Surah Al-Maun is a Makki Surah with seven verses. Some claim it to be a Madini Surah, there’s difference of opinion over it. Maun means Small Kindness. It’s also called Surah Ad-Deen. The Surah has been named after the word Al-Maun occurring at the end of the last verse.
If we consider this Surah to be a Makki Surah then these verses were sent for the disbelieving leaders of Makkah like Al-Aas bin Wail, al-Walid bin al-Mughira. Others say that it was sent about Abu Sufiyan, before he accepted Islam, because he used to repel the poor. Some say that it was sent due to Abu Jahl because he was abusive to orphans.
And if we consider this to be a Madini Surah, then last verses of this Surah reveal the fact that it has been revealed for the hypocrites of Madinah. It holds out a threat of destruction to those praying ones who are unmindful of their prayers and who pray only to be seen. This kind of hypocrites were found only at Madinah who were condemned by Allah.
The theme of this Surah is to point out what kind of morals a man develops when he refuses to believe in the Hereafter. In starting verses the condition of the disbelievers who openly deny the Hereafter has been described, and in the last verses the state of those hypocrites who apparently are Muslims but have no idea of the Hereafter, its judgement, and the concept of rewards and punishments has been described.
On the whole, the attitude of two kinds of people is pointed out that a man cannot develop a strong, stable and pure character in himself unless he believes in the Hereafter.
So the objective of this Surah is,
➖Amazement at a person who could deny faith in Allah and the Hereafter!
➖Concern for the weak & exploited people of society is a sign of complete faith!
➖Hypocrisy and its signs!
Allah addresses the Prophet pbuh in these verses in specific and in general to all. That have you seen the one who denies the Deen or Hereafter? The word Ad-Deen used in first verse refers to both Islam and Hereafter. The word Ad-din as a Quranic term is used for the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter as well as for the religion of Islam. Allah draws our attention by starting the verses in a question form that have you seen…?
Allah draws attention to a personality who rejects the Akhirat and out of that comes in his being some very negative evil traits, out of which two most prominent are,
➖ he treats the orphan with harshness
➖ he doesn’t encourage others for feeding the needy.
Harsh to orphans…
Such a person who denies the concept of Akhirat thinks the orphan is a helpless, powerless creature therefore, there is no harm if his rights are taken away wrongfully, or he is made the target of tyranny and injustice, or he is repulsed and driven away whenever he asks for help. This is the worst crime in sight of Allah, because Allah has very strictly preserved the rights of orphans in Quran. So one can imagine such a harsh hearted personality is this type of person who has no mercy for orphans. This was specifically pointing out the leaders of Quraish who were harsh towards the poor and orphans, and in general it indicates any person who commits such a crime. Allah condemns them!
Harsh to poor…
And the second evil trait of the rejector of Akhirat is that such a person neither persuades his own self, nor tells others to provide the poor with food, nor does he urge others to recognize the rights of the poor and needy people of society who are starving and do something to satisfy their hunger.
By these two traits out of countless more, Allah has pointed out what kind of evils are produced in the people who deny the Hereafter. The more the harshness lies in heart of someone, the more he is far away from the concept of accountability to Allah
In these verses another evil trait is mentioned of the person who has no firm belief in Akhirat i.e. such a person will be neglectful and heedless of his Prayer (Salah). Although these verses were meant for the Munafiqoon of Madinah yet it implies to every one who deals with his Prayer as a matter of joke, and exhibits a hypocrisy thereby.
What is a neglectful Prayer?
“Woe to those… who are neglectful of their Prayer.” means…
➖Whether they perform the Prayer, or do not perform it, it is of little importance to them.
➖They are not regular at the Prayers.
➖When they perform it, they do not observe the prescribed times, but offer it carelessly at the eleventh hour.
➖Or, when they rise up for the Prayer, they rise up soullessly and perform it with an unwilling heart, as if it were a calamity imposed on them.
➖They play with their garments, yawn and betray absence of every trace of Allah’s remembrance in their hearts.
➖Throughout the Prayer they show no feeling at all that they are performing the Prayer, nor of what they are reciting; their minds wander and they perform articles of the Prayer without due attention.
➖They try to get rid of Salah as soon as possible. And there are many people who would perform the Prayer only when they must, otherwise the Prayer has no place in their lives.
➖The Prayer time comes but they show no concern that it is the Prayer time; they hear the call to the Prayer but do not understand what the caller is calling to, whom he is calling and for what purpose.
➖They very easily miss the prayer, like we see many not offering Fajr and taking it very lightly not paying attention that this one prayer is being missed everday, and can cause us big trouble in Akhirat.
These in fact are the signs of absence of faith in the Hereafter. These people are actually Muslims but they do not believe that they would be rewarded for performing the Prayer, nor have the faith that they would be punished for not performing it. And they mostly perform to show off to others. They are much people-oriented than God-orietned. Allah thereby strictly condemns such an act!
In the last verse Allah highlights the last category of those for whom Hereafter is not a serious matter. They are so self-centered that they even withhold the Maun.
What is Maun? Maun is little courtesies and kindnesses of daily Iife. These are the items of common use; for example, cooking-pot, bucket, hatchet, balance, salt, water etc which the people generally borrow from each other.
Abdullah bin Masud r.a says: “We, the Companions of Muhammad pbuh, used to say (and according to other traditions, in the time of the Holy Prophet, used to say) that Maun implies lending of the cooking pot, hatchet, bucket, balance, and such other things.”
(Abu Daud)
Maun in fact is a small, little thing useful to the people. Accordingly, zakat also is maun, for it is a little amount out of much wealth, which one has to give away in order to help the poor, and the other small items of common use also are maun.
So here Allah describes such a personality who refuses even to lend these small stuff of life to others. It is then self-evident that a person who withholds giving such insignificant things to others is a very miserly, faithless one. These things do not cost too much, but they are sometimes very helpful, so when they refuse to give them this can produce some notable difficulties in the lives of people.
Thus, the verse means to impress that denial of the Hereafter renders a man so narrow-minded and niggardly that he is not even prepared to make a most minor sacrifice for the sake of others.
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