Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:6-11 - Quran Translation Commentary

(5:6) Believers! When you prepare for Prayer,³⁹ wash your face,⁴⁰ arms up to the elbows, wipe your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles.⁴¹ However, if you are in a state of major impurity, then wash yourselves (wholly). Yet, were you to be ill, or on a journey, or one of you has come from the privy (requiring minor ablution) or you have been in contact with women (requiring major ablution), but you do not find water, then resort to clean dust and wipe your faces and hands therewith.⁴² Allah does not desire to cause inconveniences to you. Rather, He wishes to purify you⁴³ and complete His favors upon you, haply you will give thanks.⁴⁴

(5:7) Recall the favors of Allah on you, and His compact that He took from you, when you said, ‘We have heard and we shall obey.'⁴⁵ Therefore, fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Aware of what is in the breasts.

(5:8) Believers! Stand out firmly for Allah, bearing testimony to justice;⁴⁶ and let not the detestation of a people lead you to injustice. Be just. That is nearer to taqwa.⁴⁷ Fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Aware of what you do.

(5:9) Allah has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds, forgiveness and a great reward.

(5:10) As for those who disbelieved and cried lies to Our signs, they are the companions of the Fire.

(5:11) Believers! Recall the favors of Allah that He bestowed on you when some people tried to stretch their hands at you, He prevented their hands from you.⁴⁸ Therefore, fear Allah. Surely it is Allah in whom the believers should place their trust.⁴⁹

Commentary

39. The words "When you prepare for Prayers" have the hint hidden that Tayammum, of which the latter part of the verse speaks, can be resorted to only when water is not found at the time one begins to make preparations for Prayers, and not earlier (Razi).

Majid quotes a Christian writer: "The scrupulous cleanliness of the Mohammadans, which contrasts so favourably with the unsavory state of the easterners of other creeds, is an excellent feature in the practical influence of Islam."

He also contrasts the Islamic statutes with regard to cleanliness with those of Christianity. He quotes: "(In the early Christian centuries) the cleanliness of the body was regarded as a pollution of the soul, and the saints who were most admired had become one hideous mass of clotted filth. St Athanasius relates with enthusiasm how St. Anthony, the patriarch of monarchism, had never, to extreme old age, been guilty of washing his feet ... St. Euphraxia joined a covenant of one hundred and thirty nuns, who never washed their feet, and who shuddered at the mention of a bath." (Lecky, History of European Morals, II, p. 47)

He also quotes Encyclopedia Britannica: “A pious (Christian) pilgrim, in the 4th century, ‘boasted that she had not washed her face for 18 years for fear of removing the baptismal chrism.'”

40. Wetting the periphery of the beard, if it is a thick and flowing one, and passing fingers through it is mustahab according to the Hanafiyyah, Shafe`iyyah and Malikiyyah (Ibn Kathir).

41. Abu Musa (al-Ash`ari), Sa`id ibn al-Musayyib, Hasan al-Busri, Abu al-`Aliyyah, Dahhak and many others saw no reason to repeat ablution for a salah, if one had not nullified his ablution, although `Ali and Ibn Sirin would make ablution for every Prayer while `Umar ibn Khattab merely washed his face and hands and wiped his head saying, "This is the wudu of one who has not annulled it." (The same is reported of `Ali also: Ibn Kathir). The Prophet himself offered his Prayers of the whole day on the day of the fall of Makkah with a single ablution (the report is in Muslim: Ibn Kathir. The Prophet had also offered Prayers of a whole day with a single wudu at the time of Khyber campaign: Qurtubi). His earlier practice was of re-making wudu for every salah; and he encouraged that one should make a fresh wudu at every salah. (In fact, the Prophet did not even prefer to reply to salam when not in wudu saying he did not like to spell Allah's name without wudu: Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir). He has also encouraged that one should do a thorough wudu, especially taking care of his heels. He warned of punishment with Fire when he noticed some people with dry heels (Ibn Jarir).

Therefore, a fresh wudu, even if not required, is mustahab (Ibn Kathir).

Qurtubi adds: According to Imam Abu Hanifah and Imam Shafe`i, it is not permitted to wipe on the socks, unless they are made of leather. But others have allowed it.

Alusi writes several paragraphs to refute the Shi`ah who say that wiping, in lieu of washing the feet, is enough in wudu.

Their interpretation is based on a reading of the text that has been rejected by consensus (Au.).

42. See notes 152-155 of surah al-Nisa' of this work for details of tayammum.

The injunctions about tayammum have perhaps been repeated in this last chapter to be revealed to emphasize that the concession granted earlier in surah al-Nisa', has not been abrogated (Alusi).

43. Abu Umamah (Sudayy b. `Ajalan) has reported that he heard he Prophet (saws) several times saying that wudu expiates the previous sins while salah helps add on virtue (Ibn Jarir). The Prophet has said in a tradition of the Sahihayn:

إِنَّ أُمَّتِى تَأْتِى يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ غُرًّا مُحَجَّلِينَ مِنْ آثَارِ الْوُضُوءِ ، فَمَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ مِنْكُمْ أَنْ يُطِيلَ غُرَّتَهُ فَلْيَفْعَلْ

"Members of my Ummah will appear on the Day of Judgment with brightness on their faces because of the marks of wudu. Therefore, he of you who can do it thoroughly, let him do it."

