Sura 2, al-Baqara, Medina 87

The Quranic text and Ali’s version

لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ ...

2:177. It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces toward East or West;

... وَلَـكِنَّ الْبِرَّ ...

but it is righteousness

... مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَالْمَلآئِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ...

to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers;

... وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَى ...

to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin,

... وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّآئِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ...

for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves;

... وَأَقَامَ الصَّلاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُواْ...

to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made;

... وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاء والضَّرَّاء وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ...

and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic.

... أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَأُولَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ ﴿١٧٧﴾

Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.

Asad’s version

2:177

True piety does not consist in turning your faces towards the east or the west" 3 - but truly pious is he who believes in God, and the Last Day; and the angels, and revelation," 4 and the prophets; and spends his substance - however much he himself may cherish it - upon his near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer," 5 and the beggars, and for the freeing of human beings from bondage;" 6 and is constant in prayer, and renders the purifying dues; and [truly pious are] they who keep their promises whenever they promise, and are patient in misfortune and hardship and in time of peril: it is they that have proved themselves true, and it is they, they who are conscious of God.

[[ Ali’s notes :-

C177. As if to emphasize again a warning against deadening formalism, we are given a beautiful description of the righteous and God-fearing man. He should obey salutary regulation, but he should fix his gaze on the love of Allah and the love of his fellow-men.

We are given four heads:

1. our faith should be true and sincere;

2. we must be prepared to show it in deeds of charity to our fellowmen;

3. we must be good citizens, supporting social organisation; and

4. our own individual soul must be firm and unshaken in all circumstances. They are interconnected, and yet can be viewed separately.

C178. Faith is not merely a matter of words. We must realise the presence and goodness of Allah. When we do so, the scales fall form our eyes: all the falsities and fleeting nature of the Present cease to enslave us, for we see the Last Day as if it were today.

We also see Allah's working in His world and in us; His Powers (angels), His Messengers and His Message are no longer remote from us, but come within our experience. (R).

C179. Practical deeds of charity are of value when they proceed from love, and from no other motive. In this respect, also, our duties take various forms, which are shown in reasonable gradation:

- our kith and kin;

- orphans (including any persons who are without support or help);

- people who are in real need but who never ask (it is our duty to find them out, and they come before those who ask);

- the stranger, who is entitled to laws of hospitality;

- the people who ask and are entitled to ask, i.e., not merely lazy beggars, but those who seek our assistance in some form or another (it is our duty to respond to them);

- and the slaves (we must do all we can to give or buy their freedom). Slavery has many insidious forms, and all are included.

C180. Charity and piety in individual cases do not complete our duties. In prayer and charity, we must also look to our organized efforts: where there is a Muslim State, these are made through the State, in facilities for public prayer, and public assistance, and for the maintenance of contracts and fair dealing in all matters.

C181. Then come the Muslim virtues of firmness and patience. They are to "preserve the dignity of man, with soul erect" (Burns).

Three sets of circumstances are specially mentioned for the exercise of this virtue:

1. bodily pain or suffering,

2. adversities or injuries of all kinds, deserved and underserved and

3. periods of public panic, such as war, violence, pestilence, etc.]]

[[Asad’s notes:-

143 Thus, the Qur'an stresses the principle that mere compliance with outward forms does not fulfil the requirements of piety. The reference to the turning of one's face in prayer in this or that direction flows from the passages which dealt, a short while ago, with the question of the qiblah.

144 In this context, the term "revelation" (al-kitab) carries, according to most of the

commentators, a generic significance: it refers to the fact of divine revelation as such. As regards belief in angels, it is postulated here because it is through these spiritual beings or force's (belonging to the realm of al-ghayb, i.e., the reality which is beyond the reach of human perception) that God reveals His will to the prophets and, thus, to mankind at large.

145 The expression ibn as-sabil (lit., "son of the road") denotes any person who is far from his home, and especially one who, because of this circumstance, does not have sufficient means of livelihood at his disposal (cf Lane IV, 1302). In its wider sense it describes a person who, for any reason whatsoever, is unable to return home either temporarily or permanently: for instance, a political exile or refugee.

146 Ar-raqabah (of which ar-riqab is the plural) denotes, literally, "the neck", and signifies also the whole of a human person. Metonymically, the expression fi'r-riqab denotes "in the cause of freeing human beings from bondage", and applies to both the ransoming of captives and the freeing of slaves. By including this kind of expenditure within the essential acts of piety, the Qur'an implies that the freeing of people from bondage - and, thus, the abolition of slavery - is one of the social objectives of Islam. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, slavery was an established institution throughout the world, and its sudden abolition would have been economically impossible. In order to obviate this difficulty, and at the same time to bring about an eventual abolition of all slavery, the Qur'an ordains in 8:67 that henceforth only captives taken in a just war (jihad) may be kept as slaves. But even with regard to persons enslaved in this or - before the revelation of 8:67 - in any other way, the Qur'an stresses the great merit inherent in the freeing of slaves, and stipulates it as a means of atonement for various transgressions (see, e.g.,4:92, 5:89, 58:3). In addition, the Prophet emphatically stated on many occasions that, in the sight of God, the unconditional freeing of a human being from bondage is among the most praiseworthy acts which a Muslim could perform. (For a critical discussion and analysis of all the authentic Traditions bearing on this problem, see Nayl al-Awtar VI, 199 ff) ]]