Sūrah Āl ʿImrān The Family of ʿImrān: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

Surahآل عمرانMadanī 200 versesḤajj obligation, usury prohibition reinforced, Prophet's authority established, Badr and Uḥud legal lessons

Key Fiqh IssueIs Ḥajj obligatory once in a lifetime (farḍ ʿayn) or does it recur annually for those with ability?Ḥajj obligation frequencyAl-Qurṭubī: once in a lifetime the command "ḥijju l-bayt" is general and the sunnah specifies one obligation; all four schools agree on once-in-a-lifetime farḍ

School ComparisonWhat is "istitāʿah" (ability) for Ḥajj (3:97)? Mālikī: physical ability + secure road; Shāfiʿī: physical ability + mahram for woman + sufficient funds; Ḥanafī: physical ability + funds for travel and dependents; Ḥanbalī: as ShāfiʿīḤajj istitāʿah definitionAl-Qurṭubī documents four distinct definitions of "ability" each school adds conditions

Uṣūl Principle"Ṭāʿat al-rasūl wājibah bi-naṣṣ al-Qurʾān" obedience to the Messenger is obligatory by Quranic text (3:132), establishing Sunnah as a second source of divine lawAuthority of SunnahAl-Qurṭubī uses 3:132 as the uṣūl foundation for the legal binding force of Prophetic ḥadīth

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī opens Āl ʿImrān's legal analysis with 3:93 "All food was permitted to the Children of Israel except what Israel forbade himself" using this as a uṣūl argument for the default permissibility (ibāḥah aṣliyyah) of foods. He extracts the principle: all foods are originally permitted until prohibition is established by specific evidence. This becomes the methodological foundation for his treatment of food prohibitions throughout the Tafsīr: the burden of proof is on establishing prohibition, not on establishing permission. He contrasts the Islamic food law structure (specific prohibitions listed in 5:3 and 6:145 against a default of permission) with the Jewish law structure (many specific permissions against a default of restriction).

On the Ḥajj obligation (3:97), al-Qurṭubī derives the five legal conditions from "man istaṭāʿa ilayhi sabīlā" (whoever is able to make the journey) and maps the four-school disagreement on "istitāʿah" (ability). He notes the famous hadith of ʿAlī: the Prophet said "whoever possesses provisions and a mount that can carry him to the Kaʿbah and does not perform Ḥajj, it matters not whether he dies a Jew or a Christian" which al-Qurṭubī uses to establish the severity of abandoning an obligatory Ḥajj once conditions are met. He also extracts the fiqh ruling from "wa man kafara" (and whoever disbelieves, 3:97) reading this not as a statement about the obligation of non-Muslims to perform Ḥajj, but as a hyperbolic expression of the gravity of neglecting the obligation for Muslims who deny its binding nature.

وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا Wa li-llāhi ʿalā n-nāsi ḥijju l-bayti man istaṭāʿa ilayhi sabīlā And for Allah, upon the people, is the pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find a way there. Al-Qurṭubī: the structure "li-llāhi ʿalā n-nāsi" (upon the people, as a duty to Allah) indicates a farḍ ʿayn (individual obligation). "Istitāʿah" (ability) is then defined differently by each school, with al-Qurṭubī documenting four distinct conditions lists.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا الرِّبَا أَضْعَافًا مُّضَاعَفَةً Yā ayyuhā lladhīna āmanū lā taʾkulū r-ribā aḍʿāfan muḍāʿafah O you who believe do not devour ribā, doubled and multiplied. Al-Qurṭubī: the qualifier "aḍʿāfan muḍāʿafah" (doubled and multiplied) described a specific Jāhiliyyah practice extending a debt in exchange for further increases but does NOT limit the prohibition to this form only. Applying ʿumūm al-lafẓ, al-Qurṭubī affirms that all ribā is prohibited, not only the "doubled" variety.

Default permissibility: Al-Qurṭubī extracts from 3:93 the uṣūl principle of ibāḥah aṣliyyah all things are originally permitted until prohibition is established; this governs his entire food-law analysis.
Istitāʿah mapping: Al-Qurṭubī maps the four-school definitions of "ability" for Ḥajj one of the clearest examples of his comparative-fiqh methodology in action.
Neglect severity: The ʿAlī chain hadith about the Ḥajj-neglecting person "dying as a Jew or Christian" is used to establish that deliberate neglect of Ḥajj after ability equals a kind of doctrinal deficiency.
Ribā qualifier not limiting: Al-Qurṭubī applies ʿumūm al-lafẓ to reject any limitation of the ribā prohibition to "doubled and multiplied" forms the qualifier describes the worst case, not the only prohibited case.
Sunnah authority: 3:132 ("obey Allah and the Messenger") is cited by al-Qurṭubī as the Quranic text establishing the legal binding force of Prophetic ḥadīth a key uṣūl al-fiqh foundation.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

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