Water for the Pilgrims and the Holy Mosque

Qur'an 9:19 · Al-Tawbah

أَجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ ٱلْحَآجِّ وَعِمَارَةَ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ كَمَنْ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَجَـٰهَدَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ لَا يَسْتَوُۥنَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

(9:19) Do you regard the providing of water to Hajj pilgrims and the maintenance of the Holy Mosque as similar [in worth] to someone who has faith in Allah and [believes in] the Last Day and wages jihad in the way of Allah? They are not equal with Allah, and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.

The question

“Do you regard the providing of water to Hajj pilgrims and the maintenance of the Holy Mosque as similar in worth to someone who has faith in Allah and the Last Day and strives in the way of Allah?” — who were being compared, and which report of the occasion of revelation fits the verse?

Views answered: Tafsīr al-Manār (Rashīd Riḍā), which prefers the report of al-Nuʿmān

Al-Mizan's argument

Al-Mizan reads the verse as comparing deeds done in the days of ignorance, without faith — giving water to the pilgrims and maintaining the Holy Mosque, sources of pride for ʿAbbās and Shayba — with faith in God and striving in His way, and finds that this supports the reports that it was revealed when they boasted of these against ʿAlī. In the narrations, Rashīd Riḍā prefers the report of al-Nuʿmān (a dispute among Muslims at the Prophet's pulpit) for the strength of its chain. Al-Mizan answers that exegetical reports are solitary and count only when they agree with the verse, and that the verse speaks of deeds without faith, so the report of al-Nuʿmān is the furthest from it; it then ranks the other reports by how well they fit.

Reading guide

Each part opens the commentary at that point.

1. What siqāyah means
2. What the verse compares
3. Deeds of the days of ignorance against faith and striving
4. The occasion of revelation: ʿAbbās, Shayba and ʿAlī
5. Narrations: the boast of ʿAbbās and Shayba
6. Al-Manār prefers the report of al-Nuʿmān
7. Solitary reports count only when they agree with the verse
8. Answering Rashīd Riḍā
9. His third claim
10. Which report is furthest from the verse

Read the whole commentary on 9:19 →