Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD

Abstract

This commentary explores Quran 46:15–18 through classical and contemporary lenses, highlighting its rich psychological and philosophical themes. Classical exegetes like al-Ṭabarī, al-Rāzī, and Ibn Kathīr underscore the verses’ emphasis on filial piety, gratitude, and faith. Modern works such as The Study Quran and Zia H. Shah MD’s writings reaffirm these insights, linking them to present-day understandings of moral development and spiritual psychology. A psychological analysis reveals how the verses mirror developmental milestones – including the attainment of maturity at age forty – and resonate with Freudian and Jungian concepts of parent-child dynamics and midlife individuation. Philosophically, the passage invites existential reflection on belief in God and the Afterlife, illustrating how faith and accountability imbue life with meaning. In sum, Quran 46:15–18 offers a timeless meditation on honoring one’s parents, embracing gratitude and repentance at life’s peak, and the stark contrast between a life grounded in theistic morality versus one dismissive of spiritual accountability. The epilogue ties these threads together, showing how the verses contribute to an Islamic vision of moral growth, compassionate family relations, steadfast faith, and ultimate responsibility in the Hereafter.

Classical Commentary on Quran 46:15–18

Classical Muslim commentators devote considerable attention to these verses, often highlighting their ethical and spiritual lessons. Verse 15 opens with an injunction of kindness to parents – a recurring Quranic theme that immediately follows the command to worship God alonesurahquran.com. Ibn Kathīr notes that the Qur’an frequently pairs devotion to God with dutifulness to parents, as in 17:23 (“Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to your parents”) and 31:14 (“Give thanks to Me and to your parents; unto Me is the final return”)surahquran.com. The message is clear: after tawḥīd (recognizing God’s oneness), honoring one’s mother and father is the next greatest duty. Classical exegesis emphasizes the mother’s especially arduous role. Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr elaborate on how “his mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship”, detailing the travails of pregnancy and labor – from sickness and weakness to the intense pains of childbirthsurahquran.comsurahquran.com. This sacrifice justifies why the mother’s rights are extolled threefold above the father’s in prophetic hadithsurahquran.comsurahquran.com.

The verse then mentions the gestation and weaning period of thirty months, which classical jurists ingeniously used to derive Islamic legal rulings. As Ibn Kathīr relates, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib deduced from this verse (along with 31:14 and 2:233) that six months is the minimum viable duration of pregnancysurahquran.comsurahquran.com. A famous historical case is cited: a woman who bore a child six months after marriage was initially accused of adultery, until ʿAlī pointed out the Quranic calculation of 30 months minus 24 months of nursing = 6 months gestation. The third caliph ʿUthmān, on hearing this Quranic evidence, reversed the judgmentsurahquran.comsurahquran.com. This narrative, found in classical commentaries, not only illustrates the juristic wisdom drawn from 46:15 but also reflects Islam’s early concern for justice, saving an innocent mother’s life through scriptural insight.

Beyond legal subtleties, classical exegetes saw verse 15 as portraying the arc of a righteous person’s life. The human being grows “till, when he attains full strength and reaches forty years, he says, ‘My Lord, inspire me to thank You for Your favor which You bestowed upon me and upon my parents…’”. Many early scholars view 40 years old as a critical age of maturity and moral reckoning. Ibn Kathīr comments that by forty, one’s intellect and understanding have fully ripened, and one is at the peak of reason and judgmentsurahquran.com. Indeed, it was held that by this age a person’s habits are largely set – “it has also been said that usually one will not change his ways once he reaches the age of forty”surahquran.com. Thus, a believer who reaches this milestone turns seriously toward God, seeking forgiveness and guidance for the remainder of lifesurahquran.comsurahquran.com. Some classical commentators even advise that when one hits forty, one should renew one’s repentance and intensify in devotionsurahquran.comsurahquran.com.

In highlighting the exemplary believer’s prayer at midlife, exegetes sometimes linked it to illustrious individuals. Al-Jalālayn (the tafsīr of al-Suyūṭī and al-Maḥallī) and others transmit a view that this verse was exemplified by Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīqsurahquran.comsurahquran.com. Abū Bakr, the Prophet’s closest companion, reached forty around two years into Muhammad’s mission, and he was among the first to embrace Islam. According to this report, Abū Bakr’s acceptance led to a remarkable chain: his parents soon also believed, as did his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and even his grandson (Abū ʿAtīq)surahquran.com. Abū Bakr’s grateful supplication bore fruit in “making righteous [his] offspring,” with multiple generations becoming faithful. He went on to perform many virtuous deeds – such as emancipating persecuted slaves for the sake of God – embodying the Quranic ideal of gratitude expressed through righteous actionsurahquran.com. While this report is not meant to restrict the verse’s meaning to Abū Bakr alone, it furnishes a concrete historical example of a man who lived out the ethos of 46:15: profound gratitude to God and parents, earnest repentance, and a legacy of pious progenysurahquran.comsurahquran.com. Such classical narrations underscore that the values in these verses were understood to be eminently attainable – exemplified by the earliest Muslims.

