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Relationship with Preceding and Succeeding Surahs
In the previous pair of surahs – Fil and Quraysh – it is explained
that the tribe of Quraysh has been blessed with the favours of peace and
sustenance because of the Baytullah (the House of God). These blessings required that they should have
worshipped the Lord of this Sacred House with all sincerity and should
have striven to fulfil the objective for which it was built and given in
their custody. In the succeeding pair of surahs,
– Ma‘un and Kawthar -- the characters of the Quraysh chiefs is
initially depicted who at the time of revelation of these surahs were the overseers and custodians of Baytullah.
It is subsequently asserted that they are no longer fit to be the trustees
of this exalted House. They have grossly failed to carry out the assignment
and deserve to be deposed from this prestigious position, which will now
be handed over to those worthy of it.
In this particular surah,
the petty character of a leader of the Quraysh is portrayed. The
portrayal includes a strong element of amazement, in fact hate and disgust,
on his attitude of callously driving away orphans. This attitude clearly
reflects his disbelief in the Day of Judgement. Although the person is
not addressed by name, yet it is quite evident that Abu
Lahab's character is under discussion. It was he who at the time of
revelation of the surah had
all the financial resources of the Baytullah under his sole control. A depiction of the characters of the people
follows who, though, apparently offer their prayers in the Baytullah,
yet their prayers lack spirit and devotion and are in fact a show of pretense
on their part. A person who is not sincere in his relationship with his
Creator can never be a well-wisher of his fellow beings. He will always
be a miser in his dealings and will never have the heart to even lend small
items of general use, not to speak of spending in the way of Allah.
It should be kept in mind that the
Baytullah had been built for
two reasons. Firstly, to be the centre of worship of the one and only God;
and secondly, to cater for the needs, physical as well as emotional, of
the orphans and the poor. It was the duty of its custodians to carry out
these tasks. But since the individuals whose unworthy characters are depicted
cannot be expected to fulfil the duty, the next surah – Kawthar -- decides their fate once and for all.
Meaning
Have you seen the one who belies reward
and punishment?! He it is who drives away the orphan, and urges not the
feeding of the poor. (1-3)
So devastation be to these who pray,
who are indifferent to their prayer; who put on a pretentious display,
and are stingy even in ordinary items of common use. (4-7)
Explanation
(Have you seen the one who belies reward and punishment?!)
(1)
The word ara’ayta is used to engage the attention of
a reader by expressing surprise and dislike at the attitude of a person
or a group of persons. The word din here
means "reward and punishment" as in maliki
yawm al-din (1:3) (the Master of the
Day of Judgement.)
The antecedent of the conjunctive
pronoun alladhi (he who) is not stated,
but the context readily indicates that Abu
Lahab's character is being symbolized. He was an extremely rich yet
stingy person, who was in charge of the Rifadah or the treasury of the Baytullah
at the time of revelation of this surah.
His mean personality and his ultimate destruction are depicted in a complete
surah -- Lahab. It will
become evident from a study of that surah that he considered the Rifadah
as his own property and consumed its funds for personal purposes, and
had thereby become the Qarun of Makkah. Here, it is actually intended to point out his hard-heartedness
that no good can be expected from such a ruthless person who drives away
orphans in spite of being assigned to their welfare, but the style adopted
is such that it unfolds his internal nature that is actually the cause
of this callousness.
The adjective yukadhdhibu bi al-din
(denier of reward and punishment) highlights his inner self. A person
who denies the Day of Judgement cannot have any motivation to expend his
wealth in the path of God to please Him as well as to secure the welfare
and well-being of his fellow brethren. Such a person can only ‘drain his
wealth’ for his own self or to put up a false show of concern for the poor.
Only a true belief in the Final Day can induce a person to spend on the
deprived without having a vested self-interest. This fact has also been
highlighted in Surah Layl:
As for him who gives and fears [the Lord] and testifies
to a good fate, We shall smooth out an easy way for him. But he who is
a greedy miser and is heedless [to the Day of Judgement] and testifies
to a bad fate, We shall indeed smooth out for him the path of hardships.
(92:5-10)
(He it is who drives away the orphan) (2)
Da‘‘un~
means "to push and shove", as is used in Surah
T~ur:
On that day, they shall be sternly shoved in the fire
of Hell. (52:13)
According to the Qur’an,
orphans should be treated with regard and respect. It rebukes those who
disregard them:
Nay, you honour not the orphans. (89:17)
In an Islamic society, as the Caliph Abu
Bakr once said, the weak are the strongest and the most influential
unless they are given their rights. Hence, every person of a society is
required to deeply respect the people who are yet to receive their rights.
Every Muslim who has a sense of honour in him should uphold their cause
and strive to obtain their rights for them.
(And urges not the feeding of the poor.) (3)
This verse restates in a negative
sense what is said above. It says that a person who maltreats orphans is
the last one who would urge others to sympathize with them. Psychologically,
every miser wishes to hide his miserliness by desiring his fellow-beings
to follow in his footsteps so that there is no one who can call him a miser.
