'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Luqman

This surah is Meccan except for two verses. Qatadah said: The first of them is ﴿And if all the trees on earth were pens﴾ [Luqman: 27].

His saying, glorified and exalted is He:

﴿Alif Lam Meem﴾ ﴿These are the verses of the Wise Book﴾ ﴿A guidance and mercy for the good-doers﴾ ﴿Those who establish prayer and give zakah, and of the Hereafter they are certain﴾ ﴿It is they who are truly guided by their Lord, and it is they who are the successful﴾ ﴿And among the people are those who buy idle talk to mislead from the path of Allah without knowledge and take it as a joke. Those will have a humiliating punishment﴾.

The discussion on the letters at the beginning of the surahs has preceded, and regarding the arrangement of 'These' with each of the sayings from it. 'The Wise' can refer to wisdom, and it can refer to judgment. The majority of the reciters read: ﴿A guidance and mercy﴾ in the accusative as a description of the indefinite, and it cannot be from 'the Book' because it is appended to it. Hamzah and Al-Kisai read it in the nominative as an estimation of: it is a guidance, and specified it for the good-doers in that they benefit from it, and they perceive it with the eye of reality. Otherwise, it is a guidance in itself. In the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: 'A guidance and glad tidings for the believers'.

Then He described, glorified and exalted is He, the good-doers as those who have certainty in resurrection and in all that the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, has brought. They have the establishment of prayer and the giving of zakah. Among their attributes is what the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said when Jibril, peace be upon him, asked him about excellence: 'To worship Allah as if you see Him. If you do not see Him, then indeed He sees you.'

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And among the people are those who buy idle talk﴾, it has been narrated that it was revealed about a Qurashi who bought a singing girl to sing against the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and insult him. Thus, the verse was revealed regarding that. It has been narrated from Abu Umamah Al-Bahili that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'The buying and selling of singing girls is forbidden,' and he recited this verse, and said: 'This verse was revealed to me regarding this meaning.' Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Abbas, Jabir ibn Abdullah, and Mujahid interpreted it this way. Al-Hasan said: Idle talk refers to musical instruments and singing.

Some people said: It was revealed about Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith because he bought the books of Rustam and Isfandiyar, and he would replace the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and tell them those falsehoods, saying: I have a better story than Muhammad. Qatadah said: The buying in this verse is metaphorical, and it was revealed regarding the stories of Quraysh, and their distraction with the matter of Islam, and their immersion in falsehoods.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It is as if abandoning what must be done and complying with these abominations is akin to buying them, in line with His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿It is they who have bought error for guidance﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 16]. And Al-Mutarrif said: Buying idle talk is recommended. Qatadah said: Perhaps he does not spend money on it, but listening to it is his buying it. And Al-Dhahhak said: Idle talk is polytheism. Mujahid also said: Idle talk is the drum, and this is a type of singing.

And it is more likely that the verse was revealed regarding idle talk associated with disbelief. Therefore, the words of the verse are severe with His saying: ﴿to lead astray from the path of Allah without knowledge and to take it as a joke﴾ and the warning of the humiliating punishment. As for the word of buying, it is possible to have both a literal and a figurative meaning as we have explained. "Idle talk" refers to anything that distracts, such as singing, obscenity, and the like. The meaning of the verse remains applicable in the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. However, it is not for them to lead astray from the path of Allah through disbelief, nor to take the verses as a joke, nor does this warning apply to them. Rather, it is to nullify worship and to keep them occupied for a time with something disliked. And because they are among the sinners, the deficient souls seek to complete that deficiency with stories. They have made the story a source of entertainment. It was said to some of them: Do you get tired of the story? He said: Only the old, repeated tales become tiresome; because the story contains novelty that prevents boredom.

Nafi', Asim, and Al-Husn read: "to lead astray" with a damm (the vowel mark) on the 'ya'. Ibn Kathir and Abu Amr read it with a fatha (the vowel mark) on it. In the reading of Ubayy, it is: "to lead the people astray from the path of Allah." Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Hafs from Asim read: "and to take it" with a nasb (the vowel mark) as an addition to "to lead astray," while the others read: ﴿"and to take it"﴾ with a raf' (the vowel mark) as an addition to ﴿"to buy."﴾

The pronoun in "and to take it" may refer back to "the wise book" mentioned first, or it may refer back to "the path," or it may refer back to "the stories"; because "the story" is a generic term meaning stories, and likewise, "the path of Allah" is a generic term. And for every aspect of the story, there is a corresponding aspect of the path that is suitable for it.