Appearance
Verses 36–42
These seven verses exhort good-doing and spending in the way of God, and promise good reward for it; at the same time, they condemn the opposite conduct, be it miserliness or spending for showing to the people.
وَاعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا ۖ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَبِذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْجَارِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْجَارِ الْجُنُبِ وَالصَّاحِبِ بِالْجَنْبِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ مَنْ كَانَ مُخْتَالًا فَخُورًا ٣٦
(4:36) And worship Allah and do not associate any thing with Him, and do good to the parents and to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the neighbor of (your) kin and the alien neighbor, and the companion at your side and the way-farer and those whom your right hands possess, surely Allah does not love him who is proud, boastful.
This is what is called monotheism; but here it refers to the monotheism in practice, that is, doing good deed (including the benevolence which is the topic particularly mentioned here) only for the sake of God’s pleasure, seeking the reward of the hereafter, not for satisfying one’s own desire as it would be tantamount to associating (one’s desire) with God.
This interpretation is supported by the verse’s ending phrase which gives the reason of this order in these words: surely Allah does not love him who is proud, boastful; and then identifies this unloved person as the one who is niggardly and the one who spends in charity only for showing to the people. These are the ones who associate something else with God and do not worship Him alone. Then the talk proceeds: And what (harm) would it have done them if they had believed in Allah and the last day. Obviously, their polytheism emanates from their lack of belief in the Day of Judgment. God says in another place: ... and do not follow desire, lest it should lead you astray from the path of Allah; (as for) those who go astray from the path of Allah, for them surely there is a severe punishment because they forgot the Day of Reckoning (). It shows that those who go astray by following their desire—and every type of polytheism is [unmitigated] a straying—do so because they have forgotten the Day of Reckoning. Again God says: Have you then seen him who takes his low desire for his god, and Allah has made him err in spite of his knowledge (). This makes it clear that to follow one’s desire is to worship it, associating it with God. It is clear from the above that monotheism in practice demands that whatever good one does, it should be purely for the sake of God—in anticipation of His reward—remembering the Day of Reckoning when rewards and punishments will be awarded. On the other hand, polytheism in practice means forgetting the last day—if he had believed in it, he would not have forgotten it. Such a man does whatever he does, not for the divine reward, but because of what appears to his base desire as attractive, be it niggardliness or spending in charity in order that people should praise him for his generosity and so on. This man treats his desire as equal to his God, and associates it with Him.
The real purpose of the divine worship and unpolluted sincerity is that it should be for seeking God’s pleasure and getting His reward, not in pursuance of one’s desire.
... and do good to the parents ... and those whom your right hands possess;: Obviously, the word ihsānāʾ (to do good) is cognate accusative to emphasize a deleted verb; the completed sentence would mean ‘do good to the parents, etc., to your utmost capability’. The infinitive verb, al-ihsān uses the prepositions, bi and ilā, it is said: I did good to (bi) him; or, I did good towards (ilā) him.
The words, ‘‘and to the near of kin’’ and the following words are in conjunction with ‘‘the parents’’. ‘‘The near of kins’’ means near relatives. [The neighbors have been classified in two groups:] the neighbor of (your) kin and the alien neighbor. This apposition of adjectives indicates that the former refers to a neighbor whose house is near yours, and the latter to the one who is at a distance, because al-janab means alien. A tradition narrated from the Prophet limits neighborhood to forty arm-lengths; while another one says, ‘forty houses’. Probably the two traditions separately describe the two categories of the neighbors.
The words, ‘‘the companion at your side’’, refer to the one who keeps your company remaining at your side. It covers companions in a journey as well as those who are with you at your residence and so on.
The word translated here as ‘‘the way-farer’’, literally means, ‘‘son of the way’’; it is as though nothing is known of his details except that he is travelling on a path, and that there is none he could be related to, except the way he is proceeding on; so he is the son of the way. The phrase does not imply that he should be poor, in need of help, having no transport or provisions. The words, ‘‘those whom your right hands possess’’; refer to slaves; male and female, because they are counted here among those whom one must be good to; mostly they are referred to as those who are possessed ‘‘by your right hands’’, not as those possessed by you.
... surely Allah does not love him who is proud, boastful;: al-Mukhtāl means haughty, prancing, lost in his conceited thoughts; a horse is called al-khayl because of its prancing walk. al-Fakhūr is boastful. The two traits of pride and boastfulness are inseparable concomitants of excessive love of wealth and glory. That is why God does not love a proud and boastful person, because his heart is attached to something other than God. The next two verses expose these two characteristics when they say: Those who are niggardly ..., and, those who spend their property (in alms) to show to the people ...; the first group craves for wealth and the second for glory and fame—although the wealth and the fame are somewhat inseparable from each other.
This speech normally should have begun with exposition of their evil deeds, e.g., niggardliness, hiding the bounties received from God, and other such things; but God first mentioned these two adjectives to clearly show why God does not love them.
الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ وَيَكْتُمُونَ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۗ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُهِينًا ٣٧
(4:37) Those who are niggardly and bid people to be niggardly and hide what Allah has given them out of His grace; and We have prepared for the unbelievers a disgraceful chastisement.
It is through their wrong behavior and bad example that they order people to be niggardly, whether they use any word to this effect or not. They are rich and wealthy; people try to attach themselves to them and therefore follow their examples; this results from the greed ingrained in human nature. In short, these rich people’s niggardliness is no less commanding than their words.
How do they hide the bounties which God has given them out of His grace? They behave like, and pretend to be, a needy penniless person; they are annoyed when someone asks them for some help, but at the same time are afraid to refuse lest they are attacked, and it would be more disastrous if people turned their attention to their wealth. [So the remedy is to pretend to be poor.] The adjective, ‘unbelievers’, at the end of the verse refers to these people who hide God’s bounties they have received; the same is the root-meaning of the well-known al-kāfir because he hides the truth by rejecting it.
وَالَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۗ وَمَنْ يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاءَ قَرِينًا ٣٨
(4:38) And those who spend their property (in alms) to show to the people and do not believe in Allah nor in the last day; and as for him whose associate is the Satan, an evil associate is he!
That is, they spend for showing to the people. The verse proves that: Showiness in charity or in any other good work is in fact polytheism, which shows that such a man does not believe in God, because he has more confidence in people and in their appreciation.
It is also polytheism in practice, because that man does not want any reward of the hereafter for his deeds; his entire hope is to reap the fruit of his ‘charity’ in this world.
The person who does good deeds for showing to the people is associated with the Satan, and the Satan is an evil associate.
وَمَاذَا عَلَيْهِمْ لَوْ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَأَنْفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَهُمُ اللَّهُ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِهِمْ عَلِيمًا ٣٩
(4:39) And what (harm) would it have done them if they had believed in Allah and the last day and spent (benevolently) of what Allah had given them? And Allah knows them.
The question arises from pity or amazement. The verse proves that refraining from spending benevolently in the way of God emanates from lack of true belief in God and the last day—although one may be pretending to have such belief.
The end sentence, and Allah knows them, prepares the ground for the next verse. It is more in keeping with the import of this sentence to treat it as a circumstantial clause.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ ۖ وَإِنْ تَكُ حَسَنَةً يُضَاعِفْهَا وَيُؤْتِ مِنْ لَدُنْهُ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا ٤٠
(4:40) Surely Allah does not do injustice to the weight of an atom, and if it is a good deed He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward.
al-Mithqāl (weight); al-dharrah means small red ant; also a single dust particle floating in air which is hardly visible because of its smallness. The word mithqāla dharratin stands in place of a cognate accusative; the meaning will be: God does not do any injustice at all, not even equal in weight to an atom’s.
The word hasanatan has also been read as hasanatun. In latter case, it would mean, ‘and if there is a good deed’; in the former case it denotes, ‘and if that minute weight of atom is a good deed, God multiplies it’. The verb, wa in taku, uses feminine pronoun either because the predicate hasanatan is feminine, or because the word mithqāl, being in genitive construction with dharrah—a feminine—has acquired feminity.
The context indicates that this verse gives a sort of reason for the preceding question. The meaning may be as follows: It is regrettable that they do not believe and do not spend in the way of God. Had they believed and spent benevolently—and God knows them well—He would not have done injustice to them even to the weight of an atom they had spent; God would not have neglected it or left out its reward; and if it had been a good deed, He would have multiplied it.
And God knows better.
فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِنْ كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَىٰ هَٰؤُلَاءِ شَهِيدًا ٤١
(4:41) How will it be, then, when We bring from every people a witness and bring you as a witness over these?
We have described the meaning of witness to a certain extent when explaining the witnessing over deeds, in the exegesis of the verse, ... that you may be witness for the people ... (). Some more details will be given in a more appropriate place.
يَوْمَئِذٍ يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَعَصَوُا الرَّسُولَ لَوْ تُسَوَّىٰ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضُ وَلَا يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّهَ حَدِيثًا ٤٢
(4:42) On that day will those who disbelieve and disobey the Messenger desire that the earth were levelled with them, and they shall not hide any word from Allah.
The clause, ‘‘and disobey the Messenger’’ clearly refers to disobeying his administrative orders, and not the disobedience of God in matters of sharīʿah. The clause, the earth were levelled with them, is an indirect allusion to death, that is, nullity of existence. A similar expression appears in the verse, and the unbeliever shall say: ‘‘O! would that I were dust’’ ().
... and they shall not hide any word from Allah: It is apparent from the context that the sentence is in conjunction with, ‘‘those who disbelieve ... [will] desire’’, and it gives in a way the reason of their desire to die; that is, on that day they will be appearing before God, nothing of their secrets will be hidden from Him because their total condition will be clearly seen by Him—their deeds will be present; their limbs and organs will give evidence against them; the prophets, angels and others will testify against them; and God encompasses them on every side. In that situation they would desire they were non-existent, especially as they would not be able to hide any word from God as their bad deeds and evil actions would be apparent for all to see.
