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Ayah
Word by Word
وَوَصَّيۡنَا
And We have enjoined
ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ
(on) man
بِوَٰلِدَيۡهِ
to his parents
إِحۡسَٰنًاۖ
kindness
حَمَلَتۡهُ
Carried him
أُمُّهُۥ
his mother
كُرۡهٗا
(with) hardship
وَوَضَعَتۡهُ
and gave birth to him
كُرۡهٗاۖ
(with) hardship
وَحَمۡلُهُۥ
And (the) bearing of him
وَفِصَٰلُهُۥ
and (the) weaning of him
ثَلَٰثُونَ
(is) thirty
شَهۡرًاۚ
month(s)
حَتَّىٰٓ
until
إِذَا
when
بَلَغَ
he reaches
أَشُدَّهُۥ
his maturity
وَبَلَغَ
and reaches
أَرۡبَعِينَ
forty
سَنَةٗ
year(s)
قَالَ
he says
رَبِّ
My Lord
أَوۡزِعۡنِيٓ
grant me (the) power
أَنۡ
that
أَشۡكُرَ
I may be grateful
نِعۡمَتَكَ
(for) Your favor
ٱلَّتِيٓ
which
أَنۡعَمۡتَ
You have bestowed
عَلَيَّ
upon me
وَعَلَىٰ
and upon
وَٰلِدَيَّ
my parents
وَأَنۡ
and that
أَعۡمَلَ
I do
صَٰلِحٗا
righteous (deeds)
تَرۡضَىٰهُ
which please You
وَأَصۡلِحۡ
and make righteous
لِي
for me
فِي
among
ذُرِّيَّتِيٓۖ
my offspring
إِنِّي
indeed
تُبۡتُ
I turn
إِلَيۡكَ
to You
وَإِنِّي
and indeed I am
مِنَ
of
ٱلۡمُسۡلِمِينَ
those who submit
وَوَصَّيۡنَا
And We have enjoined
ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ
(on) man
بِوَٰلِدَيۡهِ
to his parents
إِحۡسَٰنًاۖ
kindness
حَمَلَتۡهُ
Carried him
أُمُّهُۥ
his mother
كُرۡهٗا
(with) hardship
وَوَضَعَتۡهُ
and gave birth to him
كُرۡهٗاۖ
(with) hardship
وَحَمۡلُهُۥ
And (the) bearing of him
وَفِصَٰلُهُۥ
and (the) weaning of him
ثَلَٰثُونَ
(is) thirty
شَهۡرًاۚ
month(s)
حَتَّىٰٓ
until
إِذَا
when
بَلَغَ
he reaches
أَشُدَّهُۥ
his maturity
وَبَلَغَ
and reaches
أَرۡبَعِينَ
forty
سَنَةٗ
year(s)
قَالَ
he says
رَبِّ
My Lord
أَوۡزِعۡنِيٓ
grant me (the) power
أَنۡ
that
أَشۡكُرَ
I may be grateful
نِعۡمَتَكَ
(for) Your favor
ٱلَّتِيٓ
which
أَنۡعَمۡتَ
You have bestowed
عَلَيَّ
upon me
وَعَلَىٰ
and upon
وَٰلِدَيَّ
my parents
وَأَنۡ
and that
أَعۡمَلَ
I do
صَٰلِحٗا
righteous (deeds)
تَرۡضَىٰهُ
which please You
وَأَصۡلِحۡ
and make righteous
لِي
for me
فِي
among
ذُرِّيَّتِيٓۖ
my offspring
إِنِّي
indeed
تُبۡتُ
I turn
إِلَيۡكَ
to You
وَإِنِّي
and indeed I am
مِنَ
of
ٱلۡمُسۡلِمِينَ
those who submit
Translation
And We have enjoined upon man, to his parents, good treatment. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months. [He grows] until, when he reaches maturity and reaches [the age of] forty years, he says, "My Lord, enable me1 to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims."
Footnotes
1 - Literally, "gather within me the utmost strength and ability."
Tafsir
And We have enjoined man to be kind (husnan: a variant reading has ihsaanan), that is to say, We have commanded him to act kindly towards both of them (thus ihsaanan is in the accusative as a verbal noun, because of the implied verbal action; the same applies to husnan) to his parents. His mother carries him in travail, and gives birth to him in travail, that is to say, with suffering; and his gestation and his weaning, from suckling, take thirty months, six months being the minimum period for gestation, the remainder being the maximum period of suckling; it is also said that, regardless of whether she bore him for six or nine months, she should suckle him for the remainder. So that (hattaa is a [particle of] purpose for an implied sentence, that is to say, wa-'aasha hattaa, 'and he lived on so that .') when he is mature, namely, at his prime in terms of his strength, intellect and reasoning, the minimum [age] for which is thirty or thirty three years, and reaches forty years, that is, exactly [forty years], which is the maximum for [attaining] maturity, he says, 'My Lord!, [this] to the end [of this verse] was revealed regarding Aboo Bakr al-Siddeeq, when he had reached forty years of age, two years after the [beginning of the] Prophet's Mission may peace and salutation be upon him. He [Aboo Bakr] believed in him, whereafter his parents believed [in the Prophet], followed by his son 'Abd al-Rahmaan, then 'Abd al-Rahmaan's son Aboo 'Ateeq [Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahmaan]. Inspire me to give thanks for Your favour with which You have favoured me and my parents, namely, [the grace of] affirming [God's] Oneness, and that I may act righteously in a way that will please You, thus he [Aboo Bakr] emancipated nine believers who had been enduring torture [at the hands of the idolaters] for [their belief in] God, and invest my seed with righteousness, all of them were believers. Indeed I repent to You and I am truly of those who submit [to You]'.
