Islam Guidance

Verses 15-20

Sura Fajr
(Break of Dawn)
No.89 (Verses 15-20)

(15)فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ وَنَعَّمَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمَنِ

(16)وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَهَانَنِ

(17)كَلَّا بَل لَّا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمَ

(18)وَلَا تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ

(19)وَتَأْكُلُونَ التُّرَاثَ أَكْلًا لَّمًّا

(20)وَتُحِبُّونَ الْمَالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا

15. And as for man, whenever his Lord tries him and honours him, and blesses him, he says, 'My Lord has honoured me'.
16. "But when He tries him and straitens for him his subsistence, he says,'My Lord has disgraced me'.
17. "Nay! but you honour not the orphans!
18. "Nor do you encourage one another to feed the needy!
19. "And you devour the inheritance - all with greed,
20. "And you love wealth with (an) ardent love.
* * * *

Commentary:
Do Not Be Proud of Receiving His Blessings Nor Disappointed When He Puts You in Dire Straights.
After the previous verses, which are full of warning to the oppressors and threaten them by mentioning the divine punishments, the following verses refer to the divine trials as a scale for His rewards and punishments. Trial is considered as one of the most important concerns in Man's life.
"And as for man, whenever his Lord tries him and honours him, and blesses him, he says, 'My Lord has honoured me'."
One does not realize that the trials from Allah are sometimes given through blessing and sometimes occur through disaster. Neither the abundance of blessings should cause Man to be proud nor should disasters make him disappointed, but impatient Man forgets the essence of the trial in both cases and when he receives the blessings of Allah he thinks that He has honoured him and that the blessings are the sign of that honouring.
It is noteworthy that in the first verse it says: Allah 'honours him and blesses him', but at the end of the verse Man is scorned because of feeling himself honoured by Him. This is for the reason that in the first case of honouring it means 'Bounty' and the second means 'Nearness to Allah'.
But, when He tries him and puts him in dire straights for his subsistence, he says:
"My Lord has disgraced me."
Despair covers him thoroughly and he becomes disturbed and displeased with Allah, forgetting that these are some of the ways Allah tests him; a trial in which is the key to Man's development and, consequently, causes him to deserve rewards, and if he disobeys, causes him to deserve punishment.
These two verses warn that neither the blessing is the reason for the proximity to Allah, nor is adversity and the lack of blessings the evidence of being far from Him. They are but diverse factors by which Allah according to His Wisdom, examines people. It is the human being who sometimes becomes proud, and sometimes hopless because of his limited capacity to understand and endure.
Sura Fussilat, No.41, verse 51 also says: "When We bestow favours on man, he turns away, and gets himself remote on his side (instead of coming to Us) and when Evil seizes him, (he comes) full of prolonged prayer!".
Also, Sura Hud, No.11 verse 9 says:
"If We give man a taste of Mercy from Ourselves, and then withdraw it from him. Behold! He is in despair and (falls into) blasphemy.".
* * * *
These two verses, in addition to relating the various kinds of divine trials, also conclude that one being blessed abundantly or being deprived of some blessings by Allah,is not a sign of special favour and high rank for him or a disgrace for him, but the only standard has always, and in all respects, been 'Faith' with 'Virtue'.
There have been many prophets who were involved in diverse kinds of tasks and calamities in this world, and in contrast, there have been many cruel pagans who possessed every kind of facility in this life. This is the nature of life in the present world. By the way, this verse also points, indirectly, to the philosophy of the existence of disasters and painful events.
Then, attention is paid to the deeds that cause Man to be far away from Allah and to be caught in the grips of His punishment. Pointing to the fact that wealth is not evidence to the high rank of a person with Allah it says:
"Nay! But you honour not the orphans!".
* * * *
"Nor do you encourage one another to feed the needy!"
It is worth noting that the verse does not speak about 'feeding the orphans', but it speaks about 'honouring the orphans'. This is because the subject matter about an orphan is not only his hunger, but that sympathy, as a remedy for his deficiencies, is more important than his hunger, alone. An orphan should not be put in conditions which make him feel misery and worthlessness, just because of his being orphaned. He should be respected and honoured so that he does not feel the lack of his parents. That is why in some Islamic texts, affection and sympathy for orphans is considered especially important.
