Sūrah Luqmān Luqmān: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance

SurahلقمانMakkī 34 versesLuqmān's seven counsels prohibition of shirk, parental rights, divine omniscience of the atom's weight, prayer, commanding right, patience, and prohibition of arrogance

Key Fiqh IssueIs Luqmān's command "command the right and forbid the wrong" (31:17) obligatory on every individual (farḍ ʿayn) or on the community collectively (farḍ kifāyah)?Amr bi-l-maʿrūf individual vs. collectiveAl-Qurṭubī: farḍ kifāyah for the community when sufficient people are commanding right, the individual obligation is discharged; with conditions: capability, safety from greater harm, knowledge of the right

School ComparisonHand-changing of munkar (forbidden act): all four schools permit hand-changing by the individual only when the person has authority (sultan, master over slave, parent over child); for a stranger: verbal correction only; Mālikī: heart-rejection alone is the minimum for one with no authorityHand-changing munkarAl-Qurṭubī maps the authority-requirement for the three levels of changing munkar across the four schools

Uṣūl Principle"Al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf mashrūṭ bi-l-maʿrifah" commanding right requires knowledge of what is right applied to Luqmān's counsel: only a knowledgeable person can correctly identify the maʿrūf and munkarKnowledge condition for amr bi-l-maʿrūfAl-Qurṭubī establishes knowledge of fiqh as a condition for the obligation to command right those without fiqh knowledge may not command on disputed matters

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī opens Luqmān with the question of whether Luqmān was a prophet or a wise sage (ḥakīm). He documents the scholarly majority: Luqmān was a ḥakīm (wise sage) not a prophet his wisdom was divine gift, not prophetic revelation. The legal implication: his counsels are not sunnah (as a non-prophet's sayings are not binding sunnah) but they are confirmed by Quranic endorsement, giving them the status of recommended wisdom that aligns with Islamic law. He then systematically maps Luqmān's seven counsels: (1) avoid shirk farḍ; (2) thank Allah and parents farḍ; (3) maintain family ties farḍ; (4) establish prayer farḍ; (5) command right and forbid wrong farḍ kifāyah; (6) be patient farḍ; (7) avoid pride farḍ.

Al-Qurṭubī gives extensive treatment to 31:17's command on amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa n-nahy ʿan al-munkar (commanding right and forbidding wrong), documenting the three classical levels: (1) change by hand for those with authority; (2) change by tongue for anyone with the knowledge and without fear of greater harm; (3) change by heart the absolute minimum for every believer. He notes the conditions for the tongue-level command: the person must know that the act is actually munkar (not merely disliked); must believe his words will have some effect; must not fear a reprisal greater than the munkar he is correcting.

يَا بُنَيَّ أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَانْهَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا أَصَابَكَ Yā bunayya aqimi ṣ-ṣalāta wa mur bi-l-maʿrūfi wa nha ʿan al-munkari wa ṣbir ʿalā mā aṣābak O my son establish prayer, command the right, forbid the wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. Al-Qurṭubī: the sequence is significant prayer first (personal obligation to Allah), then amr bi-l-maʿrūf (social obligation toward others), then patience (because commanding right will inevitably bring harm). The sequence teaches that commanding right must be built on personal worship and sustained by patience.

وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ Wa lā tuṣaʿʿir khaddaka li-n-nāsi wa lā tamshi fī l-arḍi maraḥan inna llāha lā yuḥibbu kulla mukhtālin fakhūr Do not turn your cheek away from people in contempt, and do not walk on earth with arrogance indeed Allah does not love any arrogant boaster. Al-Qurṭubī: "tuṣaʿʿir khaddak" (turn cheek away in contempt) is the physical gesture of looking down on others. Combined with "walking with arrogance," these prohibitions establish that kibr (pride) has both internal (attitude) and external (behaviour) prohibited manifestations.

Luqmān not a prophet: Al-Qurṭubī establishes the scholarly majority that Luqmān was a wise sage, not a prophet giving his counsels recommended-wisdom status, not binding-sunnah status.
Seven counsels legal map: Al-Qurṭubī maps all seven Luqmān counsels to their legal obligation level six are farḍ, one (amr bi-l-maʿrūf) is farḍ kifāyah with conditions.
Three levels of amr bi-l-maʿrūf: The hand/tongue/heart framework is documented with the authority-requirement for each level across all four schools one of al-Qurṭubī's most practically important fiqh analyses.
Knowledge condition: Al-Qurṭubī establishes that knowledge of fiqh is a condition for commanding right commanding on matters where the scholar is uncertain or where the act is disputed among scholars violates this condition.
Pride external manifestations: Both the internal attitude (kibr) and external behaviour (turning away, arrogant walking) of pride are independently prohibited al-Qurṭubī reads the physical prohibitions as evidence that pride must be combated in its outward expressions.

Surah Overview

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

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