4.5 RumI, Mathnawi-yi ma'nawi, daftar I, book II, 48 , in Nicholson 1925,40.

4.6 Ruh al-ma'dni* III, 5-12.
4.7 As for example in /a ildha illdlldhu: this is allowed for by the grammarians, alongside the more
common inflection Id ildha illdlldha.

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 God's throne and the seat of knowledge

opinion of Ibn Malik. O n the basis of this [former opinion), it may either imply
[reference to) the last [word before it, ildh] or not.
Those who adopt this implication hold differing opinions. Some take the
implication as referring to a ‘generality, such as existence (wujud) and possi­
bility (im kdn). O thers take it as a reference to a specific matter, such as [‘that
there is no god except Him’) for us and for [all] creation. The ‘generality impli­
cation, however, is objected to because it results in one of two dangerous
assumptions: either the non-establishing of the actual existence o f God; o r [the
assum ption that] G od does not transcend the possibility o f partnership.
Similarly, the ‘specific* implication may be refuted by [arguing] that there is no
p roof for it, or that it is [too] implicit. However, one may respond by taking it
[the sentence] to have a general implication - w ithout [necessarily] making a
dangerous assumption - either with:

1. the implication being a reference to ‘existence - because negation o f exis­

tence presupposes the negation of the possibility [of existence],418 for if some
other individual possessed the attribute o f ‘necessary existence* (wujub al-
wujud), then it [that individual] would necessarily be existent. Therefore, since
no such [other] individual is existent, then one knows that no such [other] indi­
vidual has this attribute; and given that such [an individual] does not [already]
possess the attribute of necessary existence, it cannot come to acquire it [at any
point in the future], on account of the impossibility of transformation [in such
a case].419

O r with

2. the implication being a reference to ‘possibility - because we judge it

obvious that the possibility of a thing possessing the attribute o f‘necessary exis­
tence* requires that it possesses it ‘in actuality (bil-fl't), necessarily. If we assume
the possibility of this, we m ust also assume its existence - for what does not
exist cannot possibly have necessary existence. Many, however, have pointed
out that a negation of the existence of a god other than God may constitute a
[minimal] level of tawhid that could [be said to] form the basis of Islam, and
one that suffices [as an affirmation of faith] from the majority o f people; even
if they are not aware of [the arguments for] the negation of such a possibility,
equally by [their] ignorance and unawareness o f it. Thus, there is no harm in
the fact that the words [of the verse) do not indicate such [an impossibility]. In

4.8 Of course, this holds true only in the case of God as the Necessary Existent, as the commen­
tator goes on to show - otherwise, it is a false premise for the simple reason that non-existence of a
thing does not preclude the possibility that it might come into existence. In fact, only if you preclude
the possibility of existence can a thing not exist (or come to exist).
4.9 I n other words, it is impossible to become a necessary existent if not already so.

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On the Nature of the Divine

fact, some have said: the obligation of making such a denial exists, even while
gods, other than God, exist, in the sense that they are worshipped with devo­
tion, with polytheists in all corners of the world cleaving to worship o f them.
Thus, people are enjoined to deny their existence in the sense that they are true
gods. For if there had been people who claimed the possibility that a true god
did exist, besides God - even though no such [god] exists - they would have
been enjoined to deny such a possibility. It cannot escape notice, however, that
such [arguments] have no solid basis.
Alternatively, one may respond by choosing [to understand] the implication
therein as a reference to a ‘specificity*, where [the object of] such a specification
is One w ho is worthy of being worshipped - the station o f [Abraham]420 is d e ar
evidence for this. The objection is made, however, that such [a specification] is
not proof for [a valid] negation of a plurality [of gods], neither by way o f ‘pos­
sibility*, n o r ‘in actuality*, because it may then be possible that there exist a god,
besides Him, [albeit one] who is not worthy o f being worshipped; and because
it may be also be argued that the intention [in this case] would be to deny that
any [god] other than Him is worthy of being worshipped, either ‘in actuality*
or by way o f‘possibility*: the former [of these two] still does not negate the pos­
sibility* [that such a god may be worthy of being worshipped], while the latter
is not proof that God is worthy of it [of being worshipped] ‘in actuality*.
I w ould respond by saying that it is an acknowledged fact that ‘necessary
existence is the principle underlying all perfections and there cannot therefore
be any doubt that such [necessary existence] makes the glorification and exal­
tation [of such an existence] obligatory. There can be no sense in deeming any
other than such [an existence] worthy of being worshipped. And if none other
than H im is [truly] w orthy of being w orshipped, none o th er than Him can
exist [as the true God], for otherwise such [an other] would categorically be
worthy o f worship; but since no such other exists, no such other can be possi­
ble, as has been pointed out. It is thus established that negation o f worthiness
[of being worshipped] necessarily requires the negation of a plurality [of gods]
categorically [...].421

420 The Station of Abraham {maqdm Ibrdhim, cf. Q. 2:125 and 3:97) is located within a few metres
of the Kaba, and its mention here functions as a metonymical substitution for the latter. The com­
mentator refers to it as evidence of the fact that there is only One God worthy of worship, especially
given the constant influx of Muslims to the site.
421 In the following three paragraphs the commentator summarises sophisticated grammatical
opinions bearing on the syntactical status of Id, illd and ildha (in la ildha ilia huwa, ‘there is no god
except Him’). The commentator’s concern, as in the previous section, is to review each of the argu­
ments for particular syntactical characterisations of the different elements of the formula Id ildha
illd huwa, in order to make theological inferences bearing on the affirmation of God’s sole divinity
and the negation of the possibility of any other divinity. The first paragraph focuses on whether Id
is followed by a predication and, consequently, whether illd is an exceptive particle or whether it
simply substitutes for ghayra, ‘other’. Part of the problem for grammarians is that the subject of Id -

248
 God’s throne end the seat of knowledge

Moreover, I shall return on m ore than one occasion, God willing, to the dis­
cussions that revolve around this wholesome statement. As regards His saying
al-hayy (the Living), there are seven ways in which its syntactical status may be
determined: 1) T hat it is a second predicate o f the Majestic word;422 2) that it
is a predicate of an om itted subject, in other words, [it is to be understood as]
huwa al-hayyu (H e is the Living); 3) that it is a substitution for His words Id
ildha iUd huwa (there is no god except Him); 4) that it is a substitution for huwa
alone; 5) that it is a subject, the predicate of which is Id ta’khudhuhu; 6) that it
is a substitution for Alldhu (God); 7) that it is an attribute (fifa) of His, w hich is
supported by the accusative reading [al-hayya] as a laudative since it [the accu­
sative] is specifically used for descriptive statements [... ] 423
According to the natural scientist, al-haydt (life) is that vitality424 that follows
from a specific equilibrium , [a vitality] from which all [other] animal power
emanates; or it [life] is that power of nourishm ent, or the power o f sense, or a
power that requires both sense and m otion, all o f which cannot be attributed
to God, since they are corporeal attributes. In God, it [the attribute of life] is a
meaningful (haqiqa) and existent attribute, subsisting in His essence, its very
essence (kunh) being unfathom able and its true meaning unknow able - just
like all His [other] attributes - in addition to both knowledge and power.
However, it [the attribute of life in God] is not the same as [His] essence, neither
in meaning, n o r in existence; it is not existent, nor is it non-existent [in this
world], as is said of all [of G o d s attributes].
‘The Living (al-hayy) is an essence in which subsists that attribute [of life].
Some theologians (mutakallimun) have interpreted it [the Living] as one who
has the capacity of knowledge and power [to do things]. The imam [Fakhr al-
Dln al-Raz!],425 however, has objected to this [definition] by [stating], ‘such an
ability is forthcom ing to all animal beings and, therefore, how can it be proper
that God extol H im self with an attribute which the lowliest o f anim al beings

namely, ildha (god) - is general’, and as such cannot be followed by a predication which is ‘specific’
- huwa (He).
422 That is to say, a second predicate of the initial Alldhu.
423 There follows a brief discussion of the root of the word hayy, as follows: ’As regards the orig­
inal [form] of the word [dl-hayy], there are two opinions: 1) that it is originally hayiya, with two^d*
letters, derived from bayya, yahiya; 2) that it is originally frayiwa, where the radical wdw, preceded
by a letter with the kasra vocalisation, has been transformed into a yd’: that is why they write al-haydt
with a wdw in the script of the Qur’&n, in order to point out this origin. This [latter origin) is sup­
ported by [the form of the derivative word) al-hayawdn, since this [letter wdw of] the original appears
in it. It is said that it [the word) follows the pattern offaala\ it is also said [to follow the pattern of]
fay'ala* but softened, as in the case of (the verb and derivative noun] mayyitl
424 This rendition for quwwa seems more appropriate here than 'powef, which is the usual trans­
lation of the term.
425 Here, as elsewhere, Alusi draws extensively on the arguments used by Razi in his commentary.
In fact the passage that follows is almost a verbatim reproduction of the lattefs statements.

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On the Nature of the Divine

share with Him [in this respect]?* He [RazI] further stated, ‘And what I have o f
relevance to this topic is that “living (al-hayy), strictly speaking in term s o f lan­
guage, is not that very capacity;426 rather it is that every thing that is perfect in
its own genus may be called “livingf (hayy). Does one not see that the cultiva­
tion of ruined land is referred to as the “reviving of dead land” (% d* al-mawdt)'.
The attribute which, in the speak of theologians, is called ‘life (hayat) is so
called because a body is [only] perfect when it possesses such an attribute, and
it is undoubtedly for this reason that it was called ‘life* (hayat). The perfect state
for trees to be in is that of leafiness and greenness: obviously for this reason
such a state was referred to as one o f ‘life (hayat). Thus, the prim ary sense o f
something being ‘living* (hayy) is that it occurs in its most perfect o f states and
properties. In such an instance, there is no longer anything problematic about
the question, since what is understood by ‘living is perfection, and w hen this
is not restricted by anything, it becomes absolute perfection. Such [perfection]
cannot be liable to extinction, neither in essence, nor in terms of actual attrib­
utes, passive attributes or relative ones. It cannot go unnoticed that this [issue]
is [like] a smooth pavilion, made o f crystal [Q. 27:44],427 because:

1. First, to say [as the theologian does] that ‘the Livingf (al-hayy), in the
sense of one who possesses the capacity of knowledge and power - som ething
that is shared by all animals - cannot be properly used by God to extol Himself,
is a serious lapse [in understanding] 428 For, if He means that He shares [that
particular attribute with other creatures] when using the expression, then it is
not only ‘living (al-hayy) that is so [in terms of being problematic]; but also [the
expressions] ‘hearing (al-sam i), and 'seeing (al-bafir) are likewise [problem ­
atic], as they are also used to refer to the lowliest of animals. However, G od has
in fact used these [attributes] to extol Himself, yet Sunnis (ahl al-sunna) have
not considered this problematic.
If, on the other hand, He means that He shares [such attributes] in a meaning­
ful sense (fi’l-haqiqa), then: seek refuge with God from [entertaining] such
[thoughts]!429 For a commonality of these [attributes] is impossible between
[what is] dust and [One W ho is] the Lord of all lords, or between the Sempiternal
One and the transient. And even if you were to say that a commonality in terms
426 The capacity of knowing and having power.
427 This is a reference to the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: it is what Solomon says
to her when she cautiously enters his crystal pavilion baring her legs, thinking it to be filled with
water. It is difficult to see what the commentator means by this, but perhaps he is suggesting that
understanding how God may be ‘Livingf and relating this to the human concept of‘life is an issue
which might seem elusive to the human mind and its limitations, just as the pavilion seemed to be
a pool of water to the Queen of Sheba.
428 Alusi here returns to the counter-argument introduced by Rizi (for the purposes of refuting
it) in his commentary to the verse, in order to add further refutations of his own.
429 Lit.,‘Perish the thought!*

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

of the referent expression necessitates a meaningful commonality, and that this

is unavoidable except by resort to metaphorical interpretation, you would then
have to apply the same [principle] in the case o f all the [other] attributes [used by
God of Himself] - yet no Sunni [scholar] has ever suggested such a thing.
2. Second, semantically speaking, [the use of] ‘life (al-hiaydt) to mean 'p er­
fection1(kamdt) is not attested in any of the gram m ar manuals. In fact, a dif­
ferent m eaning is attested. The use of this term to describe inanim ates is
m etaphoric and not, as has been m isunderstood, literal. If it were said that it
is also m etaphoric w hen used with reference to God, the same problem pres­
ents itself, since [God] is understood to share perfection with inanimates, to
saying nothing o f animals. If it is said that the perfection o f a thing is relative
to w hat befits it, we say th at the ‘life1 of every living thing is also in fact
relative to what befits it; yet there is nothing similar to God. I have the impres­
sion that you [the reader] understand from this that I [the author] tend toward
the school of thought of [our] predecessors (salaf) in instances such as these.
[And rightly so!], so let this be the understanding o f all the folk [of the Muslim
community]: 'O beloved Hind! And [beloved] land o f Hind!’430
Zam akhsharl interpreted 'the Living (al-hayy) as 'the E nduring (al-b&qi),
the One w ho cannot be subject to either death or extinction. They considered
this interpretation of his to be in accordance with what is commonly accepted
[as the meaning of al-hayy] in the idiom of the Arabs: I think that there is some
truth in this. But I would perhaps refrain from [total agreem ent with] this.
Indeed it has been reported from Qatada that (al-hayy) is one that does not die,
but that is not evidence for what is being claimed [...].431
As al-P ahhak and Ibn Jubayr have said, it [al-qayytim] means the
Permanently-existent; it has also been said [that it means] the Self-subsisting; and
also the One who sustains the management of His creatures, beginning from the
point of their creation, and conveying to them their provision - which is [the
opinion] reported from Qatada. It has also been said [that it means] the Knower
of [all] affairs, [derived] from when they say [of] someone yaqumu bil-kitdb to
m ean that such a person has knowledge of what it contains. O thers have sug­
gested [that al-qayyum means] the One who permanently sustains the manage­
m ent of creation as well as [sustaining] its preservation. Al-Raghib [al-I$fahani]
mentions that one may say qdma of a person to m ean that 'he remains [in
430 Another of Alusfs elliptical references. Given the context, namely, his admiration for the tra­
ditions of the salaf, this seems to be a eulogy of the home of traditionalist Islam as well as the locus
for the emergence of the Salafi movement; 'Hind’ constitutes the female topos in Arabian poetry
(much like the grammatical ‘Zayd’).
431 In the following three lines, the commentator, in standard fashion, reviews the morphology
of the term qayyum, and how it relates to the standard grammatical paradigm o f T h e transla­
tion resumes at the point where the different meanings of the term are reported from the various
authorities.

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On the Nature of the Divine

existence]’or [say] qdma bi [followed by a noun] to mean ‘he looked after that
[thing]’.432 Indeed, al-qayyum means [the same as] al-qaim , the One who pre­
serves every thing and [the O ne who] provides it with that through which its sus­
tenance is effected; this suggests that al-qiydm has the same sense as al-dawam,
‘to be permanent*, which can then be made [into a] transitive [verb] as al-iddma,
‘to make [something] perm anent, which is [in effect] ‘to preserve [that thing].
It is also mentioned then that hyperbole is not a reason for [expressing a verb
in] transitivity, because if al-qayyum is stripped o f its [prepositional) instru­
m ent, it [al-qayyum] would have a transitive sense, and cannot therefore be
explained as meaning the Preserver (al-hdfiz). Moreover, how would expressing
‘to preserve’ in a hyberbolic sense be understood to mean ‘to provide that
through which [a things] sustenance is effected’? Perhaps it is [so] in the sense
that to alone [possess the power to] preserve [things] can only be true through
such [a capacity to provide those things with that through which their suste­
nance is effected), as is obvious.
It has also been stated, w ith regard to it [al-qayyum] being explained as
[meaning] something akin to [One who is] Self-subsisting (qa'im bi-dhdtihi),
that [the phrase] qayyum al-samdwdt wa’l-artf, as cited in traditional supplica­
tions, means the Necessary [Being] of the heavens and the earth (wdjib al-
samdwdt wa*l-ar<f), which is [inappropriate?] as you can see. It seems that it
[qayyum] is being used here in a different sense, one appropriate to that
[context], since [to use al-qayyum in] such a context can only be [argued to be]
correct through some pretext. Some have said that al-qayyum is G od’s greatest
name; and so these [individuals] have interpreted it as [meaning] ‘the Self-sub­
sisting and the One who sustains others’ (al-qdyim bi-dhdtihi wal-muqawwim
li-ghayrihi). They interpret ‘self-subsistence’ as [being the same as] ‘necessary
existence’ (wujub al-wujud) which [itself] necessarily entails all perfections and
transcendence above all forms of imperfection. They take the concept o f ‘sus­
taining others’ (al-taqwim lil-ghayr) as implicitly entailing all the attributes o f
agency {al-$ifdt al-filiyya) - and they are right to make such a statem ent
The m ost curious of opinions [regarding al-qayyum] is that it is a Syriac
expression, meaning in Syriac ‘one who does not sleep’. Obviously this is far
from being true, since there w ould be a [superfluous] repetition where G od
then says Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep; al-sirn is a [state of] drowsiness

432 Raghib, Mufradat, 691 (q-y-m). This work by al-Raghib al-I$fahini (d. ante 441/1050) is his
famous lexicon of Quranic expressions variously known as Mufraddt alfaz al-qur’dn, or Mu*jam
mufradat alfdz al-qur’dn, or Kitab al-mufradatftgharib al-Qur’dn. There are two widely used editions
of this work: Mu jam mufraddt alfdz al-qur’dn, ed. Nadlm Mar'ashli, Beirut, Dar al-Fikr, 1972; and
al-Mufraddt ft gharib al-qur’dn, ed. Muhammad Sayyid KaylinI, Tehran, al-Maktaba al-
Murtadawiyya, n.d. But there is also now a very good (coloured) edition (see biblio for details). All
references are to this last edition.

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(futur) that precedes sleep (nawm)> but is not actual sleep.433 Sleep is a sponta­
neously induced, occurring in animals as a result o f the relaxation o f the nerves
o f the brain under the effect of the moisture o f rising vapours, so that the exter­
nal sensory organs immediately cease to sense.434 In some of his treatises [Jalal
al-Dln] al-Suyufi claimed that the cause of it [sleep] is the inhalation of air that
flows down from below the throne (‘arsh). Perhaps, he m eant the rise of
vapours from the stomach, below the heart, which is [considered] the throne
(‘arsh) of a person s spirit, for otherwise I find it h ard to accept.435 Placing
slumber’ before [‘sleep], when [usually] a hyperbolic analogy requires placing
it after [‘sleep’],436 takes into account the [natural] order [of these two phenom ­
ena] in existence: just as it [slumber] precedes sleep externally [in reality], it has
also been m ade to precede it in verbal expression. It is also said that this [order
o f expression] is intended to make a complete [statement] and is rhetorically
superior, because of the emphasis contained therein - for a negation of slumber
implicitly entails a negation of sleep; and so when it [‘sleep ] is also negated, this
is rhetorically m ore effective.
However, it has also been retorted that this [order o f expression] is actually
a way of being all-encompassing and comprehensive and in which one can see
that the [natural] order [of the two phenom ena] in existence has been taken
into account, beginning with [the m ention of] th e lesser followed by the
[greater] lesser,437 as in the case where He says, That it [this Book] leaves behind
neither small nor great [thing] [Q. 18:49]. For this reason the particle Id [of nega­
tion] comes in the m iddle,438 in order to stipulate the all-encompassing and
comprehensive negation of both [phenomena]. It is also said that ‘sleep has
been placed after [‘slumber'] for [this verse to be in] harm ony with the separa­
tors [of the surrounding verses];439 but it is obvious that such [a statement] is
the result o f [a very] restricted interpretation.

433 Alusi cites the poetical evidence (shdhid) for this meaning of sina>which is the famous line by
‘Udayy b. al-Raqqa*, translated in Tabrisi, this chapter.
434 Alusi here does not acknowledge his use of Baydawl*s commentary, from which this definition
of sleep is taken. Another instance of such lack of acknowledgement comes in the commentary on
man dhd’Uadhl yashfau 'indahu illd bi-idhnihi.
435 Clearly, Alusi saw the Arabic word ‘arsh in the mentioned treatises of Suytttf, and he is not
sure whether the latter meant God’s throne or simply ‘the seat”for something, figuratively speaking;
this is also the reason why the term has been rendered by two different English words.
436 In other words, one would normally expect in such an analogy that the lesser effect comes
after the greater one, so ‘slumbei' after ‘sleep, as in: ‘Sleep does not seize Him, not even slumber.’
437 In other words, in ascending order of magnitude or importance, thus, slumber, then sleep.
438 In the clause sinatun wa-ld nawmun.
439 Usuallyfawdfil (sing.faila) refer to the end-rhymes of the verses. But since the sentence in
question (sinatun wa-ld nawmun) does not come at the end of the verse, the reference seems to be
to the permitted pause at the end of it; in which case the suggestion is that nawmun is closer to
qayyumu than sina, both in terms of its final consonant and its nominative inflection, and that is why
it has been placed last.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Certain inquiring scholars have said that one would only require all o f these
[opinions] if [the verbal root] akhdh is taken to mean €to affect* or ‘to afflict*;
but if it is taken to mean ‘to overcome* o r ‘to overwhelm*, in the way that al-
Raghib [al-I$fahani] has m entioned,440 and others from am ong the leading
authorities on language, as [used] in G offs words, [So We seized them] with the
seizing o f One, Mighty, Omnipotent (fa -akhadhnahum akhdha *azizin muqtadir)
[Q. 54:42], then the order is in conformity with the apparent [meaning], where
the m eaning is: slum ber does not overcome Him, nor sleep - which is m ore
overwhelming than the former. T he statem ent is a denial o f any sim ilarity
[between G od and others] and an affirmation of His transcendence, [He being
exalted] above sharing any likeness with living things, since these [last] are
never free of it [the influence of sleep]; so how can they possible have any sim ­
ilarity to Him? There is also therein a reiteration o f [the fact] that God is Living
and Self-subsistent, because sleep is a negative [requirement] that is incom pat­
ible with the endurance of life or its permanence; whereas God*s attributes are
pre-eternal and never disappear. Moreover, one who is affected by sleep and is
liable to be overwhelmed cannot be a necessary existent (wdjib al-wujud),
enduring [in his existence], nor can he be all-knowing, ever-knowing, nor all-
preserving, with a powerful capacity to preserve [things].
Ibn Abl Hatim and others provide reports [through chains o f transmission]
from Ibn ‘Abbas that the Children o f Israel [on one occasion] said to Moses,
‘Does your Lord sleep?*, whereupon he replied, ‘Beware o f God [...]’.441
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth: [this is] an affirmation
o f His sustaining of all things, and a vindication o f His being the sole divinity.
W hat is intended by [the reference to] ‘all that is in them* is that which is more
comprehensive than [merely referring to] the different constituent parts in
them and those elements [of them which are] external to them, and yet possess
the pow er [to act independently] w ithin them , such as rational beings and
others. Thus from this verse one is inform ed that the sun, the m oon, all the
stars, as well as the angels, idols and false deities (pawdghit) cannot possibly be
deities worthy o f being worshipped.
Who is there who shall intercede with Him except by His permission? [this is]
a rhetorical interrogative, and that is why [the particle] ilia [‘except*] has been
inserted there. The object of this [statement] is to illustrate the supremacy o f
440 R&ghib, Mufradat, 67 (a-kh-dh).
441 Alusi here reproduces the story of Moses and the glass bottles. There follows a grammatical
comment on the syntactical status of the sentence in question, which may be summarised as follows.
Why is the sentence Id ta’khudhuhu sinatun wa-ld tiawm not introduced by a conjunctive particle?
Either because it is an emphatic remark; or because it is an independent clause without grammatical
relation to the surrounding statements; or because it constitutes an emphatic circumstantial qualifier
referring to the implicit person of qayyum; or in fact a predicate of al-hayyu or of Alldhu. The trans­
lation resumes at line 6 of p. 9 in Alusi’s text.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

His affair and [to illustrate] that none is equal to H im n o r able to come close to
Him, that he might then be able to ward off what he wants through intercession
[and by showing] acquiescence and submissiveness, let alone to ward it off by
[displaying] stubbornness, animosity and enmity.442 In that [statement] there
is a denial of any hope [of the possibility of intercession] for disbelievers who
used to claim that their gods would act as intercessors for them with God.
He knows what lies before them, that is, [He knows] the affairs o f this world,
and what will be after them, that is, the affairs of the Hereafter; this is the opinion
o f M ujihid, Ibn Jurayj and others; although the opposite o f this has been
reported from Ibn ‘Abbas and Q atada.443 It is also said [that it means] He
knows what was before them and what will be after them [respectively]; or it is
also said [to mean] what stands before them o f good or evil and what is behind
them in the way of the deeds they performed likewise [of good or evil]. It is also
said [to mean] that which they perceive and that which they cannot perceive,
or [it means] that which they sense and comprehend; all o f which are possible
[interpretations]. The absolute sense (in which He knows these things] is appar­
ent [from the statem ent itself). The plural [direct object] pronoun [‘them ’]
refers back to md fiy ‘all that is in’ [in] all that is in the heavens... to the end [of
the verse], except that predominance [in the address] has been given to rational
beings over others; but it is also said [that the plural pronoun refers to] those
rational beings included therein, so that there is no [need to attribute any] pre­
dominance [of one being over another]. It may also be a reference to that which
is indicated by man dhay‘who is th e re , from among the angels or the prophets.
It is also said [to be a reference to] the prophets specifically. Knowledge of what
lies before them and what will be after them is a m etaphor for His all-encom­
passing knowledge [... ] 444
And they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge, that is to say, [not any­
thing of] the things He knows, as in [the construction] where one says [in sup­
plication], ‘God of ours, forgive us those things You know about us’ (Alldhumma
ighfir land cilmaka find).445 To encompass som ething in knowledge446 is to
know it as it truly is. W hat is m eant then is that not one o f these [mentioned
beings] knows the true nature (kunh) of [even] a single thing o f the things that

442 This is taken from Baydawi.

443 In other words, the first clause refers to the affairs of the Hereafter, whereas the second refers
to those of this world.
444 A grammatical comment follows, regarding the status of the sentence ya'lamu md bayna
aydihim wa-md khalfahum, to the effect that it is either 1) a new independent clause; or 2) a predicate
of the previous statement; or 3) a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person governing the verb
yashfa'Ut or [referring] to that which is in the genitive case in the clause bi-idhnihi.
445 In other words, those [evil] things which You know we will commit.
446 In other words to use the term ihdfa in the context of 'i/m, where the latter is a verbal noun
used adverbially, e.g., ahdfa 'ilman.

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He knows; except such as He wills, that that person [come to) know. It is possible
that by [the clause] ‘of His knowledge is meant ‘[of] His exclusive knowledge,
which is all that is of the Unseen (ghayb): and He does not disclose His Unseen to
anyone, except to a Messenger with whom He is well-pleased [Q. 72:26-27]. This
sentence [and they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge] has been
appended [syntactically] to the previous one because it modifies it, as that
[former] one implies that He [God] knows everything, while this one states
that none other than Him knows it; and [taken] together they prove that He
alone possesses the essential knowledge [of individual things], which [fact] con­
stitutes itself a fundamental attribute o f [One characterised by] perfection, [an
attribute] by which the [One] God must necessarily be characterised in actual
fact.
His seat comprises the heavens and the earth: the kurst is a physical mass that
is [located] in front of the ‘arsh and which encompasses the seven heavens. Ibn
Jarir and Ibn al-M undhir cite a report [by way o f a chain o f transmission] from
Ibn ‘Abbas that he said, ‘If the seven heavens and the seven earths were spread
out flat [placed one in front o f the other] and joined one to the next, they would,
in com parison to its ampleness, that is, that o f the kursi, be merely like [the
space occupied by] a ring in [the vastness of] a desert.* It [the /cum'] is something
other than the 'arsh, as is indicated by the reports cited by Ibn Jarir, Abu*l-
Shaykh and Ibn M ardawayh from Abu D harr [al-Ghafari], who asked the
Prophet about the kursi and so he [the Prophet] replied, ‘O Abu Dharr! The
seven heavens and seven earths in comparison to the /cum" are merely like [the
space occupied by] a small ring lying in [the vastness of] an open land; and [yet]
the superiority [in size] of the kursi to the 'arsh is like the superiority [in size]
of the open land to that ring.’
According to the version cited by al-Daraqufril and al-Khapb [in a report]
from Ibn ‘Abbas, he said, ‘The Prophet was asked about His words, His seat
comprises... to the end [of that verse], and he replied, “His kursi is the place in
which His feet are; as for the 'arsh, its size cannot [even] be approximated”.*It
is said that it [the kursi] is the very 'arsh itself; and this [opinion] has been attrib­
uted to al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri]. It is also said [that the kursi represents] God*s
power, or it is said, His managem ent [of all things]; or it is said [to be] one o f
His angels; or it is said [to constitute] a m etaphor for [His] knowledge where a
thing is referred to [metaphorically] by the place in which it is located. For a
kursi is the place of a knower, [one] in whom knowledge resides, so that it [the
kursi] comes to represent the place where knowledge resides by its being sub­
sequent to it, just as an accident (‘aratf) is subsequent to the space (mahall) at
the point of its occupation [of it] (tahayyuz). In fact they go so far as to opine
that it signifies the very [state of an] accident being sustained within the space;

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this has been related [as having been heard] from Ibn ‘Abbas. It has also been
said that it is [a metaphor] for kingship, derived from the seat o f a king (kursi
al-maiik). It is also said that a kursi is originally that [object] on which one sits
and [that] it is not superior [in significance] to the place on which one [usually]
sits; it is that the speech [in this verse] has been expressed in the form of a simile
for G od’s exaltedness, the [vast] extent o f His authority (sultan) and th e fact
that His knowledge encompasses all things without exception.
Thus the words [of the verse] contain an illustrative metaphor: there is no
[actual] seat (kursi) there, nor anyone sitting, nor any act o f sitting [taking place
in the verse]. This has been the opinion of the majority o f the [knowledgeable]
successors [since the Prophet’s tim e], as a way o f escaping the delusion of
[resorting to] corporealist conceptions [of God]. Moreover, they have inter­
preted those hadiths which manifestly [seem to] require that one interpret the
kursi as a physical mass that encompasses [God] in the same way [that a seat
encompasses the person on it] - especially those hadiths in which the feet [of
God] are mentioned - [they have interpreted them] as we have already pointed
out; and in the same way [that they have interpreted] the hadith cited by al-
Bayhaq! and others [by way of a chain of transmission] from Abu M u si al-
A sh'ari th a t ‘The kursi is the resting-place of the feet o f [God] and it makes a
sound similar to the squeaking noise m ade by a camel saddle.’ In a [different]
version reported from ‘Umar [b. al-Khattfb] through an unbroken chain [going
back to the Prophet]447 that, ‘it [the kursi] makes a sound similar to the squeak­
ing noise of a new camel saddle, so that when it is m ounted by a person who
weighs it down only [the length of] four fingers would remain [visible?] o f if.
You realise, however, that such [a hadith] and those [hadiths] sim ilar to it
do not constitute strong reasons for denying [a physical conception of] the faira
outright. For, the truth is that it [the physical existence of the kursi as such] is
established, as stated in [various] sound reports. Even the m isguidedness of
holding corporealist conceptions does not affect such [a physical possibility
with regard to conceiving of the nature o f the kursi], for otherwise one would
then be required to deny many of the attributes [of God], [a position] which is
quite far from adhering to [the explicit words of] the Lawgiver and [true] sub­
mission to Him.
The majority of [our] pious predecessors have considered such [matters] to
belong to the [class of verses known as] ambiguous (mutashdbih), [a class] which
they are not able to know, leaving the [true] knowledge of it to God, while at the
same tim e affirming God’s transcendence to the utmost degree and hallowing

447 That is essentially what a hadith classified as marju1(lit. ‘raised’) is, especially in the context
of traditions reported from the second Caliph ‘Umar where his son, ‘Abd Allah, frequently transmits
from his father sayings which go back to the Prophet indirectly: see Burton 1994,11 If.

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Him [greatly]. As for those from among our Sufi masters who believe in m ani­
festations (mazdhir), may God sanctify their secrets,448 there is nothing prob­
lematic in [the statements] such as those [previously mentioned]. In fact, some
of the knowers {'arifuri) among them have related that the kursi is a manifesta­
tion of the sum of [Gods] attributes of agency: thus it [the kursi] is a divine m an­
ifestation (mazhar ildhi) and the locus through which the com m and and the
prohibition are issued, as well as [the locus] for the bringing into existence and
the causing [of something] to be non-existent - both of which are expressed by
[way of reference to] the feet [of God]. Indeed, its [the kursi s] comprising o f the
heavens and the earth is a comprising [in terms] of the existence of individual
[creatures therein] as well as a comprising [in terms] of the rules [functioning
therein], because their delimited existence is one o f the results of [God's] attrib­
utes of agency, which it [the kursi] causes to be manifested.
The feet, where m entioned in the [relevant] hadiths, are not the feet of [a
persons] legs, the place for sandals, may God be exalted, glorious be He, high
above such things. Nor is the squeaking sound that [sound] which you [would
usually] hear or with which you are familiar - at the level o f witnessing
shdhicl); nay it is that which, if you do not [simply] leave the knowledge thereof
to the All-knowing, All-aware, is an intim ation (ishdra) o f the projection of
contraries or their collocation in that manifestation, which is the starting-point
of detailed as well as ambiguous [revelation?], and the locus o f the bringing [of
things] into existence and the causing [of things] to be non-existent, and the
source o f harm and benefit, separation and congregation.
As for the meaning o f ‘only [the length of] four fingers would rem ain of if,
if the pronoun ‘if refers back to the camel saddle, then it [the m eaning] is
evident; but if it refers back to the kursi, then this is an intimation of th e exis­
tence of presences (hacjiardt), which are manifestations of certain [divine]
names, which do not project into the world of sensory perception and which
can only be seen by one who has been b o m twice. W hat is m eant by [these]
‘four fingers' is not that which you recognise in yourself [in terms of lim bs]. The
[Sufi] knowers (‘drifun) regarding this point have m uch m ore to say, and
perhaps we will have the opportunity to point some o f this out [later on], God
willing.449

448 Qaddasalldhu sirrahu: a standard eulogy used when mentioning a deceased Sufi saint.
449 The following six lines deal with the etymology of kursi, relating it to kirs, which, like the more
well-known kurrdsa, ‘quire’, essentially signifies layers that have become compacted (so ‘notebook',
'[compressed] piles of mud’, etc.). A variant reading of kursi is given as tarsi, although the author
states that it is unusual. The author also adds that most scholars read wasi'a kursiyyuhu as the subject
and verb governing the direct object al-samdwdti wal-artfa, while acknowledging the variant wis'u
(or was'u) kursiyyihi (the breadth of his kursi) becoming the subject of a nominal sentence, the pred­
icate of which is then the nominative al-sam&w&tu wal-ard (is the heavens and the earth) - this
reading, however, is not recorded in lbn Mujahid’s ‘canonical’ variants (see his Qira&t, 187-8).

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

[And it] wearies Him not, that is to say, it does not burden Him, as Ibn ‘Abbas
has related.450
The preserving o f them, that is to say, [the preserving of] the heavens and the
earth. He does not m ention w hat is in them because the preserving o f them
entails the preserving o f that [which is therein]. He singles them out for
m ention excluding the kursi, because the preserving o f them [and not that of
the kursi] is what may be witnessed and [what is] perceptible. The opinion that
there is a syllepsis here (istikhdam),451 by which it [the kursi] together with the
‘arsh and other [creation], of which none but God has knowledge, are included
[in God's preservation] is unconvincing.
And He is the High, namely, the One exalted above all [comparison by way
of] likenesses (ashbah), equals (andad), similitudes (amthdl), opposites (a<]ddd),
and above [any attribution of] defective contingencies (imdrat al-naq$) and
indicators of incidence (dalalat al-huduth). It is also said that this [divine name]
derives from (uluww (exaltedness) in the sense o f [God's] pow er (qudra),
authority ($ultdn) and sovereignty (mulk), as well as [being related to] exalted­
ness in term s of [His] affair, almightiness (qahr), sublimity (i'tila’), majesty
(jaldl) and augustness (kibriya ). The Tremendous, namely, the O ne who pos­
sesses [ultimate] greatness, in relation to whom all else is lowly.
And since the m ost ornate o f divine issues have been revealed upon the
podium o f this glorious verse and the lights o f the sublim e attributes have
come to shine upon its [many] surfaces thereby bringing together the funda­
mental attributes of divinity, Oneness, life, knowledge, sovereignty, and will,
comprising seventeen instances in which is [mentioned] God's name, manifest
in some [of these instances] and hidden in others, proclaim ing that He, glory
be to Him, is existent, single in His divinity, Living, the Necessary Existent in
His essence and the cause of existence of everything other than Him; He tran ­
scends [the possibility o f occupying] space or inhering [in anything], not
subject to change or languor, there being no correlation between Him and
spectres and no occurrence in the arena o f His majesty o f [any of] the things
that afflict souls or spirits; [He is] Master o f [all] sovereignty and the [divine]
realm, O riginator of principles and [their] subsidiaries, Lord of the severe
smite (bafsh shadid),452 the sole Knower of the revealed [aspects] o f things as

450 The author remarks that ya’uduhu is from al-awdt which means i'wijaj, ‘bending1, because
that which is underneath something heavy becomes bent under the pressure. The past tense of the
verb ya’udu is dda, with the suffixed pronoun said to be referring back either to God (hence
‘it does not burden Him’) or to the kursi (it does not burden it).
451 More usually this rhetorical device is called istikhdhdm (or even istihdh&m); see TahSnawi,
Irfldbdt, 1,148. The syllepsis turns on the suffixed dual pronoun of hifcuhumd, in other words, that
this pronoun, instead of simply referring to ‘the heavens and the earth’, actually refers to them (as
one unit) together with the kursi (as the other unit).
452 Cf.Q. 85:12.

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On the Nature of the Divine

well as their hidden ones, their totality and their constituent parts; [He is]
encompassing in [His] sovereignty and power o f all that over which it is His
w ont to be sovereign and to have power. Nothing can be too difficult for H im ,
nor can anything be burdensom e for Him. He is exalted above all that which
does not befit His augustness, tremendous, such that no flight of the im agina­
tion can [venture to] drift into the wilderness of those attributes which exist
in Him, [attributes] uniquely adorned with necklaces o f superiority denied to
the noblest of their noble cognates453 and [adorned with] exclusive gems454
swinging [gracefully] upon their necks,455 but not as the [graceful] sways o f
Lubna or Su‘ad.
Muslim [b. al-Hajjaj] and Abmad [b. Hanbal], and others, cite reports from
the Messenger of God that he said, ‘Truly the greatest verse in the Q ur'an is the
kurst verse.' Also al-Bayhaql cites a report [transmitted] from Anas [b. Malik]
with a raised isn&d, that, ‘W hoever recites the kursi-ve rse after each one o f the
obligatory prayers, he is preserved [from evil] until the following prayer; yet
none but a prophet, or a righteous person, or a martyr [is able to] m aintain this
[recital].' Al-Daylami cites a report from ‘All [b. Abi T&lib] in which he says
that, ‘If you knew what [merits] it contains, you would never abandon [the
reciting of] it, especially since the Messenger of G od has said, “I was given
the kurst verse from a treasure [hidden] below the throne (‘ars/i), and no
prophet had been given it before me”.'
The reports concerning its merits are sundry and well-known, except
that some of these are w ithout any basis [in truth], like the report that says that
whoever recites it, God sends [for him] an angel to record [more of] his good
deeds and erase some of his evil deeds [continuously] until the following day
from that m om ent [in which he recited it]. Some of these [reports] are totally
unacceptable, such as the one that says, ‘God revealed to Moses [the following]:
recite the kurst verse after each obligatory prayer, for whoever recites it
after each obligatory prayer, I shall appoint for him a heart [like the heart] o f
those who give thanks, and a tongue [like the tongue] o f those who m ake

453 In other words, their cognates as known in the world of creation and especially as attributed
to human beings (e.g., that a human may be powerful, generous, merciful, etc.).
454 The author has deliberately chosen words that have more than one connotation, so jawhar
(pi. jawdhir) can mean ‘jewel* as well as ‘essence or 'essential nature (as opposed to ‘form’). Note,
however, that in kalam or philosophy, jawhar means ‘substance’.
455 The figurative ‘necks’ of the attributes upon which the ‘necklaces of superiority hang. The
author has atrab, which is the plural of tirb, meaning ‘one equal in age or ‘peer'; but what he actually
means is tara’ib, plural of tariba, which is the part of a (woman’s] body where a necklace hangs, the
breastbone or the chest area up to the neck. This must be so since he is describing the attributes of
God, $ifit (a feminine noun in Arabic), with imagery used to describe a woman, especially in clas­
sical Arabic poetry - hence the reference to two famous protagonists of love poetry from the earliest
period Lubn& (lover of Qays b. Dharib, who was an Umayyad-period poet) and Su'id (lover of Ka‘b
b. Zuhayr, a pre-Islamic poet and contemporary of the Prophet).

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remembrance [of God], and the reward [such as the reward] o f those who are
penitent and the deeds [such as the deeds] of the righteous’
And it is clearly the case that m any of the hadtths on this subject constitute
a definitive argum ent for those who claim that certain parts o f the Q ur’an are
superior to others. But there is disagreement regarding this [matter]. For some,
such as al-Ash‘ari, al-Baqill&ni and others reject it on the grounds that it would
entail [some degree of] deficiency in the [parts which are considered] inferior:
G od’s words, however, cannot be deficient. And so they interpreted ‘greatest*
(a'zam ) as [simply meaning] ‘great* (‘azim ) and ‘m ost excellent* (afoul) as
[simply meaning] ‘excellent* (fd d il). This [latter opinion] was sanctioned by
[the likes of] Isbaq b. Rihawayh as well as m any [other] scholars and theolo­
gians - and it constitutes the preferred opinion. And his [greatness] should be
understood as referring to the greatness o f the reward [assigned] for he who
recites it; and it is God’s [prerogative] to single out whatever [verse] He wishes
for whatever [merit] He wishes and for whatever [purpose] He wishes.
The relation of this glorious verse to what precedes it is that after God had
mentioned that the disbelievers are the ones who are the evildoers, it was befit­
ting that He should point out to them [what is] the proper creed, that [creed]
which constitutes the purest affirmation o f [God’s] oneness (tawhid), [an affir­
mation] which has been repeated by all those who have been sent as messengers
[from God], despite their differing stations and varying ranks, [to point it out
to them] inasm uch as His gardens have ripened with such [an affirmation of
oneness], and [inasmuch as] His pools have effused, and [inasmuch as] His
nightingale has chanted, and [inasmuch as] His orator has proclaimed from the
pulpits of elucidation [such an affirmation of oneness]. To G od belongs [all]
praise for the proofs which He has made clear and the dust which He has
removed from the surface of the Path [of truth].
And [to point out] some o f the [mystical) allusions (ishdra) o f the [above]
verses, there is the following [...].456 God, there is no god, in existence, but He,
the Living, whose life is [identical with] His very self; every thing that lives only
lives through His life, the Eternal Sustainer, who is self-subsisting and sustains
all that subsists [only] through Him. It has also been said that [it means], ‘the
Living, the O ne who draped w ith His life the secrets of those w ho affirm
His oneness and so they affirm ed His oneness thereby; and [as for] the
Everlasting-sustainer, [He is the One] who nurtured, through the revelation
o f [His] attributes and the unveiling of His self, the spirits o f the knowers

456 AlusI, as is his custom, concludes his commentary by pointing out the esoteric allusions
understood by Sufis to be contained in the verses of the Qur’an. But because he begins his ‘allusions
section by going back to verse 252, a sort of recapitulation every few verses, the translation here
begins again at approximately half-way down page 12, line 14, where the author's commentary on
verse 255 resumes.

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(‘drif) and so they were annihilated in His self and consum ed by th e light o f
His sublimity. Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep: an explication of His being
the Sustainer and an allusion to the fact that His life is His very self. T o Him
belongs all that is in the heavens, of the spirits, ‘and the earth o f apparitions
(ashbdh)\4S7
No m oving thing moves, no stationary thing rem ains still, and no thing
occurs, be it on land or sea, in secret or openly, except by His power, His voli­
tion (irada), His knowledge and His will (mashxa). Who is there who shall inter­
cede with Him except by His permission, for all [things] belong to H im , come
from Him, return to Him and exist by Him. He knows what lies before them, of
thoughts, and what will be after them, of slips; or [He knows] what lies before
them of stations (maqdmdt) and what will be after them of states (bdldt); or o f
them He knows, before their coming into existence, the extent o f their predis­
position (isti'dad), and after their being created, the extent to which they will
act according to such [a predisposition]. A nd they do not encompass anything,
of the things He knows - [knowledge] which constitutes the manifestations o f
His names - except such as He wills, as happens with ‘people of hearts" (ahl al-
qulub), in the way of their being able to observe the secrets o f the things
Unseen.
[Consider] if minds fall short of comprehending a single thing o f the things
He knows, how can they aspire to com prehend His self: how preposterous!
How is the blind bat of comprehension to open its eyes before the shining sun
of that self? His seat, which is the heart o f ‘the know er\ comprises the heavens
and the earth, because it constitutes the source o f metaphysics ((ulum ildhiyya)
and the mystical knowledge (‘i/m ladunni) that is infinite and limitless. It is in
this respect that Abu Zayd al-Bastami, ‘If the [entire] world and all that is in it
should fall one thousand thousand times into one of the corners of a knower's
heart, he would not perceive it" It is also said that His kursi represents the World
of the angelic realm (malakut),458 which is the route for the spirits o f the
knowers on their way towards the majesty o f the realm o f the Alm ightiness
(jabarut). A nd it does not weary Him, does not burden Him, the preserving o f
them, within that kursi, for they cannot exist apart from it. And He is the High,
in His affair, O ne who is not restricted by universes, the Tremendous, whose
glory is infinite and the true nature (kunh) o f whose essence (dhat) cannot be

457 This part of the verse has been paraphrased slightly and therefore has been placed in single
inverted commas, as opposed to being italicised.
458 According to certain explanations of mystical cosmology, this malakut represents the second
station, the realm of angelic beings, at which a spirit arrives once it has left the ndsut, equated with
the earthly, ‘animal’, station. The third station is that of the jabarut, the realm of the divine attributes,
with the fourth and final one being that of the lahut, the realm of the divine essence; see Tahfcnawi,
l$tilahat, 1,549-50 (s.v. jabarut).

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

im agined because of declaring Him absolute, even beyond the restrictions of

absoluteness.459

Manar
In this commentary the authors of the Tafsir al-Mandr find occasion to highlight two
aspects of God’s singular uniqueness: His oneness and His sovereign power. The former
involves an exposition of various well-known proofs for God’s existence, as well as those
for God as the perfect being, the One who ‘lives’ and sustains creation; while the latter is
highlighted through a sustained criticism of widespread beliefs about the efficacy of
intercessory acts. We thus begin with the assertion that God is the perfect being, perfect
in all aspects and respects. All the perfections of which the intellect can conceive are
simply reflections of the necessary existence of such perfections at the highest level. It is
through life that our intellect functions and comes to conceive of such perfection, and
so there must exist that perfect life, an intellect, self-conceiving, that is perfection itself.
This emphasis on intellect and reason accords with the fundamental teachings of
Muhammad 'Abduh’s modernism, but is not in deference to Neoplatonic concepts of
creation. Indeed, the emanationist argument is almost explicitly rejected, and this is
implicitly confirmed by the repeated insistence on God as the active and intervening
sustainer of the cosmos.
Not surprisingly, the authors also take the opportunity to launch a sustained attack on
‘misguided’ religious beliefs about all sorts of intercessory practices. This attack is not
limited to dismissing false hopes for intercession on behalf of undeserving sinners on the
Day of Judgement, but includes a censure of popular and widespread practices and devo­
tions of the sort that make individuals attempt to seek blessings (baraka) from inanimate
objects.

After God has commanded us to expend for His cause before a day comes when
there will be neither possessions or gain, and when neither intercession nor
ransom will save from His punishm ent, He moves - as is often the case in the
Q u ra n - to affirming the principles o f acknowledging [God's] O neness and
transcendence, [principles] which inspire in those who contem plate them a
sense of the greatness of the sovereignty o f God, the incumbency of gratefulness
to Him, submission to His commands, respect for the limits He has set [in the
Q ur'an] and spending [one's] wealth for His cause; [principles] which also
prevent him [the one contemplating] from delusion and [unfounded] reliance
on acts of intercession and acts of disbelief, which have encouraged people
to reject the Book of G od [and throw it] behind their backs. A nd so He says,
God there is no god except H im, the Living, the Eternal Sustainer. Jalal al-D in

459 The idea expressed here is that even ‘absoluteness becomes a restrictive qualification when it
is used to describe God, since it ‘confines’ the Divine within a qualification. Hence, all that can be
said is that His true nature cannot ultimately be fathomed.

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On the Nature of the Divine

[al-Suyuti]460 explained [the expression] ildh as ‘the One rightly worshipped’,

and [the expression] al-hayy as the Ever-enduring, and [the expression] al-
qayyitm as the One constantly engaged in managing His creation.
The Teacher461 deemed good his [Suyutfs] explanation o f the statement of
[God’s] oneness (kalimat al-tawhiid)462 and said that his [Suyup’s] explanation
of the term ildh is the most accepted [explanation], which may be deem ed
correct only if we interpret worship to mean true worship - in other words, the
servitude and humbling of the soul before an unseen authority which it cannot
fully com prehend nor grasp the essence thereof. This is the very m eaning o f
ta'lih.463 Anything that hum an beings take as a god, w hether an inanim ate
being, a plant, an animal o r another hum an being, is believed by them to
possess such unseen authority, either independently or through dependence
on another god that is more authoritative than the former. In this way false gods
became many. Indeed, any reverence, respect, supplication or plea that issues
from such belief is [to be] considered real worship, even though the thing w or­
shipped is not a god in reality, that is, [even though] it does not possess that
authority which the worshipper believes it to possess, neither inherently, n o r
through its constituting a means to something greater than itself.
The true God is the One who is worshipped deservedly, and such [a god] is
One, while gods who are worshipped undeservedly are very many, but in truth
they are not gods, rather [gods] according to the false notions incited by the
imagination. That is so because when a hum an being sees, hears or imagines
something curious to have issued from some being, for no recognisable reason
or familiar cause, he wrongly presumes that if such [a being] did not possess
that sublime authority and unseen power, such [a curiosity] could not have
issued from that [being]. To the extent that those who believe in the benefit [to
be derived] from certain trees or inanimate objects, such as H anaffs tree and
Kalshanl’s sandal, are to be considered w orshippers o f those [objects] in
reality.464 In sum, the meaning of there is no god except Him is that besides G od
alone, there is in existence no being that possesses true authority over the souls
[of humans] so as to compel these [souls] to revere Him and be in subservience
to Him out of necessity, in the belief that in His hand lies the power to grant
good and to remove evil through His disposal o f the means [necessary for such

460 The co-author, together with his teacher Jalil al-Din al-Maballi (d. 864/1459), of the famous
Tafsir al-Jaldlayn\ see PA, Suyuti.
461 As already mentioned in ch. 1, ‘the Teachei' refers to Muhammad ‘Abduh.
462 In other words, Id ildha Wallah.
4*3This verbal noun (second form of which is allaha) means ‘to deify/, literally ‘to take something
as an ildh (a god)’.
464 The tree referred to is located near a famous mosque in Egypt known as the mosque of al-
Sulfin al-Hanafi. The sandal of al-Kalshani is also in Egypt, on the property of someone bearing this
name. Both places are frequented by people seeking divine blessings from the tree and the sandal.

264
 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

results] or by [His] suppression of [the usual effects of] cosmological norms.

The Teacher, the imam, said: As for al-hayy> it means one who possesses life,
which is the source of [all] feeling, [mental] perception, movement and growth.
He [the Teacher] gave examples of this [concept of life] in [the example of]
plants and animals, for both of these [types of beings] are ‘living*, despite the
difference in [the nature of the] life [that characterises] the two [types]. In
animals it [life] is more perfect than that is in plants. He [the Teacher] added
that life in this sense is something which God transcends, for it is not possible
in His case. For this reason, our interpreter [the Teacher] explained al-hayy as
the Ever-enduring One. However, this [explanation] is very remote and cannot
be understood simply from the letter [of the text]. Rather, the meaning o f ‘life*
as it applies to G od is the principle of knowledge and power, that is to say, that
aspect [of Him] th at makes it possible for Him to be characterised by om nis­
cience, om nipotence and will. Such a characterisation invalidates the claim of
those ‘materialists*465 who claim that the origin of the universe was through
some cause that m oved automatically w ithout possessing any awareness of
itself, or of its movement, or of the actions and effects that result from its move­
ment. In other words, [it refutes the notion] that this arrangem ent and well-
structured design of creation constitute the outcome o f dead matter which has
neither feeling n o r knowledge.
The Teacher gave a brief class [on this topic] and did not elaborate in any
way on what we have set forth with regard to the [meaning of the] ‘life* o f God.
The [dialectical] theologians (mutakallimun) infer the ‘life’ o f God from reason
in two ways. First, He [God] is All-knowing, powerful and possesses will, qual­
ities which cannot be conceived of except in the case of one who is living, with
the addition that such [reasoning] is an example of deducing what is unseen by
analogy with what is observed, as they say, or an example of deducing w hat is
necessary by analogy with what is possible. Second, life is the perfect state of
existence and every perfect state that does not entail defect, [something] im pos­
sible in the case o f the Necessary [Being], must be necessary in His case. That
is what the Teacher, the imam, discusses in his Risalat al-tawhid,466 discussing
it in an excellent introduction on the attributes o f the Necessary [Being]. He
[the Teacher] said, may God have mercy on him:467

The meaning of existence, even though it is innate to reason, is embodied by its

manifestation [in existent beings] and subsequently becoming established and

465 The reference to al-m&diyyun, those who believe that the universe originated from matter, is
a reference to the proponents of modem secular science.
466 This text is taken from pages 33-4 of'Abduhs booklet on Tawhid; its seventeenth edition
appeared in 1956. See bibliography, ‘Abduh, for details.
467 Here begins the quotation from 'Abduh’s booklet on Tawhid.

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On the Nature of the Divine

fixed [as an abstract concept]. The perfect state of existence and its power may
[similarly] be realised innately by the perfection of such a meaning and its power
[all] by itself.
Every level of existence necessarily entails certain existential attributes that con­
stitute the perfect state of that level [of existence], in the sense that has been men­
tioned previously. For otherwise existence would follow for a level other than the
one for which it had been presumed. Conceptions of what existence might be for
[different] persons cannot be delimited. The most perfect conception for any level
[of existence] is that which is in concert with the [cosmic] order and the universe,
in a way that involves no dissonance or discrepancy.468 Thus if such an order is
one that entails a permanent existence, even if it be of some [different] nature, then
this is stronger proof that the concept of existence for that particular being is
perfect. And so when the mind comes to conceive of a [particular] level of exis­
tence that constitutes the source of every [cosmic] order, that is an indication of
the fact that such [a level of existence] is the most perfect of all levels, as well as
the highest, the most sublime, and the most powerful of them.
The existence of the Necessary [Being] constitutes the source of every [other]
possible existence, as we have stated and as has become obvious through com­
pelling evidence.469 By this very fact it [such a Necessary Being] represents the
most powerful and the highest [form] of existence. For it [such a Being] entails
existential attributes commensurate with such a sublime rank. Every quality which
the intellect (4aql) imagines as constituting perfection for [a level of] existence,
[perfection] in the sense of stability, permanence, and appearance, and [at the
same time] possible in His case, must then necessarily be established [as true] for
Him. Now, given that He is the source of [the cosmic] order and the distribution
of tasks in a way that entails no disruption - [something] which is attributable to
the perfection of [His] existence, as we have [already] stated - then that [perfec­
tion of existence] must also be established [as true] for Him. Hence, existence that
is necessary entails existential attributes of the sort that such a [sublime] rank [as
that of God] requires (and of the sort] that can be considered His.470

468 Here the author emphasises that being in concert with the design of the cosmos/universe
confers power and stability on the existence of any being that enjoys any form of existence. This (as
the reader will note) paves the way for the argument that the most powerful form of existence (that
of the divine) not only has this quality of being in concert with the existence of the world, but also
is the only valid explanation of the very existence of the world.
469 The chapter on the Necessary Being (wdjib al-wujud) immediately precedes the chapter on
divine life, on pages 31-2 of the seventeenth edition.
470 The physico-theological proof of God’s existence (also known as ‘the argument from design’)
is based on the assumption that our experience of the world makes it abundantly clear that its design
necessitates the existence of a wise and intelligent Being who created it. Muhammad 'Abduh’s
version of this argument is intertwined with a separate argument, which establishes the existence of
a divine designer from an a priori consideration of the idea of existence itself. For ‘Abduh, the various
classes of existence of which we are aware make the existence of a Necessary Being necessary for
conceptualising the phenomenon of existence, since knowledge of existence precludes the possibility
that all existences are contingent. This argument converges with what is known as the ontological
proof of God’s existence (i.e., that since all parts of the world have a cause, the whole of it must also

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

How befitting it is that the attribute of life should be His [?], when it is an attrib­
ute that presupposes knowledge and will. For life is something that is simply con­
sidered to be the perfect state of existence. Indeed, life, and what it entails, j
constitutes the source of [the cosmic] order and the enshrinement of [cosmic]
wisdom.471 Also it [life] constitutes, at whatever level, the origin of manifestation
and stability for that [particular] level [of existence]. Thus it [life] is a perfect state
of existence and may be conceived of as an attribute of the Necessary [Being]. And
any perfect state of existence that is possible as an attribute of Him, must neces­
sarily be established [as true] for Him. Thus, the Necessary Existent is [a] Living
[Existent], even if His life is not the same as the life of contingent beings. So that
which constitutes the perfect state of existence constitutes the point of origin for
knowledge and will. For if such an attribute [of life] were not established [as true]
for Him, then there would be among contingent beings that which is more perfect
in existence than Him. However, it has already been stated that His is the highest
of [the forms of] existence and it [existence] is most perfect in Him.472
The Necessary Being is the One who bestows existence and what it entails. How,
then, if He lacks ‘life*, is He able to give it? Thus life is [an attribute of] His, just as
He is the source of it [...].473

I say, indeed this [the previous statement] constitutes a fine inquiry [into the
attribute of life] ; you will not find the like of it in [the works of] any other than
[those of] this knowledgeable and wise imam, a [fine] inquirer [he is]. Yet, none
but those of intelligence will com prehend it. I had written in Kitab a l-a q a id -
which I composed at his [the Teachers] suggestion, may God have m ercy on
him - [on this subject] in a m anner that is consonant with the standards of
learning (m adrif) of this age and [in a manner] which provides its seekers of
knowledge (‘ulum) with a discussion of [the concept of] God’s life’ that is intel­
lectually accessible, [a discussion] which he [the Teacher) read and approved
of. I would like to cite from it here, as I have not come across, either in com ­
mentaries on the Q ur’an or in works on theology, anything inspiring on this
have a cause). However, 'Abduh’s argument raises an additional point, namely, that a perfect Existent
not only is required by the existence of the contingent, but also is a precondition for the very notion
of existence.
471 The term ndmus is the Arabised form of the Greek nomos, and generally denotes ‘laV in the
sense of those rules underpinning nature or creation, as opposed to the social or ritual law (sharfa)
brought by prophets and specific to humankind
472 ‘Abduh’s point here is that despite the fact that God’s life cannot be comprehended, it must
be assumed to exist for two reasons. First, ‘life’per se is a perfect form of existence (the counterpart
of which, absence of life, is indisputably a form of imperfection). Thus, the Necessary Being must
be assumed to have life, since He is immune from any imperfection. This is what 'Abduh expresses
by stating that every possible perfect state or perfection of existence must be assumed to be a quality
of the Necessary Being. Second, if life is a perfect state, and is found among created beings, then to
deny it for God would mean that created beings possessed a perfection that was absent in their
creator, that which is impossible. Therefore, God must be Living.
473 Here the quotation from 'Abduh’s booklet on Tawhid ends.

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On the Nature of the Divine

subject. It will be cited in the form of questions from a school pupil at the begin­
ners level with responses [given] by his brother, who is a m odern-day scientist
and physician, and whom we will refer to as ‘the young man’, and [responses
given] by his father, a Sufi scholar, whom we will referred to as ‘the shaykh’.
The following is the text [from the work], somewhat abbreviated:474

Pupil: A tree comes forth [from the ground] small and then grows until, after
a short time, it has become many times [the size of] what it had been. W here
does this increase come from? How does it [this increase] become part o f its
[the tree’s] structure, distributed therein, so that the stem receives a share
thereof, the branches another share, and the leaves and fruits yet another?

Young man: This increase that penetrates and enters into the structure o f the
plant is partly from the earth and partly from the air. The plant is a living struc­
ture, and therefore on the basis of this attribute o f life extracts from the ele­
ments of the earth and the air that which is appropriate for its nourishm ent,
nourishing itself thereby just as an animal is nourished by what it eats or drinks,
and growing thereby just as an animal grows.

Pupil: But we do not observe in the earth or the air anything o f the material o f
plants, nor of its attributes such as [its] colour, taste or fragrance.

Young man: It [the plant] extracts basic elements from them [from the earth
and the air]. Thus from the air it extracts oxygen, nitrogen, as well as carbon
and certain salts that are usually found in the air, without such [salts] being part
of it [the air]. And it extracts from the earth that which is appropriate for it in
the way of elements such as potassium, phosphorous, iron, gypsum (gir), and
salts; and that which it extracts therefrom constitutes its nourishm ent [which
is effected] by way of a regulated chemical process, which [even] the m ost
knowledgeable scientists o f chemistry are unable to replicate. You are already
aware that all these forms, [forms] of differing shapes and attributes, differ from
one another only owing to differences in their chemical structures and the
natural processes [within them ], so that a substance such as sugar is the very
substance from which the colocynth (hanzal) forms. Moreover, diamonds and
charcoal belong to the same element.

474 Rashid Ridi was fond of writing in the style of conversation. Among the most famous books
that he wrote in this style was his Debates between the Reformer and the Imitator (Muhdwan&t al-
mu$lih wal-muqallid), which contains eleven debates between a young man representing the reform
movement and a shaykh representing the imitators (see biblio, Rida, Muh&war&t). Unlike in those
conversations, the shaykh and the young man in this conversation seem to agree on many basic
points.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

Shaykh: Actually, a plant does not possess ‘life*. For if it did in fact perform that
task [of nourishing itself] which you mentioned, in the sense of [its] growth and
the mechanism involved [therein], in accordance what the attribute of life
engenders, [an attribute] established [as true] for it, then it [the plant] would
have had to have been aware of what it was doing and [would have had to] have
m ade a [conscious] choice in [choosing] it: however, no tradition [of knowl­
edge] has ever stated such a thing, nor has any rational m ind argued it.
Therefore, the growth of plants takes place purely through the power of God.

Young man: There is no evidence that plants have [the capacity of] knowledge
n o r that they do not have [the capacity of] knowledge. Rather, its action [of
growth] is similar to that [action] of the organs o f hum an beings and other
animals, which perform actions regularly but w ithout that a hum an being is
conscious o f them and w ithout that these [actions] being a result o f his con­
scious knowledge or devising. [There is] the example o f the processes of the
stomach and the liver when it comes to the digestion o f food: we do not have
any evidence [to prove] that the stomach possesses a special [type of] aware­
ness, nor [any evidence] that it does not possess such an awareness. However,
we do know that it [the stomach] is an organ that is alive by [virtue of] the life
o f that person; for if it [that organ] were severed from him and filled with food,
it would not function as it did. The fact that all things are [effected] by the
power of God does not preclude there being a cause for all things. For God is
All-wise and does not do anything without [it being within] an order: You will
not see in the creation o f the Compassionate One any irregularity [Q. 67:3].

Pupil: W here does this vegetative life in plants and animal life in animals come
from? Does the substance from which plants take [their] nourishm ent possess
‘life, so that they [plants] acquire their life from it?

Young man: Not at all. Nourishing substances do not possess any life in them ­
selves. Do you not see how hum an beings do not consum e anything of an
anim al until it is dead either by having it slaughtered or cooked, and that he
does not consume any vegetation until its vegetative ‘life* has been removed,
even if [it is removed] simply by cutting or chewing? Likewise [is the case with]
plants. However, within the nucleus from which a tree is generated and within
the egg from which an animal is generated there is latent life with the potential
to grow through nourishment, as we observe throughout the universe. To date,
however, the essence and origin of such ‘life is unknown; in fact, it is more
obscure than substance in terms of its essence and origin.

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 On the Nature of the Divine

Shaykh: If, in this science of yours, you have reduced all the elements o f which
the material of the universe is composed to a single thing whose effect is known
but whose true nature is not known - as I have stated in the excursus on the
[concept o f God's] oneness - then what is it with you that you refrain from
judgem ent regarding the life of some substances, such as plants and animals,
and you then say, ‘We do not know the origin or true nature o f the life of such
[beings]’, going no further than this point, refraining from saying, ‘Actually,
that essence from which all [other] essences have issued is the Living, the
Eternal Sustainer, the One from whose life all life issues?

Young man: There is no doubt that the Necessary Pre-eternal Existence is [also]
Living, just as He is the Eternal Sustainer [of all things]. If the m eaning o f His
being qayyum is that He is Self-subsisting and that all things are sustained
through Him, then likewise [it can be said that] He possesses life independently
whereas all other living things are living through Him, that is to say, that they
derive their life from Him. Because all such living things, w hether plants o r
animals, are incidental, and what is an incident owes its existence to som ething
else and not to itself. Thus life is a concom itant o f existence or is, rather, the
highest form of existence, so can [one imagine] a sane person saying: “as for
that pre-eternal essence, all things have issued from it [but] without ‘life**, and
that “some o f these [created] things have created life for themselves”? This is
an absurdity that cannot occur in the m ind o f any sane individual! H um an
beings are the most sublime living things on this earth because their [state of]
; being ‘living gives rise to [their ability to acquire] general propositional knowl­
edge, will, [the capacity] to strategise and to systematise; yet he [the hum an
being] is incapable of endowing either him self or others with life, and so other
living things are a fortiori incapable [of doing the same].

Pupil: If the life that gives rise to knowledge, will, [the capacity for] strategy and
systematisation, namely, hum an life, constitutes the highest form o f life, does
it not necessarily follow that hum an life must be similar to the life of God, given
that such characteristics [of life] also apply to the life o f God?

Shaykh: Know, my son, that God’s essence is not similar to essences [of other
beings], and that His attributes are not similar to attributes [of others]. If such
a fallacy crosses your m ind simply because o f the [seeming similarity o f the]
effect of life [on both God and humans] due to the fact that its true nature is
not known, then ponder the difference between these two types o f life. The life
of God is intrinsic, whereas the life o f a hum an being comes from God. The
life o f God is eternal, whereas the life of a hum an being is temporary. Life in

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

the case o f G od never departs from Him, whereas the life o f a hum an being
departs [from him] when he dies. The life of G od is the one that pours life into
every living thing, whereas the life o f a hum an being is restricted to him.
Likewise, knowledge, strategy, will and systematisation are all defective [capac­
ities] in the case of hum an beings. G od [by contrast] is above all defect. And it
is with Him, with His essence and His attributes that absolute perfection ends.
Here ends that [citation] which was to be reproduced from that creed.

That which we have stated in the explanation of the meaning o f al-hayy al-
qayyum (the Living, the Eternal Sustainer) should clarify, for those who have
understood it, what was reported from Ibn ‘Abbas [to the effect] that this con­
stitutes G od’s greatest nam e or [that which] he said, ‘The greatest o f G od’s
names is al-hayy al-qayyum.*475 Ahmad [b. Hanbal], Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhl,
and Ibn Maja476 have [all] transm itted on the authority o f Asma’ bt. Yazid that
the Prophet said, ‘God's greatest name is [to be found] in these two verses: And
your God is One God, there is no god except Him: the Compassionate, the Merciful
(al-rahman, al-rahim) [Q. 2:163], and [in] the opening section o f surat A l
Imran: alifldm mtm. God: there is no god except H im , the Living (al-hayy) the
Eternal Sustainer (al-qayyumY [Q. 3:1]. The first verse establishes for God
oneness of divinity as well as [His] all-encompassing mercy. The second [verse]
establishes for Him, in addition to [that] oneness, ‘life’, [a concept] which sug­
gests perfection in existence as well as perfection in bringing [things] into exis­
tence, by His pouring forth life onto [all] living things; and [it establishes for
Him] qayyumiyya, which is His being self-subsisting, that is to say, established
by [virtue of] His own essence and [establishes the fact] that every thing other
than Him is sustained through Him and exists because of His having brought
it into existence and having preserved its existence by providing it with the
means by which existence is preserved. Also am ong the meanings o f such
qayyumiyya is the upholding of justice (al-qiyam bfl-qist)> as God has said: God
bears witness that there is no god except Him - and [so do) the angels, and those
who possess knowledge - upholding [as He does] justice (qaim an bi’l-qisf) [Q.
3:18]. [The term] qisf here means that ‘e q u it/ (‘ad/) which pervades the norms
o f His cosmos and His [scriptural] laws.

475 A tradition in these specific words is unknown in hadith compilations. However, a close vari­
ation, which makes reference to the Quranic verse being discussed, is mentioned in many collec­
tions of i^adith as well as in other sources. One may point out Tabriz!, Mishkdti Bayhaqi, Asmd’;
Suyutf, Durr.
476 Ahmad b. Hanbal in his Musnad: VI, 461, Abu Dawud in his Sunan (chapter on al-watr, sub­
chapter 23; tradition number 1496), al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan (chapter on da'awat, sub-chapter 64;
tradition number 3478), and Ibn Maja in his Sunan (chapter on al-du&\ sub-chapter 9; tradition
number 3855).

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On the Nature of the Divine

Also am ong these [meanings of qayyumiyya] is the watching over (al-qiydm

'aid) every soul as to what it earns, as He has said: Is He who watches over every
soul as to what it has earned [Q. 13:33). The exegetes have fallen short o f [pro­
viding] a thorough explanation of the meaning of al-hayy, but have come closer
[to being thorough) with regard to the meaning o f al-qayyum. [Regarding the
latter divine name) M ujahid said [that it means): ‘The O ne who oversees all
things (al-qd’imu 'ala kulli shay’in).* Al-Rabi‘ [b. Anas] said [that the nam e
means): ‘He is the Custodian of all things (qayyimu kulli shay’in), guarding
them, providing [sustenance] for them and preserving them* Q atada said [that
the nam e m eans], ‘The One who stands over His creatures (al-qd’imu 'aid
khalqihi) w ith regard to their [fixed] terms of life, deeds and sustenance.* Ibn
al-A'rabi, one of the [principal] transmitters o f [reports concerning] language
said, ‘It means the One who manages (al-mudabbir) [all things] *Al-Zajjaj said
som ething sim ilar to what Q atada said; he says, in Sharh al-Qdmus,477 after
transm itting [the report containing] the opinion o f Qatada,478 and others too
have said [that it means], ‘the One who subsists completely by Himself and not
by any other, and by whom despite this every existent subsists, such that it is
not possible to imagine that anything can exist nor continue to exist except
through Him.* I say: that is why they [the scholars] have said with regard to it
[the name al-qayyum] that it is God*s greatest name. End [of citation]. The
lexical root [of the word qayyum] subsumes all of these meanings. Al-Ghazall
repeats this m eaning time and again in his Ihyd’,481 especially in th e chapters
on ‘Gratefulness [to God]* and ‘Reliance [upon God]*. [W hat follows is] a
sample of what he says in the former [chapter]; having divided people into cat­
egories with regard to their acknowledgement of God’s favour and [their] grate­
fulness towards Him, he says:
The second consideration is that of those who have not reached the level o f
obliteration o f the self {maqdm al-fand’ 'an nafsihi),480 and these [individuals]
are of two types. One type consists of those who affirm nothing except th eir
own existence and deny that they have a Lord to be worshipped - these [indi­
viduals] are the blind and perverse, their blindness afflicting both eyes, for they
deny that which has been established upon scrutiny, namely, the Self-subsisting
One, who subsists by Himself and ‘W ho watches over every soul as to what it
has earned’ [cf. Q. 13:33]; indeed every subsisting creature subsists through
Him. Yet [this category of individuals] have not confined themselves to such [a
477 A commentary on the lexicon, al-Qdmus.
478 Zajj§j, Ma'dnf, 1,336.
479 This is, of course, Ghazill’s Ihyd* ‘uliim al-din (The Revival of the Sciences of Religion), a
compendium of religious and spiritual knowledge, widely available in many editions (often in four
or five volumes). This quotation is taken from the second part of the chapter, ‘On Patience and
Gratefulness’.
480 Lit., ‘to recede away from one’s self.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

claim], for they take as [something] confirmed their own existence. Had they
the [true] knowledge, they would have realised that in and of themselves they
possess no stability or [independent] existence. Their existence derives from
their having been brought into existence and not from their being in existence:
there is a [great] difference between what [truly] exists [as God does] and what
is made to exist. In [the entirety of] existence there is O ne [true] Existent and
[things] made to exist. Thus the [One] Existent is true, while whatever is made
to exist is false in and o f itself. The Existent is everlasting (qa im ) and self-
subsisting (qayyum), whereas that which has been made to exist is perishing
and ephemeral. A nd so if ‘all that is upon it [the earth] is ephemeraT, then only
‘the face of your Lord, majestic and munificent, is everlasting [cf. Q. 55:26-27].
End [of citation].
Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep; al-sina is drowsiness (n u d s), which is
a languor (/ufur) that precedes sleep. Ibn al-Raqqa‘ says [...J.481
Sleep (nawm) is familiar to all, though it may be defined in different ways
with respect to its cause. Al-Baydaw! said, ‘Sleep is a state that occurs in animals
as a result of the relaxation o f the nerves o f the brain u nder the effect o f the
m oisture of rising vapours, so that the external sensory organs immediately
cease to sense.’482 This is [also] w hat the physicians o f the past have said,483
whereas the m odem [physicians] have other opinions, differing ones, some of
which we will point o u t
It has been stated [as regards the structure of the verse]: the obvious [way]
would have been that ‘sleep’ is negated first and ‘slumber’ after it, according to
an ascending order. The answer is that the arrangement [of the expressions in
this verse] corresponds to the natural order [of such phenomena] in reality, and
so that which occurs first [in the natural order] is negated and then what comes
after it is [subsequently] negated. Moreover, He [God] says, it does not ‘seize*
Him, instead o f‘it does not come upon Him’ or ‘it never occurs to Him’ [because
He is] taking the reality of [what happens in] existence into consideration, for
slumber and sleep do indeed ‘seize’ an animal and overcome it completely.

481 This line appears is taken from al-Raqqa”$ diwin (poetry collection), compiled by the lexi­
cographer and grammarian Ahmad b. Yahyi, known as Tha‘lab (d. 291/904), on whom see PA;
Zirikli, A'lim, IV, 221. The line is also to be found in the Lisin al-Arab by Ibn Man^Or under the
following lexical roots: (n-‘- s), (r-n-q) and (w-s-n). The verse is cited in the commentary of Tabrisi,
this chapter.
482 This is in his well-known commentary on the Qur’in entitled Anwir al-tanzil wa-asrar al-
ta’wil (on which see Hamza forthcoming).
483 This explanation is based on the doctrine of the elements, first introduced by Empedocles,
according to which everything (including human beings) is a mixture of two or more of the four
basic elements: fire, air, water and earth. The particular explanation that the author presents here,
however, was developed by Muslim medieval doctors from the one originally invented by Aristotle,
who assumed that sleep is caused by fumes that are the outcome of our food and are transmitted
into the brain by the body's heat; see Borb61y 1986,10.

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On the Nature of the Divine

The Teacher, the imam, said:

Actually, what is mentioned in the Holy arrangement [of the Qur’an], is in fact a
negation of this defect in ascending order. Anyone who says there is no such
ascending effect has failed to notice the meaning of [the verb] al-akhdh (to seize),
which means ‘to overwhelm’ (al-ghalb) and ‘to overcome’ (al-istild*). One may not
be seized by slumber but may be seized by sleep because it is stronger. Thus, men­
tioning ‘sleep’ after ‘slumber' represents an ascending progression from the nega­
tion of the weaker to the negation of the stronger. The [entire] sentence confirms
the preceding one and affirms the meaning of [the concepts of] al-haydt and al-
qayyumiyya [in the case of God] in the most perfect way. For one who may be
seized by slumber and sleep is deficient in [terms of] life and less capable of being
self-subsisting and or being responsible for [the subsistence of] others.

I say: This [view] is perfectly manifested in the opinion o f m odem physi­

cians regarding the cause of sleep, even if it be self-evident. They [these
physicians] say that sleep is when the brains ceases to function because o f what
[daily] activity produces in the way of toxic gases that affect the nerves; others
say, [it ceases to function] because of the large quantities o f moisture excreted
by the neural vesicles through some chemical process during [periods of] activ­
ity; and these large quantities of moisture reduce the responsiveness in them
[the nerves], inducing languor in them, which results in sleep. This [sleep] con­
tinues until all that m oisture has evaporated, whereupon the nerves reawaken
and become responsive and perceptive [again]. The cause of sleep, then, relates
purely to [physical functions within] the body: God transcends all the attributes
of bodies and their symptoms.
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth, for they are His pos­
sessions, His servants, [being] subject to His norms and submissive to His will.
He alone administers their affairs and preserves their existence. Who is there
that shall intercede with H im , from among them and thus cause Him to abandon
what His [established] precedent has always entailed, and what His wisdom has
decreed, and what His law has promised [of consequences] in the way of p u n ­
ishing those who have betrayed (dassa) their souls [cf. Q. 91:10] with false
beliefs, defiled them with base morals, and who have sought corruption in the
earth and turned away from the established norms [of religious practice] and
the obligations [set down by the Law]; who from among His servants could dare
to do that? - except by his permission, for the affair belongs entirely to Him, in
[observable] reality and in truth. This exceptive clause is not, however, a proof-
text [to declare] that such permission will be given. Rather, it is similar to where
He says, The day it [the Last Day] comes no soul shall speak except by His permis­
sion [Q. 11:105]. It [the exceptive clause], therefore, constitutes a way of express­
ing that [all] dom inion and sovereignty shall be solely His on that [final] day,

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

a Day when no soul shall be able to do anythingfo r another soul; on that Day the
Command shall belong [exclusively] to God [Q. 82:19]. That is why Baydawi, in
explaining this sentence, said [that]: ‘It constitutes an illustration o f the exalt­
edness of His affair and [of the fact] that none is equal to Him, nor is able to
approach Him and so independently avert what he wants [to avert] through
intercession and acquiescence, let alone through challenging Him out of stub­
bornness o r rivalry.’
The Teacher, the imam, said what may be abbreviated as follows: This excep­
tive clause [except by His permission] contains a disappointing of the hopes of
intercessors and those who rely on that well-known [type of] intercession, in
which generally the [Arab] polytheists and the People of the Book believed, by
illustrating that dom inion and sovereignty are solely His and [declaring] that
none of His servants would dare to intercede or [even] speak without His per­
mission; and [the granting of] His permission is [something] which cannot be
known by any of His creatures.
Then G od says: He knows what lies before them and what is after them9in
other words, either what was [in the past] before them and what lies [in the
future] ahead of them, or vice versa; or the affairs of this world which they have
left behind and [respectively] the affairs of the Hereafter which they will face;
or [respectively] what they know and what they are ignorant of. This [also] is
also proof in support of rejecting intercession [as it is understood] in the famil­
iar sense o f the term. This may be explained by the fact that since He has knowl­
edge of all that which [His] servants did in the past, as well as that in which they
are engaging in the present and what feces them in the future, and since the way
in which He requites them is based on such knowledge, intercession as it is cus­
tomarily practiced is impossible with God. That is because such [intercession]
can only be effected when the intercessor has inform ed the one before whom
he is interceding about the affair of the one being interceded for, and [about]
what the latter deserves, which he [the former] w ould not have known. An
example o f this: [suppose] i f ‘Umar b. al-Khaftab wished to banish someone
from Medina, which, being a just person, he would not wish [to do] unless he
believed that the welfare [of the inhabitants] lay in such [an action], when [for
example] such an individual had a corruptive and harm ful effect on people.
And so if someone were to intercede on his behalf w ithout having explained to
‘Umar w hat he did not know, namely, that the [people’s] welfare lay in that
person’s being allowed to rem ain and not in his being banished, he [‘Umar]
would not accept his [the intercessors] intercession - that is [of course] if the
intercession were to take place before a just ruler, as ‘Umar was.
[By contrast,] if it [the intercession] were to take place before a tyrant of a
ruler, it m ight then be accepted, with the consequence that the banishm ent of

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that corrupt individual is waived in order to satisfy the [plea o f the] intercessor,
who may be one of the ruler*s assistants or his confidants, the satisfying o f
whom can have a [negative] effect on the welfare o f the public. For they [such
individuals] prefer to secure his [the ruler's] pleasure rather than the real
welfare [of the public]. In such a case, the unaware [observer] might th in k that
intercession does not involve informing the one before whom the intercession
is brought of what he did not know. But if such [an observer] re-exam ined this
[matter] carefully, he would see that the intercessor had actually inform ed the
ruler that this criminal individual was seeking his [the rulers] protection and
one whose affair he [the ruler] should be concerned with, and whose [contin­
uing] stay should be pleasing to him, whereas he [the ruler] had not been aware
of any of this. Therefore, the [type of] intercession in which disbelievers and
rebels place false hopes, thinking that God would revoke His decision to punish
those of them deserving of punishm ent for the sake of individuals whose inter­
cession they [disbelievers etc.] anticipate, [an intercession] which is impossible
with God, because it [that type of intercession], being the wont o f w rongdoers
and transgressors, implies ignorance, whereas God is [the Lord] o f all-encom ­
passing knowledge.
And they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge except such as He wills.
A person who has learnt of something from you has no reason to then make a
point of inform ing you of it. So what could he [possibly have to] say, he who
wants to intercede with Him [God] in the way familiar to people and by which
[practice] the foolish are deluded, in their hope for salvation in the Hereafter
by means of such [intercession] without [having earned] G od’s satisfaction in
[the life of] this world? The Teacher, the imam, said: this [verse] m eans that
intercession is contingent upon His permission, and His permission may only
be known by [direct] inspiration (wahy) [to the intercessor] from God. W hat
he [the Teacher] means [to say] is that this [verse] constitutes a gradual am pli­
fication of [arguments] negating it by [moving from] one proof to another. In
other words, [even] if intercession were possible, in a different sense, one which
might be compatible with God’s majesty - such as mere supplication - [still]
no one could dare to do it on that critical Day [of Judgement] except by His per­
mission. Now, His permission is one of those things the knowledge o f which
He alone possesses, and so none other than Him may know it unless He should
want for him to know it.
Then he [the Teacher] added: rather, G od’s perm ission may be known
through the Laws which He has defined in His Book. In other words, he whom
He has explained as being deserving of His punishm ent deserves it, and no one
can dare to pray for his salvation. And indeed he whom He has explained as
being deserving of His pleasure - despite any slips he may have com m itted,

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[slips] which have not turned his face away from G od [turning him instead]
tow ard falsehood and corruption, w hich are stam ped upon the spirit until it
becomes devoted to [committing] sins, with the result that these [sins] eventu­
ally encompass it and become in control of its actions - that person deserves
such [satisfaction from God] and will attain it through G od’s prom ise in His
Book and [through] His favour to His servants, in accordance with w hat had
been pre-decreed in His pre-eternal knowledge.
Then the Teacher, the imam, said: some have stated that the exceptive clause
contained in His saying except by His permission is an eventuality: and this will
be upon our Prophet's intercession at the passing o f judgem ent (at the
Reckoning], when the gate of intercession is opened, into which intercessors
o ther than him, such as the prophets and the elect [of the pious], shall enter
[with him], as established in the [Prophetic] hadiths. This [issue of intercession]
is an issue that has been rejected by the M utazila, but confirmed by the ahl al-
sunna,484 God shall give such permission to whomever He will and apprise of
His knowledge whom He will from am ong those deserving o f intercession, as
the exceptive clause illustrates.
We say: the ahl al-sunna, the M utazilis and the rest of the Muslim sects all
agree on G o d s knowledge being perfect and all-encompassing, [a fact] which
requires that intercession before Him in the familiar sense be impossible, as has
already been stated Moreover, we have stated thereto that this sort o f exceptive
clause appears in the Q ur’an [functioning] as an emphatic negation. In this way
we [may] reconcile the verses w hich deny [the possibility of] intercession
without [the use of] any exceptive clause and this [verse]. As we have said, what
is stated in hadith has caused disagreement between [our pious] predecessors
(al-salaf) and [their] successors (al-khalaf) in the context o f [such] ambiguous
verses (mutashdbihdt). Therefore, we should refer knowledge o f the meaning
of such [matters] to God; or [simply] take it to mean [those instances of] sup­
plication after which G od responds with an action which according to His
eternal knowledge it had already been determ ined that He w ould do, at the
same time being categorical in affirming the [truth o f the] fact that an interces­
sor could not have altered anything in G od’s prescience nor have had any effect
whatsoever upon His will. In this way G od’s generosity (kardma) to His ser­
vants becomes apparent in the result o f the [pre-decreed] action [by God] fol­
lowing his [the servant’s] supplication. I say: that is how Shaykh al-Islam Ibn

484 The Mutazila are a group of Muslim intellectuals who flourished in the third through fifth
centuries of Islam and believed that the human being possessed free will and that all divine legal
instructions are explicable through intellectual arguments. Ahl al-sunna is a term that includes most
(in this context) Sunni theologians, such as the traditionalists and the Ash‘aris. The ahl al-sunna
believed (in contradiction to Mutazila) that claiming that the intellect can comprehend all of God s
laws is pretentious and offered a complex explanation to the meaning of human freedom.

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Taymiyya, may God have mercy upon him, explained intercession; see [his]
commentary on verse 48 [of surat al-Baqara], And beware o f a day [when no soul
shall compensate fo r another and no intercession shall be accepted from it] ... to
the end [of the verse, Q. 2:48].
His seat comprises the heavens and the earth. The Teacher, the imam, said that
the context suggests that the kursi represents the divine knowledge. This is [also]
the opinion of some commentators and lexicologists (ahl al-lugha). They [the
Arabs] say karisay like [the vowelling of] fariha, to mean, ‘his knowledge multi­
plied and became [almost] too heavy for his heart*. In other words, His knowledge
encompasses [all of] what they do, as indicated in His saying, He knows what lies
before them and what is after them, as well as [all of] what they do not know of the
affairs of every creature - and so with what knowledge could intercessors possibly
provide Him [that He does not already know]? Some have said that it [the kursi]
is the ‘arsh (throne), which is the opinion of our commentator Jal£l [al-Dln al-
Suyufl]. However, [true knowledge of] what it is can only be established through
the reports (transmitted] from the infallible one (al-ma^um).485
Some have opined that it [the kursi] constitutes a simile for God’s kingdom:
this is the opinion of both al-Qaffal and Zamakhshari. The verse itself indicates
that it [the kursi] is something that holds (</abf)486 the heavens and the earth
[in place]. O nes acceptance of this [verse] is not contingent upon a [specific]
definition of it [the kursi], or the opinion that it may be ‘knowledge, ‘an angel’,
‘a dense mass’ (jism kathif), or ‘an ethereal bod/ (jism lafif). In other words, if
it represents divine knowledge, then the m atter is clear; if it represents some
other creation, then it belongs to the realm of the Unseen, in which we believe
but about whose reality we neither inquire nor speculate with personal opin­
ions (ray); as for example many have done when they say that it represents the
eighth stellar celestial sphere of the nine celestial spheres (falak) spoken of by
Greek philosophers and their faithful adherents, since this amounts to invent­
ing things about God without any [revealed] knowledge [to support it], which
is [considered as being] among the mothers of grave sins.
And the preserving o f them wearies Him noty that is to say, the preservation
of all these worlds and what is in them neither tires nor troubles Him. A nd He
is the High, the Tremendous, and so His Being is exalted above that His affair
bear any resemblance to that o f hum an beings and [that His preservation be
anything like] the way in which they [attempt to] preserve their property; and
by His greatness, He is transcends the [possibility of] needing anyone to
inform Him of the reality of their circum stances, or [that anyone w ould be

485 The Prophet Muhammad; in other words, it cannot be ascertained by means of any
rationalisation.
486 Or ‘controls’, or ‘regulates.

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able] to persuade Him to [accept] what He does n o t wish [to accept] when it
comes to requiting them according to their deeds.
I say, moreover: the entire verse fills o n es heart with [awe of] God’s great­
ness, His majesty and His perfection, to such a degree that there no longer
rem ains in it [the heart] any place for deluding oneself in the hope of [help
from] intercessors whom such deluded individuals exalt in a fantastical and
irrational way - to such an extent that they forget that such [intercessors] are,
before God, mere servants in [His] possession, or [rather they are] honoured
servants who do not [venture to] speak ahead o f Him and they act by His
command. He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do
not intercede except fo r someone with whom He is satisfied, and they are appre­
hensive in awe o f Him [Q. 21:27-28]. Thus he who contemplates these verses
and those [verses] sim ilar to them which deal w ith G od’s knowledge, His
greatness, and His sole dominion, especially on this Day, namely, the Day of
Judgement, His greatness would leave no room in him for any delusion. On
the contrary, such [a person] will become certain that there is no way to felicity
in the Hereafter except through [his winning] G od’s pleasure in [the life of]
this world. So he who is not pleasing to God - none will dare to intercede on
his behalf, as [is stated] in the holy verse which I recited above.
Also [in this respect] recite His saying about this day. On that day they will
follow the Summoner, there will be no deviation therein. Voices will be hushed before
the Compassionate One, so that you hear nothing but a faint shuffle. On that day
intercession will not avail, except [intercession]from him whom the Compassionate
One permits [to intercede] and whose word He approves. He knows what is before
them and what is behind them, but they cannot encompass such [things] in knowl­
edge. [All]faces shall be humbled before the Living the Eternal Sustainer, and he will
certainly have failed [he] who carries [the burden of] evildoing but whoever does
righteous deeds, being a believer, shallfear neither wrong nor injustice. Thus We have
sent it down as an Arabic Quran, and We have distributed in it [statements contain­
ing] threats, so that they may be God-fearing or it may arouse in them a remem­
brance [Q. 20:108-113]. Indeed you will find [many] Muslims who [happily]
chant these verses, and yet rarely would they [these verses] evoke remembrance
for any one of them, [remembrance] to turn such [a person] away from bearing
[the burden of having committed] an injustice towards himself or towards others
and [cause] him to rely, for salvation, on God’s promise [of reward] to those who
perform righteous deeds and have faith. Instead, you see the masses turn away
from this [source of] remembrance, and hope for salvation and happiness in this
life and in the Hereafter through acts of intercession alone:487

487 The author of this line is the AbuVAtihiya (d. post 193/813), a famous poet known for his love
poetry and encomium poetry, but most importantly for his ascetic poetry (see payf 1990,237-52).

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tarjuVnajdta wa-lam tasluk masalikaha

innal-safinata la tajri 'alal-yabasi
You hope for salvation, and yet you have not followed its route.
Nay! A ship does not sail on land.

The Teacher, the imam, said what may be elaborated as follows: the entire verse
together with its import constitutes a warning to Muslims not to be like the People
of the Book who rely for their salvation on the intercession of their forefathers, [a
reliance] which made them fall into [the error of] becoming careless about reli­
gion. [Unfortunately] however, Muslims have since followed in their ways closely,
step by step, and have even outstripped them in [their] reliance on intercession
and the carelessness about religion that it entails, as we see [in their case): hearts
that have become devoid of the remembrance of God and devoid of the fear of
Him owing to their ignorance of ought to be known of Him, and all the while they
[such hearts] stand in danger of everlasting ruin; and souls [such as theirs] that
are immersed in the scum of [worldly] lusts devoted to [committing] evil deeds,
and despite sensing that they may be on the brink of Hell, they would rather be
distracted by that which prevents them from hearing the warnings o f the
[revealed] Law, because their [pure] primordial nature (fifra) has been corrupted
by follies and whims in such a way that these [souls] would not have to suffer the
pain of that [righteousness] which would spoil the delights [of such corruption],
or make it necessary to obey their Lord. And so they [such souls] do not believe
in any acts of devotion - [acts] which might [otherwise] connect them to religion
and [acts] which its [religions] official authorities would approve of - except for
‘intercession, by [the invocation of] which they claim they are venerating [those]
prophets and saints; even when [in fact] with them it has become an idolatrous
practice that infringes upon the exaltedness of the Lord of All Worlds.
Every person who has been seduced by this [belief in intercession] - it is his
devil that has whispered [evil] temptation to him and ‘drawn him into further
error" [cf. Q. 7:202]. Verily, such souls are ones which have never known the
greatness of G od or ever felt shame before Him in their lives; and in whose
deeds no mark of any love for Him appears, nor any respect for His religion and
His [revealed] Law. The m ark of believing in Him, loving Him, and hoping for
[the mercy of] His favour is none other than taking His religion earnestly and
seriously. The signs [of such belief] are: to expend ones property and spirit for
the sake of making His word prevail; to advocate [adherence to] His Law, but
not by feigning to have done God and His Messenger a favour by accepting the
label o f ‘Muslim’, or glorifying Him with [empty] words and fantasy, rather
than in one’s heart and by [the performance o f good] deeds. For the Q ur’an is
a just witness: It i$ indeed a decisive word, and it is no jest [Q. 86:13-14].

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Mawdudi
Mawdudfs commentary on this verse focuses on a major theme of his thinking, namely
the absolute sovereignty of the divine, uncompromising monotheism and a recognition
of all authority deriving from God. His theology has important implications for the nature
of human governance and his demand for an ‘Islamic state ruled by the divine law and in
accord for the divine plan for order in human society.

There is no god except Him:4*8 Irrespective o f the num ber o f gods or objects of
worship set up by ignorant people, the fact remains that godhead in its entirety
belongs exclusively to the Eternal Being, who is indebted to no one for His
existence. In fact, He is not only self-existent, but upon H im rests the entire
order o f the universe. He alone wields all sovereign authority over His dom in­
ion. None shares either His attributes or His power and might, and no one has
the same claims against the creatures as He. Hence, if anywhere in the heavens
or the earth someone sets up anything or anybody as an object of worship and
service (ildh) either instead o f or in addition to the One True God this amounts
to declaring war on reality.
Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep: this is a refutation o f the ideas o f those
who, in formulating their concepts of God, are inclined to consider God anal­
ogous to their own imperfect selves and hence ascribe to G od the weaknesses
characteristic of hum an beings. An instance at hand is the famous Biblical state­
ment that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh
day He rested.
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth: To God belongs the
heavens and the earth and everything therein. There is no one who shares any­
thing with God in governance either o f the heavens or o f the earth. Any con­
ceivable being other than God would necessarily be a part of the universe and
thus belong to, and be subject of, God rather than His partner and equal.
Who is there who shall intercede with Him except by His permission? This is a
refutation of the ideas of those polytheists who consider either saints,48489 angels
or other beings to be so influential with G od that if they were adam ant in
dem anding som ething o f Him, their dem and would prevail. They are being
told that, far from anyone having the power to impose their will on God, none
- not even the greatest prophets and the m ost highly esteemed angels - will

488 Taflum al-Qur’&ti, 1,194-95.

489 The inclusion of those who honour saints is significant, as it constitutes part of Mawdudi’s
polemic against Sufis and popular visitation to tombs prevalent in most of the Muslim world, espe­
cially in Pakistan (see Ewing 1983). It is also clear from his statement that he denies the possibility
and the rationale for intercession, and sees this verse as a clear denial of intercession. Othei mod­
ernists, such as Fazlur Rahman, concurred with this view (Rahman 1989,31-2).

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dare utter one word in the majestic court of the Lord unless they are expressly
perm itted to do so.490
They do not encompass anything o f His knowledge except such as He w ill Here
another blow is struck against polytheism. O n the basis o f the concept o f G od’s
unlimited sovereignty and omnipotence it was stressed, in the foregoing verses,
that no one shares independently in G od’s governance of the universe, and no
one is so powerful with God that his intercession would decisively influence
His judgement. The same point is stressed here but in a different m anner. It is
pointed out that no one possesses the knowledge that would enable him to
com prehend the order of the universe and the considerations underlying it, so
no one can legitimately interfere in its governance.491 The knowledge o f human
beings, of jinn, of angels and of other creatures is lim ited and imperfect. No
one’s knowledge embraces all the facts of the universe. If someone did have the
right to interfere even in only a part o f the universe, and if his suggestions were
of necessity to be put in effect, the entire order o f the universe would be dis­
rupted 492 Creatures are incapable of understanding what is best for them , and
do not have the capacity to know how best the universe should be governed 493
It is God alone W ho knows everything.
His seat comprises the heavens. The Arabic term kursi (seat) signifies sover­
eignty, dominion and authority.

]• ' ........ i

Fa41 Allah
The language of Fa<Jl Allah’s commentary reflects experiential aspects of the contempo­
rary religious consciousness. One word repeatedly used here is al-wa'y> ‘consciousness’,
a significant and central concept in the discourse of Arab intellectual history in the post-
1967 period).494Awareness of the divine internalises the divine light and authority in the
self and into one’s conscience. Recognition of the authority and sovereignty of anything
else thus constitutes recognition of‘false deities’(faghut). Divine dominion encompasses

490 Mawdudi is careful not to attack the doctrine of prophetic intercession head on; but from this
statement, he certainly casts doubt upon it.
491 The dear implication is that divine governance (h&kimiyya) and the guidelines and laws that
God has decreed must be the basis for the governance of the cosmos and especially of human affairs
and human government. This is quite undisguised affirmation of divine sovereignty in the domain
of human government.
492 Mawdudi seems to have in mind the famous argument provided in Q. 21:22, H a d there been
in [eith er of] th e m gods o th er th a n G od, the two [the h eavens a n d th e earth] w o u ld have su re ly g o n e to
ruin.
493 Once again we have an affirmation of divine sovereignty in human governance and a criticism
of attempts at producing human-made constitutions, laws and other arrangements for governance.
494 There is a large body of political literature composed in this vein; two important works by
Arab intellectuals are Ajami 1981 and Sharabi 1988; a useful survey of the key works is given by
Kramer 1993 in his bibliography.

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the moral and legal aspects of human lives and no aspect can escape His knowledge. His
watchfulness over us is not negligent and His dominion complete. His consciousness thus
seems to pervade the cosmos and so our consciousness must recognise and internalise
that insight. On the particular issue of the nature of the ku rsi , a point of contention in the
exegetical tradition, as we have seen, Fa<Jl Allah insists upon the need for anthropomor­
phic language, justifying it with reference to the Qur’iris use of imagery when explaining
and communicating to the limited imaginations and intellects of human beings the nature
of God’s dominion. Fadl Allah’s concern lies with the existential import of the verse and
thus he abandons the scholastic language of philology and high theology in favour of an
immediacy appeal to experience.

The meanings o f the expressions495

Al-qayyum is a hyperbolic [form] for [the action of] qiydm> and it denotes One
constantly engaged (qiydm) in managing creation and preserving it; al-qiydm
m eans to preserve som ething, or [simply] to do it, and to manage it, and to
nurture it, and to watch over it, or to have power over i t Al-Raghib [al-l$fah&nl]
states that al-qayyum means al-qa’im , the One who preserves every thing and
the O ne who gives it that by which it is sustained;496 and this [last sense] is the
sense mentioned in His words He who gave every thing its creation, then guided
[it] [Q. 20:50].
Al-sina is sleep, heedlessness and a doze; it is the verbal noun derived from
[past tense] wasina, or [imperfect] yawsanu wasanan or sinatan. The poet says:
f i 'aynihi sinatun wa-laysa bi-nd'imi, ‘In his eye is a slumber, yet he does not
sleep*
Yauduhuy ‘it is troublesome for him*, or ‘it burdens him*. One says [in the
past tense] adahu or [in the imperfect] y a u d u h u awdant to m ean ‘it became
burdensom e for him, making him strained and exhausted*.

What has been transmitted concerning the merit o f dyat al-kursi

It is reported in the Tafsir o f ‘AyySshi from Imam Jafar al-$&diq that he said
[...].497 In al-Durr al-manthur498 Atimad [b. Hanbal] and al-Tabarani are cited
for a report [transmitted] from Abu Um am a that he said: ‘I said, “O Messenger
of God, which of what has been revealed to you is the greatest?* He sa id ,wGod
there is no god except Him, the Living the Eternal Sustained the kursi-verse” *
Certainly, many hadiths to this effect have been reported from the Prophet
and [to the effect] that it is recom m ended that one recites it every night and on
495 Fatfl Allah,Min wahyal-Qurdn, V, 27-42.
496 RSghib, Mufraddt, 691.
497 See the narration quoted in 'AyyishI, this chapter.
498 The full title of this famous work on the Qur'an by Jalal al*Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1S05) is al-
Durr al-manthurfH-tafsir bil-ma’thur.

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many occasions. In the Am dll of al-Shaykh al-TusI it is m entioned [byway o f a

report transmitted] from Abu U m im a al-B&hili that he heard ‘All b. Abl Jaiib
say, ‘I cannot imagine any person whose m ind has understood [the religion of]
Islam, or who has been bom into Islam, to go to sleep during the darkness of
the night I said, ‘W hat do you mean by “its darkness” , to which he replied,
‘All of i f ... until he recites the following verse: God there is no god except H im ,
and he recited the verse to [the end] where God says A nd the preserving o f them
wearies Him not. He [‘All b. Abl Talib] continued, ‘If you [truly] knew [it for]
what it i s ... \ or he said, ‘what it contains, you would never leave it as it is [recit­
ing it not]. Truly the Messenger of God said, “I was given the kursi-verse from
a treasure beneath the throne, [something] which no prophet before me had
been given”.’ ‘All said, ‘Ever since I heard this from the M essenger of God, I
never passed a night without reciting it.’
Perhaps the secret of the im portance attached to it lies in the fact that it
addresses a pure affirmation of [God’s] oneness {al-tawhid al-khdlif) at a level
in which man can experience the presence o f God in his [very] being, with all
that such a presence can signify in the way of [God’s] greatness, dominion, and
[His] true com prehension of all things, together with the guardianship o f all
[aspects] of their affairs, both specific and general, and His exclusive [posses­
sion of] power over all things. Thus, there is nothing there [in reality] except
God, because all creatures are [merely] a shadow of His existence. There is no
value in any knowledge in the face of God’s knowledge, and there is no author­
ity except His authority. And [that man should be aware] that the path which
He prescribes for hum ankind is the clear and straight path, the one in which
there is no ambiguity, doubt or obscurity; and that it is He who opens for believ­
ers the gates o f light in [the realm of] gnosis and life by way o f a conscious and
open-m inded [conception of] faith. And that [it is] He [who] brings them out
from the darkness [of disbelief] to the light [of faith], while disbelievers are
faced with that false god (/aghut) to whom they are committed and whom they
worship and follow besides God, so that he [this false god] subsequently brings
them out of the light, which [would normally have] permeated their conscious­
ness and being, into the darkness which unbelief carries into their very lives. In
this way, the light [that would normally be present] in their lives is transformed
into darkness by way of the obstacles that he creates to bar them from God: and
that is what is being suggested by the following verse, the one that comes after
this and which constitutes a semantic extension to this one.
Therefore, the value o f this verse lies in the fact that it firmly embeds within
the [inner] depths of the believing person a pure affirmation of [God’s] oneness
[embedded therein] in its most sublime characteristics and elements; and it also
suggests to such [a believer] that the dividing line between God’s way and the

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way o f the false god is the very line that divides light and darkness. That is what
we [should] seek to understand clearly from the expressions [used] in the
verse.499

The dyat al-kursi and pure belief in the Oneness [of God]
God there is no god except Him: this statement constitutes a proper name for the
Necessary Being (wdjib al-wujud) Himself500 and so cannot be applied to any
other than Him, which is why there is a difference between it and the expres­
sion ildh (a god). For the expression ‘god’ is a com m on and comprehensive
term for anything that one may suppose to be worthy o f worship, which is why
the exceptive [clause] may be applied to it. The statement ‘there is no god but
G od’ is manifest in its affirmation of [God’s] oneness given the indication
[made] in it that what is [alone] w orthy of worship is restricted to [being] the
Holy essence (al-dhat al-muqaddasa). Were it possible for this epithet to be
[rightly] applied to any other than Him, it would not have been [so] manifest
in such [an affirmation of oneness].501
The Living, the One whose life cannot be blemished by [any sort of] n o n ­
existence before or after, because it is not subject to the hypothesis of a ‘before
or ‘aftef. For He is the Pre-eternal, for w hom there is no first [stage] or last. In
such a context, [one] in which life is continuous, it is possible for a human being
to live with the feeling of continuous attachm ent to God for as long as that
person s life continues. For He [God] precedes the life o f man, thereby endow ­
ing it with that m eaning ‘life’, and He continues [to live] alongside him and
remains after he has perished; whereas he [man] cannot enjoy the same feeling
of attachment with [anyone] other than Him from among hum an individuals,
[the very fact] which should intimate to him the [true] depth of such a relation­
ship [with God], which [in turn] should draw him intensely to God, given that
there exists [in man] a real and continuous need for Him.502
AUqayyum: a hyperbolic [form of the noun] for the O ne who stands [in
499 This introductory paragraph makes it quite dear that he sees the Yerse as expressing a doctrine
about the nature of God as the ultimate reality, the source of reference, dominion and authority.
Anything other than God to whom we ascribe these features and functions thus is a false god. The
term, which in the original Qur’inic discourse probably applied to idols that by virtue of being such
are ‘false gods’, is understood in the modem context to refer to the ultimate referents of a false con­
sciousness that is alienated from the divine presence.
500 This is the term used by Avicennan philosophers and theologians to refer to God, who is the
necessary existence upon whose existence all other existence depends and to whom it refers.
501 The exdusivity of this phrase as applied to God is a point made by many classical commen­
tators.
502 Human life is constantly dependent on, and attached to, the ‘life’ of God. Human conscious­
ness of God gives life*, one’s immortality is not related to the consciousness that we have in this mate­
rial world in connection to our self-consciousness as humans relating to other individuals, it is
related to the consciousness and life of God.

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power] over something, the O ne who oversees and has [supreme] control over
it, as well as the One who manages and preserves it, in accordance with what
the [following] glorious verse states, Is He who watches over every soul as to what
it has earned /comparable to idols]? [Q. 13:33], and [in accordance with] His
saying, God bears witness that there is no god except Him and [so do] the angels,
and those o f knowledge, sustainer [ofjustice] [Q. 3:18]. And this [sense] can be
gleaned from what it means to ‘stand over som ething, in the way o f overseeing
it, [a capacity which is] in contrast to [the capacity of] one who [merely] sits or
is asleep. It [al-qiydm] is thus used metaphorically to denote [supreme] control,
given the harm ony between these two senses.
This attribute [of qiydm] signifies the overseeing o f God, [He] who has the
power to grant and to withhold in accordance with what He knows to be the
due of existents within their individual existence in term s o f giving [to some]
at one point in time and w ithholding [from others] at another point in time,
[all of which is] in accordance with [what sustains] the equilibrium o f the
cosmic and human order, [an equilibrium] which He uniquely originated [and
installed] within the heart of existence [itself], so that life may continue [upon
its course] on the basis of the physical conditions [necessary] for it. It [the
attribute of qiydm] also signifies His supreme authority over [all] things, that
which includes management, guardianship, and preservation in the way that
such a meaning entails, so that it, as it is suggested by the hyperbolic [form o f
the] term [al-qayyum], cannot apply to any other than Him. Also [implicit] in
this attribute is the suggestion that it is necessary to refer to God in all matters,
given the dependence o f all things on Him .503
Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep. Sina is a drowsiness that comes close
to [becoming] sleep; but it is sleep that overcomes the [faculties of] hearing and
sights. Herein is a deeper meaning for what is suggested by the expression al-
qayyum, because o f what such [a statement] entails in the way o f continuous
guardianship, one in which there is no possibility of cessation [of guardianship]
or absence [therefrom] on account of sleep or drowsiness, [that phenomena]
along with which the senses are weakened, thereby losing that capacity for
sense that [normally] allows for consciousness of things. Obviously this [phe­
nomenon] is impossible in the case of the God Self, because such [a phenom ­
enon] pertains to physical bodies and thus cannot be supposed for One who
transcends corporeality by His holy essence.504

503 Fatfl Allih’s commentary is not led by narrations on the authority of the Prophet and the
imams but rather based upon the common modem assumption that each verse can be holistically
interpreted in a self-referential way. Thus each component phrase of the verse glosses and explains
other component phrases.
504 The commentator understands this phrase as an explanatory gloss upon the previous attribute.
He uses it to stress transcendence, but a transcendence that is immanently attentive.

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Some, perhaps, might wonder how ‘slumbei' has been made to precede [the
mention of] ‘sleep, contrary to the [usual] rhetorical m ethod in which what is
being expressed rises [in intensity], when the theme is one o f affirmation, from
[mention of] the lesser to the greater, and, when the them e involves negation,
from [mention of] the greater to the lesser, on the basis o f which then, one
ought to have said, ‘Sleep seizes Him not, neither slumber'.
The response [to this] would be [to say] that what is sought here is to deny
that the effect of any external factor that m ight weaken His capacity to ‘stand
over' existents.505 Hence, that which is the lesser [of the two in terms of effect],
namely ‘drowsiness' is not able to come close to [affecting] Him, nay, not even
the more powerful [of the two states], namely, ‘sleep, is able to have an effect
on Him. For He is [exalted high] above all of such [states]. Indeed, it is He who
affects things, encompasses them [in knowledge], exercises supreme control
over them and subdues them [in accordance with His will]. Not one o f these
things, whatever its size may be materially or spiritually, is able to have an effect
on Him. His case is not like the case o f created beings whom drowsiness is able
to approach and thus draw them out o f consciousness into [a state of] insensi­
bility and unawareness, increasing in its effect upon their bodies until [finally]
it leads them into [a state of] sleep which [temporarily] impairs their ability to
perceive things around them.
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth: He is the possessor of
all things. None other than Him has any possession in the face o f His kingdom,
for He is the true possessor. As for others, they possess only in a relative sense
(mulk i‘tib&ri) that over which He has given them possession. For He is the pos­
sessor of both them and that over which He has given them possession. In this
way then His dom inion over them [the heavens and the earth] is a complete
dom inion w ithout any deficiency or lim itation, because there is a difference
between your having dom inion over som ething that is under your control and
in your possession and your having dom inion over som ething that is not so.
This is what the verse seeks to confirm, so that man might feel reassured by the
total divine regulation o f [the affairs of] hum ans and [other] things; and that
he might also become aware of the dependence o f all existents on God, a
dependence of the sort [that exists] between possessions and the one who pos­
sesses [them]. As a result the value and greatness of such [existents] is lost in
man's perception, since he realises that these [existents] are [also] like him in
terms of their servitude to and their [status as possessions] belonging to God.
How then is it possible to make some of these [existents] to be partners with
God, as is revealed in the [following] glorious verse, truly those on whom you
call besides God are servants like you [Q. 7:194).
505 In other words. His capacity to be al-qayyum.

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Who is there who shall intercede with Him except by His permission? There is
nothing [authoritative] other than His word and His will. None has the power
to intervene in order to rescue another from an inevitable fate, or [the power]
to raise that person to a high rank by [virtue of] some capacity w ithin him or
[by virtue of his being in] some distinguished and special place, except by His
perm ission, [permission] which He grants to some of His servants w ho have
been brought near [to Him], according to what He wishes or does n o t wish [to
take place]. Thus it becomes possible for us to affirm the principle o f interces­
sion [by saying that it may take place] within the boundaries o f the path which
G od wants intercessors to follow in the measure that God wants to h onour
them by [granting] forgiveness to certain sinners, or by raising in rank some o f
the obedient, without there being any contradiction between such [acts of inter­
cession] and the principle of [God’s] Oneness when it comes to people making
pleas through intercession.506
In light of this, it is possible for us to deduce the nature o f the prerogative o f
intercession which intercessors possess, insofar as such [acts of intercession] are
conditional on God’s will and His permission.507 Thus the forgiveness that
reaches sinners is from God; the tribulation that is removed from those afflicted
[by it] is from God; and the reward which the obedient receive is [also] from
Him, [a reward] which He grants to this person and to the next through [His
bestowing of such an] honour to this prophet or to that saint (wall)508 w hom He
wishes to honour thereby.509 There is therefore no sense in servants turning to
such [individuals], not even for mediation (wasifa). Rather, one should turn to
G od [in the hope] that He might make us among those whom He allows them
[the prophets and saints] to intercede for, since by themselves these [prophets or
saints] have no [power of] intercession; rather they only have it through His
inspiration, His permission and His instruction. It is in such a way that we are
then able to escape [the pitfall of] that excess in the m ethod used to make
requests to prophets and saints510 to the extent that a person m aking such a
506 Like other defenders of the doctrine of intercession, Fadl Allah ties it to the very essence of
monotheism since intercession is required for God’s mercy and grace to extend to sinners whilst
safeguarding His justice and recompense for moral agency.
507 Since intercession is an aspect of the divine will, it is implicit in the unicity of the Godhead
and the doctrine of monotheism.
508 Saints in the Shl'i context are first the imams, and second those pious individuals close to the
family of the Prophet. See Hermann Landolt, 'Walayah’, ER, XV, 316-23; B. Radtke, 'Walk 1. General
Survey\ EP, XI, 109—12; Paul E. Walker, ‘Wil&ya: 2. in Shi'ism’, E/2, XI, 208-9.
509 The intercession of the prophets and the saints is affirmed as the very essence and corrobo­
ration of monotheism. Since intercession is the function of the divine will and divine self, one cannot
approach God without the mediation of those whom He has made intercessors. God’s approval of
a certain prophet or saint for the purposes of intercession also constitutes His wish to honour that
prophet or saint, as the privilege to intercede is an honour which God bestows upon whomever He
wishes.
510 Intercession remains a form of mediation, and one ought to be careful not to confuse the

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request might [actually] forget His Lord, deeply ensconced as he is in the persona
o f the prophet or the saint [to whom he is making a request] - [especially] if he
is not sufficiently careful so as to be able to place things in their proper context
with respect to the [Muslim] creed and the [stipulations o f the] Law.

[An excursus] on the author o f al-ARz&n regarding his subsumption of

creational intercession [within the general term intercession]
In his discussion of intercession in the case o f this verse,511 the author o f al-
M izan [al-Tabataba1!] says that, 'Intercession (sh a fa a ) is all m ediation [that
takes place] within the world of causes (asbdb) and intermediaries (wasd’if), [it
is] more general than creational intercession (shafaa takwiniyya) - 512 which is
the mediation of causes in [the process of] creation, and [more general than]
legislational intercession (shafaa tashn iyya), by which I mean mediation [that
will take place] at the requital stage on the Day of Resurrection as affirmed by
the [Holy] Book and the S u n n a .... That is so because the statement, I mean,
His saying, Who is there that shall intercede with Him except by His permission?
is preceded by m ention o f [God’s] supervision (qayyumiyya) and absolute sov­
ereignty (al-mulk al-muflaq), two [attributes] which subsume both creation and
legislation; indeed, both of which manifestly touch upon [the process of] cre­
ation. Therefore, there is nothing to require that they be restricted to [the
context of] legislational supervision and [legislational] authority, [that is] unless
intercession [of the sort] specific to the Day o f Resurrection is also then
appended to the [general] statement [of the verse].513 Thus the context of this
verse as being concerned with general intercession is the same as the context
[of general intercession] where He says, Surely your Lord is God who created the
heavens and the earth in six days, then presided upon the throne. He directs the
[entire] affair [of creation]. There is none to intercede except by His permission [Q.
10:3], and where He says, God is He who created the heavens and the earth, and
all that is between them, in six days, then presided upon the throne. You have no
protector or intercessor besides Him [Q. 32:4].
mediator with the One who can truly affect and change our lives and intervene. Intercessors are thus
not the goal of one’s request or worship, and whilst they are honoured creatures, one must not expect
them to act in the deified manner nor to expect them to violate the divine moral law.
511 Fadl Allah dicusses at this point two contemporary Shl'i commentaries on the issue of inter­
cession that arises here. The first, a l-M izd n f l ta fsir a l- Q u r ’&tt, is perhaps the most important one by
the philosopher and exegete Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabal (d. 1981).
5,2 In other words, intercession that takes place at the level of the creative act within the cosmos.
’Legislational’ intercession means intercession as it relates to punishment and reward within the
context of deeds and the Hereafter.
513 Tabajabal is arguing that since the mention of God in this verse as a l-q a y y u m and as the pos­
sessor of the heavens and the earth is not explicitly intended merely in the context of His stipulation
of laws, but also in the context of creation in general, so the mention of sh a fa 'a cannot be restricted
to its legal context, but must be understood in the general context of God’s creation.

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I have already pointed out in the inquiry into [the concept of] intercession
that just as its limitation applies to legislational intercession, so too it applies to
creational causation (al-sababiyya al-takwiniyya). Thus every cause intercedes
with God for its causer (musabbib) by adhering to the attributes of His favour,
His generosity and His mercy in order to convey the grace o f existence to its
causer. Thus the system o f causality (al-sababiyya) itself corresponds to the
system of intercession as well as to the system of supplication (d u d ’) and peti­
tion (mas’ala).514
We should note, however,515 with respect to what has been said, th at to
understand [the concept of] intercession as [a concept] subsuming causality -
which he refers to with [the designation] creational intercession (al-shafd'a al-
takwiniyya) - contradicts the word [shafaa] as it appears, from a semantic point
o f view, as a technical term. For it [intercession] is a [manifest] phenom enon
o f hum an procedure when he mediates on behalf of another hum an being in
order to bring him good or to repel evil from him when such [a person] has
deserv ed to be denied good and to fall into evil as a requital o f his deeds. As
such, the role of the intercessor (al-shafi'), [he] who enjoys independence o f
action with regard to the person he is interceding for (al-mashfu)> is that he is
able to have an effect on this latter in either a material sense or a spiritual one,
to the extent that he [the intercessor] is not able to reject him, or finds it difficult
to deny him what he wants or asks for, either because he happens to be o f equal
or higher status than him, socially, economically or politically within the hier­
archy of power, or [because] he happens to be in an emotional position through
which he can access the others sentiments, on account o f which he is not able
to snub that persons requests.
This, then, is the sense which God wants to preclude in His case, since it con­
tradicts His [capacity of] continuously supervising all of existence and all o f
mankind. For there is nothing like Flim, that might be equal to Him or precede
Him so as to force their will upon His. Nor is He prone to emotional sways or
the like, that He might be affected by them. He is Independent in Himself o f all
of His creatures. None has any claim to anything of His; rather it is He who is
their possessor in all [aspects] of their existence, and so intercession [here] is
not meant in the sense o f an autonomous intercessor.516
For that reason, the rejection o f any persons claim to [the power of] inter­
cession before Him is in harm ony with the rejection o f the fact that any person

514 Tab&tabiX Mizdn, II, 333; see also the translation in Rizvi 1982, IV, 158-9.
5,5 Fadl Allah resumes his discussion at this point
516 That is to say, no one can really ‘intercede’ with God, in the way that acts of intercession are
effected betweeen human individuals in this world. For God is not subject to emotional sways or
being convinced, etc. Intercession is an enacting of His favour and His wish to honour certain indi­
viduals as intercessors.

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other than Him can be His equal or have an effect on Him, on the grounds that
this [matter o f intercession] has to do with those sources o f power within His
sacred essence, which none can approach or have any influence over. For, crea­
tures are the ones who are in need of Him, while He is the O ne who has no need
for them. Their existence is the [very] existence o f a need for Him, whereas His
existence is that of O ne who is Self-sufficient and Independent, in all matters,
o f all existents. This is w hat makes the statement about the rejection o f inter­
cession by anyone except with His permission pertinent to a discussion o f His
absolute power (qudra) in directing affairs, after creating them and assuming
sole control of them, remote from [the possibility of] any effect upon His being
by any other person when it comes to the decisions He wishes to issue in the
context of punishm ent and rew ard
And that is w hat leads us to see no sense [in subsum ing any question] of
causality (sababiyya) within [the terms] intercession, supplication (dud*) and
petition (mas*ala) in the proper sense of a causer being dependent upon [the
action of] its cause. Instead, we understand it [the question of intercession] in
the sense of it being [something] appointed for and perm itted to intercessors,
supplicants and petitioners, those who petition, intercede and supplicate.
W hereupon G od grants them their wishes through His perm itting them to
undertake such actions: they have no independence [of action] in any way,
Rather they are [His] honoured servants. They do not [venture to] speak before Him
and they act according to His command [Q. 21:26-27].
In light o f this [fact], then, we do not deny that creational causality is [that
process involving] the dependence of things upon th eir causes, as per those
specific characteristics which God has deposited within the core of their exis­
tence, that is to say, the mystery o f causality and occasionality ( 'illiyya),517 so
that the procedure of such [causality or occasionality] is [effected] by His per­
mission in the existential dimension, which [itself] proceeds by His power, [a
power] which conducts the cause towards its agent - [a concept] which may be
referred to as the principal creative [agent]; but none o f this has any relevance
to the technical term shafaa (intercession), as we have already illustrated.

[An excursus] on the commentary [called] al-Amthal

regarding ‘intercession *518
Some com m entators have rem arked with regard to the relationship between
the intercessor (al-shafi') and the person interceded for (al-mashfu‘ lahu)

5.7 The commentator is using this term as a synonym for sababiyya.

5.8 This is the comprehensive Qur’Anic commentary by the AyatullAh, from Qumm, NA$ir
MakArim al-ShlrAzi (see his AmttuU, II, 175-176; for the details, see bibliography, ShirAzi). The work
cited is an Arabic translation of the original Persian, Tafsir-i Namuna.

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saying, ‘Intercession (al-shafd'a) prerequires a certain type of spiritual connec­

tion between the person interceding and the person for whom intercession is
being made. For this reason, the person desiring intercession ought to establish
spiritual bonds in this world with that person from whom he hopes for inter­
cession. Such bonds will, in reality, constitute a means o f edifying the person
seeking intercession, for it will bring him closer to the intercessor’s school o f
thought and conduct, [something] which will make him eligible to attain that
intercession*
On the basis of this last, intercession, then, is an instrum ent o f edification
(‘amil tarbawi), and not a type of patronage (mahsubiyya) or nepotism (man-
$ubi)ya)ynor an excuse to shirk one’s responsibility.
Hence, it is clear that intercession does not affect G od’s will (irada) w ith
respect to disobedient sinners. In fact, the disobedient one or sinner, through
his spiritual attachment to his intercessor, can acquire a [moral] edification that
might make him eligible to receive God’s pardon.
In addition to this, however, we should point out that intercession does not
depend on the relationship between the person seeking intercession and his
intercessor, but on the relationship between the intercessor and God. There is
no need for any spiritual connection with the intercessor therein, since he does
not constitute, with regard to its [intercession s] Q uranic context, an independ­
ent interm ediary to w hom sincere devotion (ikhl&f) should be directed and
onto whom love effuses. In fact, he [the intercessor] is, in such a context,
belongs to the ways in which one can be sincerely devoted to God and love
Him, [love] which manifests itself through love of His friends (awliyd’) and
affinity with them, considering that such [conduct] is one of the ways of being
attached to God.
In light of this [fact], then, there is no [independent] relationship per se
between the person seeking intercession and the intercessor. In fact, he [the
person seeking intercession] has no option but to strengthen his relationship
with God and fortify his bond with Him, and that his request for intercession
constitute a supplication to G od that He allow one or other o f His friends to
intercede for him, by entreating that person before Him for that which [God]
wants in the way of honour for that person by granting him [the privilege of]
intercession on behalf of certain sinners.
For this reason, it [intercession] becomes an instrument of moral edification
which brings him closer to God, before whom the intercessor enjoys a high
status on account o f his closeness to Him. For his [the intercessor's] ideas and
[intellectual] schooling are not intrinsic to his self, but constitute G od’s
message, which He has commanded him to convey and whose responsibilities
He has made him bear. Perhaps, that is what the following section o f the

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Thursday-supplication expresses where it says, ‘[O God] bless M uhammad and

the family o f M uhammad, and make my entreaty of him a successful [instru­
m ent of] intercession [for me] on the Day of R esurrection; so then the suppli­
cation is made to God [asking] that He allows that entreaty of Him through His
Messenger M uhamm ad to be, ‘a successful [instrum ent of] intercession on the
Day of Resurrection; it is not that the entreaty is made directly to the interces­
sor, namely, M uham m ad This idea can be clearly discerned from His saying,
A nd they intercede not exceptfo r him with whom He is satisfied [Q. 21:28], where
it is indicated that the basis for intercession is that the person should have a
relationship with G od such that G od [thereby] grants him [the privilege of]
intercession.
If a person were then to say, ‘There is no difference between being attached
to God and being attached to the intercessor, given that he communicates on
behalf of God, and calls to Him and to His Message, that which makes attach­
m ent to the intercessor [constitute] an attachment to God.’ We respond to this
by [saying] that the issue has to do with semblances and the negative sugges­
tions [that would arise] when an intercessor assumes the role o f mediator for
the person seeking intercession instead o f the role of one charged [by God to
intercede], [one] for whom God is satisfied that he intercede, as [a confirmation
of] His wish to forgive that person and to pardon him.

The power of the intercessor stemming from the power of God

He knows what lies before them and what is after them: thus all things are
[known] before Him, with nothing being absent from His knowledge, because
things are exposed before Him. So there is no means for m an to hide from God
in any act that he hides [from others] or any secret that he keeps or any mistake
that he covers up, because ‘hiding', ‘secrecy^ and ‘covering up are expressions
that correspond to material obstacles which stand between a thing and its being
visible, som ething which cannot possibly be conceived o f in the context of
God's Being, [He] who ‘knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts
hide* [Q. 40:19]. Perhaps it is this feeling that is deeply entrenched in the con­
sciousness of man, as a result o f the [driving] force o f his faith, preventing him
from [committing] crimes in secret, and [from] disobedience undercover and
evil intentions which are ever-ready to thrust themselves forward and manifest
themselves [in the form of real crimes].519
A nd they do not encompass anything o f His knowledge except such as He wills.
That is the way the Creator is, in term s o f His knowledge being unlimited in
519 Divine knowledge is tied to human consciousness of the limitation of human knowledge and
thus the consequent stress upon the ever-watchful omniscience of God that deters a sound and
believing consciousness from evil

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com parison to the creature who is lim ited in his existence, which [itself] is
derived from G od’s existence, [limited] in his knowledge, which [also] derives
from God’s knowledge, in terms of the opportunities He has given to him and
opened up for him and the means [of subsistence) which He has prepared for
him. It is not [possible] for a creature to encompass anything o f G od’s knowl­
edge [either] in the realm of what is visible or the realm of the Unseen, except
what He wills [that they know].520 Even prophets do not possess any knowledge
of the Unseen in their individual m ake-up so that God had created in them an
ability which m ight be able to reveal to them the realm o f the Unseen in an
unrestricted way, whereby they then have access to it independently thereafter.
Rather, it is G od who pours forth upon them from this knowledge according
to what they require of it in their affairs as Messengers, given the nature o f the
role which they assume and the challenges which they come to face. That is
w hat we may deduce from what G od says in the story of the prophet N oah and
his address to his people, according to what God has related of it in surat Yunus
[sic.].521
Say: 7 do not say to you that I possess God's treasuries nor do I have knowledge
o f the Unseeti [Q. 6:50], and His saying, Knower o f the Unseen. He does not dis­
close His Unseen to anyone, except to a Messenger He approves o f Then He dis­
patches a sentinel before and behind him so that He may ascertain that they have
conveyed the Messages o f their Lord and He encompasses all that is with them and
He keeps count o f all things [Q. 72:26-28]. This [verse] is clear about the fact that
G od grants them knowledge of the Unseen in the measure that such [knowl­
edge] prepares for them the means so that their affair might be established and
[provides for them] security within their roles [as Messengers] and protection
for them against all that lies before them and after them of what may be present
around them or hidden from them, as confirmation o f the continuing divine
supervision, control and lordship over them, such that they are in need of H im
in all that may happen to them or confront them - all o f which suggests that
the theory of cosmic authority (walaya takwiniyya) which certain scholars apply
to prophets and the imams is invalid.522
In this section of the verse, God wants to emphasise that He encompasses in
knowledge all the affairs of His creatures in all that they might be involved in

520 It is clear from this that knowledge is not confined to the visible sensory phenomena, an
important point for a religious thinker in empiricist times to make, and that the totality of knowledge
is both what is apparent and what is not apparent
521 The mention of the story of Noah in surat Yunus (Q. 10) does not include any adress to his
people; this address, in fact, appears in surat al-Ari&m (Q. 6) and is in any case meant for the Prophet
Muhammad
522 The knowledge which the imams are said to possess is a subject of controversy among ShTi
theologians. However, most are agreed that the imam does not inherently possess knowledge of the
Unseen, but that God from time to time may give him access to some of it out of His favour.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

and [all] that they proceed with, while at the same time they [are able to] encom­
pass nothing of His knowledge by their individual abilities. It is He who grants
them , directly or indirectly, that knowledge which He wishes for them [to
possess]. In this way a creature feels insignificant in the face of the immensity of
that which he is ignorant of and that which he has no way of acquiring knowl­
edge of. Thus he humbles himself before God who created him and prays to Him
humbly with those supplications for knowledge that He has taught him [suppli­
cations such as]: A nd say: 'My Lord, increase me in knowledge’ [Q. 20:114].
His seat comprises the heavens and the earth. It is said in [the commentary]
Kashshdf [of Zamakhshari] [...].523
Perhaps [the sense that is] closest to the gist o f the verse is the th ird sense
[mentioned by Zamakhshari],524 the one which applies the meaning of absolute
authority as em bodied in [God’s] control and overseeing. In this way the
expression wasi a (it comprises) assumes the sense o f‘it encompasses or ‘it pre­
serves’, and thereby is in keeping with [the sense of] His words, The preserving
o f them wearies Him not, in other words, the preservation o f them [of the
heavens and the earth] causes no strain for Him. The meaning then is simply
that the God’s dom inion and His authority encompass the heavens and the
earth, for He is the One who manages them, guards them and preserves them
without any strain or tiredness. As His power is limitless, strain and tiredness
[can] bear no relevance to it [to His power] in whatever state or context.
For He is the High, the Tremendous, to whom not one of His creatures can
[ever] come near, because He is the H igh whose extent these creatures are
unable to reach, [an extent] which cannot be defined in its sublimity. [And
because He is] the Tremendous before w hom all things pale in significance,
whatever its greatness or size may be; for the greatness o f such [things] is
derived the underlying mystery o f greatness in His creation, [a creation] which
lives in absolute need of Him. That is what the Imam ‘All b. al-Husayn Zayn al-
‘Abidin articulated [as transmitted] in his supplication for Fridays and for the
Td al-Fitr,525 ‘Every majestic [thing] before Thee is insignificant and every
em inent [thing] beside Thy eminence is vile!’526

523 Here Fa4I Allah quotes the text from Zamakhshari (Kashshdf 1,385-6) as mentioned in Abu
Hayyan’s commentary, this chapter.
524 That is, kurst is a metaphor for His dominion and possession over everything (see
Zamakhshari, Kashshdf, 1,386).
525 The ‘id al-fifr is, literally, the ‘festival of breaking the fast*, and refers to the three days that
follow the end of the Ramadan fast The only other Eid in the Muslim calendar is that of 'id al-adhd,
‘the festival of sacrifice’, which marks the end of the pilgrimage and in which the ritual of animal
sacrifice is performed.
526 This statement is taken from a famous supplication that is found in the collection of suppli­
cations by Zayn al-‘Abidin 'Ali b. al-Husayn, the fourth Shil imam (for this statement, see Chittick
1988, 161). There is a certain literary symmetry in the commentary on this verse that no doubt is
deliberate on the part of a literary figure such as Fadl Allah (who is also a poet), beginning with a

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On the Nature of the Divine

The suggestions and lessons [of this verse]

Perhaps the value of this verse, from the point of view of the suggestive aspect
of the Q uran, is that it exemplifies an awareness of the creed in m ind and spirit
and a sense o f [experiencing] the simplicity of tawhidywhich cannot be accessed
by a human being through the complexities of philosophy.527 Indeed, it pres­
ents him with the concept o f G od in a clear and simple way, one in which the
conception o f G od unfolds in term s o f His uniqueness (wahddniyya) in H is
absolute lordship of all things, with all that the term ‘lordship entails o f creation
{khalq)> m anagem ent (tadbir), provision (imdad) in an unseen as well as in a
visible way, supervision (qiyam) o f ail creatures without exception, and constant
vigilance (yaqza d aim a) in which there is no possibility of any lapse in [His]
awareness of all creation. His existence is itself all consciousness. Thus no
slumber befalls Him and no sleep overcomes Him. He is the O ne who encom ­
passes in His knowledge all the affairs o f His creatures. ‘Not so m uch as the
weight of an atom escapes His knowledge [cf. Q. 10:61 and 34:3), nor can any
one from among them possess anything of His knowledge, except through His
desire to give knowledge to whom He will.
And just as their entire existence derives from His existence, so too th eir
entire knowledge derives from His knowledge. No one can intercede before
Him, of his own accord, through whatever he may possess in the way o f power,
influence or indication thereof. [All] intercession is [decreed] by Him. He is
the One who gives perm ission for it and the One who chooses its outcom e
through His infinite and absolute wisdom. He is the O ne whose kingdom com ­
prises, whose power extends over, and whose rule unfolds upon the heavens
and the earth, so that none of them and nothing within them restricts Him. He
is the One who comprises them and who is able to comprise all that might be
in addition to them. He is the One who possesses the uppermost grades o f sub­
limity, so that there is no grade higher than His in this respect. His is the great­
ness ('azama) that is boundless, so that none is great before Him, for the
greatness of things is a gift (hiba) from Him, and a creation of His.
In such a way, a hum an being may live with his Lord within this natural and
simple conception, so that he might always be within the sphere of clarity, in
which he has no need for any further elucidations o r explanations, the kind
which philosophers resort to in their intellectual convolutions on the basis o f
other philosophies built upon fundam ents alien to the spirit o f the creed
of Islam, in which case a Muslim finds him self lost between the Islamic spirit
quotation from an imam and ending with one. It is perhaps that structure alongside the existentialist
‘meat1of his argument that lends it authority.
527 The point is simple and immediate: philosophical discourse cannot relay to us a true under­
standing of God, and one implication of that is it cannot convince us nor provide as succinct, coher­
ent and eloquent account as that provided by God in the Qur'an.

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 God’s throne and the seat of knowledge

o f the creed and the non-Islamic spirit o f philosophy, something which clouds
considerably the realm of conception.
Indeed, we do not deny that there is an intellectual value in using philosophy
to deal with questions of religion or dogma, in a way that ascribes to th e idea
[being discussed] a certain am ount of depth, which would then confirm its
strength over other ideas in the field of intellectual conflict between Islam and
its opponents. We believe, however, that the Q ur’an possesses its own natural
m ethod of inducing the expressions of the creed, on the basis o f suggestiveness
always marked by spiritual simplicity, within the Islamic sentiment. It is neces­
sary, therefore, to bear this aspect in m ind when studying Islamic philosophy.52®
As for statements about how highly recommended it is that one recites it [the
kursi verse], these allude to the edificatory aspect which seeks to deepen the
Islamic conception o f the creed with regard to its Q u ran ic expressions. This is
so that a Muslim may recite it every day o r every night as an Islamic programme
for [his] moral instruction aimed at instilling the creed [of Islam] in the Muslim
self. For the daily recitation of the Q u r’an emanates from the stirring of
Q ur’&nic verses within the hum an being, so that his growth takes place in such
a setting, one which provides mental clarity for mental and spiritual develop­
ment; and so that he is not confused by those matters that might cloud his con­
ception as a result of sundry [other] readings [of literary material], whereby he
ends up having no clear picture of his Islam. It was for this [last] reason that
daily recitation was one o f the ways of bringing such [a person] back to those
springs of Islam, pure in creed and [pure] in their general conceptions o f life,
in that personal way in which the hum an individual confronts matters of creed
in his personal experience from a hum an perspective. For he is the one who
recites the verse, [a recitation] which in turn may provoke many questions in
his m ind and an im perturbable attitude when faced with other currents [of
thoughts], should these be thrust into his public sphere or his private sentiment.
A hum an being, in such a situation, pursues a daily exercise [programme]
in moral instruction that will strengthen his spiritual and intellectual muscles,
in such a way that he comes to acquire strong immunity, so that misguidance
cannot creep up on him easily, nor confusion invade his peace o f m ind.529
528 These statements about philosophy are salutary and indicative of his social context. As
someone trained in Najaf, the Shi'i seminary noted for its hostility to philosophy in recent times, he
is suspicious of the use of philosophy to understand facts of religion because they may distract one
from a focus on the Word of God. But he recognises the validity of intellectual discourse, a trend
both within the Shi'l intellectual milieu and within the 'modem world’. Another aspect to his sus­
picion of the theoretical nature of philosophy may be related to the Lebanese context, and a distrust
of that which is not practical or practicable in a place ravaged by civil strife and war. Fadl Allah is
acutely aware of the exigencies of the Lebanese situation.
529 Fadl Allah is well known for his commentaries in teaching circles on the key supplications of
the Shi'l tradition. He regards them as providing moral strength and possessing immense didactic
value; hence, his comment here. Some of these commentaries have been published by Dir al-Mal&k.

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 3 Incumbent mercy
(Q. 6:12)

Say: To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in the earth?*Say: To

God*. He has prescribed fo r H im self mercy. He will surely gather you to
the Day o f Resurrection o f which there is no doubt. Those who have
forfeited their souls - they do not believe.

Qul li-man m dftl-sam dw dti waVarcji; qul Ixllah; kataba 'aid nafsihi*l-
rahma; la-yajrrui annakum ildyaw m il-qiydm ati la rayba fih;
alladhina khasiru anfusahum fa-hu m Idyu*minun

T has four component parts: God as Owner and Possessor;

h is v e r s e
God as essentially merciful; God as resurrector and gatherer o f His creatures
on an indubitable day, and the relationship between forfeiture of soul and lack
of belief. In term s of qualities, this verse gives rise to discussions o f om nipo­
tence, mercy, justice and hum an free will. Divine m ercy is a key attribute of
God in the Q ur’an. In this verse, the intrinsic nature o f His mercy is underlined
by the unique form ulation o f the relationship of m ercy to God - kataba (ala
nafsihi*l-rahma - which rendered literally is He has inscribed mercy upon His
self.1This phrase is a pivotal point, showing that God the Creator-King and the
resurrecting, all-gathering Judge is essentially merciful.
The universal, unqualified nature of this inscribed mercy has been noted by
several of the commentators; just as G od is unconditionally king and all-gath­
ering Resurrector, so He is unconditionally merciful. In Burusawi’s tafstr we
read: ‘His mercy is absolute and that mercy is for everything. Abu Hayyan also
specifies that the mercy in Q. 6:12 is universal:

Mercy here would appear to be universal, thus subsuming both the good-doer and
the evil-doer in this world, and is an expression of [His] connection to them and
His beneficence to them. For there is no mention of the one associated with [this]
mercy [i.e. the recipient], and so it must be all-embracing in the way that we have
mentioned.

1 No other divine attribute is described through such a formulation in the Qur’an. This phrase
occurs in only one other place in the Qur’an - at 6:54. The intrinsic nature of divine mercy is farther
borne out by the fact that in the fundamental Muslim formula of the basmala, the divine name is
followed by two names of mercy and not one of mercy and one of rigour.

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Od the Nature of the Divine

It is because His mercy is universal that the last part of the verse relates the
unbelief of hum ankind to their loss o f soul. It is not due to a lack o f m ercy that
they lose their souls or have a lack of belief - which, especially for the M utazila,
indicates that a hum an being has freedom to choose to believe o r not. For
Zamakhshari, divine mercy provides proof o f God’s Oneness, thereby facilitat­
ing and enabling belief in Him. Consequently, those who have forfeited their
souls ‘have chosen disbelief and thus they do not believe; in o th er words,
through freely chosen acts that are in contradiction to the divine, they lose their
souls and do not believe.
A nother aspect of divine mercy, highlighted by the com m entators, is that
G od gives chance after chance to His fallible creatures. Even sinners and those
who reject God and His claims upon them (expressed in the doctrine o f taklif
or moral obligation) are given respite from what would be the immediate reper­
cussions of their misdeeds. The final consequence of their rejection of God and
of their misdeeds is postponed to the afterlife, as an expression of divine mercy
towards them . The respite they are given in this world is intended to be a
chance to repent; but on the Day of Resurrection divine justice, fully infused by
divine wisdom, will be meted out. Thus, among others, Tabrisi says: ‘His mercy
lies in His granting them respite until the Day o f Resurrection, so th a t they
might repent.’ However a number o f the commentators, such as AlusI, take this
deferred requital to be a mercy granted specifically to the Muslim com m unity
- an extension of time in which repentance can be effected before th e Day o f
Judgement.
The debate played out in the commentaries also approaches the question o f
the ‘incumbency^ of mercy - that is, w hether G od is somehow obliged o r
impelled to be merciful - as well as what the context o f this mercy and its appli­
cation is. For the Ash‘ari theologians, any ascription of incumbency upon G od
is seen as a violation of His omnipotence, whilst for the Mu‘tazila, any arbitrari­
ness in divine activity violates His justice. Abu Hayyan cites a num ber o f inter­
pretations in favour of understanding this prescribed mercy as divinely
self-imposed. One of his citations states: ‘It is said that He made such [mercy]
obligatory out of favour and munificence, not an obligation o f necessity.’ This
is very close to a statement in Burusawl’s commentary: ‘The m eaning o f His
prescribing mercy for Himself is that He makes it necessary and incum bent as
[an act of] grace and virtue because He transcends having anything really made
incum bent upon Him.’ This interpretation is reiterated, with variations, among
the later commentators, though some do not qualify the incum bency, e.g. in
the Manor commentary: ‘The m eaning thus is that God [...] has m ade it
incum bent upon His Sublime Being to show mercy to His creatures ’
Among the Sufi commentaries on the phrase of mercy, KashanI speaks of

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 Incumbent mercy

God obliging His essence to mercy, which is the very factor of existentiation:
‘It [mercy] is the effusion of goodness and perfection in a way that is com m en­
surate with the predisposition o f the recipient entities. So there is not a single
individual deserving o f the mercy o f existence or perfection but th at he is
granted it upon his becoming deserving of it.* Thus mercy is the gushing forth
of the divine goodness and perfection from the essence into receptacles that are
in a state of readiness to receive this divine influx; their very state of readiness
draws forth the influx.
In their discussions of mercy, a num ber of the commentators refer to the fol­
lowing hadith: ‘W hen God brought creation into being, He inscribed in writing
the phrase: “Verily My mercy precedes (sabaqat) My wrath”.*MaybudI begins
his commentary on this section in full poetic style: ‘In the m inting house of the
Unseen, before God began to create originated beings, He stam ped the dye of
m ercy upon the coin o f His servants’ states with [on the one side] the words
“Verily I am G od” and [on the other] “My m ercy prevails over My w rath”.*
MaybudI goes on to discuss the inscribed mercy as the alpha and omega o f the
incipience, the duration and the final outcome o f all existence.
Alusi cites a num ber of variations of this hadith, such as ‘W hen God origi­
nated creation, He inscribed in a Book near Him, by His hand, for Himself, “My
m ercy precedes My wrath”.* O ther versions state that G od w rote it w ith His
finger (see Tabari, this chapter), while still others state that the Kitdb was placed
either above or below the divine throne. Summing up the meaning of the prece­
dence and prevalence of divine mercy, Alusi suggests that divine mercy is older
in terms o f its connection with creatures and it reaches them more, as well as
being one of the necessary aspects of the divine essence which always effuses
good.
The indubitable Day of Resurrection and the gathering for judgem ent is
much discussed by the commentators with regard both to justice and to mercy.
‘There on the Day of Resurrection all m ankind will stand before God to face
the precise reckoning of [their] accountability and to hope to secure [some­
thing] of His all embracing mercy,’ states Fadl Allah. Most of the commentators
pick up on this, e.g., ‘Abduh and Ri<Ja in the Mandr. ‘Such a gathering will be
for the purpose of reckoning and requiting [creatures] and constitutes an act of
mercy toward all morally obligated individuals, [an act] which precludes chaos,
neglect and the condoning of injustice [in this world] ’
The implementation of divine justice is at the heart of most o f the com m en­
taries on the m atter of the Day of Resurrection. Kashanl’s tafsir departs from
this, as he simply notes the dual nature of the resurrection in keeping with his
herm eneutic of correspondences between the m acro- and micro-cosm ; his
comments on the nature of the resurrection are contained in his Itfildhat.

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Oo the Nature of the Divine

The final component of Q. 6:12 - those who have forfeited their souls, they do
not believe - touches on the relationship between loss of soul and unbelief. Due
to the wording o f the Q uranic phrase, a question o f causality is raised. Is unbe­
lief the consequence of loss o f soul or is it the other way round; and what is the
role o f hum an free will in this matter? RazI gives a categorical Ash'ari p ro ­
nouncement: ‘This [verse] indicates that the preordainm ent o f loss and aban­
donm ent is what induces them to refrain from belief - and such [an
understanding] is the essence of the Sunni school o f th o u g h t’ For his part
Zamakhshari, also a Sunni but belonging to the M u‘tazill theological school,
uses the same quotation to provide a totally different response: ‘W hat is m eant
is that those who have forfeited their souls, according to God’s knowledge, have
chosen disbelief and thus they do not believe.’
K&shani and Alusi understand the dynamic of the phrase in a way similar to
Zamakhshari. However, Kashani and Alusi specify that it is hum an free will
that allows for the choices that lead to a loss of soul: ‘Those who have forfeited
their souls by destroying them in the [indulgence of] desires and transient carnal
desires, and as a result they have become veiled from the enduring truths o f
illumination, exchanging these for the perishing tangibles of darkness, so they
do not believe for that reason.’ In other words, people by their freely chosen acts
destroy their souls and thus do not believe, because their state o f soul renders
belief difficult if not impossible for them.
In the Manor the loss o f soul is explained as ‘the corruption of its natural dis­
position and its failure to find guidance by means of the guiding faculties [...]
which God has bestowed upon if. The com m entary goes on to expound the
prim ary faculties of importance in this regard, the intellect and the will: ‘O ne
who exercises independent reasoning and errs is better than one who blindly
follows those who exercise independent reasoning but arrives at the correct
one.’ Once again, Sunni commentators uphold free will, contrary to Razi’s p re­
viously cited assertion.
Finally, there is Fadl Allah’s statement on the issue of the comprehensiveness
o f divine mercy. Contrary to the universality o f mercy suggested by the verse
itself, he excludes a group o f creatures from the divine mercy. He expounds that
everyone can hope for mercy on the indubitable day,

except for a certain group who are not linked to His mercy through anything; they
are those who do not believe in Him, nor acknowledge His Oneness. They are
those w h o have fo r fe ite d th e ir souls, th e y d o n o t believe. And what loss is greater than
the forfeiture of one’s soul, by forfeiting the only basis [that provides the means]
for his salvation, and that is the mercy of his Lord, that is attached to the path of
faith in life?

