Appearance
Verses 161–165
قُلْ إِنَّنِي هَدانِي رَبِّي إِلى صِراطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ دِيناً قِيَماً مِلَّةَ إِبْراهِيمَ حَنِيفاً وَ ما كانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ١٦١ قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاتِي وَ نُسُكِي وَ مَحْيايَ وَ مَماتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمِينَ ١٦٢ لا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَ بِذلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَ أَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ١٦٣ قُلْ أَ غَيْرَ اللَّهِ أَبْغِي رَبًّا وَ هُوَ رَبُّ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَ لا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلاَّ عَلَيْها وَ لا تَزِرُ وازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرى ثُمَّ إِلى رَبِّكُمْ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِما كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ ١٦٤ وَ هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلائِفَ الْأَرْضِ وَ رَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجاتٍ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي ما آتاكُمْ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ الْعِقابِ وَ إِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ١٦٥
- Say: Surely, (as for) me, my Lord has guided me to the straight path; (to) a most right religion, the faith of Abraham the upright one, and he was not of the polytheists.
- Say. Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the nations.
- No associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit.
- What! Shall I seek a Lord other than Allah, while He is the Lord of all things? And no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed.
- And He it is Who has made you successors in the land and raised some of you above others in rank, that He might try you by what He has given you; surely your Lord is quick to requite (evil), and He is most surely the Forgiving, the Merciful.
Commentary
These are the final verses of the chapter. They: (1) summarize the Prophet’s objective in his mission as outlined in this chapter; (2) state that he practices what he preaches; and (3) sum up the arguments in this chapter in refutation of polytheism.
قُلْ إِنَّنِي هَدانِي رَبِّي إِلى صِراطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ دِيناً قِيَماً مِلَّةَ إِبْراهِيمَ حَنِيفاً وَ ما كانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ١٦١
(6:161) Say: Surely, (as for) me, my Lord has guided me to the straight path; (to) a most right (qiyaman) religion, the faith of Abraham the upright one (ḥanīfan), and he was not of the polytheists.
Qiyam is an abbreviation of qiyām (to stand, to support, to uphold). It is used as an adjective for religion to emphasize the extent to which the religion supports and upholds the welfare of the people. It is also said that qiyam is an adjective, meaning qayyim (maintainer, upholder) of something.
Here God orders the Prophet to describe the Lord to Whom he invites as follows: He has guided him by His guidance to a straight path and a clear way. It is a path that is a maintainer (qayyim) of its travelers, in the sense that it is free from internal contradiction [between its parts] and external failure [in leading to its goal]. It is a religion that is an upholder (qāʾim) of the welfare of both this world and the hereafter in the best possible manner, because it is founded on the innate human nature (fiṭrah). It is the faith of Abraham who was upright (ḥanīf), meaning that he always inclined toward the level path of monotheism, and did not deviate to the sides through polytheism. He was not of the polytheists.
We explained the concepts mentioned in of this verse in our exposition of the previous verses of this chapter.
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاتِي وَ نُسُكِي وَ مَحْيايَ وَ مَماتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمِينَ ١٦٢ لا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَ بِذلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَ أَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ١٦٣
(6:162-163) Say. Surely my prayer and my sacrifice (nusukī) and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the nations. No associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit.
Nusuk means any “act of worship” but it is commonly used for the act of sacrifice—or the sacrificial animal—for the sake of God.
Here is a second command to the Prophet: He should tell the people that he acts according to God’s guidance and adheres to it as he has been ordered. This absolves him from suspicion and accusation. It also makes it easier for the audience to accept his call, because one of the signs of truthfulness of one’s message is that the person practices what he preaches, without any dichotomy between his speech and his action.
“Prayer” is mentioned explicitly and separately because of God’s special care and attention to it. “Life” includes all aspects in one’s life, including all of one’s actions and qualities, and anything that one does or abstains from. “Death” includes any aspect that is related to it, which is effectively rooted in one’s life, as per the [Prophetic] narration: “You shall die as you live.”
God tells him to say: “Surely I have dedicated my prayer and all my worship in its absolute sense, and my life and my death to God, the Lord of the nations. I do not associate anyone with Him in any of these things. I am a servant of God in all aspects of my life and death. I have turned my face toward Him, meaning that I neither take nor leave anything except for Him. I carry on with my life only for Him and want to die only in His way, for indeed He is the Lord of all nations: He is their Owner and He is the One Who directs their affairs. I have been commanded to this kind of servitude while I am the first submitter to God in complying with the perfect servitude which He wants in every aspect.”
… Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah…: Given the above explanation, the qualification “for Allah” applies in the same sense to all of the four items mentioned here. It is not that the first two items [that is, my prayer and my sacrifice] are “for God” in the sense that he does them in sincere submission to Him, while the last two [that is, my life and my death] are “for God” in the sense that he believes them to be subject to His command. In other words, it is not that the first two inform the audience about the Prophet’s sincerity in worship [as a practical quality], while the last two indicate his belief that God is the Owner of life and death [as something theoretical]. Such an interpretation is contrived. Instead, the entire statement is a declaration of the Prophet’s sincere servitude in every aspect of worship, life and death, or his commitment to be sincere in all these aspects.
… and I am the first of those who submit (al-muslimīn): “First” here means first in rank and degree. The Prophet had the highest degree of submission. Otherwise, there were other Muslims (lit. submitters) before him temporally. Some examples, as narrated by God, are:
Noah: And I am commanded that I should be of those who submit ().
Abraham: I submit myself to the Lord of the nations ().
Abraham and Ishmael: And our Lord! Make us both submissive to Thee ().
Lot: But We did not find therein save a (single) house of those who submitted ().
The Queen of Sheba: And we were given the knowledge before it, and we were submissive (); And I submit with Solomon to Allah, the Lord of the nations (). The first verse would be applicable assuming that she meant submission to God.