After describing the blessed who honor their parents and turn to God, the Quran pivots in verses 17–18 to the opposite character: an arrogant, faithless offspring. Classical commentators see here a deliberate contrast between the virtuous child of verse 15–16 and the undutiful child of verse 17surahquran.comsurahquran.com. The latter exclaims to his parents, “Uff to you! Do you promise me that I will be raised again, when generations before me have passed away?” – a statement dripping with disdain and cynicism. The Arabic “uff” is the smallest word of contempt, roughly “ugh” or “fie,” and the Quran elsewhere forbids even this slightest show of irritation towards one’s elderly parents (17:23)themuslimtimes.infothemuslimtimes.info. Classical exegetes stress that any expression of contempt toward parents is abhorrent; this ungrateful child of verse 17 not only disobeys them but mocks their faith in the Hereaftersurahquran.comsurahquran.com. His righteous parents implore him to believe – “Woe to you! Have faith! Indeed, God’s promise is true” – even turning to God in their desperation, “crying for help [for their son]”. But he remains obstinate, dismissing their piety as “legends of the former peoples,” a retort implying that religion is mere superstition or fairy tales.

Classical tafsīrs sometimes discuss whether this vivid scenario alludes to a specific individual or is a generic depiction. Some early reports attempted to identify the defiant son as ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Abī Bakr, who in his youth had not yet accepted Islamsurahquran.comsurahquran.com. It is said that during the caliphate of Muʿāwiyah, when ʿAbd al-Raḥmān objected to Muʿāwiyah’s attempt to appoint his son Yazid as successor, a provincial governor (Marwān) maligned ʿAbd al-Raḥmān by publicly quoting this verse against himsurahquran.comsurahquran.com. However, ʿĀʾishah (daughter of Abū Bakr and wife of the Prophet) strongly refuted this application. Ibn Kathīr records that ʿĀʾishah responded from behind a curtain, “Marwān lies! By Allah, this was not revealed about him [ʿAbd al-Raḥmān]”surahquran.comsurahquran.com. She added pointedly that the Prophet had never disavowed her family in the Quran (the only verses directed at her specifically were those vindicating her against false accusations), and she hinted that she knew who the verse did in fact refer to surahquran.com. Some commentators mention that ʿĀʾishah even alluded to a curse the Prophet had made against Marwān’s own father – insinuating that Marwān (known for his animosity toward the Prophet’s family) was projecting the verse onto the wrong person surahquran.com surahquran.com. In any case, the prevailing scholarly view is that verse 17 was revealed as a general portrait, not exclusively about a named individual surahquran.com. Its language is broad – “and the one who says to his parents” – describing a type of personality seen in many times and places: the insolent son or daughter who rejects parental guidance and religious faith. Classical exegesis thus treats the verse as a cautionary archetype, immediately understandable in human terms. Just as verse 15 holds up an ideal to emulate, verse 17 holds up a mirror to the ugliest form of ingratitude, warning believers: do not be like this, lest you share in the ruin that follows.

Verse 18 then delivers the ultimate consequence for such hardened rejecters. “Those are the ones upon whom the word has come due, among nations that passed on before them of jinn and humans; truly they are lost (in perdition).” According to Ibn Kathīr, “the word” refers to God’s decree of punishment – the same fate that befell past communities who denied the truth surahquran.com surahquran.com. By using the plural (“those are the ones…”), the Quran places the defiant son and his ilk into a broader category of former peoples who collectively met destruction. Classical commentators sometimes remark that being “among the jinn and humans that passed before” implies these disobedient ones will be resurrected in the company of the worst of God’s creatures – a sobering antithesis to the “companions of Paradise” mentioned in verse 16 surahquran.com surahquran.com. In short, verses 17–18 complete the moral dichotomy: the story that begins with a person reaching the height of goodness (gratitude, faith, and filial devotion rewarded by Paradise) ends with the image of those who sink to the lowest of lows (disbelief and parental insolence, consigned to join past “losers” in Hell). Classical scholars underscore that arrogance and ungratefulness, both toward one’s earthly benefactors (parents) and one’s Creator, are among the gravest sins – often the hallmark of those doomed in Quranic narratives surahquran.com surahquran.com.

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