Commentary of verses 33 – 39:
Verses 33 – 39:
33 – 35: When an affliction befalls the people, they invoke their Lord, turning penitently towards Him; then when He makes them taste of His Mercy, some of them start committing shirk (enjoining others with God) so that they may show ingratitude for Our favors. Well, enjoy yourselves, for soon you shall know. Have We sent down to them any authority, which may testify to the truth of the shirk (polytheism) they are committing?
36 – 39: When We make the people taste mercy, they exult at it; and when an affliction befalls them on account of their own misdeeds, they grow despondent. Do they not see that it is Allah Who gives abundantly to whom He wills and sparingly (to whom He wills)? Surely in this there are many Signs for those who believe. Therefore, (O believers,) give to your relative his due, and to the needy and the wayfarer (his due). This is the best way for those who seek Allah’s goodwill: such alone will attain true success. The interest that you give in order to increase the wealth of the people does not increase in the sight of Allah; and the Zakat (obligatory charity) that you pay in order to win Allah’s approval, its payers do indeed increase their wealth.
Commentary:
When an affliction befalls the people, they invoke their Lord, turning penitently towards Him; 52
Commentary: This is a clear proof of the fact that in the depths of their heart there still exists an evidence of tauhid (monotheism). Whenever the hopes start crumbling, their hearts cry out from within that the real Ruler of the universe is its Master and His help alone can improve their lot.
then when He makes them taste of His Mercy, some of them start committing shirk (enjoining others with God)…
Commentary: That is, “they again start presenting offerings before other deities, and claiming that their misfortune has been removed through the help and grace of such and such a saint and shrine.”
Have We sent down to them any authority, which may testify to the truth of the shirk they are committing?
Commentary: that is, what authority have they got to say that the calamities are not averted by God but by the so-called saint? Does common sense approve of it? Or is there any Divine Book which says that Allah has delegated His powers to such and such saints and that they should now be invoked by people to help them out of difficulties?
When We make the people taste mercy, they exult at it; and when an affliction befalls them on account of their own misdeeds, they grow despondent.
Commentary: In the preceding verse man has been censured for his ignorance, folly, and ingratitude. In this verse, he has been censured for puerility and meanness. When a person attains a little wealth and power, he forgets that he has been given all this by Allah. He exults at his success and is so puffed up and conceited that he has neither any regard left for Allah nor for the people. But as soon as good luck deserts him, he loses heart and a single stroke of ill-luck so disheartens and frustrates him that he is prepared to do any mean thing, even commit suicide.
Do they not see that it is Allah Who gives abundantly to whom He wills and sparingly (to whom He wills)? Surely in this there are many Signs for those who believe.
Commentary: that is, the believers can learn how disbelief and shirk (polytheism, associating others with God in His Godhead or attributes) affect man’s morality and what is the impact of belief in Allah on his morals. The person who sincerely believes in Allah and looks upon Him as the Master of the treasure-houses of provisions can never be involved in meanness, in which those forgetful of God are involved. If he is given abundantly, he will not be puffed up; rather he will be grateful to Allah, will treat his fellowmen generously and benevolently, and will expend his God-given wealth for His sake. On the other hand, he will exercise patience; he will never gamble away his honesty and self-respect but will have hope of Allah’s bounty till the last. Such a moral excellence can neither fall to the lot of an atheist nor of a polytheist.
Therefore, (O believers,) give to your relative his due, and to the needy and the wayfarer (his due).
Commentary: it has not been said: give charity to the relative, the needy, and the wayfarer, but their due because this is their right (due to them from you), which you must give them in any case. You will not do them any favor if you part with a portion of your wealth for their sake. You should remember it well that if the real owner of the wealth has given you more than others, your extra wealth, is in fact, the right of others which has been given to you for your trial so that your Lord may see whether you recognize the rights of others and render their rights to them or not.
