B i s m i l l a a h i r R a h m a a n i r R a h e e m
Teachings of the Qur'aan
Al-Maa'oon
Soorah 107:1-7
Name and Background
Teachings and Commentary
Ayub A. Hamid
Name and Background
The last word of the Soorah has been used as the unique
identifier of this small Soorah.
The Holy Ka'bah, the subject matter of the previous two
Soowar, was established as a centre of Islam, the two most important pillars of
which are Salaah and Zakaah. Salaah is the Islamic way of worshipping Allaah
and Zakaah is an effective way of collectively taking care of the poor and
deprived. Prophet Ibraaheem 'alayhissalaam settled his family in Makkah and
dedicated his son Ismaa'eel for the service of the House and for establishing
the Deen of Allaah around these two pillars. He fulfilled his responsibility
and was described in the Qur-aan as:
"He used to enjoin Salaah and Zakaah upon his family."
(Maryam 19:55)
Then gradually, his progeny, the Arabs, abandoned most of the
Islamic practices and became negligent in Salaah and Zakaah. Although the
respect of the Holy Ka'bah remained and the rituals of pilgrims were fulfilled,
these two pillars were totally neglected. Instead of taking care of the poor
and weak, many people used to exploit them, rebuke them and drive them away
harshly. Similarly Salaah was devoid of humble devotion to Allaah Subhaanahu wa
Ta'aala and His glorification and had been reduced to whistling and clapping as
mentioned in Al-Anfaal,
"Their worship at the House is merely whistling and
clapping." (8:35)
One can visualize this better if one thinks of the way Salaah
of Jesus 'alayhissalaam has now been reduced by Christians to simply music and
songs in modern churches. Some churches have even made it an activity of
laughter and amusement.
Furthermore, even this kind of useless ritual was not
performed sincerely for Allaah but only to give an impression of one's
religiosity.
This Soorah points out this terrible state of religious
affairs of the caretakers of the House, the Quraish of Makkah, and exposes the
core reason behind this façade of their religiosity.
A person who believes in the Hereafter seeks the pleasure of
Allaah and fears the accountability on the Day of Judgment. This focus on
seeking His pleasure and fear of accountability makes a person kind, generous,
helpful and sharing towards those in need. Such a person is also eager and
mindful of worshipping Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala properly with devotion and
humility. Only a person who does not believe in the accountability and
recompense in the Hereafter becomes rude to an orphan or careless about the
welfare of the poor. Such people may appear to be religious because they
perform certain rituals with much fanfare to show off and be noticed. But in
reality they really do not believe, and their disbelief is shown by their
miserly, stingy and selfish behaviour so much so that they find it hard even to
share small trivial things with others.
Thus the Soorah exposes the real factor behind the Makkan
leaders' miserly, unkind behaviour and their soulless, outwardly rituals of
worship - they do not believe in the Hereafter. That is why all initial Soowar
revealed in Makkah focussed on the various aspects of the belief in the
Hereafter.
Some people assume that the Salaah talked about here is the
Salaah of Muslims. And because the Soorah mentions about those who make show of
their Salaah, they assume that this Soorah or the last three verses of this
Soorah must have been revealed in Madeenah where such hypocrites were found
among the Muslims. However, with the correct perspective of the Salaah offered
by the Makkans, as explained above, any doubts about this Soorah being a Makkan
Soorah should be cleared.
Teachings
In the name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
1 Did you see the one who denies Recompense in the Hereafter?
2 That is the person who pushes the orphan away 3 and does not encourage giving
of poor's food. 4 So woe to the worshippers 5 who are negligent about their
worship, 6 who show off, 7 yet refuse even small kindnesses!
Commentary
The Soorah starts with drawing the reader's / listener's
attention to reflect upon a certain behaviour - the behaviour of a person who
denies the Deen. The word Deen has two meanings:
§ The paradigm according to which people make their
decisions in life; Islam is the Deen of Muslims in that sense.
§ The recompense (reward or punishment) given to
people as a result of their accountability on the Day of Judgement.
As in Soorah Faatihah, Deen here refers to the recompense to
be given in the Hereafter.
