Tafseer of The Star · An-Najm · 53:32
Those who avoid the major sins and immoralities, only [committing] slight ones. Indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness. He was most knowing of you when He produced you from the earth and when you were fetuses in the wombs of your mothers. So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him.
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.
His statement: ( Those who avoid the major sins ) He says: those who keep far from the major sins (kabāʾir al-ithm) which Allah has forbidden them and made unlawful for them, so that they do not approach them; and that is the assigning of associates to Allah (shirk), and what we have expounded regarding His statement إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ (If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We shall efface from you your evil deeds).
His statement: ( and the gross indecencies (al-fawāḥish) ) and that is fornication (zinā) and what resembles it, for which Allah has fixed a prescribed punishment (ḥadd).
His statement: ( except the slight offense (al-lamam) ) The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the meaning of "except" (illā) in this place. Some of them said: it has the meaning of the disjunctive exception (al-istithnāʾ al-munqaṭiʿ), and they said: the meaning of the statement is: those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except for the slight offense which they committed of sin and indecencies in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), before Islam — for Allah has forgiven them that and does not hold it against them.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he says: except for what has already passed.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the polytheists used to commit precisely the meaning of it yesterday, so Allah, mighty and exalted is He, sent down ( except the slight offense ): what was of them in the time of ignorance. He said: and al-lamam is that which they committed of those major sins and gross indecencies in the time of ignorance, before Islam, and He forgave it to them when they became Muslims.
Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: a man asked Zayd ibn Thābit about this verse ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) and he said: Allah has forbidden you the gross indecencies, what of them is open and what is hidden.
Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAyyāsh informed me, he said: Zayd ibn Aslam said concerning the statement of Allah ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the major sins are shirk and the gross indecencies are fornication (zinā); they left that off when they entered Islam, so Allah forgave them what they had committed and practiced of it before Islam.
Some of the scholars of the Arabic language who directed the interpretation of "except" in this place to the manner which I have mentioned from Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning its interpretation: it is not permitted to them in the slight offense, and that does not belong to the gross indecencies nor to the major sins; and sometimes one thing is excepted from another while it does not belong to it, on the basis of an implied meaning from which one has refrained. Its purport is thus: except that he commits a slight matter which does not belong to the gross indecencies nor to the major sins. The poet said:
And a land where no human dwells, except the gazelles and except the brown camels.
And "al-yaʿāfīr" are the gazelles, and "al-ʿīs" are the camels, and neither of them belongs to humankind. It is as though he said: no human dwells, except that there are gazelles and camels. And some of them said: "al-yaʿfūr" is the red gazelle, and "al-aʿyas" is the white one.
And a group of the exegetes have made a statement of this kind.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, that Ibn Masʿūd said: the fornication of the two eyes is looking, the fornication of the two lips is kissing, the fornication of the two hands is grasping, the fornication of the two feet is walking; and the genitals confirm that or deny it. If he proceeds with his genitals [to the act], he is a fornicator; if not, then it is the slight offense (al-lamam).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, he said: and Ibn Ṭāwūs informed us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: I have seen nothing that more resembles al-lamam than what Abū Hurayra related from the Prophet ﷺ: "Verily, Allah has prescribed for the son of Adam his portion of fornication, which inescapably reaches him: the fornication of the two eyes is looking, the fornication of the tongue is speaking, and the soul desires and craves, and the genitals confirm that or deny it."
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Masrūq, concerning His statement ( except the slight offense ) he said: if he proceeds [to the act], it is fornication (zinā), and if he refrains, it is the slight offense (lamam).
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, he said: Manṣūr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: I asked al-Shaʿbī about the statement of Allah ( those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: it is what is less than fornication; then he reported to us on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, he said: "the fornication of the two eyes is that at which they look, the fornication of the hand is that which it touches, the fornication of the foot is that which it walks, and the consummation occurs with the genitals."
