Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:28
And when they commit an immorality, they say, "We found our fathers doing it, and Allah has ordered us to do it." Say, "Indeed, Allah does not order immorality. Do you say about Allah that which you do not know?"
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: وَإِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً قَالُوا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهَا آبَاءَنَا وَاللَّهُ أَمَرَنَا بِهَا قُلْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَأْمُرُ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ أَتَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لا تَعْلَمُونَ ("And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it, and Allah has commanded us to it. Say: Indeed, Allah does not command immorality. Do you say about Allah that which you do not know?") (7:28).
Abū Jaʿfar said: It has been related that the meaning of "al-fāḥishah" (the immorality) in this place is that which (follows):
14462 - ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd ibn Masrūq al-Kindī related to me, saying: Abū Muḥayyāt related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it, and Allah has commanded us to it), he said: They used to walk naked around the House (the Kaʿba) and said: "We walk around just as our mothers bore us," and the woman would place over her private part a leather strap or some other thing, and then said:
Today some of it appears, or all of it, but whatever of it appears, that I do not permit.
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14463 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His word: (And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it), their immorality was that they walked naked around the House.
14464 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Mufaḍḍal, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
14464 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and al-Shaʿbī: (And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it), he said: They used to walk naked around the House.
14465 - 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: (And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it, and Allah has commanded us to it), he said: There was a tribe of the Arabs from the people of Yemen who walked naked around the House, and when it was said to them: "Why do you do that?", they said: We found our forefathers upon it, and Allah has commanded us to it.
14466 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (And when they commit an immorality), he said: their walking around the House in nakedness.
14467 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it), he said: During the circumambulation of the Ḥums (Quraysh) in clothing, and the rest naked.
14468 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (And when they commit an immorality, they say: We found our forefathers upon it), he said: Their women used to walk naked around the House, and that was the immorality upon which they had found their forefathers: (Say: Indeed, Allah does not command immorality), the verse.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the word is then: And when those who do not believe in Allah, for whom Allah has made the satans protectors, commit a hideous deed — namely "the immorality," and that is their exposing themselves for the circumambulation around the House and their undressing for it — and they were rebuked for the hideousness of their deed which they had done and were blamed for it, they said: "We found our forefathers upon the like of what we do, so we do the like of what they used to do, and we follow their guidance and proceed upon their custom, and Allah has commanded it to us, so we follow His command in that."
Allah, mighty is His remembrance, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: "Say," O Muḥammad, to them: "Indeed, Allah does not command immorality," He says: He does not command His creatures the hideousness of deeds and the evil of them — "Do you say," O people, "about Allah that which you do not know?", He says: Do you tell about Allah that He commanded you nakedness and the stripping off of clothing and garment for the circumambulation, while you do not know that He commanded you that?
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Footnotes:
(42) See the explanation of "al-fāḥishah" (the immorality) and "al-faḥshāʾ" (immorality) in what has passed before: p.: 218, note: 1, and the references therein.
(43) "Al-qubul" (with two ḍammas): the private part of the woman and the man. And "al-nisʿa": a braided, broad piece of leather that is placed on the breast of the camel.
(44) The narration: 14462 — "Abū Muḥayyāt" is "Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿlā ibn Ḥarmala al-Taymī," trustworthy. He is included in al-Tahdhīb, and in al-Kabīr 4/2/311, and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/196. The mention of this report follows in the mention of the narrations: 14503–14506.
(45) "Al-Ḥums," the plural of "aḥmas": they are the Quraysh, on account of their strictness in their religion. See the explanation of that in detail in what has passed before 3: 557, note: 1, and see the narration no.: 3832, and that it is "the community of Quraysh."
(46) Thus it stands in the printed edition and in the manuscript: "atrawūna ʿalā Allāh" (do you tell about Allah), but I prefer that the correct reading is "atazūrūna," that is to say: do you speak falsehood and lies?
