their faces, loosen their hair, or tear their clothes.

Some have said: “This encompasses everything the Messenger commands them concerning the ordinances of Islam and its proofs,” as stated by Abū Sulaymān al-Dimashqī. The wording of the verse is general: they must not disobey him in what is right. Disobedience to him can only concern what is right, for he never commands anything wrong. However, as has been said, this indicates that obedience to those in authority is obligatory only in what is right, as is established in the Sahīh that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Obedience is only in what is right.”

A similar example is His saying:

“Respond to Allah and the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.”

He calls only to that. The qualification here carries no contrary implication, since he never calls to anything else or commands anything other than what is right. This resembles the statement of Allah Most High:

“Do not compel your slave girls to prostitution if they desire chastity.”

If they do not desire chastity, compulsion is impossible. Rather, this wording makes clear the characteristic relevant to the ruling. Another example is the statement of Allah Most High:

“Whoever invokes another god alongside Allah, for which he has no proof, his reckoning rests only with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed.”

And His saying:

“And they kill the prophets without right.”

In all these instances, the qualification serves to explain and clarify, not to exclude cases bearing a different description. Hence some grammarians say: “Adjectives qualifying definite nouns serve to clarify, not to restrict, whereas those qualifying indefinite nouns serve to restrict.” They mean definite nouns that need no further restriction, as in His saying:

“Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High, who created and fashioned in due proportion.”

And His saying:

“Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their Torah and Gospel.”

And His saying:

“All praise is for Allah, Lord of all worlds, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.”

Adjectives qualifying indefinite nouns also serve to clarify when those nouns have already been sufficiently distinguished. Nevertheless, He conjoins disobedience with disbelief and wickedness in His saying:

“And He has made disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you.”

It is well known that a wicked person is also disobedient.