Chapter 16, Verse 91

Important Words:

ذی القربی (like kindred). قربی is infinitive noun from قرب which means, it or he was or became near قرابة like قربی is also infinitive noun from قرب but whereas the former is relationship in a general sense, the latter viz. قربی is relationship by the female side, but both words may also mean relationship or relationship by the female side (Lane).

منکر (manifest evil) is derived from نکر. They say نکرالرجل i.e. he did not know or recognize the man. نکرالامر (amra) means, he was ignorant of the affair. نکرالامر (amru) means, the affair was or became difficult, hard, arduous or severe or it was or became bad, evil, abominable, foul or disapproved. منکر means, ignored or unknown, denied or disacknowledged, any action deemed or declared to be bad, evil, hateful, foul, abominable, indecent, unbecoming, etc., (Lane & Aqrab).

احسان See 2:113.

فحشا See 4:16.

بغی See 2:91.

Commentary:

In the preceding verse the Quran claims to possess four great qualities: (1) It is an explanation of everything, (2) it is a guidance and (3) a mercy and (4) glad tidings for those who submit to God. The present and the following section (ruku‘) establish the truth of this claim and show that the Quran eminently fulfils the supreme purpose which its revelation was intended to serve. The present verse also, as it were in a nutshell, proves this claim of the Quran to be well-founded. It contains three commandments and three prohibitions. These three commandments and prohibitions briefly embody all the various stages of the moral and spiritual development of man. The verse thus constitutes a very good example of what has been said about the Quran in the preceding verse i.e. that it is an explanation of everything تبیانا لکل شیء. The verse ends with the words لعلکم تذکرون which mean, that you may remember the obligations which you owe to God and His creatures and also that you may extol the glory of God and celebrate His praise. Since these are the objects of man’s creation, the verse gives the Faithful the glad tidings that by following injunctions embodied in it they will achieve the purpose of their creation. It is indeed marvellous that the Quran should have, in the brief compass of a short verse, thrown light on all those matters which establish its above-mentioned great claim.

It is impossible to find such combination of brevity and compre-hensiveness in any other religious Scripture. And what is more remarkable is the fact that the words of the verse are quite plain and simple and can be easily understood by a person of ordinary intelligence.

A question cannot be understood to have been fully dealt with unless light is thrown on both its positive and negative aspects. Again, a religious Scripture cannot claim to be perfect unless it possesses the following essential characteristics:

1. It must enjoin the performance of such actions as lead to man’s moral and spiritual perfection and forbid the doing of such actions as are detrimental to the realization of such perfection.

2. It must prescribe laws which are applicable not to one particular individual or community but to the largest number of individuals and communities; and in the formulation of these laws due regard should have been paid to the dispositions and temperaments of all those people for whom it is intended, so that they may not find it difficult to act upon its teaching, every person according to his or her capacity.

3. The third characteristic that a perfect Law must possess is that its teaching should be practical and practicable and acting upon it should not lead to deterioration in human morals, intellect or civilization. The present verse beautifully combines all these essential qualities of a perfect Law. It has not failed to deal properly with both the positive and negative sides of the all-important question of the moral development of man. It has enjoined justice, the doing of good to others and kindness as between kindred; and has forbidden indecency, manifest evil and wrongful transgression.

Now strict justice implies that a person should treat others as he is treated by them. He should return to others the good or evil to the extent or measure to which he has received it from them. In relation to God عدل (justice), which is the first virtue mentioned, would mean that just as God has been good to man, man should render to God His due, and should not by his conduct render Him liable to criticism. He must not give to others what is due to God, for example, his love or devotion. The association of false gods with Him is also doing injustice to God. Similarly, it is contrary to the demands of عدل (justice) that a man should arrogate to himself an attribute which belongs exclusively to God. For example, it is the special prerogative of God to reveal religious Laws. Now if any man arrogates to himself this Divineprerogative and begins to frame a religious Law and seeks to give it the status of a revealed Law, he transgresses the bounds of justice. The observance of عدل in relation to God is calculated to abolish all kinds of shirk (idolatry), infidelity and disobedience to God. Higher than عدل (justice) is the stage of احسان (goodness). At this stage man should have no regard for the kind of treatment he receives from others. He should do good to others regardless of what sort of treatment he receives from them. He must do good to others even if he is maltreated by them. His conduct at this stage should not be actuated by considerations of reciprocity but he should do good to others regardless of the fact whether he has received any good from them or even if they have ill-treated him. This is certainly a higher stage of morals than the first stage of عدل. The qualities of forgiveness, charity, the giving of alms, social service, etc., all fall under this category. The promotion and patronage of knowledge and the systematization of its different branches also are included in this head because it has for its object the material and spiritual wellbeing of man.

