The Verse of Affection (Ash-Shura 23): how Sunni and Shia scholars read it

The twenty-third verse of Ash-Shura is one of the verses most often asked about between the two schools, and the disagreement turns on a single word: al-qurba, "kinship" or "the near of kin". This article settles nothing. It sets out what each school says, so that a reader meets the positions from their own sources rather than from the descriptions of their opponents.

The verse

It is that of which Allah gives good tidings to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds. Say, [O Muhammad], "I do not ask you for this message any payment [but] only good will through kinship." And whoever commits a good deed - We will increase for him good therein. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Appreciative.

Read the verse in the mushaf — Ash-Shura 23

The context

Again and again the Quran has prophets say they ask no payment for their message, and it says the same of the Prophet Muhammad:

Say, "I do not ask of you for it any payment - only that whoever wills might take to his Lord a way."

(Al-Furqan 25:57)

Say, "Whatever payment I might have asked of you - it is yours. My payment is only from Allah, and He is, over all things, Witness."

(Saba' 34:47)

In Ash-Shura, though, comes an exception: no payment except al-mawaddata fi al-qurba — literally, affection in kinship. Sahih International renders it "only good will through kinship", which is already one of the two readings. Everything turns on what the exception means and who "the near of kin" are.

The reading among Sunni scholars

The commentaries quoted below are in Arabic; the renderings are mine, and the originals sit on this verse's page in Arabic.

In al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, the kinship is the Prophet's kinship with his own people, and the affection asked of them is to honour it: I ask you nothing in return, only that you show me affection for the kinship between us and keep the ties of family that bind me to you.

That reading rests on a report in Sahih al-Bukhari. Ibn Abbas was asked about the verse; Sa'id ibn Jubayr answered first, "the kin of Muhammad"; Ibn Abbas replied that there was no clan of Quraysh with which the Prophet had no kinship, so the meaning is: only that you keep the kinship between us.

The same report shows both readings were known among the Successors. Some Sunni commentators record the other reading and the reports behind it; others judge those reports weak and point out that the surah was revealed in Mecca.

The reading among Shia scholars

Tafsir al-Safi of Fayd Kashani explains the verse as: that you love my kin and my family, and keep faith with me through them — citing Tabrisi's Majma' al-Bayan, from Imams al-Sajjad, al-Baqir and al-Sadiq — and then brings further reports from al-Kafi and elsewhere.

Tafsir al-Mizan of Allama Tabataba'i sets out the readings and takes the kin to be the Prophet's family, the People of his House, noting that reports to that effect come through Sunni channels and are many in Shia ones. He argues that this affection was not a payment in any worldly sense: it directed people to the House as the reference for understanding the Book, so the verse says in substance what the verses denying any payment say. On the surah being Meccan, he notes that the reports from the Imams place this verse and the three after it among the verses revealed in Medina.

Points of agreement

• The text of the verse and its place in Ash-Shura are not in dispute.
• The Prophet asked no payment for himself for delivering the message, as other verses state outright.
• Love for the Prophet's household is established in both schools by other texts — among them the words in Sahih Muslim, "I remind you of God regarding the people of my house."
• Both readings of al-qurba go back to the generation after the Companions, as the report in al-Bukhari itself shows.

Points of difference

• Who "the near of kin" are: the Prophet's kinship with Quraysh at large, or his own family?
• Who is addressed: the idolaters of Quraysh, or the Muslims?
• Meccan or Medinan: is the verse Meccan like most of the surah, or one of its Medinan verses?
• What the exception means: a payment for the message, or something whose benefit returns to those addressed?

Sources

Everything above is drawn from the commentaries themselves as this site serves them, and from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim where named:

• Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran.
• Tafsir al-Safi — Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashani, citing Majma' al-Bayan and al-Kafi.
• Tafsir al-Mizan — Allama Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i.

All three are on the page for this verse, each in its own words and under its author's name. Read them and judge for yourself.