قِيَٰمًا

Important Words:

قیاما (means of support) is derived from قام i.e. he stood up. قام بالامر means, he undertook or managed the affair. قام علیهmeans, he took care of him or it. قام بالیتیم means, he supported or maintained the orphan (Lane). So قیام would mean, the act or state of standing; a means of support or sustenance.

Commentary:

The verse speaks of the property of the orphans as "your property," hinting thereby that the guardians of orphans should be very careful about spending the orphans’ property and should in this respect treat it as their own. The expression "your property" may also signify "the property of the orphans which is in your custody." It is also possible that the expression has been used here to include all property whether belonging to the orphans or to their guardians.

As special emphasis was laid in the preceding verses on the care and good treatment of orphans, there was a likelihood that some Muslims might too readily give orphans their money on demand from them. This verse cautions guardians against such a hasty step, because, being young and inexperienced, orphans might waste their money and might also thereby spoil their character. Muslims are, therefore, bidden to meet the legitimate needs of orphans but not to squander away their money, which is a means of their support and maintenance. The same injunction applies to the children or persons of weak understanding in general, the reason being the same in both cases.

The word سفھاء translated as "foolish" but properly meaning, "those who cannot take proper care of their possessions", has been substituted for the word "orphans" in the present verse to supply the needed reason for the injunction, as well as to make it of general application, including in its scope all such persons as are unable to take care of their possessions.

In the case of disabled adults, the verse would be taken to be addressed to the State which should take effective steps to set up institutions like courts of wards to look after the property of such persons as cannot manage it themselves.

4:104; 10:13; 39:10; 62:11.

38:28.

Important Words:

باطلا (in vain) is derived from بطل meaning, it was or became false or vain, or void or futile or devoid of virtue or of no account. They say ذھب دمه باطلا meaning his blood went for nothing, i.e. went unretaliated. بطل فی حدیثه means, he jested or was not serious in his discourse. باطل therefore, means: false, spurious, vain, useless, void and of no account (Lane).

Commentary:

Such a grand system to which an allusion has been made in the previous verse could certainly not have been brought into being without a definite purpose. The phenomenon of day and night referred to in the preceding verse affords an illustration of how this purpose is served. With the rising of the sun the whole world is illuminated, and men begin to work. Then night falls and the light of the sun is hidden from our view and men go to sleep, but even then some heavenly bodies are busy doing their allotted task. Thus both during day and night heavenly bodies perform their appointed functions and loyally serve man. The whole universe having been created to serve man, the creation of man must also have a great purpose. Of men, some are bright in themselves like the sun, and there are others who possess no intrinsic light of their own but borrow it from others. Such men as place themselves in right relation to the Sun of the spiritual realm become enlightened, while those that keep away from it are left in the dark.

When man ponders over the spiritual implication of the physical phenomenon of the creation of heavens and earth, the alteration of day, and night and the consummate order that pervades the universe, he is deeply impressed by the great wisdom of the Creator, and from the inmost depths of his being rises the cry: Our Lord, Thou hast not created this in vain. Then apprehension takes hold of him lest he should become deprived of the light of the spiritual Sun and he cries out: Save us from the punishment of Fire, which is nothing but being overtaken by spiritual darkness and moral degradation.

3:192.

2:240.

Commentary:

As in the midst of a battle, formal Prayers are either said in haste, or performed in the form of one Rak‘at only. Muslims are enjoined in this verse, with a view to making up the deficiency, to continue remembering God and praying to Him in an informal manner after the obligatory service is over. This was to compensate, on the one hand, for the shortening of Prayer and, on the other, to serve as a means of drawing the special aid and help of God in a time of great danger.

The expression, And when you are secure (from danger), then observe Prayer (in the prescribed form), very clearly brings out the difference between the words صلوا or اقضوا الصلوة (pray or offer Prayer) and the words اقیموا الصلوة (observe Prayer). The latter expression signifies observing Prayer attentively with all its necessary conditions. The verse thus clearly shows that Islam does not look upon the hasty performance of Prayer as coming under the injunction, اقیموا الصلوة (observe Prayer). See also 2:4.

2:126; 3:97-98.

5:3.

Important Words:

قیاما (means of support and uplift) is the noun-infinitive from قام meaning, he stood up, or he stood still. They say: قام المرأةi.e. he (the husband) supported or maintained the woman. قام به قیاما تاما means, he managed it (an affair, etc.) perfectly. قیاماtherefore signifies, means of support and uplift (Lane, Aqrab & Zamakhshari). See also 4:6.

Commentary:

God has made Pilgrimage to the Ka‘bah a sign for the progress and prosperity of Muslims. So long as they will continue to perform Pilgrimage, God’s grace will continue to attend them. But it is regrettable that wealthy Muslims have now generally grown negligent in this respect, with the result that their glory has departed.

Pilgrimage is also a means of support for men in a material sense. Muslims from all parts of the world visit the Ka‘bah and this serves as a means of support for the people of Mecca. Abraham left his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael in the wilderness of Paran near Mecca, apparently to die from starvation. But God made provision not only for Hagar and Ishmael in that barren and bleak desert but also for their posterity for all times to come. See also ch. 106. But to say that the promise that the Pilgrimage will continue to prove a means of subsistence for Meccans only is to limit its vast scope and application. It certainly is not confined to the people of Mecca but encompasses all mankind. It is clear from the verse that not only will the Pilgrimage to Mecca with its attendant rites continue till the end of time, but that the world itself will last only so long as the Pilgrimage to the Ka‘bah continues and that it will come to an end when the Pilgrimage ceases to be performed. This is indeed a great prophecy; for there have been many places in the world which were the resorts of pilgrims in their own time but which have long ceased to be so and are now deserted and forgotten. But the Ka‘bah is meant to remain for all times "an inviolable house and a means of support and uplift for mankind".

41:39; 73:21.

Commentary:

History bears witness to the fact that early Muslims, even in the field of battle, while they had actually remained engaged all day long in fighting, spent their nights in prayer and the remembrance of God.