Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:199
Take what is given freely, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant.
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: خُذِ الْعَفْوَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْعُرْفِ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْجَاهِلِينَ (199) ("Take forbearance, command what is proper, and turn away from the ignorant.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of this:
Some of them said: its explanation is: (take forbearance) from the character of the people, and that is leniency and what does not burden them.
* Mention of who said that:
15535 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (take forbearance) he said: from the character and the deeds of the people, without investigation.
15536 - Yaʿqūb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (take forbearance) he said: forbearance towards the character of the people, and forbearance in their affairs.
15537 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Abī al-Zinād related to me, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, concerning His word: (take forbearance) ... the āyah. ʿUrwa said: Allah commanded His Messenger ﷺ to take forbearance from the character of the people.
15538 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn al-Zubayr, he said: Allah revealed this āyah only with regard to the character of the people: (take forbearance and command what is proper), the āyah.
15539 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bakr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: it reached me on the authority of Mujāhid: (take forbearance), from the character and the deeds of the people, without investigation.
15540 - ... he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of Wahb ibn Kaysān, on the authority of Ibn al-Zubayr: (take forbearance) he said: from the character of the people, and by Allah, I shall surely take it from them as long as I keep your company.
15541 - ... he said: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn al-Zubayr, he said: Allah revealed only: (take forbearance), from the character of the people.
15542 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (take forbearance) he said: from the character and the deeds of the people, without investigation = or without spying, Abū ʿĀṣim was uncertain.
* * *
And others said: no, the meaning of it is: take the forbearance from the wealth of the people, and that is the surplus. They said: and this was commanded before the revelation of the zakāh, and when the zakāh was revealed, it was abrogated.
* Mention of who said that:
15543 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (take forbearance), that means: take what is relinquished from their possessions without hardship for you, and whatever they give you, take it. This was before the revelation of [Sūra] Barāʾa with the obligations of the alms and its detailed regulation and that upon which the alms were ultimately settled.
15544 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (take forbearance), as for "the forbearance": that is the surplus of the wealth; the zakāh abrogated it.
15545 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: (take forbearance), he says: take what remains in surplus from their possessions. And this was before the revelation of the obligatory alms.
* * *
And others said: no, that is a command from Allah to His Prophet ﷺ to be forgiving towards the polytheists (mushrikīn) and to refrain from harshness towards them, before the fighting against them was imposed upon him.
* Mention of who said that:
15546 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (take forbearance) he said: He commanded him, and so he turned away from them for ten years in Mecca. He said: then He commanded him to harshness towards them, and that he should cut off their path at every ambush, and that he should besiege them. Then He said: فَإِنْ تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلاةَ ("But if they repent and establish the ṣalāh"), [Sūra al-Tawba: 5], the whole āyah. And he recited: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ جَاهِدِ الْكُفَّارَ وَالْمُنَافِقِينَ وَاغْلُظْ عَلَيْهِمْ ("O Prophet, wage jihād against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh against them"), [Sūra al-Tawba: 73]. He said: and He commanded the believers to harshness towards them, and so He said: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ يَلُونَكُمْ مِنَ الْكُفَّارِ وَلْيَجِدُوا فِيكُمْ غِلْظَةً ("O you who believe, fight against the unbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you"), [Sūra al-Tawba: 123], after He had commanded them forgiveness. And he recited the word of Allah: قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَغْفِرُوا لِلَّذِينَ لا يَرْجُونَ أَيَّامَ اللَّهِ ("Say to those who believe that they forgive those who do not expect the days of Allah"), [Sūra al-Jāthiya: 14]. Then after that nothing was accepted from them but Islam or death, and so this āyah abrogated the forgiveness.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of these statements is the statement of the one who said: its meaning is: take forbearance from the character of the people, and refrain from harshness towards them = and he said: the Prophet of Allah ﷺ was commanded to that with regard to the polytheists.
