Tafseer of Taa-Haa · Taa-Haa · 20:114
So high [above all] is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth. And, [O Muhammad], do not hasten with [recitation of] the Qur'an before its revelation is completed to you, and say, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge."
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.
The statement concerning the explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: فَتَعَالَى اللَّهُ الْمَلِكُ الْحَقُّ وَلا تَعْجَلْ بِالْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ وَقُلْ رَبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا («Exalted is Allah, the True Sovereign; do not hasten with the Qurʾān before its revelation to you is completed, and say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge») (20:114)
Allah the Exalted says: Exalted is the One to whom worship is due from all His creatures — the Sovereign whose dominion overwhelms every other dominion and sovereign, the Truth — above what the polytheists (mushrikīn) among His creatures ascribe to Him. وَلا تَعْجَلْ بِالْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ — Allah the Exalted says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Do not hasten, O Muḥammad, with the Qurʾān by reciting it to your companions or dictating it to them, before the clarification of its meanings has been revealed to you. So he was admonished concerning the recording and dictating of what Allah had revealed to him of His Book to those who recorded it for him, before its meanings had been made clear to him. And it was said: do not recite it to anyone, and do not dictate it to him, until We have made it clear to you.
In a manner like what we have said, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both together, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, his words وَلا تَعْجَلْ بِالْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ : he said: do not recite it to anyone until We have made it clear to you.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: he said: he says: do not recite it to anyone until We complete it for you. Thus al-Qāsim said: until We complete it.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his words وَلا تَعْجَلْ بِالْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ : he means: do not hasten until We have made it clear to you.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَلا تَعْجَلْ بِالْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ : that is to say: its clarification (bayānuhu).
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَلا تَعْجَلْ بِالْقُرْآنِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ : he said: its exposition (tibyānuhu).
Ibn al-Muthannā and Ibn Bashshār related to us — both of them saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُقْضَى إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ — before its clarification has been made clear to you.
His words وَقُلْ رَبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا — Allah the Exalted says: and say, O Muḥammad: My Lord, increase me in knowledge in addition to what You have made me know — thereby commanding him to ask for more knowledge concerning matters he does not yet know.
