Surah 17 Al-Israa — Ayah 36
وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِۦ عِلْمٌ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْبَصَرَ وَٱلْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْـُٔولًۭا
And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.
walā taqfu mā laysa laka bihi ʿil'mun inna l-samʿa wal-baṣara wal-fuāda kullu ulāika kāna ʿanhu masūlan
Word by word
- وَلَا walā And (do) not
- تَقْفُ taqfu pursue
- مَا mā what
- لَيْسَ laysa not
- لَكَ laka you have
- بِهِۦ bihi of it
- عِلْمٌ ۚ ʿil'mun any knowledge
- إِنَّ inna Indeed
- ٱلسَّمْعَ l-samʿa the hearing
- وَٱلْبَصَرَ wal-baṣara and the sight
- وَٱلْفُؤَادَ wal-fuāda and the heart
- كُلُّ kullu all
- أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ ulāika those
- كَانَ kāna will be
- عَنْهُ ʿanhu [about it]
- مَسْـُٔولًۭا masūlan questioned
Tafsir · Ibn Kathir (Abridged)
Do not speak without Knowledge
`Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "This means) do not say (anything of which you have no knowledge)." Al-`Awfi said: "Do not accuse anyone of that of which you have no knowledge." Muhammad bin Al-Hanafiyyah said: "It means bearing false witness." Qatadah said: "Do not say, `I have seen', when you did not see anything, or `I have heard', when you did not hear anything, or `I know', when you do not know, for Allah will ask you about all of that." In conclusion, what they said means that Allah forbids speaking without knowledge and only on the basis of suspicion, which is mere imagination and illusions. As Allah says:
(Avoid much suspicion; indeed some suspicions are sins.) 49:12 According to a Hadith:
(Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the falsest of speech.) The following Hadith is found in Sunan Abu Dawud:
(What an evil habit it is for a man to say, `They claimed...') According to another Hadith:
(The worst of lies is for a man to claim to have seen something that he has not seen.) In the Sahih it says:
(Whoever claims to have seen a dream (when he has not seen) will be told on the Day of Resurrection to make a knot between two barley grains, and he will not be able to do it.)
(each of those ones) means these faculties, hearing, sight and the heart,
(will be questioned.) means, the person will be asked about them on the Day of Resurrection, and they will be asked about him and what he did with them.