Sūrah Al-Qaṣaṣ The Stories: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahالقصصMakkī 88 versesMūsā's complete story from birth to prophethood, Mūsā's work-for-marriage contract, Qārūn's wealth and destruction, and the prohibition of seeking the Hereafter while neglecting this life's rights

Key Fiqh IssueIs Mūsā's work-for-marriage contract (ijārah ʿalā l-nikāḥ) where the mahr is the labour itself valid in Islamic law?Labour as mahr validityAl-Qurṭubī: Mālikī holds it is valid labour can be mahr; Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī: valid as long as the labour is a benefit the husband provides, not performed by a third party; Ḥanafī: more cautious labour mahr requires specification of type and duration

School ComparisonMinimum mahr: Mālikī: 3 dirhams minimum; Ḥanafī: 10 dirhams minimum; Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī: no specified minimum any agreed-upon valuable thing is valid mahrMinimum mahrAl-Qurṭubī documents the three positions on minimum mahr one of the more practically divergent inter-school fiqh positions

Uṣūl Principle"Al-ijārah ʿaqd jāʾiz" employment is a valid contract derived from Mūsā's work contract: the Quran records and approves this contract, establishing that wage-labour is an Islamically valid commercial arrangementWage-labour permissibilityAl-Qurṭubī uses the Mūsā-Shuʿayb contract as the Quranic basis for the permissibility and validity of employment (ijārah) contracts

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī opens Al-Qaṣaṣ with Mūsā's complete biography from 28:7 (his mother's instruction to cast him in the river) through 28:21 (his flight to Madyan). He extracts from 28:12 "We had already forbidden all wet nurses to him" the fiqh of wet nursing (riḍāʿ): wet nursing creates a familial relationship with full prohibited-degree consequences (a wet-nurse's daughters become the nursed infant's sisters). He then analyses the Mūsā-Shuʿayb work-for-marriage contract (28:26–28) and extracts the fiqh of ijārah (employment contract): the contract must specify the type of work, the duration, and the compensation all present in the Quranic account (herding sheep for eight years, extended optionally to ten).

On Qārūn (28:76–82), al-Qurṭubī extracts the prohibition of kibr (pride/arrogance) in economic conduct. Qārūn's statement "this was given to me because of knowledge I have" (28:78) is the paradigmatic attribution of wealth to one's own merit rather than divine gift. Al-Qurṭubī derives the fiqh: attributing wealth to one's own merit while ignoring the divine source is a form of kufr al-niʿmah (ingratitude for blessing). He also notes the people's reaction (28:79) "if only we had what Qārūn has been given" as an example of the prohibited envy (ḥasad) of wealth.

قَالَتْ إِحْدَاهُمَا يَا أَبَتِ اسْتَأْجِرْهُ إِنَّ خَيْرَ مَنِ اسْتَأْجَرْتَ الْقَوِيُّ الْأَمِينُ Qālat iḥdāhumā yā abati staʾjirhū inna khayra man staʾjarta l-qawiyyu l-amīn One of them said: Father, hire him indeed the best of those you hire is the strong and trustworthy. Al-Qurṭubī: "al-qawiyyu l-amīn" (the strong and trustworthy) establishes the two essential qualities for an employee in Islamic law: physical/professional competence (quwwah) and moral trustworthiness (amānah). Al-Qurṭubī derives from this verse the principle that both competence and character are required criteria in employment hiring incompetent or dishonest workers is itself a failure of trust.

وَابْتَغِ فِيمَا آتَاكَ اللَّهُ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنيَا Wa btagh fī mā ātāka llāhu d-dāra l-ākhirata wa lā tansa naṣībaka min ad-dunyā And seek in what Allah has given you the home of the Hereafter, and do not forget your share of this world. Al-Qurṭubī: "wa lā tansa naṣībaka min ad-dunyā" (do not forget your share of this world) is a command the extreme asceticism that neglects worldly responsibilities is not the Islamic ideal. Both this-world and next-world must be pursued in their proper proportions; wealth is a means for the Hereafter, not its enemy.

Labour as mahr validity: Al-Qurṭubī derives the validity of labour as mahr from the Mūsā-Shuʿayb contract the Quran records and endorses this arrangement, making it a valid Islamic marriage contract form.
Employee qualities: "Qawiyy amīn" (strong and trustworthy) is derived as the two essential qualities for Islamic employment both competence and character are required criteria, not merely one.
Wet nursing degrees: Al-Qurṭubī extracts the full prohibited-degree consequences of wet nursing from 28:12 one of the important family-law topics treated via a narrative verse.
Kibr in economic conduct: Qārūn's attribution of wealth to his own merit is the paradigmatic example of economic pride al-Qurṭubī derives the prohibition of such attribution as a form of ingratitude (kufr al-niʿmah).
World-and-Hereafter balance: "Do not forget your share of this world" is read as a command establishing the Islamic prohibition of extreme economic asceticism wealth is to be used for the Hereafter, not abandoned.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

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