17. Surah Al Isra
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
لاَّ تَجْعَل
مَعَ اللّهِ
إِلَـهًا آخَرَ ...
17: 22. Take not with Allah another object of worship;
C2202. The seeming inequality of gifts to men might make short-sighted men impugn the impartiality of Allah. But the fault lies with such men's own want of knowledge and want of Faith. There is no excuse for them to seek other objects of worship than Allah. For there is none worthy of worship except Allah.
... فَتَقْعُدَ مَذْمُومًا مَّخْذُولاً ﴿٢٢﴾
or thou (O man!) wilt sit in disgrace and destitution.
C2203. If foolish men turn to false objects of worship, they will not only be disappointed, but they will lose the respect of their own fellow-men, and spiritually they will be reduced to destitution. All their talents and their works will be of no avail.
وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ
أَلاَّ تَعْبُدُواْ
إِلاَّ إِيَّاهُ
وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ
إِحْسَانًا...
17: 23. Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him,
and that ye be kind to parents.
...إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ الْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا أَوْ كِلاَهُمَا ...
Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life,
C2204. The spiritual and moral duties are now brought into juxtaposition.
We are to worship none but Allah, because none but Allah is worthy of worship, not because "the Lord thy God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me" (Exod. 20:5).
Note that the act of worship may be collective as well as individual; hence the plural ta'buda.
The kindness to parents is an individual act of piety; hence the singular taqul, qul, etc.
... فَلاَ تَقُل لَّهُمَآ أُفٍّ وَلاَ تَنْهَرْهُمَا...
say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them,
...وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا ﴿٢٣﴾
but address them in terms of honor.
وَاخْفِضْ
لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ
الذُّلِّ مِنَ
الرَّحْمَةِ
وَقُل...
17: 24. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say:
The metaphor is that of a high-flying bird which lowers her wing out of tenderness to her offspring. There is a double aptness.
1. When the parent was strong and the child was helpless, parental affection was showered on the child:
when the child grows up and is strong, and the parent is helpless, can he do less than bestow similar tender care on the parent?
2. But more: he must approach the matter with gentle humility: for does not parental love, remind him of the great love with which Allah cherishes His creatures?
There is something here more than simple human gratitude; it goes up into the highest spiritual region.
...رَّبِّ ارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِي صَغِيرًا ﴿٢٤﴾
"My Lord! bestow on them Thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood."
C2206. Note that we are asked to honour our father and mother, not "that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Exod. 20:12), but upon much higher and more universal grounds, such as befit a perfected revelation.
- In the first place, not merely respect, but cherishing kindness, and humility to parents, are commanded.
- In the second place, this command is bracketed with the command to worship the One True God.
Parental love should be to us a type of divine love: nothing that we can do can ever really compensate for that which we have received.
In the third place (see next verse) our spiritual advancement is tested by this: we cannot expect Allah's forgiveness if we are rude or unkind to those who unselfishly brought us up.
Asad’s Version:
17:22 Do not set up with God another god; or you will find yourself disgraced, abandoned.
17:23 Your Lord decreed that you shall not serve except Him, and do good to your parents. When one of them or both of them reaches old age, do not say to them a word of disrespect nor raise your voice at them, but say to them a kind saying.
17:24 Lower for them the wing of humility through mercy, and say, "My Lord, have mercy upon them as they have raised me when I was small."