Muḥammad ibn Maʿmar related to me, he said: Yaʿqūb related to us, he said: Wuhayb related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym ibn ʿAmr al-Qārī related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāfiʿ, who is called Ibn Lubāba al-Ṭāʾifī, related to me, he said: I asked Abū Hurayra about the statement of Allah ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the kiss, the pinch, the glance, and the touch; and when the place of circumcision touches the place of circumcision, the ritual washing (ghusl) becomes obligatory, and that is fornication (zinā).
And others said: no, it is a sound exception, and the meaning of the statement is: those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense — except that he commits it and then repents.
* Mention of who said that:
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: Zakariyyā ibn Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: it is the man who commits a gross indecency and then repents; he said: and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
If You forgive, O Allah, then You forgive abundantly, and which servant of Yours has not committed [something]?
Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he said concerning this verse ( except the slight offense ): it is the one who commits a sin and then leaves it off. And the poet said:
If You forgive, O Allah, then You forgive abundantly, and which servant of Yours has not committed [something]?
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bazīʿ related to me, he said: Yūnus related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Abū Hurayra — I think he traced it back [to the Prophet]: ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the slight bout (lamma) of fornication, of which he repents and does not return to it again; and the slight bout of theft, of which he repents and does not return to it again; and the slight bout of drinking wine, of which he repents and does not return to it again. He said: that is the slight offense (al-ilmām).
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the statement of Allah ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the slight bout of fornication, or of theft, or of drinking wine, to which he then does not return.
Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the statement of Allah ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the slight bout of fornication, or of theft, or of drinking wine, to which he then does not return.
Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: the companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to say: this man commits the slight bout of fornication and the slight bout of drinking wine, and keeps it hidden and repents of it.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( except the slight offense ) he commits it now and then; I said: fornication? He said: fornication, of which he then repents.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, he said: Maʿmar said: al-Ḥasan used to say concerning al-lamam: it is the slight bout in the man: the gross indecency, of which he then repents.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, he said: fornication, of which he then repents.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ( except the slight offense ) he said: that he falls into the act once and then desists from it.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: al-lamam is that which one commits once.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb informed me, on the authority of al-Muthannā ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ said: al-lamam is that which is less than shirk.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Abū ʿĀmir related to us, he said: Murra related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Qāsim, concerning His statement ( except the slight offense ) he said: the slight bout that he commits of sins.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement ( except the slight offense ) he said: the man who commits a sin and then detaches himself from it. He said: and the people of the time of ignorance used to circumambulate the House while saying:
If You forgive, O Allah, then You forgive abundantly, and which servant of Yours has not committed [something]?
And others, among those who directed the meaning of "except" to the disjunctive exception, said: al-lamam is that which remains below the punishment of the worldly life and below the punishment of the Hereafter; Allah has remitted it.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn al-Zubayr ( except the slight offense ) he said: that which lies between the two punishments: the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) of the worldly life and the chastisement (ʿadhāb) of the Hereafter.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said: al-lamam is that which remains below the two prescribed punishments: the ḥadd of the worldly life and that of the Hereafter.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam and Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it, except that he said: the ḥadd of the worldly life and the ḥadd of the Hereafter.
Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, he said: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: al-lamam is that which remains below the two prescribed punishments: the ḥadd of the worldly life and the ḥadd of the Hereafter.
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 statement ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) he said: everything that lies between the two prescribed punishments — the ḥadd of the worldly life and the ḥadd of the Hereafter — the prayers efface that, and that is al-lamam, and that is less than every [sin] that requires punishment. As for the ḥadd of the worldly life: that is every ḥadd for which Allah has fixed the chastisement in the worldly life; and as for the ḥadd of the Hereafter: that is everything which Allah has sealed with the Fire and whose chastisement He has deferred to the Hereafter.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His statement ( except the slight offense ) he says: that which lies between the two prescribed punishments; every sin for which there is no ḥadd in the worldly life, nor chastisement in the Hereafter, that is al-lamam.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) and al-lamam is that which lay between the two prescribed punishments, and did not reach the ḥadd of the worldly life, nor the ḥadd of the Hereafter which makes that [chastisement] necessary — which Allah has fixed for its people in the Fire — or a gross indecency for which the ḥadd is carried out in the worldly life.
