A New Reading of the Verse: “Your Lord has neither forsaken you nor is He displeased” (Q. 93:3)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mahdieh Dehghani Ghanatghestani ¹
• Hasan Asgharpour ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Qur’an and Hadith Studies, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Qur’an and Hadith Studies, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jquran.2025.89547.1734

Abstract

Exegetes from both Sunni and Shiʿi traditions have traditionally linked the verse “Your Lord has neither forsaken you nor is He displeased” (Q. 93:3) to the issue of the temporary cessation of revelation. This connection is primarily based on narrations regarding the occasions of revelation. However, Jaʿfar Murtaḍā ʿĀmilī, in his commentary on Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā, critiques the authenticity and reliability of these narrations. This raises the question: if the verse is not related to the interruption of revelation, what then prompted its revelation? This study explores the verse in light of the thematic coherence of Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā and its intertextual relationship with Sūrat al-Inshirāḥ. It analyzes the meaning of rejection and anger, as well as the cognitive schema related to these concepts, within the discourse of worship during the era of revelation. It argues that the verse in question was not revealed due to difficulty in "receiving revelation," but rather in connection with the challenges of propagation and fulfilling the prophetic mission. The verse addresses the taunts of the Prophet's opponents, who mocked him because prominent individuals had not embraced faith, while those from lower social strata were inclined toward him.

Keywords

• Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā
• sūra coherence
• interruption of revelation
• challenges of propagation
• schema of distance and nearness

Main Subjects

• Quran and Hadith Studies

---

References

Qurān-i Karīm.

ʻAbd al-Raʾ ūf, Ḥusayn. "Basṭ Matn va Ravish-hā-yi Irāʾih-yi Maṭlab dar Guftimān Qurānī (Barrisī Idiʻāhāy Richard Bell dar Khuṣūṣ Munqaṭiʻ Būdan Qurān", Pazhūhish-hā-yi Qurānī, yr. 7, no. 4 (winter  2012/1390): 86-117.

Afrāshī, Āzītā. Mabānī Maʻnāshināsī Shinākhtī. Tehran: Pazhūhishgāh-i ʿUlūm-i Insānī va Muṭāliʿāt-i Farhangī, 2017/1395.

Āl Ghāzī, ʻAbd al-Qādir. Bayān al-Maʿānī.  Dimashq: al-Taraqī, 1963/1382.

ʻAlam al-Hudā, ʻAlī ibn Ḥusayn. Tafsīr al-Sharīf  al-Murtaḍā al-Musamā bi Nafāʾis al-Taʾwīl. researched by Mujtabā    Aḥmad  Musavī. Beirut: Aʻlamī, 2010/1431.

Ālūsī, Maḥmūd  ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Rūḥ al-Maʿānī fī Tafsīr al-Qurān al-ʿAẓīm. researched by ʻAlī ʿAbd al-Bārī ʻAṭīyah. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyya, 1994/1415.

ʻĀmilī, Jaʻfar Murtaḍā. Tafsīr  Sūrah al-Ḍuḥā. Iʿrāq: al-Markaz al-Islāmī li-l- Dirāsāt, 2014/1435.

ʻĀmluī, Ibrāhīm. Tafsīr ʻĀmluī. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī Ṣadūq, 1982/1360.

Bint al-Shāṭī, ʿĀyishah. al-Iʿjāz al-Bayānī li-l-Qurān. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1984/1404.

Burūmand, Muḥammad Ḥusayn; Amīr Jūdawī. "Kashf Rāz Muʿātab va ʿItāb dar Sūrah-yi  ʿAbas". Anjūman-i Maʻārif Islāmī Irān. No. 4 (autumn 2005/1384): 113-124.

Darwazah, Muḥammad ʻIzza.  al-Tafsīr al-Ḥadīth. Cairo: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʻArabīya, 1964/1383.

Dihqānī, Qanātghistānī, Mahdīyih. " Taʻyīn Miṣdāq Sabʻ min al-Mathānī dar Āyih-yi 87 Sūrah-yi  Ḥijr bā Tawajuh bi bā Hamāyī  Mawḍūʾāt dar Qurān-i Karīm". Taḥqīqāt ʿUlum Qurān va Ḥadīth. No. 53 (Spring 2023/1401): 121-155.

