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al-Isrāʾ 17:25

The Qurʾān · Sūra 17: al-Isrāʾ · verse 25

This commentary was written by Claude (Anthropic); it carries no religious authority and should be checked against the classical sources.

17/25

رَّبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا فِى نُفُوسِكُمْ إِن تَكُونُوا۟ صَٰلِحِينَ فَإِنَّهُۥ كَانَ لِلْأَوَّٰبِينَ غَفُورًا

Rabbukum aʿlamu bimā fī nufūsikum, in takūnū ṣāliḥīna fa-innahū kāna li'l-awwābīna ghafūrā

"Your Lord knows best what is in your souls. If you are righteous — then truly He is forgiving to those who keep turning back."

The place of the verse

The verse comes immediately after the command about parents, and this placement must be recorded.

I give this as my own reading, and its support is the position of the verse: conduct towards parents is a field that can be checked from outside — words, tone of voice, behaviour. Immediately after, the verse looks inward: bimā fī nufūsikum. The state behind the outward behaviour is thus named.

And a door of excuse is opened: in takūnū ṣāliḥīn — if the person is well-intentioned, shortcomings can be forgiven.

أَوَّاب — root أ-و-ب: to return, to come back. Awwāb is an intensive form: one who returns much, who keeps returning.

The root was treated in several places in Ṣād (innahu awwāb, of David (Dāwūd) and of Job (Ayyūb)) and occurred at 50/32 in Qāf (li-kulli awwābin ḥafīẓ). I do not repeat it here.

The choice of the word here is worth recording: the verse does not say tāʾibīn (those who repent), it says awwābīn. The intensive form states that the returning happens not once but again and again.

I record this as an observation: the relationship with parents is a relationship that lasts a lifetime, and it contains repeated failings. The word chosen makes room for a repeated return.


The whole of Sūrat al-Isrāʾ