sura insan
(human)
no. 76 (verses 5-11)
5.
"verity, the righteous drink of a cup; the mixture of
which is (like) camphor."
6. `a fountain, where the servants
of allah drink, flows in abundance
(wherever they wish)."
7. "they fulfill (their) vows and fear
a day, the chastisement
of which is widespread."
8. "and they feed, for the love of
allah, the indigent, the orphan,
and the captive."
9. (saying): "we feed you for the sake
of allah alone: no reward do
we desire from you, nor thanks."
10. "we only fear from our lord
a day, frowningly severe."
11. therefore, allah will guard them
against the evil of that day, and
will grant over hem a light of beauty and a (blissful) joy."
the occasion of revelation:
a great evidence for the superiority
and excellence of ahlui-bayt: the
household of the prophet (p.b.u.h.)
ibn-abbas says that hassan and
hosain (p.b.u.h.) were sick the
prophet (p.b.u.h.) and a group of
followers came to visit them. they
suggested to hazrat ali to take a
vow for their recovery. so, ali
fatima and fezza (their
house-helper) took a vow that if hassan and
hosain recovered, they would fast
for three days. (according to the
same narration, hassan and hosain
(p.b.u.h.) made the same vow.)
after a short while both of them recovered. therefore, the family
fasted for the first day, but, as
they were in dire need for food stuffs,
hazrat ali borrowed some barley
and hazrat fatima ground one-third
of it into flour and baked some
bread.
with the onset of evening, when they were preparing to break
their fasts, an indigent person
came to their door and said, "peace
be
upon you, the household of mohammad.
i am a needy muslim, so please
give me some food. may allah bestow
upon you, in kind, from divine
sustenance." all of them gave priority to him and gave him their
shares.
that night, they broke their fast
with only water.
the following day they fasted again, but, like the previous day,
an orphan came to the door. once
more, they forfeited their bread and
ate nothing but water.
the next day, they fasted for the third time. this day a captive
came to their house and they
repeated their charity.
on the fourth day, all took hassan and hosain with himself to see
the prophet. when the prophet
observed their condition; they were
trembling with hunger, he said, "it grieves me to see you in this
condition."
then, he stood up and walked with
them. when he arrived at their
home, he found fatima praying.
her stomach was sunk in to her back-
bone and her eyes had become
sunken, too. the prophet was greatly
affected. at this moment gabriel
descended and said, "o,
mohammad
receive this sura. allah
congratulates you for having such a family." and
then gabrielrecited, to him, sura hal-ata. 1
commentary:
the great reward for the righteous
in the aforementioned verses (1-4)
human beings were divided into
two groups; the grateful and the
ungrateful and reference was made to
the 'punishment and penalty' for the ungrateful but, in these verses
there is a recount of the 'rewards' offered to the righteous.
first, it says, "verily, the
righteous drink of a cup; the mixture of
which is (like) camphor"
the term "abrar" is the plural form of "barr", which originally means
'broadness and
expansiveness '. for this
reason, dry land and vast deserts,
as opposed to large bodies of
water, are called "barr" thus, this term is
applied to the righteous (people
who do good), because their good
deeds have extensive effects on
the society.
the word /birr/ means "to be pious", 'just', or "to act justly". it is
said that making the distinction
between "khayr" and "birr" is for the
reason that the former has a
general meaning of goodness while the
latter has the specific meaning
of `goodness accompanied by
intention'.
the term "kafur" has various meanings; one of which is 'good
smelling'. another meaning is 'fragrant plant' or a plant which has a
sweet fragrance. also, it has the
common meaning of `a sharp
odor'
that has medical applications,
e.g. for sterilizing or disinfecting. the
other meaning has its importance
as an extraordinarly white and cool
substance, and it is famous.
because of its coolness and whiteness.
furthermore, this verse indicates that this purifying drink is so
fragrant that it is enjoyed both
through the senses of taste and smell.
