Tafseer of The Night Journey · Al-Israa · 17:23
And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], "uff," and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
By this He means, exalted be His remembrance, the decree of your Lord, O Muḥammad, with His command to you — that you worship Allah alone, for none deserves to be worshipped other than Him. The scholars of exegesis differed in their wording when explaining وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ, even though the meaning of all of them is the same.
What they said concerning this is mentioned here:
ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ — he said: "(He) commanded."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: Zakariyyāʾ ibn Salām related to us, who said: A man came to al-Ḥasan and said: "I have divorced my wife thrice." Al-Ḥasan said: "You have disobeyed your Lord and your wife is separated from you." The man said: "Allah decreed this concerning me." Al-Ḥasan — who was eloquent — said: "Allah did not decree it — that is to say: Allah did not command it." And he recited this verse: وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ. At this the people said: "Al-Ḥasan has spoken concerning divine predestination."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ: "That is to say: your Lord commanded that you worship none other than Him. This is the decree of Allah in this world. And it used to be said in some of the sayings of wisdom: whoever pleases his parents pleases his Creator; and whoever displeases his parents has displeased his Lord."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ — he said: "He commanded that you worship none other. And in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd it reads: وَصَّى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ ('your Lord has enjoined')."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā related to us, saying: Nuṣayr ibn Abī al-Ashʿath related to us, saying: Ibn Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit related to me, on the authority of his father, who said: "Ibn ʿAbbās gave me a manuscript and said: 'This is in accordance with the reading of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb.'" Abū Kurayb said: Yaḥyā said: "I saw the manuscript with Nuṣayr; in it was written: وَوَصَّى رَبُّكَ — that is to say: وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ — he said: "Your Lord has enjoined."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the word وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ: "He commanded that you worship none other."
Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Kūfī, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, who read it as وَوَصَّى رَبُّكَ and said: "The wāw was stuck to the ṣād so that it became a qāf."
As for His word وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا — He says: "And He commanded you to act well toward your parents, namely that you do good to them and treat them well." The import of the text is: "And He commanded you to act well toward your parents." When "that" was omitted, the command attached itself to the word "act well," as one says in usage: "I command you to do good therein," "I command you the good therein" — meaning: "I command you to do that which is good therein," but then "that" is omitted and the command then attaches itself to the word "good." Thus also said the poet:
[We marveled at Dahmāʾ that she complained about us / and at the father of Dahmāʾ that he enjoined us / to act well toward her, as though we were wronging her.]
And the verb "he commanded" governs "the good."
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the reading of His word إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِنْدَكَ الْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا. Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra and some of the Kufan reciters read إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ in the singular, referring to "one of the two of them" — because "one of them" is singular, reading it in the singular, while أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا is then an addition. Most of the Kufan reciters read إِمَّا يَبْلُغَانِّ in the dual with kasra on the nūn and a shadda, saying: "The parents had already been mentioned previously, and يَبْلُغَانِّ is then the predication about the two of them after the mention of their names. A verb that comes after a noun must, when it concerns two persons, carry within it the indicator for that — and for the future-tense verb in the dual that is the alif and the nūn." They say: أَحَدُهُمَا أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا is then an independent new sentence.
The most correct reading in this matter to me is the reading of one who reads it in the singular — إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ — as predication about one of them, because the predication concerning the command to do good to the parents ended at the word وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا, and after that His word إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِنْدَكَ الْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا begins anew.
As for His word فَلَا تَقُلْ لَهُمَا أُفٍّ — He says: "Express no complaint about anything you see in one or both of them that vexes people. But endure that from them and count upon the reward for your patience toward them, just as they had patience with you in your childhood and raised you."
In accordance with what we said concerning this, the scholars of exegesis also spoke.
Those who said that are mentioned here:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Muḥabbab related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word فَلَا تَقُلْ لَهُمَا أُفٍّ وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا: he said: "If they reach with you in old age the point where they pass water and have bowel movements, do not say 'fie' in resistance."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "If they reach old age with you, do not say 'fie' when you see the filth, when you remove their excrement and water, just as they removed that of yours when you were small. Do them no harm."
The experts of the Arabic language differed concerning the meaning of "uff." Some said: it means everything that is coarse and ugly in speech. Others said: "al-uff" is the dirt of the nails, and "al-tuff" is everything one picked up from the ground with the hand of trifling things. The Arabs know six pronunciation variants of "uff": with rafʿ with tanwīn and without tanwīn, with khafd likewise, and with naṣb. Whoever reads it with khafd and tanwīn — and that is the reading of most of the Medinan reciters — treats it as onomatopoeic nouns that have no meaning, like their imitation of sounds "ghāq ghāq"; they give the qāf kasra and tanwīn. Its base form is sukūn, but because the meeting of two quiescent (sākin) letters is avoided, it is brought to the nearest vowel movement, namely the kasra. Those who read it with khafd without tanwīn — and that is the reading of most of the Kufan and Basran reciters — say: "Tanwīn is only added to onomatopoeic nouns that stand on two letters, as a completion of what is lacking to the regular noun form, like mah, ṣah, bakh. But 'uff' is complete, for it consists of three letters and needs no completion." They say: "We gave the second fāʾ kasra to avoid the meeting of two quiescent letters." Whoever uses the ḍamma with tanwīn treats it as a regular noun. Whoever uses the ḍamma without tanwīn says that it is not a full independent noun. Whoever reads it with fatḥa — the reading of some of the Meccans and Syrian reciters — compares it with the imperative "madd" and "rudd." Whoever reads it with fatḥa and tanwīn has let the verb govern it and treats it as a regular noun.
The most correct reading in this matter, in my judgment, is the reading with kasra on the fāʾ without tanwīn — فَلَا تَقُلْ لَهُمَا أُفٍّ — for two reasons: first, this is the best-known and most eloquent linguistic form of it among the Arabs; second, for everything that does not take inflection the principle of sukūn applies. But because the fāʾ in "uff" has sukūn as its base form and the meeting of two quiescent letters must be avoided, and the principle of a quiescent letter when it is moved is that it moves to kasra, it was brought to kasra — as one says "mudda," "shudda" and "rudda l-bāb."
As for His word وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا — He, exalted be His praise, says: "And do not rebuke them harshly."
Thus Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Aḥmasī related to us — saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to us, saying: Wāṣil al-Raqqāshī related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, concerning the word فَلَا تَقُلْ لَهُمَا أُفٍّ وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا: he said: "Do not shake your hand at your parents." One says: "He rebuked him — nahara-hu yanharahu nahran."
As for His word وَقُلْ لَهُمَا قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا — He, exalted be His praise, says: "And speak to them a beautiful and good word."
Thus al-Qāsim related to us — saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: وَقُلْ لَهُمَا قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا — he said: "The most beautiful word you can find."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mukhtār, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb: قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا — they said: "Withhold from them nothing of what they desire."
Abū Jaʿfar said: This ḥadīth is incorrect — that is to say the ḥadīth of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa. It is only from Hishām ibn ʿUrwa on the authority of his father — without ʿUmar in it. This was transmitted via Ibn ʿUlayya and others, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mukhtār.
Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَقُلْ لَهُمَا قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا — that is to say: a gentle and easy word.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: the same.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ḥarmalat ibn ʿImrān related to me, on the authority of Abū al-Haddāj al-Tujībī, who said: "I asked Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: 'Everything that Allah mentioned in the Qurʾān about doing good to the parents, that I understand, except His word وَقُلْ لَهُمَا قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا — what is this honorable word?' Ibn al-Musayyab answered: 'The word of the sinful slave to the gruff and harsh master.'"
