Have you seen him who denies the Recompense? (1)
That is he who repulses the orphan (harshly), (2)
And urges not on the feeding of AlMiskîn (the poor)(3)
So woe unto those performers of Salât (prayers) (hypocrites)(4)
Those who delay their Salât (prayer from their stated fixed times)(5) Those who do good deeds only to be seen (of men)(6)
And prevent Al-Mâ’ûn (small kindnesses like salt, sugar, water). (7)
Revealed in : Mekkah
The Surah
In this Surah Allah says to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., “Have you seen those who denies the Deen?” 107 :1
In this verse, Deen means the HEREAFTER, the RECOMPENSE and the FINAL REWARD.
Then Allah gives the characteristics of these people
1. Those who repulses the orphans
– those who oppresses the orphans
– does not give him just due
– does not feed him
– nor is he kind to him
2. Those who urges not the feeding of the poor.
The hardness of the heart is a sign of disbelief of the Hereafter. This is because of the extreme stinginess and greed.
Allah says in Surah Al Fajr 89: 17-18 (Since H know this, he needs to quote this)
Nay! But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity (i.e. you neither treat them well, nor give them their exact right of inheritance)! (17) And urge not one another on the feeding of AlMiskîn (the poor)! (18)
3. Heedless of their solah
Then Allah continues the verse by cursing the deniers of the YAUMUDDIN. Allah curses those who are heedless of their solah. Of which in their solah are SAHUN.
Ibn Abbas says:
These are the hypocrites. Who pray in public but not in private.
They are those who pray and adhere to the prayer but yet are mindless of it.
Or those who prayed outside the legislated time.
Or those who delay their prayer until the very last minute.
Or those who do not fulfill the pillars and conditions.
Those who do not pray in humility and contemplating its meanings.
Beware that that whoever has these characteristics then he has a share of this ayah. Be aware that Allah curses them.
The Qur’an
Malik :: Book 15 : Hadith 15.10.46
Yahya related to me from Malik that al-Ala ibn Abd ar-Rahman said, “We visited Anas ibn Malik after dhuhr and he stood up and prayed asr. When he had finished his prayer, we mentioned doing prayers early in their time, or he mentioned it, and he said that he had heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, the prayer of the hypocrites, the prayer of the hypocrites, the prayer of the hypocrites is that one of them sits until the sun becomes yellow and is between the horns of Shaytan, or on the horn of Shaytan, and then gets up and rattles off four rakas, hardly remembering Allah in them at all.’ “
The Book of Prayers (Kitab Al-Salat)
Muslim :: Book 4 : Hadith 1301
‘Ala’ b. ‘Abd al-Rahman reported that they came to the house of Anas b. Malik in Basra after saying the noon prayer. His (Anas) house was situated by the side of the mosque. As revisited him he (Anas) said: Have you said the afternoon prayer? We said to him: It is just a few minutes before that we finished the noon prayer. He said: Offer the afternoon prayer. So we stood up and said our prayer. And when we completed it, he said: I have heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) saying: This is how the hypocrite prays: he sits watching the sun, and when it is between the horns of devil, he rises and strikes the ground four times (in haste) mentioning Allah a little during it.
This hadith describes how a hypocrite prays. He waits until the last minute of asr, and in haste stand to pray. Pecking the ground like a bird. And when he prays, he doesn’t even remember Allah (except very little) in it.
He probably only stand so that people will see him pray and not seeking the face Allah. This is just as not praying at all.
Allah says in surah An Nissa’
Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allâh, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for As-Salât (the prayer), they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allâh but little. (142)
4. Do good deeds to be seen
The sixth verse is a continuation of Allah’s curse. Allah curses those who do good deeds only to be seen.
However if one does a good deed solely for Allah, but people come to know of that and is pleased with it, then this is not considered as showing off.
And also there are times that we cannot avoid doing good deed without people seeing us do it. But we should NOT stop ourselves from doing good deeds just because we fear that people think we are showing off. This is aso Shaytan’s trick. He tricks in many ways
1. either to make him do a good deed in order to show off and for the sake of his reputation, and not sincerely for the sake of Allaah,
2. or to make him refrain from doing the good deed altogether.
Most important thing is we must be SINCERE to do a deed for Allah.
And the deed we are doing, are usually done even in private. For instance nawafil prayers.
And if we are praised by people, then it is glad tiding for you as long as you don’t get big headed for it. 😛
Here is a good dua to say when one is praised,
Oh Allah do not call me into account for what they say and forgive me for what they have no knowledge of and make me better than what they imagine.
Al Bukhari Al Adab Al Mufrad
Example of good deeds
Fear of showing off
5. Withholding little kindness
These are people who do not lend little things that benefit others even though they can do it. These people are even stingier when it comes to giving zakah and charity.
According to Ibn Mas’ud, “It is what people give to each other, like axe, pot, bucket and similar items.”
Lessons
1. Allah curses those who are heedless in their solah.
2. Heedless in solah can mean
Who pray in public but not in private.
They are those who pray and adhere to the prayer but yet are mindless of it.
Or those who prayed outside the legislated time.
Or those who delay their prayer until the very last minute.
Or those who do not fulfill the pillars and conditions.
Those who do not pray in humility and contemplating its meanings.
3. Great focus must be paid to one’s solah.
4. One of the signs of those who deny the Final day is that they are hard of heart with the weak and needy.
5. Islam places great emphasis on aiding the weak members of the society.
6. Allah curses those who only perform good deeds to be seen by others.