on the whole, "kafur"
has been considered as having the same value as
musk and ambegris; the famous
sweet fragrances.
then, it refers to the fountainhead from which this cup of divine
drink is filled; and says, "a fountain, where from the servants of
allah
drink,' flows in abundance (wherever
they wish).' this purified fountain
is under their control in such a
way that it flows wherever they wish.
it is worthy of mention that in a tradition from imam baqir (p.b.u.h.)
it is quoted that in a
description of the fountain he said that
this fountain is placed in the
house of the prophet and from there it
flows to the houses of the
previous prophets (p.b.u.h.) and believers.
it is true that, as in this world, the fountains of knowledge and
mercy flow from the prophet's
house toward the servants of allah and
the righteous, and in the next
world (which is a great illustration of this
condition) the fountain of the
divine pure drink will originate from his
house and therefore, to the
houses of other believers.
the term "yufajjirun" is based on the word "tafjjrt" which, itself,
is derived from the root
"fajara" which means 'to
cause water to flow' or
'to break' on a large scale, whether breaking the earth or
anything else.
when, as it seems, the light of
the morning breaks the dark curtain of
the night; this light is called
"fajr". also, they call an evildoer "fajir"
(wicked), because he breaks open
the curtain of modesty and piety.
however, in this verse it means "the opening of the ground'.
it is remarkable that among the many blessings of heaven, referred
to in this sura, the first to be
mentioned is this `special pure
fragrant
drink'. perhaps, because after passing their account on
the day of
judgment and on their arrival
into heaven, by drinking this drink, they
clear their hearts from any
grief, discomfort and impurity. then, they
can benefit from the other divine
blessings, while they are basking in the
love of allah.
* * * *
in the following verses, the
deeds and qualifications of the
'righteous'
and 'servants of allah' are described. their eligibility for such
unparalleled blessings is
reasoned through having five characteristics. it says:
"they fulfill (their) vows and fear a day; the chastisement of which
is widespread".
the terms 'they fulfill (their) vows' and 'fear
allah' (including
some later sentences, which are
all said infast, at the end of each day,
but by only drinking water and
their hea the present tense) indicate
that this is their ever-existing,
routine practice.
as was explained, earlier, regarding the occasion of revelation, the
true essence of these verses is
targeted at ali, fatima, hassan and
hosain (p.b.u.th.), for they
fulfilled their vows of fasting for three
consecutive days, and did not
break their rts were filled with the fear of
allah and the day of judgment.
the term "mustatir" means `vast', or `scattered', which refers to the
great and various punishments on
that great day.
when they fulfilled their own vow, they definitely respected and
fulfilled what allah has made
obligatory their fear of the
chastisement of the great day was
due to their deep belief in the
resurrection, and to their
intensive responsibility in regard to
comman.
they truly believed in the resurrection and the penalties which are
waiting for the wrong-doers this
belief is made manifest by their own
sincere actions.
* * * *
then, referring to the third worthy deed of
the righteous, it says:
* * * *
"and they feed, for
the love of allah, the indigent, the orphan' and the captive
* * * *
donating food at the time of
seoad implication which includes:
the indigent, orphans and
captives; and hence, their generosity covers a
large variety of 'needy' the embvere
self-need requires great
generosity it was not simply
feeding someone, since their action
demanded sacrifices at a time
when they, themselves, were in the
greatest need.
on the other hand, this has a bredded meaning in the arabic text
" `ala hubbihi" refers
to `the food' and denotes the fact that they donated the
food which they craved for this
conforms with the sense of sura
al-i-'imran. no. 3, verse 92
which says: "by no means shall
you attain
righteousness unless you give freely
(benevolently) of that which you love,..."
the meaning of "miskin" 'indigent', "yatim" 'orphan' and "asir"
'captive' are clear, but, among
the commentators, there is no agreement
as to the exact meaning and the
kind of "asir" 'captive', which is
mentioned in the verse; but on
the whole, the word `captive' refers to
one who was taken captive in the
wars with atheists or polytheists.
