31.Surah Luqman

Mecca Period [57]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ...

31: 12. We bestowed (in the past) wisdom on Luqman: "Show (thy) gratitude to Allah."

C3593. The sage Luqman, after whom this Surah is called, belongs to Arab tradition. Very little is known of his life. He is usually associated with a long life, and his title is Mu'ammar (the long-lived). He is referred by some to the age of the 'Ad people, for whom see n. 1040 to 7:65. He is the type of perfect wisdom.

It is said that he belonged to a humble station in life, being a slave or a carpenter, and that he refused worldly power and a kingdom.

Many instructive apologies are credited to him, similar to ,'Esop'e Fables in Greek tradition. The identification of Luqman and Aesop has no historical foundation, though it is true that the traditions about them have influenced each other.

...وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ...

Any who is (so) grateful does so to the profit of his own soul:

...وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ ﴿١٢﴾

but if any is ungrateful, verily Allah is free of all wants, worthy of all praise.

C3594. Cf. 14:8.

The basis of the moral Law is man's own good, and not any benefit to Allah, for Allah is above all needs, and "worthy of all praise"; i.e.,

even in praising Him, we do not advance His glory. When we obey His Will, we bring our position into conformity with our own nature as made by Him.

وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لِابْنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ...

31: 13. Behold, Luqman said to his son by way of instruction:

C3595. Luqman is held up as a pattern of wisdom, because he realized the best in a wise life in this world, as based upon the highest Hope in the inner life.

To him, as in Islam, true human wisdom is also divine wisdom: the two cannot be separated. The beginning of all wisdom, therefore,

- is conformity with the Will of Allah (31:12). That means that we must understand our relations to Him and worship Him aright (31:13).

- Then we must be good to mankind, beginning with our own parents (31:14).

- For the two duties are not diverse, but one. Where they appear to conflict, there is something wrong with the human will (see n. 3597).

...يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ...

"O my son!

Join not in worship (others) with Allah:

...إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ ﴿١٣﴾

for false worship is indeed the highest wrongdoing."

Asad’s Version:

31:12 AND, INDEED, We granted this wisdom unto Luqman: 12 "Be grateful unto God - for he who is grateful [unto Him] is but grateful for the good of his own self; whereas he who chooses to be ungrateful [ought to know that], verily, God is self-sufficient, ever to be praised!"

31:13 And, lo, Luqman spoke thus unto his son, admonishing him: "O my dear son! 13 Do not ascribe divine powers to aught beside God: for, behold, such (a false] ascribing of divinity is indeed an awesome wrong!

[[Asad’s note -

12 Popularly (though without sufficient justification) identified with Aesop, Luqman is a legendary figure firmly established in ancient Arabian tradition as a prototype of the sage who disdains worldly honours or benefits and strives for inner perfection. Celebrated in a poem by Ziyad ibn Mu'awiyah (better known under his pen-name Nibighah adh-Dhubyam), who lived in the sixth century of the Christian era, the person of Luqman had become, long before the advent of Islam, a focal point of innumerable legends, stories and parables expressive of wisdom and spiritual maturity: and it is for this reason that the Qur'an uses this mythical figure - as it uses the equally mythical

figure of Al-Khidr in surah 1 8 - as a vehicle for some of its admonitions bearing upon the manner in which man ought to behave.

13 Lit., "O my little son" - a diminutive idiomatically expressive of endearment irrespective of whether the son is a child or a grown man. ]]