Al-Mumtahanah · Madani · ayah 12 of 13

Al-Mumtahanah 60:12

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ إِذَا جَآءَكَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ عَلَىٰٓ أَن لَّا يُشْرِكْنَ بِٱللَّهِ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا يَسْرِقْنَ وَلَا يَزْنِينَ وَلَا يَقْتُلْنَ أَوْلَـٰدَهُنَّ وَلَا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَـٰنٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُۥ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ وَلَا يَعْصِينَكَ فِى مَعْرُوفٍ ۙ فَبَايِعْهُنَّ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُنَّ ٱللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

“O Prophet, when the believing women come to you pledging to you that they will not associate anything with Allāh, nor will they steal, nor will they commit unlawful sexual intercourse, nor will they kill their children, nor will they bring forth a slander they have invented between their arms and legs,[1679] nor will they disobey you in what is right - then accept their pledge and ask forgiveness for them of Allāh. Indeed, Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Six named commitments, not a single vague promise to be good, were asked of every woman who came to pledge herself to this faith.

A reflection

Six clauses, covering everything that matters

The pledge named here does not ask for a vague general commitment to goodness. It lists six specific things, one after another, each closing off a particular way a person can harm what is owed to someone else: no partnership with Allah in what belongs to Him alone, no theft of what belongs to another, no violation of a marriage's trust, no killing of a child, no fabricated claim about a child's parentage, and no disobedience in what is recognised as right.

Looked at together, the six clauses trace a complete circuit of trustworthiness rather than a scattered list. The first protects what is owed to Allah. The second protects what is owed to another person's property. The third protects what is owed to a marriage. The fourth protects the single most defenceless life a person could ever hold power over. The fifth protects the truth in the most intimate fact a family can carry. The sixth protects the ordinary, daily obedience that holds a whole community together. Nothing of real weight in a person's life is left untouched by at least one of the six.

This is a strikingly different way of asking for integrity than simply demanding it in the abstract. A person can sincerely intend to be good and still have no clear picture of what that actually requires of them on an ordinary Tuesday. A list like this removes the ambiguity. It names exactly what trustworthiness looks like, clause by clause, leaving no space for a person to feel virtuous in general while quietly failing one specific, named thing.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.