Consequently, any person who, contrary to his wishes, spends on the poor
becomes a target of his jeers and taunts which are meant to discourage
him from indulging in this ‘wasteful activity’ in the very beginning, as
is pointed out in Surah Humazah.
It should be kept in mind that, as
indicated before, the character of the person who controlled and directed
the welfare department for the poor of the Baytullah is portrayed here. In other words, it is implied that when a thief
assumes the seat of a judge, the result is not difficult to predict.
(So devastation be to these who pray, who are indifferent
to their prayer.) (4-5)
The verse points out the lack of purity
and devotion in the prayer of the religious pundits of the Baytullah.
Since they have to maintain their religious and social standings as the
custodians of the Baytullah,
they put up a false show of worship in front of the general masses. Such
a show certainly cannot instil in them the real spirit of worship, which
becomes nothing but a matter of fooling the public.
It should be borne in mind that the
real purpose for which the Baytullah was built was the establishment of the prayer. Abraham (sws) settled
his son Ismael (sws) in its vicinity to enable himself and his progeny
to establish this institution of worship. For this very purpose, he had
also prayed to the Almighty to grant them peace and sustenance in that
land. His humble invocation to the Almighty is cited in the Qur’an as follows:
O our Lord! I have settled some of my offspring in a
barren valley near your Sacred House; in order, our Lord! that they may
establish regular prayer. (14:37)
How Ismael (sws) fulfilled this obligation,
the Qur’an itself testifies:
Even in later times, when sorcerers and innovators
held sway in the land, the institution of prayer and Zakah continued, though they became completely distorted and disfigured.
How the directive of Zakah
had been mutilated is pointed out above. What fate the prayer reached is
mentioned in Surah Anfa’al as follows:
Even in this distorted shape, these rituals continued
to exist, and just as the leaders of every period put up a display of religiosity
to feign austerity, the leaders of the Quraysh too on special occasions
upheld these practices. This verse actually upbraids such unworthy persons
as are unaware of the real essence of the prayer by sounding a severe warning
to them.
(Those who put on a pretentious display, and are stingy
even in ordinary items of common use.) (6-7)
This verse further delineates
their show of false pretense. In fact, it asserts two reasons behind the
lack of purity and devotion in their prayers: pretentiousness and miserliness.
Purity and sincerity of intention
is the essence of prayers, that is they should be offered just to please
the Almighty and to win His favour and affection. If they are offered for
any other motive, they lose their purpose, and in fact become detrimental
to their very cause. The prayer of the custodians of the Baytullah had become adulterated not only with their ill-beliefs but also, as
indicated before, with their false intentions. Quite evidently, such a
prayer is nothing more than a theatrical enactment. Just as impersonating
a character in a drama does not actually make a person one of them, likewise
people who feign the articles of prayer do not become true worshippers.
Moreover, their miserliness too is
an ample proof of the perfunctory nature of their prayer. The real spirit
behind the prayer is a feeling of gratitude to the Almighty. A person who
is grateful to his Creator can never be a miser or a skinflint. Instead,
he is bound to be unselfish and magnanimous. He spends on the deprived
and needy, not as a favour on them but because they have a rightful claim
on his own wealth. In fact, he is so overwhelmed with this sense of gratitude
that fulfilling others needs even at his own expense is a source of tremendous
satisfaction to him. From the point of view of the philosophy of religion
also, prayer and spending in the way of God have a deep relationship; for
the prayer is the foremost manifestation of the feeling of gratitude, and
such a prayer subsequently motivates a person to spend on the needy. It
can be safely said that the whole edifice of the Shari‘ah is based on these two pillars of faith.
Yamna‘una
al-ma‘un:
ma‘un means items of common use. It is perfectly in accordance with the norms
of social relationships to borrow such items from a neighbour. Many a time
such needs arise and it is but natural to ask for such things in close
associations. Borrowing and lending such items is in fact a sign of a healthy
social set-up and promotes ties of friendship and fraternity between people.
Every decent person should be happy to help out his neighbour if at any
time he needs for example a knife, a cooking pot, bedding items or even
a matchbox. Only mean people can refuse assistance on such occasions. Also,
whenever such mean and niggardly people pray, they do only to impress others
because they have no inner motivation for it. Neither does such a prayer
influence their hearts. In fact, ostentation in such a sacred affair increases
their callousness
Some people, because of the
words "So devastation be to these who pray …" maintain that the surah was revealed in Madinah.
They contend that such people who used to pretend righteousness could not
have existed in Makkah, and must be regarded as a product of the
later Madni period. The reason behind
this misconception is that they consider the prayer mentioned here as the
one obligated by Islam, whereas it implies, as this writer has explained
above, the prayer whose establishment had been ordained by the Almighty
to the prophet Ismael (sws) and his progeny along with the directive of
building the Baytullah. This
prayer was adopted and offered in later tines, though it lost its original
form and shape because of innovations, which over the years gained a stronghold
in the religious thought of the Arabs.
(Translated from "Tadabbur-i-Qur’an"
by Shehzad Saleem)
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