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Draft:Verse 113 of Sura al-Tawba

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Verse 113 of Sura al-Tawba
Verse's Information
Suraal-Tawba (Qur'an 9)
Verse113
Juz'11
Content Information
Cause of
Revelation		Yes
Place of
Revelation		Medina
TopicProhibition of Istighfar for polytheists
Related VersesQur'an 9:114


Qur'an 9:113 addresses the impropriety of the Prophet (s) and the believers asking for forgiveness on behalf of polytheists.[1] Exegetes offer two primary reasons for this strict prohibition: first, because polytheists have demonstrated overt enmity toward God,[2] seeking forgiveness for them is fundamentally futile;[3] and second, petitioning for their forgiveness constitutes an expression of affection and alliance, an act which the Qur'an explicitly forbids.[4]

According to 'Allama Tabataba'i, if believers exhibit an enmity toward God akin to that of the polytheists, there can be no hope for their forgiveness either.[5]

Based on Qur'an 9:113, several Shi'a jurists have categorically declared that seeking forgiveness for polytheists is haram (forbidden).[6] Furthermore, certain jurists maintain that this ruling extends beyond polytheists to encompass all categories of disbelievers.[7] Scholars have also utilized this verse to argue that performing Hajj rituals by proxy on behalf of a non-Muslim is invalid.[8]

In explaining the cause of revelation for Qur'an 9:113, Shi'a exegetes note that early Muslims implored the Prophet (s) to ask for forgiveness on behalf of their fathers who had died during the Age of Ignorance. In response, God revealed this verse to firmly establish that it is inappropriate for the Prophet (s) or any believer to pray for the absolution of disbelievers.[9]

Conversely, Sunni exegetes propose two distinct causes of revelation for Qur'an 9:113.[10] The first account asserts that as Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet (s), lay dying, the Prophet urged him to recite the Shahadatayn to enable his intercession. However, Abu Jahl and 'Abd Allah b. Abi Umayya allegedly prevented him from doing so. The Prophet (s) then vowed to seek forgiveness for his uncle, prompting the revelation of this verse.[11] The second account suggests the verse was revealed when the Prophet (s) visited the grave of his mother, Amina bt. Wahb, and petitioned God for her forgiveness.[12]

Shi'a exegetes uniformly reject the historical accounts cited in Sunni commentaries. Nasir Makarim Shirazi highlights a major chronological discrepancy: Sura al-Tawba was revealed in 9/630-31, whereas the death of Abu Talib occurred before the Hijra.[13] He further argues that since God had already prohibited Muslims from maintaining friendly or affectionate ties with polytheists prior to Abu Talib's death, the Prophet (s) would not have subsequently sought forgiveness for him.[14] Additionally, Makarim Shirazi and a consensus of Shi'a scholars firmly assert that both Amina and Abu Talib were devoted monotheists.[15] Invoking Qur'an 9:84, which forbids the Prophet (s) from praying over deceased polytheists, Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi refutes the allegation of polytheism against the Prophet's (s) parents, emphasizing that the Prophet (s) regularly performed visitation at their graves.[16]

See also: Faith of Abu Talib and Monotheism of the Prophet's Ancestors

Notes

  1. ↑ Riḍāyī Iṣfahānī, Tafsīr-i Qurʾān-i Mihr, 1378 Sh, vol. 8, p. 324.
  2. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1352 Sh, vol. 9, p. 397.
  3. ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, Tafsīr-i tasnīm, 1394 Sh, vol. 35, p. 384.
  4. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 8, p. 155.
  5. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1352 Sh, vol. 9, p. 397.
  6. ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Kanz al-ʿirfān, 1373 Sh, vol. 1, p. 178.
  7. ↑ Anṣārī, al-Mawsūʿat al-fiqhiyya al-muyassara, 1420 AH, vol. 3, p. 36.
  8. ↑ Ḥakīm, Mustamsak al-ʿurwat al-wuthqā, 1374 Sh, vol. 11, p. 11.
  9. ↑ Ṭabrsī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 5, p. 115; Ṭabrsī, Tafsīr jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ, 1412 AH, vol. 2, p. 88.
  10. ↑ Fakhr Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 1420 AH, vol. 16, pp. 157-158; Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 1422 AH, vol. 12, pp. 20-24.
  11. ↑ Fakhr Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 1420 AH, vol. 16, p. 157.
  12. ↑ Fakhr Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 1420 AH, vol. 16, pp. 157-158; Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 1422 AH, vol. 12, pp. 20-24.
  13. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 8, p. 157.
  14. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 8, p. ???
  15. ↑ Āyatī, Tārīkh-i Payāmbar-i Islām, 1369 Sh, p. 53.
  16. ↑ Muḥaddith Qummī, Safīnat al-biḥār, 1414 AH, vol. 1, p. 171.

References

  • Āyatī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm, Tārīkh-i Payāmbar-i Islām, Tehran, Dānishgāh-i Tehran, 1369 Sh.
  • Anṣārī, Muḥammad ʿAlī, al-Mawsūʿat al-fiqhiyya al-muyassara, Qom, Majmaʿ al-Fikr al-Islāmī, 1420 AH.
  • Ḥakīm, Muḥsin, Mustamsak al-ʿurwat al-wuthqā, Qom, Dār al-Tafsīr, 1374 Sh/1416 AH.
  • Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh, Tafsīr-i tasnīm (vol. 35), ed. Ḥusayn Shafīʿī and ʿAṭāʾ Allāh Mīrzādeh, Qom, Nashr-i Isrāʾ, 1st edition, 1394 Sh.
  • Riḍāyī Iṣfahānī, Muḥammad ʿAlī; Group of Qur'anic Researchers, Tafsīr-i Qurʾān-i Mihr, Qom, Pazhūhishhā-yi Tafsīr wa ʿUlūm-i Qurʾān, 1387 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Beirut, Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt, 1352 Sh/1393 AH.
  • Ṭabrsī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan, Tafsīr jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ, Qom, Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya-yi Qom, 1412 AH.
  • Ṭabrsī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Beirut, Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1408 AH.
  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr, Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān (Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī), Egypt, Hijr, 1422 AH/2001.
  • Fāḍil Miqdād, Jamāl al-Dīn b. ʿAbd Allāh, Kanz al-ʿirfān fī fiqh al-Qurʾān, Tehran, Murtaḍawī, 1373 Sh.
  • Fakhr Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr (Mafātīḥ al-ghayb), Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH/1999.
  • Muḥaddith Qummī, ʿAbbās, Safīnat al-biḥār wa madīnat al-ḥikam wa l-āthār maʿa taṭbīq al-nuṣūṣ al-wārida fīhā ʿalā Biḥār al-anwār, Qom, Sāzmān-i Awqāf wa Umūr-i Khayriyya, Intishārāt-i Uswa, 1414 AH.
  • Mughniyya, Muḥammad Jawād, al-Tafsīr al-kāshif, Iran, Dār al-Kitāb al-Islāmī, 1424 AH/2003.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir, Tafsīr-i namūna, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 32nd edition, 1374 Sh.
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