Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 68 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:68

وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَـٰهًا ءَاخَرَ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ ٱلنَّفْسَ ٱلَّتِى حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا

“And those who do not invoke[1037] with Allāh another deity or kill the soul which Allāh has forbidden [to be killed], except by right, and do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse. And whoever should do that will meet a penalty.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Gentleness and night prayer are not enough alone: the Merciful's servants also keep three doors shut, to false gods, to killing and to adultery.

A reflection

Why the gravest sins come after the gentlest virtues

Most readers pass this ayah with relief. Idolatry, murder, adultery: obviously not me. It reads like a description of criminals, inserted into a portrait of saints. Surely the people who walk gently and pray at night need not be told this.

One commentary raises exactly that question, and its answer is uncomfortable. Why, it asks, does the passage praise these people for small refinements first, and only then clear them of the gravest sins? Would the reverse order not be more natural?

The answer: a person can have every quality listed so far and still commit these three things as religion. Gentle in manner, prayerful at night, careful with money, and still worshipping idols. Still burying a daughter. Still treating adultery as permitted. The commentaries remind the reader that this was Makkah. Idol worship was devotion there, daughters were buried alive, and adultery was widely treated as allowed.

So the ayah draws a line that manners cannot draw. Civility, discipline and generosity do not make someone a servant of the Merciful by themselves. These three walls must also stand.

The modern version is not hard to imagine. A person admired by everyone for charm and charity can quietly break all three. Their worship goes to something else. A life is treated as disposable. A marriage is betrayed. Character in public is real, and it is not the whole picture.

One commentary reads the line as pointed. It names what Quraysh were doing, and tells the believers: these are the people Allah has kept clean of what you are upon. The portrait is not only praise. It is a boundary.

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.