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 Incumbent mercy

Fa<Jl Allah thus seems to locate loss of belief before loss of soul, and he implies
that those who reject God reject His mercy, which is the sole means o f salva­
tion. T hus the exclusion from mercy that he m entions is the choice of the
human; it is not God who excludes the individual from His mercy but the indi­
vidual himself. So much is God’s respect for the individual human’s choice that
He does not impose even His mercy on His creatures unless they consent to
receive i t

Muqatil
For Muqatil, divine mercy is related to God’s role as the creator and possessor of the
cosmos. His mercy is open to all including those who fail to recognise Him and believe
in Him, and is manifest in the respite from punishment that they are given until the end
of time, when, following judgement, they will be confined to Hellfire. Muqatil reveals his
concern with eschatology in his reading of divine mercy in the context of the final desti­
nation for believers and unbelievers. The reward for belief and correct practice of the faith
is Paradise, whilst the punishment for unbelief and rejection of the faith is Hellfire. God
in His mercy gives all of humanity the time to consider and reflect upon which faith they
adopt and its consequences. Even if one makes the ‘wron£ choice, it would be contrary
to the dictates of divine mercy to deprive that individual of his life or livelihood; rather,
their punishment will come in the afterlife.

Say, to the disbelievers of Mecca,2 To whom belongs what is in the heavens and
in the earth?, in the way of creatures, to which they replied in [surat] a l-R a d
[Q. 13:16],3 ‘G od’. According to the reading of Ubayy b. Ka‘b and Ibn M as‘ud,
despite their [the disbelievers] denial o f the Resurrection, they still said [that
all that belongs] ‘to God’. Say: To God\ He has prescribedfo r Himself mercy, by
deferring for them their chastisement. A nd so with regard to their denial of the
Resurrection, God sent down [the following]: He will surely gather you to the
Day o f Resurrection - [both] you and past communities - o f which there is no
doubt, in other words, of which there is no uncertainty, meaning [there is no
doubt] that the Resurrection will come to pass. Then He describes these [dis­
believers], saying: Those who have forfeited>meaning [those who have] cheated,
their souls, so they will not believe, meaning that they do not accept the tru th o f
the Resurrection, that it will take place.

2 Muqatil, Tafsiry1,551-2.
3 A good part of this sura entitled al-Rad (thunder) is a creation narrative that explicitly deals
with the relationship of God to the cosmos. The specific verse here in question begins, Say: Who is
the Lord of the heavens and the earth?Say. God.

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On the Nature of the Divine

*• . si

Hud
Hud understands the nature of divine mercy articulated in this verse to be comprehensible
in human terms through the notion of shared prayer'. Prayer is a reciprocal relationship
between a supplicant and an addressee. Just as believers pray to a deity expecting recom ­
pense, so too God prays through the expression of His mercy, in H ud’s quasi-
anthropomorphic account. Prayer thus becomes a universal category. The recourse to
evidence cited from Biblical and Haggadic material is a key feature of early commentary
and does not appear to be problematic duting this period, although it is problematised
from the time of Tabari onwards, and especially in the m odem period. The appropriation
of the Biblical material is made complete through the incorporation of Q uranic citation
within it, hence the inclusion of the key phrase from Q. 7:156.

Say: 'To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth* Say: 'To God9. He has
prescribed for Himself mercy, that is, He has made it [mercy] incum bent [upon
Himself].4
They relate from Hasan [al-Ba$ri] that the children of Israel said to Moses:
‘Ask your Lord for us if He prays, so that we might pray with the prayer of our
Lord.' He said: ‘O children of Israel, fear God if you are believers* God then
revealed to h im : ‘I only sent you to deliver to them [the Message] from Me and
to deliver to Me their response*. He said, ‘O Lord, they have said that which you
have heard. They say: ask your Lord for us if He prays, so that we m ight pray
with the prayer o f our Lord.* He said, ‘Inform them that I do pray, and My
prayer is truly the precedence of My mercy over My wrath, for if it were not so,
they would have been destroyed*.5
They relate from Ibn ‘Abbas regarding His words, huwalladht yu$alli
'alaykum wa mald’ikatuhu; He it is Who blesses you, as [do] His angels [Q. 33:43]:
the prayer ($alat) o f God [upon His servants] is [His] Mercy, while the prayer
{$aldt) o f the angels is to plead [with God] for forgiveness [for believers and
mankind, cf. Q. 40:7, Q. 42:5 respectively].6
4 Hud, Tafsir, 1,516-17.
5 The same narration is given in Muj&hid, Tafsir, 1,212. Thus, God’s mercy ‘intercedes’ on behalf
of His creation, forgiving them their sins (cf. Q. 39:44: liVdhi al-shafaatu jamtan, Intercession belongs
to God entirely).
6 This narration from Ibn 'Abbas, with its definitions of the faldt of God and that of the angels,
throws an interesting light on one of the visionary episodes in Ruzbihin Baqll's (d. 606/1209) life: ’I
saw God leading the angels in prayer' (see Ernst 1996). It is also reminiscent of Ja'far al-$4diq’s
comment on Q. 1:2 (in the Sufi recension of his tafsir in SulamTs IJaqa’iq): ‘He precedes His creation
in praising Himself; and by this precedence of His praise, grace settles upon His creation and they then
have the ability to praise Him’ (see Mayer, forthcoming). Here, in the Qur’&nic phrase glossed in the
Ibn 'Abbis citation, God’s $alat of mercy comes first and thereby His angels’ $alat of intercession for
mankind is made possible: for the prayers of the angels manifest the mercy of God and His grace. There
is one more cross-reference: in Sharaffs commentary, just before the discussion of the fcursi-verse, he
has a citation of how the angels that circumambulate the divine throne ('arsh) do their utmost in
expressing love and help to the believers. See the section of Sharaffs commentary in ch. 2, this volume.

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 Incumbent mercy

As regards His saying, He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, o f
which there is no doubt, whereof there is no uncertainty, those who have forfeited
their souls, they do not believe, in other words, they have forfeited their souls
and have therefore ended up in the Fire.

h r :4 . •‘ » i • • . «• -v U

Qummi
Qumml’s comment on this verse does not seem to be either ‘sectarian* or particularly ShlT
However, he understands the wording of the verse to refer to the compulsory nature of
mercy, as an essential attribute that God makes incumbent upon Himself. This stress
upon God setting up ‘constraints* upon Himself as a result of the notion of a just God, sug­
gests that the early Twelver Shl‘i traditionists had already taken on board the rationalising
theology of Baghdad and that this shift in Shll theology had begun before the formal shift
towards Mutazilism in the eleventh century by the Shi‘i theologians of Baghdad. But the
key context of Qummis explanation is eschatological: divine mercy relates to the judge­
ment of the Day of Resurrection.

He [God] says, say to them :7 To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in the
earth?, then He [gives them the response]8 and says, Say, to them [that it
belongs], to God. He has prescribed fo r Himself mercy. He will surely gather you
to the Day o f Resurrection, meaning that He has made mercy incumbent upon
Himself (awjab al-rahma ‘aid nafsihi).

Tabari
Tabari begins his commentary on this verse by offering an overall interpretation, which
is not supported by the use of any h a d ith but is also not explicitly stated as being his own
opinion. After this, his focus narrows to two main areas. The first of these is the subject
of God’s mercy, for which he cites numerous traditions (including variants from the same
source), two of which explicitly rely on material said by its originator (Salman al-F4risi)
to come from the Torah. These traditions primarily provide more information about the
concept of God’s mercy but include no dogmatic discussion. His use and inclusion of such
isr&’iliyyat is instructive insofar as he finds it non-problematic, as opposed to later con­
demnations of the inclusion of such material. With the exception of briefly discussing a
minor grammatical point in one h a d ith and commenting on the veracity of the isndd of
another, Tabari provides no comment or analysis of any of the material. In contrast, the
second area he focuses on (the verb la -y a jm a 'a n n a k u m . H e w ill surely g a th er y o u ) is unsup­
ported by traditions and is addressed in purely grammatical terms, through which two
opposing readings of the verse’s meaning and consequent views of the degree to which

7 Qummi, Tafsir, 1,194.

8 Literally, ‘He responds to them’.

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On the Nature of the Divine

the Divine is a forgiving God are presented After summarising the alternative readings
of several grammarians, he devotes equal space to his own opinion, according to which
the verse is both an assurance to the faithful and an admonition to those who do not
believe. The eschatological context of mercy is thus established as a central concern. This
view is based on one of the keystones of his approach, interpretation according to the
overt, immediate meaning of the material, and he criticises those who look for meanings
that are not apparent from the literal body of the Qur’&nic text.

[In this verse]9 He [God] is saying to His Prophet M uham m ad: ‘Say, O
Muhammad, to those who ascribe equals to their Lord, “To whom belongs what
is in the heavens and the earth?”’, meaning: to w hom belongs sovereignty
(mulk) over what is in the heavens and the earth?* He [God] then informs them
that this [sovereignty] belongs to God, He W ho has enthralled all things and
subjugated all things through His sovereignty (m ulk) and authority (sultan);
and [it belongs] not to graven images (awthdn) o r [fictitious] rivals (andad),
nor to that which they worship and take for [their] god from among the idols,
[idols] which have no power to benefit themselves, nor ward off themselves any
harm.
As for His saying, He has prescribedfo r Himself mercy, He means that He has
decreed that He [will] be merciful to His servants. He does not hasten to punish
them, and accepts repentance (indba) and penitence (tawba) from them. This
[statement] constitutes an entreaty by God to those who [are wont to] turn away
from Him that they should approach Him with repentance. G od is saying,
‘These [individuals] who ascribe equals to Me, who reject your prophethood,
O Muhammad, if they were to repent and make penitence, I would accept their
repentance, for truly I have decreed for My creation that My mercy embraces
all things’

[In this vein], it is reported from Abu Hurayra that the Prophet said:

When God had completed [the act of] creation He wrote in a Book [the follow­
ing]: ‘Truly My mercy precedes My wrath’.

Salman [al-Farisi] said:10

When God created the heavens and the earth, He [also] created a hundred
mercies, [the extent of] each mercy can fill that [space] which is between the
heaven and the earth. He has [kept] ninety-nine mercies with Him and divided
one mercy amongst [His] creatures. By this [mercy] they are affectionate towards
one another and by it [all] the animals and birds [are able to] find water to drink.
On the Day of Resurrection, God will restrict this [mercy] to the Godfearing and
9 Tabari, Jami' al-baydtt, VII, 154-8.
10 Tabari also mentions a slight variant on the authority of Salman [al-Farisi], which excludes the
phrase ‘and on account of it the animals and birds find water to drink’.

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 Incumbent mercy

He will give them in addition the [other] ninety-nine [mercies].

Salman [al-FarisI] said:11

We find two alternatives in the Torah: God created the heavens and the earth,
then He created a hundred mercies; or He made a hundred mercies before
making creation and then created creation. [Either way] He placed one mercy
amongst them [His creation] and retained ninety-nine with Himself. He [Salman]
said, ‘By this [mercy] they [human beings] will be compassionate, generous, affec­
tionate to one another and call on each other. Also by this [mercy] the she-camel
yearns [after its calf], the cow lows, the ewe bleats, the birds fly in flocks, the fish
swim in shoals in the sea; but on the Day of Resurrection God will restore this
mercy to those [ninety-nine] others with Him. Yet His [own] mercy is more excel­
lent and more embracing’

Al-ITakam b. Aban said that ‘Ikrima said:12

When God has concluded the judgement of His creatures, He shall bring out a
Book (kitdb) from beneath the throne (‘arsh) in which [the following is written]:
‘Truly My mercy comes before My wrath, and I am the Most Merciful of those who
show mere/. He [the transmitter] continued, ‘Then there will exit from the Fire
the equivalent of [the number of] the inhabitants of Paradise* (mithl ahl al-janna);
or, he said, ‘twice [the number of] the inhabitants of Paradise* (mithld ahl al-
janna). In fact, I am sure that he said, ‘twice [the number]* (mithld), although it is
clear that mithl, ‘the equivalent of, is [what is] written here.13‘Al-fjakam pointed
to his neck [to intimate that such individuals were]: God’s ffeedmen. Then
someone said to ‘Ikrima: ‘O Abu ‘Abd Allah, [but] what about where God says
They will desire to exit from the Fire, but they will not exit therefrom; and theirs will
be an everlasting chastisement [Q. 5:37]?* He [‘Ikrima] replied, ‘Woe to you! The
ones [of whom you speak] are those inhabitants of it who will [always be] its
inhabitants.*14

11 Tabari follows this with a variant istt&d from Salmon, except that he does not say in it that the
birds will fly in flocks or that the fishes will swim in shoals in the sea. Two identical reports that
follow on the authority of T^wus are shortened versions of this without the mention of the Torah.
TWo shortened versions quoted on the authority of‘Abd Allih b. ‘Amr with the addition that ‘on the
Day of Judgement, He will move the mercy which He had sent down to the people of the earth and
unite it with [the others] that are with Him and He will place it within the hearts of the people of
Paradise and for the people of Paradise’
12 Tabari follows this with another report from ‘Ikrima, similar in content but with a variation in
the isndd.
13 It is possible that the third transmitter Ma‘mar [b. Rishid] was reporting what he had heard
al-Hakam say from memory, but that he was also consulting his notebook of written hadiths.
14 In other words, the ones meant by the verse in question are those who will never leave Hell.
The question of whether Hellfire punishment would be everlasting for all those in it was a contro­
versial one in early Islam, especially in the first half of the second/eighth century. Many early the­
ologians as well as traditionists were opposed to the idea that anyone would be able to exit from Hell
once condemned to it. For the majority of the Mu'tazila it was a simple mathematical process: if

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Hamm am b. M unabbih said:

I heard Abu Hurayra say, The Messenger of God said, “When God completed cre­
ation He wrote ‘My mercy comes before My wrath* in a document which He has
with Him above the throne ('arsh)7

Abu’l-M ukhariq Zuhayr b. Salim said:

‘Umar [b. al-Khaflab] asked Ka‘b [al-Abbar], ‘What was the first thing that God
originated among His creation?* and Ka‘b replied, ‘God inscribed upon a docu­
ment, inscribing not with pen or ink, but with His finger - [words that] chrysolite,
pearls and precious gems15 recite: “I am God, there is no god except Me. My
mercy comes before My wrath** *

Reports on the interpretation of His words He will surely gather you to the
Day o f Resurrection, o f which there is no doubt. The [particle] 1dm w here He
says la-yajma'annakum, He will surely gather you, is the 1dm o f oaths. The Arab
grammarians disagree on the reasons for this. Some Kufan gram m arians used
to say, ‘If you wish you may take the [word] rahtma, “mere/*, to be the end o f
the [preceding] statement, whereafter a new [independent] sentence begins
[with] la-yajma1annakum! He [the grammarian] continued: ‘But [alternatively]
if you wish you could take it as an accusative [direct object governed by the pre­
ceding verb]; in other words, “He prescribed [that]... He will surely gather you”,
as He says elsewhere: Your Lord has prescribed for Himself mercy, that whoever
o f you does evil unwittingly (kataba rabbukum ‘aid nafsihi al-rahma, annahu man
eamila minkum su'an bi-jahdlatin) [Q. 6:54] intending [by this to say] “He has
prescribed that whoever of you does [evil unwittingly]”.* He continued, ‘The
Arabs consider it permissible that [certain] particles [for oaths] may form an
apodosis (jawdb) to the oath clause: these are an and the lam [of oaths]. Thus

according to your final balance of deeds you were condemned to Hell, that was final and you would
never exit therefrom. Any interference with such a process was an infringement of one of God’s most
fundamental attributes, 'adl (justice). However, such categorical judgements created a theological
inconsistency in the mind of some ahl al-hadith, traditionists, as it meant that no value would be
attached to the profession of, or even belief in, the shahada (there is no god except God) in the case
of a person who had no good deeds to his name; surely, it was thought, such a person was still prefer­
able (in his affirmation of the existence of God) than an outright disbeliever or idolater? The concept
of a temporary Hellfire punishment (purgatorial in a sense) presented itself as the most reasonable
solution to the dilemma of Muslim grave sinners. In other words, not all those who go to Hell in the
Hereafter will be in it forever. God’s mercy would intervene to ensure that the majority of creation
will have been rehabilitated; it was a short step from here to suggest that Hellfire would eventually
be extinguished altogether. For a detailed study of this question and the controversy, see Hamza
2002; in brief, see Feras Hamza, ‘Afterlife: Islamic Concepts, ER2, 1,159-63.
15 Ydqut covers precious gems of the order of sapphires, rubies and green corundums. Gems and
crystals have profound spiritual significances. As noted in the discussions of the divine scat and
throne in ch. 2, the throne ('arsh) is said to be made o f‘green crystal’ (see ch. 2, Sharafi citing
DaylamI on Q. 2:255).

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 Incumbent mercy

they m ight say arsaltu ilayhi an yaquma o r arsaltu ilayhi la-yaqumanna! He

adds, ‘This is the case [with] His words, Then it seemed to them [best], after they
had seen the signs [of his innocence], that they should imprison him [la-yasjunun-
nahu) fo r a while* [Q. 12:35].16 A nd this is [a construction that is] found fre­
quently in the Q u ra n . Do you not see that if you were to say badd lahum an
yasjunuhu [without the particle] that this would [also] be correct?* Some Basran
grammarians used to say that in la-yajma*annakum the 1dm has accusative vow-
elling [Id] because the expression kataba, ‘He prescribed [that]* is as if He had
said, ‘By God: He will surely gather you (wa'llahi la-yajma*'annakum)9.17
The correct report on this, in my opinion, is that His words kataba *ald naf-
sihTl-rahma constitute the end [of that clause] and that His statement la-yaj­
ma*annakum (He will surely gather you) is the predicate o f a [new] subject, in
which case the meaning of what is being said would be: ‘God will indeed gather
you, [all] you who ascribe equals to God, on the Day o f Resurrection, of which
there is no doubt, so that He may requite you for your disbelief in Him.*
My reason for preferring this opinion to the one that makes kataba govern
la-yajma*annakum is that His saying kataba already governs al-rahma. Thus, it
is not possible for it [this verb], once it has been used with rabma, to [also]
govern la-yajma*annakum, since it cannot govern two direct objects [at the
same tim e]. If someone were to say: W hat about if a person were to read kataba
rabbukum *ala nafsihi al-rahmata with the [next w ord having the] voweiling
annahu [Q. 6:54]? If one were to read it thus, anna would be explicative o f al-
rahma, expounding upon it. For the meaning o f what is being said is: ‘He has
prescribed for Himself mercy, to the effect that He will be merciful to those ser­
vants o f His who com m it sins unwittingly and [that] He will pardon [them].*18
O ne may expound upon [the expression] ‘m e re /; indeed, one may explain its
import through those things attributed to i t the statement ‘He will surely gather
you to the Day of Resurrection* cannot be attributed to [an expression] of
‘m e re /, and so constitute an explication thereof. However, if it must be so, then

16 This verse refers to the imprisonment of Joseph following the incident in which the noble ladies
of the Egyptian court are distracted by Joseph’s beauty at a banquet, to the extent that they allow the
knives they are holding to slip and so cut themselves. The effect of Joseph’s beauty on the women
around him is such that he is imprisoned. The incident is mentioned at Q. 12:31. See Reuven
Firestone, ‘YOsuf, El2, XI, 352-4; J. T. P. de Bruijn, ‘Yflsuf wa Zulaykha*. EP, XI, 360-1; Tabari,
Ta’rikh, I, 371-414 (for the English, see Brinner 1987,148-85); Kis&l, Qi$a$, in Thackston 1978,
176; Goldman 1995; Bernstein 2006.
17 Thus Tabari cites two opinions on the use of the particle la, in a slightly convoluted way. To
summarise: the Idm might indicate a break in the phrasing, meaning that the second phrase is inde­
pendent of the first A second option is that the ‘tom’can be read as interchangeable with the particle
anna!an, in which case it effectively acts as a conjunction meaning ‘that*.
,a Tabari’s preferred reading of Q. 6:54, however, is with innahu and not annahu. In this he
accords with most of the qurrd’of Basra and Kufa, as opposed to the Meccans: Tabari, Jdmi' al-baydn,
VII, 208.

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On the Nature of the Divine

it can only be governed as an accusative by an implicit repetition o f [the verb]

kataba .l9 There is no need to discuss this [alternative] further, for it would be
resorting to something that does not explicitly exist [in the text o f the Q u r’an].
As for His words, o f which there is no doubt, that is [saying]: there is no
uncertainty regarding this [eventuality], namely, that God will gather you to
the Day of Resurrection and assemble you all before Him , w hereupon every
individual am ong you will be given the requital for the good or the evil he did.

Regarding the interpretation o f His saying, those who have fo rfeited their
souls, they do not believe. By His words, those who haveforfeited their souls, God
means those who ascribe graven images and idols as equals of Him. He is thus
saying, ‘God will surely gather those who have forfeited their souls; in o ther
words, those who have destroyed their souls and cheated them [of their would-
be reward] by claiming that God has rivals and equals. Thus they have ruined
them by making God’s anger and painful punishment at the [Final] Return nec­
essary in their case. The basic sense of al-khasdry‘loss’, is al-ghabny‘fraud’; one
says, in this respect, ‘So-and-so suffered a loss in the sale’ to mean that he had
been defrauded.20 Indeed we have expounded upon this in another place,
which avails us of the need to repeat it [here]. As for the [grammatical] status
of alladhina where He says alladhina khasiru anfusahum, it is accusative, as it
refers to the [suffixed pronoun] -kum in la-yajma1annakum, explaining it. So
those who have forfeited their souls are the very individuals addressed by His
words ‘He will surely gather you’. As for His words they do not believe; by their
destruction o f their souls and their defrauding it of its [would-be] lot, they do
not believe, in other words, they do not affirm God’s Oneness (Id yuwahhiduna
Alldh)y nor do they accept the truth of His promise and threat, nor do they
affirm the prophethood of Muhammad.

Maybudi
Nawbat III
Maybudi s commentary on this verse illustrates some typical features of the rhetorical style
he has adopted for the N a w b a t III sections of the K a sh fa l-a srd r. We note first his use of
metaphors, such as the 'minting house of the Unseen, the ‘market day of the believers
(i.e., the Resurrection) and the ‘garment of mere/; and second, his introduction of
dialogue, in this case a touching appeal which Muhammad makes to God for His mercy,
followed by God’s reassuring response.21The tone in which this dialogue has been written

19 In other words, ‘He prescribed (kataba) for Himself mercy; [He decreed (kataba)} that He will
surely gather you to the Day of Resurrection.’
20 Tabari cites a poetic shahid from the Umayyad poet al-A‘sha to indicate this sense of khasar.

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 Incumbent mercy

gives the impression of an intimate relationship between God and His Prophet, and this
will be seen again later in Maybudfs commentary on surat al-Ikhldf. The commentary on
this verse ends with a heartfelt prayer, which Maybudi exhorts his reader or listener to
offer to God.

He has prescribed fo r Himself mercy

In the m inting house of the Unseen,22 before God began to create originated
beings, He stamped the dye of mercy upon the coin o f His servants* states with
[on one side] the words Verily I am God [Q. 20:14],23 and [on the other], ‘My
mercy prevails over My wrath*.24 Tomorrow on the day when all will be gath­
ered at the bazaar o f the resurrection, our lord [M uhammad] will call out to
God:

O [Lord] and King! They are just a handful of sinners! Allow me to clothe them
with the garment of Your mercy. For You have said, We have not sent you except as
a mercy unto all the worlds [Q. 21:107). O God! It is market day25 for these beggars.
When we were capturing them with the lasso of calling them [to the Faith] we
made them many promises. O God! Do not shame Muhammad before this num­
berless assembly. Fulfil that promise I made to them of Your mercy and generosity.
For You Yourself have said, O My servants who have been prodigal against them­
selves. Do not despair of Gods mercy [Q. 39:53].

Then from the court of divine majesty the call of magnanimity will come: ‘Your
people can only be in one of three situations: either they are believers, or
mystics or sinners. If they are believers, desirous o f Paradise, behold, here is our
Paradise. If they are mystics desirous of seeing Me, behold! the vision of Me. If
they are sinners desirous of O ur mercy, then behold! O ur mercy and forgive­
ness* The way for [God*s] servant is that from now on he should begin to praise
and thank Him, and in humility and utter helplessness, and in a state of abject
despondency26 should keep praying:

O You Who are nearer to us than we [are]! O You Who are kinder to us than we!

21 Muhammad's appeal for God’s mercy in this passage is an allusion to the Islamic tradition that
it will be he, rather than any other prophet, who will intercede for the believers at the Resurrection
(see Bukhari, $ a b ih , VI, b d b a l - Q u r d n , h a d ith no. 3. Hence, one of the epithets of Muhammad is al-
S h a fi ('the Intercessor).
22 K a sh fy III, 310-11.
23 In n i a n d A lld h : the words spoken by God to Moses from the burning bush.
24 This fyadith q u d si is included on the authority of Abu Hurayra in Nawawfs A r b a 'u n al-qudsiyya ,
for which see Ibrahim and Johnson-Davies 1980, no. 1.
25 This metaphor was sometimes used in Persian literature to mean the Resurrection.
26 In other words, the servant should not expect any good from himself but should have total and
absolute hope in God’s unfailing mercy: for as Maybudi goes on to point out, nothing good comes
from us but all good comes from God. A soul is good not because of itself but because of the divine
goodness that shines through it; and it is blessed with, or brought to this state of goodness by, divine
goodness.

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On the Nature of the Divine

O You W ho favoured us without us,27 through Your generosity, not by o u r deserv­

ing, n o r because o f any o f o u r acts. You did not give us the burden {of trust]
because o f our capacity;28 n o r were Your dealings with us what we deserved, nor
d id we have the strength to receive Your favour ( minnat). W hatever we d id was a
loss to us. W hatever You did rem ains for us. W hatever You did for us, You did
spontaneously [out o f Your essential mercy] not because o f us.29

Z am ak h sh ari
Zamakhsharfs commentary on this verse is entirely theological and expresses Mu'tazili
conceptions of God’s justice Cadi) as defined by human free will. God has pledged
Himself to do good for those of His creation that deserve it, but will recompense those
who choose infidelity as they deserve. However, as God is essentially good and just (as
dictated by Mu'tazili theology), He has furnished humanity with proofs of His existence
in the form of the world around us. Hum an reason dictates that this must have been
created by something, and thus reason provides the key to our salvation by facilitating
our recognition of the divine. One aspect of divine mercy in the verse, then, is the provi­
sion of a cosmological proof of and an argument for God’s existence, which humanity can
discern through the use of their rational and perceptive faculties.

To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in die earth? is a [rhetorical] question
m eant as a rebuke,30 and Say: T o G od\ is an affirmation for them; in other
words, ‘it belongs to God; there is no disagreement between you and I [on this
issue], and you cannot ascribe a single thing therein to [anyone] o th er than
Him’. He has prescribedfor Himself mercy, that is to say, He has made it incum ­
bent upon Himself as He guides you to knowledge o f Him. Moreover, He has
set up for you proofs (adilla) of His Oneness (tawhid), [proofs] by which you
[are able to] acknowledge Him through the creation o f the heavens and the
earth. He then threatens them [with punishm ent in the Hereafter] for their
neglecting to contemplate [such proofs] and for their ascription of partners to
Him that have no power to create anything, by saying: He will surely gather you
to the Day o f Resurrection, w hereupon He will requite you for your ascription
27 T h e c r e a t i o n o f h u m a n s o c c u r s i n tw o s ta g e s : t h e f ir s t in t h e im m a t e r i a l w o r ld o f p o t e n t i a l i t y ;
t h e s e c o n d w h e n t h e y ‘fa ll’ i n t o t h e m a t e r i a l , p h e n o m e n a l w o r l d o f t h i s life. M a y b u d i r e f e r s h e r e t o
G o d ’s f a v o u r b e i n g b e s t o w e d b e f o r e w e e v e n c o m e i n t o t h e p h e n o m e n a l w o r ld .
2* T h i s is a n a ll u s i o n t o Q . 3 3 :7 2 : We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the moun­
tains, but they refused to carry it; and man carried it. T h e t r u s t is t r a d i t i o n a l l y i n t e r p r e t e d t o m e a n
o b e d i e n c e (fa a) a n d t h e c a r r y i n g o u t o f o b l i g a t o r y d u t i e s (fara’id) a s p r e s c r i b e d b y r e l i g i o n .
A c c o r d i n g t o Q u s h a y r i ( Lat&'ifI I I , 1 7 3 ), amdna is u p h o l d i n g w h a t is o b l i g a t o r y a c c o r d i n g t o t h e
p r i n c i p l e s (u $ u /) a n d a p p l i c a t i o n s [furu<
) offiqh, o r i t is tawhid in f a i th ( ‘aqdan) a n d k e e p i n g t h e
l i m i t s {hifz al-hudud) in e n d e a v o u r s (jahdan). M a y b u d i ( Kashf V I I I , 1 0 1 ) i n t e r p r e t s amdna s i m p l y
a s lo v e .
29 T h a t is t o s a y , n o t b e c a u s e w e d e s e r v e d it.
30 Z a m a k h s h a r i , Kashshdf, I I , 7 - 8 .

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 Incumbent mercy

of partners [to H im ].31 (As for) His statem ent, Those who have forfeited their
souls: this may either be dependent [on the previous clause] as a statement of
censure, or independent. In other words, [by ‘those to be gathered on the Day
o f Resurrection*] He means ‘those who have forfeited their souls; or [if it is an
independent clause what is m eant is that] you are the ones who have forfeited
their souls’. If you were to object, saying ‘How can their disbelief be the result
o f their loss [of their souls], when it should be the other way ro u n d ? I would
reply that what is m eant is those who have forfeited their souls according to
God’s [pre-eternal] knowledge, for they have chosen disbelief and thus they do
not believe*.32

‘ '. ’•* * . *• •*• •• . '•/ . "• !‘ *

J a b ris i
The issue of unbelievers and the day of judgement, brought out implicitly by these various
commentaries on the ‘m e re / verse, is much more salient in Tabrisi’s exegesis. He reasons
that God necessarily gives warning of a Judgement Day, even though it might be supposed
that such a cautioning will fall on deaf ears in the case of the unbelievers and polytheists.
But that, he surmises, is part of God’s mercy. God does not deny even unbelievers the
chance to access His mercy. He provides them with the opportunity, through the contem­
plation of creation around them and His very words, to repent their sins and their disbe­
lief, before death overtakes them. Truth is truth, as Tabrisi tells us, and God being al-haqq
is obliged to reveal it to hum ankind, regardless of whether they acknowledge it or not.
However, His mercy in the case of unbelievers extends beyond this exposition of truths,
for He is merciful towards them by allowing them respite in this world, by not punishing
them instantly, and by permitting them the acquisition of material comforts to the same
extent as devout believers. It is only in the next life that God is obliged to expose His
justice, by rewarding believers and punishing unbelievers.

Syntax (i^db)
Al-Akhfash said:33 Alladhina khasiru anfusahum ( Those who have forfeited
31 T h i s p a s s a g e is a n i l l u s t r a t i o n o f t h e M u 't a z ill d o c t r i n e o f t h e p r o m i s e a n d t h e t h r e a t (al-wa‘d
wal-wa'id), o n e o f th e 'fiv e p r i n c ip l e s ’ ( u $ u / khamsa) o f t h e i r th e o l o g y . S e e U lr i c h R u d o lp h , ‘a l - w a 'd
w a ’l - w a ‘I d \ EP, X I , 6 - 7 ; R u d o l p h 1 9 9 7 ,3 4 3 ff; H o u r a n i 1 9 7 1 , 121fF; S c h m i d t k e 1 9 9 1 ,2 2 3 ff; in d e x t o
TG, s.v . ‘a l - w a 'd ’. S in n e r s w ill b e p u n i s h e d u n le s s t h e y r e p e n t , a n a c t t h a t m a y g a i n t h e m t h e i n t e r ­
c e s s io n o f t h e P r o p h e t t h r o u g h w h ic h t h e y w ill b e fo r g iv e n t h e i r s i n s a s G o d , w h o is a Ju s t G o d , m u s t
a c c e p t t h e i r r e p e n t a n c e ( s e e ‘A b d a l- J a b b S r , Mughni, X IV , 3 3 5 - 7 ) .
32 T h i s r e f le c ts o n e o f t h e c o r e b e lie f s t h a t d e f i n e M u 't a z ili th e o lo g y , t h e b e l i e f in f r e e d o m o f i n d i ­
v i d u a l w ill. W h e r e a s i n A s h 'a r i t h e o l o g y , G o d t h e O m n i p o t e n t is a t t r i b u t e d w ith d e t e r m i n i s m , a n d
h u m a n f a te i s m a p p e d o u t b e f o r e t h e y a r e b o m , t h e M u 't a z i l a b e l i e v e d t h a t t h e O m n i p o t e n t G o d
g iv e s i n d i v i d u a l s t h e f r e e d o m t o c h o o s e h o w t o b e h a v e . H e n c e , b y c h o o s i n g i n f i d e l i t y - a f a c t o f
w h ic h G o d i n H is tr a n s c e n d e n t k n o w le d g e is aware - t h o s e w h o d o n o t b e lie v e in G o d h a v e fo r f e ite d
t h e i r s o u l s t o h e ll. S e e D m i t r y F r o lo v , ‘F r e e d o m a n d P r e d e s t i n a t i o n ’, E Q , II , 2 6 7 - 7 1 ; S c h w a r z 1 9 6 7 ;
J u rjin i, Ta‘riflt, 1 5 1 - 2 ; v a n E s s 1 9 7 7 ; J o s e f v a n E s s , ‘a l - k a d a r i y y a , EP, IV , 3 6 8 - 7 2 ; L o u is G a r d e t ,
‘a l - K a d i ’ w a ’l-fc a d a r’, EP, IV , 3 6 5 - 7 ; R a h b a r 1 9 6 0 ; W a t t 1 9 7 3 ,8 2 - 1 1 8 .
33 S e e P A , a l- A k h f a s h .

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their souls) substitutes [syntactically] for the [suffixed th ird-person plural

pronoun] -kum in la-yajm aannakum . O n the other hand, Zajjaj said th at it
[this clause] is independent, functioning like a subject, the predicate of which
is fa-hum Id yu ’m inun (they do not believe), because [the im port of] la-yaj-
m a a n n a ku m subsumes all creatures that have forfeited th eir souls. O thers
have said that the lam of la-yajma'annakum is the lam o f oaths, so that kataba
*ald nafsihi al-rahma would be one complete statement, after which He begins
a new sentence with la-yajma*annakum, m eaning ‘By G od, He will surely
gather y o u \ It is also possible that la-yajma*annakum substitutes [syntacti­
cally] for al-rahma, an explication of it, because after He said that your Lord
has perscribed for H im self mercy, He explains th at His m ercy lies in His
granting them respite until the Day of Resurrection, so that they might repent
[of their disbelief].

Meaning (macnd)
God then addresses His Prophet saying, Say, O Muhammad, to these disbeliev­
ers: To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in the earth? Does it belong to
God, He W ho created them, or to the idols? If they respond to you saying, ‘to
God’, [then that is fine]; otherwise, Say, you, To God. In other words, the pos­
session of them, the creation o f them and the disposal o f them according to
how He wills, [all o f that] belongs to Him. He has prescribed fa r Himself mercy,
that is, He has made it incum bent upon Himself that He bestows graces upon
His creatures. It is also said to mean: He has made it incum bent upon Himself
to reward those who obey Him; or, He has made it incum bent upon Himself
to be merciful [to them] by deferring [dealing with] His servants and granting
them respite so that they may make amends for what they have been lax about
and repent o f their acts of disobedience. It is also said [to mean] that He has
made it incum bent upon H im self to be merciful to the com m unity o f
M uhamm ad by not punishing them when they deny [His truths], as He p u n ­
ished those before them of past com m unities and bygone generations upon
their denials, but [instead] to defer them to the Day o f Resurrection - as
reported by Kalbl.
He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, means He will surely defer
the gathering of you to the Day of Resurrection, so that this becomes an expli­
cation o f‘m ere/, just as we have stated. That is to say that the intended meaning
is that the disobedient one will be granted respite in order to repent. It is said
that this is an argument against those who reject [the truth of] the Raising [from
the grave] {al-ba*th) and the Resurrection (al-nushur). In other words, He is
saying: He will surely gather you, to the Day [the truth of] which you have
rejected, as you m ight say ja m a tu h a u la ’i ild ha’ula’ (I have gathered these

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with those), meaning that He will bring together the first and the last o f you,
generation after generation, to the Day o f Resurrection, the one o f which there
is no doubt (la rayba fih). It is also said that it means: He will surely gather these
polytheists who have forfeited their souls upon this Day, which they deny and
in which they disbelieve - as reported by al-Akhfash. One may [then] ask, ‘How
is it [meaningful] that He should warn the polytheists of resurrection when they
do not [even] believe in it? The response would be [to say] th at such [a
warning] is required to force on them [the truth of Resurrection], and also [it
should be said] that G od m entions this [warning] shortly after [mentioning]
the proof [of its truth].34 One might also ask, ‘how does He completely preclude
doubt by saying o f which there is no doubt, when the disbeliever is already in
doubt of it? The response would be [to say] that tru th is truth, regardless of
whether a liar doubts it [or not]. But also [it should be said that] proofs elimi­
nate uncertainty and doubt. [Now] the graces o f this world embrace the good-
doer and the evil-doer alike, and yet there must be an abode in which the
good-doer is distinguished from the evil-doer; it is also correct [to say] that the
moral obligation [to observe the precepts o f religion] (al-taklif)35 is an intim a­
tion (ta‘ri(/) of [the reality of] reward [in the Hereafter]. If such a reward cannot
be delivered in this world - given that it [the reward] should be free o f defects
and thus cannot be associated with m oral obligation, since m oral obligation
can never be devoid of hardship [and thus moral lapse] - then there must be
another abode [in which this reward will be given]. Moreover, the granting [to
humans] o f the ability to act unjustly without the possibility o f requital [for the
person wronged] in the here and now and the sending dow n o f illnesses
without [obvious] due cause and w ithout the exaction of compensation in the
here and now, compels reason (‘aql) to deduce that there m ust exist another
abode in which compensation is given and justice is served against the w rong­
doer on behalf o f the person wronged.
Those who have forfeited their souls, that is, [those] who have destroyed it [the
soul] through [their] disbelief and obstinacy; they do not believe, that is, they do
not affirm truth.

34 T h e p r o o f b e i n g t h a t t o H i m b e l o n g s a ll t h a t is i n t h e h e a v e n s a n d t h e e a r t h .
35 C f. D a n ie l G i m a r e t , ‘T a k l i f , El2, X , 1 3 8 - 9 : i n t h e o l o g i c a l a n d le g a l v o c a b u la r y , t h e t e r m taklif
is u s e d t o r e f e r t o t h e i m p o s i t i o n o n t h e p a r t o f G o d o f o b li g a ti o n s o n H is c r e a t u r e s , o f s u b j e c t i n g
t h e m t o a la w ; c f. S c h a c h t 1 9 6 4 ,1 2 4 . T h e t e r m i t s e l f is a l m o s t d e f in ite ly d e r i v e d f r o m t h e Q u r ’a n (Q .
2 :2 8 6 ) . A c c o r d i n g t o t h e M u 't a z i l i c o n c e p t i o n , taklif is a n a c t o f d i v i n e g r a c e t o a ll o w t h e m o r a l l y
c o m m is s io n e d t o a c t a c c o r d i n g t o t h e d i c t a t e s o f r e a s o n . S e e t h e d i s c u s s i o n o n al-Ja$$A$ (d . 3 7 0 /9 8 0 )
i n R e in h a r t 1 9 9 5 , 4 5 - 7 , 8 2 ; I b n a l- M u rta d & , Tabaq&t, 1 1 8 ; B e r n a r d 1 9 8 5 ,6 2 3 - 3 5 .

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Although he does briefly cite the theological views of others in his commentary on this
verse, JUzI is predominantly concerned with his own interpretation of the verse through
reason (bil-ray ) and through grammatical analysis of the phrases of the verse. He begins
his discussion with a philosophical approach, according to which the verse is proof of
God's absolute control over creation, their origins and their potential, and was sent down
as an example of divine anticipation of questions about God’s nature. Having dem on­
strated the proofs of His omnipotence, God then informs His servants of His beneficence
and mercy. According to Razfs interpretation, God’s mercy would seem to be the result
of divine choice, since God could have simply chosen not to act mercifully. The remainder
of the exegesis is devoted to trying to explain just what this mercy entails. Sometimes we
are told that this mercy is the fact that God does not hasten to punish people in this world,
as soon as they have deserved punishm ent through sin, so that they have a chance to
repent before death. Elsewhere we are told that God’s mercy is the very fact that there is
a Day of Resurrection that dissuades many people from wrongdoing. Were it not for this
Return to a Reckoning with God, humans would have no concern for any moral princi­
ples or ethical behaviour.

There are a num ber o f issues (masd’il) concerning this verse.36

I. First issue. Know that the purpose of this verse's affirmation is to affirm the
[proofs for] establishing that there is a Creator, to affirm [the tru th of) the
Return [al-maad) and to affirm [the truth of] prophethood. This may be elu­
cidated by the fact that the state o f the upper cosmos and the lower cosm os
demonstrate that all of these bodies are characterized by attributes, the oppo­
sites and counterparts of which they could [also] have been characterized by.
In which case, the fact that each of these physical parts is specified by a partic­
ular attribute has to be because the wise and powerful Creator has specifically
assigned that [part] that particular attribute. This proves that the cosmos
Cdlam) and all that is in it is owned by God.
Once this [point] is established, one can then establish that He has the power
to effect a re-creation (fdda), a gathering (hashr) and a Resurrection (nashr).
For the initial construction [of the cosmos] took place precisely because He has
the power to realise all possibilities and has knowledge o f all that may be
known. Such power and knowledge cannot come to an end: thus, it becomes
necessary [to hold] that [God's power of] re-creation is valid.
It is also established that G od is a king who is [necessarily] obeyed, and a
king who is obeyed [so] is one who enjoys the power to com m and and forbid
his servants; in which case a messenger (muballigh) is necessarily required. This
shows that the mission of prophets (<anbiyd*) and messengers (rusul) from God
36 RizI, Mafitih al-ghayb, XII, 164-6.

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to creation is not prohibited. It is clear that this verse fully establishes these
three claims. Having already m entioned these three issues, G od proceeds to
m ention this verse, so that it may serve as an affirmation of all those claims, in
the way we have explained; and God knows best.

II. Second issue. G o d s words, Say:‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and
in the earth?'constitute a question, and His words, Say: To God\ is the response.
Hence, God commanded him [the Prophet] to pose the question first and then
to give the response. Such [an approach] is appropriate in a context where the
response is so obvious that no one intent on denying it would be able to deny
it, nor any one intent on refuting it would be able to refute i t Since we have elu­
cidated that the vestiges (df/idr) of inception (/juduth) and contingency (imkdn)
are apparent in the essences o f all physical bodies and in all o f their attributes,
it becomes inevitable that one acknowledge that they in their entirety belong
to God, His possession, the object of His disposal (ta$arruf) and His power.
Undoubtedly, He com m anded him [the Prophet] to pose the question first and
give the response second so that this may prove that the affirmation o f [the
truth of] such a statem ent is one that cannot be refuted in any way at all.
Moreover, the people37 [of Mecca] already acknowledged that the entire
cosmos belongs to God and is His dominion, subject to His disposal, under His
subjugation and His power, in this [very] sense, as He says, I f you were to ask
them, ' Who created the heavens and the earth?* They would surely say, God*
[Q. 31:25].
Then God, having illustrated in this way His absolute divinity, power and
all-pervasive regulation in the world o f creatures, universally, complements it
with His absolute mercy and benevolence towards creatures, saying He has pre­
scribedfor Himself mercy. Thus it is as though He were saying that He would not
be content with H im self not to bestow [His] graces nor yet to promise them;
rather He is always bestowing [His mercy] and always prom ises to bestow
[more] graces in the future. Nevertheless, He has prescribed for Himself that
[mercy] and has made it incum bent [upon Himself] as an obligation of grace
and generosity.
Different opinions have been given as regards what this ‘m e re / entails. Some
have said that this mercy is that He grants them respite during their lifetimes,
sparing them punishment by annihilation, and does not hasten to requite them
in this world. [Others have] said that what is m eant is that He has prescribed
for H im self mercy for those who desist from denying messengers, repent [of
their erroneous ways] and turn [to God], believing in these [messengers] and
accepting their divinely revealed laws (s h a n a ).

37 H e r e , t h e t e r m qawm r e f e r s t o t h e P ro p h e t* s a u d i e n c e , p r i m a r i l y Q u r a y s h .

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Know also that m any reports have been transm itted with regard to the
extent o f God’s mercy, reported from the Prophet, who said: ‘W hen God com ­
pleted creation, He inscribed in a Book: My m ercy shall com e before My
wrath*. If [one were to say] ‘m e re / means the will for good, whereas ‘wrath’ is
the will for revenge, on the face o f it this report would entail that one of these
two wills precede the other. [Now] anything that is preceded [by another] is
secondary (muhdath)> which in turn would m ean that G od’s will (irada) [for
revenge] is secondary.38 We should say that by this precedence is m eant a
precedence in term s o f quantity and not in term s o f the sequence of o ccu r­
rence.39
Moreover, it is reported from Salman [al-FarisI] that when God created the
heavens and the earth, He also created a hundred mercies [...].40
As regards His saying, He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection,
there are a num ber of points:
1) The lam where He says la-yajma*annakum is the lam of an implicit oath.
The implication being: ‘By God! He will surely gather you’.
2) They differ as to whether these words (a) constitute the subject [of a new
sentence], or (b) are semantically connected to what came before. Some have
said that they constitute the subject [of a new sentence], because God has
[already] illustrated His absolute divinity by saying, Say: ‘To whom belongs all
that is in the heavens and in the earthV. Say: ‘To God*; then illustrated that He is
merciful to them in this world by granting them respite and sparing [them] the
punishm ent of annihilation, making it clear that He would gather them to the
Day of Resurrection - and that is why His words, He has prescribed mercy fo r
Himself mean that He grants them respite, whereas His words, He will surely
gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, mean that He does not give them respite
[forever] but will assemble them and reckon with them for all their actions. As
regards the latter opinion (b), that these words are semantically connected to
the preceding clause, the implication is: your Lord has prescribed for Himself
mercy and He has [also] prescribed for Himself that He will surely gather them
to the Day of Resurrection.
It is also said that where He [effectively] says ‘your Lord has prescribed for
Himself m e re /, it is as though there followed an implicit question, what is that
mercy? To which it is said [in response] that this [mercy] is that He will surely
gather you to the Day of Resurrection. That is because were it not for the fear
o f chastisement on the Day of Resurrection, [much] turm oil and chaos would
ensue, with an ever-increasing rise in oppression and aggression. Hence, the
M I n o t h e r w o r d s . H is w ill f o r g o o d , o r H is m e r c y , is t h e e s s e n tia l a t t r i b u te a n d t h u s t h e o v e r r id in g
one.
39 T h a t is , G o d ’s m e r c y o u t w e i g h s H is a n g e r , a s o p p o s e d t o p r e c e d i n g it.
40 T h i s is t h e s a m e r e p o r t t h a t is q u o t e d i n T a b a r i , t h i s c h a p te r .

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threat of [the imminence of] the Day of Resurrection has constituted one of the
greatest causes of mercy in this world. Consequently His saying, He will surely
gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, is a sort o f explanation o f His words, He
has prescribedfo r Himself mercy.

III. T h ird issue. His words, Say: ‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in
the earth? Say: ‘To G od\ constitute speech expressed indirectly; whereas His
words, He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, is a direct address.
The purpose of this is to emphasise the [reality of the] threat. It is as if it were
said, ‘Since you acknowledge that all that is in the heavens and in the earth
belongs to God and constitutes His Kingdom, and you already know that a wise
king does not neglect the affairs of his subjects, and cannot in his wisdom treat
the obedient and the disobedient equally, nor the one busy in service and the
one shunning it, will you not also acknowledge that He will effect the
Resurrection, arraign all creatures and reckon with them in all things?

IV. F ourth issue. There are several opinions as regards the phrase ila yawm a’l-
qiydma, ‘to the Day o f Resurrection: i) it is a relative clause ($ila), the implica­
tion being la-yajma*annakum yawma al-qiydma, ‘He will surely gather you on
the Day of Resurrection’; ii) ila, ‘to’ functions in the sense o ffi, ‘at\ in other
words, ‘He will surely gather you at the Day o f Resurrection’; iii) it contains an
ellipsis, in other words [it is actually] la-yajma'annakum ila al-mahsharftyawm
al-qiydma, ‘He will surely bring you together to the gathering-site on the Day
of Resurrection - for a ‘gathering’ is made to a place, not to a point in time; iv)
it is also said [to mean]: He will surely gather you in this world by creating gen­
eration after generation [all the way] up to the Day o f Resurrection.
As for His words, Those who have forfeited their soub, they will not believe,
there are several points. There are two opinions with regard to this [part o f the]
verse:

1) His saying alladhina, ‘those who*, is dependent, being a substitution for the
[suffixed] pronoun [-hum] in la-yajrruxannakum, ‘He will surely gather you*.
In other words: He will surely gather those idolaters who have forfeited their
souls* - which is the opinion of Akhfash;

2) and this is the opinion of Zajj&j, that His words alladhina khasiru anfusahum
(those who have forfeited their soub), is an independent clause constituting a new
subject, so that His words, fa-hum Idyu’minuna (they do not believe), constitute
the predicate thereof - this is because His words la-yajma annakum (He will
surely gather you), subsumes all [creatures], both those who have forfeited their
souls and others; the [particle] / d ’ where He says fa -h u m , functions in the
context of [pre-]condition and reward, as one might say, ‘He who receives me

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hospitably shall have one dirham*, for the dirham becomes forthcoming nec­
essarily upon the act o f hospitality. The act o f hospitality then is the condition
and the dirham the reward [thereof].

If it is said: as it stands the statement seems to suggest that their loss [of their
souls] is the reason for their lack o f belief, w hen the reality is the other way
round. We would respond by saying this indicates that the preordainm ent [by
God] o f ‘loss* and ‘abandonment* [for them] is what induces them to refrain
from [embracing] belief - and such [an understanding] is the essence o f the
Sunni school of thought.

tin fG E ix’." : ' : ' . v v . >:•

KashanI
KAshanI understands divin e m ercy w ith in the fram ew ork o f his ow n Sufi m etaphysic o f
the nature o f the d ivin e essence, its superabundant goodness that overflow s onto and
through creation and the relation ship between the source o f good and m ercy and the
recipients o f mercy. The bestowal o f m ercy is lin ke d to the granting o f being, o f existence.
Everything that exists is therefore a netw ork o f recipients o f m ercy/being, receptacles fo r
the reception o f the d ivin e flow o f goodness.

He has prescribed upon Himself mercy, that is,41 He has obliged His essence [to
show mercy], in the sense that it [mercy] is the effusion o f goodness and per­
fection in a way commensurate with the predisposition [for them] of the recip­
ient entities (qawabil). And so there is not a single individual deserving o f the
mercy of existence or perfection, but that he is granted it upon his becoming
deserving of it.42
He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, [to] the lesser [resurrec­
tion] and the restoration, or [to] the major [resurrection] in the essence of the

41 KAshAni, Tapir, 1,358.

42 In the thought of Ibn ‘Arabi, divine mercy has an ontological role in the unfolding of the
cosmos. Everything desires to be and can only be through receiving divine mercy: see Ibn ‘Arab!,
Fufip, 1,177. KAshani comments that the receptivity of that divine mercy depends on the aptitude
and innate predisposition that the entity has for receiving mercy and existence; that predisposition
is itself an effect of a prior mercy upon the entity in its latency. See the commentary on Ibn ‘Arabfs
Fu^u$ by KashAni, Shark, 223.
The unfolding of divine mercy takes place in three stages. As Ibn ‘Arabi says in the chapter on
Zechariah in Fu$u$,
The first object to which the mercy of God extended is the very “thing-ness" of the entity that
existentiates mercy out of mercy itself. Thus the first thing to which mercy is extended is mercy
itself. Then [comes] the thing-ness of the objects. Then [at the third stage], the thing-ness of
all existents that come into existence infinitely, whether of this world or of the afterlife, whether
substances or accidents, complex or simple.
See Ibn ‘Arabi, Fufuf, 1,177; Izutsu 1983,118-20; Nettler 2003,154-75.

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comprehensive gathering [of all creatures];43 o f which there is no doubt, [there

is no doubt] in either of the two gatherings, in the same m atter upon close
scrutiny, even if those who are veiled [from the truth] are not aware of it, and
they are: those who haveforfeited their souls, by ruining them in [the indulgence
of] carnal appetites and transient sensual delights and love o f what is quick to
perish, in the way of the ephemeral things of this world. W hatever a person is
enamoured by he will be gathered together with it [at the Resurrection]. Thus
these [individuals], on account of their love of such [things] and their veiling
themselves therewith, are blind to the enduring illuminatory truths, taking in
place of these [truths] the transitory obscure corporeal perceptions o f the
senses; they do not believe.

Abu Hayyan
AbO Hayyan concentrates on the various suggested lexical interpretations o f the two
central expressions kataba (prescribed) and rahma (mercy) in his discussion o f this verse.
Though he cites Zam akhshari and Zajjaj directly, he does not go in to any gram m atical or
p h ilo lo g ica l detail regarding these expressions. Rather su rprisin gly fo r an A sh ‘arite, he
supports the idea o f m ercy as an oblig ation that G o d has im posed upon H im se lf, and
stresses this theological point.

Say: *To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth? Say: To God'.44 After
God has mentioned His m anner of dealing with those He destroyed on account
of their sins, He com m ands His Prophet to pose this [question] to them. For
they can only say [all of) that belongs to God, whereby they are then obliged to
[affirm] that God is the One W ho owns them and Who will destroy them. This

43 In his Itfilabdt al-$ufiyya, on the word qiyama Kashani notes that there are three types of res­
urrection:
The resurrection is the raising after death to the eternal life. That is of three sorts: the first of
them is the resurrection after physical/natural death, to life in one of the intermediate places,
(either) upper or lower according to the state of the deceased during their worldly life; for as
the Prophet said ‘As you live so you die and as you die so are you resurrected’. This is the lesser
resurrection indicated in the words of the Prophet ‘Whoso dies, his resurrection has come to
pass’ The second (type) is the resurrection after voluntary death, [i.e. an inner spiritual death
undergone willingly), to the eternal life of the heart in the world of Holiness, as is said 'Whoso
dies willingly (inwardly), lives physically [i.e. having undergone the inner spiritual death, the
person continues to live their physical life); this is the middle resurrection which is indicated
in the words of God: 'Is he who was dead and whom We then enlivened and made for him a
light wherewith he walks among p e o p le T h e third (type) is the resurrection, after eftacement
in God, in the life of the Deepest Reality in continuation through the Real; this is the great res­
urrection indicated in the words of the Most High ‘When the great Resurrection (fdmma)
comes.” (Editor's translation).
For further discussion, see Mayer 2006, comment at Q. 6:12.
44 Abu Hayyin, Bahr, IV, 85.

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question is a [rhetorical] interrogative m eant as a rebuke and as an affirmative

[statement]. God then commands him [the Prophet] to ascribe [the possession
of all] that to Him , that he may thus be the first to have acknowledged this
[truth]. It is said that the statement contains an ellipsis, the implication being
that ‘if they do not respond, then say: to G o d \ O thers have said that the sense
is this: He com m anded the question [to be put to them ], but when, it seems,
they failed to respond, they asked [for the answer] and so it was said to them,
Say: To God' - lillah, ‘to God', is the predicate of an omitted subject - the impli­
cation being, ‘Say: [all] that belongs to God*, or ‘To Him, G od\
He has prescribed for Himself mercy. After God has m entioned that He is the
Originator (mujid) o f the world, Who possesses the capacity to dispose of it as
He will - this being an indication of the all-pervasiveness o f His power - He
complements it with the m ention o f His m ercy and His kindness (ihsdn) to
[His] creatures.
The literal sense of kataba is ‘he inscribed* (safara) or ‘he penned’ (khatfa),
and this is the opinion o f a group of people on [the meaning of] this, and that
what is m eant is actual writing; in other words, ‘He com m anded that this
[obligation to be merciful] be written in the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-
m ahfuzY .4S It is said, however, that kataba here m eans ‘He prom ised this
[mercy] by way of His favour and munificence*; it is said [also, that it means]
‘He has inform ed of [this obligation to be merciful]*; [and] it is said that He
made such [mercy] obligatory out of favour and munificence, not an obligation
of necessity; it is also said that He has decreed it and executed it. Zamakhshari
says,46 ‘In other words, He has made it incumbent upon Himself [in His desire]
to guide you to knowledge o f Him and to set up for you the proofs o f the
Oneness [responsible] for the creation of the heavens and the earth, which you
affirm. End [of the citation].*47
‘M e rc / here would appear to be universal, thus subsuming both the good-
doer and the evil-doer in this world, and is an expression of [His] connection
to them and His beneficence to them. For there is no m ention o f the one asso­
ciated with [this] mercy [i.e the recepient], and so it must be all-embracing, in

45 This term is commonly found in theological literature and refers to either the primordial Qur in
that exists and pre-existed in the divine presence, or to the book of deeds and events that unfold in
human history. Related to human actions, it suggests a thorough determinism. But in this context, it
seems to suggest that God is somehow obliged to act in a certain way through an obligation that He
Himself has imposed. See Arent Jan Wensinck - [Clifford E. Bosworth), ‘al-lawb\ EI2t V, 698.
46 Zamakhshari, Kashsh&f\II, 8.
47 Abu Hayyan seems to endorse a Mutazili position of God necessitating mercy and imposing
its implementation and action upon Himself Since mercy is a rational good, it must be the case that
God is merciful. The implication is not only that good is rationally discemable but also that it is a
mercy from God that He has allowed mankind to decide rationally whether to believe in Him and
understand the cosmos, whose rational order indicates His existence. Cf. Daniel Gimaret, ‘Mu’tazila,
EP, VII, 789-91.

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 Incumbent mercy

the way that we have mentioned. It is said that the alif and Idm [al in al-rahma]
constitute the definite article of familiarity, m eaning thereby the single mercy
which God has sent down from am ong the one hundred mercies He created;
the other ninety-nine [mercies) He will use to be merciful to His servants in
the Hereafter. Zajjaj says:48 ‘M e rc / represents the respite and long life granted
to the disbelievers in order for them to repent, so that He does not hasten with
[punishing] them for their disbelief. It is also said that ‘m e re / is for whoever
believes and affirms [the truth of] the messengers. In the $abil1 o f Muslim [it
is stated that] ‘W hen G od completed creation, He prescribed for H im self in a
Book - it is set dow n [in writing] there with H im - “Truly My m ercy shall
prevail over My wrath”.’49

. • -mmm «< .ft

Burusawi
Burusaw f s com m entary on the essential nature o f divin e m ercy is part o f the Sufi m eta­
physics o f ontological mercy: everything that exists, does so because G o d bestows its exis­
tence upon it, it is a recipient o f divine m ercy. Thus a ll that is, in clu d in g ‘evil* and H ellfire,
is an expression o f d ivin e m ercy.

[...] He has prescribed mercyfor Himselfis an independent phrase - though sub­

sumed under the imperative of the opening o f the verse - explaining that He is
compassionate to His servants and not hasty in punishing them, but accepting
their repentance and [their] turning towards H im .50 The m eaning of His p re­
scribing m ercy for H im self {fold nafsih) is that He makes it necessary and
incum bent as [an act of] grace and virtue because He transcends having any­
thing really made incum bent upon Him. By referring to the essence with [the
word] nafsy evidence [is given] against those who claim that the term 'nafs'
cannot apply to God [...].51

48 Zajjaj, Ma‘dni, II, 231-2.

49 This is a famous saying. For references, see Wensinck 1936, II, 239, who cites Bukhari, $ahth>
bdb al-tawhid> 55, Muslim, $ahtb, bob al-tawba, 14-16, Ibn Maja, Sunan, bdb al-zuhdt 35. The final
section of the commentary by Abu Hayyan on this verse - constituting roughly two paragraphs
(pages 86-7) - is a grammatical excursus into the syntactical status of la-yajma'annakum ild yawm’l
qiydmati Id raybafitt, discussing whether it is dependent on the preceding clause or whether it is an
independent sentence, in addition to surveying the different opinions on the unusual use of the
preposition ild in this verse. The section ends with the question, already encountered in other com­
mentaries, of how the loss of their souls can be the cause of the disbelievers' lack of faith, as a prima
facie reading of the verse would suggest This last theological point and almost all of the grammatical
opinions mentioned in this final section may be gleaned from the preceding commentaries, espe­
cially those of Zamakhshari, Tabrisi and R&zi.
50 Burusawi, Ruh al-baydn, III, 13-15.
51 We have omitted a few lines that gloss the remainder of the verse and the following verse before
the discussion returns to divine mercy.

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On Uie Nature of the Divine

The Qa<jl [al-Bay<Jawf ] said that what is m eant by mercy is what is common
to both worlds [this world and the Hereafter] including guidance to knowledge
of H im and knowledge o f His oneness through displaying indications and
sending down scriptures and [giving] respite to the unbelievers.
In the tafsir of [Husayn W5‘i?] Kashifi,52 [it is said] that what is m eant by
mercy is what pertains to His essence (dhatiyya), as His mercy is absolute and
that m ercy is for everything. The result o f that is the bestowal o f som ething
w ithout a prior request or a claim being made, o r without taking into account
need and worthiness. Thus it is said in the Mathnawi-yi Ma'nawi:
Dar ‘adam md mustahiqqdn kay budim?
Kih barin jdn o barin ddnish zadim
Md nabudim va taqatfa’-yi man nabud
Lutf-i hi nagufta-yi md mishanud
During our non-existence how were we worthy
To attain to this spirituality and knowledgef53
We were not, and there was no demand on our part, (yet)
Thy grace was hearkening to our unspoken prayer

A hadith narrated by Abu Hurayra says, ‘I heard the Messenger of God say,
“God made one hundred parts [of] mercy and He kept ninety-nine for Himself
and sent down to earth one part. W th this one part He is merciful to all creatures
such that an animal raises her hooves from her offspring fearing that she might
hurt if.’ The perfect imam, in his commentary on the hadith, says that this indi­
cates perfect hope and good news for the Muslims; since the bounties, manifest
and hidden, that occur in this world are due to one [part of] mercy, just imagine
[what there will be with] one hundred [parts of] mercy in the Hereafter.55

'Umar b. al-Khaftab said,

Captives were brought to the Prophet. Now there was a woman among the cap­
tives holding her breast and running after [her child];56 then she found [her] child
and took him and held him to her breast and fed him. The Prophet said to us, ‘Do
52 KAshifi (d. 910/1504-5), known as w&'iz ‘the preacher’, was a major Timurid literary figure,
preacher, theologian and Sufi. Extensive details on him are provided in PA, KAshifi.
53 Ruml, Mathnawi, daftar VI, verse 2315, in Nicholson 1925-40, VI, 387.
54 Ruml, Mathnawi, daftar I, verse 610, in Nicholson 1925-40, II, 35.
55 Burusawi indicates his affiliation (most probably) to the ShAfi'l legal school by referring to
Sharaf al-Din al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277), the ShAfu jurist and traditionist, as the ‘perfect imam’. See
Nawawf, Minhdj, XVII, 69 hadith no. 4.
56 The verb used here has the root s-‘-y, from which one gets say, the ritual of running between
the hills during the Hajj pilgrimage, a ritual that commemorates the running to and fro of Hagar in
search o f water for her infant Ishmacl. Sec Toufic Fahd, ‘Sa'/, E/2, IX, 97; Reuven Firestone,
‘Abraham’, £Q, 1,9.

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you think this woman would cast her child into the fire?* We said, ‘No, she could
not do such a thing.’ He said, ‘God is more merciful to His servants than is this
woman to her child.’57

In the Mathnavi, [it is said):

Atish az qahr-i khudd khwud dharra-ist

Bahr-i tahdid-i laiman darra-ist
Bd chuntn qahri kih zaft ofd’iq-ast
Bard-i luff-ish bin bar atish sdbiq-ast

Rahmat bi-chun chunin dan ay pidar

Ndyad andar vahm az vayjuz-i athar

The Fire (of Hell) in sooth is (only) an atom of God’s wrath;

It is (only) a whip to threaten the base.
Notwithstanding such a wrath, which is mighty and surpassing all,
Observe that the coolness of His clemency is prior to it.58

Know that the mercy of the Unconditioned (God) is like this, O father,
Naught but the effect thereof comes in the imagination.59

The Great Shaykh [Ibn ‘Arab!) said in al-Futuhdt al-Makkiyyay

We found the verse of mercy and it is In the name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate which comprises one thousand meanings and each meaning only
occurs after the passing of one year.60 Those meanings that In the name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate comprise must occur because nothing is manifest
without His bestowing upon it meaning. It must be completed in one thousand
years of this community [sc. Islam]. O God, have mercy upon us when the forehead
perspires and our egos multiply, and the beloved cries for us and the physician
despairs of us.61 O God, have mercy upon us when the earth frightens us and our
close ones promise us and when bounties are separated from us and the cool
[mom] breeze cut off from us. O God, have mercy upon us, when our name is for­
gotten and our body decays and our graves are obliterated and our mention effaced.
O God, have mercy upon us on the day when the seats will be destroyed and the
hearts opened up and the courts scattered and the scales gathered. O God, O Living,
O Everlasting, O Merciful, O Compassionate, we turn to you by Your mercy.62

57 On this hadith, see Bukhari, $ahih, kitdb al-adab, bdb 18 hadith no. 5999; Muslim, $ahih, Kitdb
al-tawba, hadith no. 6978.
58 Rumi, Mathnawi, daftar IV, verses 3742-3, in Nicholson 1925-40, IV, 477.
59 Rumi, Mathnawi, daftar III, verse 3634, in Nicholson 1925-40, IV, 204.
60 Ibn ‘ArabI, Futuhdt, 1,305 (line 8: al-bdb al-kh&misft ma'rifat asrdr bismillah al-rahman al-rahtm).
61 This prayer is composed, as is often the case, in saf or rhymed prose.
62 Once again note the eschatological context of the explanation of the verse whereby this Sufi
thinker invokes a prayer for clemency and mercy in the context of the last days and the judgement
of individuals at Resurrection.

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On the Nature of the Divine

P- -

A lusi
W h ile fu rn ish in g his com m entary w ith the custom ary reports (akhbdr) from the
Com panions as to the m agnitude o f G od’s m ercy, A lu s i is concerned to demonstrate that
m ercy as an attribute o f G od cannot be any greater than H is wrath, since that w ould im p ly
unevenness in G od’s essence. The verse, together w ith the famous tradition, ‘M y m ercy
outstrips m y wrath’, should be understood in the sense that G od’s m ercy reaches m ankind
m ore than H is wrath does. It is through G o d ’s grace (tafaddul) and benevolence (ihsdn)
that H is wrath is w ithheld and H is m ercy is provided in abundance. If in histo ry G o d ’s
wrath has m anifested itself, it was o nly because hum ankind brought it upon themselves,
and s till G o d has been m erciful, since He does not hasten the punishm ent o f m any w ho
persist in disobedience: A lu si, m uch lik e T abrisi, locates this w o rld ly m ercy w ith in the
com m unity o f M uham m ad, since, according to them, G o d has not hastened to castigate
them in the m anner He did other past nations.

Say,63 by way of censuring and reproaching them , To whom belongs what is in

the heavens and the earth?*, of rational beings and otherwise. In other words, to
whom belong all beings (in terms) of creation, possession and disposal? A nd
His words, Say,1to God’, are an affirmation of the response given on their behalf,
or a way of forcing them to affirm that all [of that] belongs to Him. This [state­
ment] also contains an intimation that [...J.64 There is also an intimation that
they were slow in responding despite its being [obviously] indicated on account
of their being veiled [from such truths]. The Bastion o f the Creed al-
milla) m entioned that His words Say: *To whom are a com m and to seek this
required [answer] and to set about finding it. His words, Say:4To God’, mean
that if you have sought [to find the answer] and you perceive the truth, then
acknowledge it and do not pretend not to know it - this is a means o f guiding
one to the path of affirming God’s Oneness in terms of [His] acts, having p ro ­
vided the guidance to the affirmation of God’s Oneness in terms o f His divinity;
this is a precaution taken against [ending up in] the predicament of those who
deny [God]. Herein lies the means of establishing a connection [between these
two aspects of God’s Oneness], and [mention of] the proper way to acquire
knowledge o f this will, God willing, follow shortly. The two elements of the
oblique construction [Iflldhi, ‘to G od’] constitute the predicate of an om itted
subject, in other words [read with the omitted subject it would be either] Iflldhi
dhalika, ‘To God [belongs all] thaf, or dhalika Iflldhi, ‘[All] that [belongs] to God*.
He has prescribedfar Himself mercy: an independent clause, subsumed by the
imperative statement (Say: ‘To God’), and proclaiming that His mercy embraces

63 Alusi, Ruh al-ma‘dni, VII, 104-8.

64 Alusi reproduces Razl’s argument on the obviousness of such a response (see the latter’s com­
ments in the ‘Second issue sub-section).

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 Incumbent mercy

all creatures. Given immediately after declaring that His sovereignty (mulk) and
His power (qudra) embrace all things, it functions also as an emendation to [the
obligation of] sending down chastisement against the deniers, expressed in such
a way as to illustrate that God is Kind (rauf) to humankind: He does not hasten
to punish them. Instead, He accepts their repentance. W hat precedes and what
follows regarding the judgements of wrath (ghatfab) [against them] are merely
the result of the bad choices m ade by [God’s] servants, because of their
pre-etem ally evil predispositions, and do n o t constitute requisites of His
essence (dhat): For God did not wrong them, but they used to wrong themselves
[Q. 16:33].
The meaning o f prescribing mercy for Himself is its being made incum bent
[upon Him] by virtue of the bounty (tafaddul) and benevolence (ihsdn)
imposed [by Him] on His holy essence of His own accord, and not by virtue of
the intervention o f anything. It is said that this is [the sense of] w hat the two
Shaykhs [Bukhari and Muslim] have reported from Abu Hurayra, [namely that]
‘G o d s Messenger said that when God finished Creation, He inscribed “My
mercy precedes My wrath” in a Book (kitab) and placed it near Him, above the
throne’.65 In Tirmidhi’s account, traceable to the Prophet, (he said) ‘W hen God
originated Creation, He inscribed in a Book, near Him , by His hand, for
Himself, that “My m ercy prevails over My wrath*”;66 in Ibn Mardawayh’s67
account o f it, [he said] ‘God inscribed a Book, by His hand, for Himself, before
creating the heavens and earth, and placed it below His throne. It contains “My
mercy precedes My wrath”,’68 and other reports.
The m eaning o f [God’s] mercy's precedence and overcom ing in these
[reports] is that it [mercy] is older (aqdam) in terms of its connection with crea­
tures and it reaches them more, together with [the fact] that it is one of the nec­
essary aspects of the [Divine] essence which [ever] effuses good.
In Imam al-Nawawi’s69 commentary on [the $ahih of] Muslim [there is the
following report]: the scholars say, ‘God’s w rath and His pleasure (ridd) are
both attributable to the concept of [His] will (irada). Thus His willing o f reward
for the obedient, as well as benefit for [His] servants is referred to as [His] pleas­
ure and mercy; and His willing o f punishm ent and abandonm ent o f the dis­
obedient is referred to as [His] wrath. His will is an eternal attribute o f His by
which He wills [things].

65 Bukhari, $ahih, II, kit&b (no. 63) al-khalq, bab 1, hadith no. 3022; Muslim, $ahih, IV, htdb (no.
49) al-tawba, b&b 4, hadith no. 2751; Suyutf, Jdmi\ II, hadith no. 1788; Muniwi, Fayd, II, hadith no.
1740.
66 Tirmidhi, Surtan, V, bab no. 109, hadith no. 3611.
67 See PA, Ibn Mardawayh.
68 Cf. Bukhari, $ahih, IV, kit&b (no. 100) al-tawhid, bab 28, hadith no. 7015.
69 See PA, Nawawi.

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On the Nature of the Divine

They have also said that what is meant by ‘preceding and ‘prevalence here
is the [great] abundance o f [God's] mercy and its all-encompassing nature -
similar to saying [of someone] ‘m agnanimity and courage prevail over his
nature (ghalaba ‘aid), when both [traits] are [seen] from him often; and this
goes back to what we have said.
The gist of what is being said in this regard is that ‘precedence and ‘preva­
lence' are of those things connected with that attribute that is His very essence,
since in His case it is inconceivable for one attribute to precede' another, as this
would require that the one preceded be incepted (huduth). Likewise, it is incon­
ceivable for there to be [such notions as] ‘more' o r ‘less' in the case o f any two
[of God's] attributes, because of that inception [which would result thereby]
necessarily. But it could be that what is intended by ‘m e re / is ‘that by which He
shows m ercy, and in that sense it [mercy] may then be quantified in a plural
sense o r [in the frequency o f its] being sent down and so on. It is in this vein
that what Muslim reported should be understood.

Ibn Mardawayh reports that Salman al-Faris! said:

God's Messenger said that on the day He created the heavens and the earth, God
created one hundred mercies, each mercy corresponding to that [distance] which
is between the heavens and earth, and from these [mercies] He assigned one
mercy on earth. It is by this [mercy] that a mother will have affection for her child,
and also birds and beasts [thereby act affectionately] towards one another (in their
respective species]. But on the Day of Resurrection, He will complement [the other
mercies] with this mercy.70

‘Abd b. Humayd and others have reported from ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Amr:

God has a hundred mercies. He sent down one mercy to the inhabitants of this
world, [a mercy] by which the jinn, mankind, the birds in the sky, the fish in the
sea, the beasts of the earth, as well as its reptiles and all that is amid the air, show
compassion toward one another. \Mth Him He retained [the other] ninety-nine
mercies, so that when it is the Day of Resurrection, He will stir the mercy He had
sent down to the inhabitants of this world and will unite it with those He has with
Him, and then place these [mercies] in the hearts of, and upon, the inhabitants of
Paradise.71

W hat is intended by mercy in the verse is that which encompasses the two
abodes [of this life and the Hereafter], together with the generality o f things
connected with it. Thus what is related from Kalb! - to the effect that it means
70 Muslim, $ahih, IV, kitdb (no. 49) al-tawba, bdb 4, hadith no. 2753.
71 The text is very similar to the narration from Muslim. But for a version closer to the one given
here but on the authority of Abu Hurayra, see H&kim’s Mustadrak, I, Kitdb al-im&n, hadith no. 186.

328
 Incumbent mercy

He has made it incum bent upon H im self to be merciful to the community of

[the Prophet] M uham m ad, by not punishing them when they deny [His
truths], despite having punished previous communities and past generations
upon such [denial], but deferring [their fate] to the Day of Resurrection - is not
necessary unless [it is reported so as] to point out those individuals who belong
to that [predicament] in general to whom the [special] status [of belonging to
M uhamm ad’s community] applies.72
The use o f nafs, ‘self, to refer to the [divine] being (dhat) [in this verse],73
may be used to refute those who claim that the term nafs cannot be applied to
God, even if what is meant is [God’s] self (dhat), except in the case o f [semantic]
correlation (mushakala),74 bearing in m ind that the approximating correlation
is not obvious (%ahir) in the same way that He is obvious.
As regards His words, He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection: this
is the response to an om itted [but implicit] oath whose [syntactical] position -
according to what Abu’l-Baqa stated - has been occupied by al-rahma, ‘m ere/.
The sentence itself is a syntactically new clause that announces the threat [of
punishm ent] for their idolatry and their disregard for reflecting [upon God’s
signs]. It is also said to be an explicative new sentence, as though it were said,
‘And what is this mercy?*, with the response being: ‘[it is] that G od will surely
gather you’. That is because were it not for the fear of chastisement on the Day
o f Resurrection, [much] turm oil and chaos would ensue, with an ever-increas­
ing rise in oppression and aggression.751 would add to this last [statement] that
the m entioned would ensue if they actually acknowledged [the truth of] resur­
rection, but this is not so and thus that [preceding statement] cannot be so
either.
Some [scholars] who have examined this [verse] have said that there is some
constraint [in suggesting an omitted oath], and in any case it would not apply
as a response [to an implict oath] except in the sense o f it being an intrinsic part
of the threat [to humankind] to refrain from those things proscribed [by God],
[a threat] which w ould then make necessary [the notion of] mercy. It is also
said that what the verse says may be validly qualified as a response in the sense

72 In other words, of all the individuals who deny (any of God’s truths), those of the Prophet’s
community are the only ones who are not punished immediately but are deferred to the Day of
Resurrection, which gives them a chance to repent and also means that they have a final hope of sal­
vation - namely, through the Prophets intercession on their behalf on that day, as many hadiths
point out.
73 That is, where God says, kataba 'aid nafsihil-rahma.
74 Literally, this technical term means ‘to similise’, and it denotes instances in which terms usually
associated only with human beings are used to refer to God, so that the image or the import may be
effected harmoniously; cf. where Jesus says to God, ta'lamu md fi nafsi wa-ld a'lamu md fi nafsika,
‘You [God] know what is in my self and I do not know what is in Your self (Q. 5:116]’; and numerous
other instances. On the term, see Tahinawi, KashshdfII, 1544f. (mushdkala).
75 This entire statement is taken verbatim from Rizl; see his commentary earlier in this chapter.

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On the Nature of the Divine

that the intended m eaning is that G od will surely gather you to the Day o f
Resurrection, but will not hasten to punish you now, despite your denial - in
accordance with what Kalbl has pointed out. Still, some say that the oath and
its response are dependent, being a substitution for the w ord rahma, ‘m e r e / -
a partial substitution [that is]. For the gram m arians have stated that the
sentence may substitute for a single word - indeed, in this respect they have
no qualm s about what kinds [of grammatical units] m ay constitute [valid]
substitutions.
As for the two elements of the oblique construction [ild yawmi*l-qiydmatiy‘to
the Day o f Resurrection], these are said to be [semantically] connected to an
omitted clause. In other words [what is missing is som ething akin to] He will
surely gather you in [your] graves to be raised (b a th ) on the Day [of
Resurrection]. However, [the verb] a l-b a th y ‘to raise is similar to al-irsdl> ‘to
send forth’, which may be followed by the preposition ildy‘to’, and as such does
not require that one resort to the use o f implication [of missing syntactical
parts]. There is the objection that ‘raising’ [in this sense o f ‘sending forth’] is
usually used [in the context of] ‘to a place’, not ‘to a point in time’, unless w hat
is m eant by ‘the Day of Resurrection* is the site where it will take place. It is also
said, however, that this is [semantically] connected to the m entioned verb [yaj-
m a'annakum , ‘He will gather you’] so that what is m eant is a gathering [of
humankind] thereto, in the sense o f being driven and forced; as if it were said,
‘He will surely raise you and drive you and force you to the Day o f
Resurrection’, that is to say, to the reckoning threat. Some say that it is [indeed]
connected [semantically] to the [mentioned] verb, but with [the preposition]
ildy ‘to’, functioning in the sense offi> ‘at*.76
As for the [esoteric] allusions in these verses (...]: Say> To whom belongs what
is in the heavens and the earth*, in other words, in all the worlds; Say, To G od\
in terms of having brought them into existence and [His eventual] annihilation
(of them ]. He has prescribed mercy upon Himself, my master [Ibn ‘ArabI], the
Great Shaykh, may G od sanctify his secret, says that ‘G od’s mercy is general
when it is that grace of being shown favour, [a grace] which may be attained

76 AJusI elaborates on this point, and reproduces the objections of some grammarians of the plau­
sibility of such a correlation between these two prepositions. He then proceeds to comment on the
remainder of the verse, primarily on whether the address of the gathering by God is intended for
disbelievers, as the context seems to suggest, or whether it is for all mankind, believers and disbe­
lievers. The following section is a discussion of the syntactical status of the relative clause alladhitta,
‘those who’, prefaced by the gloss that 'those who have forfeited their souls have done so because
they have forfeited their only capital, namely, their primordial disposition (as believers in God),
especially given lhat, as the Alusi seems to suggest, those first addressed were contemporaries of the
Prophet, and as such had the opportunity to benefit from such proximity, by witnessing (mushdhada)
him and listening to the Revelation firsthand, all of which constituted manifestations of God’s mercy
to them. The translation above resumes at the ishdra section of Alusi’s commentary (p. 107), where,
as is his custom, the author points out the esoteric allusions offered by the verses of the Qur’an.

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without o n e s [necessarily] deserving it. It is what is m eant by His saying, It is

by God's mercy that you are gentle to them [Q. 3:159], and that is what is alluded
to in [His name] al-Rahman in the basmala!77 It is specific, when it is that oblig­
atory one m eant by His saying, [My mercy] ... I shall appoint it fo r those who are
Godfearing [Q. 7:156], and this is alluded to by [the name] al-Rahim therein [in
the basmala]\ His [Ibn ‘A rabf s) comments [on this verse] in his al-Futuhat [al-
Makkiyya], may God sanctify his secret, suggest that this verse refers to that
‘specific* mercy, although the way in which the content [of the verse] is
expressed seems to suggest ‘general* mercy. In addition, in his discussion o f
mercy and where God mentions the Resurrection, he [Ibn ‘Arab!] states, ‘After
the angels, the prophets, and the believers have [all] interceded, there remains
[the intercession of] the Most Merciful of those who show mercy, by virtue of
the fact that God*s m ercy precedes His wrath* - as is know n from the [well-
known] report - and so it [His mercy] stands before [His] wrath and the wrath
o f God continues to race forth in order to exact retribution against His [disobe­
dient] servants until it reaches its utm ost extent, w hereupon it finds that
[God*s] m ercy had outraced it. It [His mercy) will then encompass the servant
upon whom wrath had fallen, enveloping him, and judgem ent o f him will be
deferred to it. The duration of the w rath will be [equivalent to] the interval
between the Compassionate, the Merciful in the statement In the Name o f Godt
the Compassionate, the Merciful and the Compassionate, the Merciful that comes
after Praise be to God, Lord o f the Worlds [in surat al-Fdtiha]. Thus [the words]
Praise be to God, Lord o f the Worlds is the actual duration, whereas the starting
point and the end [of the wrath] is as you are aware. This [phrase] constitutes
the exact duration [of the wrath] because it manifests [both] felicity and adver­
sity, and that is why praise, namely, the eulogy, is [mentioned] therein, and it
is not restricted to any felicity or adversity so as to comprise them. The Law stip­
ulates [the following] with regard to [proclaiming] praise during felicity: Praise
be to God, the Bestower of graces (a l-m u n im ), the One o f [abundant] bounty
(al-mutafaddH)> and with regard to [proclaiming] praise during adversity:
Praise be to God in all circumstances. Thus praise to G od is proclaim ed in
[both] felicity and adversity, which is why it is the exact extent [of God’s wrath].
There is no one in the abode o f the Hereafter that does not praise God, hope
for His mercy, fear His punishm ent and derive pleasure from this [praise] of
Him.
And so God places the Compassionate, the Merciful immediately after Praise
be to God, Lord of the Worlds, for the [entire] world lies between these two [i.e.
77 Two sections of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futuhdt are particularly relevant here and in Alusfs discussion,
which draws heavily on the formers theology and cosmology, al-bab al-thdmin wal-khamsun wa-
khamsumi’afi ma'rifat al-asma* al-husnd: hatfrat al-rahamut al-ism al-rahmdn al-rahim, VII, 365ff,
and al-bdb al-khdmis:fi ma'rifat asrdr bismilldhi’l-rahmdnn-rahim wal-fdtiha, 1,291ff.

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between the first m ention of the divine nam es o f Mercy - before al-hiamdu
liTlahi rabbiVdlamin- and the second mention thereof - after the full hamdala]
with all that it contains of things praised and things condemned. This is similar
to what comes in surat [al-Sharh] a-lam nashrah, Did We not open [your breast
fo r you] [Q. 94], which is a marvellous exhortation from God to His servants,
so that hope and anticipation of God’s mercy might be enhanced. Indeed, if you
yourself were to turn your attention even slightly [to what God says], you would
realise that there is not a single instance of the m ention o f [God’s] smite but it
is embellished by [mention of] God’s mercy. In fact, there is no fortune or m is­
fortune but it has issued forth from the manifestation points (mafaU') o f the
celestial spheres (afldk) of mercy which effuses its showers upon the receptacles
(qawabil) according to the measure o f their predispositions. Among the things
which manifest the precedence o f [God’s] mercy [over His wrath] is the fact
that every existent is preceded by the will, attached to it, to bring it into exis­
tence and to bring it out of its confine (hayyiz) of non-existence, which is the
source of all imperfection - there is no doubt that this is [in itself an act of]
mercy, just as there is no doubt concerning its precedence.
Indeed, mercy in certain respects is divided into two categories:

1. Pure (mahtfa) mercy, that is unblem ished by any retributory desire

(naqma), such as [the mercy of being granted] the bliss o f Paradise, [a mercy]
that manifests itself out o f the constellations of His [divine] name T h e Merciful’
(ial-rahim) - given that the Prophet desires that his community be admitted into
Paradise and that he is averse to their being admitted into the Fire, The Truth,
glorious be His name, has called him ‘merciful’, where He says [of him ],
Grievous to him is your distress; he has deep concern for you, and is most kind and
merciful to thefaithful [Q. 9:128].

2. A mercy that may be tainted by some retributive element, as in the case

where a child is disciplined by being smacked, out of mercy for him; or when
one needs to drink acrid, foul medicine [to be cured]. This [type o f mercy] rises
from the manifestation points of the horizons (dfdq) of His name, glorious be
His name, ‘the Compassionate (al-rahmdn).

Perhaps it is this [latter] mercy that is meant by His words, A nd We did not
send you but as a mercy to all the worlds [Q. 21:107]. Know also that the prece­
dence of mercy over wrath outwardly entails the precedence of the manifesta­
tions (tajalliydt) of beauty (al-jamdl) over the manifestations of majesty (al-jaldl),
because mercy derives from beauty, whereas wrath derives from majesty.
Mawlana, our shaykh, ‘Abd al-Karim al-JIl!,78 may his secret be sanctified,

78 See PA, al-jHi.

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 Incumbent mercy

mentions that majesty has precedence over beauty, for there is a hadith which
states: ‘G randeur (‘a?ama) is My cloth (tzar) and suprem acy ( kibriyd’) is My
cloak' - and there is nothing closer to a person than the garments of [his] cloak
and cloth. He [the Shaykh] also said that this does not contradict His saying,
‘My mercy precedes My wrath’, for mercy precedes on the condition that it is
universal and universality (‘umum ) belongs to majesty. He also claims that a
single attribute of beauty, if it attains its perfection, or comes close to doing so,
is then called majesty, on account of the intensity with which the sway o f beauty
(sulfan al-jamal) is manifested. Thus the concept of mercy derives from beauty,
whereas its universality and its finality belong to majesty. Moreover, you are
[fully] aware that i f ‘precedence is understood in the way in which Nawawl
transm itted it [in his reports] from scholars before, namely, [as] abundance
(kathra) and inclusiveness (shumul), then this is something that is undoubtedly
true o f mercy: for there is [potential for] mercy in every [act of] wrath, but it is
not the case that there is [potential for] wrath in every [act of] mercy, as anyone
who examines [this issue] carefully will not fail to notice. Included in G od’s
[m ention of) mercy is cause for hope - and w hat a cause for hope! For even
Satan (Iblis) will hope for it on the Day of Resurrection, as indicated by some
transm itted reports. The people who will enjoy the largest share of it will be,
God willing, [those of) this community. We ask G od for an abundant share of
it, for ourselves and for you.
He will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, the lesser or the Greater,
o f which there is no doubt, [no doubt] regarding this very m atter [of the
Resurrection] even if they are not aware o f it, those who are veiled (mahjubun),
those who have forfeited their souls by destroying them in [the indulgence of]
desires and transient carnal delights; as a result, they have become veiled from
the enduring truths of illumination, exchanging these [last] for the perishing
tangibles of darkness, so they do not believe for that [very] reason. We ask God
Almighty for forgiveness and salubrity in religion, in this w orld and in the
Hereafter.

Manor
Echoing RazI, who is mentioned in the following commentary, the authors of the a/-
Man&r commentary pick up on the style of argument presented in this verse, namely
the rhetorical effect of the question posed in Q. 6:12, Say: *'To whom belongs what is
in the heavens and in the earth?* They see this interrogative element as being part of a
wider teaching contained in the Qur’an and directed at the Prophet - namely, that
different approaches and methods of argument and proof should be employed in

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preaching God’s message to unbelievers. The reason that this specific rhetorical style
is used in this instance is that the answer, to the question of the author of creation, is
so obvious and irrefutable that one should not wait for or expect a response from the
addressee: God is undoubtedly behind creation and the management of the entire
cosm os and its inhabitants. The authors o f this com m entary, sim ilarly to the other
commentaries, point out that the proclamation of a Day of Resurrection, with the
added assurance that God will effect His justice, is a mercy for believers in this world.
It is when they know this that they can cultivate forbearance and piety, endure injus­
tice and hardship in the knowledge that divine mercy shall reward them and com­
pensate them immeasurably for their suffering in this world.

In the preceding verses [1-11], God has elucidated [what constitutes] the p rin ­
ciples of religion and the proofs thereof, as well as [pointing out] the doubts of
the disbelievers concerning [the truth of] the Message [of Muhammad] and the
means to invalidate such [doubts]. He has also shown His Messenger the way
in which He deals with His messengers and their peoples, in order to comfort
him [the Prophet] and to strengthen his heart, which assists him to persevere
in delivering the call of his Lord. He then follows this by instructing him [the
Prophet] in these [following] verses in a different m ethod of establishing defin­
itive argum ents against his [disbelieving] people, and th at is the m ethod of
question and answer, at a point where the address is to be [effectively] con­
cluded - even if such [a method] may reiterate a previously mentioned concept,
or [wholly] comprises a repetition [of som ething previously stated]. The
wisdom behind such is that variety in the m anner of argumentation and skillful
use of such methods are required for calling [people] to religion, as well as to
[matters] other than religion generally sought by hum an beings.
This is because to adhere to only one [form of) proof for an objective, the
mention of which will inevitably be repeated, or to cite several proofs [argued]
all in the same manner, may end up wearying the one preaching [that objective],
despite his [sincere] desire to preach and his wholehearted dedication to pro p ­
agating it and establishing [the truth of] it. W hat effect would such [a person]
have upon those to whom he is preaching, who are [in any case] ill-disposed
toward both him and it [his call], [especially] if they do not comprehend the first
proof [presented], or if their minds (qulub) fail to reflect [cogently] on the single
m ethod [of argument] which may comprise several proofs? They would
undoubtedly be extremely weary and bored of listening to such [arguments] and
they would be utterly averse to it. How can it be otherwise, when the obdurate
among those [disbelievers] used to prohibit [others from listening to] this
Q ur’an and distance themselves from it, despite the fact that it excels in terms o f
its artistic quality and variety, as well as in its inimitable rhetorical power [m an­
ifested] in the sundry methods [of argumentation which it employs].

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G od says, Say: ‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in the earth,
meaning, say, O Messenger, to those o f your people who deny [the truth of]
your message and turn away from what you have brought them , in the way of
the [truth o f the] oneness o f God, the Resurrection and the Requital [in the
Hereafter]: ‘To whom do all these created beings in the entire cosmos, both in
its upper and its lower [spheres], belong? This question paves the way for a fresh
argument. In the course o f discussing the previous verses, we explained how
the [pre-Islamic] Arabs used to believe that God was the Creator o f the heavens
and the earth and that all that is in them and all who are in them are His prop­
erty and servants. For the particle md, ‘w haf [in this verse] subsumes rational
beings and others.
In the [commentary] al-Kashshaj\ he [Zamakhshari] states unequivocally
that this interrogative is m eant [rhetorically] as a rebuke [of the disbelievers],
and that His words, Say: To God\ constitute an affirmation for these [disbeliev­
ers]. In other words, that ‘it is to G od [that they belong]’, and there is no dis­
agreement between you [the disbelievers] and me [the Prophet) over this [fact],
and that you cannot ascribe [the possession of] anything therein to anyone
other than Him.
O thers have said that this [statement] is an affirmation made on behalf of
them [the disbelievers] o r in order to force them to acknowledge it. [Fakhr al-
Dln] Razi said that [...].'79 He then goes on to explain that this [verse] is an
example of this [method o f argument], arguing that everything belongs to God,
on the basis of the vestiges o f inception and contingency that characterise the
material world - as is the [preferred] m ethod o f inference used by the [ratio­
nalist] theologians.80
We would say: for the person posing the question to produce the answer is
appropriate [as a rhetorical method] not only in the context to which Razi has
restricted it. And that [context] is where such a person offers [by way of ques­
tion] exactly that which the person questioned believes in and [exactly]
that [answer] with which he would respond, were he responding. He [the
questioner] precedes him [the person questioned] to that [response] merely to
79 Sec RazTs commentary, this chapter: *11. Second issue’, p. 317.
80 The argument to which the author alludes here is what is known as the cosmological proof of
God’s existence. The argument goes: If the material world exists, then it requires a Creator. Since
the existence of the material world is not denied by either party here (i.e., in the dispute between the
Prophet and the polytheists), the author does not deal with the claim that nothing exists or that the
word ‘exist* may be used in different meanings. Alluding to this argument (i.e., the cosmological
proof of God’s existence), however, does not fit the context of arguing with polytheists who do not
deny God’s existence, but rather deny that He is the only one who should be worshipped. Pre-
Islamic polytheists, as the author states, did not deny God’s existence, but claimed that their gods
are intercessors that they must worship in order to reach God. The argument the Prophet is asked
to make to them is that, if all that is in the heavens and in the earth is God’s, how can you worship
others?

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elaborate upon that [matter] with some concom itant of the response, o f which
the person questioned might be ignorant or unaware; or which he might reject
on account o f his ignorance or unawareness o f the fact that such [elaboration]
is a concomitant of som ething which he [already] knows and believes in.
Now, the object o f the question in this instance is not som ething th at is
impossible to deny or refute; for both atheists (ilhad) and believers in negative
theology (ta'ffl)81 have done so. It seems, on the face of it, that, plainly, G od
com m anded [the Prophet] to provide the response and to introduce it in the
way that they used to respond - as is evident from other verses - that he may
then elaborate upon it with His words: He has prescribedfo r Himself mercy. He
will surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, o f which there is no doubt. The
meaning thus is that God, W hom you affirm, as I do, to be the owner o f [all]
that which is in the heavens and the earth, has made it incum bent upon His
sublime being to show mercy to His creatures, that which may be gleaned from
His effusion of graces upon them outwardly and inwardly. A nd am ong the
things which such a m ercy entails is His gathering o f you on the Day o f
Resurrection, a state [of affairs] of which there is no doubt - or a gathering o f
which there is no doubt. In other words, it is not something that one w ho has
[sincerely] contemplated the tokens of G od’s mercy and wisdom can have any
doubt about. Such a gathering will be for the purpose of reckoning [with crea­
tures] and requiting [them] and constitutes an act o f mercy toward all morally
obligated individuals (mukallafun), [an act] which precludes chaos, neglect and
the condoning of injustice [in this world].82 Even awareness of this [fact] con­
stitutes a [manifestation o f G od’s] mercy, because such [awareness] is a psy­
chological restraint without which the [moral] cultivation of the soul cannot be
achieved. Nay, [God’s] m ercy is [even] m ore comprehensive than this. An
example o f God’s mercy to hum an beings is what He has bestowed upon them
in the way o f the guiding capacities of the senses, the consciousness and the
intellect, as well as the guidance of religion, which repairs [the damage done
by] the crimes which they perpetrate against these guiding faculties when they
use these for purposes that harm them and do not benefit them; as well as His
assisting them to perfect their natural disposition and to purify their souls.

81 This may be thought of as ‘extreme transcendentalism’; the idea that to talk of God, especially
with respect to His attributes, in any way or manner, will inevitably fall short of the reality of God,
something unimaginably transcendental.
82 Since it is extremely difficult to follow the authors’sentence structure in this context, our trans­
lation has departed somewhat from the letter of the text. The authors use the words: 1) fawdd (lit­
erally, disorder or anarchy) to denote cosmological anarchy, 2) ihmdl (literally, indifference or
abandonment) to indicate God’s indifference to the world; and 3) istibahat al-zulm (permissibility
of injustice) - all of which must be assumed if the atheist position is to be vindicated. Thus, to the
authors, the gathering on the Day of Resurrection precludes the notions of/awdd, ihm&l, and
istibdhat al-zulm (disorder, divine indifference, and permitting injustice).

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[All of] that may be explained by the fact that one o f the principles o f His
upright religion - which [itself] is a manifestation o f His sublime mercy, [a reli­
gion] in harm ony with the natural disposition w ith which He has im bued
hum an beings - is that there exists in every hum an action: 1) an innate [process
of] requital which is an intrinsic effect o f that action, [a process] that accords
with G od’s natural laws (sunna)> whereby spiritual or bodily actions have the
effect of either reforming souls or corrupting them; and 2) another [process of]
requital, conventional (wa4'f)83 or related to the Holy Law (sharx), and which
is a concomitant of that [action], established by G od out of [His] favour or for
the sake o f [upholding] justice.
The first [of these requitals], being the fundamental one, is what ensues from
the purification of the soul by means o f sound beliefs, established knowledge
and noble m anners - [all of] which are impressed upon it [the soul] through
worship o f G od and virtuous conduct tow ard His creatures - in the way of
blissful [co-]existence in this world, com bining the intellectual and spiritual
delights in life with the physical delights of a life o f moderation; this [requital]
is the lesser of the two requitals, the more inferior and the ephemeral one of the
two. And [that first requital] is also what ensues from that [purification] in the
way of everlasting bliss in the Hereafter - and this [requital] is the perfect and
uninterrupted one.
In addition [that first requital is] what ensues from the betrayal of the soul
and the corruption of its [wholesome] natural disposition either by means of
false beliefs, such as the superstitions and delusions associated with idolatry, or
through the base morals and despicable traits stam ped upon the soul by inane
delusions, vile acts and idolatrous devotions. Both a wretched existence in this
world and punishm ent in the Hereafter are concom itants o f those [false]
beliefs, [base] morals, and [vile] deeds, which m ay be com pared with that
harmful behaviour and neuroses (hysteria) that result in unbeatable diseases
and term inal illnesses.
The converse of such [treatment of the soul], as mentioned earlier, resembles
[a form of] physical and m ental activity by which the body and the intellect
train themselves until that person has achieved the perfection ordained for him
in terms o f health and moderateness. W hat religion offers in the way of guid­
ance to sound beliefs, virtues, [good] m anners and devotions, along with its
[religion s] restraint from [succumbing to] idolatry, superstitions, vile acts and
[other] evils, presents a m eans of dissem inating health-related advice and
medical knowledge am ong people, which in tu rn constitutes a self-curbing

83 This second process of requital is part of a secular system of law (positive law), where the laws
and the operation thereof are not based on any moral or theistic considerations; this is contrasted
with requital as part of the Holy Law enshrined in revelation.

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measure by which they are able to guard against that which is harmful and to
embrace that which is beneficial.84 This is a great mercy for them. The fact that
this is a mercy does not preclude what may result from [the indulgence of]
vanity and evil, in the form of misery in this w orld and punishm ent in the
Hereafter, because [such misery] will have been [the result of] crimes they have
perpetrated against their own souls. Thus their case in this [situation] is similar
to that o f a sick person who contravenes his doctor's orders and specific prohi­
bitions and disregards [any] general health-related advice, therefore becoming
more diseased and sick; still this does not contradict the fact that such advice
is a [form of] mercy for people and a grace to them [from God].
Now, the second [type of] requital, which is established out of [God’s] favour
or out o f [the need for] justice, ensues from the first [type of] requital and is
consequent on it; it is divided into two [categories];
1. The first o f these is the extra munificence and bliss which God bestows,
of His own favour, upon the virtuous in return for what is due to them on
account of their [adherence to] faith and their [performance of] righteous
deeds, [this being] in accordance with His promise. And since [this type of]
mercy is more comprehensive, more embracing and greater, then this type of
requital is specific to the virtuous among His servants. This is a special kind of
mercy, and we ask Him, exalted be He, to make us among the best of those who
deserve it.
2. The other of the two [categories of the second type of requital] is the [law
of] retaliation with regard to [an individual’s] rights - or if you [prefer to] say:
the retribution which God exacts from wrongdoers in the Hereafter on behalf
of those wronged, in accordance with His justice.85 Given that the exigencies
of mercy and grace are more comprehensive than, and have precedence over,
the exigency of justice, the retribution of wicked wrongdoers will be com m en­
surate w ith what they deserve; some of them G od will pardon and, as such, the
requital for wickedness may be mitigated by virtue of [God’s] pardon and for­
giveness, but it is never enhanced in any way. [Any] enhancement applies solely
in the [context of the] requital of good deeds: Whoever brings a good deed shall
have tenfold the like o f it; and whoever brings an evil deed shall be requited only
84 The author is alluding here to numerous religious texts (drawn from the Qur'an and the Sunna
of the Prophet) that consider seeking medical advice and healing a duty of the believers. Ibn al-
Qayyim’s (d. 751/1356) book al-Tibb al-Nabawi (see biblio, Ibn al-Qayyim, for details and transla­
tion), on the Prophet Muhammad’s medicinal advice and practices, includes most of the relevant
materials. In addition, the authors imply that the spirit of these teachings is to seek and follow what
is beneficial for the body and the soul generally, not just the specific and limited medical advice that
the Prophet gave to particular individuals in particular circumstances.
85 This seems to be the best way to render the wa-in qulta, although, on the face of it, it should
be ‘even if you were to say\ However, if one does translate it as this last, as the first part of a condi­
tional statement, then there is no response (apodosis), nor anything to imply this second part.

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the like o f it [Q. 6:160]; For those who have done good there will be the best reward
and an extra [reward] [Q. 10:26]; As fo r those who believe and perform deeds o f
righteousness, He will pay them their wages in full, and He will give them more,
out o f His bounty; but those who are disdainful and act arrogantly, He will chastise
them with a painful chastisement [Q. 4:173].
The fact that [our] religion clarifies this type o f requital is [in itself] a mercy.
For this is analogous to a situation where a just governm ent makes clear to its
nation the injurious acts that it will punish, as well as [highlighting] the secu­
rity, power and advancement that will be enjoyed by the virtuous [citizens] who
serve their country. The two Shaykhs [Bukhari and Muslim],86 am ong others,
have narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayra th at the Prophet said, ‘W hen
God m ade creation, He inscribed in a Book that is with Him above the throne
fa rsh ): “Indeed My mercy shall prevail over My wrath”; or, according to
another version [of this tradition], “Indeed My m ercy precedes My w rath”.’
The prevalence and precedence [meant here] refer to the effects of [His] mercy
and w rath and the connection between the two [?], not to the attributes them ­
selves. We shall further elucidate this matter in the course of our commentary
on [the verse] and My mercy embraces all things [Q. 6:156] - if G od grants us
[sufficient length of] life [for this purpose].
As for the connection between the ‘gathering of people to the Day of
Resurrection* and the ‘prescription of m e re /, from the point of view o f the
arrangement of the sentences [of the verse] and the syntax, it has been said that
the ‘prescription of m e re / is an emphasis o f this [former clause] expressed as
an oath. The sentence [beginning with], He will surely gather you, is the response
to an om itted [implicit] oath, in place of which a similar m eaning has been
inserted. It has also been said that this sentence is a new [independent] explica­
tive clause, as if it had been asked: ‘So what does such mercy entail, and what
is its relevance to the call of the [Q ur’anic] Message?’; to which the response
would be that God has sworn that He will surely gather you, for were He not to
gather you for reckoning and requital, many o f th e good-doers am ong you
would remain cheated and deprived [of their reward], many of those wronged
[would rem ain] oppressed, and m any of the wicked w rongdoers [would
remain] unpunished. That is because what should result from [the performance
of] good deeds in this world in the way of a wholesome effect, and [what should
result) from [committing] evil deeds in the way of base effects, is not a generally
valid constant that applies in the case of [the actions of] all individuals, as has
been explained before.87 But it [the real result o f an action] m aybe known from

86 S e e P A , B u k h & ri; M u s lim .

87 In other words, in this life one is not guaranteed a good result simply because one has per­
formed a good deed, nor does one necessarily suffer a bad result when one indulges in immoral acts.

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the choice [of action] and from the way in which God’s natural laws function
at the societal and the cosmic level. Such [non-correspondence in term s o f
action and result] would contradict [divine] mercy as well as [divine] justice
and wisdom, which is why G od’s prescription of mercy upon Himself entails
that He gather people in order to judge between them and requite every one o f
them with the [divine] justice required in the case of all [humans], and with the
[divine] favour [necessary] only for some.
‘To gather’ (jam') [here] is synonymous with ‘to congregate (hashr), both o f
which may be [transitive verbs taking direct objects] followed by the preposi­
tion ila, ‘to’. O ne may say, jam a'ahum ilayhi, ‘he gathered them to if, or
hasharahum ilayhi, ‘he congregated them at if. The gathering o f people ‘to’ the
Day of Resurrection m eans congregating them ‘at the site* or ‘at the [actual]
reckoning thereof. Alternatively, it may m ean, ‘He will surely [continue to]
gather you until you reach that D a /. Some consider [the particle] ila to be a rel­
ative pronoun [as opposed to a preposition]; according to others, it [is a prepo­
sition that] means the same as f i y‘in’. However, both of these [last two] opinions
are unconvincing.
As regards His words, those who have forfeited their souls, they do not believe,
it means: ‘I specifically single out these [individuals] from among [all] those who
will be gathered on the Day o f Resurrection, for m ention or [for them ] to
remember, or [I single them out] for censure and reproach, for, having forfeited
their souls in this world, they do not believe in the Hereafter.’ There is no doubt
that it is these [individuals] who are most in need of being stirred [into action]
by such admonitions or by [that] censure which might lead [them] to reconsider
[their position]. Some have said that the meaning is: ‘He will surely gather you
to the Day of Resurrection, O you who have forfeited their souls and so on. Thus
He has addressed them collectively, but then replaced [the mention of] the col­
lective with [the mention of] a sub-group, for whom the address is more befitting
and o f which [address] they are more in need [than others] ; or [the meaning is
that] He is describing those addressed with this relative clause to indicate that it
is the reason for [addressing them with] the warning and the threat [of punish­
ment]. Some have said that the sentence is an independent clause meaning that
those who have forfeited their souls do not believe in this gathering [to the
Resurrection] and [therefore] do not benefit from being inform ed o f it. The
former [opinion] is both more convincing and more obvious.
The loss of [one’s] soul is [in effect] the corruption o f its [sound] natural dis­
position and its failure to find guidance by means of the guiding faculties - to

That is why the reckoning in the Hereafter constitutes ‘mercy from God, for it will right the injustice
experienced in a world where the logical moral consequence of an action may not be (and frequently
is not) the actual consequence.

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which we referred before - which G od has bestowed upon it. Those who follow
[others) blindly (m uqallidun) have forfeited their souls because they have
denied their souls the utilisation of the noblest o f the innate graces [given to
hum ankind], namely, the intellect; and they have forbidden their souls from
[acquiring) the finest of acquirable merits, namely, knowledge and understand­
ing. Now given that some of the leading authorities [of the religious schools]
have explicitly stated that one who exercises independent reasoning (mujtahid)
and errs [in his conclusion] is better than one who blindly follows those who
exercise independent reasoning but arrives at the correct one - then how [much
worse] must be the state o f one who blindly follows [those who advocate] poly­
theism and disbelief? May God grant us refuge [from such sin]!
To be deprived o f seeing, of ones will power and of the ability to act on one's
resolve, constitutes a loss o f o n e s soul tantam ount to losing it as a result o f
[ones] lacking [the ability to possess] inferential knowledge. If a weak-willed
person were given a good deal of knowledge he could neither do it justice nor
act upon it as he should, since that to which sound knowledge guides, in the
way o f supporting the truth and forsaking falsehood - as well as struggling
against base desires, doing good and cooperating in [acts of] probity - cannot
be [achieved] without hardship, [a burden] which only those [endowed] with
sincere determination and firm will are able to bear.
And so a person who has forfeited his soul by following [others] blindly does
not reflect or seek to infer [anything o f value] so that he might then be guided
to [true] faith. Similarly one who has forfeited his soul through weakness of will
rarely reflects or makes [valuable) inferences - for [even] if such [a person]
were to reflect, and then the truth were to become apparent to him on the basis
of the proofs pointing to it, weakness of will would cause him to founder rather
than endure the censure of others or the disdain o f [his] family and com pan­
ions for one who abandons the ‘religion o f his fathers and forefathers, and
inclines to the party o f their enemies and [what are supposed to be] his enemies.
This is what can be said by way o f a similitude for the state o f the idolaters at
the time of the revelation of this Q u ra n ic chapter (sura).88
Indeed, weakness o f will assuredly prevents that person, regardless o f time
and place, from perform ing those [moral] duties and all those actions that
inevitably require that one bear some physical or psychological hardship, even
if such actions be enjoined by [one's] faith and be in the interest of [one's] com ­
m unity and country. If you were to look into [the reason] why schooled indi­
viduals, aware of [people's] rights and [of their own] duties, lose their dignity,

88 The reason for the commentators reference to the revelation of the sura (chapter), as opposed
to that of the iya (verse), is because surat al-Ari&m (Q. 6) is said to have been revealed all at once
and not in parts.

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On the Nature of the Divine

and [into why] social groups and [entire] nations, who entrust their leadership
to the likes o f such individuals, lose their independence and welfare, you would
find that the cause of both the former and the latter is weakness o f will and lack
o f unwavering determ ination. For success and prosperity, in matters both of
religion and [the life of] this world, can only be achieved by sound knowledge,
as well as that resolve which motivates [a person] to act upon [such] knowledge.
Thus anyone who has forfeited either of these virtues can truly be said to have
forfeited his soul, whether this be an individual or an [entire] nation - let alone
one who has forfeited both of these [virtues]. May God grant us refuge from
[such loss]!
Zamakhshari noted that [the verse mentions] the loss o f one s soul [as taking
place] in the Hereafter. He then pointed out [that there may be] som ething
problematic about [the im port of] this verse, but resolved it according to the
m ethod o f the [rationalist] theologians (mutakallimun) with a solution that is
inappropriate [in such a context]. He said: ‘If you were to object [as follows],
“How can their disbelief be the result o f their loss [of th eir souls], when it
should be the other way round?”; I would reply that what is m eant is those who
have forfeited their souls according to God’s [pre-eternal] knowledge, for they
have chosen [to follow] disbelief and thus they do not believe.’

Fadl Allah
For Fadl Allah, God's ‘mercy permeates all aspects of existence in this world; it constitutes
the fabric from which human society is woven and the cohesive force that binds all ele­
ments of life. His sense is that the verse promotes a feeling of relief and quiet joy inside
the believer, who knows that there is a purpose to creation and to his or her existence; that
does not mean that such an emotional response formed the principal purpose of God's
creation of the cosmos, only that it is yet another manifest aspect of His infinite wisdom.

On the meaning o f the expressions

Kataba, means He made it incum bent (awjaba) upon it [His self].89

The [rhetorical] interrogative is the Qur’an’s way of provoking thought

And so the Q ur’an continues in this sura with its discourse about the issue o f
belief in God. It begins its discourse by provoking a state of self-contemplation
that drives man to discover his innermost notions and convictions concerning
faith; that he might thereby recover a part of his soul that had become lost amidst
milieus of oblivion, perverse mores and the tumult that distracts him from his
89 Fadl Allah, Min wahy al-Qur'an, IX, 43-4.

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 Incumbent mercy

life, so that he [eventually] cedes to what others inspire him [to do] without any
awareness or heed [on his part]. And such [a self-contemplative state] is [effected
in the Q uran] by a unique m ethod ... [as one] among various m ethods which
the Q u ra n employs to provoke [ones] inner being: it poses the question to
provoke a questioning within on es self and [so] push [ones] thought in this or
that direction, because the problem is that most people do not reflect, since they
do not ask themselves questions [in the first place]; if they do ask themselves
questions, the question will [usually] be a mere cry, lost in the soul - they do not
look for any answer for that [question] from within the self or from without,
because they [are wont to] confront many issues with indifference.
Indeed m an is usually prom pted into reflecting [upon things] as a result o f
question m arks around him. We notice that a child begins to think as it first
scrutinises things around it out of curiosity and wonder, and so begins to ask
questions about this [that] and the other, which suggests that it has begun to
consider [things] seriously. That is what the Q ur’an alludes to in several places,
emphasising that the fundam ental problem with disbelievers is that they con­
front issues o f faith from a standpoint o f indifference. Thus they do not con­
sider the [finer] details therein, and so they adopt their negative or affirmative
standpoint on that basis.
It is in this vein that, in the first verse [of this section], the Q ur'an asks the
question: Say, To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?\ and takes
it upon itself to provide the answer, in order to reveal that such [a fact] consti­
tutes one of the most intuitive aspects of [knowledge arrived at by] reflection,
which prom pts the person posing the question to respond [to the question]
without waiting for the answer to the question [he has posed): Say, To God'. It
[the Q ur’an] then proceeds to describe God anew on the basis o f the connec­
tion between faith and Him and the com m itm ent to servitude to Him and the
issue of [man’s] destination [in the Hereafter], so that [all] thought is focused
on Him in the context of objective truth90 by [man’s] reflecting on the context
of His relationship to man’s [ultimate] destiny; and this is one o f the ways in
which the Q u r’an nurtures cogitative impulses in man.
For certain things in life may constitute truths, but [truths] th at have no
bearing on hum an destiny in [the context of] the process of [man’s] accounta­
bility, as is the case with [the truths of] mathematical equations which relate to
the objective truths [of the premises] from which they derive.91 Certain things

90 This phrase seems to echo philosophical ‘objectivism’: the notion that certain things (moral
truths) exist apart from human knowledge of them or the perception of them.
91 Within the broad category of objective truths in the universe, Fa<Jl Allah seeks to differentiate
between those truths which, whether acknowledged by him or not, have no (direct) bearing on man’s
ultimate destiny in the Hereafter (things like alegbraic axioms, etc.) and those truths (such as the
existence of God, reckoning, resurrection etc.) on which he depends for his ultimate salvation.

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On the Nature of the Divine

may relate [both] to life in one respect and to [human] destiny in another. Now
in the case of the form er, m an w ould not be faced with any great problem
should he fail to acknowledge [the truth of] such abstract and intellectual
m atters, since such [matters] are only connected to the process o f life in the
sense that they are associated with general knowledge, or with certain lim ited
aspects of the material [side of] life. In the case of the latter, however, the issue
acquires far more importance in terms o f a persons character and the relation­
ship between [the process of] reflection and destiny in [ones] life. Thus a neg­
ative attitude in this [case] becomes a [gradual] process of alienation from th at
wholesome approach that guides man to collective and individual well-being.
This is the case with faith since it relates to a general perspective on the cosmos
and life, and to the guiding forces operating throughout the cosmos, as well as
to the role played by man’s relationship to it from near or afar - which is the
very fact that makes it [a faith] a practical truth, in addition to representing an
objective truth.
And God is at the [very] heart o f such truths, [truths] which m an m ust
inevitably consider from both perspectives: namely, when they are qualified as
objective truths, and when they are qualified as practical truths that have a p ro ­
found effect upon man’s [ultimate] destiny - in fact, m an’s destiny depends on
them. Given that God represents an objective truth within the cosmos - which
is the essential significance o f faith - then this [reality] will pervade [one’s]
m ode of thinking, conduct and purpose [in life]; whereas m an’s entire reality
becomes different as soon that presence becomes absent [from his life). Those
verses of the Q u r’an, which treat the subject of faith in G od, have been
expressed in this way that they might connect [one’s] process of thought with
[the issue of] destiny, and connect faith with the process o f life in front o f [the
reality of] God. The purpose of this is to imbue the process of thought with a
distinctive vitality and dynamism. That is what we can glean from this verse
that thrusts the answer to the forefront, in order to prove God’s existence objec­
tively, from the point of view o f the fact that the creation o f the cosmos is
dependent on Him, given that He provides the justification for its existence.

Divine mercy is for the welfare o f man

And so the image becomes [ever more] delicate, suffused with compassion, so
that man may experience thereby the sensation of being surrounded by [the
w arm th of] intimacy, security and reassurance. For indeed, He has prescribed
fo r Himself mercy, as creation did not issue from any emotion, but from a source
of wisdom that moves existence towards a great purpose, suffusing [all] things
with mercy so that they may reach their purpose thereby. For this reason,

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mercy exists within the m om entum of [all] existence, within the vitality o f life
and what it contains of favours and graces. It also functions to organise m an’s
life on the basis of accountability, in order to protect him from his own self and
protect others from him. As such, the resurrection [of hum ankind] to [face] a
reckoning is one of the [many] facets o f [God’s] mercy, [mercy] which does not
mean emotional concern, but has to do with man’s welfare during his existence,
since the virtuous person will be rew arded for his good deeds and the evil
person will be requited for his evil deeds. That is why He follows [the mention
of] the m ercy which He has prescribed for H im self with the words: He will
surely gather you to the Day o f Resurrection, o f which there is no doubt. For this
[fact] realises the [ultimate] purpose o f [hum ankind’s] existence by bringing it
face-to-face with the consequences of actions [performed] in this world; and it
is also what gives faith its strength, as it turns into a harm onious progression in
which consequences will be tied to what [acts] preceded them , indicating the
end by the [very] em anation of a beginning.
There on the Day of Resurrection all hum ankind will stand before God to
face the precise reckoning o f [their] accountability, and to hope to secure
[something] of His all-embracing mercy - [all] except a certain group of those
who are not linked to His mercy through anything; they are those who do not
believe in Him, nor acknowledge [the truth of] His Oneness. They are those who
have forfeited their souls, [so] they do not believe. And what loss is greater than
the loss o f ones soul, by having forfeited the only basis [that provides the
means] for his salvation, and that is the mercy o f his Lord, that is attached to
the path of faith in life? That is how the Q u r’an makes the connection between
lack o f faith and the loss of one’s soul. O ne might also understand from such [a
connection] that the issue is not confined to the other-worldly sphere, but actu­
ally extends to the sphere of this world, given the gloominess that such [lack of
faith] imposes upon [a faithless person’s] conceptualisations, visions and
actions, as opposed to the illumination o f the spirit enjoyed by the believer in
all of these [aspects].

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 4 Light of the heavens and the earth
(Q. 24:35)

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth. The likeness o f His light is
as a niche wherein is a lamp - the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a
glittering star, fuelled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither of the east
nor o f the west, whose oil would well-nigh shine even if no fire touched it;
light upon light; God guides to His light whom He will and God strikes
similitudes fo r humankind, and God has knowledge o f everything.

Alldhu nurul-samawdti wal-ard; mathalu nurihi ka-mishkdtin fihd

mi$bdh al-mifbdhu f i zujdja al-zujdjatu ka-annahd kawkabun durriyyun
yuqadu m in shajaratin mubdrakatin zaytunatin Id sharqiyyatin wa-ld
gharbiyya; yakddu zaytuhd yutjffu wa law lam tamsashu ndr, nurun 'aid
nur, yahdfUdhu li-nurihi m anyashd’ wa-yadribuTldhul-amthdla lil-ndsi
walldhu bi-kulli shay’in ‘alim

A cro ss t h e s p e c t r u m of religious and contemplative traditions,

‘light* has consistently figured in expressions denoting paths to knowledge (viz.
enlightenment) or ways to ‘the truth’. ‘The Light* (al-nur), as Muslim tradition
affirms, is one of God’s ninety-nine most beautiful names. Among other things,
the significance o f light lies in its representation of one o f God’s greatest favours
to mankind: enlightenm ent through His guidance to His truth; light connotes
the means to human salvation (najdt) and liberation. This is one of the principal
connotations of God’s ‘light* with which Muslim commentaries have been con­
cerned throughout the history o f the genre, and which is discussed later in this
introduction along with the other significances o f light.
The commentaries pick up the similes of the verse that come immediately
after God’s proclamation that He is the light o f the heavens and the earth, var­
iously as a reference to the Prophet, the Q u r’an or the believer, all o f which are
the receptacles par excellence of G od’s light, His guidance, His truth. The verse
is m uch discussed in term s of symbolic references to the way in which G od’s
light/guidance is manifested on earth. Thus the niche, the lamp, the star-like
glass, the blessed tree and its fruit the olive, whose oil is self-luminous, all are
often interpreted as metaphors for various parts of the sacred microcosm: the
Prophet or the believer. Each of the commentaries presented here seeks to find
such correspondences (tafbiq) to some degree. In Tabari’s citations we read that

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On the Nature of the Divine

the windowless niche is the chest and the lamp is both the Q u r’£n and faith,
while the glass is the believers heart and the believer himself is like the blessed
tree, strong and beautiful, whose works and actions, whose coming and going,
are all light, and whose end is in light in Heaven.
In some of the other commentaries, the verse is interpreted with reference
to the family o f the Prophet, or with respect to M uhammad’s prophetic ances­
to r^ Thus in Muqatil, the likeness o f His light is interpreted as ‘the likeness o f
M uham m ad’s light deposited within the loins o f his father [...] by glass He
means the body of Muhammad*, and the blessed tree is Abraham, w ho in his
pre-Jewish and pre-Christian monotheism is neither o f the east nor o f the west,
and his knowledge would well-nipfi shine. A connection is thus made between
M uham m ad’s prophethood and the m onotheist heritage going back to
Abraham . This connection is, o f course, intended to dem onstrate th at the
Prophet is the direct inheritor of the pure monotheism originally preached by
his forefather Abraham, rather than the Jewish or Christian variety.
In a ShlT interpretation cited by Qum m i, the niche is taken as a reference to
Fatima, daughter of the Prophet. The lamp is a reference to her two sons, the
tree is interpreted as Abraham, while light upon light is understood as imam
after imam, with clear reference to the authority of the Prophet's progeny.
Concerning the olive and the blessed tree, a num ber o f both early and late
com m entators discuss the physical benefits to the olive tree, and to its fruit,
from exposure to the sun not just from the east but also from the west. These
commentators thus take the phrase neither o f the east nor o f the west as meaning
that the tree is ‘not of one or the other direction but enjoys the sun from both
directions’. The advantageous position of the tree, with sun from the east and
the west, means that it will bear the best fruit. The self-luminous oil o f the olives
o f this tree is taken as a symbol of the prophetic wisdom inherent in the
Prophet*s soul, the luminosity of which was evident even before the fire o f rev­
elation touched it.
W hether with regard to the olive tree, the olive, or light, physical entities and
spiritual archetypes are often discussed in the com m entaries in a m anner so
intimately interwoven that they seem to constitute two aspects or two sections
at different points of the same thread. However, this particular continuity
between the subtle or spiritual and the dense or physical is accompanied by a
certain rupture with what comes before. This is neatly summed up in citations
such as the following one from Hasan al-Ba$ri, concerning the tree: ‘the root of
this tree came to the earth from Paradise so it is not a tree o f this world that one
may describe it as eastern or western’. The tree is now on earth but rooted in
heaven and does not belong to this world: rupture through displacement but
continuity through the root/principle (the a$t). Ghazali similarly states that ‘the

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

Light [means] the M anifest O ne by m eans o f w hom all m anifestation takes

place, for that which is manifest in itself and makes other than it [self] manifest
is called light.* In such cases, the physical entity manifests, albeit inadequately
and incompletely, the attributes of the divine quality itself.
This leads to the interpretations o f Tight* which are constructed upon an
analysis of the very concept of light itself, the most manifest phenom enon in
the observed world around us. The nature o f light, be it physical or subde; its
symbolic significance as a simile for G od’s truth and guidance; the intim ate
relationship of spiritual light to the divine essence; and light’s all-pervasive
reality are the m ajor implications of the verse discussed, especially in the later
commentaries.
The light verse has long played a critical role in the Sufi commentaries, prin­
cipally for the significance of light in mystical and spiritual experience. Citing
a Prophetic hadith, Maybudi identifies the sprinkling of divine light upon newly
created creatures as the grace-filled m om ent o f awakened consciousness for
them. For Burusawi this hadith defines the equation, light equals existence: ‘the
sprinkling of the light is an allusion to the bestowal o f existence upon contin­
gents. Maybudi also cites a list o f qualities for the light: mercy, generosity,
beauty etc. Burusawi cites an interpretation that light is ‘knowledge*. Thus for
the Sufis to speak o f the light of God is to speak of His attributes as well as of
His essence: ‘Existence is a light that flows onto all things from the light of His
essence for He is the Light of the heavens and the earth.*Unexpectedly perhaps,
Zam akhshan s tafcir on this verse is veritably mystical with his understanding
of light as the divine truth.
For philosophers the them e of Tight* has a long history. Together with the
‘capacity* (of sight) and the object of perception, it is the agent o f light that
effects vision and consequently makes possible the apprehension o f objects
around us. This light, the ‘agent intellect* hinted at by Aristotle in his De Anim a,
enters into the composition of every material and immaterial thing. Most sig­
nificantly for the relationship between Sufi thought and the Muslim philosoph­
ical tradition, it was on the basis o f the ‘nature of light* that these two schools
were fused, and to some extent reconciled, in the m ovem ent known as
Illum inationism (ishrdq) initiated by Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi in the
sixth/twelfth century. This ‘new’ wisdom articulated the fundamental relation­
ship between light and G od, in effect reiterating A vicennas theory o f the
Necessary Existent - that there must be a first light, living and self-subsisting,
that is the first cause of all other lights - but its theory had the added advantage
of clarity and accessibility, since light could be experienced in a way that theo­
ries about ‘existence* and ‘essence* simply could not.
For these intellectual currents in Islam, God’s explicit affirmation of Himself

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On the Nature of the Divine

in the Q ur’an as the Light o f tire heavens and the earth was the truth that provided
the incontestable link between Himself and the phenom enon of light. This is
perhaps why the com m entaries move from the physical entity to the subtle
almost seamlessly. Needless to say, none of them connect physical light directly
to God - this is the aspect of rupture; it is subtle light that is connected directly
to God. Nevertheless the physical phenom enon helps in the understanding o f
light as such, as is exemplified in the ample discussions in the commentaries on
the attributes of physical light which are then related back to the qualities o f the
light divine - this is the continuity.
Finally, Q. 24:35 stands out in the Q ur’an for another reason. Traditionally
regarded as belonging to the later (M edinan) revelations to the Prophet, the
light verse sits in the middle o f that part of the scriptural corpus which contains
much divine legislation and num erous ritualistic stipulations. It is thus a pecu­
liarly significant testam ent to the continuing mystical spirituality, frequently
overlooked, that characterised the nature of the Prophetic experience at its birth,
and which anticipated both the great mystical movements of later Islam and the
private spiritual journeys of individual Muslims throughout Islamic history.

M uqatil
M u q atil’s interpretation lies squarely w ithin the first interpretive approach m entioned in
the in trod uction to this chapter. It is clear for him that G od, having described H im se lf in
term s o f ‘lig h f, then proceeds to describe H is Prophet, the likeness o f d ivin e lig h t. A s
often, M u q atil’s com m entary seems som ewhat haphazard in its choice o f glosses and
selection o f exegetical m aterial. Thus, we shift from the lo in s o f the Prophef s father, rep­
resented by the ‘niche* in w hich M ubam m ad is enclosed as a glass lantern giving o ff the
light o f faith, to the m anner in w hich a star glitters am id the planets. M ost im portantly fo r
M u q atil, however, the sequence o f elem ents used in the parable, th eir in terconn ection
and interdependence, accom m odates perfectly the nature o f the prophetic lin k between
M ubam m ad and Abraham ; it lays stress on the fact that the M uslim faith was a reaffirm a­
tio n o f the A braham ic cu lt o f the Ka'ba and m arked a return to the o rig in a l pure
m onotheism , long abandoned by Jews and C hristians according to M uqatil.

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth1 means that God is the provider o f
guidance to [all] the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. The statem ent
[concerning His guidance] then stops [at this point], and He proceeds to
describe His Prophet in the simile coined for him [in this verse], saying, may
He be exalted: the likeness o f His light, the likeness of M uham m ad’s light
deposited [as it was] w ithin the loins o f his father ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abd al-
M uttalib, is as a niche (mishkdt), by which He means a recess (kuwa), but
1 Tafsir, III, 199-200.

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without an aperture [at the other end], wherein is a lamp (mi$bdh)y m eaning a
torch (sirdj); the lamp is in a glass (zujaja), a crystal-dear one.
By ‘niche’ (m ishkdt) G od means the loins o f ‘Abd Allah, father of
M uhammad, and by ‘glass’ He m eans the body of M uhamm ad, and by torch
(sirdj) He means the faith inside M uhamm ad’s body. Now, when the glass with
the lamp inside it was taken out of the niche, the niche became dark and its light
disappeared, this niche [thus] becoming a simile for ‘Abd Allah.2 He then likens
the glass (zujaja) to M uhamm ad, [in the way that he has been m entioned] in
the [earlier] books of the prophets, so that there is nothing, just like the light of
a glittering star amidst the planets, that is, Venus; some say, it is Jupiter, which
in Syriac is known as al-Birjis; kindled from a blessed tree, by a blessed tree He
means Abraham , the Merciful’s friend; it is said M uham m ad is kindled from
Abraham as he is from his progeny. He then proceeds to mention Abraham and
says, may He be praised, an olive, an excellent act o f obedience, that is neither
o f the east nor o f the west, meaning that Abraham did not use to pray towards
the east, in the m anner of Christians, nor towards the west, in the m anner of
the Jews, but towards the Ka‘ba.
God then says, whose oil would well-nigh shine, even if no fire touched it, that is
to say, Abraham’s knowledge would well-nigh shine. I heard someone narrating
(yahki) from Abu Salih with regard to His saying, may He be exalted, whose oil
well-nigh would shine, that Muhammad well-nigh would utter words of prophecy
before he was inspired: even if no fire touched itt that is, even if prophecy had not
come to him, his obedience would have been equal to that of the prophets. He,
may He be extolled and magnified, then says, Light upon light, meaning that
Muhammad was a prophet that issued forth from the loins of another prophet,
Abraham; God guides to His light whom He will, Le., God guides to His religion
whom He wills from among His servants. The niche is (kuwa) is like ‘Abd Allah
b. ‘Abd al-Muftalib, the torch (sirdj) is like faith, the glass is the body of
Muhammad, the glittering star is Muhammad, the blessed tree is Abraham and
that is what He is saying, may He be extolled and magnified.

S'

H ud
For H ud, the sim ile is understood as a reference to the believer’s heart, k in d le d by the
divin e lig h t that holds sway over all direction s, east and west. It is interesting that H ud
alludes to the blessed tree, neither o f the east nor o f the west, as one that does not cast any

2 The point being made here is that Muhammad’s father died in the time of Jahiliyya, before the
coming of Islam, without having had access to the ‘light* of the message that would emerge with his
son Muhammad later on.

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On the Nature of the Divine

shadow, im p lying that it is the source o f lig h t itself, w hich echoes sim ila r descriptions o f
the Prophet w ho in certain traditions is said not to have cast a shadow him self. A lth o u g h
he is not e xp licit about it, there does seem to he a hint o f ‘rational* influence in H u d ’s
explanation o f even if no fire touched it, since he seems to suggest that the intellect is able
to know right and w rong innately, alm ost w ithout the need fo r divin e revelation.

As for His saying,3 the likeness o f His light,4 that is the likeness o f His light that
He gives the believer in his heart (qalb), is as a niche, and the niche is a niche in
a house without any windows.5 It is [a word] in the Ethiopic language, and it is
the likeness o f the chest of the believer ($adr al-m um in). Wherein is a lamp,6 it
is that light that is in the heart of the believer, the lamp in a glass, that is clear
(f&fiya), and the glass is a candle and is the likeness of the heart of the believer
whose heart is pure ($dfi). The glass as it were a glittering star,7 that is, a greatly
illuminating [star];yuqadu (kindled) is read in two ways, masculine and fem i­
nine. If it is read with a ya [asyuqadu], it means the lamp. If it is read with a td *
[as tuqadu), it means the glass and what it contains. Similarly, the heart o f the
believer is kindled as a light.
From a blessed tree, an olive, which is the likeness of the heart o f the believer,
that is neither o f the east nor o f the west, that is, it is not eastern as it does no t
become so when the sun rises nor when it sets; nor is it western since the sun
does not affect it when it sets nor when it rises. That is [to say], the east does not
dominate it any more than the west, nor does the west any more than the east;
rather it affects the east and the west.8 Some [commentators] have said that it
does not cast a shadow either eastern or western, it is lit by the sun, and it is the
most pure and sweetest oil.9 Some [commentators] have said that it does not
cast a shadow in the east or the west, and it is on the foot of a m ountain that is
most intensely green. It is the likeness of the believer. Neither o f the east, that is,
it is not Christian, who pray towards the east; nor o f the west, that is, it is not

3 To/sfr, III, 179-81.

4 The Zaydi imam al-Q&sim in his a l-M u sta rsh id insists, in accord with traditionist commentary,
that God is not light since light is perceptible and created. Rather, He illuminates the cosmos and
bestows light. See Abrahamov 1996,64ff; Abrahamov 1990,34; Ibn Qutayba, T a'w il, 327.
5 Zayd mentions the Abyssinian origins o f the term for a niche in a wall that has no window or
opening: see Zayd b. 'All, G h a rib , 290. His contemporary Mujihid b. Jabr comments that it is like
the wax inside the candle: see Mujahid, Tafsiry II, 442; Tabari quotes a longer commentary on his
authority which is not found in the modem editions of Mujihid’s commentary.
6 ‘Abd al-Razzaq comments that this is a similitude for the light of God in the heart of the
believer, see ‘Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir, II, 50.
7 Cf. Farra’, M a d n i , II, 252, that these stars are heavenly bodies such as Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter,
Venus and Mars (as noted by the editor of Hud’s Tafsir).
8 Mulli $adra, Tafsir , V, 370, quotes a report from al-Hasan al-Ba$ri that the tree cannot be of this
world because then it would be either of the east or the west, but nor is it in Paradise; rather, it is a
similitude.
9 Cf. 'Abd al-RazzJq, Tafsir , II, 51.

352
 Light of the heavens and the earth

Jewish, who pray towards the west, that is, the Holy House [in Jerusalem].10 The
location where the Q u ra n was sent down has the Holy House to its west.11
Whose oil would almost shine, that is, the oil makes the glass shine [effort­
lessly]; even if no fire would touch it, which is the likeness of the heart o f the
believer that barely recognises the truth before it is explained to him, in what
comes to him from what corresponds to the truth in what he has been com ­
manded, and in what comes to him from what is reprehensible o f what he has
been prohibited.12 This is the likeness of even if no fire would touch it.
He said, light upon ligfit, that is, the light o f the fire upon the oil in the lamp.
Similar is the heart of the believer; when the truth is explained to him , it
becomes light upon light, just as the lamp when fire is placed in it becomes light
upon light, that is, the light of the glass, the light o f the oil, and the light o f the
lamp.13
He said, God guides to His light whom He will, that is, to His religion. A nd God
strikes similitudes fo r humankind and God has knowledge o f everything.

Q um m i
Q um nu s reports on this verse are replicated to some extent by Furaf s com m entary, since
they seem to be standard S h f I traditions bearing on the necessity o f the im am s fo r guid­
ance and salvation. The long narration attributed to the eighth ShlT im am al-R id a is an
interesting section in this exegesis. The report begins by em phasising the centrality o f the
im am s in G od’s creation and their roles as interm ediaries and intercessors through w hom
G o d bestows o f H is favours. A lth ou g h the narration seems at first unconnected to the
verse in question, its relevance soon becomes clear w hen we are to ld that the parable o f
light is in fact a sim ile for the im am s themselves, who are as a niche in the Book o f G od,
im plying that there is a scriptural basis for recognising and acknowledging their authority,
for those o f th eir follow ers able to scrutinise the revelations. O n the D ay o f Resurrection,
‘light* is the means by w hich the im am s w ill attach them selves to the Prophet, and the
means by w hich the Prophet him self w ill be able to access his Lord’s favour, thereby secur­
in g the privilege o f intercession for the im am s, and in turn th eir follow ers.

Salih b. Sahl al-Hamadanl said,14 T heard Abu *Abd Allah [Ja'far al-$adiq] com­
menting on God is the light o f the heavens and the earth; the likeness o f His ligfit
10 The Zaydi imam al-Qisim in a l-M u sta rsh id comments that this olive tree refers to
Mufiammad, who neither prayed to the east or to the west but towards the Ka'ba in Mecca. See
Abrahamov 1996,72.
11 As the editor correctly points out, Jerusalem is more north of Mecca and slightly to the west
12 This sounds remarkably like the Mu'tazili and Twelver Im&mi concept that the intellect, and
the heart as the true seat of cognition, recognises truth, good and evil innately and this intellectual
analysis and recognition accords with the commandments and prohibitions of the religious law.
13 Cf. Mujihid, Tafsir , II, 443.
14 Tafsir, II, 103-5.

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On the Nature of the Divine

is as a niche, that the niche is Fatima, wherein is a lamp, the lamp, that is al-
Hasan and al-tfusayn, in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star, that is to say,
Fatima as it were a glittering star from am ong all the women of the earth;
kindledfrom a blessed tree, that is, kindled from Abraham; neither o f the east nor
o f the west, that is to say, neither Jewish nor Christian; whose oil well-nigh would
shine, that is, knowledge would well-nigh exude profusely from it; even i f no fire
touched it; light upon light, that is, from it one imam [succeeds] after another;
God guides to His light whom He will that is, G od guides to the imams w hom
He wants to include within the light o f their friendship (wilaya) with sincere
devotion; and God strikes similitudesfo r humankind, and God has knowledge o f
everything.15
Jafar b. M uham m ad [al-$adiq] said that his father [M uhammad al-Baqir]
said about this verse,

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth: God begins by [mentioning] His own
Light; the likeness of His fight, that is, the likeness of His guidance in the heart of
the believer is as a niche wherein is a lamp, the lamp: the niche is the inner part of
the believer, the lantern (qindil) is the heart, the lamp (mifb&h) is the light that
God has placed in that heart; kindledfrom a blessed tree, the tree is the believer; an
olive that is neither o f the east nor of the west: atop a mountain, [facing] neither
towards the east nor the west, and unaffected by the rising or setting of the sun;
whose oil well-nigh would shine, that is, the light which God has placed in the
[believer's] heart would well-nigh shine, even if he [the believer] were not to speak;
light upon light: one obligation (farida) after another, and one sunna after another,
God guides to His light whom He will, that is, God guides to His precepts (fara id)
and ways (sunan) whom He wishes; and God strikes similitudesfor humankind: this
then is a similitude which God has struck for the believer, for the believer is
exposed to five stages of light: his way in is light, his way out is light, his knowledge
is light, his speech is light, and his path on the Day of Resurrection to Paradise is
light.16

I [Talba b. Zayd]17 said to Jafar b. Muframmad [al-$adiq], ‘For the sake o f

God, m aster, they keep talking about the “likeness” o f the Lord’s light’; He
replied, ‘Glory be to God, He has no likeness. He says strike not any similitudes
for God [Q. 16:74].’
‘All b. Ibrahim [al-Qummi the commentator] said, with regard to God is the
Light ° f the heavens and the earth [to the end of the verse]: My father related to

15 The isn&d for this report is: Muhammad b. Hammam f- Jafar b. Muhammad <- Muhammad
b. al-Hasan al-$ftyigh f al-Hasan b . ' Ali 4r $£lih b. Sahl al-Hamad&nl <- Abu ’Abd A llih [Ja‘far al-
$§diqj.
16 This report bears the isnid: Hamid b. Ziyid Muhammad b. al-Husayn <- M uhammad b.
Yahyi <- Talba b. Zayd <- Ja'far b. Muhammad [al-$adiq]<- his father [Muhammad al-Biqir).
17 This phrase continues the report which has Talba b. Zayd as the narrator from Jafar al-$idiq.

354
 Light of the heavens and the earth

me from ‘Abd Allah b. Jundub that he [the latter] wrote to Abu 1-Hasan al-Ri<Ja
asking him about the interpretation of this verse; he wrote back to me with the
following response:

Muhammad was God’s trustee (amin) among His creatures. When Muhammad
died, we the People of the House became the trustees of God on earth.18 We had
knowledge of all tribulations and fates of death, the genealogies of the Arabs and
the birth of Islam.19 We knew whether a man was truly a believer or truly a hyp­
ocrite just by seeing him. The names [of the followers] of our party (shfatund)
have already been written down, together with those of their fathers.20 God has
put us under an obligation: they go where we go and they enter the places we
enter. None except them and us are [true] followers of the creed of Abraham, the
Intimate of the Merciful One (khalil al-rahm&n).21 On the Day of Resurrection,
we shall seek a means of holding fast to our Prophet, our Prophet shall seek the
means of obtaining access to his Lord, and this means is light, and our party shall
seek aid from us.22 Whoever separates himself from us shall perish, and whoever
follows us shall find salvation; the one who rejects closeness to us is an unbeliever,
but our party and those who affiliate with us are believers; only an unbeliever hates
us, and all [true] believers love us.23 Whoever dies loving us, God is bound to res­
urrect him alongside us. We are light for those that follow us and light for those
who follow our example. Whoever rejects us does not belong with us, and
whoever does not belong with us, has nothing to do with Islam.
Wth us, God began [creation] and with us He shall seal it. Through us God has
given you to eat from the plants of this earth, and through us God has brought
down rain for you from the heavens. Through us God has made you safe from
drowning at sea and from being swallowed up by the ground. Through us God
brings you benefits during your lifetimes, in your graves, at the Gathering (a/-
biashr)t the Bridge (al-$irdf), the Scales (al-mizdn) and when you enter the
Paradise. Our likeness in the Book of God is as a niche (mishkat), and the mishkat
is a [place for the] lantern (qindil); so we are the niche, therein is a lamp (mifbah),

18 The Shfl tradition considers the imams of the family of the Prophet to be the true khulafii*or
trustees/vicegerents of God on earth. See Qummi, Bafd’ir, 64-8,81-4,123-4; Kulaynl, Kdfi, 1,193-4.
19 A key feature of the Shll doctrine of the imamate is the claim of special knowledge, especially
knowledge of the beginning of the world and its eschaton. The doctrine of the imam’s special knowl­
edge about the crises, trials, tribulation and fates of men (both their disciples and their enemies) is
known as Ulm al-baldyd wal-mandyd. See Kulayni, Kdfi, I, 254-8; Qumml, Bafd'ir, 73-4,217-22,
282-4,348-9,483.
20 This reflects th e deterministic tone of much early Twelver Imami material. See Qummi,
Ba$d’ir, 190-4; Barqi, Mahdsin, 1,223-7.
21 Cf. Qumml, Bafd’ir, 134-8,155.
22 The imams are guarantors of salvation and intercessors for their faithful. See Qumml, Ba$d’ir,
30-5.
23 The imams are the criterion of the faith. The key dual doctrine of friendship/enmity
( w a ld y a /b a rd ’a ) is being stressed here. See Barqi, M a h d sin , 1,133-6,173-7,237-8,248-52,266-8;
Qummi, B a fd 'ir , 53-5,90-102; Kulayni, K djt, 1,192-3,205-6; cf. Hermann Landolt, ‘WalAyah’, E R ,
XV, 316-23; Paul E. Walker, ‘Wlftya: 2. in Shl*sm\ E/2, XI, 208-9.

355
On the Nature of the Divine

the lamp being Muhammad; the lamp in a glass: we are that glass; the glass as it
were a glittering star kindledfrom a blessed tree, an olive that is neither of the east nor
of the west, i.e., it is neither unrecognised nor an impostor; whose oil, i.e., its light;
well-nigh would shine, even if no fire touched it; light upon light, the light o f the
Criterion [al-furqdn, sc. the Q uran];24 God guides to His light, i.e., to our friend­
ship, whom He will [and God is omnipotent],25 in guiding to our friendship whom
He likes. It is incumbent upon God to resurrect the person who has affiliated with
us with his face bright and shining, his evidence glorious and his proof from G od
It is incumbent upon God that our enemy on the Day of Resurrection should
arrive with his face blackened and his proof before God invalid. It is incumbent
upon God to make the person who has affiliated with us the companion of the
prophets, just men, martyrs and the righteous: good companions they are [cf. Q.
4:69].26 It is incumbent upon God to make our enemy the companion of satans
and unbelievers: evil companions they are. The martyr among us has four times
the merit of other martyrs, and the martyr from our followers has seven times the
merit of martyrs of other [groups].
We are of noble descent, the sons of the trustees (awfiyd*), the foremost of
people in [worshipping] God;27 we are the loyal ones, the ones designated in God’s
Book,28 and we are the most deserving among people of [knowing] God’s religion;
we are the ones to whom God prescribed His religion, as God said, He has laid
down for you as religion that He charged Noah with and that We have revecded to you
[Q. 42:13], O Muhammad, and that with which He charged Abraham, Ishmael,
Isaac and Jacob. We have acquired the knowledge, we have passed on what we
have learnt, and we have given over the knowledge for safekeeping. We are the
heirs of the prophets, and we are the progeny of the men of knowledge:29 Perform
the religion through the family of Muhammad, and scatter not regarding it, be in
consensus; dreadful for the idolaters - those who have committed skirk [associa­
tion] with regard to loyalty to ‘All b. Abi T^lib - is that to which you summon them,
that is, associating with ‘All; God, O Muhammad, chooses unto Himself whomsoever
He will, and He guides to Himself whosoever turns, penitent [Q. 42:13], i.e., the one
who heeds your call to affiliate with ‘All b. Abi Talib.

Furat
For Furat, the light verse must be interpreted with reference to the Prophet's immediate
family, the ahl al-bayt. Just as Muhammad received the prophetic inheritance from
24 Cf. Rudi Paret, ‘Furman, E P , II, 949-50; Daniel Madigan, ‘Criterion,£Q , 1,486-7.
25 The Q ur’inic citation in square brackets is not actually part of Q. 24:35, but the commentator
has included it for some reason.
w Cf. Barqi, M a h d sin , 1,265-6.
27 Cf. QummI, B a$d'ir, 465.
28 Cf. Kulayni, Kd/i, 1,206-7,212-13.
29 C f. Kulaynl, K dfl, 1,212-18; Qummi, B a fd 'ir , 138-41,155-9.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

Abraham , so ‘A ll b. A b i T a lib , as the Prophet's trustee, in h e rite d prophetic know ledge

directly from him . The focus then turns to the im am s, w ho are essential for salvation, and
to the significan ce o f lig h t as the instrum ent by w hich they guide those that believe in
them . The im am s are interm ediaries in creation, since it is through them that d ivin e
favours are bestowed, and through enm ity towards them that G o d ’s wrath is incurred.

