16. THE
MEANINGS OF KHAYR (GOOD) IN THE QUR’ĀN (3)
13. الصَّلاح (good or
proper condition, righteousness), as in the following verse :
وَالَّذِينَ يَبْتَغُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِمَّا مَلَكَتْ
أَيْمَانُكُمْ فَكَاتِبُوهُمْ
إِنْ عَلِمْتُمْ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا... (النور: (33
And
such of your servants as seek a writing
(of
emancipation) give them such writing,
if you
find that there is good and honesty
(i.e.,
righteousness) in them…(Q. 24:33)
It is Allah’s command to
slave-owners to write a contract of emancipation for their slaves if they ask
them, provided that there is khayr with them. Some say it is
righteousness, others say honesty, wealth, and a skill and ability to earn.
The
verse continues with وَآتُوهُمْ مِنْ مَالِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي
آتَاكُمْ…and give them something out of the wealth of Allah
which He has bestowed upon you… means
that these slaves have right and share in the wealth of the zakat. It is
Allah’s command to the believers to help in freeing them, until there will be
no more slave among Muslims.
14. الْقُوَّةُ وَ الْقُدْرَة (power and
ability), as in the following verse:
أَهُمْ خَيْرٌ أَمْ قَوْمُ تُبَّعٍ وَالَّذِينَ
مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ
إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا مُجْرِمِينَ (الدُّخَان:37)
Are
they better (i.e., more powerful) or the people of
Tubba‘
and those before them? We destroyed them
because they were indeed criminals (Q. 44:37)
Tubba‘ was the title of the ancient powerful Ḥimyar
kings who ruled for centuries over Southern Arabia. Despite their power they
were eventually overcome by the Abyssinians in the 4th century. These people
denied the truth of resurrection and Allah’s judgment (Q. 50:14)
15. الدُّنْيَا (the
world), as in the following verse:
وَإِنَّهُ لِحُبِّ الْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ (الْعَادِيَات: (8
And
verily, he is violent in the love
wealth
(i.e. the world) (Q. 100:8)
Ibn Zayd says that the term khayr in this verse
means “the world”, i.e., people extremely love this material world.
Other commentators say that the word khayr in this verse means “wealth”.
The word shadīd basically means “strong, powerful, violent.”But if it is related to the wealth, it could mean mutashaddid
(strict, rigid) and bakhīl (greedy, covetous, miser, stingy). Therefore,
the above verse means: (a) He is severe in his love of wealth, and (b) He is covetous
and stingy due to the love of wealth. Both are correct complementing each
other.
16. الإصْلاح
(correction, betterment, restoration), as in the following verse:
وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ
وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ
الْمُفْلِحُونَ (آل عمران: (104
Let there arise out of
you a group of people
inviting
to all that is good (i.e. Islam), enjoining
ma‘ruf
and forbidding munkar. And It is they
who are
the successful (Q. 3:104)
Probably it is not appropriate to use iṣlāḥ as
the meaning of the khayr in the above verse, but rather Islam as put by
al-Țabarī. There are two views whether the whole Muslims are enjoined to call
people to Islam, or some of them only. According to the classical Arabic
philologist Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Anbārī (d. 328/940), it is the whole
Muslims, as sometimes مِنْ (of, from, among) mean كُلُّ (all), so that the expression مِنْكُمْ (of you) means كُلُّكُمْ (all of you). He says that the position of مِنْ is لِلتَّجنِيْس (to indicate paronomasia), namely,
“of you Muslims” and not from non-Muslims. The example in the Qur’ān is, فَاجْتَنِبُوا
الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثَانِ... (الحج:30) … so shun the abomination (worshiping) of idol… (Q. 22:30) which means فَاجْتَنِبُوا الأَوْثَانَ الَّتِي هِيَ رِجْس “so avoid (worshiping) idol which is a
dirty thing”, as any idol is dirty, all of them.
The other view is that of Al-Qurṭubī who says that the
injunction to call people to Islam is exclusively for scholars, as not all
Muslims are scholars, because it is فَرْضُ كِفَايَة (a collective duty), not فَرْضُ عَيْن (an individual duty). These scholars are chosen people. Among
the chosen people are as mentioned in the following verse:
الَّذِينَ إِنْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَقَامُوا
الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ
وَأَمَرُوا بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهَوْا عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ...
(الحج: (41
Those
(Muslim rulers) who, if We give them power
in the land (they) perform the prayers, pay
the zakat, and
they enjoin ma’ruf and forbid munkar…(Q. 22:41)
In my view, both views are acceptable, as Islam is a
missionary religion, and every Muslim has to be involved in it. In the lowest
level, even without talking, we still can use our body language, indicating
that we are humble not arrogant, generous and not stingy, honest and not
tricky, etc. We are not perfect, but we have some Islamic characters
which we should let non-Muslims know in our dealing with them. We can say “I am
not a good Muslim, but Islam prohibits such-and-such thing.” In the highest
level, it is the job of Muslim scholars, such as the late Ahmad Deedat (d.
2005) of South Africa who had debated five Christian scholars, and challenged
Pope John Paul II for a public debate in the Vatican Square in 1984, Dr. Zakir
Naik of India, Dr. Gary Miller of Canada, Yusuf Estes of the USA, and
Abdur-Raheem Green of UK, to mention a few.
17. الْوَلَدُ الصَّالِح (suitable child), as in the following verse:
...