according to the occasion of revelation, a captive had come to the
door of ali's house, when usually
a captive would have been put in
prison.
as we understand from history, the explanation is that at the time of
mohammad (p.b.u.h.), there were
no prisons at all the prophet (p.b.u.h.)
distributed the captives among
the muslims to guard, however,
he told them to be kind to the
captives and to take good care of them.
at times when those muslims had
problems in providing for their
captives, they asked for help
from other fellow muslims. the !guards'
went with the captive or they
sent him alone to seek their help. it is
known that at that period in
history, muslims had very difficult times.
later, as the muslims' territory
and rule spread and when the number of
criminal captives increased, with
the spread of government, jails were
built and the expenses were paid
from the muslims' treasury.
in any event, we understand from the above verse that one of the
best acts is feeding the poor and
the needy; not only those of muslims,
but also the poor and the needy
from other territories and even pagans
are included as a matter of
islamic routine. it is so important that
feeding them is considered one of
the prominent good deeds of `the
righteous'
it has been narrated that the prophet (p.b.u.h.) told the believers
that they should treat the
captives well and fair. when the muslims
heard this; giving priority to
captives, they even, at times, donated their
own food to them. 2
* * * *
the fourth prominent
characteristic of the righteous is considered
to be 'pureness and sincerity'; it says: "(saying): `we feed you for the sake
of allah alone: no reward do we
desire from you, nor thanks.'
they behave, thus, not only in the case of feeding the needy, but
what they do is also sincere and
for the sake of allah they desire no
reward nor thanks from anyone.
basically, in islam, the value of an action is in its sincerity and pure
immaculate intention, and hence,
activities which have worldly
motivations, whether they be
hypocritical or for people's approval and
appreciation or for lusts or for
venal rewards, have no islamic or moral
value. a famous tradition from
the prophet (p.b.u.h.), which attests to
this fact, says: "no deed is accepted unless (it is done)
with the pure
intention far allah"
the term "wajh" means literally face, countenance' then, the
meaning of
"wajh-i-llah" is `the face
of allah', but we know that allah
does not have a bodily face. `face' is the symbol of personality or self,
then the meaning is "he
essence of allah' as we read in sura baqarah
no. 2, verse 272: "...when you spend not except in search of
allah's
countenance...". and also from sura kahf, no. 18 verse 28, it says:
"and restrain yourself
along with those who call on their lord morning
and evening desiring his
countenance..."
on the last characteristic of `the
righteous' it says: "we only fear
from our lord a day, frowningly
severe". this statement can be
made by
their own tongue or by their mute
mannerisms. the term 'frowning' is
usually used to describe the
persons who are distraught, hence it is used
for the day of judgment, since
the day and its events are so stern and
distressful that not only people
are frowning, but the day, itself, is also
frowning. the term
"qamtarir" has often been used in the sense of 'being
stern and calamitous'.
here, a question arises: the righteous act only for the sake of
allah, then why are they afraid
of his punishment? does their divine
motive match with the motive of
fear of the punishments on the day of
judgment? paying attention to one
point makes the answer to the
question clear.
the righteous do everything, in any case, for the sake of allah.
if they are afraid of the
punishments on the day of judgment, it is
because they are his punishments
and if they love for the blessings of
heaven, it is because they are
his blessings. this is the same fact that
is discussed in islamic
jurisprudence about the intention of a devotional
act which says: devotional acts, for gaining allah's affinity, do
not contradict
the desire of reward and the fear of
punishment or even asking allah for
worldly gifts, such as the prayer of
asking for rain, because all of them relate
to allah; though the high stage !f a
devotional act is that it is done totally
only for the love of allah, not for
the desire of the blessings in heaven or for
the fear of punishment in hell.
the verse: "we only fear from
our lord a day, frowningly severe"
attests to the fact that this
fear is also like having the fear of allah.
it is noteworthy that the second
and the fifth characteristics are
both on the subject of fear, but
with a difference, in that, the former
only mentions the fear of the day
of judgment, while in the latter it
refers to the fear of allah on
that day. at one point, `day' is
described by `the chastisement of which is widespread' and another time it
is characterized as 'frowning and calamitous'. in fact, one shows its
vastness and the other refers to
its spiritual quality.
