Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:161
Say, "Indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path - a correct religion - the way of Abraham, inclining toward truth. And he was not among those who associated others with Allah."
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 His word: قُلْ إِنَّنِي هَدَانِي رَبِّي إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ دِينًا قِيَمًا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ (161)
("Say: 'Verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, an upright religion, the creed of Ibrāhīm, inclining purely [to truth], and he was not among the polytheists.'" (6:161))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to His prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace —: "qul" ("say"), O Muḥammad, to these who equate their Lord with the idols and the false gods ="innanī hadānī rabbī ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm" ("verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight path"), He says: say to them: verily, my Lord has rightly guided me to the straight path, which is the religion of Allah with which He sent him, and that is the pure, submitted [religion] (al-ḥanīfiyya al-muslima), and He has enabled me for it (74) ="dīnan qiyaman" ("an upright religion"), He says: straight ="millata Ibrāhīm" ("the creed of Ibrāhīm"), He says: the religion of Ibrāhīm (75) ="ḥanīfan" ("inclining purely [to truth]"), He says: straight ="wa-mā kāna mina al-mushrikīn" ("and he was not among the polytheists"), He says: and he was not among those who ascribe partners to Allah, namely Ibrāhīm — the blessings of Allah be upon him — for he was not among those who worship the idols.
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And the reciters differed in the recitation of His word "dīnan qiyaman" ("an upright religion").
The majority of the reciters of Medina and some of the Basran [reciters] recited it as "dīnan qayyiman" with a fatḥa on the "qāf" and a doubling (shadda) on the "yāʾ", bringing it into agreement with the word of Allah: ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ ("That is the upright religion") [Surah al-Tawba: 36 / Surah Yūsuf: 40 / Surah al-Rūm: 30] and with His word: وَذَلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ ("And that is the religion of the upright [community]") [Surah al-Bayyina: 5].
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And the majority of the Kufan reciters recited it as "dīnan qiyaman" with a kasra on the "qāf" and a fatḥa on the "yāʾ" and a lightening (takhfīf) of it. And they said: "al-qayyim" and "al-qiyam" have one and the same meaning, and they are two linguistic variants whose meaning is: the straight religion.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view on this, according to me, is that they are two well-known recitations among the reciters of the regions, agreeing in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he attains the correct [reading], except that the fatḥa on the "qāf" and the doubling on the "yāʾ" pleases me more, because it is the most eloquent and best-known of the two linguistic variants.
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And His word "dīnan" ("a religion") stands in the accusative (naṣb) as a verbal noun (maṣdar) derived from the meaning of His word "innanī hadānī rabbī ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm" ("verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight path"), and that is because the meaning is: my Lord has guided me to a straight religion, so that I was guided to "dīnan qiyaman" (an upright religion) = "al-dīn" then stands in the accusative on account of the omitted [verb] which is "ihtadaytu" ("I was guided"), which was replaced by His word "innanī hadānī rabbī ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm" ("verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight path").
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And some grammarians of Basra said: it was placed in the accusative only because, when He said "hadānī rabbī ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm" ("my Lord has guided me to a straight path"), He had already conveyed that he had come to know something; so He said "dīnan qiyaman" ("an upright religion"), as if He said: I have come to know an upright religion, the creed of Ibrāhīm.
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And as for the meaning of al-ḥanīf, I have expounded it in its place in "Surah al-Baqara" together with its testimonies, in a manner that absolves us from repeating it here. (76)
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The footnotes:
(74) See the explanation of "al-hudā" in what preceded in the linguistic entries (hdy). = And the explanation of "ṣirāṭ mustaqīm" in what preceded, p. 288, note 1, and the references there.
(75) See the explanation of "al-milla" in what preceded, 2: 563 / 3: 104 / 9: 250.
(76) See the explanation of "al-ḥanīf" in what preceded, 3: 104-108 / 6: 494 / 9: 250, 251 / 11: 487.