فَإِنْ كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَى أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا
شَيْئًا
وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا (النساء: (19
… If you dislike them, it
may be that you dislike
a thing
though which Allah brings a great
deal of
good (i.e., pious children) (Q. 4:19)
This verse is about Allah’s
order the Muslims not to treat widows with harshness to take away part the dowry
given to them. If they do not like them, Allah may bring good things to them.
So far, no other commentators say that khay in this verse means “suitable
child”, except Ibn al-Jawzī.
18. الْعِفَّة (abstinence, uprightness, righteousness, chastity) and والصِّيَانَة (preservation, protection, guarding), as in the following
verse:
لَوْلَا إِذْ سَمِعْتُمُوهُ ظَنَّ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ
خَيْرًا وَقَالُوا هَذَا إِفْكٌ مُبِينٌ (النور: (12
Why
then did not the believers, men and women,
when
you heard it (the slander), think good (chastity)
of
their own people and say: “This (charge) is
an obvious lie?” (Q. 24:12)
This
verse is about the accusation of the Prophet’s wife ‘Ā’ishah of indecency by
hypocrites, and when the believers heard about it they knew that she was
innocent and the accusation was an obvious lie, as confirmed by the Qur’ān.
19. حُسْنُ الأَدَب (good behavior), as in the following verse:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ صَبَرُوا حَتَّى تَخْرُجَ إِلَيْهِمْ
لَكَانَ خَيْرًا
لَهُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (الحجرات: (5
And if
they had had patience till you could come out to
them, it would have been better (i.e., good behavior)
for
them.
And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.(Q. 49:5)
The
verse is about a delegation of the Arabs among them was al-Aqra‘ ibn Ḥābis
al-Tamīmī who called the Prophet from behind his dwellings, whereas the good behaviour
would be waiting for him till he came out.
20. النَّوَافِل (supererogatory performance), as in the following verse:
وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ فِعْلَ الْخَيْرَاتِ …(الأنبياء: (73
And We
made them leaders, guiding (mankind)
by Our
Command, and We revealed to them the
doing
of good deeds, performing the prayers
(i.e.,
supererogatory performance)…(Q.
21:73)
This verse is about Prophet Abraham
and his descendants Isaac and Jacob who were made prophets and leaders, and
inspired to do good deeds. Al-Qurṭubī simply said “good deeds”
here means “obedience” to Allah.
21. النَّافِع (beneficial, profitable, useful thing), as in the following
verse:
...وَلَوْ كُنْتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لَاسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَمَا
مَسَّنِيَ السُّوءُ
إِنْ أَنَا إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ وَبَشِيرٌ لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ
(الأعراف: (188
“…If I had the knowledge
of the Unseen, I should
have
secured for myself an abundance of wealth,
and no
evil should have touched me. I am but
a
warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to
a people who believe.”(Q. 7:188)
Both
term الْغَيْب (the
Unseen) and الْخَيْر (the good deed) are in general sense, mean: (a) If I knew what Allah wanted me to do
before hand, I would have done it. (b) If I knew when I would win the war I
would have fought, so that I would not be defeated. (c) If I knew the year of
drought, I would have stored what would be sufficient for me in the time of the
drought (Ibn ‘Abbās’s interpretation). (d) If I knew the merchandise that would
sell well, I would have bought it in the time of its slump. (e) If I knew when
I would die, I would have increased doing good deeds (al-Ḥasan and Ibn Jurayj’s
interpretation). (f) If I knew the unseen I would have done what I was required
to do. All these interpretations in al-Qurṭubī’s
view make sense.
“and no evil should have touched
me” means (a) The Prophet said that he was not insane as they had claimed
him to be, (b) The Prophet said further that if he had known the unseen he
would have taken precaution against evil, but he was just a warner (al-Qurṭubī’s
commentary)
22. الْخَيْرُ الَّذِي هُو ضِدُّ الشَّرّ (good thing which is the opposite of bad thing), as in the
following verse:
قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ
مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَنْزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّمَنْ
تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُإِنَّكَ
عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (آل عمران: 26)
Say (O
Muhammad): “O Allah! Possessor of the
kingdom,
You give the kingdom to whom You will,
and You
take the kingdom from whom You will, and
You
endue with honour whom You will, and You
humiliate
whom You will. In Your Hand is he good.
Verily,
You are Able to do all things.”(Q.
3:26)
Ibn ‘Abbās and Anas ibn
Mālik said that when the Prophet s.a.w. conquered Makkah he promised his
people the kingdom of Persia and Rome. The hypocrites and the Jews of Madinah
said, “Impossible! How could he do that, as they are more powerful and more
unconquerable? Are not Makkah and Madinah sufficient for him that he becomes
ambitious to conquer the kingdoms of Persia and Rome?” Then Allah revealed the
above verse. It was also said that the verse was revealed to refute the claim
of the Christians on Najrān the divinity of ‘Īsā (Jesus) a.s. in spite of his ability to do miraculous
things, such as to revive the dead (al-Qurṭubī’s
commentary)
(CIVIC, 30
October, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
ابن الجوزي (ت. 597\1201). نُزْهَة الأَعْيُنِ النَّوَاظِرِ فِيْ عِلْمِ الْوُجُوْهِ
وَ النَّظَائِر. بيروت: مؤسسة الرسالة, 1405\1985.
تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ(
تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ(
تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(
Asad,
Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1964.
