Sūrah Hūd Hūd: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahهودMakkī 123 versesProphets Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Ibrāhīm, Lūṭ, Shuʿayb, Mūsā the pattern of divine punishment for injustice; the prohibition of leaning toward oppressors

Key Fiqh Issue"Do not lean toward those who oppress, lest the fire touch you" (11:113) does this verse prohibit any cooperation with unjust rulers, or only approval of their oppression?Cooperation with oppressorsAl-Qurṭubī: prohibits approving their oppression and associating with them in a way that implies endorsement; working for them in permissible capacities with disapproval of their injustice is debated but majority permit

School ComparisonAll four schools: approving oppression while cooperating with oppressors is prohibited. Disagreement on: accepting judicial positions under unjust rulers (Ḥanafī and Mālikī: permitted if one can uphold justice; Shāfiʿī: extremely cautious; Ḥanbalī: generally avoided)Judicial cooperation with unjust rulersAl-Qurṭubī documents the full inter-school debate on working for unjust governments

Uṣūl Principle"Sadd al-dharāʾiʿ" blocking the means to prohibition applied to 11:113: even if cooperation itself is not ḥarām, if it leads to or implies endorsement of oppression, it must be avoidedBlocking means to harmAl-Qurṭubī applies the Mālikī principle of blocking means (sadd al-dharāʾiʿ) to cooperation with oppressors

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī opens Sūrah Hūd by noting the Prophet's statement that this surah and its sisters "made me old" (shaybatnī) indicating the weight of the responsibility to command right and forbid wrong that the prophetic narratives impose. He extracts from the pattern of prophetic missions the fiqh principle of al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf: every prophet called his people to the same core of monotheism, honesty in measure and weight (Shuʿayb), and avoiding excess. Al-Qurṭubī uses Shuʿayb's specific commands (11:84–86 on honest weights and measures) to derive the fiqh of commercial transactions short-changing in trade is a grave sin with both legal and eschatological consequences.

On the Nūḥ narrative (11:27–49), al-Qurṭubī extracts the fiqh of intercession: Nūḥ's request to save his son (11:45–46) is rejected because the son was not from Nūḥ's righteous household (his kāfir son broke the family bond through disbelief). Al-Qurṭubī derives the principle that blood kinship alone does not establish a legal claim for intercession the moral-spiritual bond is the operative criterion, not genealogy. He applies this to the Islamic law of walāʾ (client-patron relationship) and inheritance the kāfir son does not inherit from the Muslim father, just as Nūḥ's son was effectively separated from his household.

وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ Wa lā tarkanū ilā lladhīna ẓalamū fa-tamassukumu n-nār And do not lean toward those who oppress, lest the fire touch you. Al-Qurṭubī: "rukūn" (leaning) is a middle-strength word stronger than mere contact but weaker than full alliance. It refers to approving their oppression, associating with them in ways that imply endorsement, or relying on them as patrons. The "sadd al-dharāʾiʿ" principle extends the prohibition to any cooperation that normalises their oppression.

وَأَوْفُوا الْكَيْلَ وَالْمِيزَانَ بِالْقِسْطِ لَا نُكَلِّفُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا Wa awfū l-kayla wa l-mīzāna bi-l-qisṭi lā nukallifu nafsan illā wusʿahā Give full measure and weight with justice We do not burden a soul beyond its capacity. Al-Qurṭubī: the command for honest weights and measures from Shuʿayb's mission (11:85) is a Quranic fiqh foundation for commercial law deliberate short-changing is ḥarām and grounds for contractual invalidation. "Bi-l-qisṭ" (with justice) is a condition modifying the command mere approximation is not sufficient; precise justice is required.

Amr bi-l-maʿrūf from prophetic pattern: Al-Qurṭubī derives the obligation of commanding right from the consistent prophetic pattern every prophet commanded his community in specific good, not only in general faith.
Moral bond over genealogy: From Nūḥ's son's exclusion, al-Qurṭubī derives that the moral-spiritual bond supersedes blood kinship in Islamic law relevant to inheritance, intercession, and legal status.
Rukūn prohibition scope: Al-Qurṭubī carefully maps "rukūn" as approving or implying endorsement of oppression not mere contact with oppressors, which may be unavoidable and permissible.
Commercial law from Shuʿayb: 11:85's honest-weights command is treated as a Quranic foundation for commercial fiqh deliberate fraud in measure and weight is ḥarām with scriptural authority from the Shuʿayb narrative.
Sadd al-dharāʾiʿ application: Al-Qurṭubī applies the Mālikī principle of blocking means cooperation with unjust rulers is evaluated not just by its direct permissibility but by whether it normalises or enables oppression.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

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