Topic: Of Poverty

4:37; 17:24.

17:32.

6:121; 7:34.

Important Words:

املاق (poverty) is derived from ملق. They say ملق الشیء i.e. he erased the thing. ملقه بالعصا means, he beat him with a stick. ملق الولد امه means, the child sucked from the breasts of his mother. املق الرجل means, the man spent all his money and became poor. املاق means, poverty or destitution (Aqrab).

Commentary:

The Quran has already given the commandments and prohibitions of the Islamic Law with regard to the fruits of the earth and the flesh of animals, in opposition to the laws devised by men. Now it gives general commandments and prohibitions.

It should be noted that the injunctions which follow the word "forbidden" are what God requires us to do, and not what He forbids us to do. Thus, it is the contrary of the injunctions given in the verse that is forbidden. The injunctions have been expressly mentioned and the converse of them which is forbidden is implied. Thus, on the one hand, by using the word "forbidden" and, on the other, by following it up with positive commandments, the verse combines in itself both the direct injunctions and their converse, and the attention of the reader has been drawn to both.

The verse may also be construed in another way. The first sentence should be taken as having finished with the words ما حرم ربکم i.e. what your Lord has forbidden, and the next sentence should be taken as beginning with the words علیکمwhich would in this case mean, "it is enjoined upon you or it is incumbent on you." The verse will then read as follows:"Come, I will rehearse to you what your Lord has forbidden. It is incumbent on you that you associate not anything as partner with Him…"

The order in which the injunctions are given in this verse is noteworthy. The injunctions begin with the words, Come, I will rehearse to you what your Lord has forbidden. The Arabic word for "Lord" is رب which means "Creator, Sustainer, and Nourisher" (see 1:2), and it is the very idea of "sustaining and nourishing" that governs the order of the injunctions here given. The first injunction, i.e. associate not anything as partner with Him, pertains to the Great Nourisher, Allah. The second injunction pertains to the lesser nourishers, viz. parents. The word احسان (doing good) expresses the idea that the service of the parents enjoined in the words, do good to parents, is to be performed in the best way possible, for احسان literally signifies "doing a thing very well." Next come those who are nourished and sustained by the "lesser nourishers", viz. children. Parents are bidden to nourish and bring up their children well, as implied in the words, kill not your children for fear of poverty. Indeed, he who neglects to bring up his children properly for fear of poverty virtually "kills" them. If it is the duty of the children to serve their parents well, it is equally the duty of the parents to bring up their children well.

The pronoun "you" in the clause, it is We Who provide for you and for them, refers to parents and the pronoun "them" refers to children, the former being put before the latter in order to draw our attention to the fact that God’s providing for the parents is a proof of the fact that He will also provide for the children.

The next injunction is contained in the words, approach not foul deeds. The word فواحش (foul deeds) is the plural of فاحشه one meaning of which is "fornication or adultery" (see 4:16), which is another form of killing one’s children; for the man who forms immoral connection with a woman other than his wife, not only destroys his seed but also neglects his own wife, which cannot but affect his begetting children in lawful wedlock. Similarly, illegitimate children born of a woman other than one’s wife are not one’s own children, nor are they properly looked after.

The words, whether open or secret, used in connection with فواحش (foul deeds) refer respectively to openly going in to prostitutes and to forming secret connections with women other than one’s wife.

Next to the relations between parents and children come brotherly and friendly relations which are referred to in the words, kill not the life which Allah has made sacred. This injunction requires us to treat our brethren and friends as well as members of our society with fairness and justice. The word "killing," it will be noted, pertains not only to actually killing but to an attempt at killing as well as causing serious injury and boycotting etc. (see meaning of قتل i.e. killing under 2:62; 3:155 & 4:158). The expression, save by right, used with regard to "killing" means "except when a man has made himself deserving of the treatment to be meted out to him." For instance, in case of murder a person will be put to death only by order of proper authority. Similarly, in case of "boycotting" a person will be boycotted only under the orders of the person or the body that possesses that power. It will not be right for any man to take the law in his own hands.

Commentary:

The idolaters were closely connected with Muslims by ties of blood and relationship. Muslims are plainly told in this verse that these relationships and other worldly considerations of wealth, trade and property should not be allowed to stand in the way when a dearer relationship and a nobler cause and more vital considerations demanded their sacrifice. Love of kith and kin and worldly possessions should not be permitted to hinder the Faithful from serving the cause of Islam. The judgement of God mentioned at the end of the verse came after the death of the Holy Prophet when "the disobedient people," i.e. those who had joined the fold of Islam for worldly considerations, revolted and were punished by God through Abu Bakr, the First Khalifah.

Important Words:

نجس (unclean) is derived from نجس which means, it was or became unclean, filthy or impure. نجس therefore, means unclean, filthy or impure; it also signifies, a man having an incurable disease (Lane). نجاسة (uncleanness) is of two kinds; one kind of نجاسة is perceived by the physical senses and the other is perceived by the mind. In the present verse, it is the latter kind of uncleanness that is meant (Mufradat).

سوف (will) is a particle denoting amplification because it changes the aorist from the strait time which is the present to the ample time which is the future and is used with respect to that which has not yet happened; it is a word used to denote promising or threatening. According to some, it is synonymous with س but according to others it has a larger meaning than that letter and is distinct from it by its sometimes having ل prefixed to it. You say ولسوف یعطیک ربک فترضی meaning, And thy Lord will give thee, and thou wilt be well pleased (Lane).

