Sūrah Al-Furqān The Criterion: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahالفرقانMakkī 77 versesThe Criterion (Quran) revealed to the Prophet, refutation of polytheist objections, the "servants of the Most Merciful" description, and the tawbah condition for three major sins

Key Fiqh IssueDoes 25:70 ("except those who repent, believe, and do righteous deeds for them Allah will replace their bad deeds with good") mean the ḥadd punishment is replaced by tawbah, or that tawbah replaces sin's eschatological consequence but not the legal ḥadd?Tawbah and ḥadd punishmentAl-Qurṭubī: tawbah replaces the eschatological consequence (Hellfire), not the worldly ḥadd the ḥadd must still be executed after tawbah, and its execution itself becomes an expiation

School ComparisonDoes sincere tawbah before ḥadd execution avert the ḥadd? Mālikī: no ḥadd proceeds regardless of tawbah; Shāfiʿī: same; Ḥanafī: same for zinā ḥadd; Ḥanbalī: tawbah before ḥadd may avert it in some cases per imam's judgmentTawbah averts ḥadd?Al-Qurṭubī aligns with Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanafī majority: tawbah does not avert ḥadd in zinā and similar established crimes

Uṣūl Principle"Al-tawbah tukafarr al-itm lā l-ḥadd" tawbah expiates the sin (ithm) not the legal penalty (ḥadd) applied to the three major sins of 25:68: tawbah changes the eschatological outcome; the worldly legal consequence remainsSin vs. legal penalty distinctionAl-Qurṭubī's crucial uṣūl distinction between moral sin (expiated by tawbah) and legal penalty (executed by the judge) informs his entire treatment of ḥadd laws

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī analyses the "servants of the Most Merciful" description (25:63–77) and extracts from each quality its legal status: (1) walking humbly recommended (mustaḥabb); (2) responding to jāhilūn (ignorant people) with "peace" obligatory when confronting provocation (avoiding a quarrel that leads to greater harm); (3) spending the night in prostration and standing recommended (nafl prayer); (4) supplicating for protection from Hell recommended; (5) spending neither extravagantly nor miserly obligatory to avoid isrāf and bukhl; (6) not invoking another god obligatory; (7) not killing unjustly obligatory; (8) not committing zinā obligatory. He notes that the "servants of the Most Merciful" profile combines obligatory abstentions with recommended positive acts.

On 25:68–70, al-Qurṭubī addresses the famous theological question: can the perpetrator of the three greatest sins (shirk, murder, zinā) achieve genuine tawbah? He cites the debate between Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn Masʿūd on whether this verse abrogates or qualifies 4:93 ("whoever kills a believer intentionally his recompense is Hell forever"). Al-Qurṭubī's resolution: 25:70's exception for tawbah applies to the murderer tawbah is possible even for deliberate murder, and Allah may forgive the eschatological consequence. However, the worldly legal consequence (qiṣāṣ retaliation) remains pending the victim's family's right.

وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا آخَرَ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ Wa lladhīna lā yadʿūna maʿa llāhi ilāhan ākhara wa lā yaqtulūna n-nafsa llatī ḥarrama llāhu illā bi-l-ḥaqqi wa lā yazūn Those who do not invoke another god alongside Allah, do not kill a soul Allah has made sacred except by right, and do not commit fornication. Al-Qurṭubī: these three shirk, unjust killing, zinā are listed together as the three gravest sins, corresponding to violations of the three divine rights: Allah's right to exclusive worship, humanity's right to life, and Islamic society's right to moral order through legitimate lineage.

إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا فَأُولَٰئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ Illā man tāba wa āmana wa ʿamila ʿamalan ṣāliḥan fa-ulāʾika yubaddilu llāhu sayyiʾātihim ḥasanāt Except those who repent, believe, and do righteous deeds for them Allah will replace their bad deeds with good. Al-Qurṭubī: "yubaddilu" (will replace) refers to the eschatological record the sins become good deeds in the eternal account through genuine tawbah. This is the greatest proof that tawbah is accepted even for the gravest sins. However, al-Qurṭubī specifies: the worldly legal penalties (ḥadd for zinā, qiṣāṣ for murder) are not replaced they remain due.

Sin vs. ḥadd distinction: Al-Qurṭubī's formal uṣūl distinction between moral sin (expiated by tawbah) and legal penalty (unaffected by tawbah) is one of the most significant jurisprudential contributions of his Tafsīr.
Three-sin legal structure: Shirk (Allah's right), murder (human right to life), and zinā (social right to legitimate lineage) are mapped as violations of three distinct categories of right each with distinct legal consequences.
Murderer's tawbah: Al-Qurṭubī resolves the Ibn ʿAbbās/Ibn Masʿūd debate by affirming tawbah is possible even for deliberate murder, while the victim's family's qiṣāṣ right remains unaffected.
Servants profile legal mapping: Al-Qurṭubī maps each quality of the "servants of the Most Merciful" to its legal status obligatory abstentions combined with recommended acts a comprehensive moral-legal portrait.
Ḥadd after tawbah: The majority three-school position (Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanafī) that tawbah does not avert the ḥadd is documented the ḥadd execution itself becomes an expiation and mercy for the repentant person.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Finished this lesson?