* * * *
verse no.11 points
to a part of the result of the good deeds and
pure intentions of the righteous.
it says: "therefore, allah will
guard
them against the evil of that day
and will grant over them a light of beauty
and a (blissful) joy."
the term "nadrah" means `a
special refreshment and happiness
resulting from the abundance of
blessing and comfort'. truly, their
appearance shows their inner
calmness and happiness on that day.
therefore, if they feared the
day, because of their responsibility in this
world, on that day allah would
make them happy in return.
the term "laqahum" `they
meet', used in this verse, is very
interesting and meaningful. it
shows that allah receives them with
he grace, and places them in the light of his mercy and because of
this, they are full of joy and
happiness.
* * * *
feeding the starved is of
the greatest good deeds.
feeding the needy is one of the prominent good deeds
of `the
righteous' and 'the servants of allah'.
this is mentioned not only in the
above verses, but it is also
emphasized in many other verses of the
qur'an. hence, it is understood
that this good deed is particularly
appreciated by allah.
nowadays, according to the news broadcasts, every year millions
of people die from starvation in
some parts of the world, while in some
other parts, so much extra food
is discarded as garbage. if we pay
attention to this, two points
will become very clear. first, the absence
of morals in today's world, and
second, the need for islamic instruction.
there are many islamic narrations
that seriously refer to this
subject, some of which are as
follows:
1. a tradition from the
prophet (p.b.u.h.) says: "one
who feeds three
muslims, will be fed, by allah, from
three lush gardens in the dominion of
the heavens." 3
2. a narration from imam sadiq
(p.b.u.h.) says: "one who feeds
a
muslim believer to his fill, will be
rewarded on the day of judgment so
much so that neither a man nor an
angel nor a prophet knows the amount
except allah, who is lord for
all." 4
another narration from the same imam says: "i prefer to feed a needy believer
than only to visit him and i prefer
to visit him than to free ten slaves." 5
notice that the narrations do not
emphasize on feeding only the
needy and the starved, but some
of them denote that feeding the
believers is as important as
freeing a slave even though the believer is
not in need of the food. this
shows that the main goal, besides feeding
someone, is gaining the hearts
and strengthening friendly relations.
however, the opposite case is
seen among many people today.
sometimes two close friends or two relatives go to a hotel and each
of them pays his own share, as if
paying the expenses of the other is
something unheard of, especially
if the number of the guests is large.
some narrations stipulate that feeding the starved, in general,
(irrespective of believers or
unbelievers) is of the best deeds. for
example, a tradition from the
prophet (p.b.u.h.) says: "one
of the greatest
deeds, in the sight of allah, is to
soothe the heartached and to feed the
starved. by him in whose hand is
mohammad's soul; the muslim who,
being satisfied with food, sleeps at
night while his muslim brother or
neighbour is hungry, has not really
believed in me (my prophecy)!" 6
although the last part of the aforementioned tradition is about
feeding the muslims, the first
part covers all the starved and the vastness
of the meaning may cover even the
animals.
1 al-ghadir, vol.3, p.107-111, ihqaqal-haq, vol 3, p 157
171.
2 kamil-iibn-athir, v. 2, p.131
3 usul-i-ksft vol.2.chapter feeding', traditions 3
and 6.
4 ibid
5 usul-i-kafi, vol.2, chapter `feeding', tradition 18
6 bihar-al-anwar, vol.74, p.369. |