Anyone who reflects over this Divine Command and its real spirit cannot help feeling that the way proposed by the Quran for man’s moral and spiritual development inevitably envisages the existence of a free society and economy. This development is not possible in a social environment where people’s rights of ownership are set aside and stifled. The system in which the state assumes ownership of all resources and the government machinery the entire responsibility of distributing provisions among the people, so much so that neither can an individual recognize the right of the other and render it, nor a person develop a feeling of goodwill for the other after he has received help, is a purely communist system. Such an economic and social system (which has been advocated in some countries under the deceptive name of the “Quranic Order of Providence – Nizam-i-Rabubiyat ) is entirely opposed to the Quranic scheme itself, for it suppresses the development of individual morality and formation of character altogether. The Quranic scheme can operate and function only in a society where individuals own some resources of wealth, possess rights to expend it freely, and then render willingly and sincerely the rights of God and His servants. in such a society alone can there arise the possibility that, on the one hand, people may develop individually the virtues of sympathy, kindness and affection, sacrifice, recognition of the rights of others and rendering those rights in the right spirit, and on the other hand, the beneficiaries may develop in their hearts pure feelings of well-wishing, gratitude, and thankfulness for the donors. This system alone can produce the ideal conditions in which the elimination of evil and the promotion of goodness does not depend on the intervention of a law-enforcing authority but the people’s own purity of the self and their own good intentions take up this responsibility.
This is the best way for those who seek Allah’s goodwill: such alone will attain true success.
Commentary: This does not mean that true success can be attained just by rendering the rights of the needy and the wayfarers and the relative and nothing else is needed to be done for this. But it means that those who do not recognize these rights of others nor render them will not attain true success. It will only be attained by those who render the rights sincerely just for the sake of Allah’s goodwill and pleasure.
The interest that you give in order to increase the wealth of the people does not increase in the sight of Allah;
Commentary: This is the first verse revealed in the Quran that condemned interest. It only says this: “You pay interest thinking that it will cause an increase in the wealth of the money-lender. But actually, in the Sight of Allah, interest does not increase the wealth, but the wealth is increased by the payment of the Zakat (obligatory charity).” Afterwards, when the Commandment prohibiting interest was sent down at Madinah, it was said: “Allah deprives interest of all blessings and develops charity.” (For the later Commands, see Chapter 3, Aali-Imran, verse 130 and Chapter 2, Al-Baqarah, verses 275 to 281.)
This verse has been given two interpretations by the commentators. One section of them says: Here riba does not mean the interest which is forbidden by the Shariah (Islamic Law), but it means the gift or the present which is given with the intention that the recipient will return it redoubled or will perform some useful service for the donor himself. This is the view of Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه , Mujahid, Dahhak, Qatadah, Ikrimah, Muhammad bin Ka’b Al-Qurzi and Shabi, may Allah be pleased with them. Probably this comment has been made by these scholars for the reason that in this verse the only consequence mentioned of the act is that in the sight of Allah such wealth will not increase at all; if, however, it had meant the interest forbidden by the Shariah, it would have been positively said that it will be severely punished by Allah.
The other group differs from this and says that it means the same well known riba (interest/usury) which has been forbidden by the Shariah law. This is the opinion of Hasan Basri and Suddi, and Allama Alusi (Allah’s Mercies be on them) also has opined that the apparent meaning of the verse is the same, for riba in Arabic is used in the same meaning. This interpretation has also been adopted by the commentator Nisaburi.
In our opinion also this second interpretation is correct, because the argument given in favor of the first interpretation is not enough for discarding the well-known meaning of the word riba. In the period when Surah Al-Rum was revealed, interest had not been forbidden yet. The prohibition was made several years afterwards. And it is the way of the Quran that it first prepares the minds for the thing that it has to prohibit at a later stage. About wine too, the only thing said in the beginning was that it is not pure food. (Surah Al-Nahl, verse 67). Then in Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 219, it was said that its harmful effects were greater than its benefits. Afterwards it was enjoined that the Prayer should not be offered in the state of intoxication. (Surah Al-Nisa, verse 43). Then, finally, it was prohibited totally. Similarly, in this verse it has only been said that interest does not increase wealth but the real increase is caused by Zakat. After this, compound interest was forbidden (Aali-Imran, verse 130); and finally, interest itself was made absolutely unlawful (Al-Baqarah, verse 275).
and the Zakat (obligatory charity) that you pay in order to win Allah’s approval, its payers do indeed increase their wealth.
Commentary: There is no limit to this increase. The greater the sincerity of intention, the deeper the sense of sacrifice, the greater the intensity of desire for Allah’s pleasure with which a person spends his wealth in His way, the greater and more handsome will be the rewards that Allah will give him. According to an authentic Hadith, even if a person gives a fig in the way Allah, Allah will increase it to the size of Mount Uhud.