And we say only that this is the most correct because Allah, mighty is His praise, followed it with the instruction to His Prophet ﷺ concerning his refutation of the polytheists in the dispute of words; that is His word: قُلِ ادْعُوا شُرَكَاءَكُمْ ثُمَّ كِيدُونِ فَلا تُنْظِرُونِ ("Say: call upon your associates, then plot against me and give me no respite"), and He followed it upon His word: وَإِخْوَانُهُمْ يَمُدُّونَهُمْ فِي الْغَيِّ ثُمَّ لا يُقْصِرُونَ * وَإِذَا لَمْ تَأْتِهِمْ بِآيَةٍ قَالُوا لَوْلا اجْتَبَيْتَهَا ("And their brothers draw them on into error, and then they do not desist. And when you bring them no sign, they say: why have you not composed it yourself"). So what lies between these two is more fittingly and rightly part of His instruction to His Prophet ﷺ concerning his dealing with them than an interruption of it with the command to collect the alms from the Muslims.
* * *
And if someone were to say: is it then abrogated (mansūkh)?
Then it is said: there is, in our view, no indication that it is abrogated, since it is possible that it = even though Allah revealed it to His Prophet ﷺ as an instruction to him concerning the dealing with those polytheists against whom fighting had not yet been commanded to him = was intended as a discipline of the Prophet of Allah and of the Muslims together concerning the dealing with the people, and as a command to them to take the forbearance of their character. It is thus the case that, even though it was revealed for the sake of those polytheists, it is an instruction from Allah to His creatures concerning the manner in which they ought to deal with one another; [when] it is not obligatory to apply harshness and severity towards some of them, but when it becomes obligatory to apply that towards them, then the obligatory is applied. Thus His word (take forbearance) is a command to take it as long as nothing but forbearance is obligatory; but when something else becomes obligatory, then both the obligatory and the non-obligatory are taken when that is possible. One therefore does not judge the āyah to be abrogated, for the reasons that we have set forth concerning that in similar cases in more than one place in our books.
* * *
As for His word (and command what is proper), the exegetes differed concerning its explanation.
Some of them said, with what follows: -
15547 - Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Zibriqān al-Nakhaʿī related to me, saying: Ḥusayn al-Juʿfī related to me, on the authority of Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of a man whom he named, he said: when this āyah was revealed: (take forbearance and command what is proper and turn away from the ignorant), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: O Jibrīl, what is this? He said: I do not know until I ask the All-Knowing! He said: then Jibrīl said: O Muḥammad, verily, Allah commands you that you join ties with whoever severed them with you, and give to whoever withheld from you, and forgive whoever wronged you.
15548 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Umayy, he said: when Allah revealed to His Prophet ﷺ: (take forbearance and command what is proper and turn away from the ignorant), the Prophet ﷺ said: what is this, O Jibrīl? He said: verily, Allah commands you that you forgive whoever wronged you, and give to whoever withheld from you, and join ties with whoever severed them with you.
* * *
And others said, with what follows: -
15549 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father: وأمر بالعرف, he says: with the proper (al-maʿrūf).
15550 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: وأمر بالعرف he said: as for al-ʿurf: that is the proper (al-maʿrūf).
15551 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وأمر بالعرف, that is to say: with the proper.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct judgement concerning this is that one says: verily, Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ to command the people al-ʿurf = and that is the proper (al-maʿrūf) in the language of the Arabs, a verbal noun in the meaning of "the proper".
* * *
One says: "awlaytuhu ʿurfan, wa-ʿārifan, wa-ʿārifatan" (I did him a good deed), all of this in the meaning of: "the proper".
* * *
And if the meaning of al-ʿurf is that, then among "the proper" is: joining family ties with whoever severed them, and giving to whoever withheld, and forgiving whoever wronged. And everything of deeds that Allah has commanded or to which He has urged is part of al-ʿurf. And Allah has not singled out any meaning of it to the exclusion of another meaning; the correct view in this is therefore that one says: Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ to command His servants the proper in its entirety, not a part of its meanings to the exclusion of another part.
* * *
As for His word (and turn away from the ignorant), that is a command from Allah, exalted is He, to His Prophet ﷺ that he turn away from whoever behaves ignorantly. And that, even though it is a command from Allah to His Prophet, is a discipline from Him, mighty is His mention, for His creatures to bear with whoever wrongs them or transgresses against them, and not to turn away from whoever neglects the obligatory right of Allah, nor to be silent about whoever disbelieves in Allah and denies His oneness while waging hostile war against the Muslims.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
15552 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (take forbearance and command what is proper and turn away from the ignorant) he said: they are virtues of character that Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ, and to which He has guided him.
