Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 107
الماعون
Small Kindnesses
It starts with an orphan pushed away and ends with a pot nobody would lend.
7 ayat, Makkan, Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
The setting
Al-Jalalayn names two possible men. Ma'ariful Qur'an counts one of them, al-'As ibn Wa'il, among the leaders of Quraysh.
Whoever he was, he does not expect ever to be asked what he did.
The surah does not argue with him. It describes him.
Journey map
Al-Mā‘ūn 107:1The surah opens with a question and a pointed finger.
أَرَءَيۡتَ ٱلَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ ١
1 Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense?
The word
The Arabic word is din. Ibn Kathir and al-Jalalayn read it here as the reckoning after death. The man in ayah 1 is not accused of wrong rituals. He thinks the bill never comes.
Al-Mā‘ūn 107:2How the denier is known: not by what he says.
فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِي يَدُعُّ ٱلۡيَتِيمَ ٢
2 For that is the one who drives away the orphan
Al-Mā‘ūn 107:3The charge is not only that he does not feed the poor.
وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلۡمِسۡكِينِ ٣
3 And does not encourage the feeding of the poor.
Al-Mā‘ūn 107:4-5Then the surah turns on people who do pray.
فَوَيۡلࣰ لِّلۡمُصَلِّينَ ٤ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ عَن صَلَاتِهِمۡ سَاهُونَ ٥
4 So woe to those who pray
5 [But] who are heedless of their prayer -
The word
The Arabic says heedless "of" their prayer, not "in" it. An early scholar praised Allah for that word. A wandering mind is not the target. Not caring about the prayer at all is.
A closer look
Ibn Kathir quotes a saying of the Prophet ﷺ about the hypocrite's prayer: he waits until the sun is nearly down, then pecks out four units, remembering Allah in them only a little.
Al-Mā‘ūn 107:6The motive, in one short line.
ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ يُرَآءُونَ ٦
6 Those who make show [of their deeds]
Al-Mā‘ūn 107:7And the last charge is the smallest.
وَيَمۡنَعُونَ ٱلۡمَاعُونَ ٧
7 And withhold [simple] assistance.
Where scholars differ
Asked what al-ma'un is, the Companion Ibn Mas'ud listed things neighbours lend: an axe, a pot, a bucket. Ma'ariful Qur'an says most commentators read it as zakah, the yearly share owed to the poor.
Reflect, just for you
Seen by lamplight. It gives more each time.
It starts with an orphan pushed away and ends with a pot nobody would lend.