And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: some of them said: al-lamam is that which lies between the two prescribed punishments: the ḥadd of the worldly life and the ḥadd of the Hereafter.
Abū Kurayb and Yaʿqūb related to us, both of them said: Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, he said: Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: al-lamam is that which lies between the two prescribed punishments: the ḥadd of the worldly life and the ḥadd of the Hereafter.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, he said: al-Ḍaḥḥāk said ( except the slight offense ) he said: everything that lies between the ḥadd of the worldly life and that of the Hereafter, that is al-lamam which Allah forgives.
And the most correct of the views concerning that, in my judgment, is the statement of him who says that "except" (illā) has the meaning of the disjunctive exception (al-istithnāʾ al-munqaṭiʿ), and directs the meaning of the statement ( Those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ) to that which is less than the major sins and less than the gross indecencies which make the prescribed punishments in the worldly life and the chastisement in the Hereafter necessary — for that has been remitted to them. And that, in my judgment, is the counterpart of His statement, exalted is His praise: إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُدْخَلا كَرِيمًا (If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We shall efface from you your evil deeds and admit you to a noble entrance). Thus He promised, exalted is His praise, upon the avoidance of the major sins, the remission of the evil deeds which are lesser, and that is al-lamam concerning which the Prophet ﷺ said: "The two eyes commit fornication, the two hands commit fornication, the two feet commit fornication, and the genitals confirm that or deny it." And that is because there is no ḥadd for what is less than the penetration of the genitals into the genitals; and that is precisely the remission by Allah in the worldly life of the chastisement of the servant for it. And Allah, exalted is His praise, is too generous to revoke what He has already remitted, as is related from the Prophet ﷺ. And al-lamam in the usage of the Arabs is: the approaching of a thing. Al-Farrāʾ mentioned that he heard the Arabs say: "ḍarabahu mā lamma al-qatla", by which they mean: a blow that came close to killing. He said: and I heard from another: "alamma yafʿalu" in the sense of: he was about to do.
-------------------
The footnotes:
(1) The verse belongs to the proof-verses of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 231). He said concerning the statement of the Exalted ( those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense ): it is not permitted to them in al-lamam, and that does not belong to the gross indecencies nor to the major sins; and sometimes one thing is excepted from another while it does not belong to it, on the basis of an implied meaning from which one has refrained; its purport is thus: except that someone commits a slight matter which does not belong to the gross indecencies and the major sins. He said: "And a land where no human dwells ... [the two verses]". And al-yaʿāfīr are the gazelles, and al-ʿīs are the camels, and neither of them belongs to humankind, so it is as though he said: no human dwells, except that there are gazelles and camels. And some said: al-yaʿfūr is the red of the gazelles, and al-aʿyas is the white of the gazelles. End [of quotation]. And al-ʿAynī said in Farāʾid al-qalāʾid: it is said by Jirān al-ʿAwd al-Numayrī, whose name is ʿĀmir ibn al-Ḥārith. And the point of evidence lies in "illā al-yaʿāfīr", for it is an exception from his statement "anīs", on the basis of substitution (ibdāl), even though it is disjunctive, according to the usage of Banū Tamīm; and the people of the Ḥijāz prescribe the accusative (naṣb) — that is, in the disjunctive exception. And it is the plural of yaʿfūr, and that is the young of the wild cow; and al-ʿīs is the plural of ʿaysāʾ, and they are the white camels whose whiteness is mingled with something of ruddiness. End [of quotation]. And al-Farrāʾ said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 316) concerning His statement "illā al-lamam": he says: except the near of the small sins. He said: and I heard from a part of the Arabs: "alamma yafʿalu" in the sense of: he was about to do. And al-Kalbī mentioned with his isnād that it is the glance without intent, that is lamam and that is forgiven; but if he repeats the glance, then it is not lamam, then it is a sin. End [of quotation].
