Sūrah Al-Māʿūn Small Kindnesses
سورة الماعون
A Makkan sūrah of 7 verses. One who denies the religion (al-dīn) is identified by two behavioral signs: harsh treatment of the orphan and neglect of feeding the poor. Three more signs of a hypocrite follow: neglecting ṣalāh, showing off, and withholding small kindnesses.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr
Ibn Kathīr divides the sūrah into two sections with two different subjects. The first three verses address the kāfir (disbeliever): he denies the Day of Recompense (al-dīn = Day of Judgment or the religion itself), and this denial manifests in pushing away the orphan harshly (yadaʿʿu al-yatīm) and having no interest in feeding the poor. The connection is theological: rejection of accountability removes all motivation for charity.
The last four verses address the hypocrite (munāfiq) who does pray but is sāhūn (heedless, inattentive) in his prayer not merely occasionally distracted but habitually unconcerned. He prays for riyāʾ (showing off to people) and withholds al-māʿūn small kindnesses like a bucket, an axe, household necessities that neighbors ask to borrow. Ibn Kathīr emphasizes that withholding such trivial things out of miserliness is condemned alongside neglect of prayer.
- Dīn = accountability: The denier denies the Day of Judgment this is the root cause of cruelty to orphans and indifference to the poor; remove accountability and ethics collapse.
- Two-section structure: Verses 1–3: the outright kāfir; verses 4–7: the hypocrite who performs religion without sincerity both are condemned.
- Sāhūn habitual heedlessness: Not forgetfulness in one prayer but a lifestyle of careless prayer performed for appearances, not for Allah.
- Riyāʾ: Showing off in prayer one of the forms of minor shirk; it invalidates the ʿibādah it corrupts and earns specific condemnation in this sūrah.
- Al-māʿūn: Lending a pot, a bucket, an axe the smallest social kindnesses. Ibn Kathīr: if one withholds these, nothing greater will be given; miserliness starts with the small.