Muslim has another report which reports the Prophet:

إِذَا تَوَضَّأَ الْعَبْدُ الْمُسْلِمُ - أَوِ الْمُؤْمِنُ - فَغَسَلَ وَجْهَهُ خَرَجَ مِنْ وَجْهِهِ كُلُّ خَطِيئَةٍ نَظَرَ إِلَيْهَا بِعَيْنَيْهِ مَعَ الْمَاءِ - أَوْ مَعَ آخِرِ قَطْرِ الْمَاءِ - فَإِذَا غَسَلَ يَدَيْهِ خَرَجَ مِنْ يَدَيْهِ كُلُّ خَطِيئَةٍ كَانَ بَطَشَتْهَا يَدَاهُ مَعَ الْمَاءِ - أَوْ مَعَ آخِرِ قَطْرِ الْمَاءِ - فَإِذَا غَسَلَ رِجْلَيْهِ خَرَجَتْ كُلُّ خَطِيئَةٍ مَشَتْهَا رِجْلاَهُ مَعَ الْمَاءِ - أَوْ مَعَ آخِرِ قَطْرِ الْمَاءِ - حَتَّى يَخْرُجَ نَقِيًّا مِنَ الذُّنُوبِ

"When a Muslim – or Mu’min - makes ablution and washes his face, the sins committed by the eyes are washed off with the water – or with the last drop of water, when he washes his hands, all the sins of the what he held with his hands are washed off – or with the last drop of water, and when he washes his feet, his sins of the feet that he walked with are washed off with water – or with the last drop of water, until he emerges clean and pure of sins" (Ibn Kathir).

44. Scholars have pointed out that this single short verse is composed of 7 elements, all of them in pairs: i) two kinds of cleansing: real and virtual; ii) of the two, the real is of two kinds: the whole (ghusl) and the partial (wudu); iii) two types of actions have been mentioned: washing and wiping; iv) the agents of cleaning are of two types: liquid (water) and solid (dust); v) the reasons that make cleaning obligatory are of two types: major impurity (hadath akbar) and minor impurity (hadath asghar); vi) two situations allow for a substitution (tayammum), journey and sickness; and finally, vii) two rewards have been mentioned: purification and completion of favors (Alusi, slightly modified).

45. The reference is either to the compact of obedience that the believers made with the Prophet, or to the promise of obedience that every believer makes when he spells out the kalimah tayyibah to enter into Islam.

46. That is, standing out for Allah and bearing testimony for justice should be so often in your life that they should have become your second nature (Alusi).

47. Accordingly, we find Nu`man b. Bashir reporting in the Sahihayn that when his father went to the Prophet and told him that he had gifted such and such an orchard to him (Nu`man), the Prophet asked him if he had made similar gifts to other children. When his father said no, the Prophet told him: "I shall not be a witness to injustice" (Ibn Kathir).

Qurtubi writes: It is not allowed, following this verse, that if the enemies of Muslims torture them, kill their women and children, or disfigure their dead, the Muslims also retaliate in a similar manner. Islam does not allow beastly behavior under any circumstance.

48. `Abdullah ibn abi Bakr, Mujahid, `Ikrimah and some others have said that the allusion is to the attempts at the assassination of the Prophet. Once he was sitting along with Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, ‘Ali, Talha ibn Zubayr and `Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf under a wall among the Banu Nadir. He had gone there to settle a blood-wit dispute. The Jews attempted to slide down a rock upon him and his Companions but Allah prevented them and informed the Prophet, who quickly returned from the place.

Some other assassination attempts have also been mentioned as the cause of revelation (Ibn Jarir, Kashshaf, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Another instance is reported by Ibn abi Hatim. It says that a group of Jews invited the Prophet to a poisoned dinner. But Allah informed the Prophet. He stayed away and asked his Companions not to attend.

A third reported incident involves Ka`b al-Ahsraf and his companions who plotted to assassinate the Prophet in his fort but failed.

And a fourth incident took place during one of the Prophet’s journey. At one camping point people spread around seeking shades of the trees to rest. The Prophet also sought rest under a tree and hung his arms by it. When he opened his eyes, he found a bedouin with his sword right over his head. The bedouin asked, “Who will save you from me now.” The Prophet calmly answered, “Allah.” He repeated his threat and the Prophet repeated his answer, three times. The bedouin was so awe-struck that the sword fell from his hand. The Prophet called his Companions and pointing to the bedouin who was sitting by his side, narrated the story. The bedouin’s name was Ghawrath b. al-Harith. It is reported that a group of pagans had sent the bedouin to assassinate the Prophet.

Thus, the verse was referring to several attempts at the Prophet’s life (Ibn Kathir).

Imam Razi has said that the allusion could as well be to the situation in early Islam when the pagans were trying to wipe out Islam.

49. Imam Shafe`i has said that one might recite this verse seven times in the morning and seven times in the evening to keep away plague (Alusi).

The Connection

For a connection we can look back at verse 7 which exhorts Muslims to remain true to the compact they have made with their Lord and not back down as did the Jews and the Christians whose own performance is being described herewith in the following verses (Razi).

Ibn Kathir has another perspective. He says: If we go back to the beginning of this surah we notice that after Allah urged the Muslims to keep their covenants and oaths that He took with them through His Messenger Muhammad, peace be upon him, and mentioned the great blessings that He bestowed upon them, He now turns to the Jews and Christians to remind them that similar compacts were made with them also, but when they broke them, He settled a curse upon them, which acts a barrier and prevents them from responding to this new call.