Al-Shifa' Verse
| Verse's Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Verse of Healing |
| Sura | al-Isra |
| Verse | 82 |
| Juz' | 15 |
| Content Information | |
| Cause of Revelation | Mecca |
| Topic | Belief and Morality |
| About | Healing effect of the Qur'an for believers |
Al-Shifāʾ Verse (Arabic: آیة الشفاء), or the Verse of Healing, is the verse eighty two of the Qur'an 17 which indicates the healing effect of the Qur'an for believers. According to Qur'anic exegetes, the Qur'an heals both physical and psychic problems of human beings. According to some exegetes, the Qur'an is healing in the sense that it expels polytheism, disbelief, misguidedness, and moral vices, and leads to happiness, guidance, and moral virtues.
According to the Verse of Healing, contrary to believers, the Qur'an intensifies the hatred, anger, jealousy, disbelief, and psychic problems of polytheists and disbelievers, and so they are not guided by the Qur'an.
According to Sunni and Shiite exegetes of the Qur'an, all Qur'anic verses are healing, so it is not restricted to this verse. Some people believe that "zalimin" (unjust people or wrongdoers) in the verse are people who do wrong to Ahl al-Bayt (a).
Text and Translation
| “ | ” | |
| — Qur'an 17: 82 | ||
Content
The verse eighty two of Qur'an 17 is known as the Verse of Healing or al-Shifa' Verse, which indicates that the Qur'an can heal diseases.[1] Shiite and Sunni scholars believe that all Qur'anic verses are healing, and so this feature is not restricted to al-Shifa' Verse.[2] The healing power of the Qur'an has been interpreted in a variety of ways:
- According to some exegetes, such as Abu l-Futuh al-Razi, al-Fakhr al-Razi, and al-Tabrisi, the healing power of Qur'anic verses lies in grounds they provide for knowing God, prophethood, the resurrection, predestination, and Imamate, since it saves people from bewilderment and ignorance, and precludes doubts, guiding people to happiness and the right path.[3]
- According to some other exegetes, such as Allama Tabataba'i, just as the human body might sometimes suffer from diseases, the human soul might also suffer from moral and faith-related diseases which can be healed by the recitation of and acting upon the Qur'an.[4]
- Some exegetes maintain that Qur'anic verses are helpful for physical diseases as well.[5] According to Nizami, in earlier times, when physicians were disappointed of treating a patient, they performed two rak'as of prayer and recited the Qur'an 1, and then recited the Verse of Healing for the improvement of the patient, and then the patient was healed.[6]
- According to al-Fayd al-Kashani, the meanings of Qur'anic verses heal psychic diseases, and their words heal physical diseases.[7]
Mercy (Rahma)
Allama Tabataba'i believes that the word, "rahma" (mercy), in the verse refers to the enlightenment of the human heart with knowledge and certainty. Thus, when one no longer has doubts, moral diseases, or problems in his or her beliefs, they return to their original nature (fitra).[8] In his Majma' al-bayan, al-Tabrisi takes "mercy" to mean God's blessings.[9] In Tafsir namuna, "shifa'" or healing is interpreted as the purification of one's heart, and the "mercy" is interpreted as the renewal of one's self.[10]
The Qur'an and Polytheists
According to the Verse of Healing, Qur'anic verses do not bring about anything for polytheists and disbelieves except loss, the intensification of their disbelief, anger, and hatred.[11] Allama Tabataba'i interprets "zalimin" (wrongdoers) in the verse to refer to disbelievers, maintaining that Qur'anic verses give them nothing but disbelief and loss because their original nature is distorted. He takes such loss to be a consequence of their actions, since Qur'anic verses guide human beings to happiness.[12]
Al-Tabrisi considers the loss of disbelievers to amount to the disclosure of their impure inner selves by Qur'anic verses.[13] According to Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, Qur'anic verses heal and provide mercy for everyone except for those who do not seek the truth and obstinately oppose the Qur'an and God. Thus, when they hear Qur'anic verses, their disbelief, hatred, and jealousy are intensified.[14]
According to Tafsir al-safi, al-Burhan, and Nur al-thaqalayn, "zalimin" (wrongdoers) in the Verse of Healing are those who unjustly treat Ahl al-Bayt (a).[15]
Notes
- ↑ Farhangnāma-yi ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 265.
- ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 21, p. 390; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 184.
- ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 21, p. 390; Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-Jinān, vol. 12, p. 277; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 673.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 184; Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 21, p. 390; Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-Jinān, vol. 12, p. 277.
- ↑ Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-Jinān, vol. 12, p. 277; Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 21, p. 389; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 673; Maybudī, Kashf al-asrār, vol. 5, p. 612.
- ↑ Nizāmī, Majmaʿ al-nawādir, p. 70.
- ↑ Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī, vol. 3, p. 213.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 184.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 673.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 237.
- ↑ Qur'an 17:82.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 185.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 673.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 12, p. 239.
- ↑ Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī, vol. 3, p. 213; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 581; Ḥuwayzī, Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, vol. 3, p.213.
References
- Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Ḥusayn b. 'Alī. Rawḍ al-Jinān wa Rawḥ al-Janān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1408 AH.
- Baḥrānī, Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Muʾassisat al-Biʿthat, 1415 AH.
- Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. al-ʿUmar al-. Al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
- Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Muḥammad b. al-Murtaḍā al-. Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī. Edited by Ḥusayn Aʿlamī. Tehran: Maktabat al-Ṣadr, 1415 AH.
- Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī b. al-Jumʿa al-. Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn. Qom: ʿIsmā'ilīyān, 1415 AH.
- Maybudī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Kashf al-asrār wa 'uddat al-abrār. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1371 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1371 Sh.
- Nizāmī, Aḥamd. Majmaʿ al-nawādir (known as Chāhār maqāla). Tehran: Kitābfurūshī-yi Ashrāqī, 1364 Sh.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 AH.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Naṣir Khusruw, 1372 Sh.