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Qur'an 62:11

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Qur'an 62:11
Verse's Information
NameVerse 11 of Sura al-Jumu'a
Suraal-Jumu'a (Qur'an 62)
Verse11
Juz'28
Content Information
Place of
Revelation		Medina
TopicProhibition of worldliness


Qur'an 62:11 is a verse in which Muslims are blamed for leaving the Prophet (s) to pursue worldly interests. In response to this action, this verse considers what is with God to be more valuable than diversion and trade; because what is with God contains divine reward and blessings such as spiritual and moral training that the listener receives from attending Friday Prayer, hearing the Prophet's (s) exhortations, and accompanying him—matters that are ultimately more beneficial for the human being and more prudent to attend to.

Moral inferences have been drawn from this verse, suggesting that while material benefit strongly influences human life, economic gain is not the sole motivation in every situation. Human actions are also driven by other forces—motivations that are independent of material or economic interests.

Qur'an 62:11 has been cited as a basis for scholarly analysis in several branches of Islamic Sciences, including Fiqh, Kalam, and Quranic Sciences. In the field of Kalam, for example, this verse has been used to critique the Sunni doctrine of the Justice of the Companions.

General Teachings of the Verse

The content of Qur'an 62:11 is considered a type of warning and blame regarding a mistake that some Muslims committed against the Prophet (s);[1] a mistake during which the Muslims who were gathered next to the Prophet (s) for Friday Prayer left him while he was delivering the sermon and gathered around a caravan that had recently entered Medina for spectating and trading.[2] It is said that in the Qur'an, in response to this action, what is with God (Arabic: مَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ) is regarded as more valuable than diversion and trade (the acts for which the Muslims left the Prophet alone).[3] In this verse, the word "lahw" is understood to mean drums and instruments of this kind.[4]

Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i, the Shi'a exegete, considers the shift from address (second person) to the absent (third person) in this verse, compared to Qur'an 62:10, to be due to the intensity of the ugliness of the behavior of the Prophet's (s) audience.[5] In his view, the message of this shift is: people who turn away from such an honor as listening to the words of the Messenger of God (s) do not deserve for their Lord to speak to them in the position of the addressed.[6]

According to al-Shaykh al-Tusi, the phrase "and Allah is the best of providers" (Arabic: وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ) at the end of Qur'an 62:11 means: by leaving trade during the Friday prayer, nothing will be decreased from the sustenance that God has ordained for the human being.[7]

Reason Why What is With God is Better

In the interpretation of Qur'an 62:11, the reason why what is with God is better than diversion and trade is stated as follows: what is with God contains divine reward[8] and blessings such as spiritual and moral training[9] that the listener receives from attending Friday Prayer, hearing the Prophet's (s) exhortations,[10] and accompanying him.[11] According to al-Shaykh al-Tusi, these matters are ultimately more beneficial for the human being and attending to them is more prudent.[12]

Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, in the interpretation of Qur'an 62:11, analyzes the reason why what is with God is better than diversion and trade as follows: the reward that is with God is a true, permanent, and continuous good; but what is in diversion and trade is an imaginary, non-permanent, and vain good.[13]

Occasion of Revelation

'Allama Tabataba'i believes that the occasion of revelation of Qur'an 62:11 has been narrated in various ways through both Shi'a and Sunni sources.[14] For instance, it is narrated from Jabir b. 'Abd Allah al-Ansari that on one of the Fridays, we were praying with the Messenger of God (s) when a caravan entered Medina with the sound of drums. The people broke their prayer and left; some for buying and some for spectating. Among them, only twelve people remained with the Prophet (s). At this moment, this verse was revealed in their blame.[15]

In Tafsir Muqatil b. Sulayman, another form of the occasion of revelation of Qur'an 62:11 is narrated:[16] At the time when the Messenger of God (s) was delivering the sermon on Friday, Dihya al-Kalbi arrived from Syria with merchandise. With the arrival of his caravan to Medina, everyone went towards him because he brought everything the people needed. Also, whenever he arrived, he would beat drums so people would be informed of his arrival. That day, while the Messenger of God (s) was delivering the Friday prayer sermon, Dihya al-Kalbi entered the city. At that time, he had not yet embraced Islam. With his arrival, the people left the Prophet (s) alone and went, and no one remained in the mosque except twelve people. At this moment, the Prophet (s) said that if these twelve had also gone, God Almighty would have rained stones upon them from the sky. At this moment, the last verse of Sura al-Jumu'a was revealed.[17] 'Allama Tabataba'i stated that in various versions of this story, the number of those remaining in the mosque varies from seven to forty people.[18]

Moral Guidance

Moral inferences have been made from Qur'an 62:11: Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadl Allah, the Shi'a exegete, considers the address in this verse as a type of social guidance for the Muslims who committed this mistake (leaving the Prophet for diversion and trade).[19] In his view, the Qur'an did not suffice only with warning to remove this moral deviation, but rather tried to force them to think deeply about the result of such an act in the Islamic society with the language of exhortation.[20]

