Tafseer of The Jinn · Al-Jinn · 72:3
And [it teaches] that exalted is the nobleness of our Lord; He has not taken a wife or a son
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.
And His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) "And that the majesty (jadd) of our Lord is exalted." The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of this. Some said: its meaning is: "We believe in Him and we will never associate anyone as a partner with our Lord," and we believe that exalted is—the Exalted—the command of our Lord, His dominion, and His power.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he says: His act, His command, and His power.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he says: exalted is the command of our Lord.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, both of them saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning this verse: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the command of our Lord.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the command of our Lord.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا مَا اتَّخَذَ صَاحِبَةً وَلا وَلَدًا) he said: exalted is His command, that He—contrary to what they claimed—would take neither a wife nor a child; and he recited: قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ * اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ * لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ * وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ ("Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Self-Sufficient. He neither begets nor is begotten. And there is none equal to Him"). He said: that does not proceed from Him.
And others said: by this is meant the majesty of our Lord (jalāl) and His eminence.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of his father, saying: ʿIkrima said concerning His statement: (جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the majesty (jalāl) of our Lord.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: Khālid ibn Yazīd related to me, saying: Abū Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the majesty (jalāl) of our Lord.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, saying: ʿIkrima said: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) the majesty (jalāl) of our Lord.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا): that is, exalted are His majesty (jalāl), His greatness, and His command.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: exalted is the command of our Lord; exalted is His greatness.
And others said: rather, the meaning of this is: exalted is the richness (ghinā) of our Lord.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, saying: al-Ḥasan said concerning His statement: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the richness of our Lord.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the richness of our Lord.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: the richness of our Lord.
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and ʿIkrima, concerning the statement of Allah: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا), one of the two of them said: His richness, and the other said: His greatness.
And others said: by this is meant the "jadd" who is the father of the father (the grandfather). They said: that was among the words of the ignorant ones among the jinn.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Sāra related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: these were words of the ignorant ones among the jinn.
And others said: by this is meant: His remembrance (dhikr).
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us—both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: (تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا) he said: His remembrance.
And the opinion that is, in our view, closest to correct concerning this is the statement of him who said: by this is meant: exalted are the greatness of our Lord, His power, and His dominion.
We have said that this is closest to correct because "al-jadd" in the language of the Arabs has two meanings. One is the "jadd" who is the father of the father or the father of the mother (the grandfather), and it is not permissible that these men—whom Allah has described with this characteristic—should be described with that. That is because they said: (فَآمَنَّا بِهِ وَلَنْ نُشْرِكَ بِرَبِّنَا أَحَدًا) "So we believe in Him and we will never associate anyone as a partner with our Lord," and whoever describes Allah as if He had a child or a grandfather, or that He is a father of a father or a father of a mother, is without doubt one of the polytheists (mushrikīn).
The other meaning is the "jadd" with the meaning of fortune/lot (ḥaẓẓ). One says: "so-and-so is a person of jadd in this matter," when he has a portion in it; and this is what is called in Persian "al-bakht" (luck/fortune). It is this meaning that these men among the jinn intended by their statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا)—if Allah wills.
For they meant that His share of dominion, authority, power, and greatness is exalted, such that He has neither a wife nor a child. For a wife belongs only to the weak, the incapable, who is compelled by driving desire to take her, and a child comes about only from a desire that has incited him to the sexual intercourse from which the child results. Therefore the men among the jinn said: exalted are the dominion of our Lord, His authority, His power, and His greatness above that He should be weak with the weakness of His creatures, who are compelled by desire to take a wife, or to sexual intercourse from which a child results.
The correctness of what we have said concerning this is made clear by Allah's report about them, that they held Allah exalted above taking a wife and a child, by His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى جَدُّ رَبِّنَا مَا اتَّخَذَ صَاحِبَةً وَلا وَلَدًا) "And that the majesty of our Lord is exalted; He has taken neither a wife nor a child." Concerning this one says: "rajulun jaddiyyun wa-jadīdun wa-majdūdun," that is: a person of a portion in that which he is engaged in. Of this is the statement of Ḥātim al-Ṭāʾī:
"Make war, O sons of Thuʿal, for war is your jadd (lot); count the eminent ones/the heights and do not weep for whoever is killed." (1)
And another said:
"May your jadd (fortune) be exalted! Indeed, I am a man whom enemies have driven to you in waves." (2)
And His statement: (مَا اتَّخَذَ صَاحِبَةً) means: a wife, (وَلا وَلَدًا) "and no child."
The reciters differed in the reading of His statement: (وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى). Abū Jaʿfar al-Qāriʾ and six other places he read with the fatḥa (open vowel), among them: (أَنَّهُ اسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ), وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ, وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ يَقُولُ سَفِيهُنَا, وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ رِجَالٌ مِنَ الإِنْسِ, وَأَنَّهُ لَمَّا قَامَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ يَدْعُوهُ, وَأَنْ لَوِ اسْتَقَامُوا عَلَى الطَّرِيقَةِ. Nāfiʿ, however, read it with the kasra (closed vowel), except in three places: the first is قُلْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ أَنَّهُ اسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ, the second وَأَنْ لَوِ اسْتَقَامُوا, and the third وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ. As for the reciters of Kūfa, except ʿĀṣim, they read all that is at the end of Sūrat al-Najm and at the beginning of Sūrat al-Jinn with the fatḥa, except His statement: (فَقَالُوا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا) and His statement: قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَدْعُو رَبِّي and what comes after it until the end of the sūra; these they read with the kasra, except His statement: لِيَعْلَمَ أَنْ قَدْ أَبْلَغُوا رِسَالاتِ رَبِّهِمْ. As for ʿĀṣim, he read all of it with the kasra, except His statement: وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ, which he read with the fatḥa. As for Abū ʿAmr, he read all of it with the kasra, except His statement: وَأَنْ لَوِ اسْتَقَامُوا عَلَى الطَّرِيقَةِ, this one and what comes after it he read with the fatḥa.
