Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 31 Luqman, Ayat 14-15

وَوَصَّيۡنَا الۡاِنۡسٰنَ بِوَالِدَيۡهِ​ۚ حَمَلَتۡهُ اُمُّهٗ وَهۡنًا عَلٰى وَهۡنٍ وَّفِصٰلُهٗ فِىۡ عَامَيۡنِ اَنِ اشۡكُرۡ لِىۡ وَلِـوَالِدَيۡكَؕ اِلَىَّ الۡمَصِيۡرُ‏  ﴿31:14﴾ وَاِنۡ جَاهَدٰكَ عَلٰٓى اَنۡ تُشۡرِكَ بِىۡ مَا لَيۡسَ لَكَ بِهٖ عِلۡمٌ ۙ فَلَا تُطِعۡهُمَا​ وَصَاحِبۡهُمَا فِى الدُّنۡيَا مَعۡرُوۡفًا​ وَّاتَّبِعۡ سَبِيۡلَ مَنۡ اَنَابَ اِلَىَّ ​ۚ ثُمَّ اِلَىَّ مَرۡجِعُكُمۡ فَاُنَبِّئُكُمۡ بِمَا كُنۡتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏  ﴿31:15﴾

(31:14) We22 enjoined upon man to be dutiful to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning lasted two years.23 (We, therefore, enjoined upon him): “Give thanks to Me and to your parents. To Me is your ultimate return. (31:15) But if they press you to associate others with Me in My Divinity, (to associate) those regarding whom you have no knowledge24 (that they are My associates), do not obey them. And yet treat them well in this world, and follow the way of him who turns to Me in devotion. Eventually it is to Me that all of you shall return,25 and I shall then tell you all that you did.”26

Notes

23. From these words, Imam Shafei, Imam Ahmad, Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad have drawn the conclusion that the suckling period of the child is two years. If a child has been suckled by the a woman within this period, they will be forbidden for each other for marriage, but if outside and beyond this period, they will not be so. A saying of Imam Malik also supports this. But Imam Abu Hanifah has proposed the period of two and a half years as a precaution, and has added that the child has been weaned after two years, or even earlier, and it is no longer dependent upon suckling for its food, no woman would be forbidden for him, if she gave him suck after that period. However, if the real food of the child is still milk, suckling during the period will render him and her forbidden for each other in spite of his eating the other food in a more or less quantity. For, the verse does not mean that the child should be suckled necessarily for two years. In Surah Al- Baqarah it has been said: “The mothers shall suckle their children for two whole years, if the fathers desire the suckling to be completed.” (Ayat 233). Ibn Abbas from these words has concluded, and other scholars have agreed with him in this, that the shortest period of pregnancy is six months, for the Quran at another place says: “His bearing (in the womb) and his weaning took thirty months.” (Surah Al-Ahqaf: Ayat 15).

24. That is, “About whom you have no knowledge that he is My associate.”

25. “All of you”: the children as well as the parents.

26. For explanation, see (E.Ns 11 and 12 of Surah Al- Ankabut).

27. The other admonitions of Luqman are being narrated here to imply that like the basic beliefs, the teachings pertaining to morals that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is presenting, are not anything new in Arabia.