Sayyid Muhammad Taqi al-Mudarrisi, the Shi'a exegete, regards the action of the Muslims toward the Prophet (s) in Qur'an 62:11 as a sign of weakness of faith, inclination toward the world, and the existence of a fundamental contradiction between commitment to religion and worldliness among them.[21] In his view, human beings who suffer from this contradiction see no possibility of combining the world and the Afterlife; for this reason, they prefer the world because it is immediate over the afterlife which is, from their perspective, deferred.[22] According to Mudarrisi, this way of acting is while, according to the Quranic worldview, one can establish a balance between the merits of the world and the afterlife.[23]

In explaining Qur'an 62:11, Muhammad Jawad Mughniyya, the Shi'a exegete, believes that although material benefit has a great effect on human life (for this reason, God said in Qur'an 62:10 "And when the prayer is finished, disperse through the land and seek of the bounty of Allah"), it is not the case that in every situation, the only human motivation is economic gain.[24] In his view, there are other motivations in human life that cause human movement—motivations that have no relationship with economic and material gain.[25]

Inferences in Fiqh, Kalam, and Quranic Sciences

Qur'an 62:11 has been a basis for scholarly inferences in branches of Islamic Sciences such as Fiqh, Kalam, and Quranic Sciences. In Fiqh, from the expression "qa'iman" (standing) in this verse, relying on the hadiths under it, it has been used to prove the necessity of the Friday prayer sermons being delivered by the speaker in a standing position.[26] Also, it is narrated that this verse has been used to prove the obligation of listening to the Friday prayer sermons.[27]

Qur'an 62:11 has been a basis in some Shi'a theological texts for criticizing the Sunni theory of the Justice of the Companions;[28] for instance, Ali Ahmadi Miyanji, the Shi'a theologian, has argued based on this verse: there were small benefits in that commercial caravan for some Companions, but these small benefits did not prevent them from leaving the Prophet (s) during the prayer; how can one imagine that such people would not leave the words of the Messenger of God (s) about his successor to reach the benefit resulting from the caliphate and leadership.[29]

Some researchers of Quranic sciences have placed Qur'an 62:11 as a basis for proving the gradual revelation of the Qur'an and rejecting its immediate revelation; as they have said, verses like this show that the Quran contains the ruling for some matters that were issued in a specific and time-bound event—a matter that does not correspond with the immediate revelation of the Qur'an, the requirement of which is the non-time-bound nature of the Quranic verses.[30]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 275. al-; Mutahhari, Āshnāyī bā Qurʾān, 1383 Sh, p. 101; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsir-i nimuna, 1371 Sh, vol. 24, pp. 128-129.
  2. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 10, p. 10. al-.
  3. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 275. al-.
  4. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsir-i nimuna, 1371 Sh, vol. 24, p. 129.
  5. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 275. al-.
  6. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 275. al-.
  7. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 10, p. 10. al-.
  8. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 10, p. 10. al-; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 10, p. 436. al-.
  9. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsir-i nimuna, 1371 Sh, vol. 24, p. 129.
  10. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 10, p. 10. al-; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 10, p. 436. al-.
  11. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 10, p. 436. al-.
  12. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 10, p. 10. al-.
  13. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 275. al-.
  14. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 277. al-.
  15. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 10, p. 433. al-.
  16. ↑ Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān, 1423 AH, vol. 4, pp. 327-328.
  17. ↑ Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān, 1423 AH, vol. 4, pp. 327-328.
  18. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1393 AH, vol. 19, p. 277. al-.
  19. ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Min waḥy al-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 22, p. 221.
  20. ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Min waḥy al-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 22, p. 221.
  21. ↑ Mudarrisī, Min hudā l-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 15, p. 398.
  22. ↑ Mudarrisī, Min hudā l-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 15, p. 398.
  23. ↑ Mudarrisī, Min hudā l-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 15, p. 398.
  24. ↑ Mughniyya, al-Tafsīr al-kāshif, 1424 AH, vol. 7, p. 327.
  25. ↑ Mughniyya, al-Tafsīr al-kāshif, 1424 AH, vol. 7, p. 327.
  26. ↑ For example see: Baḥrānī, al-Ḥadāʾiq al-nāḍira, vol. 10, p. 84.
  27. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Qummī, al-Dalāʾil, 1381 Sh, vol. 2, p. 5.
  28. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tuḥfat al-abrār, 1376 Sh, p. 125; Sayyid b. Ṭāwūs, Kashf al-maḥajja, 1375 Sh, p. 134; ʿAskarī, Maʿālim al-madrasatayn, 1412 AH, vol. 1, p. 131.
  29. ↑ Aḥmadī Miyānjī, Mawāqif al-Shīʿa, 1422 AH, vol. 3, p. 414.
  30. ↑ Maʿrifat, al-Tamhīd, 1428 AH, vol. 1, p. 152.

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