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Qur'an 14:24

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Qur'an 14:24
Verse's Information
SuraSura Ibrahim
Verse24
Juz'13
AboutComparison of the "good word" (kalima tayyiba) to a pure and firm tree


Qur'an 14:24 (Verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim) compares the phrase "good word" (Arabic: كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً) to a pure tree whose roots are firm in the ground and its branches are in the sky. The phrase is considered to have a broad meaning that includes any pure and blessed tradition, method, and action.

Most exegetes have considered the "good tree" (Arabic: شَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ) to be the palm tree. The "goodness" of this tree has been interpreted as being pleasant-looking, fragrant, having good fruits, being beneficial to people, growing and enduring. The Qur'an, in numerous verses including verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim, has expressed various thoughts and intellectual concepts by comparing them to tangible things in order to make them understandable to people.

Numerous hadiths have applied the concept of the "good tree" to the existence of Prophet Muhammad (s) and its firm roots to his lineage in Banu Hashim. Also, the main branch of the tree is considered to be Ali b. Abi Talib (a), and its sub-branch is Fatima (a). Imam al-Sadiq (a) considers the fruits of this tree to be the Imams from the descendants of Ali (a) and Fatima (a) and introduces their Shi'as as the leaves of that tree. According to hadiths, when a believer from the Shi'as dies, a leaf falls from that tree, and when a believer is born, the tree grows a leaf.

Introduction

God has expressed good and evil in the form of a parable in verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim and the verses following it.[1] In verses 24 and 25 of Sura Ibrahim, God considers the good and true word and speech like a pure tree that has good fruits, its roots are firm in the ground, its branches are in the sky, and it yields fruit at all times by the permission of God.[2] Before verse 24 of Ibrahim, God addresses the punishment of the oppressors,[3] the condition of the wretched,[4] and also the reward of the believers[5] and the states of the prosperous.[6] Then God explains their conditions with an example from sensory matters.[7]

The Qur'an, in numerous verses including verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim, has expressed thoughts and intellectual concepts by comparing them to tangible things in order to make them understandable to people; because people conceive tangible things more than intellectual ones in their minds.[8] Comparing intellectual meaning to sensory meaning is considered a way to present the intellectual meaning to minds.[9] Verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim is an example for the good word and correct matters, and Qur'an 14:26 has also given an example for the bad word.[10] The beginning of verse 24 of Ibrahim starts with the phrase "Have you not seen" (Arabic: أَلَمْ تَرَ). The meaning of "seeing" here is considered to be knowledge, which is the vision of the heart, and the meaning of the verse becomes: Do you not know and understand, O Prophet, how God expresses truths with examples?[11]

The Good Word

Some exegetes have considered the meaning of "good word" to be Tawhid[12] and testifying to the phrase "La ilaha illa Allah".[13] Other possibilities have also been mentioned.[14] A number of contemporary Shi'a exegetes such as Nasir Makarim Shirazi,[15] Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah,[16] and Muhammad Jawad Mughniyya[17] believe that the phrase "good word" has a broad meaning and includes numerous examples. The phrase "good word" is not limited to speech and saying, and it is said that it also includes action.[18] Allama Tabataba'i, a Shi'a exegete, considered the good word not just any speech, but a word based on belief and firm determination, which its owner stands by and does not deviate from in practice.[19]

Makarim Shirazi believes that the phrase "good word" includes any pure and blessed tradition, command, program, method, and action, and verse 24 of Ibrahim has compared all of these to a pure tree.[20] Muhammad Jawad Mughniyya has interpreted "good word" as including anything that benefits people and causes their good and welfare.[21] He did not limit this meaning to religious matters but believes that it also includes non-religious matters.[22]

The Good Tree

See also: Shajara Tayyiba

Some exegetes believe that most hadiths have considered the meaning of "good tree" to be the palm tree.[23] Some hadiths also say it is a tree in Paradise.[24] Allama Tabataba'i[25] and some other Sunni exegetes[26] have narrated that most exegetes have considered the meaning of "good tree" to be the palm tree. The "goodness" of this tree has been interpreted as being pleasant-looking, fragrant, having good and delicious fruits, being beneficial to people,[27] growing and enduraning.[28]