As for those who read all of it with the fatḥa, except at the position of a statement—such as His statement: (فَقَالُوا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا) and His statement: قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَدْعُو رَبِّي and the like—they connected "anna" throughout the entire sūra to His statement: (فَآمَنَّا بِهِ) "so we believe in Him," that is: and we believe in all of this, so they read it with the fatḥa because belief applied to it. Al-Farrāʾ used to say: do not let it deter you that you find in some of these that "belief" sounds ugly with the fatḥa, for that which sounds ugly with the explicit expression of "belief" may sound good with a present-tense verb that runs parallel to "belief." Therefore the fatḥa of "anna" is obligatory, as the Arabs said:
"When the beautiful women come forth one day and set the eyebrows and the eyes [adorn]." (3)
Here he put "the eyes" in the accusative because they follow upon "the eyebrows," whereas the eyes are not set (tazjīj), but are only lined with kohl; so he implied for the eyes the [verb] "lining with kohl." Likewise, in the position where "we believe" does not sound good, one implies: "we affirm," "we believe," and "we testify." He said: and consonant with the accusative reading is His statement: وَأَنْ لَوِ اسْتَقَامُوا عَلَى الطَّرِيقَةِ, and therefore whoever reads with the kasra ought to drop "an" from "law," because "an," when it is lightened, has no narrative function. Do you not see that you say: "I say: had you done, you would have done," without inserting "an"?
As for those who read all of it with the kasra, while they nevertheless said: وَأَنْ لَوِ اسْتَقَامُوا, it is as if they implied an oath with "law" and cut it off from connection to the beginning of the sentence, and said: "by Allah, had they but kept steadfast." He said: and the Arabs insert "an" in this position together with the oath, and [also] drop it. The poet said:
"I swear: had a thing reached us—its messenger— other than you, we would have found no defense against you." (4)
They said: and another recited to us:
"Indeed, by Allah, had you but been a free man; but you are neither among the free nor among the freedmen." (5)
Whoever read all of it with the kasra inserted "an" and put وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ in the accusative; for he set that apart as belonging to the revelation, and posited وَأَنْ لَوِ with the oath implied therein, as I have described. As for Nāfiʿ: what he read of this with the fatḥa, he made it refer back to His statement: (أُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ) "it has been revealed to me," and what he read with the kasra, he made it a statement of the jinn. Dearest to me is that I read this with the fatḥa for what was revelation, and with the kasra for what belonged to the statement of the jinn; for that is the most eloquent in Arabic and the clearest in meaning—even though the other readings have aspects whose correctness cannot be refuted.
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Footnotes:
(1) The verse is by Ḥātim al-Ṭāʾī (Shuʿarāʾ al-Naṣrāniyya, 128), in which "ḥaẓẓukum" (your lot) appears in place of "jaddukum"; both have the same meaning. Its commentator said: "al-rawābī" are the eminent ones, or origin and nobility. In (Lisān: jadd): in the exalted Book occurs (وأنه تعالى جد ربنا); it is said that His "jadd" is His greatness, and it is said His richness. Mujāhid said: "jadd of our Lord" is the majesty (jalāl) of our Lord. And some said: the greatness of our Lord; and these [meanings] lie close to one another. End of citation. These interpretations are suitable for the explanation of the statement of Ḥātim: war (al-ghazw) is the honor of the Arabs, their greatness, and the cause of their awe and eminence in the eyes of their enemies; and their courage in battle and single combat is their lot by which they were known in this world—they refused injustice and disdained humiliation by kings and tyrants.
(2) This verse the author did not attribute. It strongly resembles a statement of al-Ḥuṭayʾa in his lāmiyya in the accusative, by which he addressed our master ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, apologizing for his slander of al-Zibriqān ibn Badr al-Tamīmī, and which begins with: "Umāma has left you, with only a question"; I have not found it in the printed dīwān of al-Ḥuṭayʾa, nor in Jamharat ashʿār al-ʿArab (151–154). His statement "yurfaʿ jadduka" means: he prays for him that Allah may raise his lot and his eminence. And "al-sijāl" is the plural of "sajl," the bucket; he apologizes to him for what the slanderers had whispered against him.
(3) The verse was already cited in volume (27:176), and we have explained it in detail there, so consult it there.
(4) The verse is by Imruʾ al-Qays, and it was already cited in the volumes (12:18, 13:152); consult it there, for we have explained it extensively there.
(5) The verse belongs to the evidentiary citations of the grammarians concerning the "an" that is lightened from the doubled; it is said that it functions, and it is said that it does not function (al-Inṣāf fī masāʾil al-khilāf of Ibn al-Anbārī, Cairo edition, 1:126, without attribution). Al-Farrāʾ said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, and cited the verse (folio 344): the Arabs insert "an" in this position together with the oath, and [also] drop it. The poet said: "fa-uqsimu law shayʾun…" the verse. And another recited to me: "amā wa-llāhi an…" the verse. The author has taken over the entire statement of al-Farrāʾ concerning the fatḥa and the kasra of the hamza of "an" in the verses of Sūrat al-Jinn; we will not prolong the exposition by citing it, and content ourselves with this reference.