Faḍl Allāh, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Tafsīr Min Vaḥy al-Qurān. Beirut:  Dār al-Malāk. 1998/1419.

 Fāʾiz, Qāsim. " Barrisī Naẓarīyih-yi Āyāt Mustathnīyāt Suwar Makī va Madanī". Faṣlnāmih-yi  Muṭāliʻāt-i Tafsīrī. No. 8 (winter 2012/1390): 127-152.

Fakhr Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar . Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī. Chāp-i Sivum, 1999/1420.

Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. Kitāb al-ʻAyn. Qum: Hijrat. Chāp-i Duvvum, 1989/1409.

Gharawī. Mawāhib al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr-i al-Qurān. S.l: Shirkat Sahāmī Chāp Kitāb Āzarbāyijān, 1962/1381.

Ḥaqī Brūsawī, Ismāʻīl ibn Muṣṭafā . Tafsīr Rūḥ al-Bayān. Beirut: Dar Fikr, s.d.

Ḥijāzī, Muḥammad Maḥmūd. al-Tafsīr al-Wāḍiḥ. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl. 1993/1413.

Ibn Abī Ḥātam, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad. Tafsīr al-Qurān al-ʿAḍīm. Riyāḍ: Maktaba Nizār Muṣṭafā al-Bāz, 1998/1419.

Ibn ʻĀshūr, Muḥammad Ṭāḥir. Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr. Beirut: Mūʾassisa al-Tārīkh al-ʻAtabī. 1999/1420. 

Ibn Āthīr, ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad. Ūsd al-Ghāba fī al-Maʿrifa al-Ṣaḥāba. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabī, s.d.

Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī. al-Amālī. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1998/1376.

Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī. al-Iʿtiqādāt. Qum: al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamī li-Alfīya al-Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1993/1371.

Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad ibn Fāris. Muʿjam  Maqāyīs al-Lugha. researched by ʻAbd al-Salām

Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, Chāp-i Sivum, 1993/1414.

Ismāʻīlzādih, ʿAbbās; Fāṭimah Zahrā Āl Ibrāhīm. “Arzyābī Irtibāṭ Āyih-yi Haftum Sūrah-yi Inshirāḥ bā Naṣb Imām". Rahyāft-hā-yī dar ʿUlum Qurān va Ḥadīth. No. 2 (autumn and winter 2018/1396): 9-30.

Jamal, Basām. Asbāb al-Nuzūl ʿIlman min ʿUlūm  al-Qurān. Beirut: al-Mūʾassisa al-ʿArabīyya li-l-Taḥdīth al-Fikrī, 2005/1426.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Mawsūʿat al-Imām al-Khūʾī. Qum: Mūʾassisa Iḥyāʾ Āsār al-Imām al-Khūʾī. 1997/1418.

Majlisī, Falāḥ et al. "bi Ham Piyvastigī Matnī dar dū Sūrah-yi al-Ḍuḥā va al-Sharḥ (Taḥlīlī Mubtanī bar Naẓarīyih-yi  Zabānshinākhtī Naqshgirāy Halliday)", Pazhūhish-hā-yi Adabī-Qurānī, yr. 7, no. 2 (summer 2022/1400): 165-199.

Marāghī, Aḥmad Muṣṭafā. Tafsīr-i al-Marāghī. Beirut: Dār al-Fīkr, s.d.

Maʻrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. ʿUlūm Qurānī. Qum: al-Tamhīd, Chāp-i Chāhārum, 2003/1381.

Māwardī, ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad. al-Nukat wa al-ʻUyūn (Tafsīr al-Māwardī). researched by  Sayyid ibn ʻAbd al-Maqṣūd ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyya, Muḥammad ʻAlī Bayḍūn, s.d.

Muḥammad Hārūn. Qum: Maktaba al-Iʻlām al-Islāmī, 1984/1404.

Muqātil ibn Sulaymān.  Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān. researched by ʿAbd Allāh Maḥmud  Shiḥātah, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth, 2002/1423.

Muṣṭafavī, Ḥasan. Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalamāt al-Qurān al-Karīm. Tehran: Vizārat-i Farhang va Irshād-i Islāmī, 1990/1368.

