وَٱبْنَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ

2:190.

76:9.

9:4; 13:21.

2:215; 6:43; 7:95.

49:16.

Important Words:

البر (righteousness) is derived from بر. They say بر والدہ i.e. he obeyed his father or he behaved kindly and lovingly towards him. بر الله means, he obeyed God. بر فی قوله means, he spoke truthfully. برت الصلوة means, the Prayer was accepted. بر(birr) therefore, means: (1) a gift or favour; (2) obedience; (3) righteousness; (4) truthfulness (Aqrab); also (5) extensive goodness or goodness of a high order (Mufradat). And بر (barr) is one who does good to others. It is also one of the attributive names of God (Aqrab).

ابن السبیل (wayfarer) literally means, son of the road. The word signifies: (1) one who travels much (Lane); (2) a traveller or wayfarer who is far away from home, i.e. one who is on a long journey (Mufradat); (3) simply one on journey; (4) one whose way has been cut short to him, i.e. one who is stranded on the way (Aqrab).

الرقاب (captives) is the plural of رقبة (a captive or a slave) which is derived from رقب. They say رقبه i.e. he waited for or looked for him; he watched or guarded him; he was on his guard against him; he put a rope round his neck. رقبة means: (1) neck; (2) the hinder part thereof; (3) a person or being possessing a neck; (4) a slave or bondman or captive or prisoner, particularly a slave or captive who has contracted with his owner or custodian for his freedom. Thus the expression فی الرقاب would mean, in the ransoming of slaves or captives, etc. (Aqrab, Mufradat & Lane).

الباساء (poverty) and الباس (war) are both derived from بؤس orبئس i.e. (1) he was or became strong and valiant in war or fight; (2) he was or became in a state of great want or poverty or distress. الباساء means: (1), distress; (2) poverty; (3) hardship; (4) misfortune; (5) calamity; and (6) war. And البأس means (1) might or strength in war or fight; (2) courage, valour and prowess; (3) war or fight; (4) fear; (5) punishment or torment; and (6) harm or injury, as in لاباس به i.e. there is no harm in it (Lane & Aqrab). See also below.

الضراء (afflictions) is derived from ضر meaning, he caused him a loss or an injury. الضراء means: (1) vicissitudes of time; (2) hardship; (3) loss of life or property; (4) afflictions; and (5) famine (Aqrab). الضراء is especially that evil or affliction which relates to one’s person, as disease, etc. whereas البأساء is that which relates to property, as poverty, etc. (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse points to an important principle relating to form and spirit. Every commandment must have an outward form as well as an underlying spirit. What, however, is really meant is the underlying spirit and not the outward form which mostly serves as an outer shell for preserving the inner kernel. To illustrate this principle, the verse refers to the commandment relating to the turning of faces to a particular direction while offering Prayers. The verse points out that Islam has not directed the Faithful to face in a particular direction during Prayers, because it considers such an act to be of any intrinsic virtue. The fixing of a special direction is merely meant to bring about uniformity, whereas what really counts is the purpose underlying it, which is perfection of faith and deeds. The Quran, accordingly, proceeds to give in a nutshell the Islamic teachings about these two subjects.

The literal translation of the clauses ولکن البر من آمن is, "but righteousness is one who believes" which is obviously incomplete. So some words must be understood here. According to Sibawaih, a great authority on Arabic syntax, the rules of the Arabic language sometimes permit the omitting of a word for the sake of brevity or for laying special stress or for affording greater elasticity in speech. In accordance with this rule, the clause would read: ولکن البر من آمن i.e. "but righteousness is the righteousness of one who believes." Instances of such omissions of words are not lacking in the Arabic language (Sibawaih, i. 109).

According to yet another rule of the Arabic language, a مصدر (infinitive noun) is sometimes used in place of an اسم فاعل(active participle) in order to convey an intensified sense. Thus the word بر (righteousness) in the verse would mean بر الکامل i.e. "perfectly righteous or very righteous," and the clause would be translated as "perfectly righteous or very righteous is he who believes in Allah…"

The pronoun in the expression حبه (love of Him) may refer either to the word "Allah" in the previous clause, and in that case, the clause آتی المال علی حبه would mean, "spends his money for love of God". Or it may refer to the word مال(money). In this case, the clause would mean, "spends his money notwithstanding his love for money". Lastly, it may also refer to the noun implied in the verb آتی i.e. the act of spending. In this case the clause would mean "spends his money for the love of spending it". All these meanings are correct and may be applied. Indeed, it is one of the inimitable beauties of the Quranic diction that it chooses words and constructions that go to convey a variety of meanings in the shortest of expressions.

The verse affords another example of this kind in the expression ابن السبیل (son of the road). As explained under Important Words, this expression gives no less than four meanings and all are equally applicable here. So spending on ابن السبیل would signify (1) spending money in order to encourage travelling, which is a means of increasing knowledge and extending social relations; (2) helping such travellers as are on long journeys and are far away from home; (3) helping all wayfarers; and (4) helping such wayfarers and travellers as become stranded on the way. This is indeed a wonderful example of the combination of brevity and comprehensiveness. The verse also throws some light on the Islamic teaching about slavery. Islam prescribes it as a sign of true faith and perfect righteousness that money be spent on emancipating slaves. Nay, even such as are made captives from among those who attack Muslims with a view to annihilating them, are to be shown mercy and granted freedom out of money supplied by Muslims. For the discussion of Islamic teachings about slavery see 24:34.