Allah's Advice about the Parents
After mentioning that one must confess His Oneness, worship Him with sincerity, and remain upright in obeying Him, Allah follows that by giving instructions regarding the parents. These appear together in many places of the Qur'an, such as Allah's saying,
وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلاَّ تَعْبُدُواْ إِلاَّ إِيَّـهُ وَبِالْوَلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَـناً
Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be dutiful to your parents. (17:23)
Allah says,
أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِى وَلِوَلِدَيْكَ إِلَىَّ الْمَصِيرُ
Be grateful to Me and to your parents. Unto Me is the final destination. (31:14)
There are many other Ayat like this as well.
Here Allah says,
وَوَصَّيْنَا الاِْنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَانًا
And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents.
meaning, `We have commanded him to treat them well and show compassion towards them.'
Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi recorded from Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, that his mother said to him:
Hasn't Allah commanded that you obey your parents Then I will not eat any food or drink any drink until you disbelieve in Allah.
Thus she stubbornly abstained from eating and drinking, until they had to open her mouth with a stick. Then this Ayah was revealed,
وَوَصَّيْنَا الاِْنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَانًا
(And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents).
This was also recorded by Muslim and the Sunan compilers, except for Ibn Majah.
Allah continues,
حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا
His mother bears him with hardship.
which means that the mother suffers hardship because of her child, such as fatigue, sickness, vomiting, heaviness, distress, and other forms of hardship that the pregnant women suffer.
وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا
And she delivers him with hardship.
meaning, she also delivers him with hardship, suffering the pains of labor and their severity.
وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَثُونَ شَهْرًا
And (the period of) his gestation and weaning is thirty months,
Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, used this Ayah along with the following two Ayat to prove that the minimum period of pregnancy (gestation) is six months:
وَفِصَالُهُ فِى عَامَيْنِ
And his weaning is in two years. (31:14)
and
وَالْوَلِدَتُ يُرْضِعْنَ أَوْلَـدَهُنَّ حَوْلَيْنِ كَامِلَيْنِ لِمَنْ أَرَادَ أَن يُتِمَّ الرَّضَاعَةَ
The mothers suckle their children two complete years -- for those who desire to complete the term of suckling. (2:233)
This is a strong and valid conclusion, and it was approved by Uthman and a number of the Companions.
Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar narrated from Ba`jah bin Abdullah Al-Juhani that;
a man from his tribe (Juhaynah) married a woman from Juhaynah. She delivered a baby after six months. So her husband went to Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, and told him about that. Thus, Uthman summoned her. When she was getting dressed, her sister started crying. She asked her:
Why do you cry? By Allah, no one has ever approached me (for sexual relations) of Allah's creation except him (my husband). So let Allah decree (for me) as He wills.
When she was brought before Uthman, he commanded that she be stoned to death (for adultery).
Ali heard of this, came to Uthman, and said:What are you doing?
He (Uthman) said:She delivered after six months! Can this ever happen? `
Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said:Don't you read the Qur'an?
He said:Yes, of course!
He (Ali) then said:
`Haven't you heard Allah's saying,
وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَثُونَ شَهْرًا
(and his gestation and weaning is thirty months), and;
حَوْلَيْنِ كَامِلَيْن
(two complete years) (2:233) (Subtracting the two numbers) we are only left with six months.
Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, said:By Allah, I did not see that! Bring the woman back.
But they found that she had already been killed.
Ba`jah continued:
By Allah, no two crows and no two eggs are more similar than that child turned out to be to his father!
When his father ﷺ that he said, `By Allah! This is my son without any doubt.'
Later on, Allah afflicted him with a skin abscess in his face (because of his false accusation to his wife). It kept eating him up until he died.
Ibn Abi Hatim related from his father that Farwah bin Abi Al-Maghra' told them that Ali bin Mushir narrated to them from Dawud bin Abi Hind, who narrated from Ikrimah that Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said,
When a woman delivers after nine months, the baby will only need twenty-one months of suckling. When she delivers after seven months, the baby will need twenty-three months of suckling. When she delivers after six months, the baby will need two full years of suckling, because Allah says,
وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَثُونَ شَهْرًا حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ
(and his gestation and weaning is thirty months, till when he attains full strength).
حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ
till when he attains full strength,
meaning, he becomes strong, youthful, and attains full ability.
وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً
and reaches forty years,
meaning, his complete intellect, understanding, and patience reach the level of maturity.
It has also been said that usually one will not change his ways once he reaches the age of forty.
قَال
رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي
he says:My Lord! Grant me the power and ability,
meaning, `inspire me.'
أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ
وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ
that I may be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You,
meaning, in the future.
وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي
and make my offspring good.
meaning, my offspring and descendants.
إِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslims.
This contains an instruction for anyone who reaches forty years of age to renew his repentance and turn to Allah with strong resolution.
Allah then says
أُوْلَيِكَ الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا
وَنَتَجاوَزُ عَن سَيِّيَاتِهِمْ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ
Those are the ones from whom We shall accept the best of what they did and overlook their evil deeds. (They shall be) among the dwellers of Paradise.
meaning, those to whom applies the above description -- those who repent to Allah, turn back to Him, and rectify their shortcomings through repentance and seeking forgiveness - those are the ones from whom We will accept the best of what they did and overlook their evil deeds. Many of their errors will be forgiven and Allah will accept from them a modest amount of deeds.
فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّة
(among the dwellers of Paradise),
which means that they will be among the dwellers of Paradise. That is Allah's ruling concerning them, as He has promised for those who repent and turn to Him.
Thus, He says,
وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ
That is the promise of truth that they had been promised.
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