[Hadith no. 381]30 Furat b. Ibrahim al-Kufi31 reported to us through a chain of

transmitters (m u'an in a n ) from Abu Ja‘far M uham m ad b. ‘All [al-Baqir] with
regard to G od’s saying, the likeness o f His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp,
that he said that the niche is the knowledge in the heart of the M essenger of
God; in a glassyhe said that the glass is the Prophet*s heart; as it were a glittering
star, kindled from a blessed tree, i.e., the Prophet has passed the light o f knowl­
edge from his heart to the heart o f ‘All b. Abi Talib; that is neither o f the east nor
o f the west, from Abraham , the Intim ate o f the Merciful O ne (khalll al-
rahmari)?2 all the way through M uham m ad the M essenger o f God to ‘All b.
Abi Talib: neither Christian nor Jewish.33 Whose oil well-nigh would shine, even
if no fire touched it; light upon light, he said that the knowledgeable one from
among the family of M uham m ad would well-nigh utter words o f knowledge,
before being asked about it.34
[Hadith no. 382] He said that Ja‘far b. M uhammad al-Fazari reported to me,
through a chain of transmitters from Jabir [b. ‘Abd All&h al-An$ari], that Abu
Ja‘far [al-Baqir] informed us, and God knows best, that G ods saying, may He be
exalted, God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth; the likeness o f His light [...].35
[Hadith no. 383] He said that Ja‘far b. M uham m ad al-Fazari reported to me
through a chain of transm itters from Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq] with
regard to His saying, God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth; the likeness o f
His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp, [it meant that] al-Hasan is the lamp, al-
Husayn is the glass; as it were a glittering star, that is, Fatima is a glittering star
among the women of all the worlds; kindled from a blessed tree, an olive, i.e.
Abraham; that is neither o f the east nor o f the west, meaning, neither Christian
nor Jewish; whose oil well-nigh would shine, that is, knowledge would well-nigh
spring forth from it [the tree].36
30 Furit, Tafsir, 1,281-87.
31 Furat b. Ibrahim al-Kufi is the father of the commentator.
32 In reference to Q. 4:125: and God took Abraham as his intimate. Cf. Reuven Firestone,
‘Abraham’, HQ, 1,5-10.
33 The doctrine invoked here is the transmission of prophetic knowledge from its divine source
through the line of prophets to the imams as the heirs of prophetic knowledge. See Kulayni, Kdfi, I,
223-38.
34 It is the duty of the imam, as one divinely appointed and sustained and informed, to pass on
and transmit the knowledge bestowed upon him. See Qummi, Baja Ur, 144-9; Kulayni, Kdfi, 1,275-7.
35 The hadith quoted is almost identical to the previous one.
36 In Shi*! tafsir, this verse is seen as a parable for the reality of the imams as the face of God and
His light and guidance to creation. In the chapter on the imams as the ‘light of God (mir Allah)' in

357
On the Nature of the Divine

[Hadith no. 384] He said that Jafar b. M uham m ad al-Fazari reported to m e

through a chain of transm itters from al-Husayn b. ‘Abd Allah b. Jundub, w ho
said that he took out a leaf [from a notebook] and m entioned how his father37
had written to Abu 1-Hasan [al-Ri<Ja]: ‘May I be thy ransom, I have become old,
weak and unable to do many of the things I used to, and I would like for you to
teach me some words that w ould bring me closer to my Lord and m ake m e
more intelligent and more knowledgeable* He wrote back to him saying, ‘I have
sent you a letter (kitdb):38 read it and try to understand it, for in it there is a cure
for him whom God wishes to cure and guidance for him whom God wishes to
guide. Repeat frequently “In the nam e of God, the Com passionate, th e
Merciful” (bism i'lldhiVrahm dnil-rahim) and “there is no power and no
strength save in God, the All-high, the All-glorious” (Id hawla wa-ld quwwata
ilia bi'lldh al-aliyy al-'azim) and recite them over $afwan and Adam.*39
‘All b. al-H usayn [Zayn al-‘Abidin]40 said that M uham m ad was G o d ’s
trustee on earth [...]41
(Hadith no. 385] ‘All b. al-Husayn reported to me, through a chain o f tra n s­
mitters, that al-A$bagh b. Nubata said: “Abd Allah b. Jundub wrote to ‘All b.
Abl Talib saying: may I be made thy ransom, I am weak, give me som ething to
make strong. ‘All commanded his son al-Hasan to write back to him. He wrote:
Muhammad was God’s Trustee on earth, and when M uhamm ad died, we were
the People of his House [...] *42
al-K dfi, al-Kulayni, commenting upon this verse Q. 24:35, cites two h a d ith s in which stages of the
parable are related and made to correspond to the a h l a l-K is d ' (People of the Mantle) (sc.
Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn); their light is the light of guidance and light u p o n
light refers to the succession of the imams to whom God guides believers: see Kulayni, K d fi, 1 ,195.
These narrations closely mirror the commentary of al-Qummi. A modem work o f ’Abd al-Halim
al-Ghizzi quotes another version without giving a reference, a version that is explicitly Twelver while
most of the h a d ith on such matters in a l-K d fi are not. This narration is reported from ‘Ali who said:
G o d is th e L ig h t o f th e h ea ven s a n d th e ea rth ; th e likeness o f H is light is a s a niche, which is
Muhammad, w herein is a la m p , which is me, th e la m p in a glass, that is al-Hasan and al-Husayn,
the glass as it w ere a g litte rin g star, that is ‘Ali b. al-Husayn, k in d le d fr o m a blessed tree , that is
Muhammad b. ‘Ali, an olive, that is Ja'far b. Muhammad, th a t is n e ith e r o f th e east, that is Musa b.
Ja‘far, n o r o f th e west , that is 'Ali b. Musi, whose o il w ellnigh w o u ld shine, that is Muhammad b. ‘All,
even i f n o fi r e w o u ld touch it, that is ‘All b. Muhammad; L ight u p o n light, that is al-Hasan b. ‘All;
G o d g u id e s to H is light w h o m H e w ill, that is al-Qa'im al-Mahdi. A n d G o d strikes sim ilitu d e s f o r
h u m a n k in d a n d G o d has know ledge o f everything.
In this narration, all the twelve imams are named as aspects of the parable and, significantly,
Fatima no longer has the central role as the glittering star that she has in the other narrations. But
we know little about this ‘narration’ and its provenance: see Ghizzi 1423/2002,15-16.
37 See PA, ‘Abd Allah b. Jundub.
** A ‘book* as such is not what is meant here, but rather a letter or writing with instructions.
39 On the efficacy of these phrases, see Barqi, M a h d s in , 1 ,112-14.
40 The fourth Shi’i imam. See Elan Kohlberg, ‘Zayn al-‘Abidin’, E l2, XI. 481 -3; Baladhuri, A n s d b ,
73,101-2,146-7,206-8,214,217,220,273.
41 This is the same narration as the one cited in Qummi, this chapter the tradition beginning
with ‘Ali b. Ibrahim.
42 The text of the h a d ith quoted is the same as that beginning with ‘Ali b. Ibrahim.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

Tabari
Generally, the com m entary can be divid ed into two unequal halves. The first, and by far
the largest, deals w ith the allegory o f the lam p and the niche, w hile the second presents
com m entary on the blessed tree; very little attention is devoted to the phrases follow ing
light upon light. W th in this fram ew ork, Tabari presents com m entary on in d iv id u a l words
and phrases in the order in w hich they occur, lin k s them w ith an overall interpretation o f
the verse and then, if necessary, moves back to give alternative interpretations o f the same
w ord and any resulting alternative interpretation o f the w hole verse. The traditions cited
predom inantly conform to three interpretations o f the parable o f G o d ’s lig ht, according
to w hich it either relates to M uham m ad, the Q u r’an o r the faith o f the believer, although
there is considerable divergence o f o p in io n on the details.
In terms o f the interpretative approach undertaken in th is verse, one th in g that is
im m ediately strikin g is the lack o f reports associated w ith the occasions o f revelation
{asbdb al-nuzul, tradition s); o n ly one is cited (but o ccurs tw ice). T his is unusual, as
although T abari’s Tafsir is not dom inated by asbdb he does cite them quite often, but it
may sim ply reflect a general lack o f asbdb traditions on th is verse. A s is norm ally the case,
a significant part o f the discussion centres on gram m atical issues. How ever, this seems to
be less the result o f any p a rticu la r interest in th is aspect o f com m entary on the part o f
T abari than o f some w idely discussed gram m atical issues su rro u nding certain words.
Perhaps inevitably, considering the allegorical nature o f the verse, the m ajority o f the com ­
m entary is devoted to the interpretation o f specific w ords and the different lights these
interpretations cast on its m eaning. As always, Tabari gives his o p in io n o f the best in ter­
pretation o f each elem ent o f the verse as the com m entary progresses. How ever, although
T abari is forthcom ing w ith his use o f ijtihdd b\l-ra'y> he is very often am bivalent in his
judgement o f the various interpretations, a fact w hich clearly reflects the general diversity
o f o pin io ns on th is verse. D espite his relative reticence, however, T abari does give his
approval to the lin e o f in terpretation that reads the lam p allegory as referring to the
Q u r’an and its presence in the niche o f the believer's heart, and he concludes his com ­
m entary on ‘the blessed tree’ w ith the suggestion that the blessed tree sh ou ld be in te r­
preted as a m etaphor fo r G o d him self. A lthough th is is obviously intim ated by others in
th eir interpretation o f the Q u r’an as ‘the likeness o f H is lig h f, it is interesting that it is not
e xp licitly supported by any traditions.

Reports on the interpretation of the words of God.43 G od m eans by His

words God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth [that He is] the guide (hadt)
for everyone in the heavens and the earth. That is, [His creation] is shown the
way to the [path of] truth by His light, and seeks refuge from the confusion of
[going astray in] error in His guidance.44 However, commentators differ on the
interpretation of this [phrase]. Some of them agree with w hat we have said
[above],
43 Jdmr a l-b a y d n , XVIII, 135-43.
44 Tabari is building on the Q ur’inic metaphor of God’s light and presenting it as analogous to
a lantern in the dark by which His creation can be led to the correct path, and by whose light they
are then able to remain on it.

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On the Nature of the Divine

An account of those who said this:

Ibn 'Abbas said about His saying God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth,
‘G od is a guide for the people of the heavens and the earth.’45
O thers say instead that the m eaning o f this [phrase] is that G od is the
M anager (mudabbir) of the heavens and the earth.

A n account of those who said this:

It is reported from Mujahid and Ibn ‘Abbas that His saying, God is the Light
o f the heavens and the earth, [means] He manages [or ‘regulates’] affairs in them ,
their stars, their sun and their moon.
Others say, rather, by [the word] ‘light’ (nur) is meant ‘illumination* ((ftyd*),
and they say that its meaning is [thus]; the [literal] light of the heavens and the
earth. An account of those who said this: Ubayy b. Ka‘b said about G od’s words
God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth, the likeness o f His light. ‘He [God]
began by mentioning His own light, then said the likeness o f His light, meaning
the likeness o f the light of the one w ho believes in Him.’ He [the transm itter]
continued, ‘And Ubayy used to read [the verse] in this way: “the likeness o f the
one who believes in Him”. He [Ubayy] said, “This is [a reference to] the servant
in whose breast God has placed the Q ur’an and faith”.’46
Said b. Jubayr [and al-Pafrhak] also said about the likeness o f His light, ‘[it is]
the likeness of the light of the believer.’
However, others say that [the word] ‘light* refers to Muhammad, and say that
‘The [suffixed pronoun] ha’ in His saying mathalu nurihi is a reference to the
name o f God [from the preceeding verse, God is the Light]!

An account of those who said this:

‘Ibn ‘Abbas approached Ka‘b al-Ahbar and said to him ‘Speak to m e about
the saying of God, Mighty and Majestic, God is the Light o f the heavens and the
earth... [to the end of the verse]’, whereupon Ka‘b said, ‘God is the Light o f the
heavens and the earth, the likeness o f His light is M uhammad, [who is] as if [he
were] a niche.’
Sa‘Id b. Jubayr said about His saying the likeness o f His light: ‘[It refers to]
M uhammad.’
O thers say, rather, what is m eant by [the phrase nurihi (H is/its light)] is
G od’s guidance and manifest explanation, that is the Q ur’an [itself]. They say
the ha’ [denoting the suffixed possessive pronoun] refers to G od, and th e
meaning of the phrase is: God is the Guide o f the inhabitants o f the heavens

45 Tabari follows this with a report similar in content, but from Anas b. Milik.
46 Tabari quotes three similar reports from Ubayy, of which the one given here is the longest
version.

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and the earth through His clear verses. They are the light through which the
heavens and the earth obtain enlightenment; the likeness of His guidance and
His verses by which His creation is guided, and through which He admonishes
(w aaza) them , is as a niche in the hearts of the believers.47

An account of those who said this:

Ibn ‘Abbas said about the likeness o f His light, ‘It [refers to] the likeness
(mathal) of His guidance in the hearts of the faithful/
Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] said about His saying the likeness o f His lighty ‘The “like­
ness” of this Q ur’an in the heart [of the believer] is as a niche/
Ibn Zayd said about His saying the likeness o f His light, ‘[It is] the light of the
Q u ra n which He sent down as a revelation to His Messenger and His servants.
This is the likeness o f the Q u r’an, it is as a niche wherein is a lamp!
O n the other hand, others say its meaning is ‘the parable [or allegory] of the
light of G od’, and they say, ‘By [the words] “the light” He means: obedience
(fa'a) [to Him] ’
[M uhammad b. Sa‘d reports from his father that] Ibn ‘Abbas said [the fol­
lowing] about His saying, God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth; the like­
ness o f His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp: ‘That was because the Jews said
to M uhamm ad, “How can G od’s light escape from heaven?” Then God gave
this parable of His light and said, God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth;
the likeness o f His light is as a niche! He continued, ‘And it is a parable God gave
about obedience to Him, and He called [this] obedience to Him nur (light),
then He called it various [types of] light (anwdr shattd)!
[With regard to] His saying as a niche, com m entators differ on the meaning
of al-mishkdt (the niche), al-mi$bah (the lamp) and al-zujaja (the glass), and
what the intention [was behind this reference to them ]. Some say that al-
mishkdt is any recess in a wall without a window in it, and that this is a
metaphor God has given for the heart of M uhammad.

An account of those who said this:

‘Ibn ‘Abb§s came to Ka‘b al-A bbar and said to him , ‘Tell me about G od’s
saying the likeness o f His light is as a niche! [Ka‘b al-Ahbar] told [him]:

The mishkdt is a recess [in a wall, in which a lamp is placed], and God made it as
a metaphor for Muhammad. The recess, wherein is a lamp (the lamp of his heart
in a glass, the glass of his chest, the glass as it were a glittering star) likens the chest
of the Prophet to a brilliant star. He then returns [metaphorically] the lamp to his
heart, and goes on to say kindled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither of the

47 According to this interpretation of the phrase, the word mathal takes on the meaning of
‘model’, or ‘ideal’ - here rendered as ‘perfect example.

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On the Nature of the Divine

east nor of the west - [meaning that] neither the rising sun nor the setting sun have
touched i t 48 Whose oil well-nigh would shine [means] the Prophet would have con­
tinued to expound [God’s message] to the people even if he had not spoken out
that he was a prophet, just as this oil would shine even if no fire touched it; light
upon light.49

Ibn ‘Abbas said about His saying as a niche: [It is] the place [in which one
would put] a wick (fatila)! Ibn ‘Abbas said about His saying [from] God is the
Light o f the heavens and the earth... up to [where it says] as a niche: “al-mishkdt
[means] a recess (kuwa) in a house.'
Others say that by the niche He means the chest of the believer, by the lamp
He means the Q u ra n and faith, and by the glass [the believer's] heart.

An account of those who said this:

Ubayy b. Ka‘b said about His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp,

The believer who has placed faith and the Qur’an in his chest is like a niche. The
niche is his chest wherein is a lamp; the lamp is the Qur’an and the faith which he has
placed in his chest; the lamp [is] in a glass, and the glass is his heart. [In] the glass as
it were a glittering star. He describes [the heart] that is enlightened by the Qur’an and
true faith as if it were a brilliant star, i.e., one that is luminous. Kindledfrom a blessed
tree, i.e., blessed in its devotion to God alone and to His worship, with no associate,
[and is] neither of the east nor of the west. And [so] He made a parable of one tree,
embracing in this all trees; it is green and tender, the sun does not touch it (with its
rays], in whichever [part of] its cycle it is, neither as it rises nor as it sets. That believer
who has been granted sanctuary from the vicissitudes of fate that befall him, and
[those] that he has been afflicted by, resembles this [tree], as God has demonstrated
in the [parable]. And so he is between four pegs (khilal): if he is granted something,
he is thankful; if he is tested, he is patient; if he judges, he is just; if he speaks, he is
truthful. Compared to other people, he would be like the living man who walks
amongst the graves of the dead. He said Light upon lightyand so he has at his disposal
five lights: his words are a light, his actions are a light, his entrance is a light, his exit
is a light, and his end is in the light on the Day of Judgement, in heaven.50

Ibn ‘Abbas said about the likeness o f His light is as a niche: this is a parable o f
His guidance in the heart of the believer. Just as pure oil almost shines before
it is touched by fire, and then when the flame touches it the light increases m an-
48 The verb used for ‘touch’ here - massa - has connotations of touching something with the
fingers and violating something sacred by touching it
49 This is the continuation of the report that appears earlier in Tabari’s commentary (Tbn ‘Abbas
approached Ka‘b al-Ahbaf). The report of the exchange between the two men may have been split
up by Tabari to fit his exegetical arrangement It is interesting to note that here we see Ibn ‘Abbas,
traditionally seen as ‘the father of Qur’inic exegesis’, asking a question of Ka‘b, who was famed for
his knowledge of the Talmud and Haggada.
50 Three reports with slight variation in isnad are transmitted from Ubayy b. Ka'b.

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ifestly, so it is with the heart o f the believer, acting in accordance with [His]
right guidance [even] before knowledge is bestowed upon him, and then when
knowledge comes to him , guidance increases upon guidance, and light upon
light. Before knowledge came to him, Abraham said This is my Lord [Q. 6:76]
when he saw the star, even though no-one had inform ed him th at he had a
Lord; then when God informed him that He was his Lord, he became increased
in guidance, in addition to his [former] guidance.51
Ibn ‘Abbas said about His saying, God is the Light o f the heavens and the
earth; the likeness o f His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp:

This [was sent down] because the Jews asked Muhammad, ‘How can God’s light
escape outside heaven?’ whereupon God gave this [sura] as an likeness of His light,
and said God is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His light is as a
niche wherein is a lamp. The niche is an recess [or small window] in the house that
has a lamp in it, the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star. The mi$bah
is the torch (siraj), which is [placed] in the oil. This is a parable that God gave
about obedience to Him, and He called obedience to Him ‘light', and He also
called it other things.

His saying kindled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither o f the east nor o f
the west [means]: It is a tree that no shadow o f the east or the west approaches,
[it is perpetually] sunlit, this makes the oil so pure [that it] well-nigh would shine,
even if no fire touched it. M am a r and al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] said, ‘It is not one of
the trees of this world; it is not of the east nor of the west.’
Others [also] say it is a metaphor o f the believer except that [they differ from
previous reports slightly and say that] the lamp and what is in it is a metaphor
for his heart (fu’&d), and the niche is a m etaphor for his body.

An account of those who said this:

M ujahid and Ibn ‘Abbas both [said], ‘The lam p and its contents are a
m etaphor of the heart o f the believer and and what is inside him; the lamp is a
m etaphor for the heart and the niche is a m etaphor for what is inside him.*52
Ibn Jurayj reported on as a niche, ‘[It is] a recess in the wall w ithout an
opening [all the way through]’. Ibn Jurayj and Ibn ‘Abbas said, ‘His saying /igftf
upon light means the faith o f the believer and his deeds.*
51 The report refers to the story (referred to in surat at-An dm [Q. 6]) according to which a young
Abraham, who was bom into a society that practiced idolatry, realised that he was worshipping false
gods and began to look around to find a true god to pray to. He first identified God as a star, then
the moon, then the sun, only to find that they all set - which a true god would not Finally he realised
that the true God was the creator of the heavens and the earth. Some commentators regard this story
as a deliberate allegory in which Abraham demonstrates the futility of idolatry, but here it seems to
be accepted at face value as a story of his journey to spiritual enlightenment.
52 Tabaris commentary on this verse can be reduced to (basically) three long reports from Ibn
'Abbas, Ubayy, al-Hasan al-Ba$ri, Ibn Zayd and Said b. Jubayr with just a few slightly variant isndds.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Others say, instead, that this is a m etaphor for the Q ur'an in the heart o f the
believer.

An account of those who said this:

Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] said about His saying God is the Ligfit o f the heavens and
the earth; the likeness o f His light is as a niche, '[It is) as a recess [in the wall]
wherein is a lamp (the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star)'.
Ibn Zayd said about the saying of God, God is the Light o f the heavens and the
earth; the likeness o f His light: ‘[He means] the light of the Q ur'an which he sent
down to His Prophet and His servants, thus is the likeness of the Q u ra n , [which
is] as a niche wherein is a lamp (the lamp in a glass..*. And he recited until he
reached [the words] blessed [tree]; ‘This is the likeness o f the Q ur'an, in which
enlightenment can be sought through its light, [believers] learn it and follow it,
and it is as if it never diminishes, and [so] this is a simile God gave o f His lig h t/
On His saying whose oil well-nigh would shine, [he] said: ‘The luminosity (daw')
is the radiance (ishraq) of the oil, the niche (mishkdt) is the container of the wick
which is in the lamp, and that [word] ma$dbth (lamps) is [equivalent to] qanddil
(lanterns)/
Others say al-mishkdt is al-qindil (the lamp).

An account of those who said this:

Mujahid said about the words o f God as a niche, ‘[It means] lamp (qindil),
then the pillar on which the lamp is stood.’53
O thers say that al-mishkdt means the chain by which the lamp (qindil) is
hung.

An account of those who said this:

Mujahid said, ‘al-mishkdt m eans the chains from which a lamp (qindil) is
hung.’
The most likely of these reports to be correct is the one that says: This is an
allegory given by God [describing metaphorically] the Q ur'an in the hearts o f
people of faith. [He] says, ‘the likeness o f the light of God’ [i.e. the Q ur'an], by
which He elucidates the path of true faith to His servants, that which He sent
down am ongst them and which they believed in and have faith in, is in the
hearts o f the faithful [in the same way) as [the lamp is in the) mishkdt. [The
mishkdt] is the shaft ((amud) of the lamp in which the wick sits, and is the equiv­
alent to the windowless recess that can be found in walls. This shaft can be
taken for a niche (mishkdt), in that it has no hole pierced into it and is hollow
and open at the top, hence it is like a recess (kuwa) in the wall that is not pierced

53 Tabari quotes three reports from Mujahid on this, identical in content but with variation in
the isndd.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

[by a window]. Then He says wherein is a lamp, meaning [by the word mifb&h]
siraj (torch); this torch represents an allegory for the presence of the Q ur’an and
d e a r verses in the heart of the believer. Then He goes on to say the lamp in a
glass, meaning the [part of the] lamp which is in the mishkdt [i.e., the shaft of
the lamp, the actual part of the lamp in which the wick bum s], is [also] inside
the outer part of the lamp, which is the glass. This is like the Q u r’an. He is
saying: the Q ur’an in the heart of the believer is that with which G od illum i­
nates his heart in his chest. Then He likens [the believers] chest to a brilliant
star in its purity from any infidelity and doubt in God, its illumination by the
light o f the Q ur’an, and its enlightenm ent through the d e a r verses o f its Lord
and His spiritual counsels [contained] in them. Hence, He says 'the glass’, in
reference to the chest of the believer, in which his heart is as a brilliant star.
Some people say that this tree is neither eastern nor western; that is, it is not
eastern [facing] only, so that the sun does not reach it when it sets [in the west].
It has its share of the sun in the evening that does not cease [to fall] on the side
that is facing towards the east [from where the sun rises], thus there is n o part
o f it which slopes towards the west. [Likewise] neither is it western [facing]
only, so that the sun touches it in the evening when it inclines to the side of the
west, and it is not touched in the early m orning [when the sun rises in the east].
Instead it is eastern [and] western; the sun rises upon it in the m orning and sets
upon it. Hence the heat of the sun touches it in [both] the m orning and the
evening. They say, ‘If it were thus, its oil would be excellent.’

An account of those who said this:

Tkrima [Mujahid and Ibn 'Abbas] said about His words neither o f the east
nor o f the west, ‘The tree is in a place which does not shade any part of it from
the sun, in its ascent or its descend.54
O thers say, instead, that the meaning of this [phrase] is that [the tree] is not
o f the east or the west.

An account of those who said this:

Ibn 'Abbas said about neither o f the east nor o f the west, ‘It is a tree amongst
trees, it is not of the east, nor of the west.*
Ibn Zayd said about His words an olive that is neither o f the east nor o f the
west, ‘[It means] that it is neither of the north or south, neither eastern nor
western’.
O thers say that this tree is not of the trees of this world.

54 Tabail quotes three reports, two from ‘Ikriina and one from Muj&hid and Ibn ‘Abbas on this.
Given that ‘Ikrima was the mawld of Ibn 'Abbis, we may have here basically one report multiplied
into three.

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On the Nature of the Divine

An account of those who said this:

Al-Hasan [al- Ba$ri] said about the words o f God an olive that is neither o f
the east nor o f the west, ‘If this olive were o f the earth, it would be in its east o r
west but, by God, it is not of the earth, rather it is an allegory, given by God, o f
His light*55
The best of these interpretations is the report that says it is eastern and
western, and [then] says the meaning of the words is that there is no east w here
the sun shines in the evening before the m orning, but the sun rises upon it an d
sets, hence it is eastern [and] western.
Indeed we say that this is the best interpretation of the words, because G od
describes the oil, with which the lamp is lit, as pure and excellent, and if a tree
were [both] eastern and western [in aspect], its oil would no doubt be excellent,
pure and luminous.
In His saying whose oil well-nigh would shine, exalted be His m ention, He is
saying that the oil from this olive tree is alm ost alight due to the glow o f its
clarity and the beauty of its luminosity. Even if no fire touched it: How [much
more it would shine] if it were touched by fire.
However, I would like [to suggest] with regard to His saying kindled from a
blessed tree, that the Q ur’&n is from God, and that it constitutes His words, and
He m ade a parable of [the Q ur’an] and made a parable o f its nature, as being
from H im , as if it were the lamp that is lit from the blessed tree, which He, m ay
His praise be majestic, has described in this verse. And by His words whose oil
well-nigh would shine is meant the proofs of G od, exalted be His m ention,
against His creation, which because of their manifest nature and clarity, would
well-nigh shine for whoever reflected on them and contemplated them, or for
the person who may have turned away from them in confusion. Even if no fire
touched it means that even if God had not augmented it [the Q ur’an] with m an ­
ifestness or clarification, when sending down this Q ur’an to them and calling
their attention to profess His oneness, so how m uch m ore so when He has
[actually] alerted them to it and called their attention to His verses, thereby
adding one [more] proof for them to His previous proofs against them. This is
a clear message, and a light upon this message, and the light is one which He
had laid down for them and set up before it was sent down.
His saying Light upon light means the fire on this oil which well-nigh shines,
even if it is not touched by fire.
Mujahid said about Light upon light: ‘[It is] the flame on the oil’.56 Abu Ja*far
[al-Tabari] says:

55 Jabari gives three reports from al-Hasan al-Ba$ri with different isn&ds of which the one given
here is the longest version.
56 Tabari quotes two identical reports from Mujahid, both through his narrator Ibn Abl Najifr.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

In my opinion, as has been mentioned [by others], [this verse] is an allegory for
the Qur’an, and by His words Light upon light He means that the Qur’an is a light
from God, sent down to His creation so that they might be enlightened by it. Upon
Light [means] upon the proofs and the manifestations that He had displayed to
His creation before the coming of the Q ur’an which He sent down, that which
proves the truth of His oneness. Hence, this is [simultaneously] a message from
God, a light upon the message, and the light which He has sent down for [His
creation] and set up before it was sent down.

Zayd b. Aslam said about His saying Light upon light: ‘Part of it illuminates
the other part, m eaning the Qur'an.*
As regards His saying God guides to His light whom He will, He, exalted be
His mention, is saying that G od facilitates the path of His light, and this is the
Q ur’an, to whom He wills of His servants. His saying And God strikes similitudes
fo r humankind means that God makes allegories and analogies for men, just as
He has made this parable about the Q ur’an in the hearts of the faithful for them,
through the [metaphor o f the] lamp in the niche, and the rest o f the allegorical
material in this verse. A nd God has knowledge o f everything is saying that God
gives parables, and [also] every single other thing [that there is]; He is the pos­
sessor o f ultimate knowledge.

Ja'far b. Mansur
The parable of light expounded in this verse has played a pivotal role in Shfi exegesis, in
which it is often elaborated that the divine light is manifest in the imam, in the midst of
the darkness of ignorance and lack of recognition of his divinely commissioned status. In
his commentary, Ja'far uses the verses to explain Shi‘1doctrine in two ways: the first is
more explicitly Isma'Ili, as the hierarchy of lights implicit in the statement that God is the
light ofthe heavens and the earth is related to the spiritual hierarchy of the Isma'Ili da wa\
the second more generally sees the parable as unfolding and justifying the authority and
spiritual rank of the imams, and especially the immediate progeny of the Prophet as heirs
of divine guidance and inheritors of the prophets and their mission. Divine guidance thus
is embodied in the guidance of the imam and divine grace lies in God choosing to guide
humankind through the imams.

[Ja'far] Al-$adiq57said:

It is as though [when] I contemplated the verse, namely, God is the Light o f the
heavens, His signs58 manifested ten domes of light Cashr qibdb min nur),59 advanc­
ing, in their desire for the glory (sharaf) with a thousand domes of light around
57 Ja'far b. Man$ur, Kit&b al-Kashf, 7.
53 Aydtuhu, also meaning ‘His verses’.
59 The editor of Ja'far b. Mansur’s Kitab al-Ka$hft Ghalib states (at 27 n. 2) that the mention of

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On the Nature of the Divine

them, until they are returned to the greatest glory,60 by which [all] creatures are
encompassed, and it is as if through this [glory] He addresses His cosmos.

A man then stood up and said [to Jafar al-$adiq]: ‘Increase us [in knowledge,
by telling us more], may God have mercy upon you/
He [al-$adiq] then said: ‘As for the ten domes, seven o f them are the enun-
ciators (nufaqd*)>61 and the other three are the follower (tdli)>62 the deputy
(naqib)63 and the gate (bab).64 They are the ten domes; whoever recognises
them, knows God, and whoever fights against them, fights God.* By ‘domes he
[al-$adiq] meant that they are a covering (sutra)65 for the hidden knowledge o f
God, which is why he alluded to them with this designation. This is unlike what
the Christians claim, i.e. that the body of Jesus was a form (haykal) in which the
Creator (al-bdri’) descended to the earth and walked among His slaves; but
God is greatly transcendent above that. Similar is the opinion of the Ghuldt
(exaggerators) among Muslims, namely, that the imams* and the messengers’
bodies are forms in which the Creator is contained and through which He
descended to the earth,66 thus they [the messengers and imams] are domes for
Him and stations that contain Him on His earth; He dwells in the body (jism)
of each and every one of them in its time. Glory be to God transcendent above
what the oppressors claim.
domes and lights here is unusual in Ism&'ill literature of the Fatimid period, and suggests that it was
part of cither a pre-Fatimid terminology or even betrays an influence of Nu$ayri thought on pre-
Fatimid Isma'llism. There is one work, roughly contemporary to the Kit&b al-Kashf namely the
Persian non-I&ma'lll but still Gnostic Shfl Umm al-Kitdb, in which qubba is used as a technical term
to refer to levels of reality and cosmological hierarchy as well as for the age of the imam: see Ivanow
1936, f 112,120-1 inter alia (Persian text). In Nu$ayri works, qubba refers to a historical cycle or
aeon: see Bar-Asher and Kofsky 2002,29; Corbin 1998,185.
40 The wording in the text is al-shahr al-akbar, the editor indicates that shahr might be a misprint
for shuraf. Since sharaf makes most sense in the context, it is used in the translation.
41 This term refers to the seven speaker-prophets - namely, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
Muhammad and al-Mahdi, who was also the Qd'i'm and the enunciator of the final era. Note that
for the Qarmati Isma ills of Bahrayn, this messianic figure was Muhammad b. Ism2*ilb. JaTar al-
$adiq, in whose name the early Isma 111da’wa was conducted: see Daftary 1998,53, and Daftary 2007
164-6,520. The messenger-nufaqa’ are often described as the esoteric meaning of the seven heavens:
sec Ja‘far b. Mansur, Master and Disciple, 591.
M Both editors give al-k&li, but this cannot be correct The t&li is a term used for a rank within
the Isma'ili da’wa, and in its neo-platonised cosmology was also the term for the universal soul (al-
najs al-kulliya): see Daftary 1990,241.
43 Both editors give the term al-raqtb, but since it is clear that the list refers to ranks in the da’wa,
al-naqib must be correct as it was a term used in the early Fatimid period to refer to the hujja, or the
chief missionary of a certain region: Daftary 1990,229.
44 The bab is the head of the da'wa and the imam’s direct representative; as a term, it corresponds
to the non-Isma'ill use of dai al-du’at: Daftary 1990,227-9; Farhad Daftary, *Da‘f, E/r, VI, 591.
45 The use of this word suggests the application of this theory to the pre-Fatimid period ofsatr
or concealment of the imams, who are the theophanic representations of the knowledge of God; this
was not fully disclosed to the people during that period.
46 The ghuldt mentioned here are the Nusayris, since this is a recognisably Nusayri doctrine. See
Corbin 1998,185-95, and Bar-Asher and Kofcky 2002, 30-2.

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G od said:67 God is the Litfit o f the heavens and the earth. So His light in the
heavens is His guidance, and His light on the earth is the imams through whom
He guides. The similitude o f His light on His earth is like a niche wherein is a
lamp; the niche is an Ethiopic term for a cove in the wall, and is a simile for
Fatima the Radiant, daughter of M uhammad, who is immaculate. Wherein is a
lamp m eans al-Husayn. The lamp in a glass denotes when he [al-Husayn] was
in her [Fatima s] womb. The glass as it were a glittering star means Fatima, bless­
ings of G od be upon her, in her attributes is like the glass and in her excellence
over all women is like the glittering star, that is luminous; kindled from a blessed
tree, who is Abraham the Intimate of the Merciful (khalil al-rahman) blessings
o f God be upon him; whose oil, meaning Abraham, since He called him a tree
(the word zaytuna here makes it clear) that it is an olive tree. The olive is a name
for the messengers and the imams, and the fig (tin) is a name for the legatees
(awfiya*) and proofs (hujaj); it is said that their lineal descent is from an enun-
ciator. Then He said: neither o f the east nor o f the west, m eaning the creed of
Abraham , peace be upon him. N either of the east m eaning not Christian or
resembling the creed of Jesus; nor of the west meaning not Jewish resembling
the creed of Moses. As God said: the creed o f your father Abraham, He named
you Muslims aforetime [Q. 22:78], Abraham in truth was not a Jew neither a
Christian; but he was a Muslim and one pure o f fa ith [Q. 3:67]. Then He said
whose oil well-nigh would shine, meaning that al-Husayn would enunciate his
imamate while still inside Fatima, even before she gave birth to him; even if no
fire would touch it, meaning even though an imam had not yet appointed him
[as successor-im am]; Light upon light, meaning th at in his precocity and his
plenitude he is a guide, rightly guiding through his imam; God guides to His light
whom He will from among His creation, meaning that through waldya to him
[al-Husayn] He guides them to waldya for the im am s from his [al-Husayns]
progeny. A n d God strikes similitudes fo r humankind and God has knowledge o f
everything.

4 v . *,* . . + ** v» }

MaybudI
N a w b a t III6
768
Maybudl’s commentary on ayat al-nur exemplifies the diversity of the ‘esoteric’ sections
of the Kashfal-asrdr. He begins with a straightforward analogical explanation of why God
can be called ‘Light’. This is followed by the observation that there are outward and inward
lights, which in turn leads to another explanatory passage about different degrees of

67 Ja'far b. Manjur, Kittib al-Kashf, 16-18.

M M a y b u d I , Kashf, V I , 5 4 2 - 7 .

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On the Nature of the Divine

inward light realised at different levels of spiritual attainment, culminating with the
Prophet, who alone realises all these lights. From this point on, the commentary becomes
more varied, with the introduction of a hadith concerning the spiritual light which radi­
ated from the poor among the Emigrants, an allusive passage about the transformation
of man’s earthly nature by the divine light, and a long traditional account about a ghdzi
and his encounter with a Byzantine bishop. There is then a shift from the narrative style
to the poetic, with a beautiful passage in praise of the Prophet written entirely in rhyming
prose. The cue for this passage is the presentation of one interpretation according to
which The likeness of His light is a reference to Muhammad. Maybudfs commentary ends
with the addition of two passages in Arabic attributed to HalUj, drawn from Sulami’s
Haqd’iq al-tafsfr.

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth

Light in reality is that which illumines other than itself. W hatever illum ines
other than itself is called light, whatever does not illumine anything else is not
called light. Thus the sun, the moon and a lamp are called light, not because in
themselves they are luminous, but because they illumine other things. M irrors,
water, jewels and such like are not called light even though in themselves they
are luminous, because they do not illuminate anything else.69 Once you know
this truth, you can understand that God is the Ligfht o f the heavens and the earth'.
For those who believe in Him and those who love H im , He is the O ne W ho
gives shape to bodies and illumines spirits.70 All lights are from Him and all are
m aintained by Him. Some of them are outward lights and some of them are
inward lights. C oncerning outward light, He said: And [We] have appointed a
blazing lamp [Q. 78:13], and concerning the inward light, He said: Is he whose
breast God has expanded unto submission [to Him] so that he walks in a lightfrom
his Lord...? [Q. 39:22]. The outward light, though it may be bright and beautiful,
is subservient to the inward light. The outward light is the light o f the sun and
moon; the inward light is the light of realising the divine oneness (tawhid) an d
mystical knowledge (ma'rifat). Although the sun and moon are beautiful and
radiant, there comes the day when one or other of them is eclipsed. Tom orrow,
on the Day of Resurrection they will become murky and will be rolled up
according to God’s words: When the sun shall be darkened [Q. 81:1]. But the sun
of mystical knowledge and the light of tawhid, which rises in the hearts o f
69 The definition presented by Maybudi here may be compared with Ghazalfs explanation of
light as it is perceived by common people {'awwdm) as opposed to the spiritual elite (khaw&$$) and
elite of the elite (khawd$$ al-khawd$$), in his commentary on the light verse, the Mishkat al-anw&r.
In relation to visual sensation, things are of three kinds: First are those which cannot be seen in
themselves, such as dark bodies. Second are those which can be seen in themselves, but by which
other things cannot be seen, such as bright bodies or stars or glowing coals that are not aflame.
Third are those which can be seen in themselves and by which other things can be seen, such as
the sun, the moon, a lamp, and a flaming fire. ‘Light* is a name that belongs to this third kind.
(Ghazali, Mishkat, translated in Buchman 1998,3-4).
70 These are outward and inward manifestations of the radiation of God’s light.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

believers, will never be subject to any kind of eclipse, n o r will any murkiness
affect i t It is a rising w ithout any setting, a [radiant] unveiling (kushuf) which
has no eclipse (kusuf), an illumination (ishrdq) arising from the station o f yearn­
ing (ishtiydq). As the poet has said:

inna shamsa'l-nahdri tughribu bi'l-layli

wa shamsaVqulubi laysat taghibu

Lo! The sun of the day goes down at night,

But the sun of hearts will never set.
Know that inner lights have different levels. The first is the light of Islam, and
with Islam is the light of sincerity (ikhld$); the second is the light of faith (imdn),
and with imdn is the light of veracity ($utq); the th ird is the light o f spiritual
excellence (i/tsdn),71 and with ihsdn is the light o f certainty (yaqin). [In fact] the
radiance of Islam is in the light of sincerity; the radiance o f faith in the light of
veracity, and the radiance of spiritual excellence in the light o f certainty. These
are the stages in the way of religious law (shari*at), and they are the stations of
the generality of believers.
Beyond this, the people of realisation (haqiqat) and the noble ones o f the
Way (jawanmardan-i tariqat)72 have another light and another state [of soul].
They have the light of visionary insight (firdsat)73 and the light offirdsaty the

71 The traditional definition of ihsdn can be found in a hadith according to which Gabriel came
before the Prophet and questioned him on the nature of Islam, imdn (faith) and ihsdn. Concerning
the latter, the Prophet answered as follows: ‘Ihsdn is that you worship God as if you see Him, for if
you do not, He surely sees you’. Qushayri sees ihsdn as exemplifying murdqaba (vigilant awareness)
and quotes this fcadif/i in full on the authority of Jarir b. 'Abd Allah al-Bajali in his chapter on
Murdqaba. See Qushayri, Risdla, 405 (a partial English translation is in von Schlegell 1992,157-8).
An$ari cites the last part of the same hadith, but on the authority o f‘Umar b. al-Khattfb, in the intro­
duction to his Mandzil, 6.
72 Jawdnmard (lit. young man) and jawdnmardi (young manliness) are Persian equivalents for
the Arabic terms fata andfutuwwa respectively. In Sufism, futuwwa developed as a code of spiritual
chivalry, which encouraged a courtesy (adab) in relation to others and towards God, which was in
conformity with the complete negation of self. However, by the early sixth/twelfth century when
Maybudi was writing, the word jawdnmard appears also to have been more generally applied to any
sincere wayfarer who had the courage and determination to make the sacrifices required to reach
the goal of the spiritual path (cf. Keeler 2006, 170-2). The best known primary source texts on
futuwwa in Sufism are Sulami’s Kitdb al-futuwwa; see primary bibliography. See also the chapter on
futuwwa in Qushayri’s Risdla, 472-9; tr. von Schlegell, 214-22. Secondary sources on futuwwa in
Sufism include Hartmann 1918,193-8; Mahjub 1993,549-81, and Michel Chodkiewic^s introduc­
tion to al-Jerrahi’s translation, The Book of Sufi Chivalry, 1983.
73 The wordfirdsa was generally used to mean ‘insight*, and applied to judges or rulers concern­
ing cases brought before them. It was also a term used for the science of physiognomy where it
replaced the older Arabic term ‘cfiydfd. In Islamic mysticism it was used to refer to the divinely given,
often miraculous, insight of certain saints. In his chapter on firdsa in the Mandzil (64), An$ari cites
Q. 15:75: ‘Indeed in this are signsfor the discerning (mutawassimun) ’and follows it with this comment:
'Tawassum is intuitive perception (tafarrus), which means to be appraised of something (isti,rtds)
without [recourse] to inductive reasoning (istidldl), on the basis of existing evidence (shuhud) or by
what one knows through experience.’ Sufi manuals and hagiographical works relate examples of the

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On the Nature of the Divine

light of unveiling (mukdshafat). Then they have the light of rectitude (istiqdmat)
and, with that, the light of witnessing (mushahadat); then they have the light o f
tawhid and, with that, the light of propinquity (qurbat) in the immediacy o f the
divine presence.74 As long as the servant is in [one or other of] these states he
is tied to his own journeying (rawish). From this point on the divine attraction
(kashish-i haqq) begins.75 Then all lights are united: the light o f gloriousness
and majesty, the light of grace and beauty, the light o f awesomeness, the light
of jealousy (ghayrat),76 the light of proximity, the light of divinity and the light
o f ‘He-ness* (huwiyyat)77. This is as when God says light upon light. It comes to

firdsa of certain mystics; for example, Qushayri includes a chapter on Firdsa in his Risdla, 480-93;
tr. von SchlegeU 1992,223-39. In their discussions offirdsa, Sufis often cite the well-known {uufrtfi
of the Prophet ‘Beware the intuition of the believer, for he sees with the light of God’. See, for
example, Abu Nu'aym, Hilya, IV, 94, where it is narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar, and Abu
Nu'aym, Hilya, X, 281-2, on the authority of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri with the variant ihdharu instead
of ittaqir, and Qushayri, Risdla, 480, tr. von SchlegeU 1992,223, who narrates it from Sulami with an
isndd going back to the Prophet through Abu Sa'id Khudri. On the term firdsa in general, and in
Islamic mysticism in particular, see D. B. Macdonald ‘Firisa*, EV, I, 108, and Toufic Fahd, ‘Firisa’,
EP, II, 916-17.
74 Lit., in the presence of‘withness’ (‘indiyyat).
75 The words rawish and kashish are Persian equivalents for the Arabic terms suluk (journeying,
in the sense of an effort on the part of man) and jadhba (divine attraction, or rapture). Elsewhere in
the Kashfal-asrdr (IV, 279), MaybudI gives the following explanation of the term jadhba:
[Being) conveyed on the sea (Q. 10:22] is God’s overpowering (ghalabdt), which, at the moment of
ecstasy, draws the reins of the servant’s steed unmediated through the stations of reality to the
contemplation of the Holy, so that upon the sea he makes one month’s journey in a day. O noble
one, with this divine rapture (jadhba) a life’s journey will be lifted away, and so it is said, ‘A rapture
from God is equal to the work of the thaqalayn.’
The source of this latter quote is unclear; for a discussion of its attribution see Furfrzinfar
1376sh/1997. In Q. 55:31, the word thaqaldn is usually interpreted to mean jinn and men. Lane in
Lex., 1,344, quotes the following hadith: ‘Verily I am leaving you two objects of high estimation and
care (thaqalayn), the Book of God, and my kindred, or my near kindred (Tfrafi).’ Cf. Ibn Mansur,
Lisdn, XIII, 93.
76 In love mysticism, there is jealousy on the part of the lover, and jealousy on the part of God.
Jealousy on the part of the lover is that he cannot bear anyone else to look upon God. At the higher
stages of love, this means not even ‘allowing his own eye to behold God’ (see MaybudTs commentary
on surat al-Ikhldf in ch. 6), by which is meant not allowing any intrusion of‘his self upon his pure,
selfless experience of God. Jealousy on the part of God is of two kinds. There is first the jealous pro­
tectiveness that He shows towards His lovers by keeping their states concealed from the eyes of
uninitiated or unworthy people. Maybudi explains, for example, that God kept Jacob’s perfect love
for Him hidden behind a veil of jealousy, disguising that love as the love of Joseph (Kashf V, 11).
Second, there is the divine jealousy, which will not tolerate the lover's becoming attached to, or dis­
tracted by, any other. Maybudi (Kashf, VI, 511-12) states that God is ‘jealous (gJuayur) for the hearts
of the elite among His servants’. He keeps watch over their hearts, and, should they turn their atten­
tion to other than Him, they will experience the ‘whip of His chastisement’. Elsewhere (Kashf II,
418) he speaksof the ‘sword of eternal jealous/, which God keeps above the heads of His lovers to
prevent them from looking at, or desiring, other than Him. The role of the ‘three swords of jealous/
in the perfecting of love is discussed in the fourth chapter of Ahmad Ghazali’s metaphysical treatise
on love, the Sawdnih, translated by Pourjavady, where Ahmad Ghazali’s metaphor of the three
swords of jealousy is explained in the translator's commentary (Pourjavady 1986,88).
77 The word huwiyya is derived from one of the divine names, hu meaning ‘He’. In philosophy,
it is usually translated by the word ‘ipseit/.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

the point when slavehood disappears altogether in lordship (rububiyyat). In the

whole universe no one has these lights in perfection, or that proximity with the
Possessor of majesty, except for the Chosen one from am ong the Arabs.
Anyone might have some of these lights, but only M uhamm ad has all o f them ,
because he has every perfection, all beauty, and all excellence is concentrated
in him .78
It is reported that Abu S aid al-Khudri said:79

I was in the company of the poor80 among the Emigrants, who were so [impover­
ished] that some were trying to conceal the nakedness of others.81 A reciter was
reading82 [Quran] to us and we were listening to his recitation when the Prophet
came and stood beside us. When the reciter saw him, he stopped reading and gave
him greetings of peace. The Prophet asked us what we were doing and we
answered: ‘O Messenger of God, the reciter was reading out and we were listening
to his recitation.* The Messenger of God said, 'Praise be to God Who has placed
among my people those with whom I have been commanded to restrain myself.83
He sat down in our midst so as to be one of us, and then indicated with his hand
that people should sit round in a circle.84 Their faces became so radiant that he
could not recognise any of them.85 Then he said: 'Rejoice you destitute among the
Emigrants at the perfect light [which you have]. On the Day of Resurrection you
shall enter Paradise half a day before the wealthy among the believers, and that is
equivalent to five hundred years*.

The likeness o f His light

The likeness of His light is that which the Prophet described when he said: ‘God
created the creatures in darkness, then He sprinkled over them (rashsha calay-
him) o f His light".86 H um an beings ('dlamiydn) were just a handful o f earth,

78 Lit, he is the qibla or focal point of all excellence.

79 A variant form of this hadith is included in the chapter entitled ‘The Excellent Qualities of the
Qur’&h ofTabrizfs Mishkdt, translated by Robson 1975,463-4, where it is quoted from Abu D&wud.
80 Lit., weak (<iuafd). According to Robson (1975,463, n. 3), this word was applied to the people
of the ‘bench’ (ahi al-fuffa), a group of Muhammad’s companions, who frequently appear in ascetic
writings as representing the ideal of poverty and piety. The fuffa was a long, covered portico, part of
the mosque at Medina, where these men spent time in study and worship: see W. M. Watt, ‘Ahl al-
$uffa\ EPt 1,266.
81 Robson (1975,463, n. 3) has ‘who were sitting together because of lack of clothing.
82 Or, more likely, reciting. The Arabic verb qaraa means both to read and to recite.
83 The command for the Prophet to ‘restrain himself (if bar nafsak) - i.e., to live simply and keep
company with the poor and those who suffer - appears in Q. 18:29: Restrain yourselfalong with those
who call upon their Lord at mom and evening, desiring His countenance; and do not let your eyes turn
awayfrom them, desiring the adornment of the life of this world,
84 The published edition of Kashf al-asrdr has khalaqa al-qawm, which should obviously be
halaqa al-qawm. It appears in the latter, correct form in a MS of the Kashf al-asrdr from the
Kit&bkhina-yi Astan-i Quds, no. 1232, Mashhad, f. 230.
85 Robson (1975,464) has ‘their faces turned towards him and he said (...]\
86 The full version of this hadith appears in the Shark of Shah Ni‘matullah Wall, 106, where it

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On the Nature of the Divine

abandoned in their own darkness, bew ildered in the obscurity o f th e ir own

existence. Veiled by their own createdness ( khalqiyyat), they were in a state o f
unawareness when, from the heaven of pre-eternity, a rain o f lights began to
fall. The earth turned into jasmine, stones turned into jewels. At the approach
of His eternity ( ba-qudum-i qadam-i u)yearth’s nature became som ething dif­
ferent. They said:87 ‘[This] earth is all darkness and obscurity. It needs a nature
that is d e a r and p u re/ A subtle grace ( lafifai ) became attached to th at nature,
and the way this [bestowal of grace] came to be expressed was with the words:
‘He sprinkled upon them of His light*. The Prophet was asked: ‘O Messenger
o f G od, what is the sign o f that light? He answered: ‘W hen [His] light enters
the heart, it expands the breast’.88 W hen the just Sultan’s standard enters the
dty, there is no room for tu m u lt W hen the breast is opened by the divine light,
aspiration is raised, the grieving person is comforted, the enemy becom es a
friend, dispersion (parakandap) is changed to concentration (/a/n‘), the carpet
of subsistence ( baqa*) is rolled out, and the carpet o f passing away (Jana*) rolled
up. The door of the lonely cell of griefs is dosed, the door to the garden o f union
is opened. W th the tongue of neediness [the servant] says:

O God! You have accomplished Your work to perfection. Wthout us You lit Your
lamp; without us, as a kindness to Your servants, You sent from the unseen a doak
of honour made of light. Since, by Your grace, You brought the servant to this
present situation, how would it be if, by Your grace, You completed this matter
without us?89
It is well known, and has been transmitted in traditional reports (dthdr), that
am ong the Successors90 was a scholar who went with the Muslim arm y on a

continues as follows: ‘Whoever that light fell upon found guidance, but whoever it missed was mis­
guided and went astray’. A slightly different version of this hadith (which has alqd aiayhi min nurihi,
‘cast upon it of His light’, instead of rashsha ‘alayhim, and ends with, ‘the pen has dried up (in trying
to record] the knowledge of God)’ is regarded as hasan (good, acceptable) by Tirmidhi, Sunan, V,
26, no. 2642.
87 T h e / here probably refers to the angels, whom Maybudi frequently introduces in passages of
narrative, as observers and commentators on events. This has its precedent in the Qur’in k narrative,
for example, in Q. 2:30, when God informs the angels that He is about to place a viceroy on earth
and they protest: ‘What, will You set therein one who Hill do corruption there, and shed blood, while
we proclaim Your praise and caU You HolyT
88 The expansion of the breast refers to the feeling of joy and relief accompanying a spiritual
opening granted by God.
w In this supplication, the mystic is praying to be freed from his or her self, as in the following
mundjat of An$ari:
O God, you cleansed (me) with a thousand waters until I became acquainted with love, yet still one
cleansing remains to be done: that You should cleanse me of myself so that I can rise out of myself
and only You will remain. O God, shall we never have one day together without the trouble of
myself? That I might open my eye and not be confronted with my T? (Maybudi, Kashf, VII, 398).
90 The generation following the Companions of the Prophet were known as the Successors or the
Followers (tdbiun).

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military expedition against the Byzantine empire, where he was taken prisoner.
He rem ained there for some time. O ne day he noticed that [a great many]
Byzantines were assembling in that desert place. He asked the reason for this
and was told that nearby there lived an archbishop, who would to come out of
his herm if s cell once every four years and give spiritual counsel to people. This
was the day he had prom ised to come before them . The Muslim joined the
gathering, at which they say 30,000 Byzantines were present. The bishop went
up into the pulpit and silence descended. No one spoke a word, for they were
all thirsting to hear what he would say. But the bishop said, T am unable to
speak. See if there is a stranger among you from the people of Islam.’ They said,
‘We don’t know. We are not acquainted with any." The bishop called out in a
loud voice, ‘W hoever in this assembly belongs to M uham m ad’s people and
faith, let him rise ’ The Muslim [telling the story] relates:

I was afraid to stand up so I ignored his command. Then the bishop said, ‘If you
do not know him and he does not know himself, God willing I shall know him ’
Whereupon, he looked carefully and penetratingly at the faces of the people. The
moment his eye fell upon me he said, ‘This is the person I was looking for. Rise, O
noble one (jawattmard) and come close to me so that I can speak with you.’ He
asked me if I was a Muslim and I said that I was, and then he asked me if I was a
scholar or an ignorant person to which I answered, ‘In that which I know I am a
scholar, and that which I don’t know I am learning. I am not [counted] as an igno­
rant person.’
Then the bishop said, ‘I am going to put to you three questions which I want
you to answer.’ I told him I would answer on two conditions: the first was that he
should tell me how he recognised me as a Muslim; the second was that, in turn,
he should allow me to ask him three questions. We promised to agree on this.
Then the bishop put his mouth close to my ear and whispered so that the
Byzantines would not hear, ‘I recognised you by the light of faith and tawhid which
shone in your face.’ Then out loud he asked me, ‘Your Prophet has told you that in
Paradise there is a tree, and that a branch of that tree reaches into every mansion
and chamber [of Paradise]. What is the likeness of that tree in this world?* I
answered, ‘The likeness of that tree is the sun whose orb is one, yet whose rays
reach out into mansion and cell alike.’ The bishop said, ‘You answered truly.’
The second question he asked was: ‘Your Prophet has related that the people of
Paradise eat food and drink, but no excrement comes from them. What is the like­
ness of that on earth?* I replied, ‘It is the foetus in its mother's womb which takes
nourishment91 but does not produce any excrement.’ The bishop answered, ‘That
is correct.’
The third question he asked was: ‘The Prophet of God said that on the Day of
Resurrection one single morsel, atom, or grain of charity on the scales [of God’s

91 The reading adopted in this translation \$yatatfuuihdh& instead of tayaghadhd.

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On the Nature of the Divine

justice] will weigh the equivalent of a great mountain. What is the likeness of that
in this world?* I answered, ‘In the morning when the sun is rising or in the evening
as it sets, if you take an object which in itself is short, and hold it up against the
suns light, it [ *s shadow will make it] appear longer and greater than it is* Again
the bishop answered, ‘That is correct.’
Then I asked the bishop: ‘How many gates are there to Paradise?* He answered,
‘Eight’ Then I asked: ‘How many gates are there to Hell?* and the bishop answered,
‘Seven.’ Finally I asked: ‘What is written over the gate of Paradise?* When I asked
him this last question, the bishop was at a loss to answer. The Byzantines called
out, ‘Answer him, lest this stranger should say there is something the bishop
doesn’t know* The bishop answered, ‘If I needs must answer, it will no longer be
right for me to wear this girdle (zunndr)92 and cross* So saying, he cast aside his
girdle and cross and called out, ‘Over the gates of Paradise these words are written:
“There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God**.*93
When they heard these words the Byzantines began to throw stones at the
bishop and curse him. The bishop turned to that stranger and asked him: ‘Do you
know anything from the Q ur’&n by heart?* He answered: ‘I do’, and recited this
verse: And God summons to the Abode of Peace... [Q. 10:26].94 The bishop wept and
then called out in a loud voice, ‘O people! The veils have been lifted from my eyes.
[I see] coming down from heaven seventy angels, carrying seventy litters, in which
they will bear the spirits of martyrs to heaven. And I am sure that from among you
seventy people will do as I have done. Now look at this miracle so that you will fear
no enemy, and all dread will leave you.* Then a large group of them broke their
crosses, tore off their girdles and became Muslims. Those who disagreed and did
not believe killed them all including the bishop. Then they counted those who had
been killed and found them to number seventy people, not one more nor one less.

The point of this story is that the light o f that believer who had realised the
truth of G od’s Oneness, shone out from am ong that handful o f deniers and
unbelievers, so that the bishop saw it and what resulted took place. O noble one!
If assistance was sent to you from the light o f the Unseen, you w ould be even
more captivated by the help of that light than those Byzantines were captivated
by that soldier (ghazi).

92 The z u n n d r was a wide girdle worn by the People of the Book (Jews, Christians and
Zoroastrians) to distinguish them from the Muslim community. Known as the ahl-i dhimma, they
were granted protection by the Muslims as long as they agreed to pay the ‘distinguishing tax' ijizya).
The custom of wearing the z u n n d r is said to have been instituted by ‘Umar b. al-Khaflab (d. 23/644).
See A. S. Tritton, ‘Zunn&r', El2, XII, 571-2; Claude Cahen, ‘Dhimma’, El2, II, 227-31. Muslim
mystics, beginning with Bayazid, used the z u n n d r as a metaphor for the lack of sincerity in faith, or
for the persistence of the nafs (ego) from which they not become entirely free.
93 These being the two attestations (shahddatayn) of the Muslim faith, the bishop had effectively
become a Muslim.
94 The verse reads in full: And God summons to the Abode of Peace and He guides whomsoever He
will to a straight path. The Abode of Peace (ddr al-saldm) is one of the names of Paradise.

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The likeness o f His light

O ne group o f commentators have said that ‘his here refers to the Chosen one
(al-m uftafi) (sc. M uhammad] for his creation was light, his robe was light, his
lineage (nisbat) was light and his birth was light, his contemplation (mushdha-
dat) was light and his m anners (mu'amalat) were light, his miracle (m ujizat)
was light, and he him self in his essence was light upon light (nur €ala nur). He
was the master in whose face shone the light of mercy (rahmat); in whose eye,
the light of adm onition Cibrat);95 and upon whose tongue was the light of
wisdom (hikm at). Between his shoulders was the light o f prophethood
(nubuwwat); in his palm, the light of generosity (sakhdwat); in his foot, the light
o f service (khidmat)yin his hair, the light o f beauty (jamdl), in his character, the
light of humility (taw&du'); in his breast, the light of acquiescence (rid a ), in his
secret (sirr), the light o f purity ($afo}); in his essence (dhdt)t the light of obedi­
ence. In his obedience was the light of [God’s] oneness (tawhid), in his affir­
mation o f God’s oneness, the light of realisation (tahqiq), in his realisation, the
light of [God-given] success (tawfiq). In his silence was the light of magnifying
[the Lord] (ta‘z im ), and in his magnifying the Lord, the light o f submission
(taslim).

innayl-rasula la-sayfun yustadd'a bihi

muhannadun min suyufi ’llahi maslul
Verily the Prophet is a swordfrom whom
The sharpest96 of drawn swords seeks to draw brilliance.

Husayn b. Man§ur [al-Hallaj] said:

In the head is the light of revelation; between the eyes, the light of intimate com­
muning with God (mundjdt); in the ear, the light of certainty; upon the tongue,
the light of eloquence (baydn); in the breast, the light of faith; in the humours
(faba’i*),97 the light of glorification (tasbih). When one of these lights flares up in
such a way that it overpowers another light and causes it to come under its domin­
ion, and then dies down and the dominion of the other light returns, [the latter]

95 7 brat usually refers to the example or lesson which one draws from events.
96 Muhannad, lit. a sword made of Indian steel.
97 TabA’i ' here probably refers to the four humours or fluids in the body - blood, phlegm, yellow
bile and black bile - which were said to correspond directly to the four elements which make up the
universe - fire, water, air and earth. The humours and elements comprise different combinations of
hotness, coldness, dryness and humidity: for example, blood and fire are hot and dry; water and
phlegm are cold and wet; etc. Good health and the balance of the humours were thought to depend
on the balance of these elements and natures in the body. This theory, which developed among the
Greeks Empedocles (d. c. 430 BC), Hippocrates (fl. 400 BC) and Galen (d. c. 200 AD), was fully inte­
grated into the Islamic system of medicine. See Nasr (Sayyid Hossein) 1976,153 and 160; Hamdard
Institute 1962; Ullman 1970.

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will be greater and more perfect than before. When all the lights flare up together,
then it becomes light upon light98

God guides to His light whom He wills

By His light He guides whomsoever He wills to His power (qudrat)yand by His
power to His Unseen, and by His Unseen to His Non-origination (qidam), and
by His Non-origination to His pretem ity (azal), and from His pretem ity to His
sempitemity (abad).

Z am ak h sh ari
Zamakhshari reads the verse as an allegory in which God’s light represents another of His
attributes, His reality, and devotes most of his commentary to interpreting the allegory
itself, phrase by phrase. According to this interpretation, the light verse exists both as a
proof of God’s truth, which spreads throughout the heavens and the earth, and as a
beacon guiding the faithful towards it. Perhaps as a reflection of Mu'tazili views regarding
the uniqueness of God and disapproval of the anthropomorphisation of His attributes,
the allegory of God’s light seems to be perceived in an abstract, undefined sense, and the
various metaphors of the lamp, the niche and oil are read as metaphors emphasising the
brightness of this light. A nother distinctively Mu'tazili element of theology, that of free
will, is also brought into Zamakhshari’s commentary when he puts forward the idea that
God’s light is perceived through ‘the eye of the intellect*. Rather than reading God guides
to His light whom He will as an indication of man’s pre-determined destiny, Zamakhshari
understands that God guides to His light he who wishes to be guided so that, according
to his analysis, man’s fate on the path to true faith is open to all who wish to find it.

His saying9910God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth, followed by His saying
the likeness o f His light is as a niche and God guides to His light, is the equivalent of
when one says ‘Zayd is nobility (karam) and generosity (ju d )\Y0° and then says
‘he [Zayd] revives people with his nobility [of nature] and his generosity.’ It [the
verse] means: He is the possessor (dhu) of the light of the heavens and the Lord
($ahib) of the light of the earth. The Light o f the heavens and the earth is the
truth,101 which He likens to light in its [physical] appearance (zuhur) and m ani­

98 MaybudI has derived this passage and the one which follows (both attributed to Hallij) from
Sulamfs Haqd’iq. See Massignon 1922b, 385-6.
99 Zamakhshari, Kashshdj; III, 67-8.
100 The noun is used as an adjective here. The point that Zamakhshari is trying to make is that
in this verse light is used as an adjective, and while in other contexts this would seem hyperbolic, it
is entirely appropriate for God.
101 The truth (al-haqq) is another of God’s attributes; a full list of God’s attributes can be found
in 'All 1725-7). Zamakhshari is interpreting God’s attribute of‘light’as being equivalent to, or alle­
gorical reference to, His attribute o f‘truth’, hence the meaning of the verse is ‘God is the Truth of
the heavens and the earth’.

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festation (baydrt) as [is also the case] in the Almighty's saying, God is the Protector
o f the believers; He brings them forth from the shadows into the light [Q. 2:257], that
is [He brings them forth] from falsehood (bafil) to the truth (haqq).
He ascribes light to the heavens and the earth in one of two senses: either as
indication (dalala) of the extent of His radiance (ishrdq) and the spread of His
illuminating light (ida’a), so that the heavens and the earth are lit by it, or [with
the meaning] that He intends the people o f the heavens and the earth to seek
enlightenment (yastadf un) in it. The likeness o f His light, that is the attribute of
His marvelous light, lies in its illumination as light as a niche - [that is] as in the
manner of a niche, a recess (kuwa) in a wall without a window - wherein is a lamp,
a great, piercing lamp,102103in a glass: He means a lamp (qindil) o f luminous Syrian
glass whose brightness He likens to one of the most brilliant and well-known of
stars, such as Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Canopus (Suhayl)103 and their like. This lamp
is kindled from a tree; that is, its piercing light104 originates from an olive tree,
meaning that its wick is irrigated by its oil blessed [either] in the abundance of
[its] yield, or because it grows in earth which He blessed for [the benefit of] the
people of the earth. It is also said that seventy prophets [have] blessed it, among
them Abraham. It is reported from the Prophet, ‘Make use o f this tree, its olive
oil, for it is a cure against haemorrhoids.*105
[The tree is] Neither o f the east nor o f the west: that is, its origin is Syria, and the
best olives are those from Syria. It is said that it is neither in the place o f the
morning sun nor that of the evening sun, but that the sun and shade dart one after
the other upon it, improving its harvest and clarifying its oil. The Prophet of God
said, ‘A tree which is [only] in the morning sun is not the best, nor are plants in
the morning sun, nor are they excellent [when they are only] in the evening sun.*
It is said that the sun does not shine on [the tree] during its ascension or its setting
only, but strikes it [with its rays] in both the m orning and evening, hence it is of
the east and of the west. Then [the Almighty] attributes clarity and shine to the
oil and [says] that because of its brilliance it well-nigh shines even without [being
lit by] fire. Light upon light means that [light], which the truth resembles, is a com­
pounded light. The niche, the glass and the lamp assist in this to the extent that
no way remains of strengthening the light, increasing its radiance or expanding
its illumination. That is to say, a lamp, if it is in a confined place such as a niche,

102 The word used here for ‘piercing is thdqib, from the verb thaqaba, which has connotations of
piercing intellect or eyesight, and kindling or lighting a fire. This plays on the concept of literal light
and intellectual enlightenment. Zamakhshari also uses words associated with this root when dis­
cussing the lamp as kindledfrom the oil of a blessed tree.
103 Canopus, a star known for its beauty and auspiciousness, has a celestial latitude of 75 degrees
south. Here star means ‘heavenly body, since non-specialists at this time did not distinguish between
stars and planets.
104 Lit, ‘its keenness* (thuqubihi).
105 Cf. fo r sim ilar jficdifh, aJ-Suyufi, Jdmi\ IV, nos. 5567,5582; H in d i, Kanz, X, nos. 2 8295,28296.

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is brighter and its light more concentrated than [when in] an open space, because
then the light is scattered and spread out. The lamp is the most helpful thing in
increasing illumination106 and, likewise, the oil and its pure clarity.
God guides to this piercing light whom He will of His servants: that is, He gives
success in the attainment of truth to he who looks and considers with the eye of
his intellect ('ayn *aqlihi) and fairness from his own self (in$af min nafsihi), and
does not depart from the road leading towards Him, [neither to the] left nor right
He who does not contemplate is like the blind man to whom the pitch-black
darkness o f night is the same as the sunny morning of day.107
According to ‘All, God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth [means] He is
announcing [both] the truth and its dissemination, and so they are lit by His light
or [that] the hearts of their inhabitants are enlightened by it.108
According to Ubayy b. Ka‘b, the likeness o f His light is one who believes in
Him .109 [The words] zujdjatin al-zujdjatu (a glass, the glass) are read with [a final]
fatha or kasra vocalisation. Al-durri is from al-durr, meaning bright (abyad)>
shimmering (m utala’li’), or it is [also possible to read it] durri\ [meaning] it
wards off (dara a) the darkness with its glow (daw') or dart.

i .% a

TabrisI
The commentary on the light verse is a good representative example of Tabrisi’s compre­
hensive style of exegesis. He includes the usual discussions of variant readings, grammar
and poetical citations to underpin the traditional understanding of the verse. He attempts
to cover the divergent opinions on the verse’s meaning and what exactly the phrase the
likeness of His light is referring to. In affirmation of his Shfi affiliation, Tabrisi cites a
version of the eighth imam ‘All al-Ri<Ja tradition in which the virtues of the imams are
expounded, as we have seen above in Qummi and Furat, together with another tradition
on the same from the famous Shi*! scholar Ibn Babawayh, al-Shaykh al-$adQq. TabrisI
concludes with a summary of the special qualities of the oil extracted from olives and the
blessed status o f the olive tree, and draws an interesting comparison between the blessed
tree and the believer.

There is divergence as regards the meaning o f God is the Light o f the heavens and
the earth. Some say that it means: 1) God guides the inhabitants of the heavens
and the earth to that which is beneficial for them in it, as reported by Ibn ‘Abbas;
2) God is the O ne who lights up the heavens and the earth with the sun, moon
and stars, as reported by al-Hasan, Abffl-'Aliya and al-Pafrh£k; 3) [God is the

106 The word used here, irtdra, means both physical illumination and spiritual enlightenment.
107 Cf.Q. 24:40.
108 See the commentary of al-Tabari, this chapter.
109 See especially the commentary of Muqatil, this chapter.

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One who) decorates the heavens with angels and the earth with prophets and
'ulam d\ as reported by Ubayy b. Ka‘b. ‘Light? (nur) is used to describe God, may
He be exalted, because every benefit, good deed and blessing is from Him, like
when one says someone is a rahma (a mercy) or a ‘adhdb (a torture), if such acts
are frequently observed in him. For this reason God referred to him [the Prophet]
as sirdjan munlran (an illuminating torch).110
The likeness o f His light is interpreted variously: 1) [His light is]that which God
has guided the believers with: the belief in their hearts, as reported by Ubayy b.
Ka'b and al-PaWtak; Ubayy used to read the likeness o f His light is the one who
believes in Him; 2) it is the Q u r’an in the heart, as reported by Ibn ‘Abbas, al-
Hasan [al-Ba$ri] and Zayd b. Aslam; 3) it is Muhammad, whom He has added to
Himself as a way of honouring him, as reported by K ab and Said b. Jubayr; 4) it
is the proof which points to His unity and justice, which are apparent to see like
light, as reported by Abu Muslim; 5) it is obedience (td'a) to God in the heart of
the believer, as reported by Ibn ‘Abbas in another transmission.
As a niche wherein is a lamp: a mishkat is a niche (kuwa) in a wall in which a
glass is placed with the lamp behind it, but with another access to the lamp, being
the place from where the lamp is inserted. It is said that a mishkat is the pole of
the lantern, into which the wick is placed, and that it is like a niche (kuwa); al-
mijbah is a sirdj (torch), and the mishkat is a qindtl (lantern), [although] accord­
ing to Mujahid, mi$bdh is the actual wick. Al-mi$bdhu f i zujdja (The lamp in a
glass): glass is used in this description because it is the clearest of substances and
allows light [in it] for greater glow. Al-zujdja ka’annahd kawkabun durriyyun (The
glass as though it were a glittering star), means that the glass is like a great star that
shines like pearls in its clarity, light and purity.
Kindled from a blessed tree: that is, the lamp is lit from the oil of a tree that is
blessed. An olive tree, He identifies the blessed tree as that of the olive, because it
has an array of benefits: oil from it is burnt to give light; it is used as a tanner
(addam, dihdn, dabbdgh); firewood and residues from it can be burnt; dye, silk
(ibrisim) is washed with its ash;111 and one needs not crush it to extract its oil. It
is said that He singled out the olive tree because its oil is purer and gives off better
light [when lit] and, it is said, because it was the first tree to grow from the earth
after the Flood,112 and its natural growing area is the homeland of prophets;113
it is also said that through it He made seventy prophets prosper (bdraka fiha),
including Abraham, and that is why it is ‘blessed’ (mubdraka).

1,0 Cf.Q. 33:46.

111 Abrisam (or Abrisham) is treated silk produced especially in a Persianate context. See various,
‘Abrisam’, Elr, 1,229-47.
112 The Biblical Flood (al-fu/dn) in the story of Noah appears in the Qur’in and is popular in
Muslim legend; for the Qur’inic references see B. Heller, ‘NOb’, EP, VIII, 108-9.
113 i.c.>Bil&d al-Sham.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Neither o f the east or the west it is not covered by shade either from the east or
the west, always sunlit, and not obscured by any mountain, tree or cave, and its
oil is yellow, as reported by Ibn ‘Abbas, al-Kalbi, ‘Ikrima and Qatada. Hence, the
meaning is that it is not of the east, so the sun does not shine on it when it sets,
and not of the west, so the sun does not shine on it when it rises, but it is of east
and west, taking its share o f both. It is said: it means that it does not belong
among the trees of this world, for it to be either of the east or west, as reported by
al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri]. It is also said: it is not in an enclosure such that sunlight
cannot reach it, nor is it exposed such that there is no shade for it, but it receives
sunlight and shade alike, as reported by al-Suddi. It is also said: it is neither o f
trees [that grow] in the east nor of trees [that grow] in the west, since the tree that
belongs in only one of the two directions [produces] less oil and [its oil] does not
bum as brightly; it is instead of the trees of Syria (al-Shdm), which is in between
east and west, as reported by Ibn Zayd.
Whose oil well-nigh would shine, on account of its purity and the extent of its bril­
liance [when lit]; even i f no fire touched it, that is, before fire were to light it and
consume it. Opinions differ with regard to the person to which this simile refers:
1. It is an allegory which God offers to His Prophet Muhammad [according
to which] the ‘niche (mishkdt) is his chest, the ‘glass (zujdja) is his heart, and the
‘lamp (mi$bah) therein is his prophethood, neither of the east nor of the west,
i.e., neither Jewish nor Christian, kindled from a blessed tree, i.e., the tree of
prophethood, which is Abraham; the ‘light* (nur) of Muhammad, is almost appar­
ent to people even if he did not speak with it, just as that oil would shine even if
no fire touched it, as reported by Ka‘b and some commentators.
2. It is also said that the ‘niche represents Abraham, the ‘glass' Ishmael, and
the ‘lamp (mi$bah) M uhammad, since [the latter] is called a ‘torch* (sirdj) in
another instance [cf. Q. 33:46]. From a blessed tree, i.e., [from] Abraham, since
most of the prophets are descended from his loins; neither o f the east nor o f the
westy i.e., neither Christian nor Jewish, since Christians pray to the east, while the
Jews pray to the west. Its oil well-nigh would shine> that is, the good qualities of
Muhammad were on the verge of being apparent before revelation was given to
him. Light upon light, that is, one prophet descended from another, as reported
by Muhammad b. Ka‘b.
3. It is also said that the ‘niche is ‘Abd al-Muftalib, the ‘glass ‘Abd Allah, and
the ‘lamp Muhammad; [they are) neither o f the east nor o f the west but Meccan,
since Mecca is the centre of the world, as reported by al-Pahhak.
4. It has been reported from [‘All] al-Rida that he said: we [ShI‘I imams] are
in the ‘niche and the ‘lamp is M uhammad, God guides to our friendship
(walaya) whomever He likes.114
114 Sec n. 42 on walaya in ch. 2.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

5. In the Kitdb al-Tawfrid o f Abu Ja‘far b. Babawayhi, through the chain of

transmission Isa b. Rashid [from] Abu Jafar al-Baqir concerning His saying as
a niche wherein is a lampy he said: the light of knowledge is in the chest of the
Prophet. The lamp in a glass, the glass is the chest o f *All, the knowledge of the
Prophet reached the chest o f ‘All; kindled from a blessed tree, the Prophet taught
‘All the light of knowledge;115 neither o f the east nor o f the west, neither Jewish nor
Christian. As regards its oil well-nigh would shine, he said: the person of knowl­
edge from among the family of Muhammad would impart knowledge before he
was asked; light upon light, that is, each imam in turn from the family of
Muhammad is fortified by the light of knowledge and wisdom, from the time of
Adam until the arrival of the Hour. These are the trustees (aw$iyd9) whom God
has made viceregents (khulafd') on His earth and His proofs (hujaj) against His
creation; the earth will have one of these in every age.116
An analysis of this statement suggests that the ‘blessed tree* mentioned in this
verse must be the principal tree of devoutness (tuqa) and [divine] satisfaction
(ri<fwan)y of guidance and belief, its trunk being prophethood, its bough the
imamate, its branches the revelation (tanzil), its leaves interpretation (ta’wil), and
its two guardians are Gabriel and Michael.
A second opinion is that this [verse] is an allegory that God gave to the
believer the ‘niche* is the [believer] himself, the ‘glass* his chest, the ‘lamp* belief,
and the Q ur’an in his heart is kindledfrom a blessed tree, which is sincere devotion
(ikhldj) to God alone who has no partner. The tree, therefore, is green and deli­
cate, surrounded by other trees so that no sunlight ever reaches it, neither when
[the sun] rises nor when it sets: such too is the believer, who has guarded himself
from any weakness, since he is between four pillars that keep him secure: 1) if he
is granted something, he is thankful; 2) if he is tested, he is patient; 3) if he judges,
he is just; 4) if he speaks, he does so truthfully, and so he is a living person amidst
people, walking amid graves, light upon fight His speech is ‘fighf, his knowledge
is ‘lighf, his entrance is ‘fighf, his exit is ‘light', and his way to Paradise is ‘fight*
on the Day of Resurrection, as reported by Ubayy b. Ka‘b.
The third opinion is that this [verse] is a simile of the Q ur’an in the heart of
the believer: it is like a ‘lamp* that never decreases in fight. Such too is the Q ur’an,
with which one seeks guidance and in accordance with which one conducts
oneself. The Tamp* is the Q ur’an, the ‘glass’ is the believer's heart and the ‘niche*
is his tongue and mouth; the ‘blessed tree’ is that of inspiration (wahy)y whose oil
well-nigh would shine, i.e., the proofs {hujaj) o f the Q ur’an would make them ­
selves known, even if they were not read. It is also said that the proofs (hujaj) of

1.5 Cf. Bayhoum-Daou 1996.

1.6 The isn&d for this report is not complete, but the narrator from Muhammad al-Baqir is ‘Isa
b. Rashid.

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On the Nature of the Divine

God against His creation would well-nigh shine' for those who ponder them and
reflect upon them, even if the Q u ra n had not been sent down. Light upon light:
the Q ur'an is ‘light* and all the proofs (adilla) that preceded have acquired,
through it [sc. the Q ur’an], more ‘lighf, ‘light upon light*, as reported by al-Hasan
[al-Ba$ri]and Ibn Zayd. According to this last [interpretation], it is possible that
the main point [of the verse] has to do with order of proofs, since proofs can
follow one another in [logical] order, and a person of reason (VtysT) can profit
from these only through following such an order - the one who neglects this
order cannot profit at all. Mujahid said: the glow o f the light from the lamp is
above the light of the oil, which is above the light of the glass. God guides to His
light whom He will: that is, God guides to His religion and belief in H im whom
He will by bestowing upon him a grace (luff), which, once he is aware o f it, leads
him to chose on account of belief. It is also said that it means that G od guides to
prophethood and His friendship whom He will from among those He knows to
be fit for such matters. A nd God strikes similitudes for humankind, as a way o f
making [things] easier [for them] to understand and [for them] to realise their
needs. And God has knowledge o f everything, and so He gives everything its proper
place.

R azi
Razi’s commentary on this verse is extensive. Beginning with a discussion of the grammar
of the verse, he moves on to explain the meaning of the statement in three parts. The first
part focuses on the meaning of light and surveys a range of opinions drawn from philoso­
phers and theologians pertaining to light and types of light. The second part is a commen­
tary on the famous Prophetic description of God and His veils of light, the subject o f a
renowned work of al-Ghazall that is quoted in the commentary of Burusawi (see p. 417).
The third part discusses the nature of figurative language and its uses in Arabic.

The most im portant similitude [drawn] is God*s statement God is the Light o f
the heavens and the earth; the likeness o f His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp
the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star kindled from a blessed tree,
an olive that is neither o f the east nor o f the west whose oil well-nigh would shine,
even if no fire touched it; light upon light; God guides to His light whom He will.
A nd God strikes similitudes for humankind, and God has knowledge o f
everything.

Know that the discussion of this verse is organised in [four] parts.

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Part I. Calling God "The Light*

Know that in Arabic the term ‘light* (nur) is used for that phenom enon which
the sun, the m oon and fire diffuse over the ground, [over] walls and [over]
other things. According to various different points of view it is impossible that
this phenom enon be a god.

The first [point of view] is that if this phenom enon is like a body, then the
evidence that proves the incidence of the body [also] proves the incidence of
this [phenomenon, i.e. light]. If it [this phenom enon] is an accidental contin­
gent,117 then when the incidence [of this phenom enon, i.e. light] is established
so is the incidence of all the [other] accidental contingents that come with it.
However, this prefatory statement is only established after the evidence o f the
impossibility o f imposing delimitations on God has [first] been established.118
The second [point of view] is that, whether we say that light is a bodily form
or is something present in the body, [the fact remains that] it is divisible. [This
is] because if it is a bodily form then it must be divisible, and if it is present in
it [the body], then [its very] presence in that which is divisible [means it too] is
divisible. According to two accounts, light is divisible, and everything that is
divisible requires the existence of its parts in order to [itself] exist. Each one of
its parts changes it, and each required part requires [parts] other than itself in
order to exist. That which requires [the existence of] another is m ade possible
by its essence, which is occasioned by [something] other than itself. Thus, light
is something that is brought about [by another] and so is not a god.
The third [point o f view] [is that] were this tangible light to be God, it could
not vanish because it is impossible that God [ever] vanish.
The fourth [point of view] [is that] this tangible light arrives when the sun
and stars appear, and this is not possible for God [since He is ever present].
The fifth [point o f view] [is that] if these lights are eternal they would either
move around or remain still. It is not possible that they be ‘m oving since the
meaning of movement is going from place to place. Movement precedes arrival
in the initial place, and, [since] eternity cannot be preceded by anything else,
so eternal movement is impossible. It is not possible that they [these lights] be
motionless since, were motionlessness to be eternal, it would be impossible [for
it] to [ever] come to an end. However, [the] motionlessness [of these lights]

117 Rizi is referring here to the distinction made in Greek philosophy between the core or essence
of an entity and the non-essential contingents or ‘accidents’, such as laughter, anger, envy, etc., that
change the condition of the entity but not its essence.
118 In other words, it is only once we have understood that God’s Being cannot be defined or
delimited that we can begin to make statements about the body and accidental contingents. God,
thus, must precede the body and its contingents, so if light is like the body or an accidental contin­
gent then it must be preceded by God and therefore cannot be God.

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does end: we see lights moving from place to place and this proves that these
lights occur [as opposed to being eternally in existence].
The sixth [point of view] [is that] light is either a bodily form o r is a phe­
nom enon that comes with bodies. The first [suggestion] is impossible since we
understand the body to be a body regardless o f [whether] it is illuminated, and
because the body is enlightened after being in the dark [thus, it cannot have
been always light]. The second [suggestion] holds true. However, a phenom e­
non that comes with the body requires the body, and that which requires some­
thing other than itself cannot be a god.
This evidence taken together proves false the statement o f the M anicheans
(Mdnuwiyya)119 who believe that God is the greatest light. The argum ent o f
those who say light is a bodily form is objected to by tw o120 points o f view:

1. His [God’s] statement Like Him there is nothing [Q. 42:11 ]. This would be
false if He [God] were a light because all lights resemble one another.
2. G od’s statem ent the likeness o f His light states unequivocally that His
[God’s] essence is not itself the light but rather light is attributed to H im [i.e. as
one of His characteristics], thus [we have] His [God’s] statement God guides to
His light whom He will. It is said that His [God’s] statement God is the Light o f
the heavens and the earth requires that His outward appearance itself be a light,
and His [God’s] statem ent the likeness o f His light requires that H is [actual]
essence is not a light [on account of the word 'likeness'].

These [two statements] appear to be mutually incompatible. However, we

would argue that when you say, ‘Zayd is [all] generosity and kin d n ess, this
would be analogous to this verse, since you [also] say ‘People are invigorated
by his [Zayd’s] generosity and kindness.’ In this way they do not contradict one
another.

G od’s statem ent A nd appointed the shadows and light [Q. 6:1]. This states
unequivocally that the essential nature of light is som ething th at G od has
created, so it is impossible that God [Himself] be a light. It is established that

119 Mani (d. 276/889), the prophet founder of this sect, grew up in an Elchasian sect in southern
Babylonia. He disseminated his teaching in the Sasanian empire, whence the mission spread to Egypt
and the Roman empire. At the heart of Manichean theology is a dualistic conception of two co-eval
principles of light and darkness. The human soul is thus a spark or particle of divine light held
captive in ‘dark flesh. In his discussion of Iranian religions, al-Shahrastani describes them as ‘one
of the dualist groups, who followed Mani son of Pitik (Fattik in Arabic), a “philosopher7*in the time
of Shipur, son of Ardashir (d. c. 270/883) who was executed for heresy by Bahram son of Hormuz*.
For the Islamic legend concerning him and his religion, see al-Shahrastani, Milal, I, 244; Tabari,
Ta’rikh, 830-1,834, trans. Bosworth 1999,38,45; C. E. Bosworth, ‘Mini b. Fittik, £P, VI, 421. On
polemics, see Stroumsa and Stroumsa 1988. More generally on Mani, see G. VMdengren,
‘Manicheanism and its Iranian background’, CH/, III/2,965-90.
120 In fact, RazI proceeds to to present three points of view.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

[this] requires explanation and the religious experts m ention various differing
points of view about it.

The first [point of view] is that light causes [things] to become visible, and
since guidance and light share this sense [i.e., since they are both understood
to perform this function], it is correct that the nam e ‘light’ is often bestowed on
‘guidance. This is like God’s statement, God is the Protector o f the believers; He
brings them forth from the shadows into the light [Q. 2:257].
His [God’s] statement W7ty, is he who was dead, and We gave him life, A nd
appointed fo r him a light [Q. 6:122]; His statem ent but We made it a light,
whereby We guide whom We will o f Our servants [Q. 42:52]; and His statement
God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth mean that the light of the heavens
and the earth is His [God’s]. The light is [God’s] guidance and [this light] is
found only with the inhabitants of the heavens. The gist [of this] implies that
God is the Guide of the people o f the heavens and the earth. This is the state­
m ent of Ibn ‘Abbas and the majority o f commentators.
The second [point of view] is that the m eaning [of the verse] is that He
[God] is the truly just, competent and enlightening ruler of the heavens and the
earth. He describes Himself like this just as the learned leader is described as
being the light o f [his] country. If their ruler rules well he is for them [i.e. for
the inhabitants of a given region] like the light that guides to the ways of the
right path. This [point of view] is preferred by al-A$amm121 and al-Zajjaj.122
The third [point of view] is that the m eaning is He who organises the
heavens and the earth according to the best system, and it may be that this
system is interpreted as a light. It is said ‘I see in this m atter a light.’
The fourth [point of view] is that its meaning is enlightener o f the heavens
and earth. They [the commentators] recount three points of view concerning
this statement:

1. He [God] enlightens the heavens through angels and the earth through
prophets;
2. He [God] enlightens them with the sun, the m oon and the stars;
3. [God] He adorns the heavens with the sun, the m oon and the stars, and
the earth with prophets and learned scholars, and this is related on the
authority of Ubayyb. Ka'b, al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] and AbuT-‘Aliya.

The closest [to being correct], however, is the first o f these statements,
because He [God] said at the end of the verse that God guides to His light whom
He willy indicating that the meaning o f‘the light’ is guidance towards knowledge
and [best] action.
121 See PA, al-A$amm.
122 Sec Zajjij, Ma'&niy IV. 43.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Know that al-Ghazali123 compiled a book on the exegesis o f this verse enti­
tled Mishk&t al-Anwdr (Niche of Lights).124 He claimed that God is truly a light,
or, in other words, that there is no light except Him. I relate the upshot o f his
[Ghazali’s] discussion along with several additions that [serve to] consolidate
his argument. [Furthermore] we assess in a fair m anner w hether w hat he says
is right or wrong.
He [Ghaz&ll] says that the noun ‘light* [nur] applies only to that phenom e­
non which emanates from the sun, the m oon and from fire over the exteriors
of dense bodily forms. It is said that the earth is illuminated, and th at the light
of the sun falls on the outward guise [of objects] while the light o f a lam p [falls]
on walls. It is well know n that this phenom enon [light] is virtuous and h o n ­
ourable, since through it [light] the visible world is made clearly manifest. And,
thus, it is well known that just as perceiving the visible world depends upon its
being lit up it, [perceiving the visible world also] depends on the existence o f
the seeing eye, since, even after the visible world has been lit up, the blind are
[still] unable to see [it]. The soul that sees is equivalent to the light that reveals,
in that they are [both] fundamental to the process o f achieving visibility. It can
be presumed on account of this that the soul that sees is endowed w ith reason
and possesses the powers of understanding. Externally visible light is not
endowed with reason and does not possess the powers o f understanding,
though through [this light] understanding may be achieved. The description o f
seeing light as making [things] visible is truer than [the description of] light that
can be seen[i.e externally visible light] [making things visible]. Thus, the w ord
Tight* is used [in the expression] ‘the light of the eye.* They [the commentators]
say the bat*s eye is weak, and that the light of the eye o f he who is affected by
eye disease is weak, and the light o f the eye o f the blind is lost. If this is true,
then we can say that the hum an being may possess visual sight an d /o r m ental
insight. Visual sight is the seeing eye that perceives lights and colours while
mental insight is the power o f rational perception. Each one of these two [forms
of] perception entails the manifestation of the object perceived. Each one of the
two perceptions is a light, but they [the commentators] consider the light o f the
eye to suffer from deficiencies that the light of the m ind does not suffer from.
Ghazall recounts seven [forms o f perception], but we have expanded and
made them twenty.

1. The power of visual perception is not aware of itself, nor does it perceive
[the fact] that it is perceiving, nor is it aware o f the instrum ent [through which
it perceives]. It does not perceive itself nor [the fact that it is] perceiving because
the ability to see is not som ething that is understood by the seeing eye. Its
123 See PA, al-Ghazali.
124 See Ghazall, Mishk&t> trans. Buchman 1998.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

instrum ent is the eye, and the power that sees by means o f the eye is not con­
scious o f the eye. The power that reasons is conscious of itself, is conscious of
its [own] consciousness and is conscious o f its instruments of perception, which
are the heart and the brain. So, it is established that the light of the m ind is more
perfect than the light o f the eye.
2. The power of visual perception does not perceive the complex issues [of
existence] while rational perception does perceive [complex issues]. That which
perceives complex issues is the heart, and it is more noble than that which per­
ceives the simple issues [of existence]. The power of visual perception does not
perceive complex issues because if the pow er o f visual perception perceived
everything in existence then it would perceive everything. ‘Everything means
all that is able to enter into existence in the past, present and future.125 Rational
perception does perceive complex issues, for we know that hum an individuals
collectively make up hum anity and are distinguished through their [own indi­
vidual] special attributes, and that from which sharing arises is different from
that from which differentiation arises. Humanity is in itself an entity o f dissim­
ilarity and contrast, but we are able to com prehend it as one whole entity. The
perception of complex issues is m ore noble [than the perception o f simple
issues], because the perception of complex issues is no t subject to variation,
while the perception o f simple issues is necessarily variable;126 and [also]
because implicit in the perception of the complex totality is the perception of
the simple issues below it. [Thus] what is true for the essential entity [i.e.
humanity] is true for all its individuals, not the other way round. So, it is estab­
lished that rational perception is the most noble.
3. Sensory perception [perceiving with the five senses] is unproductive
while rational perception [perceiving with the mind] is productive, so the m ind
must be nobler. Sensory perception is unproductive because when one
becomes aware of something [through the senses] the sensation does not cause
another sensation, or, in other words, were [that same] sensation to come to
one a second tim e, one would becom e aware o f it through the senses once
again, but this would not constitute [an occasion of] the production of a sensa­
tion through another sensation. Rational perception is productive because
when we grasp something we store it in our m inds and use its [various] com ­
ponents in order to acquire m ore knowledge. Thus, all understanding is pro­
ductive since it is possible to use it an infinite num ber of times to comprehend
other things. So, it is established that rational perception is the most noble.

125 We know the power that sees is unable to do this, since we have already established it is not
conscious of itself, its ability to perceive, nor the eye through which it sees.
126 For example, humanity or mankind as an entity does not change, while the individual people
who make up humanity are constantly changing; generation follows generation but humanity as
such remains a constant. Such a concept is not discerned by the eye, only the mind.

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4. Sensory perception cannot accom m odate several things [at the sam e
time] while rational perception can accommodate [several things at the same
time], thus rational perception must be m ore noble. [We know] sensory p e r­
ception is unable to accom m odate [several things at the same tim e], because
when the eye is m et with many colours simultaneously it is unable to d istin­
guish between them: it [the eye] perceives the mixture made from these colours
as a [single] colour. [Likewise] when the ear is m et with many words sim ulta­
neously, these words become all mixed together and it [the ear] is n o t able to
distinguish [between them ]. Rational perception, on the contrary, is able to
accommodate [several things at the same time] because each piece of knowl­
edge it obtains increases its ability to acquire new [knowledge] more easily. This
necessitates the verdict that rational perception is more noble.
5. W hen the power of sensory perception perceives powerful sensations it
is unable, at that same m om ent, to perceive weak sensations, since [we know
that) at the m om ent when one hears a loud noise one is unable to [sim ultane­
ously] hear a softer noise. Rational perception is not distracted from com pre­
hending [one thing] by its [simultaneous] comprehension [of som ething else],
6. The faculties of sensory perception grow weaker after [the age of] forty,
and they [these faculties] [also] grow weaker at the accumulation o f ideas and
thoughts, which is an inevitable consequence of the m in d s appropriation o f the
body, and which [in turn] precipitates the body's decline.127 The faculties o f
rational perception grow stronger after [the age of) forty, and [also] grow
stronger with the accumulation of the thoughts [and concepts] that [ultimately]
result in the body's decline. This suggests that the ability to perceive through
rational thinking has no need for these instrum ents [i.e. no need for bodily
organs, such as the ears, eyes and nostrils] which sensory perception does need.
7. Visual perception does not perceive visible objects in close proximity nor
[those which are] in the far distance, while rational perception is n o t affected
by the proximity or distance [of objects]. It [rational perception] can rise above
[Goffs] throne and descend below the ground in less than a m om ent; or, in
other words, it perceives the essence of God and His characteristics alongside
His being, regardless of [the constraints of] proximity, distance and direction.
Rational perception is, thus, more noble.
8. Sensory perception only perceives the outw ard appearance o f things.
Thus, when it [sensory perception] perceives a hum an being, it does not really
com prehend the person [at all] since it only perceives the outer surface o f his
body, and only the colours that are on that surface. It is mutually agreed upon
[by the commentators] that the hum an being am ounts to more than the outer

127 When the body becomes ruled by reason rather than primitive animal instincts the body
begins to deteriorate, since its first priority is no longer itself.

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 Light of th e heavens and the earth

surface and colour [i.e. his outward appearance and complexion], but visual
perception is unable to penetrate w hat lies beneath that which is outwardly
visible. For rational perception the interior and exterior o f things are [of] equal
[im portance]. It [rational perception] perceives [both] the outer surface and
w hat lies beneath it. It plunges into their depths [i.e. into the interior and
exterior of things] and into their [various] constituent parts. Rational percep­
tion is a light for the interior and exterior, while visual perception is a light for
the exterior but a darkness for the interior. Rational perception is more noble
than visual perception.
9. Rational perception perceives G od and all His deeds, while visual p er­
ception perceives colours and forms, so the degree o f nobility awarded to
rational perception in relation to visual perception m ust be the same as the
degree of nobility awarded to God's essence in relation to colours and forms.
10. Rational perception perceives all that exists, all that that does not exist,
and all those changeable elements which are the accidental contingents128 of
w hat exists and w hat does not exist. For this reason, his [Ghaz&li’s] initial
verdict is that existence and non-existence cannot come together [i.e. both
occur at once for the same entity] or disappear [i.e. neither occur in an entity;
one or the other m ust occur]. This [assumption] is no doubt preceded by a
concept called ‘existence and a [concept] called ‘non-existence. According to
some points o f view, it is as though through these two concepts all things are
comprehended [all things are comprehended as either existing or not existing].
Visual perception perceives only lights and colours. These are the least im por­
tant exhibits o f bodily forms, and bodily forms are less im portant than the
essential natures o f souls. Visual perception is concerned with the least im por­
tant things in existence, while rational perception is concerned with all that
exists and does not exist. Rational perception is, thus, more noble.
11. Rational perception brings unity to diversity, and diversity to the solitary
individual. Visual perception does not do either. Rational perception brings
unity to diversity because it brings together families and species and, from the
two o f them , one characteristic genetic group is formed. It brings diversity to
the individual because it takes the hum an being, which is a single entity, and
divides it up into its various faculties and into its essential characteristics and
non-essential characteristics, then divides his [the persons] assets into cate­
gories and sub-categories, and groups and sub-groups, and categories of
groups, and groups o f categories [and continues to do so] to the rest o f the
assets that do not count as either categories or groups. Then it continues divid-123

123 Again, Razi is talking in terms of the inner, consistent core of entities - entities divided here
into that which exists and that which does not exist - and those ‘accidents’ (cf. Greek philosophy)
that change the condition of the entity but not its essence.

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On the Nature of the Divine

ing up each division until it eventually reaches the basic elements from which
the com pounds [which together make up the individual person] are m ade.
Then it considers w hether the essential characteristics are bound o r free [i.e.
w hether they are independent or need som ething else in order to exist], and
w hether they require one expedient, several [expedients], or no expedient [at
all]. It is as though rational perception penetrates into the depths o f the essential
nature of things, immerses itself in it, and distinguishes each one o f its parts
from its owner, and then places each one of them in the place appropriate for
it. Visual perception does not provide any insight into what the in n er core o f
things is like, or, in other words, it only sees one thing and does not understand
what it is nor how it is constituted. Thus, it appears that rational perception is
more noble.
12. Rational perception knows no limits, while there is a limit on what can
be comprehended through sensory perception. The first [statement, i.e. the lim ­
itlessness of rational perception] is explained from various different points o f
view.
a) Rational perception is able, by m eans o f existing knowledge, to m ake
inferences about the unknow n, and then to make these inferences the
starting point for an infinite num ber of other conclusions, while we know
that the faculties of sensory perception are not able to make deductions
at all.
b) Rational perception is able to grasp that the stages of counting are infi­
nite.
c) Rational perception is able to understand itself, and to understand th at
it has understood, and so on into infinity.
d) Links and attributions [between objects, ideas, sensations etc.] are u nder­
stood through the reason not perceived through the senses. Thus it
appears that the faculty of rational perception is more noble.

13. In his rational perception, the hum an being shares with God the u n d er­
standing o f the true nature of things, while his sensory perception he shares
with beasts. The affinity [here] exemplifies that rational perception is m ore
noble [since it is related to God while sensory perception is related to animals].
14. Rational perception has no need o f something outside o f itself in order
to perform, while sensory perception does require the existence o f som ething
tangible on the outside for its sensory perception [to perform ). That which is
self-sufficient is m ore noble than that which is in need.
15. The externally visible creatures of this world are made possible by their
essences, and they require an agent. The agent is not able to create anything
proficiently until it has first acquired learning. The external existence of these

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things is, thus, dependent on rational perception. Becoming aware o f them

[these things] through the senses is dependent on their external existence, thus
sensory perception is dependent on rational perception.
16. Rational perception does not require instrum ents in order to u n d er­
stand [things]. [This statement is based] on the evidence that if the five senses
o f a hum an being become defective, he [still] understands that one is half of
two, and that [two] things may be the same. Sensory perception [however]
requires several instruments [in order to function]. That which is self-sufficient
is more virtuous than that which is in need.
17. Visual perception only takes in those things that are in its line o f vision
and it cannot move freely in every direction, or, in other words, it takes in only
what it is opposite or what it is virtually opposite. We should be careful [about
what we mean when] saying ‘virtually opposite in four cases.
a) Breadth cannot be ‘opposite [is not synonymous with ‘opposite’] since it
does not occur in a [specific] place, but it is virtually opposite’ because it
is found with the bodily form that it [breadth] is opposite.
b) The image of the face in the m irror. Beams [of light] from the eye reach
the m irror and then from it [the mirror] are reflected back onto the face
so that the face becomes an image. In this example it is as though it [the
face] is opposite itself.
c) The image of the person follows him if he places one m irror in front of
him and another behind him.
d) Some images do not appear to be opposite, [such as] when beams [are
caused to] swerve due to moisture [in the air], as is explained in books on
optics (mandzir).129 Rational perception is free from the constraints of
direction for it com prehends direction, and [the phenom enon of] direc­
tion is not [fixed] in a [specific] direction. Therefore, it understands a
thing w hether it is in a [particular direction] or not. This repetition [i.e.
that rational perception com prehends direction, and direction is not
fixed in a specific direction] can only be proved true once the meaning
o f our statement ‘not [fixed] in a [specific] direction’ is understood.
18. Visual perception is weakened when it is covered [by something], while
rational perception cannot be covered by anything at all. So it [rational percep­
tion] is m ore noble.
19. Rational perception is like a ruler, while sensory perception is like a
servant. A ruler is more noble than a servant, and there is a widely-held affir­
m ation of the differences between leadership (imdra) and service (khidma).
129 Riz» here is referring to works on the science of optics. For an overview of this branch of
Islamic science, see Nader El-Bizri, ‘Optics’, MIC, I, 578-9, where a substantial bibliography is
provided.

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On the Nature of the Dhrine

20. Visual perception often makes mistakes, since it m ay perceive som e­

thing that is moving to be still and vice-versa. [For example] in a ship it [visual
perception] perceives th e moving ship to be still and the still shore to be
moving. Were it not for rational perception, [occasions] when the eye is w rong
would not be distinguished from [occasions] when it is correct. Rational p e r­
ception is a judge, and sensory perception is what is judged.

W hat we have recounted [above] confirms that perception through rational

thinking is m ore noble th at perception through sight [and the other senses,
such as touch, hearing, smell]. Each one o f these two forms o f perception
requires that things are m ade visible, and this is among the most noble charac­
teristics of light. Rational perception is a brighter light than visual perception.
O nce this is established, we can speak o f the lights o f rational perception as
being divided into two types.
- The first [type] is instinctive understanding, which is necessary for the
well-being of the self and its various conditions.
- The second [type] is acquired [i.e. m an is not b o m with it]. This is u n d er­
standing achieved through speculation.
The hum an soul is not bom with instinctive understanding, since w hen it
[the hum an soul] is in childhood it does not know anything, so these instinctive
lights only come into being after [a tim e when] they did not exist and, thus,
must have been caused by something. Regarding speculative understanding, it
is known that the innate natures of the majority of [people] are prone to err and,
if this is so, there must be a rightly guided guide. There is no better guide than
God’s Word and the guidance provided by prophets, thus the revelation of the
verses of the Q ur’an being revealed through the m ind’s eye is the same as the
light of the sun being perceived through the seeing eye, since through it [the
seeing eye] visual perception is achieved. It is appropriate that the Q u r’an is
called a light just as the light o f the sun is called a light, for the light o f the
Q u r’an resembles the light o f the sun, and the light of the m ind resembles the
light o f the eye. Through this, the meaning of Therefore believe in God and His
Messenger, and in the Light which We have sent down [Q. 64:8], A proof has now
com etoyou from your Lord [Q. 4:174] and We have sent you a manifest light [Q.
4:174] is clear. If it is established that the Messenger’s pronouncem ent is m ight­
ier than the light of the sun, then his saintly soul must be more lum inous than
the sun. And, just as the sun in the world o f corporeal forms brings light to
others while not receiving it [light] from any other, so the soul o f the Prophet
brings the lights o f rational perception to all hum an souls, while not being
brought lights of rational perception from any [other] hum an soul. For this
reason, God describes the sun as a lamp where He [God] says and has set among

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them a lamp, and an illuminating moon [Q. 25:61]; and He [God] describes
M ubamm ad as a shining lamp. Once you have recognised this, we say that it is
established by means of [both] deduced and received evidence that lights extant
in the souls o f prophets come from the lights that exist in the souls o f the angels.
God said He sends down the angels with the Spirit o f His command upon whom­
soever He will among His servants [Q. 16:2] and He [God] said Brought down by
the Trustworthy Spirit upon your heart [Q. 26:193]. Inspiration only comes by
means o f the angels. If we make the souls o f prophets brighter than th e sun,
then the souls o f angels, which are the origins o f the lights o f the m inds of
prophets, must be greater than the lights of the souls o f prophets, because that
which causes must be mightier than that which is caused. We also say it is estab­
lished by means of [both] deduced and received evidence that the celestial souls
differ from one another: some are givers while others are receivers. God,
describing Gabriel, said Obeyed, moreover trusty [Q. 81:21]. If he [Gabriel] is the
one w hom the angels obey, then those who obey [angels] must be u n d er his
[Gabriel’s] command. He [God] said none o f us is there, but has a known station;
[Q. 37:164]. If this is true, then that which gives is m ore o f a light than that
which receives, on account of the reasons m entioned above.
There is a likeness for the grades o f lights in the world of souls and this is
[when] the light of the sun, after it touches the m oon and enters into an aper­
ture [in a wall], falls on a m irror hanging on a wall. It is, then, reflected from it
[the m irror on the wall] onto another wall on which is hanging another m irror.
It is, then, reflected from that into a basin full o f water standing on the floor,
and is, then, reflected from that onto the roof of the house. The greatest light is
[found] in the sun, which is the origin, and the second [greatest] is in the moon.
The third [greatest] is what is reflected from the first m irror, and the fourth
[greatest] is what is reflected from the second mirror. The fifth [greatest] is what
is reflected from the water, and the sixth [greatest] is what is reflected onto the
ceiling. That which is close to the source is mightier than that which is far from
it. Thus, the celestial lights are graded, since the light of that which gives is
brighter than the light of that which receives. These lights advance [constantly]
until they reach the greatest light, and the soul that is the greatest soul is God’s,
and this is what is m eant by G od’s statement, Upon the day when the Spirit and
the angels stand in ranks [Q. 78:38]. Thus, we say that if the lights of sensory per­
ception are o f the lower [world] then they are like the lights o f fires, o r o f the
[world] above like the lights of the sun, m oon and stars. The lights o f rational
perception of the lower [world] are, thus, like the lower souls of prophets and
saints, or of the [world] above like the heavenly souls that belong to the angels.
The existence of all [souls] is made possible through their essences, and the
m aking possible o f an essence makes requisite the [prior] non-existence of

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[that] essence and the existence of another [in the first place]. Non-existence is
the darkness that obtains [before light] and existence is the light. Except G od,
everything is dark and its essence is enlightened [only] by G od’s com m and.
Thus, all the knowledge that comes to the soul after it has come into existence
comes from the existence of God. God the Truth (al-baqq) is the O ne w ho
brings it [the soul] into existence after its [residing] in the darkness o f non-exis­
tence, and He [God] floods it with the light of knowledge after its [residing] in
the darkness of ignorance. N othing is revealed unless He [God] reveals it, and
the special property o f light is its [capacity] to cause [things] to become visible,
to reveal [things] and to uncover [things]. Because o f this, it would appear that
the light upon which there are no restrictions is God. This unrestricted nature
of light is a metaphor, since except G od everything is in itself dark, inasm uch
as it in itself does not exist at all. Or, in other words, when we consider lights
for what they are, they are [in fact] darkness because they are m ade possible
[by something else], and that which requires something else does n o t in itself
exist, and non-existence is darkness. W hen we consider light for w hat it is it is
darkness, for if it is considered from the point of view of being flooded with the
light o f existence by God, then it is [only] from this point of view th at it can be
regarded as light. So, it is established that God is the Light, and, except for Him,
there is no light except by way of metaphor.
Two further questions about God are now discussed.

First [question]: Did God assign light to the heavens and the earth? He
[Ghazall] responds stating that you know that the heavens and the earth are
filled with lights of rational and sensory perception. The [lights of] sensory per­
ception are what we witness in the sky in the way of the sun, m oon and stars,
and what we witness on the earth in the way o f beams [of light] that extend over
the surface of bodily forms which make [their various] different colours clear.
Were it not for them [the lights o f sensory perception] colours would not be
revealed, or, in other words, [would not] exist. The heavens are filled with lights
of rational perception, and these [lights] are the essential natures of angels. The
lower world [i.e. the earth as opposed to the heavens] is [also] filled with them
[lights o f rational perception], and these are the faculties possessed by plants,
animals and hum an beings. The system of the lower world is revealed by means
of the lower lights of hum an beings just as the system of the world above [i.e.
the heavens] is revealed through the lights o f angels. This is what is m eant by
God’s statement He will surely make you successors in the land [Q. 24:55] and He
[God] [also] said, and appoints you to be successors in the earth [Q. 27:62]. If you
acknowledge this then you [surely] acknowledge that the entire world [i.e. the
upper and lower, heaven and earth] is filled with externally visible lights

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reached through visual perception, and internally perceived lights reached

through rational perception. Thus, you acknowledge that some o f th e lower
[world] is flooded by the light o f the lamp, and the lamp is the soul o f the
Prophet. The divine light o f the Prophet takes its light from the heavenly souls
and the heavenly souls take from one another and are graded, but they all go
back to the light of lights and its origin and initial source, which is God, the One
and Only who has no equal. Thus, all [lights] are His [God’s] light, and because
of this He [God] said God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth.
Second [question]: If God is the Light, is it not necessary that there be proof
of this? He [Ghazali] responds stating that [the fact that] He [God] is the Light
o f the heavens and the earth is understood in relation to the externally visible
light reached through visual perception. [This is] because when you see the
greenness of spring by daylight you do not doubt that you are seeing colours.
Perhaps you think [these] colours are all you see, and you say, T do not see any­
thing but greenness.’ But, at sunset you understand that colour changes accord­
ing to w hether light falls on it or does not fall on it. Thus, you understand that
light is different from colour but that colours are comprehended through light,
except they [colours] cannot be perceived when several colours come together.
W hen [several colours] are manifested together they cannot be seen, so their
own manifestation [in this case] is the cause o f their being impossible to
discern. If you acknowledge this, then know that just as everything is revealed
for the eye through externally visible light, everything is revealed for inner
mental insight through God. God’s light is found in everything and cannot be
detached from [anything].
However, a contradiction remains. This is that externally visible light appears
to disappear at sunset and is concealed, and at that time [the world] appears to
be colourless. Divine light, which reveals everything, is not conceived of as
[being som ething that can be] concealed, or, in other words, it is impossible
that it change; it remains with things all the time. The analogy drawn [between
the two kinds of lights] is invalidated by [this] difference. If [God’s light] could
cease, the heavens and the earth would be razed; and it would [then] be u n d er­
stood that it [God’s light] shared all the details that learning inevitably ascribes
to it [i.e. in assuming that the analogy between G od’s light and the sun’s light
is absolute]. However, since all things are alike when it comes to testifying to
the existence o f their Creator, and each thing worships G od and n o t other
things, at all times and not just sometimes, the discrepancy [in the analogy] is
eliminated and the path concealed. It is concealed because of the intense bright­
ness and grandeur of God’s light. Praise be to the One who is concealed from
creation on account o f the force o f His appearance and who conceals Himself
from them [mankind) with the radiance o f His light. Know that the argum ent

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we relate from G hazill is deem ed correct. After the realisation that G od is a

light, [the argumentation] comes back to the point that He [God] is the C reator
of the world and the C reator of the powers o f perception, and the m eaning o f
our discussion is that His [God's] being is a light for the heavens and the earth,
in that He is the Guide of the inhabitants o f heaven and earth. There is no co n ­
tradiction between what he [Ghazili] says and what we relate from the Q ur'an
commentators about the m eaning [of this verse]. God knows b est

P a rt II. E xplanation o f th e P ro p h et’s statem ent:

"God has seventy veils o f lig h t a n d darkness, a n d w ere th ey to be
p u lled away th e sp len d o u rs o f G od’s co u n ten an ce w ould scorch away all
th a t H is gaze falls u p o n ’

In some accounts [these veils num ber] seven hundred and in others seven
thousand
The majority [of com m entators] say that since it is established that G od's
essence is manifest, it is b oth a veil and [a thing] veiled. That which is veiled
must necessarily be veiled either by a veil made up of light and darkness, o r a
veil made up o f light only, or a veil made up o f darkness only.
First kin d [of veil]: Those who are veiled by pure darkness are those w ho
are preoccupied with bodily relations to the extent that it does not occur to
them to question if it is possible to infer through tangible things knowledge o f
an existence that is necessary for the existence [of all things] or not? This is
because you recognise that, except God, all things in themselves are dark, and
are only enlightened through the light of God's presence. As for he who is p re ­
occupied with bodily concerns for what they are - his preoccupation becomes
an obstacle preventing him from turning his attention in the direction o f th e
light. His veil is absolute darkness, for the [various] varieties o f preoccupation
with bodily relations are unlim ited and uncountable, and thus types o f veils
with darkness are unlim ited and uncountable.
Second k ind [of veil]: Those who are veiled by the veil [made up] o f d ark ­
ness and light mixed together. Know that he who examines tangible phenom ­
ena either believes them to have no need for a stim ulant [i.e. no need for
som ething else to have caused them to exist] o r believes that they require [a
stimulant]. If he believes they are self-sufficient, then this is a veil of light and
darkness mixed together. It is light because he imagines it to not to need any­
thing other [than itself]. This [self-sufficiency] is one of the glorious character­
istics of God and is [also] one of the characteristics o f light. It [the veil] is
[partly] made from darkness, because he believes this description to apply to
these bodily forms while the description [that things require no stimulant] is

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not [in truth] appropriate, and so is darkness. It is, thus, established that this is
a veil made from a mixture o f light and darkness. Many examples of this kind
[of veil] exist, for [instance] some people believe that that which enables [things
to exist] has no need for a stimulant, and there are people who accept this but
say that they are stimulated by their [very own] natures and impulses, by their
coming together [with other things] and dispersal, or by their relation to the
movement of celestial bodies [i.e. the stars] or to that which causes [the stars]
to move. All these come under this heading.
Third kind [of veil]: The veil of pure light. Know that cognisance of God can
only be achieved by means both of those characteristics that describe what God
is not and those attributes which He is above, and those characteristics that
describe what He is and the attributes He possesses. There is no end to these
characteristics nor to their stages. The servant [of God] never ceases to advance
through them [the stages]. If he reaches a stage and remains there, his im m er­
sion in the experiencing o f this stage obscures him from advancing to those
[stages] which are above it. Since there is no end to these stages, the servant [of
God] is eternally on the move and advancing, and His [God’s] special nature
rem ains veiled from all. We have recounted the particulars o f the stages of
veiling, and you know that He [the Prophet] num bers them approximately at
seventy thousand, though this is not fixed, for they are in truth endless.

P art III. Explanation o f th e n atu re o f draw ing com parisons

Know that drawing comparisons requires two things: an object and something
with which to compare it. People have different opinions here about what the
object is. They [the commentators] recount several points o f view.
First [point o f view]: The majority of Muslim theologians, supported by al-
Qa<jl [al-Baqillanl], state that what is m eant by 'the guidance* (hady) is the
verses that make [things] clear, and the m eaning is that the clarifying and
revealing nature o f G od’s guidance extends to the utmost extremes; in this way
it is the lamp (mishkdt) in which is found clear glass. In the glass is a niche
(m ifbah) that bum s with the clearest possible oil. It is said it [God’s guidance]
cannot be compared with this [lamp’s light] for we know that the light o f the
sun reaches a lot further than this. We say that God describes the perfect light
that shines in the midst of darkness [as an analogy for His guidance] because
most peoples thoughts and beliefs are vague, and thus are like darkness, while
G od’s guidance is like the perfect light that reveals what is in darkness. This
meaning does not apply to the light of the sun because when it [the sun’s light]
is visible, the world is filled with pure light, and when it vanishes the world is
filled with pure darkness. So, the comparison [drawn between God’s guidance

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and the lamp] is more fitting and appropriate [than making the same com par­
ison between G od's guidance and sunlight]. Know that in drawing this com ­
parison, G od considers those elements which make this light perfect:

1. The lam p (m ijbdfi), because when it [the lamp] is not in the niche
(mishkdt) its beams are dispersed, while when it is placed in a niche its beams
come together and become one and give out a stronger light. This is proved by
[the fact that] when a lamp (m ifbdh) is in a small house its light appears to be
brighter than when it is seen in a big house.
2. W hen a lamp is in a clear glass, the beams that are separated from the
lamp reflect from one side of the glass to the other because of the clearness and
transparency of the glass. For this reason the light and glow are brighter. This
is proved by [the fact that] when the sun’s rays fall on a clear glass the visible
light multiplies so that it appears that what it [the light] faces is the same as that
light [i.e. the light is reflected on each side of the glass]. If these rays are reflected
from all the sides of the glass to the other sides, the lights and glows grow m ore
numerous, and this can go on endlessly.
3. The light of a lamp varies according to what is being used to b u m it. If the
oil is totally clear the light will be different to what it would be if [the oil] were
murky. The clearest kind of oil is olive oil, which is perhaps as clear and thin as
water with its extreme whiteness and the rays that are reflected from its parts.
4. This olive oil varies on account of the tree [from which it comes]. If [its
tree] is neither east nor west, meaning that it is exposed to the sun in all condi­
tions, its olives are the most ripe and succulent, and their oil is the m ost clear.
It is easier to distinguish its clearness from its dirt because increased sunlight
makes this possible.

If these four things come together at the same time they support one
another, and the light [produced from the oil o f the olives of the tree] is totally
clear. Thus, it is appropriate to use this as a simile for God’s guidance.
Second [po in t o f view]: W hat is m eant by the Tight* in His [G od’s] state­
m ent the likeness o f His light is the Q u r’an, and this is suggested in G od’s state­
m ent There has come to you from God a light [Q. 5:15]. This is the statem ent o f
al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri], Sufyan b. ‘Uyayna and Zayd b. Aslam.
T hird [po in t o f view]: W hat is m eant [by the likeness o f His light] is the
Messenger, because he [the Messenger] is the guide, and because God said
describing him [Muhammad] as a radiant lamp [Q. 33:46]. This is what ‘A ta’
[b. Abi Rabah] says.
The latter two statements are implicit in the first statement, because the rev­
elation of the Book [i.e. the Q ur’an] and the dispatching of the Message are each

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forms of guidance. God said, describing the Book, Even so We have revealed to
you a Spirit o f O ur bidding. You did not know what the Book was, nor [what is]
faith [Q. 42:52]; describing the Message, He said Messengers bearing good tidings,
and warning, so that mankind might have no argument against God, after the
Messengers [Q. 4:165].
F ourth [point o f view] : W hat is m eant [by the likeness o f His light] is that
which is in the heart of the believers in the way o f acknowledgement o f God
and of the laws o f Islam. This is proved by God’s description of faith as light and
of unbelief as darkness. He [God] said, Is he whose breast God has expanded unto
Islam, so he walks in a lightfrom his Lord [Q. 39:22]; God [also] said that He may
bringforth those who believe and do righteous deeds from the shadows into the light
[Q. 65:11]. The gist of this is that guidance leads to the right path, and the inten­
tion [of this] comparison is that the faith of the believer attains the same [effect]
as the lamp in term s of clarifying obscurities and distinguishing [it] from the
darkness o f erring. This is what Ubayy b. Ka‘b and Ibn *Abbas say. Ubayy [b.
Ka‘b] used to read [it as]: mathalu nur al-m u’min (the likeness of the light of
the believer). It is said that he used to read it as: mathalu nur man dmana bih
(the likeness o f he who believes in Him). Ibn ‘Abbas used to say. ‘the likeness
o f the light in the heart of the believer*.
Fifth [point o f view]: Ghazall recounts that having explained th at the
powers of perception are lights, there [can be identified] five degrees o f hum an
powers of perception.

1. Sensory perception. This receives what the five senses bring to it. It may
be the root of the soul of animals, since it is what determines that animals
are animals, and it is present in the suckling child.
2. Imaginative perception. This takes as true what the [five] senses bring to
it, and keeps it stored in order that it be [later] subjected to critical exam ­
ination by the power of rational perception, which is more requisite than
it.
3. Rational perception that can comprehend everything.
4. Speculative perception. This is what takes knowledge deduced through
reason an d puts it into a form from which it infers knowledge of the
unknown.
5. Divine perception, which the prophets and some holy men possess.
Through [divine perception] signs o f the unknown and secrets of the
[God’s] kingdom are revealed. It is to this [form of perception] that God’s
statement, Even so We have revealed to you a Spirit o f Our bidding. You did
not know what the Book was, nor [what was] faith; but We made it a light,
whereby We guide whom We will o f Our servants [Q. 42:52], refers.

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W hen you acknowledge these forms o f perception* they are all lights, since
through them [the various] forms o f existence are revealed. These five degrees
can be compared with the five things that God mentions: the niche, the glass,
the lamp, the tree and the oil.
The first [form o f perception]: W hen the special properties of the sensory
soul are examined, you find its lights are beyond keen instruments like the eyes,
ears and nostrils. The most appropriate simile for it [God’s guidance] from the
world o f bodily forms is the lamp.
The second [form o f perception] is the imaginative soul and we can identify
three characteristics for this:
a) It is o f the compact soil o f the lower world [i.e. this world] because the
object o f the imagination has size, shape and confines [just as everything
in this world has]. It is characteristic of bodily forms to conceal the pure
lights of rational perception that constitute pure and total knowledge.
b) W hen this dense imagination is clear, pure and clean it becomes equal to
rational thoughts and leads to their light, and is not an obstacle to th e
radiance o f their light. Therefore, it is said that ‘rational concepts are
inferred through imagined images’ just like [the notion of] the king is
inferred through the sun, and through the m oon [the notion o f the]
vizier, and through he who seals the holes and apertures of people,130 [the
notion o f the] muezzin who announces the dawn prayer.
c) In the beginning, the imagination truly needs it [imaginative perceptive
powers], so that it grasps rational knowledge and does not become con­
fused. Drawing com parisons between the imagination and knowledge
produced through rational perception is helpful, and you cannot find in
the [world of] bodily forms anything other than glass that resembles the
im agination in these three characteristics, for its origin is a com pact
essence but it is clear and fine so that it does not conceal the light o f the
lamp but steers its [the light’s] direction and guards it [the light’s flame]
against being extinguished by violent gales.

The third [form o f perception] is rational perception. This is the ability to

com prehend all true essences and divine knowledge, and the m anner in which
it [rational perception] resembles a lamp should be obvious to you, for you now
know this after we explained how prophets are [likened to] shining lamps.
The fourth [form of perception] is speculative perception. Among its special
properties is [the ability] to take one quality and divide it into two parts, like
our statement that [every] thing in existence either requires something else in

130 The reference here is to abstinence from food and sexual intercourse, for example during the
month of Ramadan.

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order to exist or enables som ething else to exist. Then it [the ability] divides
each part into two a second time, and thus [does this repeatedly] until these
divisions outnum ber the divisions [already made through] rational perception.
Then it informs the other [i.e. rational perception] o f its results and these are
its fruits. It then goes back and makes these fruits the seeds o f similar cases so
that they sprout endless knowledge. It is, thus, appropriate that it [speculative
perception] be compared in this world to the tree, since its [the tree s] fruit is
the agent that increases the lights o f knowledge and its offshoots. It is [also]
appropriate that it be a pomegranate or an apple tree, or, in particular, an olive
tree, because the pith of its fruit is the oil which [in turn] is the substance [used]
for lamps [so that they can bum ]. O f all [the kinds of] oil it [olive oil] has the
unique ability to bring more brightness [to light] and less smoke. Since cattle
who produce much milk and offspring, and trees that bring forth much fruit,
are called blessed, that which exceeds the known boundaries [of fruit produc­
tion] is [surely] the first to be called a blessed tree. And since the branches of
pure rational thought have absolutely no need for the parts o f the body, it is
appropriate that they [trees and their branches] are neither east nor west.
The fifth [form of perception] is divine perception, and it is the most noble
and serene.
The sixth [form of perception], speculative perception, is divided into what
requires learning and education and what does not need [learning or educa­
tion), and this division must necessarily be part o f a sequence. It is appropriate
[then] to express this division [i.e. divine perception] in terms o f its perfection,
serenity and its oil's power to give light even if it has not been touched by a
flame. Drawing this comparison is suitable for this type [of perception].
These lights are ranked one above the other [according to their importance].
Sensory perception comes first, for it is the starting point for the imagination.
The power of imagination is [then] like the starting point for reasoning. Thus
is it appropriate that the lamp be [likened to] a container for the glass, that is
[itself] a container for the light.
Sixth [point o f view]: This is the account of Abu ‘All b. Sina. He [Ibn Slna]
arranged these five likenesses into stages o f the hum an soul's powers o f percep­
tion. He [Ibn Slna] said the hum an soul is certainly open to all knowledge and
absolute understanding. In the beginning it [the soul] is empty of any knowl­
edge, and at this stage it is called a primitive m ind (‘aq/ hayuli) [‘material intel­
lect'] and is a niche (mishkat). In the second stage, it [the soul] acquires
primitive knowledge, the components of which enable it to acquire information
by means of speculation. W hen it is weak it is the tree, and when it is stronger
it is the oil. W hen it is very strong it is the glass, which is like a shining star.
When it [reaches] the pinnacle of its potential strength, it is the divine soul that

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is possessed by prophets and whose oil nearly burns without being touched by
a flame. In the third stage it acquires from requisite innate knowledge specula­
tive knowledge, though it is not yet active, and only becomes so when its owner
wishes it to and is able to control it. This is called an active mind, and it is a lig h t
In the fourth stage innate and speculative knowledge are [both] present, and it
is as though its owner examines it; this is called a m ind that infers, and it is a
light above a light since the angel is a light, and what the angel has is obtained
from another light He [Ibn Slna] claims that the knowledge obtained in hum an
souls is acquired from a spiritual essence called the active intellect, and it con­
trols that which is below the m oons sphere, and is the fire.
Seventh [point o f view]: This is the statem ent o f some Sufis who say that
G od com pared the chest to the niche (mishkdt), the heart to the glass, and
knowledge to the lamp (mi$bdh). This lamp (mifbah) is only lit from the blessed
tree, and from this the angels receive th eir inspiration, on account of G od's
statement He sends down the angels with the spirit o f His command [Q. 16:2] and
brought down by the Trustworthy Spirit upon your heart [Q. 26:193]. He [God]
compared the angels with the blessed tree because o f the volume of their capa­
bilities, and He [God] described them as being neither west nor east o f the spir­
itual rivers. He [God] described them with His statement whose light well-nigh
would shine, even if no fire touched it because o f the abundance of their learning
and their deep cognisance o f the secret s of G o d s kingdom. It is clear here that
the [initial] object is not the same as the object to which it is being compared.
Eighth [point of view]: M uqatil131 said the likeness o f His light means that
the likeness of the light o f faith in the heart o f M uham m ad is like a niche in
which there is a lamp. The lamp is the equivalent o f the loins of [his father] *Abd
Allah, and the glass is the equivalent o f M uhammad's body. The lamp (mi$bdh)
is the equivalent of the faith that is in the heart of M uhamm ad or the prophecy
in his heart.
Ninth [point o f view]: Some have said that the niche is the equivalent o f
Abraham, the glass Ishmael, the lamp the body of Muhammad, and the tree the
prophethood and the mission.
Tenth [point o f view]: His statem ent the likeness o f His ligfit refers to the
believer. This is the statem ent o f Ubayy b. Ka‘b, who used to read it [thus]:
mathalu nur al-m u m in (the likeness o f the light of the believer). This is [also]
the statement of SaTd b. Jubayr and al-Dahbak.
Know that the first statement is the preferred one. God said [the following]
before this verse, We have sent down to you signs making all clear [Q. 24:34], and
since the meaning of His [God's] statement the likeness o f His light is the likeness
of His guidance and His pronouncem ent, that then corresponds to what came
131 Sec P A , M u q & til b . H ayyan.

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before; and since we explained God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth as
meaning the Guide of the heavens and the earth, and since we explained His
[God’s] statement the likeness o f His light as meaning ‘the likeness o f His guid­
a n ce , that then corresponds to what comes before.

P a rt IV. The re m a in in g issues relatin g to th is verse

There are various issues [remaining to be dealt with].

Issue one: The mishkdt is a small recess (kuwa) in a wall without a window.
This is a well-known statement. They [the commentators] recount various dif­
ferent points o f view about it. O ne [point o f view]: Ibn ‘Abbas and Abu Musa
al-Ash‘ari say that the mishkdt is that which stands in the centre o f the lamp
(iqindil) inside which is the wick (fatila). This is [also] the statement o f Mujahid
and al-Qura?I. Second [point of view]: al-Zajjaj says it means here a glass shaft
in the lamp (qindil) in which is placed the wick (fatila).132 Third [point o f view]:
al-Dabhak says that it is a chain link on which the lamp (qindil) is hung.
Issue two: They [the com m entators] claim that the mishkdt is the kuwa
[small recess in a wall] in the language of Abyssinia (al-Habasha). Al-Zajjaj said
the mishkdt is an Arabic word and is like a tiny little recess.133
Issue three: Some o f them [the com m entators] say this verse has been
inverted. The implication [here] is the likeness o f His light is like a lamp in a
niche, because the object used as a comparison is the source o f the light and its
origin. This is the lamp, not the niche.
Issue fo u r The mifbah is a torch (sirdj), and it comes from [the meaning of]
light, and from [its root letters, $-b-/z, comes the word] ‘m orning’ ($ubh).
Issue five: (...].134
Issue six: His [God’s] statement as if it were a glittering star means huge and
glowing, the twinkling o f stars is what makes them great. They [the com m en­
tators] relate that this means a shining star like Venus, Jupiter or the fixed stars,
which are the most splendid [of all stars].
Issue seven: His [God’s] statement from a blessed tree means from the oil of
a blessed tree, that is to say very blessed and productive. It is said this [blessed
tree] is the first tree to bear fruit after the flood which seventy prophets
bestowed blessings on, am ong w hom was Abraham. It is [also] said that it
means the olives of Syria because it is the blessed land, and for this reason God
made this tree blessed.

132 ZajjSj, Ma'dm, IV, 43.

133 Ibid.
134 At this p o in t R izI engages in a p ro lix g ram m atical d iscussion o f th e v ocalisatio n o f som e o f
the terms used in the Qur’inic verse; this is covered in his ‘issue five’.

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On the Nature of the Divine

Issue eight: They [the com m entators] have differing points o f view about
the meaning o f description o f the tree as neither o f the east nor o f the west.
- First [point o f view]: al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] said that it is an olive tree from
Paradise since if it were a tree from this world it would [have to] be either
west or east. This [statement] is weak because God only gives examples o f
things that they [humankind] have experience of and they [humankind]
have no experience of the tree of Paradise.
- Second [point o f view]: The m eaning is the olive tree in Syria, because
Syria lies at the middle of this world and its trees cannot be described as
being o f the east or o f the west. This [statement] is also weak because
whoever says that the earth is round cannot fix west and east in two spe­
cific places but rather each place has its own east and west, and because
the simile given for anyone familiar with oil, and what is found in Syria is
found elsewhere too.
- Third [point of view]: It is a tree surrounded by other trees so the sun is
unable to get to it from the east or west [only from directly above]. There
are among them [the commentators] those who say it is a tree which is so
enveloped in leaves that the sun is unable to reach it from either the east
or the west. [But this is also weak since] there is no tree that sprouts leaves
from the first to the last [i.e. throughout its productive life] like the olive
tree and pomegranate tree, and this is usually only achieved by means of
the sun s m ark (i.e. rays] reaching it, not without it.
- Fourth [point o f view]: Ibn'A bbas said it means a tree that protrudes on
a high m ountain or in a vast desert, for the sun shines down on it both
when it rises and when it sets. The statement of Ibn ‘Abbas, SaTdb. Jubayr
and Qatada, which is the preferred opinion of al-Farrii’ and al-Zajjaj, says
it means neither exclusively east nor exclusively west but rather it is [both]
east and west.135 Similarly, it is said that so-and-so is either [exclusively]
nom adic or [exclusively] settled, since when he travels he [must] stay
somewhere. This is the preferred statement because when the tree is like
this [i.e. both east and west] its oil reaches the pinnacle of clarity, and at
that tim e the objective o f the com parison is the most perfect and com ­
plete.
- Fifth [point of view]: The niche (mishkat) is M uhamm ad’s chest, the glass
is His heart and the lamp (mi$bdh) is the faith in his heart that bum s from
a blessed tree. Being the creed o f your father Abraham [Q. 22:78] means the
tree is Abraham, and He [God] described Abraham and said that he is
neither of the east nor of the west, meaning he did not pray facing east nor

135 Zajjaj, Ma'am, IV, 45.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

facing west like the Jews and Christians, but rather he prayed facing the
Ka‘ba.

Issue nine: God described [the olive tree], saying whose oil well-nigh would
shine, even though no fire touched it because when oil is totally clear and looked
at from a distance, it looks as if it were lit. W hen it is touched by a flame, its light
becomes [even] brighter, and like this the heart of the believer acts with guid­
ance before knowledge comes to it. And when knowledge comes to it, it
becomes m ore lit [than before] and m ore guided [than before]. Yahya b.
Sallam136 said that the heart of the believer recognises the truth before it is
made clear to him because he acts in conformity with it. This is the meaning of
his [the Prophet*s] statement, ‘Beware of the perspicacity (firdsa) of the believer,
for he sees with God’s light*. Ka‘b al-A bbar said the m eaning o f the oil is the
light o f M uham m ad, m eaning his light is almost clear to people before he
speaks.
Issue ten: God’s statement light upon light means the sequence of these lights
and their confluence. Ubayy b. Ka‘b said [that] the believer displays four special
attributes: if he is given [something] he gives thanks; if he is afflicted he is
patient; if he speaks he tells the truth; and if he judges, he is just. The rest of
hum ankind are like the living m an who walks among the dead and lives by five
lights: his speech is a light; his work is a light; his entrance is a light; his exit is a
light; and he journeys to a light on the Day of Judgement. Al-Rabf [b. Anas]137
said that he asked Abu*l-‘Aliya about the exit and the entrance, and he said [that
it is] what he [the person] keeps secret and what he announces publicly.
Issue eleven: Al-Jubba’l said the verse proves that whoever is ignorant, this
[ignorance] comes from him. The evidence is clear and, if they were to examine
it, they would know. O ur com panions said this verse proves our belief; God,
after He made clear that these proofs cannot be surpassed in their revelatory
nature and clarity, said God guides to His light whom He will, meaning the clarity
of these proofs is not sufficient of beneficial [for guidance per se since God
chooses whom He will to guide]. Did not God create belief? His [God’s) state­
m ent God guides to His light whom He will does not mean clarifying proofs and
indications [of His being] because if we understand the ‘light* to make clear the
indications [of G od’s being], then it is not permissible that ‘guidance’ means
this as well. Once the word [guidance] is removed from this function [Le. as a
clarifier], then it remains here only for ‘guidance’ to mean [that which] brings
knowledge. Abu Muslim b. Bahr responded that there are two points of view
[about this]:

136 See PA, Yabya b. Sallam.

137 See PA, al-Rabi4b. Anas.

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On the Nature of the Divine

- His [God’s] statement God guides to His light whom He will refers to th e
additional guidance [He provides to His chosen ones) and is like the
opposite to the disappointm ent that comes from error;138
- G od guides through His light, which is the path to Paradise, w hom He
will, and He likened it to His statement their light running before them and
from their right hands. ‘Good tidings [there are] fo r you today: Gardens...
[Q. 57:12].

Al-Qadi ‘Abd al-Jabbar declared these two responses to be spurious. [His

declaration is based on the fact that] first, the preceding discussion is about the
revealed verses and if we take them to mean ‘guidance, everything is included
in them [‘guidance meaning all forms of guidance]; and if we take it to m ean
‘additional* [guidance, bestowed on those w hom G od wills] only som e are
included in it; and if it means the path to Paradise it is not included in it at all,
except conceptually, not literally. W hen he [al-Qadi ‘Abd al-Jabbar] declared
these two responses to be false, he said the basic [meaning] is it is said because
o f this [verse] that God guides some and not others, and they [the others] are
those whom He [God] makes undergo extreme discomfort.
Know that this [al-Qadi ‘Abd al-Jabb^s] response is weaker than the first
two responses, because His [God’s] statement God guides to His light whom He
wills is understood [to mean] that these verses, with all their clarity, are not suf­
ficient [to find the way to God], and this [al-Q&di ‘Abd al-Jabber’s response]
does not deal with the child and the m adm an. So what they [all] say collapses.
Issue twelve: God said And God strikes similitudes fo r humankind, meaning
certain specially designated people; they are the Prophet and those w hom he
aroused [to follow Him]. God m entioned this in His exposition o f a great
favour, and the Mu‘tazila infer from this that it is only a great favour if they
[humankind] are able to profit from it, and if everything is created by G od, they
would not be able to profit from it. The response to this has come [already]; and
He [God] m ade clear that He has knowledge o f everything, and this is like the
warning to he who pays no attention to His [God’s] similitudes and does pay
attention to the evidence of [God]. But he will recognise their clarity and sep­
arate them from that which they resemble.

138 Disappointment comes after erring while guidance comes after the believer proves himself to
be virtuous.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

Kashanl
KashanI’s commentary on this verse is particularly poetic, and deploys the sophisticated
imagery and terminology of the school of Ibn ‘Arab!. It focuses upon the nature of man­
ifestation. Light is an equivalent for existence. All that exists is a manifestation of the
divine; and the series of metaphors and similitudes struck in the verse are understood in
terms of the unfolding manifestation of Reality in the cosmos. Of particular interest to
him is the manifestation of the Divine in the human, and he focuses his commentary on
levels of the parable as levels of the spiritual status of the human individual, bearing in
mind the significance of the contemplative and practical aspect of the metaphysics eluci­
dated in this text.

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth.139 Light is that which is manifest

139 Kashin!, Tafsir, II, 139-41. The ‘light verse’plays a critical role in Sufi commentary from the
earliest times. One such early commentary that found its place in Sufi literature was that of the Shi*I
imam Ja‘far al-$adiq (d. 148/765) in the recensions of the Sufi master and commentator Abu ‘Abd
al-Rahmin Muhammadb. al-Husayn al-Sulami(d.412/1021) and Ibn Ab!Zaynabal-Numini(d.
c. 360/971). The former's Haqd'iq al-tafsir has recently appeared in an uncritical edition; see primary
bibliography. The latter’s recension is partially found in voL LXXXTV of Majlisfs Bihdr. In the recen­
sion of SulamI as edited by Paul Nwyia, the imam said about this verse:
There are different lights. The first of them is the light of preserving the heart. Then there is the
light of fear and then the light of hope, and then the light of recollection (ta d h a k k u r ), then the light
of reflection {na%ar). Then there is the light of knowledge, then the light of shame, then the light of
the sweetness of faith Qyal&wat ol-fmdn), then the light of Islam, then the light of excellence (ih sd n ).
Then there is the light of bounty (n i m a ), then the light of favour (fa4h> then the light of grace and
then the light of graciousness. Then there is the light of attachment, then the light of the heart and
then the light of all-comprehension, then the light of awe (h a y b a ). Then there is the light of perplex­
ity (h a y ra ), then the light of intimacy (uns), then the light of steadfastness ( istiq d m a ), then the light
of tranquility (istikdna), then the light of contentment. Then there is the light of greatness, then the
light of majesty, then the light of power, then the light of beauty, then the light of divinity, then the
light of unicity, then the light of individuality. Then there is the light of sempitemity (a b adiyya ), then
the light of everlastingness (sa rm a d iy y a ), then the light of permanence (d a y m u m a ), then the light of
pre-eternity (a za liyya ). Then there is the light of immortality (b a q d *), then the light of universality,
then the light of ipseity (h u w iy y a ). Each one of these lights has one worthy of it and has a [corre­
sponding spiritual] state and a locus, and they are all lights of the Truth that God the Exalted has
mentioned in His words, God is the light of the heavens and the earth. Each one of His servants has
an opportunity to experience one of these lights, and perhaps one might even have the good fortune
[to experience] two or three lights. These lights are not complete in any save the Chosen One (al-
Musfafi), may God’s blessings and peace be upon him, because he is established with God the
Exalted fulfilling correct servitude and love. He is light and he is from his Lord of light.
He also said about this verse:
The light of the heavens is through the light of the spheres and the sun and the moon, and the
light of the earth is through the light of the red and the white and the yellow and other vegetables
and minerals. The light of the heart of the believer is through the light of the faith and of Islam. The
light of the path to God is through the light of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar and ‘Uthrain and ‘All, may God
be pleased with them. Because of this, the Prophet said: ‘My companions are like the stars, whichever
one of them you follow, you will be guided’.
And:
The light of the heavens is through four, Jibril (Gabriel), Mikill (Michael), Isr&fil and ‘Izrail,
peace be upon them. The light of the earth is through Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmin and ‘All, may
God’s pleasure be upon them all. (Nwyia 1967,211-12; SulamI, Haqd’iq, II, 47-8 with variations

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On the Nature of the Divine

by itself and that by which all things become manifest. [Taken] absolutely, it is
one of God’s names, exalted He be, on account o f the intensity of His manifes­
tation and [on account of] the fact that things are manifested through Him , as
it is said: ‘Hidden due to the excess of manifestation, the sight of blind people
is exposed to His perception, the good fortune of eyes is provision from th e
light of His countenance, like the intensity o f fortune for blind eyes.’
Since He exists by His own existence and is manifest by His own manifesta­
tion, He is the Light o f the heavens and the earth,140 that is to say, the m ani-
festor of the heavens of spirits (arwdh) and the earth o f bodies (ajsad). He is
absolute existence through W hom all that exists of existents and illumination
(icfaa) come into existence.
The likeness o f His light,141 the attribute o f His existence and His manifesta­
tion by which the cosmos (‘dlamin) is manifest is like the likeness of a niche
wherein is a lamp,142 which is an allusion to the body, since it in itself is dark­
ness, only becoming illuminated by the light o f the spirit, [here] indicated by
the lamp, and being intertwined with the network of the senses; the glow o f the
light through them is similar to the state of the niche with the lamp [in it].
The glass is an allusion to the heart that is illuminated by the spirit and th at
illuminates what is beside it through the radiation [of its light] over it, like the
entire candle is illuminated by the flame and its illumination o f other things.
The glass is likened to a glittering star because o f its transparency, excessive
luminosity, the loftiness of its place and the extent of its brilliance, as is the case
with regard to the heart.
since the tafsir is based on two manuscripts in al-Azhar not used by Nwyia; cf. Bowering 1996).
The ‘light verse’also inspired a genre of works on the symbolism of light as understood in Sufism,
the most famous of which is Ghazali's Mishkdt: see The Niche of Lights [Mishkdt al-anwdr], tr.
Buchman 1998. For a sophisticated discussion of commentaries on the verse, see Bdwering 2001.
Zayd comments that this means that God is the illuminator of the heavens and the earth: see Zayd
b. ‘All Gharib, 290.
140 The Lighf is a name of God: see Ibn ‘Arabi, Futuhdt, III, 274; Mulla $adr&, Tafsir, V, 347.
141 In Sufi and ShlT commentary, this often refers to the Prophet or to the prophetic light, the
primordial Muhammadan Light or reality. The early Sufi commentator Abu Muhammad Sahl b.
‘Abd Allah al-Tustari (d. 283/896) uses the verse as the basis for his discussion and development of
this concept. See Tbstarl, Tafsir, 40ff, 68; Bdwering 1980,149-50; DaylamI, ‘A(/i 33; Makki, Tim, 93;
cf. Firuzabadl (attr.), Tanwtr, 220; Sulami, Tafsir, II, 45; Zayd b. ‘All, Gharib, 290, who mentions that
it may also refer to the believer. In the Shl'i tradition, the likeness of the divine light refers to the
imams. See Kulayni, Kafi, 1,276-8; Ibn B&bawayh, Tlal, 134-4; Ibn B&bawayh, Amdli, majlis 41,236;
cf. Rubin 1975; Amir-Moezzi 1994,29-59.
142Tustari says about the lamp that, ‘(T)he candle of the lamp is gnosis (ma'rifa), its wick is the
religious duties, its oil is sincerity {ikhld$) and its light is the light of spiritual attainment (ittifd/). For
whenever sincerity increases in purity, the lamp increases in luminosity; and whenever the religious
duties increase in reality, the lamp increases in light.’ (Tbstari, Tafsir, 68; Bowering 1980, 218; cf.
Sulami, Haq&'iq, II, 51). Muqatil (d. 150/767) equates the lamp with the nature of the Prophet
Mufiammad, who is ‘lit*from Abraham, the ‘blessed tree’: see Muqatil, Tafsir, III, 199-200; cf. Nwyia
1970,95-6,183. The lamp is also often likened to the heart of the believer see Mulla $adrt, Tafsir,
V, 351.

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The tree from which this glass is kindled is the holy soul (al-nafs al-qudsiyya),
the limpid locus of purity: [the soul] is likened to it [the tree] because o f the way
in which its [the trees] branches branch out and the way in which it [the soul’s]
faculties are diverse, generated as they are from the earth o f the body, its
branches reaching upwards into the space o f the heart, up until the heaven of
the spirit. It is described as being blessed because o f its m any advantages
(faw aid) and benefits, the fruits [that it bears] o f morals and [goodly] actions
and [insightful] perceptions [of the divine]; [because of] the intensity o f its
growth through its ascent to the [divine] perfections; and [because of its leading
to] the acquisition of the felicity of the two abodes [of this life and the next] and
the perfection o f the cosmos through it. Also the manifestation of lights, [eso­
teric] mysteries (asrdr), gnosis (ma'drift, realities (haqaiq), stations (maqdmdt),
acquisitions (makdsib), states (ahwal) and gifts (mawdhib) are dependent upon
it.
It is characterised as an olive [tree] because its cognitions are partial, in com ­
parison to the growth of m aterial attachm ents, much like an olive - which is
not all kernel (lubban) - and because of the abundant profusion o f its predis­
position (isti'dad) for igniting and [for] illumination, by the light of the fire of
the active intellect (al-'aql al-fa“dl), which reaches it through the m edium of
the spirit and the heart, m uch like the abundance of the oil that makes olives
predisposed to ignite.
The m eaning of its being neither o f the east nor o f the west is that it is in the
m iddle (mutawassifa) between the Occident (gharb) o f the realm o f bodies,
which is the place of the setting o f the divine light, and its [i.e the soul’s] being
enveloped by the veils of darkness, and the orient (sharq) o f the realm o f spirits,
which is the place of the rising o f the light and [the soul’s] emerging from the
veils o f luminosity, as it is m ore subtle (alfaft and more luminous (anwar) than
the body and denser (akthaft than the spirit.143
Well-nigh, would the oil o f its predisposition [for igniting], because of the
holy prim ordial light (al-nur al-qudsi al-fifri) hidden w ithin it, [well-nigh]
would it shed light by em erging into activity and arriving at perfection itself,
thus shining forth,144 even if it were not touched by anyfire, of the active intellect

143 T his is a tropic arran g e m en t c o m m o n to Sufi literature, in w hich th e w est, associated w ith th e
place w here th e s u n sets, is seen as en g u lfed in th e d ark n e ss o f ig n o ran ce a n d a lack o f aw areness o f
gnosis a n d m ystical tru th s, w hile th e east, w here th e su n rises, is th e fo u n t o f gnosis a n d illum ination.
T h e rising m o rn in g light is a m e ta p h o r for Sufi realisation; see E lm o re 1 9 9 9 ,8 6 ,2 5 7 -6 3 (text). See
also S uhraw ardi in T h ac k sto n 1 9 9 9 ,1 0 6 -2 5 ; Sulam I, liaq&’iq, II, 48.
144 Zayd b. ‘A ll co m m en ts th a t th is m e an s th at, like th e d ep th s o f th e o cean, it is o rie n te d n e ith e r
east n o r west, a n d it is th e b est a n d m o st g en ero u s o f trees w ith its fruit, an d its oil is th e m o st g e n ­
erous o f oils. T h e light a n d glow o f th e oil is like th e su n - so clear th a t n e ith e r m o u n ta in s n o r valleys
can h id e it w h en it rises an d sets. See Z ay d b. 'Ali, Gharib, 291.

