Tafseer of The Spider · Al-Ankaboot · 29:45
Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do.
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 interpretation of His word, the Exalted: اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ (45) ("Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish the prayer; verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible, and the remembrance of Allah is greater, and Allah knows what you do").
The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: اتْلُ ("Recite"), that is to say: read aloud, مَا أُوحِيَ إلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ ("what has been revealed to you of the Book"), that is to say: what has been sent down to you of this Qurʾān; وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ ("and establish the ritual prayer"), that is to say: and perform the ritual prayer (ṣalāh) that Allah has prescribed for you, observing its limits. إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ("Verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible"). The people of interpretation differ over the meaning of the prayer mentioned in this place. Some said: by it is meant the Qurʾān that is recited in the prayer or at the place of the prayer.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Wafāʾ, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ("Verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible"). He said: The Qurʾān that is recited in the mosques.
And others said: No, by it is meant the ritual prayer itself.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word: إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ("Verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible"). He says: In the prayer there is a restraint and a deterrence from the sins against Allah.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of someone he named, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the word of Allah: إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ("Verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible"): Whoever is not restrained by his prayer from the shameful and the reprehensible only increases through his prayer in distance from Allah.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Khālid related to us, saying: al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab said, on the authority of Samura ibn ʿAṭiyya, he said: It was said to Ibn Masʿūd: So-and-so prays much. He said: Verily, it benefits only him who obeys it.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mālik ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, he said: Whoever is not urged by his prayer toward the proper and is not restrained from the reprehensible only increases thereby in distance from Allah.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Hāshim ibn al-Barīd related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: "There is no prayer for him who does not obey the prayer, and obedience to the prayer is that it restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible." He said: Sufyān said: قَالُوا يَا شُعَيْبُ أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ ("They said: O Shuʿayb, does your prayer command you?"). He said: Sufyān said: Yes, by Allah, it commands him and it restrains him.
ʿAlī said: Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever performs a prayer that does not restrain him from the shameful and the reprehensible only increases thereby in distance from Allah."
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: The prayer, when it does not restrain from the shameful and the reprehensible. He said: Whoever is not restrained by his prayer from the shameful and the reprehensible only increases in distance from Allah.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda and al-Ḥasan, both said: Whoever is not restrained by his prayer from the shameful and the reprehensible only increases thereby in distance from Allah.
And the correct view concerning this is that the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible, as Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn Masʿūd said. Should someone say: How does the prayer restrain from the shameful and the reprehensible, if by it is not meant what is recited within it? — then it is answered: it restrains him who is within it and places a barrier between him and the committing of shameful deeds, for his occupation with it cuts him off from occupation with the reprehensible. For that reason Ibn Masʿūd said: Whoever does not obey his prayer only increases in distance from Allah. And that is because his obedience to it is his performance of it observing its limits, and in his obedience to it lies a deterrence from the shameful and the reprehensible.
Abū Ḥumayd al-Ḥimṣī related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-ʿAṭṭār related to us, saying: Arṭāt related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, concerning the word of Allah: إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ("Verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible"). He said: When you are in the prayer, you are in the proper, and it has restrained you from the shameful and the reprehensible. And الفَحْشَاءِ ("the shameful") is fornication (al-zinā), and المُنْكَر ("the reprehensible") are the sins against Allah. And whoever commits a shameful deed or disobeys Allah in his prayer with something that spoils his prayer, for him there is undoubtedly no prayer.
And His word: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). The people of interpretation differ over its interpretation. Some said: its meaning is: and the remembrance of you by Allah is more excellent than your remembrance of Him.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿa, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said to me: Do you know what His word وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater") means? He said: I said: Yes. He said: What is it then? He said: I said: The glorification (tasbīḥ), the praising (taḥmīd), and the magnification (takbīr) in the prayer, and the recitation of the Qurʾān and the like. He said: You have uttered an astonishing statement, and it is not so; rather it means: the remembrance of you by Allah, when He commands you to do something or forbids you from something, when you remember Him, is أَكْبَرُ ("greater") than your remembrance of Him.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Ibn Rabīʿa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿa, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās asked me about the word of Allah: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). I said: His remembrance through glorification, magnification, and the Qurʾān is good, and the remembrance of Him at the forbidden things, so that one abstains from them. He said: You have uttered an astonishing statement, and it is not as you said, but the remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of the servant by Allah is more excellent than his remembrance of Him.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; Ibn al-Muthannā said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, and Ibn Wakīʿ said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Mūsā, he said: I was sitting with Ibn ʿAbbās, and a man came to him who asked Ibn ʿAbbās about "the remembrance of Allah is greater." Ibn ʿAbbās said: The prayer and the fasting. He said: That is the remembrance of Allah. A man said: I have left in my tent a man who says something other than this. He said: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of the servants by Allah is greater than the remembrance of the servants of Him. Then Ibn ʿAbbās said: By Allah, your companion has spoken the truth.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: A man came to Ibn ʿAbbās and said: Tell me about the word of Allah: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of the servant by Allah is more excellent than his remembrance of Him.