The word الصابرین (the patient) in this verse is in the accusative case, while, according to the common rules of Arabic grammar, it should be in the nominative case like the preceding word الموفون (those who fulfil). The change is not without purpose and has been made to put emphasis on the word. According to Abu ‘Ali, a well-known authority on Arabic syntax, when a sentence contains a number of nouns of praise or dispraise, it is considered idiomatic to vary their grammatical inflection (Muhit, part ii). This is done to intensify the meaning.

As pointed out in the beginning, this verse gives a gist of the teachings of Islam. It begins with the fundamental Islamic beliefs and doctrines which are the source and basis of all actions and on the rectitude of which depends the rectitude of' one’s actions. The most fundamental of these is belief in God Who is the central point of all faith. Second in importance is belief in the Last Day or the Day of Judgement, upon a real understanding of which depends the direction of man’s actions in this life. Then follows belief in angels who serve as a sort of intermediaries between God and His creation. Then there are Divine Scriptures embodying God’s revelation which point out the way to the attainment of His pleasure and the purification of man’s soul. Lastly are Prophets who are the recipients of God’s revelations, communicating to man the will of God and serving as models to be followed and imitated by him. These five objects of faith have been mentioned here in their natural order and not necessarily in order of importance.

After stating the fundamental objects of faith, the verse proceeds to mention some of the more important ordinances relating to man’s actions. Pride of place is given to charity which a man gives not as a duty imposed on him, but as prompted by love, solicitude and sympathy for his kinsmen and fellow beings or out of love for common humanity. Next come the commandments regarding Prayer and Zakah which help to establish a true connection between God and man on the one hand and regulate relations between man and man on the other. Finally are laid down the two bulwarks of character and morality, i.e. (1) the redemption of promises and pledges; and (2) the displaying of fortitude, patience and steadfastness in time of distress, the first-mentioned forming one of the bases of international morality and the latter the means of its perfection.

16:91; 17:27.

Commentary:

After dealing with the all-important subject of the Unity of God and giving strong arguments in refutation of Shirk (polytheism) in the preceding several verses, the Surah, in the verse under comment, proceeds to draw attention to the fact that mere beliefs, principles and ideals, however noble and laudable, do not make a religion complete. It must further possess some practical ordinances among which pride of place is given here to the economic uplift of the less fortunate members of society. The words, "give to the kinsman his due," embody a fine principle, viz. that the monetary help which the wealthy people give to their poorer brethren in the form of Zakah, charity or gift are the latter’s right and due, because in the form of their work and labour they make a substantial contribution to the production of wealth of the rich people. It is also of some interest to note that, besides the verse under comment, wherever the Quran commands the believers to give monetary help to the needy and the poor, it invariably uses the word آت instead of اعط. By so doing it seeks to safeguard the self-respect of the poor person who receives charity, because, whereas the latter word expresses the sense of giving, the former expresses that of presenting (Kashshaf). Elsewhere in the Quran we are told that in the wealth of the rich there is a share for those who ask for help as well as for those who cannot (51:20). In this way Islam safeguards the self-respect and dignity of a poor person even when he is actually receiving monetary help from a rich brother.

16:91; 30:39.

Important Words:

تبذر (squander) is derived from بذر (badhdhara) which is the intensified form of بذر (badhara) which means, he sowed seed; he scattered seed upon the ground; he scattered or dispersed or he scattered or dispersed much; he divulged what was secret; he talked much. They say بذر الخلق i.e. He (God) scattered or dispersed mankind in the earth. بذرت الارضmeans, the land put forth its herbage in a scattered state. بذرالعلم means, he disseminated and diffused knowledge. بذر المال (badhdhara) means, he dissipated or squandered wealth by extravagant expenditure and destroyed and wasted it; he expended his wealth so largely as not to leave of it whereby he might subsist, or he expended it in acts of disobedience; or he squandered it in a way that was not right (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse declares that the relatives of a rich person are entitled to a share in his property, and so are wayfarers and poor people. A person’s relatives help him in various ways to earn his wealth. For instance, ‘A’ succeeds in getting a highly lucrative post as the result of the good education his parents have given him, depriving their other children of a similar education. The latter, therefore, possess a right in the wealth of ‘A’ because he rose to his high position at their expense. It is clearly stated in 51:20 that the poor and the needy have a right to share the property of the rich.

As for the wayfarer, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that a wayfarer could claim, as of right, three days’ free entertainment from the residents of a place which he might visit, and if it were denied to him, he could demand it even by reasonable force (Dawud, Kitabul-At‘ima).

This injunction can only be carried out in a country where the Law of Islam is in force, for according to it the residents of a place, as a whole, are bound to act as the host to a wayfarer. If this injunction were carried into practice many of the social evils which are to be found in hotels and restaurants would disappear.

This general commandment about entertainment of guests and visitors is also eminently calculated to promote peace and goodwill among different nations. The chief cause of international strife is mutual hatred. So if the entertainment of visitors should become popular in the way in which it has been inculcated by Islam, much international hatred would disappear. Those who returned to their country after having enjoyed the hospitality of a people would naturally remain favourably inclined towards them and would be slow to pick a quarrel with them. Thus this practice would prove a good means of promoting brotherly relations between different peoples.

One meaning of the word تبذیر as shown under Important Words is, "to spend for a wrong cause." Thus, if a person gives away even his whole property for the cause of religion he will not be guilty of تبذیر for the money so spent will have been spent for a right cause.