Lesson Thirteen
Fortress of Almsgiving
(Al-Ma'un Surah )
In the Name of God, the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful
1- "Have you considered the one who denies religion"
2- "That is the one who turns away an orphan,"
3- "And does not urge (others) to feed the poor."
4- "So woe to those who are in link up with God,"
5- "Those who are unmindful of their (such) linkup"
6- "Those who dissemble,"
7- "And cause almsgiving (help) to be stopped."
In the previous Fortress, the Almighty God showed us that communication with Him is the only way to lead humanity to gain what is good and the grace our Provider has prepared for us since Al-Azal, the pre-material world. In this Fortress, He (glory to Him) wants to reveal that paying no heed to one’s communication with God is the only factor which will lead to one’s misery and falling into destruction and affliction. Therefore, the Almighty says:
Verse no. 1
45. "Have you considered the one who denies religion"
The interrogative here does not serve its common purpose, to ask about something; instead, its purpose is to establish this statement and show that it is true.
This verse denotes: ―You, person! Look at the state of the one who denies what is right; see the vicious deeds for which they are responsible."
The Almighty then explains this statement:
Verse no. 2
46. "That is the one who turns away an orphan,"
In the meaning intended in this verse, if somebody "turns away an orphan" , this does not only mean that they push them away with their hand in a physical sense. The meaning also includes chiding them with their tongue or shunning them in spirit instead of taking them under their wing.
Due to the denial of those who contradict what is right, their link with God has ceased. This break in communication will make them merciless, pitiless and hard of heart.
This is what we understand by this verse.
Verse no. 3
47. "And does not urge (others) to feed the poor."
Just as denying what is right makes a person unmerciful and deprives them of the noble, humane feelings, it also makes them mean in spirit, so that they are characterized by stinginess and miserliness. Such a person will never help the poor or have a motive for charity. That is why the Almighty says: "And does not urge (others) to feed the poor."
Having described these states and the characteristics of those who deny what is right, the Almighty wanted to inform us of the consequences of such actions and the end that these people face. He says:
Verse no. 4
48. "So woe to those who are in link up with God," ―Woe" means being afflicted with evil and destruction.
The words "those who are in linkup with God" has comes unrestricted to a specific group so as to show that it includes all creatures, because all of them move through the continuous Sustenance of God. That is what the phrase "those who are in linkup with God" expresses and denotes.
These creatures always have unceasing linkup with their Provider whether or not they feel this, and they can have no subsistence or life for either their bodies or their spirits except through the continuity of their link with the Almighty.
God says: "Have you not (yet) seen how all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth prostrate themselves to God, and so do the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the trees, and the beasts, and so do countless oblivious people and many others that have been deservedly condemned to punishment?..." The Holy Qur‟an, Fortress 22, Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage), verse 18
From this, it becomes clear to us that there is no difference between one creature and another, or between a disbeliever and a believer concerning this link. It is the perception of such a link, and negligence in this regard which creates the difference and the distinction between different entities.
The believer is distinguished from the unbeliever by their feeling for their link with their Provider, whereas the unbeliever is inattentive and oblivious of the same link in spite of its existence and its continuity.
An example illustrating the disbeliever’s obliviousness of their Provider is the relationship between a person and the air: they may inhale it and continue to derive benefits from it, but they are distracted and absorbed in life’s affairs, and so pay it no attention.
If a person pays attention to their linkup with God and feels it, they will triumph and will become one of the people of goodness, but if they forget it, they will demean themselves and become lost.
This is why the next verse reveals and explains the state of those people who are unmindful of the link in question. God says:
Verse no. 5
49. "Those who are unmindful of their (such) linkup:"
However, what do we gain by paying attention to our linkup with God, and consequently feeling it in this way?
I say, the spirit is like a pure mirror: wherever it turns, you will see whatever it faces displayed upon its surface. Therefore, when the spirit stares at God with its power of sight, it will see His Perfection and will then adore Him and become fond of Him, because it is predisposed to a love of perfection.
Through its passion for God and its continuous staring at Him, this Godly Perfection will be imprinted on the spirit so that it becomes colored with it. It gets a share of it in conformity with its nearness to Him. The greater its love is, the greater its share will become.
Through this, the spirit can become virtuous, so that it possesses sublimity and noble, humane manners.
God says: "...The noblest of you before God is the one among you who is most illuminated by His light." The Holy Qur‟an, Fortress 49, Al-Hujurat (The Private Apartments), verse 13
However, if the spirit was to draw far from Him, it would be bereft of these lofty manners, and would therefore behave wrongly and act badly. In this case it would pretend to be good while possessing no morsel of goodness; even if it was to render a good action, it would do so as a kind of dishonesty. The Almighty God has described this spiritual state in the following verse, saying:
Verse no. 6-7
50. "Those who dissemble,"
51. "And cause almsgiving (help) to be stopped."
A person who is heedless of their linkup with God is not only a dissembler in their actions, but can also be seen acting badly towards people who help them and do favours for them. For example, if someone advanced some money to them or helped them in some way, they would requite that charity with offense. Therefore the charitable person will become cautious of others, as they will be afraid that people will deal with them in the same way as this wrongdoer had.
Summing up what has been said in this noble Fortress, we say that the denier of religion, that is, of what is right, – or, you could say, the person who is distracted from their communication with God and does not draw nearer to their Provider spiritually – is a person who is deprived of humane sensations, stingy and weak in spirit, and moreover, a dissembler who stands in the way of goodness.