The last and highest stage of moral development of man is ایتاء ذی القربی (giving like kindred). At this stage a man is expected to do good to others not in return for any good received from them, nor with the idea of doing more good than the good received, but prompted by a natural impulse, as good is done to very near blood relations. This is a much higher moral stage than the stage of احسان (doing of good). At the stage of احسان the doer of the good may have at the back of his mind the idea that the person concerned has done him some good and that he should do him a better turn and thus win public approbation. Or, in forgiving a person who has done him some wrong, he has the satisfaction that his act of forgiveness would turn a foe into a friend. But at the stage of ایتاء ذی القربی (giving like kindred) a person does good to others prompted as if by natural impulse. His condition at this stage resembles that of a mother whose love for her children is the result of a natural impulse. Her sacrifices and the hardships she willingly suffers for her children are prompted by no hope of return or appreciation. They spring from the natural fountain of love which God has implanted in her nature. At this stage the moral development of man becomes complete.

It may be noted that man’s relations with God cannot possibly go beyond the stage of عدل, for there can be no question of man’s doing good to God in any form. It is only his fellow human beings with whom he can deal according to his own moral condition at the stage of احسان or ایتاء ذی القربی. This implies a beautiful hint that in order to attain the nearness of God and to win His favour it is essential for man to do good to His creatures. A description of these three stages of morals constitutes the positive side of the subject of man’s moral development. Its negative side is portrayed in the three prohibitions which are explained by the three Arabic words viz. فحشاء (indecency), منکر (manifest evil) and بغی(wrongful transgression). فحشاء means such vices of which the knowledge is confined to the doer alone, while منکر means those evils which other men also see and condemn, though they may not suffer any loss or the infringement of their own rights by them. بغی (wrongful transgression), however, comprehends all those vices and evils which not only are seen, felt and hated by men but which do them definite harm also. These three simple words cover all conceivable vices.

A perfect teaching must have due regard for the moral requirements of men of different temperaments and dispositions. The verse under comment fully satisfies this very essential condition. For there are men who may be guilty of indecent acts but would not approve of wrongful acts of which the harm extends to others. There are others who would not infringe the rights of other people but who suffer from moral indecencies whose harm is confined to their own selves, such as back-biting, jealousy and the harbouring of ill-will against others. The three brief words mentioned above embody all the different forms of vice to which man can fall a victim. Thus this short verse of the Quran has covered, by its three commands and three prohibitions, the whole field of virtue and vice and contains requisite guidance for men holding different motives at the different stages of their moral development.

By an appropriate selection and arrangement of its words the verse has explained how a man can effectively eschew all vices and acquire all virtues. It mentions the three categories of virtues implying thereby that in acquiring them a man should first cultivate the quality of عدل (justice), then will he be able to cultivate the nobler and higher quality of احسان (goodness), and lastly, after he has acquired these two moral qualities, will he succeed in cultivating the quality of ایتاء ذی القربی, the highest and noblest of all the moral qualities. But in eschewing vices he should begin with the most obvious and harmful of them viz. بغی (wrongful transgression), and after he has been successful in conquering this vice he should try to master the less obvious vice of منکر (manifest evil) and when he has mastered this evil also he should try to bring under control the more subtle vice of فحشاء (indecency). The description of the good moral qualities and that of the corresponding vices together is intended to draw attention to the important fact that in the cultivation of good moral qualities one has to start from the lowest rung of the ladder, while in the renunciation of vices he has to begin with the most pronounced and harmful one. Thus for his moral perfection man has to traverse six stages of development and the gradation of these stages into six quite harmonizes with a well-known law of nature, viz. that everything has to go through six stages of evolution before it reaches perfection. The verse, as it were, embodies the complete course of moral and spiritual evolution and growth of man.

The verse contains three commandments and three prohibitions which briefly deal with all the various stages of the moral and spiritual development of man and with both its positive and negative sides. It enjoins justice, the doing of good to others and kindness as between kindred; and forbids indecency, manifest evil and transgression. Justice implies that a person should treat others as he is treated by them. He should return to others the good or evil to the extent or measure to which he receives it from them. Higher than ‘Adl (justice) is the stage of Ihsan (goodness) when man should do good to others regardless of what sort of treatment he receives from them, or even if he is maltreated by them. His conduct should not be actuated by considerations of reciprocity. At the last and highest stage of moral development, viz. Ita’i Dhil-Qurba (giving like kindred), a believer is expected to do good to others not in return for any good received from them, nor with the idea of doing mor