(2) The verse is by Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt (al-Lisān: lamam). He said: al-ilmām and al-lamam are the approaching of sin. And it is said: al-lamam is that which is less than the major sins of the sins. And in the Exalted Revelation: "those who avoid the major sins and the gross indecencies, except the slight offense". And "alamma al-rajul" comes from al-lamam, and those are the small sins. And Umayya said: "If You forgive, O Allah ... [the two verses]". And one says: it is the approaching of disobedience without committing it. And al-Akhfash said: al-lamam is the near of the sins. And Ibn Barrī said: the poem is by Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt; he said: and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (the nephew of al-Aṣmaʿī) mentioned from his uncle, on the authority of Yaʿqūb (ibn al-Sikkīt), on the authority of Muslim ibn Abī Ṭarafa al-Hudhalī, he said: Abū Khirāsh (al-Hudhalī, the poet) passed by, walking between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa, and he said:
O Allah, this is a fifth, if it is completed, Allah completes it, and it is already completed. If You forgive, O Allah, then You forgive abundantly, and which servant of Yours has not committed [something]?
(3) This expression belongs to what al-Farrāʾ related from the Arabs; he said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān: and I heard the Arabs ... and so forth; and "mā" in it is connective, [by which] he means: a blow that came close to killing.
The interpretation of the statement of the Exalted: إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَاسِعُ الْمَغْفِرَةِ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنْشَأَكُمْ مِنَ الأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنْتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ فَلا تُزَكُّوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَى (Verily, your Lord is wide in forgiveness; He knows you best when He brought you forth from the earth and when you were unborn fetuses in the wombs of your mothers. So do not declare yourselves pure; He knows best who feared [Him]) (32)
He, exalted is His mention, says to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: ( Verily, your Lord ) O Muḥammad ( is wide in forgiveness ): wide is His remission for the sinners whose sins have not reached the gross indecencies and the major sins. And He, exalted is His praise, by this statement of His informed His servants precisely that He forgives al-lamam — of the sins as we have described — to whoever avoids the major sins and the gross indecencies.
As Yūnus related to us, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( Verily, your Lord is wide in forgiveness ): He has already forgiven them that.
His statement ( He knows you best when He brought you forth from the earth ) He, exalted is His mention, says: your Lord knows best the believer among you from the unbeliever, and the doer of good among you from the doer of evil, and the obedient from the disobedient, when He created you from the earth and brought you forth from it through the creation of your father Adam from it, and when you were unborn fetuses in the wombs of your mothers. He says: and when you were still unborn and not yet born, and [He knows] your souls after you have become men and women.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement ( He knows you best when He brought you forth from the earth ) he said: it is like His statement وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ (and He knows best the rightly guided).
And Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( when He brought you forth from the earth ) he said: when He created Adam from the earth and then created you from Adam; and he recited ( and when you were unborn fetuses in the wombs of your mothers ).
And we have already previously expounded the meaning of "al-janīn" (the unborn fetus), and why it is called janīn, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it in this place.
His statement ( So do not declare yourselves pure ) He, exalted is His praise, says: do not bear witness for yourselves that they are pure and free of sins and acts of disobedience.
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, he said: I heard Zayd ibn Aslam say ( So do not declare yourselves pure ) he says: do not declare them innocent.
His statement ( He knows best who feared [Him] ) He, exalted is His praise, says: your Lord, O Muḥammad, knows best of His servants who feared the chastisement of Allah and therefore kept far from His acts of disobedience.
--------------------
The footnotes:
(4) Thus is this last expression rendered in the original, and it is obscure from his statement "minkum wa-anfusakum ... and so forth"; and perhaps the correct reading is: "so do not declare yourselves pure after you have become men and women".
