Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 78 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:78

وَمِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ إِلَّآ أَمَانِىَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ

“And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except [indulgement in] wishful thinking, but they are only assuming.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Some held a scripture they did not know, living on wishes, borrowed tales and bare recitation: guesswork about the things that matter most.

A reflection

A faith measured out in your own head

For twenty years a woman has relied on one sentence whenever religion comes up: 'God knows my heart is good'. It ends every conversation. She has never once opened the Book to see what God has actually said about hearts.

The ayah's key word is amāniyy. Its root, the lexicons say, means measuring something out. A weight used on scales was a manā. Death is maniyya, the term measured out for every living thing. To wish is to measure out a future in your own mind and picture it there. One lexicon adds that most wishing is guesswork, which is why the word sits so close to lying.

The commentators read amāniyy here in three ways, and each one fits the root. Some say it means wishes: they hoped from Allah things they had no claim to. Others say made-up tales, heard from their teachers and accepted without checking. A third group says recitation without understanding, since reading aloud also 'measures out' each word in its place.

Take the first reading. A classical commentator lists the wishes he means. Allah would overlook their sins. Their prophet ancestors would intercede for them. The Fire would touch them only briefly. Each one is comfortable. None of them came from the Book. They were measured out in their own heads.

The Quran later turns the same word on the Muslims directly. 'It is not by your wishful thinking nor by that of the People of the Scripture' (4:123). It goes on: 'Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it'. The address is deliberate. Wishful religion is not one community's problem.

So the honest question for any of us is this. When I say what Allah will or will not do, where did I get it? From His words, or from a measurement I made in my own head because it felt right?

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.