Women (Al-Nisa’)
Verses 36-40 GROUP_123 4.36-40
36
وَاعْبُدُواْ اللّهَ وَلاَ تُشْرِكُواْ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَبِذِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْجَارِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْجَارِ الْجُنُبِ وَالصَّاحِبِ بِالجَنبِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُحِبُّ مَن كَانَ مُخْتَالاً فَخُورًا
Worship God: and do not associate partners with Him. Be good to your parents, to relatives, to orphans, to the needy, and the neighbour who is a kinsman, and the neighbour who is not related to you and your companions and the wayfarers and those whom you rightfully possess. God does not like arrogant, boastful people,
37
الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ وَيَكْتُمُونَ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُّهِينًا
who are miserly and enjoin others to be the same and conceal the riches which God has given them of His bounty. We have prepared a humiliating punishment for those who deny the truth.
38
وَالَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِئَـاء النَّاسِ وَلاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَن يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاء قِرِينًا
And [God does not like] those who spend their wealth for the sake of ostentation, who do not believe in God or the Last Day. Whoever has Satan as his companion has an evil companion.
39
وَمَاذَا عَلَيْهِمْ لَوْ آمَنُواْ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَأَنفَقُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقَهُمُ اللّهُ وَكَانَ اللّهُ بِهِم عَلِيمًا
What harm could befall them if they believed in God and the Last Day, and spent out of what God bestowed on them? God knows them well.
40
إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَظْلِمُ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ وَإِن تَكُ حَسَنَةً يُضَاعِفْهَا وَيُؤْتِ مِن لَّدُنْهُ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
God does not wrong anyone by as much as a grain’s weight. If there be a good deed, He will repay twofold, and will bestow out of His own bounty an immense reward.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Literally ‘what your right hands possess’. (b) Whatever man possesses is provided by God. This reality demands that man should surrender himself to God and become His worshipper. Such a person naturally becomes humble and his humility is expressed in his relations with the other human beings interacting in his life. He behaves decently with his mother and father and feels the watchful presence of God while dealing with all those who come into contact with him. He pays everybody’s due in accordance with his relationship and need. To overlook a person, in whatever capacity he has to deal with him, appears to him as if he himself is taking the risk of being overlooked by God. One who does not surrender to God, develops an overweening sense of pride. He thinks that whatever he possesses is the outcome of his labour and intelligence. Consequently, he considers that his earnings belong to him alone. To become associated with poor relatives and destitutes becomes a matter of degradation for him. He spends lavishly to satisfy his desires and serves his own interests, but becomes mean about such expenditure as does not satisfy his ego. He is very generous in matters which give him publicity, but quite a miser in the case of unpublicized religious causes. (a) Those who become proud instead of humble after receiving the bounties of God and those who spend their God-given wealth on making selfish investments instead of on good causes as approved by God, are fellow travellers of Satan. Having been lured by the fleeting gains of this life, they lose interest in the eternal gain promised by God. For such persons, there shall be nothing but severe punishment in the Hereafter. Man declares unimportant that which he does not practice. This is self-centred theorizing and an effort at self-justification. All such endeavours are futile and worthless in the eyes of God.