Acquiring a paltry price (sharā × thaman)
وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِى ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا
wa-lā tashtarū bi-āyātī thamanan qalīlan — and do not acquire, at the expense of My signs, a paltry price
The Qur'an repeatedly joins the verb ishtarā/sharā with thaman to picture people treating God-given things – signs, covenant, scripture, even a person – as merchandise to be traded for a small price, and in nearly every occurrence it labels that price qalīl (paltry, small).
The verb from the root sh-r-y (here in forms I and VIII) denotes buying or, as in (12:20), selling, and the Qur'an almost always names the consideration with thaman, "price." The recurring construction is tashtarū bi-X thamanan qalīlan: the thing traded away is introduced with bi-, and what is received is a "paltry price." The things put up for sale are striking: God's signs (2:41; 9:9), the Book that people write with their own hands (2:79), what Allah sent down from the Book (2:174), Allah's covenant and oaths (3:77), and His covenant (16:95), the flung-away pledge (3:187), and My signs again (5:44). In (5:106) the formula appears in an oath of witnesses who will not purchase a price with their testimony, "even if he is one of close kin." The one narrative use is (12:20), where Joseph's brothers sold him "for a devalued price, a few counted dirhams" – here the price is not merely qalīl but bakhs, devalued, and counted out coin by coin. The adjective qalīlan is attached to thaman in nearly every occurrence, so the pairing is not neutral commerce but a fixed evaluation: whatever is gained by trading away God's signs or covenant is by definition small. The positive counterpart appears in (3:199), where those who "do not trade away God's signs for a small price" have their recompense with their Lord; and (16:95) makes the contrast explicit: what is with Allah is better for you than the paltry price. The construction thus builds a scale of value: God's signs and covenant on one side, a small price on the other.
Where it occurs
- 2:41 Prohibition: do not acquire, at the expense of My signs, a paltry price.
- 2:79 Those who write the book with their own hands do so in order to acquire through it a small price.
- 2:174 Those who conceal what Allah sent down from the Book purchase with it a small price.
- 3:77 Those who purchase, at the price of Allah's covenant and their oaths, a trivial return have no share in the Hereafter.
- 3:187 Those given the Book flung the pledge behind their backs and acquired through it a paltry price – how vile is what they are acquiring.
- 3:199 Negative occurrence: those who do not trade away God's signs for a small price have their recompense with their Lord.
- 5:44 Prohibition in the narration of those who judged by the Torah: do not purchase with My signs a small price.
- 5:106 Witnesses swear they will not purchase, with their testimony, a price, even for a close relative.
- 9:9 They exchanged the signs of Allah for a paltry price and turned others from His path.
- 12:20 Narrative use: they sold Joseph for a devalued price, a few counted dirhams.
- 16:95 Prohibition with explicit comparison: what is with Allah is better than the paltry price.
All Qur'anic expressions