Sūrah Al-Isrāʾ The Night Journey: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahالإسراءMakkī 111 versesNight journey miracle, parental rights, orphan property, measure/weight honesty, sexual prohibition, walking with pride prohibition, the comprehensive Islamic social law code

Key Fiqh IssueDoes "do not say 'uff' to them" (17:23) prohibit only this specific word to parents, or does it establish a general prohibition on any speech or action that disrespects parents?Parental respect obligation scopeAl-Qurṭubī: the verse establishes a general principle "uff" is the minimal level of disrespect, so anything more severe is a fortiori prohibited; the verse is an example of "mafhūm al-muwāfaqah" (inferential agreement)

School ComparisonDisobeying parents to travel for optional jihād: Mālikī and Ḥanafī: prohibited without their permission; Shāfiʿī: prohibited; Ḥanbalī: same. For obligatory jihād when called by the imam: all four: parental permission not requiredParental permission for jihādAl-Qurṭubī documents the parental-permission requirement for optional jihād across all four schools

Uṣūl Principle"Mafhūm al-muwāfaqah" (inferential agreement = a fortiori argument) if the minimal form of something is prohibited, greater forms are a fortiori prohibited applied to "uff": if this word is prohibited, striking parents is certainly prohibitedA fortiori inferenceAl-Qurṭubī's explicit use of mafhūm al-muwāfaqah makes the "uff" verse the model example of this uṣūl tool in his Tafsīr

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī extracts from 17:23–40 what he calls the "Islamic moral code" ten social obligations/prohibitions: (1) worship Allah alone; (2) be good to parents; (3) give kinship their right; (4) do not kill children from poverty; (5) do not approach fornication; (6) do not kill unjustly; (7) do not approach the orphan's property; (8) fulfil measures; (9) do not follow what you have no knowledge of; (10) do not walk with arrogance. Al-Qurṭubī treats these as a parallel to the Torah's prohibitions, establishing that the essential moral code is consistent across Abrahamic revelations.

On 17:32 "Do not approach fornication indeed it is a faḥishah (obscenity) and an evil path" al-Qurṭubī notes that the Quran prohibits "approaching" fornication, not merely fornication itself. This establishes the fiqh principle of sadd al-dharāʾiʿ (blocking the means) in sexual morality: any act that leads toward or creates conditions for fornication is also prohibited. He derives from this the prohibitions on: unmarried male-female seclusion (khalwah), certain forms of dress and gaze, and social interactions that create temptation. He maps the four-school positions on what specific acts constitute the "approaching" that is prohibited.

وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا Wa qaḍā rabbuka allā taʿbudū illā iyyāhu wa bi-l-wālidayni iḥsānā Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you treat parents with excellence. Al-Qurṭubī: "qaḍā" (decreed) is a stronger word than "amara" (commanded) it indicates a binding divine ordinance. The linkage of parental iḥsān directly to monotheism in one verse (as in 2:83 and 4:36) establishes that parental rights are among the highest obligations in Islamic law, second only to divine rights.

وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً وَسَاءَ سَبِيلًا Wa lā taqrabū z-zinā innahu kāna fāḥishatan wa sāʾa sabīlā Do not approach fornication indeed it is an obscenity and an evil path. Al-Qurṭubī: "lā taqrabū" (do not approach) is stronger than "lā tafʿalū" (do not do) it prohibits not only the act but all means and circumstances leading to it. This is the Quranic foundation for the Islamic law of khalwah (seclusion) prohibition, gaze regulation, and dress standards all are forms of "not approaching" fornication.

Islamic moral code: Al-Qurṭubī systematically extracts ten obligations/prohibitions from 17:23–40 and presents them as Islam's parallel to the core Mosaic commandments establishing legal continuity in prophetic revelation.
Mafhūm al-muwāfaqah model: The "uff" verse is al-Qurṭubī's explicit teaching example of the a fortiori inference tool if minimal disrespect is prohibited, greater disrespect is certainly prohibited.
Approach prohibition scope: "Do not approach fornication" is broader than "do not commit fornication" al-Qurṭubī derives the prohibition of all proximate causes from this linguistic choice.
Parental-permission jihād: The four-school consensus on parental permission for optional jihād is documented a significant application of parental rights overriding individual religious choices.
Sadd al-dharāʾiʿ in sexual law: Al-Qurṭubī applies the blocking-means principle extensively to sexual morality khalwah, gaze, dress, and social interaction are all regulated as means-to-fornication, not merely as independent rulings.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

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