Sura al-Ma'un

Priority: b, Quality: b
From wikishia
Sura al-Ma'un
Quraysh
Sura Number107
Juz'30
Revelation
Revelation Number17
Makki/MadaniMakki
Information
Verse Count7
Word Count25
Letter Count114\


This article is an introduction to the Sura al-Ma'un; to read its text see text:Sura al-Ma'un.

Sūra al-Māʿūn (Arabic: سورَة الماعون) or Araʾayta al-ladhī (Arabic: أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي) is the 107th sura of the Qur'an. It is a Makki sura in the thirtieth juz' of the Qur'an. The word, "ma'un", occurs as the last word of the sura which means zakat or any useful thing.

The sura contains the attributes of the deniers of the Resurrection. The Qur'an characterizes such people as those who do not donate, say their prayer in a perfunctory way, and are hypocrites. Sura al-Ma'un is said to be revealed with regard to Abu Sufyan.

There are virtues for the recitation of this sura; for example, if one recites Sura al-Ma'un after the 'isha prayer, God will forgive him or her, and will protect him or her until the adhan of the morning prayer.

Introduction

  • Naming

The sura is known as "Ma'un" and "Ara'ayta al-ladhi". "Ma'un" comes from the ending of the sura, and "ara'ayta al-ldhi" comes from the beginning of it.[1] It is said that in the age of ignorance, "ma'un" referred to any benefit (or useful thing), and after the emergence of Islam, it referred to zakat.[2] The sura is also known as "Din" (religion) and "Takdhib" (denial or falsification), because these are two of the main themes of the sura.[3]

  • Location and Order of Revelation

Sura al-Ma'un is a Makki sura, and in the order of revelation, it is the seventeenth sura revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (s). In the traditional order of compilation, it is the 107th sura[4] located in juz' thirty.

  • Number of Verses and Other Features

Sura al-Ma'un has seven verses, twenty five words, and 114 letters. With regard to largeness, it is one of the mufassalat suras (the ones with short and numerous verses).[5]

Content

The sura expresses the attributes and actions of deniers of the Resurrection in five aspects: because of their denial of the Resurrection, they refuse to donate in the path of God, they refuse to help orphans and the poor, they say their prayers perfunctorily, they are hypocrites, and they do not help people in need.[6]

Content of Sura al-Ma'un[7]
 
 
 
 
 
 
Signs of merely pretentious believers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Introduction: verse 1
blaming Muslims who do not act upon their religious obligations
 
The first sign: verses 2-3
Not observing the rights of people in the lower class of the society
 
The second sign: verses 4-6
Not observing the right of God to be worshiped
 
The third sign: verse 7
Being inattentive to other people's needs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The first behavior: verse 2
Making orphans stay away from them
 
The first behavior: verses 4-5
Perfunctory performance of the prayer
 
Refusing to give their insignificant possessions to others
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The second behavior: verse 3
Not encouraging others to provide food for the poor
 
The second behavior: verse 6
Hypocrisy in the prayer and other worships

Occasion of the Revelation

With respect to the occasion of the revelation of Sura al-Ma'un, it is said to have been revealed about Abu Sufyan. He slaughtered two big camels for himself and his friends every day. One day, an orphan went to him and asked him for some help, but Abu Sufyan hit him with his cane and made him stay away.[8]

Merits and Benefits

There is a hadith from the Prophet (s) according to which, if one recites Sura al-Ma'un after 'Isha prayer, God will forgive him or her and will protect him or her until the adhan of the morning prayer.[9] There is also a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a) according to which, if one recites Sura al-Ma'un after the Asr prayer, he or she will be protected by God until the next afternoon.[10]

According to other hadiths, if one recites Sura al-Ma'un in obligatory and recommended prayers, God will accept his or her prayer and fasting and will no longer inspect his or her actions.[11]

External Links

Notes

  1. Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān wa Qurʾān pazhūhī, vol. 2, p. 1269.
  2. Ṭurayḥī, Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn, vol. 6, p. 316.
  3. Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān wa Qurʾān pazhūhī, vol. 2, p. 1269.
  4. Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 168.
  5. Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān wa Qurʾān pazhūhī, vol. 2, p. 1269.
  6. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 5, p. 602.
  7. Khamagar, Muhammad, Sakhtar-i suraha-yi Qur'an-i karim, Mu'assisa-yi Farhangi-yi Qur'an wa 'Itrat-i Nur al-Thaqalayn, Qom: Nashra, ed.1, 1392 Sh.
  8. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 27, p. 356.
  9. Baḥrānī, Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 767.
  10. Baḥrānī, Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 767.
  11. Ṣadūq, Thawāb al-aʿmāl, p. 126.

References

  • Baḥrānī, Sayyid Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Bunyād-i Biʾthat, 1416 AH.
  • Khurramshāhī, Bahāʾ al-Dīn. Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān wa Qurʾān pazhūhī. Tehran: Dūstān-Nāhīd, 1377 Sh.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tenth edition. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1371 Sh.
  • Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān. [n.p]: Markaz-i Chāp wa nashr-i Sāzmān-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 1371 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Thawāb al-aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-aʿmāl. Edited by Ṣādiq Ḥasanzāda. Tehran: Armaghān-i Ṭūbā, 1382 Sh.
  • Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn b. Muḥammad. Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn. Edited by Aḥmad Ḥusaynī Ashkūrī. Third edition. Tehran: Nashr-i Murtaḍawī, 1375 Sh.