Commentary:

The word نجس(unclean), as shown under Important Words, either means "one who is spiritually unclean", or "one having an incurable disease." Idolaters are, thus, described here as: (1) being spiritually unclean or (2) having become so inured to idolatry that it is almost impossible for them to rid themselves of it. But since Mecca was the birthplace of Islam and a monument of Abraham’s great faith in the One God, it was necessary that the place should be kept spiritually pure; hence the prohibition to idolaters to approach the Sacred Mosque.

The coming of pilgrims to Mecca was a source of great income for Meccans and the prohibition might have given rise to fear in the hearts of some Muslims that their income would thereby be considerably lessened. They are, therefore, told here not to fear poverty, for God would make abundant provision for them out of His bounty.

34:16-17.

Commentary:

The "city" referred to in this verse is Mecca. It warns Meccans of the great punishment which will befall them if they do not accept the Holy Prophet and do not give up their iniquitous ways. The sanctity of Mecca would not save them from the impending punishment. They are also told that they are leading a life of plenty and security, but the time is fast approaching when they will be visited with a terrible famine or, to quote a prayer of the Holy Prophet, with "years of famine like the famine of the days of Joseph", and instead of security they will taste the horrors of war. Both these calamities befell the Meccans after the Hijrah. They were smitten with constant fear. Fear is the inevitable result of war and they became involved in continuous fighting. And such a dreadful famine overtook Mecca that Abu Sufyan, the archenemy of Islam, came to Medina to beg the Prophet to pray to God that He might have mercy on them and save them from the famine. The words, which clothed it like a garment, mean that God afflicted Mecca with fear and hunger to such an extent that these calamities altogether covered it and stuck to it like a garment. Marks of fear and hunger became clearly visible on the faces of Meccans. Famine made them lean and thin and continuous fear overwhelmed them and completely unnerved them.

6:152.

Important Words:

املاق (poverty) is the noun-infinitive from ملق. They say ملق الشیء i.e. he effaced or blotted out the thing. املق الرجل means, the man spent his money so much that he became poor. املق الثوب means, he washed the cloth. They say املق الدھر ماله i.e. time took away his money from his hands. املاق means, to be or grow poor; poverty (Aqrab).

Commentary:

V. 29 enjoins the giving of wealth in charity but not in a way as to do moral injury to the recipient or to involve the giver himself in pecuniary trouble. The verse under comment condemns the begrudging of adequate funds or means for the proper education and upbringing of children and calls it a form of killing. It does not, however, refer to the Arab custom of killing girls, which is dealt with elsewhere and which is nowhere said to be due to the fear of spending money on them. Girls were slain because their birth was looked upon as a source of disgrace and humiliation for their parents (16:59, 60 & 43:18).

Evidently there hardly lives a person so foolish as actually to kill his children in order to save his money. But there is no dearth of persons even among the so-called educated and cultured classes who "kill" their children by not giving them proper food or clothing. Children of miserly parents fall victim to various kinds of diseases because they are not given the food which is essential for the proper building up of strong and healthy bodies. These children die prematurely from malnutrition. This refusal to provide proper nourishment for them is as good as killing them and has been so called.

Taking the word قتل (killing) in a figurative sense those miserly parents who do not give proper education to their children contribute to the latter’s moral and intellectual death. The verse under comment very strongly condemns such "killing" of innocent children who, if given right kind of education and also afforded proper opportunities to rise to their full stature are capable of becoming very useful members of society. It exhorts Muslims not to spare money to equip their children physically and morally for a successful and respectable life.

The word قتل (killing) has been used in the verse in order forcibly to draw attention to the various indirect ways in which some parents cause the death of their children. One such form of killing is to neglect to provide proper nourishment for pregnant women or exact heavy tasks from them during their pregnancy or in the period of suckling, which has a very adverse effect on the health of the child. By using this word the Quran emphatically has drawn attention to all those direct or indirect causes that lead to the ruining of the physical or moral health of children.

The killing of children may also take the form of birth control which, however, is permissible if, for instance, by conception the life of a pregnant woman is considered, by competent medical authority, to be in danger in the event of her giving birth to a child. The words خطا (khit’an) and خطا (khat’an) differ in their significance), the former being intentional, while the latter may both be intentional or unintentional (Aqrab). The Quran has used the former word to bring home the fact that the killing of children is a crime at which human nature recoils and only a person devoid of all human feelings is capable of committing it. The expression ان قتلھم کان خطأ کبیرا also indicates that it is not killing by a lethal weapon or by poisoning or other similar means that is meant here. This latter kind of killing has been clearly mentioned in v. 34.

Commentary:

This verse reverts to the subject of the human soul dealt with in v. 86 and purports to say that the treasures of Divine knowledge which lie hidden in the word of God know no end or limit while the knowledge that is acquired by so-called spiritualists by their occult practices is very limited. This is why the Elect of God diffuse Divine knowledge freely while so-called spiritualists are very parsimonious in acquainting even their closest disciples with the knowledge they claim to acquire by their unnatural practices. The truth is that the powers of God are limitless and so are the great treasures of Divine knowledge which He vouchsafes to His Elect. They diffuse and expend it freely without fear of its becoming exhausted so that God’s creatures may become acquainted with all the innumerable stages of His nearness and that they may realize Him and become at one with Him.