This type of behaviour was clearly found among the arch
enemies of Islam and Muslims. For example, according to the Tafseer by Ameen
Ahsan Islaahi, Aboo Lahab was in charge of Holy Ka'bah's food fund that was
established to feed the pilgrims, travellers, orphans and needy, but he had
misappropriated it for his personal benefit as his own wealth, depriving those
who deserved help. He had become quite a wealthy man through ill gains. At the
same time, he was extremely stingy and hated to spend even a penny for public
welfare. Despite being a wealthy man, he never even supported his own
orphaned-nephew, the Prophet sall Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, who was raised by
his other uncle, Aboo Taalib who was financially poor. He was harsh in
rebuking the orphans away instead of helping them.
Similar things have been reported about Aboo Jahl from
Al-Maawardi's book, "Signs of the Prophethood" that he was the guardian of an
orphan, but was not spending the orphan's share of inheritance on the orphan's
basic needs. One day the orphan came to Aboo Jahl to seek help from the
inheritance belonging to him, and he was in such a destitute condition that he
did not even have clothes on his body. Aboo Jahl ignored him completely until
the poor child walked away disappointed and helpless. Some spectators asked the
orphan boy to complain about it to the Prophet. They thought it would be funny
to see how the Prophet sall Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, reacted to the boy's
complaint, knowing that Aboo Jahl was the Prophet's sworn enemy. Not knowing
the circumstances, the boy innocently went to the Prophet sall Allaahu 'alayhi
wa sallam, and complained. When the Prophet heard the matter, without
hesitating even for a moment, he took the boy with him, went to Aboo Jahl and
demanded that he gave the boy his due. The spectators were surprised that Aboo
Jahl was so much under the awe of the Prophet sall Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam,
that he immediately complied and paid the boy.
Instead of saying "encourage feeding the poor", the verse
uses the style that connotes "encourage giving of poor's food". The latter
style has been used to impress upon people that helping poor people fill their
stomach is not a favour that rich people do to the poor. Rather, poor people
have the right to have their food as a compulsory item in the budgets of the
well to do people. As the Qur-aan says in Soorah Al-M'aarij:
"In their wealth there is a designated / known right, for the
beggars and the deprived". (70:24-25)
"Small kindnesses" refer to giving to friends, neighbours or
needy people little things of daily use or lending some tools, implements or
utensils for temporary use.
The most important point that should be noted from the last
three verses of the Soorah is the relationship between the acts of worship and
the goodness of character. These verses clearly indicate that if a person is
not kind, sharing and caring, his acts of worship are neither sincere nor
proper. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala's sincere worship executed properly will
result in a personality that cares for Allaah's creations. If a person is seen
to be practising rituals of worship regularly but lacks kindness and care for
people, he is either merely completing the mechanics of the worship rather than
worshipping properly, or he just shows off to be seen as a worshipper, while in
fact he is not.
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Copyright © 2008 Ayub A. Hamid
All rights reserved
This document may be used, only with this copyright notice
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attributed to the author Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid. Contact the author for all
other rights, which are reserved.
Note: This series is providing the teachings of the Qur'aan,
not a literal translation. Instead of literal translation, it gives
interpretive meanings of the verses, along with their contextual details.
Please remember that any translation of the Holy Qur'aan is in fact only an
expression of the translator's understanding of the Word of Allaah Subhaanahu
wa Ta'aala, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur'aan itself. Only the
original Arabic text can be called the Holy Qur'aan.
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Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid is a visionary and strategic Islamic
thinker residing in Canada for the last 33 years. His recently published books
are:
1. Islam - Does It Make Sense?
2. Unveiling the Commands-The Truth about Hijaab, Khimaar
and Jilbaab.
3. Finding A Soulmate - A Guide for Parents and Youth.
4. A Book Unlike Any Other.
5. Islam - Adopting Its Paradigms.
6. Exploring the Islamic Beliefs.
http://soundvisioncanada.com/shop/pbrowse.asp?Pg=3&Cat=10004
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The following soowar 'Teachings of the Qur'aan' series by
Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid, are available on request:-
Al Faatihah
Al Baqarah
Aali 'Imraan
A Nisaa'
Al Maaidah
Al An`aam
Al A`raaf
Al Anfaal
At Teen
Al`Alaq
Al Qadr
Al Bayyinah
Al Zilzaal
Al Aadiyatt
Al Qaari`ah
At Takaathur
Al`Asr
Al-Humazah
Al-Feel
Al-Quraish
K a r i m a
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