radition narrated from Imam Sadiq (p.b.u.h.) says: "There is no servant who touches an orphan's head, affectionately. except that Allah will bestow on him, on the Day of Judgement, as many rays (of blessings) as the number of the orphan's hair. (1)
Also, Sura Duha, No.93, verse 9 says: "Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness".
This is just opposite to the treatment that ignorant people in the faithless ancient societies showed, and also the same is true, today, in the disbelieving, modern ones which not only use different schemes and make various tricks to, oppressively, take the orphan's property, but, abandon him in the society so that he tastes his plight in the most bitter of ways.
As is understood from what was said, respecting an orphan is not limited to preserving his property, but, according to some commentaries, it has a broader meaning which covers both that sense and many other matters.
The term /tahaddun/ is based on /hadd/ which means 'to incite anyone', denoting that feeding the indigent is not enough, but people ought to encourage each other to do this good deed until the time when it actually becomes a custom in the society.
In Sura Haqqah, No.69, verses 33-34 the subject is counted as being parallel to the lack of faith in Almighty Allah, thus: "This was he, that would not believe in Allah Most High," "And would not encourage the feeding of the indigent".
* * * *
Then, pointing to their third disgraceful action and reproaching them, it says:
"And you devour the inheritance - all with greed,"
Surely, devouring the lawful inheritance is not blameworthy, so, the reproach, in this verse, may be for one of the following:
1. It means 'to assemble the wealth of one's own and that of others', because the term /lamm/ originally means 'to assemble, to collect', and some commentators such as Zamakhshari in his book 'Kashshaf', have commented on it especially with the sense of 'the collection of lawful and unlawful wealth'. In particular, the pre-Islamic Arabs used to disinherit women, children and minors. They collected their interests and took it all for themselves as if it were their own inheritance. They believed that only those who were fighters and strong enough to take part in plunders should inherit property, since most of their wealth would be gained through plunder and pillage.
2. Whenever they inherited property, in their own right, they did not usually donate anything to the poor and the deprived members of their society. When they donated nothing from the inherited property for which they suffered naught, they will certainly have economic excess to the income which they earned by effort and endeavour. This is a great shame.
3. It means 'devouring the orphan's inheritance and the rights of the minors' and there have been many examples of some selfish disbelieving persons who, having an opportunity of receiving an inheritance, pay no attention to orphans or minors' interests, and take the most advantage of the property of these defenceless persons. This is the greatest defect and the most disgraceful sin.
However, all three commentaries can be considered together.
* * * *
Then, the fourth despicable trait of theirs is mentioned:
"And you love wealth with (an) ardent love."
They are worldly, mammonish people who love amassing wealth. Such people surely do not care whether the wealth is lawful or unlawful and, of course, never pay the rights of Allah, or do not pay them completely. Also, such people whose hearts are occupied, completely, by the love of money,cannot have the love of Alloh in their hearts, either.
Thus, after mentioning Man's trial by blessing and disaster, the Holy Qur'an directs our attention to the fourth great examination in which these sinful people failed. The examinations are about the treatment toward orphans, feeding the needy, devouring the lawful and unlawful interests of inheritance, and finally, the trial of gathering wealth without any regard for the limits.
It is interesting to note that all these trials are monetary and, in fact, if one passes the financial trials, other trials will be easy for him.
It is the wealth of this world that causes Faith to decay, and the greatest faults found in human beings are based on this.
There are some people who are trustworthy with a limited amount of wealth, but when the amount is great they tend to surrender to the temptations of Satan and commit treason. The real believers are those, who under any condition and with any amount of wealth, are honest and observe the rights of others, whatever they are (obligatory or recommended). These are those who are believers and are virtuous. They are trustworthy and pious, indeed, and can be counted as the best of friends. They are also pure and honourable in other affairs aside from financial ones. The emphasis in the above verse, regarding financial trials, is for the same reason.

(1) Bahar-al-Anwar, vol.15, p.120 (old edition).

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