Al-Mā‘ūn

Al-Mā‘ūn: the cards as text

Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 107. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    It starts with an orphan pushed away and ends with a pot nobody would lend.

  2. Card 2

    A man who expects no bill

    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.

  3. Card 3

    Seven ayat, three moves

    1. 1-3: The man who expects no reckoning. Have you seen him? He is the one who shoves the orphan away. He never urges that the poor be fed.
    2. 4-6: The ones who pray. A turn nobody expects: woe to people who pray. They are careless of their prayer, and they do it to be seen.
    3. 7: The pot they will not lend. The last charge is the smallest: they hold back even the little things a neighbour asks to borrow.
  4. Card 4

    Al-Mā‘ūn 107:1: The surah opens with a question and a pointed finger.

    أَرَءَيۡتَ ٱلَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ ۝١

    1 Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense?

  5. Card 5

    The day accounts are settled

    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.

  6. Card 6

    Al-Mā‘ūn 107:2: How 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

  7. Card 7

    Al-Mā‘ūn 107:3: The 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.

  8. Card 8

    Al-Mā‘ūn 107:4-5: Then 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 -

  9. Card 9

    Heedless of it, not in it

    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.

  10. Card 10

    Pecking like a crow

    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.

  11. Card 11

    Al-Mā‘ūn 107:6: The motive, in one short line.

    ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ يُرَآءُونَ ۝٦

    6 Those who make show [of their deeds]

  12. Card 12

    Al-Mā‘ūn 107:7: And the last charge is the smallest.

    وَيَمۡنَعُونَ ٱلۡمَاعُونَ ۝٧

    7 And withhold [simple] assistance.

  13. Card 13

    An axe, a pot, a bucket

    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.

  14. Card 14

    Reflect: In ayah 5, who is the warning aimed at?

    Answer: People careless of the prayer itself. The Arabic says heedless "of" the prayer, not "in" it. The commentaries read it as not caring about the prayer at all, and most say it describes the hypocrites.

  15. Card 15

    The end of Al-Mā‘ūn.

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