0% studied · Top
Surah 107 · Makkah · 7 āyāt
Phase 02 · Going public — and the persecution(c. 10–8 BH) — view in timelineAl-MāʿūnSmall Kindnesses / Assistance
الماعون
A short, early Makkan surah revealed during the phase of going public, when belief in the Day of Judgement was still contested. It defines the one who denies the Dīn not by a creedal statement but by two everyday failures — mistreating the orphan and not urging the feeding of the poor — then turns to those who do pray, exposing three faults that hollow prayer out: heedlessness, showing off, and withholding maʿūn, the small, ordinary help neighbours give one another.
Why it was revealed
No sound, specific occasion of revelation (sabab al-nuzūl) is established for this surah with a reliable chain. Several reports name individuals — a hypocrite of Madīnah, or a wealthy Makkan chief who turned away an orphan and refused to feed the poor — but the commentators who transmit them (including al-Wāḥidī and al-Qurṭubī) either grade them weak or note they lack a continuous, authenticated isnād back to the Prophet ﷺ. The safest and most honest position, followed here, is that the surah addresses a type — the denier of the Dīn and the heedless worshipper — rather than one identified man, and that any single name attached to it should be treated as unconfirmed.
Rather than a single hadith of occasion, the surah is best understood through the general Makkan setting it shares with other early sūrahs: a society where orphans (many the Prophet's ﷺ own household had firsthand experience of, cf. 93:6) and the poor were routinely neglected by those who considered themselves pious, and where public worship had not yet been matched by public generosity.
Al-Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl (reports graded weak); al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān on 107:1; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, introduction to Sūrat al-MāʿūnIn the Prophet's ﷺ life
The Prophet's ﷺ own orphanhood
He ﷺ lost his father before birth and his mother at about six, then his grandfather — before Abū Ṭālib took him in. The surah's opening question about mistreating the orphan lands on a community, and a Prophet, that knew orphanhood intimately.
Recalled in āyah 2
فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِى يَدُعُّ ٱلْيَتِيمَ
For that is the one who repels the orphan
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr on 93:6 (parallel background)
Denial of the Dīn is shown in deeds, not just words
The surah opens with a question, not a statement: have you seen the one who denies the Dīn (the reckoning, the recompense)? The answer is not a creed but a description — he is the one who pushes away the orphan and does not urge feeding the poor.
أَرَءَيْتَ ٱلَّذِى يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ
Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense?
فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِى يَدُعُّ ٱلْيَتِيمَ
For that is the one who repels the orphan
وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلْمِسْكِينِ
and does not encourage the feeding of the poor.
From the tafsīr
Al-dīn here means the Day of Reckoning and Recompense. The one who denies it is identified by his harshness to the orphan and his indifference to feeding the needy — belief in the Judgement should produce fear of accountability, and its absence shows in careless cruelty toward the powerless.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Yaduʿʿu al-yatīm means he repels the orphan harshly, refusing his right; the description functions as proof — Allah identifies the denier by consequence, since denial of the Judgement is hidden in the heart but harshness to the orphan is visible in the hand.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- Belief in the Day of Judgement is tested by conduct toward those who cannot repay you.
- The Qurʾān often defines disbelief by its fruits rather than by a recited statement of unbelief.
- Not urging others to feed the poor is itself named as a form of denial — passivity counts.
Reflect
Would someone watching your treatment of the powerless conclude that you believe in a Day of account?
Saved on this device · included in your printable study sheet
Check yourself
0 / 2 correctAnswer from memory before scrolling back — retrieval is what makes it stick.
Questions and options are reshuffled and reworded each attempt
Question 1 of 2
What is meant by 'al-dīn' as glossed by Ibn Kathīr here?
Question 2 of 2
Why is repelling the orphan taken as proof, not just an example, according to al-Qurṭubī?
Prayer without presence is a warning, not a virtue
A woe is pronounced not on those who abandon prayer but on those who pray — and are heedless (sāhūn) within it. The surah does not condemn ritual; it condemns ritual performed without attention to what it is for.
فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ
So woe to those who pray,
ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ
those who are heedless of their prayer,
From the tafsīr
The wording ʿan ṣalātihim (heedless 'of' their prayer, not 'in' it) is significant to some commentators — the warning covers both delaying prayer past its proper time and performing it without mindfulness, both being a heedlessness regarding the prayer itself.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Al-Ṭabarī records differing views among the salaf: some understood sahw here as delaying prayer beyond its time, others as praying without khushūʿ (humble attentiveness); he notes the wording can encompass both.
— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Key takeaways
- The threat in āyah 4–5 falls on 'those who pray', which shows outward performance alone does not satisfy what prayer is for.
- Sahw ʿan al-ṣalāh points to inattention regarding the prayer — its timing or its presence of heart — not merely absent-mindedness during it.
- Ritual and ethics are inseparable in this surah: prayer that does not produce mercy toward the vulnerable is itself indicted.
Reflect
Is your prayer shaping how you treat people afterward, or running on a separate track from the rest of your day?
Saved on this device · included in your printable study sheet
Check yourself
0 / 2 correctAnswer from memory before scrolling back — retrieval is what makes it stick.
Questions and options are reshuffled and reworded each attempt
Question 1 of 2
What two interpretations does al-Ṭabarī record for 'heedless of their prayer'?
Question 2 of 2
Whom does the woe of āyah 4–5 address?
Showing off turns worship into performance
A second fault named in the same breath as heedlessness: those who do what they do to be seen (yurāʾūn). Riyāʾ does not simply weaken an act of worship — the surah pairs it directly with denial and heedlessness as part of the same syndrome.
ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَآءُونَ
those who do [good] to be seen,
From the tafsīr
Alladhīna hum yurāʾūn — they perform good deeds, including prayer, to be seen and praised by people, not seeking Allah's pleasure; this is placed directly after the mention of heedless prayer, showing the two often accompany each other.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
The Prophet ﷺ warned of riyāʾ as 'the lesser shirk' in an authentic hadith transmitted from Maḥmūd ibn Labīd (recorded by Aḥmad, with acceptable chains) — cited by commentators to explain the severity implied here, though it is not the direct occasion of this āyah.
— Ibn Kathīr, citing a well-known principle also found in ṣaḥīḥ narrations
Key takeaways
- Riyāʾ can inhabit an outwardly correct act — the fault is in the intention, not the form.
- The Qurʾān places showing-off in the same list as denying the Judgement and neglecting the poor — it is not a minor slip.
- Sincerity (ikhlāṣ) is what connects ritual to its purpose; without it, the ritual is hollowed out even while it looks complete.
Reflect
Which of your good deeds would you still do exactly the same way if no one ever found out about them?
Saved on this device · included in your printable study sheet
Check yourself
0 / 1 correctAnswer from memory before scrolling back — retrieval is what makes it stick.
Questions and options are reshuffled and reworded each attempt
Question 1 of 1
What does yurāʾūn mean in āyah 6?
Withholding al-māʿūn: the smallest kindness refused
The surah closes on the word that names it: māʿūn — the small, everyday items and assistance neighbours lend one another (a cooking pot, a bucket, salt, a tool). Refusing even this smallest form of help completes the picture of a hardened, self-enclosed heart.
وَيَمْنَعُونَ ٱلْمَاعُونَ
and withhold small assistance.
From the tafsīr
Al-māʿūn has been explained by the salaf in more than one way: some said it means zakāh, others said it means the small household items and everyday help people lend each other — a bucket, an axe, a pot, salt or water. Ibn Kathīr favours that it includes both, with the general meaning of any small, ordinary favour withheld.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
That the surah singles out the refusal of something this minor — not wealth, not a major sacrifice — indicates the depth of the meanness being described: a heart that will not even lend what costs it nothing to lend.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- The surah's final indictment is over something small, not something large — showing how total the withholding is.
- Different scholars read māʿūn as zakāh, as everyday lent items, or as both; the wider point holds under any reading: basic mutual aid is being refused.
