Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:52

"And thus"—meaning: and similar to this marvelous revelation—the indication refers to what follows—"We have revealed to you a spirit of Our command"—which is that which was revealed to him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; or the Quran, which is to hearts what the spirit is to bodies, as it gives them eternal life. It is also said: it means, and like the revelation well-known to others, We revealed to you. Another view is: and like the detailed revelation, We revealed to you, as he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had all three methods gathered for him, whether revelation is interpreted as 'casting into the heart' (ilqa') or as verbal address. It has been mentioned that it was cast into his heart while asleep, just as it was cast into the heart of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and it was cast into his heart while awake, in the manner that the Psalms (Zabur) were cast into the heart of Dawud, peace be upon him.

In al-Kibrit al-Ahmar by al-Sha'rani, citing the second chapter of al-Futuhat al-Makkiya, it is stated that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was given the Quran in summary form before Jibril, peace be upon him, without the details of the verses and chapters. Ibn Abbas interpreted "the spirit" as Prophethood.

Al-Rabi' said: It is Jibril, peace be upon him, and based on this, "We revealed" (awhayna) implies the meaning of "We sent" (arsalna). The meaning is: We sent him with revelation to you, because one does not say "the angel revealed," but rather "he sent him."

Al-Tabarsi reported from Abu Ja'far and Abu 'Abd Allah, may Allah be pleased with them, that the meaning of this "spirit" is an angel greater than Jibril and Mika'il who was with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and did not ascend to the sky. This statement is extremely strange, and it is likely not authentic from these two Imams. The tanwin in "a spirit" (ruhan) is for magnification, meaning: a magnificent spirit.

"You did not know what the Book is, nor faith." The apparent meaning is that the first "what" (ma) is negative, and the second is interrogative, in the nominative position as an initial (mubtada'), with "the Book" as its predicate. The clause is in the accusative position [governed by] "you know," and the clause "you did not know..." is a circumstantial state (hal) of the pronoun in "We revealed," or it is a new sentence, and the past tense refers to the time before the revelation.

The verse has been questioned in that its apparent meaning necessitates that he was not characterized by faith before the revelation. This is not correct because all Prophets, peace be upon them, were believers before their mission due to their immunity ('isma) from disbelief, by the consensus of those whose opinion is considered.

Several answers have been given to this: First: That "faith" here does not mean mere affirmation (tasdiq), but the sum of affirmation, confession, and deeds; for just as it is applied to that, it is also applied to this in Islamic law. Among this is His saying: "And Allah would never allow your faith to go to waste" [2:143]. Deeds cannot be known without hearing [revelation]; therefore, it is a compound, and a compound is negated by the negation of its parts. Thus, the negation of the compound faith due to the negation of deeds does not necessitate the negation of faith in the other sense, namely affirmation, which is that upon which scholars have reached consensus that the Prophets, peace be upon them, were characterized by it before the mission. Hence, He expressed it as "you did not know" instead of saying "you were not a believer." This is a good answer, and it does not necessitate the negation of faith from one who does not perform righteous deeds, so that affirming it would be [consistent with] the Mu'tazila doctrine, as is hidden [to none].

Second: That "faith" means belief in Allah Almighty and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not just belief in Allah Almighty, excluding deeds. The Prophet was addressed regarding faith in his mission, just as his nation, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, are addressed with that. There is no doubt that before the revelation, he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not know that he was the Messenger of Allah, and he only knew that through revelation. If "faith" is the sum of belief in Allah Almighty and in the Messenger, and this sum was not fixed before revelation—rather, only belief in Allah Almighty was fixed, as the Prophets, peace be upon them, were characterized by it before the mission—then the negation of faith before the revelation stands. This is the view of Ibn al-Munir.

Third: That the intended meaning is the laws of faith and its hallmarks, of which there is no way to know except through hearing [revelation]. This is the view of the Sunnah revivalist al-Baghawi, who said: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was before the revelation upon the religion of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, but the laws of that religion were not clear to him. It is not hidden that if the phrasing is not considered to be an ellipsis of a genitive (mudaf), it necessitates the application of "faith" to "deeds," and that is well-known [as problematic].

Fourth: That the speech is based on the assumption of an omitted word. It is said the intended meaning is "the call to faith," meaning: you did not know how to call the creation to faith. Abu al-'Aliyah points to this. Al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl said: It means "the people of faith," i.e., you did not know who it is that believes. You know that no one accepts this except those who do not know.

Fifth: That the meaning is the negation of knowing the sum, i.e., you did not know the sum of the Book and faith before the revelation. This does not contradict that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, knew faith alone, though repeating "nor" (la) rejects this.

