Sūrah Al-Muʾminūn The Believers: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahالمؤمنونMakkī 118 versesEight qualities of successful believers, the creation process, Nūḥ, Mūsā, and ʿĪsā and the prohibition of sexual relations outside marriage or right-hand possession

Key Fiqh IssueDoes "those who guard their private parts except from their wives or what their right hands possess" (23:5–6) restrict sexual relations exclusively to marriage and concubinage establishing a complete two-category system?Sexual permissibility categoriesAl-Qurṭubī: yes the verse establishes an exhaustive binary: marriage (zawj) and right-hand possession (milk al-yamīn); any sexual relation outside these two is "transgression" (ʿudwān)

School ComparisonMutʿah marriage: Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī: all four schools absolutely prohibit mutʿah (temporary marriage) it was permitted briefly and then permanently prohibited by sunnah; 23:5–7 is used to confirm its prohibitionMutʿah prohibitionFour-school consensus on mutʿah prohibition one of the clearest areas of complete inter-school agreement in personal status law

Uṣūl Principle"Al-ḥaṣr bi-l-istithnaʾ" restriction by exception applied to 23:6: "except from their wives or what their right hands possess" creates an exhaustive two-category system with no third categoryExhaustive exception restrictionAl-Qurṭubī uses the exception structure of 23:6 to establish that the two permitted categories are completely exhaustive no third category is legally possible

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī opens Al-Muʾminūn with a systematic legal analysis of the eight qualities of the successful believers (23:1–11): (1) khushūʿ (humility) in prayer obligatory, without which prayer is deficient; (2) avoidance of laghw (vain speech) recommended avoidance, though some classify it as obligatory; (3) performance of zakāh obligatory (farḍ ʿayn); (4) guarding private parts obligatory; (5) faithfulness to trusts obligatory; (6) honouring pledges obligatory; (7) guarding the prayers obligatory. He notes that six of the eight qualities are obligatory (farḍ), establishing that the profile of the successful believer is primarily a legal-obligation profile, not merely a virtue profile.

On khushūʿ in prayer (23:2), al-Qurṭubī addresses whether khushūʿ (presence of heart) is a legal condition (sharṭ) of valid prayer or a recommended addition. He maps the debate: most scholars hold it is not a legal validity condition (prayer is valid without khushūʿ as long as the external conditions are met) but it is a moral obligation prayer without khushūʿ is valid in law but deficient in religion. The famous saying "Woe to the praying ones who are heedless of their prayers" (107:4–5) refers to those lacking khushūʿ, not to those missing external conditions.

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۝ الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ Qad aflaḥa l-muʾminūn alladhīna hum fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūn The believers have indeed succeeded those who are humble in their prayers. Al-Qurṭubī: "qad aflaḥa" (have indeed succeeded) is a definitive promise khushūʿ is the first quality listed, establishing its primacy among the eight. Al-Qurṭubī documents the debate: khushūʿ is a moral obligation (wājib) that makes prayer spiritually complete; its absence makes prayer legally valid but morally deficient.

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَافِظُونَ ۝ إِلَّا عَلَىٰ أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ Wa lladhīna hum li-furūjihim ḥāfiẓūn illā ʿalā azwājihim aw mā malakat aymānuhum And those who guard their private parts except with their wives or what their right hands possess. Al-Qurṭubī: the exception structure ("except with...") creates an exhaustive two-category system: marriage and concubinage. "Fa-man ibtaghā warāʾa dhālika fa-ulāʾika hum al-ʿādūn" (those who seek beyond that are transgressors) any sexual relationship outside the two categories is legally and morally transgression.

Eight qualities legal status: Al-Qurṭubī's systematic mapping of the eight believer-qualities to their legal status (six farḍ, two recommended) is a characteristic fiqh-extraction methodology applied to a theological passage.
Khushūʿ debate: Al-Qurṭubī documents the khushūʿ-as-condition vs. khushūʿ-as-obligation debate concluding it is a moral obligation not a validity condition, with prayer valid but spiritually deficient without it.
Two-category exhaustion: The exception structure of 23:6 is read as an exhaustive restriction mutʿah and any other third category are excluded by the "fa-man ibtaghā warāʾa dhālika" transgression clause.
Mutʿah four-school prohibition: Al-Qurṭubī documents the complete four-school prohibition of mutʿah marriage one of the clearest inter-school consensus positions in personal status law.
Success profile as legal: Al-Qurṭubī reads the "successful believers" profile as primarily a legal-obligation profile the Quran describes success through legally obligatory acts, not merely supererogatory virtues.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Finished this lesson?