The expression “first submitter” is not found anywhere in the Qur’an except in the current verse, and also in Sūrah al-Zumar: Say: I am commanded that I should serve Allah, being sincere to Him in obedience. And I am commanded that I shall be the first of those who submit ().
Some exegetes have said: What is meant here is “the first submitter in this nation”; otherwise, Abraham was the first submitter [in the absolute sense], and those who came after him were his followers in submission (Islam).
The problem with this view is that it assumes an unwarranted qualification. Moreover, the claim that Abraham was the first Muslim (submitter) is rejected by what we quoted above [namely verse about Noah’s submission]. There is neither any evidence for the above interpretation in the prayer narrated from Abraham and Ishmael—neither in the verse: and (raise) from our offspring a nation submitting to Thee (), nor in the verse: the faith of your father Ibrahim; He named you Muslims ().
قُلْ أَ غَيْرَ اللَّهِ أَبْغِي رَبًّا وَ هُوَ رَبُّ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَ لا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلاَّ عَلَيْها وَ لا تَزِرُ وازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرى ثُمَّ إِلى رَبِّكُمْ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِما كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ ١٦٤
(6:164) Say: What! Shall I seek a Lord other than Allah, while He is the Lord of all things? And no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed.
This verse and the next one are comprised of three proofs that incorporate all of the arguments discussed in this chapter for monotheism. One proof is based on the beginning of creation; one proof is based on its end; and one proof is based on the state of humankind between the two. In other words, there are three arguments which relate to the realm of life in this world, the realm prior to it, and the realm after it.
The proof based on the origin is: Shall I seek a Lord other than Allah, while He is the Lord of all things? If God is the Lord of all things, then obviously all things would be His servants and subject to His Lordship. Hence, there is absolutely no lord besides Him that one could rightfully serve and worship.
The proof based on the return to God is implied by: And no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed. It means: “Anything that any soul earns—meaning any act that one commits—will be loaded on the back of that person alone. No bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another person; thus nothing earned by one individual will be loaded on another person. Then the return will be to God, and it is up to Him to requite you by unveiling the realities of your acts.” The implied argument is: Since He is the Owner of the Day of Judgment, and there is no escape from His retribution, it follows that He is the One to be served and worshiped, not others who do not control anything.
The proof based on life in this world is found in the next verse: And He it is Who has made you successors in the land… (). The gist of the argument is: Your life in this world is governed by an amazing system that is based on your succession in the land and your diversity in terms of age, strength, gender, wealth, power, knowledge, and so on. Even though this is a conventional system, it is rooted in your state of existence and creation, which has been designed by God. He has created this system only for your trial and tribulation. Hence, He is the Lord Who is in charge of your happiness. He helps those who obey Him advance toward the ordained felicity for them; and He leaves the wrongdoers there on their knees. Therefore, He is the only One Who is worthy of being served and worshiped.
… And no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another…: Given the above explanation, these two sentences complement one another and compose a single message: “Anything [of action and belief] that anyone acquires will adhere to him, but not anything else [acquired by others].” Thus, these two sentences are equivalent to the verse: Every soul is hostage to what it earns ().
وَ هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلائِفَ الْأَرْضِ وَ رَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجاتٍ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي ما آتاكُمْ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ الْعِقابِ وَ إِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ١٦٥
(6:165) And He it is Who has made you successors (khalāʾif) in the land and raised some of you above others in rank, that He might try you by what He has given you; surely your Lord is quick to requite (evil), and He is most surely the Forgiving, the Merciful.
Khalāʾif is the plural of khalīfah (successor, vicegerent). It can have two meanings: (1) He makes some of you succeed others [generation by generation]; or (2) He has made you His vicegerents in the earth. We discussed the second sense of khalīfah in our exposition of the verse: And when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to place in the earth a khalīfah (). The meaning of the verse should be clear given our explanation above [under the last verse]. The chapter ends with mentioning God’s forgiveness and mercy.
Examining Narrations
- Concerning ḥanīfan musliman (lit. “an upright submitter,” ) Imam al-Ṣādiq said: [It means] pure, sincere, and completely free from the worship of idols.
Author’s comment: Another version of the hadith reads, “[It means] pure, sincere, and unmixed by anything.” Either way, this narration provides the intended message of these two terms, not their literal meaning.
- Imam al-Ṣādiq said: Do not say that there is a single level (or rank, darajah). Indeed God says: “Levels, some above others.” People differ from one another according to their actions.
Author’s comment: This is a paraphrase of the verse. The verse says: And raised some of you above others in rank (). Elsewhere God says: And We have exalted some of them above others in rank (). Apparently “some above others” is part of the Imam’s speech. The Imam must have said this to interpret not the current verse, but verses like: They are (of varying) ranks with Allah (). It is reported under this verse as a mistake on the part of the narrator. The reason for this is that the Imam says, “People differ from one another according to their actions,” which clearly does not match the current verse.
A maṣdar (verbal noun, infinitive, gerund)—such as qiyām—is sometimes used instead of an adjective to show emphasis. (Trans.) ↩︎
See the author’s discussion under verse ; volume 13 of the English translation, pp. 241ff. (Trans.) ↩︎
As the author said above, these verses summarize the chapter. Therefore, it could be that the choice of the word nusuk here involves some reference to the many verses above concerning sacrifice and slaughter. (Trans.) ↩︎
Al-Kāfī, via its chain of narration, on the authority of Ibn Muskān. ↩︎
Tafsīr al-burhān, on the authority of al-Barqī, via his chain of narration, on the authority of Ibn Muskān, from the Imam. ↩︎
Tafsīr al-ʿAyyashī, on the authority of Abu Baṣīr. ↩︎