Sixth: That the meaning is "you did not know that when you were in the cradle." 'Ali ibn 'Isa took this view, but it contradicts the apparent meaning. The apparent meaning is the continuation of the negation until the time of the revelation. The literalists' view leans toward considering this constraint, saying: Perhaps the most likely is that "faith" is to be taken at its apparent meaning, and the verse is presented in the context of bestowing favor—revelation, casting into the heart, and sending the Messenger. Faith is defined by the first, and the Book by the second. The verse shows that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, knew them after he had not known them, and that is so. As for him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, knowing them after the revelation, that is not the case; so it is possible he knew them through it [revelation], or he knew one of them specifically through it. Evidence has shown that what he was made to know through it is the Book and faith after intellect and before revelation. Striving to use this to prove he was not obligated by the law of those before him is weak, because lack of knowledge does not necessitate lack of obligation, but it necessitates the dropping of sin if there was no negligence.

You know that the immediate understanding is that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, knew them through the revelation. As for his (the author's) saying—may his secret be sanctified—in refuting the argument that he was not obligated by the law of those before him because lack of knowledge does not necessitate lack of obligation, it has been said to him: This is invalid, for if he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not know the law, how could he be obligated by it? It may be answered that the researcher's intention is that the negated knowledge is that of certain, fixed knowledge corresponding to reality, and its absence does not necessitate the absence of obligation, as a strong probability of its validity suffices for obligation by the law of those who preceded him. Perhaps that was achieved for him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Such probability suffices for those obligated today by the law of our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for most of the branches are based on probability. Whoever tracks the reports knows that the Arabs remained upon the remnants of the religion of Ibrahim, peace be upon him—such as Hajj, circumcision, divorce, bathing from major impurity, the prohibition of marrying relatives within prohibited degrees, and so on—and that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was the most eager of people to follow the religion of Ibrahim, peace be upon him. It is in the Sahih that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, before his mission, used to tahannuth in the cave of Hira'. Tahannuth was interpreted as tahannuf, meaning following the Hanifiya, which is the religion of Ibrahim, peace be upon him. The letter fa' is substituted for tha' in much of their speech, and in Ibn Hisham's biography, it is tahannuf with a fa'. Yes, it was also interpreted as worship, as in Sahih al-Bukhari, and as avoiding hanth (sin), like taharruj and ta'athum. All of this was mentioned by the Hafiz al-Qastallani in his commentary on the Sahih.

Furthermore, the apparent meaning is that whoever said he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was obligated by the law of those before him does not mean he was obligated by all the laws of those before him, but by what he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, deemed likely to be valid. What ought to be preferred is that this was from the law of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, because he is of his descendants, and the Arabs were tasked with his religion. Some said: his worship, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was reflection and consideration, and perhaps that too is what he deemed likely to be from the law of Ibrahim, peace be upon him. Perhaps it is said, according to what he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, knew, not in that way regarding the law of those before him, that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was always receiving revelation and was obligated by what was revealed to him, except that the revelation preceding the mission was casting into the heart and breathing into the soul, and he only acted according to the laws of his father Ibrahim, peace be upon them, by means of that casting. If some of his brothers among the Prophets, peace be upon them, were given wisdom as children—at two or three years old—then he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is more entitled to have that type of revelation cast into him as a child as well.

Whoever knows his station, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and believes that he is the beloved who was our Prophet while Adam was between water and clay, does not find this unlikely. So reflect.

"But We made it"—meaning: the spirit which We revealed to you. Ibn 'Atiyyah said: The pronoun refers to the Book. It is said: to faith, and this is preferred due to proximity. It is said: to the Book and faith, and it is singular because their goal is one. It is similar to: "And Allah and His Messenger are more worthy to be pleased by them" [9:62].

"A light"—a magnificent one—"by which We guide whom We will"—[the one whom] We will to guide from among Our servants, who is the one who turns his choice toward being guided by it. The clause is either a new sentence or an adjective for "light." His saying: "And indeed, you guide"—is a confirmation of his guidance and an explanation of its method. The object of "you guide" is omitted, trusting in the clarity of the purpose, meaning: and indeed you guide by that light those whom you will to be guided—"to a straight path."

[The path] is Islam and all the laws and rulings. Ibn al-Sumayqa' read "to guide" (li-tahdi) with a damma on the ta' and a kasra on the dal [derived from ahda]. Hawshab read it as passive, meaning: "for Allah to guide you." It was also read as "for you to call" (li-tad'u).