Narāqī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Mahdī. Mustanad al-Shīʻa fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʻa. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS). 1995/1415.

Nawawī, Muḥammad. Marāḥ Labīd Li-Kashf Maʻnī al-Qurān al-Majīd. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyya, 1997/1417.

Nikūnām, Jaʻfar. Dar Āmadī bar Tārīkhguzārī Qurān. Tehran: Hastīnamā, 2002/1380.

Nikūnām, Jaʻfar; Muḥammad Hādī Amīn Nājī; Zahrā Jalālī Shūrihdilī. "Bāztāb Tangnāy Mālī Payāmbar(pbuh) Sūrah-yi al-Ḍuḥā". Pazhūhishnāmih-yi Qurān  va Ḥadīth. No. 30 (spring and summer  2023/1401): 31-41.

Qumī, ʻAlī  ibn Ibrāhīm. Tafsīr al-Qumī. researched by Ṭīb Musavī  Jazāyrī.  Qum: Dār Kitāb. Chāp-i Siwum,  1985/1363.

Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn  ibn Muḥammad. Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurān. Ed. Ṣafwān ʿAdnān Dāwūdī. Dār al-Qalam-Dār al-Shāmīya, 1992/1412.

Rāmyār, Maḥmūd. Tārīkh Qurān-i Karīm. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, Chāp-i Chāhārum, 1960/1379.

Ṣāḥib Jawāhir. Muḥammad Ḥasan. Jawāhir al-Kalām. researched by ʿAbbās Qūchānī. Beirut: Dār Ihyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī, Chāp Haftum, 1984/1362.

Samarqandī, Naṣr ibn Muḥammad. Tafsīr al-Samarqandī al-Musamā Baḥr al-ʻUlūm. Beirut: Dar Fikr, 1995/1416.

Ṣanʻānī, ʻAbd al-Razzāq ibn Hammām. al-Muṣannaf ʻAbd al-Razzāq. Beirut: al-Majlis al- ʻIlmī,  1983/1403.

Shādhilī, Sayyid. fī Ẓalāl al-Qurān. Beirut: Dār al-Sharq. Chāp-i Sī va Panjum, 2004/1425.

Shahīd Awwal, Muḥammad ibn Makkī. al-Dhikhrī al-Shīʻa fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʻa. Qum: Āl al-Bayt (AS). 1998/1419.

Shākir, Muḥammad Kāẓim.ʿUlūm Qurānī. Qum: University of Qom, 2020/1398.

Suyūtī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn abī bakr. al-Durr al-Manthūr fī al-Tafsīr bi-al-Maʾthūr. Qum: Kitābkhānah-yi Āyat Allāh Marʻashī Najafī, 1984/1404.

Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1992/1412.

Ṭabarsī. Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. Majmaʻ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusrū. 1994/1372.

Ṭabarsī. Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. Tafsīr Jawāmiʿ al-Jāmiʿ. Qum: Markaz-i Mudīrīyat-i Ḥawzah-yi ʻIlmīyyah. 1992/1412.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Qum: Mūʾassisa-i al-Nashr-i al-Islāmī, Chāp-i Panjum, 1996/1417.

Ṭāliqān, Maḥmud. Partūy az Qurān. Tehran: Shirdat-i  Sahāmī Intishār. Chāp-i Chāhārum. 1984/1362.

Thaʿlabī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. al-Kashf wa al-Bayān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī. 2001/1422.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. al-Istibṣār fī mā Ikhtalafa min al-Akhbār. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1985/1363.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. researched by Aḥmad Qaṣīr ʻĀmilī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī, s.d.

Yazdī, Muḥammad Kāẓim ibn ʻAbd al-ʿAẓīm. al-ʿUrwa  al-Wuthqā. Beirut: al-Aʻlamī, 1989/1409.

Yūsufī Gharawī, Muḥammad Hādī. Mawsūʿat al-Tārīkh al-Islāmī. Qum: Majmʻ al-Fikr al-Islāmī. 1996/1417.

Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd ibn ʻUmar. al-Kashāf ʿan Ḥaqāʾiq Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī. Chāp-i Sivum, 1987/1407.