Tafsir Qawlihi: "Kulu min thamarihi idha athmara..." - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ʿĀlam al-Fawāʾid lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ
Tafsir Qawlihi: "Kulu min thamarihi idha athmara..." (Arabic: تفسير قوله: ﴿كلوا من ثمره إذا أثمر ..﴾, lit. 'Interpretation of His Saying: "Eat of its fruit when it yields..."') is a short exegetical treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE) examining the linguistic and legal implications of Surah al-An'am, verse 141 .
Background and Composition
The treatise originated from an academic discussion that took place one evening between the Idrisi ruler Muhammad ibn Ali al-Idrisi (d. 1341 AH) and the jurist Sayyid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ahdal . The two scholars debated the reference of the divine prohibition وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا ("and do not be extravagant") in the verse: كُلُوا مِنْ ثَمَرِهِ إِذَا أَثْمَرَ وَآتُوا حَقَّهُ يَوْمَ حَصَادِهِ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ ("Eat of its fruit when it yields and give its due on harvest day, and do not be extravagant; indeed, He does not like the extravagant") .
Al-Idrisi held that the prohibition against extravagance qualifies the command to eat ( كُلُوا ), while al-Ahdal argued that it is an independent, general sentence forbidding extravagance across all matters . Al-Idrisi summoned al-Mu'allimi—who had entered the Idrisi service in Safar 1337 AH—to participate in the discussion and asked him to consult the copy of Tafsir al-Jalalayn . After reviewing the exegesis of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, who interpreted the prohibition as giving away everything in charity without leaving provisions for one's dependents, al-Mu'allimi endorsed and corroborated al-Idrisi's perspective . Al-Mu'allimi later documented the points of this discussion from memory, adding further analysis and refinements .
Arguments and Content
Al-Mu'allimi advances several arguments to substantiate that the prohibition of extravagance refers back to the permission to eat:
- Textual Parallels in the Qur'an: The phrasing is analogous to Surah al-A'raf, verse 31: وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا ("And eat and drink, but do not be extravagant"), where the prohibition of extravagance directly restricts consumption .
- The Status of Complete Charity: Giving away all of one's property is not prohibited in an absolute sense, because the Qur'an praises total altruism in Surah al-Hashr, verse 9: وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ ("And they give them preference over themselves, even though they are in privation"), which is further exemplified by the practice of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq donating his entire wealth . Restricting total giving applies only to those who lack firm spiritual certainty (yaqin) .
- Redundancy of Restricting the Due: The commanded share to be paid on harvest day is already legally defined and fixed by Islamic law; thus, adding a restriction against excess to an already fixed obligation would lack functional utility . By contrast, eating from produce is open-ended and requires restriction so as not to exhaust the crop or diminish the rights of the poor . This is corroborated by the prophetic directive instructing crop-assessors (kharis) to leave a third or a fourth for the owner's consumption .
Al-Mu'allimi also addresses an argument by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi regarding the verse وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ ("and out of what We have provided them, they spend"), where al-Razi interpreted the partitive particle min as an implicit prohibition against donating all of one's wealth . Al-Mu'allimi counters this by applying legal theory principles (usul al-fiqh) from Lub al-Usul and its commentary Ghayat al-Wusul, arguing that praising the expenditure of a portion operates through mafhum al-muwafaqah (an a fortiori implication), indicating that giving more is even more commendable, rather than mafhum al-mukhalafah (contrary implication) .
Addressing transmitted occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) cited by Ahmad al-Sawi and al-Suyuti—such as reports that the verse was revealed concerning Thabit ibn Qays distributing all his harvest at once—al-Mu'allimi reconciles these accounts by noting that if giving everything violates the established rights of one's dependents without their consent, it becomes an act of wrongdoing, whereas altruism at one's own expense remains commendable .
Transmission and Publication
The treatise spans approximately ten pages in manuscript and printed form . It is published as the eighth treatise in the seventh volume of Athar al-Shaykh Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani .
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