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On the Nature of the Divine

(ial-'aql al-fa“aI)lA5 - but also, even if the light o f the holy spirit were n o t to
become conjoint with it, [simply] because of the power of its predisposition and
its extreme purity. Light upon light, that is, this rising light illuminated by the
perfection it obtains is a light added to the light o f the existing predisposition,
the original rising light, as if it were a multiplying light (nur mutadci'if).
God guides to His light - [that light] which is manifest by itself and which
manifests others by granting them success and guidance - whom He will, from
among those of providence, that they might trium ph with felicity. A nd God has
knowledge o f everything: He has knowledge o f similitudes and how they are to
be applied, and He reveals to His friends (awliyd*) [the m anner of] how these
[similitudes] are realised.

Abu Hayyan
Abu Hayyin’s main preoccupations in his commentary on the light verse are semantics,
gram m ar and linguistics, and it is in this regard that he discusses the validity of the
various possibilities for the meaning of the allegory. Variant readings are also discussed
in depth. Abu Hayyan s grammatical heritage is liberally demonstrated in his citation o f
such major figures as Abu ‘Amr, al-Mufa<J<Jal» al-Kisifl, al-Farra* and al-Rummani; as
well as explaining the various semantic nuances of individual words, he utilises th e
example of the light verse in order to put forward the Basran-Kufan argument on the use
of explanatory coordinations.

Light (nur) in the language of the Arabs is that luminosity ((fanO discerned by
sight.145146 It is [here] metaphorically ascribed to God - like when one says, ‘Zayd
is kindness and generosity^ - an ascription based on two assumptions: either on
its having the meaning o f an agent noun, i.e., [that God is] the illum inator o f
the heavens and the earth, an interpretation which supports the reading o f
nawwara as a past tense verb, with al-arda in the accusative, [as given by] ‘All

145 T h e active intellect, th e nods pottikos in A ristotle’s Dt Anima III.5, plays a p rim a ry e p iste m o ­
logical an d cosm ological role in Islam ic philosophy. W th in th e chain o f em an a tio n o f intellects fro m
th e T ran scen d en t O n e th a t w as m a p p e d o n to P tolem aic cosm ology in th e p h ilo so p h y o f al-F arab i
(d. 339/950), it is th e last link, th e principle th at activates th e m aterial w orld a n d links it to th e h ig h e r
w orld o f th e intellects a n d intelligibilia. T h e active intellect p rovides fo rm s to th in g s b o th as a m e ta ­
physical p rese n c e b u t also epistem o lo g ically , by p ro v id in g th e h u m a n m in d w ith fo rm s th ro u g h
w hich it can discern a n d k n o w things. C o n sid er a horse. T h e m a terial su b stan ce k n o w n as h o rse is
a h o rse because th e fo rm o f ‘h o rsen e ss h as b ee n bestow ed u p o n it by th e active in tellect, w h ich is
also know n as th e giver o f form s - th e datorformarum (w&hib al-fuwar). T h e m in d acq u ires th e fo rm
‘horseness’ from th e active intellect, an d w hen it en c o u n te rs a h o rse an d c o n n e cts th e fo rm o f th e
h o rse in th e m in d w ith th e fo rm in e x tra -m e n ta l reality, it know s th a t it h a s e n c o u n te re d a h o rse .
T h e epistem ic circle, th u s, co u ld b e said to d e p e n d o n th e active intellect. See Farabi, Mab&di\ 9 0 -
1; Ibn Slna, Najdt> II, 2 7 - 9 ,3 5 - 9 ; G o o d m a n 1 9 9 2 ,1 3 8 -6 6 .
146 A bu Jdayyan, Bahr, V I, 4 1 8 -2 1 .

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

b. Abl Talib> Abu Ja far [al-Tabari], ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-M akki,147 Zayd b. ‘All,
Thabit b. Abl Haf$a, al-Qura$I, Maslama b .1Abd al-Malik, A bu1Abd al-Rabman
al-SulamI14fi and cAbd Allah b. ‘Ayyash b. Abi Rabi'a; or [there being] an elision,
i.e., [God is] possessor o f light, which is supported by His statement the likeness
o f His light. It is permissible to have nuran as [an accusative of] praise, like when
they say, ‘So-and-so is the country's sun, or [that so-and-so is] the light and
m oon of the tribes.’
It is [also] related [that some read it as] nurihd (their light).149 Light has been
annexed to the heavens and the earth, in order to indicate the expanse of its radi­
ance and its illumination, which is so diffuse as to illuminate the heavens and
earth; or it is intended [thereby] that the inhabitants o f the heavens and earth
are illuminated by it.
Ibn ‘Abbas says: <rIhe Light o f the heavens m eans [that God is] the guide of
the inhabitants of the heavens.’ Mujahid says: ‘[It means that He is] the director
o f the affairs o f the heavens’ Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] says: ‘[It means that He is] the
illum inator o f the heavens.’ Ubayy says: ‘The illum ination o f the heavens is
through God, or from Him, i.e. their lig h t’ AbOVAliya says: ‘[It means that He
is] the adom er o f the heavens, with sun, m oon and stars, and the earth with
prophets and ‘u l a m d O r it is said to refer to the One exalted above defects. A
woman described as nawar is one who is above doubt and [the suspicion of
having committed] fornication.150 Al-Kirmani says: ‘It [light] is what is seen
and that by m eans of which things are seen, here used m etaphorically to
describe God, because He sees, and His created beings see by means of Him, as
He created them and brought them into being.
The literal sense is that the pronoun [His] in the likeness o f His light refers
back to God, but they differ, regarding this statement, as to what is intended by
the light ascribed to Him. It is said: [This light is] the clarifying signs [referred
to] in His statement, Now We have sent down to you signs making all clear [Q.
24:34]. It is [also] said: [This light is] the faith cast into the hearts o f believers.
And it is said: The light here is God’s Messenger. It is said: The light here is [a
reference to] the believer. Ka‘b [al-Abbar] and Ibn Jubayr say. The pronoun in
nurihi (his light) refers to M uhamm ad, i.e., ‘the likeness of M uhamm ad’s light1.
Ubayy [b. Ka‘b] says it refers to the believers. In his reading (qira'a) it is to be
understood as meaning ‘the likeness of the believer's light* and also ‘the likeness
of the light of he who believes in Him’. Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] says it refers to the

147 P resum ably Ibn Jurayj. See PA.

148 See PA, al-SuIam l.
149 T h is read in g , mathalu nuriha, a s o p p o se d to mathalu nurihi, is u n u su a l. In th is case, ‘th e ir
light* w o uld b e a reference to th e light o f th e heavens a n d th e earth.
150 T h e relevance o f th is ex am p le is th a t th e ex p ressio n nawdr is d eriv ed fro m th e sam e verbal
ro o t as nur (n-w -r).

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On the Nature of the Divine

Q u ra n and to faith. These three reports have the pronoun referring to an

unm entioned (subject) and shift the intended meaning of the verse away from
its reference to God, which is why al-M akki com m ents, ‘In the case o f these
three reports, a recitational pause needs to be effected after wal-ar4 (and the
earth)!
C oncerning this allegory, they differ as to w hether it is a com parison o f
whole with whole, which does not intend the com parison o f section w ith
section or thing with thing, or what all that may entail. In other words: G od’s
light - which is His guidance, His exactitude in the fashioning o f all creation
and His radiant proofs - is com pared as a whole to the entirety o f this light,
which you understand in accordance with the most intense attributes o f light
as people know it. God’s light is likened in clarity to the utmost degree o f th at
[clarity of light] known to hum ankind.
It is [also] said that it is a detailed comparison, which counters section with
section. They relate [the meaning of the verse] in accordance with these three
statements - i.e., the likeness of His light in M uhammad, or in the believer, or
in the Q ur’an and faith. As a niche, the niche is the Messenger, or his breast; the
lamp is prophethood and what comes with it from His knowledge and guid­
ance; the glass is his [M uhammad’s] heart; the blessed tree is revelation and the
angels God sent to him, and the section with oil is likened to the evidence, the
proofs and the signs which revelation contains. According to the opinion [that
the simile refers to] ‘the believed, the niche would be his breast, the lamp his
faith and knowledge, the glass his heart, the tree the Q u r’an, and its oil the
proofs and the wisdom it contains. Ubayy says: ‘For he [the believer] in his best
[spiritual] state moves among people like the living person walks am ong the
graves o f the dead.’ According to the opinion that it denotes ‘faith’ and ‘the
Q ur’an’, faith and the Q ur’an in the breast of a believer, in his heart, are likened
to a nicheyand this account does not counter the allegory like the previous two,
because the niche [itself] cannot be the counterpart of faith. Zam akhshari says:
‘The miraculous attribute o f His light is like a niche in terms of its illumination,
that is to say, like the quality of a niche.’151 It appears to me that His words ka-
mishkdtin (as a niche) contain an omitted genitive annexation, i.e. th e likeness
of His light is like the light of a niche.
It is stated in the Mufradat [of al-Raghib] that a niche is a recess w ithout an
aperture,152 and that is what is said by Ibn Jubayr, Said b. Tyad and m ost [com­
mentators]. Abu Musa says:153 ‘The niche is the piece of iron and lead that has
the wick in it inside the glass.’ M ujahid says: ‘The niche is the colum n upon

151 Z am ak h sh a ri, Kashshdf, III, 67.

152 Rfcghib, Mufraddt, 266.
153 See PA, A b u M us4 a l-A sh a ri.

41 4
 Light of the heavens and the earth

which the lamp sits/ He [Mujahid] also says: ‘The [niche constitutes the] iron
parts that the candelabra catch in /
Wherein is a lamp, that is a vast light. The literal meaning is that the glass is
a qualifier o f the lamp, on account of His words the lamp in a glass.
Zamakhshari states [that it is] Syrian glass. Syrian glass is, in his view, the clear­
est of glass, but there is no such restriction in the verse. Ibn Abl ‘Abla, and Na$r
b. ‘A$im in Ibn Mujahid’s account [state that]: ‘It starts with as it were, that is,
as if the glass, because of the clarity o f its essence, and its nature which is
extremely intense in illumination, and because of what it contains of the lamp’s
light, were a glittering star! Al-Pafrbak says: ‘It is the planet Venus - the glass in
its brightness is comparable to one of the most glittering of the celebrated stars,
Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Canopus (suhayl) and their like/ [...].154
From a tree, that is from the oil o f a tree, and it is an olive tree, blessed, of
many benefits, or because it grows in the earth He blessed for hum ankind. It is
said that He blessed it for hum ankind. A nd it is said that seventy prophets
blessed it, including Abraham. The olive is one o f the greatest o f trees in terms
o f its fruit, its growth and the regularity and gracefulness of its branches.
Neither o f the east nor o f the west. Ibn Zayd says: ‘It is a tree of the north thus
it is not from the east o f the earth n o r from the west, because the tree o f the
north is the most excellent of trees’ Ibn ‘Abbas, ‘Ikrima, Qatada and others say:
‘It is in an exposed [part of the] earth and the sun is fixed on it throughout the
day, revolving around it, thus it does not belong to the east to be called “of the
east”, nor to the west to be called “of the west'’.’ Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] says: ‘This
is a similitude, for it is not one of the earthly trees, for if it were o f the world
then it would be of the east or of the west.’ According to Ibn ‘Abbas: ‘It is in an
enclosed state, neither exposed from an easterly direction, nor a westerly one.’
But this [account] by Ibn ‘Abbas is not correct, because if [the tree] were of this
description its one would be impeded from harvesting it.’ Ibn ‘Atiyya says: ‘It is
in the midst of trees and the sun is not fixed on it when it is rising or setting, but
in the early morning and in the evening.’ ‘Ikrima says: ‘It is one of the trees of
H eaven/ Ibn ‘Umar says: ‘The tree is a similitude, that is to say, it is Abraham’s
community, [who] were neither Jewish nor Christian.’ It is said: The com m u­
nity of Islam is neither severe nor tender. It is said: Not [wholly] in the sun nor
in the shade, but with sun and shade both alternating upon it, which is better
for its fruit and purer for its oiL A n olive is a [syntactical] substitution (badal)

,S4 In th e section th a t follows, A bu H ayyan discusses th e v ario u s vocalizations o f durriyy (g litter­

ing) acco rd in g to th e o p in io n s o f th e g ra m m a ria n s a n d th e exegetical au th o rities. A h ith e r section
focuses o n th e conju g atio n o f th e v erb w-q-d (k in d le d ) a n d w h e th e r it is to b e rea d in th e fem in in e
p e rso n tuqadu o r th e m ascu lin e yuqadu. Since th is is alread y co vered by th e ea rlier c o m m en tato rs
in th is ch a p te r, it has b een o m itted here. T h e tran slatio n h e re resu m es at A bu tfay y an ’s co m m en ts
o n min shajaratin (fro m a [blessed] tree) im m ed iately after th e seco n d sectio n ju st m en tio n ed .

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for a tree. Some of them allow it to be an explanatory coordination (‘affbaydn),

but not according to the Basran school, for whom an explanatory coordination
only occurs with definite nouns; for the Kufans, however, who are followed by
[Abu *All] al-FarisI, these [coordinations] are allowed to occur with indefinite
nouns.
Whose oil would well-nigh shine even i f no fire touched it: a hyperbolic descrip­
tion o f the oil's purity and that on account of its radiance and excellent quality
would alm ost shine w ithout [the touch of] fire. The sentence w here He says
even if no fire touched it is a circumstantial one coordinated with an om itted cir­
cumstantial phrase; in other words, its oil would almost shine in any situation,
even in this situation which demands that it not shine because of the absence
of fire's touch on it [...].155
Light upon light that is, multiplied, with the assistance of the niche, the glass,
the lamp and the oil. Nothing that intensifies the light and increases its radiance
is omitted. If a lamp is in a narrow place, the full extent o f its light is realised, as
opposed to a wide place [where] the light is diffused. A candelabra is very useful
when one needs to increase light, as is oil given its purity. Here the simile comes
to an end.
Then He says, God guides to His light whom He will: that is, to His guidance
and to the faith, those whose guidance He will, and those He selects for it. A nd,
for those who interpret the light in the likeness o f His light as prophethood, G od
guides towards His prophethood. It is said: Towards guidance through the signs,
God m entions that He strikes similitudes fo r humankind to give them w arning
and insight conducive to faith, and He mentions the encom passm ent o f His
knowledge over all things, and so He places His guidance upon those He will.

B urusaw !
Buriisawi holds to the metaphysical concept - characteristic of much later Sufi thought -
that equates light with existence. Light and existence flow from God through the cosmos
and are a m eans by which God sustains His creation. His illumination affects both the
material and the spiritual aspects of the cosmos; just as light illuminates objects of per­
ception available for sight (bafar), so too does divine light illuminate realities for the per­
ception of insight (ba$ira) in the heart of a believer. He draws heavily on the metaphysics
and mysticism of light that has been a component of the Sufi tradition at least since the
seminal work o f al-Ghazali, Mishkdt al-anwdr (Niche of Lights). Light mysticism provides
the link for his citations from texts ranging from the Kubrawi commentary corpus to the

155 Abu H ayyan elaborates fu rth e r in th is section w ith syntactical arg u m en ts o n th e perm issib ility
o f th is c o o rd in a tio n ( 'atf) as well as th e alternative read in g o f yamsashu (as o p p o sed to th e m ajority's
tamsashu) a ttrib u te d to Ibn ‘Abb&s a n d al-H asan al-Ba$ri.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

works of the school of Ibn ‘Arabi. In addition to discussing the symbolism of the simili­
tudes of the verse, the commentaries show the verse as indicating two aspects of the divine
light: the principial, absoute light of God and the relative light of God as manifested in
the cosmos and leading to His absolute light.

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth.156 Al-Imam al-Ghazall, may God
sanctify his secret, said in his com m entary on the [divine] nam e ‘The Light*
[that it means]:
The Manifest One by means of Whom all manifestation takes place, for that which
is manifest in itself and makes [everything] other than it manifest is called
‘light’.157 Indeed, whenever existence is countered with non-existence, manifes­
tation will inevitably belong to existence, for there is no darkness darker than non­
existence. Thus what is free from the darkness of non-existence by [possessing]
the manifestation of existence is worthy of being called Tight*. Existence is a light
that flows {fay<J) onto all things from the light of His essence, as He is the Light of
the heavens and the earth. And just as there is not an atom of the light of the sun
that does not point to the existence of the illuminating sun, so there is not an atom
from among the existents of the heavens and the earth and what is between them
that does not, by the very possibility of its existence, indicate the necessity of the
existence of its existentiator (mujid).158

Najm [al-Dln al-RizI] agrees with him [Ghazall] on this in al-Ta’wilat, where
he [Najm] says,
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth, that is to say, [He is] the One Who
manifests them [by bringing them] out from non-existence (cadam) into existence.
In classical [Arabic] language, nur (light) means diy& (illumination), which is
what throws light upon things and makes them manifest for the eyes.

Thus His words, God is the Light o f the heavens and the earthy belong to the
[grammatical] category o f ‘rhetorical simile’ (tashbih)y that is, [He is] as light
relative to them both, insofar as He makes them manifest, that is to say, [He is]
the existentiator [thereof]. The [original] manifestation is the manifestion [by
emerging] from non-existence into existence, for the perm anent archetypes (al-
a'yan al-thabita) in G od’s knowledge are hidden within the darkness o f n on­
existence and only become manifest through the effect of G od’s power, as
[expounded] in the marginalia of Shaykhzada.159
156 Burusawl, Ruh al-bayan, X V III, 152-8.
157 Sec G h a z ili’s Mishkdt in B u chm an 1998,4.
159 See G hazali, Maq$ad, 157-8; tran s. by B urrell a n d D ah e r 1992,145.
159 Shaykhzada, Hdihiya, V I, 2 2 2 -2 3 . T h e p h rase ‘th e original m anifestation at th e b eg in n in g o f
th is sentence re n d e rs th e A rabic ‘<j$/ al-^uhur, w h ich tran slate d literally is ‘th e origin (o r p rin cip le
o r ro o t) o f m a n ife s ta tio n . A cc o rd in g to th e th o u g h t o f Ib n ‘A rabi, p e rm a n e n t arc h ety p e s refer to
th e essences o f all th in g s th a t exist in th e ir p rim o rd ial statu s o f ‘pre-existent* in th e m in d o f G o d . See
Ib n ‘A rabi, Fufii$, 102; Ibn ‘A rabi, FutUhdty II, 666; cf. Izutsu 1 9 8 3 ,1 5 9 -9 2 .

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On the Nature of the Divine

The fakir,160 however, says that there is no need to regard [His words] as a
rhetorical simile, for Tight* is one of the most beautiful names [of God] and its
application to God is real (haqiqi) and not figurative (majaz)> its meaning here
being the One who gives light [to all things]. God has bestowed light upon n o n ­
existent quiddities (mahiyyat) by means of the lights o f existence and has m a n ­
ifested them from the silence of non-existence by the abundance o f [His]
munificence, as he [the Prophet] said, ‘God created creation in darkness and
then sprinkled upon it of His light*161 In this context, ‘created* means ‘d eter­
m ining (taqdir), for determ ination precedes existentiation; the ‘sprinkling* o f
light is an allusion (kindya) to the bestowal of existence upon contingents. A
contingent (mumkin) is characterised by darkness, since it becomes illuminated
through existence: its becoming illuminated is its becoming manifest.
You should know that light has four senses. The first is that light w hich
renders things manifest for visual perception but is itself unable to perceive
them, such as the light of the sun and the like thereof; this [kind of light] makes
manifest things that are [otherwise] hidden in the darkness but cannot see
them. The second is the light of eyesight that manifests things to the eyes and
sees them , and this light is nobler than the first. The th ird is the light o f the
intellect that manifests intelligible things that are hidden in the darkness o f
ignorance162 for insights (ba$a ir), and it perceives them and sees them . The
fourth is the light of [God] the Truth, exalted be He, who manifests non-exis­
tent things hidden in non-existence to physical sight [in the physical realm]
and to insights in the kingdom and dom inion o f spirits. He sees them in exis­
tence as He used to see them in non-existence; for they existed in the know l­
edge of God even if they were non-existent in their essences (Jt dhawatiha). So
the knowledge of God and His seeing them did not change through their m an­
ifestation in existence; rather, the change refers to the essences o f things and
their properties at the tim e of existentiation and engendering. So the true
m eaning o f His words, exalted be He, God is the light o f the heavens and the
earth, is that He is their manifester and their originator and their existentiator
from non-existence, through the perfection o f pre-eternal power.

Dar zulmat-i‘adam hama budim bi khabar

Nur-i wujud sirr-i shuhud az tu ydftim

In the darkness of non-existence, we were all unaware,

But we found the light o f existence from the secret o f contem plating You.

160 T h e c o m m e n ta to r is re fe rrin g to h im self here.

161 T irm idhf, Sunan, Kitdb al-imdn, hadith no. 18; Ib n H a n b a l, Musnad, II, 176; M u b a ra k fu ri,
Tuhfa> co m m en ta ry o n hadith 254
162 T h e text h as jahr ( j-h-r), w h ich sh o u ld be a m e n d e d to jahl.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

O n e o f th e g rea t Sufis said:

In the time of darkness, no one could recognise something moving from some­
thing at rest, nor distinguish something high from something low, nor the ugly
from the beautiful. When light became manifest, the fantasy of darkness was
brought to destruction. Beings and natures were made manifest. The pure was dis­
tinguished from the impure, the accident from the substance. Human perception
knew the benefit of this knowledge and made distinctions through light but
remained perplexed in the perception of light. What it did know was that the
cosmos was full of light yet it was hidden, manifest through indications yet hidden
in itself. Then the Truth, glorified and exalted be He, due to whom we have per­
ception and have attained the rank of distinguishing between things, took it upon
Himself to call them light.

Hama ‘dlam ba-nur-i u-stpaydd

Kujd u kard a z 'dlam huwaydd

The whole cosmos is found through His light,

But where is He made clear by the cosmos?

Zi-hay ndddnkih u khurshid-i tabdn

Ba-nur-i sham*-i jawtd dar baydbdn

How naive that [you do not know that] He is a shining sun

Through the light of an eternal flame in the wilderness.

In the Tibydn, it is said that the m anner in which God is ‘indicated’ by the
heavens and the earth is that every indicator o f power and o f the wonders of
wisdom that occurs in these two is o f His effects. In the highest heavens and in
the centres of the earth, there are clear indicators o f the existence of His power
and the wonders o f His wisdom.

Fa-fi kulli shay*in lahu dyatun, tadullu 'aid annahu wahidun

Wujud-i jumla-yi ashyd dalil-i qudrat-i u

In everything there is a sign of God which indicates that He is One,

The existence of all things indicates His power.

The ‘m aster of the com m entators’ (sulfdn al-mufassirun), Ibn ‘Abbas, said
that it means that He is the guide of the inhabitants o f the heavens and the earth
so that they are guided through the light of God, exalted be He, and through
His guidance are saved from the perplexity of misguidance. Through His guid­
ance, they guide themselves and through His direction, they fix matters o f reli­
gion and the world. W hen they arrive at the light o f guidance, [which is
achieved] through His granting of success, He Himself is called ‘light* following
the practice of the Arabs, who nam e something according to what it is from;

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On the Nature of the Divine

they nam e rain ‘cloud* because it comes out o f it and is attained through it.
W hen the light o f belief and guidance is achieved, through His granting o f
success, it is called by that name. Thus it is possible to say light for guidance an d
guidance for light, since the one [thing] is attained through the other. God said,
and by the star they are guided [Q. 16:16], as they are guided by the light of th e
star, so the star is m ade into a guide for them and makes them am ong those
who are guided through its light. Similarly the Q u r’an is called a light and th e
Torah is a light in the sense that guidance is [received] through them , as is th e
case, for instance, with regard to [resolving] vexing questions. In this way, guid­
ance is likened to Tight?, since it is a means for attaining unto the desired thing
[...].163 The shaykh, widely known as Uft&da, said,
I knew through divine disclosure (kashf) within me that Tighf in His saying, God
is the light of the heavens and the earth, is to be understand in terms of [His] knowl­
edge (Tim), namely [that He is] 4a knower (*dlim), as when one says that a man is
‘justice* Cadi) [meaning that he is just, *ddil]. The aspect of correspondence
between them is that things perceived by the senses are disclosed by light and
things perceived by the intellect, indeed all matters, are disclosed through knowl­
edge. Thus [it is stated] in al-Wdqi'dt al-mahmudiyya. It is also said that He is the
illuminator of the heavens through the sun and the moon and the stars and of the
earth through the prophets (anbiyd') and those individuals of knowledge (‘ulamd *)
and the servants Cibad).

He [Ruzbihan Baqll] said in ‘A ra is al-baydn,164

He [God] means by the heavens and the earth the form of the believer whose head
is the heavens and whose body is the earth. The Exalted in the majesty of His
power is the light of these heavens and earth as He ornaments the head with the
light of hearing, sight, taste, smell and speech. The light of the eye is like the light
of the sun and moon and the light of the ear is like the light of Venus and Jupiter,
and the light of the nose is like the light of Mars and Saturn,165 and the light of the
tongue is like the light of Mercury. These luminous planetary bodies orbit in the
stations of the head. The light of the earth is the body, limbs, organs, muscles, flesh,
blood and hair, and bones are the mountains.

Imam-i Z ahid166 said that one can call God Tight* (nur) but not luminosity
(rnshan) because light is the opposite of darkness, and God created every pair
163 T h e senten ce o f g ram m atical exp lan atio n th a t follow s h a s b e e n o m itte d
164 'A ra ’i's al-baydnft haqd’iq al-Qur’an is th e Sufi c o m m e n ta ry o f $ a d r a l-D in A bu M u h a m m a d
Ruzbih&n b. A bl N a$r Baqli Shirazi (d. 606/1209): see G o d las 1991. O n R u z b ih in , see C a rl E rn st,
‘R u z b ih in ’, EI2>V III, 6 5 1 -2 ; E rnst 1998; C o rb in 1 9 7 1 -2 ,1 1 1 ,9 -1 4 6 ; Ballanfat, 1 9 9 8 ,7 -2 1 8 .
165 T h e text has zukhal instead o f th e c o rre c t fo rm zuhal.
166 T h is m ay b e a reference to Taj a l-D in Ib ra h im G ilani (d. 700/1301) k n o w n as Shaykh Zahid,
w h o w as th e sp iritu a l m a ste r (a n d fa th e r-in -la w ) o f Safi a l-D in Ish aq A rd a b ili ( d 7 3 5 /1 3 3 4 ), th e
ep o n y m o u s fo u n d e r o f th e $afaviyya o rd e r a n d an cesto r o f th e Safavid S hahs o f Iran. A lth o u g h h e
seem s to have b ee n an im p o rta n t sh ay k h o f th e Ilk h a n id p e rio d , S haykh Z a h id -i G ila n i left n o

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

o f opposites. Therefore light that is the opposite o f darkness is incipient, since

whatever is the opposite of an incipient is itself incipient. The meaning of His
being light is that He is the principle of that light which is the opposite of dark­
ness. Thus, relating light to the heavens and the earth, although His being light
is not in relation to them , is merely an indication o f the expanse o f its illumi­
nation, for they are both examples of that expanse.
God said, a garden whose breadth is as the heavens and the earth [Q. 3:133].
It may be said that w hat is m eant by the heavens and the earth is the entire
cosmos (‘dlam), just as ‘the Emigrants and the Helpers can be used to mean all
the Companions, as it is in the marginalia of S ad i the mufti. This is similar to
God’s statement in the hadith qudsi, addressing the Prophet - ‘If it were not for
you, I w ould not have created the spheres (a fld k f - m eaning all the worlds
(‘awalim), even though He specifically m entioned the spheres because of their
greatness, their being visible and apparent to all perspicacious individuals. And
God guides everyone to the reality o f the state [of affairs).
The likeness o f His Zig/if, i.e., [G ods] light that emanates from Him onto all
illuminated things, and that is the clear Q ur’an, as is said in al-Irshad.167 It [the
Q ur’an] is represented by the niche [that is] described [in the verse], with
regard to the clarity of its meaning and the manifestness o f the guidance it com ­
prises. W hat is meant by the simile is a marvellous attribute; that is, the attribute
o f His marvellous light and its attribution to Him, exalted be He, is an indica­
tion that its application to Him is not in the external [physical] sense, as is said
in [al-Baytfawi’s] Anwar al-tanztl168
As a niche, that is, [it has] the quality of a windowless niche in a wall, in
terms of its illumination, and [the word mishkdt] is an Ethiopian word [...].169
Wherein is a lamp, a great, solid torch (sirdj) [...].170 The lamp in a glassythat is
a lantern o f translucent glass; the benefit of placing a lamp in glass and the glass
in a niche where there is no window is the intensification o f the illumination,
since a more restricted space amplifies the illumination, as opposed to a vast
space in which the illumination is dispersed. G od specifically refers to ‘glass’
because of all the gems it is the best-suited for that [diffusion o f light]: the glass

w ritten texts. But th e re are citatio n s o f his sayings a n d his p ractices in w orks d ed ica ted to th e p re ­
h isto ry o f th e Safavids, such as th e $ajwat al-$afd o f Ib n Bazzaz, Rawtfdt Ql-jin&n o f Ibn al-K a rb a la l
a n d Silsilat al-nasab-i $afawiyya o f Shaykh H usayn Z&hidi (a d esce n d en t o f Shaykh Z ih id ). Sec Ibn
al-KarbalAT, Raw fa 1 ,3 4 ,2 2 9 -3 0 ,2 3 6 -4 9 ,2 6 2 -9 ,4 7 3 -4 ,5 7 8 , II, 8 5 -6 ; M inorsky 1954; A ubin 1991.
167 T h is is th e w o rk o f th e O tto m a n Shaykh al-isldm o f Istan b u l u n d e r S uleym an I, A bu’l- S u u d
M u h a m m a d b. M ubyi a l-D ln M u h a m m a d al-'Im & di (d. 9 8 2 /1 5 7 4 ), Irsh&d, IV, 461. T h e tafsir o f
AbO’l- S u u d rem a in e d p o p u la r fo r so m e tim e in th e O tto m a n p e rio d . O n A bu’l-S u 'u d , see Im b e r
1997; R epp 1986; Joseph S chacht, ‘A bu’l-Su u d \ £ /2, 1,152.
168 T h e fam ous c o m m e n ta ry o f Baydawi, Amvrir, II, 127.
169 Burusaw i th e n p ara p h ra ses th is in Persian.
170 Burusaw i th e n tran slate s th is p h rase in to Persian.

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as it were a glittering star, that glistens and is similar to a pearl in its purity while
its brilliance is like Jupiter, Venus and Mars and the glittering stars in th e ir
well-known greatness [...].171
Kindledfrom a tree, the kindling of the lamp is initiated with oil [taken] from
a tree; blessed, that is, having numerous benefits because torches are lit from the
oil which is long-enduring and is used as an ointment and for tanning. The olive
tree is used as firewood for kindling, and one dips silk in its leftover and its
ashes,172 and one does not even need to squeeze it to extract the oil, which is
greatly lum inous and barely smoky and is good for [curing] haem orrhoids.
[The phrase] an olive, is a syntactical substitution for a tree.173 Seventy prophets
prayed for the olive tree making it blessed, including Abraham the Intimate [of
God]. He [God] chose it [for m ention in this Q u ra n ic verse] above all o th er
trees because its oil is the m ost illum inating and the m ost clear. It is said in
Insan al-‘uyun (Pupil of the Eyes) that the oil tree lives for three thousand
years.174
Neither o f the east nor o f the westythat is, it is not eastern so that the sun comes
upon it only when it rises, n o r western so that it falls upon it only when it sets,
but whereby the sun falls upon it all day long, and nothing veils it from the sun
at any time of the day, as is the case on high land or in the desert. Its fruit is the
best ripened and its oil m ost clear. It is not that the sun shines upon it constantly
in the m orning such that it is burned, or that it is concealed constantly such that
it is left unripe. It does n o t grow in the east of the inhabited world towards
Kankadz [?] and the provinces and realms of China, n o r in the west such as
Tangiers or Tripoli [Libya] and the region of Qayrawan, but rather in the middle
in Syria, as its olive trees are the best. Or it is on the equator,175 which is the dome
of the earth (qubbat al-ard) and which cannot be described by either [direction].
Nor can harmful [degrees of] heat or cold reach it. The dome o f the earth is the
centre of the earth, both its inhabited and its uninhabited parts; it is a place in
which all seasons are equal, heat and cold are equal, night and day are equal,
without one being more than another, each lasting twelve hours.176
Al-Hasan al-Ba$ri said that the root of this tree came to the earth from
Paradise so it is not a tree o f this world that one may describe it as eastern o r
western.

171 At this point, Burusawi summarises his observations on this part of the verse in a repetitious
manner.
172 Presumably one dyes silk grey in this manner.
173 In other words, the tree being discussed is an olive tree.
174 This work is a popular Ottoman biography of the Prophet better known as al-Sira al-
Halabiyya; see Halabi, Insan.
175 Lit., ‘the line that is equally between the east and the west*.
176 A fair description of an equatorial climatic zone by someone who probably had not visited
one himself.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

Whose oil well-nigh would shiney that is, give light, even i f no fire touched it,
m eans that fire itself does not reach it, even the smell o f fire does not, and it
gives light without fire. That is, in [the m atter of] purity and illumination, [the
oil is such] that it would illuminate the place [where it stands] of itself [even]
without the touch of fire. The implication of the verse is that its oil would shine
w hether or not fire touched it, in other words, it shines no m atter what, in all
circumstances, whether the condition [of an igniting fire] be present or absent
[■■■V77
Light [...], i.e., that light of marvellous quality by which the Q u ra n is desig­
nated and whose marvellous characteristic is represented in the detailed
account o f the characteristic o f the niche, is existent light, upon light, that is,
doubled [or multiplied] light; in its illumination, because o f its luminosity, the
light of the lamp adds to the purity of the oil and the brilliance of the lantern
and the crystalline quality of the niche. Thus the phrase [light upon light) is not
an expression signifying the putting together o f two lights only, rather the
intention [of the phrase] is [to indicate) the multiplication [of light], as when
one says so-and-so makes dirham upon dirham it does not mean two dirhams
[only],
God guides to His light, i.e., He guides - with specific guidance that reaches
those it is intended for by decree - to that trem endous multiple Light, whom
He will: His guidance belongs to His slaves, in that He grants them succcess in
understanding what is in it [the Q u r’an] in the way of indications of its reality,
and its being a miracle from God and [its being] am ong the news from the
Unseen, and other than that o f the requisites o f faith. This is in the category of
specific guidance. This is why He says whom He wills. In this there is a declara­
tion that the anchor and foundation o f this guidance is naught but the divine
will - although [secondary] causes [play their part in] helping, for without them
the guidance would be cut off from reaching the intended recipients.

qurb-i tu ba-asbdb u ‘Hal na-tawdn ydft

bi sabiqa-yifadl-i azal na-tawdn ydft
One cannot gain nearness to You through causes and reasons;
Without prior grace from eternity past, one cannot.

A nd God strikes similitudes for humankind, that is He explains them [in a way
that] approximates to their understanding and facilitates the ways to percep­
tion. Thus He explains intelligibles through sensibles so that people can easily
understand and grasp the m eaning [of w hat is being said]. This is a type of
general guidance. This is why He said to people, and God has knowledge o f
177 In this passage there are a series of grammatical comments that have been cut; these are
marked by the ellipsis.

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On the Nature of the Divine

everything including striking similitudes and other such subtleties of intelligible

and sensible matters and the realities of apparent and hidden things.
They say that if it is a similitude for the Q u r’an, then the lamp is the Q u r’an
and the glass is the heart o f the believer, the niche his m outh and his tongue,
the blessed tree is the tree o f revelation which is neither created nor fabricated.
Even if the Q u r’an is not recited, its indicators and proofs are clear to all;
beyond this reading is light upon light. If it is said, ‘He would not represent it
[the Q u r’&n] by that [i.e., by a lamp], for we know that the illumination o f the
sun is much greater than that [of a lamp and consequently if God wished to use
a m etaphor for the Q u r’an He would surely have used the sun]’, I would reply
that He, glorified is He, wished to describe perfect illumination which shines
in the midst of darkness; for w hat prevails upon the delusive thinking and
imagining of creatures are only phantasm a which are like [various] d a rk ­
nesses.178 The guidance of God am ong their delusions and phantasma, is like
perfect illum ination that appears in the m idst am ong the darknesses. This
meaning would not be conveyed through the m etaphor of the illumination o f
the sun because when its illum ination appears it fills the earth with pure light,
but when it disappears, it fills the earth with pure darkness. So certainly, that
m etaphor [of the lamp] is m ore appropriate here.
One com m entator has said:
Light means belief; God has compared the breast of the believer to a niche and the
heart in the chest to a lantern, the glass in the niche and belief to a lamp burning
in the lantern, and the lantern to a glittering star, the profession of tawhid to the
blessed tree [...]. It is close to saying that the grace of the profession [sc. of the testi­
monial Id ildha illdlldh] is such that the believer has but to bring it on his tongue
to illuminate the world because once the profession is uttered on the tongue and
through it the paradise verified, /igtof upon light is manifest.
He made glass above other gems the comparison because glass is especially
pure and conveys light from its surface to what is inside it and vice versa. Similarly
the light of belief spreads from the heart of the believer to the rest of [his] limbs
and organs. Also glass is easily broken through the slightest turmoil affecting it
just as the heart is easily corrupted by the slightest turmoil entering it. They say
that that light is the recognition o f divine secrets, the lamp is knowledge of the
two glasses of the heart of the gnostic and the niche in his breast glimmering from
the blessing of the oil extracted from the Blessed tree of M uhammad, neither
being eastern or western but Meccan. Blessed Mecca is the secret centre [i.e., a
spiritual center] of the world and the gnostic understands this from the secrets
that are taught by this best master including light upon light...179
178 The word 'zulumdt' dentoes a plurality of different types of darknesses.
179 Some repetition of this passage occurs.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

In Rawhi al-arwdh [of al-Sam'ani],180 it is said that,

light is Muhammad, the niche is Adam, the glass is Noah, the olive Abraham who
was neither Jewish because the Jews regard the west as their qibla nor Christian as
the Christians regard the east as their qibla, the lamp is the Messenger
[Muhammad]. Or the niche is Abraham and the glass is his pure heart purified,
and the lamp is his perfect knowledge and the tree is his comprehensive virtue that
is neither excessive nor deficient but is in equilibrium as ‘the best of a matter [lies]
in its centre’.181 The straight path of worship is from him. On the same meanings,
it is said that the light of Muhammad the beloved with the light of the Intimate [of
God, sc. Abraham] is light upon light.

Pidar nur pisar nuri-st mashhur

Az-inja fahm kun nurun ‘aid nur

The father is light and the son is luminous, that is well-known,

So from this understand that it is light upon light.

Al-Qushayri said that light upon light [means] that [people] acquire one light
through their efforts and their thought and their reasoning, and they find
another light by the grace of God, through their works and their words.182 God,
exalted be He, said, but those who struggle fo r l/s, surely We shall guide them in
Our ways [Q. 29:69].
In al-Ta’wildt al-Najmiyya> it is said that this similitude is struck by God for
creation to apprise [them] of His essence and His attributes. Each group of cre­
ation, among its masses and its elect, has a special dom ain o f spiritual knowl­
edge (rruxrifa) through [their] understanding of the divine speech [which is] in
keeping with their [spiritual] station and the excellence o f their predisposition
(istifdad). For the masses, their special dom ain o f spiritual knowledge lies in
seeing, by means of His showing them , the testimonies o f the Truth (al-haqq)
[sc. God] and His signs upon the horizons; and for the elect, their special
dom ain o f spiritual knowledge lies in witnessing, through His showing, the
lights o f the attributes o f G od, exalted be He, and His essence, blessed and
exalted, in themselves, upon the disclosure (tajalli) o f His essence and His
attributes to them.
God, exalted be He, said about these two groups, We shall show them Our
signs in the horizons, that is to the masses, and in themselves, that is to the elect,

180 Ahmad Sarn’ini (d. 534/1140) was a Sufi whose main extant work is a Persian mystical com­
mentary on the divine names blended with a particular prophetology. This extract is from Sam'ani,
Rawby 525. Cf. Wiliam Chittick, ‘SarnanT, El2, VIII, 1024; Chittick 1999,337-9.
181 The saying quoted could also be rendered as: ’the best of matters is the median’ or ‘ the best
of a matter is its middle wa/; i.e., the best part of a thing is its centremost, balanced, middle-point.
The implication is that the middle way is the best.
182 Qushayri, Lafd’if, II, 368.

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On the Nature of the Divine

till it is clear to them that it is the Truth [Q. 41:53]. Each group has a share o f
knowledge, according to their station. As for the share o f the masses - in seeing
the testimonies of the Truth and His signs upon the horizons, through God th e
Truth showing them [all that] - it lies in G od’s providing them with u n d e r­
standing and perception (nazar) of the m eaning of the divine speech so th a t
they reflect upon the creation o f the heavens and the earth - that their form ,
being the world of bodies, is ‘the niche’; and ‘the glass’ in it is the divine throne
('arsh), and the lamp, w hich is the shaft of the lantern in which the wick is
placed, is like the [divine] seat (kursi) vis-i-vis the throne (arsft). The glass o f
the throne is as it were a glittering star kindled from a blessed tree, which is th e
tree of the spiritual realm (malakut), which is the inner aspect o f the heavens
and the earth and their real significance; neither o f the east, that is not from th e
orient of pre-eternity and eternity like the essence of God and His attributes,
nor o f the west, that is, not o f the Occident of annihilation and non-existence like
the world o f [corporeal] bodies and the form o f the [physical] cosmos; rather
it, [i.e., the spiritual realm] is an eternal creation; it will not be stripped away by
annihilation. Whose oil well-nigh, which is the world of spirits, would shine, that
is, would manifest from non-existence into the world of engendered form s
through the marriage o f the Unseen and the visible, through nature and partic-
ularisation [contrary to] the conjecture of atheists and the materialists,183 even
i f no fire touched it, that is the fire of divine power. Light upon light, that is, the
light of the attribute of m ercy (al-$ifa al-rahmdniyya) upon light, namely, with
[the first light o f the attribute o f mercy] settling upon the light o f the th ro n e
(‘arsh) [we get light upon light].Thus the light of the attribute of mercy is dis­
persed, through the throne, into the heavens and the earth; and all engendered
beings that are in the heavens and the earth are engendered from it [the d is­
persed light of the divine mercy] through the divine power, according to
[God’s] wisdom and eternal will. Because of this, God said, none is there in the
heavens and the earth but he comes to the All-merciful as a slave [Q. 19:93]; so
understand well.
As for the share of the elect in witnessing the lights of the attributes o f G od
and His essence - through [God] the Truth showing [that to them ] - it is
linked to the progress (sayr) 184 within themselves. For G od has created the
hum an soul as a m irror capable of receiving the personal experience o f His
essence and all His attributes when it is cleared o f the rust o f ugly qualities and

,S3 The Arabic text seems to say ‘like the conjecture of the atheists and materialists’, but as the
author then goes on to deprecate the materialists, it makes more sense to assume that he meant
‘unlike the conjecture’.
The word sayr has the double meaning o f journey* and ‘way of Iife’( i.e. conduct/ behaviour)
- the Sufi use of the word implies both these senses, since the soul’s progress along the spiritual
journey is reflected in the quality of its behaviour - ‘quality* being the key word.

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vile characteristics through the polish o f the phrase ‘there is no god but God’
- so that, through the negation ‘there is no god’, the attachm ent o f the soul to
what is other than God falls away, and through the affirmation ‘except G od\
the light o f the beauty of God and His majesty is established in the soul. So he
[the elect one] sees, through the light of God: the hum an body as the niche, the
heart as the glass and the secret (sirr) as the lam p-light.185 The glass as it were
a glittering star kindled from a blessed tree, an olive (tree), which is the spiritual
tree, neither o f the east, that is not ancient, pre-eternal, nor o f the west, that is
not transient, setting [from] the heaven of existence into the depth o f non-exis­
tence. Whose oil well-nigh, [the oil] is the hum an spirit; would shine, through
the light of the intellect which is the brightness o f the spirit and its purity; that
is, the oil o f the spirit would well-nigh know God through the light o f the intel­
lect, even i f no fire touched it, that is the fire of the divine light, for the greatness
of the majesty of God and the glory of His majesty refuse to be perceived by the
intellect that is blemished with the flaw o f incipience, w ithout the radiation of
the light o f eternity upon the light o f the intellect that is brought out o f n o n ­
existence;186 as God says, light upon light, God guides to His light whom He will,
that is, He illuminates the lamp of the secret (sirr) o f whomever He will with
the light o f eternity, so the glass of the heart and the niche o f the body are
illum inated and He sends forth their rays from the window o f the senses,
thereby the [whole] earth of the hum an being is illuminated: and the earth is
illumined with the light o f its Lord [Q. 39:69] and the station o f ‘I am his eyes
and ears’ is realised.187
In this there is an allusion, [namely], that the light o f the intellect is
absolutely specific to humankind [from among the other creatures of the earth];
yet it [the intellect] has no way o f attaining to the light of God for this [the light
of God] is allocated through God’s guidance of a person [which is granted] out
of [His] grace and generosity. The slave’s acquired merit does not gain access
to [the light of God] - for that is the grace o f God which He gives to whom He will
[Q. 5:54].
A nd God strikes similitudes fo r humankind, that is, for those who have forgot­
ten the vows o f the days when they were united together [in God] in love,
without them [i.e., without their individuated existences], in the pre-eternity of
pre-eternities, and God has knowledge o f everything in the states of the existence
185 We have here a dear presentation of Sufi spiritual anatomy: the divine light of God's beauty
and majesty permeate the soul that is purified of its own darknesses. The divine lights that permeate
the soul are contained within the pure heart The divine lights (= the divine qualities) are the secret
radiating lamp contained in the heart (see also the discussion of the divine lights and qualities in
Mayer, forthcoming 2009).
186 In other words, the eternal luminous light of the Spirit enables the light of the intellect well-
nigh to know God.
187 This is part of a hadith qudsi transmitted by al-Bukh&ri; see Nawawfs Arba‘un, hadith no. 25.

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On the Nature of the Divine

of things and in their non-existence, without any change in His essence or H is

attributes* Shaykh $adr al-Dln al-Qunawi said [in the Fukuk],188

Know that [things] are perceived through the true Light yet it is not perceived
because it is the very essence of the Truth [sc. God],1®9 in view of Its being stripped
of all relations and connections. This is why when the Prophet was asked, ‘Have
you seen your Lord? He said, ‘He is luminous, I see Him*, that is He is pure light
who cannot be seen [with the physical eye]. Similarly the Truth (al-haqq) alludes
to the appearance (zuhur) of His light in the [different] levels of loci of manifes­
tation when He mentioned in His Book, God is the Light o f the heavens and the
earth. Having mentioned the levels of the allegory, He said, light upon light, one of
the two lights is illumination and the other absolute, principal Light Then He fin­
ished by saying, God guides to His light whom He will, that is, God guides, through
His light which is visible in the loci of manifestations and flows in them, to His
absolute unitive (ahadi) light.

He [Qunawi] said in his commentary on surat al-F&tiha,190

The cosmos, with all its sensible forms and its unseen, intelligible realities is the
divulgence of the light of the Truth. [God] the Truth informed [us] that He is the
light of the heavens and the earth, then He mentioned the similitudes and the spe­
cific details of the loci of manifestation, [which details are] in keeping with the
requisites of the [different] degrees [of the loci].
Then at the end of the verse He said, light upon light, God guides to His light
whom He willy so He ascribed light to Himself even though He is the source of
light; and He placed His light in a relative connection with the highest and lowest
worlds, as a guide towards knowledge of His absolute light (nur muflaq), and as
an indication of Him, just as He made the lamp and the niche and the tree and
other similitudes guides towards His delimited light (nur muqayyad) and His
determined disclosures (tajalliydt muta(ayyana) in the [different] degrees of His
loci of manifestation. He also taught through the tongue of His Prophet that He is
light and His veils are light.191

My shaykh and support said about His saying, light upon light, that the first
light is the light that is relative and spread out through the heavens o f the
names and the earth of things; and that the second light is the true light inde­
pendent of the heavens of the names and the earth of things. The relative light

188 $adr al-Din al-Qunawi (d. 673/1274) was the famous disciple and stepson of Ibn ‘ArabL The
quotation comes from his Fukuk, a short commentary on Ibn' Arabi’s Fujiij al-hikam;see Qunawi,
Tarjuma, 225; cf. Qunawi, Miftah, 185.
189 Al-haqq, meaning the Truth, is the divine name used by Sufis to refer to God Himself. The
prominence of the divine name al-haqq in Sufism is traced back to Ja'far al-$adiq.
,gn Qunawi, Vjdz al-baydn fi um m al-Q uran : see Tarjuma , 49-50.
191 He ends with the famous hadith of the veils of light: 'God has seventy veils of light and dark­
ness; were He to lift them, the august glories of His countenance would bum up everyone whose
sight perceived Him.’ See Muslim, $ahih, kitdb al-imdn, hadith no. 293.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

is an indicator that indicates the true light. The indicator is the outer manifes­
tation of the absolute Light, and the [One] indicated is its inner aspect. In
perfect spiritual realisation [it is known that] He is the indicator to Himself.
Only God knows God, glorified be He.

& ?

Alusi
As is familiar from the other chapters in this Anthology, Alusfs commentary includes a
wide-ranging analysis of the verse that draws on the work of a number of other
commentators, principally Fakhr al-Dln al-Razi but also such authorities as Zamakhshari,
Baydawi, Ghazall and BayhaqL This in itself is the clearest testimonial to the ‘anthological*
nature of his commentary, which becomes a repository for the opinions of the
predecessors (salaf) and outstanding scholars of different fields. He thus covers almost
everything which he considers essential to a proper application of Qur'anic exegesis:
grammar, readings, Ash'ari theology, philosophy and science, as well as Sufi allegoresis.

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth.192 N ur (light) in the classical lan­
guage - according to what Ibn al-Sikklt says193 - is <jiiy&* (illumination), as is
evidenced by the lack o f differentiation between nur and diya\ But a difference
emerges if one of them is applied to the other. Thus Imam al-Suhayll said about
the saying o f W araqa194 in al-Rawd:195

wa yazharu f i ’l-biladi (jiyau nurin

yuqtmu bihiVbariyyatu anyamujd

And there appeared in the land the radiance of a light

By which the people could uplift themselves.

This clarifies the meaning o f nur and (jiiyd*: diyd* emanates from nurt and nur
is the source. In the Revelation it is said - When it lit all about him, God took
away their light [Q. 2:17], It is He who made the sun a radiance (diyd') and the
moon a light (nur) [Q. 10:5] - because m oonlight does not extend as far as sun­
light, especially at the very beginning and end of the month.
Philosophers say that <jiyd* is what a thing possesses in itself, while nur is
what pours over it when it encounters a radiating thing; the Muslims [from
192 Alusi, Ruh al-ma'&m, XVIII, 160-73.
193 See PA, Ibn al-Sikkit.
194 Waraqa b. Nawfal was a Christian and cousin of Khadlja, the Prophet*s first wife. In the nar­
ratives of the advent of prophecy, he confirms that Muhammad has been chosen as a Prophet See
Bal&dhuri, Ansdb, V, 67-8,522; Tabari* Ta'rikh, 1,1147ffi Roncaglia 1971; Hamidullah 1958; Chase
Robinson, ‘Warafca b. Nawfal’, El2, XI, 142-3; Rubin 1995,103ff, Kister 1968,224.
195 'Abd al-Rabm&n b. 'Abd Allih al-Suhayll (d. 581/1185) was a traditionist and historian. The
verse is from his commentary on the famous biography of the Prophet by Ibn Hisham: see Suhayli,
Raw<t, II, 381-2.

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On the Nature of the Divine

among these philosophers] claim that the saying of God, It is He who made the
sun a radiance (diya*) cmd the moon a light (nur), is in accordance with this. The
different formations of the moon, depending on its proximity or distance to th e
sun, and its being eclipsed when the earth comes between them, are an in d ica­
tion that the m o o n s light (nur) pours over it because it encounters the sun
U -196
This is th e extent o f what they say about perceptible light (nur m ahsus),
which causes bodies (jism) to become visible. There is another view regarding
light when it is the manifest (z&hir) in itself and makes others manifest. They
claim that in this sense, it is similar, indeed the same as, existence (wujud), an d
so it is a simple reality (haqiqa basifa), like existence, divided like its division.
They include a light that is necessary (wdjib) in itself, overpow ering all
others.197 They also include rational (‘aqlf), spiritual (nafsi) and material (jismt)
lights. The Necessary [Existent] (al-wdjib) is the Light of lights, infinite in
strength (shidda), and all others are lights that are finite in strength in the sense
that there is something more powerful above them. And if some o f them , like
the rational lights, have effects that do not stop at a limit, the totality are sh im ­
mers (lama at) of His light. Even dense bodies with respect to their existence
are not free o f light; rather, their light is adulterated with the darknesses o f n o n ­
existence and contingency.198
If you know this, then know that the application o f the previous linguistic
and philosophical meaning of light (nur) to God is incorrect, on account o f His
perfect transcendence from corporeality (jismiyya) and quality (kayfiyya) ,199
and the exigencies o f both o f these. Yet the application o f the m entioned
meaning to H im - what is manifest in itself and makes others m anifest - has
been sanctioned by a group, among them the Hujjat al-Islam [‘Proof o f Islam’],
al-Ghazall. In his treatise Mishkdt al-anwar, after m entioning the m eaning o f
light and its degrees, he says,

Now that you know that light refers to manifestation and making manifest [and
their degrees],200know that there is no darkness more powerful than the conceal-
196 Alusi continues with a long discussion of the physics of light and vision, which is not directly
pertinent here. For discussions on this topic, see Ibn Slni, Kit&b al-Nafs, ed. Rahman, Book III, 170-
1,194; Winter 1903; Verbeke 1972; A. Sabra, 'Optics, Islamic’, DMA, IX, 240-7; Sabra 1989.
197 By which he means God, the Light of lights.
198 This paragraph expresses the position of the Illuminationist (ishrdqi) school of philosophy
founded by Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi, in which God is described as the Light of lights and all that
exists is a mode and intensity of light in relationship to the Light of lights. Darkness is the privation
of light and hence non-existence in opposition to existence. See Suhrawardi, Hikmat al-lshraq in
Walbridge and Ziai 1999,76-114.
As a categorical mode in which an engendered thing is presented, k a yfiyya describes the
nature of something in terms of the totality of accidental properties that pertain to it; no accidents
pertain to God. See Jurjani, T a r ifa t, 202.
200 This phrase in brackets is not given in Alusi.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

ment of non-existence - dark is called dark, on account of its not being visible,
even though it exists in itself [and does not exist for observers],201 and so how can
something that does not exist originally not be worthy of being the extreme degree
of darkness.202

Existence and light are synonyms.

If a thing is not visible in itself, it cannot be visible to others. Existence (wujud) is

divided into what has something in itself and what has something from another,
so the existence of something that owes its existence to another is borrowed,
having no subsistence (qawdmm) in itself, and with respect to itself, it is pure non­
existence, and is only existence because of its relation to another. That is not
genuine (haqiqi) existence. The true existence (al-wujud al-haqq)203 is God,
exalted be He, just as the true light (al-nur al-haqq) is God, mighty and majestic.204

Before this, he had said,

I state, without trepidation, that the application of the name Tight* to anything
other than the first Light is purely figurative, since everything other than Him con­
sidered in itself has no [intrinsic] light (nur)> but rather its luminosity (nurdniyya)
is borrowed from another. Its borrowed luminosity has no subsistence (qawdmm)
in itself but only subsists through another, and the connection between the bor­
rower and the borrowed is purely figurative.205

He interprets light in this verse - 1 mean His statement God is the Light o f the
heavens and the earth - in that way. Then he alludes to the purpose of the ascrip­
tion to the heavens and earth with his statement:

It is not appropriate to keep hidden from you once you realise that He, exalted be
He, is Light (wur), that there is no light other than Him, that He is the totality of
lights and the universal light because ‘lighf is an expression for what causes things
to be unveiled; in a higher sense, it is that through which and for which things are
unveiled; in a higher sense still, it is that through which, for which and by which
things are unveiled. Beyond that, there is no light from which this light could be
kindled and take replenishment. It possesses light in itself, from itself, and for
itself, not from another. And then you know that this only describes the first Light
(al-nur al-awwal). In addition, you know that that the heavens and the earth are
charged with illumination via two strata of light - 1mean that pertaining to vision
(al-ba$r) and that pertaining to insight (al-ba$ira), i.e. to the senses (hiss) and to
201 This phrase in brackets is not given in Alusi.
202 Ghazkli, Mishkdt in Buchman 1998,16.
203 In al-Ghazali’s original, it says al-mawjud al-haqq. The term al-wujud al-haqq is more char­
acteristic of the lexicon of the school oflbn 'Arabi and is not particularly common before then. Its
instance here suggests both the influence of the thought of Ibn ‘Arabi on al-Alusi and the possibility
that he may have had in his possession another recension of the Mishkdt with this variant inscribed.
204 Ghazali, Mishkdt, in Buchman 1998,16.
205 Ibid., 15.

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On the Nature of the Divine

reason (€aql)206 - like the light of the stars and the natures of the angels, or like the
visible lights extending over everything on earth and the lights of prophecy and
the Qur’an and so forth.

This is a Sufi approach. The Sufis do not avoid statements that He, greatly
transcendent above what the wrongdoers claim, is everything, indeed that He
is He and that nothing other than Him possesses He-ness (huwiyya, sc. ipseity)
except in a figurative sense. They say that ‘There is no god but God’ is the tawhid
of the masses (tawhid al-aw am ), and ‘There is no god but He’ is the tawhid o f
the elect (tawhid al-khawd$$) because it is more complete, more specific, m ore
comprehensive, more w orthy and more precise as it makes the one who p ro ­
fesses it enter sheer uniqueness (farddniyya) and absolute oneness (wahdaniya).
Al-Ghazall says this in the aforementioned treatise as well.207 You know th at it
is one [of those things] that cannot be reached by the light (nur) o f reasoning
but rather is a degree beyond the degree of reason (‘aql), only attained through
God’s light (nur).
Some of the inquirers allow light in the verse to mean the existentiator (al-
m ujid), as if it said: God is the existentiator o f the heavens and the earth. A nd
the purpose o f that is that it is a m etaphor that expresses concomitantly from
light, meaning manifestation in itself and manifesting others. It is said that it is
a m etaphor, and what is used metaphorically in it is the light (nur), with the
m eaning of the manifest in itself, what is manifest in others, and w hat is
intended metaphorically by it is the Necessary Existence, the existentiator o f all
that is other than Him. W hat is meant is that He is the em anator of perception
(mufid al-idrak) and the O ne who bestows it as a m etaphor or trope, with the
ellipsis understood ‘o f the people of the heavens and the earth. That is close to
what Ibn Jarir [al-Tabari] set forth, as well as Ibn al-M undhir and Ibn Abl
Hatim. Al-BayhaqI in his al-Asma wa*l-$ifat reported that Ibn ‘Abbas said that
God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth [means He is] the guide o f the
people o f the heavens and the earth.208 This is a good opinion. In an o th er
account set forth by Ibn Jarir, he [Ibn ‘Abbas] interprets light to mean [that God
is] the manager (al-mudabbir); so he says that God is the Light o f the heavens
and the earth, disposing affairs in them. This is also related from Mujahid. Some
commentators thus regard it [light] to be a clear metaphor.
The similarity between light and [the act of] disposal [of affairs] lies in the
fact that they are both intended to guide to what is most beneficial [for crea­
tures], and thus this [simile] might possibly be understood as an explicit

206 Ghazili, Mishkat, in Buchman 1998, 19. The quotation ends here and the remainder of the
paragraph only summarises a few lines of al-Ghazalfs text.
207 Ghaz&li, Mishk&t, in Buchman 1998,20.
206 Bayhaqi, Asmd’,1,201.

432
 Light of the heavens and the earth

metaphor. But since it is followed by the m ention of both entities of the simile
- G od and light - this m ight exclude th at [possibility]. I would respond,
however, by saying that m entioning the two of them would only exclude such
[a possibility] if this [part o f the verse] were constructed in a way that suggested
a [clear-cut] simile, and both the object o f the simile and that to which it is
being likened were m entioned concretely. Yet here God is not being likened to
light (nur) but to the m anager [of light]. Thus a partial m ention in which the
thing likened is validly [likened], or a comprehensive one that subsumes [the
simile], does not preclude that [it may be a metaphor], as has been pointed out
by the author o f al-Kashshdf [al-Zamakhshari] in [various] passages [of that
work] and explicitly stated by the philologists.
It is said that it means that He is free of all blemishes, as when they describe
a woman as being nawdr to m ean that she is innocent o f any suspicion of
[having committed] fornication, which is also a metaphorical [expression]. It
is also said that the phrase (AUahu nur, God is the Light) contains an ellipsis of
a genitive annexation, as when one says Zayd karamun (Zayd is [all] generos­
ity), hence m eaning [that God is] dhu nur (One who possesses light). This is
corroborated, as has been pointed out, by what He says later [in the verse]: the
likeness o f His light and [also] A nd God guides to His light.
It is said that light m eans illum inator (munawwir); this is related from al-
Hasan [al Ba$ri], Abul-'Aliya, al-Pabbak and a group o f exegetes. It is corrob­
orated by some who read it as munawwir, such as ‘All [b. Abl Talib], Abu Ja‘far,
‘Abd al-'Aziz al-Makkl, Zayd b. ‘All, Th&bit b. Abi Haf$a, al-Qura$I, Maslama
b. ‘Abd al-Malik, and Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulaml.209
‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas and Ibn Abl Rabf a read nawwara, a past tense verb, and
al-arfa, in the accusative. According to al-Hasan and his followers, His illumi­
nation of the heavens and the earth is through the sun and the m oon and the
other stars. It is also said that the heavens are illuminated with the angels, and
the earth illuminated with the prophets and the ‘u l a m d this view is attributed
to Ubayy b. Ka‘b. The form er illumination is sense-perceptible (hissi) and the
latter is intellectual (‘aqli). And it is said, and which is my preferred opinion,
that His illumination of them is both with what is in they contain in the way of
the signs of creation and revelation indicating His existence (wujud) and His
Oneness (wahddniyya) and His remaining attributes, mighty and majestic is He,
and the guidance to a virtuous life and afterlife. The new sentence in this
context refers either to confirm ation (tahqiq) that His declaration where He
says We have sent down to you signs making all clear [Q. 24:34] is not restricted
to what is m entioned in this noble sura, or [that it refers] to the affirmation of

209 Most of these figures are famous reciters (qurra ) of the Qur’an who transmitted oral recen­
sions.

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On the Nature of the Divine

whatever declaration occurs in the glorious Qur'&n. Something similar to this

[sense] can be gleaned from the aforementioned statements where the meaning
of light is being explained, which is a strong case for the [harmonious] relation­
ship between this verse and what comes before it; rarely is such [a relationship]
so clear.210 Al-‘Allama al-Tibl has a most comprehensive work explaining such
relationships [between verses of the Q ur'an].211 If you wish, then consult it.
The heavens and the earth are specifically m entioned because they are the
acknowledged abode of those [creatures] religiously-obligated (m ukallafun)
who are in need of that which will direct them and guide them to the aforemen­
tioned [light o f God].
The great scholar al-Baydawi, after m entioning a num ber o f possibilities as
to what is intended by nur (light), states: ‘Its (light's] semantic annexation to
these [the heavens and the earth] is meant to indicate the extent o f its [light's]
radiance (ishrdq), or because they [the heavens and the earth] comprise sensible
and intelligible lights and hum an perception is restricted to these [types] and
to what pertains to them and to what is meant by them.'212 It is said that what
is intended by them [the heavens and the earth] is the entire universe, like the
[figurative] application of the Emigrants and the Helpers to [refer to] all the
Companions. He follows this with the fact that this is an example o f the figura­
tive application o f the nam e of a part to the whole. But it is a prerequisite in
metonymy that the whole be a genuine composite, and the application o f ‘the
earth' to the totality of the earth and the heavens, or o f‘people to the totality o f
hum ankind and beasts, is not established in the classical language.
My response is that its being figurative is not limited to the permissibility of
its being metonymous. If this were true, there would be nothing that was not
indisputable in m etonymy, or very little. C oncerning His saying, From God
nothing whatever is hidden in heaven and earth [Q. 3:5], Zam akhshari reports
that the whole cosmos is designated with ‘the heavens and earth'. A nd al-
‘Allama [al-Baydawi] states in his commentary [on al-Zamakhshari] that it is
an example of the application of a part to the whole, with the meaning conse­
quently being that God is the light o f the whole world.
The likeness o f His light: that is, God's intellectual and scriptural proofs in the
heavens and earth, through which He guides whomever He will to what is most
virtuous. This is reported on the authority of Abu Muslim [al-Isfahan!] ; this sub­
stantially permeates the Q ur'an. And on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbis, al-Hasan

210 Alusi is arguing that one needs to understand light of the heavens and the earth in terms of
the admonition of the previous verse which reads: Now We have sent down to you signs making all
clear, and an example of those who passed away before you, and an admonition to the godfearing.
211 The commentator is referring to al-Husayn b. Muhammad al-Tibi (d. 743/1343) and his work
al-Tiby&nfll-baydn; see primary bibliography.
2,2 Baydawi, Anwdr, II, 127.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

[al-Ba$ri] and Zayd b. Aslam [it is reported] that what is intended by light here
is the Q u ran , just as what precedes this in the way of the description of His signs
as a sending down (inzdl) and an elucidation (tabyin). He also declares that it is
a light in God’s saying, And We have sent down to you a manifest light [Q. 4:174].
It is also said that what is intended by it is the Truth, and the use of the metaphor
of light for it is like the metaphor of darkness for falsehood (bafil) in His saying,
God is the protector o f the believers, He brings them forth from the shadows into the
light [Q. 2:256] - that is, from types of falsehood to the Truth. The point of
resemblance [between truth and light] is their tendency to become manifest. A
proverbs says ‘Truth shines (al-haqq ablaj). This is sufficient concerning the
admissibility of the m etaphor - it is not conditional on the verification of
whether light contains in itself the meaning of manifestation in reality. Indeed,
whenever that too is verified, then it is light upon light. But the weakness of his
commentary on what he mentioned other than the Q ur'an that it denies it, sur­
passes the position of clarification of the nature of the verses and the description
of them with the elucidation he mentions with the lack of previous mention of
the Truth.
In al-Kashf [it is stated that], ‘W hat is intended by the Truth that is given as
an exegesis for light [in this verse] is what is the direct opposite of falsehood
(bafil), and it deals with belief in tawhid and the laws and rational and scriptural
proofs. W hat is not m eant by it is the heavens and the earth being evidence for
the existence o f their Creator, but rather that too is covered by the term* But
this weakens his position. It is also said that what is intended by it is the guid­
ance which is indicated by the clear signs, or it is said that it is guidance
absolutely, as m entioned by Ibn Jarir [al-Tabari], Ibn al-M undhir, and Ibn Abl
IJatim. Al-BayhaqI in al-Asma wal-$rfdt reports, concerning Ibn ‘Abbas, that
he said that the likeness o f His light is like His guidance in the heart o f the
believer.213 Ibn Jarir [al-Tabari] reports from Anas that he said that God states
that My light is My guidance. Some of them state that its explanation as ‘guid­
ance is the preferred option of the majority, and its explanation as ‘Truth* in the
general sense is consistent with it. It is also said, on the authority o f Ubayy b.
Ka‘b, that what is intended by it is the knowledge that God pours into the heart
o f the believer, and the ascription of that to Him because it is His pouring forth
(mafdifuhu). Al-Qabfeak glosses it as belief (imdn) that God gives the believer
and His kindness (rifq) to him.
And in some accounts of Ibn ‘Abbas is its explanation as the obeisance
(fa at) with which God adorns the heart of the believer, including belief and all
other commendable achievements pertaining to the heart. And it is said that
what is intended by His light is His Messenger M uhammad; the application of
2,3 Bayhaqi, Asmd\l, 201.

435
On the Nature of the Divine

‘light* to him occurs, according to one opinion, in G od’s saying there has come
to you from God a light and a book manifest [Q. 5:15]. And, it is said, other th an
that, from what you will come to know, if God wills. The pronoun in all o f these
reports refers back to God, who is the ostensible [subject].
But it is permissible to say that the pronoun refers to ‘the believer'. This is
reported on the authority of Tkrima. This is one o f the reports that it is au th en ­
ticated by al-H akim [al-Tirmidhl] on the authority o f Ibn ‘Abbas. It is also
related on the authority of Ubayy b. Ka‘b through ‘Abd [Allah] b. Humayd. Ibn
al-A nbari in his [work] al-Ma$dhif from al-Sha‘bi [relates] that he said that
Ubayy b. Ka‘b used to read it as mathalu nur al-m u’min (the likeness o f th e
believer’s light) and that is reported by Abu ‘Ubayd. Ibn al-M undhir relates on
the authority of A buV Aliya that Ubayy read mathalu nur man dmana bihi (the
likeness of the light o f one who believes in Him) o r mathalu man dmana bihi
(the likeness of one who believes in Him). In al-Bahr it is related regarding
Ubayy that he read mathalu nur al-m um intn (the likeness o f the light o f believ­
ers).214 It is said that the pronoun refers back to Mubammad; a group of people
relate that on the authority of Ibn ‘Abb&s and Ka‘b al-A hbir. And Abu Hayyan
also relates it from Ibn Jubayr.215 It is also said that it refers back to the Q u r’an.
It is also said that it refers to belief. It is well known that a pronoun can refer
back to an unm entioned subject, whether there is nothing in the account th at
indicates it or w hether there is something but its indication o f it is concealed
behind the ostensible subject, especially if the intent o f the statement is elusive
in this manner. And the meaning of the similitude is the marvellous attribute
that is the marvellous attribute of G od’s light.
As a niche: that is like it in illumination and efflorescence [...);216 wherein is
a lamp: a large, penetrating light - it is said ‘the burning wield; the lamp in a
glass: in a lantern (qindil) of radiant, clear glass [...];217 the glass as it were a glit­
tering star, shining, shimmering, like a star in its clarity and brilliance [...];218
kindled from a tree: that is, the lamp is kindled from a tree, that is blessed, that
yields many benefits when its wick is drenched with its oil. But it is also said
that it is described as blessed because it grows in the land that God blessed for
all hum anity. It is said that He blessed it with seventy prophets, including
Abraham. A n olive is a substitute for a tree...219 In the hadith there is praise o f
olive oil for being of that tree. ‘Abd [Allah] b. Hum ayd in his Musnady and al-
Tirmidhl, and Ibn Maja on the authority o f‘Umar, report that God’s Messenger
2.4 See the commentary of Abd Hayyin, this chapter.
2.5 Ibid.
2.6 Alusi quotes the same opinions as Razi, Abu Hayyin and al-Tabari about the etymology of
the term.
2.7 Alusi discusses opinions concerning the vocalisation of the phrase here.
2.8 Alusi mentions some grammatical observations about the glittering star and its etymology'.
2lv Alusi mentions some grammatical arguments about the tree, apposition and substitution.

436
 Light of the heavens and the earth

said: ‘Enrich [your bread] with olive oil and use it as fuel, for it is o f a blessed
tree:220
Al-BayhaqI relates from ‘A’isha that olive oil was m entioned in her presence
and she said: ‘God’s M essenger used to enjoin eating it and using it as fuel,
saying that it is of a blessed tree and praiseworthy in itself? A nd in the hadith is
[mentioned] that it is beneficial for haem orrhoids and that physicians cite
m any benefits to it. The Prophet used to eat bread with it, and he ate tongue
baked with barley that contained olive oil and pepper, so let this be noted
U ].221
Neither o f the east nor o f the west [...].222 Whose oil would well-nigh shine, even
i f no fire touched it [...J.223
Light upon light: that is, it is a mighty light existing upon light (...)224 The
meaning o f its being light above light is not that it is a single designated or non*
designated hght above another similar fight, nor that it is a totality o f only two
fights. Rather it is a multiple fight, without the limitation o f a designated extent
to its multiplication. And so the lamp, when it is in a narrow place like the niche,
is m ore illum inated and its light m ore focused because of the fact that the
reflected rays are combined with the rays origin, as opposed to in a wide place,
where the brightness is scattered and diffused. A lantern (qindtl) is the most
helpful thing for increasing illumination, also the oil and its purity, but beyond
these degrees nothing can ordinarily increase the radiance of its fight or extend
its brightness by another degree.
It seems apparent to me that the simile which the noble verse contains is
intellectual; God’s fight means His proofs, but inasmuch as these are proofs of
the Q ur’an, or of tawhid and the prescriptions o f law and what is demonstrated
by scripture and reason, or of right guidance, or of other evident things, and the
fight of the lamp is an amplified description [...].225
Reports on this position are protracted, and include similes thought to be
commensurate with the [mentioned] meaning such as the Prophef s breast, his
exalted heart, the divine subtlety in him, the Q ur’&n and what overwhelms the
heart when it draws on it. The detailed statement is that his breast is likened to
the niche because it is like an aperture with two aspects, one through which the
fight takes fire from the illum inated heart, and the other through which that
blazing fight pours forth over hum ankind It was twice ready to be opened, once
220 Ibn Maja, Sutian, hadith no. 3319; Hikim, Mustadrak, hadith no. 7142.
221 AlusI quotes some variants readings of this part of the verse here.
222 AlusI quotes a series of the same opinions as given in other commentaries in this chapter,
including the narrations of Ibn ’Abbas and 'Abd al-Rabman Ibn Zayd, as well as Abu tfayyaris
opinion.
223 Alusi’s commentary closely follows al-Zamakhshari.
224 AlusI interjects some comments about the grammatical status of this phrase.
225 Alusl’s comments here closely follow those of BurUsawL

437
On the Nature of the Divine

during childhood and once during the Night Journey - Is he whose breast God
has expanded unto Islam, so he walks in a light from his L o rd ...? [Q. 39:22].226
This is a sound comparison, known o f a group o f commentators.
The 'reviver o f the sunna’ (m uhyi al-sunna) [sc. al-Nawawi] relates on th e
authority o f Ka‘b that this is a similitude struck by God for His prophet. The
niche is his breast, the glass his heart, the lamp contains prophethood, and the
blessed tree is the tree of prophecy. The imam [al-Nawawl] relates on the author­
ity of some that the niche is Muframmad’s breast, the glass is his heart, and the
lamp the religion his heart contains. In al-Sulaml’s Haq&’iq on the authority o f
Abu Said al-Kharraz,227 the niche is M uhammad’s interior (ja w f), the glass his
exalted heart and the lamp the light that it contains.228 And the com parison o f
his heart with the glass, characterised as a glittering star, is on account o f its
purity and radiance and freedom from the murkiness of desire and the dirt o f
the inciting soul, and the reflection upon it of the light of kindness. A nd the holy
kindness that flowers in the heart is likened to the penetrating lamp.
The Imam Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] stated, in a chain o f authorities relating back
to Abu S aid al-Khudri, that G od’s Messenger said, ‘There are four [types] o f
heart. The best heart contains the likeness of a torch shining in it, and it is the
best heart. The heart o f the believer is his torch in which is his light.’
One compares the essence o f the Q ur’an with the blessed tree on account o f
the firmness of its roots, the profusion of its branches and its producing infinite
fruits. God says: A good word is as a good tree - its roots are firm , and its branches
are in heaven; it gives its produce every season by the leave o f its Lord [Q. 14:24].
The reviver of the sunna [al-Nawawi] relates on the authority o f al-H asan [al-
Ba$ri] and Ibn Zayd that the blessed tree is the tree of revelation. Whose oil
would well-nigh shine: the proofs of the Q ur’an would well-nigh be evident even
if it were not read. And he likens what the light o f the Prophet’s noble heart
draws from the Q ur’an and the initiation of his being strengthened by it to oil
that is pure. God says Even so We have revealed to you a Spirit o f O ur bidding.
You did not know what the Book was, nor belief, but We made it a light, whereby
We guide whom We will o f Our servants [Q. 42:52].
And so just as God made the Q ur’in a cause for kindling in His statem ent
kindled from a blessed tree, He made its brightness beneficial because o f th e
reflection o f the light o f kindness in it in God’s statement even i f no fire touched
it. And the meaning, according to what is stated in Insan al-'Uyun,229 [is that]
226 This is a reference to the opening of and expansion of the Prophets heart, once when he was
a chiJd and his heart was purified by Gabriel, and again during his famous night ascension into the
heavens. See Ibn Hishim, Sira in Guillaume 1955,72,83,99.
227 See PA, al-Kharraz.
m This is quoted from the famous Sufi tafsir of SulamI: Haqd’iq, II, 45.
229 The edition says al-'ayn but it is most definitely the biography of the Prophet entitled Insan
al-’uyun (The Pupil of the Eyes), cited on p. 422 and n. 174.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

the mystery of the Q ur’an would well-nigh be apparent to creation before the
Prophet's mission, and it would be a veneer, as is m eant in his statement.

raqqal-zujdju wa raqqatil-khamru
fa-tashdbahd wa tashdkalal-amru
fa-ka'annamd khamrun wa Id qadaha
wa ka’annama qadahun wa Id khamra

The glass is fine and the wine is finer,

And so things have become hazy and confused;
It is as though there was wine but no cup,
Or a cup but no wine.

The tree is described as being neither o f the east nor o f the west, and on the
authority of Ibn ‘Abbas is the comparison o f the Prophet's heart with the glit­
tering star, and the blessed tree is Abraham. The meaning o f neither o f the east
nor o f the west is that he was neither Christian, praying towards the east, or
Jewish, praying towards the west. And the pure oil is Abraham’s religion.
In another approach, the Q ur’an is compared to the lamp in accordance with
what precedes. The Prophet’s blameless, virtuous soul is com pared to the tree
on account of its germ inating from the earth o f religion and spreading its
branches into the heaven of belief, lowering its fruits in to the empty space of
sincere devotion (ikhldf) and the performance of good deeds (ihsdn). Accounts
of its uprightness are in conformity with God’s saying So go straight, as you have
been commanded [Q. 11:112], not inclining towards [either of] the two extrem­
ities of excess or neglect. That is the meaning o f God’s saying neither o f the east
nor o f the west.
Thereupon an olive tree is specified because the best part o f its fruit is the oil
used to ignite lamps, and this [particular] oil is specified on account o f its high
degree of radiance and paucity of smoke. The oil of the Prophet’s willingness,
on account o f his purity and blamelessness would well-nigh shine even if no fire
of the Q ur’an touched it. Al-Baghawi relates, on the authority of Muhammad b.
Ka‘b al-Qura?I, that M uham m ad’s good qualities were well-nigh apparent to
people before he received the revelation.230 Ibn Rawafia says:

law lam yakun fihi dydtun mubayyindtun

kanat badahatuhu tunbika 'an khabarihi

Even if there had not been clear signs in him,

His very inspired nature could have foretold you of his mission.

In al-Sulaml’s H aqd’iq, His light is His sincere servant and the niche the
heart. The lamp is the light cast into it, and the knowledge shining in the heart
250 Baghawi, Maalim, III, 294.

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On the Nature of the Divine

of the knower is likened to the fire o f success (tawfiq) kindled from a blessed tree,
shining on a fortunate person, clearly distinguishing the lights o f his in terio r
from the etiquette o f his exterior and the excellence o f his conduct. An olive
neither o f the east nor o f the west is a pure jewel with no share in this world o r
the next on account of its sole possession o f the friendship o f the Mighty, the
Forgiving and the singular All-compeller and so on.
Some of them think that what is intended by the com pared light is right
guidance, because it is surrounded by the darknesses o f hum ankind’s halluci­
nations and fantasies. Despite this the literal m eaning is the addition of [the
particle] as (ka-) to the lamp [as a lamp> ka-mi$bah\, disregarding the niche that
implies it. For this reason it is said that there are two hearts to the verse, and
some hold the view that it is added to the niche because the implier evidently
precedes the implied. So the two words precede and the as (ka-) is added to it
in consideration of this. It is said that, despite this, it is also a dissipated simile
because it compares right guidance with the lamp, and individual ignorances
(jahalat) with the darknesses it necessitates, as you can see.
Some people consider the simile dissipated but base their account on the
principles of the philosophers. So they compare the light with the five perceiv­
ing faculties upon which the life that God bestowed upon His servants is
dependent. These are the sensory (hassdsa) faculty, that is to say the com m on
sense which discerns perceptible things through the spies of the five external
senses; the imaginative (khayaliyya) faculty, which conserves the images o f
these perceptible things in order to subm it them to the reasonable, rational
('aqliyya) faculty; the reflective (fikriyya) faculty which takes rational knowledge
and makes it into a form by which knowledge o f the Unseen can transpire; and
the sacred (qudsiyya) faculty, by which prophets and saints are favoured an d
which disclose the outward signs of the Unseen and the mysteries of the spiri­
tual realm (asrdr al-malakutj.231
That which is semantically subsumed by the k a f constitutes the m atters to
each o f which one of these five faculties is com pared. So they com pare th e
sensory faculty to the niche since its site is a hollow space in the front part o f
the brain, like a recess, in which the external senses place what they perceive,
making them shine;232 the imaginative faculty is compared to the glass because
it receives rational images from the sides, like the glass receives the perceptible
lights from the sides, and it is illuminated by the apprehensive faculties it co n ­
tains; the rational faculty is compared to the lamp on account of its being lit by

231 These internal lights are known in the philosophical tradition as the internal senses and here
Alusi pays close attention to the holy or sacred internal sense that is particular to prophets and thus
elevates their intellects and souls above others.
232 This follows the physiological theory of the internal senses found in the psychology of Ibn
Sina. See his Kitdb al-Nafs, 48-9,209; Ibn Slni, Najdt, II, 12-13.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

realisations and knowledge; and the reflective faculty is compared to the blessed
tree in view o f it producing many yields on the level o f the tree s fruits.
The tree is deemed an olive because it [an olive] has virtue above other trees
in view o f the best part of its fruit being the oil. This has many benefits, among
them that it is the substance o f lamps and perceptible lights, and that it is dis­
tinguished am ong all other oils by its high degree o f radiance and its paucity of
smoke. The consideration o f the description neither o f the east nor o f the west
with regard to the compared is in view of its being free of bodily dependencies,
or in view of its benefit not being peculiar to images nor to meaning. The sacred
faculty is compared to the oil which well-nigh shines without being touched by
fire, in view o f its not having any need o f instruction o r contem plation on
account o f the perfection o f its purity and the intensity o f its aptitude.
It may be objected that the reality of the gracious order [in the verse] is
against this, that it is said that the likeness o f His light is as a niche and a glass
and a lamp and a blessed tree and an olive and oil that would well-nigh shine
even if no fire touched it, so the simile must match each one in order. I would
reply that as all these senses grasp from what is perceived before them, just as
something in a container takes on what is in it, God indicates with these tools
the marvels of His fashioning and His wisdom in creation.233
It is possible that the simile of light refers to the intellectual faculty o f the
soul in its degrees. There arc four degrees o f the soul: the first is the soul that is
free of all necessary knowledge and it is as a tabula rasa, as a newborn, and the
intellectual faculty in this degree is know n as the m aterial intellect ('aql
hayuldni), because like matter it is in itself free of all forms that may be received.
The second uses its tools such as the senses from which it acquires prim ary
knowledge, and it is capable of acquiring theoretical knowledge; this is known
as the recollective faculty, and in this degree is called the intellect in habitu (bil-
malaka) because it computes theoretical notions from prim ary ones. The third
preserves theoretical knowledge and possesses the ability to recall it whenever
it wants without the need of a corporeal form grasped anew; that faculty in this
degree is called an intellect in actu (bi’l-fi'l), due to the acquisition o f such
knowledge that it has from a proximate faculty in an active manner. The fourth
arranges prim ary notions and perceives theoretical knowledge actually; that
faculty in this degree is called an acquired intellect (mustafad), that is, acquired
from the active intellect (al-'aql al-fa“dl).234 This faculty in the first degree

233 The suggestion is that human sensory and internal faculties are designed to perceive and grasp,
from design and teleology, the arguments present in the cosmos that prove the existence of God.
234 These degrees of the intellect or stages in the process of intellection are already present in the
earliest Islamic philosophical writings on the nature of human psychology. See Kindi, Risdla> I,
275-8; see FbribTs Mabddi’ in Walzer 1985,196-207; cf. Jurjani, Ta'rifiU, 165-6; Aljmadnagari 1975,
II, 235-8.

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On the Nature of the Divine

resembles the niche that is free of any sensible lights but prepared to be illum i­
nated by them. In the second degree, it resembles the glass that is filled in itself
and capable of receiving lights that flow into it from extrinsic lights. In the th ird
degree, it resembles the lamp that shines forth from the oil that fuels it. In th e
fourth degree, it resembles the multiplying light indicated by the saying of G od,
exalted be He, light upon light.235
Ibn Slna, after explaining these degrees, applied the terms of the revelation
to them .236 In his investigations he arranged them so that he placed the glass
in the niche and the lamp in the glass, such that there was pure disposition as
in the first degree, then a disposition to acquisition as in the second degree, a
disposition to make present as in the third degree, and there is no doubt th at
disposition towards acquisition is with respect to the pure disposition and th e
disposition to make present is with respect to the disposition to acquisition. So
the glass which is an expression for the intellect in habitu is as if it were in a
niche that is an expression for the material intellect; the lamp that is the intellect
in activity is in the glass that is the intellect in habitu because it can only grasp
through the acquisition of the intellect at first, so that it brings the intellect in
habitu from potentiality to actuality through thought (filer)>intuition (hads) o r
through the sacred faculty.237 The olive tree alludes to reflection and the oil to
intuition and whose oil would well-nigh shine to the sacred faculty.238 It seem s
that this order does not tally with the order in the verse, and the properties o f
the tree are not distinct as they refer to the same thing. But just as the juice o f
the olive tree is olive oil, which when squeezed and purified well-nigh shines,
similarly the acquisition o f the psychic faculty is reflection (fikra), and when it
is condensed it is intuition and then the sacred faculty, but they are all not d is­
tinct because they are one thing like the tree.239 Neither o f the east nor o f the west
is an allusion that it is not of the sensible world, which is not free o f these two
235 Philosophical commentaries on the light verse often make these connections, and understand
the simile to refer to the degrees of the soul and its rational faculty. See Mulls §adr£, Tafsir, IV, 367ff,
especially 380.
236 The following philosophical commentary on the light verse ascribes levels of the intellect to
each element of the simile and is taken from the Physics (Namaf III) of Ibn Slni, Ishdrdt, II, 353-4.
237 Intuition plays an important role in the process of intellection in Avicennan psychology. In
syllogistic reasoning, one infers and understands second order concepts or secondary intelligibles
- such as humanity, love and even existence - from first order concepts or primary intelligibles, such
as the notion of a particular horse, human or table, The inferential link that combines two proposi­
tions to yield a resulting inference is known as the middle term, and it is the function of intuition to
strike upon and discover the middle terms of arguments. Cognition, on the other hand, is a hit-and-
miss method of reflecting and searching for the correct combinations of notions to understand and
realise the truth about something. See Ibn Sin*, Kitdb al-Nafs> 249; Ibn Sina, Dinishn&ma, 69; cf.
Gutas 1998a, 159-76; Gutas 1998b, 90-107.
238 The sacred faculty plays a role in Avicenna s notion of prophecy - see his Kitdb al-Nafe, 250.
239 The tree is the source of the olive and the oil; ontologically, they are different names for
aspects and stages of a process. Similarly, the rational soul is a singular reality with multiple functions
and stages in the process of intellection.

442
 Light of the heavens and the earth

modes. It is not hidden from you that this is according to the principles of
philosophers who are blind to the light o f the Law. May God reward him who
said about them:

qafa'tul-ukhuwwatu 'an ma'sharin

bihim maratfun min kit&bil-Shifal’i]
fa-matu 'ala dtni Rasfdlis [sic.]
wa 'ishnd 'ala sunnatil-Mu^fafa

I have severed m y affiliation with a folk

W ho were diseased by the book ‘The Cure’240
So they died upon the religion o f Aristotle
W hile we live according to the sunna of the C hosen one [sc. the Prophet].

This rank and such discourse are not appropriate. It leads to considering that
the saying o f God light upon light is also figurative, but there is a difference of
opinion. Then know that what we have m entioned means that all the instances
o f‘light* are figurative, but perhaps what we have mentioned is the most perfect
light and most intense manifestation. But God, exalted be He, knows the reality
of things - and to whomsoever God assigns no light, no light has he [Q. 24:40].
God guides to His litfit: that is, He guides with a specific guidance that leads
to the goal and thus that light is multiplying and great. His expression is an
ellipsis because He has affirmed and corroborated it. If the essence is worthy,
then what is connected to it is as well, and it is ascribed to H im with the
pronominal suffix for Him .241 Whom He will: His guidance is for His servants
to help them understand His existence that is indicated by rational and scrip­
tural indicators with which He illuminated the heavens and the earth in a sense
that may be beneficial, or to help them understand the indicators from Him in
the Q ur’an of His reality and His being such as miracles and reports from the
Unseen and other things that one must believe. There are other possibilities of
meaning, as there are for light. But whatever that may be, a referent and point
of this guidance is only His volition and expressing means without it would be
pointless:

idh lam yakul-tawfiqu 'awnan li-falibi

fariqil-hudd a'yat 'alayhi mafdlibuhu

If there were no [divinely-granted] success

To assist the seeker of the path o f guidance,
He would never reach his goals.

240 The Kitdb al-Shifo’ [The Cure] is the summa of Avicenna. Note the contrast of disease and
‘cure’.
241 In His light (nurihi).

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On the Nature of the Divine

And God strikes similitudesfa r humankind by multiplying guidance as the sit­

uation requires. Striking similitudes is an important aspect o f direction because
it appeals to the intelligible in the guise o f the sensible and difficult m eanings
in familiar forms. So He compared His light, comprising the clear Q u ra n , to
light in a niche, and elided His name to guide sound minds by their senses, co n ­
trary to specific guidance. Striking similitudes is general guidance. So whom He
will is specific and far humankind is general guidance.
A nd God knows everything, w hether intelligible o r sensible, m anifest o r
hidden, requiring that His volition be guidance to those worthy and deserving
hum ans and not their enemies, which would be contrary to His wisdom th at is
the foundation of creation and lawgiving. His general guidance takes m any
forms and ways according to the requirements of situations and through them
are established arguments for Him. The phrase complements what is before it,
to m ean that there is a promise (wa'd) for pondering the similitudes an d a
threat (waid) for not heeding them .242243It is also said as an explanation that the
benefit of striking similitudes is clarification for hum ankind, but that is not so.
The expression of the name o f God stresses the phrase.

M aw dudi
MawdudTs commentary on this celebrated verse displays two key characteristics of m od­
ernist, Muslim reformist thinking and exegesis. First, it stresses the evident nature of
divine guidance (the light) and the obligation for total submission to it in all spheres of
one’s life; hence, the attack upon hypocrisy. Second, it attempts to familiarise the divine
text by appealing to the reader's association with literary forms. Applying techniques of
literary analysis to the Q uranic text, the metaphor of light is shown to express a tropic
formulation akin to other tropes in literature. Furthermore, literary devices used in the
Q ur’an are assimilative but do not actually provide ‘real comparisons’. To detail this, and
stress divine alterity (another major feature of his thought), he makes a distinction
between humans making sense of a word or phrase (its *basic sense’) and an ‘absolute,
God’s point-of-view sense’, thus articulating a relative theory of meaning in which signi­
fication is one thing when applied to man and quite another when applied to God. This
allows for a critique of literal anthropomorphism whilst retaining a somewhat traditional
Sunni Ash‘ari reluctance to engage in extensive metaphorical analysis and advocating a
traditionalist agnosticism about those anthropom orphisms (the balkafa in classical
kaldm).245 Thus to say ‘God is light* has meaning for us as a metaphor but the absolute
sense, or one might say the mode in which He is light, is not available to us.

242 Here Alusi relates the last two phrases of the verse to a key doctrine of Mu'tazili theology and
eschatology. Sec Ulrich Rudolph, ‘al-Wa'd wa’l-wald’, El2, XI, 6-7.
243 On the balkafa, see Abrahamov 1995.

444
 Light of the heaven* and the earth

God:244 [A continuation of a critique of h y p o crites]... These hypocrites had

become totally myopic because of their excessive wordliness. Despite their pro­
fession of faith, they were totally devoid of the light which, thanks to the Q ur’an
and the Prophet, had begun to radiate all a ro u n d At this point, without directly
addressing [the hypocrites], the observations made about them here have three
aims. First, to adm onish them ; for, it is the forem ost requirem ent o f G o d s
mercy and lordship that if a person falls into error and is straying, then notwith­
standing all his mischievous and ugly deeds, every effort should be made, to the
last m oment, to make him understand [the truth and m end his ways]. Second,
to lay bare the distinction between faith and hypocrisy in unambiguous terms
so that it is not difficult for even an average person to differentiate between the
believing and the hypocritical individuals in Muslim societies. If, despite all the
clarification, someone lets themselves get caught in the noose of the hypocrites,
or seeks to be a partisan of the hypocrites, then they are to be held responsible
for this act. Third, to clearly warn the hypocrites that God’s promises are meant
only for the believers who are sincere in their faith and fulfil its requirements.
These promises are not m eant for nom inal believers, for those whose identifi­
cation with Islam is no m ore than their registration as Muslims in official
records.245 Hypocrites and those who wilfully transgress the commands of God
should not expect that God’s promise be fulfilled for them.
Light o f the heavens and the earth. In Q u r’&nic usage, the expression The
heavens and the earth’ is generally used in the sense o f ‘the universe’. An alter­
native rendering of the verse, therefore, could be ‘God is the Light o f the whole
universe’.
By Tighf is m eant that thing which makes other things visible. That is to
say, [light is] w hat is apparent in and of itself and which causes other objects
to becom e apparent. This is the general perception, in the hum an m ind, of
light and illum ination.246 The state o f total non-com prehension has been
called ‘darkness’ and ‘obscurity by m an. By contrast, w hen everything
becom es com prehensible and all things are apparent, then m an says that
there is light. It is according to this fundam ental understanding of the word
Tight’ th at it is used for God, exalted be He. It is no t to be taken literally to
mean that God is some ray of light, which travels at the speed of 186,000 miles
per second and reaches the retina o f our eyes and ultimately affects the centre
of vision in the brain. This particular attribute is not a part o f the essential

244 Mawdudi, Tafhim al-Qur’dn, VI, 252-5.

245 This is an important theme of MawdudTs thought Islam, for him, is a holistic faith that makes
demands upon every aspect of ones life and requires of believers that they openly ‘profess’ their faith
in their everyday actions. ‘Islam’ is thus not a label of citizenship but an affiliation and definition
linked to practice.
246 This is the general definition given for light going back to the classical commentaries.

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On the Nature of the Divine

m eaning for which the hum an m ind invented the w ord.247 R ather th a t a ttri­
bute is used for those types of illum inations that enter our experiences in th e
m aterial world.
W hatever phrases hum an language utilises for God, exalted be He, are
spoken with regard to their fundam ental apects and not with regard to th e ir
material examples. For example, we say of God that He sees. Now this does n o t
mean that God sees by means of a physical organ called an eye, in th e m an n er
o f animals and hum an beings. Likewise, we say that God hears. This does n o t
m ean that, like us, God hears by means of ears. Likewise, we are told th at G od
seizes. Again, this is not in the sense of God seizing by means of an instrum ent,
namely the hand, in the m anner that men and animals seize.
All such statements have an absolute meaning. Hence, it is people o f very
limited understanding who believe that there can be no other form o f seeing,
hearing and seizing except in the specific limited form with which we are famil­
iar through our own experience. In the same way, in connection w ith ‘light*, to
imagine that its significance may be manifested/perceived only in the form o f
a ray that emanates from some shining object and falls upon the retina o f the
eye, is sheer narrow -m indedness. G od is light, not in this lim ited sense b u t
rather in an absolute sense; in other words, in this existence God alone is self-
apparent; all else is nothing other than mere darkness. Any other th in g th a t
emits light is luminous and illuminating only because God has invested it w ith
light, otherwise they have nothing innate whereby they could perform this
miracle [of being luminous and illuminating].
The word ‘light* is also used to mean ‘know ledge, and its antonym - igno­
rance - is described by ‘darkness*. In this sense, too, God is the light o f the u n i­
verse, for the knowledge o f realities and o f the right way [that m an should
tread] can only be gained from God. Without receiving o f God’s abundance, it
is impossible to do away with ignorance and its consequences o f e rro r and
sinfulness.248
A blessed tree, an olive: ‘blessed* m eaning of many beneficial uses, bearing
very many advantages.
Neither o f the east nor o f the west. That is, the tree is situated on an open site
or at a height so that it is constantly exposed to the sun. It is not behind any­
thing, for if it were, it would receive sunlight either only in the forenoon o r only

247 This paragraph is significant for two reasons. First, Mawdudi displays a popular scientific
knowledge that identifies him as an informed individual (and professional journalist) and so situates
his criticism as coming from an informed source. Second, it is made clear that what he opposes is
‘scientific commentary^ (tafsir Ulmf); Qur’&nic discourse, and the phenomena and entities that it
describes, cannot be reduced to materialist and physicalist interpretations.
248 This paragraph betrays another feature of modem commentary - namely, a receptivity to
rationalising (even neo-Mutazill) interpretations.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

in the afternoon.249 Now the oil o f such an olive tree is more subtle and p ro ­
duces a stronger light. A tree that faces only eastward or westward produces a
relatively thicker oil, the light o f which is weaker in a lamp.
Light upon ligfit. In this parable, the lamp is an allegory o f God Himself while
the niche is a symbol o f creation; and what is intended by the lamp is that veil
behind which He the Truth, exalted be He, has kept Himself hidden from the
eyes of creatures. However, the veil in reality, is not one of concealment but
rather one o f intensity o f visibility.
Thus, the inability of creatures to behold God is not because o f some dark
curtain between them [and God]. Rather, the real reason is that inbetween
there is a diaphanous veil; and the light that passes and comes through this
diaphanous veil is so intense, clear and all-encompassing that physical consti­
tutions o f limited pow er [i.e. hum ans with lim ited faculties] are too weak to
perceive it.250 These weak constitutions can perceive only those limited lights
that contain within themselves a vacillation, and which sometimes cease [to be
seen] and sometimes appear; and in contrast to which a darkness may appear
- it is in the face of their opposites that such lights are understood. As for
absolute light [sc. that o f God] which has no contrast or rival, which never
ceases, which always shines in every direction with a constant splendour - the
perception of this light is beyond the capacity o f those weak creatures.
The statement: ‘the lamp is illuminated by the oil of such an olive tree as is
neither eastern nor western’, is made purely for the sake of presenting an image
of the light*s perfection and intensity. In past times, the most light was obtained
from lamps lit by olive oil. Among such lamps, the most brightly burning ones
were those which were lit with oil derived from a tree situated in an open and
elevated place.
The purpose of this comparison is not to say that God derives energy from
som ething other [than Himself], like the lamp to which the comparison has
been made. Rather the intention is that, in the similitude, we should picture not
an ordinary lamp but the brightest one that we have ever witnessed, [and we
should understand that] even as such a lamp lights up the whole house, even
so God bestows illumination upon the whole of creation.251
Similarly, the intention of the statement that whose oil well-nigh would shine
even i f no fire would touch it is to present an image of how the light of the lamp

249 This interpretation displays MawdudTs knowledge of the classical commentaries on this
phrase.
250 This formulation of man’s inability to ‘perceive’ God seems almost to borrow from the Sufi
tradition (which, after all, was MawdQdl’s heritage) that the light of God is so intense that it dazzles
and blinds human perception.
251 This accords with the alternative reading of the verse ‘God is the Illuminator of the heavens
and the earth’ (Alldhu nawwaral-samAw&ti wa'l-artf). See the classical commentaries in this chapter.

447
On the Nature of the Divine

is exceedingly intense. In other words [it is as though we are being told]: [when
contemplating] the similitude imagine that lamp whose luminousity is the u lti­
mate in brightness, containing as it does such fine and incandescent oil. These
three things, namely the olive tree, its being neither of the east nor the west, an d
its oil which shines forth of its own without being lit by fire, are not in d ep en d ­
ent elements o f the parable. Rather, they are contained within the first elem ent
of the parable, namely the lamp. There are three essential elem ents o f th e
parable: namely, the lamp, the niche and the transparent glass.252
The phrase in the verse ‘the likeness o f His light is as likewise elim inates
the [possible] misunderstanding, which might have arisen regarding the state­
m ent God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth. From [the phrase 'the likeness
o f His light is a s it is understood that the intention in saying of G od that H e
is Tighf is not to say that His [essential] reality (haqiqa) is nothing b u t light. In
His reality He is one perfect essence (dhat) Who, along with being possessor o f
knowledge (Tim), of power (qudra), of wisdom (hikma), etc., is also the posses­
sor of light (nur). However, He Himself has been called purely Light because
o f the perfection o f His lum inosity - just as, to describe someone’s state o f
perfect generosity they are said to be generosity itself; or as, to describe
someone’s perfect good looks, they are declared to be beauty itself.253
God guides to His light whom He will. A lthough G od’s absolute light illu ­
minates the whole universe, not everyone has the fortune to perceive it. T h e
blessing of having the [God-given] success (tawfiq) to perceive [the divine
light] and to draw benefit from it’s superabundant em anation (fayd), is
granted by G od alone to whom He wills. Otherwise, as in the case o f the blind
m an who cannot differentiate between day and night, for a seeing person th e
light of lightening - the sun, the m oon and the stars - is indeed light but they
fail to discern the light that comes from God. From this point o f view, for
such an unfortunate person there is only darkness on darkness, on every side
in the universe. A physically blind person cannot see even what lies next to
him, so m uch so that it is only when he bum ps into it and feels the h u rt th at
he realises th at thing was present in that place. In the same m anner, a m an
w ithout perceptive vision cannot see even those realities which are directly
in front o f him , radiant w ith th e light o f G od. Such a person realises th e ir
existence only when he has stumbled against them and has been seized by his
perdition.254

252 In this paragraph, Mawdudi attempts to analyse the poetics of the trope that is used in the
verse. It may suggest his openness towards a literary analysis of the Quran.
253 Tropic explanations of Qur anic discourse are prevalent in classical commentaries. In this
case, Mawdudi seems to describe the statement 'God is light’ to be a case of synecdoche.
254 Faith is not merely a matter of human endeavour. Rather, Mawdudi safeguards divine agency
in determining faith by insisting that it is He who guides and He who inspires faith.

448
 Light of the heavens and the earth

A nd God strikes similitudes for humankind and God has knowledge o f every­
thing. This statement has two meanings. The first is that God knows very well
which realities may be explained by which similitudes in the best possible way.
The second [meaning] is that God knows best who is entided to this blessing
and who is not. G od has no need to forcibly show the light of God the Truth
(nur-i h&qq) to th at person who is not in search o f it, and who is engrossed
always in their w orldly ambitions, and the pursuit of m aterial com forts and
m undane benefits. It is only those whom God knows to be seekers, and sincere
seekers, of it, who are entitled to this gift [of the light o f God the Truth].255

Fa<JJ Allah
Fa<jl Allah often attempts to cover more than one aspect of any verse he is commenting
on, since he is aware that the multi-faceted nature of the Q uranic revelation allows for
several interpretations and an appreciation of the import of the verse at more than one
leveL Here he provides a brief scientific breakdown of the natural phenomenon o f light,
its speed and projection through the optical nerves attached to the human brain. He then
emphasises, in an anti-anthropomorphic vein, that although one uses certain concepts to
refer to God, concepts taken from hum an experience (such as ba$ar, sam \ bafsh), one
should not understand these in the their anthropomorphic context, but always be aware
that they are being used in an absolute sense when expressing ideas about God; God as
the light o f the heavens and the earth is properly understood as meaning God is ‘the cause
of all manifestation (sabab al-fuhur) in the universe*. Fa<Jl Allah concludes his comm en­
tary with an appreciation of the rhetorical aspect of the verse, the beauty of the language
and the message o f guidance, which God ultimately intended for His creation.

God is the Light o f the heavens and the earth.256 W hat is the function of light? It
reveals an object’s true features, which are not normally manifest, but which
require [light] so that these can materialise before the observer. This is what the
word discussed by the ancients expresses - that which is apparent in its own right
and which gives appearance to another, of things perceptible to vision. But how
is it that it is applied to God?
Some explain this by [saying] that it stands in place o f that existence from
which all other things derive their existence. This is what the Tapir al-Mizan says:

If a things existence is that very same [form] in which it appears to other things,
it is then totally faithful to [the concept of what is] light. And since potentially-
existent things only exist by God making them [existent], He then is the most

255 In this last paragraph, he pulls back from hard determinism by insisting that people can do
something to ensure their faith and salvation, at the very least by forsaking the pursuit of material
gain and physical ephemera.
256 Fa<ll Allah, Min wahy al-Qur’dn, XVI, 318-24.

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On the Nature of the Divine

fitting to be [called] light. There is, thus, existence (wujud) and light (nur), by
which things are characterised, and whose existence and light is borrowed from
and taken from God. A self-sustaining existence and light that gives existence and
light to things. He is a light with which the heavens and the earth become visible.
This is what His saying, God is the Litfti of the heavens and the earth, means, where
al-nur (light) is a genitive annexation (i&tfa) to al-samawat wal-ard (the heavens
and the earth) and becomes a name for Majesty.257

Others think that what is intended by light (al-nur) is the actual concept -
that by which things become visible, and not, as some say, that God - exalted
be He, and refuge is sought with God - is a ray [of light] that travels at 186,000
miles per second and is reflected by the eye and effects the optic nerves [con­
nected] to the brain. This is the characteristic peculiar to light, but it does no t
cover the true meaning for which the hum an m ind invented this word. In fact,
this word is used on account of the lights that we experience in this physical
world. Any word uttered by the hum an tongue in reference to God m ust be
used with regard to its essential sense, and not with regard to its physical m an ­
ifestation. For example, we use the term ‘eyesight’ (ba$ar) to refer to G od,
exalted be He, but that does not m ean that He has an eye with which He sees,
like hum ans or animals. Similarly, we use the term ‘hearing (sam'), but th a t
does not mean that He hears with ears as a hum an being does. We also use th e
term ‘strike (bafsh) and ‘destroy^ (akhdh), but that does not mean that He has
an instrum ent like a hand with which He destroys humans. All such term s are
used to refer to God in an absolute way, and not in any restricted sense. We are
not about to suppose that an intelligent person would think it impossible for
eyesight, hearing or striking to assume a form other than that which we are
accustomed to in this world. Accordingly, if it is said that there is no tru e
m eaning o f light except in the form of that ray em itted by a lum inous body
reflected by the uppermost [layers of the] eye, then such a statement can only
em anate from a m isunderstanding and narrowness o f m ind. The term nu r
(light) is not used to refer to God with this restricted and narrow sense, but is
used in its absolute and ample sense without limit, that is to say, God, glory be
to Him, alone is the ‘cause o f manifestation (sabab al-zuhur) in this universe.
As for those luminous bodies that emit light, they did not obtain their light, n o r
do they illum inate the universe, except from the light with which G od has
blessed them . Otherwise, they have nothing with which to illum inate o th e r
[objects].258
The term Tighf (nur) is also used for knowledge, in the same way th a t

257 Tab&tab&l, MizAn, XV, 122.

258 Fa<Jl Allah is careful to distance himself from ‘scientific’commentaries that attempt to provide
an understanding of this verse through a discussion of the physics of light.

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 Light of the heavens and the earth

darkness is used to express ignorance. God is the light o f the universe, in the
sense that truths cannot be known directly in this universe except through Him.
Otherwise, there can be nothing in it except the darkness of ignorance and mis­
guidance, [especially] when one does not imbibe from the abundance o f His
generosity and guidance. The author of the commentary known as al-Kashshaf
says that the light o f the heavens and the earth means the ‘truth* (haqq)ywhich is
likened to light when it is manifest and clear, like His saying God is thefriend o f
those who believe, bringing them out o f darkness and into light [Q. 2:257], th at is,
from falsehood (bafil) to truth.259 He added al-nur to [the clause] al-samdwdt
wal-ard for one o f two meanings: either to indicate the extent of His illum ina­
tion (ishrdq) and brilliance, so that the heavens and the earth are lit up for Him;
or to indicate that the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth obtain their light
from Him.
Some have said that ‘Goffs light' (nur Allah) means His greatness in term s
of His power, knowledge and wisdom. This greatness is embodied in [His] cre­
ation of the universe. Every thing on earth and in the heavens is an explicit and
clear indicator of God’s existence and His greatness. In this way, two meanings
become evident, w here there is no difference between saying ‘the heavens and
the earth are the light o f God’ (al-samdwdt wal-ard nur Allah) and saying ‘God
is the light of the heavens and the earth* (Allah nur al-samdwdt wal-ard) >since
the first statem ent means the greatness of the universe is an indicator o f G od’s
greatness, and the second means that Goffs greatness is embodied in the great­
ness of the universe.

The meaning o f‘light* in the verse

We, however, need to examine the stylistic side o f the expression, in term s of
its rhetoric, since this will suggest to us the idea behind the term. In view o f this,
we pose the following question: what is the significance contained in the term
nur (light) when it is used to refer to the relationship between God an d the
heavens and earth, and what is the issue that God wants to turn our attention
to? Is it that God wants us to note that the existence o f the heavens and the earth
is dependent on His existence, given that He is self-manifesting in His existence
and manifesting o f other [things] with that which He gives them existence? But
that is not the truth which the verse generally wants to emphasise, as is clear to
us when we contemplate the general context of the meaning. O r else, He wants
to tell us that He is the reason that the universe is apparent, which is closer to
the first meaning, or is in fact that same [meaning], or that [He wants to tell us]
about truth which is like light when it is manifest, or about Goffs greatness or
power? None of this sits well with the general drift of the verse.
259 See Zamakhshari’s commentary, this chapter.

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On the Nature of the Divine

W hat is evident to us is that the drift o f the verse is that o f the guidance
within creation, to which the heavens and the earth are subject, since the n a r­
ration ends with ‘guidance*, where He says [God] guides to His light whom He
will, through the sources o f guidance in life. In another verse, God, exalted be
He, says, God will make last His light [Q. 61:8], with what it suggests in the way
o f guidance and what it contains [in the way] o f principles and legislations th at
lead people to God.
In view of this, it may be that the meaning, by way o f metonymy, is that G od
is the only truth which supplies all existence with guidance and facilitates th eir
movement in a safe direction, organizing their affairs and preserving the equi­
librium. Accordingly, G od becomes the O ne who drives existence to th e
sources of His guidance, just as He is the light that illuminates for things th e
safe paths in life: He is the light o f the heavens and the earth with which they
are guided in their existence and progress towards their goals.

Likening God’s light to a niche

The likeness o f His light, the way in which the m ind in its physical awareness o f
im m aterial things tries to imagine [things], given that som ething that has a
material existence cannot experience clarity of vision and true conception w ith
regard to invisible things that are metaphysical, is as a niche, which captures
and gathers light, so that no air can touch it.260
Wherein is a lamp (the lamp, the ultimate prototype for illumination, which
no other lamp can surpass in this aspect, [is] in a glass, the glass as it were a
glittering star), that is, it is placed inside a glass lantern th at provides th e
utm ost illum ination [is] kindled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither o f
the east nor o f the west, [i.e., that] it is not in eastern places where the sun only
reaches it when it rises, nor is it in any western place so that [the light of] th e
sun only reaches it during its setting; instead, it is in a place where no tree,
m ountain or wall covers it, so that [the light of] the sun reaches it when it rises
and when it sets, m orning and evening, m aking its oil pure and clear; whose
oil well-nigh would shine, and em it light because o f its purity, even i f no fir e
touched it, since, it gives light w ithout being kindled, that which doubles its
brilliance if it is lit.
Light upon light, on account of the intensification of the light through th e
lamp, the glass and the pure clear oil. In this way, the depiction of the brilliance
that diffuses into all things surrounding it and that exist around it is completed.
N othing escapes it [the brilliance], and nothing can obscure it. This is th e
m eaning which the verse suggests: that source from which light sets off to

260 Here, Fadl Allah observes that one can only comprehend immaterial objects through the use
of tropic language.

452
 Light of the heavens and the earth

invade the darkness that surrounds a certain place, so that no darkness remains
[thereafter].
That [then] is God's light which He wants people to discover, so that it will
uncover for them all the ambiguities of the universe, the darkness o f life and
the obscurities o f problem atic [issues], constituted by His revelation, which
moves [in harm ony] with the concepts [enshrined] in His religion, the pre­
scriptions o f His holy law, and the details of His way. He is the One Who can
grant them guidance, with which there can be no misguidance, and truth, in
which there is no falsehood, and clarity that is not blemished by any ambiguity.
He is the One W ho wants them to open up their minds and their hearts to Him;
God guides to His light whom He will from among His servants that have opened
themselves up for the truth, so that the truth is revealed to them through G ods
light, which shines over minds, hearts and emotions.
In this way, God wants people to be guided by His light in their steps in life,
just as He wanted the heavens and the earth to be guided by Him in their exis­
tence, through which life [itself] is sustained. A n d God strikes similitudes fo r
humankind: illustration, by example, clarifies truths which people could not
realise on their own, and requires that these are revealed by some other method
that relies upon allusion, indication and the expressive and suggestive image.
And God has knowledge o f everything: that with which He wants to guide His ser­
vants to the straight path.261

261 What is most striking about this commentary is that it is devoid of references to traditional
Shi1! commentary and understanding. This may be an expression of Fadl Allah’s ecumenical attempt
to appeal to a broad audience and readership. As in his commentary on the throne verse, his stress
here is on the doctrine and the understanding of God that is revealed in the Book, and not on His
special servants, the imams, who in Shil terms mediate between believers and God.

453
 5 The measure
(Q. 54:49)

Surely We have created everything in measure.

Inna kulla shay in khalaqnahu bi-qadar

I n general, the com m entaries on this verse focus on three in ter­

related issues: the nature of determ ination and design, hum an agency and, to
a lesser extent, the nature o f creation.
The question o f free will and predestination is one that has appeared time
and again in theological discussions in the religious systems o f the Near East:1
is salvation determ ined by a divine decision o r is it a m atter of personal self-
determ ination? The starting-point usually prom pts the following thought: if
God knows what will happen from eternity, it must necessarily happen that way,
or else His knowledge would be erroneous. Given the monotheistic principle
that God is omniscient - and consequently, prescient - everything must be pre­
determined, including an individual’s fate. In time, philosophers would test this
supposition through arguments that show that God’s foresight need not be the
cause for events in the world. The problem o f divine foreknowledge determ in­
ing hum an agency was com m on to other m onotheistic traditions, and
responses were as varied as those encountered in the Muslim tradition. Early in
the second/eighth century, individual thinkers were already tackling such
vexing questions,2 and this soon gave rise to a popular theological movement
(the qadariyya) that sought to uphold the doctrine that humans were indeed free
to choose their acts, without contradicting God’s omniscience or omnipotence.3
These Qadaris were thereafter incorporated into the great rational, theological
movement of the second/eighth and third /n in th centuries, the M u'tazila.4
Muslim traditionalist theologians, especially the fjanballs, were fiercely
opposed to this m ovement and, generally speaking, from the fourth/tenth
century onwards, Muslim theology would be defined by heated debates and

1 See various authors: ‘Free will and predestination’, ER, V, 422-33.

2 For example, al-Idasan al-Ba$ri (d. 110/728) is reputed to have addressed such questions in a
famous epistle to the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (r. 65-86/685-705), cf. Cook 1981,
117ff. on the authenticity and implications of this correspondence; TG, II, 41-50.
3 These became known as Qadaris, where the term qadar referred to an individual’s power to
choose freely his or her actions: see Josef van Ess, ‘JfCadariyya, EP, IV, 368-72; 7G, 1,72-135, II, 50ff.
4 DanielGimaret,‘Mu'tazila,EP, VII,783-93.

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On the Nature of the Divine

polemics between key figures from both sides: the traditionalists o n the one
hand and the M utazila on the other.5
The key theological dispute concerning the general and particular divine
determinative decrees, qatfa and qadar respectively, is inevitably m anifested
in the interpretations of the Q ur’&n.6 Once again the very same Q u ra n ic w ords
are taken as proof texts for totally opposed stances. Addressing the query as to
whether God’s statement in Q. 54:49 is m eant to be understood as a reference
to His creation of a predeterm ined cosmos and existence, the com m entators
assess the value o f the verse as a proof text for o r against determ inism .
Determinists often cite Q. 54:49 as evidence for their theological position th at
God has predeterm ined the events of our life and the existence and fate o f all.
O n the other hand, upholders o f free will do not interpret the sam e verse to
mean that the creature has no free will; they prefer to focus on the interp reta­
tion that God has created everything with divine precision, a perfect ‘m easure’,
in all relevant matters. At times the theological discussions o f th e verse are
embedded in a gloss upon the grammatical structure of the phrase. Thus in Abu
Hayyan and Razi, the grammatical analysis itself is used to d em o n strate
whether this verse may be a possible proof text for the divine predeterm ination
of hum an acts or, on the contrary, for hum an free will. However, not in fre ­
quently, one finds that a commentator prefers to emphasise that the verse h ig h ­
lights the divine wisdom inherent in the creation of everything, according to a
precise and excellent design; this shifts the focus away from the con ten tio u s
debate over determ inism and free will to a concept which all com m entators
agree on, be they determinists or upholders o f free will - namely, th e all-p er­
vasive divine wisdom.
The earliest understanding of the verse, as per Muqatil (d. 150/767), does n o t
indicate any concern with the theological issue of divine predestination, sug­
gesting that such controversial topics were only just beginning to fom ent at th e
middle of the second century. By the time we get to Hud (d. 290/903), however,
the controversy stirred up by upholders o f the doctrine o f hum an free will is
clearly at the forefront of theological debates. Hud, reflecting the later Iba<Ji
stance against free will, strongly takes issue with those who disbelieve in divine
determination. Tabari’s commentary, to some extent, also shows a developm ent
in the debate over this contentious topic. Tabari’s is the last com m entary th at
addresses the question of predestination specifically using the trad itio n al
m ethod of citing Prophetic traditions, where those who deny God’s preordain-
m ent are condem ned as unbelievers. Thereafter, the debate is less situated in
the traditional narrations cited by the earlier commentators.
5 S e e v a n E ss 1 9 7 7 ; W a tt 1 9 4 8 . ,
6 L o u is G a r d e t , ‘a l - K a d a ’ w a ’l - ^ d a r ' , EP, IV , 3 6 5 - 7 ; D m i t r y V. F ro lo v , 'F r e e d o m a n d p r e d e s t i ­
n a t i o n ’, £ Q , I I , 2 6 7 - 7 1 .

456
 The measure

W th Maybudi, and particularly RazI, Abu Hayyan and Burusawl, we begin

to see the associations between qadar/qatfa and G od’s immutable divine will
(irada), a will that is pre-eternal and beyond the limited, logical comprehension
o f hum an beings. ‘By O ur preordaining is a thing determ ined, by O ur decree
is a com m and issued, and in accordance with O ur will and desire is a task
carried o u f, glosses Maybudi. cQa4d}is that which is in the [divine] knowledge
(T/m), while qadar is that which is in the [divine] will (irada). Therefore, His
saying innd kulla shay in khalaqndhu bi-qadar means that [everything was
created] by His decree with His will* states RazI. Abu Hayyan for his part links
the will with power (qudra): ‘The meaning in the verse is [that We have created
everything] through [Our] pow er with [Our] will’
Maybudi’s commentary also reveals the classical Ash‘ari distinction between
the creation of acts and their acquisition. This distinction between existentia-
tion and acquisition is the crux of the m atter in the Ash‘ari attitude. Anything
that exists or comes to pass is created by G od the sole Creator. Anything that
happens is allowed to happen by God. The hum an agent does not and cannot
create any existent but he chooses the acts that come to pass through him. Thus
though the Ash‘aris seem to deny free will, it may be argued that the very fact
that G od allows evil to happen shows that He allows the creatures through
whom that evil comes to pass, the active choice of engaging in that evil - which
is not to say that they created the evil, but they choose to play it out. Indeed,
having made clear that G od is in absolute control and totally in charge,
Maybudi takes tim e to show th e huge im portance of seeking, which is to say
choosing, the right thing: G od Himself. ‘Seek nothing from Him but Him’, a
choice that means absolute success: ‘he who has found Him, even though he
may have found nothing [else] has found everything.’
Along with num erous others throughout Islamic history, mystics or other­
wise, Maybudi highlights both the supremely generous nature of divine mercy
and the lim ited nature o f hum an understanding, when he states how one
person receives m ore grace than he deserves and another receives much less.
Maybudi ends his section by emphasising ‘reliance on God’ (tawakkul): given
the extensive and wise, om niscient mercy of God who ordains all for the ulti­
mate best and who loves His creatures, it behoves the believer to trust in God’s
benevolence and wisdom, and especially, His m ercy which is given u nde­
servedly and most generously.
As noted, one feature of some of the commentaries is their concern with the
Mu‘tazill stance on the issue of predestination. This only becomes more evident
in the later commentaries, particularly from the fourth/tenth century onwards,
by which time the Mu‘tazill m ovem ent had spread far beyond the borders of
Basra and Baghdad. So we see that Zamakhshari and JabrisI, in support o f the

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On the Nature of the Divine

rational principles on which M u'tazilism was founded, prefer to u n d erstan d

the term qadar as a reference to God's precise design o f the universe, the divine
m easure of wisdom that pervades everything around us, even though they
cannot but acknowledge the possibility that the verse is a reference to G o d 's
predestined decree for all of creation. However, as is clear in Z am akhshari's
com m ent, even when considering the predestined decree, qadar is linked to
absolute foreknowledge:4We already knew its state and duration.'
TabrisI links ‘the measure' to justice in his gloss: ‘Even punishm ent We have
created according to the measure of merit.' Surprisingly, the com m entators do
not engage outright with the pertinent question that arises regarding the rela­
tionship between suffering and destiny or divine justice. However, Tabrisi's
com m ent indicates clearly that divine punishm ent never exceeds the sin,
despite appearances.7
Sharafi’s preference is, similarly, for understanding the verse as an affirm a­
tion of God's wisdom, wisdom inherent in the precise design of the cosmos. In
addition, the theological debate over hum an free will and predestination has
already, by Sharaffs time, become located in the grammatical discussions co n ­
cerning the syntactical status of two of the words o f the Q ur'anic verse. The
status assigned to the phrase khalaqndhu and the vowelling o f the kull d e ter­
mined whether one understood the verse as meaning either no more than ‘G od
created everything in measure' or ‘Everything which God created, He created
in measure', allowing for the possibility that certain things are not created by
Him, such as hum an acts: hum ans create their actions of their own free will
(and so it is only just that they be recompensed for them accordingly).
As we move into the twentieth century, the commentators display an aw are­
ness of m odem scientific discoveries. The thrust of m odem commentary, as can

7 G e n e r a l l y , f o r M u s l i m s c o g n i z a n t o f n u m e r o u s o t h e r Q u r 'i n i c v e r s e s p r o c l a i m i n g G o d ’s
m e r c y a n d f o r g i v e n e s s , s u c h a s Q . 3 9 :5 3 : Verily God forgives sins entirely ( inna’lldha yaghfiru’l-
dhunuba jamt an), t h e m a t t e r o f d iv in e j u s t i c e is s a t u r a t e d w ith m e r c y w h ic h m a y m i t i g a t e p u n i s h ­
m e n t . F u r t h e r m o r e , f o r t h e M u s lim c o m m u n i t y a n d e s p e c i a ll y t h e S h f i s e c t o r s , e a r t h l y p a i n a n d
s u f f e r i n g a r e n o t t o b e u n e q u iv o c a lly e q u a t e d w ith p u n i s h m e n t , f o r o f t e n e n o u g h t h e s u f f e r i n g is
n o t d e s e r v e d . H o w e v e r , i n k e e p i n g w i t h Q . 5 4 :4 9 , t h e r e is t h e a s s u r a n c e t h a t d i v i n e w i s d o m ,
t o g e t h e r w ith m e r c y a n d ju s tic e , h a s m e a s u r e d e v e r y t h in g p e r f e c tl y e v e n in t h e s u f f e r i n g o f i n j u s t i c e
u n d e r g o n e b y t h e in f a ll ib l e s (ma'fiim) o f G o d : th e p r o p h e ts , th e im a m s , th e h o ly o n e s . W ith in t h e
S e m itic f a m ily o f r e l ig i o n s , t h e p a r a m o u n t e x a m p l e o f t h i s is , o f c o u r s e , C h r i s t , w h o s e u n d e s e r v e d
s u f f e r i n g s a v e s c o u n t l e s s s o u l s , b y v i r t u e o f b e i n g w ill in g l y u n d e r g o n e f o r t h a t e n d b y a ma'fum
o n e o f G o d . H o w e v e r , t h i s is n o t t o b e m i s u n d e r s t o o d a s c o n d o n i n g o r e x c u s i n g i n j u s t i c e , n o r
s h o u l d it b e ta k e n a s a s t a t e m e n t t h a t t h e w o r l d s h o u l d t u r n a b l i n d e y e t o s u f f e r in g ; r a t h e r , t h e c o n ­
c lu s io n d r a w n b y n u m e r o u s M u s lim s is t h a t c o m p a s s io n a n d ju s ti c e a r e t o b e i m p l e m e n t e d t h r o u g h
la w s , u s i n g n a t u r a l , G o d - g i v e n r e a s o n i n g t o a s s e s s t h e m a n i f e s t s i t u a t i o n , i n t h e k n o w l e d g e t h a t
o n l y G o d k n o w s t h e fu ll s t o r y o f e v e r y c r e a t u r e . H u m a n i t y is n o t e x p e c t e d t o k n o w w h a t G o d
k n o w s , b u t t o d e a l w i t h w h a t i t c a n s e e i n t h e l i g h t o f w h a t it d o e s k n o w . I m p l e m e n t e d h u m a n
j u s t i c e t h u s is a p a r t i a l m a n i f e s t a t i o n o f d i v i n e ju s ti c e , t h e p e r f e c t m e a s u r e o f w h ic h is k n o w n o n l y
to H im .

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 The measure

be seen in the case of Mawdudi, is to counter any suggestion - prompted by sci­

entific advances - that there should be an element of chance in the creation of
our cosmos: ‘This [world) will not end an hour earlier than the time that has
been ordained for its end, nor will it rem ain an h our longer than that. It is
neither pre-eternal nor sempiternal that it always was and will always be* The
point M awdudi seeks to make is that scientific discoveries should not cast
doubt upon traditional beliefs enshrined in scripture, but should strengthen
what is already known. In more philosophical language, Fadl Allah reiterates
this point: ‘There is no random event ($udfa fd’ira) in the movement of exis­
tence [...]; there is an order that governs the entire universe through universal
norm s which God has deposited in it. This is what produces a feeling among
those scientists who pursue the mysteries of [... ] the universe, that behind every
phenomenon there is a wisdom*: in other words, God and science are not m utu­
ally exclusive.
Concerning qadar, as Fadl Allah has it, God has not predeterm ined m ans
choiceSy but that man should have choice in what he does: ‘There are divine laws
that govern the m ovement o f both the individual hum an and societies, from
their inception to their demise. Choice (ikhtiydr) is one of the elements in these
established ways [...]; choice is part o f qadar!

Muqatil
M uqatil does not comment beyond the immediate context o f the surrounding verses and
is content to understand the verse as an exclusive reference to the people o f Hell. G iven
his staunch traditionalism and his doctrinal stance towards sinners o f the M u slim com ­
munity, namely, that only those who reject G o d ’s oneness (tawhid) w ill spend eternity in
Hell,8 M uqatil here seems to identify the hardened polytheists or unbelievers as the ones
for w hom G o d has ‘decreed punishm ent and entry into H ellfire’. In addition, we know
that M uqatil subscribed to predestinarian views, as, at one point in his commentary, he
includes a famous narrative that describes how G od, at a p rim ord ial stage, spread the
entire progeny o f Adam in H is hand and determined their salvation and status.9

Surely We have created everything in measure: He [God] is saying that He has

decreed for them punishm ent and entry into Hellfire (saqar).10

8 Tafsir, I I I , 6 8 8 - 9 ; h e r e , c o m m e n t i n g o n Q . 3 9 :7 1 - 3 , M u q a t il s ta te s t h a t t h o s e d is b e li e v e r s w h o
a r e le d in b a tc h e s to H e ll ( wa-siqa’lladhina kafarit ila jahannama zumaran), a r e t h o s e w h o r e j e c te d
tawhid (alladhina kafaru biVtawhid). T h u s f o r M u q& til, t h e o n ly o n e s d e s t i n e d f o r H e ll e t e r n a l l y a r e
t h o s e w h o d o n o t p r o f e s s t h e o n e n e s s o f G o d (c f. h i s Tafsir, 1 ,5 8 9 ; II, 2 9 8 -9 ); H a m z a 2 0 0 2 .
9 C f. v a n E ss 1 9 7 1 ,5 1 , a n d d is c u s s e d b y C o o k 1 9 8 1 ,1 2 1 - 3 .
10 Tafsir, IV , 1 8 4 .

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On the Nature of the Divine

Hud
It appears that during the earliest years o f their movement, the IbSUjiyya showed a degree
o f deference towards Q adarism , and as a result d id not fin d the notion o f hum an free
w ill offensive to their beliefs.11T his may have been a relic o f the strongly rationalist back­
ground o f Basra from w hich the founding elements o f Ib&dism emerged, and a result o f
the historical association o f Jabir b. Zayd (d. c. 100/718), the first Ibatfi im am , w ith the
famous al-Hasan al-Ba$ri. From about the tim e o f the second Ibadi imam, A b u ‘U bayda
M u slim b. A b i Karim a (d. 100/718), and certainly by the tim e o f the third im am , a l-R a b f
b. H abib (d. c. 170/786), Ib&cjl theology came to favour determ inism on the question o f
divine w ill versus human w ill, in line with the traditionalist teachings enshrined in the
canonical hadith com pilation attributed to this latter im am .12 The reports p rovided by
H ud fo r this verse are obviously intended to uphold the notion that G od's p re o rd a in -
ment o f events, as a consequence o f both H is infinite knowledge and power, invalidates
any hum an attempt to ponder how things m ight have turned out otherwise, w ith the
im plication that humans are not free to do as they please. Not o nly has G o d accounted
for every drop and every atom, as suggested by the first report, but He has also p re o r­
dained hum an destiny such that humans should not waste tim e w ondering how th e ir
predicam ent m ight have been otherwise, som ething clear from the last o f the reports
presented here.

[On] the words o f G od,13 Surely We have created everything in measure:14 They
relate from ‘All [b. Ab! Jalib] that he said, ‘Everything is in a measure even this*,
and he placed his index finger on the tip of his tongue, then he placed it on the
tip of his left thum b.1516
They also relate from ‘All that the Messenger o f G od said, ‘No servant [of
God] believes until he believes in four [things]: that he bears witness that there
is no god but God and that I am the Messenger of God, and [believes] th at I
have been sent with the Truth, and believes in the resurrection after death, and
believes in ‘the measure (bil-qadar).>16
They also relate from 'All that he said, ‘No servant tastes of the reality o f faith

11 C r o n e a n d Z i m m e r m a n n 2 0 0 1 ,2 0 2 - 3 .
12 C f. E n n a m i (1 9 7 1 ) ; o n t h e Musnad o f a l - R a b f b . H a b ib , s e e C r o n e a n d Z i m m e r m a n n 2 0 0 1 ,
3 0 5 -8 .
13 Tafsir, IV , 2 5 7 - 9 .
14 E v e n t h o u g h H u d , lik e M u q i t i l , d o e s n o t d i s c u s s t h e g r a m m a r o f t h i s v e r s e , e a r l y c o m m e n t a ­
t o r s s o m e t i m e s d id . A s w e ll a s c o m m e n t i n g t h a t t h e d i v i n e m e a s u r i n g o f t h i n g s is in h a r m o n y w i t h
d iv i n e w is d o m , t h e Z a y d i i m a m a l - H u s a y n b . a l- Q 4 s im ( 3 r d / 9 t h c e n t .) a ls o d i s c u s s e s w h e t h e r t h e
w o rd kull (every) s h o u l d b e r e a d a s n o m i n a t i v e o r a c c u s a t iv e , t h a t is , w h e t h e r t h e v e r s e s h o u l d b e
u n d e r s t o o d a s: ‘W e h a v e c r e a t e d e v e r y t h in g i n a m e a s u r e ' o r ‘E v e r y th i n g t h a t W e h a v e c r e a t e d i s i n
a m e a s u r e ; s e e S h a r a f i, Ma$dbth, II , 2 6 4 - 5 .
15 H u d s ta te s t h a t th i s t r a d i t i o n is r e p o r t e d b y S a i d b . J u b a y r f r o m ‘A ll. T h e s u g g e s tio n h e r e s e e m s
t o b e t h a t e v e n s o m e t h i n g s e e m in g l y a s i n s ig n i f ic a n t a s t h i s s m a ll g e s t u r e is ‘m e a s u r e d * b y G o d , a n d
t h e im p l i c a t i o n is t h a t it is d e t e r m i n e d b y G o d a n d n o t i n d e p e n d e n t o f H im .
16 C f. T i r m i d h i , Sunan, I I I , Kitab al-qadar, bdb 10, hadith n o . 2 2 3 1 .

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 The measure

until he knows that what has befallen him could not have missed him, and what
has missed him could not have befallen h im ’17
They relate18 that ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar said that while the Messenger o f God
was with a group of his Companions, a man approached [them and] greeted the
Prophet and the crowd. The Prophet returned the greeting and the man said, ‘O
M uhammad, will you not inform me what faith (imdn) is?’ The Prophet said,
‘Faith is that you believe in God, His angels, His scriptures, His messengers, the
last day, the resurrection after death, the accounting, the balance, the garden, the
fire and the measure, both the good and the evil in it’ The man said, ‘A nd if I do
that am I a believer (mu’mm)?’ The Prophet replied, ‘Yes’ The man then said, ‘You
have spoken the tru th ’ The Com panions of the Prophet were am azed at his
saying, ‘You have spoken the truth’. Then the man asked, ‘O Muhammad, will you
not inform me what Islam is?’ He said, ‘Islam is that you perform the canonical
prayer, pay the alms-tax, fast in Ramadan, make the pilgrimage to the holy house
o f God, and perform the major ablution when in the state of major ritual impu­
rity.’ The m an said, ‘And if I do that, will I have submitted (aslamtu)V ‘Yes,’ the
Prophet replied. He said, ‘You have spoken the truth.’ Then he said, ‘O
M uhammad, will you not inform me what virtue (ihsdn) is?’ The Prophet said,
*Ihsan is that you fear God as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him He sees
you.’ He said, ‘And if I do this, will I be virtuous (ahsantu)V He said, ‘Yes’ He said,
‘You have spoken the truth.’ Then he asked, ‘0 Muhammad, will you not inform
me when the H our will occur?’ The Prophet said, ‘Glory be to God the Great’
three times, adding: The one who is asked about it knows no more than the ques­
tioner does, as God has kept exclusively for Himself the knowledge of five things
which no one [else] can know: Verily, the knowledge o f the Hour is with God
[alone]; He sends down the rain, and knows that which is in the wombs; a soul does
not know what it shall earn; and a soul does not know in which land it shall die; verily
God is Knower, Informed [Q. 31:34]. However, I will tell you about things that shall
precede it. W hen the slave-girl gives birth to her master, when builders make tall
buildings and when bare-footed, naked people become the chiefs of the people.’
Then the man turned away and the Messenger of God followed him with his eyes
for a long while. Then he withdrew his gaze and said, ‘Do you know who that
was?’ They said, ‘God and His Messenger know ’ He said, ‘That was Gabriel who
came to you to teach you the matter of your religion. So learn.’19
17 H a d s t a t e s t h a t t h i s r e p o r t is t r a n s m i t t e d b y 'A t a ' b . a l- S a y ib f r o m ‘A ll. T h i s is a v e r y w e ll-
k n o w n a n d o ft-c ite d tr a d itio n , a n d c a n b e f o u n d in m o s t hadith c o ll e c ti o n s , qadar.
in s e c tio n s o n
se e fo r e x a m p le , A b u D a w u d , Sunan, Kitdb al-sunna, c h . 17, n o s . 4 6 9 9 ,4 7 0 0 ; I b n M a ja , Sunan, I, c h .
10 , n o . 7 7 .
18 H u d s ta te s t h a t t h i s r e p o r t a b o u t t h e P r o p h e t is t r a n s m i t t e d b y ' A b d A lla h b . D i n a r f r o m ' A b d
A lla h b . ‘U m a r .
19 T h i s is a v e r y f a m o u s n a r r a t i o n c a lle d t h e *hadith JibrfT , o f te n n a r r a t e d o n t h e a u t h o r i t y o f A b u
H u r a y r a o r I b n ‘U m a r a s in t h i s c a s e . S e e B u k h a r i, $ahlht 1 ,4 7 , V I , 3 0 0 ; M u s lim , Sahib, 1 , 1 .

461
On the Nature of the Divine

They m ention that ‘Abd Allah b. M asu d said: ‘[When] people disbelieved
after prophecy, the key to that [disbelief] was always the denial of the measure.1
Al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri] said that the Messenger o f God said, ‘Islam is founded
upon three [things]: the struggle (jihad) - which no injustice from anyone can
reverse - from the tim e that God sent forth His Prophet to the last group o f
M uslims who will fight the Dajjal;20 silence when you do not know; and th e
measures, both the good and the evil of th em '21
They relate from Raja1b. Haywa that the Messenger of God said, ‘I only fear
for my com m unity the injustice o f their leaders, their believing the stars [i.e.
astrology] and their denying the m easure’22
They relate from A buVAjjaj al-Azdl that he said to Salman al-Farisi: ‘W ll
you not inform me about the measure and belief in the m easure? He said, ‘It is
to know that what has befallen you could not have missed you, and that w hat
has missed you, could not have befallen you. Do not say, “Were it not for so and
so, it would not be like this”.’

Qummi
Qumml, like most early Shl'i traditionists, has a deterministic reading of the text and the
world. For him, the verse signals the fact (repeated in many hadiths in the Shfl collections)
that God has predetermined our lives both in terms of their length and dimensions as well
as the choices and contingencies that we face in life. Thus, those who espouse free will are
criticised and condemned as being ‘criminals. The commentary also reveals a polemic
against those who, within the Shfi tradition (like Zurira b. A'yan and Yunus b. ‘Abd al-
Rafrmin), supported the ability (istifd 'a ) of humans to choose what they would do and
thus have greater responsibility for their agency.

His saying Surely We have created everything in measure means that it has a
, 2 3

time, a fixed length and a period. It was related to us from M uhamm ad b. Abl
‘Abd Allah <- Musa b. ‘Im ran <- al-Husayn b. Yazld <- Isma‘ll b. Muslim th at
Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq] said: ‘I have found a nam e in the Book o f G od
for those who believe in free will (ahl al-qadar),24 [where] He says, Verily, the
20 An apocalyptic evil figure whose advent in the last days will constitute one of the signs of the
imminent ‘Hou/. Although he is not mentioned in the Qur’&n, he figures frequently in apocalyptic lit­
erature and many hadiths. His evil will lie in his powers of deception which he will use to seduce people
and lure them away from the path of God. His death will come at the hands of Jesus and his army of
believers (muslimun); see A. Abel, 'al-DadjdjaJ*. EP, II, 75; Neal Robinson, ‘Antichrist*, £Q, 1,107.
21 Abu Diwud, Sunart, III, 18; Kitdb al-jihdd: bdbfil-ghazw ma' a'immat aUjur (no. 2532).
22 Cf. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, V, 89-90 (hadith Jdbir b. Samura): gives a very similar report, except
that ‘belief in stars’ is not mentioned. However, the Prophet*s general misgivings about this idea can
be found in other reports in the Musnad (1,78,227,311).
23 Tafsir, II, 342.
24 ‘Free will*, the question of whether humans were free to act (or choose their acts) or whether

462
 The measure

criminals are the ones in error (fatal) and madness (s u u r ), to [where] He says,
Surely We have created everything in measure: These then are the criminals*

. .. v . “■ . t

Tabari
Tabari’s commentary on this phrase is a mixture of reported traditions and grammatical
analysis. As is his custom, he initially provides an overall interpretation of the phrase by
paraphrasing and expanding it. This is supported by a number of h a d ith s describing how
this verse, amongst others, was sent down as a rebuke to the polytheists among the
Quraysh, who questioned divine predestination.25 Nearly all of these h a d ith s constitute
asbdh al-nuzuU several of them being variants. There is no commentary on the subject of
divine predestination, but the traditions cited by Tabari appear to envisage some degree
of individual control over one’s destiny, through the performance of good or bad deeds,
within the overall framework of fate. These traditions, which make up three-quarters of
Tabari’s commentary, are followed by a grammatical discussion on the vowelling of the
word kull. Tabari presents the views of two grammarians, and concludes simply by saying
that he agrees with the second. He is unusually reticent about providing personal opinions
in his commentary on this verse, although this may merely reflect a general consensus on
the interpretation of this verse or the fact that he agrees with the material he is citing.

In His words,26 Surely We have created everything in measure, God is saying: We

have created everything in a measure (bi-miqddr),27 which We have decreed (qad-
dama) and ordained (qafaynd). In this there is a declaration that God threatens
the evildoers for their denial of qadar together with their disbelief in Him.28 The
[other] commentators have said the like of what we have on this [matter].

An account of those who said this:

Ibn ‘Abbas used to say, T find in God’s Book a people who will be dragged
through the Fire on their faces. They will be told: Dhuqu massa saqar (Taste now
the touch o f Saqar!) [Q. 54:48], because they used to deny qadar. I see them not,
so I do not know if it was som ething before us or something that remains [to
come].’
their this-world conduct - and consequently their destiny in the next life - is preordained by God
was a major theological controversy in early Islam; the adherents of the doctrine of human ‘free will’
were known as the Qadaris, the precursors of the Mu'tazila. For a thorough survey of this issue, cf.
Josef van Ess, ‘Sadariyya’, El2, IV, 368-72; van Ess 1975,56ff; Watt 1948.
25 In Tabari, qadar is always understood to mean divine determination.
26 Tabari, Jami al-hayan, XXVII, 109-11.
27 Tabari paraphrases the Qur’&nic phrase with an alternative wording from the same verb root
to darify its meaning.
28 The sura as a whole is an exhortation to recognise the truth of God’s revdation and a warning
of the dire punishment that awaits those who reject His truth. This verse follows previous verses
admonishing the sinners (mujrimun) who, we are informed, will be dragged through the fire of Hell
on the Day of Judgement as punishment for their infidelity.

463
On the Nature of the Divine

Abu Hurayra said that the polytheists o f the Quraysh argued w ith the
Prophet about qadar, whereupon God sent down Surely We have created every­
thing in measure.
Abu Hurayra [also] said: The polytheists of the Quraysh came to the Prophet
and argued with him concerning qadar, w hereupon innaVmujrimina f i daldlin
wa sueur (Surely, the sinners are in error and insanity) [Q. 54:47] was sent down.
A nother similar report is cited from Abu Hurayra.29
Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami said, ‘W hen the verse Surely We have created
everything in measure was sent down, a m an asked, “O Messenger o f G od, [if
this is the case], then what is the purpose o f [our] action? Is it in something that
we initiate or in something already concluded [for us] T The Messenger of G od
replied, “Act, for every person is eased to that for which he has been created:
We shall surely ease him to the easing [Q. 92:7], and We shall surely ease him to
the hardship [Q. 92:10]”.*
M uham m ad b. Ka‘b al-Q ura?i is reported to have said, ‘I looked on while
people were discussing qadar, and all o f a sudden these verses were sent dow n
concerning them: Surely the sinners are in error and insanity! Up to His words,
Surely We have created everything in measure [Q. 54:47-9].*
M uhammad b. Ka'b al-Qura^i said, ‘The verses: Taste now the touch ofSaqar!
Surely We have created everything in measure, were only sent down as a rebuke
for people [who reject] qadar!30
[Commenting on G ods] saying Surely We have created everything in measure,
Ibn ‘Abbas said: ‘God created all creatures in measure (bi-qadar), and He
created good and evil for them in measure. The best o f good is bliss and the
worst evil is damnation; how very evil dam nation is.*31
[End].32

29 This other report contains a slightly different isndd.

30The ‘people’ referred to here (and possibly those ‘discussing the subject of divine predestination
in the previous hadith) are most likely to be the Qurayshi infidels referred to in the traditions Tabari
has cited. The report from Abu Hurayra cited here, concerning the Qurayshi polytheists arguing
with the Prophet, is quoted again by Tabari with a slightly different isndd.
31 In other words, even though God has decreed the destiny of all of His creation, individual deeds
still have an impact on the fate of the individual. Those who perform good deeds and strive to follow
God’s guidance will find their path eased and their lives enriched, whereas those who strive to follow
the path of evil and sin will, conversely, find themselves rewarded measure for measure with
wretchedness.
32Tabari’s chapter ends with a discussion of the vocalisation of the word kull (every) of verse 49,
for which there are two readings: kulla (accusative) and kullu (nominative). These are discussed
more fully in the commentaries by Rizi and Abu tf ayyin.

