Q49 V12 starts by calling on the Mumin, or those aspiring to be a Mumin; basically calling on every one who claims to be a muslim. And the first thing He says is ijtanibu. The root alphabets are jim, nun and ba. 8 forms of it occurred a total of 33 times in the Quran. Here, it was translated to mean ‘avoid’, but its classical meaning is the ‘side’, as in Q4 V103 that says ‘When you have completed the prayer, remember God, standing, or sitting, or on your sides…’; there, junub was translated to sides. But how did it come to mean ‘avoid’? You might ask.
You see, Junub, also means to put something aside. For instance, someone that wants to save money, puts it aside. And from that flows the idea of protecting something, or protecting one from something. Q14 V35 says “Recall that Abraham said, ‘O my Lord, make this land peaceful, and keep me and my sons from worshiping idols’”, junub there was translated to ‘keep me’, some translators have it as ‘preserve me’, but the idea is to ‘protect me’, just like the money one puts in one’s piggy bank so as to protect it from not being spent.
To point out that Janab also means ‘protect’ is important, that way, one knows what to have in mind when one is trying to avoid what follows, zoni, suspicion. When one knows that, one is not only able to avoid something, but also, one knows to protect one’s self from being able to fall into that thing.
With ‘kathir’ that comes after it, Allah is telling us to avoid, and protect ourselves as much much as possible, a great deal, as much as we can from zoni. As for Zoni, what does it really mean?
Four forms of it occurred sixty-nine times in the Quran. Zon is said of a well that one does not know for sure if it has water or not, or a loan that one doesn’t know, or isn’t sure, if it will be paid back. And so from that flows the idea of guessing, doubting, assuming, suspicion, conjecture, offering unfounded opinions, accusing someone of et al. So, basically, it would be to say, act, or do something based on lack of certain knowledge. And it is not our duty to pokenose into another’s affair so as to be certain either. ‘Part of the perfection of one’s Islam is his leaving that which does not concern him’, said the prophet pbuh.
That means not indulging in rumors, hearsays, assumptions about people, their relationships, their affairs et al. This, really, attacks social media; all of these verses especially from V11. Social media really makes it easy for one to fall into any of the highlighted ills and vices. From seeing posts and pictures, the mind starts making assumptions, guesses, opinions, suspicions and the likes. So one must strive to not only avoid zon, but to seek avenues to protect one from zon. May Allah make it easy for us. Amin.
Allah didn’t end at just telling us to avoid, and protect ourselves from zon, He went further by saying that, ‘indeed, ‘some’ suspicion is sinful’. The word translated to ‘some’ is ba’d, and it means mosquito, gnat, to be stung or bitten by a mosquito, for something to be as small as a mosquito. It’s interesting that Allah would use this word, three times too, in a verse that talks heavily about backBITING, and would later liken backbiting to eating a corpse.
Anyway, Allah, by using ba’d is saying that zon as small as a mosquito is sinful. Ba’d is also said to mean part, some, portion, and such words; I think because the mosquito sucks some of one’s blood. Q11 V54 says ‘We say only that some of our gods…’, ba’d being the word for some.
So, some, as small as a mosquito even, of zon, is sinful.
And this concludes this sentence about zon, translated here as suspicion, but which as we’ve seen encompasses more than that. And we’ve seen how zon as little as a mosquito can be sinful.
A Muslim must never belittle their sins, they must always think of them as huge; that way, they spur one to always seek forgiveness, and to strive to act righteously. We don’t know what state our deeds are in, and we don’t know when we will die either; so a muslim must be quick to seek forgiveness, try as much as possible to avoid sins, must strive to protect herself or himself from sin, and must always try to mind her or his business. And as the prophet pbuh once said, the jihad of the soul, the self, is the major jihad. For when one conquers their self, their ego, they are at peace with the world.
PS: Q49 V12 continues here
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