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Name and Background

The last word of the Soorah has been used as the unique identifier of this small Soorah.

The Holy Ka‘bah, the subject matter of the previous two Soowar, was established as a centre of Islam, the two most important pillars of which are Salaah and Zakaah. Salaah is the Islamic way of worshipping Allaah and Zakaah is an effective way of collectively taking care of the poor and deprived. Prophet Ibraaheem ‘alayhissalaam settled his family in Makkah and dedicated his son Ismaa‘eel for the service of the House and for establishing the Deen of Allaah around these two pillars. He fulfilled his responsibility and was described in the Qur-aan as:

“He used to enjoin Salaah and Zakaah upon his family.” (Maryam 19:55)

Then gradually, his progeny, the Arabs, abandoned most of the Islamic practices and became negligent in Salaah and Zakaah. Although the respect of the Holy Ka‘bah remained and the rituals of pilgrims were fulfilled, these two pillars were totally neglected. Instead of taking care of the poor and weak, many people used to exploit them, rebuke them and drive them away harshly. Similarly Salaah was devoid of humble devotion to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala and His glorification and had been reduced to whistling and clapping as mentioned in Al-Anfaal,

“Their worship at the House is merely whistling and clapping.” (8:35)

One can visualize this better if one thinks of the way Salaah of Jesus ‘alayhissalaam has now been reduced by Christians to simply music and songs in modern churches. Some churches have even made it an activity of laughter and amusement.

Furthermore, even this kind of useless ritual was not performed sincerely for Allaah but only to give an impression of one’s religiosity.

This Soorah points out this terrible state of religious affairs of the caretakers of the House, the Quraish of Makkah, and exposes the core reason behind this façade of their religiosity.

A person who believes in the Hereafter seeks the pleasure of Allaah and fears the accountability on the Day of Judgment. This focus on seeking His pleasure and fear of accountability makes a person kind, generous, helpful and sharing towards those in need. Such a person is also eager and mindful of worshipping Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala properly with devotion and humility. Only a person who does not believe in the accountability and recompense in the Hereafter becomes rude to an orphan or careless about the welfare of the poor. Such people may appear to be religious because they perform certain rituals with much fanfare to show off and be noticed. But in reality they really do not believe, and their disbelief is shown by their miserly, stingy and selfish behaviour so much so that they find it hard even to share small trivial things with others.

Thus the Soorah exposes the real factor behind the Makkan leaders’ miserly, unkind behaviour and their soulless, outwardly rituals of worship – they do not believe in the Hereafter. That is why all initial Soowar revealed in Makkah focussed on the various aspects of the belief in the Hereafter.

Some people assume that the Salaah talked about here is the Salaah of Muslims. And because the Soorah mentions about those who make show of their Salaah, they assume that this Soorah or the last three verses of this Soorah must have been revealed in Madeenah where such hypocrites were found among the Muslims. However, with the correct perspective of the Salaah offered by the Makkans, as explained above, any doubts about this Soorah being a Makkan Soorah should be cleared.