Sayyid Muhammad Taqi al-Mudarresi, a Shi'a exegete, believes that when a person's belief is based on knowledge and his will guarantees the stability of that belief, this person will not change. He is like a beneficial tree whose roots have gone deep into the earth and its branches have expanded into the sky. And since it has a firm and rooted belief and the person protects it with all his might, it will undoubtedly be fruitful as well.[29] Sayyid Qutb, a Sunni exegete, believes that the firmness of this tree means that the storms of falsehood will not uproot it and the axes of oppressors will not cut it. Although it is sometimes imagined that this tree is on the verge of destruction, it stands tall and erect, overcoming evil, oppression, and rebellion.[30]

At the end of verse 24 of Ibrahim, the Qur'an mentions the branches of this tree with the phrase "its branches are in the sky" (Arabic: فَرْعُها فِی السَّماءِ), which has been considered an exaggeration in its elevation and height.[31] Allama Tabataba'i, a Shi'a exegete, after stating the possibilities and differences of exegetes regarding the good word and the good tree, considers paying too much attention to these as causing distance from the teachings of the Qur'an and the goals of the verses.[32]

Application of the Verse to the Prophet (s) and Ahl al-Bayt (a)

Ali b. Ibrahim al-Qummi, a Shi'a scholar and exegete in the 3rd century AH, has narrated a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a) regarding the application of the comparison in verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim to the Prophet and the Imams. In this narration, the good tree is applied to the existence of Prophet Muhammad (s) and its fixed roots to his lineage in Banu Hashim. In the continuation of the narration, the main branch of the tree is introduced as Ali b. Abi Talib (a) and the sub-branch of the tree as Fatima (a). Imam al-Baqir (a) considers the fruits of this tree to be the Imams of the Shi'a from the descendants of Ali (a) and Fatima (a) and introduces their Shi'as as the leaves of that tree. According to this narration, when a believer from the Shi'a dies, a leaf falls from that tree, and when a believer is born, the tree grows a leaf.[33] A narration from Imam al-Sadiq (a) has also been narrated with the same content.[34] Some exegetes have described the hadiths that apply verse 24 of Sura Ibrahim to the Prophet (s) and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) as numerous.[35]

Notes

  1. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 10, p. 331.
  2. ↑ Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, vol. 3, p. 85.
  3. ↑ Shaḥāta, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm, vol. 7, p. 2596.
  4. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 19, p. 89.
  5. ↑ Shaḥāta, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm, vol. 7, p. 2596.
  6. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 19, p. 89.
  7. ↑ Shaḥāta, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm, vol. 7, p. 2596; Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 19, p. 89.
  8. ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Min waḥy al-Qurʾān, vol. 13, p. 105.
  9. ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Min waḥy al-Qurʾān, vol. 13, p. 105.
  10. ↑ Sayyid Quṭb, Fī ẓilāl al-Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 2098.
  11. ↑ Ṭayyib, Aṭyab al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 383.
  12. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 480.
  13. ↑ Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, vol. 4, p. 422.
  14. ↑ Qarāʾatī, Tafsīr-i nūr, vol. 1, p. 506.
  15. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 10, p. 331.
  16. ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Min waḥy al-Qurʾān, vol. 13, p. 105.
  17. ↑ Mughniyya, Al-Tafsīr al-kāshif, vol. 4, p. 443.
  18. ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Min waḥy al-Qurʾān, vol. 13, p. 105.
  19. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, vol. 12, p. 51.
  20. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 10, p. 332.
  21. ↑ Mughniyya, Al-Tafsīr al-kāshif, vol. 4, p. 443.
  22. ↑ Mughniyya, Al-Tafsīr al-kāshif, vol. 4, p. 443.
  23. ↑ Dīwbandī, Tafsīr-i Kābulī, vol. 3, p. 367.
  24. ↑ ʿĀmilī, Tafsīr-i ʿĀmilī, vol. 5, p. 275.
  25. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, vol. 12, p. 51.
  26. ↑ Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-maʿānī, vol. 7, p. 202.
  27. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 19, p. 89.
  28. ↑ Qarāʾatī, Tafsīr-i nūr, vol. 4, p. 408.
  29. ↑ Mudarrisī, Min hudā al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 401.
  30. ↑ Sayyid Quṭb, Fī ẓilāl al-Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 2098.
  31. ↑ Ṭūsī, Al-Tibyān, vol. 6, p. 291.
  32. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, vol. 12, p. 51.
  33. ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 1, p. 369.
  34. ↑ Furāt al-Kūfī, Tafsīr Furāt al-Kūfī, p. 219; Baḥrānī, Al-Burhān, vol. 3, p. 296.
  35. ↑ Ṭayyib, Aṭyab al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 383.

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