Translation & Commentary of Verses from Surah Luqman [10 – 14]
[10] He created the heavens without any pillars that you can see;11And cast into the earth pegs12 lest it should quake with you.13 And He scattered therein all kinds of animals. And We14 sent down out of the sky water and made grow therein every noble species.15
Commentary
11. That is, there are pillars but you cannot see them: Ubn Abbas, Ikrimah, Mujahid, Qatadah and others (IbnJarir). See Surah Al-Ra’d, note no. 4 for further explanation.
12. That is, mountains that have been rooted into the earth, just like pegs: a geological fact, unknown until some fifty years ago. (Au.)
13. They help avoid convulsions in the outer crust (what is known as the Lithosphere) surrounding the inner layers of the earth. (Au.)
14. The change from singular to plural is striking. Asad comments:
“This is another of the Qur’anic instances where the personal pronoun relating to God is suddenly changed – in this instance, from ‘He’ to ‘We’ – in order to indicate that God, being infinite, cannot be circumscribed by any pronoun applicable to created, finite, beings, and that the use of such pronouns with reference to Him is no more than a concession to the limited nature of every human language.”
15. Yusuf Ali thinks that the words could be referring to the sex life in plants.
[11] This is the creation of Allah. So, show Me what those other than Him have created. Nay, but the transgressors are in manifest error.
[12] Indeed, We gave Luqman16 wisdom:17Give thanks to Allah; whosoever gives thanks, gives thanks only this own self, while he who is ungrateful, verily, Allah is the Praiseworthy; free of all wants.18
Commentary
16. Majid comments:
“Luqman, who may, or may not, be identified with Aesop of the Greeks, was a sage very ‘well-known to the Arabs.’ Luqman was already known in the pagan period as a sage. His wisdom is celebrated in pre-Muslim poets… Luqman’s wisdom forms the transition from Jahiliyyah to the Qur’an.” (EI)
Yusuf Ali, however, rules out the possibility of identifying Luqman within the Greek Aesop.
Mawdudi adds:
“Luqman was well-known as a wise and learned man in Arabia. He has been mentioned in the poetry of the pre-Islamic poets like Imra’ulQays, Labid, A’shi, Tarafah and others. According to traditions, some three years before the Prophet’s migration to Madinah, Suwayd b. Samit visited Makkah for pilgrimage. When the Prophet heard of him, he met him and invited him to Islam.
“Suwayd told him, ‘Perhaps I have something similar to what you have.’ The Prophet asked him what it was and he replied, ‘Luqman’s rolls.’ Then he read out a few pieces to him. The Prophet said, ‘It sounds good. But what I have is better.’ When he read out the Qur’an to him, Suwayd admitted that it was, indeed, better.’”
A few lines down, Mawdudi presents us another example of honest western scholarship. He writes:
“The Arabic manuscripts from the Library of Paris, which the orientalist Derenboourg has published under the title,‘Amthal Luqman al-Hakim’ (Fable De Loqman Le Sage) is a fabrication which has nothing to do with the Roll of Luqman. These fables were compiled by someone in the 13th century CE. Its Arabic is poor, and perusal shows that it is in fact translation into Arabic from another language.
“The Orientalists conduct such research with special objective in view. It is in order to prove that the narrations of the Qur’an are no more than legends and therefore unreliable. Anyone who reads B. Heller’s article on Luqman in the Encyclopaedia of Islam will not fail to understand the real motives of these people.”
Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Said b. al-Musayyib and many others thought that Luqman was an Israeli,
a carpenter or a shepherd, large-footed, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, black man from the Egyptian part of Sudan. (IbnJarir)
Although we do not know how authentic, but a few stories are attributed to Luqman’s wisdom. One of them, mentioned by IbnJarir, Zamakshari, Qurtubi and IbnKathir, reports that his master instructed him to cut a goat and bring him two of its best parts. He brought him the tongue and the heart. Another time, his master told him to slaughter a goat and bring back two of its worst parts. Luqman again took to him the tongue and the heart. When asked, he explained that the tongue and the heart can be the best parts of a body, or its worst, depending upon how they are used.
It is said that Sa’id b. al-Musayyib told a black man: “Do not be rueful because of your dark colour. Three of the best men ever were black: Bilal, Mihja’ (Umar’s freed slave) and Luqman.” (IbnJarir, Zamakshari, Qurtubi and others). Probably he had non-Prophets in his mind, for Musa (asws) was also dark. (Au.)
17. That is, “We gave him a good intellect, understanding and the ability to hold right opinions – all but Prophethood.” (Mujahid: Ibn Jarir)
18. ‘Hamid’ is defined as One who is worthy of praise by Himself, whether He is praised or not. (Ibn Jarir)
[13] And when Luqman said to his son, admonishing him, ‘O my dear son!19 Associate not (others) with Allah. Indeed, association (with Him) is a great wrong.’20
Commentary
19. The textual ‘bunayyah’ is diminutive form (tasghir) of ‘ibni,’ which the Arabs use to express love and affection. (Au.)
20. Majid quotes:
“This hatred of idolatry has been found even among the most uncivilized followers of the Prophet. The gorgeous rituals, the gaudy pictures, and the pious fraud which played so large a part in the conversion of the Solavonian nations to Christianity, seems only to have alienated these semi-barbarians. Mahmud, the Ghaznavid… was offered a sum of ten million sterlings, if only he would spare the famous idol in the pagoda of Somnat. Avarice is said to have been his besetting fault, but he replied in the memorable words, ‘Never shall Mahmud be a merchant of idols,’ and broke it into pieces.” (Bosworth Smith, op. cit., p.265)
[14] And We have charged man21 concerning his parents22 – his mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years23 – that, “Be thankful to Me and to your parents. Unto me is your (final) destination.
Commentary
21. There is a break here between Luqman’s admonitions to his son. Allah’s own words have been introduced in between. Yusuf Ali explains why:
“Verses 14-15 are not the direct speech of Luqman but flow by way of commentary on his teaching. He was speaking as a father to his son, and he could not very well urge respect for himself and draw the son’s attention to the limitations of filial obedience. The verses may be supposed to be general directions flowing from Luqman’s teaching to men, and not dictated to his son; though in either case, as Luqman got wisdom from Allah (swt), it is divine principles that are enunciated.”
22. “The coupling of parents with Himself, in so far as the rendering of service is concerned, indicates the extreme importance that filial duty has in Islam.” (Majid)
Compare this with the American culture where children as young as four are given call numbers at schools, and instructed to contact the police if the parents act tough with them.(Au.)
23. That is, a mother’s services to, and sacrifices for, her child does not end with birth. She suckles him (and rears him) during the weakest period of its life. (Au.)
This present ayah and another of the Qur’an are the basis of the opinion that the minimum period of birth of a child after pregnancy is six months. The other Ayah is (Al-Ahqaf46:15): “And his carrying and weaning are thirty months.” (Ibn Kathir)
The verse is also the basis of the opinion that suckling period, and what it entails of marriage taboo, is two years. That is, a woman giving suck to a child above two does not entail foster relationship. Also, according to Abu Hanifah, if the weaning has been earlier than two years, say a year and a half, and the child is on external food, then too, further suckling does not entail foster relationship. (Zamakshari)