464
 The measure

Maybudi
N a w b a t III33
The word qadar comprises on the one hand the sense of measuring, estimating and com­
puting, and on the other, that of limiting, determining and decreeing.34 As can be seen,
Arberry has translated the word as it occurs in this verse in its first sense of measuring.35
In MaybudTs interpretative ‘translation* of this verse (Nawbat I) he has: ‘We have created
everything according to a measure (ba anddza’t) and according to knowledge (ddnish)\
whilst in his exoteric commentary (Nawbat II) he presents this same meaning as one of
the possible interpretations of the verse. However, in his mystical commentary (Nawbat
III), he interprets qadar solely in its meaning of divine decree. The doctrine of the divine
preordaining and determining of all things, including the states of the wayfarer,36has a
prominent place in the mystical teachings of the Kashf al-asrdrt and indeed appears to be
an essential doctrine for many Muslim mystics.37
Maybudi prefaces his commentary on this verse with a passage of polemic against the
Qadaris, the Mu‘tazills and KhArijls, in which he claims that three verses in this sura,
including this one,38 provide proof against their belief that all acts, both good and bad
originate from man, that God creates the capability (dlat) and the ability (quwwat) in man
and then issues the command They are thus asserting that the servant is the creator of his
own acts, and that God has a partner in His creation. Maybudi counters this doctrine with
that of the *ahl-i surma? (the followers of the Sunna, sc. Sunnis), who believe that good
and bad actions are willed and preordained by God but are acquired by the servant, who
is rewarded or punished for them.39 Maybudi begins his commentary on the verse with
a sober passage pointing out our helplessness before the immutable divine will, which has
pre-destined us either for His favour or His rejection. After its austere beginning, the com­
mentary ends on a softer note with a merciful address from God to His servants.

Surely We have created everything in measure: W hatever has been, and whatever
will be, is entirely O ur creation. By O ur preordaining (qatfa) a thing is deter­

33 Maybudi, Kashf, IX. 399-400.

34 See Lex, II, 2494ff. The two meanings are combined in the idea of‘apportioning, i.c. decreeing
the measure of things.
35 Pickthall has the same sense as that used by Arberry. Yusuf Ali has ‘in proportion and measure.
36 This is illustrated in the words of An$Ari, ‘O You Who bring about [our) annihilation from self,
and cause us to attain (union with You]. Make me reach [union], for no one attained it by their own
efforf, quoted in MaybudTs commentary on the k u rs i-v e rse, ch.2.
37 Sec, for example, Massignon 1982, III, 101-2; Massignon 1994,64. The saying of B&yazld, in
Abu Nuaym, IJilya, X, 34; Chittick 1989,272, quoting Ibn'Arabi’s Futuhdt, II, 365.28. See also Sufi
interpretations of su ra l Y u s u f - fo r example, see (in Nwyia 1973,59) the commentary of Ibn 'AtA* in
Sulami’s H a q d 'iq \ Qushayri, Laf d ’if II, 168; KAshAni, Tafsir , 1,590. On the doctrine of ta q d ir in the
Sufi understanding of Iblis, see Awn 1983.
38 The two other verses he cites are Q. 54:3: Wa k u llu a m r in m u sta q irr (B u t every m a tte r is settled)
and Q. 54:12: Fa’lta q a 'l-m d 'u 'a id a m r in q a d q u d ir (A n d the w aters m e t f o r a m a tte r decreed ).
39 On the doctrine of acquisition ( k a s b ), see Watt 1943; Watt 1948, p a s s im ; Watt 1973, 192flf;
Ghoraba 1955, 3-8; Gardet 1967, 60-4; Louis Gardet, ‘Kasb’, EI2>IV, 692-4; Abrahamov 1989,
210-21; Gimaret 1977; Gimaret 1990, 369-99.

465
On the Nature of the Divine

mined, by O u r decree (taqdir),40 a com m and is issued, and in accordance w ith

O u r will (ir&dat) and desire (mashVat)41 a task is carried out. If so m eth in g
happens today, it is not because you willed it, but rather it is a pre-eternal a ct
[of God], which He is now making manifest.42
Upon one person He has placed the seal o f grace (fa il)43 by His pre-eternal
favour (lutf-i a z a l ) . His acceptance [by God] is greater than his act [deserves],
the answer to his prayer greater than what he prayed for, and what is given to
him is m ore than w hat he asked for. His robe o f h onour is greater than th e
service that he gave, and the forgiveness he receives greater than his sin.44 U pon
another He stam ped the brand of His justice (cadf)» driving him from His court.
This persons punishm ent is greater than his sin, his chastisement greater than
his crime.45

40 The words qajLT and qadar when combined indicate two aspects of the divine decree. The pre­
dominant view, and that of the Ash‘ari theologians, is that qafa' is the pre-eternal decree of God,
His ordination of things, whilst qadar is the Decree which brings things into existence through time,
and renders to each its measure and limit. Maybudi tends to use the second form ma$dar of the verb
q-d-r. taqdir, which is more or less synonymous with qadar. On qadd’ and qadar according to the
Ash'aris and other schools of theology, see Gardet 1967,116-20,139; Gardet, 4al-I£ada’ wa’l-kadar’,
EP, IV, 265-7; Gimaret 1990,380-1,396-8.
41 Concerning these two words, Lane (Lex, II, 2494ff) states: ‘most scholars make no difference
between mashi'a and irdda, though they are [said to be] originally different, for the former - in the
proper language - signifies the causing to exist, syn. al-ijdd; and the latter, the willing, wishing or
desiring; syn. al-fakbl
42 In other words, God preordained human actions in pre-etemity, and He brings them into
manifestation through time. Maybudi seems here to be conforming to the Ash ari understanding of
qadd’and qadar.
43 The idea that in pre-etemity human beings were divided into two groups, one destined for
Paradise and the other destined for the Fire, recalls a number of well-known hadiths relating to the
Covenant of Alast, as it is recounted in Q. 7:172: And when thy Lord tookfrom the Children ofAdam,
from their loins, their seed, and made them testify to themselves, ‘Am I not your Lord (alastu bi-rab-
bikum)?’ They said, ‘Yes we testify!'The hadiths describe how God took out Adam’s seed in two
groups, one blessed and the other damned. According to different hadiths, the former were drawn
out by God’s right hand and the latter by His left (or cast to the left); or the former were drawn from
Adam’s right side and were white in colour, while the latter were drawn from his left side and were
black. To the first group God said, ‘Enter the Garden’, and to the second, 'Enter the Fire. I do not
care.’ For numerous /Wrtfis commenting on this verse see Tabari, J&mi4al-baydn, XIII, 222-50; also
Rosenthal 1989, 304-7. For an account of the development of the doctrines surrounding Q. 7:172,
see Pourjavady 1990,3-47.
44 According to Sunni doctrine, the rewards in Paradise are due to divine grace (fadl) not of our
own deserving, whereas the punishments of Hell are the result of divine justice (W/). See Laqqinl
(d. 1041/1631), Jawharat al-tawhtd in the commentary of Ibr&him al-Bayjuri’s Tuhfa, 105:fa-in
yuthawwibfa-bi-mahdil-fadl wa in yu'adhdhibfa-bi-mahdiT'adl (If He rewards us it is through pure
grace, and if He punishes us it is through pure justice).
45 This passage may at first appear to be paradoxical: how can divine justice involve a punish­
ment, which outweighs the sin, especially when the Qur’an says: man ‘amila sayyi'atan fa-la yujzd
ilia mithlahd ( Whosoever does an evil deed shall be recompensed only with the like thereof) [Q. 40:40].
There are several possible answers to this. First, Maybudi may be showing that estrangement from
God is not in the category of ordinary sins. Second, he may here be alluding to Satan, and indeed he
discusses the situation of Satan in the following paragraph. Third, it may be Maybudfs rhetorical
way of underlining the teaching that reward and punishment are a matter of divine preordination.

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O pitiful one! Seek nothing from H im but Him. Do not be the slave of
estrangem ent, for estrangem ent from G od is the religion o f Iblis. Iblis said:
‘Now that You have banished me, cursed me and driven me from Your pres­
ence, give me something.’ [Thus, in the Q ur’an, he said]: ‘Reprieve me till the day
when they are raised (from the dead)' [Q. 7:14].46 He gave him the world but He
kept from him Himself.
He who is deprived [of God], even though he might have found everything,
has [in reality] found nothing; whereas he who has found Him, even though
he may have found nothing [else] has found everything.47
Thus it is that God said: O m y slave! you were not, and I was there for you.48
For Myself, I was there in My glory, for the wage-earner (muzdur)491 was there
in My mercy; for the lover I was there in comm uning (fu h b a t). I saw you cast
down, I picked you up. I saw you rejected, I accepted you. That attribute by
which I took you up is still there. Would I cast down the one whom I have taken
up? By the greatness of My glory, I would not!

Z am akhshari
In his exegesis of this verse, Zamakhshari s principal concern is to highlight the inherent
wisdom behind the creation of the universe. Thus, he emphasises the point that creation
in its entirety has been designed with a purpose and an order, and that a divine plan is
being played out in the world around us.50

46 Tr Pickthall. God replies to him: Lo! you are of those reprieved [Q. 7:15], and Iblis replies (Q.
7:16]: Now because You have sent me astray, verily I shall lurk in ambushfor them on Your right path.
47 This passage in Persian corresponds word for word with a famous supplication, attributed in
some sources to the third Shfi imam al -Husayn for the day of ‘Arafa during the tfajj. Later, it appears
in the aphorisms of Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Iskandari (d. 709/1309); see his Hikam> in the English trans­
lation (details in biblio.) text is at 63-9; Chittick 1975,97-100. Another scriptural parallel is the New
Testament's ‘What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?*
Matthew 16:26.
48 This is possibly another reference to the ‘Covenant of Alast. Some Sufis understood the
Covenant of Alast as the moment when man only existed as a potential in God, when he was in a
state of non-separativity or non-existence as an individual self (/and') and subsisted purely in God
(baqd’). An$irl (Kashf III, 796) explains that on that occasion, God was ‘both the questioner and
the answerer' - though this same explanation has elsewhere (Massignon 1982, III, 101-2) been
attributed to Hallaj. It is this primordial state of extinction of individual self (fond’) and subsistence
in God (boqd'), which the mystic seeks to regain. This understanding of the Covenant of Alast was
thought to have originated with Junayd, for which see Abdel Kader 1962,32,41; Pourjavady 1990,
12. However, Arberry has suggested that it may be traced back further to B4yazid Bast^mi s account
of his so-called lmi‘rdf where God says to him: ‘I was thine when thou wast not, so be thou Mine
when thou art not. See Arberry 1957a, 103-4.
49 By this is meant the one who obeys and worships God out of fear of punishment and hope for
reward. Elsewhere (Kashf IX, 90), MaybudI contrasts the situation of the ‘wage-earners’ with mystics
who have no interest in the rewards of Paradise, but long only for union with God.
50 A point made in a work, Dala’iUattributed to al-Jabi? (d. 255/869), see primary bibiography.

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Kulla shay*in is put in the accusative as the object o f an elided verb w hich is
made clear by the literal text. It is also read kullu shay in in the nom inative.
[Both] qadar and qadr are taqdir (m easurem ent); and the verse is read w ith
either of these,5152that is to say [the meaning is]: ‘We have created everything in
measure (muqaddaran), precisely (m uhkam an), in ordered arrangem ent
(murattaban), in accordance with what is dictated by wisdom*. O r [the verse
m ay be understood as follows] *{We have created everything) by predestined
decree (muqaddaran), written (m aktuban) on the Tablet, known (m a'lum an)
before its being (kawn); [for] We already knew its state (hdl) and duration
(zam dn) \ s2

■W-' *

T• abrisi
In the same m anner as Zam akhshari, T a b risi is concerned to m ake it clear that there is a
divin e w isdom inherent in everything, even in what may seem to be triv ia l to the u n dis-
cem ing in d iv id u a l. For T ab risi, given his M u ta z ili in clin a tio n s in theology, the verse is
clearly about the precise measure w ith w hich, and purpose for w hich, G o d has created a ll
things. It is notew orthy that although the com m entator makes references to concepts such
as unalterable ordinance {qad&’ mahtum) and the Tablet (lawh) - concepts w h ich tra d i­
tionalist theologians w ould exploit to defend the doctrine o f predestination - he uses them
to affirm G o d s w isdom and knowledge. T abrisi, thus, im p lic itly renders the argum ent in
favour o f predestination unnecessary, indeed inaccurate.

Surely We have created everything in measure; that is, ‘Everything th at We have

created, We created according to a specified m easure which was dictated by
wisdom, neither haphazardly nor randomly. Even punishment We have created
according to the measure o f merit; likewise everything in this w orld and th e
next We have created according to a known measure (qadar m a lu m )! [As
reported] from al-Jubba I, the meaning is: We created everything according to
a known measure.53 Thus, We created the tongue for speech, the hand for strik­

51 Qadr a n d qadar b o t h h av e th e m e a n in g o f taqdir, ‘m e a s u r e m e n t ’ i n th e se n se o f c a lc u la te d

e x te n t , a m o u n t , m e a s u r e . T h e y a ls o b o t h r e f e r t o t h e d i v i n e d e c r e e , e s p e c ia lly qadar. Z a m a k h s h a r i
s e e m s to b e m a k in g th e p o in t th a t th e v e rs e c a n b e u n d e r s to o d a s m e a n in g m u c h th e s a m e w h e th e r
it b e r e c i t e d w ith qadr o r qadar, f o r m e a s u r e m e n t is a ls o d i v i n e a p p o r t i o n m e n t .
52 Z a m a k h s h a r i , Kashshdf, IV , 4 1 . H e r e k n o w l e d g e o f hdl, t h e c u r r e n t , t r a n s i e n t s t a t e o f t h i n g s
w h i c h is s u b j e c t t o c h a n g e , is j u x t a p o s e d w ith k n o w le d g e o f zamdn, t h e l o n g d u r a t i o n o f c r e a t i o n
a n d its b e g i n n i n g a n d e n d . T h e s t r e s s o n k n o w le d g e is i m p o r t a n t b e c a u s e it s u g g e s ts t h a t t h e i s s u e
o f G o d ’s d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f a ll th i n g s r e la te s t o H is k n o w le d g e a n d n o t t o H is a c tiv ity a s a n a g e n t. G o d
k n o w s a ll t h a t is a n d a ll t h a t w ill b e ; b u t it d o e s n o t f o l lo w f r o m t h i s t h a t H e c a u s e s a l l t h a t w i l l
h a p p e n a s it h a p p e n s , t h r o u g h s o m e c o m p u l s i o n . D iv in e k n o w le d g e is t h u s n o t , i n its e lf , c a u s a t iv e .
S e e a ls o t h e s e c t i o n o n A b u H a y y i n , w h e r e h e c ite s Z a m a k h s h a r i .
53 C f. G i m a r e t 1 9 9 6 ,7 7 4 ; ‘A b d a l- J a b b a r , MutashMh, 7 3 7 . H i s g lo s s f o c u s e s u p o n th e a p p ro p ri­
a te n e s s o f t h e m e a s u r e t h a t G o d h a s c r e a t e d f o r e a c h i n d i v i d u a l a n d s i tu a t io n .

468
 The measure

ing, the leg for walking, the eye for sight, the ear for hearing, the stomach for
food: if any o f these increased or decreased from what We had ordained, then
[their] purpose would not be attained. From al-H asan, it is said th at the
meaning [of the verse] is: For everything We made something suitable, which
is consistent with and matches it, such as woman for m an, female-donkey for
the m ale-donkey, m en s clothes for m en, w om ens clothes for women. [As
reported] from Ibn ‘Abbas it is said [that the m eaning is]: ‘We created every­
thing according to a specified m easure and an unalterable ordinance (qadd*
m ahtum ) in the Preserved Tablet (lawh mahfuz)!

RazI
R azfs com m entary on this verse explores its theological im plications from a lexicograph­
ica l starting point. M any o f the gram m atical points he bases his argum ents on are w ell
know n topics o f discussion. H ow ever, R&zi uses them in unexpected ways to underscore
th eir im plications for the understanding o f G o d ’s nature. M oreover, typically, he does not
lim it h im se lf to draw ing his proofs only from the im m ediate Q u ra n ic context; rather he
extends the p ro o f-field to incorporate other verses o f the Q u r’&n. Through his analysis,
R&zi attacks certain M u ta z ili view s on G o d and hum an free w ill. A s an A sh 'ari, RazI seeks
to demonstrate how this verse describes G od’s om nipotence and H is status as sole creator
o f ‘every thing’. O ne o f the m ain po in ts he endeavours to m ake is that hum an acts fa ll
w ithin the category o f‘every thing’ and are thus created by G od - contrary to the M u ta z ili
tenet that hum an acts are to be ascribed to the hum ans concerned.
RazI tackles the Avicennan philosophers over several issues. First, RazI emphasises that
one o f the consequences o f G o d ’s om nipotence is that He can override the natural laws
that He has established; so that, fo r exam ple, G o d can m ake a person w ho is endow ed
w ith the constitution o f a sm all physical stature, big. T h is is an instance o f R azi’s occa­
sionalism : there are no chains o f secondary causes; G o d is the sole and im m ediate cause.
Second, RazI contends w ith the question o f attributes. He asserts an equ ivo city o f
meaning: G o d ’s being qualified b y attributes is o f quite a different order from the q u a li­
fica tio n o f contingents by those attributes. T h is reflects the A sh 'a ri view o f equivocity
( ishtirdk). Furtherm ore, R iz i takes issue w ith the way the philosophers distinguish qa4&*
from qadar. He affirm s that qatfti* pertains to the d ivin e knowledge w hile qadar is in the
divin e w ill. Thus fo r RazI the creative activity is by G o d ’s decree w ith H is w ill, such that
‘G o d creates as He decrees’.

Then God, exalted be He, says Surely We have created everything in measure,
regarding which there are a num ber of issues.54
The first [issue]. It is well-known that His words innd kulla shay in (Surely
everything) are connected to w hat comes before [them ], as if He had said,
'Taste ye! ... Surely We have created everything in measure; in other words, that

MR^zl, Maf&tih al-ghaybt XXIX, 72-3.

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On the Nature of the Divine

it is a recom pense to him who disavows that [everything is created by G od].

It is similar to G od’s words Dhuq! Innaka antal-'azizu’l-bakim (Taste! Surely
thou art the mighty, the noble) [Q. 44:49].55 Clearly it [Q. 54.49] is th e b eg in ­
ning of a statem ent, which ends with His w ords Dhuqu massa saqar! (Taste
now the touch o f Saqar!) [Q. 54:48] - (where) He gave an explanation o f th e
torm ent - because the appended phrase Wa md amrund ilia wahidatun (A n d
Our com mandm ent is but one (word)) [Q. 54:50] [which is joined to the p re ­
vious phrase, Q. 54.49 by the conjunction ‘an d ’] indicates that H is w ords
Surely We have created everything in measure are not the conclusion o f H is
statem ent. This [interpretation] is also indicated by His saying A -ld la-hu*l-
khalqu w al-am r (Verily, His are the creation and the command) [Q. 7:54]. He
m entioned ‘creation (khalq) in the form er verse, in His w ords Inna kulla
shay in khalaqnahu (Surely We have created everything), hence it was a p p ro ­
priate that H e m entions ‘com m and’ (amr), so He said Wa md am rund ilia
wahidatun (O ur commandment is but one (word)) [at the same tim e].5556 As for
what has been said w ith reference to [the verses recited by th e P ro p h et
during] the dispute (jadal),57 we say [that] the Prophet held fast against them
with His words [from] Surely the sinners are in error [Q. 54:47] up to Taste now
the touch o f Saqar! He recited the [second] verse for the purpose o f recitation,
but did not recite the final verse, content with the knowledge o f one w ho
knows it [well], just as you might say in argum ent [with so m eo n e]€Consume
not your goods between you - [to the end of] the verse* [Q. 4:29]58, ‘A n d eat not
o f that over which G ods name has not been mentioned - [to the en d of] th e

55 T h i s v e r s e i s a ls o c o n c e r n e d w ith t h e fa te o f t h e u n b e li e v e r s , w h o o n t h i s o c c a s i o n a r e a d m o n ­
is h e d a s t h e y a r e d r a g g e d i n t o t h e fire a n d d o u s e d in b o i l i n g w a te r .
56 R i z i firs t id e n t if ie s Q . 5 4 :4 9 a s a r e s p o n s e to t h o s e w h o d e n y t h a t e v e r y t h in g ( i n c l u d i n g h u m a n
a c ts ) h a s b e e n c r e a t e d b y G o d . H e d o e s t h i s b y p o i n t i n g o u t t h a t Inna kulla shay’in khalaqnahu bi-
qadar is l i n k e d to dhuqu [Q . 5 4 :4 8 ] j u s t a s t h e dhuq
r e s p o n s e t o t h o s e w h o d e n i e d H e ll w a s l i n k e d t o
i n Q . 4 4 :4 9 . T h u s , b o t h p h r a s e s i n t r o d u c e d b y t h e o r d e r t o ‘Taste c o n s t i t u t e a d iv i n e r e s p o n s e c o u n ­
te r in g h u m a n denials. R&zi t h e n m a k e s a s e c o n d i n t e r - Q u r a n ic a s s o c ia ti o n a n d p o i n t s o u t t h a t i n
(amr. w h ic h is u n d e r s t o o d t o b e t h e d i v i n e w o r d ‘kun b y
Q . 7 :5 4 G o d m e n t i o n s t h a t t h e c o m m a n d
lnnam& amruhu idha arada shay an an yaqula la-hu kun fa-yakun.
w h ic h G o d c r e a t e s ; s e c Q . 3 6 :8 2 :
Verily, when He wills a thing, His command is only to say to it 'Be, and it is) a n d c r e a t io n (khalq) b e l o n g
t o H i m , i.e . b o t h t h e c r e a t i v e c o m m a n d a n d t h a t w h i c h is c r e a t e d b e l o n g t o H i m a l o n e . L ik e w is e
h e r e in Q . 5 4 : 4 9 - 5 0 , b o t h w o r d s a r e u s e d t o g e t h e r a g a in , u n d e r l i n i n g th i s c o n n e c t i o n . R a z i s u p p o r t s
t h i s b y s h o w in g t h a t Q . 5 4 :5 0 is a t t a c h e d t o 5 4 :4 9 t h r o u g h t h e c o n j u n c t i o n ‘a n d \ t h e r e b y m a k i n g t h e
v e r s e s a s i n g le s t a t e m e n t C o n s e q u e n t l y , t h e y s h o u l d b e r e a d a s a r e s t a t e m e n t o f t h e m e s s a g e i n Q .
7 :5 4 . T h i s is a n i n g e n i o u s w a y o f a t t a c k i n g t h e M u ‘ta z i la w ith a d u a l - p r o n g e d e m p h a s i s o n G o d ’s
s t a tu s a s s o le c r e a t o r a n d s o le p o s s e s s o r o f e v e r y t h in g , i n c l u d i n g h u m a n a c ts .
57 A c c o r d i n g t o hadith n a r r a t i o n s c ite d - fo r e x a m p le , b y T a b a ri in Jami' al-baytln - , th is v e rs e
w a s s e n t d o w n in re s p o n s e to a n u m b e r o f p o ly th e is ts fro m th e Q u ra y s h , w h o a rg u e d w ith t h e
P r o p h e t a b o u t t h e s u b j e c t o f d i v i n e p r e d e s t i n a t i o n , q u e s t i o n i n g G o d ’s d i v i n e o m n i p o t e n c e . I t is t o
t h i s d e b a t e t h a t R a z i h e r e re f e rs .
58 T h i s m a y b e a r e f e r e n c e t o Q . 4 :2 9 o r it m a y r e f e r t o Q . 2 :1 8 8 a s t h e p h r a s e is t o b e f o u n d i n
b o t h p la c e s .

470
 The measure

verse* [Q. 6:121],59 o r ‘W hen you contract a debt - [to the end of] the verse*
[Q. 2:188],60 etc.61
The second issue. Kull is [either] read in the accusative [with a final vowel V :
kulla], which is the more correct and widely accepted reading, [or] in the nom ­
inative (with a final vowel V : kullu). Those who read it in the accusative do so
because of the elided verb which is made clear by the literal words, as where God
says Wal-qamara qaddamahu (And the moon - We have determined it) [Q. 36:39]
or as in, Wal-qdlimlna aadda la-hum (As fo r the evildoers, He has prepared fo r
them) [Q. 76:31].62 This verb is khalaqndhu, and is explained by [those very
words], for it is as though God said, ‘Surely We have created everything in
measure* (Inna khalaqnd kulla shayin bi-qadar). In this case, then, khalaqndhu
cannot be an adjectival phrase [attached] to sh a y ,63 just as [it is not so] in His
saying Wa min kulli shayin khalaqnd zawjayn (And o f everything We created two
kinds) [Q. 51:49]. In this [last] verse, however, the fact that there is no personal
pronoun referring back to the qualified noun prevents [khalaqnd] from being
an adjectival clause, while in this case [Q. 54:49], that preventative64 is not found
[since there is the pronom inal suffix Tiu*]. U nderstood in this way, [i.e. not
taking the phrase khalaqndhu adjectively] this verse can be taken as an argument
against the Mu'tazila, because our actions are ‘a tilin g and must therefore be
included in the ‘Everything [of Q. 54:49], hence, they are created by God.65
59 T h e reference is to Q. 6:121, w hich sets o u t g uidelines fo r d ietary law.
60 T h e c i t a t i o n c o n c e r n s t h e c o n t r a c t i n g o f c o m m e r c i a l t r a n s a c t i o n s a n d c o n t r a c t s .
61 R a z I s u p p o r ts h is a r g u m e n t t h a t Q. 5 4 :4 9 b e r e a d a s a c o n t i n u a t i o n f r o m t h e p r e v i o u s v e rs e . H e
sa y s t h a t a l t h o u g h th e P r o p h e t is n o t s a id to h a v e r e c i te d t h e m to g e t h e r , t h i s m a y m e r e ly in d ic a te t h a t
h e d i d n o t fe e l t h e n e e d t o r e c i te b e y o n d t h e p r e v i o u s v e r s e o n th i s o c c a s io n . I n m u c h t h e s a m e w a y
t h e o l o g ia n s r e c ite o n ly p a r t o f a v e r s e in t h e i r a r g u m e n t s b e c a u s e t h e w h o le is g e n e r a l ly w e ll- k n o w n .
62 R a t h e r c o n f u s in g ly , R a z f h e r e s e e m s to m e r g e tw o d i f f e r e n t g r a m m a t i c a l p o i n t s - s u p p le tio n
( s u p p ly in g w o r d s th a t a r e a b s e n t f r o m t h e lite r a l te x t) a n d h y p e r b a t o n ( i n v e r s i o n o f t h e n a tu r a l o r d e r
f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f r h e t o r ic ) . H a v in g r e f e r r e d t o t h e v e r s e a s a c a s e o f s u p p l e ti o n , a n d s ta ti n g t h a t kull
is i n t h e a c c u s a tiv e a s t h e o b je c t o f a n e lid e d v e r b ( w h ic h w o u ld r e s u lt in t h e fo llo w in g u n d e r s t a n d i n g
innd khalaqnd kulla shay’in khalaqndhu bi-qadar), R im t h e n s u p p lie s e x a m p le s o f h y p e r -
o f t h e v e rs e :
kull w o u ld b e t h e o b j e c t o f t h e e x p li c it khalaqnd a n d t h e m e a n i n g w o u ld
b a t o n , a c c o r d i n g to w h ic h
be innd khalaqnd kulla shay’in bi-qadar.
63 I f it w e r e , it w o u ld m e a n : ‘V e rily , e v e r y t h i n g w h i c h W e h a v e c r e a t e d is i n m e a s u r e ’ - w h ic h
m i g h t i m p l y t h a t t h e r e a r e t h i n g s in e x i s t e n c e ( s u c h a s h u m a n a c t s ) w h i c h G o d h a s n o t c r e a t e d ,
w h i c h is a n a t h e m a t o t h e A s h ‘a r i s . C f . t h e g r a m m a t i c a l d i s c u s s i o n s i n A b u H a y y a n , S h a r a f i a n d
A lu s i, t h i s c h a p te r .
64 T h e p r e v e n t a ti v e b e i n g t h e absence o f a p r o n o m i n a l s u ffix .
65 T h e M u t a z i l a s t a t e d t h a t o u r a c t i o n s a r e o u r o w n c r e a t i o n , in s o f a r a s w e a r e f r e e t o c h o o s e
w h a t t o d o ; t h i s a b s o lv e s t h e B e n e v o le n t G o d f r o m r e s p o n s ib i li ty f o r t h e e v il t h a t h u m a n s c o m m i t .
A s h 'a r i S u n n i s , h o w e v e r , o p p o s e d t h e s u g g e s tio n t h a t a n y o n e o t h e r t h a n G o d c a n b e th e c r e a t o r o f
s o m e t h i n g . T h e y s o u g h t t o r e s o lv e t h i s d i l e m m a b y a f f ir m in g t h a t G o d c r e a t e s a ll p o s s ib le a c ti o n s ,
b u t le a v e s u s t o d e c id e w h ic h a c t i o n t o f o llo w t h r o u g h , t h u s r e t a i n i n g G o d ’s s o v e r e ig n ty in c r e a t io n ,
a b s o l v i n g H i m o f t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r e v il, a n d a l l o w i n g f o r h u m a n s t o h a v e a c h o i c e i n t h e i r
a c ti o n s . H e r e , R i z i i s r e f u t i n g t h e M u 't a z ili o b j e c t i o n t o G o d c r e a t i n g , lite r a lly , e v e r y th in g .
R&zi h a d n u m e r o u s d is p u te s w ith M u 'ta z ilis a n d w a s a c tu a lly d r i v e n o u t o f K h w & ra z m (a M u 'ta z ili
s t r o n g h o l d ) a n d t h e n T r a n s o x i a n a , f o l lo w in g a s e r ie s o f th e o l o g i c a l c o n t r o v e r s i e s w i t h m e m b e r s o f
t h e m o v e m e n t . O n t h e s e d is p u t e s , s e e K h o l e i f 1 9 6 6 .

471
On the Nature of the Divine

It is not possible for him who reads [kull] in the nom inative (kullu) to say
that [Q. 54:49] is like His words in [Q. 41:17] Wa-ammd Thamudu f a -
hadayndhum (As fo r Thamud, We guided them) where [the w ord Thamud] is
read with the final V vowel, because kull shay’ [Everything, Q. 54:49] is an indef­
inite noun and so cannot be adm itted as the subject o f a nom inal clause. It
would be necessary for God to have said Kullu shay’in khalaqndhu fa-huwa bi-
qadar (Everything We have created, it is in measure) like His words Wa-kullu
shay’in €indahu bi-miqdar (Everything with Him has its measure) [Q. 13:8]. Ibn
‘Afiyya m entions these two aspects in his Tafstr and [also] m entions that the
M utazila hold fast to the reading [of kull] in the nominative.66
It is also possible to say that the former reading, in the accusative, has another
explanation: that it [kull] is vocalised with an ‘a’ on account o f an explicit verb,
and not an elided one that has to be interpreted, which would be either qaddama
(We have measured) or khalaqnd (We have created).67 [According to this] it is as
if God were saying: ‘Inna khalaqnd kulla shay1in khalaqndhu bi-qadar1(Surely, We
have created (khalaqnd) everything that We have created in measure), o r
‘Qaddama kulla shay’in khalaqndhu bi-qadar, (We have determined (qaddama)
everything that We have created in measure). We only say that [it is an] explicit
verb, because His words Dhdlikumulldhu rabbukum khdliqu kulli shay’(That then
is God, your Lord, the Creator o f everything) [Q. 40:62] indicate that this is the case
(and that the explicit verb is khalaqa). Likewise His words wa-kullu shay’in ... bi-
miqdar [Q. 13:8] indicate that it [the explicit verb] could be qaddara, in which
case there would be no proof in the verse [Q. 54:49] to invalidate what the
Mu'tazila say. However, it is His saying Allahu khdliqu kulli shay’ (God is the
Creator o f everything) [Q. 13:16; Q. 39:62] that invalidates what they say.68
66 S e e I b n ‘A tfy y a , Muharrar, V, 2 2 1 .
67 T h a t is to s a y , t h a t kulla is r e a d in t h e a c c u s a t iv e a s t h e o b je c t o f a v e r b t h a t is e x p lic itly m e n ­
tio n e d elsewhere i n t h e Q u r ’a n , s u c h a s khalaqa b a s e d o n Q . 4 0 :6 2 o r qaddara b a s e d o n Q . 1 3 .8 ,
i n s t e a d o f as t h e o b j e c t o f a n e li d e d v e r b w i t h i n Q . 5 4 :4 9 . I n th i s p a r a g r a p h R a z i is e n g a g e d i n u s i n g
t h e s i m p l e g r a m m a t ic a l a s s e r ti o n s i n a n u n e x p e c t e d w a y . T h e g r a m m a r i a n s d is ti n g u is h tw o p o s s i b l e
e x p la n a tio n s f o r r e a d i n g kull i n t h e a c c u s a tiv e : 1) I t is t h e o b je c t o f a n e li d e d v e r b w h i c h w o u l d b e
khalaqnd o r qaddama; 2 ) I t is t h e o b je c t o f t h e khalaqndhu e x p lic itly m e n t i o n e d i n Q . 5 4 :4 9 . A s f o r
t h e n o m i n a ti v e , it is g r a m m a t i c a l l y t h e m o r e s a tis f y in g b e c a u s e it m a k e s a n e x p lic itly c o m p l e t e u n i t
o f Q . 5 4 :4 9 ; h o w e v e r , b e c a u s e o f t h e M u ‘ta z i li i m p l i c a t i o n s o f t h e n o m i n a t i v e r e a d i n g ( t h a t t h e r e
m i g h t b e th i n g s n o t c r e a t e d b y G o d s u c h a s h u m a n a c ts ) , t h e e s ta b lis h e d c a n o n ic a l r e a d e r s p r e f e r r e d
to re a d kull in t h e a c c u s a tiv e . N o w R a z i a p p li e s t h e M u t a z i l l te r m s o f h a v in g a n e x p lic itly c o m p l e t e
m e a n i n g to Q . 5 4 :4 9 , b u t n o t o n t h e i r g r o u n d s b e c a u s e h e e x t e n d s t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f ‘e x p lic it* t o
in c l u d e th e w h o le o f t h e Q u r a n i c te x t i n s te a d o f j u s t t h e o n e v e rs e (s e e n . 5 6 f o r a n o t h e r i n s t a n c e o f
R a z f s u s e o f ‘e x te n s i o n f o r i n t r a - Q u r a n i c tafsir). T h e r e a d e r s h o u l d b e a w a r e t h a t , i n g e n e r a l , R azi*s
m e t h o d o l o g y o f r e f u t a t i o n is i n t r i c a t e a n d in g e n i o u s : h e ta k e s t h e o p p o n e n t s ’ t e r m s a n d u s e s t h e s e
v e r y t e r m s to r e f u t e h is o p p o n e n t s , b u t h e a ls o u s e s t h e t e r m s in u n e x p e c t e d a n d i n c o n s i s t e n t w a y s .
It is a s t h o u g h R a z i d e a ls w i t h e a c h p o i n t a s a n is o la t e d i t e m g o v e r n e d b y i n d i v i d u a l r u l e s a n d n o t
a s o n e u n i t a m o n g o t h e r s a ll g o v e r n e d b y t h e s a m e r e f e r e n c e s .
68 T h a t is, i f t h e v e r b is t a k e n to b e qaddamd, t h e n t h e M u t a z i l a c a n n o t b e r e f u te d o n t h e b a s i s
o f Q . 5 4 :4 9 , f o r G o d c a n d e c r e e a m e a s u r e f o r t h i n g s a n d h u m a n s w o u ld s till b e a b le t o ‘c r e a t e ’ t h e i r
o w n a c tio n s . If, h o w e v e r , t h e v e r b is ta k e n t o b e khalaqnd, t h e n , b e c a u s e o f H is e x p lic it w o r d s , Alldhu

472
 The measure

W th regard to the second reading, the nominative [kullu], we say it is permis­

sible that kullu shay in be the subject of the phrase and khalaqndhu bi-qadarin
be the predicate; but then the argument stands against those [who read it in this
way] most effectively. [According to this argument] His words hull shay*consti­
tute an indefinite noun, and so cannot be adm itted as the weak subject o f a
nominal clause, [especially] since His words Every thing encompass every single
thing in the whole o f creation, and do not contain the limited content that a
phrase like rajulun qd’imun (a standing man) does, because [this latter] does not
convey an explicit, self-contained meaning, whereas [there is such an explicit
self-contained meaning in] His words kulla shay'in, which convey what [the
phrases], ‘We created Zayd, We created ‘Amr, etc* convey but with m uch more
information implied. This is why it is permissible to say ‘There is no one better
than you* (Md ahadun khayrun minka), because this is a comprehensive state­
m ent, whereas it is not proper to say, ‘Anyone is better than you* (Ahadun
khayrun minka) since, in this way, comprehensiveness is not conveyed.
The th ird issue. W hat is the meaning o f qadar? We say it has [different] sig­
nifications, th e first of them being ‘measure* (miqddr) as He, m ost high, has
said, Wa kullu shay in ‘indahu bi-miqdar (Everything with Him has a measure)
[Q. 13:8]. O n this basis, everything is measured in its essence and in its attrib­
utes. As for w hat is m easured in essence, it is body (jism), and that [m easured­
ness] is manifest in it. Likewise, the perceptible qualities which subsist through
the body, like whiteness and blackness, [are measured in essence].69 As for an
atom (jawhar fard)> it is what has no measure; and that which subsists through
the atom - like knowledge and ignorance and other such qualities - is that
which has no measure in the sense of spatial extension (imtidad). We say, here
‘measures* (maqadir) do not mean spatial extension [only]. As for atoms, two
o f them are sm aller [in num ber] than three, but for volume by which spatial
extension increases, and [apart from] that which exists in it [an atom] without
spatial extension [...).70 W th regard to that which subsists through/in the atom,
it has an ending and a beginning. Thus the measures (maqadir) o f temporally
incepted perceptions and created destinies {qadar) are finite.71
khdliqu kulli shay’ (God is the Creator of every thing), t h e M u 't a z i l a a r e r e f u t e d b e c a u s e G o d c r e a t e d
e v e r y s i n g le th i n g , i n c l u d i n g o u r a c tio n s .

69 i.e . b o d i e s a n d p h y s ic a l q u a l i t i e s a r e m e a s u r e d in th e m s e l v e s : t h e y h a v e a n o b v i o u s e x t e n t o r
s p a t ia l e x te n s i o n ( imtiddd). A to m s h a v e n o m e a s u r e ; a n d n o n - p h y s i c a l q u a li ti e s h a v e n o m e a s u r e in
t e r m s o f s p a t ia l e x t e n s i o n .
70 T h e a r g u m e n t h e r e s e e m s t o b e t h a t e v e n i f tw o a t o m s a r e q u a n ti t a t i v e l y s m a l l e r t h a n t h r e e , in
v o l u m e tw o m a y b e g r e a t e r t h a n t h r e e . M o r e o v e r , q u a l i t a t i v e l y t h a t w h i c h i n h e r e s in t h e s m a l l e r
n u m b e r m a y b e g r e a t e r t h a n t h a t w h i c h i n h e r e s in t h e b i g g e r n u m b e r , i.e . t h e q u a l i t i e s w h i c h ‘d o
n o t h a v e a m e a s u r e i n t h e s e n s e o f s p a t ia l e x te n s io n ’ c a n b e o f g r e a t e r o r le s s e r m e a s u r e - w h i c h is
s e l f - e v i d e n t, f o r s o m e p e o p l e h a v e m o r e u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h a n o t h e r s , e tc .
71 T h i s is a c l e a r A s h ‘a r ! s t a t e m e n t : qadar is c r e a t e d a n d f i n it e , u n l i k e qadd‘. T h e A s h ‘a r i s d i s t i n ­
g u is h e d qadar f r o m qa4&‘ i n qadar is a n a t t r i b u t e o f a c t i o n , a n d is c o n t i n g e n t b y
t h e f o l lo w in g w a y :

473
On the Nature of the Divine

With regard to attributes, because everything that is originated has a period

o f duration (zam dn), due to everything being temporally incepted (,hadith), it
[an attribute] has a m easured [i.e. finite] extent of subsistence (miqdar fi*l-
baqa’).72 If it is said that God is described [by attributes]73and He has no m eas­
ured [i.e. finite] extent and (there is] no beginning to His existence, then we say:
If a speaker is described by an attribute or nam ed by a noun and he then m e n ­
tions things nam ed by that noun or things described by that attribute an d
ascribes one o f his actions to it, he him self is excluded from it - as w hen a
person says, ‘I saw everyone who is in this house; I saw them all honour m e o r
‘There is none in the house but beat me or whom I did not b eaf, [the person
speaking) is excluded from it not through a lack o f his being governed by the
nam e/noun but rather on account of the evidence, in the construction [of th e
phrase], for his being excluded from the intention [of the statement] ;74 likewise
are His words khalaqndhu and khdliqu kulli shay in - He is excluded from
[being an object of the statement] not by way of particularisation (takhfif)75 but
by way of the reality [of things] for, as we have said, the [grammatical] construc­
tion relates to the [actual] situation. Thus, this construction can then only be
applied to [those] other than the speaker.
The second (meaning) is that qadar [refers to] taqdir (measurement/ordain-
ment). God says Fa-qadamafa-nt nrnl-qadirun ( We determined; excellent deter­
miners are We) (Q. 77:23]. And the poet said:

v ir tu e o f b e i n g t h e d e t e r m i n i n g p r i n c i p l e o f c o n ti n g e n t e n ti ti e s a n d t h r o u g h a s s o c ia ti o n o f t h e a c t i o n
w ith its e n d . Qatfd* o n t h e o t h e r h a n d is a n a t t r i b u t e p e r t a i n i n g t o t h e d iv i n e e s s e n c e a n d , t h e r e f o r e ,
is n o t c r e a t e d o r fin ite .

72 F o r R iz i , ‘a p a r t fr o m t h e N e c e s s a ry B e in g , e v e r y e x is tin g t h i n g m u s t b e o r i g in a t e d ’ a n d ‘f i n i t u d e
n e c e s s ita te s o r i g i n a t i o n ’: s e e C e y la n 1 9 9 6 ,7 3 a n d 6 3 r e s p e c tiv e ly .
73 H a v in g m a d e t h e e q u a t i o n fija = shay’ = hadith = f i n it e a n d c r e a t e d , R i z I g o e s o n t o d i s s o c i a t e
t h e d iv in e a t t r i b u t e s f r o m h is e q u a t i o n , s i n c e h e h o l d s t h a t , a l t h o u g h t h e y a r e n o t id e n t ic a l w i t h t h e
d iv i n e e s s e n c e , t h e d i v i n e a t t r i b u t e s c a n n o t b e o r i g i n a t e d ; f o r w h a t a p p li e s to G o d is o f a d i f f e r e n t
o r d e r a l t o g e t h e r o n t h e b a s i s o f t h e p r i n c i p l e o f e q u iv o c i ty ( ishtirdk). F o r a fu ll d is c u s s i o n o f R a z f s
d o c t r i n e o f t h e d i v i n e a t t r i b u t e s , s e c C e y la n 1 9 9 6 , e s p e c ia lly 8 6 - 1 3 6 .
74 C le a r ly t h e s p e a k e r d i d n o t h o n o u r h i m s e l f o r b e a t h im s e lf .
75 T h e u s e o f t h e t e r m ta k h j h e r e is s i g n i f i c a n t T h e M u 't a z ila c o m m o n l y o b j e c t e d to t h e l i t e r a l
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h i s v e r s e b y p o s i t i n g t h a t c e r t a in e x p r e s s io n s i n t h e Q u r ’a n t h a t a p p e a r t o i m p l y
c o m p r e h e n s i v e n e s s s h o u l d b e u n d e r s t o o d fig u r a tiv e ly a s h y p e r b o l e . F o r e x a m p l e , i n Q . 4 6 : 2 4 - 2 5 ,
t h e p r o p h e t H u d f o r e w a r n s h is p e o p le , 'A d , o f th e p u n i s h i n g w in d s G o d w ill s e n d t h e m fo r t h e i r d i s ­
b e lie f:a wind, wherein is a painful chastisement, destroying everything by the commandment of its Lord
{tudammiru kulla shay’in bi-amri rabbiha). C le a rly , t h e M u 't a z ila a r g u e , t h i s w i n d d i d n o t d e s t r o y
everything, b u t a ll t h o s e t h i n g s t h a t c o n c e r n e d t h o s e d i s b e l i e v i n g p e o p l e . I n t h i s c a s e o f Q . 5 4 :4 9 ,
R a z i, in f a v o u r o f a li te r a l r e a d i n g o f kullu shay'in, c o u n t e r s t h e a r g u m e n t o f t h e M u 't a z ila b y s a y i n g
t h a t w h e n G o d s a y s everything W e created is in measure, G o d is e x c lu d e d f r o m t h i s s t a t e m e n t T h i s
is n o t b e c a u s e w e s h o u l d n o t r e a d it lite r a lly , b u t b e c a u s e w h e n a s p e a k e r m a k e s a s t a t e m e n t , h e is
ipsofacto n o t i n c l u d i n g h i m s e l f in t h e s t a te m e n t. T h i s is a c la s s ic A s h 'a r i a r g u m e n t ( al-mukhdfib Id
yadkhulu tahtal-khifdb), p r e v i o u s ly u s e d b y B a q illa n i (d . 4 0 3 /1 Q 1 3 ) w h o e x p r e s s e d it i n th e f o l l o w i n g
w ay : i f o n e w e r e t o sa y , ‘I w e n t i n t o t h e h o u s e a n d I b e a t a ll w h o w e r e i n s i d e , n o p e r s o n w o u ld u n d e r ­
s t a n d t h i s a s m e a n i n g t h a t t h e s p e a k e r a ls o b e a t h im s e lf ; cf. G i m a r e t 1 9 8 0 ,3 6 8 - 7 3 .

474
 The measure

Wa qad qaddaral-rahm&nu md huwa qddiru

The All-Gracious has already ordained that which He is decreeing (now).76

That is, He has ordained that which is muqaddar (predetermined). Accordingly,

the meaning [of the verse] is that God has not created anything without taqdir.
[Unlike] an archer [who] shoots an arrow which then falls in a place that he
cannot have predeterm ined, G od creates (khalaqa) as He decrees (qadara) -
contrary to the philosophical tenet that He is active through His essence,77
while variety [in the world] is [the result of potential forms produced] by recep­
tacles, so that the one who is short or small is so because of such a propensity
in his fundam ental substance [madda]; and the one that is tall or large is
so because of a different propensity. [However,] G od said Kulla shay1in
khalaqndhu bi-qadarin (Everything, We have created it by a decree) from Us, and
it is hence possible for the small to become big and for the big to have the
natural constitution o f the small.78
The third [possible meaning] is that bi-qadarin is what is spoken o f together
with qada (ordinance). It is said [of a thing, that it is] ‘by the qa4&' (ordinance)
o f God and by His qadar (decree)*. As regards the qadar that accompanies
qa4d\ the philosophers say: ‘that which is specifically intended is qad a u n (an
ordinance), and that which is an intrinsic attribute [of a thing] is qadarun (a
decree)*. Hence they say He created fire [to be] hot by qad&' (ordinance), and
it is so ordained because it was necessary that [fire] be like that. However, it is
an intrinsic attribute of [fire] that if it comes into contact with old cotton or falls
on poor quality [dry] reeds, it will b u m them: this is by qadary rather than
qatfa.79 Such talk is erroneous. Instead, qada is that which is in the [divine]

76 T h a t is t o s a y , G o d ’s p r e s e n t d e c r e e is a r e t r a c i n g o f, o r c o i n c i d e s w i t h , H is e t e r n a l d e c r e e .
77 T h a t is , ‘e ss e n tia lly ^ , t h u s r e n d e r i n g a c tiv ity a q u a l i t y o f t h e d i v i n e e s s e n c e . B o t h t h e p h i l o s o ­
p h e r s a n d t h e M u 't a z ila o f t e n a r g u e d t h a t t h e d iv i n e a tt r i b u te s a r e s o m e w h a t ‘u n r e a l ’, e i t h e r b e c a u s e ,
lik e t h e N e o - P l a t o n i s t J a h m b . $ a f w i n ( d . 1 2 9 /7 4 6 ) , t h e y b e l i e v e d t h a t G o d ’s u t t e r t r a n s c e n d e n c e
r e q u i r e d H i m t o b e b e y o n d b o t h b e i n g a n d a ll a tt r i b u te s , o r b e c a u s e p o s i t i n g t h e r e a lity o f t h e a t t r i b ­
u te s a s in d e p e n d e n t o f th e e ss e n c e m ig h t c o m p r o m is e th e u n ic ity o f th e g o d h e a d S ee TGt V, 2 1 2 -
2 2 , 3 9 2 ff; F r a n k 1 9 6 5 ,3 9 5 ff. T h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e tw e e n t h e d iv i n e e s s e n c e a n d a t t r i b u t e s w a s a m a j o r
s o u r c e o f t h e o l o g ic a l c o n tr o v e r s y . A s h 'a r t s s u c h a s G h a z a li f a m o u s ly a t t a c k e d t h e p h i l o s o p h e r s a n d
t h e M u 't a z ila f o r d e n y i n g t h e r e a lity o f t h e a tt r i b u te s . R i z f s d is c u s s i o n h e r e c lo s e ly fo llo w s G h a z & lfs
Maq$ad, 1 7 5 - 7 ( w h e r e in B u rre ll a n d D a h e i 's t r a n s l a t i o n t h i s c o m e s a t 1 6 3 —
a r g u m e n t S e e G h a z a li ,
6 5 ) ; G h a z & li, Tahdfut ( i n E n g li s h ) 9 6 - 1 9 . T h e d i s c u s s i o n is a ls o r e l a t e d t o a n o t h e r m a j o r is s u e o f
c o n te n tio n in p h ilo s o p h ic a l th e o lo g y , n a m e ly th e r e la tio n s h ip b e tw e e n th e d iv in e b e in g a n d th e
d i v i n e q u i d d i t y ( mdhiyya): t h e p h i l o s o p h e r s ( s u c h a s I b n S in a ) a n d t h e M u 't a z i l a i n s i s t e d t h a t t h e
tw o w e r e id e n t ic a l i n r e f e r e n c e b u t d i s t i n c t m e r e ly i n s e n s e , w h ile o t h e r th e o l o g i a n s lik e t h e A s h 'a r is
h e l d t h a t t h e y w e r e d i s t i n c t in s e n s e a n d r e f e r e n c e a s d i v i n e b e i n g w a s ‘s u p e r - a d d e d ’ ( z d ’id ) t o t h e
d iv in e a ttrib u te s . S ee Iji, Mawaqif, I I I , 2 8 .
78 A g a in , R a z l’s A s h 'a r i s m is i n f u l l e v id e n c e : G o d m a y m a k e b ig t h o s e g iv e n t h e p h y s i c a l n a t u r e
t o b e s m a ll a n d v ic e v e r s a , s i n c e t h e A s h 'a r i s d o a w a y w ith c h a i n s o f s e c o n d a r y c a u s a t i o n . S e e t h e
i n t r o d u c t i o n t o R&zi’s c o m m e n t a r y o n t h i s v e rs e .
79 T h e a r g u m e n t a n d e x a m p l e c lo s e ly fo llo w s G h a z a li : s e e Tahdfut, ( E n g li s h te x t ) 1 6 6 - 7 .

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On the Nature of the Divine

knowledge (Tim), while qadar is that which is in the [divine] will (irada).
Therefore, His saying Surely We have created everything in measure means [that
everything was created] by His decree with His will,80 and not, as they say, [that
it was created] necessarily, as a way of repudiating polytheists.81

Abu Hayyin
In his com m entary, A bu H a yyin analyses the gram m atical situation that arises in a clause
where the verb can be interpreted as an adjective or a predicate, and b rie fly discusses the
im plications for the m eaning if one takes the verb as an adjective in lin e w ith the Q a d a ri
position. He also describes the various possible aspects o f qadar (measure). The thrust o f
h is presentation is to defend a theological position o f determ inism w hilst attem pting to
retain hum an agency.

Surely We have created everything in measure [Q. 54:49].82 The reading o f th e

majority is kulla shay in with the accusative. Ibn ‘Atiyya says:83 A bul-Sam m al
and a group of Sunnis recite it in the nominative. AbuT-Fatb says: It is th e
former according to [the rules of] Arabic. O ur reading is in the accusative, with
the generality.
A group say Lest the verb [khalaqndhu] be misconstrued as adjectival and
what follows it [bi-qadar] be [taken as] appropriate for the predicate - though
the meaning is in keeping with the verb itself being the predicate - the accusa­
tive is chosen for the first noun [hull] so that it is evident that the verb is n o t
[acting) as an adjective. Likewise is the case with this passage, because in
reading (kull) in the nominative, it could appear as if the verb were an adjective,
and that bi-qadarin is the predicate.84
The Sunnis and the Q adaris dispute the conclusions from this verse. T he
Sunnis say [that the meaning of this verse is]: Everything is a thing created by

80 I n o t h e r w o r d s , it is a d e li b e r a t e , s p e c ific a lly i n t e n d e d d e c r e e , n o t a n in e v i ta b l e law .

81 R iz I is m a k i n g , i n t h e c o n t e x t o f t h i s v e r s e , a d e a r d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n h i s v o li t i o n a l m e t a ­
p h y s i c s o f c r e a t i o n , a n d t h e p h i l o s o p h e r s ’ a n d M u ‘ta z i la ’s i n s t r u m e n t a l i s t a c c o u n t . F o r h i m , t h e
c o s m o s a n d a ll t h a t it c o n t a i n s is n o t m e r e l y a lo g ic a l p r o d u c t a n d e m a n a t i o n o f a g o o d p r i n c i p l e ,
b u t t h e d e t e r m i n e d r e s u lt o f a v o li ti o n a l a g e n t.
82 A b u H a y y i n , Bohr, V I I I , 1 8 1 -2 .
83 S e e n . 6 6 .
84 S o t h e m e a n i n g w o u l d b e . ‘e v e r y t h in g w h ic h W e h a v e c r e a t e d is in m e a s u r e ’, w h i c h a ll o w s f o r
t h e p o s s ib le i n t e r p r e t a t i o n t h a t t h e r e a r e th i n g s n o t c r e a t e d b y G o d s u c h a s h u m a n a c ts . T h is w o u l d
fit in w ith t h e M u 't a z ili d o c t r i n e ( a n a t h e m a t o t h e A s h ‘a r is ) t h a t G o d d o e s n o t c r e a t e h u m a n a c t s .
S e e t h e g r a m m a t i c a l d is c u s s i o n s in S h a r a f i a n d A l u s l
A t t h i s p o i n t , t h e A r a b ic te x t h a s y-q-d-r w h ic h c o u ld b e ta k e n as yuqaddaru a n d w o u ld m e a n ‘i s
*y i s
i m p l i e d ’. H o w e v e r , g iv e n t h e g r a m m a t i c a l d i s c u s s i o n s o n t h i s v e r s e , it is h ig h l y l i k d y t h a t t h e
s u p p o s e d to b e 'b’ a n d t h a t th e A r a b ic s h o u l d b e b-q-d-r w h ic h w o u ld b e bi-qadar a n d m a k e s p e r f e c t
s e n s e in t h e c o n te x t , s in c e bi-qadar w o u l d be t h e p r e d i c a te i f khalaqndhu is t a k e n a s a re la tiv e c la u s e .
H e n c e t h e e d i t o r i a l d e c is io n t o t r a n s l a t e it a s h a s b e e n d o n e .

476
 Hie measure

G od through [His] om nipotence (qudra). The indication o f this is the

accusative reading [of kull], because only what is unshakeably a predicate is
expounded in this type of structure, if the first [word, i.e. innd] occurs as the
subject.85 A nd the Q adaris say: The reading should be in the nom inative,
kulluy with We have created it in the position of a relative clause to hull; every,
that is to say, 'Verily, O ur com m and (am r), o r O ur affair (sha’n ) is everything
We have created, and it is in a m easure (bi-qadar)* or to a certain m easure
(miqdar) according to the extent o f its form, its time, etc.
Zamakhshari says:86 Kulla shay in is put in the accusative as the object87 of
an elided verb which is made clear by the literal text.88 It is also read kullu shay'in
in the nominative. As for qadar and qadr, [in either case the word means] taqdxr
(m easurem ent), and it is read with [either of] them, i.e. [the meaning is] 'We
have created everything in measure (muqaddaran), precisely (m uhkam an), in
ordered arrangem ent (murattaban), in accordance with what is dictated by
wisdom* or [the verse may be understood as follows]: \W e have created every­
thing) by predestined decree (muqaddaran), written (maktuban) on the Tablet,
known (ma'luman) before its being (kawn), [for] We already knew its state (hdl)
and its duration (zamdn)’. Here ends [Zamakhshari*s quote.]89
It is said that qadar has several aspects, one o f them being that it m eans
miqdar (m easure),90 concerning [a thing’s] essence and its attributes. The
second [aspect] is [that it means] taqdxr (measurement/ordaining)91 - G od says
fa-qadam d fa-nt ma’l-qadirun ( We determined; excellent determiners are We) [Q.
77:23], and the poet says:92
wa md qaddaral-Rahmdnu md huwa qddiru
What the All-Gracious decreed is what He is decreeing (now).93
That is to say ‘[what the All-Gracious decreed is] what is ordained*. The third
aspect is that qadar94 is what is m entioned with qadd\ It is said [of something
that takes place]: 'That was by God*s qatfd*(ordinance) and qadar (decree)*; and
85 See Sharafi, w h ere h e cites Ibn al-H ajib’s v iew th a t kulla shay'in khalaqndhu bi-qadar is all the
p red icate o f innd.
86 Z am ak h sh a ri, Kashsh&f, IV, 41.
87 ‘Man$ub* m ean s b o th ‘to b e d e p e n d e n t o n a n d ‘to be in th e accu sativ e case’, b o th of w hich
kulla w o u ld be, as th e object o f an im plicit verb.
88 See th e gram m atical discussions in RizI, Z a m a k h sh a ri an d Sharafi, th is ch apter.
89 See Z am ak h sh a ri’s co m m en tary , th is ch ap ter.
90 C f. Q. 13:8; Q. 32:5; Q. 70:4. In all o f th ese in stan c es A rb erry ren d e rs miqd&r as ‘m e a su re .
91 C f. Q. 6:96 ‘o rd a in in g ; Q. 25:2 ‘o rd a in e d ’; Q . 36:38 ‘o rd a in in g ; Q. 41:12 ‘o rd a in in g ; Q . 76:16
‘m e asu red very exactly. All th e tran slatio n s are A r b e n / s , 1964.
92 T h e second hem istich o f a fawfl verse by Iy&s b. M alik. See A bu T a m m im , Hamdsa, I, 241; Ibn
M a n ?u r, Lisdn, s.v. ‘al-q ad r’. Cf. th e citation o f th is hem istich, w ith a slight difference, by R&zi.
93 In o th e r w ords, th a t w hich H e is d ecreein g in th e p resent, was alread y o rd ain e d . Cf. n. 85.
94 C f. Q. 9 7 :1 -3 ‘pow er'; Q. 65:3; ‘a m e asu re’; Q. 6:91 ‘[H is true) m e asu re’; Q. 22:74 ‘(H is tru ej
m easu re’;Q . 39:67 ‘[H is true) m e a su re . All th e tra n sla tio n s are A rb e rr/s .

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On the Nature of the Divine

the meaning is that the ordinance is what is in [the divine] knowledge ((ilm )
and the decree is what is in the [divine] will (irada). Thus the m eaning in th e
verse khalaqndhu bi-qadar is [th a t4We have created everything] through [Our]
power (qudra) with [Our] will (irdda)!95

S harafi
Sharafi’s commentary draws on Abu 1-Fatfr al-Daylamfs Tafsir al-Burhdn. It indudes (as
notes) the comments of Sayyid al-‘Alawi from his marginalia on Zamakhshan s famous
Mutazill commentary, al-Kashshdf. Grammatical analysis is used to insist upon a reading
and understanding of the verse that avoids determinism of any sort, whether it be implied
by divine foreknowledge or by the concept of a predetermined creation. As such, Sharafi
criticises the views of those (mainly Ash‘ari) theologians who use this verse to support
their views on the nature of determinism, occasionalism and the lack of secondary causal­
ity among created beings.

Surely We have created everything in measure:96 He [AbuT-Fatfe] said in [his

Tafsir] al-Burhdn (The Proof): that is, with a specific measure, wisdom and cal­
culation. The poet said:

wa qaddara’l-muqaddirul-aqdara
The One who decrees has decreed the decrees.
Both qadar and qadr mean measurement (taqdir), that is, We created everything
as measured, i.e. determined according to the requirements o f wisdom.97 KuU
(every) may be read as an accusative (na$b) o r a nominative ( r a f ). If you put it
in the nominative, [taking] kullu shay in to be the subject of a nom inal clause,
then it is possible that [khalaqndhu] be the adjective of [the word] shay' that is
appended to the kull> since it [shay'] is an indefinite particle; and the predicate
would then be His words bi-qadarin, as dependent on an elided term , [in this
case] khalaqndhu?s This invalidates the opinion that Ibn al-Hajib has o f [using
this verse as] textual evidence for predeterm ination.99 It is possible th at th e
meaning should be: ‘Verily, everything is created by Us and not by any other;
We created it in measure/

95 T h ro u g h glossing bi-qadarin h ere by qudra a n d irdda, AbO H ay y in h ere links qadar w ith th e
d iv in e o m n ip o ten c e {qudra) as well as w ith th e div in e will ( irdda). Cf. th e very en d o f R iz I’s c o m ­
m entary.
96 Sharafi, Mafdbih, II, 2 6 4 -5 .
97 As in Z a m a k h sh a rfs co m m entary.
96 T hus, w ith kull in th e n o m in ativ e a n d khalaqndhu as th e adjective o f shay' a n d bi-qadar as th e
p red ic ate o f an o th e r, elided khalaqndhu, th e v erse w o u ld m ean : Every thing which We createdy W e
created it in measure; w ith th is ‘W e cre ate d if as th e elided phrase.
99 See PA, Ibn al-H ajib.

478
 The measure

If you put kull in the accusative, this [aforementioned] possible [understand­

ing] remains equally [viable] even with the accusative reading [of kull], since
khalaqndhu, with the accusative [reading o f kull], would be a relative clause to
shay' just as it was with [kull in] the nominative. The verb which renders kull in
the accusative [as its object] is legitimately elided. However, it does not [belong]
to the category [in which] the agent is concealed on condition of being
explained [later], but rather it is o f the category [governed by the paradigm] in
which the word ‘Zaydari is given in response to one who says ‘who struck?; the
elision o f its affiliated term is acceptable.
Thus there is no sense to what Ibn al-Hajib states here concerning textual
evidence for necessitarianism (jabr), due to his claim being unsustainable. This
significance [of the verse] was stated by our imam al-Man$ur bi’llah [al-Qasim
b. M uhammad (d. 1029/1620)], upon him be peace.
This is a summary o f what Sayyid al-‘Alaw! too has m entioned in his notes
[on al-Kashshdf],100 after m entioning that the reading o f kull in the nominative
is ‘unusual’ [meaning that it is not found in the seven (canonical) recitations],
and after he discusses the view that those who proclaim jabr (necessitarianism)
seek to prove it with recourse to this verse, [understood as meaning] that every­
thing is created by God, and that m an has no connection with his actions, since
he is merely like a tree that is moved by the winds. The Sayyid said that AbuT-
Baqa said: kulla shay in (everything) is in the accusative with the agent elided,
and bi-qadarin (in measure) is a circumstantial clause for the [letter] ha [in kha-
laqnd-hu] and for ‘fcw/f; [meaning that everything created] is m easured [Kull]
is read in the nominative as the subject; khalaqndhu is a descriptive attribute
(na€t) o f [either] kull or shay*; and bi-qadarin is its predicate. The accusative is
stronger [i.e., has a stronger claim to being used] only because it indicates the
totality o f creation, while the nom inative does not indicate [this] totality,
instead conveying the m eaning that ‘everything that is created is in measure
[with the implication that there are things that are not created by God].
Ibn al-Hajib holds the view that kull shay*is the subject of the sentence, kha­
laqndhu is its predicate, bi-qadar is the circumstantial clause and all of that is
the predicate of innd; thus the intended meaning is conveyed [in a way that is]
self-contained within the verse. However, this does not preclude the possibility
o f someone making an error and placing khalaqndhu as a relative clause o f kull
shay In, and bi-qadarin as its predicate, so that the meaning would be: every­
thing created by Him [is in measure]’ [with the implication that there are things

100 Al-Sayyid Yaby& b. al-Q asim b. ‘U m a r a l-‘Alawi (d. 753/1352) w ro te a fam o u s m arginalia o n
th is com m en tary en title d Tuhfat dhawfl-ashrdffi kashfghawdmid al-Kashshdf, b e tte r know n sim ply
as Hdshiyat al-'Alawf; see e n try o n h im in H u say n i (A h m a d ) 1 4 1 3 /1 9 9 2 -3 . T h a n k s a re d u e to D r
B ernard H aykel for p o in tin g th is o u t.

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On the Nature of the Divine

not created by God]. Thus the accusative is more appropriate in as m uch as w ith
it the literal text explicitly contains the intended [meaning].
The adjudication: The gram m arians settle on choosing the nom inative fo r
kull - although none of the seven established readings use it - because, with th e
nominative, the words would be one sentence, but with the accusative they a re
two sentences. Now the nominative is more concise; and the consensus o f th e
seven readings falls on the accusative only because, if [kull] were placed in th e
nom inative then khalaqndhu would be the relative clause o f shay\ w hile bi-
qadar would be the predicate of kull shay delimited by that relative clause. Then
[the sentence] would mean that everything created by Us is in m easu re. From
th at it m ight be understood that things created by other than G od are n o t in
measure. Whilst with the accusative [reading] the words come to mean: ‘Verily
We have created everything in measure*; so the universality of the ascription o f
every created thing to G od [as His creation] is conveyed. The linguistic advan­
tage does not equal this advantage, and given the offensive m eaning it [the
nominative reading] contains, of course the seven readings were agreed against
it. Because he would like the deeds of [men] to be their [own] creation,
Zam akhshari inclines to the nominative reading even though it is isolated and
the established consensus is a proof against him.
He [Sharafi] says: There is no difference in m eaning between reading kull
shay*in the nominative or the accusative. That is because, by the w ords *kull
shay”, God means ‘[every] created thing*, whether you put kull in the accusative
or in the nominative; and it is the same whether you make khalaqndhu an adjec­
tival phrase with the nominative [reading of kull], or the predicate o f it. That is
because what is intended by His words khalaqnd kull shay bi-qadar, is not ‘We
have created everything accorded the noun “thing (shay*)*, because He has n o t
created all the possibilities, which are infinite, and the noun “thingf is accorded
to every one of them .101 If this is accepted then we say: the m eaning o f kullu
sha yin khalaqndhu bi-qadarin, w ith kull in the nominative and taking kh a ­
laqndhu as predicate is: ‘every created thing, We create it in m easure; and w ith
khalaqndhu as relative clause [the m eaning is]: ‘everything created exists in
measure* Hence there is no difference in meaning. And sh a y \even as it is spec­
ified {makhfuj) according to the nominative reading, in keeping with w hat w e
have mentioned, it is specified with [kull in] the accusative [as the object] o f a
missing implied term , because of the impossibility o f universality. A nd G od
knows best.

101 T h is is also discussed in A lusi’s co m m en tary , th is ch ap ter.

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 Hie measure

Burusawl
Like other commentators, Burusawi relates this verse and the notion of the ‘measure of
all creation to the doctrine of the immutable divine decree and the determination of all
things by God The divine qadar and qaddyare expressions of God*s wisdom, which is an
essential attribute of His. He has determined things and formed and fashioned them
according to His eternal wisdom. Because the destiny of everything is grounded in divine
wisdom, man ought not to be concerned with the problem of his responsibility for, and
free choice of, action. God wisely has determined what is best for us. As is characteristic
of his exegetical style, Burusawl supplements his point by quoting Prophetic authority in
the form of some key hadiths, a Persian verse, as well as his two major sources for the com­
mentary, the tafsir Kashf al-asrdr of Maybudl and the Kubrawi corpus al-Ta'wildt a/-
Najmiyya. The wise divine determination, however, does not absolve humanity from
moral responsibility for their actions. This passage also bears the mark of the influence
of Ibn ‘Arab! and his notion of the existence of the cosmos as the manifestation of Being
in the variance of each existent*s predisposition to ‘receive* that manifestation. All things
that exist are, thus, expressions of what is already determined in the ‘mind’of God and
which is then manifested in a receptacle that is appropriate to it and whose predisposition
and appropriateness are also predetermined. Burusawl*s final quotation from Ghazali then
relates this to the famous Platonic principle of plenitude and the doctrine of the ‘best of
all possible worlds*.

Surely everything102 among [all] things [i.e. every single thing]; [this Q uranic
phrase] is the predicate o f a verb which is explained by what comes after it.
Khalaqndhu, We have created it, [this is] an accompanying circumstantial clause
[concerning] the being of that thing [namely, that it is created];103 bi-qadar, in
measure, specified, [as] dictated by wisdom around which revolves the matter
of creation (amr al-takm n).104 Qadar m eans m easurem ent (taqdir). It is the
fashioning of [the things] form, figure and its qualities, both outer and inner,
according to a specified measure dictated by wisdom and from which results
the benefit [that is] dependent on [the things] peculiarities (khulf).105 O r [the
102 Burilsawi, Ruh al-bay&n, IX, 2 8 3 -4 .
103 T h e fact o f bein g created ‘in a measure* d e te rm in e d by th e C reato r, qualifies th e n o u n ‘ev ery ­
thing'.
104 T h e amr al-takwin, c o u ld b e ta k e n as th e creative c o m m a n d o f G o d , as in th e verse: innamd
amruhu idhd ar&da shay’an an yaqulu la-hu kun fa-yakun; verily, when He wills a thing, His command
is only to say to it *Be\ and it is [Q. 36:82) (see n. 56 o n R lzi). T h ro u g h th e w ord ‘be* H e b rin g s fo rth
th a t w hich H e has in H is will, giving it fo rm a n d fash io n in g it. T h e re seem s to be an ag reem en t h ere
betw een R&zi a n d B urusawl: creatio n a n d th e d ecreein g o f individual destinies, i.e. khalq a n d qadar
respectively, p ertain to th e divine will ( irdda). See R iz i’s discussion, w h ere he states th a t G o d creates
as H e decrees.
105 Khulf has, as o n e o f its m ean in g s, th e n o tio n o f difference, dissim ilarity, d isag reem en t, v a ri­
ance — in n atu ral disp o sitio n (see Lex. a t khulf u n d e r kh-l-f). G iven th e context, th e w o rd ‘p e c u lia r­
ities seem s th e m o st a p p ro p riate re n d itio n . T h e p o in t is th a t specific benefits are d e p e n d e n t u p o n
th e ch a racteristics o f a given c re a tu re , a n d w o u ld n o t en su e if th e se c h a racteristics w ere an y
different.

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On the Nature of the Divine

phrase may also be understood as follows:] We created it [as] an unchanging,

unalterable decree, inscribed upon the Tablet before it comes to p ass.106

Qatfalldhu amran wa jaffal-qalamu, sirr bar khaft-i lawh-i azali dar o khamush
Kiz-i har chih qalam rafta qalam dar na-kashatid

God has decreed the matter and the pen is dry,

The secret in the writing on the eternal tablet is silent,
That which has already come from the pen, the pen cannot change.

W hat is meant by qadar is its being ordained in His pre-eternal knowledge,

and its inscription on the Preserved Tablet. It is the qadar that is used in c o m ­
parison with q a d a \107 Qada is the existence o f all creatures altogether in th e
Preserved Tablet, and qadar is their existence in the archetypes (a'yan) after th e
acquisition of their conditions [for existing].108 Because of this it is expressed
as ‘creation' (khalq) for it is only attached to external existence at a determ ined
tim e.109 [It is reported] in a hadith: ‘God inscribed the measures (maqadir) o f
all creatures 50,000 years before creating the heavens and the earth, when His
throne was upon water'.110 [It is also reported] from the Prophet: ‘Everything
is by G od's decree, even impotence and acuity.’111 [It is also reported] from th e
Prophet, ‘A servant does not believe until he believes in four things: to testify
that there is no god but God and that I am the Messenger of God; [that] He has
sent m e with the truth [the Q ur'an]; that he believes in the resurrection after

106 T h is is a reference to th e P reserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mabfu?), alread y e n c o u n te re d in th e

o th e r com m entaries, u p o n w hich are inscribed th e destinies a n d actualities th a t have com e, a n d w ill
com e to pass.
107 H istorically, qa4&’ com es to d e n o te th e general, p re-ete rn a l, d iv in e d ecree, ‘fate (‘all p e o p le
shall die’); w hile qadar com es to d en o te specifically, th e p a rtic u la r d iv in e decree th a t in c ep ts p a r tic ­
u lar in d iv id u al destinies in tim e (such a n d such a p erso n sh all die at such a tim e in such a m a n n e r ,
in such a place). Cf. n n . 71 a n d 51. See G ard et 1 9 6 7 ,1 1 6 -2 0 ,1 3 9 ; a n d id em , 'al-R a d * ’ w a l - k a d a i\
El2, IV, 2 6 5 -7 .
108 A'ydn (s. ‘ayn). T h e te rm is ta k en as a sh o rte n e d v ersio n o f Ib n ‘A ra b fs al-a'ydn al-thdbita;
th e im m u tab le essences. A cco rd in g to Ibn 'A rab i, th e pro cess o f d ete rm in a tio n involves th e e s ta b ­
lish m e n t o f th e ‘p red isp o sitio n s to receive th e m an ifestatio n o f being. T h e a'y&n, th e re fo re, are th e
archetypal m oulds w herein th e existential m easures o f th in g s th a t com e to be in th is w o rld are d e lin ­
eated. D eterm in atio n is th u s th e process involving th e e n c o u n te r betw een th e essences a n d th e p r e ­
dispositions. See Ibn ‘Arab!, Fufu& 161-62; Ibn ‘A rabi, Futubidt, II, 666; C h ittick 1 9 8 9 ,1 1 -1 2 ,8 3 -8 4 ;
Izutsu 1 9 8 3 ,1 5 9 -9 6 .
109 F o r Burusawi, khalq d escribes existents co n tain e d w ith in a certain space a n d tim e in th is p h e ­
n o m e n al w orld. T h is m o d e o f bein g d o es n o t exhaust th e sc o p e o f existence, as th e re are ‘e x iste n ts’
in th e m in d o f G od, in th e arch ety p es o r form s o f th in g s an d so forth.
110 T h is is narrated by ‘A bd A llah b. ‘A m r b. al-‘A$ from th e P rophet: see M uslim , $abib, IV, Kitdb
al-qadr, bdb 2, hadith no. 2653.
111 Ib n H anbal, Musnad, II, musnad 'Abd Alldh b. ‘(/m a r, w hich in d icates th a t th is n a rra tio n is
rep o rte d o n th e a u th o rity o f th e C o m p a n io n an d son o f th e se c o n d caliph; M uslim , $abib* IV, Kitdb
al-qadar, bdb 4, hadith no. 2655.

482
 The measure

death; and believes in the measure both its good and its bad [aspects]', i.e. its
sweetness and its bitterness.112
He [MaybudI] said in the K ashf al-asrdr. ‘The doctrine of the ahl-i
sunnat...\113 [The Prophet] also said: ‘Qadar (destiny) is from God, both its
good and its bad [aspects].’ Thus the verse contains within it a refutation of the
Qadaris, the MuTazilis and the Kharijis.114
In a l-T a m ld t al-Najmiyya, [it is said] ‘We have created everything’ - that is,
[every] existent [whether pertaining to] knowledge, o r in individual [material]
form 115 - in pre-eternity with a determ ined m easure, just as w hen He said
Alladhi a fa kulla shay*in khalqahu thumma hadd (W ho gave everything its cre­
ation then guided it) [Q. 20:50]; that is, everything is created according to the
requirem ent of its essential predisposition and its original pre-eternal receptiv­
ity, neither more nor less. As Ghazali said, ‘There is nothing in possibility that
is more wonderful (abda*) than this existence because if there were [something
m ore wonderful], and [it] was not manifested, then He would be miserly but
He is generous, and He would be im potent but He is all-powerful.’116

112 See Tirmidhl, Sunan, III, Kitdb al-qadar, bob 10, hadith no. 2231.
1,3 See the introduction to and the commentary of Maybudi, this chapter.
1M According to Burusawi, these groups uphold human free will and do so against the direct
words of Go<L
115 This may be understood as meaning; ‘every existent whether in Gods eternal knowledge prior
to existentiation or in actualised individual form’. In philosophical terminology ‘i/mf might be ren­
dered ‘noetic’ and ’ayni as ‘concrete individual’.
116 Cf. Ghazali, Ihyd\ IV, 223; Ghazill, Imld\ fol. 16a, quoted in Ormsby 1984, 35; Ghazili,
Arba'in, 27; Ghazali, Maqdfid, 238; Ghazali, Maq$adt 230-1. fbn *Arabi also cites this quotation, see
his Kitdb al-Tadblrdt, (Nyberg’s text) 106; Ibn ‘Arabi, Futuhdt, III, 586; Ibn 'Arabi, Fu$u$, 172. A
similar phrase is given from a Platonic context in the Arabic version of Galen’s epitome of the
Timaeus, see the edition of Plato Arabus /, in Kraus and Walzer 1951,5. This phrase is a critical doc­
trine of Ghaz&li that became the cause of controversy, namely, his espousal of the notion that this
world was ‘the best of all possible worlds’and that there was no possibility, no possible existent that
could be better, more excellent, more complete and more wonderful than this world. It was thus
seen in the controversy as pitting possibility against divine potency (see Ormsby 1984). In Platonic
terms, Ghazali proposes a strong principle of plenitude. Everything that ‘exists’ as possibility in the
mind of God and that can be and as such is determined pre-etemally by God, must come into this
realm of existence because nothing in this existence is created ex nihilo. Possibility is the opposite of
impossibility and thus in this special usage comprises the necessary. Since God is good, just, gener­
ous and powerful, His goodness is superabundant (to use a term from Plotinus) and must create all
that is possible with Him. The result is that Ghazali seems to deny creatio ex nihilo. For such a ‘philo­
sophical’ understanding of his ‘true’doctrine, see Frank 1994; Frank 1992; for an alternative view to
this last, see Marmura 1995. The denial of creatio ex nihilo does seem an unusual position for a
thinker who attacks the ‘philosophers’ for rejecting the temporal origination of the world in his
Tahdjut al-faldsifa (Incoherence of the Philosophers). On the principle of plenitude, see the classic work
of Lovejoy 1936. On this doctrine in the thought of Avicenna, see Back 1992,217-55. On Ghaz&li’s
invocation of this principle, see Ormsby 1984,198.

483
On the Nature of the Divine

Alusi
Alusi picks up on the controversies of the early period of Islam, when much animosity
towards the Qadaris, the forerunners of the Mu‘tazila, was being manifested in h a d ith s
that singled them out, along with the Muiji’a, as dangerous innovators among the Muslim
community. Such animosity is further highlighted by imputing a fanatical hatred of these
early free will adherents to the great traditionist Ibn ‘Abbas, something which serves to
condemn them permanently in the eyes of the Sunn! community. The animosity shown
here is more likely intended as an indirect condemnation of Mutazill doctrines and teach­
ings, since the Sufi stance towards the latter was by Alusfs time one of disdain.

Surely everything, every single thing,117 We have created in measure [Q. 54:49],
i.e. it is preordained, written on the Tablet before it occurs. Thus qadar in th e
generally accepted meaning is that which is com pared118 to qa4d\ and m any
of the predecessors transm it the verse according to this [meaning].
Im am A hmad, Muslim, Tirmidhi and Ibn Maja relate from Abu H urayra
that, ‘The polytheists of the Quraysh came [to the Prophet], disputing w ith
G od’s Messenger about qadar, and The day when they are dragged on their faces
into the Fire: Taste now the touch o f Saqar! Surely We have created everything in
measure [Q. 54:47-9] was revealed.*119
Bukhari in his Tarikh, Tirmidhi in his collection o f fair (hasan) hadiths,120
Ibn Maja, Ibn ‘Adi and Ibn Mardawayh state that Ibn ‘Abbas related: G o d ’s
Messenger said, ‘Two categories from my com m unity have no place in Islam:
the M uiji’a 121 and the Qadariyya.’122 A verse in G od’s Book was revealed c o n ­
cerning them: InnaVmujrimina fi <ialdlin wa sufur (Verily, the sinners are in error
and madness) [Q. 54:47] - until the end of the verse. Ibn ‘Abbas used to loathe
the Qadaris. ‘Abd ibn [sic.] Hamid [or Humayd?] states that Abu Yafcya al-A ‘raj
related: I heard Ibn ‘Abbas say, when the Q adaris had been m entioned: ‘If I
were to catch hold of one of them, I would do such-and-such to him f and th en
he said, ‘Fornication is by qadar (divine decree), and theft is by qadar, and w ine­

117 Altisi, Ru/i a/-ma'4m, XXVIII, 93-4.

118 Yuq&bilu al-qad&\ could also be rendered: 'which is contrasted with qafa” or ‘which corre­
sponds to qatfa”. Clearly the commentator is stating what others have said, to the effect that qadar
is what is spoken of together with qatfa': yuqdlu ma'al-qada*: see Rizi, Abu Hayyin and Burusawi.
119 For a discussion of these hddiths and the Qadari controversy, see Cook 1981,107fF;
120 Tirmidhi classified hadith into three categories: $ahih (sound), hasan (fair) and gharib
(unusual). Alusi is expressing the mature Sunni position that this collection of narrations contains
texts that are not authenticated but rather are acceptable, placing it at a lower level than the collec­
tions of Bukh&ri and Muslim.
121 Those who identified faith with belief to the exclusion of acts. See Wlferd Madelung,
‘MurdjiV, El2, VII, 605-7; Cook 1981,27-47; TG, 1,152-221.
122 Muslim, $ahih, hadith no. 2239. Those who upheld the doctrine of man’s free will to the detri­
ment, some felt, of the power of God’s will. See Josef van Ess, ‘al-fcadariyya’, El2, X, 386-72.

484
 The measure

drinking is by qadarf It is stated from Mujahid that he said: €I said to Ibn *Abbas,
“W hat do you th in k of one who denies qadarF and he said, “Just bring us
together!” I said, “W hat would you do to h im r and he replied, “Throttle him
to death!”*Many hadiths censure them, among them [the following] reported
by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and TabaranI on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar that God*s
Messenger said, ‘Every com m unity has its Magians, and the Magians o f my
community are those who say there is no divine decree (qadar): if they become
ill, do not treat them ; if they die, do not attend them [their funerals] *123
It is permissible that the meaning b e €Surely We have created everything as pre­
ordained, precisely, [whereby] the requisites o f wisdom - which the m atter o f
creation turns upon - are fulfilled in it* Thus, this verse is o f the same category
as [the Q u ran ic phrase] Wa khalaqa kulla shay in fa~qaddarahu taqdiran (And
He created everything and determined it with (careful) calculation) [Q. 25.2].
Kulla (every) is made accusative [as the object of| an [implied] verb which is
explained by w hat comes after it, i.e. ‘Surely We have created everything [which]
We have created\ However, Ibn ‘Atiyya reports that AbuT-Samm&l and a
portion o f Sunnis read it in the nom inative,124 thus kuilu, as the subject o f a
nom inal sentence with the phrase ‘khalaqndhu being the predicate and 'bi-
qadar semantically connected to it as in the commonly established reading.
Thus the verse also indicates that everything is created (makhluq) in measure (bi-
qadar); and it is inappropriate that the phrase ‘khalaqndhu be placed as a rela­
tive clause, with bi-qadar being made the predicate, because o f the disparity in
meaning that there would then be between the two readings [i.e., between the
accusative and the nom inative readings o f kull].125 But fundam entally, the
readings agree. Al-RadI says: The meaning is not [in fact] dissimilar because
what He [God] intends by [the phrase] kull shay’ (everything) is ‘every created

123 Abu Dawud, Sunan, hadith no. 4691. In this narration, one encounters the tropic equation
between Magians (Zoroastrians/Manicheans) and heretics that is common to the theological con­
troversies and polemics of the second/eighth and third/ninth centuries. One of the earliest terms
used in Islamic theological discourse to denote heresy was zartdaqa, a notion closely related to
Zoroastrianism/Manicheanism. See F. C. de Blois, ‘Zandaka’, EP, XI, 510-13; Ibn al-Nadlm, Rhrist,
391-402; Ibn al-Mal&bimi, Mu’tamad, 561-97; TG, 1,416-56 and II, 4-41; M. A. Amir-Moezzi,
‘Heresy, EQ, II, 420-3; Crone 1991; Chokr 1993. For a fascinating study of the course of zandaqa in
Islamic intellectual history especially in the Ottoman construction of heretication, see Ocak 1998.
One may also discern in these polemics an anti-Shn sentiment. Alusi was writing at a time when
the Ottoman Sunni state was increasingly concerned with the conversion to Shl'ism among the
southern tribes. The equation of Qadari with Shi*i was common to medieval Sunni theological dis­
course expressed in works such as Kitdb al-Maw&qif\ as well as in Ibn Taymiyya s famous polemic,
the Minhdj al-sunna against 'cd-skta al-qadariyya.
124 Seen.66.
125 If khalaqndhu was treated as a relative clause of kuilu shay’, and bi-qadar was taken as the pred­
icate, then the meaning would be: 'Everything which We have created is in measure’; but with kha-
laqndhu as predicate of kuilu and bi-qadar as semantically connected to it the meaning is: ‘Everything
is created by Us in measure. This latter nominative reading has no implication that there might be
created things that are not created by God.

485
On the Nature of the Divine

thin£ (makhluq), regardless o f whether you make kull accusative or n o m in a ­

tive, and regardless of w hether you place khalaqndhu as a relative clause, w ith
[kull in] the nominative, or as a predicate o f it; that is to say, by [this verse] G o d
does not mean to say ‘We have created everything accorded the noun “th in g
(shay% because He has not created all the possibilities [which are] infinite a n d
the noun “thing” is accorded to every one o f th e m .126 Then we say: T he
meaning of kull shay' khalaqndhu bi-qadar, with ‘khalaqndhu as the predicate
is that every created thing is created in measure (kullu makhluqin makhluqun bi-
qadarin); and with ‘khalaqndhu as a relative clause, it [the meaning] is th a t
everything created exists in measure (kullu shay in makhluqin kd’inun bi-
qadarin)t and the two meanings are one, the more so as the term kull (every), in
the verse, pertains to created things regardless of w hether khalaqndhu acts as
relative clause to it or predicate.127
Al-Sayyid al-Sanad [reference unclear], finds fault w ith him [al-Radi]>
because som eone could say: If we make ‘khalaqndhu a relative clause, th e
meaning would be: Every created thing characterised by being one of O u r crea­
tures, exists in measure (bi-qadar). Accordingly, in view of this meaning, it is
not impossible that there be created things which are not characterised by th a t
quality [of being one o f G od’s creatures] and so are n o t included u nder th a t
rule. As for our making it a predicate, or rendering ‘kull shay ’’ in the accusative,
there is no scope for this potential in view o f the [literal] meaning understood
from the words.128 So the two meanings do definitely differ. Nor is it useful that,
in actual fact, every created thing is characterised by that quality [of being o n e
of God’s creatures], because that is only understood [by means] extrinsic to the
words [of this verse]. Undoubtedly, what is intended is that meaning o f w hich
[the actual words by themselves] are not susceptible. Al-Shihab al-Khafaji states
something similar. The various readings have concurred upon the accusative
because of its being the intended wording even though it requires an im plied
missing syntactical part. That is why [the accusative reading] carries m o re
weight against the m isconstrued nominative reading which is opposed to it,
even though the latter does not require [any implied unstated words].129

126 Cf. Sharaffs commentary, this chapter.

127 Thus the word 'shay” in this verse is to be understood as always referring to created things.
123 That is to say, taking only the literal words, and not considering any possible implied words,
hull cannot be put into the accusative.
129 Because the nominative reading has the possible implication that there are created things that
are not created by God, it is rejected in favour of the accusative, though the latter requires supplction
and the nominative case treats the verse as literally self-contained. See Sharaii’s discussion of this in
his commentary, this chapter.

486
 The measure

M aw dudi
Mawdudi juxtaposes creation in measure with creation by chance. God creates in a meas­
ured and determinative fashion and fixes the period of life of all things. That period, or
measure, is immutable and cannot be changed no matter how hard humans may try to do
so. The attack on chance seems to be directed at secular, scientific discourses in the
Subcontinent, concerning the cosmos coming into being and then subsiding through
‘chance’, although the contrast between design and chance is an older controversy. Thus he
stresses the cosmological context of the verse. He also criticises the philosophical position
that the cosmos always has been and always will be. According to Muslim philosophers
such as Avicenna, since the Uncaused Cause of the cosmos, namely the Necessary Being or
God always was and always is, so will the cosmos, as His necessary effect, always exist.
Finally, he criticises those who think that the cosmos is some trifle that humans can dispose
of as they wish. He seems to be referring both to the notion of the cosmos as a trust given
to humanity to nurture and to the fact that ultimately we humans are powerless to take on
the role of the Creator and Destroyer. It is a divine prerogative to give life and take it away
and it is arrogant for humans to ascribe such power to themselves. This position seems to
be a consequence of Mawdudl’s insistence upon the exclusive sovereignty of God over all
that exists and in every sphere. It is also indicative of much modernist discourse that he does
not take the verse as insisting upon divine determination of human agency.

This m eans that there is nothing in this world that is created by chance.130
Rather everything has a measurement (taqdtr) according to which it comes into
being at a certain time, takes on a specific form, develops towards a specific end,
remains existing for a specific period of tim e and comes to an end at a specific
tim e.131 According to this comprehensive rule,132 this world itself also has a
m easure and will continue until a specified time; and only at [that] specified
time is it to end. This [world] will not end an hour earlier than the time that has
been ordained for its end, nor will it rem ain [in existence] an hour longer than
that. It is neither pre-eternal nor sem piternal so that it always was and will
always be. N or is it a child’s toy that can be destroyed whenever you say so.

Fadl A llah
Fadl Allah understands the verse in the context of divine facilitation and provision of
means for entities within this cosmos to pursue a path of improvement. His stress is upon

130 MawdQdl, Tajhirn al-Qur’dn, V, 241.

131 The suggestion is that the measure relates to the ontological status of objects in space and
time. He docs not refer to the question of human agency and the effect of that predetermination
upon the responsibility that humans bear for their actions.
132 It is comprehensive because it covers, and is applicable to everything created - in the words
of the verse - in the cosmos.

487
On the Nature of the Divine

the possibilities, resources and abilities to carry out actions that God provides us with.
Like Mawdudl, he stresses the cosmological framework of the verse, which emphasises
divine design as opposed to accidental or chance occurrence in the cosmos. Everything
happens within the framework of that divine design. In terms of the debate on human
agency, he tries to reconcile the seemingly deterministic bent of the verse with the doc­
trine of human responsibility and will that is indicative of Shfi theology. Thus he argues
that determination by God includes the bestowal of choice in agency to humanity: indi­
viduals have been divinely determined to make choices, but the choices they make are
not divinely determined. He ends his commentary with a form of the famous argument
by design for the existence of God. Because there is an order in the cosmos and a wisdom
exemplified in the design of the cosmos, so there must be a wise and knowing Creator
who will have designed and determined the cosmos. Consonant with many modem
Muslim authors, he therefore considers the pursuit of scientific knowledge as a corrobo­
ration of faith since it will strengthen belief in the wise design of a beneficent God.

Surely We have created everything in measure:133 for every existent, small or large,
there is a precise law, which demarcates for the thing the path o f its m aterial
(maddi) and spiritual (ma'nawi) progress and governs its m ovem ent at any
given point.
There is no random event ($udfa fuira) in the m ovem ent o f existence
(harakat al-wujud).134 Rather, there is an order that governs the entire universe
through universal norms which G od has deposited in it. This is what produces
a feeling, among those scientists w ho pursue the mysteries of the phenom ena
in the universe, that behind every phenom enon there is a wisdom and w ithin
every motion a law, which drives them to discover that wisdom or th at law .135

133 Fadl Allah, Min wahyal-Qurdn, XXI, 295.

134 Given the overall tone of the passage, it seems likely that Fadl Allih’s choice of the term haraka
(motion/movement), in the expression harakat al-wujud, is not a fortuitous one, suggesting some
familiarity with the philosophical background to the concept of ‘motion*. Fadl Allah’s use of the
concept of motion as a process of‘realisation* (and eventually perfection) echoes an innovation
introduced by Mulla $adra where motion (haraka) becomes a process o f‘substantial (jawhariyya)
change. This position goes beyond the traditional Aristotelian framework upheld by the Muslim
peripatetics where motion is restricted to external relations, but not existential or substantial trans­
formation (for a thorough analysis of this issue, see the detailed exposition give by Kalin 2003).
Western philosophical discussions about the problem of‘motion’ - what is it to begin to move? Does
motion really exist? - emerge with Zeno and his famous paradoxes questioning the possibility of
motion, a problem taken up in detail by Aristotle in his Physics (books I and II). Naturally, it is the
Aristotelian tradition that introduces this problem to the Muslim philosophers and various promi­
nent Mu'tazilis (sc. Jubba*i). There are several aspects to the question of motion (place, time, change),
including the implications that ‘motion* has for the substance (jawhar) that is ‘in motion’, and of
course, the movement of the celestial spheres of the cosmos. A good exposition and discussion of
the problem, induding a survey of views on the subject may be found in Tahinawfs Isfilahdt, 1,652-
60 (haraka).
135 Fadl Allah’s commentary begins at the level of the cosmos. The ‘laws of nature’ are for him an
expression of divine wisdom because they are ordered, regular and ‘designed*. Since divine deter­
mination, as he says, guides the material and spiritual development of humanity, there must be con­
ditions both material and spiritual that inspire and guide human development. Here he does not
specify what the guidance for spiritual development is, but it is clear that he means the processes of

488
 The measure

Qadar is not limited to cosmic phenom ena, but extends also to the m ove­
ment o f hum an existence in its entirety. There are [established] divine laws that
govern the movement of [both] the individual hum an and societies, from their
inception to their demise. Choice (ikhtiydr) is one o f the elements contained in
these established ways.136 Belief in [God's all-encompassing] power (qudra)
does n o t preclude hum an will, since the meaning of [God’s] power [is that He]
defines137 the m ovem ent of existence and designs its conditions (shuruf), so
that choice is part of this measure (qadar), given that it is included in the divine
way [ordained] for the movement of existence.
M an is perhaps in need of much dedicated scientific research dealing with
hum ans, animals, cosmic phenom ena and the hidden mysteries lodged within
them which govern the movement of their existence in the sphere o f m ultipli­
city (da ’irat al-tanawwu‘); so that, unto every type [of thing] in existence that
which is in harm ony with its need is accorded, on the basis of the pertinent cir­
cumstances which encompass it.
In light of this, knowledge leads to faith in a very fine and detailed form ,
through which hum ans realise that G od created everything according to His
wisdom, and gave it a precise measure, - and that He is the One that ordains and
then guides (alladhi qaddara fa-hadd) [Q. 87.3] - whereby He produces,
through measurement (taqdir), a practical design for the guidance of all existing
things to the natural and logical path of their progress.138

revelation, prophecy and the Imamate. But the cosmos itself and the ‘laws’discemable in it are guides
for material progress. The background to this point is the modernist slogan that Islam is a complete
way of life and provides guidance for man in every aspect of life whether worldly or otherworldly
(dunyawi aw ukhrawf).
136 Consonant with SHiT theology (and perhaps the neo-Mutazili trend of much modem Islamic
thought), Fadl Allah affirms the reality of human free will. He is a compatibilist who believes that
God’s determination of things - His omnipotence and omniscience - are entirely reconcilable with
human free will, choice and control of affairs.
137 Tahdtd also means ‘to determine or appoint*.
,3S Sflir, here rendered ‘progress’, also means ‘journey, way of life, movement, motion’, which
connects back to ‘the movement of existence’ so often mentioned by Fadl Allah.

489
 »V
mm)
 6 Oneness
(Q. 112)

Say: He is God, One,

God, the Self-sufficient Besought o f all, 1
He neither begot nor was begotten,
nor is there anyone equal to Him.

Qul huw alldhu ahad

Alldhu*l-$amad
lam yalid wa-lam yulad
wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad

T ofthis very short sura encapsulate the central

he o p e n i n g verses
tenet of Islam: the oneness of God (tawhid). Alongside the final two suras (Q.
113 and Q. 114) and the Fdtiha, the surat al-Ikhlas is one o f the most well-
known passages o f the Q ur’an; it is familiar to almost every self-professing
Muslim, and even those with a minimal familiarity with the Q u r’an would still
be able to recite its opening verses.2 This declaration o f God’s oneness can be
found on some of the earliest Islamic materials:3 first-/seventh-century Islamic
coins. This is earlier than the oldest extant copies of the Q u r’an.4 Despite the
sura consisting o f four verses and being one o f the shortest passages o f the
Q ur’an, Muslim commentaries have appended to it lengthy exegetical n arra­
tives. This is mainly due to it being considered by Muslims to be emblematic of
the Muslim faith and its fundamental doctrine: the absolute oneness o f God.
For the authors o f these commentaries, this sura also serves to distinguish
between Islamic m onotheism and other forms o f m onotheism .5 The

1 In this chapter, due to varying text sires and space limitations, some of the commentaries have
been limited to verses 1 -2 of Q. 112, while others touch on all four verses of the sura. The name ‘al-
$amad’ is rendered either as ‘the Self-sufficient Besought of all’ or as ‘the Besought of all* depending
on the emphasis of the different commentators; see n. 12.
2 See Padwick (1961,116), on the devotional use of this sura.
3 Though not an early example, see Suleman (2007,8-10) for an illustration of the use of this sura
on personal objects, expecially as a symbol of religious allegiance.
4 This does not mean that there were no codices for the Qur’an in the first/seventh century, but
rather that none have been securely dated to earlier than the third/ninth century. On this issue, see
Frederik Leemhuis, ‘Codices of the Qur’an’, EQ, 1,347; Harald Motzki, ‘Mu$haf, EQ, III, 463.
5 On the face of it, these verses seem uncompromisingly monotheistic and suggest a broader
context of polemic against the polytheistic milieu of the Arabs in the Hijaz. But it is not clear to what
extent the Arabs were polytheistic or henotheistic. Certainly, the monotheistic currents that went

491
On the Nature of the Divine

Abraham ic traditions are acknowledged by all Muslims as sister-religions

whose geo-historical and spiritual continuity w ith Islam is obvious; but th e
qualification of the nature o f ‘God* and how this ‘God* is to be conceived of, o r
not, has always been a sensitive issue, both w ithin Muslim scholarship and in
inter-confessional dialogue between the three faiths.
W hat is interesting about the commentaries on this sura is their discussions
on the idea of ‘uniqueness* or ‘singularity as these relate to the Arabic term
ahad: G od is One because He is unique, bearing no relation - physical o r o th ­
erwise - to creation nor any similarity with which comparisons may be m ade
of Him; He transcends all comparisons and all similes such that, in the words
of Fadl Allah, ‘The mental faculty cannot reach H im in His elusive and hidden
mystery* The range of religious and ritual significations attributed to this sura
and associated with it can be best appreciated in classical commentaries, such
as that of Razi, where it is given twenty separate names. Each o f these nam es
represents a particular facet of the sura's overall centrality in terms o f both the
theological and the ritual sphere. The sura is th e sura of light because it is the
‘light o f the Q ur’an*; it is surat al-Bard’a because it ‘absolves* the believer, who
recites it, from idolatry; it is called al-munaffira because it ‘casts awa/ Satan
from the reciter; and so on. It is, therefore, seen by the exegetes to encapsulate
the spirit of the Q u r’an’s guidance in its entirety, not only in guiding the
believer upon the path to ‘the purest monotheism* - adherence to which con­
stitutes the m inimal requirem ent for salvation in the Hereafter - but also in
protecting him or her from the sundry potential obstacles strewn across that
same path.
In the commentaries an important distinction is made between al-ahad and
al-wahid, even though the latter term is not used in the canonical text itself -
although H ud has a citation that Ibn M as'ud used to recite the verse using al-
wahid instead of al-ahad, and Razi cites the same about al-A‘mash. Both names
denote oneness and unicity and singleness. Literally, al-ahad denotes an ‘in ter­
nal oneness’, while al-wahid denotes an ‘external oneness*; in other words, G od
is indivisibly One within Himself and He is exclusively one o f a kind, respec­
tively. W hile the name al-ahad is used in the first verse o f the sura (in the stan­
dard text) to state the indivisibility of the divine oneness, the incomparability
of G od is stated in the last verse of the sura.

by the name of the hanifiyya were not merely myths, circulated by the pious, about men preparing
the way for the new faith of Islam. Both the Near East and the Arab world were open to a growing
monotheistic consensus that paved the way for the acceptance of Islam as a monotheistic and uni-
versalist theology. On the late-antique period and the Near Eastern and Egyptian context, see West
1999; Hopkins 1999, 52 inter alia\ Assmann 2001,198-224: on the monotheistic cult of Amun-Re
in the Amama period; Assmann 1997. On the immediate Arab context, see Fowden 1993, 5-11,
138-68; Fahd 1968,2-35.

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Razi predictably discusses m any issues on the interpretations o f th e first

verse. Among them he m entions a gradation o f understandings indicated by
the three terms huwa, Alldh, ahad, which may be summed up as follows: huwa
signifies the undifferentiated one essence that alone requires existence through
itself and through whom all other essences are brought into existence; at the
level of huwa there is no existence except God. The next term is that of differ­
entiation: God exists - the Lord over His creation, which also exists. The third
level is that of re-uniting multiplicity to the One.
Keshan! also uses the terms huwa and AUdh to denote different apects o f the
divine being. Thus huwa is ‘an expression for the pure unitive reality, for the
essence qua essence without consideration of the attributes, while Alldh signi­
fies ‘the essence with the totality of the attributes’. However, for KashanI the dif­
ferences do not necessarily indicate a hierarchy: ‘[The name] Alldh is an
equivalent for it [i.e. for huwa] ... thus He shows through the interchange
[between huwa and Alldh] that His attributes are not additional to His essence,
rather they are identical to the essence and there is no difference except in intel­
lectual consideration* KashanI applies the names al-ahad and al-wahid to this
distinction, al-ahad being the essence without any consideration o f multiplicity
in it - ‘existence qua existence* - while al-wdhid is ‘the essence together with
consideration of the multiplicity of the attributes. Likewise, with regard to the
divine being (uluhiyya).
As regards the divine lordship ( rububiyya), that is described in the name, al-
$amad - the Eternally-besought of all, the totally Self-sufficient. Thus the
absolute divine independence of all and the total creaturely dependence upon
the One are stated categorically in the one word $amad. God is the totally inde-
pendent-of-all, depended upon by all. In this way, al-$amad is applicable, like
the name Allah, to the two aspects of the Absolute God in Himself, and God
the Creator in relationship with His creation.
Many o f our com m entators define al-$amad as the ultim ate lord, refuge,
resort and sovereign. Muqatil, Tabari, Furat and Abu Hatim note also the
concept of al-$amad being ‘the one who is not hollow'. MaybudI explains al-
$amad as beyond all comprehension and perception, be it intellectual, mystical
or physical, while TabrisI ties in the idea of Goffs eternity by glossing that al-
$amad is al-da’irriy that is, ‘One who has always been and always will be.’
Razi cites a whole range of explanations of the word al-$amad and includes
the definition th a t ‘al-$amad is the O ne who is solid’ into w hich nothing
enters and out of which nothing emerges. R&zi then takes pains to show that
this must be understood m etaphorically and not as indicating that G od has
a dense bodily form. A nother citation by Razi understands al-$amad in term s
of the divine immutability: ‘He is now as He always is.’ Razi winds up by using

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the second verse, Alldhul-$amad> to link the first and the last verses o f th is
sura:

This verse proves that there is no god except a l- w d h id , for God’s statement A lld h u
a h a d signals His being unique (w d h id ) in the sense that His essence has no com­
posite structure or formation of any sort. And His words A lld h u l- s a m a d are [also]
an indication of His being unique (w d h id ) in the sense that it [the phrase of verse
2] negates any partners or peers or rivals to God [as stated in verse 4].

KashanI, likewise uses verse 2 to link the oneness o f verse 1 with the incom ­
parability of verse 5. First he explains al-$amad as the independent-of-all one
essence with attributes, being the absolute support on which all contingent
things depend and through which they come into existence. Then he states:
‘[... ] everything other than Him exists through His existence and is nothing in
itself because contingency is entailed for quiddities but not for existence. There
is no similitude or genus for Him in existence.’
However, despite the tenor of the verse itself, a num ber of the com m entators
cite the gloss Id jawfa lahu, meaning that God ‘has no cavity [interior]’, ‘is n o t
holloW or ‘cannot be penetrated’. This is found in the commentaries o f Muqatil,
Furat, Tabari, Abu Hatim, RazI, and Abu Hayyan. Yet they do not answer the
question that their statement evokes: where would they then locate creation (oi-
khalq) since there cannot be anything outside of God, as nothing contains H im
and He is absolutely One.
The emphasis of the interpreters begins to turn with the mystical com m en­
tary of Maybudi who, while interpreting verses 3 and 4 as a refutation o f
Christian theology, makes no mention of an impregnable, impenetrable divine
being. Then Zamakhshari brings in the following sentence in his description o f
al-$amad: ‘They [creatures] are not independent o f Him but He is independent
of them.’
TabrisI brings back the ‘no cavit/ (Idjawfa) interpretation but ties it to a spe­
cific limited reference. He quotes the following from the Shl'l imam al-Baqir:
*[...] al-samad is also the O ne that has no cavity, the One that neither eats n o r
drinks, and the One that does not sleep.’ TabrisI then goes on to say: ‘I say th at
the meaning of these three [statements] is that the Living One (al-hayy), may
He be praised, needs neither food, nor drink, nor sleep.* In this way TabrisI
limits la jawfa to exalting G od above the dense state o f corporeality, w ithout
interpreting the phrase as a definition of a seemingly ‘solid’ and im penetrable
God. Having said that, the impenetrability of God once again pertains to the
Absolute One, in the glory of whose unveiled presence nothing but He alone
can subsist. TabrisI cites the interpretation: ‘Al-$amad is the One above exis­
tence’; in other words, al-$amad is God at the level of absoluity: beyond Being.

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 Oneness

The Absolute is beyond being.

The following quotation from Tabrisl’s com m entary links verse 2 directly
with verses 3 and 4 by stating that the latter are an explanation o f a l- $ a m a d .
Tabrisi cites JaTar al-$adiq*s report that al-Husayn b. ‘All was asked about the
meaning of a l- $ a m a d , and he wrote back saying:

[...] God, may He be praised, explained a l-$ a m a d when He said H e n e ith e r b egot
n o r w a s H e b e g o tte n , n o r is th e r e a n y o n e e q u a l to H im . [For the statement] H e
n e ith e r beg o t means that nothing dense (k a th if) emanated from Him, like a child
or any of the dense things that issue forth from creatures, nor anything subtle
( la (ij) like a soul [...] He is above that anything should emanate from Him or that
anything, dense or subtle, should be brought forth from Him; [and as for] n o r w a s
H e b e g o tte n , it means that He was not brought forth from anything, nor did He
emanate from anything.

Thus not only is God not contained by anything, He is not secondary to any­
thing. However, His creation is both contained by Him and secondary to Him.
On H e n e i t h e r b e g o t KashanI states: ‘His effects do not exist with [sc. along­
side] H im but rather, [they exist] in Him. Thus they are themselves in Him
while in themselves they are nothing.’ And on n o r w a s H e b e g o tte n , he states:
‘because of His absolutely eternal being and independent Self-sufficiency [...]
He is not dependent with regard to [His] being on anything.’ Thus, the phrase
that He is not begotten indicates that He does not issue from, or receive His
being from, another; and since there is none that is equal to Him - He being
the One who contains all existents within Himself, since He is s u i g e n e r is - the
phrase n o r w a s H e b e g o tte n indicates He is not contained by anything and that
He is not brought forth outside o f another.
KashanI then categorically locates creation totally within God with the fol­
lowing words: ‘Since His one and only ipseity does not accept o f any multiplic­
ity or division, and since the singularity o f the divine essence is incomparable
to anything other than itself, then what lacks absolute being is pure nothing­
ness* KashanI ends his comm entary on this s u r a with an ontological explana­
tion of the Prophetic narration, ‘The seven heavens and the seven earths are
founded on [the words of the s u r a ] q u l h u w a l l a h u a h a c T . KashanI states of this
hadfth; ‘That is the significance o f His eternally Self-sufficient and independent
being and lordship *

Muqatil
Muqatil recounts a narrative of how the Prophet was questioned about the nature of God.
The responses touch on the singularity of God and the commentary elaborates with

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details. The narrative also speaks of the number of angels God sends to help the Prophet,
and recounts a well-known incident in which two prominent Meccan pagans, having
failed to bargain with the Prophet in order to secure a share of power, derisively put ques­
tions to the Prophet about God. As a result of their insolence and their devious intentions
in the presence of the Prophet, one of them suffers the torture of an angel as the other
looks on in terror. Muqatil brings in a discussion of the beliefs of the other monotheistic
faiths vis-d-vis this sura. As always, the narrative element plays a central role in MuqatiTs
expounding of the verse, the occasion for its revelation and ultimately its significance.

[As regards] His saying Say: He is God, One, God, the Self-sufficient Besought o f
all,6 the One (ahad) means that He has no partner. For it happened that 'A m ir
b. al-Tufayl b. $a‘$a‘a al-‘Amiri7 entered upon the Messenger of G od and said,
‘O M essenger o f God, by God, if I were to join your religion, [many] others
would follow me; but if I were to refuse, [all those] others would also refuse*
The Messenger of God asked him, ‘So what is it that you want? He said, ‘I shall
follow you on the condition that I have control over the Bedouins (wabar) and
you the city-dwellers (madar).’ The Messenger o f G od said to him, ‘There is no
bargaining in [entering] Islam *He [‘Amir] then said, ‘Let me succeed you then *
The Messenger of God said, ‘There shall be no prophet after me.’ H e said, ‘In
that case, I w ant you to favour me over your Companions.* The M essenger of
God said, ‘No. But you will be as their brother, if you are virtuous in your sub­
mission [to God].* He then said, ‘So you wish to make me the brother o f Bilal,
Khabbab b. al-Aratt,8 Salman al-FarisI and Ju‘al?*9 To which he said, ‘Yes’. He
[‘Amir] became furious and said, ‘By God, I shall incite a thousand red-bearded
men with a thousand m ore beardless ones against you!* The Messenger o f G od
said to him, ‘You dare to threaten m e? Gabriel then brought him the following
news from his Lord, ‘I shall incite against every one of these [men o f his] a thou­
sand angels, each one with a neck the length of a yea?s walk and the w idth o f a
year's walk.* [O f course] one of these would have been sufficient against them
all, but God, mighty and majestic, wanted him [the Prophet] to know the great

6 Tafsir, IV, 913-6.

7 Amir was the leader of his clan’s delegation to the Prophet and attempted to secure certain pre­
conditions for converting to Islam, such as leadership of the community after the Prophet, or at least
having some share in political power. The Prophet refused 'Amir any special treatment and cursed
him, resulting in the latter being afflicted with some sort of tumour in his neck and dying soon there­
after: Tabari, Ta’rikh (ser. i), IV, 1745-7 (for the English translation, see Poonawala 1990,103-5);
also Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, I.ii, 51.
8 Abu ‘Abd Allah Khabbab b. al-Aratt b. Jundula b. Sa'd al-Tamimi had been a blacksmith before
the coming of Islam, and afterwards was one of the Muhajirun that suffered persecution at the hands
of the Meccans. He was present at the Battle of Badr (2/623), and was respected by 'All, who helped
bury him and performed funeral prayers for him in Kufa in the year 37/657: Ibn Hajar, Tahdhlb, II,
81 (no. 2005); Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, Ill.i, 116-8 and VI, 8.
9 Ju'al (or Ju'ayl) b. Suraqa al-Pamiri was among the poorer folk of the Muhajirun. He was with
the Prophet at the Battle of Uhud (3/624): Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, IV.i, 180-1.

496
 Oneness

number of His hosts. He then left the Messenger of God amazed by what he had
heard from him, whereupon he was m et by al-Arbad b. Qays al-Sahml10 who
asked him, ‘W hat is the m atter with you? He was a close friend of his and so he
told him the tale:

I have just been to see Ibn Abl Kabsha [viz. Muhammad],11 and asked him for
[control over] the Bedouins, and for him the city-dwellers, but he refused. I then
asked him to [let me] succeed him, but he also refused. I then asked him to favour
me over his companions, but he refused, saying to me that I would be as their
brother, were I to be virtuous in my submission (isldm).
He [al-Arbad] said to him, ‘So you killed him ? He replied, ‘No, I could not.’
He said to him, ‘Let us go back to him, and if you wish I shall speak to him [to
persuade him], otherwise I will strike his neck?
They then went on their way until they entered upon the Messenger o f God.
‘Amir sat to his right and al-Arbad to the left, but the Messenger o f G od was
already aware of their intentions. An angel then came down and began to wring
the stomach of al-Arbad. ‘Amir then turned to the Messenger of God, his hand
covering his mouth, and said, ‘O Muhammad! You have threatened me with an
awesome thing and all [this talk about] these beings: who are they? H e said,
‘My hosts, and they are m uch more num erous than what I mentioned to you.’
So he asked him , ‘Tell me, then, what is the nam e o f your Lord? W hat is He?
W ho is His [intimate] friend? W hat are His tricks? How big is He? W hose
father is He? To which tribe does He belong and who is His brother? For Arabs
used to adopt [intimate] friends in the Jahiliyya period. God, may He be
exalted, then sent down [the following revelation]: Sayy O M uhammad, He is
God, One, in response to his [‘Amir's] questions, ‘W hat is His nam e? and, ‘How
big is He?; the Self-sufficient Besought o f all, in response to his question, ‘W hat
does He eat?, for, al-$amad is one who does not eat or drink; He neither begot,
in other words, He did not take a son, and nor was begotten, that is, He does not
have a father from whom to acquire a surnam e, in answer to his question,
10 Al-Arbad b. Qays also appears in the story of the delegation of‘Amir b. $a‘$a‘a, as a dose com­
panion of the latter, see n. 7.
II Literally, either ‘the son of Abu Kabsha or ‘the one like Abu Kabsha, and not seemingly related
to the Arabic word for a ram (kabsh), since a separate one for ewe exists (na'ja). It is not dear how
the Prophet came to acquire this nickname, but it is dear from the sources that only his Meccan
opponents used it. In the Lisdn (XII, 18, s.v. k-b-sh; Firuzibadi, Qamus>II, 2%), Ibn Mansur relates
the title to a man from among the tribe of Khuzi’a, who was remembered as having gone against
the practice of the Quraysh of venerating a mutiplicity of idol-gods and dedaring his devotion to a
single god, al-Shi'ri; the Prophet acquired it because he in his time went against the practice of his
tribe and devoted himself to the one God, Allah. Another possibility is that the title was that of
Muhammad’s maternal grandfather, Wahb b.1Abd Manif, to whom the Prophet had a striking phys­
ical resemblance, or that it was the title of tfalima s, his fostermothei's, husband. Either way, il is safe
to say that Muslim tradition either never knew or failed to record the meaning and origin of this
nickname.

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On the Nature of the Divine

‘W hose son is H e? He [God] then said, and there is none equal to H im , in

response to the question, ‘W ho is His [intimate] friend?, and m eaning that n o
one is comparable or similar to Him: so how could He have a friend? He [the
Prophet] then pointed with his hand and eyes [to ‘Amir] to [look at] al-A rbad,
w ho was in agony because of the angel squeezing his stomach, so m uch so th a t
his insides were about to come out o f his mouth.
[Now] anxious for his life, al-Arbad said, ‘Let us gof So they got up [and left].
‘A m ir asked him, ‘Alas! W hat on earth is the matter with you? He said, ‘I felt
my stomach being squeezed terribly and such a great pain that I could not even
lift my hand* As for al-Arbad b. Qays, he left Medina that same day, which h a p ­
pened to be cloudy, and on the way a bolt of lightning struck and killed him .
As for ‘Amir b. al-Tufayl, [the angel] Gabriel smote him in the neck and a
tum our appeared on it, which some said was the plague. He then fell sick in
Medina and no one would give him lodgings, except a leprous woman from the
Banu Salul. Apprehensive of [impending] death, he exclaimed, ‘[I have] a gland
like that of a camel and [will encounter] death in the house o f a w om an o f the
Salul. Come out and face me O death, for I shall kill you!* God, m ighty and
majestic, then sent down [the following verse]: yet they dispute about God
though He is great in might [Q. 13:13].
Also, [with regard to the occasion of the revelation of] Say: He is Godt One,
[it is reported that] the Meccan polytheists had said to the Messenger of God,
‘Depict your Lord for us and describe Him for us*, with ‘Amir b. al-Tufayl al-
‘Amiri adding, ‘Tell us about your Lord, is He made o f gold o r silver, iron o r
brass? - for, [Muqatil notes] the Jews had said that Ezra (‘Uzayr) was the son
of G od [cf. Q. 9:30], and God, mighty and majestic, sent down a description o f
Himself in the Torah - ‘So tell us about him, O M uhammad *God, m ighty and
majestic, thus sent down the following [in response] to what they had said, Say:
O M uhammad, He is Gody One, in other words, He has no partner, God, al-
$amady12 meaning one w ithout a cavity (jawf) like that o f created beings
(makhluqun). It is also said that al-famad means the Lord to whom creatures
turn to ($amada ild) for their needs and in [an act of] affirmation (iqrdr) and
submissiveness (khutfu ). He neither begot, so as to be inherited from , and nor
was He begotten, so as to be subject to partnership. For the Arab polytheists
(mushrikun) claimed that the angels were the daughters of al-Rahm an,13 [in the

12 Given our double rendition of al-$amad as ‘the Self-sufficient Besought of all* in an attempt to
convey the fuller implications of the term, it is not possible to sustain a third significance in English
for the word. Consequently, it has been left untranslated here and in other such places. For more on
al-samad, see Rubin 1984a.
13 We have left this in the Arabic since MuqatiTs allusion here obscures, at least to the reader, two
issues of interest which have not gone unnoticed by modem scholarship (see n. 5, this chapter). On
the one hand, there was a pre-Islamic cult in central Arabia and Yemen in which a God of the

498
 Oneness

same way that] the Jews claimed that Ezra CUzayr) was the son o f God, and the
Christians that Jesus (al-Masih) was the son of God. God, however, mighty and
majestic, proved them to be liars and dissociated Himself from their claims by
stating that He neither begot, meaning, that He does not have a child, and nor
was He begotten, as Jesus, Ezra and Mary were; nor is there anyone equal to H im,
meaning that there is none to m atch H im , n o r can He, blessed and greatly
exalted, have a likeness among any god.

Hud
Hud’s brief commentary on this su ra pertains only to the divine names. He notes the
variant recitation of Ibn Masud: a l- w a h id instead of a l-a h a d and simply points out that
a l-a h a d means a l-w a b id . Concerning a l-$ a m a d , Hud notes two interpretations, one of
which is less frequently encountered, and that is that a l-$ a m a d denotes God’s lack of need
for any nourishment. His citation and use of al-Kalbi’s commentary (tafsir ) is interesting,
particularly since the latter was acknowledged to have been a Shu; but this also seemingly
confirms the importance of al-Kalbi’s tafsir , now lost, which is said to have been one of
the longest commentaries composed, at least in the early period. The exegetical thread
that runs throughout most of the commentaries on this verse, namely the Jews’question­
ing of the Prophet about the ‘lineage’ of his God, makes its appearance here.

Say: He is God, One, that is, the O ne.14 Some say that ‘Abd Allah b. Mas‘ud used
to recite qul huwafllahu al-wahid.
He said, God, al-$amad, m eans the Enduring (al-b&qi).15 The commentary

Heavens was worshipped under the title al-Rabman (South Arabian, Rahmdndn) - note here that
among its many occurrences in the Qur’in, the term al-Rahman appears in Solomon s letter to the
Queen of Sheba (Q. 27:30). On the other hand, there is the pre-lslamic Meccan cult in which Allah
was regarded as the supreme deity with daughters, namely, al-Lat, al-‘Uzza and Manat (cf. Q. 53:19—
20). Muqatil’s fusing of the two issues, in his statement that the Meccans claimed daughters for al-
Rabman, is of course post-Qur’anic and stems from the Quoin’s own identification of Allah with
al-Rafiman (consider the basmala, for example, where al-Rabman is not a separate epithet as much
as an adjectival qualification). See Gerhard Bowering, 'God and His attributes’, EQ, II, 316-31, where
a relevant bibliography is given; also see Watt 1971; Watt 1970; on the issue of al-Rabmin, see Rippin
1991. Both of these issues - namely, the pre-lslamic Arabian cult of the Rahman and the Meccan
cult of ascribing daughters to Allah - are of consequence to the larger question of the nature of pre-
lslamic religion, particularly in the Hijaz and in and around Mecca, the region which constituted
the immediate milieu in which the Qur’anic revelations were understood and contextualised. The
question, then, is to what extent was the religious environment in which the Qur’an was revealed
an environment dominated by corrupted forms of monotheism (henotheism or even monolatry) as
opposed to outright idolatry or polytheism. A recent study has attempted to argue that in fact some
of the mushrikun (lit. associationists), who bear the brunt of the religious polemic in the Qur’an,
may not have been idol-worshipping polytheists, but were monotheists whose practices were simply
too corrupt by the standards of the monotheism preached by the Qur’an: see Hawting 1999.
14 Tafsir, IV, 543.
15 ‘Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir, II, 332, says that this means that He is permanent but also that there is
nothing inside Him (Idjawfa lahu).

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On the Nature of the Divine

(tafsir) of some [scholars] is that al-$amad is th e One possessing the ultim ate
[degrees of] glory (sharaf) and sovereignty (su’dad).1617Al-Kalbfs exegesis (tafsir)
is [that al-$amad means] ‘the One who neither eats nor drinks'.
[God], exalted be He, says: He neither begot nor was begotten, nor is there
anyone equal (kufu’an) to Himyin other words, there is none that can be a m atch
for H im (k a fu a n ). Al-Kalbi’s exegesis is that th e polytheists had said to th e
Prophet - or according to some, that the Jews had said to him - ‘Inform us o f
your Lord’s lineage (nasab) and describe Him for us', w hereupon G od sent
down this sura.

Q um m i
Qummi’s commentary also includes the familiar scene of questioners wanting to know,
from the Messenger of God, what God is. However, there are now slightly more sophis­
ticated expositions concerning God’s nature, and Qummi provides a succinct statement
that God cannot be subject to the physical categories nor analogous to the modalities of
created beings. Thus, God cannot be divisible, nor can He be subject to increase or
decrease, let alone quantified by number or qualified by the question o f 'h o W (k a y f ). This
divine transcendence is reiterated by Qummi’s concluding diatribe against other
monotheistic conceptions of God: He did not beget Ezra, nor Jesus, nor the constellations
as the Jews, Christians and Magians claim, respectively.

Say: He is Godf O ne}7 that is to say, He is G od the One [God]. The reason for
the sending down of this [verse] was that the Jews had come to the M essenger
of God and asked, ‘W hat is the lineage (nasab) o f your Lord? G od then sent
down, Say: He is God, One, God, the S e lf sufficient Besought o f all; He neither
begot nor was He begotten, nor is there anyone equal to Him. The meaning o f His
saying ahad is [that He is] singular in attribute (ahadi al-na't), as the Messenger
of God remarked, ‘[He is] light without [any] darkness and knowledge w ithout
[any] ignorance’. [As for] His saying al-$amad, this means that there can be no
penetration of Him, while His saying lam yalid (He neither begot) means th at
He did not produce (ahdath) [a creature from Himself); nor was He begotten,
nor is there anyone equal to Him (wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad) m eans that

16 See Mujahid, Tafsir, II, 794. It quotes the same narration from Shaqlq b. Salama through al-
A'mash. Another narration from Abu Ma'shar <r Muhammad b. Ka'b al-Qura?i mentions that al-
$amad must be understood in terms of the two verses that follow about divine self-sufficiency and
transcendence from begetting and being begotten. Cf. ‘Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir, II, 332. The Zayd!
imam al-Qasim b. Ibrahim al-Rassi (d. 246/860) suggests that al-$amad implies a culmination both
in terms of perfection (al-nihdyafil-khayrdt) and as an ontological chain of beings which culminates
in God, the limit and the One upon whom all rely and depend for their very existence: see Sharafi,
Mafdbih, 1,178; see Abrahamov (1990), for al-Qasim’s argument from design for God’s existence.
17 Tafsir, II, 451-2.

500
 Oneness

He has no kujuww [sic], no similar (shabih), no partner (shank), no supporter

(zahtr) and no assistant (mu in).
It was related to us by AbuT-Hasan (by way of a chain o f transm ission]18
through Flariz from al-Qabhak from Ibn *Abb&s, w ho said:

In Mecca the Quraysh had said to the Prophet, ‘Describe your Lord for us that
we might know Him and thus worship H im ’ God, blessed and exalted, then sent
down to the Prophet, Say: He is God, One, meaning [that He is] neither divisible
(mubaad) nor subject to partition (mujazza’) or modality (mukayyaj), nor can
the notion of numbers (ism al-'adad) or increase (ziyada) or decrease (nuq$dn)
be applied to Him. God, al-$amad, is the One with whom ultimately all dominion
rests and the One to whom all the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth turn
(ya$mudu) for their needs. He neither begot Ezra (‘Uzayr), as the Jews said, may
the curses and wrath of God be upon them, nor Jesus (al-Masih)t as the Christians
(Natfra) say, may God’s wrath be upon them, nor [did He beget] the sun or the
moon or the stars* as the Magians (Majus) say, may God’s curses and wrath be
upon them, nor [did He beget] the angels, as the unbelievers of Quraysh say, may
God curse them; nor was He begotten, never having existed in any loins (a$ldb)
nor been embraced by any womb. He was never from any thing, nor was He
created from any thing. Nor is there anyone equal to Him, meaning that He has no
resemblance, no likeness and no equivalent and none of His creatures is able,
with whatever blessings He has bestowed upon them from His bounty, to match
Him.

Furat
Furafs shorter commentary contains, more or less, the same information as that of
Muq&til. The curiosity about the faiths of Judaism and Christianity is ever-present in the
early exegetical tradition, and although they are generally referred to polemically - in this
case, in order to assert the ‘correct conception of God as held by Muslims - this belies a
persistent fascination on the part of the Muslim exegetes with the question of how the
Muslim scripture related to, and fitted within, the previous revelations. Furafs commen­
tary is interesting for a number of reasons: the verse-selective nature of the early Shll tafsir
tradition does not mean that narratives common to the tafsir genre as a whole were not
used by Shfl commentators, even in those commentaries whose general concern is with
verses that have a significance for Shn doctrine, such as Furafs. As the first chain of trans­
mission shows, Furafs ‘ShiT isrtad only really begins after Muqatil - whom, interestingly,
he cites explicitly (unlike the parallel Sunni tafsir tradition) - while the preceding links of
al-I?abh&k and Ibn ‘Abbas are standard sources of transmission for the Sunni tradition
as a whole. Nevertheless, Furat makes a point of sealing his commentary with a statement

18 The isnad is as follows: al-Hasan b. ‘All b. Hammad b. Mihran <- Muhammad b. Khalid b.
Ibrahim al-Sa'dl <- A b in b. ‘Abd Allah <- Yabya b. A dam <- H ariz [b. ‘A bd Allah al-Sijistanl] al-
Pahbidc [b. Muzabim al-Hilali] <- Ibn ‘Abbas.

501
On the Nature of the Divine

from the fifth Shil imam Muhammad al-Biqir, which, if nothing else, serves to reaffirm
the Shi'i ‘genealogy^ of his exegetical work.

[Hadith no. 773]19 Abul-Qasim [the commentator] <- Fur&t [al-Kufi] <- Ibrahim
b. Bunan 4- Afcimad b. Zufar al-‘Anbar 4- ‘All b. ‘Abd al-Majid [al-Hamid?] al-
VNfisiti the exegete 4- Hamza b. Bahram f Hammad 4- Muqatil [b. Sulayman] 4 -
a l - P a h b ^ k b. Muzahim 4- Ibn ‘Abbas, said: ‘The Quraysh, among them Jubayr

b. M ufim ,20 Abu Jahl b. H isham 21 and other leading men from am ong th e
Quraysh, asked the Prophet, “O M uhammad, tell us about your Lord, what is
He made of? Is He made of wood, brass or iron?” The Jews said: ‘He [God] has
sent down a description of Himself in the Torah, so tell us about it*
God, exalted be He, then sent down [the following] to His Prophet: Say: He
is God, One, God, the Besought o f all (al-$amad); al-$amad means that He cannot
be penetrated. Others say that al-$amad is the lord who is relied upon [for help]
in all things. As regards, He neither begot, nor was He begotten, this was
[revealed] because the [Meccan] polytheists claimed that the angels were G od’s
daughters, and [because] the Jews said that Ezra ( 'Uzayr) was the son o f G od,22
while the Christians said that Jesus was the son o f God. God, therefore, sent
down [the following revelation]: He neither begot, nor was He begotten, nor is
there anyone equal to Him, meaning that He has no equal in divinity (ildhiyya),
nor any counterpart, match, similar or partner: there is no god except God.
Abu Ja‘far [al-Baqir] said: ‘The whole o f this sura was revealed in M ecca’

Tabari
Tabari begins his commentary on this verse by rehearsing the traditions containing ‘the
occasions of revelation’ (asbdb al-nuzul) which relate the circumstances in which this verse
is said to have been sent down: a rebuke to a group of Jews who questioned the Prophet
about how God had been created. He then interprets the general meaning of the verse, on
the basis of this background material, with the proviso ‘if the circumstances were indeed so’.

19 Tafsir, 11,617.
20 Jubayr b. Mufim b. Nawfal b. 'Abd Man&f al-Qurashi al-Nawfali was involved in the exchange
of prisoners on behalf of the Meccan side after their defeat at Badr. He later became a Muslim, either
in the year of the Khaybar campaign (7/628) or in the year of the conquest of Mecca (8/629), and
was well-respected among the Qurashis, acting as arbiter in a case between ‘Uthmin and Talba. He
died in 56, 58 or 59/675,677 or 678 at Medina: Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, II, 63-4; Ibn al-Athir, Usd, 1,
515-7 (no. 698).
21 Abu 1-Hakam ‘Amr b. Hisham b. al-Mughira of the Makhzum was a famous Meccan opponent
of the Prophet See W. Montgomery Watt, ‘Abu Djahl*. EP, 1,115; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaq& t , Ill.i, 1, 194,
Ill.ii, 55, VIII, 193,220.
22 See Hava Lazarus-Yafeh, "Uzayr', EP, X, 960; Lazarus-Yafeh 1992,50-74; Ibrahim Abu-Rabi\
‘Ezra, EQ, II, 155-7; van Ess 1975, 131-2; Ayoub 1986; Newby 1988, 59-62; Rubin 1999,196-7;
Wasserstrom 1995,183-4.

502
 Oneness

This section of the commentary is followed by a grammatical analysis of the first verse, in
which Tabari presents various lines of argument from other sources, and points out that the
grammatical point under question is ‘one of the established grammatical points of doubt*.
He concludes by giving his own opinion, supported by what he explicitly states is his use of
individual reasoning, based on consensus. Tabari’s commentary on the second verse is
entirely devoted to citing traditions that interpret the meaning of the word al-$amad, of
which there are many. The various interpretations tend to be allegorical, and Tabari char­
acteristically does not comment on any of the traditions he cites but simply reproduces
them, stating his own opinion afterwards. This, he says, is based on the usage of‘the Arabs’
amongst whom the Qur’an was sent down, supported by verses of poetry demonstrating the
meaning of al-$amad. Although it is not supported by any of the traditions he has cited in
his commentary on the verse, his interpretation does seem the most natural, and remains
true to his beliefin not reading into the Qur’an that which is not supported by the text itself.

On the interpretation (ta’wil) of His words, majestic is all praise of Him and Holy
are His names:23 Say: He is God, One, God, the Self-sufficient Besought o f a ll It is
mentioned that the polytheists (mushrikun) asked the Messenger o f G od about
the lineage (nasab) of the Lord of glory, and so God sent down this sura as an
answer for them. Some people say, no, it was sent down because the Jews had
questioned him [the Prophet] asking, ‘[So if] this God [of yours] created creation,
who created God?, and thus it [the sura] was sent down in response to them.
An account [follows] of those who said that it [this sura] was sent down in
response to the polytheists who had asked him [the Prophet] to trace back for
them the lineage of the Lord, blessed and exalted be He.
Ubayy b. Ka‘b reported,24 ‘The [Meccan] polytheists said to the Prophet,
“Trace back for us the lineage of your Lord”, and so God sent down Say: He is
God, One, God, the Self-sufficient Besought o f all!
‘Ikrim a reported,25 ‘The polytheists said, “O Messenger of God, inform us
about your Lord, describe your Lord for us, what is He and from what thing is
H e r , and so G od sent down, Say: He is God, O ne... to the end o f the sura!
AbuT-‘Aliya reported [the following with regard to]26 Say: He is God, One,
God, the Self-sufficient Besought o f all: ‘The leaders of the opposing groups (al-
ahzdb) said, “Trace for us the lineage o f your Lord”, w hereupon Gabriel
brought him [the Prophet] this [sura]'27

23 Tabari, XXX, 342-8.

24 The isndd is: Abmad b. Mani' al-Marwazi 4- Mahmud b. Khidash al-Talaqatani <- Abu Sa‘id
al-$ananl <- Abu Ja‘far al-Razi 4- al-Rabf b. Anas 4- AbuT-*Aliya (Rufay b. Mihrin] 4- Ubayy b. Ka‘b.
25 The isndd is: [Muhammad] Ibn Humayd [Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Razi] 4- Yahva b. W&dib <- al-
Husayn [b. W&qid al-Marwizi] 4- Yazid [b. Abl Sa'ld al-Nahwi] 4- Tkrima [mawld Ibn 'Abbas].
26 T h i s isndd is: I b n H u m a y d 4- ( A b u ‘A b d A lla h ] M i h r i n [b . A b i ‘U m a r a l - ‘A t t a r a l - R i z i ] 4- A b u
J a 'f a r [ a l - R i z i ] 4- a l - R a b l ' [b . A n a s ] 4- A b u l - ‘A liy a .
27 Jabir b. ‘Abd Allah reports the same thing. The isndd is: Muhammad b. 'Awf 4* Shurayh 4*
IsmaTl b. Mujalid 4- Mujilid [b. Sa‘id b. ‘Umayr] 4- [‘Amr b. Shurabbil] al-Sha‘bi 4- Jabir [b. ‘Abd
Allah al-An$iri].

503
On the Nature of the Divine

An account of those who said that this [sura] was sent down because o f th e
question by the Jews:
S aid [b. Jubayr] reported,28

A small group of Jews approached the Prophet and said ‘O Muhammad, this God
[of yours] created creation, but who created Him?* The Prophet became very
angry, his face turned red and he leapt at them in fury on behalf of his Lord. But
Gabriel came to him and calmed him down, saying, ‘Quieten yourself down, O
Muhammad*. There then came to him from God the response to what they had
asked him. He said, ‘God says, Say: He is God, One, God, the Self-sufficient Besought
of all. He neither begot, nor was begotten, nor is there anyone equal to Him*. When
the Prophet had recited [this] to them, they then said, ‘Describe for us your Lord,
what is His constitution (khalq) like, His upper arm Catfud) and His forearm
(dhira)T The Prophet became even more angry than before and rushed upon
them in fury, whereupon Gabriel came to him [again] and said what he had said
to him [before], and brought him a response to what they had asked him about:
And they did not gauge God by His true measure, for the entire earth will be in His
grasp on the Day of Resurrection and the heavens will be rolled up in His right
hand. Glory be to Him! And exalted be He above what they associate [with Him]!
[Q. 39:67].29

If the affair was indeed as we have described, the interpretation o f these

words [of God] would be: Say, O M uhammad, to those who ask you about the
lineage (nasab) of your Lord and His character (yi/a), and who created H im ,
‘The Lord about w hom you question me is the G od to whom belongs th e
worship of every thing [in existence]; worship is only due to Him and is o f n o
use [if performed] for any thing other than Him*
The Arab grammarians differ [in opinion] over which [word] causes ahad
to be in the nominative case [viz. ahadun).
Some say that it is in the nom inative because o f Alldhu w ith huwa a su p ­
porting [separating] pronoun, as in the case o f the [pronominal suffix] hu in
His saying inna-hu and Alldhu al-'aziz al-hakim (Behold, it is I, God, the Mighty,
the Wise, [Q. 27:9]). However, others say that huwa is itself the nom inative
[predicate] even though it stands as an indefinite particle o f a new sentence,
similar to [the use of hadha] where He [God] says: hadhd b a ll shaykhun (this,
my husband, is an old man [Q. 11:72]). They also say that huwa’lldhu (He is
God) is a response to the words of [those] people who said to him [the
Prophet], ‘W hat do you worship?*, to which he replied, ‘He is God* (huwa
Allah), after which it was said to him, ‘So, what is He?*, to which he replied,
28 The isrtdd is: Ibn Humayd [Abu 'Abd Allah] SaJama [b. aJ-Fadl al-Azraq) «- [Muhammad]
Ibn Ishaq <r Muhammad [b. Salih b. Dinar?] <- Said (b. Jubayr).
29 A similar report is provided by Qatada. The isrtdd is: Ibn Humayd <- Mihran <- Said b. Abi
'Aruba <- Qatada.

504
 Oneness

‘He is O ne (huwa ahad). O thers say ahadun m eans wahid, ‘O n e, and reject
[the notion] that a supporting particle can constitute the [syntactical] com ­
m encem ent of a new sentence, unless it is preceded by one o f the particles of
‘d oubf (h u ru f al-shakk), such as zanna and its sisters, or kdna and related
forms, or inna and the like; this second opinion is m ore in accordance with
the accepted rules of Arabic, but reciters differ on the reading of it. The reciters
o f the m ajor towns (qurra al-am$dr) generally read it as ahadutt Alldhu al-
$amadu, with the word ahad in the indefinite nominative case [suffixed ‘-un’],
except for Na$r b. ‘A$im and ‘Abd Allah b. Abl Ishaq, of whom it is reported
that they read it w ithout the [aforem entioned] tanwin, i.e., [qul huwalldhu]
ahadu Alldhu [al-$amadu]. W hen the rtun [of tanwin] th at designates [the
indefinite] inflection meets the alif and lam [i.e., al-] or a vowelless consonant,
it is som etim es elided. As the poet says:

kayfa nawmi'alal-firdshi wa-lammd tashmalil-Sh&maghdratun sha'wau

tudhhilul-shaykha 'an banihi wa-tubdi'an khid&mil-aqilatul-'adhr&'u

How am I to sleep in [my] bed, when a devastating attack

is about to engulf Syria, distracting the ageing man
from his children and [forcing] the noble virgin to expose her ankletjs]?

[In the above lines] he [the poet] intended [the inflection to be]: ‘an
khidamin al-'aqilatu.
In my opinion, the truth on this m atter is [that it should have] the tanwin,
for two reasons. The first of these is that it is the m ore eloquent o f the two
idioms and the more widely-known of the two wordings, and the better o f the
two according to the Arabs. The second is that the consensus of the authorities
am ongst the reciters of the m ajor towns argues for [the reading with] the
tanwin; in that there is sufficient proof o f [this reading’s] correctness and no
need to adduce any other [reason]. As for the m eaning of His saying ahad,
One, we have explained this previously and there is no need to repeat it in this
instance.
As for His words Godt the Self-sufficient Besought o f all: He, exalted be the
mention o f Him, means ‘the W orshipped One other than to whom no worship
is of any use, the Self-sufficient Besought o f all (al-$amad)\
Commentators have differed over the meaning o f al-$amad. Some have said:
‘He is O ne who is not hollow (ajwaf) and does not eat nor drink.’
An account of those who said this:
Ibn ‘Abbas related,30 ‘Al-$amad is one who is not hollow {ajwaf)!

30 The isnad for the first report on the meaning of al-famad is: ‘Abd al-Rafiman b. al-Aswad <-
Muhammad b. Rabi'a (al-Kilab!) <- Salama b. Sabur ‘Afiyya b. Sa'd <- Ibn ‘Abbas.

505
On the Nature of the Divine

Mujahid reported,31 ‘Al-$amad is one who is solid (mu$mat) w ithout any

cavity (jawf)!32
Al-Rabl‘ b. Muslim related that Ibrahim b. Maysara said, ‘Mujahid sent m e
to S a id b. Jubayr to ask him about [the word] al-$amad> and he said [that it
meant] “One who has no interioi'V
Al-Sha'bi reported,33 lAl-$amad is one who does not consume food (fa dm )!
Said b. al-Musayyab reported,34 ‘Al-$amad is one who has no filling (Id hish-
watun lahu)!
W th regard to His saying al-$amad, aM ?abbak reported [that it means] ‘O ne
who has no cavity [or ‘interior]’.35
O thers have said [that al-$amad means] ‘One from whom nothing issues
(yakhruj)!

An account of those who said this:

‘Ikrima related,36 ‘Al-$amad is the one from whom nothing emanates, and
who has neither begotten nor was begotten’
31 The isndd is: [Abu Bakr Muhammad] Ibn Bashshir [Bundar] f 'Abd al-Rabman (b. Mahdi]
4- Sufyin |b. ‘Uyayna] 4- Mansur [b. al-Mu‘tamir) 4- Mujihid [b. Jabr].
32 There follow four reports all from Mujahid, but through slightly different chains of transmis­
sion to the same effect, namely, that al-$amad means ‘solid’ and ‘without cavity (or hollow)’. The
following four chains are those relevant transmissions through Mujihid. First chain: Abu Kurayb
[Muhammad b. al-‘Ali’] 4- Waki‘ [b. al-Jarrih b. Mallb] 4- Sufyin 4- Man$Qr 4- Mujihid; second
chain: al-Hirith [b. Muhammad b. Abl Usama] 4- al-Hasan [b. Musa al-Ashyab) 4- Warqi’ [b. ‘Umar
b. Kulayb] 4- [‘Abd Allah] Ibn Abi Najib 4- Mujihid; third chain: Ibn Bashshar 4- ‘Abd al-Rabmin
and Waki‘ 4- Sufyin 4- Ibn Abi Najib Mujihid; fourth chain: Abu Kurayb 4- Waki‘ 4- Ibn Humayd
4- Mihrin (and associated circle of students) 4- Sufyin 4- Ibn Abi Najib Mujihid.
The same content is reported by al-Hasan al-Ba$ri through the following isndd: Ibn Bashshir 4-
‘Abd al-Rabmin 4- al-Rabi* b. Muslim 4- [al-Hasan] al-Ba$ri.
33 The isndd for this report is: Ibn Bashshir 4- Yahyi [al-Qattin?] 4- Ismill b. Abi Khilid 4- al-
Sha'bi. In a second report from al-Sha‘bI, he adds to ‘One who does not consume food’, ‘and One
who does not consume drink’, but this time with the following isndd: Ya’qub [b. Ibrihim al-Dawraqi]
4- Hushaym [b. Bashir] 4- Ismail b. Abi Khilid 4- al-Shalri. There then follows a repetition of a pre­
vious meaning: Abu Kurayb and Ibn Bashshar 4- Wakl‘ 4- Salama b. Nubayt 4- al-Pahhak relating
that al-$amad means Idjawfa lahu, ‘without a cavity*. Again, there follows the repetition: Abu Kurayb
4- Ibn Abi Z i’ida 4- Ismi'il 4- ‘Amir that al-$amad means Id ya‘kul al-fadm, ‘One who does not
consume food’.
34 The isndd is: Ibn Bashshir and Zayd b. Akhzam 4- ['Abd Allih] Ibn Diwtid [al-Kharibi] 4- al-
Mustaqim b. 'Abd al-Malik 4- Sa'id b. al-Musayyab.
35 The isndd is: the commentator [Abu Ja'far Tabari) 4- al-Hu$ayn [b. al-Faraj] 4- Abu Mu'idh
(al-Fadl b. Khilid] 4- Ubayd (b. Sulaymin al-Bihili] 4- al-Pabb^k- There follows three reports with
identical content to this one. The three isndds are: 1) al-’Abbis b. Abi T^lib 4- Muhammad b. ‘Amr
b. Rawma [Rumi?] 4- ‘Ubayd Allih b. Sa'id Qa’idal-A'mash 4- $ilih b. Hayyin [al-Qurashi al-Firasi
al-Kufi] 4 ‘Abd Allih b. Burayda [al-Aslami] 4- his father (Burayda b. aI-Hu$ayb); 2) [Yunus] Ibn
‘Abd al-A'li 4- Bishr b. al-Mufaddal 4- Rabi' b. Muslim 4- al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri]; 3) Ibn ‘Abd al-A‘li 4 -
[Muhammad] Ibn Thawr [al-$an‘ani] 4- Ma'mar [b. Rishid] 4- 'Ikrima.
36 The isndd: Ya'qub 4- Ibn ‘Ulayya [Ismail b. Ibrihim b. Miqsam) 4- Abu Raji’ al-Basil 4- 'Ikrima.
A second report also from 'Ikrima but with a slight variation at the later (viz. first) section of the isndd
and without the additional statement ‘who has neither begotten nor was begotten’, which is now the
subject of the section that follows; this second report has the isndd: Ibn Bashshir 4- Muhammad b.
Ja'far [Ghundar] 4- Shu'ba (b. al-Hajjaj] 4- Abu Raji' Muhammad b. Yusuf (sic.) 4- ‘Ikrima.

506
 Oneness

O thers have said [that al-$amad means], ‘One who has neither begotten nor
was begotten.’

An account of those who said this:

Abu’l-‘Aliya reported,37 €Al-$amad is one who has neither begotten n o r was
begotten, because every thing that is begotten will be inherited from, and every
thing that is begotten will die. Thus He, exalted be His mention, has informed
them that He will not be inherited from , n o r will He die (Id yurath wa-ld
yam ut)!
Abu Said al-$an‘anl reported:37383940

The polytheists said to the Prophet, ‘Trace back for us the lineage of your Lord’,
and so God sent down Say: He is God, One,, God, the Self-sufficient Besought of all.
He neither begot nor was begotten, nor is there anyone equal to Him, because every
thing that is begotten will die, and every thing that dies will be inherited from. But
God, majestic be praise of Him, does not die and will not be inherited from; nor
is there anyone equal to Him, in other words, He has no similar (shabih), no match
Cadi) and there is nothing like Him.