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, saying: Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: It is His word: فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ ("Remember Me, and I will remember you"); and the remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ ("And the remembrance of Allah") of His servants when they remember Him, أكْبَرُ ("is greater") than your remembrance of Him.
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 on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of His servant by Allah is greater than the remembrance of the servant of his Lord, in the prayer or elsewhere.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Mūsā, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The remembrance of you by Allah, when you remember Him, is greater than your remembrance of Him.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Abū Qurra, on the authority of Salmān, the like of it.
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar related to me, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī ʿArīb, on the authority of Kathīr ibn Murra al-Ḥaḍramī, he said: I heard Abū al-Dardāʾ saying: Shall I not inform you of the best of your deeds, the most beloved to your Sovereign, the highest in your ranks, and that which is better than that you should fight your enemy and strike their necks, and better than the giving of dīnār and dirham? They said: What is it? He said: Your remembrance of your Lord; and the remembrance of Allah is greater.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Abū Qurra, on the authority of Salmān: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: He said: The remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
He said: my father related to me, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, he said: I asked Abū Qurra about his word: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
He said: my father related to me, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿIkrima, both said: The remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
He said: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: It is like His word: اذْكُرُونِي أذْكرْكُمْ ("Remember Me, and I will remember you"); so the remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
He said: Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Zāʾida, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Shaqīq, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of the servant by Allah is greater than the remembrance of the servant of his Lord.
He said: Abū Yazīd al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Shuʿba, he said: The remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
And others said: No, its meaning is: and your remembrance of Allah is more excellent than all things.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAyzār ibn Ḥurayth, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Salmān, that he was asked: Which deed is more excellent? He said: Do you not read the Qurʾān? وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"): there is nothing more excellent than the remembrance of Allah.
Ibn Ḥumayd Aḥmad ibn al-Mughīra al-Ḥimṣī related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, saying: al-Layth related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of Rabīʿa ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, on the authority of Umm al-Dardāʾ, that she said: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"); for if you pray, that belongs to the remembrance of Allah, and if you fast, that belongs to the remembrance of Allah, and every good you perform belongs to the remembrance of Allah, and every evil you avoid belongs to the remembrance of Allah, and the most excellent of that is the glorification of Allah.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: There is nothing greater than the remembrance of Allah; he said: it is the greatest of all things. And he recited: أقِمِ الصلاةَ لِذِكْرِي ("Establish the prayer for My remembrance"). He said: as a remembrance of Allah; and He distinguished it in connection with the battle with nothing other than that it is the greatest.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, he said: A man said to Salmān: Which deed is more excellent? He said: The remembrance of Allah.
And others said: It is open to both views, by which they mean the first view that we have mentioned and the second.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Khālid, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: It has two meanings: the remembrance of Allah is greater than everything else, and the remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his word: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: It has two meanings: the remembrance of you by Allah is greater than your remembrance of Him, and the remembrance of Allah at what is forbidden.
And others said: No, its meaning is: the remembrance of Allah by the servant in the prayer is greater than the prayer.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning his word: وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ ("And the remembrance of Allah is greater"). He said: The remembrance of Allah by the servant in the prayer is greater than the prayer.
And others said: No, its meaning is: and the prayer that you have performed and your remembrance of Allah therein is greater than that from which the prayer has restrained you of the shameful and the reprehensible.
Aḥmad ibn al-Mughīra al-Ḥimṣī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-ʿAṭṭār related to us, saying: Arṭāt related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, concerning the word of Allah: إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ("Verily, the prayer restrains from the shameful and the reprehensible"): and that in which you are engaged of the remembrance of Allah is greater.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most consonant of these statements with that to which the outward wording of the revelation points is the statement of him who said: and the remembrance of you by Allah is more excellent than your remembrance of Him.
And His word: وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ ("And Allah knows what you do"). He says: And Allah knows what you do, O people, in your prayer, of observing its limits and neglecting that, and the rest of your affairs; and He will requite you for it. He says: So beware of neglecting any of its limits, and Allah knows best.
