وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِى لَهْوَ ٱلْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا
"Among people there is one who buys diverting talk, without knowledge, in order to lead others astray from the way of God, and who takes it in mockery."
The root ل-ه-و: to be diverted, to be occupied with what holds one back from the real business. The root was treated in al-Ḥadīd, al-Jumuʿa, al-Takāthur and Muḥammad. I do not repeat it.
The word ḥadīth (speech) was treated at 45/6 in al-Jāthiya, at 56/81 in al-Wāqiʿa and at 39/23 in al-Zumar — and what was recorded there is of use here: the Qurʾān names itself ḥadīth as well, indeed it calls itself aḥsanu'l-ḥadīth.
| Place | Construct | What |
|---|---|---|
| al-Zumar 39/23 | Aḥsana'l-ḥadīth | The finest speech |
| Luqmān 31/6 | Lahwa'l-ḥadīth | Diverting speech |
What this construct covers has been debated in the classical commentaries, and the disagreement must not be concealed:
| View | What lahwa'l-ḥadīth is |
|---|---|
| 1 | Empty, baseless talk and stories — narratives that divert people and draw them away from the real matter |
| 2 | Song and instrumental music — some exegetes mention this scope |
| 3 | Any speech, determined by its purpose — tied to the verse's own qualification |
I impose no preference and I issue no legal ruling. The views of the schools of law on this matter differ, and the place of this verse within that debate is itself disputed.
But the qualification the verse itself lays down must be recorded, and this is a datum of the text: li-yuḍilla ʿan sabīli'llāhi bi-ghayri ʿilm — "without knowledge, in order to lead astray from the way of God." That is, the verse qualifies not the kind of speech but the purpose for which it is bought. The sentence contains a statement of purpose (li-yuḍilla), and the ruling is attached to that.
يَشْتَرِى — "buys". The verb is worth recording: a price is being paid. A person does not get diverting speech for nothing — he gives something for it.