107
اَلْمَاعُوْنِ
Almsgiving
(or Have You Seen...)

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ۔

اَرَءَيْتَ الَّذِيْ يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّيْنِ۔ؕ فَذٰلِكَ الَّذِيْ يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيْمَ۔ وَ لَا يَحُضُّ عَلٰى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِيْنِ۔ؕ فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّيْنَ۔ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُوْنَ۔ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ يُرَآءُوْنَ۔ وَ يَمْنَعُوْنَ الْمَاعُوْنَ۔

In the name of God—the most compassionate, the most merciful.

Have you seen someone who rejects religion? That is the person who pushes the orphan aside and does not promote feeding the needy.

It will be too bad for the prayerful who are absent-minded as they pray, who aim to be noticed while they hold back contributions.

This chapter, which has seven verses, draws our attention to the Day of Judgement, when we shall be held responsible for all our good or bad actions. It also deplores the ways of those who deny the Day of Judgement, treat the helpless with contempt and lead arrogant, selfish lives. They do not extend the slightest courtesy or kindness to their fellow human beings, their hearts being empty of Faith.

The hypocrites may put on a pretense of doing good deeds, but these hollow acts will not avail them. This chapter also warns those who are ‘heedless in their prayer.’

Belief in the reckoning of the Hereafter makes a man pious. One who does not believe in this will be devoid of all goodness; he will be neglectful of prayer to God; he will not be ashamed of pushing over a weak person; he will not think it necessary to discharge the dues and rights of the poor; he will not even give to others such things as will cause him no substantial loss—even if it be only matchsticks or his good wishes.