M uham m ad b. Ka'b reported,39 €Al-$amad is He who neither begot nor was

begotten, nor is there anyone equal to Him.*
O thers have said that [al-$amad] is the Lord (al-sayyid) who possesses the
ultim ate [degree of] sovereignty (su’dad).*0

An account of those who said this: [... ] :41

As regards His saying al-$amad, Ibn 'Abbas related [that it signifies]:42 ‘That
lord (sayyid) who enjoys absolute sovereignty (su'dad), that glorious one (sharif)
who enjoys absolute glory (sharaf), that trem endous one Cazlm) who enjoys
magnificent greatness (‘azama), that forbearing one (hallm) who has absolute
forbearance (hilm ), that all-sufficient one (ghani) who has absolute independ­
ence (ghind’), that compeller (jabbdr) who commands absolute [power of] com­
pulsion (jabarut), that knowing one ('dlim ) who has complete knowledge, that

37 The isn&d is: Ibn Humayd Mihiin Abu Ja far al-Rabi* <r AbuVAliya.
38 Afimad b. Mani' and Mabmfid b. Khidish transmit from Abu Sa’id al-$an‘&nl Tabari does not
provide the complete isnad linking Abu Said a]-$an'4ni with the original reporter of the narrative,
but judging by the report from Abu $a‘id at the beginning of the section, there should be three or
four transmitters between him and the report.
39 In other words, the signification of al-$amad is given by the verses that follow. The isnad is: Abu
Kurayb<- Wakf <- Abu Mashar [Ziyidb. Kulayb] <-Mubammadb. Kab(b. Muslimal-Madini).
40 This may also be vocalised sudad: see Ibn Mansur, Lisdn, VI, 422 (s.v. $-w-d).
41 The first report in this category is: Abu’l-Sa’ib [Salam b. Junada) <- Abu Mu'&wiya [Mubammad
b. Khizim al-Parir] Shaqiq [b. Salama al-Kufi]. The second report is Abu Kurayb, Ibn Bashshir
and Ibn ‘Abd al-A‘U [all heard from] <- Waki* al *A'mash <- Abu Wa’il. In the latter report a proviso
is added to the report, namely, that Abu Kurayb and Ibn ‘Abd al-A‘Ia did not say [the word]
sududuhu. The third report, repeats the first, the isnad being: Ibn Humayd <- Mihran «- Sufyan <-
al-A‘mash Abu Wa’il.

507
On the Nature of the Divine

wise one (hakim) who possesses absolute wisdom; [al-famad] is the one w ho is
perfect in [all] kinds of glory and sovereignty, and this one [thus described] is
God, glory be to Him. This is a description o f Him and it is appropriate only o f
Him*
O thers say, rather, that [al-famad means] He is the Enduring One (al-bdqi)
who will never perish.

An account o f those who said this:

As regards His saying, Say: He is God, One, God, the Self-sufficient Besought
o f a ll He neither begot nor was begotten, Qatada reported43 that al-H asan an d
Q atada [himself] used to com m ent (that al-famad means] the O ne w ho will
endure after [all] His creatures; he [also] added, ‘This [sura] is a quintessential
(khalifa) sura,44 [for] there is no m ention in it o f anything concerning th is
world or the Hereafter*
Qatada [also] reported:45 ‘Al-fam ad is the Permanent (a l-d a im ) *
Abu Jafar [al-Tabari] states that amongst the Arabs, al-famad refers to a lord
to whom one [in need] turns (yufmadu ilayhi) and higher than w hom there is
none; that is how they refer to the noble individuals among them , as [can be
seen] in the words of the poet:

aid ba[k]karal-nd'i bi-khayray bant Asad

bi-'AmnbniMas'udin wa bil-sayyidil-famad

A las, to o ea rly h a s c o m e th e n ew s o f th e d e a th
O f th e b e s t tw o o f th e B an u A sad: ‘A m r b. M as‘u d , th e lo rd c h ie f .46

[Also] al-Zibriqan said:

wa-ld rahinatan ilia sayyidun $amadu

T h e re is n o [g reater] ra n s o m th a n th a t o f th e lo rd c h ie f 47

If that is the case, then the most fitting interpretation o f the term [al-famad]
would [have to] be that meaning recognised [by Arabs] from the speech o f th e
one in whose language the Qur&n was sent down 48 Even if the report (hadith)
42 Theisnddis:*All [b.Diwud)«• Abu$alib ['Abd Allahb.$alib] «-Muawiya[b.$alibl <-‘All (b.
Abl Talba) <- Ibn ‘Abbas.
43 The isndd is: Bishr [b. Mu'adh al-‘Aqadl] 4- [Abu Mu‘awiya] Yazid (b. Zuray] <- Said [b. Abi
‘Aruba] 4- Qatada.
44 In other words, a sura of quintessential substance and content, eternally valid.
45 This time the isndd is: Ibn ‘Abd al*A‘la 4- Ibn Thawr 4- Ma‘mar 4- Qatada.
46 The poef s reference to ‘the best two of the Banu Asad’ may be taken as hyperbole to denote
the one person who was not just 'Amr b. Mas'ud but also his tribe’s most senior figure.
47 This is the second half of a verse attributed to al-Zibriqan b. Badr al-Tamimi.
48 In other words, Tabari is suggesting that one should go by these lines of poetry, since they are
closest in time and sense to the Arabic used in the Qur’an and it is that meaning which the Prophet
would have recognised when he heard the revelation.

508
 Oneness

of Ibn Burayda from his father were sound (fo/tffr), this statem ent would be the
most worthy o f being correct because the Messenger o f G od knew best what
God meant, majestic be praise of Him, and [was the best informed about] what
He sent down to him .49

H i .5
A bu H atim
A bu H a tim p ro v id e s a d e tailed d iscu ssio n o f th e d iv in e n am es al-ahad a n d al-w&hid,
linkin g th e divine o n en e ss ( w&hidiyya) to th e divine precedence. T h e co m m en tato r states
th at th e n am e al-ahad is m o re perfect th a n al-wahid, w hich he goes o n to explain b y ref­
eren ce to specificity an d arith m etic. A bu H atim ex p o u n d s th e sim plicity, o r sim plexity,
o f th e divine o neness. H e relates th e d ivine n am e al-$amad to th e absolute sovereignty o f
G o d as u ltim ate L o rd o f all.

On al-wdhidlal-ahad50

He is the First, prior to creation. Certain sages have said: He is called ‘O ne (al-
wafyid) because He, mighty and majestic, was always one, in pre-eternity, before
all creation, there being no second with Him and no creation. Then He brought
creation into being, so creation became a second, and He created all creation,
making some of them dependent upon others, making some adhere to others,
similars and contraries, shaped and shapeless, united and separated. He, mighty
and majestic, is independent o f creatures, not needing any thing such that that
thing may be com pared to Him though His dependence on it. Nothing com ­
petes with Him so as to be a contrary to Him or troublesome to Him, or for that
opponent or rival to be a second to Him. Indeed, He is one alone, through being
independent of all His creation, since He was before everything. Thus the prece­
dence indicates His oneness, since there was nothing before Him that was one
by precedence like He, mighty and majestic, was one by precedence, such that
He m ight be a second to that thing that was prior to Him. Rather, He is the
First, the prior in oneness, and creation is second through origination. So the
One, (al-wahid)y is a name that indicates one order: it becomes known by this
name of His that He is One without anything before Him.
49 The remainder of the commentary discusses the last two verses of the sura, particularly with
regard to the meaning of kujuw - whether it means ‘a match’or ‘an equal’, or rather ‘a female partner'
(s&hiba) - and the different ways in which the word may be pronounced (kufuwan, kuf an).
50 Abu H§tim, Kit&b al-Zina, II, 32-3. Historically, the discussions of the divine names al-w&hid
and al-ahad usually distinguish two types of oneness. On the one hand there is the numerical and
generic oneness: God is one in number and one in genus: He is sui generis, one of a kind. At the same
time He is indivisibiy one within Himself, accepting of no division of being, for all being is His.
Moreover, in His essence He is immutably undifferentiated. Thus there is an external oneness and
an internal oneness. However, which of the two names is used for which type of oneness varies
according to the commentator.

509
On the Nature of the Dhine

He is wdhid [generically and num erically one] and ahad [indivisibly one];
there is nothing before Him and nothing after Him. ‘One* (wahid) am ong th e
num bers in arithm etic has nothing before it. Rather, it comes before all th e
num bers; indeed it is not a num ber.51 W henever you divide o r separate it,
‘one (wahid) neither increases n o r decreases by anything. So you say ‘o n e
multiplied by one, and nothing is added to one. And you say half o f o ne is o n e
half, but the word does not change from one (wahid). Thus wahid indicates
th a t there is nothing before it. Since it indicates that nothing is before it, it
indicates that He is the originator o f everything. And since it indicates that H e
is the originator of all things, it also indicates that He is the an n ih ilato r o f
everything. And since it indicates that He is the annihilator of everything, it
indicates that there is nothing after Him. And since there is nothing before o r
after Him, He is eternally the only ‘One*. Thus it is said that He is one an d
unique (wahid wa ahad).
Al-ahad is more perfect than al-wahid. We shall argue that al-ahad is a m ore
perfect name than al-wahid. Can you not see that if you said, ‘So-and-so does
not have one (wahid) standing for him*, that this allows for the m eaning that
he has two or three or more than that standing for him? W hereas if you said,
‘So-and-so does not have a single one (la ahad) standing for him*, then you
have imposed [the meaning] that he has neither one (wahid) nor two or m ore
than that standing for him. Thus al-ahad becomes more perfect than al-wahid.
[Moreover,] ahad has a specificity that wahid does not have. If you say,
‘There is no one (laysa wahid) in the house, it is possible for it to be [referring
to] one animal, or bird or person, as one (wahid) is com m on to hum ans and
non-hum ans. But if you were to say, ‘There is not a single one (laysa ahad) in
the house, it is specific to hum ans excluding the others. A had cannot be a
num ber or a member of a set or divisible or anything in arithmetic. It is alone
through singleness. W hereas wahid is applicable to num bers and division and
so forth and is part of arithmetic. You say, ‘One (wahid), two, three*: these are
num bers, and although wahid is not a num ber it is the cause of num bers. So it
is involved with numbers but not a num ber because if you multiply one by one
(wahid fil-w dhid), it does not increase; two, however, is the root o f arithm etic
(jidhr al-hisdb) [...].52
G od53 is one (wahid) and unique (ahad), unadulterated in [His] uniqueness
(ahadiyya) and oneness (wahddniyya). God, mighty and majestic, has nam ed

51 Literally: ‘it is external to numbers’, i.e. it falls outside of numbers. The argument is that one is
the base (not prime) number and all numbers including fractions are dependent upon it and its
concept. It is the building-block of all positive integers and the only multiplicative identity, it is the
only integer that merits its own existence (Peano’s axiom).
52 Abu Hatim proceeds to demonstrate this point about the number ‘two’.
53 A b u H a t im , Kitdb al-Zina, II , 3 4 - 5 .

510
 Oneness

Himself one and unique, and has attributed uniqueness and oneness
(wahidiyya) to H im self f...].54 So the One (al-wahid) is a characteristic that is
inseparable from Him in reality because He was before [everything] and there
was no second with Him. Second is opposed to one. He is one (wahid) due to
His unity (ittihadihi) through [His] infinite, [eternal] pre-existence (qidam ),
and creation is two because it is bound together with being originated, because
origination is a second to eternal pre-existence, and through it duality (tath-
niyya) emerges. The One (al-wahid) is the Unique (al-ahad) in its essence since
neither a characteristic nor an attribute accompanies it, such that [the attribute]
could be a second [to Him]. Creation is two because it is an attribute and an
attributed [thing].
He [God the One and Unique] is w ithout anything before Him, n o r is He
from anything, nor is He in anything, nor [is He dependent] on anything. He
belongs not to anything, nor is He together with anything such that that thing
could be a second thing with Him. Rather, He is the One (al-w&hiid), the
Existentiator of [all] things, and all things belong to Him. He is united in His
essence and it is impossible for Him to have a second with Him in any sense.
All creation belongs to Him, even though He is called the One (al-wahid).
This attribute [of oneness] is entailed for all things in a sense, and absent
from them in a sense. As it is said ‘one m a n , ‘one h o rse, ‘one camel* and so
forth for the rest of things, so this attribute adheres to them in the word. But
the named thing is not free of composite meanings united in it such as body
and accident. So it is a one (wahid) composed o f many different things. Thus
everything is m ade up [to some extent or other] o f many compositions. As it is
said of man, he is one male, but he is flesh and blood and muscle and brain and
veins and so on. At the very least, one finds two senses in a thing. If it is an
animal, it is said to be spirit and body, and if it is a mineral it is said to be cool
wetness or cool dryness or hot wetness or hot dryness. Then when all these
things are united, they become, altogether, one [thing] in expression. So the
created thing is one [thing] through interpretation [but] several [things] in
meaning. Each thing contains its pairing and opposition, its shaping, limit and
number. But all these attributes negate from it [i.e., from the composite thing]
the meaning of uniqueness and oneness. But the First One is one in essence and
one in meaning: these attributes do not accompany Him. He is pure in unique­
ness and oneness, blessed is God the One, the Unique, one in His Uniqueness
and singular in His oneness. He has no partner in uniqueness or oneness, tran­
scendent is He most highly [...].55
54 Here Abu Hatim quotes the following Quranic instances of these names: Q. 41:6; 16:51; 4:171
and 112:1.
55 The remainder of this section cites a number of poetic attestations of the terms w&hid and
ahad. The section that then follows deals with the declension of these terms and whether they can

511
On the Nature of the Divine

On al-famad56

He, exalted and majestic, said; God, the Besought o f alt (al-samad) [Q. 112:2].
Tkrima and Mujahid in their commentary on this verse said ,4Al-samad is the
one who is not hollow\ transcendent is God [above such anthropomorphisms].
Al-m usm ad in the language of the Arabs is something that is not hollow [...].57
But that is not one of His attributes. Rather, al-samad, as one of His attributes
means the ultimate Lord in sovereignty above w hom there is no other lord; He
is the one in whom creation seeks refuge for their needs, and to whom they turn
with regard to their affairs [...]. As a noun, al-samad is well-known am ong
Arabs [...]. Thus, al-samad is the 'desired Lord*, in whom lordship culminates,
and above whom there is no [other] lord [...].

Maybudi
Nawbat U l58
M uch o f th is c o m m e n ta ry - as w ith th e co m m en tary on dyat al-Kursi - consists o f a n
en c o m iu m to G o d In this case, how ever, it takes th e form o f a personal address from G o d
to th e P ro p h et, reflecting th e fact th a t th e verse itself is w ritten in th e form o f an ad d ress,
o r ra th e r th e co m m an d : 'Sag. The c o m m e n t q u o ted fro m th e ‘M aster o f th e W a / lead s
into a s h o rt passage o f ad m o n itio n , an d h ere we can clearly see th e hom iletic fu n ctio n o f
M a y b u d fs m ystical co m m en tary . M aybudi h as draw n p arts o f his c o m m en tary o n th is
sura fro m Q u sh ay ri’s Lat&’if al-ishdrat, b u t has tran sfo rm ed th e latter's in terp re tatio n b y
tu rn in g it in to an in tim ate ad d ress from G od to M u h am m ad , an d by centering his c o m ­
m e n ta ry on th e th em e o f love.

Say: He is God, One

O M uhamm ad! Those strangers [to you and your religion] (biganagdn) are
asking you about My lineage. Say: God is One. G od is that single, Unique O ne,
unique in essence and in attributes; unique in glory and in magnitude, unique
in divinity and lordship. In having no beginning or end He is unique. W orthy

be inflected according to various syntactical positions in the sentence. Next comes a discussion of
which of the two terms may be used as predicates, how they qualify as indefinite or definite nouns,
their application to the masculine and feminine as well as the plural, before concluding on the ety­
mology of the consonantal root h-d. Our translation resumes on the section relating to the term al-
samad.
56 Abu Hatim, Kitdb al-Zina, II, 43-4. For this section on al-samad, I will omit the poetic
shawtihid as many of them are already given by the other commentators. The ommissions are indi­
cated by the ellipses.
57 The anthropomorphic intent of the commentary is cleaj. To say that God is not hollow is to
argue that He is some sort of solid body that is neither porous nor divisible. This doxastic explanation
to this verse is similar to many of the classical commentaries considered in this volume.
58 Kitdb al-Kashf, X, 664-6.

512
 Oneness

o f His divinity, and knowing in His divinity, He is the generous and kind, the
gracious, the merciful and the good. The O ne w ho knows the m ost intim ate
secrets. He is the O ne who holds up the loftiest horizon, the C reator o f the
[heavenly] throne and [lowly] earth alike, the One who is near to the [servant]
who is acquainted with Him; the One who is deserving o f all praise. The light
o f His providence (*indyat) is visible in the hearts of His lovers. Though He is
hidden from eyes, in His creation He is manifest.
Ay dur zi chashm ba dil-am yikjai
payda ba dil-u zi chashm nd payda i
0 You w h o a re fa r fro m eyes, y e t You a re h e re d o s e to m e in m y h e a rt
F o r th e h e a rt c a n see You th o u g h th e eye c a n n o t.

God, the Besought o f all

‘He is the O ne to whom they repair for all their needs and in whom they seek
refuge from misfortunes.>59 He is the eternally Besought of all, for His servants
depend upon and need Him. The hope o f sinners and forlorn alike is in His
grace; the cure for all afflictions, in His generosity. The joy of dervishes is in His
majesty and beauty. Blessed is the person whose intimate companion {m unis)
is His name, dear the person whose portion is His memory; joyful, th e heart
which is tied to Him; pure the tongue that is in remembrance o f Him. Happy
is the life of one who spends his time with His love and affection. One person
delights in Paradise, another delights in the Beloved. The Beloved is the portion
of the person whose aspiration is wholly for Him.
Chashm-i daram hamipur az jurat-i dust
ba dtda mard khush ast td dust dar ust
az dtda u dust farq kardan na nikust
yd ust ba ja-yi dtda yd dida khwad ust
M y e y e is e v e r full o f t h e face o f th e F rien d .
1 a m h a p p y w ith th a t eye as lo n g as th e F rie n d is th ere.
It is w ro n g to d is tin g u is h b e tw e e n ey e a n d F rien d ,
E ith e r it is H e a n d n o t th e eye, o r th e eye is H e.

It is said that al-jamad means the One who in His holiness is utterly beyond
the comprehension of created beings, or [beyond] the perception of their eyes,
or [beyond] surveillance by means of their mystical knowledge {ma'rifa). al-
$amad is He at whose majesty intellects have become baffled, and at whose
beauty m inds have become dazed. [Human] understanding is incapable of
apprehending His mystery. Thought is turned upside down at His com m and

59 This Arabic sentence appears to have been taken from Qushayri’s commentary on the word
al-jamad: see his Lata if, III, 782.

513
On the Nature of the Divine

(am r); livers are turned to blood at His wrath (qahr), and hearts m elted by
coming to know Him.
The Master of the Way said:60 ‘In face of His existence all otherness disappears;
upon the witnessing of His truth all traces and vestiges are effaced. Any existence,
whose limits go back to non-existence, is called an unreal existence (majdz),61 not
real existence (haqlqat). O pitiful one! Read the verse of your non-existence from
the Tablet of pre-eternity (lawh-i qidam). Plant the standard of your own n o n -
being in the universe of His being. Stun yourself with witnessing the eternal
Beloved so that you become unconscious of your own consciousness. Subm it
your being totally in the bowing and prostration [of prayer]. Rend the cloak o f
unreal existence in the existence of the majesty o f the Real and say to Him:

Chun bd khwad am az ‘adam kam am kam

Chun bd tu buvam hama jahdn-am
Bepadhir mard u rayigdn ddr
Har chand ki rayigdn girdn-am

W h e n I a m w ith m yself, I a m less th a n n o th in g n e ss

W h e n I a m w ith You, I a m all th e w o rld
A ccep t m e a n d k e e p m e fo r free
E ven th o u g h free is ex p e n siv e [for w h a t I am ].

They say that in surat al-Ikhld$ each verse provides an explanation (tafsir) for
the one that precedes it. W hen they ask, ‘W ho is He?, you say ‘One*. W hen they
ask ‘W ho is One?, you say, 'The Besought o f alF (al-$amad)\ W hen they ask,
‘W ho is the Besougjht o f all?, you say, ‘The One who neither begot nor was begot­
ten . W hen they ask, ‘Who is the One who neither begot nor was begotten?, you
say, ‘The One to whom there is no equaF.62
It has also been said: ‘He unveils Himself to secrets (asrar) by saying H e
(huwa); He unveils Himself to spirits (arwdh) by saying God (Allah); He unveils
Himself to hearts (qulub) by saying One (ahad); He unveils Himself to the souls
of believers by the rest o f the sura! Alternatively, some have said,

H e u n v eils H im s e lf to th o s e w h o a re m a d ly in love ( wdlihun) b y say in g

huwa; to
th o s e w h o realise H is u n ity(muwahbidun) b y say in g Allah; to m y stics b y s a y in g
ahad; to m e n o f le a rn in g (‘ulamd’) b y say in g al-$amad; a n d to p o sse sso rs o f in t e l ­
le c t ( ‘uqald') by sa y in g lam yalid wa-lam yulad wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan
ahad63

60 Again, Maybudi is referring to 'Abd Allah An$&ri.

61 Majdz, lit. 'metaphor'; Lane {Lex. 1,486) on the basis of Taj al-'arus defines majdz as ‘a trope,
a word or phrase which is used in a sense different from that which it was originally applied to
denote, by means of some analogy or connexion between the two senses’
62 This passage is a Persian translation of part of Qushayns commentary.
63 Maybudi has taken this whole Arabic passage verbatim from Qushayri’s commentary without

514
 Oneness

O M uhamm ad! To those w ho are m adly in love, say huwa (He). Do not
mention His name or attribute, for they are the jealous ones; they cannot bear
to see or hear another m ention the name or attribute o f the Beloved, not even
their own heart or eye or tongue! So it is that they say:

D arfishq-i tu-am kdr bad anjd rasid

K'az dida-yi khwad darigham amad rukh-i tu

My passion for You has reached the point

That I do not even allow my own eye to see Your face.

To mystics say Allah. They have their foot upon the carpet o f isolation [for
God] (tafrid). They have become so immersed in the name Allah that they no
longer have any concern for negating what is other [than Him] (parvd-yi nafi-
yi digari nadarand).64 To those who realise His unity, say ahad, for their souls
find support in the light of the reality of His oneness (tawhid), and their spirits
take ease in experiencing that oneness. To the people o f learning (*dlimdn) say
Allahu’l-$amad, for they have throw n down the burden of their need at the
court of the eternal refuge (fam adiyyat) o f His majesty, and will not return
w ithout a gift. To the people o f intellect (*dqildn) say lam yalid wa-lam yulad
wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad (He did not beget nor was begotten, nor is there
anyone equal to Him). O you who have intellect! Now, know and grasp this: that
He has no wife or child, no kith or kin, nor any like: 'There is nothing like Him,
and He is the Hearer, the Seer [Q. 42:11].
O M uhammad!651 have called you beloved (habib),66 and love entails recip­
rocation (muwdfaqat),67 and standing up for the beloved in every situation.

translating it into Persian. However, he then expands upon this somewhat dry and analytical inter­
pretation with a passage of Persian, which illustrates both his lively rhetorical style with its use of
dialogue, and his greater emphasis on love.
64 The first of the two attestations of Muslim faith consists of the negation (nafy): ‘There is no
god’ (i.e. the negation of other) and the affirmation (ithbdt): ‘except God’.
65 This is another interpretation which MaybudI has adapted from the commentary of Qushayri.
Again, MaybudI has expressed the idea in a much more intimate way by making the words into a
personal address by God to the Prophet. Moreover, unlike Qushayri, he has centred the interpreta­
tion on love. Qushayri’s original Arabic reads: 'And it is said that when people began to speak in
condemnation of God, our Prophet was commanded to refute them, so he said: Say He is Alldh, the
One [...]’. And when they began to speak in condemnation of the Prophet, God took upon Himself
their refutation and said: Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe. You are not, by the grace of your Lord,
a madman [Q. 68:1-2): see Qushayri, Lat&’if\ III, 783.
66 Many of the prophets have been given honorary titles in Islam: for example, Adam is known
as the Pure {al-$dfi); Abraham as Friend of God {khalil Alldh); Ishmael as the Sacrificial Victim of
God (dhabih Alldh); Moses, the Interlocutor of God (kalim Alldh); Jesus, the Spirit of God (ruh
Alldh); and Muhammad, the Beloved of God {habib Alldh). Most, though not all, of these epithets
have been drawn in some way from the Qur’an, e.g. And God chose Abraham for a dose friend [Q.
4:125); or And God spoke directly to Moses (Q. 4:164).
67 Muwdfaqat is usually translated as 'agreement' or ‘conformity, but in this context ‘reciproca­
tion’ seems more appropriate.

515
On the Nature of the Divine

0 Muhammad! W hen the enemy slanders you I answer them [on your behalf];
when the enemy slanders Me, you too answer them and fulfil love in its
meaning of reciprocation. ‘Uqba the unbeliever accused you o f being a poet.68
1 answered for you and took your part by saying ‘A nd it is not the speech o f a
poet9 [Q. 69:41]. W hen they say something unworthy o f Me you answer th em
and say 4He is God, O ne\ A l-H arith said that you were a soothsayer.69 I
answered for you by saying, ‘Nor [is it] the speech o f a soothsayer [Q. 69:42].
W hen the ‘denier of G od’s attributes’ (m u a ft H) tries to claim that I have n o
attributes, say, ‘God, the Besought o f alT. Walld b. al-M ughira accused you o f
being a sorcerer with these words:70 ‘This is nothing but traditional sorcery’ [Q.
74:24]. I answered him with the threat of, 7 shall adm it him into Saqar [Q.
74:26].71 You too, when the Christian attributes a wife and child to me, answer:
‘He neither begot nor was begotten . Abu Lahab said to you, ‘May you perish!*72
I said, ‘Perish the hands o f Abu Lahab and perish he* [Q. 111:1 ]. You, too, if the
Zoroastrians say I have an equal and a partner, say: ‘Nor is there anyone equal to
H im .

Zamakhshari
Z am a k h sh a ri’s c o m m en tary o n th is verse is basically g ram m atical a n d lexico g rap h ical,
b u t also includes one asbdb al-nuzul tradition. He discusses gram m atical issues s u rro u n d ­
ing th e p h ra se He is God, One a n d v aria n t read in g s o f th e p h rase, c o m m e n tin g o n h is
preference, after w hich he concludes by p roviding lexicographical analysis o f th e d e sc rip ­
tion o f G o d as the Self-sufficient Besought of all. T h ere is little evidence o f an y specifically
M u'tazill theology in his analysis.

68 This is ‘Uqba b. Abi Muayt of the tribe ‘Abd Shams. He insulted the Prophet on a number of
occasions, including once spitting in his face. Considered to be one of the most dangerous opponents
of the Prophet’s community, he was executed after the battle of Badr. see Watt 1977,13f; Guillaume
1978,164, 308.
69 Probably al-Nadr b. al-Flirith, another major opponent of early Islam, who was also executed
after the Battle of Badr. He is said to have claimed that the stories he knew about the ancient Persians
were more interesting than the Qur’an: see Guillaume 1978,136.
70 Walid b. al-Mughira was a chief of the Makhzum clan of the Quraysh, and another committed
opponent of Muhammad Once, a number of Quraysh came to consult Walld on what epithet should
be used to discredit Muhammad. They suggested first kdhin (soothsayer), then majnun (possessed),
then sha’ir (poet) and, lastly, sahir (sorcerer). To begin with he rejected them all, but finally agreed
to the last with the words: ‘The nearest thing to the truth is your saying that he is a sorcerer, who has
brought a message by which he separates a man from his father, his brother, his wife or his famil/:
see Guillaume 1978,121; K. V. Zettersteen, ‘Walid b. al-Mughira’, f / 2, XI, 129.
71 One of the names for Hell in the Qur’an. Traditionally, seven names are enumerated: jahan-
nam,jahim, sa'tr, lafd, saqar, hufama and hdwiya. Some of these occur only once, while others, like
jahannam, far more so: see O’Shaughnessy 1961.
72 Abu Lahab (the name means ‘Father of {or the one of) flames’) is the only opponent of the
Prophet mentioned by name in the Qur’&n. Abu Lahab, whose real name was 'Abd al-'Uzza, was a
paternal uncle of Muhammad and the only member of his own clan to have bitterly opposed him.

516
 Oneness

Say: He is God, One, God, the Besought o f all. Surat al-Ikhld$ is Meccan, but also
said to be Medinese, consisting o f four verses.73
Huwa (He) is the pronoun of m atter (damir al-shdn), and Alldhu ahad (God
is One) is the m atter (al-sha’n), in the same way as you might say huwa Zaydun
munfaliqun (He, Zayd, is setting off). It is as though what is being said is: ‘The
m atter is this, and it is that God is one, there is no second to H im ’ If you were
then to say, ‘W hat is the [syntactical] status (mahall) o f huwa7 1 would say, ‘It
is in the nominative case (r a f) because of inceptiveness (ibtida ), and the pred­
icate (khabar) is [the rem ainder of] the sentence. A nd if you [then] said, ‘The
sentence [God, One] that thus becom es the predicate must refer [back] to a
subject, so where is the referrent?, I would reply,

The [syntactical] rule for this sentence is the rule of the simple [sentence], as in
the saying Zaydghuldmuka (Zayd is your boy), in that huwa (He) is the subject in
[terms of] meaning; this is because His saying Alldhu ahad, is the matter which
huwa represents; but this is not the case in [sentences such as] Zayd abuhu
muntaliq (Zayd, his father is about to set off), because ‘Zayd* and the [rest of the]
sentence are indicative of two different [possible] meanings, and so there must be
a connective between the two.

O n the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas: [Some from among] Q uraysh said, ‘O

M uhammad, describe for us your Lord, to whom you sum m on us’, and [this
verse] was sent down.74 In other words, [what the Prophet is told to say is] ‘He
whom you have asked me to describe is God. A had (One) is a substitution for
His saying Allah (God), on the basis o f the underlying m eaning being ‘He is
One’ (huwa ahad), which m eans wahid, from the root w-h-d.
‘Abd Allah [b. Mas‘ud] and Ubayy read huwdllahu ahad (He is God, One)
w ithout [the prefacing word] qul (say). According to the Prophet's recitation
(qird’a), it was Alldhu ahad (God is One) w ithout [the words] qul (say) [or]
huwa (He), and the Prophet said, ‘W hoever recites Alldhu ahad, this is equal
[to reciting] the entire Q ur a n ’75
Al-A‘mash used to recite qul huwdllahu al-wahid,76 and it has also been
recited as [qul huw dllahu] ahadu w ithout the nunation (tanwin)77 which is
dropped because it runs into the definite article (al-) [of the following Alldhu].

73 Zamakhshari, Kashshdf, IV, 298.

74 This is the most common Sitz-im-Lebert given for this verse and quoted in other commentaries
in this chapter.
75 This is an unusual report since variant readings are usually attributed to Companions and
rarely to the Prophet himself. In this case, it begs the question that if the Prophet considered this to
be the preferable reading, why is that not reflected in the readings current or that were classically
transmitted?
76 The reading differs by having al-wdfyid rather than ahad.
77 In other words, instead of qul huwalldhu ahadun.

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On the Nature of the Divine

This is similar to the [poet's] saying wa-la dhdkirallaha iUd qalllan However, . 7 8

the best [reading] is with the tanwin [as alyadun] followed by a kasra because o f
the concurrence of two unvowelled consonants.79
A l’$amad is [essentially] a verb (fi'l) but [is being used] in the sense o f th e
[passive participle paradigm] m a f ul, as in the expression $amada ilayhi,
meaning ‘he sought him (qa$adahu)\ with him [al-$amad] being the ultim ate
m aster (al-sayyid al-masmud ilayhi) [to w hom one turns] for needs. The
meaning then is: He is God, of whom you are aware and whom you affirm to
be the C reator of the heavens and the earth and your Creator; and th at H e is
one (wahid), unified (mutawahhid) in His divinity, in which none share. H e is
the One to whom all creatures turn: they cannot be independent o f Him, b u t
He is independent (ghani) of them.

Tabrisi
T ab risf $ co m m en tary co n tain s g ram m ar, history, theology an d m ystical in te rp re ta tio n s.
The theological, h istorical an d d etailed g ram m atical discussions are sim ilar to th o s e in
the o th e r co m m en taries. The section o n m ean in g co n tain s ontological as well as m y sti-
cal/eso teric co m m en ts. The latter are m ain ly from th e im am s a n d p articu larly Ja'far al-
Sadiq, w hose c o m m e n t o n th e divine n a m e al-$amad, cited by T abrisi, exem plifies th e
science o f th e esoteric significances o f letters (jajr).

This is a Meccan [sura], but it is also said to be Medinese. It is also called surat
al-tawhid, because it only contains [an expression of] tawhid (divine oneness)
and the statement of divine oneness is also called the statement o f ‘faithfulness*
(ikhld$). They say that it is thus called because whoever adheres to what it c o n ­
tains, believing and affirming [it], is a faithful (mukhlif) believer. But it is also
said to be thus called because whoever recites it with the intention o f exalting
[God], God will save him (akhla$ahu) from the Fire. It is also called surat al-
$amad, and also by its opening [verse, qul huwalldhu ahad\. It is also called ‘th e
attribution (nisba) of the Lord*: it is reported in a hadith: ‘Everything can b e
attributed to something, but the attribution of the Lord is surat al-lkhld$. In
another hadith it is said that the two suras, qul yd ayyuhal-kafirun and qul
huwalldhu ahad, are ‘the two cures’ (al-muqashqishatan); they are thus called
because they cure [a person] from [the sickness of] associating [anything] w ith
God (shirk) and that of hypocrisy (nifdq): they say taqashqasha al-maridu m in

78 As opposed to wa-la dh&kirutflldha illd qalikm. In either case, the meaning is ‘and only remem­
bering God a little’. The verse is cited by Tabrisi: see his commentary, this chapter.
79 A slight kasra in order to effect the elision, according to the rules of formal recitation (tildwa),
makes the transition easier: ahadun-i-llahul-$amad.

518
 Oneness

'illatihi (the sick person is cured of his malady), when he ‘comes to* (afaqa) and
‘is cured' (ban a). Qashqashahu means abraahu (he has made him free [of any
malady]), just as tar {hind*) cures (yuqashqish) mange (jarab).

The n u m b e r o f its verses

Five verses in the Meccan and Syrian [codex], and four in the others.

The disagreem ent (ikhtilaf)

[The disagreem ent is] over the verse lam yalid in the Meccan and Syrian
[codex].80

Its virtues (fa4d*il)

In the hadith of Ubayy [it is said that]: ‘W hoever recites it, it is as though he has
recited a third of the Q ur'an, and will have been given in reward ten good deeds
for every person who believes in God, His angels, scriptures, messengers and
the Last D ay’
According to [the hadith by] AbuT-Darda’, the Prophet said: ‘Would any
o f you find [that you would] not be able to recite a third o f the Q u r’an in
a single night? to which I said, ‘And who is able to do that? He said, ‘Recite qul
huwalldhu ahadl
According to [the hadith by] Anas [b. Malik], th e Prophet said: ‘W hen one
[of you] recites qul huwalldhu ahad once, he will be blessed; if he recites it twice,
he will be blessed together with his family; if he recites it three times, he, his
family and all of his neighbours will be blessed; if he recites it twelve times,
twelve palaces will be built for him in Paradise, such that the guardian [angels]
{hafaza) say [to one another], “Let us go and have a look at the palace o f this
brother of ours”; if he recites it one hundred times, he will expunge the sins of
twenty-five years, with the exception of [those sins involving] blood or money;
if he recites it four hundred times, he will expunge [the equivalent of] the sins
of four hundred years; yet if he recites it a thousand times, he will not die until
he has seen his place in Paradise or it is seen for him [by someone else].’81
According to Sahl b. Sa‘d al-Saidi, a m an came to the Prophet and com ­
plained to him of his impoverishment and straitened means. The Messenger of
God said to him , ‘W henever you enter your hom e, offer the peace greeting
(salam)82 w hether there is som ebody there or not, then recite [the sura] qul
huwalldhu once ’ The man did this and God showered him with such provisions
(rizq) that this eventually spilled over into his neighbours’ [homes]. Al-SukunI
80 Five verses would require making the verse lam yalid wa-lam yulad into two verses.
81 In other words, in a vision or a dream, as a good tiding.
82 That is to say, the traditional Islamic greeting pronounced before people and in their absence
to angels: al-saldmu 'alaykum or al-saldmu ‘alaynd wa-'ald ‘ib&dilldhi al-$dlibin.

519
On the Nature of the Divine

[reported) from Abu 'Abd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq] that the Prophet perform ed
the funeral prayer over Sa‘d b. M u'adh, and when he had finished, he said, ‘H e
[Sa‘d] has m et with 70,000 angels, among them Gabriel, saying prayers for him .
I (the Prophet] said, wO Gabriel, why has he deserved your prayers for him ?”,
to which he [Gabriel] replied, “Because o f his reciting qul huwalldhu a h a d
whenever he sat, stood up, was riding, on foot, walking, coming and goingf9
[In a report by] Man$ur b. Hazim, Abu ‘Abd Allah [Jafar al-$adiq] said, ‘If
a single day passes for someone who has perform ed his five prayers but has n o t
recited qul huwalldhu ahad in [any of them], it is said to him, ‘O servant o f G od,
you are not of those who perform prayers [correctly].9 [In a report by] Isfraq b.
‘Ammar, Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ja‘far al-$adiq] said, ‘If a week passes for a p erso n
without [once] reciting qul huwalldhu ahad, and then that person dies, he will
have died in [the m anner o f a follower of] the religion o f Abu Lahab.9 [In a
report by] H arun b. Kharija, the Prophet said, ‘If a sickness or hardship befalls
a person and that person does not recite qul huwalldhu ahad during this sick­
ness or hardship, and then ends up dying because o f that sickness or hardship
that befell him, he will be am ong the inhabitants o f the Fire9 [In a report by]
Abu Bakr al-Hadraml, the Prophet said, ‘W hoever believes in God and the Last
Day, let him not neglect to recite after every obligatory [prayer] qul huwalldhu
ahady for whoever recites it [as mentioned], he will have amassed for him the
good (khayr) of this world and that of the Hereafter, and G od will forgive him
and his parents and all their children9
‘Abd Allah b. Hajar said, ‘I heard the Com m ander of the Believers [‘All b. Abl
Talib] say, “W hoever recites qul huwalldhu ahad eleven times after [every] dawn
[prayer] will not be pursued by any sin on that day and Satan will be spited”.9 [It
is reported by] Ibrahim b. Muhzim from one who heard Abu 1-Hasan [‘All b. Abl
Talib] say: ‘W hoever offers qul huwalldhu ahad [reciting it] when confronted by
a tyrant, God will protect him from him: [let him] recite it in front of him, behind
him and to his right and left. If he does so, God will provide for him the good
[side] of that [tyrant] and will protect him from his evil.9He [‘All b. Abl Talib] also
said, ‘If you fear a matter, recite any one hundred verses of the Qur'an, then say
“O God, remove from me [this] tribulation” three tim es9 ‘Isa b. ‘Abd Allah
[reported] from his father from his [‘Isa's] grandfather from ‘All [b. Abl Talib]
that the Prophet said, ‘W hoever recites qul huwalldhu ahad a hundred tim es
when retiring to his bed, God will forgive him the sins of fifty years'

The exegesis (tafsir)

Having censured, glory be to Him, the enemies of the professors o f His oneness
(ahl al-tawhid) in the previous sura, He now provides the explanation o f w hat
tawhid is, and says: In the name o f God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

520
 Oneness

(1) Say: He is God, One

(2) God, the Self-sufficient Besought o f all
(3) He neither begot nor was begotten
(4) Nor is there anyone equal to Him

The reading (qir&’a)

Abu ‘A m r [b. al-‘Ala*] read ahadullahul-$am adu, w ithout the nunation
(tanwtn) of the dal of ahad. It has been related from him [‘All b. Abl JUib] that
he used to read qul huwallahu ahad, and then pause, and if he continued, he
would [elide and] say ahadulldh. Some claim that the Arabs never elide in this
manner. As for the others, [they would read it] ahadun Allah, with nunation.
Ism a'll [on the authority of] N afi\ Hamza, Khalaf and Ruways [read it in the
following way]: k u f an, w ith an unvow elled/a' and a hamza. Haf$ read [it]:
kufuwan, with a damma on the fa and a fatha on the wdw, without a hamza; the
remainder [of the reciters] read [it]: kufu’an, with a hamza and a damma on the
fa \

The argum ent (hujja)

Abu ‘All [al-F&risI] said that if one reads ahadun Alldhu, then the reason for
this is plain, and that is because the nunation in abadun ends in sukun, and the
definite article (lam al-m arrifa) o f the [following] noun [Allah] also ends in
sukun, and when two unvoweUed medial consonants follow one another, the
first one is vowelled with a kasra, just as when you say idhhabidhhab (go, go!).
If one reads ahadulldh, omitting the nun [of nunation], then that is because in
such a case the nun would be like the final weak letters (burufal-lin), in that
these are added or assimilated in the same way that a final waw and yd* are; and
in that it would be replaced by the alif in nouns in the accusative (al-asma al-
man$uba) and when it is light-sounding [i.e., like the nun in y a f aln\. Therefore,
when it is as weak letters, then the same rules apply to it, in that it is om itted
when it is unvowelled and followed by another unvowelled [consonant], just as
alif, wdw an d yd* are om itted in similar cases like ramal-qawm, yaghzul-jaysh,
and yarmil-qawm. For that reason it [the nun] is also omitted from [the end of]
the verb, like lam yaku and Id taku f i m iryatinP It is, therefore, omitted from
ahadullah because two unvowelled medial consonants come together, just as
these letters are also om itted in hadha Zaydubni ‘Amr, such that this is m ain­
tained as [a norm of] speech. Abu Zayd [the poet] recited:8384

83 Both orthographies appear frequently in the Qur’an: yaku (Q. 8:53; Q. 9:74; Q. 16:120; Q.
40:28), and the second phrase is taken from the Qur’an: Q. 11:17,109.
M Note, however, that the same verse is attributed to AbQ'l-Aswad (al-Du’all] by Ibn Man?Qr in
his lexicon, see Lisdn, IX, 30 C-t-b).

521
On the Nature of the Divine

fa-alfaytuhu ghayra musta'tabi

wa-la dhakirallaha ilia qalild

I found him not p r o p i t i a t o r y [of God]

And remembering God only a little.

The poet also said [...].85

As for kufwan and kujuwan, it is properly the one with damma [that one reads],
but it may be softened as in the case of [words like] funub, funb (tent rope) and
‘unuq, ‘uttq (neck).

The language (lugha)

A had derives from wahad, the wdw becoming hamza, just as anat is originally
wanat (perseverance), and this term could be one of two things: either it is a
noun (ism), or an adjective If it is a noun, then it is like ahad wa-'ishrun
(twenty-one), meaning ‘one' (al-wahid); if it is an adjective, then it is like th e
saying of al-Nabigha:86

kaanna rahll wa-qadzdlal-naharu bind

bi-dhil-jalili ‘aid musta’nisin wahadin

When the day was almost spent near [the valley of] al-Jalil,
it seemed as though my baggage was being carried by a lone onlooker.

As for when they say that wahid is a noun, it is like saying kdhil (nape) o r
ghdrib (pi. means ‘withers of a camel’), and like wahid, ithndn, thalatha (one,
two, three); it is an adjective when used as the following poet uses it: fa -q a d
rajau ka-hayyin wahidina (they came back as one tribe). Some have m ade th e
adjective ahadan into a plural, uhdan. They say ahad, [pi.] wuhdan, in analogy
with salaq (flat or level ground), [pi.] sulqart. That is similar to the p oef s saying:

yahmil-$arimata uhdanul-rijali lahu

$aydun wa-mujtanun bil-layli hammasu

One of the men guards the cluster of palm-trees for him

like a wild and stealthy lion in the night.

Thus is the plural of ahad, by which the elevation and exaltation o f th e

person described is intended: that he is above similitude and analogy. Som e
have said that a person becomes ahad al-ahad when he is extolled and exalted,
or ahad al-ahadayn or wahid al-ahad. The reality o f [the term] al-wahid (one)
is something that cannot be divided in itself or in the meaning it describes; if
85 This verse is cited in Tabari: kayfa nawtnx ‘aid...
86 The famous poet al-NSbigha al-Dhubyini {ft. 570-600), here eulogizes al-Nu‘man (III) b. al-
Mundhir, the last Lakhmid King of Hira and vassal of Sasanid Persia: see I$fahini, Aghdni, XI, 34.

522
 Oneness

‘one (wahid) is said w ithout any preceding description, then this indicates one
of that kind, and if it is used to qualify something, then this means that it is ‘one
in terms of the meaning described. W hen it is said ‘the part (juz*) that cannot
be made into parts is: one\ then what is m eant is that it is one in itself; if it is
said ‘this m an is one h u m a n , then what is m eant is that he is one in terms of
the meaning o f the attribute [used to describe him]. If God, exalted be He, is
described as ‘O ne (wahid) then this means that He alone possesses certain
attributes which no one shares with Him, such as His being the Powerful
(qddir), Knowing (‘dlim)> Living (bayy), Existing (mawjud). Likewise al-$amad
means the extolled lord to whom people turn (yu$mad ilayhi) for their needs.
It is also said that [al-$amad] is the lord (sayyid) who possesses the ultimate
sovereignty (su’dad). [Al-Kumayt] al-Asad! said:87

aid bakkaral-nd'i bi-khayray bant Asadin

bi-'Amri’bni Mas*udirt wa bil-sayyidil-$amad
Alas, the news has come [too] early of the death
Of the best two of the Banu Asad: ‘Amr b. Mas‘ud, the lord chief.

Al-Zibriq&n said waAd rahinatan illd’l-sayyidil-samad (there is no [greater]

ransom than [that of] the lord chief). A man who is mu$mad is the one who is
sought (maq$ud) [by people]; likewise, a house that is mu$ammad [is the one
which people seek]. Tarafa said:

wa-in yaltaqi’l-hayyu’l-jami u tuldqini

ild dhirwatil-baytil-rafi*fl-mu$ammadi
When the entire tribe assembles, you will find me
[seeking] the most exquisite verse.88

Al-kufuww, al-kafi’ and al-kifd' are all one, meaning an ‘equal’ (mithl) or ‘coun­
terpart* (nazir). Al-Nabigha said:

Id taqdhifanni bi-rukniti Id kifaa lahu

wa-law ta’aththafaka’l-a'dau bil-rafadi
Do not throw me into a situation for which I am no match,
Even if enemies should cluster around you in support of one another
[against me],

Hassan [b. Thabit] said:

wa Jibrilu rasululldhi minnd

wa-ruhul-qudsi laysa lahu kifau
87 This, as suggested by the editorial brackets, is most probably the famous Kufan Arab poet al-
Kumaytb. Zayd al-Asadi (d. 126/743).
88 The Arabic bayt can mean a verse of a poem, as well as a ‘house’.

523
On the Nature of the Divine

Gabriel, the Messenger of God, is on our side,

And there is none to match the Holy Spirit.

Another [poet] said with regard to kaft*:

amd kdna 'Abbddun kafi’an li-Ddrimin

bald wa li-abyatin bihdl-hujurdti

Is ‘Abbad not a match for Dirim?

Of course [he is] and also for [those] houses full of rooms.

Syntax (i'r&b)
Abu ‘All [al-F&risI] said that with regard to qul huwaVdhu ahad, AUdh may be
[grammatically] one of two things: 1) either the predicate of a subject (khabar
m ubtada), in accordance with the opinion of those who say that huwa stands
in lieu of the noun Allah (God), exalted be He, so that one could then treat ahad
in the same way as [qd’imun] when you say Zayd akhuka qd'imun (Zayd, your
brother is standing up); 2) or, in accordance with those who say th at huwa
stands in lieu of what is being narrated [viz. pronoun of matter] and w hat is
being said, the noun Alldh is in the nominative case because o f inceptiveness
(murtafi'an bfl-ibtidd’) and ahad becomes its predicate (khabar). Similar to this
is G od’s saying, fa-idhd hiya shdkhifatun ab$aruTladhina kafaru (And there it is,
the eyes o f the unbelievers will befixed [in a stare] [Q. 21:97]), except that hiya is
feminine because in the explication [of the matter] it turns out that there is a
feminine noun; as is the case infa-innahd Id tamal-ab$dru (Indeed it is not the
eyes that turn blind [Q. 22:46]), for had there been no feminine in the explica­
tion, then the pronoun of the narration would not have been in the feminine.
As for His saying Alldhul-$amadyAlldh is the subject and al-$amad is the p re d ­
icate. It is also possible [to say] that al-$amad is an adjectival qualification o f
Alldh, and Alldh the predicate of an om itted subject, in other words, huwa
Alldhu al-$amad.89 It is also possible that Alldhul-$am adis a second predicate
[after Alldhu ahad], in accordance with those who take huwa to be the m ain
pronoun of the narration [...].90

Occasions o f revelation (ashdb al-nuzul)

It is said that the polytheists asked the Messenger o f God, ‘Trace for us th e
lineage of your Lord’, w hereupon this sura was sent down, as reported from
Ubayy b. Ka‘b and Jabir [b. ‘Abd Allah]. It is also said that ‘Amir b. al-Tufayl

89 In other words, if we were to reconstruct the ellipsis (hadh)), the verses would read as qul
huwalldhu ahad, huwaU&hul-samad, so that the subject is in effect the initial huwa, with AUdhul-
$amad the predicate (khabar) made up of a noun {Alldh) and an adjectival {$amad).
90 The remainder of this grammatical section analyses the final verse of the sura.

524
 Oneness

and al-Arbad b. Rabi'a, brother of Labld, came to the Prophet and ‘Amir asked,
‘To what do you call us, O M uham m ad? He replied, ‘To G od\ [The other] then
asked, ‘Describe Him for us; is He made of gold, or silver, or metal or w ood?,
whereupon the sura was sent down; G od then sent down a stroke of lightning
upon Arbad, which set him on fire; ‘A m ir was stabbed in his little finger and
died, as reported by Ibn ‘Abb&s. Some say that Jewish scholars (ahbdr al-yahud)
came to the Prophet and said to him , ‘Describe your Lord for us, O
M uhammad, that we m ight believe in you, for G od has described Himself in
the Torah (al-Tawrdt)\ and so the sura was sent down, as a unique description
of God, as reported by al-Pafih&k, Qatada and Muqatil. M uhammad b. Muslim
reported that Abu ‘Abd Allah [al-$adiq] said: ‘The Jews asked the Prophet,
“Trace for us the lineage of your Lord?* The Prophet did not answer them for
three [nights], whereafter the sura was sent down.’ Similar to this [report] is
what al-Q adi [al-Nu‘man] m entioned in his tafsir, namely, that when ‘Abd
Allah b. Salam set off to [see] the Messenger of God at Mecca, the Messenger
o f God asked him, ‘I ask you by God, do you find me m entioned in the Torah
as a messenger of God?; he [‘Abd Allah] asked him, ‘Describe for us your Lord’.
This sura was then sent down and the Prophet recited it and it was the reason
for his [‘Abd Allah’s] submission [to Islam]; but he kept this a secret until
the Prophet emigrated to M edina, whereafter he professed his submission
publicly.

M eaning (ma'nd)
Qul huwallahu ahad is a com m and (amr) from God, mighty be His name, to
His Prophet to inform all those [religiously] obligated (mukallafun)91 that He
is God, the One who [alone] merits worship. Al-Zajjaj said that this verse stands
for the mention of God, mighty and majestic, meaning: the One whose lineage
you asked to clarify is God (Allah), One (ahad), meaning wahid. The meaning
may also be: the issue (amr) is that G od is One, He has neither partner nor
equal. It is said that it means that He is ‘O n e , wahid, like whom there is nothing,
as reported by Ibn ‘Abbas. Some say [that it means] that He is One in terms of
divinity (ilahiyya) and sem pitem ity (qidam). Also, He is One in term s o f the
attribute of His essence (dhdt), and nothing else shares with Him this necessity
of attributes: He is necessarily existing, knowing, powerful, living, whereas this
cannot be necessary for anything else. It is also said that [He is] ‘One’ (wahid)
in His actions, since His actions are all [pure] beneficence (ihsan): He does not
do them in order to benefit [Himself] nor to avert harm. It is in this sense then

91 A mukallafis a person religiously obligated to observe the precepts of Islam when of legal age.
which is generally when that person reaches puberty and is sound of mind; takixf- legal capacity in
fiqh (see ch. 3, n. 35 for more details).

525
On the Nature of the Divine

that He has exclusive [claim to] oneness (wahda), since no one other than H im
possesses this [attribute]; [He is also] ‘One* in that none o ther than H im is
worthy of worship, since He alone has the power of [bestowing] graces such as
life (haydt), ability (qudra) and appetite (shahwa) and other things which can
only qualify as graces if they issue from Him; for no one else is capable o f such
things. Thus He is ahad for these three reasons. Moreover, it is said that He said
ahad and not wahid, because wahid is used in arithm etic (hisdb) to w hich
another [numeral] may be added. But ahad cannot be split into parts or subdi­
vided, neither in term s o f essence nor in the significance o f His attributes. A
wahid can have a second, but an ahad cannot, since an ahad, unlike wahid, sub­
sumes its genus. Do you not see that when you say, ‘this person cannot be resis­
ted by one (w ahid)\ it is possible that two can resist him ; whereas if you said,
‘this person cannot be resisted by anyone (ahad)\ it would not be possible then
to say that two or m ore can, and so it [ahad] is the more excellent (of the two
terms].
W ith regard to the meaning of Say: He is God, One (qul huwalldhu ahad),
Abu Jafar al-Baqir said that it means:

Say the clearest of that which We have revealed to you (wahy) and informed you
of, by composing the [sequence of] letters that We have recited to you [in this
way], so that he who gives ear, in [full] witness [Q. 50:37] will be guided by these
[letters].

Huwa is a metonymic noun (kindya) indicating an absent [third person]

(ghaib); the [letter] ha calls attention to a fixed concept (ma'nd) and the waw
indicates what is absent (gha’ib) from the [five] senses (hawas), whereas w hen
you say hddha (this), you are calling attention to what can be witnessed by the
senses. For, the unbelievers pointed out their gods, to those witnessing and per­
ceiving, by using the demonstrative particle, saying: ‘These are o u r gods
(hadhihi dlihatuna) who can be perceived by sight; now you, O M ubam m ad,
point out your God, to w hom you call, that we might see H im and perceive
Him and not be confused with regard to Him ’ God, glory be to Him, then sent
down, Say: He is God, One. Thus, the ha constitutes confirmation o f that which
is fixed (tathblt lil-thdbit), while the waw refers to that which is absent (ghd’ib)
from the perception of the eyes and the sensation of the senses, and that He is
exalted above such [things]. Nay, He is the O ne who perceives the eyes and
creates the senses. And my father92 [‘All b. al-Husayn] related to me <- his
father [al-Husayn b. ‘All] the Com m ander of the Believers [‘All b. Abi Talib]
that he [‘All] said:

92 This narration continues from Abu ja far Muhammad al-Baqir, the fifth Shi'i imam, through
his father ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin and his father al-Husayn, son of ‘All b. Abi T^lib.

526
 Oneness

I saw al-Khitfr93 in my sleep on the eve of [the Battle of] Badr,94 and so I said to
him, ‘Teach me something by which I might be victorious over my enemies. He
said, ‘Say: O He, the One other than whom there is no ‘He (yd huwa yd man Id
huwa Hid huwa)\ When I woke up, 1 told the Messenger of God this story. He said
to me, ‘O 'All! You have been taught the greatest name (al-ism al-a‘zam )\95 and it
remained on my tongue on the day of Badr.

He [al-Baqir] said:

And so on the day of Badr, he [‘All b. Abi T^lih] recited [the sura] Say: He is God,
One, and when he finished, he went on to say, ‘O He, other than whom there is no
‘He’, forgive me and help me against the unbelieving host’ He [‘All] used to repeat
this at [the Battle of] Siffin96 while giving flight to the unbelievers. ‘Ammar b. Yisir
said to him, ‘O Commander of the Believers, what are these epithets (kindydt)?
He [‘All] replied, ‘God’s greatest name and the pillar of affirming the oneness of
God, there is no god but He’. He [‘All] then recited, God bears witness that there is
no god except Him, and [so do] the angels and those o f knowledge, upholdingjustice;
there is no god except Him, the Mighty, the Wise [Q. 3:18] and the last [three verses]
of surat al-Hashr,97 he then dismounted and prayed four rak'as before noon
(zawdl). The Commander of the Believers then said: 'Allah means “the
Worshipped One” (al-ma'bud), regarding whom creatures are mystified (aliha)
and with whom all creatures seek refuge. Allah is the One who is concealed from
the perception of visions, veiled from imaginations (awham) and notions
(khafardt).'

[M uhammad] al-Baqir said: ‘Allah means the W orshipped One whose

essence (mdhiyya) creatures are [too] mystified (aliha) to perceive and whose

93 This is the name of an enigmatic, popular semi-mythical figure who appears in many Near
Eastern legends and stories: for a full survey, see Arent Jan Wensinck, ‘al-Khadir (al-KhidrV. El2, IV,
902-5; in Muslim legend he is identified with the mysterious figure Moses encounters on a journey,
according to Q. 18:59-81.
94 Badr, name of a locale to the south-west of Medina, was the first great battle of the Prophet's
career in 2/624, in which the Prophet and his band of just over 300 Muslims were overwhemlingly
victorious over the Meccans led by Abu Jahl. The battle devastated the Meccan prestige and hugely
strengthened the morale of the Muslim community; see W. Montgomery Watt, ‘Bad/, EP, 1,867-8.
95 God’s great name, according to tradition, is known to very few of His creatures, but when
solicited by this name, one’s supplication is immediately granted.
96 The first civil war had broken out over rival claims to the leadership of the Muslim community.
The conflict was principally between two factions: on the one hand, a Syrian party led by the local
governor MuSwiya b. Abi Sufyin (r. 41-61/661-80) claiming revenge for their assassinated kin, the
third caliph ‘Uthmin b. ‘Affan (r. 24-36/644-56); and on the other, an Iraqi contingent under the
leadership of the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, ‘All b. Abi T*lib (r. 36-41/656-61), the reigning
caliph at the time. See Michael Lecker, ‘$iffin\ EP, IX, 552-6.
97 Q. 59:22-4: He is God: there is no god except Him. He is Knower of the unseen and the visible; He
is the Compassionate, the Merciful. He is God: there is no god except Him. He is the King, the Holy, the
Peace, the Securer, the Controller, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Sublime. Glory be to God above what
they associate. He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the most beautiful names.
All that is in the heavens and the earth glorijy Him; He is the Mighty, the Wise.

527
On the Nature of the Divine

modality (kayfiyya) they are unable to fathom* The Arabs say aliha al-rajulu to
m ean ‘he is perplexed (tahayyara) about som ething, so that he is unable to
encompass any knowledge about it; [they also say] waliha to mean che sought
refuge with (fazi'a ila) something [out of fear]*.98 He [al-Baqir] also said: ‘A/-
ahad is the unique single (al-fard al-mutafarrid), and al-ahad and al-wafrid have
the same meaning o f ‘one*, that is, ‘singular* without equal (nazir); al-tawhtd is
the affirmation o f ‘oneness* (wahda)> i.e., ‘uniqueness* (infirad); al-wahid is th e
one ‘distinct* (mubdyin), which does not issue from anything n o r unite w ith
anything, hence, they say that plurality ('adad)99 is constructed from a ‘one*
(wahid) but one is not constructed from a plurality, since plurality is applicable
to ‘two* but cannot apply to ‘one*. So the meaning o f His saying God, O ne
(Alldhu ahad), namely the W orshipped One, the perception of w hom and th e
com prehension of whose m odality creatures are mystified by, is th at He is
unique in His divinity and exalted above the attributes o f His creatures.
Regarding All&huV$amadt al-Baqir related:

My father Zayn al-‘Abidin his father, al-Husayn b. ‘All said, ‘A l- $ a m a d is the

One who enjoys the ultimate sovereignty ( s u d a d ) y and a l-$ a m a d means the
Permanent (a l- d a ’im ) , the One who has always been and always will be; a l-$ a m a d
is also the One without a cavity (lei ja w fa lahu)>100 the One who neither eats nor
drinks, and the One who does not sleep’

I would say that the meaning in all o f these three [statements] is that He,
glory be to Him, is the Living (al-hayy) who has no need of food, drink, or sleep.
Al-Baqir said: ‘Al-$amad is the obeyed lord above w hom there is no com ­
m ander or forbidden* He [al-B§.qir] also added that Mufoammad b. al-
Hanafiyya used to say: ‘Al-$amad is the One who is self-subsistent (a l-q a im
bi-nafsihi) and is independent of all else (al-ghani).’ Others have said: AAl-$amad
is the One who transcends continuous generation and corruption (al-kawn
wal-fasad); and al-$amad is the O ne who cannot be described in term s o f sim ­
ilars (nazair) *He [al-Baqir] related that ‘All b. al-Husayn Zayn al-‘Abidin was
asked about [the meaning of] al-$amadyto which he replied: ‘Al-$amad is the
O ne who has no partner and who is not wearied by the preservation o f anything
and whom nothing escapes* A bul-Bukhturi Wahb b. Wahb al-Q urashi related
that Zayd b. ‘All said:

A l-$ a m a d is the One who when He wills a thing, He says to it, ‘Be’, and it is [cf. Q.

98 The implication of these reports referring to the root is to equate this expression with
the origin of the word All&h (a-l-h).
99 Properly, 'adad is ‘number', but to avoid confusion 'adad has here been rendered ‘plurality
(ta'addud).
100 Cf. ch. 1, n. 64; Josef van Ess, ‘Tashbih wa-tanzih’, ElI2, X, 342 (col. b): it was one of Muqatil’s
assertions that God, unlike man, is not hollow or porous.

528
 Oneness

36:82]; a l-$ a m a d is also the One who originated (<a b d a a ) things and then created
them as contraries (a i d a d ), kinds (a $ n a f ), figures (a sh k d l) and pairs (a z w d j ); He
uniquely enjoys ‘oneness* (w u b id a ) without contrary, figure, like (m ith l ), or equal
(ttid d ).
Wahb b. Wahb [also] said that al-$adiq Ja'far b. M ubam m ad his father
[M ubammad] al-Baqir <- his father [‘All b. al-Husayn] who related that the
people of Basra wrote to al-Husayn b. ‘All asking him about [the meaning of]
al-$amad. He wrote back:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful: do not delve into [conver­
sations about] the Q uran, nor dispute with regard to it, nor speculate about it
without knowledge, because I heard my grandfather, the Messenger of God say,
‘Whoever gives an opinion about [something in] the Qur’an without knowledge,
then let him take up his place in the Fire’, and [he al-Husayn added] that God,
glory be to Him, has [already] explained al-$amad where He says He neither begot,
nor was begotten, nor is there anyone equal to Him.

[As for] lam yalid {He neither begot): nothing dense (kathif) emanates from
Him, such as a child or any other of the dense things that issue forth from crea­
tures {makhluq), nor does anything fine (lafif)> like the soul (nafs); none o f the
caprices (badawat) are triggered in Him, such as slumber (sina), sleep (nawm),
idea (khafra), grief (ghamm), melancholy (huzn), delight (bahja), laughter
((jiahik), weeping (bukd’), fear (khawf), hope (rajd*), desire (raghba), weariness
(sa*dma)y hunger (/«'), or satiation (shaV): exalted be He above that anything
should emanate from Him, or that anything, dense or fine, should be brought
forth from Him; wa-lam yulad (nor was he begotten), that is, He was not gener­
ated (yatawallad) from anything, nor did He em anate from anything in the
m anner that dense things em anate from their [respective] elements (‘an&fir),
as a thing does from a thing, a legged beast from a legged beast, a plant from
the earth, water from springs, and fruits from trees; nor [does He emanate from
anything] as fine things em anate from their [constituent] loci (mardkiz), as
vision does from the eyes, hearing from the ears, smell from the nose, taste from
the mouth, speech from the tongue, knowledge and discernment from the heart
and fire from stone. Nay, rather He is God, the Self sufficient Besougfit o f all, who
is neither from anything, nor in anything nor on anything, the O riginator of
[all] things and their Creator, the One who establishes [all] things through His
power. That which He creates for [ultimate] extinction fades away by His will,
and that which He has created to endure, shall remain, by His knowledge: that
is God for you, the Self sufficient Besought o f a ll who neither begot, nor was
begotten; knower o f the unseen and the visible, the Great, the High Exalted
[Q. 13:9].

529
On the Nature of the Divine

Nor is there anyone equal to Him: Wahb b. Wahb said,

I heard [Ja'far] al-$idiq say, ‘A delegation from Palestine came to see

[Muhammad] al-Baqir and to put to him certain questions, to which he responsed.
They then asked him about [the meaning of] al-$amad, and he responded by
saying that its interpretation was therein [in the word itself]: uAl-$amad is made
up of five letters:101 the alif is proof (dalil) of His individual existence (inniyya),
namely, His saying, mighty and majestic, God bears witness that there is no god
except Him [Q. 3:18], which is a calling of attention to, and an indication of that
which is beyond the perception of the senses. The 1dm is proof of His divineness
(ildhiyya) in that He is God - [note that] the alif and the lam are assimilated
(mudghamdn), neither manifesting upon the tongue nor audible, but appearing
[only] in writing, two proofs that divineness is, on account of His kindness (luff),
hidden (khafiya); it cannot be perceived by the senses, nor described by the
tongue, nor heard by the ear, because the meaning (tafsir) of al-ilah is God, whose
essence and modality, creatures cannot comprehend, either through sense (hiss)
or imagination (wahm) - indeed, He is the Originator of the imaginative faculties
and the Creator of the senses. As regards [the fact] that it only appears in writing,
that is because it is proof that God, glory be to Him, made manifest His lordship
(rubiibiyya) by His origination of creation and [His] assembling their ethereal
spirits inside dense bodies. For if a servant [of God] were to look at himself, he
would not see his spirit, just as the lam of al-$amad cannot interact with or be dis­
tinguished by any of his five senses; but when he looks at what is written, then that
which had been concealed to him and had been elusive becomes manifest.
Consequently, whenever the servant contemplates the essence and modality of the
Maker (al-bdri’)>he becomes mystified and perplexed and his estimative faculty
(fikra) provides no form for him to picture, because He, exalted be He, is the
Creator (khaliq) of forms; and when he looks at His creatures, he will be certain
that He, mighty and majestic, is the One who created them and assembled their
spirits in bodies.
As for the $&d>it is proof that He, glory be to Him, is truthful, that His saying is
truth ($idq), that His speech is truth, and that He has summoned His servants to
follow [the way of] truth by [acting with] the truth, for He has given us a promise
[of the resurrection] in truth and has willed truth. As for the mfm, it is proof of His
kingdom (mamlaka), and that He is the true manifest king, who has always been
and always will be, and whose kingdom will never cease to be. As for the dalyit is
proof of the permanence (dawwdm) of His kingdom and that He is permanent
(da'im), transcending generation and evanescence. Nay, He is God, mighty and
majestic, the Generator (mukawwin) of living creatures (al-kd’indt)> through
whose generation (takwtn) every living creature came into being."

101 The five letters are the consonantals a-l-$-m-d.

530
 Oneness

Then he [al-Baqir] continued,

If I could find bearers to carry the knowledge which God has given me, I would
disseminate monotheism (tawhid), Islam, [this] religion and its laws (shar&'i')
from [the explanation of the word] al-$amad. But how could I, when my own
[great-] grandfather ['All b. Abi Talib], the Commander of the Believers, could
not find bearers for his own knowledge, to the extent that he would sigh deeply or
stand at the pulpit and say, ‘Ask me [things], before you lose me, for between these
two arms [of mine] lies all manner of knowledge. Look! Here! Alas, I find no one
to bear it* Verily there stands against you God*s definitive argument, so: Do not
befriend a people against whom God is wrathful. They have truly despaired of the
Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired o f those who are in the tombs
[Q. 60:13].

As reported by ‘Abd Khayr, a man asked 'All [b. Abi Talib] about the expla­
nation (tafsir) of this sura, and he said:

Qul huwalldhu ahad cannot be interpreted (ta’wil) in terms of number; al-$amad

cannot be divided into single parts; He neither begot (lam yalid), so as to die and
be inherited from; nor was He begotten (wa-lam yulad), so as to be a god in part­
nership; nor is there to Him (wa-lam yakun lahu), i.e., from among His creatures,
anyone equal (kufuwan ahad).

Ibn ‘Abbas said: ‘He neither begot, so as to be a procreator ( walid), n o r was

He begotten, so as to be progeny (walad) *It is also said: 'He neither begot, so
that progeny might inherit His kingdom, nor was He begotten, so as to have
inherited kingdom from another* It is said: 'He neither begot, so as to indicate
a need of His - for a hum an being desires progeny because he needs it; n o r was
He begotten, so as to indicate that He originated in time (huduth), which is an
attribute of bodies (a jsdm f - herein lies a refutation o f those who say that Ezra
or Jesus is the son of God, and that the angels are the daughters o f God.
Wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahady that is, there is not anyone who can be
an equal to Him, or a counterpart or someone who can be like Him - herein
lies a refutation of those who [try to] establish pre-eternity (qidam)y am ong
other attributes, as being similar to Him; it is also said that this [statement]
means that He does not have a female companion or mate for her to produce
progeny from Him, given that progeny issues from a female mate; but He only
alludes to her metonymically with [the gender-neutral term] kufu’ because a
female mate is considered an equal (kufuwan) to her male companion. It is also
said that He, glory be to Him, made clear His oneness (tawhid) by saying Alldhu
ahady and made clear [divine] justice Cadi) by saying Allahul-$amady and He
made clear what can never be attributed to H im in the way o f procreator or
progeny by saying lam yalid wa-lam yuladyand He made clear what can never

531
On the Nature of the Divine

be ascribed to Him by way of attributes, by saying wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan

ahad. There is an indication in [all of] this that He is not a body (jism ), su b ­
stance (jawhar), or accident Cara<f), and nor is He in any location or direction.
Certain experts [of Arabic] (arbab al-lisdn) have said:

We have found polytheism (shirk) to be of eight kinds: [the ascription to Him] of

‘decrease (n a q $ ), ‘instability (ta q a llu b ), ‘mutiplicit/ (k a th r a ), ‘numbed ('a d a d ),
‘cause and effect* C ilia w a - m a 'lu l ), ‘shapes’ (a s h k d l ), and ‘contraries* ( a d d a d ) .
Now G od has precluded [the possibility of] ‘instability^ and ‘decrease* by
saying AUahul-samad, and that o f ‘cause and effect* by lam yalid wa-lam yulad,
and that o f ‘shapes* and ‘contraries by wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahadt so
that pure oneness (al-wahdaniyya al-bal}t) is realised. [The C om panion]
‘Imran b. al-Iiusayn related that the Prophet sent forth a detachm ent with ‘All
[b. Abl Talib] at its head and when they returned, he asked them about ‘All
and they said, ‘All was good, except that he used to recite qul huwalldhu ahad
during every prayer.’ He [the Prophet] asked, ‘Why did you do this O ‘All?* H e
replied, ‘O ut o f my love for qul huwallahu ah a d . The Prophet then said, ‘So
long as you love it, God, mighty and majestic, will love you*. It is related th at
the Prophet used to pause at the end of each verse of this sura.102 Al-Fu<Jayl b.
Yas&r related: ‘Abu Ja‘far [al-Baqir] com m anded me to recite qul huw allahu
ahad and upon finishing it to repeat “Such is God, my Lord** three times*

v :?

Razi
Razi begins by citing numerous narrations to do with the spiritual and theurgic properties
of surat al'Ikhl& f. He then goes on to cite the familiar narrations of asbab a l-n u zu U before
embarking on a discussion of the names of the sura. Then he presents the merits of the
sura and the diverse views on this subject. Thereafter, Razi ventures into discussing the
‘issues concerning the Qur’anic verses and phrases themselves. He concludes his com­
mentary on this sura with two questions of a linguistic nature, on the matter of the word
a h a d being an indefinite (na kira ) noun, while al-$am ad is definite (m a 'rifa ); and secondly,
the benefit of the repetition of the name Allah in the first two verses.

Surat al-Ikhldf consists of four verses and is Meccan. In the name o f God, th e
Compassionate, the Merciful.

102 This pause is not to be confused with the technical pauses associated with later modes of
recitation. It would simply have been a reflection of the Prophet's own contemplation during prayer
and intended to convey to those praying behind him the gravity of the words.

532
 Oneness

Parti

Ubayy [b. Ka'b] related that the Messenger o f God said: ‘W hoever recites the
sura, Say: He is God, One, it is as though he has recited a third o f the Q ur'an and
will be given the reward of ten good deeds for every person who associates part­
ners with God as well as every person who believes in God*.
The Prophet also said: 'W hoever recites Say: He is God, One once will be
given the reward of those who believe in God, His angels, His Books and His
messengers and will be given the reward [like that] o f a hundred martyrs.’
It is related that Gabriel was with the Messenger when Abu D harr al-Ghafari
approached. Gabriel said: 'That is Abu Dharr, coming now ’ The Prophet said:
'W hat, do you know h im ? He [Gabriel] said: 'H e is better know n am ong us
than he is am ong you.’ The Prophet said, ‘How has he attained this m erit? He
said, ‘Because o f his humbleness and his frequent recitation o f Say: He is God,
One.' Anas [b. Malik] related:

We were at Tabuk103 and the sun rose without its [usual] rays and brightness. We
had never seen it in such a state before and all of us were amazed. Then Gabriel
came down and said, ‘God has ordered that seventy thousand of His angels come
down and pray for Mu'awiya b. Mu'awiya; will you not pray for him? Then he beat
his wings upon the ground, whereupon the mountains vanished and the Prophet
seemed as though he was standing over him [Mu'awiya], and he and his compan­
ions offered the prayer for him. Then he [the Prophet] asked: ‘How is it that he has
attained such a status?* Gabriel said, “[Because] he loved surat al-Ikhla$'

It is related that he [the Prophet] entered the mosque and heard a m an sup­
plicating, saying ‘I ask you O God, O One, O Besought of all, O He who neither
begot nor was begotten, to whom there is no equal.' He [the Prophet] said three
times, ‘He has forgiven you, He has forgiven you, He has forgiven you'.
[It is reported] from Sahl b. Sa'ld that a man came to the Prophet and com ­
plained to him o f poverty. He [the Prophet] said, ‘W hen you enter your house
offer the salutation of peace [upon those in it] if there is anyone in it, and if
there is no one in it then invoke peace upon yourself and recite Say: He is God,
One once.' The m an did this and God showered him with such provision that it
eventually overflowed onto his neighbours.
[It is reported] from Anas that a man used to recite Say: He is God, One in
all of his prayers. The Messenger questioned him about this and he [the man]
103 In 9/630, rumours were rife that the Byzantine emperor Heradius was preparing an imminent
campaign against Yathrib (Medina). On hearing these rumours, the Prophet proceeded to prepare
a sizeable army which he headed in an expedition to the north-western oasis of TabOk. However,
the Byzantine offensive never materialised and the Prophet’s expedition returned to Medina, having
successfully secured a peace treaty with the Christian chief of‘Aqaba and the Jewish tribes to the
south of this oasis. Tabuk is now the centre of a Saudi Arabian province; see M.A. al-Bakhit, ‘Tabuk’,
EPt X, 871-2.

533
On the Nature of the Divine

said, ‘O Messenger of God, I truly love it.* He [the Prophet] said, ‘Your love fo r
it will adm it you into Paradise. It is said that whoever recites it [siirat al-Ikhld$]
at the time of sleep, will be granted [true knowledge of) God’s oneness (tawhid),
a lessened burden of maintaining dependents and much remembrance o f G od,
and his supplications will [always] be answered.

Part II. On the reason it [surat al-Ikhlaf] was sent down

There is m ore than one point of view concerning this.

First [point of view]: That it was sent down because of a question from th e
[Meccan] polytheists. A l-Dahhak said [that] the polytheists sent ‘Amir b. al-
Tufayl to the Prophet. They said,

You have dissented from our community, you have blasphemed our gods and you
have violated the religion of your forefathers. If you suffer poverty, we will make
you rich. If you are possessed, we will have you cured. If you desire a [particular]
woman, then we can marry you to her.

The Prophet said, T am neither poor nor possessed, n o r do I desire a [par­

ticular] woman. I am the Messenger of God. I call you away from the w orship
of idols to the worship o f Him.’ They [the polytheists] sent him [cAmir] a second
time and said: ‘Say to him [the Prophet], “Clarify for us the nature o f the th in g
that you worship: is it [made] o f gold or silver?*, whereupon God sent dow n
this sura. They [the polytheists] then said to him [the Prophet]: ‘Three hu n d red
and sixty idols are unable to meet our needs, so how can the one [God] (a/-
wahid) meet the needs o f [all] creatures?, whereupon [from the verse] By those
[angels] who are ranged in ranks [Q. 37:1] up to His [God’s] words Indeed yo u r
God is One [Q. 37:4] was sent down. They [the polytheists] sent him [‘Amir] a
third tim e and said [to him to ask the Prophet]: ‘Tell us what He does’, w here­
upon [the verse] Surely your Lord is God who created the heavens and the earths
[Q. 10:3], was sent down.
Second [point of view]: It was sent down because o f a question from th e
Jews. Tkrima related on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that the Jews came to th e
Prophet. Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf was with them; and they said, ‘O M uham m ad, [if]
this God has created creation, who created G od? The Prophet became very
angry; so Gabriel descended to calm him down and said to him: ‘Be tolerant, O
M uhamm ad’. Then Say: He is God, One was sent down. W hen he recited it to
them they said, ‘Describe your Lord to us. W hat are His upper arms like? His
forearm s? He [the Prophet] became even angrier than at first, so G abriel
brought him God’s words, A nd they did not esteem God as He should be esteemed
[Q. 6:91].

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Third [point o f view]: It was sent down because o f a question from the
Christians. ‘Ata related on the authority o f Ibn ‘Abbas that a delegation from
N ajran104 came, and they said: ‘D escribe your Lord to us. Is he m ade from
chrysolite or sapphire, gold or silver?' He said, ‘My Lord is not made from any
‘thing1, because He is the Creator of [all] things', and then Say, He is God, One
[Q. 112:1] was sent down. They [the Christians] said,‘He may b e ‘one* but you
are also ‘one*.' He said, There is nothing like Him [Q. 42:11 ]. They said, ‘Describe
[Him] more.’ So he said, God, al-$amad (the Besought o f all) [Q. 112:2]. They
said, ‘W hat is al-$amadT He [the Prophet] said, ‘The O ne to w hom creation
turns for [all their] needs'. They said, ‘[Describe Him] more', w hereupon the
following was sent down; He neither begot [Q, 112;3], as Mary (Maryam) begot,
nor was He begotten [Q. 112:3], as Jesus (7sd) was, nor is there anyone equal to
Him [Q. 112:4], meaning any equal am ong His creation.

Part III. Concerning its [the sfira’s] names

Know that the greater the num ber of titles [a thing has], the greater the merit
[associated with it], and convention bears witness to what we have [just] said.
O ne of these [names] is: The sura o f showing [God] to be unique (tafnd).
A second [name] is: The sura o f divestment (tajrid).
A third is: The sura of [belief in God's] oneness (tawhid).
Fourth: The sura of sincere devotion (ikhld$),105 because in this sura only the
negative attributes, which are the attributes of the [divine] majesty, are m en­
tioned,106 and because whoever believes in it is sincerely devoted to God's reli­
gion, and because whoever dies in [affirmation of] this [chapter] will be saved
(kh-l-$) from the Fire, and because what came before [this sura] is devoted (kh-
/-$) to the censure of Abu Lahab;107 the recompense due to whoever recites it
is that he will not share the predicam ent of Abu Lahab.
Fifth: The sura o f salvation (najdt), because it saves you from ascribing

104 A city in north Yemen and major urban centre in the Arabian Peninsula in the pre-Islamic
and early Islamic periods: see Irfan Shahid, ‘Na4jrin\ E/2, VII, 871-2.
105 The word ikhld$ combines several concepts: ‘faithfulness’, ‘loyalty, ‘devotion’, ‘sincerity,
‘purity (khali$) as well as ‘being saved’ (khala$).
106 In other words, it is mainly a via negativa presentation of God (cf. apophatic theology): He
does not beget, He is not begotton, there are none like Him. However, contrary to the commentary,
there is a positive affirmation in the first two verses: He is God, One, God is the Self-sufficient,
Eternally besought. However, even this can be viewed as a type of‘negative affirmation’: He is one,
not more than that; He needs nothing, every thing needs Him. On the positive and negative attrib­
utes, cf. the brief entry by Abbas Muhajirani on the divine attributes in Nasr and Leaman 1996,1,
125.
107 That is to say, the preceding surat al-Masad (Q. 111) in which Abu Lahab, the Prophet’s pater­
nal unde and one of his fiercest opponents, is censured and promised a future abode in Hellfire
where *his wife will be the bearer of the firewood’; cf. W. Montgomery Watt, ‘Abu Lahab’, E72,1,
136-7.

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hum an characteristics to G od (tashbih) and from unbelief in this w orld, and

from the Fire in the Hereafter.
Sixth: The sura of friendship (waldya), because whoever recites it becom es a
friend of G od (waliyy), and because whoever comes to know G od in this
m anner [as One] has befriended Him; for after every trial there comes a mercy,
just as after every reward comes a blessing.
Seventh: The sura of attribution (nisba), because, as we have related, it came
in response to those who asked, ‘Attribute (n-s-b) for us your Lord [to som e­
th in g ]’, and because the Prophet said to a man from the Banu Sulaym, ‘O
b rother of the Banu Sulaym, have th e best intention when you th in k about
G od’s attribution (nisba)\ which is a subtly-constructed statement, for [ ...] 108
the careful preservation of genealogies (ansdb) is a speciality of the Arabs, w ho
are very strict with anyone who augments or deducts from a genealogy (nasab),
and [for that very reason] the attribution {nisba) o f G od in this sura is m ore
deserving of their careful preservation.109
Eighth: The sura of knowledge (nuirifa), because knowledge of G od is not
complete w ithout knowledge o f this sura. J&bir [b. ‘Abd Allah] related th at a
m an supplicated, reciting Say: He is God, One, and the Prophet said [of him ],
‘This servant [of God] knows his Lord.’ For this reason it is called th e sura o f
knowledge.
Ninth: The sura of beauty {jamdl)} because the Prophet said: ‘God is beautiful
and loves beauty.’ They questioned him about this and he said: ‘One, Besought
o f a ll He neither begot nor was begotten, since if He were not One with no equal,
it would be possible for someone who resembled Him to act on His behalf.
Tenth: The sura o f ‘cure’ (muqashqasha)> as in their expression taqashqasha
al-marid [from marad] minima bihi (the sick person has been cured from w hat
he was suffering); and whoever knows this [sura] is cured from idolatry and
hypocrisy, because hypocrisy is a sickness (marad)t just as He [God] said In
their hearts there is a sickness (maratf) [Q. 2:10].
Eleventh: [The sura of] seeking protection (mu awwidha). It is related th at
the Prophet entered into the presence o f ‘U thm an b. Ma?‘un> an d he [the
Prophet] sought protection [from God] for him [‘Uthman] with this [sura] and
with the two [suras that come] after it.110 Then he [the Prophet] said, ‘Seek p ro ­
tection [with God] through these [sftras], since you will never find better p ro ­
tection than through these.’
108 The sentence that follows is a recap, and being superfluous it obscures what R&zi is trying to
say and has thus been omitted: 'Because they said, Trace for us the lineage of your Lord”, to which
he said, “God’s attribute is
109 And that is the subtlety of the Prophet’s statement: ‘If you Arabs are so methodical about
[genealogical] attributions, there is one attribution which should concern you more than any other,
and it is that of God’.
110 Sura 113 (al-Falaq) and sura 114 (al-Nas).

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 Oneness

Twelfth: The sura of the Besought o f all ($amad), because it is solely con­
cerned with His mention, exalted be He.
Thirteenth: The sura o f foundation (asds). The Prophet said: ‘The seven
heavens and the seven earths were founded on Say: He is God, One, an d the
proof of this [being true] is that the [counter] profession o f [belief in] the Three
[sc. Trinity] is a [potential] cause for the destruction o f the heavens and the
earth, as evidenced by God's statement, The heavens are almost rent because o f
it, and the earth [is almost] split asunder, and the mountains almost fa ll down
crashing... [Q. 19:9c].111 The oneness of God (tawhid), therefore, m ust neces­
sarily constitute the cause by which these things are sustained [harmoniously].
But it is also said that the reason [why it is called ‘the foundation sura] is the
significance of His words: Had there been in [either of] the two [the heavens and
the earth] gods other than God, they would have both surely been in ruins [Q.
21:22].
Fourteenth: The sura of prevention (m a m a ). Ibn ‘Abbas related that God
said to His Prophet at the time when he ascended [the heavens] (‘araja),112 ‘I
have given you surat al-Ikhld$. It is from the treasure stores of My throne ((arsh)
and it is the preventer (m ania) that prevents the torm ent of the grave and the
flames of the fires [of hell from afflicting a soul].'
Fifteenth: The sura o f attendance (mahdar), because the angels attend in
order to listen to it whenever it is recited.
Sixteenth: The repeller [sura] (munaffira), because Satan is repelled when it
is recited.
Seventeenth: [The sura of] absolution (baraa), because it is related that the
Prophet saw a m an reciting this sura and he said, ‘As for this [m an], he is
absolved of associating anything with God.' The Prophet said, ‘Absolution from
the [punishm ent of the] Fire will be granted for whoever recites the sura: Say,
He is God, One, a hundred times either during the [canonical] prayer or outside
it [at any other time].'
Eighteenth: [It is also called] ‘the rem inder' (mudhakkira), because it
rem inds the servant [of God] of the pure profession of the oneness [of God].
Reciting this sura is like a m ark that [stamps you and] rem inds you o f that
which you neglect but which you need.
Nineteenth: The sura of light (nur). God said: God is the Light o f the heavens
and the earth [Q. 24:35]. He is the illuminator of the heavens and the earth, and
this sura illuminates your heart. The Prophet said, ‘Everything has a light, and

111 The key to R&zl’s statement here is the verse that follows, namely Q. 19:20 - That they have
ascribed a son to the Compassionate One iGod] - which is an allusion to the Christian notion of Jesus’s
being God’s son.
‘12 The midnight journey to the seven heavens made by Muhammad on the 27th of Raj ab, from
Jerusalem.

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On the Nature of the Divine

the light of the Q ur’an is Say: He is God, One'. This is analogous to the light o f
the hum an being which lies in his smallest organ, and that is the pupil o f the
eye. This sura is to the Q u ra n what the pupil o f the eye is to the hum an being.
Twentieth: The sura of security (amdn). The Prophet said [that G od said],
‘W hen a servant [of Mine] says There is no god but God [Q. 47:19] he enters My
fortress, and whoever enters My fortress is secure from My punishm ent.

Part IV. Concerning the merits of this suray which are of various sorts
The first [aspect]: It is well known from hadith that reciting this sura is equiv­
alent to reciting a third of the Q ur’an. Perhaps the objective of such [hadith] is
[to emphasise] that the noblest aim of all religious laws and rites of worship is:
knowledge of the essence (dhat) of God and of His attributes (jif&t) and of His
acts (a fa l). This sura subsumes [all that is needed for] knowledge of the essence
[of God], and thus this sura is equivalent to a third of the Q u r’an. The sura Say:
O you unbelievers ... [Q. 109:1] is equal to a quarter of the Q u r’an, because the
intention of the Q ur’an is [to communicate] either an action (fi'I) or an absten­
tion (tark) and both of these concern either acts of the heart or acts of the bodily
limbs - thus the categories are four. The sura Say: O you unbelievers explains
what deeds of the heart should be abstained from, so, in reality, it contains a
quarter of the Q ur’an. For this reason the two suras, that is Say: He is God, One
... and Say: O you unbelievers... share certain names, such as ‘the cure and ‘the
absolution* (bara a ), since each of them is intended to rid (baraa) the h eart
from all things except God, with [the difference] that the articulation of Say: O
you unbelievers ... rids (baraa) the heart of all things other than God, an d
informs o f [the necessity of] adherence to a preoccupation [only] with G od,
while the articulation of Say: He is God, One ... informs o f [the necessity of]
being [solely] preoccupied with God and of adherence to the shunning o f all
things other than God. O r [the reason that the two suras share certain nam es
may be] because Say: O you unbelievers... entails the ridding of the heart of all
worshipped entities other than God, and Say: He is God, O ne... entails the d is­
sociating (baraa) of the W orshipped One from all that is not worthy o f Him.
The second [aspect]: Because the Night of O rdainm ent (laylat al-qadr)*13
was the truth of the Q u r’an, it is better than a thousand months [Q. 97:3].
[Likewise] the entire Q ur’an is a pearl oyster and the pearl is His [God’s] state­
ment, Say: He is God, One; that is evidently why it [this sura] acquired this
merit.
The third [aspect]: Rational evidence demonstrates that the greatest grade
which a servant [of God] may attain is when his heart is illuminated by the light
1,3 According to surat a l-Q a d r [Q. 97), the Q ur’an was revealed on laylat a l-qadr, often celebrated
during the night between 26th and 27th of Ramadan.

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 Oneness

of God's majesty and glory. This [last] can only come about through this sura
[Q. 112], which is why this sura is the greatest sura. If it were said: ‘But G od’s
attributes are also m entioned in all o f the other suras, we would say that this
sura has a special property and that is that, because o f its shortness, it remains
preserved in the heart and recognised by the mind; therefore, for that reason,
the remembrance of God’s majesty is ever present. Indeed, it [this sura] is dis­
tinguished from all the o th er suras on account o f these merits. Let us now
return to the exegesis (tafsir).

Issues surrounding God’s statement Say: He is God, One

1. The first issue: Know that [true] knowledge o f God is an ever-present para­
dise, because paradise consists of your attaining that which is in harm ony with
both your intellect Caql) and your desire (shahwa), which is why Paradise
ceased to be a paradise for Adam when his intellect began to struggle with his
desire (hawa’).114 Nor [it should be said] is the grave a prison for the believer,
for there [in the grave] he meets [only] with what accords with his intellect and
his desire (hawa’). M oreoever, knowledge o f God is what [both] the intellect
and desire seek, and hence it [knowledge o f God] becomes an absolute [sc.
unrestricted] paradise (janna muflaqa). W hat dem onstrates [the validity of]
that which we have said is this: the intellect seeks a guardian to whom the good
deeds (hasanat) can be entrusted, while the desire (shahwa) seeks an all-suffi­
cient being from whom pleasures (mustaladhdh) can be requested. Indeed, the
intellect is like the hum an being who is high-m inded, obeying only his master,
while desire is like the seeker of pasture who, upon hearing o f rich watering
holes, eagerly heads for them to [find] pasture; for, the intellect seeks knowl­
edge of its M aster [sc. God] so that it might thank Him for past graces, while
desire seeks such [knowledge] in order to covet graces that may be lying in w ait
W hen they [eventually] knew Him, [each] in the way in which they wanted,
[either] as One of knowledge o r as All-sufficient, they clung to Him. The intel­
lect said: 1 shall give thanks to none but You.’ Desire said: T shall make requests
o f none but You.’ D oubt then appeared and said: ‘O intellect, why do you give
thanks only to Him: perhaps He has an equal (mithl)? A nd [it said]: ‘O desire,
why do you restrict [your requests] to Him: might there not be another means?’
Therefore the intellect became confused and its peace [of mind] was spoilt.
Thus it wanted to journey in the world of proofs, so that it m ight attain the
essence of certitude. A nd it was as though [God] the Truth (al~haqq), glory be
to Him, said: ‘How can I allow the pleasure o f being devoted to My service and
114 R&zi alternates between shahw a and haw d ’ to denote that same contrary of intellect: desire. In
order to avoid confusion (that three concepts are being discussed) we have retained ‘desire’ for both;
shahw a is more properly ‘appetite’.

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On the Nature of the Divine

thanking Me to be spoilt for My servant? So G od sent His Messenger and said

[to him]: ‘Do not say it [as though it came] from yourself, but rather say th a t
the One whom I have [always] known to be truthful says to me Say: He is God,
One .’ He has thus made known to you the oneness [of God] by revelation (satn )
and has spared you the burden of [attaining knowledge of it through] rational
speculation and deduction. This [last] can be verified by [the fact] that th e
things [knowledge of which is] sought (mafdlib) may be divided into th ree
groups. One group constitutes that [knowledge] which cannot be attained by
means of revelation (sam€), which are those things upon whose validity th e
validity o f the revelation depends, such as knowledge of G od’s essence, H is
knowledge, His power and the veracity of [His] miracles. A nother group co n ­
stitutes what can only be attained through revelation, which are all those events
whose eventuality may be known by reason (‘aql). The third group [constitutes
knowledge which] can be attained through revelation and reason together, such
as the knowledge that He is One (wahid) and that He is Visible (m ariyy) and so
on. We have [already] examined how the proofs for [His] oneness may be co n ­
firmed by explaining His words, Had there been in [either of] the two [the heavens
and the earth]gods other than God, they would have both surely been in ruins [Q.
21:22].
2. The second issue: Know that they [the commentators] all agree that in th e
sura, Say: O you unbelievers the qul (say) is necessary, and that they also agree
that the qul (say) cannot be recited at [the beginning of] surat Tabbat [sc. al-
Masad, Q. 111]. However, they have differing opinions about [qul in] this sura
[Q. 112]. The widely-accepted reading is Say: He is God, One. But Ubayy [b.
Ka‘b] and Ibn M as'ud recited [it] without the qul thus: He is God, One. The
Prophet, moreover, recited [it] without qul huwa {Say: He) thus: AUdhu ahad
Alldhul-$amad (God, One, God, the Besought o f all). Those who insist on retain ­
ing qul {say) argue: ‘The reason for [including] it is to make clear that th e
arrangement [of the Q u ra n ’s verses] is not within his [M uhammad’s] capacity,
rather he [Muhammad] repeats all of what is said to him [exactly as it is]*
Those who omit it [sc. the qul] argue [that it should be omitted], ‘Lest it be
imagined that such a thing [as God being One] was not known to the Prophet ’

3. The third issue: Know that there are different points o f view concerning th e
syntax {trab) of this verse.

a) The first point of view: huwa (He) stands in for God’s name, so that H is
word Alldhu receives a nominative inflection {murtafi'an) as the predicate
of the subject [huwa]. A nd what is [grammatically] permissible in y o u r
saying [something such as] Zaydun, akhuka, qaim u n (Zayd, your brother,

540
 Oneness

is standing) can be applied to where He says ahadun (One).

b) The second point of view: huwa stands for the [cataphoric] pronoun of
the m atter (damtr al-sha’n). According to this account, Alldhu receives the
nominative inflection as subject [of the nominal clause] with ahadun as its
predicate, and the sentence [Alldhu ahadun] thus becomes a predicate of
huwa. The implication then is that [there is] 'a matter" (sha'n) followed by
what is said [about it]’ (hadith): ‘It is that G od is One" Analogous to this is
God’s statement fa-idha hiya shdkhi$atun ab$drulladhina kafaru (and behold
how these, the gazes o f the unbelievers, will be fixed [in a stare]) [Q. 21:97];
except that here [the pronoun] hiya is feminine because what is exposed [as
the subject of that pronoun] is itself a feminine noun. In the same way there
is [the verse] fa-innahd Id ta'm d’l-abfdru (Indeed it is not the eyes that turn
blind) [Q. 22:46], If, however, there is no feminine [noun] in the exposition
[of what the pronoun’s subject is], then the ‘pronoun o f the matted is not
m ade fem inine, as in where He says innahu man ya'ti rabbahu mujriman
(truly whoever comes to his Lord a sinner) [Q. 20:74].
c) The th ird point of view: al-Zajjaj said: ‘The implied m eaning o f this
verse is: ‘The one about whom you have inquired: “He is God, One”.’

4. The fourth Issue: There are two points of view about ahad [One].

a) One point o f view: It [ahad] means that He is ‘one’ (wahid). Al-Khalil said
[that] it is permissible to say ahad ithndn (one, tw o...), where ahad derives
from wahada, but with the wdw having been changed to a hamza for the
purpose of lightening [articulation]. They frequently do this with the wdw
that has a or a kasra, as in when they say, wujuh/ujuh (aspects) or
wisadalisada (cushion).115
b) The second point of view: al-wahid and al-ahad are not synonyms. Al-
Azhari said that nothing may be described by [the term] ahadiyya except
God: one cannot say rajulun ahadun or dirhamun ahadun, but rajulun
wdhidun m eaning ‘[only] one’. Indeed, ahad is an attribute o f God, one
which He has restricted to Himself and nothing shares it with Him.
They further report different points of view concerning the distinction
between ahad and wahid.
The first [point of view]: al-wahid ([numerical] one) is [necessarily] sub­
sumed by [the meaning of] al-ahad (the [unique] One), but al-ahad is not
[necessarily] implied by it [al-wdhid].
The second [point of view]: W hen you say ‘one person cannot challenge so-
and-so’, it is possible then to say, ‘But two persons can challenge him’, which
115 Both of these terms ujuh and is&da are pronounced with an initial hamza Cujuh, ' isada), but
this is not usually indicated by the conventions of modem transliteration.

541
On the Nature of the Divine

is in contrast to [the use of] al-abad; for, if you were to say, ‘S o-and-so
cannot be challenged by anyone (ahad)\ you cannot then say ‘But he can be
challenged by tw o’
The third [point o f view]: al-wdhid is used for affirmative statem ents,
whereas al-ahad is [used] for negation. You may say in an affirmative state­
ment: I saw one man {raaytu rajulan wdhidan), but you would say in a nega­
tion ‘I did not see anyone (md ra’aytu ahadan)M16 and this pertains to th e
general.

5. The fifth issue: the [Q uran] readers (qurra) have different opinions regard­
ing [the inflection of] His words ahad Alldh al-$amad. The reading o f th e
majority is with nunation (tatrwin) and a kasra, thus: ahadiniVahu. This is an
unproblematic deduction, since the final nun o f ahad is vowelless and the lam
of the definite article in Alldh is vowelless, and when two such vowelless con­
sonants meet, the first assumes a kasra. O n the authority o f Abu ‘A m r [b. al-
‘Ala’]: ahad Alldh [should be read] w ithout nunation [ahadulldhu], because
the nun resembles the soft letters [yd\ wdw, alt/] in as much as it is added w hen
they are, and [in as much as] the vowelless [nun] is elided when two vowelless
letters meet, just as the a lif wdw and ya are elided. Therefore, we have for
instanceghazdl-qawm (the people made a raid) and yaghzul-qawm (the people
are making a raid), and yarmtVqawm (the people are throwing), th at is [also]
why the vowelless nun of the verb, as in lam yaku[-n] and fa-la taku[-n\fi miry-
atin is elided [Q. 11:109], Thus, it [nun] is elided in ahadullah because o f the
confluence o f two vowelless consonants, just as those [soft] letters are elided
[on similar occasions]. We have exam ined this subject in G od’s statem ent
'Uzayr fbnulldh ([they claim that] ‘Uzayr is the son o f God) [Q. 9:30]. O n th e
authority of Abu ‘Amr [b. al^A la’] ahad Alldh is also reported [as a possible
reading]. He said, ‘I noticed readers reciting it connected thus with a sukun!
Abu ‘All [al-FarisI] said: ‘The end-rhymes of a Q u ran ic verse follow the same
course when they are inserted as they do in a pause, which is why some recite
[the following verses on the same basis]:fa-atfallundl-sabtla rabband [ Q. 33:67]
and wa-ma adraka md hiya [Q. 101:10). Likewise [is the case with] ahad Allah*
because most of the Q ur’an readers, according to what Abu ‘A m r said about
the pause, treated it [ahad Alldh] in the same m anner when two w ords merge
into each other as they did when there is a pause, because o f the prom inence o f
the pause therein and because of the frequency with which they articulate it.
Al-A'mash recited qul huwallahul-wdhid. If it were asked why, one w ould say
[in response] that ahad is an indefinite noun. Al-MawardI said there are tw o
points o f view on this. One of them is that the definite article (lam al-talnf) is
1,6 In other words, you cannot say ra ’a y tu rajulan a h a d a n .

542
 Oneness

omitted for purposes of ellipsis (itfmdr), the actual sense being qul huwa’Udhu’l-
ahad. The second [point of view] is that the indefinite form is intentionally used
for the purpose o f [intensifying the] glorification [of G od’s mention].

6. The sixth issue; Know that G od’s statement huwallahu ahad {He [is] Godt
One) constitutes three expressions and each of them signals a [spiritual] station
(maq&m) of the seekers [of God].

a) The first station is o f‘the ones brought neai* (muqarrabun),117 which is the
highest station of the wayfarers (sd’irun) to God; they are those w ho have
contem plated the quiddities of things and their realities qua realities.
Undoubtedly, they saw no existent (mawjud) except God because [He] the
Truth (al-haqq) is the One whose existence is necessary by His very essence
(li-dhatihi). Everything other than Him is [only] contingent by its essence,
and that w hich is contingent in its essence - when considered for w hat it
really is - is [found to be] nothing ('adam ). Thus those [brought near] see
no existent except [He] the Truth, glory be to Him. As regards His word
huwa, it is an unrestricted (m uflaq) dem onstrative (ishdra). A lthough a
dem onstrative may be unrestricted - when what is designated [by that
demonstrative] is a specific thing (m uayyan) - then that unrestricted
[demonstrative] is turned to that specific thing [thus becoming restricted].
O ur term huwa then undoubtedly becomes an indication (ishdra) [by means
of the dem onstrative pronoun] on the part of ‘the ones brought near' of
[God] the Truth, glory be to Him. Thus in [using] this demonstrative (ishdra)
they did not require that the thing [indicated] be distinguished (mumayyaz),
because the need to distinguish only arises when there are two existents. We
have [already] explained that these [individuals] witnessed by the eyes of
their intellect nothing other than the One (al-wahid), which is why the
expression huwa was enough to bring about complete gnosis (firfdn) for
them [of God].
b) The second station: this is the station o f‘those of the right [hand]’ (a$hdb
al-yamiri)ywhich is lower than the first station. That is because these [indi­
viduals] witnessed [Him] the Truth as an existent but they also witnessed
creation as an existent. There thus resulted [for them] a multiplicity o f exis­
tents, which is undoubtedly why [the demonstrative] huwa was not [in their
case] enough to indicate [Him] the Truth; indeed it was inevitable then that

117 The expressions denoting the three stations described by Razi are taken from surat al- Waqi'a,
Q. 56:7-11 in a description of the Resurrection after the apocalypse: And you will be three groups:
Those of the right [hand] ... and those of the left [hand]... and theforemost, theforemost: they are the
ones brought near [to God]. In the Qur’&n, those who receive their record of deeds in their right hand
will have an easy reckoning, destined for Paradise, whereas those who receive their records in their
left hand will face a terrible reckoning (cf. for example Q. 69:19-25).

543
On the Nature of the Divine

there be a distinguishing factor (mumayyiz) by which [He] the Truth can be

distinguished from [all of] creation. These [individuals] then needed to jux­
tapose the articulation Allah (God) with the articulation huwa (He), and so
it was for their sake that it was said huwa Allah (He is God), because Allah
is the Existent whom all that is other than Him is in need of, whereas He is
independent of [and has no need of] all that is other than Him.
c) The third station: this is the station o f ‘those of the left [hand]’ (afhab
al-shimdl), which is the most contemptible and lowest station. They are those
who allow [for the possibility] that there be more than one necessary existent
(wdjib al-wujud) and that there be more than one god. Thus, the articulation
al-ahad (One) was appended to the above-m entioned [sc. He is God] in
response to these [individuals] and as an invalidation of their claim. Hence,
it was said: Say: He is God, One.

Here now is another discussion nobler and more sublime than that we have
already mentioned. This is that the attributes of God ($ifdt AUdh) are either [cat-
aphatic] positive (id&fiyya) or [apophatic] negative (salbiyya). The positive ones
are those such as when we say [He is] ‘knowing" (‘d/im), ‘powerful* (qddir),
‘willing (murid) or ‘creator' (khalldq). The negative ones are those such as w hen
we say that He is not a ‘body* (jism), or a ‘substance (jawhar) o r an ‘accident*
(‘arad). Created beings constitute, in the first instance, indications of the form er
[type of attributes] and, in the second instance, [indications] of the second type.
O ur saying Alldh indicates the aggregate of positive attributes, while our saying
ahad indicates the aggregate of negative attributes. Thus our saying AUdhu ahad
communicates in a complete way the gnosis that befits the hum an intellect.
We say that the articulation Alldh indicates the aggregate of positive attrib­
utes because G od is the O ne who is worthy o f worship. W orthiness o f being
worshipped belongs only to one who has absolute power of existentiating (ijdd)
and originating [things], and absolute power o f existentiation occurs only for
the One who is characterised by complete power, effectual will and knowledge
of all knowables, universals and particulars: such is the aggregate o f the positive
attributes. As for the aggregate of the negative attributes, that is the oneness
0ahadiyya), because what is intended by ‘oneness is that this reality be a unique
entity in itself, above all aspects o f compositeness; this is because every co m ­
posite quiddity requires each one of its parts [in order to exist], and each o f its
parts is other than it: hence every composite thing is in need o f [something]
other than it and every thing that is in need of other than it is contingent by its
essence. Thus the ‘God* who is the principle o f all [created] beings (kd’indt)
cannot [Himself] be contingent. He is then in Himself singlular (fard), O ne
(ahad) and since [this] oneness has been established, He necessarily can n o t

544
 Oneness

occupy a space (mutahayyiz), for every space-occupying thing necessarily has

a right that is other than its left, and every thing that is so is divided. It is thus
impossible for one who is ‘one’ to occupy a space and since he does not occupy
a space, he cannot be in any space or direction and necessarily cannot be in any
state (hdl), since by being in a state he cannot be ‘one* (ahad); and he [neces­
sarily) cannot be a locus (mahall) for any thing, since by being such a locus he
cannot be ‘one’. Since he can be neither a state nor a locus, he cannot be sus­
ceptible to change (mutaghayyir) at all, because change inevitably is from one
attribute to another. Moreover, if He is one (ahad), He must necessarily then
be [numerically] one (wdhid), since if we suppose there to be two necessary
existents, they w ould share that necessariness, but would be distinct in speci­
ficity, and what is shared is different from that which distinguishes, and thus
each of the two would be composite; it is then established that His being
[numerically] ‘one* (wdhid) is a concom itant o f His being the O nly O ne
(ahad).118 If it were then said, ‘How can a thing be rationally ‘only one (ahad),
for, when any reality is described by ‘oneness, you will then have ‘that re a lit/
o f ‘that oneness as well as the aggregate of the two, which makes three and not
one?*
The response [would be to say]: That ‘oneness is a concom itant o f that
‘reality^ and so the thing deemed as a oneness is that very reality, and n o t the
aggregate that results from it or from that oneness. It should be apparent from
what we have mentioned, that His saying God, One (Allah ahad) is a statement
that subsumes all of G offs attributes, exalted be He: the positive ones and the
negatives ones. A complete discussion of this subject is given in the com m en­
tary on His words And your God is One God (wa ildhukum ildhun wdhid) [Q.
2:163].

God, the Self-sufficient Besought of all (AlWtul-$amad)

There are several issues regarding G offs statem ent God, the S e lf sufficient
Besought o f all.

The first issue. They [the commentators] m ention two points o f view with
regard to the exegesis of [the word] al-$amad.
1. The first [point of view] is that it is a verb (fi‘l) [functioning] in the sense
o f [the direct object paradigm] m a f ul, derived from $amada ilayhi to mean
qa$adahu (he sought him). [Al-$amad\ is the lord who is sought [and depended
on] for all needs. The poet said: ala baklkJaraVnai [ ...] 119; and he [the poet]
also said:
118 This entire section is an exposition of Ash'ari theology to which Razi subscribed; on the con­
cepts involved see Frank 1991 and Frank 1994,47ff.
119 See poem cited, already in TabrisL

545
On the Nature of the Divine

‘alawtuhu bi-husdmi thumma qultu lahu

khudhha Hudhayffa-antal-sayyidul-$amadu

I stood over him with my sword and said to him,

‘Take it, Hudhayf, for you are indeed the [ultimate] lord-chief.120

The proof for the soundness of this explanation [of the term $amad] is what Ibn
*Abbas related [and he said): ‘W hen this verse was revealed they said, “W hat is
al-$amadr The Prophet replied [to them], “He is the Lord to whom one tu rn s
[and depends on] for ones needs”.*Al-Layth [b. al-Mu^affar] said: ‘[If you say]
$amadtu $amd hadhal-amra, it means qa$adtu qa$dahu (1 sought this m a tte r
out).*
2. The second [point of view] is that al-$amad is one that is not hollow (Id
jawfa lahu), which is why they call the stopper of a long-necked bottle al-$imdd
(plug). Something that is mu$ammad is ‘solid* having no flaccidity. Q atada said
that according to this explanation, the dal in it is changed from a ta and [the
word] is [actually] al-mu$mat. Some later philologists said that al-$amad is
smooth stone121 upon which no dust settles and which nothing penetrates o r
comes forth from. Know that some o f the ignorant anthropom orphists
(mushabbiha) use this verse to prove that God is a body (jism). This is [obvi­
ously] false, for we have made clear how His being One (ahad) precludes H is
being a body. Indeed the first part of this verse proves that the m eaning o f al-
$amad cannot be such, because al-$amad in this explanation is an attribute o f
compressed bodies, and God is exalted above all of this. Thus, we must interpret
[the opinion o f the later philologists] figuratively (majaz), and [that w ould be]
to say that the body that is like that [smooth stone] is not susceptible to reaction
(infi'dl) with, or influence (ta'aththur) by, any other, which is then [valid as] an
allusion to G od and His being the necessary existent by virtue of His essence,
unsusceptible to change either in His existence or in His perm anence o r in
terms of all His attributes. That is for what concerns the philological inquiry
into this verse.
As for the commentators (mufassirun), several opinions have been transm it­
ted from them , some of which relate to the first [philological] p o in t o f view,
namely, God’s being the ultimate lord to whom all refer to execute their needs,
which constitutes an indication of the positive attributes. [The opinions of]
others [relate] to the second [philological] point of view, which is His being th e
necessary existent in His essence and in His attributes, unsusceptible to change
in either of the two, which constitutes an indication of His negative attributes.

120 Given by QurtubI in his tafsir, Ahkdm (XX, 167).

121 There is a print error here. The text has hajaz instead of hajar, cf., Ibn Man?ur, Lisdn, VII, 405
(f - m - d ), where most of the philological explanations given by Razi here may alternatively be c o n ­
sulted.

546
 Oneness

Sometimes they interpret al-samad in a way that combines both these points
of view.

As for the first type [of exegesis], several points o f view are mentioned.
First [point of view]: al-samad is the Knower o f all knowables because His
being the [ultimate] Lord who is turned to for the fulfilment of needs cannot
be [true] w ithout that [being the case].
Second: al-samad means the Forbearing, because His being the [ultimate]
Lord requires forbearance and generosity.
Third: (which constitutes the opinion of Ibn M as'ud and al-D ahhak), al-
samad is the Lord who possesses the ultimate [degree] o f sovereignty.
Fourth: al-A$amm said that al-samad is the C reator of [all] things because
His being the [ultimate] Lord requires that [He is so].
Fifth: al-Suddl said that al-samad is the One who is sought for things desired,
the One whose help is solicited in afflictions.
Sixth: al-Husayn b. al-Fadl al-Bajall said that al-samad is the One who does
what He wishes and rules as He wants, and whose ruling cannot be amended,
or His decree overturned.
Seventh: [al-samad means] that He is the exalted Lord.
Eighth: [al-samad means] that He is the glorious one without whom no
judgement is passed in any matter.

As for the second type [of exegesis], which constitutes an indication o f His neg­
ative attributes, several points of view are mentioned.
First [point of view]: al-samad means that He is the Independent (ghaniyy),
as per His saying He is the Independent, the Praiseworthy [Q. 57:24].
Second: al-samad is the One above whom there is no one, on account of His
saying And He is die Vanquisher over His servants [Q. 6:18]. He fears nothing above
Him and anticipates nothing below Him; all needs are referred [up] to Him.
Third: Q atada said that He [is the One who] neither eats nor drinks: He who
feeds and is not fed [Q. 6:14].
Fourth: Qatada [also] said that it [al-samad] means the One who will endure
after the annihilation of His creation, All who are upon it [the earth] shall perish
but the face o f your Lord shall remain [Q. 55:26].
Fifth: al-H asan al-Ba$ri said that it [al-samad) m eans the One who has
always been and will always be, and for whom evanescence is impossible. He
Was before there was any location or any ‘where' o r any ‘w hen, o r throne or
seat or jinn or hum an, and He is now as He has always been.
Sixth: Ubayy b. Ka‘b said [that al-samad means] the O ne who neither dies
nor is inherited from; rather, to Him belongs the heritage o f the heavens and the
earth [Q. 57:10].

547
On the Nature of the Divine

Seventh: Yaman and Abu Malik said [that al-$amad means) the O ne w ho
neither sleeps nor forgets.
Eighth: Ibn Kaysan said [that al-$amad means] the O ne who can n o t be
described by the attributes of anyone.
Ninth: Muqafil b. Hayyan said [that al-$amad means] the One who has n o
defect.
Tenth: al-Rabl* b. Anas said [that al-$amad means] the One w ho can n o t
suffer harm.
Eleventh: SaTd b. Jubayr said [that al-$amad means] the One who is Perfect
in all His attributes and in all His actions.
Twelfth: JaTar al-$adiq said [that al-$amad means] the O ne w ho [always]
conquers and can never be defeated.
Thirteenth: Abu Hurayra said [that al-$amad means] the O ne w ho is in d e ­
pendent o f all.
Fourteenth: Abu Bakr al-Warraq said [that al-$amad means] the O ne about
whose modality created beings have despaired of knowing anything.
Fifteenth: the One whom vision is unable to perceive.
Sixteenth: A buV A liya and M uham m ad al-Q ura?i said [that al-$amad
means] the One who neither begot nor was begotten, because every thing th a t
is bom shall be inherited from, since every thing that is begotten shall [even­
tually] die.
Seventeenth: Ibn ‘Abbas said [that al-$amad means] the Great, above w hom
is no one.
Eighteenth: [al-$amad means) the O ne who is [transcendent] above being
liable to deficiency or increase, or of being subject to changes and tra n sfo r­
m ation, or o f being encom passed by periods, locations, points in tim e o r
directions.

The third type [of exegesis] has it that the term al-$amad may be in terp reted
according to the entirety [of positive and negative attributes], since insofar as
it indicates the necessariness of essence, it is indicating all the negative [attrib­
utes], and insofar as it is indicating His being the principle (mabda ) o f all
[things], it is indicating all of the divine qualifications (nu'ut).

The second issue. God’s statement God, the Besought o f all requires th at th ere
be no ‘Besought of all’ ($amad) in existence other than God; for, if al-$amad is
explained as being the One who is turned to for needs or as the One w ho does
not succumb to any change by virtue o f His essence, it is necessarily the case
that there cannot be in existence such an existent other than God, exalted be
He. This verse then proves that there is no god except the One (al-wdhid), an d
so His statem ent God, One (Alldhu ahad) is an indication o f His being O n e

548
 Oneness

(wdhid) in the sense that His essence entails no compositeness (tarkib) and no
com position (ta’lif) in any way whatsoever; and His statement, God, the
Besought o f all is an indication of His being One (wahiid) in the sense that pre­
cludes partners, equals or contraries.
There now remain two questions on the verse:

1. First question: why was ahad [revealed as] indefinite and al-$amad definite?
The answer: what prevails in the estimative faculty (wahm) of most creatures is
that every existent is sensible (mahsus);122 and it is established that every sensible
is divisible, in which case what is not divisible is not a notion (khdfir) that is
grasped by most creatures. As for al-$amad, that is the One to whom is turned
for [all] needs, and this was known to the Arabs, nay to the majority of creation,
according to what He [God] says [in the verse]: And i f you were to ask them who
created them, they will assuredly say, ‘God! [Q. 43:87]. Therefore, since ‘oneness*
(al-ahadiyya) is unknown and unfamiliar to the majority of creatures, while [the
concept of] ‘Besought of all* (al-$amadiyya) is know n to be an established
[concept] to the large majority of creatures, it is inevitable that the expression
ahad was [revealed as] indefinite and the expression al-$amad definite.

2. Second question: what is the use of repeating th e expression Alldh (God)

where He says Alldhu ahad Alldhul-$amad (God, One, God, the Besought o f all)*
The answer: If this word [Alldh] had not been repeated, it would have been nec­
essary for the words ahad and $amad to [both] appear either as indefinites or
definites. Since we have already m ade it clear that this is not possible, it is
obvious that the expression [Alldh] is repeated so that the word ahad may be
articulated as an indefinite and the word al-$amad as a definite.

Kashani
In this commentary Kash§nl states that the pronoun huwa refers to the divine essence qua
essence without consideration of the attributes, while the divine name ‘Allah’ is the name
of the essence together with all the attributes. These two ‘aspects’ are immediately brought
together by virtue of the interchange, in the verse, between the pronoun and the ism, and
Kash&nl states categorically that there is no difference between the two aspects except in
intellectual consideration. In reality, the essence and the attributes are identical. Kashani
goes on to discuss how the divine name al-$amad shows that God is sui generic. His meta­
physical interpretation of the last two verses is summed up in the phrase, ‘what lacks
absolute being is pure nothingness.’

122 In other words, one that can be perceived by the senses, as opposed to being, for example,
intelligible (m a 'q u l), perceived by the intellect.

549
On the Nature of the Divine

Qul huwalldhu ahad; Say: He is God, One. [The word] qul (say) is a com m and
from the very union found in the locus o f differentiation; huwa (He) is a n
expression for the pure unitive reality (al-haqiqa al-ahadiyya al-$irfa)yi.e. [for]
the essence qua essence, without consideration o f the attributes, [that which is]
know n only to Him; [the name] ‘Allah* is an equivalent for it [i.e. for huwa]. It
[the nam e Allah] is the name of the essence with the totality of the attributes;
[thus] He shows, through the interchange [between huwa and Allah], that H is
attributes are not additional to His essence - rather, they are identical to th e
essence, and there is no difference except in intellectual consideration.
Because of this is it called the sura of'sincerity (i/chlaf), as sincerity is p u ri­
fying the unitive reality off the blemish of multiplicity. As the C om m ander o f
the Believers [‘All]123 said, ‘The perfection of sincerity to Him lies in the negat­
ing o f attributes from Him*,124 because the testam ent o f every attribute is th a t
it is not the attributed one and the testament of every thing possessed o f attrib ­
utes is that it is not the attribute. That is what he m eant who said, ‘His attributes
are not Him nor other than Him* - that is, ‘not Him* with respect to the intel­
lect, and ‘not other than Him* in reality.
‘Al-ahad, is the predicate of the subject. The difference between the U nique
(al-ahad) and the One (al-wahid) is that the Unique is the essence alone,
w ithout any consideration of multiplicity (kathra) in it, that is, [it is] the p ure
reality that is the source of the camphor spring (al-'ayn al-kdfuri).125 Rather, it

123 This benediction is normally used by Shfi authors and would provide more proof that the
author o f this text is not Ibn ‘Arab! but a Shfi such as K ishinl. However, one finds a more honorific
benediction, normally restricted to the Prophet, being used for 'All by Ibn ‘Arabl in the FutuhUU (I,
32, line 17=UY edn, 1,144, line 2) in the ‘Uthman Yabya edition, where he adds a note saying that
this suggests Ibn ‘Arabi’s tendency towards Shi'ism; cf. also the Spanish translation of Ibn 'A rabfs
Futuhat, 39,62. The question o f the Shi'ism of Ibn ‘Arab! is problematic. Henry Corbin famously
held that he was a crypto-ShiT at the very least given the nature of some of his writings in the Futuhat,
such as ch. 29 on the secrets of Salmon: Futuhat, I, I95-9=UY edn III, 227-42; see also Corbin 1969
(M anheim’s translation), 9, 25-9. Such a position is critiqued by Chodkiewicz 1993 (Sherrard’s
translation), 49 n. 4,68 n. 29,106 n. 6, the latter on Ibn 'Arabl’s hostility to Shi'ism as indicated in
his Futuhat, 1,282 and III, 343.
124 In the first sermon of the Nahj al-Baldgha, ‘All is reported to have said that the perfection o f
sincere worship of God lies in the negation of attributes, as attributes are distinct from the thing to
which they belong; see Radi, Nahj, 39.
125 This is a reference to Q. 76:5-6:
Surely the pious shall drink of a cup
Whose mixture is camphor (mizdjuhd kdfur),
A fountain (‘ayn) whereat drink the servants of God,
Making it to gush forth plenteously.
The Camphor Fountain or Spring thus refers to the pure divine essence in itself from which the
slaves of God ('ibad Allah) drink directly and of which the virtuous (abrar), having shed the veils of
secondary causes, effects and acts, are given draughts to drink indirectly. On these verses of Q. 76,
K ishina comments that the abrdr are the happy ones who have emerged from the veils of actions
and effect and have enveloped themselves in the veils of God's attributes, not stopping at that level
but orienting themselves to the divine essence itself. Thus they are midway in the spiritual journey
and are true intermediaries, involved in the manifest world of the divine attributes but engaged in

550
 Oneness

is the cam phor spring itself, which is existence qua existence without the limi­
tation of either generality or specificity, or condition o f occurrence or non-
occurrence.
The O ne (cd-wahid) is the essence together with consideration o f the m ulti­
plicity of the attributes ($ifdt). It is the presence o f the names (al-ba<ira al-
asm aiyya), as the nam e is the essence with the [named] attribute. The pure
reality, that is unknow n except to Him, is expressed by ‘He*. The pure reality
[huwa] is interchanged for the essence with all the attributes [‘Allah'], indicat­
ing that they [the attributes] are in reality identical to the essence. He informed
about them through uniqueness [ahadiyya] to indicate that the multiplicity
considered [in the mind] is no [separate] thing in reality, and does not void His
uniqueness, and does not affect His oneness. The presence o f oneness is in fact
the same as the presence of uniqueness with respect to reality, just as one might
imagine that an ocean is made up of [individual] drops of water, for example.
God, the S e lf sufficient Besought o f all.126 The essence in the presence of
oneness w ith respect to the consideration of the names is the absolute support
for all things, as every contingent depends upon it and exists by it. It is the
Absolute Independent upon which all depend. As G od said, God is the rich and
you are the poor [Q. 47:38]. Thus everything other than Him exists through His
existence and is nothing in itself, because contingency is entailed for quiddities,
but not for existence. There is no similitude or genus for Him in existence.
Lam yalid {He neither begot). Since His effects do not exist [alongside] with
Him, but rather in Him, thus they are themselves [only] in Him, while in them ­
selves they are nothing.
Wa lam yiilad {nor was He begotten). Because o f His absolutely eternal being
and independent self-sufficiency,127 He is not dependent - with regard to being
- on anything. Now since His one and only ipseity does not accept of any m ul­
tiplicity or division, and since the singularity of the [divine] essence is incom ­
parable to anything other than itself, then what lacks absolute being is pure
nothingness {fadam). N one is sim ilar to Him: Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan
ahad {nor is there anyone equal to Him). Sheer nothingness is not similar to pure
being. It is for this that the sura is called [in description] ‘the foundation
the beatific vision of the One essence. From the cup> they drink the love of the beauty of the divine
attributes blended with the rapture of the love of the essence; this being the Camphor Fountain
which conveys the refreshing pleasure of certainty and luminosity. Camphor, which is characteris­
tically refreshing and luminous, delights and strengthens the heart that bums in the heat of yearning
for the One essence. See KashanI, Tafsir Ibn ‘Arabi, II, 369.
126 Zayd b .'Ali comments that al-$amad is the Lord above whom there is none other, the One to
whom one refers all one’s desires, and the refuge from evils. It is also reported from him that it means
the One who is worshipped and referred to for all one’s needs: see Zayd, Gharib al-Qur’drty 507.
127 $amadiyyatihi al-muflaqa. $amadiyya means eternal being and independent self-sufficiency,
thus God’s absolute priority over everything and His absolute self-sufficient independence of all
things, both of which indicate His oneness and singularity.

551
On the Nature of the Divine

(asds)9128 for the foundation of the religion is upon the divine unity, indeed the
foundation o f existence [is upon the divine unity].
It is related from Anas [b. Malik], from the Prophet, $allaVdhu 'alayhi wa
sallam, that he said: ‘The seven heavens and the seven earths are founded o n
qul huwallahu ahacT. That is the significance of His eternally self-sufficient an d
independent being and lordship ($amadiyyatihi).

1 ».• ii

A bu Hayyan
In his commentary on the first two verses o f surat al-Ikhl&$, Abu Hayyan commences w ith
a discussion o f the occasions for the revelation o f the sura, followed by a close analysis of
the meaning o f its various terms and the grammatical structure o f its series o f clauses. H e
demonstrates his philological pedigree through the citation o f a plethora o f renowned lin ­
guists and grammarians, among them Tha‘lab, Yunus b. Habib, M afibub b. al-Hasan, al-
A$maT, al-Lu’luT, H arun b. M u s i and Ibn a l-A n b irl. He discusses the ellipsis o f the
nunation between ahad and Alldh in the first verse, giving poetic examples to illustrate
this phenomenon, and pays particular attention to a detailed explanation o f the key w ords
afrad and $amad.

Al-$amad is a verb with the sense of the m a f ul [paradigm], [derived] from

$amada ilayhi, to mean qa$adahu (he sought h im );129 [it represents] also th e
master (sayyid) to whom one turns (al-ma$mud ilayhi) for needs, being the only
one who can assume such [a capacity].130 He [the poet] says [...].131
A nother [poet] says:132
‘alawtuhu hi-husdmin thumma qultu lahu
khudhhd khuzita [sic.] fa-antal-sayyidul-$amaduI

I rose above him with my sword, then I said to him,

‘Take it, you have been disgraced as the lord chief!*

Al-kujw is al-na&r, ‘counterpart*. Say: He is God, One, God, the Besought o f

all. He neither begot, nor was begotten; nor is there anyone equal to Him. This sura
is Meccan according to ‘Abd Allah [Ibn M asud], al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri], ‘Ikrim a,
‘A ta, Mujahid and Qatada, but Medinese according to Ibn ‘Abbas, M uham m ad
128 Some of the chapters of the Q ur‘Sn are given descriptive titles in addition to their formal
textual title. Al-asds is one such descriptive title, used for surat al-Ikhldf. Surat al-Ikhldf has another
formal textual name: surat al-Tawhid.
129 AbO Hayyan, Muhif, VIII, 529-30.
130 This is the definition given in R&ghib’s Mufradat, 286.
131 The verse opening with aid bakkaral-nd’i by the famous Kufan Arab poet al-Kumayt b. Zayd
al-Asadi (d. 126/743) is cited in Tabari's and Tabrisfs commentaries on this verse in this chapter,
see also in Ibn Mansur, Lisdn, VII, 404.
132 This verse, which is adduced by Qurtubi (Ahkdm, XX, 167), in this case uses khuzita instead
of Hudhayf, which is the reading of Razi and the one cited in the Lisdn (see p. 546).

552
 Oneness

b. Ka‘b, A buV Aliya and al-Pabfcak. As it is preceded by m ention of the enmity

of those closest to the Messenger - his uncle Abu Lahab [‘Abd al-‘Uzza b. ‘Abd
al-Muttalib], and [also] what he endured from the idol-worshippers who took
other gods beside God - this sura comes to set forth the oneness [of God] and
to refute [the validity of] the worship o f graven images and those who speak of
dualism, the Trinity and other doctrines inconsistent with the oneness of
G od.133 On the authority o f Ibn ‘Abbas [we are told] th at the Jews said, ‘O
M uhammad, describe for us your Lord and trace His lineage [for us]’,134 and it
was revealed. O n the authority of A buV A liya [we are told] that the leaders of
the Confederates (ahzdb)135 said, ‘Trace for us the origins of your Lord’,136 and
it [this sura] was revealed.
If this occasion [of revelation] is correct, [then] huwa (He) is a pronoun that
refers back to the Lord: i.e., Say: He is God is to say ‘my Lord is God.* It is subject
and predicate, with ahad (One) as a second predicate. Zam akhshari says,137138
'One (ahad) is either a substitution for His saying God, o r in the m anner o f‘He
is One! And if that occasion [of revelation] is not correct, then it is a pronoun
of the m atter (dam lr al-sha’n) and a subject, with the clause that follows [sc.
Alldhu ahad] constituting a subject and a predicate that occupies the locus of
the predicate o f huwa. Ahad means wahid, that is to say, ‘singular in all aspects
of oneness (wahddniyya)yboth in terms of His essence and His attributes, and
is indivisible. O r the hamza radical in ahad is the equivalent of a wdwybut the
replacement of initial hamza with waw is rare, e.g. [they say] imra'atun andtun
(a staid woman), by which they [actually] mean [the word] wandtun, because
it derives from al-wandymeaning ‘langou^ (Jutur),138just as ahad derives from
al-wahda. Tha‘lab says that ‘there is a difference between wahid and ahad:
wahid involves num ber (a d a d ), such as plural and ‘two’, while ahad does not;
one may say Allah ahad, but never Zayd ahad>because oneness is specific to
God while many states can involve Zayd*; [this is] the end [of the philological
discussion of ahad];139 as for w hat has been m entioned with regard to [the

133 Thus the context is the denial of the gods of the Quraysh, especially al-'Uzza from whom Abu
Lahab’s name 'Abd al-‘Uzza was derived, and an affirmation of an exclusive monotheism that they
found hard to relate to: see for a relevant discussion, Rubin 1979.
134 The question by the Jews is intended to reflect their own concerns with ‘h o l y lineage: the God
o f Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
135 The Ahzdb is the title of sura 33 and refers to the coalition put together by the Prophet’s
Meccan opponents of a number of tribes, the most prominent of which were the Quraysh of Mecca
themselves, the Arab tribe of Ghajafon and the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayya in Medina.
136 The Meccans probably wished to locate the new message about Allah in terms of their existing
pantheon and wanted to know how He related to their deities.
137 Zamakhshari, Kashshaf, IV, 298.
138 See Ibn Man?ur, Lisdn, 1,251 (a-n-y).
1,Q In other words, Zayd can be a ‘second1person (in a sequence), or be ‘one’of a certain class of
individuals, whereas God is One in all cases.

553
On the Nature of the Divine

term] ahad never being involved in such [things as num ber and plural], it m ay
be refuted by reference to num ber ('adad).
Aban b. ‘Uthman, Zayd b. ‘All, Na$r b. cA$im, Ibn Sirin, al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri],
Ibn Abi Ishaq, AbuT-Samm&l, Abu ‘A m r [b. al-'Ali*] - and, in an o th er
report, Yunus, Mafibub,al-A$ma‘l,al-LuTu'I, ‘Ubayd, Harun [b. Musa] - read
ahadullah omitting the nunation, on account of its coming together with the
Idm of the definite article, which is attested in the speech o f the Arabs and fre­
quently encountered in poetry, as for instance in his [the poet's] saying:

wa Id dhakirallah ilia qalilan

N o t rem em bering G o d save a little.

And like his saying:

'Amru’lladhx hashamal-tharida li-qawmihi

‘A m r w ho crum bled bread in to b ro th fo r his people.140

Allahul-$amad (God, the Besought o f all) consitutes a subject and a predicate;

but it is syntactically superior to take these [clauses] as independent sentences
containing [separate units of] information and [each] constituting a new sen ­
tence, as when you say: ‘Zayd the scholar; Zayd the valiant [and so on]'. It is
[also] said that al-$amad is an adjectival qualification ($ifa) with the predicate
[actually] being in the clause that follows. [The term] al-$amad has already been
explained in the vocabulary section above [at the beginning o f this com m en­
tary]; al-Sha‘bi and al-Yaman b. Riyab said [that it means]: ‘He who does n o t
eat or drink*; Ubayy b. Ka‘b said: ‘It [al-$amad] is explained by what follows,
namely where He says lam yalid wa-lam yulad (He neither begot nor was begot­
ten); and al-Hasan says: ‘[al-$amad] means al-mu$mat> the “one w ithout a
cavity (la jawfa lahu)”! Pertaining to this is the saying [of the poet]:141

shihdbu hurubin Id tazdlu jiydduhu

*awdbisa ya‘luknayl-$hakima’l-mu$ammada
A flame of war, whose steeds do not cease scowling
As they chew [their] reinforced bits.

There are other statements in the Kitdb al-Tahrir which cannot, however, be
supported by [the evidence of] language. Ibn al-Anbari said, ‘There is no d is­
agreement among the philologists that al-$amad means the lord (sayyid), above
whom is no one, and to whom people look for [assistance with] their affairs and
their needs'
140 The line by an unknown Quraysh poet refers to the Prophet’s ancestor H&shim whose real
name was 'Amr b. 'Abd Manaf. The line explains the origin of his name: see Guillaume 1955. 58.
141 See Shawk&ni, Tafsir, V, 516.

554
 Oneness

S h arafi
Sharafi cites the commentary o f al-Q asim b. Ibrahim . In keeping with the ontological
themes o f the verses (i.e., rububiyya, ‘lordship*, and uluhiyya, ‘divineness’), the interpreta­
tion is directed towards G o d ’s perfection and exaltedness: G o d as al-ahad is singular in
excellence, unique in H is singularity, and is the everlasting ultimate in excellence, good­
ness and lordship.

[From the commentary of al-Qasim b. Ibrahim ].142

Al-ahad [means that] He is single in excellence. As for His saying AUdhul-
$amad (G od the Self-sufficient Besought o f all), al~$amad is the ultimate one who
is relied upon, and beyond whom there is none to be relied upon, and apart
from w hom there is no god to be worshipped [...].143
The One: [...] He is God the One and the Single, who is unlike ones [in the
numerical sense] such that he would be in His singularity like any other, but he
is One, the Besought of all, the culm ination of goodness and reliance, like Him
there is nothing and He is the Hearing, the Seeing [Q. 42:11].144

B urusaw i
In addition to some syntactical comments and a citation o f the asbdb al-nuzuU Buriisaw i’s
commentary cites Kashani and Shaykhzada. In this section, he focuses on the discussions
o f the different levels of, and the distinctions between, creatures as indicated by the differ­
ent divine names used in this sura. Shaykhzada is cited as commenting, like Razi, that the
three w ords huwa, Allah and ahad may be understood w ith reference to three different
stations o f the wayfarers to God. The first and highest station is that o f those who ponder
the essences o f things and their realities; the second is that o f those w ho perceive the
duality between Creator and creature; while the third and basest stage is that o f those who
th ink o f more than one Necessary Existent Burusawi then goes on to consider the con­
cepts o f ahadiyya and $amadiyya as reflecting two aspects - distinct in definition, function
and manifestation - o f the D iv in ity (one) in relation to creation (many). In th is final,
somewhat abstruse, section o f his commentary on verses 1 to 2, Burusawi seems to inter­
weave a variety o f elements to construct his mystical synopsis, drawing on his own per­
sonal experience (as a Sufi) as well as what m ay be termed ‘alchem ical’ vocabulary and
letter-symbolism, both o f w hich undoubtedly go back to Ibn ‘A rabi (cf. Futufrdt).

142 Sharafi, Ma$abih, I, 178. For example, the Zaydi imam al-Qasim b. Ibrihlm (d. 246/860)
reported in Sharafi, Mafdbih, 1 ,178; cf. Qasim b. Ibrahim, Majmu ; Abrahamov 1996; Madelung
1965.
143 Zayd b. ‘Ali comments that al-famad is the lord above whom there is none other, the one to
whom one refers all ones desires, and the refuge from evils. It is also reported from him that it means
the one who is worshipped and referred to for all one’s needs. See Zayd, Gharib al-Qur’dn, 507.
144 In the note, reference is made to the commentary reported from ‘All b. Abl T^lib in
al-Tabrisfs Majma\ for which see Tabrisfs commentary, this chapter.

555
On the Nature of the Divine

Say: He is God, One [...].145 Alldh (God) is a proper noun ('atom), indicating
the True Deity in a way that comprehends all of the meanings of the most beau­
tiful names (al-asmd*al-husnd) [of God]. Al-Qash4ni [sic.] said: ‘According to
us, it [Alldh] is the name for the divine essence qua itself - that is, as an absolute
- [the name] that is true of [His essence] [when used] with all or some o f these
[names], first of all with one of these [names], such as where He says Say: He is
God, One.146 [A person named] 'Abd Allah (servant of God) is the servant w ho
has been adorned with all of His names such that none o f His servants enjoys a
loftier status or a higher standing than him [the one called 'Abd Alldh], because
o f his possessing the greatest name and his being qualified by all o f His attrib ­
utes. That is why He singled out our Prophet for this name where He says A n d
that when the Servant o f God [A bd Alldh] rose to invoke Him ... [Q. 72:19]. In
reality, this nam e belongs truly only to him [M uhammad] and to the leaders
(aqtdb) from am ong his heirs thereafter, even if it is used for others (which
when it so used it is being used] figuratively. For each o f His nam es m ay be
qualified by all of the other names by virtue of [His] oneness (wahidiyya) and
[by virtue of] the singularity (ahadiyya) of all the names. Al-ahad is the nam e
for Him in whose essence no thing shares, while al-wahid is the nam e for H im
in whose attributes no thing shares. In other words, al-ahad denotes the essence
alone without taking into account whether there is multiplicity (kathra) therein.
Thus in His case ahadiyya, is affirmed, which is independence of all that is other
than H im , in terms of His individualness and His essence, without taking into
account anything else.
Al-w ahid is the essence taking into account the multiplicity o f attributes
($ifat) which is the presence of the names (al-hadra al-asma*iyya), which is why
G od says inna ilahakum la-wahid (Assuredly your God is One) [Q. 37:4], and
did not say la-ahad. [That is so) because al-wahidiyya is a qualified nam e [sc.
al-wahid], since there is a connection between this [name] and creation, in
terms o f ‘gods (dliha) and 'things taken as divine (ma*luhiyya)>in contradis­
tinction to al-ahadiyya, which cannot be connected to any thing. Therefore,
when they speak o f‘knowledge of the divine (al-'ilm al-ildhi), that is knowledge
of [God] the Truth (al-haqq) in respect of the connection between H im and
creation, and [in respect of] the intoxication of the knowledgeable person
thereby, according to the hum an capacity [for such intoxication]; for there
exists of that [knowledge] what hum ans have no capacity for, which is the

145 Ruh al-baydn, X, 536-40. Burusawi begins with some syntactical observations already seen
in this chapter and mentions the context of its revelation, as we have seen in the com mentary of
Tabari. Our translation starts at lines 8-9 of Burusawi’s commentary on this sura (X, 536).
146 The point is that the word Alldh signifies the divine essence and the totality of the divine
names. But in some contexts it is joined with other particular names, such as in this verse. Therefore,
here divinity is associated with the unicity of the deity.

556
 Oneness

predicam ent of bewilderm ent (warfat al-hayra) into which the ‘perfect ones*
(al-kummal) fall, [thereby] affirming their inability to [attain] true gnosis. From
this [last], one comes to know that the affirmation of the oneness o f the essence
is in reality exclusive to God. The servant o f the Unique ('abd al-ahad) stands
alone at the m om ent (wahid al-waqt), master o f the age ($ahib al-zaman) who
possesses the highest authority (qufbiyya) and the first ahadiyya; the servant of
the O ne is the one w hom G od has delivered to the presence o f the O ne (al-
hadra al-wdhidiyya) and to whom He has unveiled the ahadiyya o f all His
names, and thus he perceives what he perceives and does what he does through
His [Gods] names, witnessing the aspects (wujuh) of His most beautiful names.
Shaykhzada (Ibn al-Shaykh)1471489says in his Marginalia [on the tafstr o f al-
Baydawi] concerning He is God, One:

Each of these words is an allusion to a station among the stations of the wayfarers
to God. The first station is that o f ‘those brought near (al-muqarrabun)> who
reflect upon the quiddities of things and their realities qua realities. They
undoubtedly do not see any existent apart from God, because the Truth is the
One who is the necessary existent by virtue of His essence; all that is other than
Him is contingent, and if you consider the contingent for what it really is, [you
will understand that] it is non-existent ('adam). Thus those [brought near] do
not see any existent other than [God] the Truth, exalted be He. As regards His
word He (huwa) [...].148 149

From all of this, one ascertains the validity of the habit of the Sufis to perform
remembrance (dhikr) using the name huwa, for ‘those of the beginning* (ahl al-
bidaya) among them , who are the veiled ones (mahjubun), are successors to
‘those of the end* (ahl al-nihdya), who are the unveilers (mukdshifun); and so it
is as though all of them witnessed nothing in existence other than God. For
them , G od is already specified (m uayyan) by virtue o f His absolute ongoing
ipseity (huwiyya, lit. ‘H e-ness) and there is, therefore, no need to specify [Him]
in the first place. The pronoun huwa refers to H im and to no one other than
Him, just as the [suffixed] pronoun in anzalna-hu (We have sent it down) refers
to the Q ur’an on account of its being specified and being present in the mind.
As for what certain critics say - that it [huwa] is a pronoun that has no specific
referent - , how then is the m ention of God to be referred to, given that pro-

147 Shaykhzada, H&shiya, VIII, 720-1, being the marginalia composed on the commentary of
Baydawi, Amvdr al-tanzil.
148 Burusawi repeats the quotation from Shaykhzada that he cited for the throne verse; cf. ch. 2,
227-8. See n. 117 from al-Razi, where the Qur&nic allusion is given.
149 The remainder of this section, describing the second station and the third station, is identical
to that of R4zi; see this chapter, at 'sixth issue of the 'Issues surrounding G ods statement Say: He is
God, One'. O ur translation o f Burusawi resumes towards the end of line 17 of the Arabic, Ruh al-
baydn, X, 537.

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On the Nature of the Divine

nouns are actually names and all names constitute ‘a m ention, there being n o
difference between them in terms of the overtness [of nouns) and the im plic­
itness [of pronouns). Accordingly, it is permissible to insert the definite article
into the word huwa [sc. al-huwa] as does Sufi terminology, because this consti­
tutes an indication of the ipseity [of God) - there is no disputing [the validity
of] this terminology.
As for His saying qul (say), this is an imperative [issuing] from the essence
of union (‘ayn al-jam ) but assuming [here] a differentiated m ode (tafoil), an d
herein lies an allusion to [understanding] the mystery (sirr) o f His statem ent
shahidallahu annahu Id ildha Hid huwa wal-m alaikatu wa u lu l-ilm (God bears
witness that there is no god except Him, and [so do] the angels and the people o f
knowledge) [Q. 3:18]. It is as though He were saying, ‘I have borne witness to
the oneness of the He-ness ( wahdat al-huwiyya) at the station o f union (maqam
al-jam‘), so bear you witness also to that oneness at the station o f d isunion
(maqam al-farq) so that the mystery o f the absolute oneness (ahadiyya) an d
non-oneness might be m ade manifest and that the correspondence betw een
the two in union and in differentiation may be effected.’ That is what suggests
itself to the m ind, but God knows best the reality of the situation.
Some read [the verse] huwalldhu (He is God) w ithout [the opening] qul
(say), as [is done also] in the case of the ‘two invocations against evil’ [suras 113
and 114] because it [sura 112] is a declaration o f oneness; but the o th er two
[suras] are invocations against evil, and it is thus appropriate that he [the
Prophet] should summon [people] to them [by saying qul in this case] and that
he should be commanded [by God] to communicate these two [suras] thus; it
is unnecessary to repeat here what has already been discussed [with regard to
this issue] in surat al-A'ld [Q. 87]. Some said that qul (say) has been retained in
the codices [of the Q u r’an] and adhered to in the formal recitation - even
though it is not custom ary for a person com m anded with qul to articulate in
his capacity as the com m anded one anything other than the words [of th e
command] - because here [in this sura] the one com m anded is not only th e
one addressed [sc. the Prophet], but every person who is being tested in th e
same way that the one com m anded [sc. the Prophet] was tested; therefore, it
[qul] was retained so that it might endure across time as a favour [from God]
to [His] servants.
God, the Besought o f all (Alldhul-$amad): a subject and a predicate which is
a verb (fi(l) in the sense o f [the paradigm] m a f ul, like qabd m eans m aqbud
(what is received), [al-$amad] meaning $amada ilayh (he sought him). In other
words, He is the Lord besought (al-ma$mud ilayh) for [all] needs; the O ne w ho
in Himself is independent, whereas all that is other than Him is in need o f H im
through all of His aspects (jihdt). There is no $amad in the entirety o f existence

558
 Oneness

other than God. It is like [when they say] ‘Zayd the Emir* (Zayd al-amir) which
restricts the genus [of emirship] to Zayd. Thus if He [God] is al-$amad, then
whoever is devoid of $amadiyya cannot be worthy o f divinity (uluhiyya). It [al-
$amad] contains the definite article because o f their [creations] awareness of
His $amadiyyay in contradistinction to His ahadiyya. The repetition of the
majestic nam e [Allah] is m eant to evoke the sense that the O ne who is thus
qualified stands far removed from having to merit divinity, as was pointed out
earlier. The lack o f a conjunction in the sentence [of the first two verses] is
because it [the second] is, as it were, the result of the first [statement]. He first
makes clear His divinity which entails ail the qualifications of perfection, fol­
lowed by His absolute oneness (ahadiyya) which requires that He be transcen­
dent above any blemish of plurality o r compositeness and any misconception
that He in reality may be in partnership or [affected by] such characteristics;
then [He makes clear] His eternal self-sufficiency ($amadiyya) which entails
that He is independent in His essence of all that is other than Him and [entails]
that all creatures are in [absolute] need of Him in terms of their existence, their
endurance and the entirety of their states, which constitutes a realisation of the
truth and guidance for them towards His well-defined ways (sunan). Thus the
affirmation o f His eternal self-sufficiency (.$amadiyya), glory be to Him, is on
account of our dependence on Him in [all aspects of] existence and the [possi­
ble states of] perfections that such existence entails, on account of the absolute
oneness (ahadiyya) of His essence, for He has no need o f such an attribute [of
perfection]. The result is that [the state of] $amadiyya requires taking into
account the multiplicity of names and attributes in God that are other than the
absolute oneness (ahadiyya). The servant o f al-$am ad is the epiphany
(mazhar)150 o f the $amadiyya, the one to whom one turns [in need] (yu$mad
ilayh) in order to avert calamities and to acquire [plentiful] measures of bless­
ings (khayrdt) and whose intercession is sought before God in order to ward off
chastisement and receive reward, and this constitutes the locus through which
God ‘looks af the world by virtue of His lordship (rububiyya) over it. [Burusawi]
the fakir (faqir) says:

The tongue of [my] inner being, without my choosing it, after [receiving] the illu­
mination (ishrdq), has become given to the repetition of: ‘Pre-eternal (azali),
Sempiternal (abadi), Absolute One (ahadi), Eternally Self-sufficient Besought of
all ($amadi)\ meaning, ‘You O Lord are Pre-eternal, Absolute One, Sempiternal
and Eternally Besought of all* Pre-eternity (azaliyya) gazes upon the absolute
oneness (ahadiyya) just as sempiternity (ahadiyya) gazes upon the absolute
self-sufficiency ($amadiyya), and that is on account of dissolution (tahlil) and

150 The m a zh a r, ‘the (divine) manifestation, may be said to constitute the external locus in which
tajallt (epiphany or theophany) takes place; see D. MacEoin, ‘Masha/, E P , VI, pp. 952-3.