- The surah moves from the cosmic (denying the Day) to the domestic (refusing a neighbour a bucket) to show these are one and the same disease.
Reflect
What is the smallest, easiest form of help you have been reluctant to give lately?
Saved on this device · included in your printable study sheet
Check yourself
0 / 2 correctAnswer from memory before scrolling back — retrieval is what makes it stick.
Questions and options are reshuffled and reworded each attempt
Question 1 of 2
According to Ibn Kathīr, what does the word māʿūn cover?
Question 2 of 2
What point does al-Qurṭubī draw from the smallness of what is refused?
Upload your handwritten notes
Photograph or scan the pages you wrote in class — several at once. Each page is transcribed, translated into English if you wrote in Arabic or Urdu, matched to the theme it belongs to, and added to your notes for this surah.
Up to 3 pages at a time · JPG, PNG or HEIC
10 of 10 free AI pages left today
Roots from this surah
Learn the three-letter root and you unlock every word built from it — across the whole Qur'an, not just this surah.
ك ذ ب
āyāt 1to lie, to deny, to call false
- كَذَبَhe lied
- يُكَذِّبُhe denies, calls false
- كَذِبfalsehood
- مُكَذِّبone who denies
د ي ن
āyāt 1recompense, judgement, indebtedness, religion
- دِينrecompense / religion
- يَوْمُ ٱلدِّينِthe Day of Recompense
- دَيْنa debt
ي ت م
āyāt 2to be alone, left without a father
- يَتِيمorphan
- يُتْمorphanhood
ح ض ض
āyāt 3to urge, incite, spur someone toward an act
- يَحُضُّhe urges
- حَضّurging, incitement
- حَثّa near-synonym: exhortation
ص ل و
āyāt 4, 5to pray, to connect (with Allah in worship)
- صَلَاةprayer
- مُصَلٍّone who prays
- يُصَلِّيhe prays
س ه و
āyāt 5to be heedless, inattentive, forgetful
- سَهَاhe was heedless
- سَاهٍheedless (one)
- سَهْوinattentiveness, forgetfulness
ر أ ي
āyāt 1, 6to see; (form III) to make oneself seen by another
- رَأَىٰhe saw
- يُرَآءُونَthey show off, act to be seen
- رِيَاءshowing off, ostentation
م ن ع
āyāt 7to prevent, withhold, refuse to give
- مَنَعَhe withheld
- يَمْنَعُونَthey withhold
- مَانِعone who withholds
Carry this with you
- Belief in the Day of Judgement is proven or disproven by how the powerless are treated.
- Not urging others to feed the poor is itself counted as a form of denial — silence and passivity are not neutral.
- Ritual prayer offered without presence of heart draws a specific warning, not praise for outward form.
- Riyāʾ — acting to be seen — can hollow out an outwardly correct deed from within.
- The surah escalates from the cosmic (denying the Day) to the domestic (refusing a neighbour a bucket) to show they share one root.
- No reliably authenticated occasion of revelation names a specific individual for this surah; its warning is general and applies to a type of person, in every age.
- Mercy to the orphan and the poor is treated as inseparable from true faith, not as an optional add-on to it.
- Even the smallest, costless kindness withheld is enough to be named in the same breath as denying the Judgement.
Full exam — the whole surah, from memory
Every question from every theme, interleaved and reworded. Interleaving is what turns recognition into recall. Each answer updates your review schedule, your mistakes list and your mastery score for that theme.
Al-Māʿūn — full exam
1 / 7 · 0 correct
7 questions across 4 themes.
Al-Māʿūn · Withholding al-māʿūn: the smallest kindness refused
How does Ibn Kathīr explain al-māʿūn?
Arabic (Uthmānī script) and the Ṣaḥīḥ International translation are fetched live from the Quran.com API (v4), sourced from the King Fahd Complex muṣḥaf — api.quran.com API docs · Translation: Ṣaḥīḥ International · Integrity & testing protocol