As for the verse, On the day that Allah will raise them up, then they will swear to Him as they swear to you, ... (), we shall explain it later that their false swearing will be just a reflex action emanating from the habit of lying ingrained in their nature in this life; it will not be for hiding any word from God—on a day when nothing of them will be hidden from Him.
Examining Narrations
- Salām al-Juʿfī narrates from Abū Jaʿfar and Abān b. Taghlib from Abū ʿAbdillāh, that the word, the parents, in the clause, and do good to the parents, refers to the Messenger of God and ʿAlī, (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī). al-ʿAyyāshī has further written: ‘‘A similar meaning has been narrated in the hadīth of Ibn Jabalah. He says: ‘It has been narrated from the Prophet: ‘‘I and ʿAlī are the two parents of this ummah.’’ ’ ’’
Author’s comments: al-Bahrānī says, after quoting this tradition in his Tafsīr al-burhān: ‘‘I say: It has been narrated also by the author of al- Fā’iq.’’
al-ʿAyyāshī has also narrated it through Abū Basīr from Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAbdillāh (peace be on both): and Ibn Shahrāshūb has narrated it through Abān from Abū Jaʿfar. The meaning expounded in this hadīth is from the inner and deeper strata of the Qur’anic realities, as we have described in the third volume, under the topic of the decisive and ambiguous verses.
The father is the physical progenitor of human being, and brings him up. That is why the teacher who leads the pupil to academic perfection is called his father. In this background, personages like the Prophet and waliyy (the best blessings be on them) have got much stronger right to be called the fathers of the believer (who is guided by them, and enlightened by their knowledge), than the physical father whose contribution is confined to his body’s genesis and bringing up. Therefore, the Prophet and the waliyy are the parents; and all the Qur’anic verses exhorting the people to be good to their parents encompass these two, according to the inner Qur’anic meaning, although the outer interpretation is restricted to the physical parents.
- Abū Sālih narrates from Abu al-ʿAbbās in explanation of, and the neighbour of (your) kin and the alien neighbor, that he said: ‘‘It is the neighbor who has no relationship with you; and the companion at your side means the companion in journey.’’ (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī).
Author’s comments: The explanation of the neighbor cover both categories of neighbors, although it is possible to restrict it to the alien neighbor only. Probably the explanation of the companion with the companion in journey looks at one of its applications.
- Masʿadah b. Sadaqah narrates from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad from his grandfather (peace be on them) that he said: ‘‘The Leader of the faithful said in a sermon describing the terror of the Day of Resurrection: ‘The mouths will be sealed so they would not speak; and will speak the hands, and will testify the legs, and will declare the skins what they had done; so they shall not hide any word from God.’ ’’ (ibid.)
Many reports have been given through the Sunnī chains that these verses were revealed about the Jews. These may be supported by the speech (beginning from the 44th verse), that describes the behavior of the People of the Book (and especially the Jews) and condemns them for their miserliness, and their greed in accumulation of wealth; also for their whispering campaign among the believers putting evil thoughts in their minds that they should stop benevolent expenditure in the way of God; for their temptation of the Muslims to lead them away from the right course and then leaving them helpless; and thus disrupting the endeavors of the Messenger of God. Nevertheless, such reports, more probably, merely apply the verses to a known situation, rather than describing the actual reason of revelation—as is the case with most of the reports giving reasons of revelation. That is why, in spite of their number, we have not quoted them here.
There are innumerable traditions reported from the Prophet and his progeny (blessings and peace from God be on them) extolling the virtue of doing good to the parents, the relatives, the orphans and all the groups mentioned in this verse; moreover they are widely known and .famous. Therefore, we are not quoting them here. A part from that, each group has been especially mentioned in various places of the Qur’an, and it would be more appropriate to write traditions relevant to them in those places.
This interpretation is far-fetched and the proof does not support the claim. If the second phrase means ‘‘alien neighbor’’, then ‘‘near neighbor’’ should mean the neighbor who is related to you, as a coming tradition explains. Moreover, the word dhu al-qurbāʾ has never been used in the Qur’an for showing nearness in physical distance. [Trans.] ↩︎
The two definitions could as easily mean that a relative should be treated also as a neighbor even if he lives at a distance of forty houses: while for unrelated persons neighborhood ends at a distance of forty arm-lengths. But, most probably, such traditions do not aim at giving legal definitions enforceable through land measurement. They look at common usage and behavior prevalent in society. [Trans.] ↩︎
Vide al-Mīzān, (Eng. transl.), vol. 2. [Trans.] ↩︎
Vide al-Mīzān, (Eng. transl.), vol. 5. [Trans.] ↩︎