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On the Nature of the Divine

intrication (taqid) [respectively].151 For absolute oneness (akiadiyya) does not

manifest itself (tajalli) except after the removal of multiplicities, and so upon
reaching the station of Self-sufficiency, which is the absolute unseen (ghayb
muflaq), multiplicity disappears and this disappearance becomes pre-eternal: that
is dissolution (tablil) and annihilation {Jana*), a traversal of the [spiritual] stages
(mandril) in an ascension to the highest observation point (mar$ad) and the fur­
thest goal both in itself and in terms of knowledge. The self-sufficiency ($amadiyya)
is considered through the sempitemity - that is, endurance - which requires intri­
cation after dissolution upon its descent to the station o f ‘individual existence’
(‘ayn)y the externally [manifest] individuation and the realm of witnessing ('dlam
shahadi]), the lowest of whose stages is the realm of human nature (ndsut).
In sum, the absolute oneness (ahadiyya) is a union (jam*), while the self-suffi­
ciency ($amadiyya) is a differentiation (farq). The station of absolute oneness
(ahadiyya) is the undivided point from which issues the totality of single compos­
ites (jumlat al-tardkib al-wahidiyya)t the first of whose individuations is the rank
of Adam, followed by Eve, because Eve (Hawwd3) only appeared after [the appear­
ance of] the desire (hawd’) that issued forth from the individuation of Adam as a
reality. That is why the ha* [of hawa3] became the hd3[of Hawwd3] and so ‘desire*
(hawd3) became ‘Eve* (Hawwa *). The special characteristic of the name ahad is
[that it gives rise to] the manifestation of the realm of power ('dlam al-qudra) and
its effects (dthdr), so that if he [the Sufi] were to repeat it (dhikr) a thousand times
in seclusion (khalwa) in a state of purity (fahdra), marvels would manifest them ­
selves to him according to his strength or weakness [of predisposition]. The
special characteristic of the name al-$amad is [that it gives rise to] good things
(khayr) and rightness ($alah), so that whoever recites it when afflicted by evil
sorcery 125 times, the effects of truth ($idq) and truthfulness (fiddiqiyya) will
appear upon him and in a flash (lam'a); the one who repeats this [name] will not
experience the pain of hunger for as long as he remains upon this remembrance.

As for reading ahad Allahul-$amad w ithout a pause (wa$l), th en [ahad

should be read] with nunation and kasra because of the confluence o f two vow­
elless consonants (iltiqa’ sdkinayn). Abu ‘Amr [b. al-'Ala’], according to m ost
reports, used to pause after huwaUahu ahad> asserting that the Arabs would not
read such [words] by joining them. It is also reported from him that this u n in ­
terrupted reading was an innovation, and it is also reported from him that he
said: ‘In my tim e the reciters were reading it thus qul huwalldhu ahad [and
pausing]; but if it is to be joined [by the following verse], then it [ahad] should
assume nunation (tanwin)! It is further reported from him that he said:

151 The influence of Ibn ‘Arab! here seems evident, especially in the use of‘alchemical* terminol­
ogy to expound upon spiritual realities (tahlil is used by Ibn ‘Arab! in ch. 167 of the Futubidt); cf.
Morris 1987 on Ibn ‘Arabi.

560
 Oneness

I far prefer that if one should reach the end of the verse that one pause there,
because the verse [q u l h u w a lla h u a h a d ] itself is separate from what comes after it
and self-contained in terms of meaning and thus it constitutes a [natural] caesura,
which is why it is called ‘a verse* (d y a ). As for those who pause, they all do so upon
the d d l [of a h a d ].

n e

Alusi
Alusl’s extensive and prolix commentary on this sura begins with an enumeration of its
alternative names, devoting substantial sections to the justification of certain names, a jus­
tification which usually involves the rehearsal of the standard h a d ith reports from the
Prophet, Companions and the Successor generation, associated with those names. This
section ends with an interesting criticism of R£zi (on whose commentary admittedly Alusi
draws greatly): that he, Razi, was not an expert in tradition and tends to include each and
every report he has access to, without separating ‘the wheat from the chaff. Drawing on
SuyutTs Itq d n , Alusi then considers the number of the su ra 's verses and the location and
occasion of its revelation. Proceeding to enumerate the ‘merits of this sura, as per various
occasions on which the Prophet indicated such merits, Alusi then devotes a substantial
section (267-9) to explaining and analysing the well-known Prophetic tradition that this
sura, despite its brevity but on account of its content, is said to equal a third of the Qur’an.
Here he also attempts to elucidate why, and in what way, certain verses or suras are said
to have ‘a greater merit*. The exegesis proper begins with an extended discussion of h uw a,
as the cataphoric pronoun, in terms of its syntactical status and substantive significance.

It [this sura] is thus-called [pure devotion, al-Ikhldf] because it contains [the

expression of] the divine unity (tawhid). That is also why it is called ‘the foun­
dation* (asds), for [the concept of] divine unity (tawhid) is the foundation
underlying all of the principles of religion. [It is reported] from Ka‘b [al-Ahbar],
as related by al-Hafi? b. Rajab, ‘The seven heavens and the seven earths were
founded upon this sura, Say: He is God, One (qul huwallahu ahad)! This
[hadith] is also related by Zamakhshari, transm itted through Ubayy [b. Ka‘b]
and Anas [b. Malik] with a ‘raised* chain [of transm ission back to the
Prophet],152 although none of the recognised authorities o f hadith have m en­
tioned it thus [in this form]. Nevertheless, what is intended by its im port is
exactly what is said: the heavens and the earths were created only so that they
might be indications (dalail) of God’s unity, exalted be He, and [a means] to
know those attributes of His that are encompassed by this sura. It has been said
that what is meant by their having been ‘founded upon this [sura]' is that they
were created with the truth (bil-haqq), as God says: And We did not create the
152 Marfa', a technical term that qualifies the isnad of a hadith, and this category in Burton’s words
is 'of the highest possible grade, since it involves the authority o f the Prophet: Burton 1994,111-
112,199.

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On the Nature of the Divine

heavens and the earth and all that is between them [intending] to play. We did not
create them except with the truth [Q. 44:38-9], which means [with] justice (,adl)
and divine unity (tawhid) - even if this [sense] does not [automatically] derive
from the former, still there is room for speculating it. It has also been said th at
the authentication (mu$ahhih) of their [the heavens and the earth’s] being
brought into existence, namely, beyond their ‘essential contingency^ (im kdn
dhati),153 is His oneness (wahda), mighty and majestic, as alluded to in the sura
and the impossibility of His having a partner, glory be to Him. For if that were
the case [that He had a partner], they [the heavens and the earth] could n o t
have existed because of the possibility o f ‘mutual hindering (ta m d n u ), as has
been affirmed by certain revered [masters] in addressing the [validity o f the]
proof of His saying, exalted be He: H ad there been in [either of] them gods other
than God, they would have [both] surely gone to ruin [Q. 21:22]; more can be said
in this regard.
It is also called surat qul huwalldhu ahad ([the sura called] Say: He is God,
One), as is widely known and pointed out by many a report; and [it is called]
al-muqashqisha (the cure) on account of what you have heard in [our] exegesis
o f surat al-Kdfirun [Q. 109]; and [its other names are] surat al-tawhid (divine
unity); surat al-tafrid([attribution of] uniqueness); suratal-tajrid (abstraction);
surat al-najdt (deliverance); surat al-waldya (nearness [to G od]);154 surat al­
ma'rifa (gnosis), since ‘knowledge o f God, exalted be He, can only be consum ­
mate through ‘[true] knowledge o f what it contains. According to one report
[going back to the Prophet], a m an recited this [sura] while perform ing his
prayers, at which the Prophet said, ‘This is a servant who [truly] knows his Lord.’
[It is also called] surat al-jamdl (beauty), because it is reported that the Prophet
said, ‘Truly God is beautiful and loves b e a u t/; when they [the C om panions]
enquired [further] about this [statem ent], he said, ‘One, Besought o f all. He
neither begot nor was begotten (ahadun $amadun lam yalid wa-lam yulad) - I
[AJusi] doubt, however, the soundness o f this report. [It is also called] surat al-
Nisba (attribution)155 because of its having been a response to those who said,
‘Trace for us the origins (nasab) of your Lord’, as you will hear [from our com -

153 On imkdn, as the possibility of existing, neither necessarily existent nor necessarily non-exis­
tent, see Tahanaw!, Itfildhdt, 1,267-70, as a starting point.
154 This term may, of course, be translated in many ways depending on the perspective from
which it is to be understood. In Sufism, for example, it essentially denotes the muwdlat of God, lit­
erally ‘associating with God as a friend’, that is being a wali of God, who then becomes the mawld,
‘master' of that person and through His guardianship (waldya, or wildya), the person may attain
‘sainthood’ (waldya, or wildya). The same concept is fundamental to Shfism where the muwdldt is
effected with the person of‘All b. Abl T&lib, the wali of God par excellence; this wildya, the recog­
nition of‘All’s divinely appointed status is necessary for a person’s salvation.
,5S It is difficult to capture all the significations of nasab, since it denotes ‘lineage, ‘origin’, ‘attri­
bution’, ‘kinship’and so on. Moreover, the verb nasaba can mean ‘to trace the origin (of something)’
or ‘to give a reference (for something)’.

562
 Oneness

mentary], God willing. It is also said to have been thus-called on account o f that
[report] which al-Tabaranl cited by means of [the following isnad]: ‘U thm an b.
‘Abd al- Rahman al-Taniyifi <- al-W&zf b. N ifi1<- Abu Salama <- Abu Hurayra,
who related that the Prophet said, ‘Every thing has an attribution (nisba), and
G ods attribution (nisbat Allah) is Say: He is God, One, God, the Besought o f ad.
But this [hadith]7as al-Hafi? Ibn Rajab has stated, is very weak (tja'if): ‘Uthman
[it is known] narrates [much] from unknow n individuals (manakir). In the
M izdn, in fact, [it is stated that] this [hadith] is spurious (m aw du). [It is also
called] surat al-$amad\ surat al-muawwidha (invocation for protection against
evil) on account o f what is cited by al-N asai, al-Bazzar and Ibn Mardawayh by
means of a sound isnad fro m cAbd Allah b. Unays, who said,

The Prophet placed his hand upon my chest and then said, ‘Say\ but I did not
know what to say, whereafter he said, 'Say: He is God One\ which I did to the end,
whereafter he said to me, 'Say: I seek protection in the Lord o f the Daybreak^ from
the evil of what He has created, which I did to the end, whereafter he said, 'Say: I
seek protection in the Lord ofhumankind\ which I did to the end, whereupon the
Prophet said, ‘Ask for [God’s] protection in this way, for there is no more excellent
way of seeking protection [from evil]’.

[It is also called] surat al-mani'a (preventer), because, it is said, of what Ibn
‘Abbas reported, namely, that G od said to His Prophet during his ascension
(fm irdj) [through to the heavens], ‘I have given you surat al-Ikhld$, which is
from the treasure troves of My throne (‘arsh) and it is ‘the preventer* that pre­
vents the torm ents o f the grave and the gusts o f the fires [of Hell]*. It appears,
however, that this report is not sound, since it is contradicted by what is cited
by Ibn al-Paris from Abu Umama:

Four signs (ayat)156were sent down from the treasures of the throne, and nothing
other than these was sent down from it: the Mother of the Book (umm al-
Kitdb)>157 the throne verse (ayat al-kursi)> the last verse of surat al-Baqara (the
Cow, Q. 2:286) and al-Kawthar (Abundance, Q. 108).

This [hadith] is to be treated as ‘raised’ (marfu'), for indeed, Ibn Hibban, al-
Daylaml and others have cited this [report] with a ‘raised* isnad from Abu
Umama.
[It is also called] surat al-Mahtfar (attendance) because it is said th at the
angels ‘attend* to listen to it whenever it is recited; and surat al-Munaffira
(repeller) because Satan flees (yanfur) when it is recited; and surat al-Baraa

,S6 Aya here has been rendered ‘sign’ to avoid confusion, since the surat al-Fdtiha is more than
one verse, but it is here understood to be a single dya.
157 In other words, the surat al-Fdtiha.

563
On the Nature of the Divine

(absolution)158 because of a report that on one occasion the Prophet saw a m an

reciting it, whereafter he said, ‘As for this [man], he has verily absolved him self
(bari'a) from associating anything with God (shirk)'; I do not know, how ever,
w ho reported this [hadith]. Abu N u‘aym did indeed report by m eans [of a n
isnad from] ‘Amr b. M arzuq 4* Shu'ba Muhajir who said,

I heard this man relate, ‘I was travelling with the Prophet once and when he heard
someone reciting q u l y d a y y u h d l- k d fir u n (S a y: O y o u d isb elieve rsf) [Q. 109:1], he
said, “He has verily absolved himself (b a n a ) from associating anything with God
(shirk)!* He then heard another reciting q u l h u w a lld h u a h a d (Say: H e is G o d , O n e )
[Q. 112:1 ], and said, “He has been forgiven”*

It is thus on the basis of this [hadith] that surat al-Kdfirun was also given this
nam e [surat al-Baraa]. Perhaps, however, it is more to the point to say that it
[surat al-Ikhlas] was given this name [surat al-Baraa] on account o f the content
of a hadith of al-Tirmidhl reported from Anas [b. Malik]: ‘W hen a person goes
to bed, lies on his right side and then recites qul huwalldhu ahad a h u n d re d
times, God decrees for this person immunity (bard'a) from the Fire*
[It is also called] surat al-Mudhakkira (rem inder) because it rem inds [a
person] of the purest [elements of] divine unity (tawhid); and surat al-Nur (light)
because of what has been reported from the Prophet - namely, that he said,
‘Every thing has a light and the light of the Q u r’an is Say: He is God, One'; an d
surat al-Imdn (faith) because it [faith] can never be complete without [those ele­
ments of] the divine unity which it contains. Most of these names have been
mentioned by Imam [Fakhr al-DIn] al-RazI, who has explained the reasons for
its [various] names in the way that he has; but this man, may God have m ercy
upon him, is not really an authoritative guide (imam) when it comes to scrutin­
ising the status of reports, for he does not separate the wheat from th e chaff
among them, nor is he concerned to do so, and so he ends up recording whatever
[report] he chances upon, even when he is aware of its being very weak (4a*if).
According to ‘Abd Allah [b. Mas‘ud], al-Hasan [al-Ba$ri], ‘Ikrima, ‘Ata* [b.
Abi R abat], Mujahid [b. Jabr] and Qatada [b. Di'ama], this [sura] is M eccan,
but Medinese according to Ibn ‘Abbas, M uhamm ad b. Ka‘b, Abu l-‘Aliya an d
al-Pabhak, as stated in al-Bahr [al-Muhit].159 However, if the above-mentioned
report by Ibn ‘Abbas is correct,160 then it is evident that this [sura] is M eccan.
In the Itqdn ,161 there are two opinions [in this regard], on the basis o f two c o n ­

158 The expression bard1a can have many nuances, including ‘innocence’, ‘freedom’, ‘acquittal’,
and ‘dissociation’.
159 The tafsir of Abu Hayyin al-Ghamafi. see Abu Hayyan, this chapter.
160 That is, the one in which Ibn ‘Abbas reports that God gave the Prophet this sura during the
ascension to heaven (mi1raj), which is traditionally believed to have occurred at Mecca.
161 The Itqdn ‘ulum al-din of Jalal al-Din al-Suyutf (d. 911/1505).

564
 Oneness

flicting hadiths about the occasion for its revelation. Some have reconciled the
two on the basis that it was sent down twice, but it seems to me more likely that
it is Medinese. End [of this discussion). Judging by [what is in] the two books,
it is clear that what al-Dawanl says - namely that it [this sura] is Meccan by con­
sensus - is a result of poor knowledge [of the relevant sources). It consists of
five verses according to the Meccan and Syrian [codices],162 and four according
to the others. They say that it is placed here [at this point in the Q uranic text]163
in order to effect phonetic harm ony between its end-rhymes and the passage
fro m suratal-M asad(Q. 111).
It is also said, and this is the more im portant [of the two statements], that it
is connected to surat al-Kdfirun (Q. 109) in term s of import, so that together
they constitute the [complete] expression of divine unity in terms o f negating
[certain principles] and affirming [others]. For that reason, they are called a/-
muqashqishatdn (the two cures). They are recited together in many prayers, as
several imams have said, such as in the two units (rak'atdn, viz. genuflexions)
o f the dawn prayer (fajr), the circum am bulation ((awdf) [of the Ka'ba], the
m orning prayer (duha) and the two supererogatory (sunna) units after the
sunset prayer (maghrib), as well as [the two rak'as offered] in the m orning
before em barking on travel and in the sunset prayer on the eve of Fridays.164
However, they are separated by the two suras (Q. 110 and Q. 111) on account
o f the reason already m entioned. Its very succession of surat Tabbat (viz. al-
Masad, Q. 111) constituted a [repelling] response to Abu Lahab in the incident
concerning him.
Many reports have been transm itted about it which indicate the great merit
attached to [reciting] it; some o f these have already been mentioned. Mubarak
b. Fad^la reported from Anas that a man said, ‘O Messenger o f God, I truly love
this sura: Say: He is God, One!* to which the Prophet replied, ‘Indeed your love
o f it has granted you entry into Paradise (janna).* Im am Afimad [b. Hanbal]
cites this [hadith] in his M usnad by way of AbuT-Nadr <r the aforementioned
M ubarak <- Anas. By way of com m ent [on this hadith], Bukhari mentions that
love of this [sura] awards entry into Paradise. Malik reports from ‘Abd Allah b.
‘Abd al-Rahm&n that the latter said, ‘I heard Abu Hurayra say, *T was with the
Prophet when he heard a m an reciting qul huwa’lldhu ahad, w hereupon the
Messenger of God said, ‘Awarded*. I then asked, ‘W hat has been awarded?* to
which he said, ‘Paradise*”; this [report] has been cited by al-NasaT and al-
Tirmidhi, who said that this is a sound hadith, which we only know through

162 In other words, the printed copies of the Quran (mu$haf pi. mafahifl that circulated in each
of the main geographical units of the Muslim Middle East (Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Syria etc.).
163 In other words, as sura 112, following surat al-Masad (Q. 111) and preceding surat al-Falaq
(Q- 113)-
164 In other words, during the first two rak'as of the matfxrib (after sunset) prayer every Thursday.

565
On the Nature of the Divine

Malik's report. Abu Dawud, Ibn Maja and al-Tirmidhl cited [the follow ing
hadith], classifying it as ‘faif (hasan) ‘unusual' (gharib, lit. ‘odd’)*16516from
Burayda:

The Messenger of God heard a man saying, ‘O God, I ask You, by [the fact] that I
indeed bear witness that You verily are God, there is no god but You, One,
Besought of all, who neither begot nor was begotten and to whom there is no
equal, [I ask You]. . The Prophet said, ‘By Him in whose hand is my soul, he has
truly petitioned God by His greatest name (al-ism al-a'tam), by which when peti­
tioned He responds and [by which] when asked He grants.

In the Musrtad by way of Mihjan b. al-Adra‘ [it is reported]:

[On one occasion] when the Prophet entered the mosque there was a man who,
having finished his prayers ($alat), was repeating the shahdda and saying, ‘I ask
You, O God, the One (al-wahid)yOne (ahad), Besought of all, who neither begot
nor was begotten and to whom there is no equal, [I ask You] to forgive me my sins,
for You are indeed the Forgiver, the Merciful'. The Prophet of God then repeated
three times, ‘Verily, he has been forgiven...'.

Al-Bukhari, Malik, Abu Dawud and al-Nasa'I cite [the following report] by
way of Abu SaTd [al-Khudrl]: ‘A man heard another reciting Say: He is God,
One and repeating it [many times]. The following m orning he w ent to th e
Prophet and mentioned it to him seemingly belittling this [issue]. However, the
Messenger of G od said, “By Him in whose Hand is my soul, it [this sura] indeed
equals a third of the Q ur'an!mAhmad [b. Hanbal in the Musnad] and al-NasaT
in [his 'Amal} al-yawm wal-layla166 cite [the following hadith] by way o f
Hushaym from Ubayy b. Ka‘b or another man from am ong the [M edinese]
An$ar: ‘The Messenger of God said, “W hen a person recites Say: He is God, One
it is as though he has recited a third of the Q u ra n ” ’ According to th e version
of Yusuf b. ‘Atiyya al-$affar with a ‘raised* isnad going back to Ubayy [the
Prophet says]: ‘W hen a person recites Say: He is God, One it is as though he has
recited a th ird of the Q ur'an, and he will have recorded for him good deeds
equivalent to the num ber of all those who have associated things with God and
[to the num ber of] all those who have believed in Him ’
That it equals a third of the Q ur'an has been transmitted in several ‘raised’
(m ar/u‘) and ‘halted’ (m awqufj167 reports. In the Musnad [transmitted] from
Ibn LahTa <- al-H arith b. Yazld <- Abu Haytham Abu SaTd [al-K hudri]:
‘Qatada b. al-N u‘man stayed up all night reciting Say: He is God, One. W hen

165 See Burton 1994,111,126 on these categories of hadith.

166 This is a hadith work by al-Nasa’i, *Amal.
167 In other words, a hadith that stops short of going back to the Prophet and thus involves the
authority of a Companion or a later individual (Burton 1994,199), as the following example shows.

566
 Oneness

this was m entioned to the Prophet, he said, “By Him in whose Hand my soul
is, it indeed equals half the Q ur’an [or he said, ‘a third o f if]”.’ But this [version]
is considered suspect because of the reporter, especially since all of the reports
specify ‘a third*. There is some disagreem ent over the m eaning o f this, with
some saying that it is on the basis o f its im port that it constitutes a third o f the
Q u r’an which divides into three parts, and that it is not that the rew ard for
reciting it equals a third of the reward for reciting the entire Q u r’an. A num ber
of people take this view although they do not share the same explanation for it.
Some say that the Q u ra n contains stories (qi$a$)> ordinances (ahkdm ) and
creed ( ‘aqida), and since it [this sura] has entirely to do with creed, it therefore
constitutes a third [of the Q u ran ]. Al-Ghazall states in al-Jawahir that, briefly
put, it equals a third [of the Q ur’an] on the basis o f the three categories of
knowledge which are the ‘m othe? (um m ) o f what is in the Q u r’an: knowledge
of origination (mabda'), knowledge of the inevitable return (nuz'dd) and knowl­
edge o f what lies between them, by which I mean, that o f the Straight Path (al-
$irdf al-mustaqim). [Abu ‘Imran] al-Jawnl states that the majority o f the
dem ands in the Q u r’an belong to one of the three principles on the basis of
which Islam becomes sound and faith ensues, namely, knowing God (m arifat
Allah), professing the sincerity of His Messenger, and believing in being
brought before Him [at the Resurrection]. This sura informs o f the first princi­
ple and therefore equals a third o f it [the Q ur an] for this reason.
It is also said that the Q ur’an consists of two parts, [informative] notification
(khabar) and [narrative] prose (insha'), and the notification [part] subdivides
further into two parts, notification about the C reator and notification about
created beings: these then are three thirds. The surat al-lkhld$ (purity [of faith])
provides a pure notification (akhla$at al-khabar) about the Creator and so on
account of this it constitutes a third [of the Q u r’an], as you can see. W hichever
the case, it is said that there is no contradiction between the report about [its
being equal to] a third and the report about its equalling the [entire] Q u r’&n,
as m entioned in al-Kashshdj\ on the assumption that such as thing is valid [pre­
cisely] because it is permissible to say that it equals the Q u ra n if what is meant
is [the concept of] divine unity (tawhid), since all else constitute the m eans to
this [concept].
As for assuming the validity o f [the report about] the [three] parts but
w ithout the reward, this is supported by the report in Muslim’s $ a h i h from
Q atada, from AbuT-Darda that the M essenger o f G od asked, ‘Would any of
you be incapable of reciting a third o f the Q u r’an every day?, to w hich they
responded, ‘Yes’, to which he said, ‘G od has divided the Q ur’an into three parts:
Q u l h u w a l l d h u a h a d constitutes one th ird o f the Q u r’an.’ Some say th at this
m eans that it equals a third in term s of reward on the basis o f the apparent

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On the Nature of the Divine

[meaning of these] hadiths. Ibn ‘Aqil, however, deem ed such [hadiths] weak,
saying th at the m eaning cannot be that the person receives the rew ard fo r
[reciting] a third o f the Q u ra n because the Prophet stated, ‘W hoever recites
the Q u r’an will receive for every letter [recited) ten good deeds’, and so th e
reward for reciting the entire Q ur’an would then be many times more than th e
reward for reciting this sura. Al-DawanI m entions this as a problematic aspect
of this statement, responding that the reciter receives two rewards: a specific
one according to the letters recited and a general one for the complete recitation
o f the Q u r’an. Thus, the reward for Qul huwallahu ahad becomes equal to a
third o f the general reward for a complete recitation and nothing else.
An analogy o f this is when a person might assign someone building him a
house a certain am ount o f dinars every day an d assigning him some o th e r
reward for completing the entire [house] that is distinct from his daily wage. In
al-Kirmanl’s Sharh ($ahih) al-Bukhdri, [the following is proposed]:

If you were to say that the labour involved in reciting a third [of the Q ur’in ] is
greater than that of reciting it [surat al-Ikhla$], so how can they be judged to be
equal? I would say that the reward for reciting a third would be [mutliplied] ten
times, whereas reciting it [surat al-Ikhld$] would be the reward for that one [third
only], because the original comparison is [stated] without [any reference to] addi­
tional [merit] but can be accommodated on account of the additional labour
[involved].

Al-KhafajI, after having said that none o f what is m entioned [in this regard]
is either delightful or comforting to the mind, states:

What I have [to say] on this matter is that there is one reward for the person who
contemplates the meaning of God’s words and reflects on His signs (ayat), and
another reward for the one who recites it but does not understand it. In other
words, the recitation of a person who recites it [surat al-Ikhld$] while observing
the proper forms for such a reading and comprehending the intricacies of its
meanings, such a recitation alongside his contemplation and reflection, equals the
reward for reciting a third of the Qur’an without contemplating its meanings, or
[reciting] a third which does not contain anything relating to knowledge of God
or His Unity. For there is nothing odd about the fact that a most noble meaning,
when placed alongside several very noble expressions, can equal [or outweigh] a
great number of those expressions; just as a plate of gold weighing only ten miskals
but encrusted with the most precious jewels may equal a thousand miskals of gold
or more.

I [AlusI] do not see that this [statement] has any greater m erit over o th e r
[statements] that have already been m entioned above. I prefer that it be said
that there is nothing to prevent God, mighty and majestic, from assigning

568
 Oneness

certain devotions ('ibadat) that do not entail much labour a greater reward than
that o f those [devotions] that may entail far m ore labour. For He, glory be to
Him, is the O ne upon w hom there is no restriction and whose munificence
(jud) and generosity (karam) are limitless, and so it is not improbable that He,
majestic and exalted, should bestow upon the one reciting the Q ur’an ten good
deeds for every letter [recited] but increase this a great m anifold for the one
reciting [surat] al-Ikhld$ so that the latter*s reward becomes equal to that of the
one reciting a third [of the Q u r’an] that does not subsume this sura, and that
He should then consign the wisdom behind such an apportioning o f reward
to His [exclusive] Knowledge, glory be to Him; this statem ent can apply to
analogous cases and is the intention o f those who consider such [cases] as
belonging to [the category of] the ambiguous (al-mutashdbih) o f which God
has exclusive knowledge. That is no more improbable or odd than the fact that
at certain times and certain places sharing the one essence in acts o f worship
w ithin them , even if these be less, are assigned a rew ard far greater than the
reward for acts of worship perform ed in neighbouring [times and places], even
if these [latter acts] be more. Indeed, He, glory be to Him , has m ade acts of
worship obligatory in certain times and places whereas He has prohibited them
in others. He, glory be to Him, alone has knowledge o f the wisdom behind all
o f these things.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr [al-'Asqalanl] states that silence in this m atter is better than
speculation and safer, and so does the hadith ofM uaw iya b. M uawiya al-Laythl
with which the imam opens his discussion o f this glorious sura, and which is
cited by al-Tabaranl and Abu YaTa w ith several lines o f transm ission all o f
which, however, are weak. Nevertheless, the sound hadlths that are cited on [the
subject of] this [sura] are sufficient in [demonstrating] its merit. In fact, it has
been said that it is [precisely] because o f these [hadiths] that it is the most excel­
lent sura o f the Q uran. Some have inferred this [last] from the following [state­
ment] reported by al-Dariml in his Musnad from Abu l-M ughlra, from $afwan
al-KilaT, who said: ‘A m an said, “O M essenger o f God: which is the greatest
sura in the Q u ran ?” to which he [the Prophet] said, uQul huwalldhu ahad”.*
Also in the Musnad [there is a report transm itted] by way o f M u'adh b. Rifa'a
and Usayd b. ‘Abd al-Rahm an from ‘Uqba b. 'A m ir that he [the latter] said:

The Messenger of God said, ‘Do you want me to tell you which are the best three
suras revealed in the Torah, the Gospels, the Psalms and the Magnificent Qur’an?*
I said, ‘Of course!’ He then made me recite Qul huwallahu ahad [Q. 112], Qul
a€udhu bi-rabbiVfalaq [Q. 113] and Quldudhu bi-rabbil-nas [Q. 114] and said to
me, ‘O ‘Uqba, never forget these and do not go to bed at night before reciting
them*

569
On the Nature of the Divine

Al-TirmidhI reported a section of this hadtth using a fair isndd. That does
not, however, indicate that it is the best sura o f the Q u r’an at all, rather th at it
is one of the best. Ibn al-Ha$$ad states: Tt is puzzling how people can deny [that
there is] a divergence in merit despite the many statements made to that effectf
Those who are in favour of [the idea of] varying m erit disagree [as to th e
reasons]. On the one hand, some say that the merit derives from the m agnitude
and increase o f the reward [associated with the recitation o f a particular sura]
according to the em otions of the soul, its [degree of] awe and its [depth of]
reflection at those instances in which the attributes of exaltedness are presented.
On the other hand, others attribute this [variation in merit] to the very expres­
sions involved and so if these [happen to] contain, as surat al-Ikhldf does, sig­
nifications of [God’s] oneness and His attributes, that which surat Tabbat [sc.
al-Masad, Q. 111 ] does not contain, then its greater merit must be on th e basis
of its [containing] these m any and wondrous meanings.
Al-Hallml reproduces [the following] from al-Bayhaqi, namely, that th e
concept of [assigning] ‘greater merit’ to certain verses or suras derives from
m any things, one of which is that [devotional] use o f that [verse o r sura] be
m ore im portant than the [devotional] use of another and that people be m ore
accustomed [to it than another]. O n the basis o f this, it may be said th at the
verses pertaining to ‘com m ands and prohibitions’ (amr wa nahy) an d ‘th e
promise and the threaf (w a d wa w ald) are better than the verses containing
‘stories [about the prophets]’ (qi$a$) because those [the former] are required to
reiterate the commands, prohibitions, warnings and good tidings, since people
cannot do without these whereas they can (quite easily] do without the stories.
It would seem then that what is more familiar to them and o f greater benefit to
them, of those things that pertain to the fundamentals [of faith], is better than
that which ends up being subordinate to that which is indispensable. The
second [explanation] is to say that the verses which include the enum eration o f
God’s names, exalted be He, as well as the exposition of His attributes and in d i­
cation of His greatness, mighty and majestic, are o f greater merit in th e sense
that they are o f a rank more sublime and majestic than those [verses] that d o
not include such [matters]. The third [explanation] is to say that a certain sura
or a certain verse is better than another in the sense that some benefit for the
reciter, other than the future reward [for reciting], is expedited by m eans o f it
and that as a result of reciting that [sura or verse] an act of worship is effected,
as is the case with the throne verse (dyat al-kursi), [surat] al-Ikhldf, and the two
m uawwidhdt (Q. 113 and 114). For the reciter of these [verses and suras] expe­
dites caution against what he might be fearing and [secures] the protection o f
God, and by reciting them, performs an act of worship o f God, glory be to H im ,
on account of what these [verses] contain o f the mention of Him by His m ost

570
 Oneness

exalted attributes, [reciting them ] out o f belief in them and because the soul
finds peace in the m erit o f such rem em brance and its blessedness.
As for the ordinance verses (dydt al-hukm), however, reciting them does not
result in any ordinance but results in knowledge. It might also be said that one
sura is of greater m erit than another because God, exalted be He, has made its
recitation equivalent to many times the recitation of another sura and grants by
means of [the recitation of] it a reward which He has does not grant, glory be
to Him , for any other, even if the significance by which such [a sura] has
attained this estimation may not be apparent to us [at all]; this is analogous to
the statem ent concerning the greater m erit o f certain tim es and places over
others, as you heard earlier. In sum, to allot greater merit [to a particular sura
o r verse] on the basis o f any one of those reasons does not conflict with the
whole being the speech of God (kaldm Alldh)ymighty and majestic, and unified
in originating from Him, glory be to Him, as is obvious; yet G od knows best.
In the name o f God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Qul huwalldhu ahad
(Say: He is Godt One). The established opinion is that huwa is the pronoun o f
m atter ((lamir al-sha'ri) occupying a nominative [syntactical] locus on account
o f inceptiveness (ibtidd*)y the predicate o f which is the sentence that follows
[...].16B
Some Sufis count the expression huwa as one o f God’s most beautiful names,
indeed, adding that the ha [in huwa] o f the third person is His real name,
exalted be He, on account of its indicating the absolute ipseity (huwiyya) as well
as its being a necessary aspiration (tanaffus), by which the life o f o n e s soul is
sustained, and [because] its very form (rasm) seems to denote His [G ods] all-
encom passing [nature] and [establishes] His rank in relation to num ber
('adad)y His perm anence and non-extinction. Al-DawwanI has related from
our Imam that the latter said: ‘One o f the [Sufi] elders taught me [to say], wO
He (yd huwa)y O the O ne who is He (yd man huwa)y O He other than whom
there is no god (yd man Id ildha ilia huwa)n! That [use of huwa as a divine name]
is the belief of the majority o f [Sufi] elders today, although this does not appear
in any o f the transmitted reports accepted [as valid] by most of the traditionists.
God, exalted be He, knows best.168

168 This grammatical discussion of the pronoun huwa (pp. 269-70) is followed by: a brief expo­
sition of the occasions of revelation, relating the incident in which the Prophet is questioned about
‘the lineage of his Lord’ (270-1); a semantic analysis of the individual words Allah, ahad and the dif­
ference between wdhid and ahad (271-2); a discussion of the positive and negative attributes of God
(272-3), as in Rizi; a consideration of the validity of omitting the initial qul (say) of the sura (273);
the section on All&hu1-$amad begins with a semantic explanation of $amad and the usual poetic
proofs are adduced (273). The commentary on the sura ends with ish&ra (an indication) that the
three words huwa, Allah, ahad denote the three stations of the wayfarers to God, which we have
already encountered in RazJ’s commentary. Our translation of Alusi ends with the final five lines of
his commentary on this sura (278).

571
On the Nature of the Divine

Fa<Jl Allah
In keeping with the earlier commentators, Fa<jl Allah makes reference (briefly) to the
asbab al-nuzuU and reiterates the usual linguistic definitions of some of the terms.
However, he swiftly turns to the metaphysical, ontological and theological issues of the
sura. He spends time, as did the other commentators, on discussing the divine oneness
and the divine self-sufficient sovereignty, and compares the uses and significances of al-
ahad and al-w&hid. God’s oneness and singularity; His absolute sovereignty, the matter
of a filial relationship in divinis; the simplicity and profundity of the Islamic creed as
encapsulated in this brief sura; the link between this simple profundity and the description
of Islam as the ‘religion of instinct* (din al-fitra); the suprarational and incomprehensible
nature of the sura that yet also has a philosophical and intellectual appeal - all are part of
Fadl Allah’s discussion. On the one hand, Fa<Jl Allah elevates God beyond comprehen­
sion; yet at the same time, he allows for Him to be known. Thus we return to the unstated
distinction, given at the beginning of the general introduction to this chapter, between
Allah the absolute who alone knows Himself (as abad), beyond-being containing all
being, sole existent containing all existence, and Allah the Creator God who governs His
creation and on whom they depend (as al-$amad).

Say: He is God, One, God, the Self sufficient Besought o f a ll169

The context of this sura

This sura may be either Meccan or Medinese, although judging by the occasions
of revelation (asbab al-nuzul), it is acknowledged as being Meccan. Traditions
state that ‘it is equivalent to a third of the Q ur’a n ' The proof (al-sh&hid) o f this
is most probably the fact that it summarizes all the Q u ran ic statements about
God and creations relationship to Him. Q uranic statements about the oneness
of God and His uniqueness (ahadiyya) vary from the cosmic truths that indicate
His oneness (wahdaniyya) and preclude partners with Him, to the rational
truths that preclude the possibility of partnership. The Q u ran ic narrative sets
about emphasizing creation s need for Him and His need for none o f them, H is
sempitemity, which precludes [the possibility] that He was begotten, just as it
precludes Him being subject to change or transformation so that a child should
issue of Him, and to emphasize the idea of [His] uniqueness (ahadiyya), w hich
negates the existence of anything like Him in term s o f existence, power a n d
capacity and all attributes. This is the significance o f this sura and its sh o rt
verses.
We note also in this brief sura the simple [form o f the] articulation o f th e
Islamic creed in its conception of God. There are no philosophical complexities,
or convoluted intellectual analyses being exchanged within the opaque [field]
169 Min wahyal-Qurdn, XXIV, 481-5.

572
 Oneness

of probabilities and contemplation. In its pure simplicity, however, it is never

far from profundity, and never approaches naivety, since, its starting point is
that existential consciousness (wijdan) which is able to contain it instinctively
(fitra), and which may roam freely in its ample expanses and live its intimations
(i/id'df) fully. For this reason, a simple hum an being is able to understand it
without going into complicated details, while the intellectual is able to believe
in it w ithout abandoning his deep reflections. This is the secret o f how all
people [are able to] come easily into Islam, through that pure instinct, which
affirms in turn that it is the ‘religion of instinct* upon which God created
hum ankind.

The meanings of the words

Al-$amad is the revered Lord to whom one turns for [all] needs.
Kufuwan: al-kujw is the like or the equal.

God’s uniqueness (al-ahadiyya) and His Eternal Self-sufficiency (al-$ama$\yya):

Say: He is God, One: [in other words] Say to all those who might want to sophis­
ticate over the question of who God may be, since they want to conceive o f Him
in a material form that describes the shape of His features in accordance to what
they are accustom ed to [seeing] of the attributes o f creatures in the way of
bodily detail and the like; Say to them: He is God, singular (mutafarrid) in all
of His attributes, unique (ahad) in His essence, above all that may be connected
with m atter in any way, such that no vision can perceive Him, no minds can
encompass Him, and no element of composition or partition has any relevance
to Him. It is said:

Al-ahad (single) is used to refer to that which does not permit multiplicity in either
exterior form or mentally, and as such, does not yield to number, nor to enumer­
ation, which is in contradistinction to al-wafrid (one), since, every ‘one' has a
second or a third either outwardly or mentally, whether imagined or intellectually
hypothesised, and this [wahid], by having something added to it, can become a
multiple; with al-ahad, on the other hand, each time that a second is suggested, it
remains the same ‘if and is not thereby increased. Consider this when you say,
‘No one came to me from among them (md jd ’ani minaVqawmi ahad)\ you are
stating that neither two nor more came, nor even one. But if you were to say, ‘No
one person came to me from among them' (md jd'ant wahid minhum), you are
stating that no one person came [alone], but two or more could have come.
Because [the term ahad] has this significance, it is only ever used affirmatively
when in reference to Him, exalted be He.170

170 As the editor of this commentary notes, this is a quotation from TabatabaTs Mizdn, a seminal
text for Fadl Allah.

573
On the Nature of the Divine

In light of this fact, G od wants [His] creatures to know Him th ro u g h H is

uniqueness (ahadiyya), which subsumes all of His absolute and limitless attrib ­
utes - whose nature no person can grasp and whose extent none encom pass -
but steering clear o f any deep contemplation of [His] essence. For, th e m ore a
hum an contemplates deeply, the more he is engulfed by seas o f conjectures: the
mental faculty cannot reach Him in His elusive and hidden mystery.

Gody the Self-sufficient Besought o f a ll i.e., the Lord who is sought for all
needs, and w hom all creation needs in all of its affairs. They therefore seek H im
for these [needs], and seek none other than Him for them, except [when th at
other functions] as an instrum ent of His and as one of the ways to H im . For He
is the Creator o f all of them and o f all their needs, the O ne who m anages
(tadbir) them and all that they demand of Him, and [they seek Him so] because
He is the One who is in absolute control (haymana) o f the entire affair [of cre­
ation] and of all existence. Thus every existence is but a shadow o f His existence,
a m anifestation of His power, that which makes peoples hearts tu rn to H im
and their lives subject to Him; and when the delusions in which they ensconce
themselves visit them , when they are deceived by material appearances, an d
they seek [an individual] other than Him, they are thwarted by the im m ense
limitations of that [individual’s] capacity (qudra), [and that is] because such a
capacity itself derives from G od’s power (qudra)ywhich had given him w h at­
ever [limited] capacity he may have had. Those, on the other hand, w ho seek
[only] God will attain all that they desire or aspire to.

The unique creator

He neither begoty nor was He begotten: He is the Pre-eternal who was neither p re ­
ceded by non-existence (fadam ) nor preceded by any other existence (w ujud).
For whenever you conceive that there was something before Him, you are n o t
being true to the concept o f ‘God’ in your conception: indeed that [which you
are thus conceiving] will only be some sort of created thing. God, on the o th e r
hand, is Independent in His essence, exalted above being liable to p artitio n .
Nothing derives from Him such that it can be a progeny o f His. N othing o f th e
sort can be attributed to Him in any form or m anner, for He is the C reator o f
all those things that are other than Him, how then can He have a son?! This is
the basis of the Muslim creed which, in its conceptualisation o f G od, negates
[the notions of] parenthood and progeny in His case.

Nor is there anyone equal to Him: He is the Absolute One (ahad)ySingular in all
things, in His essence and in His attributes. None can be similar to H im in H is
divine nature: indeed no creed of any religious community has ever believed in

574
 Oneness

such as thing. W here one [community] is polytheistic, it is only so with respect

to the management [of creation], on the basis that some of His creatures have
the power to act in some of the affairs o f the cosmos (tow n) o r in the affairs of
humankind, insofar as God has granted them such [power] or insofar as they
store [in themselves] some [divine] secret that results in such [power]. All that,
however, is precluded in the case of God the Absolute O ne (afrad). There is no
equal to Him either in term s of bringing [things] into existence or in managing
[them]. He alone is Creator and He alone is Manager (mudabbir). He has not
invested such [power] in any individual from among His creatures that He
might then delegate an affair to him, except in certain matters pertaining to par­
ticulars (juziyya), or in rare cases, or in the flux of [the system of] cause and
effect, which results in some existents having an effect upon others, [but only]
through God’s will, [a will] that controls the entire affair.

575
 Prosopographical Appendix

To facilitate reference, the entries are given according to the way in which they are
cited in the primary text, not necessarily by their first name or surname. Individuals
referred to in more than one way are cross-referenced. For references other than arti­
cles from the Encyclopaedia of Islam, see the bibliography.

Aban b. Taghlib [Abu Sa'ld] (d. 141/758). A jurist and traditionist as well as disciple
of Muhammad al-Baqir [q.v.] and Ja'far al-Sadiq [q.v.]; see Najashi, Rijdl, 10-13;
Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist, 272.
Aban b. 'Uthman [b. ‘Affan]. Son of the third caliph. He served as governor of Medina
for the Umayyad ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 65-86/685-705). He was an important source
for early tradition and historical writing; see K. V. Zetterst^en, ‘Aban b. ‘U£hman\
El2, 1,2-3; Duri 1983,24-5; GAS, 1,277-8; Ibn Sad, fabaqdt, V, 156; IbnHajar,
Tahdhib, 1,97.
‘Abd Allah b. Jundub. There is some confusion about him in the biographical dic­
tionaries. KishshI identifies him as a close companion o f‘All (see Rijdl, 361). There
is, however, a Jundub b. 'Abd Allah b. Sufyan al-Bajall, who is known also as Abu
'Abd Allah, and is said to have been a Companion of the Prophet. The two are
undoubtedly related, if not the same person. The latter is said to have died during
the rebellion (fitna) of Ibn al-Zubayr, in the decade between 60-70/679-689; see
Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, II, 117-18; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqdt, VI, 22.
'Abd Allah b. Salam. Originally a Medinese Jew of the Banu Qaynuqa, he was given
the name o f‘Abd Allah (formerly, he was al-Husayn) by Muhammad when he
embraced Islam. He is primarily representative, in Muslim tradition, of those
Jewish scribes who accepted the Prophet's call; see Josef Horovitz, “Abd Allah b.
Salam’, EP, 1,52.
‘Abd Allah b. Sinan [b. Tarif], A 'trustworthy^ transmitter (thiqa) of hadith from Kufa,
who authored a Kitab al-$aldt. He was more distinguished as treasurer (khdzin)
for several ‘Abbasid caliphs, namely, al-Man$ur, al-Mahdl, al-Hadl and Harun al-
Rashld; see Najashi, Rijdl, II, 8-9.
'Abd Allah b. 'Umar b. al-Khaftab (d. 73/693). One of the most prominent figures of
the first generation of Muslims and those authorities quoted for traditions. He dis­
tanced himself from all political allegiances during the first civil war. On account
of his piety, he was offered the caliphate three times, but refused on each occasion;
see L. Veccia Vaglieri, “Abd Allah b. 'Urna/ EP, 1,53-4.
‘Abd al-Hamld b. Farqad [al-Asadi]. A Kufan who was closely associated with Ja‘far
al-Sadiq; see Khu’i, Mu jam, IX, 280, no. 6281; 'Ristari, Qdmus, V, 268.
'Abd al-Jabbar, al-Qadi [Abu 1-Hasan ‘Abd al-Jabbar b. Ahmad b. ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-
Hamadhani al-Asadabadi] (d. 415/1025). The most significant scholar of the late
Mutazili school of Abu Hashim al-Jubbal. In Mu'tazili sources, he was known as

577
On the Nature of the Divine

qddi al-qudat because he had been judge of Rayy under the patronage of the vizier
$ahib b. ‘Abbad (d. 385/995). A prolific author and theologian, he penned th e
monumental al-Mughni fi abwdb al-adl wal-tawhid and also wrote two short
works on the allegorical and allusive commentary on the Qur’an; see W ilferd
Madelung, "Abd al-Jabbar’, E/r, I, 116-18; Madelung 1986,485-95; Samuel M.
Stem, “Abd al-Djabbar\ EP, I, 59-60; Ibn al-Murtada, Jabaqat, 112-13, 119;
DSwudl, Jabaqat, 1,256-8; DhahabI 1961-2,1,391-403; Marifat 1997-8, II, 514;
GAS, 1,624-6; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 374.
‘Abd Khayr [al-Khayrani]. Companion o f‘All b. Abl T^lib; see Khu’I, Mu jam, IX,
286, no. 6303.
‘Abd al-Razzaq al-$an‘inl [Abu Bakr b. Hamm^m b. Nafi‘ al-Himyari) (d. 211/826).
An early Yemeni traditionist who compiled a Mu$annafand a Tafsir on the basis
of transmissions from Ma'mar b. Rashid [q.v.]. It has been argued that his work is
an important source for early hadith and law in Mecca; see GAS, 1,81,99; Ibn Sa'd,
Jabaqat, V, 399; Khalifa b. Khayyat, Jabaqat, 289; Bukhari, Tarikh, III, ii, 130;
DhahabI, Tadhkira, 1,364; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, II, 371; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, VI,
310; Motzki 1991; Motzki 2002, esp. 51-74.
Abu 'Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Tay£lisi al-Tamlmi. There are discrepancies
regarding his biography. Some claim that he was a disciple of the al-Hasan al-
‘Askari, whilst others that he was indeed a disciple of ‘All al-Rida, which seems to
be the more plausible opinion; see Najashi, Rijdl, 219; Ibn Dawud, Rijdl, 123;
M&maqanI, Tanqih, II, 212, no. 7042, who confuses him with a disciple of al-Rida
(see Tanqih, II, 214, no. 7058).
Abu ‘All al-Farisi (d. 377/987). One of the outstanding grammarians of the
fourth/tenth century. He also famously consorted with the poet al-Mutanabbl at
the court ofSayf al-Dawla in Aleppo; see C. Rabin, ‘al-Farisi*, jEJ2, II, 802-3.
Abu l-‘Aliya, Rufay‘ b. Mihran [al-Riy&hl] (d. 92/710). A Basran narrator, counted
among the renowned first generation of Successors. Although he is said to have
been a commentator in his own right, he is more usually recognised as a tradition­
ist and a Qur’an reader, and figures prominently in chains of transmission such
as those in Tabari’s tafsir,; see Regis Blach£re, ‘AbuVAliya’, EP, 1,104-5; Ibn Sa‘d,
Tabaqdty VII, 81-5; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, III, 284-6; Sezgin, GAS, I, 34; DhahabI,
Siyar, IV, 207.
Abu ‘Amr [Zabban] b. al-‘Ala’ (d. 154/771). A Basran reciter and one of the seven
established readers; see Regis Blach&re, ‘Abu ‘Am/, EP, 1,105-6; GAL, 1,99, supp.
1,158. As an authority on grammar, he is frequendy cited along with Abu ‘All al-
FarisI [<j.v.] (especially in the commentaries by Tabrisi and R&zi).
Abu 1-Bukhturi. See Wahb b. Wahb.
Abu’l-Darda’ [al-An$ari al-Khazrajl] (d. 32/652). A younger contemporary of the
Prophet, he was a reputed authority on the Qur an, and one of the few who
allegedly collected revelations in writing during the Prophet’s lifetime. A small
number of variant readings are attributed to him in the qiradt literature. He also
served as qadi in Damascus; see Arthur Jeffery, ‘Abu 1-Darda”, EP, 1,113-14.
Abu Dharr al-Ghafari, sometimes named as one Jundab b. Junada (d. 32/652-3). An

578
 Proaopographical appendix

early convert to Islam and pietist who, in the ShI‘I tradition, staunchly supported
‘All’s claim to the caliphate and was exiled; see James Robson, ‘Abu Pharr al-
G hifan, EP, 1,114-15; DhahabI, Tadhkira, 1,17ff; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, XII, 90ff.
Abu Hanlfa, al-Nu‘man b. Thabit (d. 150/767). The eponymous progenitor of the
Sunni ftanafi school of law and an early theologian of Kufa. The school was not
at first included among the orthodox' Sunni schools of law, and this was probably
due to the fact that Abu Hanifa’s theological views were associated with early
Muiji’ism (an early anti-sectarian movement, later subsumed by Sunnism) and
that his use of ra!y (personal opinion) as well as qiyds (legal analogy), although the
jurisprudential norm at the time, were frowned upon by the proponents of hadith,
which at the time of Abu Hanlfa had become the only authoritative and legitimate
source of law next to the text of the Qur’an. A number of creeds (cf. Fiqh al-akbar
and al-Fiqh absaf) are attributed to him. He spent most of his life in Kufa, but died
in Baghdad where a mausoleum was built at the site which is now in the
A‘?amiyya district of the city (al-imam al-a'zam, ‘the greatest imam’, being Abu
Hanifa’s epithet); see Joseph Schacht, ‘Abu Hanlfa, E/2,1 ,123-4; DhahabI, Siyar,
VI, 390-403.
Abu 1-Hudhayl [al-‘Allaf] (d. c. 226/841). One of the first theologians proper of the
Mu'tazila and representative of this school in its rudimentary form as it emerged
in Basra. Many of the basic concepts associated with Mu'tazill speculative thinking
were put forth by him, such as the oneness of God, His being unlike anything, His
attributes of power, knowledge, sight etc. being identical with His essence, the cre-
atedness of the Qur’an. Abu’l-Hudhayl speculated on atoms and accidents, as well
as numerous other problematics of rational theology; see H. S. Nyberg, ‘Abu’l-
Hudhayl al-‘A llaf, EP>1,127.
Abu Hurayra [‘Abd Allah b. ‘Amir al-Dawsi] (d. c. 59/678-9). A Companion of the
Prophet, who accepted Islam in the eighth year of the Hijra. He transmitted a large
corpus of narrations that are found in the major Sunni collections; see James
Robson, ‘Abu Hurayra*, EPy1,129; ‘All Bahramiyan, ‘Abu Hurayra’, DM/, VI, 397-
400; DhahabI, Tadhkira, I, 31-5; DhahabI, Siyar, II, 578; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, XII,
262-7.
Abu’l-Husayn al-Ba$ri [Muhammad b. ‘All b. al-Tayyib] (d. 436/1044). A dissident
from the Basran school of Abu H&shim and an important influence on Imam!
kalam; see Ibn al-Murta<Ja, Jabaqdty 118; Wilferd Madelung, ‘Abu’l-Husayn al-
Ba$ri\ EPysuppl. Fasc. 1,25-26; Daniel Gimaret, ‘Abul-Hosayn Ba$ri’, £/r, 1,322-
24; M. Jalall Muqaddam, ‘Abu’l-Husayn’, DM/, V, 367-70; Ibn Khallikan, WafaydU
IV, 27Iff; $afadl, W&fi, IV, 125; Qifti, Ta’rikh, 293ff; Ibn al-Malahimi, Mutamad.
Abu Jafar Muhammadb. Abul-Hasan b. Babawayhal-Qummi. See Ibn Babawayh.
Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. ‘All al-Baqir. See Muhammad al-Baqir.
Abu Ja‘far Yazld b. Qa‘q§‘ al-Makhztimi (d. 130/747). One of the three Medinan
reciters included in the longer list of ten recognised recitations established in the
fourth/tenth century. His readings are based on his narrations from his masters,
'Abd Allah b. 'Ayyash b. Abl Rabl'a, ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas and Abu Hurayra; see
DhahabI, Jabaqat, 1,72-6; Alford T. Welch, ‘Qur’an’, E/2, V, 409; Ahmad Paktachi,
‘Abu Ja'far b. [sic.] Yazid’, DM/, V, 300-2; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat, II, 654; Ibn al-Nadim,

579
On the Nature of the Divine

Fihristy 33; Ibn Mujihid, Qird’dt , 56-8; Dhahabi, Siyar , V, 287; Ibn Khallikan
( Wafaydt, VI, 274) who claims that Aba Ja‘far was a Persian originally called
Jundub b. Fayruz.
Abu’1-Jarud, ZiySd b. al-Mundhir b. Ziyad al-Hamadani al-Khirifi (d. c. 146/767).
An associate of Muhammad al-B&qir; see Wilferd Madelung, ‘Abul-Jinki*, EIrt I,
327; ‘All Bahramiyan, *Abu’l-J&rud*, DM/, V, 289-91; ‘Amili, A'ydrty XXXII, 338-
46; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, HI, 386-7; TG, II, 253-60; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihristy 221;
Najashi, RijaU 128-9; Shahrastinl, Milaly 1,157-9; Nawbakhti, Firaqy48; QummI,
Maqdldt, 71-2; TG, II, 253-5; also see (pseudo-)N&shi\ Masd'ily 42-5; Madelung
1979,136-7. For extensive citations, see Modarressi 2003,121-5.
Abu Kurayb Muawiya b. al-‘Ala’ (d. 247/861 or 248/862). According to Rosenthal he
is one of Tabari’s most frequently cited sources in the History as well as the Tb/sfr,
see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhiby IX, 385-6.
Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari (d. between 42-52/662-73). A Companion of the Prophet and
military leader of Yemeni origin. He was governor of Basra and then Kufa, and was
appointed an arbitrator at $iffin in 37/657 to adjudicate between ‘All and
Mu awiya; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhiby V, 362; L. Veccia Vaglieri, ‘al-Ash'ari, Abu Musa*,
EI2y1,695.
Abu Muslim al-Isfahan!, Muhammad b. Bafrr (d. 322/934). A Mutazili commentator
of Northern Iran, who was much quoted by later commentators with Mu‘tazili
leanings such as al-Sharif al-Murta<Ja and al-Tusi. His commentary, Jdmi al-ta'wil
li-muhkam al-tanal (or Sharh al-tanvT) is known for its allegorical method; see
Wilferd Madelung, ‘Abu Moslem’, EIry I, 340-1; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihristy 34,136;
GASy 1,423; $afadi, Wafiy II, 244; Ibn al-Murta<Ja, Tabaqdty 91; GAL, I, 209-10;
KirmanI 1378 sh/1999.
Abu Said al-Khudri, Sa‘d b. Malikb. Sinan (d. 73 or 74/692 or 693). A Companion
of the Prophet who was recognised as a legal authority in Medina; see Dhahabi,
Siyar, III, 168-172, no. 28.
Abu $alih Dhakwan al-Samman (d. 101/719). A narrator from Abu Hurayra and a
source for al-A‘mash; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhiby I, 416-17; GAS, I, 790, 81, 97;
Dhahabi, Tadhkiray 1,89-90.
Abu ‘Ubayda Ma‘mar b. al-Muthanna al-Taymi (d. c. 209-10/824-5). O f Jewish
origin, he was an important figure of the second/eighth century. He studied under
the leading philologists of the school of Basra, Abu ‘Amr b. al-‘Ala’ and Yunus b.
Habib. He was remembered above all for his philological work on the Q ur’an
(Majaz al-Qurdrty one of the earliest tafsir works consisting of brief notes on
selected Qur anic words and phrases), and on the hadith (Gharib al-hadith). He
was accused of having KharijI leanings; see GALy1,103; GAS, 1,8,27,36,43; H. A.
R. Gibb, ‘Abu ‘Ubayda, EPy I, 158; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydty V, 241; Madelung,
1992,47-56; Lecker, 1995,71-100, especially 89-92 on his expertise in tafsirysee
Abu ‘Ubayda, Majdz.
Abu Zayd al-An$ari, Sa‘id b. Aws (d. 214/830). Arabic grammarian and lexicographer
of the school of Basra. He belonged to the Medinan tribe of al-Khazraj. In Kufa he
collected from al-Mufadd&l al-Dabbi most of the poetic material which he used

580
 Prosopographical appendix

in his Kitdb al-Naw&dir. A contemporary of Abu ‘Ubayda and al-Asmal, he was

considered superior to them in knowledge of grammar, see C. Brockelmann, *Abu
Zayd al- An$ari\ E P ,1,167.
‘A’isha, Umm ‘Abd Allah ‘A’isha bint Abl Bakr (d. 58/678). The youngest wife of the
Prophet and the daughter of the first caliph. She was an important source for
prophetic narrations and opinions on the interpretation of the Qur’an; see W.
Montgomery Watt, “A’isha*, EP, 1,307-8; Ibn Sa‘d, Jabaqat, VIII, 39-56.
al-Akhfash (al-Akbar), Abu 1-Khaftab ‘Abd al-Hamld b. ‘Abd al-Majld al-Akhfash
(d. 177/793), belonged to the Basran school of grammar, and famously known for
collecting numerous dialectal terms; among his most distinguished pupils were
Slbawayhi [q.v.], Abu Zayd al An$ari [q.v.), Abu ‘Ubayda [q.v.] and al-A$ma‘i
[q.v.]; see C. Brockelmann-Ch. Pellat, ‘al-Akhfash’, EP, 1,321.
al-Akhfash, Harun b. Musa b. Shank al-Nahawi (d. 271/884-5). One of a number of
individuals with this cognomen (Suyufl, Muzhir, II, 453-4, mentions him at the
end of his list of such individuals); on the three famous Akhfashs, see C.
Brockelmann-Ch. Pellat, ‘al-Akhfash’. EP, I, 321; on this Akhfash, see Ibn
Khallikan, Wafaydt, III, 486; Dhahabi, Siyar, XIII, 566.
‘All b. Ab! Talha. There is some confusion over the date of his death, which according
to the biographers is either 120/737 or 143/760; Ibn tlajar gives the latter, but
Rosenthal places it at around 750, in view of the other transmitters in the chain;
see Rosenthal, The History, 215, n. 334; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhlb, VI, 339-41.
‘All b. ‘Isa al-Rummani (d. 384/994). By profession a warraq, that is, a copyist of man­
uscripts (usually ma$fl/n/and hadith compilations), and a seller of books and
paper. He also authored a work on Quranic philology and other shorter lexical
treatises; his commentary on the Qur’an is largely lost. Dogmatically, he belonged
to the Mutazill Ikhshldiyya school of Baghdad; see J. Flanagan, ‘al-Rummani*, EP,
VIII, 614-15; on copyists and book-sellers, see M.A.J. Beg, ‘Warrak*, EP, XI, 150.
‘All b. Mushir, Abu’l-Hasan al-Qurashi al-Kufi (d. 189/804). The qd$i of Mosul, he
transmitted from many, including the likes of Hisham b. ‘Urwa and al-A*mash
[q.v.], and transmitted to the likes of (Abu Bakr) ‘trustworthy* transmitter (thiqa)
of Ibn Abl Shayba and Minjab b. al-Harith. Ahmad b. Hanbal considered him
more trustworthy in transmitting hadith than Abu Muawiya; see Dhahabi, Siyar,
VIII, 484-7.
‘All al-Rida, Abu’l-Hasan ‘All b. Musa b. Ja'far al-$adiq (d. 203/818). The eighth imam
of the Twelver Shi'a. As part of his efforts to win support among the Shfi commu­
nity, the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun summoned him to Marw in the year 201/816,
and appointed him as heir to the caliphate, giving him the title of al-Ri<Ja. Al-Rida,
however, died just over a year later; Bernard Lewis, “All al-Rida, EP, 1,399-400.
al-A‘mash Sulayman b. Mihnrn al-Asadi (d. 148/756). A Kufan traditionist and
Qur’an reader; see C. Brockelmann -[Ch. Pellat), ‘al-A‘mash\ EP, 1,431; GAS, I,
81,310-11,360; Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,154.
‘Amir b. al-Tufayl (d. c. 8/629). Arab poet said to have plotted to assassinate the
Prophet; he remained a pagan to his death; see Werner Caskel, “Amir b. al-Tufayl’,
EP, 1,442.

581
On the Nature of the Divine

‘Ammar b. Yasir b. ‘Amir, Abu’l-Yaq?an (d. 37/657). A Companion of the Prophet

and later a faithful partisan of ‘All, eventually losing his life fighting for him against
the partisans of Muawiya in the famous Battle of $iffin. He governed Kufa under
the caliphate o f‘Umar, whence he was able in later years to rally the population
to the aid of ‘All. He is generally remembered for his devotion and piety, and his
excellent knowledge of prophetic hadtth; see H. Reckendorf, “Amm^r b. Y asir,
El2,1 ,448.
‘Amr b. al-‘Abd b. Sufyan (fl. c. 543-569). A pre-Islamic poet and composer o f a
famous mu allaqa; see J. E. Montgomery, ‘Jarafa, EPt X, 219-20; Sukkar 1999,
246.
Anas b. Malik, Abu Hamza (d. between 91-93/709-711). A prolific traditionist and
Companion of the Prophet, to whom he was given at an early age as a servant by
his mother. He was among those, such as Jabir b .1Abd Allah al-An$ari, humiliated
by al-Hajjaj, having had his neck tied with a seal in the wake of Ibn al-Ash'ath’s
failed revolt against the Marwanid regime; see A. J. Wensinck- J. Robson, ‘Anas b.
Malik’, EJ2, 1,482.
al-A$amm, AbuVAbbas Muhammad b. Ya'qub al-Naysaburi (d. 346/957), celebrated
physician and traditionist from the Shafi‘l school; see Regis Blach£re, ‘al-A$amm\
El2,1 ,686.
al-A$bagh b. Nubata al-Mujashi‘I (d. after 100/718). A companion and dose confi­
dant o f‘All b. Abi Talib. He fought alongside him at the Battle of the Camel an d
$iffin; see Najashi, Rijdl, 1,69-71; TG, 1,291-2.
‘A$im, Abu Bakr b. Bahdala al-Asadl (d. 127-8/745). The head of the Kufan school
of Quranic readers, his reading represents one of the seven established systems
for the recitation of the Qur’an; his pupil was the famous reader Haf$ [q.v.]yw ho
transmitted ‘Asim’s reading (known as Haft ‘an (A$im); see Arthur Jeffery, “A$im\
E22, 1,706-7.
Al-A$ma‘i, Abu Sa‘id ‘Abd al-Malik b. Qurayb (d. 213/828) Arabic philologist o f
Basra; see B. Lewin, ‘al-A$ma‘i\ El2, 1,717-9; Dhahabi, Siyar, X, 175-81.
‘Atf’ b. Abi Rabafi Aslam al-Qurashl, Abu Muhammad (d. 114/732 or 115/732 o r
733). A Yemeni by birth and of Nubian parentage, he exercised his personal
opinion (ray) in legal matters, like most of his contemporaries. He is traditionally
regarded as a member of the Meccan school of commentary and associated with
the students of Ibn ‘Abbas [q.v.) as well as being an important transmitter o f
hadith prophetic sayings. He was suspected of Murji’i sympathies, for which he
was briefly imprisoned. As an authority for Ibn Jurayj [q.v.], he is an important
source for material in the Mu$annaf of ‘Abd al-Razzaq [q.v.]; see Ibn Sa*d,
Tabaqdt, V, 344-6; Khalifa b. Khayyaj, Tabaqdt, 280; Bukhari, Ta’fikh, III, ii,
463-4; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, II, 423-5; Dhahabi, Mufassirun, 1,113-4; Ma‘rifat,
1997-8,1,362-6; GAS, 1,31; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqdt, V, 467-70; J. Schacht, “Ata”, £ P ,
I , 730; Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,98; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, VII, 199-203; Ndldeke, GQ,
II, 167; Motzki, Origins, 246-62.
‘Atiyya b. Sa‘d al-‘Awfi (d. 111/729). A Kufan Shfl transmitter of reports from Ibn
‘Abbas and a source for al-Kalbl. He was considered a ‘weak’ transmitter (d a'if);

582
 Prosopographical appendix

see GAS, I, 30; Ibn Sad, Jabaqdt, VI, 212-13; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, VII, 224-6;
MizzI, Tahdhib, XX, 145-9, no. 3956.
al-Azhari, Abu Man$ur Muhammad b. Abmad b. al-Azhar (d. 370/980). Arab
lexicographer; see Regis Blach£re, ‘al-Azhari*, El2, 1,822.
al-Bastami, Abu Yazid Tayfur b. ‘Isa, also known as Bayazld BistamI (d. 261/874 or
264/877-8). A major figure in Khurasan! Sufism and known as both a traditionist
and an ‘intoxicated* Sufi, famed for his ‘enigmatic utterances* (shafahat); see H.
Ritter, ‘Abu Yazid*, EJ2,1 ,162-3; GAS, 1,645-6; Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub, 132-4,
tr. R. A. Nicholson, 1911,106-8; Sulami, Tabaqat, 60-7; Qushayri, Risdla I, 57-8;
Arberry 1966, 100-23; Jam!, Nafahdt, 54-5. For a discussion of the value and
assessment of these sources, see Mojaddedi 2001.
al-Baydawi, ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar (d. 685/1286). A Shafi‘i jurist, was one of the most
renowned commentators on the Qur’an. He was bom in a city known as al-Bayda’
(hence the name al-Baydawi) in Fars and worked as a judge in Shiraz. In his com­
mentary, Anwar al-tanzil, he followed the method of al-Zamakhshari, but omitted
the opinions of Mutazili theology, substituting them with traditionalist theology;
see Zirikli, A'ldm, IV, 110. Al-Baydawi*s commentary, published in Germany in
1846-8, is among the works on which Western scholars have based their studies
of the Qur’an since the late eighteenth century.
Bilal b. Rabab (d. c. 17-21/638-42). A Companion of the Prophet, but most famously,
he was the Prophet's muadhdhin, making the customary call to prayer, reaching
the climax of his career when he made the call to prayer from the roof top of the
Ka‘ba, after Mecca fell to the Muslims. He was of African, possibly Ethiopian,
origin bom into slavery at Mecca and one of the earliest converts. He was manu­
mitted by Abu Bakr, and fought at Badr, where he killed his former master; see
Walid ‘Arafat, ‘Bilal b. Rabah*, EJ2, 1,1215.
Bishr b. M uadh al-‘AqadI (d. in or ante 245/859). See Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, 1,458.
Bundar, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Bashsh&r b. ‘Uthman al-‘AbdI al-Ba$ri (d. 252/866).
A Basran traditionist narrating from Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi; see GAS, 1,113-14;
DhahabI, Tadhldra, 1,511-12; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, IX, 70-3.
al-Qahbak b. Makhlad al-Shaybani al-Ba$ri, Abu ‘A$im al-Nabil (d. c. 212-4/827-9).
See Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, II, 570-2, no. 3457; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat, VII, 295; Ibn al-
Nadim, Fihrist, 123; C. Pellat, ‘Abu ‘A$im al-Nabil*, El2, suppl. 1,17-8.
al-Qabbak b. Muzabim al-Hilali (d. 102/720). A famous traditionist who is said to
have put together a tafsir, based on what he heard from Sa‘id b. Jubayr [q.v.] at a
meeting in Rayy; he famously never met Ibn ‘Abbas; DhahabI, SiyaryIV, 598-600,
no. 238; Mizzi, RijdlyXIII, 291; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, II, 572-3, no. 3458. Tabari is
said to have used al-Pabbak’s (written) commentary as one of his sources; see
Rosenthal, 1989,109; GAS, 1,29-30.
Fanari, Shams al-Din Mubammad b. Hamza al-Fanari (d. 834/1431). A renowned
Hanafi jurist and philosopher, was the first shaykh al-isldm (a title equivalent to chief
mufti) of the Ottoman Empire under Murad II in Bursa; see J. R. Walsh, ‘Fenarizade*,
EJ2, II, 879; T^shkopriiluzade, al-Shaqaiq, 47-53. His commentary on the first
chapter of the Qur’an was well known as part of his larger, incomplete commentary
known as ‘Ayn al-a'ydn f i tafsir al-Qurdn; see Khalifa, Kashf, 406,428,1014.

583
On the Nature of the Divine

al-Farra’, Abu Zakariyya Yaftya b. Ziyad al-Kufi (d. 207/822). An early Kufan gram ­
marian and author of a periphrastic commentary on the Q uran, namely Kitdb
Ma'anfl-Qur’dn. Cf. R. Blach£re, al-Farra”, EP, II, 806-8; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt,
II, 229; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 34,61,66; Abu'l-Tayyib, Mardtib, 88ff* Kinberg 1996;
GAS, 1,36,48,371.
al-FIruzabadi, Majd al-DIn Muhammad b. Ya‘qub (d. 817/1416) is the author o f al-
Qdmus al-muhif, a unilingual dictionary of great importance in the study of clas­
sical and middle Arabic, as well as other works, including a commentary on the
Qur’in , a commentary on a famous poem, and books on history and prophetic
traditions (hadith). He was born in Karizin (or Karazin) in Fars and studied in
Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Mecca, acquiring great erudition in
the fields of Arabic language and literature as well as the religious sciences. A tafsir,
entitled Tanwir al-miqbds min tafsir Ibn \Abbas has, as shown by Rippin (1994),
been wrongly attributed to him. It is more likely that the work belongs to
Muhammad al-Dlnawari (d. 308/920); H. Fleisch, ‘Firuzabadf, EP, II, 926.
al-Fudayl b. Yasar al-Nahdi. A ‘trustworthy^ transmitter (thiqa) of hadith from Basra,
he transmitted from both Muhammad al-Baqir and Jafar al-$adiq, dying during
the lattefs lifetime; see al-Mazandar&nl, Muntahd, V, 213-214, no. 2300.
al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid Muhammad b. Muhammad (d. 505/1 111). One of the m ost
significant thinkers in the history of Islam. He wrote many books on theology, p h i­
losophy, and legal theory; see W. Montgomery Watt, ‘al-GhazalL’ EP, II, 1038-
1042; various, ‘al-Gazall*, Elr, X, 358-77; GAL, 1,535-46.
Haf$ b. Sulayman b. al-Mughira, Abu ‘Umar al-Asadl al-Fakhiri al-Bazzaz (d.
180/796). Transmitter of the ‘reading of ‘A$im, a cloth merchant, his fame rests
solely on the knowledge he acquired of the ‘reading’ of the master o f Kufa; see
Bernard Lewis, ed., ‘Haf$ b. Sulayman*, EP, III, 63.
al-Hajjaj b. Muhammad al-Mi$$I$i al-A‘war (d. 206/812). Transmitted the Q ur’an
interpretations of Ibn Jurayj [q.v.]; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhtb> II, 205-6; Khafib,
Tarikh Baghdad, VIII, 236-9; DhahabI, Siyar, DC, 447-50.
al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad (d. 405/1014). An
important traditionist of the late ‘Abbasid period. He compiled a collection of nar­
rations, al-Mustadrak 'ala’l-$ahihayn> that matched the selection criteria of the
$ahth$ of al-Bukhari and Muslim but which were left out of those collections. Cf.
J. Robson, ‘al-Hakim al-Naysaburi*, EP, III, 82; GAL, 1 ,175, S 1,276ff; DhahabI,
Tadhkira, III, 227ff.
Hammad [b. ‘Isa al-Juhanl] (d. 209/825). A Shi‘I traditionist from Kufa, a follower o f
Jafar al-$adiq, Musa al~Ka?im and ‘All al-Ri<Ja.
Hammad b. ‘Uthman b. ‘Amr al-Fazari (d. 190/805). Kufan traditionist; see NajashI,
Rijdl, 1,339.
Hammam, Abu ‘Uqba Hammam b. Munabbih b. Kamil al-$an‘anl (d. 130/747). The
brother of Wahb b. Munabbih. A small collection ($ahifa) of his narrations is m en­
tioned in some sources; see GAS, 1,81,86; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, XI, 67.
Hamza b. Habib Abu ‘Umara al-Taymi al-Zayyat (d. 156/772). One of the seven
established readers of the Qur’an. He was interested in hadith and religious duties

584
 Prosopographical appendix

(fard'uf), but he was most famous for his ‘reading; among his pupils were Sufyan
al-Thawri [q.v.] and al-Kisa’i [q.v.], but his readings were passed on by his imme­
diate disciples, Khalaf b. Hisham [q.v.] at Baghdad and Khallad b. Khalid. His
reading became widespread in the Maghrib, but was eventually replaced by that
of Nafi‘ [q.v. j, the preferred reading of the Malikls, whose school came to domi­
nate that region; see Ch. Pellat, ‘Hamza b. Habib’, EP, III, 155; NajashI, Rijdl, I,
111-18.
al-Hasan al-‘Askari, Abu Mubammad al-Hasan b. ‘All (d. 254/868). Known as al-
‘Askari because he lived most of his life in the garrison town o f‘Askar Samarra.
In the Twelver Shl‘l tradition, he is the father of the twelfth and last imam, the
Mahdi, who is expected as the redeemer of the last days; see Joseph Eliash, ‘al-
Hasan al-‘A skan, EP, III, 246-7.
al-Hasan al-Ba$ri, Abu Said b. Abl’l-Hasan b. Yasar (d. 110/728). A famous pietist of
the second generation of Muslims. He was renowned as a commentator o f the
school of Iraq in the traditional accounts and as a proto-Sufi; see Hujwirl, Kashf\
86-7; Abu Nu‘aym, Hilyat, II, 131-6; Arberry 1979,19-26; Dhahabi, Mufassirurt,
1,124-5; Dawudi, Tabaqdt, 1,147, where it is claimed that he was mawld of Zayb
b. Thabit, the Companion of the Prophet, who traditionally is regarded as the
compiler of the Qur’an in the reign o f‘Uthman; see Marifat, 1997-8,1, 371-85;
GAS, 1,30; H. Ritter, ‘al-Hasan’, EP, III, 347-8; Cook 1981; TG, II, 41ff.
Hariz b. ‘Abd Allah al-Sijistanl al-Azd! (fl. 148/750). A Kufan merchant and contem­
porary of Ja‘far al-$adiq, author of several works, one on prayers; he was killed
fighting KharijI rebels in Sijistan; see NajashI, Rijdl, 1,340-42; Khu’I, Mu jam, IV,
249-62, no. 2637.
Hassan b. Thabit (d. c. 55/674). Of the Khazraj tribe of Yathrib (later Medina), tradi­
tionally known as the ‘poet laureate of the Prophet, and one of many poets asso­
ciated with the rise of Islam. Hasson already had an established reputation in the
pre-Islamic period; see Walid ‘Arafat, ‘Hassan b. Thabit1. EP, III, 271-3; also cf.
‘Arafat 1954.
al-Husayn b. al-Fadl b. ‘Amr, Abu ‘All al-Bajll al-Kufi (d. 282/895). Qur’an commen­
tator, philologist and hadith authority. Dhahabi, Siyar, XIII, 414.
al-Husayn b. Khalid [al-Hasan b. Khalid]. Traditionist and companion of Musa al-
Ka?im; see NajashI, Rijdl, 1,176; Khul, Mu jam, V, 227-8, no. 3379.
al-Husayn b. Khalid al-$ayrafi. A contemporary o f‘All al-Rida; see Tustari, Qdmus
al-Rijal, III, 280-1.
Hushaym b. Bashir b. Abi Khazim (d. 183/799). A famous traditionist of his time
who settled in Baghdad. He narrated from al-Zuhri [q.v.] and others. Those who
narrated from him included Ibn Hanbal; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhtb, XI, 59-64; GA5,
I, 38; Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,248-9.
Ibn ‘Abbas, ‘Abd Allah b. 'Abbas b. 'Abd al-Muftalib (d. 68/687). The cousin of the
Prophet, traditionally accepted as the founder of the discipline of Quranic exege­
sis; see Dawudi, Tabaqdt, I. 232-3; Marifat, 1997-8, I, 224-31; Dhahabi,
Mufassirun, I, 65-83; L. Veccia Vaglieri, “Abd All&h b. ‘Abbas’, EP, I, 40-1; Ibn
Sa‘d, Tabaqdt, II/2,119-23, V, 74-5,216-17; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, V, no. 474; GAS,

585
On the Nature of the Divine

1,25-8. On his *tafsir\ debates on its authenticity and his significance in the tra d i­
tional accounts, see Gilliot, 1985,127-84; Goldfield, 1981,125-35; Rippin, 1994,
38-83; cf. Madelung 1998,13-25; Abu 1-Na$r 1992.
Ibn Abl ‘Umayr, Abu Ahmad Muhammad b. ‘Isa al-Azdl (d. 217/831). A Baghdadi
Shfi traditionist, who narrated from Mus& al-KA^im, ‘All al-Ri<J& and Muhammad
al-Jawad. He was al-Ka^im’s agent in Baghdad He was appointed as a judge (qdtfi)
by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun. He wrote important works on theological issues
such as human free will (qadar) and the unicity of God (tawhid), but none o f th e
works are extant; see TG, 1,384-6; Najashi, RijaU II, 204-8; Kishshi, Rijdl* 363-5;
Ibn Dawud, Rijdl, 159-60 describes him as ‘the most trustworthy of people*
(awthaq al-nds); Mamaqini, Tanqih, III, 61-4, no. 10272.
Ibn ‘Amir, Abu ‘Umar ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Amir al-Yafrsubi (d. 118/736). One of the seven
established Q uran readers. Of South Arabian origin, he settled in Damascus
where he was appointed judge (qatft) by the caliph al-Walid b. ‘Abd al-Malik and
chief of police by the later caliph Yazld b. al-Walld; his reading was adopted by the
inhabitants of Damascus; see ‘Ibn ‘Amif, EP> III, 704.
Ibn al-Anb&rl, Abu 1-Barakat ‘Abd al-Rahm&n b. Muhammad b. ‘Ubayd All&h b. Abl
Said Kamal al-Din (d. 577/1181). Arabic philologist, compiler of a biographical
history of philology, a manual of grammar and a collection of the differences
between the Basran and Kufan schools of grammar; see C. Brockelmann, ‘al-
A nban, £J2,1 ,485-6; Ibn Khallik&n, Wafayat, III, 139-40; DhahabI, Siyar, XXI,
113-15.
Ibn Anjawayh al-Fasawi (as cited by TabrisI on Q. 2:255). This could refer to Ya'qub
b. Sufyan b. Juwan al-F&risi al-Fasawi (d. 277/890). Traditionist and historian o f
Fars; see DhahabI, Siyar, XIII, 180-4, no. 106. There is a possibility that there is a
misprint, in which case he could be either Ibn Manjawayh al-I$bahani (d.
428/1037); see DhahabI, Siyar, XVII, 438, or Ibn Fanjawayh; see DhahabI, Siyar,
XVII, 383 (who is cited by Saleh 2004 as a source for the latter).
Ibn al-AYabl, Muhammad b. Ziyad al-Kufi (d. 232/848). One of the pioneer philol­
ogists of Arabic language. He authored many books on the customs, language and
sciences of the Arabs; see Tha‘alibl, Fiqh al-lugha, 13.
Ibn ‘Asakir, Thiqat al-DIn Abu’l-Qasim ‘All b Abi Muhammad al-Hasan b. Hibat
Allah b. ‘Abd Allah b. Husayn al-Dimashq! al-Shafi‘l al-Hafi? (d. 571/1176). Sunni
historian of Damascus; see El2yIII, 713-4; GAL, 1,33; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat, III,
309-11.
Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. Abu’l-Hasan b. Babawayh, known as al-
Shaykh al-$aduq (d. 381/991-2). Universally regarded among Twelver Shi‘is as
one of their foremost doctors and traditionists; author of Man Id yahtfuruhul-
faqihyone of the ‘four books* (al-kutub al-arba'a) or established Shi4! manuals that
were composed during the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries and are the
basis for Twelver jurisprudence; see Tusi, Fihrist, 184; Quhpa’i, M ajma\ V, 269-
73; M&maqani, Tanqih, III, 154-5; ‘Amill, A ‘ydn> XLVI, 153-6; Tihranl, Tabaqdt,
187-8; GAL, I, 187-8; GAS, I, 544-9; Wilferd Madelung, ‘Ebn Babawayh*, £ /r,
VIII, 2-4; Asaf Fyzee, ‘Ibn Babawayh’, El2, III, 726-7; cf. Muhammad I.
Marcinkowski, 2001,199-222.

586
 Pro topographical appendix

Ibn Bashshar. See Bund&r.

Ibn Fa<J<Jal, al-Hasan b. 'All al-TaymulI. A Kufan notable and ImimI traditionist
regarded as a ‘trustworthy^ transmitter, who narrated from ‘All al-Ri<J&. Al-
‘Ayyashl is reported to have held him in great esteem for his knowledge of
jurisprudence (fiqh). A prolific author, he wrote a tafeir (not extant) as well as one
of the earliest guides and manuals on the pilgrimage (ftajj); see KishshI, Rijal, 433-
5, 530; Naj£shi, Rijal, 257-9; MamaqanI, Tatiqth, I, 296, no. 2670; Ibn al-Nadlm,
Fihrist, 274.
Ibn al-Hajib, Jamal al-Dln Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthman Ibn Hajib (d. 646/1249). A MalikI
jurist and a grammarian. He wrote the al-Amdli, lectures and notes on various
topics including glosses upon Zamakhshan s tafsirysee H. Fleisch, ‘Ibn al-Hadjib\
EPyIII, 781; GAL, 1,367-71, S 1,531-39; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, II, 413-14.
Ibn Hanbal, Abu ‘Abd Allah Ahmad b. Muhammad Ibn Hanbal b. Hilal al-Shaybani
al-Marwazi (d. 241/855). A prominent traditionist in Baghdad, who opposed the
Mu'tazill consensus especially on the doctrine of the createdness of the Q ur’an
and was consequently persecuted. He is regarded as the progenitor of one of the
Sunni legal schools; see H. Laoust, ‘Ahmad b. Uanbal’, EPy1,272-7; A. Pikatch!
and H. An$ari, ‘Ahmad b. Hanbal’, DMIyVI, 718-30; Dhahabi, SiyaryXI, 232-98;
Abu Zahra 1947; GASy1,510; TG, III, 456-65,473-6.
Ibn Humayd, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad b. Humayd al-Razi (d. 248/862). Tabari
studied with him in Rayy (at which time Ibn Humayd was in his seventies) and is
one of his most frequently cited sources in Tabari’s tafsir. There is no consensus
on his reliability, since Ibn Hanbal had nothing but praise for him, while others,
such as al-Nasa”! and al Bukh&ri did not think much of him at all and he was even
accused of random fabrication of chains of transmission (isndds). Despite this,
many besides Tabari transmitted from him, including Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhl,
al-Qazwinl, Ibn Abi’l-Dunya, and al-Baghawi; see Dhahabi, SiyaryXI, 503-6; Ibn
Hajar, Tahdhiby IX, 127-31; Sezgin GAS, 1,289; Rosenthal 1989.
Ibn al-Ikhshid, Abu Bakr Ahmad b. ‘All b. al-Ikhshid (d. 320/932). A Basran Mutazili
follower of Abu ‘All al-Jubba’l [q.v.]; see J. -C. Vadet, ‘Ibn al-Ikhshid’. EPyIII, 807;
Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-mu tazilay 100; Baghdadi, Ta'rikh Baghdad, IV, 309.
Ibn Ish^q (d. c. 150/767). The famous historian to whom a biography (sira) of the
Prophet is attributed, though we only have it in a recension by a later scholar, Ibn
Hisham (d. 218/833); see J. M. B. Jones, ‘Ibn Ishak\ EI2y III, 810-11; Ibn Hajar,
TahdhibyIX, 38-46; Sezgin, GAS, 1,288-90.
Ibn Jinni, Abu’l-Fath ‘Uthman (d. 392/1002). A famous grammarian from Aleppo of
Byzantine origin, most celebrated in the branch of grammar known as ta$rif
(essentially, morphology). He founded the science of Arabic etymology (al-ish-
tiqdq al-akbar) and authored two famous grammatical works, one on the Arabic
language and the other on its vowels and consonants; he also wrote a commentary
on the Diwdn of his famous contemporary, the poet al-Mutanabbi (d. 354/955);
see Johannes Pedersen, ‘Ibn Djinni’. EPy III, 754.
Ibn Jurayj, Abu’l-Walid ‘Abd al-Malik b. ‘Abd al-‘Az!z b. Jurayj al-Rumi al-Umawi
(d. c. 149-51/766-68). An important Meccan traditionist and narrator who

587
On the Nature of the Divine

reported from the second generation. He brought together hadiths from ‘A& b.
Abi Rabab [q.v.], al-Zuhri [q.v.)t Mujahid [q.v.] and ‘Ikrima (^.v.) and passed them
on to the likes of Waki‘, Ibn al-Mubarak and Sufyan b. ‘Uyayna. He reportedly had
both a written collection of narrations and a tafsir, see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, VI, 402-
6; Ibn Sa‘d, Jabaqdt, V, 361-2; Khalifa b. Khayyaj, 7'abaqdt, 283; Bukhari, Ta’rikh,
III, 1,422-3; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, II, 348; DhahabI, Tadhkira, 169-71; DhahabI,
Siyar, VI, 325-336; GAS, I, 91; Ch. Pellat, ‘Ibn Ejuray4j\ E/2, suppl. 5-6, 386;
Motzki, 2002,268-85.
Ibn Kathir, Isma'Il b. 'Umar b. Kathir (d. 774/1373). One of the best known historians
and traditionists of Syria under the Babri Mamluk dynasty. He was influenced to
a great extent by the famous Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) and was involved in the
government and politics of his day, holding a professorship in Qur’anic exegesis
at the Umayyad mosque among other appointments. His most famous literary
output is a multi-volume historical work entitled al-Biddya wal-rtihdya. He wrote
a mainly philological tafsir, and a short history of the Qur’an (Fadd'il al-Q urdn);
see Henri Laoust, ‘Ibn Kathli', E/2, III, 817-8.
Ibn Kaysin, al-Hasan b. Mubammad b. Abmad, Abu Mubammad al-HarbI (d.
358/968). Qur’an reader and grammarian. DhahabI, Siyar, XVI, 136.
Ibn Maja, Abu ‘Abd Allah Mubammad b. Yazid al-Qazwini (d. 273/887). Famous
compiler of hadith whose most well-known work is the Kitab al-Sunan, or Sunan.
He was criticised by some for including many ‘weak reports in his collection; see
J. W. Fuck, ‘Ibn M a^a, E/2, III, 856.
Ibn Manjawayh al-l$bahanl, Abu Bakr Abmad b. 'All b. Mubammad (d. 428/1036).
A famed hdfiz (one who has memorised the whole Qur’an), and author o f a
number of works, mainly commentaries to the ‘canonical* Sunni hadith collec­
tions; DhahabI, Siyar, XVII, 438-41.
Ibn Mardawayh, Abmad b. Musa b. Mardawayh b. Furak b. Musa b. Ja'far a]-l$bahanl,
Abu Bakr (d. 410/1019). Famous collector of hadith; see DhahabI, Siyar, XVII,
308-11.
Ibn Mas'ud, 'Abd Allah b. Ghafil Hudhayl al-Hudhali (d. 32/652-3). A famous
Companion of the Prophet and a Qur’an reader. He was of Bedouin origin and
one of the earliest Muslims (in some accounts the third convert), receiving the
Qur’an directly from the Prophet. In 21/642 he settled permanently in Kufa, where
his teaching was highly esteemed, and his ‘Alid tendencies, especially with regard
to exegesis, were better received; see J.-C. Vadet, ‘Ibn Mas'ud’, EJ2, III, 873-5; Ibn
Sa'd, Tabaqdt, VII, 342; Ma'rifat, 1997-8,1,217—23; DhahabI, Mufassirun, I, 83-
8. On what can be reconstructed of Ibn Mas'ud’s version of the Qur’an, see Jeffery
1937,20-113.
Ibn Qa'qa*. See Abu Ja'far Yazid b. Qa'qa al-Makhzuml.
Ibn Qutayba, 'Abd Allah b. Muslim b. Qutayba (d. 276/889). One of the great Sunni
polygraphs of the third/ninth century, both a Hanball theologian and litterateur
(adib); see Gerard Lecomte, ‘Ibn Qutayba’, E/2, III, 844-7.
Ibn Sa'd, Abu 'Abd Allah Mubammad b. Sa'd b. Manf (d. 230/845). The author of
the well-known Kitab al-fabaqdt al-kabir, a major biographical dictionary of the

588
 ProftopographicaJ appendix

strata of society; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, IX, 182-3, J. W. Fuck, ‘Ibn Sa'd*, EP, III,
922-3; GAS, 1,300-1.
Ibn Sall&m, Abu ZakariyyS Yabya b. Abl Thalaba (fl. third/ninth century). One of the
earliest Iba<jl authors from the Maghrib; see Bi*l-H§jj*s remarks in Hud, Tafsir, 21-
2; TG, IV, 271; Abu*l-*Arab, Tabaqdt, 37-9; Maliki, Riydtf, 122-5; Dawudi,
Tabaqdt, II, 371; DhahabI, Siyar, IX, 396; idem, Mizdn al-Ttiddly IV, 380; Ibn al-
Jazari, Ghdyat, II, 373; Ibn Khayr al-Ishblli, Fahrasat, 56-7; Sammoud 1970;
Gilliot, 1997,181-2. On the Basran Ibadiyya, see TG, II, 186-233.
Ibn al-Sarraj. A grammarian of Baghdad; see Henri Fleisch, ‘Ibn al-Sarradj’, EP, III,
930.
Ibn al-Sikkit Abu Yusuf Ya'qub b. Isb^q known as Ibn al-Sikkit (d. 244/858). A minor
Kufan grammarian; see ‘Ibn al-Sikklf, EP, III, 940; GAL, I, 121, S I, 180. His
famous work on grammar is l$ldh al-manpiq.
Ibn Sirin, Abu Bakr Muhammad (d. 110/728). Traditionist, jurist and also first
renowned Muslim interpreter of dreams; see T. Fahd, ‘Ibn Sirin*, EP, III, 947-8;
Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, IV, 181-3; DhahabI, Siyar, IV, 606-22.
Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). Famous Hanball scholar whose works attracted many
modem jurists because of his erudition and clarity of prose. His extensive writings
(and some dictations) have been collected in the Responsa (al-Fatdwd, 37
volumes), Epistles (al-Rasdil, 6 volumes), and other similar collections. His writ­
ings span all of the religious sciences and Islamic intellectual history, see Ism&‘U,
1998.
Ibn ‘Umar. See ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar b. al-Khaftab.
Ibn Wahb, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah b. Wahb b. Muslim al-Fihri (d. c. 195—6/810—
11). An Egyptian narrator and mufassir, see J. David-Weill, ‘Ibn Wahb*, EP, III,
963; Tabaranl, al-Mujam, XI, no. 11830; Yabya b. Sallam, al-Ta$arif, 150.
Ibn Zayd, ‘Abd al-Rabm&n b. Zayd b. Aslam al-‘Umari (d. 182/798). Known as an
expert in tafsir, he was an important source of narrations for both ‘Abd al-Razzaq
and Ibn Wahb; see GAS, 1,38; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, VI, 177-8.
‘Ikrima, Abu ‘Abd Allah ‘Ikrima al-Barbari (d. 105/723-4). Probably the most famous
transmitter of the ‘commentary^ of Ibn ‘Abbas represented in the traditional
accounts. His trustworthiness was disputed in the biographical dictionaries and
among commentators; see DhahabI 1961-2,1,107-13; DhahabI, Siyar, V, 12-36;
Dawudi, Tabaqat, 1,380-1; Ma‘rifat, 1997-8,1,348-62; Joseph Schacht, “Ikrima*,
EP, III, 1081-2.
'Imran b. al-Hu$ayn (d. 52/672). A Companion of the Prophet, he was among those
who did not take sides during the first civil war (i'tazala al-fitna); see DhahabI,
Siyar, II, 508-12, no. 105.
Jabir b. ‘Abd All&h, Abu ‘Abd Allah, al-Salaml al-Khazraji al-An$&ri (d. 78/697). A
Companion of the Prophet, accompanying him on numerous expeditions. He is
said to have fought alongside ‘All at $iffin (37/657). He is noted as the most prolific
narrator of traditions from the Prophet, and regarded highly by hadith scholars.
Many transmitted his traditions which he is supposed to have collected in his com-
pilatory collection ($ahifa). He enjoys special status in Shi‘I tradition, since the

589
On the Nature of the Divine

hadiths recorded on his authority in Shi'I sources bear on the special qualities o f
‘All and the graces granted him by God. Significantly, he is credited with the
hadith about the appointment o f ‘All as legatee (wa$i) by the Prophet, am ong
numerous other traditions that bear upon the virtues of the imams after ‘All; see
M. J. Kister, ‘Djabir b. ‘Abd Allah*, JSi2, suppl. 3-4, 230-2. Dhahabi, TadhJara, I,
43-4, describes him as the ‘jurist of Medina; see Baladhuri, Ansdb 1,248; Khalifa
b. Khayyat, Tarikh, 65; Tabari, Dhayl, 58-9.
Ja‘far al-$adiq, Abu ‘Abd Allah Ja‘far b. Muhammad b. ‘All b. al-Husayn b. ‘All b. Abi
Talib, known as al-$adiq (the truthful one) (d. 148/765). Successor to Muhammad
al-Baqir [q.v.], he was the imam of the Shl‘a of his time, accepted both by lsma‘ili
and Twelver Shi‘ls, and an authority on hadith and jurisprudence (fiqh) for Sunni
scholars. He is attributed the authorship of a commentary on the Q ur’an, which
has reached us in two recensions, one being the so-called Shl‘l recension and the
other the so-called Sufi recension; see Marshall G. Hodgson, ‘Djafar al-$adik\ EP,
II, 374-5.
jami, Nur al-Dln ‘Abd al-Rahman jam! (d. 898/1492). A Naqshbandi, was one of the
great Persian Sufi poets of the pre-modem era. A prolific author, he was associated
with the Timurid court at Herat; see CL Huart - [H. Mass6], ‘Djami*. EP, II, 421-
22. His collection of poems (mathnawi) is entided Silsilat al-dhahab.
larir b. ‘Abd al-Hamld [b. Jarir] b. Qurt al-Kufi (d. 188/804). Bom in the district o f
Isfahan and brought up in Kufa, he later moved to Rayy where he spread his
knowledge; he was generally considered a ‘trustworthy^ transmitter (thiqa) o f
hadith; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, II, 75-7; Dhahabi, Siyar, IX, 9-18.
al-Jawni, Abu ‘Imran Musa b. Sahl al-Ba$ri (d. 307/919). A widely travelled and
respected traditionist; see Dhahabi, Siyar, XIV, 261, no. 167.
al-Jubba’I, Abu ‘All al-Jubba’I, Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab (d. 303/915-6). O ne
of the most celebrated of the Basran Mu‘tazila, who differed from the Baghdad
Mutazila over the question of human free will. Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari (d.
323/935) studied with him before making his definitive break with the M utazila
and dedicating his efforts to refuting Mutazilism, especially that of his former
master al-Jubba*i; see Louis Gardet, ‘al-DjubbaT, EP, II, 569-70. A tafsir, based
upon various statements attributed to him, has been put together by Gimaret
(1996). On his son, Abu Hashim ‘Abd al-Salam b. Muhammad al-Jubba’I, see Ibn
al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu‘tazHa> 94-100,105,107-10,114,130; L. Gardet, ‘al-
Djubba’f, El2, II, 570; GAS, 1,623-4.
Junayd, Abu 1-Qasim b. Muhammad al-Nihawandl (d. 298/910). A famous mystic of
Baghdad who came to be known as the founder of the Baghdad school of Sufism.
For an account of his life and works, see Abdel Kader 1976; Roger Deladrtere 1983;
A. J. Arberry, ‘al-Djunayd\ EP, II, 60.
Juwayni, Abu’l-Ma‘all ‘Abd al-Malik (478/1085). A major Ash‘ari theologian, he
wrote an influential manual on the theology of that school entitled Kitdb al-Irshad
ild qaw&fi' al-adillafi u$ul al-itiqad, tr. Paul Walker 2000. He taught in Mecca and
Medina, where he got his sobriquet ‘imam of the two holy Cities’ (imam al-hara-
mayti); see Louis Gardet, ‘al-Djuwaynl’, EP, II, 605-6.

590
 ProsopographicaJ appendix

Ka‘b al-Abbar Abu Ishaq b. M&ti* b. Haysu* (or Haynu*) (d. 32/652 or 34/654). A
Yemeni of Jewish origin, on the authority of whom much haggadic and talmudic
material in narrations is reported;seeM. Schmitz, ‘Ka‘bal-Abb&r',EP, IV, 3lb -
17; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqdt, V II/2,156; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 32; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib,
VIII, 438-40.
Kab b. al-Ashraf (cL 4/625). Jewish opponent of Muhammad at Medina; see W.
Montgomery Watt, ‘Kab b. al-Ashraf’ EP, IV, 315; Rubin, 1990,65-71.
al-Kabl, Abul-Qasim ‘Abd Allah b. Ahmad b. Mahmud al-Balkhl (d. 317/929). A well-
known scholar, theologian and head of a branch of the Mutazila called al-Kabiyya;
see Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, III, 45; Albert Nader, ‘al-Balkhl’. EP, 1 ,1002; ‘Abbas
Zaryab, ‘Abu’l-Qasim BalkhI’, DM/, VI, 151-6; Ibn al-Murta<Ja, Tabaqdt al-
Mutazila, 88-9 inter alia; GAS, 1,622-3; DhahabI, Tadhkira, 803.
al-Kalbi, Abu’l-Natfr Muhammad b. al-Sa’ib b. Bishr al-Kalbi (d. 146/763). Renowned
as a Qur’an commentator (mufassir) and contemporary of another early mufassir,
Muqatil b. Sulayman al-Balkhl (d. 150/767). A Shil, he was interested in what may
be termed universal history and the history of religions, especially pre-Islamic,
Jewish and Christian; but he was also renowned for other branches of knowledge:
poetry, literature, philology, genealogy, tradition and ancient legends. His com­
mentary on the Qur’an, now lost, is supposed to have been the longest ever com­
posed and in it he is said to have espoused pro-‘Alid interpretations of particular
verses. He was known as a transmitter of exegetical sayings going back to Ibn
‘Abbas Iq.v.]; see W. Atallah, ‘al-Kalbi’, EP, IV, 495-6; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqdt, VI, 358ff;
Ibn Qutayba, Kitdb al-Ma'drif, 535; Ibn al-Nadlm, al-Fihrist, 107ff; Ibn Khallikan,
Wafaydt, IV, 309-11; Yaghmuri, Nur al-qabas 256-62; $afadl, al-Wdfi, III, 83; Ibn
al-Athlr, Lubdb, III, 47. On his tafsir, of which scholars have consulted manuscripts
from various collections (Chester Beatty MS 4224, Ayasofya MS 118 and
Hamidiye MS 40), see Dawudi, Tabaqdt, II, 149; Rippin, 1994,50-6; Wansbrough
1977,130-6,140-7 inter alia; Scholler 2000,18-48. It has been suggested that the
tafsir is identical to al-Wd^ib fi tafsir al-Qurdn of Abu Muhammad al-Dinawari
(d. 307/920); see Rippin, 1984,23; GAS, I, 34-5. On the use of his narrations in
Shi‘i sources, see Kufi, Tafsir, 1,121-22 on Q. 5:11; Tusi, Tiby&n, X, 369 and TabrisI,
Majma al-baydn, XXX, 137 on Q. 93:7; cf. Kohlberg 1992, 343 on the use of his
tafiir by Ibn Tawus (d. 673/1275); Rubin 1995,91 & 94. He was accused of being
unreliable (matruk) and of being a Shi*!; see Bukhari, Kitdb al-Quafd’ 105fF; idem,
al-Ta'rikh al-kabir, 1 ,101; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir al-Qur an, II, 71 on Q. 5:56; Ibn al-
Athlr, Lubdby III, 47; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, IV, 310; $afadi, Wdfi, III, 83; Ibn
Taymiyya, al-Muqaddima 69ff where he is criticised alongside other early mufas-
sirun such as WiqidI, ThalabI and others.
Kashifi, Kamal al-Din Husayn b. ‘All Kashifi known as wd'i? (preacher) (d.
910/1504-5). A major Timurid literary figure, preacher, theologian and Sufi. Bom
in the ShI*I-dominated city of Sabzavar (Bayhaq), he moved to Herat where he
became a courtier of Sultan Husayn Bayqara (d. 911/1506) and was closely asso­
ciated with the vizier Mir ‘All Shir Nawa’i (d. 906/1501). Famous as the author of
the martyrology Rawtfat al-shuhadd\ which some regard as proof of his ShTism,
he wrote two Sufi commentaries of Sunni character on the Qur’an: one a more

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concise text, Mawdhib-i 'Aliyya (or Tafsir-i Husayni), and the other an extensive
but incomplete work (up to surat al-Nisd\ Q. 4) Jawdhir al-tafsir, see G. H. Yusofi,
‘Kashifi’, EP, IV, 703-5; Sands 2003; Jacobs 1999,50-80.
Khalaf b. Hisham al-Baghdadl (d. 229/843). A well-known Qur'an reciter (muqri');
see Najashi, Rijdl, 1,208-10.
al-Kharraz Abu Sa‘id Ahmad b. 'Isa al-Kharraz (d. 286/899). A famous Baghdadi Sufi;
see Wilferd Madelung, 'al-Kharraz. EP, IV, 1083; Qushayri, Risdlay1,98-9; Jaml,
Nafahdt, 73-6. A collection of treatises attributed to him, Rasd’il al-Kharraz, has
been edited by Qa$im al-Samarra’I.
al-Kirmani, Muhammad b. Yusuf (d. 786/1384). Compiler of a commentary on
Bukhari's $ahih, entitled Sharh $ahih al-Bukhdri.
al-Kisal, Abu'l-Hasan ‘All b. Hamza al-Kisal (d. c. 189/805). A well-known philol­
ogist and Qur'an reader; had close relations with the ‘Abbasid court for many
years, as tutor of the caliph al-Mahdfs son al-Rashld and later the lattei^s sons, al-
Amln and al-Ma'mun; his is the latest of the seven established Qur'anic readings;
see R. Sellheim, ‘al-KisaT, EP, V, 174-5.
al-Kishshl, Abu ‘Amr Muhammad b. ‘Umar (d. 340/951). Compiled one of the first
major Imam! biographical dictionaries; see Wilferd Madelung, ‘al-Kashshi'. EP ,
IV, 711; Najashi, Rijdl, 372; cf. Sachedina 1984,183-206.
al-Kumayt b. Zayd al-Asadl (d. 126/743). Famous Kufan poet; see J. Horovitz [-Ch.
Pellat], ‘al-Kumayf, EP, V, 374-5.
Labld, Abu ‘Aqil b. Rabfa (d. c. 40/661). A famous mukhadram (an individual who
was a poet before Islam and survived after its advent, dying a Muslim). One of his
poems is included in the pre-Islamic canon of the muallaqdt; see C. Brockelmann,
‘Labld b. Rabfa’, EP, V, 583-4; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqdt, VI, 20-1; I$fahanl, Aghdni, XIV,
90-8; GAL, 1,29-30, SII, 65-67; GAS, II, 126-7; al-Zawzanl, Sharh al-muallaqdt
198-234; Arberry 1957,119-48.
al-Layth, Abu'l-Harith al-Layth al-Baghdadi (d. 240/854). A Qur'an reciter {muqri')
who associated with al-Kisai [q.v.]; see Najashi, Rijdl, 1,211.
al-Layth b. al-Mu^affar (d. c. 184/800). Arabic philologist, grammarian, jurisprudent,
and student of al-Khalll b. Ahmad, the author of Kitdb al-'Ayn. He was said to have
composed that book himself; R. Sellheim, ‘al-Layth b. al-Mu?affar\ EP, V, 711. On
the relationship between al-Layth and al-Khalil, see Talmon 1997.
MakkJ b. Abl Talib Hammush al-Qays! (d. 437/1045). Bom in Qayrawan, was a well-
known scholar of grammar and the Qur'an in al-Andalus. Works of his on
Qur’anic topics that are extant include Kitdb al-Kashf, Kitdb Mushkil; Kitdb Tafsir
al-mushkil; Kitdb Tafsir al-mushakkal; see DawudI, Jabaqdt, II, 331-2; Ibn
Khallikan, Wafayat, IV, 361; MashannI 1986.
Ma‘mar b. Rashid (d. 154/770-71). A Basran traditionist, he is usually known as the
narrator for the tafsir of Qatada [q.v.] and was the main source for much of ‘Abd
al-Razzaqs narrations in his al-Mu$annafand his Tafsir. Cf. GAS, I, 81, 290-1;
DhahabI, Tadhkira, 1,364; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, X, 243-6.
Man$ur b. al-Mutamir, Abu ‘Attab al-SuIaml al-Kufi (d. 133/750). Famous Kufan tra-

592
 Prosopographical appendix

ditionist who transmitted from the likes of Ibrahim al-Nakha‘I, Sa*Id b. Jubayr
[^.v.] and Muj&hid b. Jabr [q.v.]; see Dhahabl, Siyar, V, 402-412.
Masada b. $adaqa al-‘AbdI. Narrated from Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja‘far al-$adiq and
‘All al-Rid*. Most of the ShI‘I biographers regard him as a Sunni (‘dmmi) but as
one whose narrations are ‘trustworthy (muwaththaq). Other sources suggest that
he was a Zaydi of the Batriyya branch; see Najashi, Rijdl 357; TusI, Rijdl, 40;
KishshI, Rijdl 248; MamaqanI, Tanqth, III, 212; Ibn Dawud, Rijdl, 188.
al-Mawardl, Abu*l-Hasan ‘All b. Muhammad b. Habib (<L 450/1058). A Basran Shafi*I
jurist (faqth), author of several books on religious, political, social issues, language
and belles-lettres (adab); he also composed a tafsir. al-Nukat wa’l-'uyun; see C.
Brockelmann, ‘al-Mawardf, EP> VI, 869; GAL, 1,386; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat, III,
282-4.
Mihjan b. al-Adra al-Aslami. An early convert to Islam who narrated a few hadtths
from the Prophet. He took up residence in Basra and is said to have died towards
the end of Muawiyas reign. Ibn Ijajar, Tahdhib, V, 381, no. 7566.
Mu‘§wiya b. ‘Amm&r b. Khabbab al-Duhanl (d. 175/791). A ‘trustworthy transmitter
(thiqa) of hadith from Kufa and author of several works, including a book on
prayers (Kitdb al-$alat) and one on divorce (Kitdb al-Taldq), Najashi, Rijdl, II,
346-48; KishshI, Rijdl, 260; 'Histari, Rijdl IX, 42.
al-Mubarrad, Abu’l-*Abbas Muhammad b. Yazid al-Thumali (d. c. 286/900). A major
figure in the Basran school of grammar and a prolific author, see R. Sellheim, ‘al-
Mubarrad’, LJ2, VII, 279-82; GAL, 1,109; GAS, IX, 78-81; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist,
59.
al-Mufaddal b. Muhammad al-Pabbi (d. between 164-70/784-7). An Arabic philol­
ogist of the Kufan school. He famously took part in the ‘Alid uprising of Ibrahim
b. ‘Abd Allah (the brother of al-Nafs al-Zakiyya) against the ‘Abbasid caliph al-
Man$ur. After the uprising was put down, he was imprisoned for a while, but was
later pardoned by the caliph and appointed tutor to his son, the future caliph al-
Mahdl. Apart from grammar, al-Mufaddal was also regarded as an authority on
the poetry of the pre-Islamic (jdhiliyya) period, like the famous Hammad al-
Rawiya. Unlike the latter, however, he was celebrated for the reliability of his trans­
mission. His principal work is a collection of old Arabic qa$idas called the
Mufadddliyydty which he compiled for his royal pupil al-Mahdl; see I.
Lichtenstadter, ‘al-Mufaddal*, El2, VII, 305-6.
Muhammad al-Baqir, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. ‘All (d. c. 117/735). Shi*I imam; see
Etan Kohlberg, ‘Muhammad b. ‘All al-Bakii', EP, VII, 397-9; for further details,
and on his intellectual heritage, see Lalani 2000.
Muhammad b. Abl ‘Umayr [Abu Ahmad Zayd b. ‘Isa al-Azdi]. See Ibn Abl ‘Umayr.
Muhammad b. ‘All, Abu Ja*far al-Baqir. See Muhammad al-Baqir.
Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya (d. 81/700-1). Son o f‘All b. Abl Talib from Khawla
and a woman of the Banu Hanlfa. He was generally a pacifist, not wishing to
involve himself with the various disputes between the leading Muslim factions
during the first two civil wars. However, an Iraqi enthusiast, al-Mukhtar, stirred
up a revolutionary movement in the former's name: Muhammad tried to avoid

593
On the Nature of the Divine

any contact with al-Mukhtar but eventually needed his help to escape im prison­
ment under the contender to the caliphate. ‘Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr. After th e
failure of al-Mukhtai's revolt and the defeat a few years later of Ibn al-Zubayr,
Ibn al-Hanafiyya visited the Marwanid caliph in Damascus and recognised his
legitimacy, thereafter returning to Medina where he eventually died; see Fr.
Buhl, ‘Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya, E/2, VII, 402-3.
Muhammad b. Ka‘b, Abu Hamza al-Quratf (d. 112/731). A narrator of hadith
regarded as a reliable authority; see Ibn Khallik&n, Wafaydt, (al-Harra al-Nabawi),
V, 218; Dhahabi, Siyar\ V, 65-8; GAS, 1,32; Khalifa b. Khayyat, Ta’rikh,363; Tabari,
Ta'rikh (Dhayl al-mudhayyal), 2496-7, tr. Landau-Tasseron, 231.
Muhammad b. Muslim, Abu Ja'far b. Rabah (d. 150/767). A Kufan traditionist, he was
an Imam! notable and jurist, who was a disciple of Muhammad al-Baqir and Ja‘far
al-$adiq. Like Zurara [q.v.], he is regarded as one of the most trustworthy narrators
of his time; see Najishi, Rijdl, II, 199-200; Kishshi, Rijdl, Bombay edn, 107-13; Ibn
Dawud, Rijdl, 184
Muhammadb. Sa'db. Muhammadb. al-FIasan b. 'Atiyya b. S adb. Junadaal-‘Awfi
(d. 276/889). An important direct source of Tabari, represented a complete tradi­
tion of narrations that are reflected in a family chain of narrators going back to
Ibn ‘Abbas; see Khatfb, Ta'rikh Baghdad, V, 322; Gilliot 1990, 25. This isndd
appears 1,560 times in Tabari’s tafsir.
Muhsin al-Maythaml. Transmitted some traditions from Ja'far al-$adiq, see Khu*!,
Mu ‘jam, XIV, 1%, no. 9892; Tustari, Rijdl, VII, 485.
Mujahid b. Jabr, Abu’l-Hajjaj al-Makkl (d. 104/722). An important disciple o f the
commentary school of Ibn 'Abbas, he also narrated exegetical material from ‘All
b. Abi Tahb and Ubayy b. Ka'b [q.v.]. He is regarded as one of the initiators o f
the commentary method according to one’s personal opinion (bfl-ra*y); see
Dhahabi, Mufassirun, 1,107; Ma'rifat, 1997-8,1, 335-42; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqdt, V,
446-67; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, X, 43-4; GAS, I, 29; Noldeke, GQ, II, 167; Ibn al-
Nadim, Fihrist, 33; Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 92-3; \£qut, Irshdd, VI, 242-3; Andrew
Rippin, ‘MudjShid’, EP, VII, 293; Leemhuis 1981,169-81. The tafsir attributed
to him has been edited by ‘Abd al-Rahm&n al-T^hir al-Surati: Mujahid, Tafsir.
Muqatil b. HayySn b. Duwal Dur, Abu Bisfam al-Nabti al-Bajli (d. 153/770). Hadith
authority. Dhahabi, Siyar VI, 340; on the possible confusion between him and
Muqatil b. Sulayman, see Crone, 1997.
Mufarrif b. ‘Abd Allah b. Shukhayyir (d. 95/713). A Basran narrator, who narrated
from, among others, ‘All b. Abi Talib, ‘Ammar [q.v.]t Ubayy b. Ka'b [q.v.] and
‘A’isha [q.v.]. He was regarded as a trustworthy transmitter (thiqa) of hadith . He
kept company with the authorities and was aloof from the revolt of Ibn al-Ash‘ath
in Iraq; see Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,64-5.
al-Muthanna b. Ibrahim al-Amuli. One of Tabari’s teachers whilst he was a student
at al-Rayy. He is an important source for Tabari but very little is known about him.
Musa b. Bakr al-W&siti. Originally a Kufan, he transmitted from both Ja'far al-$adiq
and Musa al-Ka?ini; see Kishshi, Rijdl, 371, no. 305; Tustari, Qdmus, IX, 139; TusI,
Rijdl, 307, no. 441,359, no. 9.

594
 Prosopographical appendix

Nabigha al-Dhuby&ni (fl. late sixth century). One of the major pre-Islamic poets and
attached to the Ghass£nid Christian court at al-HIra; see Albert Arazi, ‘al-N&bigha
al-Dhubyani’, EP, VII, 840-2.
al-Na<Jr b. Suwayd. A ‘trustworthy transmitter (thiqa) of hadith who authored a book;
he transmitted from Musa al-Ka?im; Tustari, Qamus, IX, 201; Tusi, Rijdl, 362, no.
2.
Nafi1b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Laythl (d. 169/785). One of the seven established Qur’an
readers who lived and died in Medina. His pupils Warsh (d. 197/812) and Qalun
(d. 220/835) were the main transmitters of his reading; the transmission of the
Qur’an from Warsh on the authority of Nafi* (known as Warsh 'an Ntifi') is still
used in the Muslim world today, especially in West Africa; see Andrew Rippin,
‘Nafi* al-Laylhf, EP, VII, 878; NajashI, Rijdl, 1,107-11.
al-Nakhal, Ibrahim b. Yazld (d. 96/717). A Kufan traditionist and jurist who trans­
mitted a great deal of material from Anas b. Malik [q.v.] and ‘A’isha [q.v.]. He was
a proponent of the use of ra*y (personal opinion) if it was based on a sound knowl­
edge of the existing body of tradition. He influenced a number of theological cur­
rents which manifested themselves in the later legal schools, primarily the Hanafi
one; see Gerard Lecomte, ‘Ibrahim al-NakhaT, EP, VII, 921-2; Ibn Hajar,
Tahdhtb, 1,177-9; Dhahabi, Siyar, IV, 520-9.
Na$r b. ‘A$im al-Laythl (d. 89/707). An early grammarian and disciple of Abu’l-
Aswad al-Du’all (d. 69/688); see GAS, 1,24; al-Zubaydl, Tabaqdt al-nahwiyyin, 21.
al-Nawawi, Mubyil-Dln Yahy^ b. Sharaf (d. 676/1277). A Sh&fVi jurist famous for his
knowledge of hadith and his commentary on Muslim’s $abih; see Willi HefFening,
‘al-Nawawi’, EP, VII, 1041-2.
al-Numanb. Muhammad, Abu Hanifa,known asal-Qadlal-Nu‘man (d. 363/974).
The greatest Ismalll jurist of all time, he served the first four Fajimid caliphs and
became the highest juridical authority of the empire. He wrote on jurisprudence
but also on the esoteric interpretation of the Qifr&n, rituals and legal and religious
precepts; see Ismail K. Poonawala, ‘A reconsideration of al-Q§di al-Nu‘m§n‘s
madhhab\ BSOAS 38 (1974), 572-9; for fuller references, see F. Dachraoui, ‘al-
Numan b. Abl ‘Abd Allah’, EP, VIII, 117-18; Daftary, 1990,249ff.
al-Qadl ‘Abd al-Jabbar. See ‘Abd al-Jabbar.
al-Qaffal, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. ‘All (d. 365/976). A native of Shash (Tashkent),
he was a student of Tabari, a traditionist and an adherent of the ShafTi school, who
introduced that rite to Transoxiana in Central Asia; see GAS, 1,497-8; al-$afadi,
Wdfi, IV, 112-14; DawudI, Jahaqdt, II, 198-200; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, IV, 200-
1; Dhahabi, Siyar, XVI, 283-5; Gilliot, 1999,137-8. Al-Qaffal wrote a book on
legal theory, a commentary on al-ShafVi’s book on legal theory and a commentary
on the Qur’an; see Ismail, 1998,129.
al-Qasim b. al-Hasan (d. 272/885). One of Tabari’s teachers in hadith; see Khatlb,
Ta’rikh Baghdad, XII, 432; Gilliot, 1990,27.
Qatada b. Di‘ama al-Sadusi (d. 117/735). A Basran, he was blind from birth, but
proverbial for his memory and knowledge of genealogies, lexicography, historical
traditions, Q uranic exegesis and readings. He was a pupil of al-Hasan al-Ba$ri

595
On the Nature of the Divine

[q.v.] and Ibn Sirin; see Ch. Pellat, ‘Kattda b. Di'ama, EP, IV, 748; DhahabI, Siyar,
V, 269-83, no. 132; DhahabI, Mufassirun, 1,125-7; D&wudI, Tabaqdt, II, 43-4; Ibn
Khallikan, Wafayat, IV, 85-6; DhahabI, Tadhkirat, 1,115-17; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhtb,
VIII, 351-6; Ibn Sad, VII, 329-31; GAS, 1,31; Noldeke, GQ, II, 168.
al-Raghib, Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn b. Muhammad, better known as al-Raghib al-
I$fah&nl (d. ante 441/1050). For someone so frequently cited and well-known for
opinions on issues ranging from Q uranic lexicography to ethics (al-Ghazali is
famously reputed to have carried with him on his travels a copy of Raghib's p rin ­
cipal work on Islamic ethics), it is extremely rare to find an informative biograph­
ical entry on al-R&ghib al-l$fah£nl in the Muslim literary tradition. Al-DhahabI
can only tell us that he was an astute scholar, an impressive inquirer and the author
of several compilations. Although the traditional death date ascribed to Raghib is
503/1108, several alternative dates have been adduced; between 440/1048 an d
470/1077 (DhahabI, Siyar, XVIII, 120-1); the early part of the fifth century (SuyutI,
1964, II, 297); the middle of the fifth/eleventh century (Madelung, 1974,152-163).
As E. Rowson has pointed out, Raghib frequently alludes to contemporaries who
can be indentified as belonging to the circle of the Buyid vizier Ibn ‘Abbad (d.
385/995), and later his successor, al-Pabbi (d. 399/1008). Raghib is best known
for his contribution to the field of Islamic ethics, where his principal works are a/-
Dharfa ild makarim al-shan a and Tafeil al-nash*atayn wa-tah$tl al-sa'ddatayn. He
wrote works of philosophy and he is also the author of a tafsir, now mostly lost,
and one of the most celebrated dictionaries of Quranic terms, the Mufradat al-
Qur’&n; see Everett K. Rowson, ‘Al-Raghib al-l$fahanl\ EP, VIII, 389-90.
Rabf b. Anas al-Bakri (d. 139/756). A Basran narrator of the second generation of
Muslims; see GAS, 1,34; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, III, 238-9; Ma‘rifat, 1997-8,1,411.
al-Ru’asi, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad. According to legend, the founder of the Kufan
school of grammar in the second/eighth century; see Janusz Danecki, ‘Al-Ru’asf,
EP, VIII, 573.
al-Rumm&nl (d. 384/994). Seminal thinker in linguistics and the literary sciences; see
J. Flanagan. ‘Al-Rummanf, EP, VIII. 614-5; GAL, I. 20, 113, S I, 175; Ibn
Khallik&n, Wafdydt, III, 299; DhahabI, Siyar, XII, 533.
Ruways, Muhammad b. al-Mutawakkil (d. 238/852). A famous Q u ran reciter
(m u fi’) of Basra; see Najashi, Rijdl, 1,216.
Sahl b. Sa‘id. A Companion of the Prophet who died during the latter's lifetime; see
DhahabI, Siyar, III, 422.
Sad b. Tarif (also known as Sad al-Iskaf or Sad al-Khaffof; see Kishshi, Rijdl, 187, no.
91). Transmitted from both Zayn al-‘Abidin and Muhammad al-Baqir [q.v.]; cf.
TusI, Rijdl, 92, no. 17, and 124, no. 3.
Said b. Jubayr b. Hisham al-Asadi al-V&libl (d. 95/714). A famous scholar, traditionist
and Q uran reciter (muqri*), renowned for his knowledge, especially that of the
Qur an. He was killed by al-HajjS; for having taken part in the rebellion of Ibn al-
Ash‘ath, together with other famous figures, Mujahid b. Jabr [q.v.], Talq b. Habib
and ‘Afa* b. Abl Rabah [q.v.]; see DhahabI, Siyar, IV, 321-43, no. 116; DhahabI,
Tadhkira, 1,76-7 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, IV, 11-14; GAS, 1,28-9; Lecomte 1978.

596
 ProsopographicaJ appendix

al-SakhawI, Shams al-Din (d. 902/1497). A famous Egyptian traditionist, prosopog-

rapher and historian; see Carl F. Petry, ‘al-Sakhawf’, EP, VIII, 881-2.
Salman al-Farisi (d. after 23/644). A Companion of the Prophet and one of the most
popular figures of Muslim legend. He is said to have recognised the signs of
Muhammad’s prophethood, and later at the siege of Medina by the Meccans, to
have suggested to the Prophet the digging of a trench (khandaq) in order to pre­
serve themselves from the enemy. Salman is venerated in Shf I tradition on
account of his intimacy with the family of the Prophet; in speculations of Gnostic
Shl'ism, he commands even higher respect; see Giorgio Levi Della Vida, ‘Salman
al-Farisi’, El1, IV, 116-17.
al-Sha‘bi, ‘Amir b. Sharabil (d. 103/721-110/728). Famous early legal expert and
transmitter of fradith; see Gaultier H. A. Juynboll, ‘Al-Sha^I*, El2, IX, 162-3; Ibn
Khallikan, Wafaydt, III, 12-15; DhahabI, Siyar, IV, 294-319.
al-Shafi‘i, Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi‘I (d. 204/820). The eponym of the Shafi‘1
school of law. He was considered the ‘renewed (mujaddid) of the second/eighth
century. He was probably bom in Gaza, but after the death of his father, moved
with his mother to Mecca. Having spent time with the tribe of Hudhayl, he
acquired great skill as a poet and is said to have been admired in this respect by
later literary luminaries such as al-J&bi? (d. 255/869). He was also an excellent
archer, but abandoned these activities for a quest for knowledge. At Mecca he
studied with the eponym of another school of law, Malik b. Anas (d. 179/795), the
author of the famous legal manual al-Muwafta\ Al-Shafi‘i spent many years in
Iraq where he met with the two progenitors of the other Sunni schools, Abu
Hanlfa [q.v.] and Ahmad b. lianbal [q.v.], before spending time in Yemen and
finally settling in Egypt where he composed his two most famous works, the Kitdb
al-Umm and Risdla; see E. Chaumont, ‘Al-ShafiY, EP, IX, 181.
Shaykhz&da, Muhammad b. Mu$lih (d. 951/1544). Shaykh al-Isldm (chief mufti) of
Istanbul and author of a commentary on Baydawf s Tafsir. Hdshiyat Muhyi al-Din
Shaykhzada aid tafsir al-qadi al-Bayddwi.
al-Shibll, Abu Bakr Dulaf b. Jahdar (d. 334/945). A celebrated but controversial
mystic of Baghdad. A disciple of Junayd, he also associated for a time with al-
Hallaj. Shibll left behind no authenticated written works, but two works attributed
to him have been published: Diwdn, 1967, and Adab al-muluk, 1991. Otherwise,
many sayings and a number of poems have been preserved in works of Sufi liter­
ature. His ecstatic utterances (shafhiyydt) were included and commented on by
Ruzbihan Baqll in his Sharh-i shafhiyydt. On Shibll, see Farid al-Din ‘Attar,
Tadhkirat al-awliyd\ ed. M. Esti‘laml; partial Eng. tr., A.J. Arberry as Muslim Saints
and Mystics-, Florian Sobieroj, ‘Al-Shiblf, EP, IX, 432-3; DhahabI, Siyar, XV, 367ft;
Abu Nuaym, Hilyat, X, 366-75.
Slbawayhi (d. c. 180/796). Pioneer Arabic grammarian and author of a single untitled
work known as Kitdb Sibawayhi, acknowledged as the founding text of Arabic
grammatical science. He was a student of al-Akhfash al-Akbar [q.v.] and al-Khalil
b. Ahmad; for extensive references see Michael G. Carter, ‘Slbawayhi’, EP, IX,
524-30.
al-Suddl, Isma‘ll b. ‘Abd al-Rahman (d. 127/745). A popular Kufan preacher, with

597
On the Nature of the Divine

regard to whom opinions diverged greatly; some considered him mendacious,

undoubtedly on account of his ‘preaching and the ‘popular' nature of hisQ ur &nic
exegesis, associated with the role of the popular story-teller/preacher (qd$$); see
Gaultier H. A. JuynboU, ‘Al-Suddi\ EP, IX, 762; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib. 1,313; GAS
1,32-3.
$uhayb b. Sinan (d. 38/658). A famous Companion of the Prophet, who had been
captured at a young age from the Byzantines; he fought at Badr with the Prophet,
and died in Medina; see MizzI, Rijdl, XIII, 237-40, no. 2904.
al-Sulami, Abu Abd al-Rahman Muhammad b. al-Husayn (d. 412/1021). An im por­
tant Sufi hagiographer and Q uran commentator from Nishapur; see Gerhard
Bowering, ‘al-Sulamf, EP>IX, 811-12; Dhahabi, Siyar, XVII, 247-55; GAS, I,
671-4; Ates, 1969. His significant tafsir, Haqd’iq al-tafsir, has been uncritically
edited and published in 2 volumes.
al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Din (d. 911/1505). A Shafi‘1jurist, he wrote treatises on law and
legal theory. He was the student of Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (on whom see Charles
Pellat, ‘al-MahallT, EP, V, 1223). Suyufi completed the commentary begun by his
master Mahalll and this tafsir, which came to be known as Tafsir al-Jaldlayn, ‘the
Commentary of the Two Jalals’, and has enjoyed lasting popularity even to this day
(for an English translation see Hamza 2008). Since Suyufi was responsible for the
final form of the commentary and the bulk of its content some scholars have
referred to it as his work, Mahalll having composed the commentary only on the
surat al-Fdtiha and then from surat al-Kahf(Q. 18) onwards. SuyutI lived most o f
his life in Cairo and some biographers have attributed 600 books and booklets to
him. He is known, inter alia, as a linguist, historian, and legal scholar. Suyufl. Husn,
I, 252; GhazzI, Kawdkib, I, 226; Ibn Iyas, B a d a i, IV, 83. Cf. Eric Geoffroy, ‘Al-
Suyuti’, EP, IX, 913-16; Sartain, 1975; Sharaf, 1981.
al-Tabarani, Abu 1-Qasim Sulayman b. Ayyub al-Lakhml (d. 360/971). One of the
most important traditionists of his time, who travelled for some 30 years learning
and collecting hadiths from a large number of masters. He collected three com-
pendiums of varying sizes and content, one called al-Mujam al-kabir, another al-
Mujam al-awsaf and a third, al-Mujam al-$aghin see Maribel Fierro, ‘al-Tabaranf,
EP, X, 10-11.
Tarafa, 'Amr b. al-'Abd b. Sufyan (ft. c. 543-569). Pre-Islamic poet and composer o f
a muallaqa poem which is among the most famous pre-Islamic poems; see J. E.
Montgomery, ‘Tarafa’, EP, X, 219-20; Sukkar, Mu'jam, 246.
Tawus, Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Tawus b. Kaysan (d. 106/724-5). A Persian of Yemeni
origin, a traditionist and a jurist; see Dhahabi, Mufassirun, I, 112-13; Ma'rifat,
1997-8,1,343-48; Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, II, 509-11; Ibn tfajar, Tahdhib, V, 367;
Ibn Sad, Jabaqdt, II, 135.
Thalab, Abu’l-‘Abbas Ahmad b. Yahyaknown asT halab (d. 291/904). A Hanbali
and a famous grammarian and philologist of the Kufan school; see Monique
Bernards,‘Thalab’, EP ,X ,433;IbnKhallik&n, Wafaydt, 1,102-4;Dhahabi,Siyar,
XIV, 5-7.
al-Tha‘labi, Ahmad b. Muhammad (d. 427/1035). A prominent commentator of the

598
 Prosopographical appendix

Qur'an and collector of stories. He is famous for two works: a massive tafsir, which
draws upon the work of Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767) and al-Kalbi [q.v.], and
a Qifaf al-anbiya’ work on the stories of the lives of pre-Muhammadan prophets.
His major commentary, al-Kashf wal-baydn ‘an tafsir al-Quran has been uncrit­
ically and incompletely edited in four volumes, although Isaiah Goldfield edited
the bibliographical introduction: Tha'labi, Quranic Commentary, see Andrew
Rippin, ‘al-Tha‘labI\ El2, X, 434; Saleh 2004; Dhahabi, Tafsir, 1,227-34; Noldeke,
GQ, II, 173-4; GAL, 1,350.
al-TusI, Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan (d. 459 or 460/1066-7). Originally from
Khorasan, he moved to Buyid-dominated Baghdad, where he studied with two of
the main Imam! authorities of all time, Shaykh al-Mufid (d. 413/1022) and al-
Sharif al-Murtad^ (d. 436/1044), later becoming the leading Twelver scholar of his
time. He wrote two of what were to become the ‘four books' (al-kutub al-arba a)
of Imam! jurisprudence: al-Istib$ar, and Tahdhib al-ahkdm (the latter being a com­
mentary on al-Mufid’s al-Muqni'a). He wrote the first great Imam! rationalist
Qur'an commentary: TusI, Tibydm, see Mohamed A. Amir-Moezzi, ‘al-Tusf, El2,
X, 745-6; Akhtar, Shfite Imamiyyah Thinkers, 205-46; Dawani 1983; Tihrani,
Zindagi. Cf. Marcinkowski 2001b, 273-96.
Ubayy b. Ka‘b, Abu 1-Mundhir (d. 18 or 30/635 or 651). Traditionally regarded as
the founder of the Medinan ‘school’ of commentary, he had been a Jewish rabbi
before his conversion to Islam. He acted as the Prophef s secretary. An early col­
lector of the Q ur’an, known as ‘master of the readers’ (sayyid al-qurra'), he was
renowned for his memory and his ability to recite the entire Qur'an in eight
nights. He is said to have collected his own copy of the Qur’an prior to the col­
lection ordered by the caliph ‘Uthman; see Dhahabi 1961-2,1,91-3; M arifat,
1997-8,1, 223-4, 316-17; Andrew Rippin, ‘Ubayy b. Ka‘b \ El2, X, 964-5; Ibn
Sad, Tabaqat, III/3,59-62;Dhahabi,Siyar, 1,389-402;NOldeke,GQ, III,83-97;
cf. Jeffery, Materials, 114-81.
‘Udayy b. al-Raqqa al-'Amili (d. 95/714). A famous poet of the Umayyad period; see
Marzubani, Mu‘jam, 116, no. 347,253; AyyubI, 1980,279.
‘Umar b. Shabba b. ‘Ubayda, Abu Zayd (d. 262/878). Hadith authority, Ibn Abl Hatim
al-RazI emphasises his reputation as a reliable scholar; see Stefan Leder, “Umar b.
Shabba’, EPt X, 826-7.
Wahb b. Wahb al-Qurashl, Abu'l-Bukhturi. A companion of Ja‘far al-$adiq, from
whom he transmitted, although most authors deem him mendacious; he was cer­
tainly considered a ‘weak’ (d<*‘if) transmitter; Najashi, Rijal, II, 391-392; Khu’i,
Mu jam, XIX, 211-214, no. 13199; Kishshi, Rijal, 261-2, no. 137.
al-Wahidl, Abu’l-Hasan al-Naysaburi (d. 468/1075). Famous exegete, grammarian
and scholar of Mutanabbi’s poetry. His most famous work is on the occasions of
the revelation of the Quranic verses, the Asbab al-nuzul, see GAL, 1,411-12; Ibn
Khallik&n, Wafaydt, III, 303-4; Dhahabi, Siyar, XVIII, 339-42.
al-Waqidi, Muhammad b. ‘Umar (d. 207/822). A philologist, traditionist, exegete and
author of a work on the campaigns of the Prophet: Wfiqidl, Kitdb al-Maghdzi; see
S. Leder, ‘al-Waqidi’, EP, XI, 101-3; Dhahabi, Siyar, IX, 469; Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat,
V, 314-21, VII, 77; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 111. He was accused of being Shi‘i and

599
On the Nature of the Divine

of being an unreliable source. For a modem debate on the latter, see Adams, 1998,
17-43.
Wa$il b. ‘Ata* (d. 131/748-9). An early theologian and ascetic associated with the ear­
liest Mutazili movement, and one of al-Hasan al-Ba$ri’s [q.v.) disciples. He p ro ­
moted the ideas of the Basran Qadariyya (proponents of the doctrine of hum an
free will), and was responsible for the doctrine that the unrepentant Muslims who
commit grave sins are ‘corrupt* (fasiq)> and will end up in Hell on the Day o f
Judgement; seeJ. van Ess, ‘Wi$il b. ‘Ata”, EPt XI, 164-5; also idem, 1991-7, II,
234ff., esp. 260-8 on the question of grave sins.
Yafiya b. Sallim. See Ibn Sallam.
al-Yam&n b. Riab (or Riyab). A Kh&rijite theologian of the second/eighth century,
known for his anti-anthropomorphism. His brother was an associate of Musa al-
Ka?im; see Madelung 1979, 127-8; TusI, Rijal, 221; Najashi, Rijal, 189; Ibn al-
Nadlm, Fihristy II, 95.
Ya'qub b. Shu'ayb b. Maytham al-Tammar. Narrated from Ja'far al-$adiq, and was the
grandson of a close companion of‘All b. Abi Talib, who had been crucified in Kufa
for his Shfism; see Najashi, RijaU II, 427; Ibn Dawud, Rijal* 206.
Yunus b. ‘Abd al-A‘la b. Maysara (d. 264/877). A great Egyptian scholar, a Qur* an
reciter (muqii*) who followed the reading of Warsh from Nafi‘ [q.v.], and a hdfiz
(one who has memorised the entire Qur’an), who transmitted from the likes o f
Sufyan b. ‘Uyayna, and transmitted to Muslim, Ibn Maja [q.v.], al-Nasal and Abu
Hatim; see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, XI, 440; Dhahabi, Siyar, XII, 348-51.
Yunus b. Habib al-Nahwi (d. 439/1047). Compiler of books on tafstr, language, para­
bles and anecdotes; see Ibn Khallikan, WafayaU VII, 244-9; Dhahabi, Siyar, VIII,
171.
al-Zajjaj, Ibrahim b. al-Sari (d. 311/923). An Arabic grammarian who worked in
Baghdad; among his pupils were Abu ‘All al-FarisI [q.v.], Ibn Wallad and al-
Rummani [^.v.]. He is regarded as the link between the two grammarian schools
of Kufa and Basra and the new grammar that was developed in Baghdad in the
fourth/tenth century under the influence of Greek logic. His main work dealt with
Q ur’anic philology: Zajjaj, M adnt al-Qur*dti\ see C. H. M. Versteegh, *A1-
Z a d id M \ EPt XI, 377-8. GAS, 1,49; GAL, I, 109-10; Versteegh, 1995; Ibn al-
Nadim, Fihrist, 60-1; Dhahabi, Siyar, XTV, 360.
Zayd b. ‘Ali (d. 122/740). A grandson of al-Husayn b. ‘All b. Abi Talib and a noted
expert on periphrastic exegesis of the Qur’an; see Wilferd Madelung, ‘Zayd b. *All*,
EP, XI, 473-4; Ibn Sa‘d, JabaqdU V, 239-40; Isfahan!, MaqdtiU 127-51; GAS, I,
552-60; Baladhuri, Ansabt II, 520-41; Arendonk, 1960,28-31; SubbanI, 1998,57-
220 .
Zayd b. ‘Amr b. Nufayl. Muhammad’s maternal cousin and a famous ham/(a believer
who was neither a polytheist nor a Jew nor a Christian). According to Muslim tra ­
dition, when he later embraced Islam the Prophet said of him that his importance
would be clear on the Day of Judgment when he would be resurrected as the equal
of a whole nation. On his encounter with the Prophet, see Kister, 1970, 267-75;
Guillaume, 1960,27-8; Baladhuri, Ansab> V, 520-4.

600
 Prosopogrtphical appendix

Zayd b. Aslam al-‘Adawi (d. 136/753). A Medinan who narrated from ‘A’isha [q.v.];
see DhahabI, Mufassirutt, I, 116-17; Mizzi, Rijdl, X, 12-18, no. 2088; DhahabI,
Siyar, V, 316, no. 153.
al-Zibriqan b. Badr al-Tamimi (d. c. 45/665). A famous mukha<jram (poet of the
jdhiliyya and early Islam); see Marzubanl, Mu jam, 128, no. 397; al-'Ani, 1971,113;
Sukkar, 1999,203.
al-Zuhri, Muhammad b. Muslim b. ‘Ubayd Allah b. Shihab b. Zuhra (d. 124/742). A
prominent (and pre-eminent) traditionist and jurist of the third generation of
Muslims in Medina. His main teachers were ‘Urwa b. al-Zubayr (d. 93/712), the
nephew of‘A’isha [q.v.], and Said b. al-Musayyab [q.v.]. An important source for
the legal pronouncements of Ibn Jurayj [q.v.], he was also an important source for
the Sira of Ibn Ish&q [q.v.]; see Michael Lecker, ‘al-Zuhri*, EP, XI, 565-6; idem,
1996,21-63; Khalifa b. Khayyaf, Tabaqdt, 261;al-Pari, 1985;Motzki, 1991,1-46.
Zurara b. A‘yan b. Sunsun (d. 150/767). An important Imam! notable and traditionist,
who was closely associated with Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja‘far al-$adiq and Musa
al-Ka?im. As a jurist and theologian, he was involved in arbitration within the
Imam! community and disputations with other communities. His grandfather,
Sunsun, had been a Byzantine slave; see Najashi, Rijdl, I, 340-2, 397-8; Kishshi,
Rij&l, Bombay edn, 88-107; Ibn Shahrashub, Ma'alim, 46; Ibn Dawud, Rijdl, 96-7.

601
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Munich.
Yabya, Osman. 1964. Histoire et classification de Voeuvre dTbn ‘Arabi: etude critique, 2
vols. Damascus, Institut fran^ais de Damas.
Yazdi, Mehdi Haeri. 1992. Knowledge by Presence. Albany, State University of New York
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Zaryab, Abbas. 1373sh/1994. ‘Abu’l-Qasim Balkhi’ in Dd'irat al-Madrif-i buzurg-i
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al-Zawzanl, Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Husayn. 1963. Shark al-muallaqdt al-sab\ ed. M. Hamd
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al-Qalam.

