وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا۟ ٱلزِّنَىٰٓ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ فَٰحِشَةً وَسَآءَ سَبِيلًا
This pattern was treated in three places in al-Baqara, and I rely on it. It was recorded there:
The prohibition is framed not as "do not eat" but as "do not go near". The limit, that is, begins not at the act itself but at the distance that leads to the act.
And three verses were placed in the same family there; the fourth is added here from within this sūra:
| Place | Expression | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| al-Baqara 2/35 | Wa lā taqrabā hādhihi'l-shajarata | The tree |
| al-Baqara 2/187 | Tilka ḥudūdu'llāhi fa-lā taqrabūhā | The limits |
| al-Isrāʾ 17/32 | Wa lā taqrabu'l-zinā | Fornication |
| al-Isrāʾ 17/34 | Wa lā taqrabū māla'l-yatīm | The orphan's property |
This verse (al-Isrāʾ 17/32) had already been named as an example at 2/187 in al-Baqara; the circle closes here, in the word's own place. And the fourth link comes two verses later in this same sūra: the orphan's property.
I record this as an observation about the structure: al-Isrāʾ is the only place that uses this pattern twice in succession — and the two subjects differ (the body and property). The pattern is thus not peculiar to a single field.
I draw no legal ruling from this verse. Rulings belonging to criminal law are taken up separately in other verses of the Qurʾān and in the literature of jurisprudence; no legal ruling is issued in this commentary. What is treated here is what the verse does at the level of language and word order.
And this too must be recorded: the verse issues no ruling about a person or a group — it speaks about an act and about the distance that leads to it. Per the method, this distinction is preserved.
The root ف-ح-ش: what is foul enough to exceed all measure, an ugliness that oversteps the limit. The root was treated at 53/32 in al-Najm (kabāʾira'l-ithmi wa'l-fawāḥish) and at 42/37 in al-Shūrā.
I record this as an observation, and its support is the word itself: the verse issues two judgements — one on the quality of the act (fāḥisha), the other on its direction (sabīl — a way). The act is thus weighed not only as a point but as a course.
And the word sabīl occurs often in this sūra (9, 32, 42, 48, 72, 84, 110). In one of the last verses of the sūra the same word returns in a command: wa'btaghi bayna dhālika sabīlā (110). This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.