Tafseer of The Clans · Al-Ahzaab · 33:31
And whoever of you devoutly obeys Allah and His Messenger and does righteousness - We will give her her reward twice; and We have prepared for her a noble provision.
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 explanation of the words of the Exalted: وَمَنْ يَقْنُتْ مِنْكُنَّ لِلَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا نُؤْتِهَا أَجْرَهَا مَرَّتَيْنِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهَا رِزْقًا كَرِيمًا (33:31) (And whoever among you is obedient to Allah and His Messenger and does righteous deeds, We shall give her her reward twice over, and We have prepared for her a noble provision.)
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: and whoever among you obeys Allah and His Messenger and acts according to what Allah has commanded — نُؤْتِهَا أَجْرَهَا مَرَّتَيْنِ (We shall give her her reward twice over). He says: Allah will give her the reward for her deed, double the reward for the deed of the rest of the women among the people. وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهَا رِزْقًا كَرِيمًا (and We have prepared for her a noble provision). He says: and We have prepared for her in the hereafter a pleasant life in paradise (al-janna). And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes of the Qurʾān (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His words: وَمَنْ يَقْنُتْ مِنْكُنَّ لِلَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ... (And whoever among you is obedient to Allah and His Messenger...) — the verse, that is to say: whoever among you obeys Allah and His Messenger وَتَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا (and does righteous deeds): fasts and prays.
Salm ibn Junāda related to me; he said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn; he said: I asked ʿĀmir about al-qunūt. He said: And what is that? I said: وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَ (And stand before Allah as obedient ones). He said: obedient ones. I said: وَمَنْ يَقْنُتْ مِنْكُنَّ لِلَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ (And whoever among you is obedient to Allah and His Messenger). He said: they obey.
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَمَنْ يَقْنُتْ مِنْكُنَّ لِلَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ (And whoever among you is obedient to Allah and His Messenger), that is to say: whoever among you obeys Allah and His Messenger وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهَا رِزْقًا كَرِيمًا (and We have prepared for her a noble provision), and that is paradise.
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the recitation of His words وَتَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا (and does righteous deeds). Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and of Basra read وَتَعْمَلْ (and she does) with the tāʾ, according to the meaning of "man" (whoever), since it comes after His words مِنْكُنَّ (among you). Some have transmitted from the Arabs that they say: "For how much was a slave-girl (jāriya) sold to you?" (kam bīʿa laka jāriya), but when they place "the slave-girl" first, they say: "How much slave-girl was sold to you?" (kam jāriya bīʿat laka), making the verb feminine after "the slave-girl"; yet in both cases the verb belongs to "how much" (kam), not to "the slave-girl". Al-Farrāʾ mentioned that some of the Arabs recited to him:
O mother of ʿAmr, whoever has his dwelling but in the far reaches of ʿAdiyy, he eats the insects,
and his forehead turns black from the blaze of the scorching wind, and he becomes naked, even if he were an owner of she-camels.
He said "wa-in kānū" (even if they were) and did not say "wa-in kāna" (even if he was), although it refers back to "man" (whoever), according to the meaning. As for the people of Kufa, most of their reciters read it as وَيَعْمَلْ (and he does) with the yāʾ, in conjunction (ʿaṭf) with "yaqnut" (is obedient), since that whole stands according to the recitation with the yāʾ. The correct judgment concerning this is that they are two well-known recitations and two recognized linguistic forms in the speech of the Arabs; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he is correct. That is because the Arabs sometimes make the predicate (khabar) of "man" (whoever) refer back to its wording, and then make it singular and masculine, and sometimes to its meaning, as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَسْتَمِعُونَ إِلَيْكَ أَفَأَنْتَ تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ وَلَوْ كَانُوا لا يَعْقِلُونَ * وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَيْكَ (And among them are those who listen to you; can you then make the deaf hear, even though they do not understand? * And among them are those who look at you). He made it plural one time according to the meaning, and singular another time according to the wording.