645
 Subject index

al-dli 2 1 2 - 1 3 A b u ‘A b d A lla h J a 'fa r b . M u h a m m a d a l-F a z a ri 25

A b i n b . 'U t h m i n 5 54 A b u ‘A b d A lla h M u h a m m a d b. H u m a y d al-R a z i
'A b d A lla h b . 'A b b a s 4 3 3 28
' A b d A lla h b . 'A b d a l- M u fla lib 350 A b u 'A b d A lla h M u h a m m a d b . Ib r a h im
‘A b d A lla h b . ‘A b d a l- R a h m a n 565 T a b a ta b a 4 3
'A b d A lla h b. A b i Is b a q see Ib n A b i Is b a q A b u ‘A b d A lla h M u h a m m a d b . K a r r a m 62 n . 195
‘A b d A lla h b . 'A m ir b . R a b l'a 8 3 . 8 3 n . 4 3 .9 6 A b u *A m r b . a l- 'A la ’ 4 1 2 ,5 2 1 ,5 4 2 - 3 ,5 5 4 ,5 6 0
‘A b d A lla h b . J u n d u b 355 A b u ‘A m r a l- K is h s h i 27
‘A b d A lla h b . M u h a m m a d b. K h a lid a l- J a y a lis i A b u B a k r 6 3 n . 2 1 3 ,4 0 9 n . 139
a l- T a m im i 2 7 - 8 Abu Bakr b. Zakariyya al-Razi 30
‘A b d A lla h ( f a th e r o f M u h a m m a d ) , lik e n e d to A b a D a w a d 4 8 5 ,5 6 6
th e g lass 3 82 on al-hayy al-qayyum 271
‘A b d A lla h b. ‘U m a r ( I b n ‘U m a r ) 6 3 n . 2 1 3 ,8 2 , A b u D h a r r a l- G h a f a ri 533
82n. 4 1 ,83n. 4 2 ,8 5 ,8 9 ,9 6 -7 ,1 0 6 ,1 1 8 ,371n. on kursi 1 4 4 ,2 2 8 ,2 5 6
7 3 , 4 0 9 n . 1 3 9 , 4 1 5 ,4 3 6 ,4 6 0 - 1 ,4 6 I n . 1 9 ,4 8 5 a n d 'arsh 1 5 1 ,2 1 1
‘A b d a l- 'A z iz a l-M a k k i 413*4 A b u H a tim a l-R a z i 1 2 , 18n. 3 1 ,2 9 - 3 0 ,4 9 3
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 3 3 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 5 4 -9
see also Ib n Ju ra y j o n Q . 112 5 0 9 - 1 2
'A b d a l- H a q q b . ‘A tiy y a 4 2 , 6 2 n . 204 AbQ W ayyan a l- G h a m a ti 4 , 3 9 - 4 2 ,6 9 ,7 1 ,2 9 9 ,
‘A b d a l- J a b b a r b. ‘A b d A lla h a l- M u q r i’ a l-R a z i 36 3 0 0 ,4 3 6 ,4 9 4
‘A b d a l- J a b b a r, a l- Q a d i 4 0 8 o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 1 0 5 - 1 2
‘A b d a l- K a r im 36 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 0 2 -1 3
‘A b d K h a y r5 3 1 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 2 1 - 3
A b d a l- M u tta lib , lik e n e d to t h e n ic h e 382 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 1 2 - 1 6
‘A b d a l- R a z z a q a l- S a n 'a n i 15 n . 1 0 , 16n. 1 1 , 147n. o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 7 6 - 8
73 o n Q . 112 5 5 2 - 4
o n G o d n o t s lu m b e r in g (Q . 2 :2 5 5 ) 1 3 7 n . 30 A b a H u r a y r a 15n. 8 ,3 0 6 ,3 1 I n . 2 4 ,3 2 4 ,3 2 7 ,3 3 9 ,
'A b d u h , M u h a m m a d 2 1 , 4 8 - 5 0 , 122n. 1 4 3 ,3 0 1 4 6 1 n . 1 9 ,4 6 4 ,4 8 4 ,5 4 8 ,5 6 3 ,5 6 5
on al-hayy 2 65 o n G o d n o t b e in g p o s s e s s e d b y s lu m b e r 206
o n th e a r r a n g e m e n t o f th e Q u r ’a n 274 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 0 3
o n in te r c e s s io n 1 3 4 ,2 7 5 ,2 7 7 ,2 8 0 A b a Is h a q Ib r a h im b . M u h a m m a d al-S a fa q u si
o n th e ‘life* o f G o d 2 6 5 - 7 4 1 ,2 0 0
al-ustadh al-imim ( th e te a c h e r, th e im a m ) A b a J a 'fa r M u h a m m a d a l- B a q ir see M u h a m m a d
1 1 9 n . 137 a l-B a q ir, A b a J a 'fa r M u h a m m a d b . ‘All
see also al-Man&r A b a Jah l 5 2 7 n . 94
A b r a h a m 8 0 , 8 0 n . 3 1 , 1 6 2 n . 1 2 7 ,3 6 8 n . 6 1 , 5 1 5 n . A b a K u ra y b M u h a m m a d b . a l- 'A la ’ 28
66 A b a L a h a b 5 1 6 ,5 1 6 n . 7 2 , 5 3 5 , 5 3 5 n . 1 0 7 ,5 5 3 ,
a n a lo g ie s fo r 381 5 5 3 n . 1 3 3 ,5 6 5
c o m m u n ity , lik e n e d to th e b le s se d tr e e 4 1 5 A b a M a 's h a r 5 0 0 n . 16
d is c o v e ry o f G o d 3 6 3 n . 51 A b a M O sa a l- A s h 'a r ! 15n. 8 ,4 0 5 ,4 1 4
k n o w le d g e o f G o d 363 on kursi 1 5 0 ,2 5 7
lik e n e d to th e b le s s e d tr e e 3 5 7 ,3 6 9 ,4 0 6 - 7 A b a M u s lim b . B a b r a l-l$ fa h a n i 4 3 4 - 5
lik e n e d to th e n ic h e 4 0 4 o n G o d ’s p o s s e s s io n o f th e c o s m o s 199
m o n o th e is m 3 4 8 ,3 5 1 A b a N u 'a y m a l-I$ fa h a n i 3 7 1 n . 7 3 ,5 6 4
s im ile s fo r 4 3 9 A b a S a i d a l - K h u d r l 3 7 3 ,4 3 8
s ta tio n o f A b r a h a m 2 4 8 , 2 4 8 n . 20 A b a T a lib ( u n c le o f th e P r o p h e t) 81 n . 37
a b r o g a tio n (naskh) 7 5 n . 1 3 , 8 4 - 6 , 8 5 n . 4 8 , 8 6 n . A b a 'U b a y d a M a 'm a r b . a l- M u th a n n a 3 ,2 9 ,3 0 ,
51 9 3 ,1 1 0 ,4 3 6
A b u 'A b d A lla h see J a 'fa r a l- $ a d iq , A b u A bd on al-hayy 157
A lla h J a 'fa r b . M u h a m m a d A b a 'U b a y d a M u s lim b . A b i K a rim a 460

647
Subject index

AbO U m i m a a l- B ih ill, o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 284 K i s h i n i o n 5 5 0 -1

AbO 'U t h m i n a l- D im a s h q i 40 R iz i o n 5 4 1 - 2 ,5 4 9
AbO Y azld a l-B a s ta m i (B iy a z id B a s tim i) 4 6 7 n . 48 Z a ra a k h sh a ri o n 5 1 6 -1 8
o n G o d ’s g re a te s t n a m e 232 see also G o d , o n e n e s s ( tawhid)
on kursi 201 al-ahadiyya 2 2 9 n . 373
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 2 B urO saw i o n 5 5 5 ,5 5 6 ,5 5 9 - 6 0
o n re v e la tio n a n d sle e p 234 F a d l A lla h o n 5 7 2
A bO Z a y d 'A b d a l- R a b m i n b . M u b a m m a d b. ahl al- adl wal-tawhid see M u 'ta z ila
M a k h lO f a l - T h a 'i li b i 41 ahl al-bayt (p e o p le o f [th e P r o p h e t 's ] h o u se ) 125,
A bO Z u b a y d aJ -T a ’i 1 1 1 - 1 2 ,1 1 I n . 112 3 5 5 ,3 5 6 - 7
A b 0 ’l-‘A liy a 6 9 ,1 0 6 ,1 0 9 ,3 8 0 , 3 8 7 ,4 0 7 ,4 1 3 ,4 3 3 , ahl al-kisd' (p e o p le o f th e M a n tle ) 3 6 8 n . 36
4 3 6 ,5 0 3 ,5 0 7 ,5 4 8 ,5 5 2 ,5 5 3 ,5 6 4 ahl al-sunna see S u n n is
A b O l-A s w a d a l- D u ’ali 521 n . 84 A h m a d b . ‘A li 29
A b O V A t ih i y a 2 7 9 n .4 8 7 A h m a d b . Y a b y i ( T h a l a b ) 4 1 . 2 7 3 n . 4 8 1 ,5 5 2 ,
A bO ’l - B a q i’ 2 0 7 , 2 0 8 ,3 2 9 ,4 7 9 553
A b u ’U D a r d i’ 5 1 9 ,5 6 7 A h m a d b . Y fls u f b . 'A b d a l - D i ’im b. M u b a m m a d
A bO ’l-F a d l a l- 'A b b i s b . M u b a m m a d b . a l- Q i s im a l- f f r l a b i ( I b n S a m in ) 41
b . H a m z a b . M u s i b . J a 'fa r a l- $ a d iq 25 ahzdb 5 5 3 ,5 5 3 n . 135
A b u l - F a t b ‘U b a y d A llah a l- Q u s h a y r! 36 ‘A ’is h a 4 3 7
A b O l- F u tu b a l-R a z i see a l- R iz i, A b O l-F u tO b ‘ajamiyydt 1 6 1 ,1 6 1 n . 121
A bO ’l- H u d h a y l 2 0 3 n . 267 a l-A k h fa s h ( a l-A k b a r), A b u ’l- K h a tta b 4 0 ,3 1 4 ,
A b u ’l- H u s a y n al-B a$ ri 35 3 1 5 ,3 1 9
A b O l-J irO d Z i y i d b . a l- M u n d h ir 2 4 - 5 , 6 3 n . 213 ‘A l i ’ a l- D ln al-M aw > ili 47
A b O l- M u n d h ir , o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 175 a l-'A la w i, A$U a l- D in 'A b d A lla h 38
A b O l - Q i s i m a l- A n $ ir i 37 a l-'A la w i, a l-S a y y id Y a b y i b . a l - Q i s i m b . 'U m a r
A b u ’l - S a r i y i 4 3 4 7 8 ,4 7 9 ,4 7 9 n . 100
A bO ’l-S h a y k h , o n kursi 2 5 6 'A ll b . A b i T i l i b 2 , 7 , 15 n . 8 , 5 3 n . 7 ,1 7 4 , 2 1 1 .
A b O l - S u u d 4 2 In . 167 2 2 3 n . 3 3 9 ,2 3 1 ,3 5 6 ,3 5 7 ,3 5 8 ,3 5 8 n . 3 6 ,3 8 0 ,
a c c id e n ts (‘ar<i<0 113n. 1 1 6 ,184n. 212 3 8 3 ,4 0 9 n . 1 3 9 ,4 1 3 ,4 3 3 ,4 9 6 n . 8 , 5 2 0 .5 2 1 , 5 2 6 ,
a n d s u b s ta n c e 3 8 5 ,3 8 5 n n . 1 1 7 ,1 1 8 5 2 7 n . 9 6 , 5 3 1 ,5 3 2 ,5 5 0 n . 1 2 4 ,5 6 2 n . 154
a c tiv e in te lle c t ( al-aql al-fa“dl) 4 1 2 ,4 1 2 n . 145 o n G o d ’s a ttr ib u te s 550
A d a m 162n. 1 2 7 ,1 7 3 ,3 6 8 n . 6 1 , 5 1 5 n . 6 6 ,5 6 0 on kursi 1 4 1 ,2 1 1
c r e a tio n o f 2 20 o n p r e d e s tin a tio n 4 6 0 ,4 6 1 n . 17
k n o w le d g e o f th e n a m e s o f all th i n g s 2 3 7 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 7 2 ,1 7 5 ,1 8 1 ,2 6 0 ,2 8 4
*adl see G o d , ju s tic e wal&ya 1 4 0 n .4 2 ,1 4 1 - 2 , 1 4 2 n .4 6
a l-A fg h a n i, S ay y id Jam al a l- D in ( A s a d i b i d i ) 48 'A ll b . a l- H u s a y n (Z a y n a l- 'A b id in ) 2 9 5 n . 5 2 6 ,
a l-A fla b b . ‘A b d a l- W a h h i b b . R u s ta m 23 3 5 8 ,3 5 8 n . 3 6 , 5 2 6 n . 9 2 ,5 2 8 ,5 2 9
a fte rlife 303 'A ll b. M u b a m m a d 3 5 8 n . 36
I b i d l s ’ b e lie fs 1 3 6 - 7 , 137n. 28 'A li b . M O si 3 5 8 n . 36
al-ahad 4 9 1 - 5 , 5 0 9 - 1 1 , 5 0 9 n . 50 'AH a l- R i d i 2 7 ,3 5 3 ,3 8 0 ,3 8 3
AbO W itim al-R a z i o n 509 c o m m e n ta r y a tt r i b u te d 159n. 109
A b u H a y y in o n 5 5 2 - 4 on kursi 180
AlOsi o n 5 6 1 -7 1 o n Q . 2 :255 140
B u n is a w i o n 5 5 5 -6 1 o n Q . 2 4:35 3 5 5
F ad l A lla h o n 5 7 2 - 5 'dlim ( p i . ' ulamd’) 1 5 1 ,2 1 0 , 2 1 0 n . 2 9 8
H u d o n 499 al-aliyy 2 1 2 - 1 3
K a s h in I o n 5 4 9 -5 2 T a b a r i o n 152
M ay b u d i o n 5 1 4 -1 5 Z a m a k h sh a ri o n 212
M u q i ti l o n 4 % 'All&h' (a s a n a m e ) 5 2 7 -8
Q u m m I o n 500 AbO H i t i m o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 5 5 - 6
R azi o n 4 9 3 ,5 3 2 ,5 4 2 - 5 , 549 A b u H a y y a n o n 2 0 7 , 2 0 7 n . 28 7 , 552
S h a ra fi o n 4 4 ,5 5 5 'A la ' a l- D in a l- K h a lw a ti’s u s e o f th e n a m e 2 2 5
T a b a ri o n 5 0 4 -5 AlOsi o n Q . 2 :255 2 4 6
T a b r is i o n 5 1 8 -3 2 B urO saw i o n 2 2 3 - 5 , 2 2 3 n n . 3 4 1 , 3 4 4 , 2 2 4 n .
and al-w&hid 4 9 2 ,4 9 9 . 5 0 9 n . 50 34 6 , 5 5 6 ,5 5 9
A b u H a tim a l-R a z i o n 509 K a s h in i o n 4 9 3 ,5 4 9 , 550

648
 Subject index

M a y b u d i o n 163 A ra b ic a lp h a b e t, s y m b o lic s ig n ific a n c e (jafr),

p r e - ls ia m ic b e lie fs in 4 9 8 n . 13 J a 'fa r b . M a n $ 0 r’s in te r e s t in 1 5 9 ,1 5 9 n . 110,
p r o n u n c i a ti o n , J a 'fa r b. M an $ G r o n Q . 2 :255 1 6 1 -2
162 A ra b s
R azi o n 493 id o la tr y , A b u tfatim o n Q. 2:255 156
r e p e titio n o f 5 3 2 ,5 4 9 on kursl 2 1 0
A lu si 4 7 - 8 , 1 1 6 - 1 9 , 3 0 0 ,3 0 1 ,3 0 2 u s e o f kirs 152
o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 1 1 6 - 1 9 'arad see a c c id e n ts
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 4 6 - 6 3 a r c h e ty p e s , p e r m a n e n t ( al-a'y&n al-thdbita) 4 1 7 ,
o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 2 6 -3 3 4 1 7 n . 159
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 2 9 - 4 4 a r g u m e n t b y d e s ig n 4 8 8 - 9
o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 8 4 - 6 A ristotle 273n. 483» 488n. 134
o n Q . 112 5 6 1 -7 1 o n t h e a c tiv e in te lle c t (n o ils po&tikos) 4 1 2 n .
'amal (w o rk s ) 2 4 , 7 4 , 8 6 n . 5 1 ,9 2 145
see also g o o d d e e d s o n lig h t 3 4 9
a l-A ‘m a s h , S u la y m in b . M i h r a n 4 9 2 ,5 0 0 n . 16, p h ilo s o p h y 4 4 3
5 1 7 ,5 4 2 'arsh 1 5 0 ,160n. 116
•A m ir b . a l-T u fe y l 4 9 6 - 8 , 4 9 6 n . 7 .5 2 4 ,5 3 4 A lu si o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 5 6 ,2 5 9
’A m m i r b . Y i s i r 5 27 h e a r t a s 2 2 3 n . 343
‘A m r b . 'A b d M a n a f ( H i s h i n i ) 5 5 4 n . 140 J a 'fa r b . M a n * 0 r o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 6 0 ,160n. 117
‘A m r b . ‘U b a y d al-B a$ ri 7 5 n . 17 and kursl 1 2 8 - 9 ,1 3 0 - 1 ,1 4 4
A m u li, S a y y id H a y d a r 3 8 - 9 A b u H a y y in o n 2 1 0 - 1 2
A n a s b . M a lik 3 6 0 n . 4 5 ,4 3 5 ,5 1 9 ,5 3 3 - 4 ,5 5 2 , K a s h a n I o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 0 0 ,2 0 1
5 6 1 ,5 6 4 ,5 6 5 R i z i o n 1 9 6 -8
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 0 o l-A fflrtd ro n 2 7 8
a n g e ls 3 0 4 , 3 2 1 n . 4 3 , 3 7 4 n . 8 7 ,3 9 5 ,4 0 4 , 49 6 , S h a ra fi o n 2 1 6 - 1 7 ,2 1 8 - 1 9 ,2 2 1
4 9 6 - 7 ,5 3 7 ,5 6 3 T a b a r i o n 1 3 1 ,1 4 4 ,172n. 1 7 1 .2 ! I n . 2 9 9
a s s o c ia te d w ith kursl 2 1 0 T a b r is i o n 1 7 9 ,2 1 6 n . 3 1 7
b e a r e r s o f th e ‘arsh a n d lo v e a n d h e lp fo r Z a m a k h s h a r i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 7 2 , 172n. 171
b e lie v e rs 2 1 5 - 1 6 a l- A s a m m , A b u V A b b a s M u h a m m a d b . Y a’q u b
as d a u g h te r s o f G o d 4 9 8 , 4 9 9 n . 1 3 ,5 0 2 ,5 3 1 3 8 7 ,5 4 7
d iv in ity d e n ie d 501 asds ( f o u n d a tio n ) 1 6 0 n . 119
s p ir itu a l re a lm ( malakut) 2 6 2 ,2 6 2 n . 4 5 8 ,4 2 6 , asbdb al-ttuzul see o c c a s io n s o f re v e la tio n
440 a l-A $ b a g h b . N u b a ta 2 6 ,3 5 8
f o u r a n g e ls b e a rin g th e kursl 1 4 5 ,1 4 5 n . 6 4 ,2 4 1 on kursl (Q . 2 :2 5 5 ) 1 4 1 ,1 4 5 ,1 7 9
Q u m m l o n 1 3 3 ,1 3 9 ,1 4 1 a l- A 's h a 3 1 0 n . 20
a s in te r c e s s o r s 133 a l- A s h ‘a ri, AbO M u s a see AbO M u s a a l- A s h ‘a r i
k n o w le d g e 1 % , 201 a l- A s h 'a r i, A b u ’l- H a s a n 3 0 0 ,3 1 3 n . 32
M u q a til o n 1 3 5 - 6 , 135n. 2 2 , 1 3 6 n . 2 6 o n a n t h r o p o m o r p h i s m 1 5 3 n . 91
ruh 2 1 0 n . 297 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 1
S h a ra fi o n 1 3 3 ,2 1 5 - 1 6 A s h 'a r is 109n. 1 0 9 ,3 0 0 ,3 1 3 n . 3 2 ,4 5 7 ,4 6 9 ,4 7 I n .
a s t h r o n e - b e a r e r s 129n. 10 6 5 , 4 7 3 n . 71
see also A z ra e l ( Izrd'll); G a b rie l (Jibril); a n d t h e v is io n o f G o d 2 2 0 n . 333
M ic h a e l ( Mik&'ll); R a p h a e l; S e ra p h ie l A s m a ' b t. Y a rid , o n al-bayy al-qayyum 271
(Isrdfil) a l-A $ m a ‘i, AbO S a‘id 5 5 2 ,5 5 4
anniyya ( a c tu a l e x is te n c e ) lOOn. 81 ‘A ta ’ b . A b i R a b ib 8 9 , 106n. 9 7 ,4 0 0 ,5 3 5 ,5 5 2
A n $ a ri, K h w a ja ‘A b d A lla h 3 2 , 5 8 n . 1 1 2 , 165n. o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 1 9 4 ,1 9 5
1 4 3 , 1 6 8 n . 1 5 1 ,3 7 1 n . 7 3 , 3 7 4 n . 8 9 , 4 6 5 n . 36, on kursl 179
4 6 7 n . 4 8 , 5 1 2 , 5 1 4 n . 6 0 ,5 6 6 a to m s (jawharfard) 4 7 3 ,4 7 3 n . 70
a n t h r o p o m o r p h i s m ( tashbih) 3 3 , 4 3 , 9 1 , 9 1 n . 64, a tt r i b u te s 4 6 9 ,4 7 4
1 0 0 , 1 1 6 , 1 5 3 n . 9 1 ,3 7 8 - 8 0 ,4 4 4 see also G o d , a ttr ib u te s
jirm 101 n . 82 see Ib n S in a
A v ic e n n a
jism 1 0 1 , 10 2 n . 8 2 , 1 1 7 n .6 4 a w e ( hayba) 2 2 4 n . 3 4 6
n e g a tio n o f 159 awliy&‘ 149n. 78
r e f u ta t io n in Q . 2 :1 1 5 69 see also s a in ts
see also mujassima; mushabbiha ayat al-dayn (‘d e b t v e rs e ’, Q . 2 :2 8 2 ) 130n. 12

649
Subject index

Ayat al-hijAb ( ‘v eil v e rs e ’, Q . 2 4 :3 1 ) 1 3 0 n . 12 B u ru s a w i, Is m a il H a q q i 4 5 - 6 , 6 9 . 7 1 , 2 9 9 , 3 0 0 ,

Ayat al-kursl (‘th r o n e v e rs e ’, Q . 2 :2 5 5 ) set kursi 384
Ayat al-nur (‘lig h t v e rs e ’, Q . 2 4 :3 5 ) s e e lig h t o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 1 1 2 -1 6
Ayat al-sayf{‘s w o rd v e rs e ’, Q . 9 :5 ) 1 3 0 n . 12 o n Q . 2 :255 2 2 3 - 4 6
’ayniyya lOOn. 81 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 2 3 - 5
'A y y is h i 4 , 2 5 , 2 6 - 7 o n Q . 2 4:35 3 4 9 ,4 1 6 - 2 9
o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 7 7 - 8 o n Q . 5 4 : 4 9 4 5 7 ,4 8 1 - 3
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 4 2 - 5 ,2 8 3 o n Q . 112 5 5 5 -6 1
al-azim 1 5 3 ,1 7 7 al-B O siri, AbO 'A b d A lli h , al-qafida al-burdiyya
azal (p r e - e te r n ity ) 1 6 3 ,1 8 9 ,189n. 2 2 6 ,2 3 0 ,3 7 8 , (O d e o f t h e M a n tle ) 2 3 9
4 0 9 n 1 3 9 ,4 2 3 ,4 6 6 ,4 5 9
a l- A z h a r i, A b u M an$Q r M u h a m m a d 541 c a n o n ic a l p r a y e r see p r a y e r
A z ra e l ( IzrA’It) 1 45n. 6 4 , 4 0 9 n . 139 c a u s a lity ( al-sababiyya), a n d in te r c e s s io n , F a d l
A lli h o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 9 0 -1
bAb (c e le stia l p o r ta l) 160n. 1 1 4 ,1 6 1 n . 120 c h a in s o f tr a n s m is s io n see isn&d
bAb ( h e a d o f th e I s m i'i ll da'wa) 3 6 8 , 3 6 8 n . 64 c h o ic e (ikhtiyAr) 4 8 9
B a d r, B a ttle o f 1 8 1 ,4 9 6 n . 8 , 5 2 7 , 5 2 7 n . 94 C h r is tia n ity 103
a l-B a lk h i, A b u l - Q i s i m see a l-K a l)!, A b Q l- in n o v a tiv e b e lie fs 204
Q i s i m , a l-B a lk h i see also T r in ity
a l- B i q il li n i, A b u B a k r M u h a m m a d 3 9 9 , 4 7 4 n . 75 C h r is ti a n s 7 8 , 8 7 , 9 5 , 1 2 1 ,3 5 1 ,3 5 2 ,3 5 7 ,3 6 9 , 3 8 2 ,
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 261 425
a l- B iq ir , A b u J a 'fa r M u h a m m a d see M u h a m m a d b e lie f in th e I n c a r n a ti o n 516
a l- B iq ir , AbO Ja 'fa r M u h a m m a d b . ‘A ll b e lie fs in J e s u s’ ( al-maslh) d iv in e s o n s h i p 4 9 9 ,
al-bAn 2 1 9 n . 329 501
barzakh 103 a n d t h e re v e la tio n o f Q . 112 535
B asra 7 4 , 7 5 n . 1 7 ,4 6 0 c o g n itio n 3 5 3 n . 1 2 ,4 4 2 n . 2 3 7
basf ( e x p a n s io n ) 2 1 7 ,2 1 7 n . 3 2 0 ,2 2 4 n . 346 C o m p a n i o n s o f th e P r o p h e t (fahAba) 2 , 4 , 7 2 - 3 ,
bAfin ( i n n e r m e a n in g /tr u th ; e s o te ric a s p e c t) 6 ,7 , 7 2 n . 5 ,4 2 1
1 1 , 1 0 3 n . 8 7 , 160n. 119 c o n s tr ic tio n (qabd) 2 2 4 n . 3 4 6
B i t i n is 41 th e c o n tin g e n t, n a tu r e I8 3 n . 2 0 6 ,2 2 7 ,5 5 7
B iy a z id B a s tim i, se e A b u Y azid a l- B a s ti m i c o sm ic a u th o r ity , th e o r y ( walAya takwiniyya)
a l- B a y d iw i. ‘A b d A lli h 3 5 , 4 6 ,3 2 4 ,4 2 1 n . 168, 2 9 4 ,2 9 4 n . 522
4 2 9 ,4 3 4 ,5 5 7 c o sm o lo g ic a l h o m o lo g ie s , J a 'fa r b . M a n s u r ’s
on nawm 2 73 in te r e s t in 1 5 9 ,1 6 0 n . 116
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 7 5 cosm os CAlam) 4 5 9 ,4 7 6 n . 8 1 ,4 8 1 ,5 6 1 - 2
o n Q . 112 2 27 c re a tio n 1 9 2 n . 2 3 5 ,3 3 3 - 4 ,3 3 5 ,3 4 4
a l-B a y h a q i, A h m a d b . a l- H u s a y n 4 2 9 ,4 3 2 ,4 3 5 , G o d ’s p o s s e s s io n o f 6 7 - 7 0 , 9 4 , 1 0 3 - 4 , 1 0 4 n .
4 3 7 ,5 7 0 8 9 ,1 1 6 ,2 0 0 ,3 1 6 ,3 2 6
o n A b u M O si a l- A s h 'a r i o n kursi 257 F a d l A lli h o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 8 7
o n A n a s b. M i li k o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 0 M a w d u d i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 281
al-bayt al-harAm 74 Z a m a k h s h a r i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 172
see also al-masjid al-harAm r a tio n a l o r d e r w ith in 3 2 2 n . 4 7
bayt al-maqdis see J e ru sa le m C o v e n a n t o f Alast 4 6 6 n . 4 3 , 4 6 7 n . 4 8
b e lie v e rs (s in g , mu min) 3 4 7 ,3 5 4 ,4 0 4 ,4 1 0 n . 142, c re a tio n ( khalq) 3 1 2 ,4 5 5 ,4 7 0 n . 5 6 , 4 8 1 , 4 8 I n .
4 4 5 ,4 6 1 1 0 4 ,4 8 3 n . 1 1 6 ,4 8 7 ,4 8 8 - 9 ,4 9 4 ,5 0 9
s a lv a tio n o f 3 5 5 - 6 a n d G o d ’s m e r c y 301
B ib lical n a rr a tiv e s see isrA'iliyyAt
B ilil th e E th io p ia n 1 7 3 ,2 3 4 ,4 9 6 a l - P a h h i k b . M u z i b i m 7 1 , 8 5 n . 4 9 ,9 9 ,1 0 5 , 3 6 0 ,
B lack S to n e 1 9 7 ,2 4 0 380, 3 8 1 ,3 8 2 ,4 0 4 ,4 0 5 ,4 1 5 ,4 3 3 ,4 3 5 ,5 0 1 , 5 0 2 ,
th e b le s se d tr e e ( shajara) 3 4 8 ,3 5 1 , 3 5 2 , 3 5 2 n . 8, 5 0 6 ,5 2 5 ,5 3 4 , 5 4 7 ,5 5 3 , 564
3 5 4 ,3 5 9 ,3 6 3 ,3 6 5 - 6 ,3 6 9 ,3 7 9 ,3 8 0 , 3 8 1 - 2 ,3 8 3 , o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d 15 2 n . 8 9
4 0 2 , 4 0 3 ,4 0 4 ,4 0 5 - 7 ,4 1 1 ,4 1 I n . 1 4 4 ,4 1 5 ,4 2 2 , o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 1 7 8 ,1 9 4
4 3 6 - 4 3 ,4 4 7 on kursi 150
a l- B u k h ir i 3 2 7 ,3 3 9 ,4 2 7 n . 1 8 7 ,4 8 4 ,4 8 4 n . 1 2 0 ,5 6 5 kursi a n d 'arsh 151
o n a l- H a s a n al-B a$ ri, o n
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 203 on al-qayyum 1 4 7 ,1 9 1 ,2 0 5 ,2 5 1
B u n d i r ( M u h a m m a d b . B a sh s h a r) 2 8 on sina 147

650
 Subject index

dalil ( r a tio n a l p ro o f ) 1 9 1 ,1 9 1 n . 231 a s lig h t 4 0 9 - 1 2 ,4 3 1

a l- D a r im i 5 69 o r ig in s in G o d 4 1 6 - 2 9
D a v id , kursJ 1 2 8 -9 al-Mandr o n 2 6 5 -7
D a y o f J u d g e m e n t, al-Man&r o n 2 7 8 -9 m o d e s 233n. 387
D a y o f R e s u r r e c tio n 353 a n d n o n - e x is te n c e 3 9 1 ,3 %
d e fe r ra l o f p u n is h m e n t to 3 2 9 - 3 0 E x o d u s , 3 2 1 3 6 n . 25
a s e v id e n c e o f G o d ’s m e r c y 3 1 8 -1 9 e x p a n s io n ( bast) 2 1 7 ,2 1 7 n . 3 2 0 ,2 2 4 n . 346
G o d ’s g a th e r in g o f b e lie v e rs o n 3 3 6 E zekiel
G o d ’s ju s tic e o n 3 0 0 ,3 0 1 1 :4-26 136n. 26
G o d ’s m e r c y t o s in n e rs u n ti l 3 1 4 - 1 5 1:26 1 3 6 n . 26
h u m a n a c c o u n ta b ility o n 345 E z ra {'Uzayr) 4 9 8 ,4 9 9 ,5 0 1 ,5 0 2 ,5 3 1
p r o c la m a tio n o f 334
see also r e s u rre c tio n fa c u ltie s , lik e n e d to t h e in te r n a l lig h ts 440,
d e a th 4 4 0 n n . 2 3 1 ,2 3 2 ,4 4 1 n . 2 3 3
life a f te r 1 4 3 n . 5 5 F a d l A lla h 1 1 ,5 1 ,7 1 ,3 0 1 ,3 0 2 ,4 5 9
p h y s ic a l/n a tu r a l d e a th , r e s u r r e c tio n a fte r o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 1 2 4 -5
32 In . 43 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 8 2 - 9 7 ,4 5 3 n . 261
ty p e s , a n d r e s u r r e c tio n 3 2 1 n . 43 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 4 2 - 5
v o lu n t a r y d e a th , re s u r r e c tio n a f te r 3 2 I n . 43 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 4 9 - 5 3
d e te r m i n a ti o n 4 55 o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 8 7 - 9
d e te r m in is m see p r e d e s tin a tio n o n Q . 112 4 9 2 ,5 7 2 - 5
dhikr 2 2 8 n . 3 6 7 fad&’ilal-Qur&n 127n. 4
p ra c tic e o f, a n d Q . 2 :2 5 5 223 fa ith (fm d n ) 7 2 , 7 4 , 3 4 4 , 3 4 5 , 4 5 8 n . 2 5 4 ,4 6 1
R a z io n 181 as lig h t 401
S u fis’ p e r f o r m a n c e o f 5 5 7 / a n d ’ ( a n n i h il a ti o n o f th e self) 9 9 , 104n. 90
d is b e lie v e rs a l- F a n ir i , M u lls Ib n H a m z a o n M u h a m m a d
in d iffe r e n c e to fa ith in G o d 3 4 3 b e in g p e r m it te d to m a k e in te r c e s s io n s 2 3 7
lo ss o f s o u ls 3 4 0 - 1 ,3 4 5 B u ru s a w i’s c ita tio n s 223
m e t h o d s f o r p r e a c h i n g G o d ’s m e s s a g e to
333 a l - F i r i b l , A b u N a $ r o n t h e a c tiv e in te lle c t 4 1 2 n .
see also u n b e lie v e rs 145
d u a lis m 5 5 3 - 4 al-F& risi, A bO ‘A ll 4 1 ,4 1 6 ,5 2 1 ,5 2 4 ,5 4 2
al-F arr& ’, A b u Z a k a r i y y i Y a b y i 3 ,2 9 ,4 1 ,1 0 8 ,
e a rth 1 1 0 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 2
a n d h e a v e n s 132 F i{ im a 3 5 8 n . 36
s p h e r ic a l n a tu r e 116 lik e n e d t o th e g litte r in g s t a r 3 5 7 ,3 5 7 n . 36,
e a st 369
c o r r e s p o n d e n c e w ith th e ‘p a r a d is e o f lik e n e d to t h e n ic h e 3 4 8 ,3 5 4 ,3 6 9
C h r is tia n s ’ 103 fayd ( a b u n d a n c e ) 2 2 6 n . 3 5 5
G o d ’s o w n e r s h ip 77 n . 2 6 ,7 9 ,8 8 ,1 0 1 f e a r ( khawf) 2 2 4 n . 3 4 6
see also qibla fiqh 5 2 , 1 0 8 , 3 1 2 n . 26
E m p e d o c le s 2 7 3 n . 4 8 3 ,3 7 7 n . 97 see also ju r is p r u d e n c e
E n o c h 13 3 n . 15 firdsa ( P e r s ia n , firdsat; in s ig h t, p e rs p ic a c ity ) 371,
e n u n c ia to r s (nufaqd) 3 6 8 ,3 6 8 n . 6 1 ,3 6 9 3 7 1 n . 7 3 ,4 0 7
e q u a to r 4 2 2 t h e F lo o d ( al-tufan) 381 n . 112
e s s e -e s s e n tia (‘e x is te n c e -e s s e n c e ’) d is tin c tio n fo r m (sura) 1 0 1 n . 8 2 , 1 3 0 n . 1 2 , 1 8 5 n . 213
1 8 3 n .2 0 6 fre e w ill 1 0 ,8 9 n . 5 6 ,9 7 - 8 ,3 7 8 ,3 8 0 ,4 5 5 - 7 ,4 6 2 ,
e s s e n c e o f a th i n g ( mdhiyya) see q u id d ity 4 6 2 - 3 n . 2 4 , 4 7 6 - 8 , 4 8 9 n . 136
‘th e e te r n a l s u s ta in e dsee al-qayyum A s h ‘a r is ’ a tt it u d e s t o 4 5 7
‘th e e te r n a lly liv in g ’ see hayy e x e rc is e d in t h e lig h t o f G o d ’s m e r c y 327
E v e 560 I b a d is ’ a ttitu d e s to 4 6 0
‘E v e r-w a tc h fu T see al-qayyum J a 'fa r al-$& diq o n 4 6 2
ev il, Q . 2 :2 5 5 a s p r o te c tio n a g a in s t 134 M u 'ta z ili v iew s 2 7 7 n . 4 8 4 ,3 1 3 n . 3 2 , 4 7 6 n . 84
e x is te n c e Q a d a r i 4 7 6 ,4 8 5 n . 123
G o d ’s e x is te n c e , AlOsi o n Q . 2 :255 2 4 7 - 8 ro le in u n b e lie f a n d lo s s o f s o u l 3 0 2 -3
a r g u m e n t b y d e sig n 4 8 8 - 9 a l- F u 4 a y l b . Y a s ir 5 3 2

651
Subject index

FurA t b . F u ra t a l-K u fi 4 ,2 5 - 6 ,3 5 3 ,4 9 4 c o s m o lo g ic a l a r g u m e n t fo r 3 3 5 n . 8 0
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 5 6 - 8 al-Mandr o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 263
o n Q . 112 5 0 1 - 2 f a c e ( w a ;h ) 6 7 - 1 2 3
futuwwa 3 7 I n . 7 2 g o o d n e s s 4 8 3 n . 116
g ra c e ( fadl) 2 2 6 n . 3 5 5 ,4 6 6 ,4 6 6 n . 4 4
G a b rie l ( Jibrll) 7 7 , 145n. 6 4 , 2 1 0 n . 2 9 7 , 3 8 3 ,3 9 5 , g re a te s t n a m e ( al-ism al-a'zam) 5 2 7 , 5 2 7 n . 9 5
4 0 9 n . 1 3 9 ,4 6 1 ,4 6 1 n . 1 9 ,4 % , 49 8 , 5 0 4 ,5 3 3 , g re a tn e s s , Ki&hAnI o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 0 2 , 2 0 2 n . 2 5 9
534 g u id a n c e
G a le n 3 7 7 n . 9 7 , 4 8 3 n . 116 AlOsi o n 4 4 3
genus (jins) 1 9 0 ,190n. 229 o f th e im a m s , Q u m m i o n 3 5 4
G h a d ir K h u m m 1 42n. 46 RAzi o n 3 9 9 - 4 0 1 ,4 0 4 - 5 ,4 0 8
a l- G h a f tr i see A b u D h a r r al-G hafA ri as al-baqq 3 1 3 ,4 2 8 ,4 2 8 n . 189
a l-G h a m A ti see AbO H ayyA n a l-G h a m A ti a s th e H ig h a n d t h e T r e m e n d o u s , F a d l A lla h
al-G hazA li, AbO H A m id 4 6 ,4 8 ,1 1 2 ,1 1 4 ,3 8 4 , 388, o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 9 5
3 9 1 ,3 % , 3 9 8 , 4 1 6 ,4 2 9 ,4 3 0 - 2 ,4 7 5 n . 7 7 ,4 7 6 , is o la tio n fo r, An$Ari o n 168n. 154
4 8 1 , 4 8 3 n . 116 je a lo u s y 3 7 2 n . 7 6
on al-hayy 2 30 ju s tic e ('adft 1 7 0 ,2 9 9 ,3 1 2 ,4 6 6 ,4 6 6 n n . 4 4 , 4 5
m y s tic a l th e o lo g y , B u ru s a w i’s u se 2 2 3 o n th e D a y o f R e s u r r e c tio n 3 0 0 ,3 0 1
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 348 in f r in g e m e n t o f 3 0 8 n . 14
o n Q . 112 5 6 7 k in d n e s s ( ilu d n ) 322
on al-qayyum 2 3 1 ,2 7 2 k n o w le d g e o f 3 3 , 9 8 , 1 1 3 , 1 2 3 - 4 , 1 2 4 n . 1 4 9 ,
o n th e s y m b o lis m o f lig h t 4 0 9 n . 139 2 0 4 ,4 1 7 ,4 1 7 n . 1 5 9 ,4 5 7 ,4 6 1 ,4 6 8 n . 5 2 , 5 3 9 ,
ghulat ( 'e x tr e m is ts ') 2 7 , 5 6 n . 72 5 5 6 ,5 6 1
th e g lass ( zujija, Q . 24:3 5 ) A b u F la y y in o n 209
H u d o n 352 A lu sI o n 2 5 5 - 6
K A sh in i o n 4 1 0 B u ru s a w i o n 2 3 8 - 9
M uqA til o n 351 a n d in te rc e s s io n , F a d l A lla h o n 2 9 3 - 5
RAzi o n 4 02 K A sh in i o n 201
th e g litte r in g s ta r (kawkab), F i t i m a as 3 5 7 ,3 5 7 n . M aw d O d i o n 282
3 6 ,3 6 9 M u q itil o n 209
G o d 4 5 8 n . 7 , 4 8 7 , 4 8 7 - 9 , 4 8 8 n . 1 3 5 ,5 5 0 n . 124 R A zlo n 195
as al-'aliyy a n d al-dll 2 1 2 - 1 3 seen as kursl 138n. 32
as A ll- e m b ra c in g 7 6 , 1 0 2 - 3 , 1 0 4 , 1 0 5 n . 93, T a b a r i o n 1 4 9 -5 0
10 5 n . 9 4 ,1 1 6 T a b ris I o n 179
al-G h azA li o n 114 'life ' o f, al-Mandr o n 2 6 5 -7
H a q q l o n 114 lig h t 1 0 ,4 4 ,3 4 7 - 5 0
wAst 9 4 , 1 0 1 , 105n. 9 6 ,1 1 0 ,1 1 8 A b u H a y y in o n 4 1 2 -1 6
as A ll- k n o w in g 7 6 , 9 4 , 1 0 4 , 105n. 9 4 ,1 1 4 - 1 5 AlOsi o n 4 2 9 - 4 4
fl/im 1 0 2 ,105n. 9 4 ,1 1 0 ,1 1 8 B u ru sa w i o n 3 4 9 ,4 1 6 - 2 9
a tt r i b u te s 1 5 3 n . 9 1 ,3 2 8 ,4 7 4 ,4 7 4 n . 7 3 , 4 7 5 n . F a d l All Ah o n 4 4 9 - 5 3
7 7 ,5 4 4 - 5 a s f r ie n d s h ip o f th e im a m a te 3 5 5 - 6
M a y b u d i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 6 3 -4 H a d o n 352
a u th o r it y ( sultan) 9 8 ,3 0 6 KAshAni o n 4 0 9 - 1 2
as al-azim ( th e T r e m e n d o u s ) , T a b a r i o n 153 lik e n e s s o f 41 On. 141
b e a u ty (al-jam&l) 332 m a n ife s te d i n t h e im a m s 3 5 8 n . 3 6 , 3 6 8 ,
b e lie f in , F adl AllAh’s v iew s 3 4 2 -3 369
as B e so u g h t o f all see al-famad (Q . 112) M aw dudi o n 4 4 4 -9
b e s to w s m e a n in g o n all th in g s 325 M a y b u d i o n 3 4 9 ,3 6 9 - 7 8
b o d ile s s n a tu r e 196 M uqA til o n 3 5 0
c r e a tio n o f A d a m 2 2 0 Q u m m i o n 354
a s C r e a to r ( khdliq) 1 0 0 ,3 3 3 - 4 ,3 3 5 RAzi o n 3 8 4 - 4 0 8
e n c o m p a s s e s e v e ry th in g 94 rev ealed th r o u g h M u h a m m a d , RAzi o n 3 9 5
essence (dhdt) 1 0 4 ,1 1 7 - 1 8 ,184n. 2 0 9 ,3 2 0 , T a b a ri o n 3 5 9 -6 7
4 7 5 n . 7 7 ,5 2 5 ,5 3 8 T a b ris i o n 3 8 0 - 4
wajh a s e ss e n c e 6 9 , 2 1 7 n . 320 a l- Z a m a k h s h a r i o n 34 9 , 3 7 8 - 8 0
e x is te n c e 312 see also lig h t

652
 Subject index

m a je s ty ( al-jaldl) 3 3 3 M aw d O d l o n 2 8 1 - 2 , 2 8 2 n . 491
m a n ife s te d in th e c o s m o s 481 s u b je c tio n to b o u n d a r i e s o f 'g o o d ’ a n d 'e v il'
m e a s u r e 10 8 9 n . 56
m e rc y 9 - 1 0 , 2 9 9 - 3 0 1 , 2 9 9 n . 1 ,3 0 3 ,3 0 4 - 5 , ta'fil (d e n y in g H is a ttr ib u te s ) 5 9 n . 1 1 8 ,9 1 n.
3 0 5 - 6 , 3 0 6 , 3 1 2 - 1 3 ,3 1 3 ,3 1 6 ,3 1 7 - 2 0 , 6 4 ,3 3 6
3 2 0 - 1 , 3 2 0 n . 4 2 .3 2 1 - 3 ,3 2 3 - 5 ,3 2 6 - 3 3 , ‘th r e e re a litie s ’, K i s h i n I o n 1 0 3 -4
3 3 0 - 1 ,3 3 4 - 4 2 , 3 4 4 - 5 t h r o n e 9 , 3 0 8 n . 1 5 ,4 2 6
a n d t h e a fte rlife 3 0 3 to b e f o u n d in th e h e a r t o f th e b e lie v e r 2 4 2
a n d c r e a tio n 301 tr a n s c e n d e n c e ( tanzih) 5 8 n . 1 1 8 ,8 8 n . 5 5 ,9 1 n .
muqarrabun s v is io n o f G o d 2 2 7 ,2 2 7 n . 364 6 4 ,1 0 0 ,1 3 2
nafs, a p p lic a tio n to G o d ’s 's e l f (dhdt) 10, a n d t r u t h 344
4 3 - 4 ,3 2 9 a s th e T r u t h ( al-mawjud al-haqiqi al-baqq),
n a m e s 9 4 , 1 1 6 , 1 3 1 - 2 ,3 4 7 B u ru s a w i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 2 4 ,2 2 4 n . 346
A b u H a tim o n 1 5 5 -8 u n iq u e n e s s , a l - M a n i r o n 2 6 3 - 7 8
B u ru s a w i o n 2 2 3 - 5 , 2 2 3 n n . 3 4 1 ,3 4 4 , u n ity 1 2 4 - 5 ,1 7 0
2 3 2 -3 d e g re e s o f 2 2 7
a l- S u y 0 ti o n 2 4 4 v eils o f lig h t 4 2 8
n a tu r e , R iz I o n 1 8 1 -2 0 0 M aw dudi on 447
a s N e c e s s a ry B e in g (wdjib al-wujud) lOOn. 81 R iz i o n 3 8 4 ,3 9 8 - 9
n o t w e a rie d o r tr o u b le d , T a b a ri o n 152 v is ib le re v e la tio n in th e H e r e a f te r 2 0 6 ,2 0 6 n .
o b e d ie n c e t o 8 4 - 5 282
o m n ip o te n c e 14 0 n. 4 0 ,2 9 9 ,3 0 0 - 1 ,3 1 6 ,3 1 7 , w ill ( irdda), a n d qadar a n d qadd’4 5 6 - 7
4 6 9 - 7 0 , 4 7 0 n . 5 6 ,4 8 7 - 9 w is d o m 4 5 6 ,4 6 7 - 9 ,4 8 1 - 2
a n d d o m i n a n c e o f 1 2 3 -4 w r a th 3 0 1 ,3 1 8 ,3 2 3 ,3 2 5 ,3 2 6 ,3 2 7 ,3 3 1 - 2
o m n ip r e s e n c e o f 9 , 6 7 - 1 2 5 , 7 0 , 1 1 2 ,1 1 6 see abo c o s m o s ; in te rc e s s io n ; nawm (s le e p );
o m n is c ie n c e , a n d fr e e w ill 4 5 5 - 7 al-qayyunv, al-sina ( s lu m b e r )
o n e n e s s ( tawhid) 1 0 - 1 1 ,1 3 1 ,3 2 6 ,4 9 1 - 5 ,5 2 8 , g o d s , p re - Is la m ic p a n th e o n 1 5 5 n . 9 5 , 156n. 100
5 6 1 -7 1 G o ld e n C a lf 8 4 , 8 4 n . 4 7 , 1 3 5 n . 25
F a d l A lli h o n 2 8 3 - 5 ,5 7 2 - 5 M u q i t i l o n 1 3 6 ,136n. 25
kalimat al-tawfrid, S u y u (I o n 264 Q u m m I o n 1 3 9 ,1 4 1
R iz I o n 1 8 6 - 7 ,5 3 7 ,5 4 5 g o o d d e e d s (ifrsdn/ hasandt ) 2 4 4 ,2 6 0 ,3 0 8 n .l4 ,
T a b ris i o n 177 3 3 8 - 9 ,3 4 5 ,4 3 9 ,4 6 4 ,5 1 9 ,5 3 3 ,5 3 9 ,5 6 6 ,5 6 8 - 9
see also al-ahad\ m o n o th e is m g o o d a n d ev il, G o d ’s s u b je c tio n t o b o u n d a r i e s o f
o n ly to b e w o r s h ip p e d , T a b a r i o n 146 8 9 n . 56
p o s s e s s io n o f th e c o s m o s 2 0 0 ,3 2 1 - 2 g r a m m a r 4 0 -1
F a d l A lla h o n Q . 2 :255 2 8 7 g r a m m a r ia n s
R a z io n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 9 2 -3 on ahad 5 0 4 - 5
T a b a r i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 149 on al-$amad 508
p o w e r ( qudra) 9 8 ,4 5 7
p ra is e 3 3 1 - 2 a l- H a d i iia ’l- H a q q , Y a b y t b . a l- H u s a y n 4 2 - 3 ,4 4 ,
p ra y e r , e x p re s s e d t h r o u g h m e r c y 304 4 5 , 2 1 4 n . 3 0 8 ,2 1 6 n . 314
q u id d ity ( mdhiyya) 100, lOOn. 8 1 , 183n. 2 0 6 o n a n th r o p o m o r p h i s m 2 1 9 - 2 0
184n. 2 0 9 ,4 7 5 n . 77 on 'arsh a n d kursl 138n. 3 2 ,2 1 9
re lig io n 3 37 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 1 4
r e m e m b r a n c e , M a y b u d i o n 163 o n t h e Q u r ’i n , a ttr ib u te s 2 1 6 - 1 7 ,2 1 7 n . 321
re v e la tio n o f k n o w le d g e to t h e s o u l, R iz I o n H a fiz , K h w a ja S h a m s a l- D ln M u b a m m a d 2 2 6
3 96 H *f$ b. S u la y m a n 521
ruya (v is io n o f G o d ) 206n. 2 8 1 ,2 2 0 -1 ,220n. H a g a r 3 2 4 n . 56
333 a l- H a k a m b . A b a n 3 0 7
s e lf-s u ffic ie n c y a n d tr a n s c e n d e n c e U 3 n . 116 a l- H a k a m b . 'U tb a , o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 149n.
se lf-v e ilin g 10 4 n . 91 8 0 ,2 0 9
sla v e s o f {'ibdd) 192n. 238 H a lla j, H u s a y n b . M a n s u r 370
s o v e r e ig n ty ( mulk) 3 0 6 o n t h e C o v e n a n t o f Alast 4 6 7 n . 48
B u ru s a w i o n 2 3 4 - 5 H a m m a m b . M u n a b b ih 308
a n d d o m i n io n o v e r c r e a tio n 76 H a m z a a l-Z a y y a t 521
a n d in te rc e s s io n 1 3 7 n . 30 H a n b a lis 109n. 1 0 9 ,4 5 5

653
Subject index

banifiyya 4 9 2 n . 5 H u d b . M u b a k k a m a l- H a w w i r i 4 , 2 3 - 4 , 7 1 , 4 7 4 n .
al-haqq 2 2 5 n . 3 4 7 7 5 ,4 9 2
muqarrabun’s v is io n o f 2 2 7 ,2 2 7 n . 364 o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 7 3 - 6
ftardm ( p r o h ib ite d ) 144n. 58 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 3 6 - 9
H a r iz b . 'A b d A lli h 2 ,7 7 , 501 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 0 4 - 5
a l- H a s a n a l- 'A s k a r i 2 4 , 142n. 46 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 5 1 - 3
a l- H a s a n b . ‘A il I4 2 n . 4 6 , 3 5 4 n . 1 5 ,3 5 8 n . 36 o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 5 6 ,4 6 0 - 2
a l- H a s a n b . M u h a m m a d b. a l- H a n a f iy y a 5 3 n . 7 o n Q . 112 4 9 9 - 5 0 0
a l- H a s a n al-B a$ ri 2 , 2 3 , 2 4 . 6 9 , 7 4 , 7 5 , 7 5 n . 1 7 ,8 9 , H u d i y i , 'A z iz M a h m u d 2 2 5 n . 354
8 9 n . 5 7 ,9 2 ,9 9 ,1 0 3 ,1 0 5 ,1 0 8 ,1 1 5 ,1 1 7 ,3 0 4 , tiujja ( a u t h o r it a ti v e p r o o f ) 94
3 4 8 , 3 5 2 n . 8 , 3 5 4 , 3 5 7 , 3 5 8 n . 3 6 ,3 6 1 ,3 6 3 ,3 6 4 , hulul ( in h e r e n c e ) 9 5 , 9 5 n . 71
3 6 6 , 3 8 0 , 3 8 2 , 3 8 4 ,3 8 7 ,4 0 0 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 3 ,4 1 5 ,4 2 2 , h u m a n a c tio n s , re q u ita ls in 3 3 6 - 9
4 3 3 , 4 3 5 , 4 3 8 , 4 6 0 ,4 6 2 ,5 0 6 n . 3 2 ,5 4 7 ,5 5 2 ,5 5 4 , h u m a n s o u l, M a n ic h a e a n b e lie fs 3 8 6 n . 1 1 9
5 64 h u m a n i t y 3 8 9 ,4 4 7 n . 250
o n th e fo r b id d in g o f id o la tr y 157 c r e a tio n o f 3 1 2 n . 27
o n fre e w ill 4 5 5 n . 2 fr e e w ill 8 9 n . 5 6 ,2 9 9 ,3 0 0 ,3 0 2
o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d o r tr o u b le d 152n. lo s s o f s o u l a n d u n b e lie f 3 0 2 - 3
89 a s r e c ip ie n ts o f G o d ’s m e r c y 3 0 0 -1
on kursi a n d 'arsh 1 5 1 ,1 7 1 - 2 ,1 9 6 ,2 0 1 ,2 1 0 , h u m a n k in d
2 1 2 ,2 5 6 a tt r i b u te s o f 153n. 9 1
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 3 7 ,1 3 8 ,1 7 4 ins&n ( ‘w o rld o f h u m a n k i n d ’) 2 4 2 , 2 4 2 n . 4 0 2
on cd-qayyum 1 7 7 ,2 0 5 I s m a il ! in te r e s t in 1 6 0 n . 119
on sina 147 k n o w le d g e o f G o d 132
H a sh w iy y a , A b u H a y y in c ritic is e s 4 1 ,2 0 3 h u m o u rs 377n. 97
H ass& n b. T h i b i t 5 23 a l- H u s a y n b . ‘A ll 4 3 , 3 5 4 , 3 5 7 , 3 5 8 n . 3 6 ,3 6 9 ,
hay&t (life ), 1 5 6 ,7 ,1 8 9 - 9 0 ,2 0 0 ,2 4 9 - 5 1 ,2 7 4 ,5 2 6 4 6 7 n . 4 7 , 4 9 5 , 5 2 6 , 5 2 6 n . 9 2 ,5 2 8 - 9
al-bayy 1 3 1 ,1 3 2 waldya 142n. 4 6
A b u H a y y in o n 205 H u s a y n b . S a i d a l-K u fi 25
AlOsl o n 2 4 9 - 5 1 ,2 4 9 n . 4 2 3 ,2 5 1 H u s a y n iy y a 45
B u n ls a w i o n 2 3 0 Huwa 2 4 8 n . 4 2 1 ,4 9 3 , 5 4 0 - 1 , 5 4 9 - 5 0 , 5 6 9 - 7 0
G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 209 u se a s G o d ’s n a m e 2 2 8 n . 3 6 7 ,5 4 0 ,5 4 7
Jal&l a l- D ln al-S uyO fl o n 2 6 3 - 4 huwiyya 2 2 7 n . 3 6 5 ,3 7 2 n . 77
al-Man&ron 2 6 5 ,2 7 2 h y lo m o r p h is m 9 5 n . 7 1 , 185n. 2 1 3
R azi o n 189
S h a ra fl o n 2 14 'idal-afyd 2 9 5 n . 525
T a b a ri o n 1 4 5 ,1 4 6 ,2 0 5 'idal-fifr 2 9 5 n . 5 2 5
J a b r i s i o n 1 7 5 ,1 7 7 I b a d i s 7 2 , 7 4 ,4 5 6
Z a m a k h s h a r i o n 1 7 0 ,2 5 1 a tt it u d e s to fre e w ill 4 6 0
al-hayy al-qayyum 2 2 3 n . 341 b e lie fs o n th e a fte rlife a n d in te r c e s s io n 1 3 6 - 7 ,
AbO H a t i m o n 157 1 3 7 n .28
B urO saw i o n 2 32 'ibid (slav es o f G o d ) 192n. 2 3 8
al-Mandr o n 2 7 1 -3 Ib lls (S a ta n ) 3 3 3 ,4 6 6 n . 4 5 . 4 6 7 , 4 6 7 n . 4 6 ,4 9 2 ,
M a y b u d i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 166 5 3 7 .5 6 4
R azi o n 1 8 2 - 9 ,2 4 9 Ib n 'A b b a s 2 , 5 , 1 5 n n . 8 , 1 0 , 17 n . 2 3 , 2 6 , 3 0 , 7 5 ,
h e a rt 8 0 , 9 1 , 9 5 , 1 0 8 , 1 2 4 , 1 2 5 n . 154, 36 0 , 3 6 1 ,3 6 3 ,
as th e 'arsh 2 2 3 n . 343 3 6 5 ,3 8 0 ,3 8 2 ,3 8 7 ,4 0 1 ,4 0 5 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 3 ,4 1 5 ,4 1 9 ,
M u h a m m a d o n 438 4 3 2 ,4 3 3 ,4 3 5 ,4 3 6 ,4 3 9 ,4 8 4 - 5 , 5 0 1 , 50 2 , 5 0 5 ,
heavens 5 0 7 , 5 1 7 , 5 2 5 , 5 3 1 - 2 ,5 3 4 - 5 ,5 3 7 .5 4 6 ,5 4 8 , 5 5 2 ,
a n d e a r th 132 5 5 3 .5 6 3 .5 6 4
re v e la tio n o f 3 9 6 ,4 4 5 on al-aliyy a n d al-dli 2 1 2
H e llfire 3 0 3 ,3 0 7 ,3 2 5 kursi 2 1 6 n . 3 1 9
o n ‘n r s / i a n d
h e p ta d s , Is m a ili in te re s t in 160n. 119 on al-'azim 153
hijra (M ig ra tio n ) 4 4 , 8 1 n . 37 c ite d b y M a y b u d i 167
himma ( s p ir itu a l e n e rg y ) 2 2 4 ,2 2 4 n . 343 o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d o r tr o u b le d 1 5 2
H ip p o c r a te s 3 7 7 n . 97 o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 1 9 5 ,2 0 9 ,2 5 5
H is h a m b . a l- H a k a m 9 In . 64 o n G o d ’s m e r c y a n d p r a y e r 3 0 4

654
 Subject index

on al-hayy al-qayyum 1 5 7 ,1 8 1 - 2 ,2 7 1 Ib n M as'O d , ‘A b d A lla h 2 , 7 , 15n. 8 ,3 0 3 ,4 9 2 ,

on kursi 1 5 0 ,1 5 1 ,1 7 9 ,1 9 6 ,2 1 2 ,2 5 6 4 9 9 - 5 0 0 ,5 1 7 ,5 4 0 ,5 4 7 ,5 5 2
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 3 9 ,1 3 9 n . 3 5 ,2 5 9 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 3 7 ,1 7 5
on al-qayyum 205 Ib n M u ja h id , A h m a d b . M u s a 4 1 5
on sina 147 Ib n a l- M u n d h ir , A b u B a k r M u h a m m a d 4 3 2 ,4 3 5 ,
Ib n A b i H i t i m al-RA zl 4 3 2 ,4 3 5 436
Ib n A b i Is h a q , ‘A b d A lla h 5 0 5 ,5 5 4 o n Ib n ‘A b b a s o n kursi 2 5 6
Ib n A b i ‘U m a y r, A b u A h m a d M u h a m m a d 24 Ib n a l- Q a y y im al-Ja w z iy y a 3 3 8 n . 84
Ib n a l- A n b a r i, A b a ’l- B a r a k a t 4 3 6 ,5 5 2 ,5 5 4 Ib n Q u ta y b a , ‘A b d A lla h b . M u s lim 42
on al-hayy 1 8 9 n . 2 2 7 on kursi 158
Ib n 'A ra b !, M u h y i T d l n 3 8 , 4 8 , 1 0 3 , 1 0 4nn. 8 8 ,8 9 , Ib n a l- R a q q a ', see U d a y y b . al-R aqqa*
1 0 5 n n . 9 3 , 9 4 , 4 1 7 n . 1 5 9 ,4 2 8 n . 1 8 8 ,4 3 1 n . 20 3 , I b n R a w a b a , ‘A b d Allah 439
4 8 1 ,4 8 2 n . 1 0 8 ,4 8 3 n . 1 1 6 .5 5 0 n . 1 2 3 ,5 6 0 n . 151 Ib n S a 'd , A b u 'A b d Allah M u h a m m a d , o n Ib n
c o s m o lo g y o f b e in g s 104n. 92 ‘A b b a s o n sina 1 4 7 n . 72
o n fand' 9 9 , 1 0 4 n . 90 Ib n a l- $ a g h ir a l- H a w w a r i 23
o n G o d ’s m e r c y 3 2 0 n . 4 2 ,3 2 5 Ib n S ail4 m a l-L a w a ti 23
a n d w r a th 3 3 0 -1 Ib n S a m ln ( A h m a d b . Y O suf b. ‘A b d a l- D a ’im b.
in f lu e n c e s al-Jili 2 2 7 n . 362 M u h a m m a d a l- H a la b i) 41
Ib n ’A sa k ir, T h iq a t a l- D in , o n kursi 211 Ib n a l-S a rr4 j, AbO B a k r M u h a m m a d 42
Ib n 'A la ' A lla h a l- I s k a n d a r i 4 6 7 n . 4 7 I b n S h ih a b a l- Z u h r i 2
I b n ' A tiy y a 4 1 5 ,4 7 2 ,4 7 6 ,4 8 5 Ib n a l-S ik k it, A b u Y O suf Y a 'q u b 4 2 9
on al-aliyy a n d al-dli 213 Ib n S in a, A b u 'A li (A v ic e n n a ) 3 7 ,4 0 3 - 4 ,4 4 2 ,
o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 208 4 7 5 n . 7 7 ,4 8 7
on kursi 211 a r g u m e n ts fo r th e N e c e s s a ry E x is te n t 1 8 2 -9 ,
Ib n B a b a s h a d h , T a h ir b. A h m a d 4 0 1 8 2 n .203
Ib n B a b a w a y h , A b u ’l- H a s a n ’A ll 2 5 o n G o d a s N e c e s s a ry B e in g lOOn. 81
Ib n B a b a w a y h , A b ti J a f a r M u h a m m a d b . 'A li (al- o n m o d e s o f c re a tio n 2 1 9 n . 3 2 9
S h a y k h a l- $ a d u q ) 2 4 ,2 5 - 6 p h ilo s o p h y 4 4 2 n . 2 3 7 ,4 4 2 n . 2 3 8 ,4 4 3 ,4 4 3 n .
I b n B a z z iz , 4 2 1 n . 166 240
Ib n Faddal, a l- tf a s a n b. 'A ll 2 6 -7 th e o r y o f t h e N e c e s s a ry E x is te n t 349
Ib n a l- H a jib , Ja m a l a l- D ln 4 7 7 n . 8 5 ,4 7 8 Ib n S irin , A b u B a k r M u h a m m a d 554
Ib n H a n b a l, A h m a d 2 8 ,4 3 8 ,4 8 4 ,4 8 5 ,5 6 5 Ib n T i w u s , ‘A li b . M u s a 27
a n th r o p o m o r p h i s m 1 5 3 n . 91 I b n T a y m i y y a ,T a q i a l- D in A h m a d 4 8 ,4 8 5 n . 123
on al-hayy al-qayyum 271 o n in te rc e s s io n 2 7 7 - 8
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 0 ,2 8 3 Ib n ‘U m a r see 'A b d A lla h I b n ‘U m a r
I b n H a w s h a b , A b u ’l- Q a s im a l- H a s a n 3 0 ,3 1 Ib n Z a y d , 'A b d a l- R a h m i n b . Z a y d b . A sla m al-
I b n H a z m , A b u M u h a m m a d 'A li 6 1 n . 185 ‘U m a ti 3 6 1 ,3 6 4 ,3 6 5 ,3 8 2 ,3 8 4 ,4 1 5 ,4 3 8
Ib n H ib b a n a l-B u s ti 563 o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d 152n. 89
Ib n J in n i, A b u ’l- F a th U th m a n 4 1 , lO ln . 83 on sina a n d nawm 147
Ib n Ju b ay r see S a 'id b . J u b a y r id o la te r s , c o n d e m n a tio n o f 3 1 0
I b n Ju ra y j, A b u l- W a l id 'A b d a l-M a lik 8 5 n n . 49, id o la tr y 3 3 5 n . 80
5 0 , 8 7 n . 5 2 ,3 6 3 ,4 1 3 A b u H a tim o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 5 5 -6
o n A ra b p a n th e o n 156 A b u ’l- B a q a ’ c o n d e m n s 2 0 7
o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e I4 9 n . 8 0 ,1 7 8 ,2 0 9 ,2 5 5 c o n d e m n a tio n , T a b a ri o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 149
I b n a l- K a r b a la l , H a fi? H u s a y n 4 2 1 n . 166 Fa41 A lla h o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 8 2 - 3
Ib n K a y sa n , a l- H a s a n b . M u h a m m a d 4 1 ,5 4 8 al-Mandr o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 264
Ib n K h a q a n , 'U b a y d A lla h b . Y a h y a 28 id o ls
I b n K h u r r a d a d h b i h , 'U b a y d A lla h 7 4 n . 12 in f e r io r ity t o G o d 3 0 6
I b n M a ja , A b u ‘A b d A llah M u h a m m a d 4 3 6 ,4 8 4 , Q u m m l o n 1 4 0 -1
5 66 see aho im a g e s
on al-hayy al-qayyum 271 ihmdl ( in d if f e r e n c e /a b a n d o n m e n t) 3 3 6 n . 82
Ib n M a lik , A b u A b d A lla h Ja m a l a l- D in 4 1 ,2 3 4 ijtihdd ( in d iv id u a l r e a s o n in g ) 2 9 ,9 9
on huwa 2 4 7 ‘I k r im a , A b u 'A b d A lla h 2 .3 8 2 ,4 1 5 ,4 3 6 ,5 0 3 ,
Ib n M a r d a w a y h , A h m a d b . M u s a 4 8 4 ,5 6 3 5 0 6 ,5 1 2 ,5 3 4 ,5 5 2 ,5 6 4
o n G o d ’s m e r c y 3 2 7 o n G o d n o t s u b je c t to s l u m b e r 137n. 3 0 ,1 4 8
o n S a lm a n a l-F a ris i o n G o d ’s m e r c y 328 o n G o d ’s m e rc y 307

655
Subject index

ildh (a g o d ) Is a ia h , 66:1 1 3 1 n . 1 3 . 1 5 0 n . 80
Jalal a l- D in a l- S u y u b o n 2 6 3 - 4 ,2 6 9 al-fafahA ni, A b u M u s lim see A b u M u s lim b . B a h r
im a g e s, g ra v e n (awthdn) 1 5 0 ,3 0 6 ,3 6 0 ,5 5 3 a l- f a f a h i n l
im a g in a tiv e p e r c e p tio n 4 0 1 ,4 0 2 a l- f a f a h in i, A b u N u 'a y m see A b u N u 'a y m a l-
im a r a a te 3 5 5 - 6 , 3 5 5 n n . 1 8 ,1 9 ,2 2 ,2 3 Iffa h in i
a u th o r ity , 'A y y is h i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 143 a l- I s f a h in l , A b u l- F a r a j 7 4 n . 12
Q u m m l o n 139 a l-I$ fa h a n i, al-R A ghib see al-R & ghib a l- f a f a h a n i
waldya 1 4 0 n . 4 2 , 1 4 2 , 142n. 46 ls h m a e l 3 2 4 n . 5 6 ,3 8 2 ,4 0 4
im a m s Ishrdq ( I llu m in a tio n is m ) 349
a s th e face a n d lig h t o f G o d 3 5 8 n . 36 Is la m 4 6 1 .4 6 2
F u rit o n 3 5 7 -8 Is m i'U ls
a s in te rc e s s o rs 134 da' wa 1 6 0 n n . 1 1 4 ,1 1 6 .3 6 7 ,3 6 8 n n . 6 2 , 6 3 , 6 4
see also in te rc e s s io n (shaft'a) in te r e s t in h e p ta d s 160n. 119
lig h t v e rs e in t e r p r e ta te d as r e f e rrin g to th e in te r e s t in h u m a k in d 1 6 0 n . 119
tw e lv e im a m s 3 5 8 n . 36 m is s io n , s p iritu a l h ie r a r c h y , J a 'f a r b .
m a n if e s ta tio n o f G o d ’s lig h t 3 6 8 ,3 6 9 ,4 1 0 n . M a n j u r ’s in te r e s t in 159
141 see also bdbi B itin is , im a m s ; M u h a m m a d b .
o c c u lta tio n (ghayba) 4 5 I s m a i l b . J a 'fa r a l-$ 4 d iq ; S h i'is
'le s s e r o c c u lta tio n ’ 1 4 2 n . 46 Ism A 'llism 1 1 -1 2
ro le s 3 53 isndd 8 0 n . 29
se v e n im a m s 160n. 1 1 9 ,1 6 2 ,162n. 27 isrdiliyydt (B ib lic a l n a rr a tiv e s ) 3
s ta tu s 2 7 , 5 5 n . 37 M u q i t i l o n 2 2 , 1 3 3 n . 17
v ir tu e s 3 8 0 ,3 8 3 T a b a r i’s u s e 3 0 5 ,3 0 6 n . 1 0 .3 0 7 n n . 1 1 ,1 2
imdn see fa ith Isra e l 304
‘I m r i n b. a l- H u s a y n 532 C h ild r e n , w o r s h ip o f th e G o ld e n C a l f 8 4 . 8 4 n .
in c a r n a tio n 1 13n. 116 4 7 .1 3 5 n .2 5 ,1 3 9 ,1 4 1
in n o v a tio n ( bida) 1 6 9 ,169n. 154 Isrdfil (S e ra p h ie l) 145n. 6 4 , 4 0 9 n . 139
in s p ir a tio n 395 istikhddm (s y lle p s is) 2 5 9
in te lle c t 3 5 2 ,4 4 I n . 2 3 4 ,4 4 2 ,5 3 9 - 4 0 Izrd'il ( A z ra e l) 145n. 6 4 , 4 0 9 n . 139
in te rc e s s io n (shaft'a) 1 3 2 , 1 3 3 - 4 , 137n. 3 1 ,2 3 7
A b u ’l- B a q a ’ o n 208 J i b i r b. A b d A lli h 15n. 8 , 9 1 , 1 0 6 , 1 1 7 , 1 2 5 , 3 5 7 ,
A lu si o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 5 4 - 5 5 2 4 ,5 3 6
a n g e ls 1 3 3 ,2 1 6 J i b i r b. Z a y d a l-A z d i 7 4 , 139n. 3 5 .4 6 0
B u ru sa w i o n 2 2 3 , 2 3 5 - 7 , 2 3 6 n . 3 9 2 ,2 3 8 ,2 3 9 , Ja c o b 3 7 2 n . 76
243 J a 'fa r b . M a n s u r a l- Y a m a n 18 n . 3 1 ,3 0 - 1
F a d l A l l i h o n 2 8 8 - 9 5 ,2 9 6 o n Q . 2 :255 1 5 9 -6 2
H u d o n 1 3 6 ,1 3 7 - 8 o n Q . 2 4 :35 3 6 7 - 9
im a m a te ’s a u th o r ity , ‘A y y is h i o n 143 ta’wil w o r k 159n. 109
im p o s s ib ility o f 204 J a 'fa r a l- $ id i q , A b u 'A b d A lli h J a 'f a r b.
K i s h i n i o n 201 M u h a m m a d 2 ,7 ,2 4 ,3 0 ,59n. 1 2 1 ,7 7 ,7 8 ,7 8 n .
al-Mandr o n 2 6 3 ,2 7 5 ,2 7 8 - 8 0 2 4 , 3 0 4 n . 6 , 3 5 3 - 4 , 3 5 4 n . 1 5 ,3 5 7 ,3 5 8 n . 3 6 ,
M a w d u d i o n 1 3 4 ,2 8 1 - 2 3 6 7 - 8 , 4 6 2 , 4 9 5 , 5 1 8 ,5 2 0 ,5 2 5 ,5 2 9 ,5 3 0 ,5 4 8
M a y b u d l o n 1 6 7 -8 o n A bu D h a rr o n kursl 144
M uham m ad on 'arsh a n d kursi 158
a llo w e d to m a k e 143n. 52 o n G o d ’s lig h t 3 5 3 - 4
in te rc e s s io n s 3 1 0 - 1 2 ,3 1 I n . 21 o n im a m a te 's a u th o r it y to in t e r c e d e 143
M uq& til o n 1 3 5 ,135n. 22 o n in te rc e s s io n 134
R iz i o n 1 9 3 ,1 9 5 in te re s t in jafr 1 5 9 n . 110
T a b a ri o n 149 on kursi 1 4 1 ,1 4 4 ,144n. 6 1 ,1 7 9
T a b r i s l o n 178 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 4 3 ,1 7 5 ,2 8 3
Z a m a k h s h a r i o n 1 7 0 - 1 , 1 7 0 n n . 1 6 5 ,1 6 6 , o n Q . 2 4:35 3 5 4 ,4 0 9 n . 139
1 7 1 n . 168 o n r e c lin in g a t p r a y e r 144
see also p ra y e r jafr (s y m b o lic s ig n ific a n c e o f A r a b ic a l p h a b e t ) .
in t u it io n 4 4 2 n . 237 J a 'fa r b . M a n s u r ’s in te r e s t in 1 5 9 , 1 5 9 n . 1 1 0 ,
irdda (d iv in e w ill) 4 6 6 ,4 6 6 n . 41 1 6 1 -2
irja (s u s p e n d in g ju d g e m e n t) 53 n . 7 a l-Jab i* , A b u U t h m i n ‘A m r 4 6 7 n . 50

656
 Subject index

J a h m b. $ a f w in 4 7 5 n . 7 7 p ra y e r s d ir e c te d to w a r d s 351
Jal&l a l- D in see a i-M a h a lli, J a lil a l- D in ; a l-S u y u ti, see also M e c c a ; qibla
Jalal a l- D in a l-K a ‘b i, A b fl’l- Q i s i m , a l-B a lk h i 35
J a m il a l- I s l im A b fl S a 'ld M u b a m m a d b . A h m a d o n p a r d o n i n g o f g ra v e s in s 194
b. M e h r iz a d 3 2 a l-K a lb i, A b fl’l- N a d r M u h a m m a d 2 3 , 7 5 n 1 6 ,9 3 ,
Jam i 1 1 0 ,3 1 4 ,3 2 8 ,3 3 0 .3 8 2 ,5 0 0
B u ru s a w i’s u s e 2 2 3 o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 1 9 4 - 5 ,2 1 0
o n k n o w le d g e o f th e re a l a n d e x te r n a l 2 2 9 - 3 0 kaldm (s p e c u la tiv e th e o lo g y ) 3 5 - 8 , 4 3 , 58n. 117,
a l- J a n d i, M u ’a y y id a l- D ln 38 1 9 4 ,2 0 5 n . 2 7 1 ,2 1 4 ,2 6 0 ,4 4 4
J a r ir b . ‘A b d A lla h al~B ajali, o n ihsdn 3 7 1 n . 71 kolam Adah (th e s p e e c h o f G o d ) 571
jaw&nmard&n-i fariqat (n o b le o n e s o f th e W a y ) kalam al-'arab (lin g u is tic u sa g e o f th e A ra b s) 40
371 kalima 2 2 9 n . 372
jawhar see s u b s ta n c e see also shahOdatayn
J e ru s a le m ( al-Quds, t h e H o ly H o u s e ) 7 4 n . 12, K a rb a la ’, B a ttle o f (6 8 5 ) 142n. 46
3 5 3 n . 11 K a r r i m i y y a 4 1 , 1 0 5 ,1 0 9
qibla 7 1 , 7 3 , 7 4 , 7 4 n . 1 2 ,7 8 ,7 9 - 8 3 ,8 6 ,9 1 ,9 5 , K i s h i n l , ‘A b d al-R azzA q 3 8 - 9 , 6 9 , 7 1 , 81 n . 35,
9 7 ,1 2 1 ,1 2 4 1 0 3 - 4 , 3 0 0 - 1 , 4 0 9 - 1 2 , 4 0 9 n . 1 5 ,5 5 5
Jesu s C h r is t 9 5 , 1 1 8 , 1 6 2 n . 1 2 7 ,2 0 4 ,3 6 8 n . 61. on al-dlam al-manawi (e s s e n tia l re a lm ) 20 2 ,
4 9 9 , 5 0 1 , 5 0 2 , 5 1 5 n .6 6 , 5 3 1 , 5 3 5 , 5 3 7 n . I l l 202n. 257
in c a r n a ti o n 368 on al-alam al-suwari ( f o rm a l re a lm ) 202,
in v o c a tio n o f G o d ’s g re a te s t n a m e 231 2 0 2 n . 257
s u f fe rin g 4 5 8 n . 7 o n th e n a m e *Allah’ 556
w o r k s o f 2 26 o n k n o w le d g e o f t h e re a l a n d e x te r n a l 229n.
Jew s 7 9 - 8 0 ,8 2 , 9 1 , 9 5 ,1 0 3 ,1 2 1 ,1 2 4 ,3 5 1 ,3 5 3 , 373
3 5 7 , 3 6 9 , 3 8 2 ,4 2 5 ,4 9 8 ,4 9 9 ,5 0 0 ,5 0 1 ,5 0 2 ,5 0 4 , o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 1 0 3 - 1 2
5 3 4 , 5 5 3 , 5 5 3 n . 134 o n Q . 2 :255 2 0 0 - 2
b e lie f in G o d s ittin g a f t e r c re a tio n 144 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 2 0 - 1
re lia n c e o n in te rc e s s io n 2 8 0 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 0 9 - 1 2
a l-Jili. ‘A b d a l- K a r im 2 2 7 n . 3 6 2 .3 3 2 - 3 o n Q . 112 4 9 3 ,4 9 4 .4 9 5 , 5 4 9 -5 2
a l-Jili, M a jd a l- D in 37 K is h ifi, H u s a y n W i ‘i%3 2 4
jihdd (s tru g g le ) 4 62 kashish-i IJaqq ( d iv in e a tt r a c t io n ) 372
a l- J I lin l, ‘A b d a l - Q i d i r 2 2 7 n . 3 6 2 kawkab see th e g litte r in g s ta r
j i n n 14 3 n . 5 0 , 2 4 4 n . 4 1 2 ,2 4 5 n . 4 1 3 kayfiyya (q u a lity ) 4 3 0 ,4 3 0 n . 199
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 143 K a y s in iy y a 45
jins (g e n u s ) 1 9 0 ,190n. 229 K h a d ija (w ife o f th e P r o p h e t) 81 n . 3 7 , 4 2 9 n . 194
J o n a h 116 K h ir i jl s 7 4 , 1 36 n . 2 7 ,4 6 5 ,4 8 3
J o s e p h 1 2 9 n . 1 0 ,1 3 1 ,3 0 9 n . 16 re je c t th e id e a o f 'p u n i s h m e n t o f t h e g ra v e ’
a l- J u b b a ’i, A b u H i s h i m 3 5 ,9 1 ,4 6 8 1 4 3 n . 55
J u n a y d a l- B a g h d id l 5 9 n . 1 2 1 ,4 6 7 n . 48 khawf(fe a r) 2 2 4 n . 345
o n t h e r e m e m b r a n c e o f G o d 1 6 3 ,1 6 4 K h a y b a r 7 7 , 7 7 n . 22
J u p ite r 351 a l- K h id r 2 0 9 ,5 2 7
ju r is p r u d e n c e 3 , 17n. 2 7 , 1 3 0 n . 1 2 ,2 0 5 a l- K h O l, S a y y id A b O l-Q a s im 52
see alsofiqh a l- K h u d r i, A b u Sa‘i d 5 6 6 - 4
aJ-Ju w a y n l, A b fl’l- M a ‘i l l , ‘I m i m a l- H a r a m a y n ’ al-Kirmani, Mahmud b. al-Husayn 36,413
3 2 , 3 7 ,1 1 2 ,1 1 6 a l- K irm a n i, M u h a m m a d b . Y u s u f 568
juz (d iv is io n o f th e Q u r ’a n ) 121 n . 139 al-Kisal, AbO’l-Hasan ‘All 40,41,412
a l-K is h s h i, A bfl ‘A m r 27
K a b a l - A b b i r 3 0 8 ,3 6 0 ,3 6 1 ,3 8 1 ,3 8 2 ,4 0 7 ,4 1 3 , k n o w le d g e ('ilm) 2 0 9 ,2 3 8
4 3 6 ,4 3 8 ,5 6 1 k n o w le d g e o f th e re a l a n d t h e e x te r n a l
K a‘b b . a l- A s h r a f 5 34 2 2 8 - 3 0 , 2 2 8 n n . 3 6 9 ,3 7 0 ,3 7 1
K a‘b b . Z u h a y r 2 6 0 n . 455 kursies 197
K a 'b a 7 4 ,8 5 , 9 1 , 9 5 , 1 0 5 ,1 2 1 ,1 2 4 ,1 9 7 ,2 4 0 p re s e n tia l k n o w le d g e ('ilm huduri) 185n. 214
A b r a h a m p ra y s to w a r d s 4 0 7 R i d o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 8 1 ,1 9 5
c u lt 350 see also G o d , k n o w le d g e o f
M u h a m m a d ’s p r a y e r in th e d ir e c tio n o f 3 5 3 n . a l-K u la y n i, M u h a m m a d b . Y a‘q u b 2 4 . 3 5 8 n . 36
10 o n th e im a m a t e ’s walaya 140n. 42

657
Subject index

a l-K u m a y t b . Z a y d a l-A s a d i 5 2 3 ,5 2 3 n . 8 7 , 5 5 2 n . lig h t m y s tic is m 4 1 6

131 ‘th e L iv in g ' see al-hayy
al-kursi 1 3 8 n . 3 2 , 160n. 116 lo v e m y s tic is m 3 7 2 n . 7 6
AbO H i t i m o n 158
A b u fclay y in o n 2 0 3 ,2 0 4 maghdzi (‘m ilita r y c a m p a ig n s ' o f t h e P r o p h e t )
A l0 5 io n 2 4 6 ,2 5 6 - 9 ,2 6 2 5 6 n . 75
and 'arsh 1 2 7 - 8 , 127n. 4 ,1 2 8 - 9 ,1 3 0 - 1 M a g ia n s ( majus) 4 8 5 ,5 0 1
A b u H a y y in o n 2 1 0 -1 2 a l- M a h a lli, J a l il ai - D in 16 n . 12
‘A yyAsh! o n 1 3 1 ,2 4 0 n . 398 a l- M a h d l’ 6 4 n . 2 3 7 , 1 6 2 n . 1 2 7 ,3 5 8 n . 3 6
H O d o n 138 a l- M a h d l li-D ln A ll Ah a l- H u s a y n b . a l- Q A s im a l -
KAshAni o n 2 0 0 ,2 0 1 T y i n i 45
M uqA til o n 241 mdhiyya ( q u id d ity ) 100, lOOn. 8 1 , 1 8 3 n . 2 0 6 , 1 8 4 ,
RAzi o n 1 9 6 - 8 ,2 1 I n . 299 184n. 2 0 9 ,4 7 5 n . 77
B u ru s a w i o n 2 3 9 -4 2 makhluq (c r e a te d th i n g /c r e a tu r e ) 21 I n . 3 0 2
F a d l A lla h o n 2 8 3 ,2 9 5 makruh (r e p r e h e n s ib le ) 1 4 4 n . 58
J a 'f a r b . M a n j O r o n 1 5 9 ,1 6 0 ,160n. 117 malakut (s p iritu a l re a lm ) 2 6 2 ,2 6 2 n . 4 5 8 ,4 2 6 ,
al-Man&r o n 2 78 440
M a w d u d i o n 2 82 a s G o d ’s s o v e r e ig n ty 170
M a y b u d i o n 1 6 3 ,1 6 9 a l-M a ia fi, A b O l-H u s a y n M u h a m m a d b . A h m a d
Q u m m i o n 1 3 9 - 4 0 ,1 8 0 23
S h a ra fi o n 2 1 7 ,2 1 7 - 1 8 ,2 2 1 - 3 M a 'm a r b. a l- M u th a n n A see A b u ‘U b a y d a
T a b a ri o n 1 3 1 ,1 4 5 ,1 5 0 - 2 ,172n. 1 7 1,21 In . 299 M a 'm a r b . a l-M u th a n n A
T a b ris l o n 1 7 6 ,1 7 9 ,2 1 I n . 299 M a m a r b . R A s h id 8 1 , 8 1 n . 3 5 , 3 0 7 n . 1 3 ,3 6 3
Z a m a k h s h a r io n 1 7 0 , 1 7 1 - 2 , 172n. 1 7 1 ,2 1 1 , o n G o d n o t s u b je c t to s lu m b e r 148
2 1 3 , 2 1 3 n . 3 0 7 ,2 7 8 ,2 9 5 o n T k rim a o n G o d n o t s u b je c t to s l u m b e r
1 3 7 n . 30
L ab ld , AbO ‘A q il b . R a b f a 2 2 5 sina 147n. 7 3
on
th e la m p (mifbdft, Q . 2 4 :3 5 ) 3 4 7 - 8 ,3 5 2 ,3 5 4 ,3 5 9 , al-Mandr 4 8 - 5 0 ,7 1 ,1 0 7 - 8 ,1 3 4 ,3 0 0 , 3 0 2
3 6 9 , 4 0 2 , 4 0 3 ,4 0 5 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 0 ,4 1 5 ,4 4 7 - 8 o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 1 1 9 - 2 3
M u h a m m a d as 356 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 3 - 8 0
s im ile s fo r 41 On. 142 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 3 3 - 4 2
al-LAt 1 5 6 , 1 5 6 n . 100 M anA t 1 5 6 n . 100
a l-L a y th b. a l- M u ^ a ff a r 546 M a n ic h e a n s ( mdnuwiyya) 3 8 5 n . 1 1 8 ,3 8 6 ,4 8 5 n .
o n T /m 195 123
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 7 5 a l- M a n $ u r al-Q A sim al-T yA ni 4 5
life (haydt), 1 5 6 ,7 ,1 8 9 - 9 0 ,2 0 0 ,2 4 9 - 5 1 ,2 7 4 ,5 2 6 M ardA w ij b . Z i y i r 2 9 ,3 0
lig h t 4 1 6 m a r ty r s 3 5 6
AbO H a y y in o n 4 1 3 M a r y ( m o th e r o f Jesu s) 4 9 9 ,5 3 5
AlOsI o n 4 2 9 - 3 4 al-masjid al-aqfd ( f u r th e r m o s t m o s q u e ) 112,
a n d e x is te n c e , o rig in s in G o d , B u ru s a w i o n 1 1 2 n .114
4 1 6 -2 9 al-masjid al-hardm (s a c re d m o s q u e ) 7 5 , 8 1 , 1 1 2
F a d l A llih o n 4 4 9 - 5 1 ,4 4 9 - 5 3 ‘M a s te r o f th e W a y ’ see An$Ari, K hw A ja ‘A b d A l l a h
as f o r m s o f p e r c e p tio n , RAzi o n 4 0 1 - 5 m a te ria lis ts (al-m&ddiyyun), r e f u ta t io n o f 2 6 5 ,
f o u r se n se s, B u ru sa w i o n 4 1 8 2 6 5 n . 465
G hazAlI o n 3 7 0 n . 6 9 m a t te r (hayuh1) 101 n. 82
a n d G o d 3 4 9 - 5 0 ,3 8 1 a l-M A tu rid l, A b u M a n s u r M u h a m m a d 5
RAzi o n 384, 3 8 4 -4 0 8 , 3 9 4 -8 al-M A w ard l, A bO ’l- H a s a n A li 4 ,5 4 2
in t e r p r e ta ti o n s o f 349 on al-aliyy a n d al- dll 2 1 2
M a w d d d I o n 4 4 4 ,4 4 5 - 6 o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 2 0 9
M a y b u d i o n 3 7 0 ,3 7 0 n . 69 on kursl 211
p h ilo s o p h ic a l c o n c e r n s w ith 349 M aw d O d l, A b a ’l-A ’lA 5 0 - 1 ,6 7 .6 9 ,7 1
re lig io u s c o n c e p t 347 o n Q . 2 :115 1 2 3 -4
ro le o n th e D a y o f R e s u rr e c tio n , Q u m m i o n o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 8 1 - 2
(Q . 2 4 :3 5 ) 3 54 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 4 4 - 9
T a b a r i o n 3 5 9 -6 0 o n Q . 54:49 4 5 9 ,4 8 7
see also G o d , lig h t mawld (c lie n t) 53n. 1

658
 Subject index

M a y b u d I, R a s h id a l- D in 3 2 - 5 , 3 0 1 , 3 1 2 n . 28, 349, lik e n e d to t h e n ic h e 3 5 8 m 3 6 ,3 6 1

372n. 7 5 ,3 7 2 n . 76 as the likeness ofHis Light 381
Kashfal-asrdr 481 m o n o th e is t h e r ita g e 348
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 6 2 -9 M u h a m m a d a n re a lity ( al-haqiqa al-
o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 1 0 - 1 2 Muhammadiyya) 2 3 2 - 3
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 6 9 - 7 8 in M u q a til’s e x p o s itio n o f Q . 2 4 :3 5 350
o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 5 6 ,4 5 7 ,4 6 5 - 7 N ig h t J o u r n e y (is rd ’) 1 6 4 n . 1 4 2 ,5 3 7 ,537n.
o n Q . 112 4 9 4 ,5 1 2 - 1 6 112
mazhar 5 5 9 , 5 5 9 n . 150 p o s s e s s io n o f t h e lig h ts fr o m G o d 373
M e c c a 3 0 3 , 3 1 7 , 3 8 2 , 4 2 4 ,4 9 9 n . 13 p r a y e r in th e d ir e c tio n o f t h e K a ‘b a 3 53m 10
qibla 6 8 , 7 1 , 7 8 , 7 9 - 8 3 th e P r o p h e t k n o w n as dhikr Allah 2 2 8 n . 367
M eccan pagans 4 9 6 -9 p r o p h e t ic a n c e s to ry , re fe re n c e s to in Q . 2 4 :35
M e c c a n p o ly th e is ts 534 348
M e d in a 8 I n . 3 7 p r o p h e t ic w is d o m 348
m ercy see G o d , m e rc y re f e rre d to
M ic h a e l{Mikd'il) 1 4 5 n . 6 4 ,3 8 3 ,4 0 9 n . 139 as G o d ’s lig h t 3 4 7 ,3 5 0 ,3 6 0 ,3 7 7 ,3 9 5 ,3 9 7 ,
M ig r a tio n (hijra) 8 I n . 37 4 0 0 ,4 1 3 ,4 3 5 - 6 ,4 3 7 - 8
mifbdh see th e la m p as sirdjan munlran (‘a n illu m in a tin g
mishkdt see th e n ic h e t o r c h ’) 381
mizdn 2 1 7 n . 3 20 r e s tr a i n t c o m m a n d e d 3 7 4
m o n o t h e is m 3 4 8 , 4 9 1 ,4 9 2 ,4 9 6 ,4 9 9 n . 13 s a id n o t to h a v e c a s t a s h a d o w 352
K i s h i n i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 0 0 -1 tr a n s m is s io n o f p r o p h e t ic tr a d it io n s 358n. 36
see also G o d , o n e n e s s M u h a m m a d b . ‘A ll 3 5 8 n . 36
m o r a l o b lig a tio n (takllfl 9 6 n . 7 3 , 9 7 , 9 7 n . 7 4 ,3 0 0 , M u h a m m a d b. a l- H a n a f iy y a 4 5 ,5 2 8
3 1 5 n . 35 M u h a m m a d b . I s m i 'i l b . J a f a r a l - S f i d i q 3 0 , 160n.
M o s e s 1 3 2 , 1 6 2 n . 1 2 7 ,2 0 4 ,2 0 9 ,3 6 8 n . 6 1 , 5 1 5 n . 1 1 9 ,3 6 8 m 61
66 see also ‘al-Mahdf
G o d ’s re v e la tio n t o t h r o u g h Q . 2 :2 5 5 192 M u h a m m a d b . Ka*b b . M u s lim b . M a d in l 507n.
q u e r ie s w h e th e r G o d sle e p s 1 4 8 ,2 0 7 ,2 0 7 n . 39
2 84 M u h a m m a d b . al-Q & sim b . Ib r a h im 44
M u 'i w i y a b. A b l S u f y in 5 2 7 n . 9 6 M u h a m m a d al-B& qir, A b ti J a 'fa r M u h a m m a d b.
M u 'i w i y a b . M u 'i w i y a 533 ‘A ll 2 , 2 4 , 2 5 , 6 3 n . 2 1 3 ,7 7 ,1 7 5 ,1 7 9 ,3 5 7 .3 8 3 ,
a l- M u fa d d a l a l- P a b b l 4 1 2 3 8 3 n . 1 1 6 ,4 9 4 ,5 0 2 ,5 2 6 ,5 2 6 n . 9 2 ,5 2 7 - 8 ,
on sina a n d nawm 175 5 2 8 - 3 0 ,5 3 1 ,5 3 2
a l- M u fid , a l- S h a y k h 3 6 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 354
M u h ijiriin 496n. 8 M u h a m m a d a l- M a h d i (T w e lv e r im a m ) 142n. 46
M u b a k k a m 23 See also 'aLMahdf
M u h a m m a d 2 , 1 6 2 n . 1 2 7 ,1 7 3 ,2 0 4 ,3 6 8 n . 61, M u h a m m a d M u b y i T D in o f B u rsa ( P ir-i
4 6 0 - 1 . 4 8 3 , 4 9 7 - 9 , 4 9 7 n . 1 1 ,5 1 5 n . 6 6 ,5 3 7 , U fta d a ) , o n u s e o f th e n a m e Allah 2 2 5 ,225n.
5 3 7 n . 112 354
a b r o g a tio n o f th e qibla to w a r d s J e ru s a le m 82 muhannad (s w o rd m a d e o f I n d ia n ste e l) 3 7 7 n . 96
a n a lo g ie s fo r 3 8 2 ,3 8 3 M u frsin a l - M u t h a n n i , o n kursl 144n. 61
c o m m u n it y 3 29 a l- M u 'iz z li-D in A lla h (F a tim id c a lip h -im a m ) 31
e q u a te d w ith th e la m p 4 1 0 n . 142 M u j i h i d b . J a b r 2 . 15 n . 1 0 ,8 5 ,8 5 n . 4 9 , 8 5 n . 5 0 ,
fa m ily (ahl al-bayt) 3 5 6 - 7 8 7 , 8 7 n . 5 2 , 9 2 , 9 9 , 1 0 5 , 1 0 8 , 1 1 5 . 1 1 7 , 3 5 2 n . 5.
re fe re n c e s t o in Q . 2 4 :3 5 348 3 6 0 ,3 6 3 ,3 6 4 ,3 6 5 ,3 6 6 ,3 8 1 ,3 8 4 ,4 0 5 ,4 1 3 ,4 1 5 ,
a s G o d ’s tr u s te e 3 5 5 ,3 5 8 4 3 3 ,4 8 5
o n G o d ’s v eils o f lig h t 3 9 8 - 9 o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d 15 2 n . 89
g o o d q u a litie s 4 3 9 o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 149n. 8 0 ,1 7 9 ,1 9 4 - 5 ,
o n t h e h e a r t 4 38 2 0 9 ,2 5 5
in s tr u c t e d b y G o d a s re g a r d s qibla 7 4 - 5 on kursl (Q . 2 :2 5 5 ) 179
a n d in te rc e s s io n 1 3 4 ,1 3 7 n . 3 1 , 1 4 3 n . 52, o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 138
2 3 6 - 7 , 2 3 8 - 9 , 3 1 0 - 1 2 ,3 1 I n . 2 1 , 3 2 9 m 72 o n Q . 112 5 0 0 m 1 6 ,5 0 6 ,5 1 2 ,5 5 2 ,5 6 4
N i$ ir M a k a r im a l- S h ira z i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 293 o n al-qayyum 1 4 6 ,1 9 0 ,2 0 5 ,2 7 2
lig h t o f 4 0 7 mujinasa (h o m o g e n e ity ) 1 8 I n . 2 0 0
lik e n e d to th e la m p 404 mujassima (c o r p o re a lis ts ) 4 1 , 6 2 n . 1 9 5 ,9 1

659
Subject Index

M u ll* $ a d r i S h lr iz i 145n. 6 4 , 2 2 4 n . 3 4 6 ,3 5 2 n . 8, N a jm a l- D f n K u b r i 6 4 n . 244

4 8 8 n . 134 see also al-Ta’wfIdt al-Najmiyya
mundjdt ( c o n f id e n tia l ta lk ) 5 8 n . 112 N a j r i n 5 3 5 ,5 3 5 n . 104
muqarrabun ( th o s e w h o a r e b r o u g h t n e a r to a l - N a k h a l , I b r i h i m 8 3 , 8 3 n . 4 4 ,8 5 ,1 0 6
G o d ) 2 2 7 , 2 2 7 n . 364 n a m e s o f G o d see G o d , n a m e s
M u q i tf l b . fclay y in 548 al-naqlb (n o b le ) 3 6 8 ,3 6 8 n . 63
M u q i ti l b . S u ia y m in a l-B a lk h i 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 15n. 10, N a q s h b a n d , B a h i’ a l- D in 2 2 6 ,2 2 6 n . 360
1 6 n n . 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 7 n . 2 3 , 2 1 - 3 ,7 1 ,1 3 3 ,3 4 8 ,4 0 4 , N a q s h b a n d i S u fis 4 7 , 2 2 6 n . 3 6 0
41 On. 1 4 2 ,4 9 3 ,4 9 8 ,5 0 2 a l - N a s a i 5 6 3 ,5 6 5
o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 7 2 - 3 a l - N i s i r li-D in A llih , A b u ’l- F a th a l - N i $ i r b . a l-
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 3 4 - 6 H u s a y n b . M u h a m m a d a l- D a y la m I 4 5
o n Q . 6 :1 2 303 N i$ ir M a k i r i m a l- S h ir i z i o n in te r c e s s io n 2 9 1 - 3
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 5 0 -1 naskh ( a b r o g a tio n ) 75n. 1 3 ,8 4 - 6 ,85n. 4 8 ,8 6 n .
o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 59 51
o n Q . 112 4 9 5 - 9 ,5 0 1 ,5 2 5 N a$ rb . 'A$im 554
M u r ji’a 5 3 n . 7 , 4 8 4 , 4 8 4 n . 121 a l-N a w a w i, M u h y f l- D ln Y a b y i 31 I n . 2 4 , 3 2 7 ,
M u s i b . J a 'fa r a l- K i ? im 4 5 , 3 5 8 n . 36 3 3 3 ,4 3 8
mushabbiha ( a n t h r o p o m o r p h is t s ) 4 1 , 6 2 n . 195 nawm (s le e p d o e s n o t affect G o d ) 2 0 6 n . 2 7 9
mushrikun see p o ly th e is ts a l - P a h h ^ k o n 147
M u s lim b . a l- H a jjij 3 2 3 ,3 2 7 ,3 3 9 ,4 8 4 ,4 8 4 n . 120, Ib n Z a y d o n 147
567 al-Mandr o n 273
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 0 3 ,2 6 0 T a b a r i o n 1 4 5 ,1 4 8
M u s lim a l-B a tfn , o n kursl 150 T a b ris i o n 175
a l-M u $ ta fa see M u b a m m a d see also s lu m b e r (sirui)
a l- M u ta w a k k il 'a l i ’l l i h I s m i 'l l 42 N e c e s s a ry B e in g
M u 't a z ila a n d M u 'ta z ills 8 9 n . 5 6 , 1 7 3 n . 1 7 8 ,3 0 0 , e x is te n c e o f 2 6 0 - 1 ,2 6 6 - 7
4 5 5 , 4 5 7 , 4 6 5 , 4 6 9 - 7 2 ,4 7 0 n . 5 6 ,4 7 1 n . 65, R i z i ’s p a r a p h r a s e o f Ib n S i n i ’s a r g u m e n t s f o r
4 7 2 n n . 6 7 , 6 8 , 4 7 4 n . 7 5 , 4 7 5 n . 7 7 , 4 7 6 n . 84, 1 8 2 - 9 , 1 8 3 n . 203
4 8 3 ,4 8 4 N e c e s s a ry E x is te n t (w&jib al-wujiid) lOOn. 81
A b u H a y y in o n 2 0 3 ,2 0 5 n e g a tiv e th e o lo g y (ffl'ffZ) 336
o n c o g n itio n 3 5 3 n . 12 N e g u s o f A b y s s in ia 7 1 , 7 8 , 8 3 , 8 3 n . 4 5 , 9 8 - 9 , 1 0 6 ,
c o n c e p tio n s o f G o d ’s ju s tic e Cadi) 312 1 0 6 n . 9 7 , 108
d o c tr in e o f G o d ’s tr a n s c e n d e n c e ( tarvah) 88 n . th e n ic h e ( mishk&t, Q . 2 4 :3 5 ) 2 1 7 n . 3 2 0 ,3 4 7 ,
55 3 5 0 - 1 , 3 5 1 , 3 5 2 n . 5 , 3 5 4 , 3 5 5 - 6 ,3 5 9 ,3 6 1 ,
o n G o d ’s m e r c y a n d o m n i p o te n c e 300 3 6 4 - 5 , 36 9 , 3 8 1 ,4 0 0 ,4 0 2 ,4 0 4 ,4 0 5 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 0 ,
on al-bayy 2 05 414
o n H e llfire p u n is h m e n t 3 0 7 n . 14 N ig h t J o u r n e y (w rd ’) 1 6 4 n . 1 4 2 ,5 3 7 ,5 3 7 n . 1 1 2
o n in te rc e s s io n 193 N o a h 7 7 , 1 6 2 n . 1 2 7 ,2 9 4 ,3 6 8 n . 61
on kursl 159 n o n -e x is te n c e , a n d e x is te n c e 3 9 1 ,3 9 6
re je c t th e id e a o f ‘p u n is h m e n t o f t h e g ra v e ’ a l - N u 'm i n ( I II) b . a l- M u n d h ir 5 2 2 n . 86
1 4 3 n .55 N u 'm i n K h a y r a l- D in 47
re je c t p o s s ib ility o f p h y sic a l v is io n o f G o d in a l - N u 'm i n , a l - Q i d i 3 1 , 140n. 4 2 ,5 2 5
th e H e r e a f te r 2 0 6 n . 282 see lig h t
on takllf 3\5n. 35 N u r a l- D in ‘A b d a l- $ a m a d a l- N a ta n z i 3 8
th e o lo g y ’s ‘fiv e p r in c ip le s ’ (usul khamsa) N ut a l- D in I s f a r i y in l 38
3 1 2 n . 31 N u s a y ri t h o u g h t 3 6 8 n . 59
v ie w s o n in te rc e s s io n 2 7 7 ,2 7 7 n . 484 nufaqd' ( e n u n c ia to r s ) in I s m i 'i l i t h o u g h t 1 6 0 n .
re je c te d b y B u riisa w i 2 3 6 ,2 3 6 n . 392 1 1 9 ,1 6 2
a n d t h e v is io n o f G o d 2 2 0 n . 333 o c c a s io n s o f re v e la tio n ( asbdb al~nuzul) 2 9 , 3 3 ,
Z a m a k h s h a r i in f lu e n c e d b y 1 7 0 ,1 7 1 n n . 168, 3 6 ,4 2 .6 7 , 7 1 , 9 1 , 1 0 6 , 1 2 3 , 1 7 4 , 2 0 3 , 4 9 8 . 5 0 2 ,
169 5 2 4 ,5 5 2 ,5 5 3 ,5 6 1 .5 6 5 ,5 7 1 ,5 7 2
tr a d itio n s , la c k in g in T a b a r i o n Q . 24*35 3 5 9
a l- N i b ig h a a l- D h u b y i n l 5 2 2 ,5 2 2 n . 8 6 .5 2 3 o c c u lta tio n (ghayba) 45
nafs, a p p lic a tio n to G o d ’s 's e l f (dhdt) 1 0 ,4 3 - 4 , 'le s s e r o c c u lt a ti o n ’ 142n. 4 6
329 th e o il ( zayt, Q . 24:3 5 )
N a jm a l- D in D ay * R iz i 6 4 n . 2 4 4 ,4 1 7 H u d o n 353

660
 Subject index

Q u m m i o n 354 p r o p h e ts
R A zIo n 3 9 9 ,4 0 2 ,4 0 3 ,4 0 7 in te rc e s s io n 2 8 8 n . 509
T a b ris I o n 3 8 0 ,3 8 2 M u qA til o n 1 3 5 n . 22
th e o liv e (zaytuna) see t h e b le s se d tre e a n d p r o p h e t h o o d 3 5 7 ,3 5 7 n . 3 3 , 3 5 7 n . 3 4 ,
3 5 8 n . 3 6 , 3 6 8 n . 6 1 ,3 8 2 ,3 8 3 ,4 0 4 ,4 1 On. 141
P a le s tin e 109 p r o s tr a t io n , re c ita l (sajdat al-tildwa) 7 8 n . 2 4 ,8 8
P a ra d is e 9 5 ,1 0 3 ,3 0 3 ,5 3 9 p u n is h m e n t o f t h e g ra v e ’ 1 4 3 ,1 4 3 n . 55
in h a b i ta n t s o f 3 0 7
p e n ite n c e (tawba) al-Q A tfi a l - N u m i n 3 1 , 140n. 42
G o d ’s a c c e p ta n c e o f 3 0 6 qabda ( c o n s tr ic tio n ) 2 1 7 ,2 1 7 n . 3 2 0 ,2 2 4 n . 345
see also r e p e n ta n c e ( in&ba) qad&' 4 5 6 - 7 , 4 6 6 n . 4 0 .4 6 9 ,4 7 3 n . 7 1 ,4 7 5 , 4 7 6 - 8 ,
P e o p le o f th e B o o k see C h r is ti a n s , Jew s 4 8 1 ,4 8 2 ,4 8 2 n . 1 0 7 ,4 8 4 ,4 8 4 n . 118
P e o p le o f th e H o u s e (ahl al-bayt) 1 2 5 ,3 5 5 ,3 5 6 - 7 qadar 4 5 5 n . 3 , 4 5 6 - 7 , 4 5 8 , 4 5 9 , 4 6 3 - 4 , 4 6 3 n . 25,
p e r c e p tio n , RAzi o n 3 8 8 - 9 4 ,4 0 1 - 5 4 6 5 ,4 6 6 n . 4 0 , 4 6 8 , 4 6 9 , 4 7 3 - 4 , 4 7 3 n . 7 1 ,
P ir -i U ftA da ( M u b a m m a d M u b y i T D i n o f 4 7 6 - 8 ,4 7 7 ,4 8 1 ,4 8 2 ,4 8 2 n . 1 0 7 ,4 8 4 ,4 B 4 n . 118,
B u rs a ), o n u s e o f th e n a m e Allah 2 2 5 ,2 2 5 n . 489
3 54 Q a d a r is ( qadariyya) 4 5 5 , 4 5 5 n . 3 , 4 6 3 n . 2 4 ,4 6 5 ,
P la to 2 2 7 n . 3 6 3 , 4 8 3 n . 116 4 7 6 - 7 , 4 8 3 , 4 8 4 , 4 8 4 n . 1 2 2 ,4 8 5 n . 123
p o ly th e is m (shirk) 1 3 5 , 1 3 5 n . 2 2 , 1 3 9 ,2 4 8 ,4 9 9 n . a l-Q a ffa l, A bO B a k r M u b a m m a d 1 1 1 -1 2
1 3 ,5 0 4 o n in te rc e s s io n 193
p o ly th e is ts ( mushrikun) 4 5 9 ,4 5 9 n . 8 , 4 7 0 n . 57, on kurst 1 9 7 ,2 7 8
4 8 4 , 4 9 9 n . 13 o n Z a m a k h sh a ri o n kursl 211
id o la tr y 2 0 8 , 3 3 5 n . 8 0 al-Q A ’im see ‘a l- M a h d f
a n d in te r c e s s io n 1 7 8 ,1 9 3 ,2 3 6 ,2 3 6 n . 392 a l- Q a s im b . Ib rA h im a l-R a s si, A bO M u b a m m a d
M eccan pagans 4 9 6 -9 4 3 , 4 5 , 2 1 6 n . 3 1 4 ,3 5 3 n . 4 , 3 5 3 n . 1 0 ,5 0 0 n . 16,
M e c c a n p o ly th e is ts 5 3 4 5 5 5 ,5 5 5 n . 142
p ra y e r 6 7 - 8 ,7 0 - 1 ,7 7 n . 2 3 ,9 5 ,9 7 ,1 0 7 -9 o n ’f lr s /i2 1 6 ,2 1 9
f o r G o d ’s m e r c y 3 2 5 kitdb al-Mustarshid 2 1 4 n . 308
G o d ’s p r a y e r e x p re s s e d th r o u g h m e r c y 304 al-Q A sim b . M u b a m m a d , a l- M a n $ u r b i’llAh 4 2 ,
o b lig a to r y p r a y e r s(fard’tf) 76 479
p r a y e r o f fe a r (faldt al-khawf) 8 2 , 8 2 n . 40 Q atA da b . D i’Am a 8 1 , 8 3 n . 4 5 , 8 4 , 8 4 n . 4 6 , 8 5 ,9 1 ,
s h a r e d p r a y e r 3 04 9 5 ,9 8 - 9 ,1 0 5 ,1 0 8 ,1 1 7 ,3 8 2 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 5 ,5 0 8 ,5 2 5 ,
s u p e r o g a to r y p r a y e r ($aldt al-ndfila) 7 6 , 7 7 n . 5 4 6 ,5 4 7 ,5 5 2 ,5 6 7
21 o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d 152n. 89
u s e d in Q . 2 :2 5 5 134 o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 2 0 9 ,2 5 5
v o lu n ta r y p r a y e r 7 1 , 7 2 n . 6 , 8 2 , 8 3 , 8 5 , 9 1 , 9 7 , on al-bayy 251
1 2 1 ,1 2 4 ,1 2 5 on kursl 2 1 2
v o lu n ta r y w o r s h ip ( al-tafawwu‘) 7 7 , 7 7 n . 21, o n Q . 112 564
9 6 -7 al-qayyum 1 7 7 ,2 0 5 ,2 7 2
on
see also in te r c e s s io n ; qibla sina 1 4 7 , 147n. 73
on
p r e d e s tin a tio n 1 0 , 1 6 8 - 9 , 168n. 1 5 2 ,4 4 9 ,4 4 9 n . al-qayyum 1 2 7 ,1 2 9 ,1 3 1 ,1 3 2
2 5 5 , 4 5 5 - 6 , 4 5 9 , 4 5 9 n . 8 ,4 6 1 , 4 6 2 , 4 6 2 - 3 n . 24, A b u H A tim o n 157
4 6 5 - 6 , 4 6 8 - 9 , 4 7 0 n . 5 7 ,4 7 6 - 8 ,4 7 9 ,4 8 2 - 3 , AbO H ayyA n o n 205
4 8 2 n . 1 0 8 ,4 8 4 ,4 8 7 - 9 A b u ’l-BaqA ’ o n 207
A s h 'a ri 3 1 3 n . 3 2 A lu si o n 2 5 1 - 3
qad&’ wa qadar, RAzi o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 186 B urO saw i o n 231
P re s e rv e d T a b le t ( al-lawh al-mahfuz) 3 2 2 ,4 6 8 , F a d l A ll Ah o n 2 8 3 ,2 8 5 - 6
4 6 9 , 4 8 2 ,4 8 2 n . 106 JalAl a l- D ln al-S uyO tf o n 264
p r o m is e a n d th r e a t ( al-wad wa’l-wa'ld) al-Mandr o n 272
M u 'ta z ili d o c tr in e o f 3 1 2 - 1 3 ,3 1 3 n . 31 T a b a r i o n 1 4 5 ,1 4 7
see also M u 'ta z ilis T a b ris I o n 177
p ro o f s Z a m a k h s h a r i o n 1 7 0 ,2 0 5
al-barahin al-yaqiniyya ( in d u b ita b le p ro o fs ) qibla 9 , 6 8 , 6 8 n . 1 , 7 0 - 1 , 7 2 - 3 , 7 2 n . 6 , 7 3 , 7 3 n . 8.
1 9 8 , 19 8 n . 2 5 0 7 4 - 5 , 7 7 - 8 , 8 8 , 9 1 , 9 4 , 9 5 - 6 , 1 0 3 - 4 , 1 0 4 n . 88,
dalll ( r a tio n a l p ro o f ) 1 9 1 ,191n. 231 1 1 2 - 1 3 ,1 1 3 n . 1 1 5 ,1 1 7 ,1 1 8 ,1 2 1 - 3 ,1 2 3 - 4 ,
hujja ( a u th o r ita tiv e p r o o f ) 94 1 2 4 - 5 ,3 7 3 n . 7 8 ,4 2 5

661
Subject index

qibla ( c o n tin u e d ) : 372n. 7 3 ,4 2 5 ,5 1 2 ,513n. 5 9 ,514n. 6 1 ,5 1 5 n .

a b r o g a tio n o f th e qibla o f Je ru s a le m in fa v o u r 6 5 ,5 1 7
o f th e qibla o f M e c c a 7 8 ,7 9 - 8 3 qufb (p o le ) 1 6 0 n . 118
M ecca, qibla 6 8 .7 1 ,7 8 .7 9 - 8 3 Q u tb a l- D in M a w d u d 6 5 n . 2 7 0
see also JCa‘b a; M e c c a ; p ra y e r quwwa (v ita lity ) 2 4 9 n . 4 2 4
q u a lity ( kayfiyya) 4 3 0 ,4 3 0 n . 199
qudra ( G o d ’s p o w e r) 9 8 ,4 5 7 a l- R a b i' b . A n a s 548
al-Quds see Je ru s a le m o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d 15 2 n . 8 9
Q u e e n o f S h e b a 129n. 1 0 ,1 3 1 ,2 5 0 n . 427 on al-hayy 146
q u id d i ty ( m&hiyya) 100, lOOn. 8 1 , 183n. 2 0 6 ,1 8 4 , on kursl 150
184n. 2 0 9 ,475n. 77 on al-qayyum 1 4 7 ,2 0 5 ,2 7 2
a l- Q u m m i, ‘A ll b. I b r a h im 4 , 2 4 - 5 , 7 6 , 1 3 0 on sina 147
o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 7 6 a l-R a b i' b . H a b ib 139n. 3 5 ,4 6 0
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 3 9 - 4 2 ,1 4 1 a l-R a d l, a l- S h a r if 486
o n Q . 6 :12 305 a l-R & g h ib a l-I$ fa h in i 1 6 n n . 1 7 ,1 8
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 4 8 ,3 5 3 - 6 o n G o d n o t b e in g b o u n d b y s l u m b e r 2 5 4
o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 6 2 - 3 o n al-qayyum 2 5 1 - 2 ,2 8 3
o n Q . 112 5 0 0 -1 al-rahim 3 3 1 ,3 3 2
a l- Q u n a w i, $ a d r a l- D in 3 8 , 4 2 8 - 9 , 4 2 8 n n . 188, al-rabm&n 4 9 8 ,4 9 9 n . 13
189 R a p h a e l 133n. 15
Q u r ’a n R assi see a l- Q i s im b . I b r a h im a l- R a s s i
a r r a n g e m e n t 274 r a tio n a l p e r c e p tio n see p e r c e p t io n
a ttr ib u te s , S h a ra fi o n 2 1 7 al-R * zi, A b u B a k r see A bQ B a k r b . Z a k a r i y y a a l-
c a lle d 't h e dhikr 2 2 8 n . 367 R iz i
c o d ic e s 4 9 I n . 4 a l-R a z i, A b u H a tim see A b fl H atim a l- R a z i
c o m m e n ta r ie s 1 - 7 ,3 9 a l-R a z i, A b u l - F u t u b 32
see also tafsir, ta'wil al-RA zi, F a k h r a l- D in 4 . 3 7 - 8 , 3 0 2 , 3 2 6 n . 6 4 , 3 3 3 ,
a s lig h t 3 56 4 7 1 n . 6 5 , 4 7 2 n . 6 7 , 4 8 1 n . 104
lig h t o f 3 9 4 - 5 B u ru s a w i’s c ita tio n s 2 2 3
lik e n e d to G o d ’s lig h t 4 3 4 c o sm o lo g ic a l a r g u m e n t fo r G o d ’s e x i s t e n c e
R azi o n (Q . 2 4 :3 5 ) 401 3 3 5 - 6 ,3 4 I n . 80
T a b a r i o n 360 o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 9 3 - 1 0 3
a l- T a b a ri o n 367 o n Q . 2 :255 1 8 0 - 2 0 0 ,2 5 0 n . 4 2 8
lik e n e d to th e la m p lit f r o m th e B lessed T re e , o n Q . 2 4:35 3 8 4 -4 0 8
T a b a ri o n 366 o n Q . 5 4:49 4 5 6 ,4 5 7 ,4 6 9 - 7 6
lik e n e d to lig h t 420 o n Q . 112 4 9 2 , 4 9 3 - 4 ,5 3 2 - 4 9 , 5 6 4
lik e n e d to th e n ic h e 4 2 1 ,4 2 3 ,4 2 4 al-R& zi, Ib n A b i H a tim see I b n A b i H a t i m a l-R & z i
T a b a r i 3 65 re a s o n 389
as the likeness of His Light 381 'aql 170
re c ita tio n r e c ita tio n see Q u r ’a n , r e c ita tio n
d a ily r e c ita tio n 297 r e p e n ta n c e (indba)
sajdat al-fildwa (re c ita l p r o s tr a t io n ) 78n. G o d 's a c c e p ta n c e o f 3 0 6
2 4 ,8 8 n e c e s s ity to a v o id p u n is h m e n t 3 1 2 - 1 3
re fe re n c e s to 3 4 7 ,3 8 3 - 4 see also p e n ite n c e (tawba)
rh y m e d p ro se (saj‘) 1 6 2 ,162n. 1 3 1 ,3 2 5 n . 61 r e s u rre c tio n
s im ile s fo r 4 3 8 - 9 d e n ia l o f, p u n is h m e n t o f u n b e li e v e r s 3 0 3
suras 1 3 0 n . 12 a n d ju d g e m e n t 5 4 3 - 4 , 5 4 3 n . 117
(na^m), T a b ris i o n
v e rs e o r d e r 174 K a s h in i o n 3 0 1 , 3 2 0 - 1 , 3 2 1 n . 4 3
v ir tu e s (fadail al-Qurdn) 127 M a y b u d i’s d e s c r ip tio n s o f 3 1 0 ,3 1 1
Q u r a y s h 4 6 4 , 4 7 0 n . 5 7 , 4 8 4 ,5 0 1 .5 5 3 n . 1 3 3 ,5 5 3 n . a s p a r t o f G o d ’s m e r c y 345
135 r e je c tio n o f le a d s to p u n is h m e n t , T a b r i s i o n
a J - Q u r a r i' M u b a m m a d b . K a 'b 4 0 5 ,4 3 9 ,4 6 4 , 3 1 4 -1 5
5 0 0 n . 1 6 ,5 4 8 see also D a y o f R e s u rr e c tio n
a l- Q u i tu b i , M u b a m m a d b. A b m a d 4 rh e to r ic 4 1 7
a l-Q u ra $ i 4 1 3 ,4 3 3 u s e in Q . 2 4 :3 5 , Fa<jl A lla h o n 4 4 9 ,4 5 1
a l- Q u s h a y ri, A b u ’l- Q a s im 3 4 , 3 1 2 n . 2 8 , 3 7 1 n . 71, r h y m in g p ro s e {saf) 1 6 2 ,1 6 2 n . 131

662
 Subject index

Ri<jA, M u h a m m a d R a s h id 2 1 , 4 8 - 5 0 , 2 6 8 n . 474 Q u m m i o n 5 0 0 ,5 0 1
o n in te rc e s s io n 134 R A z io n 5 3 2 ,5 4 5 - 9
see also al-Man&r S h a ra fi o n 555
R u m i, Jalal a l- D in 2 2 3 ,2 4 6 ,3 2 4 ,3 2 5 T a b a r i o n 5 0 2 - 9 ,5 0 5 - 8
a l-R u ’Asi, A b u J a f a r M u h a m m a d 42 T a b ris i o n 4 9 3 ,4 9 4 , 5 2 3 ,5 2 4
ruh, KAshAni o n 210n. 297 Z a m a k h s h a r i o n 518
a l- R u m m i n l, ‘AH b . ‘IsA 4 0 ,9 3 ,9 9 ,4 1 2 Samadiyya 1 6 3 ,5 4 9 ,5 5 1 n . 1 2 7 ,5 5 2 ,5 5 5 ,5 5 9 ,5 6 0
R u w a y s ( M u h a m m a d b . a l- M u ta w a k k il al- a l- S a m ‘Ani, A h m a d b. M a n s u r 4 6 , 4 2 5 , 4 2 5 n . 180
L u ’l u l ) , o n Q . 112 521 S a ta n (Ib lls ) 3 3 3 ,4 6 6 n . 4 5 ,4 6 7 ,4 6 7 n . 4 6 ,4 9 2 ,
ruya (v is io n o f G o d ) 2 0 6 n . 2 8 1 , 2 2 0 - 1 , 2 2 0 n . 333 5 3 7 ,5 6 4
R u zb ih A n B aq ll 3 8 , 3 0 4 n . 6 , 4 2 0 , 4 2 0 n . 166 sa'y ritu a l 3 2 4 n . 56
a l-S a y y id a l- S a n a d 4 8 6
sabab al-nuzul see o c c a s io n s o f re v e la tio n ‘S e a t’ see kursi
S a i d b . ‘Iy A d ,o n th e n i c h e 414 se lf
S a i d b . J u b a y r 2 , 8 1 , 8 1 n . 3 4 , 8 2 , 8 2 n . 4 1 , 8 3 n . 42, nafs, p e r s is ta n c e 3 7 6 n . 92
% - 7 , 1 0 6 ,3 6 0 ,3 8 1 ,4 0 4 ,4 0 6 ,4 1 3 ,4 3 6 ,4 6 0 n . p ra y e r s f o r re le a se fr o m 3 7 4 ,3 7 4 n . 89
1 5 ,5 0 4 ,5 0 6 ,5 4 8 see also t h e so u l
onkursi 1 3 8 n . 3 2 ,1 5 0 ,1 9 6 S e ra p h ie l ( Israfil) 145n. 6 4 , 4 0 9 n . 139
onal-qayyum 1 7 7 ,2 0 5 ,2 5 1 a l-S h a 'b l, ‘A m ir b . S h arah 'il 4 3 6 ,5 0 6 ,5 0 6 n . 33,
al-$A diq see J a f a r al-$ A diq A b u ‘A b d A lla h J a f a r 554
b. M u h a m m a d shaft'a see in te rc e s s io n
$ a d r a l- D in b . F a k h r a l- D in R u zb ih A n -i a l- T h a n i shahida ( p r o fe s s io n o f fa ith ) 9 , 140n. 4 2 , 2 2 8 n .
38 3 6 7 ,2 3 6 ,3 0 8 n . 1 4 ,5 6 6
a l- $ a d r, S ay y id M u h a m m a d B a q ir 52 shah&datayn 2 2 9 n . 3 7 3
$ a d ra S h ira z i see M u lla $ a d ra a l- S h a h r a s t in i , M u h a m m a d b . ‘A b d a l-K a rim
S a fa v id S h a h s o f I r a n 4 2 0 n . 166 3 8 6 n . 119
$ a fa v iy y a o r d e r 4 2 0 n . 166 S h a h ra z u r i, M awlAnA K h a lid 47
sahdba ( C o m p a n io n s o f th e P r o p h e t) , d e fin e d as shajara see th e b le s s e d tr e e
b e lie v e rs 7 2 - 3 , 7 2 n . 5 a l-S h a ra fi, A h m a d b . M u h a m m a d 43
sahib al-zamdn ( m a s te r o f th e a g e ), B u ru s a w i o n a l-S h a ra fi, 'A l li m a ‘A b d AUAh 1 2 , 18n. 3 1 ,2 1 ,
477 4 2 - 5 , 3 0 4 n . 6 , 4 5 8 , 4 7 7 n . 8 5 ,4 7 8 - 8 0
S ah l b . S a i d 5 33 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 1 4 - 2 3
s a in ts 2 8 8 n . 5 08 o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 5 8 ,4 7 8 - 8 0
awliyd*1 4 9 n . 7 8 o n Q . 112 555
in te rc e s s io n 2 8 8 n . 509 a l- S h a r if a l- M u r t a d a 36
M a w d u d I a tt it u d e to w a r d s 2 8 I n . 4 8 9 a l- S h a ^ c h a l- $ a d u q (A bO Ja‘f a r M u h a m m a d b.
waldya/wildya (s a in th o o d ) 140n. 4 2 ,562n. ‘A llb . B A baw ayh) 2 4 ,2 5 - 6
154 a l-S h a y k h a l-T u s I see a l-T u s i
saj' ( r h y m e d p ro s e ) 1 6 2 ,162n. 1 3 1 ,3 2 5 n . 61 S h aykhzA da, M u h y i’h D i n 4 6 ,4 1 7 ,5 5 5 ,5 5 7
al-S akhA w i, S h a m s a l- D ln 4 6 ,1 1 3 o n al-Bay<jAwi o n Q . 112 2 2 7
salat see p ra y e r a l-S h ib li, A b u B a k r D u la f 166
S a lm a n a l- F a ris i 1 7 3 ,3 0 5 ,3 0 6 - 7 ,3 1 8 ,3 2 8 ,4 6 2 , o n th e r e m e m b r a n c e o f G o d 163
496 S h f i s 1 3 6 n . 2 7 ,4 5 8 n .7
s a lv a tio n ( najdt) 3 47 im a m a te d o c tr in e s , Q u m m i o n 139
al-samad 1 6 3 n . 1 3 2 , 4 9 3 ,4 9 4 ,4 9 7 - 8 .4 9 8 n . 12, T w e lv e r S h f is , a n d t h e v is io n o f G o d 2 2 0 n . 333
528 see abo im a m s , Is m A llis, o c c u lta tio n
A b u H A tim a l-R a z i o n 5 1 2 n . 56 short at (r e lig io u s la w ) 371
S h i'is m ,
AbO H ayyA n o n 5 5 2 ,5 5 4 shirk ( p o ly th e is m ) 135, 1 3 5 n . 2 2 , 1 3 9 , 2 4 8 , 4 9 9 n .
‘A ta o n 5 35 1 3 ,5 0 4
B u ru s a w i o n 5 5 8 - 9 ,5 6 0 S h u 'b a 564
F ad l A lla h o n 5 7 3 ,5 7 4 S ib a w a y h i, A b u B is h r 'A m r 4 0 , 101n.83
FurA t o n 5 02 $ iffin , B a ttle o f 527
H u d 4 9 9 -5 0 0 s ig h t see p e r c e p tio n
al-KAshAni o n 5 4 9 , 5 5 0 - 2 , 5 5 0 n . 125 S im nA nI, ‘AlA’ a l-D a w la 3 8 ,6 4 n . 244
M a y b u d i o n 4 9 3 ,5 1 3 - 1 4 sina see s l u m b e r ( sitia)
M uqA til o n 4 9 7 - 8 S in a i, M o u n t see cd-Jur

663
Subject index

sin g u la r! t y / u n iq u e n ess, in re la tio n t o ahad 4 9 2 ai-Suhrawardl, S h ih a b al-Din 37,185n. 214, 349

s in n e rs al-Sulami, Abu ‘Abd al-Rabmin 34, 59xl 121,
G o d ’s m e r c y to , T a b ris i o n 3 1 4 - 1 5 3 7 0 ,3 7 2 n . 7 3 , 4 0 9 n . 1 3 9 ,4 1 3 ,4 3 3 ,4 3 8 .4 3 9
M u b a m m a d in te rc e d e s f o r 311 - 1 2 S u la y b id s 4 5
r e p e n ta n c e to a v o id p u n is h m e n t 3 1 2 - 1 3 sunna (e s ta b lis h e d ru le ) 8 6 n . 51
sin s , g ra v e s in s ( kabira) 74 S u n n is , a n d t h e v is io n o f G o d 2 2 0 m 3 3 3
firdf (b r id g e ) 2 1 7 n . 3 2 0 ,3 5 5 ahl al-sunna* v ie w s o n in te r c e s s io n 2 7 7 , 2 7 7 n .
s lu m b e r ( sina) 2 0 6 n . 279 484
G o d n o t a ffe c te d b y 1 3 1 - 2 , 1 3 7 n . 30 $ura ( f o rm ) l O l n . 8 2 , 1 30m 1 2 , 1 8 5 m 2 1 3
A b u H a y y in o n 206 a l-S u w a y d l, ‘A lb S h a y k h 4 7
A lu sI o n 2 5 2 - 4 a l-S u y u ti, I a l i i a l- D in 16m 1 2 ,5 6 1 ,5 6 4 n . 1 6 1 ,
B u ru sa w i o n 2 3 3 -4 2 8 3 n . 4 9 8 ,5 6 5
F ad ) A lla h o n 2 8 4 ,2 8 6 - 7 o n G o d ’s n a m e s in Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 4 4
H u d o n 137 on kursi a n d ‘a r s h 2 7 8
Ja’f a r b . M a n s u r o n 159 o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 6 3 - 4 ,2 8 3
K i s h i n i o n 201 o n sle e p 2 5 3
al-Mandr o n 2 7 3 -4 o n a l- T a b a r i n l o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 8 3
M a w d u d i o n 281 S y ria 4 0 5 ,4 0 6 ,4 2 2
M a y b u d l o n 1 6 6 -7
R 4zl o n 1 8 7 -8 ,1 9 1 a l- T ib l, a l-‘A lli m a 4 3 4
T a b a r i o n 1 4 5 ,1 4 7 tdli (fo llo w e r) 3 6 8 ,3 6 8 m 6 2
T a b ris i o n 1 7 5 ,1 7 7 - 8 ta'alluh (th e o s is ) 2 2 4 ,2 2 4 n . 3 4 2
Z a m a k h s h a r i o n 170 a l- T a b a r in l, A b a l - Q i s i m S u la y m in 4 8 5 ,5 6 3 , 5 6 9
see also nawm (s le e p d o e s n o t a ffe c t G o d ) o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 8 3
S o lo m o n a l- T a b a ri, A b u Ja’f a r b . J a r ir 4 , 5 . 2 8 - 9 , 6 9 , 7 1 ,
kursi 1 2 8 -9 ,1 3 1 3 0 1 ,3 5 3 m 5 ,4 3 2 ,4 3 5 ,4 9 4
a n d t h e Q u e e n o f S h e b a 2 5 0 n . 4 2 7 , 4 9 9 n . 13 o n A b u D h a r r a l- G h a & ri o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 2 2 n . 3 3 7
th e s o u l 3 8 8 , 4 1 1 .4 2 6 ,4 2 6 n . 1 8 4 ,4 4 1 o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 7 8 - 8 8
see also rub; se lf o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 4 5 -5 4
so u ls o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 0 5 - 1 0
a c q u is itio n o f m e r it o r d e m e r it. H u d o n 137 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 4 7 ,3 5 9 - 6 7 ,4 1 3
lo ss o f 3 1 0 ,3 1 9 - 2 0 o n Q . 5 4:49 4 5 6 ,4 6 3 - 4
b y d is b e lie v e rs 3 0 2 - 3 ,3 4 0 - 1 ,3 4 5 o n Q . 112 5 0 2 - 9
re la tio n s h ip t o G o d a n d r e s u r r e c t io n 3 2 I n . 43 a l - T a b a ta b i’I, S ay y id ‘A lli m a M u b a m m a d
s p iritu a l e n e rg y (himma) 2 2 4 ,2 2 4 n . 3 4 3 H u say n
‘s to ry te lle r s ’ (qussds) 1 - 2 o n in te rc e s s io n 1 3 4 ,2 8 8 - 9 0 , 2 8 9 n . 5 1 1
s u b s ta n c e o n G o d ’s lig h t 1 1 ,4 4 9
a n d a c c id e n ts 3 8 5 ,3 8 5 n n . 1 1 7 ,1 1 8 a l- T a b ris i (a l-T a b a rs I ), a l-F a d l b . a l - H a s a n 2 7 ,
jawhar 1 13n. 116 3 6 - 7 ,7 1 ,3 0 0
‘S u c c e s s o rs ’ (tdbf un) 2 o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 8 9 - 9 3
a l-S u d d i, I s m i 'i l b . ‘A b d a l- R a b m in 2 3 ,8 1 ,3 8 2 , o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 7 3 - 8 0
5 4 5 -6 o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 1 3 - 1 5
o n G o d n o t b e in g w e a rie d 152n. 8 9 o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 3 8 0 - 4
o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 149n. 8 0 ,1 5 0 ,1 7 8 , o n Q . 5 4 : 4 9 4 5 7 - 8 ,4 6 8 - 9
1 9 4 - 5 ,2 0 9 o n Q . 112 5 1 8 - 3 2
on kursi a n d ‘arsh 1 5 0 ,2 1 0 T a b u k 5 3 3 ,5 3 3 n . 103
on al-qayyum 147 tafsir 1 - 7
on sina 147 in t e r p r e ta ti o n t h r o u g h r e a s o n ( bi’l-ra'y) 3 1 6
S u fis/S u fism 4 0 4 ,4 1 On. 1 4 3 ,4 3 2 and ta’wil 5 - 7
c o m m e n ta r ie s , o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 0 9 n . 139 see also Q u r ’i n , c o m m e n ta r ie s ( tafsir)
d e fe n c e o f dikhr 2 2 8 n . 367 T i h a r t 23
S u f y in b . ‘U y a y n a 4 0 0 T i j a l - Q u n i ’, o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 2 0 9
S ufyS n a l- T h a w ri 2 , 15 n . 10 takbir (Alldhu akbar) 7 7 , 7 7 n . 23
on kursi 13 8 n . 32 takhsls ( r e s tr ic te d a p p lic a tio n s ) 9 7 - 8 , 9 7 n . 7 5
$ u h a y b b. S in a n 173 taklif (m o ra l o b lig a tio n ) 9 6 n . 7 3 , 9 7 , 9 7 n . 7 4 , 3 0 0 ,
a l-S u h a y li, ‘A b d a l- R a b m a n 4 2 9 ,4 2 9 n . 194 3 1 5 n .35

664
 Subject index

takwin 1 8 7 n . 2 2 2 , 1 9 2 n. 2 3 5 ,2 1 9 n . 3 2 9 u n b e lie v e rs 3 1 5 ,3 5 5 - 6
T a lb a b . Z a y d 354 G o d ’s m e r c y in c o n n e c t io n w ith th e a fte rlife
taqdir ( m e a s u r e m e n t) , A b u H a y y in o n 4 7 7 n . 90, 303
478 G o d ’s m e r c y to 3 2 2 - 3
tasalsul (in f in ite re g re s s ) 19 I n . 232 la c k o f fa ith a n d lo s s o f s o u ls 3 2 3 n . 49
tashriq 9 0 n . 5 9 lo s s o f s o u ls 3 0 0 ,3 0 2 - 3 ,3 1 0
tafbiq 3 9 , 1 0 3 , 2 4 2 n . 4 8 2 ,3 4 7 M u q i t i l o n Q . 5 4 :4 9 4 5 9 ,4 5 9 n . 8
tawhid see G o d , o n e n e s s p u n is h m e n t o f 3 0 5 , 3 1 3 n . 3 2 ,3 2 9
ta'wil 39 see also d is b e lie v e rs
Ja ’fa r b . M a n s u r a l- Y a m a n o n 31 u n iv e r s e , c r e a tio n , a n d G o d ’s w is d o m 4 6 7 - 8
K ash& ni u s e o f 103 ‘U t h m a n b . ‘A ffc n 5 3 n . 7 , 4 0 9 n . 1 3 9 ,5 2 7 n . 9 6
a n d tafsir 5 - 7 ‘U t h m i n F a d ll 4 5 - 6
al-Ta'wildt al-Najmiyya 481 al-*U zza 1 5 6 ,156n. 100
B u ru s a w i’s c ita tio n s 223
o n t h e k u r s f 241 v eil {hijdb) 2 1 7 ,2 1 7 n . 3 2 0 ,2 2 9 -3 0
on light on light 4 2 5 V e n u s 351
see also N a jm a l- D ln K u b ra V e s p a s ia n , d e s tr u c tio n o f th e te m p le 106n. 99
T h e T e a c h e r see M u b a m m a d ‘A b d u h v is io n o f G o d see ru’ya
T h a 'la b ( A b m a d b . Y ab y * ) 4 1 , 2 7 3 n . 4 8 1 ,5 5 2 ,5 5 3 v is u a l p e r c e p tio nsee p e r c e p tio n
a l- T h a ‘lab I, o n ‘A ll b . A b l T i l i b o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 174
th e o lo g y W a h b b . W a h b , A bO ’l- B u k h tu rf a l- Q u r a s h l 528,
n e g a tiv e th e o lo g y (ta'fll) 3 3 6 5 2 9 -3 0
se e a ls o kaldm W ah h & b is 6 4 n . 251
th e o s is ( taalluh) 2 2 4 , 2 2 4 n . 3 4 2 al-wdhid 4 9 4 ,5 2 5 - 6 ,5 7 2 ,5 7 3
‘T h r o n e ’ see ‘arsh a n d al-ahad 4 9 2 ,4 9 9 ,5 0 9 - 1 1 ,5 0 9 n . 50.
T h r o n e v e rs e see Q . 2 :255 5 4 1 - 2 ,5 4 9 ,5 5 0 - 1
a l - T i h r i n i , A g h a B u z u rg M u b a m m a d M u b s in 25 B u ru sa w i o n 5 5 6
a l- T ir m id h l, M u b a m m a d b . ‘Isa 3 2 7 ,3 7 4 n . 86, wdbidiyya 2 2 9 n . 3 7 3 ,5 5 7
4 3 6 , 4 8 4 , 4 8 4 n . 120, 5 6 4 ,5 6 5 ,5 7 0 Q . 112, B u ru s a w i o n 556
on al-hayy al-qayyum 271 see also G o d , o n e n e s s
T o r a h 3 0 5 ,3 0 7 ,4 2 0 wahm ( im a g in a tio n ) 100, lOOn. 80
T r a n s o x ia n a , R iz i in 37 wajh (fa c e [ o f G o d ) ) 6 7 -1 2 3
d r iv e n o u t o f 4 7 I n . 65 S h a ra fl o n 2 1 7
T r in ity wdjib al-wujud (N e c e s s a ry E x is te n t/B e in g )1 8 3 ,
b e lie f in c o n d e m n e d 537 183n. 2 0 5 , 2 8 5 n . 500
d e n ia l 553 waldya 1 4 2 n . 46
see also C h r is tia n ity waldya takwiniyya ( th e o r y o f c o s m ic a u t h o r ­
al-Tur ( M o u n t S in a i) 173 ity ) 2 9 4 ,2 9 4 n . 522
a l-T u s i, A b u J a f a r , a l-S h a y k h 36 waldya/bard'a ( d o c t r in e o f
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 284 f r ie n d s h ip /e n m ity ) 3 5 5 n . 23
a l- T u s ta r i, A b u M u b a m m a d S a h l b . 'A b d A llah , waldya/wildya (s a in th o o d ) 140n. 4 2 , 5 6 2 n . 154
o n Q . 2 4 :3 5 4 1 0 n n . 1 4 1 ,1 4 2 wait 5 6 2 n . 154
see also im a m a te , waldya; s a in ts ( awliyd’)
‘U b a y d A lla h b . Y a b y i b . K h a q a n 28 W a lid b . a l- M u g h ir a 5 1 6 ,5 1 6 n . 70
U b a y y b . K a‘b 2 , 1 5 n . 8 ,3 0 3 ,3 6 2 ,3 8 0 ,3 8 1 ,3 8 3 , a l- W a q id i, M u b a m m a d b . ‘U m a r 5 6 n . 7 5
3 8 7 , 4 0 1 , 4 0 4 ,4 0 7 ,4 1 3 ,4 1 4 ,4 3 3 ,4 3 5 ,4 3 6 ,5 0 3 , W a r a q a b . N a w fa l 4 2 9 ,4 2 9 n . 194
5 1 7 , 5 1 9 , 5 2 4 ,5 3 3 ,5 4 0 ,5 4 7 ,5 5 4 ,5 6 1 wa$i( [ s p ir itu a l] le g a te e )(o sd s [f o u n d a tio n ] )
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 7 4 ,2 0 3 160n. 119
o n Q . 112 5 66 wafiyya ( te s ta m e n t) , r e je c tio n a s shirk ( p o ly th e ­
U d a y y b . a l-R a q q S ‘ 2 7 3 ,2 7 3 n . 481 is m ), Q u m m I o n 139
U b u d , B attle o f 4 9 6 n . 9
'ulama ( s i n g .' dlim) 1 5 1 ,2 1 0 ,2 1 On. 298 yddgdr (k e e p s a k e ), M a y b u d i o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 163
‘U m a r b . a l- K h a f la b 2 5 7 ,2 5 7 n . 4 4 7 ,3 0 8 ,3 2 4 - 5 , Y a b y a b. S allam a l-B a s ri 2 3 , 7 6 n . 17
3 7 1 n . 71 al-Y am & n b . R iyS b, o n al-$amad 5 4 8 ,5 5 4
Umm al-Kitdb 1 6 2 n . 1 2 9 ,3 6 8 n . 59 Y a th rib see M e d in a
u n b e lie f 401

665
Subject index

fdhir ( a p p a r e n t sen .se /lite ra l te x t; e x o te ric a sp e c t) zandaqa (h e re sy ) 4 8 5 n . 123

6 , 7 , 1 1 , 1 0 2 , 1 0 3n. 8 7 ,1 5 1 ,1 6 0 ,1 8 9 Z a y d b. 'A ll b . a l- H u s a y n b . 'A ll b . A b i J i l i b 4 3 ,
£ a h ir i$ m 203 1 0 4n. 8 8 , 105n. 9 4 , 3 5 3 n . 5 , 4 1 0 n . 1 3 9 ,4 1 0 n .
al-Zajj£j> I b r i h i m b- a l-S a ri 9 3 , 9 3 n . 6 6 ,3 1 4 ,3 1 9 , 141, 41 In . 1 4 4 ,4 1 3 ,4 3 3 , 5 2 8 - 9 , 5 5 1 n . 1 2 6 ,5 5 4 ,
3 2 1 , 3 2 3 , 3 8 7 , 4 0 5 ,4 0 6 ,5 2 5 ,5 4 1 5 5 5 n . 143
o n G o d ’s k n o w le d g e 210 on aihayy 2\4n. 309
on al-qayyum 2 7 2 Z a y d b. A sla m 8 2 ,3 6 7 ,3 8 1 ,4 0 0 ,4 3 5
a l- Z a m a k h s h a r i, J i r A ilih 3 5 ,3 6 , 4 1 , 1 0 8 , 108n. Z a y d b. T h a b it, o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 15n. 8 ,2 4 5
1 0 2 ,3 0 0 ,3 0 2 ,3 2 1 ,3 2 2 ,3 3 5 ,3 4 2 ,4 1 5 ,4 2 9 ,4 3 3 , Z a y d is 18n. 3 1 , 2 1 , 2 2 , 4 2 - 5
4 3 4 ,4 7 8 ,4 8 0 ,4 9 4 ,5 5 3 ,5 6 1 o n Q . 2:2 5 5 2 14
A b u tf a y y i n c ritic is e s 203 a n d th e v is io n o f G o d 2 2 0 n . 333
o n G o d n o t b e in g p o s s e sse d b y s lu m b e r 207 zayt see th e oil
o n Q . 2 :1 1 5 8 8 - 9 zaytuna (th e o liv e) see t h e b le s se d tre e
o n Q . 2 :2 5 5 1 7 0 - 3 ,2 0 3 Z a y n a l- 'A b id in ('A li b. a l- H u s a y n ) 2 9 5 n . 5 2 6 ,
a s p r o te c tio n a g a in s t ev il 134 3 5 8 ,3 5 8 n . 3 6 , 5 2 6 n . 9 2 ,5 2 8 ,5 2 9
o n Q . 6 :1 2 3 1 2 - 1 3 Z e n o 4 8 8 n . 134
o n Q . 24:3 5 3 4 9 ,3 7 8 - 8 0 ,4 1 4 a l- Z ib riq 4 n b. B a d r a l- T a m lm l 5 0 8 ,5 2 3
o n Q . 54:4 9 4 5 7 - 8 ,4 6 7 - 8 ,4 7 7 Z o r o a s tr ia n s 4 8 5 n . 1 2 3 ,5 1 6
o n Q . 1 1 2 :1 - 2 5 1 6 - 1 8 zujdja see th e glass
zamdn ( t im e /d u r a t io n ) 1 8 8 ,2 3 0 ,4 6 8 ,4 6 8 n . 52, Z u r i r a b. A ’y a n 2 ,7 7
4 7 4 ,4 7 7 o n Ja’f a r a l-$ a d iq o n kursi 1 4 1 ,1 4 4

666
 Index of Qur’anic citations

Sura verse page

1 563,563n. 157 102 80n. 32
2 163n. 134,304n. 6 103 111
1 140 125 357n. 32,515n.66
10 536 164 515n. 66
17 429 165 401
20 111 171 511n. 54
30 374n. 87 173 339
32 136n.23,196,201 174 184n. 210,394,435
48 278 5 15 400,436
51 136n. 25 32 146n. 66
54 136n. 25 37 307
92 136n. 25 54 427
93 84,84n. 47 64 217n.320
114 108,115,118,118n.l32, 82 78
119-23,122n. 143,125n. 154 116 329n.74
115 9,67-125,197n. 248,217n. 320 6 294n. 521,341n. 88
116 108 1 386
142 79,81,95 3 43
143 99 12 9-10,43,199, 299-345,387,
144 74,76,80,80n. 32,82,88,94 471,521
149 80n. 32,81,88,91 13 199
150 76,80n. 32,81,88,91,94,108 14 547
163 181,186,271,545 18 547
177 72,73,73n. 8 50 294
188 470n. 58,471 52 93
248 221 54 10,299n. 1,308,309,309n. 18
253 146n. 66,146n. 67,204 76 363
254 204 79 101
255 9,26,35,110,127-297,308n. 91 171, 211,477n. 94,534
15,453n. 261,557n. 148,563, 96 477n. 91
570 103 220n.333
256 141,435 121 471,471n. 59
257 141,379,387,451 122 387
282 130n. 12 156 339
286 %n. 73,315n. 35,563 160 339
1 271 7 14 467
5 434 15 467n. 46
7 6,7,16n. 18,18n. 30 16 467n. 46
18 186,191,271,286,527,558 53 16n. 18,59n. 119
67 369 54 169n. 159,186,470,470n. 56
83 155n. 93 156 304,331
133 421 172 466n. 45
159 331 179 155
196 173n.179 180 57n. 95
199 84,99 194 287
29 470,470n. 58 202 280
31 137n. 28 206 78n. 24
59 I6n. 18 8 50 143n. 55
69 195n. 245,356 53 521n. 83

667
Index of Qur’&nic citations

Sura verse Sura verse P*8C

9 130n. 12 109 78n. 24
5 130n. 12 18 28 93
30 498,542 29 373n.83
36 174n. 184 49 253
74 521n. 83 60-82 209n. 293
116 225 109 114n. 121
128 332 19 16 95
10 294n. 521 20 537n. Ill
3 138,186, 289, 534 58 78n. 24
4 169n. 159 65 155
5 429 88-92 142n. 45
10 157 90 537
18 193 93 426
22 372n. 75 20 5 116,197,240
26 339,376 6 140,140n.39,159,159n. 109
55 225 8 57n. 95
61 296 14 311
11 6 177 50 283,483
7 197 74 541
17 521n. 83 98 98
72 504 108-113 279
105 274 114 295
109 521n. 83,542 21 19-22 135n.22
112 439 22 282n. 492,537,540,562
12 24 184n. 210 24 135n. 22
31 309n. 16 26 135n. 22
35 309 26-7 291
100 129n. 10 27-8 279
107 49 28 135,135n. 22,138,293
13 2 169n. 159 30 215
8 472,472n. 67,473,477n.90 87 116
9 529 97 524,541
13 498 98 189
15 78n. 24 107 311,332
16 303,472 22 5 215
33 129,135,137,157,177,191, 18 78n. 24
272,286 46 524,541
14 24 438 74 477n.94
28 142 77 78n. 24
38 103 78 369,406
15 21 115 24 31 130n. 12
75 372n. 73 34 404,413.433
16 2 395,404 35 10,35,347-453,537
16 420 40 380n. 107,443
32 217n. 320 45 214
33 327 55 396
50 78n. 24 25 2 477n. 91,485
51 51 In. 54 21-3 220
74 354 33 5,16n. 17
120 521n. 83 48-50 215
17 l 112n. 114,164n. 142 59 169n. 159
23 206, 206n. 279 60 78n.24
81 225n. 347,232n. 381 61 395
90-92 220 26 193 395,404

668
 Index of Qur’inic citations

page Sura verse P*g*

142n. 46 17 472
9 504 38 78n. 24
23 129n. 10 53 68,426
26 78n. 24 42 5 133,133n. 16, 304
30 499n. 13 11 386,515,555
38 129n. 10 13 356
44 250 17 217n.320
62 396 51 217n. 320
4 177,212 52 387,400,401,438
88 93,102,108,117 43 87 549
43 217 44 38-9 562
69 425 49 470,470n. 56
50 190 46 24-5 474n. 75
25 317 47 19 538
34 461 27 143n.55
4 169n. 159,289 38 551
5 477n. 90 50 37 526
15 78n. 24 51 22 115
553n. 135 49 471
43 133n. 16 53 7-18 164n. 142
46 381n. 110,400 14 174n. 184
67 542 32 110
72 312n. 28 62 78n. 24
3 296 54 463n.28
9 190 3 465n. 38
41 191 12 465n. 38
38 477n. 91 42 254
39 471 47 464,470,484
82 243,470n. 56,48In. 104, 529 47-9 484
164,395 48 463,470,470n. 56
1 534 49 10,168n. 152,455-489
4 534,556 49-50 470n. 56
24 78n. 24 50 470,470n. 56
34 128,131 55 17 100,120
71-3,459n. 8 26 547
3 193,208 26-7 273
22 370,401,438 27 93,108
44 130,133,304n. 5 31 372n. 75
53 311,458n.7 33 98,110, llOn. no
62 472 56 7-11 543n. 117
67 150,170,171,211,217n. 320, 11 227n. 364
223n. 339,477n. 94,504 13-14 227n. 364
69 217n. 320,427 26 157
75 133n. 16,197 57 3 103n. 87
7 98,129n. 10,133,133n. 16, 4 43,98,169n. 159
151,197,215,304 10 547
19 293 12 408
28 52In. 83 24 547
40 466n. 45 58 7 81,98,110, llOn. 110,121
60 85,99,115 59 22 140,225
62 472,472n. 67 22-4 527n. 97
6 511n. 54 24 30,57n. 95
11 99 60 13 531
12 477n. 91 61 8 452

669
Index of Qur’&nic citations

Sura vene Sura verse

64 8 394 21 395
65 3 477n. 94 82 19 275
11 401 83 15 220n.333
12 219,223n. 339 84 21 78n. 24
67 3 269 85 12 217n. 320,259n.446
68 1-2 515n. 65 20 219
42 217n. 320 86 13-14 280
51 228n. 367 87 558
52 228n. 367 3 489
69 17 133n. 16,197 91 10 274
19-25 543n. 117 92 7 464
41 516 10 464
42 516 94 332
70 4 477n. 90 % 19 78n. 24
40 100 97 21On. 297,538n. 113
72 143n. 50 1-3 477n. 94
19 556 3 538
26-7 196,256 101 10 542
26-8 294 108 563
73 9 100 109 562,565
20 111 1 538
74 24 516 110 565
26 516 111 535n. 107,540,565,565n. 163
75 10-12 110 1 516
76 5-6 550n. 125 112 173,227,244,491-575
9 102 1 10-11,44,186,51 In. 54,535,
16 477n. 91 564
20 117 1-2 26
26 105n. % 2 10-11,512,535
31 471 3 535
77 23 474,477 4 535
78 13 370 113 491,536n. 110,558,565n. 163,
38 170,193,208,395 569,570
81 1 370 114 491,536n. 110,558,569,570

670